So these past few weeks I've gone over more than a few games, traded-in about 8, bought 4 and started/finished some games on PSN I had bought a few weeks/months ago without playing them.
What's new?
The 4 games I bought : SSX, Ace Combat : Assault Horizon, Sonic Generations and DiRT 3.
SSX : Very, very good but somewhat infuriating at times for weird difficulty spikes. It takes quite some time getting used to the controls, especially in some "Survive" events where the track is usually narrower. You move your joystick a millimeter and your character goes flying a 100mph in a unexpected death hole on your left. It gets better when you get the feel for the different events and characters' abilities. But overall, it's a extremely fun game, and it's pretty rewarding as well when you win some races or "Trick it" events (I'm only a third into the career mode and have only done 20/160 events in Explore). When you get the grip of it : how to land tricks and stick together a combo, which characters to use when, how to use the different equipment, it becomes an exhilarating experience.
Ace Combat : Assault Horizon : Haven't started it yet, got it today...
Sonic Generations : I only did a few levels, but so far it's pretty fun, even if in side-scrolling mode it almost gave me a headache for unknown reasons (never happened to me before, pretty weird). I can't really pronounce myself on the game so far but it looks (a lot?) better than Sonic 4, which I feel was off with its controls and level design.
DiRT 3 : I first got DiRT 2, did about 25 career events then lost all my data when my PS3 died. So I went and got DiRT 3 Complete Edition instead of starting it all over again. (It doesn't make much sense, I know). Opus #3 feels more modern and polished, less "extreme" than the previous one, which captured better what rallying is about in its presentation. It's not a bad thing, just a style change. But the important part, the racing, feels as awesome as ever. It's a bit hard on slippery and uneven terrain (I never played a rally game before this one), but it is SO amazing to play.
PSN : Basically, I "finished" Crysis in a few days, finished Sly Cooper 1 HD in 3-4 days, started Red Dead Redemption Undead Nightmare.
Crysis : I was REALLY looking forward to this game, having heard reviewers and hordes of PC gamers sing its praises for years. I like the fact it gives you a lot more freedom than Crysis 2, you could always decide how to attack a base or complete an objective. The graphics are still amazing 4-5 years later (seriously, how the f*** did they do that?) and the gameplay is solid. Now I haven't finished the game yet, because I cannot figure out how the hell you beat that final alien/mech thing on the boat. I get killed in one-shot even if I'm hiding behind cover, my attacks don't do nothing to him/it. So I'm stuck there, if you can believe it. And it was easy all the way through (even on Hard/Delta). I don't understand... But apart from that, it's a great, great game.
Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus : I got this game for free (PS+ is worth it if you like to try many, many games, I'm telling you) and I really enjoyed it. I didn't have the chance to own a PS2 so that's one of the many gaming classics I've never tried. It's very easy, sure, but it's very enjoyable nonetheless. The story served the game well and was interesting enough, the locations were diverse and fun to play through, the characters endearing (well I did get mad at Murray in those levels you have to protect him, but that's only twice and it lasts about 2 minutes or so) and it simply looks great, HD or not.
Red Dead Redemption Undead Nightmare : Got this one at a surprising discount, the whole game was a mere 25$ (Red Dead AND Undead Nightmare) on PSN (PS+, again). The downside? Both games take about 18 gigs of HDD space together... good thing I've got a 500gb disk then... On to the game then. I liked Red Dead Redemption quite a lot, and was eager to see whether this expansion pack was really as great as reviewers made it out to be. Well so far it's pretty damn good! They did a good job keeping the same locations with those cool and crazy NPCs while going in another direction completely. And hey, who doesn't like to shoot some zombies in the head? No one! It's great fun to explore that world once again. I've only just started though, with only 3 or 4 main quests done and 2 side quests completed.
Side note to developers everywhere : THAT's how you make DLC/expansions worth their price.
What else?
