Up late talking games & writing? You're...

Games: The wife and I finished Gears 3 a couple of days ago, and I've got a review in the works. It's been a fairly difficult one to write since I focus more on the story and character aspects than about how many weapons are available in multiplayer modes, or how explosive the setpieces are.


I'm not quite sure how well it will go over since I think my reaction to the story (and especially the ending) are not typical... that's never stopped me before, though. We’ll see!


I also spent about three hours with the new XBLA title, AMY, and have submitted a review already. It's not exactly the smoking wreck that everyone says it is... well, I mean, it is a smoking wreck but it's a very strange one because the biggest offense it commits is that it feels as though it was developed a decade ago and only just recently discovered in some lost vault or archive. I really can't imagine how anyone could have greenlit a game that feels so outdated and atavistic. I mean, it's as though the developers were living in a cave on some remote, isolated mountaintop and haven't played anything since the PS1 days.


In any event, it's a real shame that the game went south because I think the premise is strong and I would have been quite interested to see the concepts go in a different direction. Unfortunately, that didn't happen, and under no circumstances am I suggesting anybody should pay for it. DO NOT RECOMMEND.


After AMY, I took @KayinAmoh’s advice and spent some time with Cabela’s Survival: Shadows of Katmai on 360. You may not believe it, but the game is completely awesome.

No, seriously. This is not a joke. It's awesome.


Basically, it's Uncharted at the core, except that the story moves at a breakneck pace and the developers have taken the liberty to approach the title with tongue firmly in cheek. There are so many goofy things that happen that it's utterly brilliant; it's so absurd that it's pure genius.

After crashing his plane in the remote Alaskan wilderness, the main character must rescue his passenger and her mysterious cargo. Along the way, he scales mountains like Spider-Man, kills a nature preserve’s worth of wolves, dogsleds like an F1 driver, stuffs a woman inside a moose to save her life Empire Strikes Back style, travels with a magical teleporting husky, finds the cabin of someone who could be a stand-in for a retired Solid Snake, collects vials of medicine as large as his own body and shoots a bunch of cougars and bears RIGHT IN THE GODDAMN HEART.


I don't see how anybody can not love this game. I haven't finished it yet, but from what I've seen so far, this looks like a total RECOMMEND.


My good friend @ChrisGreen87 tackles the question of what it means to be Batman in his latest blog post. It's an interesting read and examines the merits of constructing Arkham City in open-world fashion.


You can take a look and see what he's got to say right here.



If you're a regular reader of this blog you may remember that a little while ago, I was considering including PR releases and general games info at the bottom of my posts. I asked you, my readers for feedback, and I didn't get anyone who thought that sounded like a bad idea, so tonight will be the first night that I'll try this out...

Everything below is basically cut and pasted verbatim from the numerous press releases I get every day. I'm not endorsing any of the games or products below, I'm simply passing along word for those of you who may be interested.

If you don't want to be subjected to a whole lot of information overload, feel free to stop reading now. Also, if you’ve got a minute, drop me a line and let me know whether you actually like seeing this stuff, or if you'd rather have me not include it.

Thanks!


FALLOUT® MMO RIGHTS RESTORED TO BETHESDA SOFTWORKS® IN INTERPLAY LITIGATION

All Fallout® Intellectual Property Rights Belong Exclusively to Bethesda

Under the terms of the settlement, the license granted to Interplay to develop the Fallout MMO is null and void, and all rights granted to Interplay to develop a Fallout MMO revert back to Bethesda, effective immediately. Interplay has no ongoing right to use the Fallout brand or any Fallout intellectual property for any game development. ZeniMax will pay Interplay $2 million as consideration in the settlement, each party will bear its own costs of the litigation, and Bethesda will continue to own all Fallout intellectual property rights. Interplay will be permitted to continue to sell the original Fallout ®Tactics, Fallout® and Fallout® 2 PC games through December 2013, after which time all rights to market those games revert to and become the sole property of Bethesda. Under the original agreement pursuant to which Bethesda had acquired the Fallout property, Interplay was granted certain merchandising rights to sell those original Fallout games, but those merchandising rights will now expire on December 31, 2013.


Feeling angry? Having a bad day? Then unleash that rage with the official demo for Asura’s Wrath, available on PlayStation Network and Xbox LIVE in North America.

