Games
Though I may tragically be console-less in Southern Germany for the next month (I refuse to acknowledge the Wii I brought with me), I am not unaware of video game goings-on throughout the world. For instance, I realize that next week both Mass Effect 2 and MAG come out on the Xbox 360 and PS3, respectively. One is a single-player action RPG with some serious graphical chops and potential depth, while the other is an online-multiplayer-only FPS that supports up to 256 players in one battle and a strong beta backing it up.
So my question to you is, dear reader, assuming you have both consoles, which game is worth your $60? Both seem to boast the best aspects of each end of current gaming (single-player narrative vs. multiplayer spontaneity), but does the fact that both games are missing its complimentary aspect mean that it's not worth the full-ticket price? no comments
Sometimes a comment is more than just a comment. It's a window into another person's soul; a tiny (or sometimes TLDR) morsel of a differing point of view that can show you a side of a story that you've never considered; opening the doors of understanding and progression. Or it can just be a rambling adver-comment about a 20-year-old-now-on-the-iPhone-game by someone with a very, very slight grasp of English.
Russ wrote an awesome piece on Threevue.com awhile back about the five worst franchise reboots. It was recently commented on by someone named "alumsdats," which is posted in its entirety after the break, and must be the most that anyone has ever written about Frogger. Enjoy!
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I just can’t let it go. We’ve spent so much time together, seen so many places, made a ton of new friends, and killed countless Italians. I’m just not ready to give all those memories up.
Even after beating Assassin’s Creed 2 a couple nights ago, it has still been the only game I’ve played since. I’m going through each city and taking care of all the unfinished business such as synchronizing all the viewpoints, beating up (then killing) unfaithful husbands, finishing all of the assassination contracts, and even completing the footraces, which I avoided through the entire campaign.
I’m still up in the air on whether I’ll attempt to find all of the feathers. On one hand, two trophies depend on finding them all. On the other hand, fuck that.
After finishing the campaign at just around the 24 hour mark, I feel that AC2 is one of the few single-player only games that is actually worth a $60 price tag, further cementing it as my 2009 Game of the Year pick. Not to mention (spoiler after the break)…
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Face it - whether we like it or not, new game sequels are coming out this year. Given this revelation, I decided to sit down and come up with the top 10 sequels I don't want to see by year's end. Keep in mind that I only vaguely looked up what games are coming out this year, and this is more of a whine list than anything.
Here is my list of games that I would like to see in 2010.
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Yep, it's GTA.
Ok, that sounds bad, but it's really not. Altough Chinatown doesn't push the GTA franchise to any new or exciting heights (GTA4 pretty much put a lid on that), it does pack a lot of juice into a small box. There is a whole new collection of mini games, such as the educational drug dealing sessions that teach you everything you need to know about weed, meth, coke, and all those other things my D.A.R.E. teacher told me about. You can give tattoos for some cash, play scratch-off lottery tickets, and they've even made the GT part of the GTA harder by adding a hotwire minigame to car stealing. All that, and I'm only about two hours in.
As for the gameplay, it's solid but clunky at times, specifically when you are on foot, which is exacerbated by the presence of mutliple surrounding enemies. The target lock-on mechanic helps smooth things over, but sometimes the characters are just too small and fast, and the PSP's analog nub continues its mission of making life more difficult than it should be.
The player's PDA/Smartphone plays a large role in Chinatown Wars, as it hold all of the pertinent people, place, and thing to do info. Most importantly, though, it delivers your emails to you, so you no longer have to go find a computer. One of the more convenient aspects of the game is when you receive an email (usually informing you of someone that either wants to buy or sell some drugs at a good price), it gives you the option of setting your GPS to their location just by pressing X while reading the message. This takes all the guesswork and frustrating searches out of the equation, and really streamlines the game.
The driving is somewhat difficult to deal with, mainly because the cars move pretty fast, and you can't see very far ahead of yourself. This makes it very easy to accidentally slam into a police car and start that whole mess of a process, especially when you are mid-mish. Luckily, there is an included "Trip Skip" feature that lets you cut out the driving portion of missions on which you die over and over, taking at least a small part of the frustration out of having to replay them.
After spending time with Chinatown Wars, I feel that the GTA franchise may be better suited moving forward on handelds as opposed to consoles, especially since much of the content can be gracefully sized down to accomodate a DS or PSP without losing much of the intended fun. GTA on consoles plateaued with GTA4, but Chinatown Wars proves that there is still a big world explore in the palm of your hand. no comments
Face it - whether we like it or not, new game sequels are coming out this year. Given this revelation, I decided to sit down and come up with the top 10 sequels I'd like to see by year's end. Keep in mind that I only vaguely looked up what games are coming out this year, and this is more of a wishlist than anything.
Here is my list of sequels I DON"T want to see in 2010.
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We're launching The Easy Mode! To celebrate this momentous occasion (and to hook a few new readers) we're giving away this Valve swag bag of games, clothing and fine home furnishing to one lucky follower.
- Copy of Left 4 Dead 2 for Xbox 360
- Left 4 Dead t-shirt (Med.)
- Left 4 Dead mousepad (regulation size)
- Five Left 4 Dead 2 mini-posters for each campaign
- Four Saxton Hale (of Mann Co.) mini-comic covers
- Official Prima Left 4 Dead strategy guide
- One French Kiss from Russ (must pick-up in person)
More pictures after the break.
