VideoGamer.com Plays
What we've been playing this week.
Tom Orry, Editor - Killzone 2, PS3
It's at times like this that I realise why so many people want to write about video games. Quite amazingly we received a hefty preview build of Killzone 2 in the post this week. Receiving preview builds isn't uncommon, but to get our hands on a game of this magnitude outside of a developer's office or press event is practically unprecedented. Killzone 2 is seen by many as a key title in the PS3's library next year, if not the most important and it's clear why. This game looks staggeringly good. It looks so good that it'll make you wonder why all PS3 games don't look like this and could well put a damper on the rest of the year as you struggle to play through what seemingly less technically competent development studios produce. Yes, this is hyperbole of the highest order, but when you play the game in February you'll be saying the same things.
Wesley Yin-Poole, Deputy Editor - Metal Gear Solid 4, PlayStation 3
This week I completed one of 2008's best movies. Oh, sorry, I meant games. Forgive me the innocent slip up - it's an easy mistake to make. Of the 17 hours or so it took me to watch the movie, oh, sorry, finish the game, I'd say at least 10 were spent, pad in hand, eyeballing the seemingly never ending cut-scenes. I'm not saying I didn't enjoy them. They're probably the best cut-scenes ever seen in a video game, but even the most obsessive Metal Gear Solid fan, even the most devoted Kojima follower, has to admit that one or two of them go on far too long. Drebin's explanation of the history of each of the game's bosses, triggered right after you defeat them, were so mind-numbingly boring they made me want to eat my Sixaxis pad just for the need to do something, And the ending (don't worry, I won't spoil it for you), well, just wow. I actually fell asleep during it and had to re-watch the whole thing the following evening. Brilliant, brilliant, game, but Kojima clearly needs to direct a movie just to get it out of his system.
Neon Kelly, Previews Editor - Mario Kart DS, Nintendo DS
I had more travelling to do this week, thanks to a trip to Bordeaux to check out Codemasters' FUEL (I know, it's a hard life being a games journo). DSs seem to be part of some form of unofficial uniform in this industry; if you gather a crowd of hacks together, you can be sure that around half of them will have the little console in their bag. This meant that we could indulge in some truly obscene mid-flight Pictochat, followed by an hour long session on Mario Kart. One cart, a handful of players and a healthy dose of friendly competition: a heady mix that lead to much shouty swearing on my part, as a fellow writer smashed me into 7th place with a flying blue shell. Man, I hate those things!
Sebastian Ford, Video Producer - Prince of Persia, Xbox 360
The little spare time I have between interviews, preparing Christmas trees and procuring gifts for this year's Christmas feature has been spent playing Prince of Persia. This game really seems to be a "love it or hate it" affair, with a lot of negative feedback being spewed all over the web, particularly about the American voice acting. Personally, I love everything about it. It's the kind of game that I like to unwind to, from the light hearted banter between the two main characters and their stunning interactions, to the beautifully choreographed fighting and the 'oil painting' art style. If this sounds like your kind of deal as well, I would also highly recommend picking up the Play.com exclusive content edition, with some unlockable skins, bonus DVD and comic book. If that's not enough for you, I'd say its worth it alone for the box it comes in!
User Comments
Mark_S
- Shenmue. Because it's Christmas.
- Halo 3. Because my friends seem to have migrated back from Gears 2. It's hardly surprising; Exactly the same thing happened after Gears 1, moving back to Halo 2.
- Virtua Tennis 3. Because online ranked matches are stil so, so good. Still the best sports game ever made.
- Left 4 Dead. Because I got it cheap, and my best mate keeps bugging me to play it. I'm a tad underwhelmed, I have to say; Valve's design and balancing is brilliant, but their floaty gunplay leaves a lot to be desired.
And looking forward to...
- Fable II Knothole Islands. I figure I'll download this then take my 360 home for Christmas.
- The Longest Journey. Dreamfall is my favourite game of the past few years, been meaning to give its forebear some time for a while now.
xboxlive
.prey - wel good game and story,enjoyed playing it/finishing
.Gears of war 2 - just been playing with the bots.
.Call of duty 4 - Got back into the MP part of the game.
.worms - Had 400ms points on my xbox,so i got worms and i have had some fun with it.
.Timeshift - had some fun with this game,slow down time etc etc
wyp100
Like I said, I did enjoy LTF, especially the combat, but I found the rest of the game a bit of a bore. My initial question wasn't about questioning your opinion of the game, more about a personal intrigue in the aspects of it you like. There's some good stuff in there for sure, and you've made me want to return to it, that's for sure :)
FantasyMeister@ wyp100
Innovation is harder to spot when you're not a fan of the genre I guess, but here are the things I like from TLR that haven't been done similarly:
The way dungeons open up, e.g. the first time you step into Gaslin Caves it's just one block, but the middle of disc 2 it's expanded to 3 or 4 different zones each with different aspects (one zone for a quest, another to open a new territory and so on). ALL dungeons in TLR open up in the same manner, but all have different prerequesites like special items, storyline progression, sidequests etc.