Introducing a brand new style of game, players will control Asura in a blend of action and cinematic sequences, delivering a fresh take on the genre. Download the demo and face off against distinct enemies in two episodes from the game. Meet the planetary sized boss Wyzen and Asura’s old mentor Augus on this journey for revenge against each of the eight deities who betrayed Asura 12,000 years ago. Execute a mix of range attacks and visceral close quarters action to fill Asura’s ‘Burst Gauge,’ unleashing the full forces of his rage and devastation.


The Demon Slayer Beckons: Third and final character class rounds out the massive MapleStory Legends update

The third and final character class to complete MapleStory’s Legends update has finally arrived in the form of the Demon Slayer, who joins Mercedes and the Canonneer to round out Maple World’s elite roster. As a former underling of the Black Mage, the Demon Slayer came to his senses and discovered where the real truth in battle resides, within the Resistance movement.

In his quest to free Edelstein and atone for his evil past, the Demon Slayer fights with a mighty one-handed mace and defends himself with the Demon Aegis, a shield made exclusively for this formidable class. His unique energy gauge, known as Demon Fury, charges as the Demon Slayer defeats deadly monsters. Through his Demon Impact skill, the Slayer’s dormant power is instantly activated to target multiple enemies at once, becoming more amplified as the power is used against boss monsters.


Kalypso Media is pleased to announce that Jagged Alliance: Back in Action, the next installment in the much loved Jagged Alliance series of tactical role-playing games, will arrive in North American retail outlets on February 14, 2012. Jagged Alliance: Back in Action puts players in control of a private military corporation that has been hired to depose an evil dictator, who has taken over the tropical island of Arulco. Sector-by-sector, inch-by-inch, the player’s squads of mercenaries will recapture the island using their wits, willpower, tactical skills, and of course – plenty of guns.


An Open Letter to the Gaming Community from CD Projekt RED

In early December, an article was published about a law firm acting on behalf of CD Projekt RED, contacting individuals who had downloaded The Witcher 2 illegally and seeking financial compensation for copyright infringement. The news about our decision to combat piracy directly, instead of with DRM, spread quickly and with it came a number of concerns from the community. Repeatedly, gamers just like you have said that our methods might wrongly accuse people who have never violated our copyright and expressed serious concern about our actions.

Being part of a community is a give-and-take process. We only succeed because you have faith in us, and we have worked hard over the years to build up that trust. We were sorry to see that many gamers felt that our actions didn't respect the faith that they have put into CD Projekt RED. Our fans always have been and remain our greatest concern, and we pride ourselves on the fact that you all know that we listen to you and take your opinions to heart. While we are confident that no one who legally owns one of our games has been required to compensate us for copyright infringement, we value our fans, our supporters, and our community too highly to take the chance that we might ever falsely accuse even one individual.

So we've decided that we will immediately cease identifying and contacting pirates.

Let's make this clear: we don't support piracy. It hurts us, the developers. It hurts the industry as a whole. Though we are staunch opponents of DRM because we don't believe it has any effect on reducing piracy, we still do not condone copying games illegally. We're doing our part to keep our relationship with you, our gaming audience, a positive one. We've heard your concerns, listened to your voices, and we're responding to them. But you need to help us and do your part: don't be indifferent to piracy. If you see a friend playing an illegal copy of a game--any game--tell your friend that they're undermining the possible success of the developer who created the very game that they are enjoying. Unless you support the developers who make the games you play, unless you pay for those games, we won't be able to produce new excellent titles for you.

Keep on playing,

Marcin Iwinski
co-founder CD Projekt RED


Yesterday, EA announced not only that the Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning demo is coming January 17th, but also that the Reckoning team is teaming up with Mass Effect 3 to offer players a cross promotion of exclusive in-game items for both full games. For more info please visit reckoningthegame.com.

Today we’re announcing the complete list of Versus Modes for Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City. Players will be able to experience online 4 vs. 4 team battles playing as either a member of the Umbrella Security Service (USS) or US Spec Ops. Check out all the details on the modes below and visit the press site to download the brand new gameplay trailer.

