The Game Critique

Last year I said I called it to a number of predictions I had made. Then in February I made several predictions about the coming year. Let’s see how I did.

1- On Resident Evil 5 I said that it would be an end to the series being about horror mostly because of co-op as an effect of its focus on action. I also said that it wouldn’t be as well regarded as Resident Evil 4. I nailed this one. Other than the discussion on race that the game spawned and some discussion on co-op this game was largely forgotten a month later. A few people in making their end of year lists had to be reminded that it came out and then ignored it.

2- I called Killzone 2 another competent, run of the mill shooter and would have as much influence as one could have. Yes, got this one too. After all the hullabaloo and yelling from the fanboys defending it, it really fell off the radar. Not to take away from the game, like I said a decent shooter.

3- inFamous, I said was a strong and solid title that would be a clunker when it came to the moral choice aspect like Bioshock was. Again I think I’m going to give myself a win for this.

4- Heavy Rain. Doesn’t matter what I said about it. It got delayed twice and is coming out first quarter of next year. So much for that one.

5- Prototype. There is some disagreement on this one. Some defend it, others fall on my side of the camp. One thing is consistent throughout, regardless on your stance on the play mechanics, the story is crap. Since that’s what I focused on, because that’s what their marketing focused on, I’m giving myself this one as well.

6- Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. Great game, a little better than the first in every way. As for whether or not I’ll end up defending every little nit pick that gets leveled against the game, we shall have to wait and see for me to get caught up on my reading. Glad to see everyone catching up for my love of the series.

7- I Am Alive. Another failure on my part. Ubisoft has got to get its facts straight when it will be releasing a game. Didn’t come out, so my comments are moot.

8- Assassin’s Creed 2. I said it would be an improvement over the first with more varied missions. From all accounts it does just that. It does stumble in some new territory, but I didn’t say it would now did I.

9- Alan Wake. I said it wouldn’t be out this year and I’m three days away from the end, so I’m calling it a win.

10- Dragon Age: Origins. The PC version is better than the console versions and no it doesn’t live up to Baldur’s Gate in my mind. Still an excellent game like no other. Nailed this one as well.

So in summery I called 8 out of 10. It all seems so obvious now. Maybe I’ll try and make a few more difficult predictions next year. And hope delays don’t screw up my guesses next time.

Disclaimer: QWERTY’s opinions are not mine nor the site’s. The psudonym QWERTY is used to protect the innocent.

E3 is back to its old extravaganza self, which means everyone else over the next week on the net will start crapping themselves over all the awesomeness. The starry-eyed masses will flitter around claiming how everything will remake the way we play games. In fact you know there is going to be so much awesomeness there, because a great majority of the announcements have already been revealed, leaked, etc. That means there has to be even greater awesomeness for the show.

Wait…we’re now betting on this. Ok I’m game.

Nintendo will reveal new hardware that most people with have utterly no use for and have one bright spot on the horizon in the form of Mario/Link/Icarus, but otherwise waste everyone’s time.

Microsoft will spend most of their time showing of multiplatform 3rd party games and somehow take the credit like they were exclusives and then cover it up with something Halo.

Sony will just show their fall lineup and be declared winner of the hardcore.

Of course Nintendo will still get all the cash.

Or did you want something not so obvious. Why not, with 10,000 to 1 odds being thrown about I’ll take it to the bank. (Where is this and why am I not in on it? – Eric Swain)

Devil May Cry 5 and/or Onimusha 5 will be announced.

Wii______ will be announced.

We will see a rehashed trailer of something already leaked via Sony.

Guitar Hero 6 will be mentioned at least once even in passing.

Everyone will claim to be winning the game by spinning the fact and only Nintendo will have any credibility.

The word billion will be thrown about.

Terrorists will be the subjects of one or more games.

The Unfinished Swan will be mentioned.

As will Duke Nukem forever. I of course will be making more fun of it.

Battletoads 3D for the Wii for 2010. (Battletoads? Really? – Eric Swain)

Mirror’s Edge 2 will have Co-op.

Assassin’s Creed 2 will feature space aliens.

Final Fantasy XIII Crystal Chronicles-2 Versus Dragon Quest X will be shown in CG trailer form.

