While not every game can be the greatest ever, some games are worth mentioning for various reasons.
First of all, let’s go ahead and get this one out of the way. In the category of “Worst Game I Played In A Really Long Time” The winner is Duke Nukem Forever. If you really want a more in-depth review of this pile feel free to read my actual review here. If you would like a shorter review, here we go. Duke Nukem was a game that could never live up the the hype it created. Easily the longest production time of any game I am aware of. Duke suffers from trying to “recapture” the days when Duke 3D was the best thing out there. The jokes are really bad, the story is disjointed and seems like scraps cut from 80’s action movies. It also just looks bad. Bad textures, bad lighting, and I am almost positive they reuse sound effects from Duke 3D. I don’t blame GearBox for this pile of hot garbage. They were just the last ones to touch it. In a way, I almost admire them. For one they actually got the game pressed and on shelves but more than that, I am sure they saw how bad the game was, but pressed on. The one thing this game did is pique my curiosity over if GearBox can actually take the license and make a decent game with it now that they can start all over. If they can’t though, they can just delay indefinitely and keep the trend going. Advice: even seeing this game for sale as cheap as $5 isn’t worth it.
In the category of “Game I Own And Really Would Like To Play, But Haven’t Yet” that one goes to Resistance 3. When I first got my PS3 I had the first Resistance game. It took me about 2 years, but I finally fished it. Though it wasn’t perfect, it was fun. Then along came the second, and I heard nothing but bad things about it. With the recent release of the third, I heard the opposite and thought I would like to revisit that universe. It still sits on my shelf wrapped in plastic, just waiting to be played. I have seen videos of it, read reviews of it, and heard people talk good things about it. All of this leads me to believe that I really should play it, but just haven’t found the time to get around to it yet.
There were two games that I finished this year that are wildly different but deserve to be mentioned. The first being Monster Tale. Brought to you buy the “Henry Hatsworth” guy and Majesco. Monster Tale is a fun and stylish “Metroid-Vania” title for the Nintendo DS. It does a very good job of not only using both screens, but using them in radically different ways. On top you have your dungeon exploring/platformer and the bottom is a sort of Tamagachi style pet sim. Items found on top go to your pet who uses them and then gains different skills. It is a title that sadly will be over-looked by a lot of “hardcore” gamers out there. The fact of the matter though is that despite the childish exterior, Monster Tale is actually pretty deep. There are multiple pets to morph into and a deep skill tree to flesh out with different abilities. If you have a DS and would like something fun but engaging, this could be a good fit. Good luck finding it though.
Gears of War is arguably one of the biggest exclusive titles for the xbox 360. That being said, it is not a game for everyone. From the over the top blood and gore to the sometimes over the top “bromance” brewing beneath it’s manly exterior, Gears is a series that always had a decent story behind the scads of head shots and fist pumps. While the Gears universe is sometimes approached pretty ham-fisted, the story itself was wrapped up nicely at the end. It answered enough questions that the casual fan of the series is probably pretty satisfied. There are a few story beats that didn’t get answered (Mainly why the queen is human, and what her connection to Marcus is.) but I guess that could be answered in DLC. It was nice to see the story through different eyes, and the subtle tweaks to the combat and weapons was a nice touch. If you have followed the series this far, it’s worth seeing through to the end.
Though it may be hard to look past the situation that arose after the games development was complete, L.A. Noire is not a game to pass overlook. Besides the almost uncanny look of the in-game characters, L.A. Noire is a game that is true to not only the genre but the title as well. Period appropriate music, as well as language and style feed perfectly into creating an experience that feels like being transported back in time. Working through the case load of Cole Phelps takes the player through all forms of crime and corruption. It’s more police procedural adventure game than open world action, but that is not a bad thing. Look for clues is just as fun as interrogating witnesses. There are a few issues to be found, but they are easy to over look when faced with a bigger picture that looks and plays so well.
Looking back on the gorgeous and emotionally charged trailer for Dead Island, it’s easy to see why some were turned off by the actual game upon release. Dead Island was never really able to achieve the punch that first glimpse at the game gave, but the rest of it was still good. Sure there were bugs, and the story itself is in no way emotional, but it’s fun. First thing to take into consideration when playing Dead Island, the default control scheme is NOT the way to play that game. Dead Island is basically an open world zombie hunt with colored loot. If that doesn’t make you sway one way or the other, playing the game won’t change anything. Having said that, it is really the only game of it’s type out there available. Don’t expect it to live up the the hype created by the trailer, but do expect to have some wacky things happen (mostly unintentionally) along the way and it may be pleasantly surprising to play.
After the lackluster releases of Driver 76′, Driver: Parallel Lines, and the abysmal Driv3r, it’s hard to believe that Driver San Francisco could be so good. Throw in the fact that the game revolves around the main character being in a coma and having strange “powers” and it starts to sound like a fever dream. However, Driver SF is a really good game. The number of ways that it could have taken itself to seriously, or to comically are just as staggering as the fact that Ubisoft managed to show restraint. Taking the role of Tanner, who is once again on the chase of Jericho though this time it’s literally all in Tanner’s head. It’s a bit hard to explain but manages to all make sense in the context of the game. Driving at top speed chasing cars through crowded city streets is just as fun as it was in the original Driver game back on the PSOne. I imagine that this game will probably hit the bargain bin pretty soon. At any price, however, this game is worth checking out.
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