Take on the role of the bad guys with USS members Vector, Beltway, Lupo, Four-Eyes, Spectre or Bertha. Alternatively play as the good guys and experience the horrors of Raccoon City as Tweed, Dee-ay, Harley, Willow, Shona or Party Girl, members of the US Spec Ops that we revealed earlier this week in the Triple Impact trailer. Meet the US Spec Ops characters in person by downloading their new character art on the press site. Breaking the conventions of traditional third person shooters, players will not only have to compete against their team’s opposing squad but tackle a third unpredictable force as zombies and B.O.W.s add to the mix.

In Team Deathmatch, battle for the most kills in brutal triple threat chaos that leaves players never knowing what’s behind them, an element that could only exist in the twisted Resident Evil universe. Ensure that samples of the G-virus are returned safely to their base in Biohazardmode while fighting off all the competing forces at play in Raccoon City. Try to survive the horror just a little bit longer while waiting for rescue in Survivors mode. There’s limited space on board a helicopter so fight off the opposition and survive the hordes of hungry zombies, risking infection if they get too close. Try to make it out of Raccoon City alive!

Of course there’s also the previously announced Heroes Mode which allows fans to play as one of their favorite Resident Evil characters,including Leon S. Kennedy, Hunk or Jill Valentine.

Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City will be available for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on March 20 in North America.


If you haven't heard yet, the website for the BlazBlue Revolution (BlueRevo) has gone live last month.

BlazBlue Revolution, or BlueRevo for short, is the biggest open invitation BlazBlue team tournament in Japan. Participants from all over Japan are gathering their strongest allies and heading to their local qualifier sites for a chance to battle it out in the BlueRevo Finals. And now participants from North America have also been invited for a piece of the action!

Here in the United States, a single team of three will be chosen to participate in the prestigious BlueRevo Finals in Japan on March 24th, 2012. Aksys Games will provide full airfare and hotel accommodations to the selected players; all you need to do is prove that your team is the strongest in all of North America at the BlazBlue Revolution US Finals on Februrary 25th, 2012 in Los Angeles, CA.

Ready to battle it out? Check out the Events or Rules section for more info on BlueRevo at www.blazbluerevolution.com. Updates about the preliminary events held all over the US and the US finals will come next week!


Tripwire Interactive are pleased to announce the release of the modding and map making tools for Red Orchestra 2, available free to everyone that owns Red Orchestra 2. While the limited functionality preview versions of the SDK have been available to select modders for a while, this release now makes the full capabilities of the Mod SDK available to everyone. Users can now make and publish everything from simple mods and mutators, through custom maps and on to full total conversion mods.

Modders and map makers have been hard at work with the pre-release SDK and several great maps and mods are already coming together. For a preview of what is to come, check out these three total conversion mods already in production for Red Orchestra 2:

Rising Storm - http://www.risingstormgame.com/

In Country Vietnam - http://www.incountrymod.com/

Iron Europe - http://www.ironeuropegame.com/

And to check out all of the latest custom maps, mods, and content head on over to the modding section of the Tripwire Interactive forums: http://forums.tripwireinteractive.com/forumdisplay.php?f=83

The Mod SDK is available to download from Steam, completely free to anyone that owns Red Orchestra 2. Just go to the tools tab in Steam and install the SDK. And if you don't already own Red Orchestra 2 head on over to the store page now (http://store.steampowered.com/app/35450/) and get it so you can join the fun and make the level, mod, or game mode of your dreams!

the end of an era

Family: I worked a lot of hours last week. The bills have to be paid and that's just a fact of life, but after putting in so much time away from home, I'd been looking forward to the weekend. The goal was to get in some quality time with the wife and son to make up for being away, but life (as usual) had other plans.


I got slammed with a nasty head cold about halfway through Friday, and I spent the entire weekend dragging myself around the house and feeling miserable. We didn't get out, didn't do anything particularly fun or enriching, and spent way too much time with YouTube and videos trying to get through the days.

Now, not only do I still feel sick, I feel guilty for phoning it in this weekend and being sick-dad. Blarg.

(...And if I owe you an email or some edits, they're delayed. Apologies!)


Games: Since I worked so many hours last week, I didn't have much time to game. As a result, I'm falling a little bit behind schedule... I had hoped to have been done with Darksiders by now, but I've still got a little bit to go.