Well I've lost my game save in Skyrim (that REALLY sucks...) so I'll start over again soon enough.... And there's something deeply wrong with NBA 2k12 in-game rating system... Oh, and I'm nearing on lvl 45 in Battlefield 3 multiplayer, I'm currently sitting at lvl 44, with a K/D ratio of about 2.1... You can add The Witcher 2 (360) on my 2012's most-wanted list. I really want to try this game...
mercredi 28 mars 2012
lundi 26 mars 2012
Bara_Chat's 2011 Games of the Year Awards!
Here are the Awards for a fantastic 2011 in gaming!
Most impressive graphics
Being a car nut, I have to admit I may have been biased when choosing who would win this award. But anyone who played the game has to admit it looks absolutely fantastic, especially the Autovista mode, which is rather enjoyable on top of being very pretty.
And do keep in mind that I have only played console games this year. Maybe having a über-PC would have changed things, as user Youtube videos of Battlefield 3 and The Witcher 2 have thoroughly impressed me.
Best Action/Adventure Game
A pretty loaded category this year (as it is every year) with Zelda taking the honors. It's everything you expect from a Zelda game. Interesting characters, huge world, sheer diversity in places to explore and gameplay to exploit. A true Zelda game.
Best Sports Game
Another potentially biased award, since I'm a basketball nut, so it would be logical for me to select NBA 2K12 as the winner of this category. In fact, the fact that I know basketball so well makes me extremely severe when judging a basketball game, especially one who is widely considered "realistic". 2K12 is not bad by any means, but there are too many flaws for such a "great" (according to reviews) game. NHL 12 on the other hand, is a fantastic game, as it has been since its '09 iteration. It might be a bit too hard to score on some occasions, but gaming sports experience doesn't get better.
Best FPS campaign
A few surprises this year in this category, most notably the presence of MW3, whose predecessor's campaign was a big pile of poop. But MW3's campaign was a lot better. I also thought, at the start of 2011, that Battlefield 3's campaign would be epic. It was not. At all. And finally Resistance 3, with its finely paced campaign with interesting characters and set pieces, stole the show. It was probably the most pleasant surprise of the year, and it deserves this award.
Best RPG
I'm usually not a huge RPG fan, but there's something about Bethesda's work that just ticks with me. I absolutely loved Fallout 3, which was probably the game I played the most this generation (about 200 hours). New Vegas was in some ways better than #3, but overall a bit less satisfying. Oblivion is widely considered a masterpiece, and even if I haven't finished it yet, I find it pretty good as well. But Skyrim is something else. The way it plays, the variety of characters and quests, the sheer size of it, everything is amazing. It might even challenge Fallout 3 as the best RPG (in my opinion) of this generation.
Best Competitive Multiplayer
In this year of high quality no. 3s (honetly shooter fans were blessed in 2011 and I haven't even tried Gears 3 yet...), one stood above the rest with its multiplayer. Battlefield 3, with its gigantic maps, tons of guns, aircrafts, tanks, jeeps, IFVs, to name a few features, absolutely ruled the year. And after seeing a few PC gameplay videos, I'm positive that the complete BF3 experience is even bigger and better that I ever thought.
Best Story
Most immersive game
A bit like Fallout 3, Skyrim captures the feeling of the world it's depicting. Fallout 3's Capital Wasteland really felt like a cruel, dangerous and desolate place with a plethora of intriguing places, interesting characters and many, many quests to keep you connected to the world. Skyrim goes the same way, with a world so alive and breathing, you feel like a part of something special.
Best voice acting
That's a very, very tough one. All of these games had extremely convincing voice acting that helped propel the story to another level. If I had to choose a complete cast, I'd go with Uncharted 3 or Batman, but one character simply dominated the scene in 2011, and that's Wheatley from Portal 2. Of course GlaDos and Cave Johnson were fantastic, as well as the "personality spheres" in the final battle, but man, that metal ball certainly made me laugh and wonder throughout the whole game. A remarkable job by Valve and its voice actors.