The number of colons will exceed Los Angles capacity and overflow the convention center.

Magpie-gamer analogy will be said somewhere by someone. Most likely on twitter.

I could go on, but I won’t as I’m taking the easy road now and am not paying attention E3 or taking responsibility for any claims. You can direct those to the site’s owner. I will be.

Ok, my presence on the Internet the last week has been next to non-existent. Not just on this site, but Creative Fluff, twitter, IRC ect. Call it laziness or school, but I’m still alive. It’s that time when my personal projects are numerous and I hope to finish them off before my school work takes complete focus.

Anyway I was thinking about what to write as a quick of the top of my head post and it occurred to me. I did a post last year, I Called It, which was kind of pointless being one of the first half a dozen things I posted on the site. I could have written anything that happened and said I say this would happen. Well I did say those things, maybe not on the net, but in real life to anyone who would bother to listen to me. This year I decided to put my money where my mouth is so to speak and play act as Nostradamus of a little bit, without the cryptic speech that can be interpreted any which way of course.

First off, my thoughts on Resident Evil 5. This game is not going to light the world on fire, nor is it going to get the same kind of “best game of all time” response that Resident Evil 4 received from non-hype machine sources. The game is just like RE4 and unlike it’s predecessor it is not fresh enough to escape the fact that it isn’t frightening anymore and is an action title with some very frustrating controls. Co-op mode, while assuredly fun, should be the first and only needed clue that this is no longer a horror game. It takes its lessons from the school of Gears of War, only with less amiable controls, and not, say, previous Resident Evils. I’m not even speaking towards the game’s quality or the debates that will go on with the game’s “racism.”

Killzone 2- It was marketed as a Halo killer. I’m not sure that’s accurate no matter how nice the grit looks on screen. I was in the multiplayer beta and its just a basic shooter. Which given how much gimmick there seems to be now, a basic shooter may be something new. I am willing to bet that this will be the PlayStation’s answer to Halo. Not in terms of advancement of the genre as the first one was, but I’d say closer to the third one. The multiplayer is the focus and the story is just sort of there for the “few” people that still get shooters for single player. You’re a space marine tasked with killing aliens. It will be a killer app for Sony, if they ever market the bloody thing, but frankly all it is, is another shooter. The best of the bunch, but still just another shooter.

I just looked over the last two paragraphs and realize they could spawn posts in and of themselves. However, since I’m here to make predictions I’m going to curtail reasons for latter game specific posts. Onward.

3. inFamous – I can get behind this game. It is going to be  solid title for the PlayStation 3. That’s it a strong and solid title. That’s not a bad thing, but I doubt the whole open world aspect that inFamous is in a long line of games trying to promote. I don’t think it’s going to offer the freedom to just do anything you want. And as for the choice of being a hero or an anti-hero as much as I love the idea, I think it’s going to fall as flat as Bioshock’s attempt did.

Cuatro: Heavy Rain- This game, like the Quantic Dreams’ last game, Indigo Prophecy, is going to fall squarely into the sphere of the Killer 7 argument. Like the term’s titular game and No More Heroes and Earthbound and Beyond Good and Evil, despite the flaws its worth getting and playing because of the utter uniqueness of the title. I haven’t a clue how much they are going to live up to the ever player action affects the story aspect, but I think its going to shoot for the moon, push the boundaries of what is currently being done and then fall short. Hence the Killer 7 argument.

Quinqu__ Prototype – Really, this is the game getting most of the attention and hype? Two phrases should have turned everyone off this title. “The main character has amnesia” and “Open world game with totally destructible environments.” If that’s your thing you don’t have to wait for the game to come out. Both Grand Theft Auto 4 and Hulk Ultimate Destruction will fill the space. Average, run of the mill, solid but uninspired and that’s being generous. At least inFamous got creative in its excuses for the character to do things.

Roku = Uncharted 2: Among Thieves- I predict that this game will have the exact same effect on me that the first one did. I like the game thought it was solid and even better than average, but on replaying it and on every reflection of the game it goes up in my esteem. I end somehow defending against all nitpicks and am not sure how I got to that point. But honestly, after experiencing that effect once, that’s really what I want the sequel to do to me.

& // I Am Alive – I expect this game to promise a world of new experience in the survival genre and then deliver only dressed up old experiences.