At least, I hope it's a little bit. It's been a great game, but I'm ready for it to be over and this last area (Azrael’s dungeon) has been the least entertaining and most tedious of the lot. Still enjoying it, but I greatly respect a game that knows when it needs to be over, and for Darksiders, that time is now.

In other games news, I’m also near the end of Gears of War 3 and contemplating doing a review. I've been co-opping with my wife for the entire game (and also had a brief stint with @KayinAmoh as our third) and it's been fine, but I can't say that it's been especially exciting or memorable.


Epic played it extremely safe with this third installment, and while I'm sure "more of the same" is good for some people, it feels a bit too predictable and monotonous at times. The ham-handed attempts at drama have been nothing short of laughable as well, so while it's technically fine, it really lacks in the inspiration/freshness department.


This week at GameCritics, we had several new pieces go up.

> @RichardNaik’s Skyward Sword review

>@GC_Danny’s Serious Sam: BFE and NFS: The Run reviews

>State of Play from Brandon Bales, this time talking to Jonathan Blow

> My review of the Honest Hearts DLC for Fallout: New Vegas

…And a slew of other stuff. If you've got some time, I invite you to click on over and see what we've got cooking.


In one last bit of GameCritics news, we just recorded GC Podcast episode 67 last Saturday, so expect that to be posted on Tuesday, or so.


If you’re a fan of the show, you definitely won't want to miss this particular episode... we've got a huge announcement for the listeners towards the end. I can't say any more about it now, except that it's big, big news.

I'll have more details here at the blog after the show goes live.


Books: My very good friend and talented author Marshall Moore’s most recent book has just become available for preorder. Titled The Infernal Republic, it’s up at Amazon and at Barnes & Noble.

If you’re up for something a little off the beaten path, he’s a great one to check out. That cover art is pretty sweet, too.


Radio: I guess I'm a little late to the party on this, but I used to listen to a radio program on NPR called the Thistle & Shamrock, but my local station dropped it several years ago and I just assumed that the program ended. Earlier today I was doing a random search and came across the website, and I was quite surprised to see that it's still going strong! I feel like a real knucklehead for not knowing this earlier, but there you go.

If you have a taste for Celtic music like I do, click on over and you can hear the last three podcasts for free.

Games: Wrapped up Professor Layton and the Last Specter (DS) a couple days ago. I'm just finishing my formal review as we speak, but the bottom line is that it was a pretty big disappointment.

The most exciting scene from the game.

The Layton series has always had a few issues, but it's so damn charming that you can't help but fall in love with it. At least, I can’t. That euro-café music, the quirky puzzle-solving Professor, and those fantastical, reality-defying storylines are just too delicious, not to mention the sort of puzzles that you can spend hours (and brain cells) on. Sadly, the developers really whiff it this time around and missed the mark on a lot of these qualities.

Well, the café music is still good, but...

Long story short, the plot was an utter bore that completely lacked in mystery or excitement, and the puzzles (while still decent) weren't as sharp as they usually are. You can read more about it when my review goes up, but I'm going on record as saying that this is the weakest of the four Layton games so far.


Games: I'm getting close to the end of Darksiders (360) and I'm still a bit in shock about what a high-quality game it is. I really can't say enough nice things about what a pleasure it's been to play.

Not the most exciting scene in the game.

The graphics, the animation, the art direction... all of it quite strong. The combat engine is complex without being confusing or clunky, there's great variety in the puzzles, and the general tone of the post-apocalyptic world and various factions is top-notch. If I had to pick something to complain about, it does feel like some of the levels go on just a bit too long, but never to the point that I started losing interest or started thinking about quitting them.

The adventure is sailing right along and it's been big-time thumbs-up all the way. I've been warned by some people on Twitter that apparently there’s some late-game collect-a-thon that drags things out unnecessarily, but I haven't had it yet, and it would have to be pretty terrible to harsh the happy buzz I've got going. I will be doing a full review of this game after completion, so look for more on Darksiders the near future.

…Oh, and I'm sure everyone already knows, but Darksiders II is coming sometime in 2012, so if you're one of those people (like me) that likes to play a series in order, you’ve still got plenty of time to grab the first game and play through in its entirety before the next one arrives. If the sequel’s as good as the original (and you like good games) you might want to think about jumping on.


