Resident Evil 5
This game is way better than people say. Aside from Borderlands 2, and
possibly Halo, it is the most fun you and a buddy can have in a
couch-co-op game. Upgradable weapons, limited ammo and inventory spots,
and pretty difficult enemies will provide a plethora of awesome and
tense situations where the two of you will be screaming at one another
and barely surviving, all the while becoming a lethal killing duo. Take
away 1 point if playing alone: It's still quite good and Sheva is not as
annoying as people say. Ditto for RE6.
The Last of Us
The Last of Us represents something similar to Shadow of the Colossus: A
game released late in its respective console's life that displays such
prestige, confidence and creativity that it captures the imaginations of
gamers worldwide, truly becoming a classic and a signature gamers game.
TLoU is stunning in every way imaginable from it's heart wrenching
story to its fully realized world to its brilliant mechanics as an
actual game. Tonally, the adventure reminds me of Half Life 2; expertly
paced, open to experimentation, and convincingly urgent in it's
protagonists' struggle to survive. And yet it surpasses even that
milestone by being unafraid to paint its main character as an actual
person and not a blank avatar.
Deadly Premonition
This game is so difficult to evaluate, It raises an entire argument
about the validity of criticism. From a technical standpoint, it's an
abomination. Clearly designed for the previous gen, from a design
standpoint, it's baffling. And yet, I found myself enjoying this little
game more than I had any right to because it's the weird little game
that could. Whether or not the developers actually intended this game to
be a serious affair of not, what they ended up with is something along
the lines of Sharknado; a beautiful trainwreck so self assured and
confident in its own stupidity that you actually end up buying it. The
town of Greenvale is one of the most memorable places I've been in a
game and I wouldn't trade it for the world.
Borderlands 2
This game is like crack. Once you, and preferably a friend, delve into
the number crunching meat and bones of this game, you will find it
terrifyingly difficult to find the quit option. What this game is about
is finding that elusive perfect gun. The one with the power, firing
rate, clip capacity and elemental damage to make your foes melt before
you and your friend green with envy. And the cruel reality is that it
never quite happens. Every time you find it, the enemies just get
stronger and your friend finds something even better. But it's the
thrill of the chase that makes this experience so compelling and
addictive. It doesn't hurt that the art style is beautiful, the overall
sense of humor is endearing, and the gun-play is tight.
Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D
So I'm gonna go ahead and make a lot of people mad by saying that this
is not the best Zelda game. Coming from a completely unbiased
perspective, and having played Ocarina of Time for the first time in
2013, I can honestly say that both Wind Waker and Twilight Princess have
more sophisticated art styles, less infuriating gameplay and more
memorable dungeons. I fear that nostalgia has severely tainted people's
perception of this game. Yes, it is the blueprint for all of the 3D
Zelda games that would follow but the series evolved for the better. So
many things in this game are vague with nonsensical solutions, that they
had to put in a feature that tells you exactly how to do almost every
task in the game. Not exactly intuitive design. Sorry.
Bioshock Infinite
From the awe inspiring long-form intro to the mind bending ending,
Bioshock Infinite is one of the most cinematic compelling games ever
made. It's got one of the best settings ever and features a plot so
twisty, you will probably want to read up afterwards to tie up all the
loose ends. In fact, this story may be a bit too ambitious for its own
good. What begins as straight up steam-punk and philosophy gets somewhat
muddled with sci-fi hobnobbery that feels a bit out of place. And
although the characters here are fully wrought, none of them are
particularly relatable. Booker pops off the generic video game character
lines like he's played them all his life. But the people who created
him clearly have, and thankfully, they've made a great one.
Resident Evil 6
This game is a lot of fun, make no mistake. The action feels tight and
responsive, there are good mechanics in place and the set piece moments
can be awe-inducing. That being said, it lacks a certain crunch that RE 4
and 5 had, and it's hard to nail down exactly why. The lack of the
weapon upgrade and inventory management systems that made co-op such a
blast are inexplicably absent. The game moves much faster than before,
which makes everything less Dawn of the Dead and more Resident Evil The
Movie. In fact, that is exactly what has happened. RE somehow has become
more akin to the terrible movie franchise it spawned than its actual
original identity. RE6 wasn't a huge step towards this but it marks the
point where a U-turn became necessary
Portal 2
Valve games remind me of Pixar movies. They are immensely clever, have
wide appeal, feature great writing, and always come of with purpose and
clarity of vision. This one is even family friendly, for god sakes, and
it isn't terrible for it. Portal 2 features some of the best writing in
any video game ever and is pretty much guaranteed to put a smile on
your face. The small cast of disembodied voices that accompany you
through your journey into puzzle-solving madness balance the brain
scratching with a good chuckle in a sort of reward system that keeps you
compelled to figure the next room out. I'll admit I got pretty stumped a
few times but the game introduces new elements and ramps up the
difficulty so smoothly, I was never truly lost.