The way you can slap a very weak party member into an existing union to get them levelled fast, the weak member benefits from the overall union stats rather than his own.
The way skills are developed simply by using them in battle, the way certain arts branch dependant on weapon style, the way there are zero progression bars which makes skillups more unexpected, the way your unit class can either improve or switch to a completely new class dependant on what skills you've learned.
The way the whole of disc 1 acts as a very, very basic tutorial for the main opus in disc 2 where you learn more about upgrading, stores, synergy moves, summons... it's a bit like playing FFX for 40 hours then arriving at the Calm Lands for the first time and realising that you've only just started to scratch the surface of what the game is offering.
There's even an Aeris-esque moment, but done much better than in FFVII, it's a bit like Square are saying "Sorry, we were a bit hard on you back then, here's how we should really have done it."
There's the way the Talisman that Rush uses is integrated so well as an excuse for being able to slow down time to collect lots of monsters to fight, in Blue Dragon there was no real excuse to being able just to fire up a big circular ring around the party, the ability was just there.
There's the Suikoden-esque recruiting/quest system, haven't seen that done so well for many years, and on the whole the way they've implemented sidequests that take you way, way off track and yet include storylines that embellish the existing world is one of the best implementations I've seen.
There's the challenge, Square took a note out of Mistwalker's book here and threw in a couple of dastardly achievements that, should you want them, mean practically 100% exploration, to an RPG player that's like having a gauntlet thrown down in front of you.
Finally there's the formation system, after 80-odd hours I'm only just starting to get to grips with the scores of formations I've got and how to unlock more powerful variations of them using different races/classes/weapons, there's massive depth just in that one aspect alone.
Whilst none of these things are truly innovative (innovative would be something like a cross between Final Fantasy XIV with your own character creation, a V.A.T.S. system, open world and Balverines, chuck in a karma system, fishing, Witcher-esque maturity and laser weaponry for good measure) it's the overall package and the way it all comes together so well. Nothing is done badly (unless you use a stopwatch everytime you see textures pop in), everything is done brilliantly in terms of a genre I like best.
To flip it around, I could ask why you like Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix so much, I see a 2D fighter and I stopped playing them about 20 years ago because I'm crap at them. Not being a fan of the genre makes it difficult for me to see where the fun is, but in the same way that I can write a quick 1000 words on why TLR is so great I'm positive you could do the same for SFIITHDR :)
wyp100
I find it interesting that you like TLR so much. I found the combat to be excellent, but at the same time the game is so completely stuck in the JRPG rut SE games seem to be unable to claw themselves out of in recent years, that I found that for much of the story, basic exploration and NPC interaction, I'd been there, done that. Are you not getting tired of the lack of innovation in many of the JRPGs that are popping up on the 360?
Iain_McC
FantasyMeister@ Wido
I have synergy moves that wipe out every enemy in range, I have peerless arts that make short work of anything with tough skins and 10,000+ HP, I have defeated Golden Dragons, Giant Demons, Undead Royalty and am exploring the Ancient Ruins which Square very kindly let us all have a free DLC key to access.
I should really get back to the storyline (someone, somewhere, is channelling power from 6 fortresses and I have to destroy each one in turn to get to the bottom of it, plus I want to kick the Conqueror's ass for what he did to one of my party members) but I'm having too much fun capturing monsters to sell to shops to unlock new goodies, upgrading weapons, reorganising Unions to see what new formations I can unlock and trying to work out what new skill I'm going to develop next.
I'm finding it's deeper than Oblivion, less depressing than Lost Odyssey, better combat than Blue Dragon, easier to jump into than Eternal Sonata, less on-rails than Enchanted Arms, longer than Fable, offers more variety than Fallout 3 and more immersion than Mass Effect. In short, best WRPG, JRPG or RPG on the 360. (Although to be fair I've yet to play Infinite Undiscovery or Tales of Vesperia).
And because I'm into RPGs, that makes it my 'Bestest game eva!' Even kicks Final Fantasy VII down a notch.
Wido
I actually played Forza 2 today this morning then jumping off to turn the Wii on and played a bit of Super Mario Galaxy just need 2 stars than hey presto! All stars have been obtained.
Went straight onto the PS3 afterwards went on Home for a bit, and then some COD5 and then played a bit of FIFA 09. So yup been around on a couple of games this morning, so they wouldn't be that much difference later on during the day most probably be playing COD5 & Motorstorm: Pacific Rift whenever the postman comes to my door!