Music: I'm one of those weird people who still listens to the radio when driving in the car. I like to scan through different stations and just sort of be open to new things that catch my ear. I don't know of any better way to do this than just tuning into what's new, and it works for me.

A recent discovery was The Joy Formidable, and their album The Big Roar. That was a fantastic find that I listened to for several days in a row. Still love it. I happened upon another winner not too long ago, and if you like Soul or the classic Motown sound, then you’ll want to check out JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound.

Awesome.

I heard one song while on my way to work and it sounded exactly right to my ear, so I popped for the album, Want More, that night. I'm glad I did, because every single track on it is a winner. Check out I Got High and Baaadnews and see what you think. I'm not really a music critic nor do I claim to be, but if I had to give this album a number, it’d easily be a 9/10.

RECOMMENDED.


TV: My little boy still enjoys Dora the Explorer and the Wonder Pets, but he's starting to get into other sorts of shows… things with robots, lasers, and lots of fighting. The wife and I are regulating this content pretty closely, but one morning I was reminiscing about and I decided to pop in an Ultraman DVD.

Ultramaaaaaan!

I hadn’t watched the show in years so I had forgotten how much boring talk there was, but when Ultraman finally showed up, my little boy sprang to life and instantly went nuts -- in a good way.

Ki-Kay-EE-da-AAAA!!

That was some good bonding time, so I decided to show him some Red Baron and Kikaida, and they were big hits as well. Kikaida, especially… he runs around the house now, constantly asking me to do the Double Chop and to flip him into the air as if he’s somersaulting over Purple Starfish or Hakaida himself.

Red-o BarOn!

This stuff is mega-cheesy and as low-budget as it comes, but there is something undeniably magical about sitting down with a little boy to watch faked martial arts and chunky monsters made of rubber and foam. If you've got a little one and have fond memories of this stuff like I do, give it a shot... you may just keep the legacy alive for another generation.

Games: The other day on Twitter, somehow or another the subject of Majora’s Mask came up between a couple of smart people. (No, I was not one of them.) It was an interesting discussion, but one that I couldn't really participate in because I've never finished the game, nor spent much time with it. Critically speaking, it's one of "those games" that is often cited as an example of X, Y or Z, and because it's so different from the other games in the Zelda series, there is apparently much to dissect in it.

Uh... No.

I did play the game back in the day when it was new, but it's been so long (released in 2000) that I couldn't remember much about it except that I had an intense dislike for it. The details of my experience were basically lost in the mists of time, so I thought it might be a good idea to revisit the game and see if my opinion of it had changed. If nothing else, I wanted to at least finish it so that I could speak intelligently on the subject next time it came up. Shortly afterward, I went online and downloaded Majora’s Mask to my Wii and fired it up.

About an hour later, I turned it off. I now remember why I dislike it. In a nutshell, Majora’s Mask is everything I can't stand in videogames condensed down into one tidy package.

The game starts out in a town filled with people to talk to, and I generally loathe talking to villagers. After talking to people, it's clear that everybody in town has one quest or another they need your help with, and I'm not generally a huge fan of sidequests. I’m also pretty tired of Zelda, so the overly-familiar cast of characters and music does not appeal to me. I don't like blindly searching for things, and the first two quests I got were telling me to go blindly search for things. My little fairy sidekick kept reminding me that we were on the clock, and I hate timed missions. Toss in other little odds and ends like the incredibly dated graphics (wow, crude 3D really doesn't age well, does it?) and the wonky controls from way back in the day when people could not manually move the camera, and I just don't see a way that I can get through the game without losing my mind.

In a perfect world, I would like to sit down and critically explore what it is that makes Majora’s Mask such a perennial topic of discussion, but I've got to be honest here... I can put up with a lot of stuff and my tolerance for getting through certain things is probably better than most, but when a game comes along that pushes every single button I have at the same time, I've got to call it quits.

Just can't do it. Sorry.

Games: Speaking of titles from the past, I just finished American McGee’s Alice, also from 2000. I didn't have a gaming PC at that time and I've never been a big fan of PC gaming anyway, so it has always been one of those titles that I wanted to get around to, but never really did. When I heard that it was a DLC pack-in with new copies of Madness Returns, it was pretty exciting news.


