Gaming Addict

God Of War: Chains Of Olympus. The injection of brilliance that the PSP desperately needed, and the Sony support that the handheld required to survive. The biggest mistake in Sony’s handling of the PSP is that they haven’t acquired enough big exclusive licenses for great games. I mean sure you have a couple awesome Grand Theft Auto games, and then there are the two Star Wars Battlefront games, but other than that it’s awful slapped together handheld messes, or re-released PS one games. Which is crap because, yes we’ve all played the original Playstation, and loved it, but I want new games for my handheld, not the stuff I’ve conquered eighty times in the past.

And if you’re going to make a whole section of the Playstation Network store dedicated to PS one games you can download, why not the greatest Playstation game ever made, Metal Gear Solid??? I would kill to be able to download that to my handheld. That would be the best thing ever, because not only does Metal Gear have killer plot/gameplay, but if you huff it you can kill the game in two hours. Making Metal Gear Solid the ideal distraction for being dragged along to an event/family affair you didn’t want to attend in the first place.

But back to the point of all this, thank you Sony for releasing another game that was actually worth my money for PSP. God Of War is perfect, because the development team kept the epic feel of the God Of War games intact, despite the system’s small size, and pushed the PSP to it’s graphical limits. So not only do you get an unparalleled handheld experience, but you get an event that’s true to the series of games that spawned it.

Bravo, and thank you for offering up something that will distract me from having to be social in public for some time to come.

Another of 2008’s most fantastic titles that is absolutely worth mentioning has to be Left 4 Dead. Revolutionizing the way you think about co-op gameplay in the team environment. Gears of War may have set the bar for how awesome a co-op campaign could be, L4D has made a new mark for just how memorable that experience can be.

Already with a brilliant game engine that randomly generates Zombies, meaning you never really know what to expect each time you play the game, L4D makes you absolutely trust the other three people who join you throughout the length of L4D’s campaign, should you hope to survive. Forcing you into a situation like you’ve never been through before. Because that important co-op component, teamwork, VERY IMPORTANT for this game.

Normally my favourite thing about any game pretty much has to be the plot, as I like my gaming experiences to be plot driven, but L4D I am completely willing to forget that fact, because the story is horrible. The characters are incredibly thin and predictably designed to necessitate four stereotypical zombie apocalypse personalities. But the good thing about that is you’ll be too busy talking to the three other real life people that you’re talking to will cover up any horrible plot points.

As far as great games are considered, Mirror’s Edge has been one of the most unique and entertaining of the last few years. Making it by far one of the best titles of 2008. I love this game. Few things feel as cool in the videogame world, as jumping from building to building, balancing on a narrow pipe as you dodge gunshots, or sliding/jumping into the nearest foe to disarm them. Not to mention wall running and an unprecedented amount of control for an FPS game.

Mirror’s Edge broke through barriers in ways I never though possible, having played an earlier attempt at the concept with Breakdown I never though this sort of game would be possible. While Breakdown was cool for it’s introduction of full fledged melee combat in the first person view, sometimes the ‘shaky camera’ effect felt nauseous and way too distracting from what was actually going on. But Mirror’s Edge learned from it’s predecessor and evolved into the most realistic feeling FPS experience available.

And that’s not even mentioning the plot, which is also very worth mentioning. I was so engaged going from mission to mission that I had to conquer the game within the first few days of my purchase, and I’m still endlessly entertained by the time trial modes that have managed to well more than continue my interest for running through a level as fast as possible.

Mirror’s Edge is awesome, and if you’re a gamer that doesn’t own this game, then I’m sorry for you, because you’ve missed one of the best experiences your console could have given you in 2008.

Well continuing the trend of talking about the years best games, today I recall Fable 2. One of the best RPG’s available on the 360, and well that’s not saying much in terms of the amount of great RPG’s available on the console, it is a glowing statement considering the competition for such a claim. I would put Fable 2 up against the finest available on the 360, the likes of Mass Effect, Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Fallout 3, and Blue Dragon.

