Fall Games of 2008: sequels, rehashes and some innovation.
by alzabo
Posted on Wednesday, December 3, 2008Most Game publishers want to ship least one title between October and Christmas to capitalize on holiday shopping, this year there are more than 500 SKU's scheduled to be released. Because of this, game journalism is vital to the individual who wants to play several games and not waste his time and money on something thrown together to cash in on the seasonal shopping.
Unfortunately, game reviews can be hard to come by for games lately, either because of review embargos due to poor game quality or simple review backlog due to the sheer amount of new titles arriving this holiday season. Even if reviews are available, it's hard to discern their worth due to generally poor journalistic ethics in the field of games journalism. I'm not even going to touch on "New Games Journalism," I have enough problems with those people to write a 3 part article that must be written in phases to prevent my spite gland from going into shock.
So what is a gamer to do? Buy what the neck-beard clerk at Gamestop tells them to? Listen to some hipster web pundit's "well researched" opinion and get the "genre breaking(or defining) game of this console generation" that'll quickly be forgotten next year by the game's inevitable sequal?
No, you should do whatever the hell you want and buy the games that look interesting to you. But just in case you are bereft of an opinion or taste here are my choices for the fall.
Fallout 3: Be warned, this game is not perfect. No one is 100% happy with it and will describe their problems at great length, these probelms include: Poor voice acting, poor sound, game crashes, bad AI, graphical glitches, xbox live problems, DRM & install issues, et cetera.
None of these matter, if you ask them to describe 3 things they liked about the game and hold back no spoiler they invariably sprout a look of child-like glee and describe to you a wholly unique game experience rife with adventure, grim comedy and hyper-violence that truly lives up to the fallout brand. If you don't own this game already, you should drive to the store and buy it right now.
Valkyria Chronicles: Remember when Sega made RPGs? I don't, because I was too busy playing shooters and platformers. By the time I was into RPGs I had completely missed the boat on 8 and 16bit RPGs that were not made by Squaresoft.
This game was initially described to me as a mixture of FPS and Final Fantasy Tactics with a visual style akin to a pencil and watercolor painting. This excited me to no end, because I am pretty sick of Nomura's zippers and angst and how they've infected nearly the whole Japanese RPG genre.
I've yet to play more than a few minutes of this game due to a busy schedule, but it's going to get played next week after I finish moving.
Chrono Trigger DS: If you haven't played Chrono Trigger, you should go play it. That's all there is to say.
Persona 4: This is possibly the last good non-shovelware PS2 game that we'll see in the US. It contains all the excellent interface and localization of Last year's Persona 3, but has more than 1 song in it's dungeons (which are no longer randomized) and the plot is a murder mystery that is so engaging that you should avoid spoilers until you finish playing the game. Avoiding spoilers may be hard, as the damn game comes with an art book. Article Permalink
Is a relapse imminent? Halo 3 Game Fuel, already fueling the start of an addiction?
by Nanohana
Posted on Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Reflecting back on the time period when I became the type of person that I hate. That is the person who owns an XBox and only 1 game and only plays one game exclusively. The game being Halo 2. I can't claim to hate these individuals anymore as I really REALLY enjoyed my time as one of them. (Also it would be absolutely ridiculous to actually hate someone for this reason.) I was playing an average of 12 hours a night, while working full time and also going to a couple concerts a week. This was barely possible and only possible with the help of Rock Star Energy drink. Of course at the end of a Halo 2 stint I would be left with a 3 week long cold/sickness due to barely sleeping and having a weakened immune system. My problem was so serious an intervention had to be formed.
I made a special trip to the store last night to pick up some Halo 3 Mountain Dew Game Fuel. With 30% more caffeine! I was so happy to see Master Chief and the Halo 3 logo there on the Mountain Dew packaging in front of me. Yesterday was it's release day, since when does Soda have a release day? What possessed me to go to the store and purchase this and drink it?!?! I drink an average of less than a soda a week so this is unlike me. Also I generally hate Burger King's food, I heard that they are going to have some exclusive Halo 3 xbox live codes for content. I hate to say it but if this is true it will convince me to choke down some of their food. So please don't let this be true! After all I did when Sneak King came out. Also the Halo themed packaging seems to only be on the "King" sized meal cup and fries. King sized whatever that is,it involves a 42 ounce soda apparently, sounds absolutely disgusting.
I played a few times in the Halo 3 beta when it was open through Crackdown. The first time I saw all the stats tracking which made Halo 2 so addictive for me, I thought maybe I should quit this game right now. I foresee many great long and wonderful nights of Halo 3 parties in the near future though. With 4 player online co-op I know I'm going to be spending a lot of time on this one. It has yet to be seen if my game addiction will play out with this version like it did the last, I'm not very good anymore since I've been rehabbed. But does that make it less fun? There are too many other games on the horizon and I have to enjoy them all. In the 6 weeks before Halo 3 is released I will be acquiring and playing Bioshock, Blue Dragon, and Eternal Sonata. How is this ever going to work? I have no idea...does it make having a game addiction ok if I play different games or just spend all my free time on one particular one. Not sure if I even have any free time...
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