I just completed the review and will be submitting it for publication later tonight. It was an interesting experience, to be sure... for much of the time, playing was monstrously painful thanks to the crude level of technical production. Slippery slopes, jumps that require too much precision, and absolutely execrable combat were all sour elements that I could have done without. On the other hand, I think the general concept and game flow were better than what we got in the sequel. Alice doesn't have the same fetish for platform jumping that Madness Returns does, and it's about 60% shorter -- both great things in my book.

I'm glad that I played it and it was especially nice to be able to compare it to the sequel, but I can't honestly say that it was a positive experience overall, and I don't think that I would really recommend it for anything other than research purposes.

Games: With both of those moldy oldies off my plate, it was time to hit the backlog that I talked about in the last update... with a good number of votes and knowledge that a sequel is coming this year, I went with Darksiders and put about two hours into that so far.

I have to say, I just about fell out of my chair when I started it.


I saw the game in an alpha-ish date at PAX ’08 or maybe ‘09, and at the time, it looked like garbage. Don't get me wrong, I knew that it was nowhere near done, but it was damned hard to imagine that what I was seeing on the screen coming together into anything I’d be interested in.

What a difference some time and polish make!

The leap in quality between when I first saw it and what I was seeing on my TV screen at home was like night and day -- it was almost unrecognizably different, and in a good way! The animation was much smoother, the detail in the environments was a thousand times better, and just everything about it screams ‘high-quality’.

Like I said, I've barely started, but so far it's scratching my itch. I'm looking forward to putting some more time into it, and I'm still trying to get over the shock of how much better everything about it is. Part of that shock is definitely on me since I should have been more willing to give the game a chance, but at the same time, I guess that's one reason why most developers don't like to show their games when they’re so early in the production process...


Press: Quick question for my readers -- lately I've been toying with the idea of running PR announcements and news here at the bottom of each new update. I might randomly add a comment or two, but basically it would just be verbatim releases from publishers and press about upcoming games, events, and so forth. If I did, would that sort of information be of interest?

Let me know!

Happy Holidays and a pre-emptive Happy New Year to everyone who reads this blog. Whether you keep up with every post or if you only pop in once in a while, I appreciate the time you take to check out what I’ve got to say. Thank you muchly for stopping by, and thanks for supporting Drinking Coffeecola.

Games: So 2011's over. What's next?

At the moment, I've fulfilled all of my GameCritics obligations and I'm just coasting for a couple of weeks. Although it feels weird to not have fifteen projects burning at the same time, it's nice to take a quick breather from the hectic pace -- especially from all the madness that happens in the fourth quarter.

Personally, I'm not playing anything substantial at the moment; just a little of this, and a little of that. However, instead of starting up something big, it's usually around this time of year that I get the urge to go through my backlog and weed through the accumulated pile. I've got quite a bit of stuff stacked up, so I need to start deciding what I'm actually going to try to play, and what I’m never going to get around to. If nothing else, that "never" stack can stop collecting dust and be put to better use by being traded in for some credit towards a 3DS or a Vita…

(note: not my actual stack of games - just a dramatic re-enactment.)

Here's what's in the stack, not counting all of the XBL/PSN/WW downloads I haven't touched yet:


Wii:
A Boy and his Blob (shelved @ 30%)
Alice in Wonderland
Boom Blox (thinking about it makes my arm hurt…)
Broken Sword
Chocobo’s Dungeon
De Blob (didn’t like #2)
Endless Ocean 2
Madworld (shelved @ 80%)
Monster Lab
Munchables
No More Heroes 2
Punch-Out (shelved @ final boss, IIRC)
Red Steel 2
Safecracker
Super Mario Galaxy 2
Super Paper Mario
Tatsunoko vs Capcom


360:
Army of Two 2
Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts (shelved @ 25%)
Batman: Arkham City (shelved after 4-5 hours)
Bayonetta (started/quit three times, never finished)
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow (wife’s 20hr save was killed by a glitch, scared me off)
Child of Eden
Conan
Darksiders
Dead Space 2 (shelved @ 50%)
Earth Defense Force 2 (shelved @ 50%)
Eternal Sonata
Fracture
Gears of War 3 (waiting for a 2nd copy to co-op with the wife)
Halo Wars (shelved @ 50%)
LA Noire
Legendary
Metro 2033
Red Faction Armageddon (shelved @ 50%)
Sherlock Holmes vs. Jack the Ripper
Singularity
The First Templar (shelved @ 50%)
Velvet Assassin
Viva Pinata 2
Wolfenstein