I loved the first Fable, and 2 takes everything that made the first game so endlessly playable, and multiplied the interactivity at least ten fold. The plotline well short, is very intriguing and involved. And let’s not forget the massive amount of DLC that’s been promised, and that will be released in the coming months.

But it amazes me the amount of things that there are to go back and do, like working the various jobs available around the world, and buying up every property available, until you make an unbelievable amount of money every five minutes. Marrying various women in each town and having a crap load of children. Randomly slaughtering townsfolk and terrorizing the country side, or becoming an emblazoned stoic hero, the envy of men and women and children alike.

One of the coolest games ever, and one that I’ll never tire of, whether I be shooting up some random bandits, or deciphering a riddle to the most recently found Demon Door.

Although I do have a few complaints, one of them being that a game like Fable 2 that prides itself on customization and becoming your unique hero, there are a surprising small amount of customization options. Hairstyles, practically none, clothing barely any, a disappointing assortment of weaponry, and no awesome armour for melee characters like in the last game. Seriously, what’s with the lack of armour. A guy who runs around with a mace isn’t going to wear some form of amour to protect himself from opponents weaponry?

Well now that Christmas is past once again, and we all look forward to the year end vacation most of has have going through New Year’s Day, and also considering there won’t really be any new gaming news until January. Let’s take a look back at some of this years great games.

The first, Battlefield: Bad Company. Awesome, awesome game. A fantastic experience like you’ve never had with a wartime FPS. Complete free roaming control of your unit, so that you can go anywhere you please at any time, although you may want to wait until a few areas have been properly cleared out before you attempt random adventuring.

But I was glad to see this sort of bravery when it comes to game making, as Call Of Duty 4 had done by breaking the trend of WWII shooters, Bad Company followed suit bringing the gameplay into the modern era, and were as the gamers were rewarded with one of the best co-op experiences of the year.

The sheer amount of destruction possible as you go from battle to battle is amazing. There’s nothing like blowing a hole through a wall to take control of a building, instead of looking for the back door. Or just driving through a house, that’s fun too.

So yes, if you haven’t yet done so, you should really take of your vacation time to play Bad Company, and you will be rewarded with a fantastic and hilarious plotline, top notch FPS action, and a co-op experience only rivalled by Gears Of War.

I now love Playstation Network. My PSP has really needed a boost lately, and I don’t know why, but I had never upgraded my software to properly incorporate Playstation Network until recently, and I’m mad I hadn’t done so earlier. I didn’t realise there were a ton of PSP games you could purchase for direct download to your PSP, or that there were so many PS one games available, for only 6 bucks I might add.

So I downloaded Suikoden, and it is freaking awesome to have the epic battletasticness of the original Suikoden in the palm of my hand ready for play as I dodge chatting relatives in my efforts to keep gaming through Christmas.

Also, Xbox has a new sham, free Xbox Live Arcade games, for the small price of signing up to a one year membership. And the selection you’re given for your free game? Horrible. You can choose between Marble Blast, Zuma, Assault Heroes, 3D Mini Golf, and as though you hadn’t already beaten it a million times Sonic The Hedgehog. Blah I say.

I’ll be sticking to my PSP and the slew of PS one games I’ll be downloading in the next few days to re-experience, or experience for the first time. Woo hoo.

Well, good news for Batman: Arkham Asylum, Mark Hamill is officially signed on to voice the Joker and animated series co-star Kevin Conroy is set to play Batman once again, meaning we should finally get a videogame experience that almost approaches the feeling of the Batman universe. Of course the perfect scenario would have been if the late great Heath Ledger were still around to reprise his version of the Joker ala The Dark Knight. As I think we could all agree Ledger’s adaptation is the greatest interpretation of the Joker’s madness ever done in comic or film.

Although if the movie cast were to be voicing the game, dump Bale as Batman, because I really can’t stand his constipated and attempting to relieve himself anyway, version of Batman’s voice. Clearly the low point of the new movie franchise. Maybe he’ll stop in the next one.