Eight || Assassin’s Creed 2 – An improved Assassin’s Creed game, with more varied missions and interesting interactions. Basically what the first title should have been. And of course another balls to the wall excuse to have it take place in the past.

Nove [] Alan Wake – It will not come out this year.

Zhen ; Dragon Age: Origins- It will not live up to the myth Baldur’s Gate built up over the last 11 years, but it will come damn close. The PC version will be better than the console versions.

Well those are all the games I can think of off the top of my head and is more than enough for ten months from now, when I see how I did.

Well everyone else is doing their end of the year round up, and I thought I’d join the fun. Of course I haven’t been around for a major part of the year, hell I don’t think I’ve had an active posting site for a week, but I have been around for the last year and instead of giving my best 10 or whatever else, I’d like to state a few predictions I’ve repeatedly made to anyone who would listen (I’ll do this here come next year) and see how I fared. I think you can guess by the title. I’m only going to do the ones I can remember off the top of my head.

Firstly, Too Human. We were shown demos and stage presentations of the game last E3, the 2007 one. After much delay it got released this year. When the presentation was showed I noticed to things. That I could barely tell what was going on the screen and that the movement and animations were severely choppy. Then I heard how everyone after that was so excited by what they were seeing. I was asking myself, “were we seeing the same game?” People explained that yes it was a preview build and there would be time to fix the code, yada yada yada. I still called it a pile of junk and a few other things, but I decided to keep this site family friendly. Come its release and I think I can safely say I called it. It may not have been for the problems I witnessed, but it failed just the same.

Next, Spore. Will Wright’s life simulator, his magnum opus. Patiently everyone waited for years to get a hold of it. And when it came out, the gaming community spoke a resounding meh. I said meh whenever I saw it. Three separate E3s and numerous other coverages. I recognized this wasn’t my game, but I’m wary of any game that if you bought it a week later than someone else could have their entire planet colonized. Also I felt the game was very disjointed as a whole. We were shown the creature phase and the space phase and didn’t seem like the same game. People said I just didn’t get it. Then they got their hands on it and realized neither did they.

Alone in the Dark. I was excited for this game. Not entirely true; I was excited by what this game could be if the developers decided to wipe their fingerprints off the game. Then I was excited when they were releasing a fixed version of the game for the PS3. Then I played the demo and I was reminded of the saying “polishing cr** just gives you shiny cr**.” It did indeed do everything it meant to do, but it didn’t fix the main problem, the story. A survival horror game needs a character they can sympathize with and story that seems real enough they can be scared of it. The game fails on both those counts.

So far I’ve called everything bad in my predictions. There is a connection between how I predict a game and what they show. Every time I see a game and find it lackluster or say that it’s going to be bad there is a common thread, in how it’s hyped. At first I thought the developers didn’t know how to hype their game properly, because there were plenty of times I just didn’t care in what they were showing. Then I realized that each time these previews were bad and then these games were bad was because they were showing off the best features of the game.Contrast this with how God of War was hyped. If I remember they said, “you are Kratos and you will go through numerous levels killing mythical Greek monsters before challenging and killing the god of war.” One sentence and you’ve given me plot, conflict, character and gameplay. That is how you do it right. for an example from this year, Fallout 3 was focused mainly on the Vats system that they added. Of course they also showed off the wasteland and the character of the game.

Yes, your fire in Alone in the Dark looks great, but what’s going on. Ok, you turn into a were-hog, but tell me about running fast instead. In the Too Human demonstration on both G4 and Gamespot the times they showed the screen were few and are between. I never saw any preview gameplay movies for it either. They are trying to hype a product, so they show off its best bits, but you may want to rethink your game if this is the best you have to offer.

On the flip side, however, is a game like Far Cry2. “See how great our fire physics are. If you have on bullet you can start a brush fire to take out your enemies.” Ok, but why should I care. In fact didn’t care until I read Ben Abraham’s account of it and brought the idea that it’s the Heart of Darkness of video games. Now I’m interested. I don’t care about your fire physics, tell me about the character’s decent into darkness because of the environment he’s chosen. Sometimes I don’t think developers grasp just what makes their game interesting.

I’ve rambled enough for now.