PS3:
Resonance of Fate
Tekken 6
White Knight Chronicles (shelved after 4hrs)
Yakuza 3
Yakuza 4


PS2:
Bard’s Tale
Baroque
Disgaea 2
Jak & Daxter: Lost Frontier
Final Fantasy XII (shelved @ 40hrs)
Manhunt 2
Okami (the wife took 65-ish hrs to finish, didnt want to commit that much time)
Sakura Wars
Scarface
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories
Spy Fiction
Summoner 2


Sooooooooo…. I’ve definitely got a few ideas about which of these titles still hold interest for me and which don't, but I figured I would throw this list out to you, dear readers, and see if you have strong feelings about any of 'em, either positive or negative.

Are there some in this list I should absolutely get to? Are there some that I can toss aside without a second thought? If you've got any feedback either way, post a comment or hit me up on Twitter and let me know. The great purge hasn't begun, but the time is coming.

(Side note: I will weep tears of blood if/when we finally move to an e-only future and lose the abiliy to trade/sell games we don't want any more. Fizzical m3dia 4 lyfe, yo.)


Writing: Games talk aside, I'm a little ashamed to say that I did not meet my deadline for the edits that were due on my book this year.

I'm not trying to make excuses because I’m big believer in personal accountability, but with everything that was on my plate, it was just too easy to keep putting the book on the back burner and tell myself I’d get to it later. That's exactly what happened, and ‘later’ was a while ago… hopefully the publisher I had lined up will still be interested, and if they are, I'll probably take this time between now and February to buckle down and get it done.

Otherwise, I've got a screenplay that I'll be shopping around and I'm considering starting a collection of short stories. The idea of starting and completing a tale in less than a year is starting to look more and more appealing these days… we'll see, though.  I'm trying to be much more realistic this year in terms of time management, so I think I will have to scale my expectations back accordingly.

Another year, another breakdown of the year's best games… according to me.

Before getting into what made the cut, I went back and looked at what I'd picked for 2010. At the start of last year's article, here's what I wrote:

Looking back, 2010 was an odd twelve months. Catching many players and critics by surprise, a large number of the most hotly-anticipated titles ended up being unexpectedly disappointing, leaving the top honors wide open for a number of lesser-known, smaller-budget projects. Unfortunately, while many of these smaller games displayed promise and creativity, most of them were flawed or uneven enough to give pause. The result? A year where (in my view, anyway) there really was no single runaway pick for the year's best.

So, if you took ‘2011’ and switched it out for ‘2010’, I think that paragraph would be just as applicable for me now as it was back then. Some people may disagree, but for my taste, a lot of the games walking away with top honors right now just weren't cutting it. Of course, your mileage may vary (and probably does) but for me, the ten titles below were the ones that left the best impression and were most deserving.




Although I'm sure the heads of Skyrim fans will explode after seeing that this game made my list and that one didn't, for me the difference was the ease and speed of play, the variety and humor in the quests, and the quality of the characters. Although it's rough around the edges, there were several great ideas implemented in the game's formula and there is definitely something to be said for an open-world RPG that doesn't feel like a slog to play. The combat was fast and easy to get a handle on, the upgrading and modifying was satisfying, and the writers had a sense of humor that I appreciated. It's not the biggest, deepest, or most polished out there, but it did everything just right enough and came together in a package that was easy to enjoy.





The original Deus Ex is one of my favorite games of all time, so I was quite excited to see the franchise revived after a long period of laying fallow. Although it had issues like the absurd energy system (I need more energy bars, stat!) and a strange fetish for tinting everything yellow, it was respectful of the source material and felt like an honest continuation of those same ideas. I also admit that I'm a sucker for stealthy play when it's done well, and popping up out of nowhere to subdue guards silently just never got old.