Also I was wrong in my reported rumour of Crackdown 2 being developed by Ruffian, as Realtime Worlds has responded to the rumour by saying that they are in talks with Microsoft over a possible Crackdown 2. And I would really hope that Microsoft would go with Realtime Worlds, as who could possibly be better for a game’s sequel, than the original developers.

Plus Crackdown has a freaking awesome physics engine, and I don’t trust anyone else to faithfully recreate, and then upgrade that system for the next game. Sure it’s all built on the Havok engine, but I’ve played terrible games with Havok physics, and it takes a great developer to make the most of the engine, like Realtime Worlds did.

Now for the new rumour of the day, Crackdown 2 is said to be far into production. Now I would love that, as my distaste for the realism approach of Grand Theft Auto IV opposed to the craziness of the past games is well documented, I loved the crazy abilities and battles Crackdown presented. The only thing a Crackdown 2 needs this time around is a better plot, you know besides updated graphics/physics/city size/frame rate.

But seriously, Crackdown was just awesome, just check out the youtube videos that people still post of them stacking cars and then blowing them up in a massive explosion. That’s the fun of Crackdown, the game affords you so many opportunities to do random crap that’s ridiculously fun.

I have many a fond memory of playing rocket launcher tag with a friend, jumping from building to building with your insane jumping ability. Best co-op game ever, and Crackdown shows what should have happened with Xbox Live co-op a long time ago. Get friend and play.

Hopefully the next Crackdown will remember these things, and despite being developed by a publisher other than Realtime Worlds, will still be a fantastic substitute for gamers like me, that are fed up with the increasing realism of GTA. I want wackiness and crazy gameplay. Not stupid cousins calling me on my cell phone wanting to hang out ever two seconds, I can play that game by myself without an Xbox console.

Holy crap did this news ever make me excited. Star Wars Battlefront was one of the best games ever when it was released. I was always a Star Wars fan as a kid, and being able to play out the battles from locations in the films as a lone soldier on a huge battlefield was the coolest concept ever. Which was then advanced with Battlefront II, and then still advanced with an excellent portable contribution with Renegade Squadron on PSP. And now all reports indicate that Battlefront III is coming to next-gen consoles.

This excites me for three reasons. Number one being that Battlefront is an amazing series and the multiplayer on new improved Xbox Live will be incredible. Number two, the space combat overhaul for next-gen will make for an unparalleled level of realism true to Star Wars lore like never before. Number three, the graphics and hopefully much larger environments. Bigger battles = absolute awesomeness and I’m sure developer Rebellion knows this.

Having considered their recent success with the unique online modes found in Call of Duty: World At War, I cannot wait to see what they do with a new Battlefront game. Although I hope the customization features from Renegade Squadron, in which you could optimize your soldier for your play style, is an idea they keep for Battlefront III. Because the lame unlock different soldiers depending upon the amount of points you have during a battle thing from II was horrible. I hated having a soldier with a laser Gatling gun that I couldn’t use until practically the end of the battle. Lame.

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Well, that mysterious Metal Gear Solid picture we saw a week or so ago, turns out it’s not an Xbox 360 port of MGS 4 but rather a new iPhone game.  Lame I say.  There’s a much bigger market for Metal Gear Solid on Xbox 360, so I don’t understand Konami’s decision to keep the franchise PS3 exclusive.  I understand they have an exclusivity deal with Sony, but there has to be a way around a contract like that, or an escape clause.

Microsoft has such a huge installed base for the home console market, I don’t get why you wouldn’t want to tap that.  Especially with something that would be gobbled up by the ‘hardcore’ gamer market, i.e. the majority of Xbox’s core audience, why would you say no to the money?

Although conversely, another portable MGS in the vein of the incredible Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops would be fantastic.  Nothing was more fun that taking your adventure’s in Snake’s world on the road with you.  If they do something like that, I’m all about an iPhone Metal Gear, but I don’t want another Acid, because Acid was fun but MGS is supposed to be real time combat/stealth.  It’s much more fun that way.