Best sound design
I've never realized how much sound design can affect the realism of game until I've played Battlefield : Bad Company 2 in early 2010. Of course I've known about the impact of well composed music and jingles in some games, especially in the long run (All of us know the opening-a-treasure-chest jingle in Zelda games or the 1-up in Mario games), but this was something else. The sound made by dropping bullets indoors vs outdoors, the whizzing sound of a distant sniper missing you by inches, the explosion of a rocket on a nearby tank. And Battlefield 3 took that formula and expanded it even further. It's just amazing to hear.
Best music
Video game music is nearly on par with the best Hollywood has to offer. Just play a bit of Uncharted and Gears of War and you'll feel like you're watching a $200M blockbuster. However, Skyrim's music was simply mind-blowing, starting with an absolutely superb trailer that sent shivers through your body. That's the definition of Epic.
Game of The Year 2011
Celebrating its 25th birthday in 2011, The Legend of Zelda clearly isn't showing signs of slowing down. It's simply amazing how a video game series can last that long with so many iterations without ever feeling old or déjà-vu. New items/weapons stand next to the traditional ones without feeling out of place, dungeons are as creative as ever, the music is fantastic, the gameplay - while taking some time to get used to - manages to keep you involved like never before, even without HD technology, it's a beautiful game, etc. It really has it all. Nintendo has mastered the art (as we've seen with Super Mario Galaxy and #2) of sticking true to its roots while always improving and innovating.
Most impressive graphics
- Crysis 2
- Uncharted 3 : Drake's Deception
- Forza Motorsports 4
- Rage
- L.A. Noire
Being a car nut, I have to admit I may have been biased when choosing who would win this award. But anyone who played the game has to admit it looks absolutely fantastic, especially the Autovista mode, which is rather enjoyable on top of being very pretty.
And do keep in mind that I have only played console games this year. Maybe having a über-PC would have changed things, as user Youtube videos of Battlefield 3 and The Witcher 2 have thoroughly impressed me.
Best Action/Adventure Game
- The Legend of Zelda : Skyward Sword
- InFamous 2
- L.A. Noire
- Uncharted 3 : Drake's Deception
- Batman : Arkham Asylum
A pretty loaded category this year (as it is every year) with Zelda taking the honors. It's everything you expect from a Zelda game. Interesting characters, huge world, sheer diversity in places to explore and gameplay to exploit. A true Zelda game.
Best Sports Game
- NBA 2K12
- NHL 12
- Top Spin 4
Another potentially biased award, since I'm a basketball nut, so it would be logical for me to select NBA 2K12 as the winner of this category. In fact, the fact that I know basketball so well makes me extremely severe when judging a basketball game, especially one who is widely considered "realistic". 2K12 is not bad by any means, but there are too many flaws for such a "great" (according to reviews) game. NHL 12 on the other hand, is a fantastic game, as it has been since its '09 iteration. It might be a bit too hard to score on some occasions, but gaming sports experience doesn't get better.
Best FPS campaign
- Modern Warfare 3
- Resistance 3
- Crysis 2
- Rage
A few surprises this year in this category, most notably the presence of MW3, whose predecessor's campaign was a big pile of poop. But MW3's campaign was a lot better. I also thought, at the start of 2011, that Battlefield 3's campaign would be epic. It was not. At all. And finally Resistance 3, with its finely paced campaign with interesting characters and set pieces, stole the show. It was probably the most pleasant surprise of the year, and it deserves this award.
Best RPG
- The Elder Scrolls V : Skyrim
- Deus Ex : Human Revolution
- The Lord of the Rings : War in the North
- Two Worlds II
I'm usually not a huge RPG fan, but there's something about Bethesda's work that just ticks with me. I absolutely loved Fallout 3, which was probably the game I played the most this generation (about 200 hours). New Vegas was in some ways better than #3, but overall a bit less satisfying. Oblivion is widely considered a masterpiece, and even if I haven't finished it yet, I find it pretty good as well. But Skyrim is something else. The way it plays, the variety of characters and quests, the sheer size of it, everything is amazing. It might even challenge Fallout 3 as the best RPG (in my opinion) of this generation.