I am definitely a fan of Ian Stocker’s work, and his latest didn't disappoint. I was already intrigued by the concept of a goat escaping from a magical prison, so it was a treat to see that the implementation was just as good as the idea. The quality and craftsmanship on display are superior to the vast majority of what pops up on the Xbox Live Indie channel, and the elegant mechanics clicked with me instantly. What do you get when you combine a barnyard animal, a wall-climbing mouse and a magic hat? A damned good puzzle game.





When brilliant artwork is married to a time-tested formula, the result can only be a great thing, and in this case, that proved entirely true. Although the core Metroidvania gameplay may seem overly-familiar at first, it's soon made evident that each area in the game was hand-crafted to present a constantly fresh series of puzzles, challenges and environments. Play progression was smooth and confident, there was absolutely zero filler from start to finish, and high-intensity multiplayer modes gave gamers a reason to keep coming back after their mission was complete.





This physics-based action/platformer was quite a surprise. With very little buzz before release, it came out of nowhere and displayed a masterful level of pacing and production. Each puzzle to be solved used the game’s gravity gun in clever ways, constantly introducing new mechanics while building upon the previous ones. The decision to make the main character a portly, Southern mechanic with a colorful, down-home personality was a great change of pace from the usual ‘hero’ stereotype, and the integration of storytelling without interrupting gameplay was spot-on.





While it's true that the PSP didn't get many strong releases in 2011, this was not only a must-play portable, but one of the better games to be released for the system overall. The unique combination of Visual Novel and JRPG genres delivered an interesting story with sci-fi and historical elements, and one which was perfectly suited for pick-up-and-play sessions thanks to a compact design and discrete structure. The new spin on paper-rock-scissors for combat was brilliant, and it was always possible to feel as though progress was made regardless of how much time was put in. Also, it earns special kudos for having an ending which felt satisfying and appropriate for the story mode -- something that's entirely too rare these days.





This neo-detective story stars a main character who gets murdered in the game’s opening and then has one night as a disembodied spirit to figure out who killed him and why. It's an original, engaging premise that's matched by equally creative gameplay. In order to interact with the physical world, the character must possess inanimate objects to trigger them in various ways. Figuring out the solution to each puzzle is akin to putting the pieces of a Rube Goldberg machine into place and watching it click and clank in absurd, unexpected motions. It's bizarre... yet delightful. Toss in a cast of eccentric, memorable characters and a level of art and animation that's a sight to behold, and it earns its spot on this list quite handily.





It's no secret that I like the unusual and the unorthodox, and both of those labels fit this game like a glove. At first glance, it seems like utter insanity to take a 3D Q*Bert update and combine it with a love triangle that tasks the player with deciding whether to live a calm, orderly life or one that's more chaotic and hedonistic. However, that's exactly what Atlus did, and I was hooked from the start. Thanks to some great writing, memorable characters, and gameplay that was engaging (and challenging) enough to keep interest high, no one who plays Catherine ever forgets it. It is literally like nothing else out there.





For a fighting series that's been sketchy and irreverent at best (and a pile of absurd, smoking garbage at worst) I was blown away by the incredible step up in quality here. Not only was the gameplay totally dialed-in to a level that's never been seen in this franchise before, the story mode did something that few fighters ever do: it actually took the time to tell a story and fleshed out characters that players have never known very much about. It was, bar none, the best fighting game campaign mode I've ever seen, and the game certainly wasn't hurt by an insane amount of content in the single-player mode. Flawless victory.





Intense, visceral combat. An open world large enough to explore, yet one that never feels empty or pointless. Fantastic atmosphere and beautiful environments. "Realistic" quests that one could imagine doing if zombies were real. Dead Island offers all of this, and more. Although dozens of games cram the undead into various modes and one-offs where they make for good target practice, very few titles attempt to create a zombie apocalypse in the way often written about in books or shown in movies -- scavenging environments for necessities, establishing safe houses, finding medicine, and so on. Although it's not the perfect simulation I think zombie fans like myself hope for, it comes closer than any other game before it and does it in fine style. For me, Dead Island was the most enjoyable, most unforgettable experience in 2011, and one of the very few that I could not put down until I'd seen and done every single thing. Well done, Techland.


…And there you have it, my top ten of 2011.

Agree? Disagree? Post a comment at the bottom and let me know what you think.

Now, bring on 2012!