Killzone 3
First person shooters like Killzone 3 are the mindless popcorn
blockbusters to the world of video games. This game is fun enough to
play but ultimately hollow and unmemorable. There a sense of the chaos
of war happening around you and some pretty cool action set pieces, but
any momentum and gravitas that the game picks up, it squanders with its
cliche plot and characters. It's the gung-hoiest of gung-ho army tales,
the type of bro-out session that will turn your stomach. Such a shame
considering the quality facial animations and all-around good
presentation (save for some technical issues in cut-scenes.) Anyway,
it's what you would expect. No surprises here. Just a competent military
shooter set on a different planet. Shooting space Nazis.
Alone In The Dark
You can't fault this game for lack of ambition- it tries to do so many
things that it ends up feeling unfocused and sloppy, reaching a bit to
far into other genres. You have your floaty driving sections,
platforming with and camera angles, first person immersion exercises
that border on the absurd. The inventory system is the most obvious
example of the game's bizarre fixation with first person viewpoint.
Essentially a spin off of the Resident-Evil-of-old style limited
inventory slots, your weapons, tools and healing supplies are stored in
your jacket pockets which you actually navigate through in first person.
Crazy right? The combat is an amalgamation of combining materials to
make bombs, clunky shooting, and even clunkier melee combat.
Dead Island
Dead Island is a culmination of things that need to go away in the video
game industry: mindless shooting, overuse of zombies as a plot device,
pointless fetch quests, total lack of any meaningful story, cliche
characters, length that seems wildly disproportional to the amount of
time you would actually want to play it, a disregard for presentation
that is honestly insulting to the completionist gamer, extremely graphic
violence with a lazy context? the list goes on. And yet, it still
doesn't descend into the absolute pits of gaming hell. As hypocritical
as it sounds, I guess I had a bit of fun. If this was a movie it would
be Sci-Fi Channel Original.
Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker
An excellent addition to the series, adding an interesting co-op
multiplayer option, a bevy of RPG elements to weigh as you amass a
personal army, and a compelling story that illustrates a crucial moment
in the series overall lore. The biggest problems here are a direct
result of the fact that this is a PSP port. There's no getting around
the fact that this is a stripped down Metal Gear experience from a
technical standpoint. The environments lack the level of detail found in
the main series and even the gameplay is somewhat simplified. The
decision to do comic book cut-scenes actually pans out nicely, and helps
the game carve out an identity. Overall, this is a more accessible,
less cinematic Metal Gear that comes up just shy of essential
Limbo
Much like Journey, this is a gorgeous little game that can be completed
in a couple hours. It has a haunting, sinister character to it that is
part Silent Hill, part classic Expressionist film, and part nightmarish
fairy tale. Without a doubt, it is one of the most visually interesting
games to be released in a very long time. The gameplay unfortunately
can't compete with the presentation. That being said, it is a perfectly
good puzzle platformer and I was fully engaged the entire time. I just
ended up wishing there was more of this eerie world do explore.
Hopefully we see the influence of this game down the road. A sequel with
a broadened scope would be amazing.
Batman Arkham City
I like the new Batman movies. They bring a level or real human drama to
the frequently cartoonish super hero mythology. Unfortunately, this game
swerves hard from that realistic and modern tone toward the classic
Batman convention. Not that it is any real basis for criticism since the
tried-and-true Batman has been around since the 30's, but I can't help
but feel that the developers of Arkham City had an opportunity to define
the dark knight on their own terms and just defaulted to bland
fan-fiction story telling. They clumsily try to include EVERY Batman
character under the sun, but none of them say anything but their generic
threats. That being said, this is a great stealth game, a passable
brawler and a gorgeous open word collectathon.
Crysis 2
I guess when I picked this up I was looking for a mindless shooter and
nothing else, but I'm always up for being pleasantly surprised.
Unfortunately, that was not the case here. Crysis 2 is a competent and
pretty shooter that doesn't do anything in particular to separate itself
from the herd. The super-suit idea has been done to death at this point
and although this is a pretty impressive one, the game never actually
does much to make you feel all that powerful. There is also a certain
drama and tension missing from the equation and the gun-play only
occasionally got my heart rate up. I did enjoy the somewhat accurate
representation of a destroyed Manhattan though- possibly the best game
to do this yet!
Dark Souls
Brutal, beautiful and utterly consuming, this is a Video Game in the
truest sense. It demands that the player be repeatedly broken in order
to overcome and progress. It explains almost nothing about the mechanics
of the game and gives the player the privilege of learning on their own
instead of the hand-holding that most modern games seem to find so
necessary. There is a wealth of mystery to uncover and a world to
explore that is among the most stunningly magnificent ever created in
the medium. Part survival horror part high fantasy RPG, this is the best
game of the HD console generation and one of the best of all time. The
question is can you handle it?
Journey
Destined to be the shining example of elegance in this console
generation. If you need a breath of fresh air from modern gaming, as I
did, seek this gem out.
Silent Hill Downpour
The thing is, even though Silent Hill Downpour might not be amazing,
there are practically no other games that try do do what this game does.
It places you in a hostile, atmospheric setting, gives you an
intriguing mystery to unravel and hands over the reigns to you. It has
good pacing, entertaining game-play and is hyper-detailed. It is also,
notably home to a unique and intruiging version of Silent Hill's
Otherworld. Where it falters is on monster design, graphical issues
(it's now been almost a decade since SH3, the series' best looking game)
and once again, that certain element of disturbing bizarreness that the
first 4 games had in spades, is unfortunately missing.