Best Competitive Multiplayer
- Battlefield 3
- Uncharted 3 : Drake's Deception
- Modern Warfare 3
- Killzone 3
- Resistance 3
In this year of high quality no. 3s (honetly shooter fans were blessed in 2011 and I haven't even tried Gears 3 yet...), one stood above the rest with its multiplayer. Battlefield 3, with its gigantic maps, tons of guns, aircrafts, tanks, jeeps, IFVs, to name a few features, absolutely ruled the year. And after seeing a few PC gameplay videos, I'm positive that the complete BF3 experience is even bigger and better that I ever thought.
Best Story
- Batman : Arkham City
- Portal 2
- Deus Ex : Human Revolution
- The Legend of Zelda : Skyward Sword
- The Elder Scrolls V : Skyrim
Most immersive game
- Rage
- Batman : Arkham City
- The Legend of Zelda : Skyward Sword
- The Lord of the Rings : War in the North
- The Elder Scrolls V : Skyrim
A bit like Fallout 3, Skyrim captures the feeling of the world it's depicting. Fallout 3's Capital Wasteland really felt like a cruel, dangerous and desolate place with a plethora of intriguing places, interesting characters and many, many quests to keep you connected to the world. Skyrim goes the same way, with a world so alive and breathing, you feel like a part of something special.
Best voice acting
- Uncharted 3 : Drake's Deception
- Portal 2
- Batman : Arkham City
- Deus Ex : Human Revolution
- L.A. Noire
That's a very, very tough one. All of these games had extremely convincing voice acting that helped propel the story to another level. If I had to choose a complete cast, I'd go with Uncharted 3 or Batman, but one character simply dominated the scene in 2011, and that's Wheatley from Portal 2. Of course GlaDos and Cave Johnson were fantastic, as well as the "personality spheres" in the final battle, but man, that metal ball certainly made me laugh and wonder throughout the whole game. A remarkable job by Valve and its voice actors.
Best sound design
- Battlefield 3
- Uncharted 3 : Drake's Deception
- Portal 2
- Crysis 2
I've never realized how much sound design can affect the realism of game until I've played Battlefield : Bad Company 2 in early 2010. Of course I've known about the impact of well composed music and jingles in some games, especially in the long run (All of us know the opening-a-treasure-chest jingle in Zelda games or the 1-up in Mario games), but this was something else. The sound made by dropping bullets indoors vs outdoors, the whizzing sound of a distant sniper missing you by inches, the explosion of a rocket on a nearby tank. And Battlefield 3 took that formula and expanded it even further. It's just amazing to hear.
Best music
- The Legend of Zelda : Skyward Sword
- The Lord of the Rings : War in the North
- The Elder Scrolls V : Skyrim
- Batman : Arkham City
- Gears of War 3
Video game music is nearly on par with the best Hollywood has to offer. Just play a bit of Uncharted and Gears of War and you'll feel like you're watching a $200M blockbuster. However, Skyrim's music was simply mind-blowing, starting with an absolutely superb trailer that sent shivers through your body. That's the definition of Epic.
Game of The Year 2011
- The Legend of Zelda : Skyward Sword
- Portal 2
- Batman : Arkham City
- Deus Ex : Human Revolution
- Forza Motorsports 4
- Uncharted 3 : Drake's Deception
- The Elder Scrolls V : Skyrim
- Rayman Origins
- Gears of War 3
Celebrating its 25th birthday in 2011, The Legend of Zelda clearly isn't showing signs of slowing down. It's simply amazing how a video game series can last that long with so many iterations without ever feeling old or déjà-vu. New items/weapons stand next to the traditional ones without feeling out of place, dungeons are as creative as ever, the music is fantastic, the gameplay - while taking some time to get used to - manages to keep you involved like never before, even without HD technology, it's a beautiful game, etc. It really has it all. Nintendo has mastered the art (as we've seen with Super Mario Galaxy and #2) of sticking true to its roots while always improving and innovating.
vendredi 9 mars 2012
Kudos to Sony's Customer Service
So last week I wrote a small post about my PS3 breaking up. I sent it this monday via Purolator and, amazingly enough, I already got it back from Sony. To be honest, I was not expecting it for at least another week, and I was being optimistic, because I've read on forums that it would take like 6 weeks... Just that makes me happy.
