SH:SM= It might not be saying much, but story wise this is easily the best Silent Hill since number 3. The reveal at the end of the game was a MASSIVE shock to me and the characters you meet along the way have, for once in a long while, an actual symbolic importance. This is a radical change when compared to Homecoming's cast of forgettable figures and Origin's "well they were in the first game" cast. The graphics are also surprisingly good for a Wii game and I actually haven't played a game with a frame-rate this high on any system. Aside from the slight slow-down during door opening sequences, the frame-rate is beautiful. Also, I love the little switches in the environment based upon your psychological profile. The Kaufman sequences are one of a kind and simply amazing. The chase sequences are loaded with tension and exciting.
Now for the problems. The WiiMote can stop sensing turns during chase sequences which has many times found me coated with enemies, and dead within moments. Also, though I don't have a true problem with the whole getting lost in the labyrinths during the Otherworld sequences, they are repetitive despite the game being short. This is mostly due to the fact that there is not much to do but run, toss off the raw shocks, light a flare, knock down obstacles or hide. Maybe they can add some limited capacity for fighting back like knocking back or stunning enemies in the next game. Also, can we be given the ability to sneak around enemies next time? Little changes like these help mix up gameplay as you usually just run with the lockers and such doing little to help and flares simply being like a star shield in Mario or Sonic. Hiding is useless as the raw shocks always find you anyway. Harry can't hide until they all go away, as the enemies stay in the room which makes running useless.
Though the changing forms of the enemies was neat, I didn't really get to look for an extended time at them which makes the enemy design changes rather useless. I can't slow up and look at them, so why change their forms? Not having enemies outside of Otherworld kills any tension for most of the game. Not to mention that the ice Otherworld was not as good as it could have been. It looked more like a regular freezer locker than the sick tundra I would have expected from an icy otherworld. The old Otherworld needed to be changed because it had become cliche, I know, but the ice Otherworld was just not frightening. Find something else! The game's pace needs to slow down and more needs to be added to the Otherworld. It felt rather barren and plain in Shattered Memories. Change it!
Lastly, the puzzles really need to be made more complex. I'm not retarded Climax!!! Opening a lock is not a fucking challenge for me! Don't go all fucking stereotypical Wii game on me! There were no good puzzles in the game, and the mementos were interesting symbolically but otherwise useless. I must say that I liked the Cell phone feature, so I would keep that.
Overall, very good but very flawed. I'm hoping to see an improvement next game. This one was a little too much like Indigo Prophecy in its execution, minus QTE's. Thank Christ for that!
RE:DC= Not a whole lot to say here. Really nice twist on the Light gun game with allowing the upgrading of the infinite hand-gun. The only problem there is that once you fully upgrade the handgun you don't really need any other weapons in two of the three sections. Steve Burnside and Alfred Ashford both greatly benefitted from the new voice-acting. Annette Burkin, however, got a character change not unlike Dahlia Gillespie in the Silent Hill movie, and just as iresome. Just as Dahlia was needlessly made the good mother, Annette became sane and helped Leon and Claire. You know, like in the game when she... shot... Leon... and... assumed... Claire... was... a... spy..... Oh fuck it! Annette still shoots Leon, but then she apologizes and helps him, even warning him against Ada. Ada is introduced with a scene that feels like a rip-off of Alice in the RE movies (AHHHHHHHH!!!) and Irons is given 1 line of dialogue (and it's not the epic "EVERYONE'S GOING TO DIE") and Ben doesn't even get that. He just gets some scribbles on the fucking wall!
I liked the Operation Javier segment, but felt that, like Umbrella's end in UC that it should have just been its own RE game. The CV segment was the best segment of the game, and unlike RE2 it was hardly diminished by being cut down to its major points. The problem was that RE2 didn't have a single, continuous story unlike CV, and the segment in CV that they cut (Chris on Rockfort Island) really wasn't all that important. That section just contained the Wesker story, and that mother fucker got practically all of Umbrella Chronicles so I say no big loss. Steve was actually a likable character and Alfred Ashford revealed himself as the superior villain to Alexia, despite her super powers. It just proves that having powers does not make one a superior villain (looking at you Wesker, Krauser, and Saddler).
I actually thought that the Operation Javier segment touched upon the greatest threat that Umbrella could pose, that is selling their BOW's to dictators who would have no qualms about using them. Though Javier is not fully developed, he's still miles ahead of fucking Sergei from Umbrella Chronicles as well as James Fucking Markus from 0. True, he's no William and Annette Birkin, Nikolai, Alfred Ashford, or Ramon Salazar but had he actually been given a full game who knows. I would have liked to have a full game where Hilda chased me the way Mr. X, G, Nemesis, and Lisa Trevor did but it is probably too late for that. Krauser is fleshed out a bit, and his solo missions featuring his commentary track actually provide a bit of depth regarding his character, including his fear of death and his anxiety regarding being a weak pawn in the US government's plans. You can see why he joined Wesker and infected himself with the Las Plagas. You can also understand his jealousy of Leon.
Conclusion= a fun light gun game but these original stories in the chronicles games really need to be made into actual Resident Evil games. Both concepts (Operation Javier and Umbrella's End) were superior to RE5, but I digress.
Left 4 Dead 2= I haven't been able to play multiplayer yet, but the single player is superior to the original. Ellis is my new favorite VG character, if only for his stories. I hope that one day I get to hear the end of one. I love this freaking game! Case closed!
Monday, January 4, 2010
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Best games of the decade! imo
Fallout 3- Best RPG and open world game. Amazingly renders a post apocalyptic world.
Silent Hill 2- The only game made, ever that I would consider close to being art. Brilliantly fleshed out characters, striking visual and auditory design, and frightening enemies make this the best horror game of the decade.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic- Bioware's first console RPG and the best Star Wars game ever made.
Left 4 Dead 2 (just edges out the original)- Puts you into the middle of a zombie outbreak like no other game ever could before it.
Resident Evil Remake- Took the original game and somehow managed to make it better. The 2nd best Resident Evil after 2 and 2nd best horror game after Silent Hill 2. It also is the best Resident Evil of the decade just edging out Code Veronica and 4 in my opinion.
Sid Meier's Pirates- Steeped in historical knowledge that it utilizes as a background mythology; this is easily the best PC game of the decade. Even better than Civilization 4 and Age of Empires 3.
Rachet and Clank: Going Commando- Easily the best platformer of the decade. Insomniac created this duo after dropping Spyro the Dragon. An awesome mix of Sci-fi related humor in the Futurama vein, a very tight platforming formula, and an imaginative mix of weapons. Going Commando was, I feel, the best entry on the PS2. I can't say anything about the PS3 games, as I haven't gotten to play them. However, they do look great.
Portal- Short, sickly funny, and difficult. What more can you ask of from this short yet creative little oddity from 2007?
Half-Life 2- Valve truly delivered this decade, and Gordon Freeman's second game (along with the additional chapters) was one of the best shooters of the decade. All I can say is Gravity Gun!
Disappointments of the decade-
Resident Evil 5- Not really bad as a game. It simply copied RE4, added in a gimmicky "potnah" so they could say the game wasn't racist, and failed to deliver on any of their promises involving sunlight-induced hallucinations and the need to find shade from time to time to survive. It also gave Chris steroids. Lastly, it ended the old series in an extraordinarily unsatisfactory way, in Africa no less for no real meaning. Like him or not, the post Raccoon City phase of the series was nothing without Albert Wesker. The final "battle" between him, Chris and Sheva feels underwhelming; certainly not the epic showdown myself and I'm sure many other fans were expecting.
Silent Hill: Homecoming- Gee, let's take a series that is famous for its subtle, ambiguous scares and lonely, morally gray protagonists and make an 18 hour gory, profanity ridden love letter to that shitty Gans movie. Kill me now, please.
Dead Space- Yes it was one of the most gruesome games I have ever seen. It was also visually redundant and featured a "hero" completely devoid of any personality who spoke maybe 5 lines of dialogue throughout the games, not including screams. The enemies were kinda boring looking and the ruined, bloody spaceship stops being scary after you see it the 500th time. Every room looked almost exactly the same=lazy!
Halo 3- I'm on the opposite side of the fence regarding this game. Nothing really stood out. The single player campaign is alright, but nothing really stood out to me. The multiplayer is okay, but then again I'm not all that into deathmatches and such, and I felt that Team Fortress 2 was much better with those. I guess I'm just too much of a Valve fan. In the end, I was not impressed with it and I don't feel that it deserved the fanfare it received.
Doom 3- See Dead Space.
God of War II- Not bad, but it just seemed like a re-tread of the original. Maybe that's okay for some gamers, but I want something else from a sequel. See also, Resident Evil 5.
Final Fantasy X- Winner of gayest attire in all of gaming and most broken mini-games of the decade.
Resident Evil 0- Most pointless entry in the series featuring the most pointless character in the series coughcoughBillyCohencoughcough.
Did we really need to know Bravo Team found another freaking mansion after getting on a train? I always assumed that they spent those hours in the Spencer estate. We found all of their bodies there anyway! Also, why did we have to create Billy Cohen knowing he would play no further role in the RE series? It's bad enough we have poor Carlos Oliveira running around in RE limbo, did we have to give him company? Following ReMake I assumed Rebecca stuck to Richard but I guess I'm a fucking idiot!