Anyway, great news I got today.
Well since I didn't have my main console for the week, I had the opportunity to finish Gears 3 to round up a great trilogy (more on that in a later post), play a bit of Naruto (good game, not awesome) and Left 4 Dead (Very good at times, but falls short on other occasions). I also bought Halo Anniversary with the power of nostalgia, thinking about all those times I played with friends a decade ago... And I'm very close to finishing Skyward Sword.
All in all, a pretty good week, videogame-wise.
Anyway, great news I got today.
Well since I didn't have my main console for the week, I had the opportunity to finish Gears 3 to round up a great trilogy (more on that in a later post), play a bit of Naruto (good game, not awesome) and Left 4 Dead (Very good at times, but falls short on other occasions). I also bought Halo Anniversary with the power of nostalgia, thinking about all those times I played with friends a decade ago... And I'm very close to finishing Skyward Sword.
All in all, a pretty good week, videogame-wise.
samedi 3 mars 2012
It's a sad day when your console dies.
I've owned a few consoles over the years. Starting with a NES back in the early 90s, then a Sega Genesis as well as a gameboy. The next step was the obvious N64, followed by a GameCube, a Wii, a PS3, a 360 and lately, as you can tell from my latest post, a PSVita. This past year I've bought a SNES as well. And I played on PC for most of the 90s and early 00s as well. You can tell I haven't owned all consoles in history, even if part of me wants to collect consoles as a hobby eventually. Strangely, and very luckily for me, never did one my consoles broke/stopped working.
Up until this friday when my 4-year-old PS3 decided it was time to go. It was, and still is, by a considerable margin, my most played console ever. In fact, for this gen alone, I can safely say that while I own all three consoles and a NDS, I've played maybe 80% of the time, if not more, on that PS3. Now it got the "Yellow Light of Death" and will be on its way this week to Sony for a repair job.
So it isn't a real goodbye after all, I'll see it soon enough. The really crappy thing about it though is that this coming week is the famous March "off-week" (I don't know how it's called in english) in schools around the province. And since I'm a teacher, I've got a week off (9 days in all) as well, and my PS3 decided to let me down just as this thing started. It's really unlucky when you think about it. The positive side of this story is that I'll try more 360-exclusives (just rented Gears 3, L4D and Naruto) and Wii-exclusives games this week, as well as some old PSP games on my Vita as well.
Now that 2012 is officially under way (gaming-wise), expect to read/hear more from this blog as I will finally announce GOTY winners as well as (hopefully) a few reviews and insights on various games from various consoles, old and new (Gears 3, Patapon 2, Halo Anniversary, Skyward Sword, etc.).
Up until this friday when my 4-year-old PS3 decided it was time to go. It was, and still is, by a considerable margin, my most played console ever. In fact, for this gen alone, I can safely say that while I own all three consoles and a NDS, I've played maybe 80% of the time, if not more, on that PS3. Now it got the "Yellow Light of Death" and will be on its way this week to Sony for a repair job.
So it isn't a real goodbye after all, I'll see it soon enough. The really crappy thing about it though is that this coming week is the famous March "off-week" (I don't know how it's called in english) in schools around the province. And since I'm a teacher, I've got a week off (9 days in all) as well, and my PS3 decided to let me down just as this thing started. It's really unlucky when you think about it. The positive side of this story is that I'll try more 360-exclusives (just rented Gears 3, L4D and Naruto) and Wii-exclusives games this week, as well as some old PSP games on my Vita as well.
Now that 2012 is officially under way (gaming-wise), expect to read/hear more from this blog as I will finally announce GOTY winners as well as (hopefully) a few reviews and insights on various games from various consoles, old and new (Gears 3, Patapon 2, Halo Anniversary, Skyward Sword, etc.).
Inscription à :
Articles (Atom)