Didn't get to play but wanted to-
Infamous
Ratchet & Clank: Future
Ninja Gaiden (Xbox)
Fable 2
Games I could care less for-
Metal Gear Solid 3 and 4
Halo ODST
Call of Duty past 2
Uncharted
Killzone 2
Honorable Mentions for best games-
Super Mario Galaxy
Silent Hill 3
Resident Evils Code Veronica and 4
Bioshock
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Silent Hill 2- The only game made, ever that I would consider close to being art. Brilliantly fleshed out characters, striking visual and auditory design, and frightening enemies make this the best horror game of the decade.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic- Bioware's first console RPG and the best Star Wars game ever made.
Left 4 Dead 2 (just edges out the original)- Puts you into the middle of a zombie outbreak like no other game ever could before it.
Resident Evil Remake- Took the original game and somehow managed to make it better. The 2nd best Resident Evil after 2 and 2nd best horror game after Silent Hill 2. It also is the best Resident Evil of the decade just edging out Code Veronica and 4 in my opinion.
Sid Meier's Pirates- Steeped in historical knowledge that it utilizes as a background mythology; this is easily the best PC game of the decade. Even better than Civilization 4 and Age of Empires 3.
Rachet and Clank: Going Commando- Easily the best platformer of the decade. Insomniac created this duo after dropping Spyro the Dragon. An awesome mix of Sci-fi related humor in the Futurama vein, a very tight platforming formula, and an imaginative mix of weapons. Going Commando was, I feel, the best entry on the PS2. I can't say anything about the PS3 games, as I haven't gotten to play them. However, they do look great.
Portal- Short, sickly funny, and difficult. What more can you ask of from this short yet creative little oddity from 2007?
Half-Life 2- Valve truly delivered this decade, and Gordon Freeman's second game (along with the additional chapters) was one of the best shooters of the decade. All I can say is Gravity Gun!
Disappointments of the decade-
Resident Evil 5- Not really bad as a game. It simply copied RE4, added in a gimmicky "potnah" so they could say the game wasn't racist, and failed to deliver on any of their promises involving sunlight-induced hallucinations and the need to find shade from time to time to survive. It also gave Chris steroids. Lastly, it ended the old series in an extraordinarily unsatisfactory way, in Africa no less for no real meaning. Like him or not, the post Raccoon City phase of the series was nothing without Albert Wesker. The final "battle" between him, Chris and Sheva feels underwhelming; certainly not the epic showdown myself and I'm sure many other fans were expecting.
Silent Hill: Homecoming- Gee, let's take a series that is famous for its subtle, ambiguous scares and lonely, morally gray protagonists and make an 18 hour gory, profanity ridden love letter to that shitty Gans movie. Kill me now, please.
Dead Space- Yes it was one of the most gruesome games I have ever seen. It was also visually redundant and featured a "hero" completely devoid of any personality who spoke maybe 5 lines of dialogue throughout the games, not including screams. The enemies were kinda boring looking and the ruined, bloody spaceship stops being scary after you see it the 500th time. Every room looked almost exactly the same=lazy!
Halo 3- I'm on the opposite side of the fence regarding this game. Nothing really stood out. The single player campaign is alright, but nothing really stood out to me. The multiplayer is okay, but then again I'm not all that into deathmatches and such, and I felt that Team Fortress 2 was much better with those. I guess I'm just too much of a Valve fan. In the end, I was not impressed with it and I don't feel that it deserved the fanfare it received.
Doom 3- See Dead Space.
God of War II- Not bad, but it just seemed like a re-tread of the original. Maybe that's okay for some gamers, but I want something else from a sequel. See also, Resident Evil 5.
Final Fantasy X- Winner of gayest attire in all of gaming and most broken mini-games of the decade.
Resident Evil 0- Most pointless entry in the series featuring the most pointless character in the series coughcoughBillyCohencoughcough.
Did we really need to know Bravo Team found another freaking mansion after getting on a train? I always assumed that they spent those hours in the Spencer estate. We found all of their bodies there anyway! Also, why did we have to create Billy Cohen knowing he would play no further role in the RE series? It's bad enough we have poor Carlos Oliveira running around in RE limbo, did we have to give him company? Following ReMake I assumed Rebecca stuck to Richard but I guess I'm a fucking idiot!
Didn't get to play but wanted to-
Infamous
Ratchet & Clank: Future
Ninja Gaiden (Xbox)
Fable 2
Games I could care less for-
Metal Gear Solid 3 and 4
Halo ODST
Call of Duty past 2
Uncharted
Killzone 2
Honorable Mentions for best games-
Super Mario Galaxy
Silent Hill 3
Resident Evils Code Veronica and 4
Bioshock
Batman: Arkham Asylum
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