Vidya of 2009
It’s been a really interesting year for me, partly because this year in 2009, I have bought more video game than I have for the previous 3 years combined *thinks* I’m pretty sure, that’s just an estimate, but it sounds about right. Either way, a lot of games were bought and played and now that it’s extremely close to 2010, it’s time to have a look back at the year that was.
2009 has been an awesome year for me. Back in 2008 I managed to get a PS3 for free and also bought a 360 elite during end of 2008. This meant that going into 2009 I had access to a DS, PS3, Wii and Xbox 360 (if you only count the current generation line-up). This meant that I had a lot of opportunity to play a hell of a lot of different kinds of video games.
From the very beginning of the year I was enjoying the last game in the Phoenix Wright arc of the Ace Attorney series and was also getting ready for some co-op action on Resident Evil 5 with Jeff. I also had a hell of a lot of fun with my Wii this year despite the fact that it has been a pretty quiet year for the console. Most people are pretty disappointed with Wii in 2009, which is pretty understandable considering some of the games released for the console this year… but there were a couple of gems in there that people should never have ignored or overlooked as they did.
A prime example of that would be House of the Dead: Overkill. For shame to anyone who hasn’t bought that game because it’s hilariously disturbing/funny. Also, even more shame on the people who didn’t buy Metroid Prime Trilogy. I bought TWO copies of that game. The Australian version and the US version. Why would I do such a thing? Just so I could get that awesome steel book case which only the folks in the US got… yes, I’m THAT much of a fan to go that far.
Lastly, I don’t need to even mention New Super Mario Bros. here considering that if you have a Wii and don’t own that game then you may as well stamp an “Idiot” print on your forehead.
Wii had its moments, but the hands down winner this year for me was the Xbox 360. I spent a lot of my time catching up on games released in previous years that I hadn’t owned before, but there are also a lot of games for the console released in 2009 that are just made of pure awesome. Where do I begin? RE5 was a lot of fun, even though it’s nowhere near as good as RE4, Jeff and I played the hell out of the game over the year. Jeff and I also played through Halo 3 ODST together as well… not really a big fan of Halo to begin with, but I honestly do think that ODST is a much better game than the previous Halo titles, though I’m sure most fans would disagree with me.
I had bought Assassin’s Creed quite some time ago and only played a little bit of it. Despite that, I ended up buying the second game and they sat there on my media rack for a long time until Christmas long weekend when I ended up playing the entirety of Assassin’s Creed from start to finish and also 98% of Assassin’s Creed II. Right now I’m up to the very last part of the second game and will end up finishing it probably on New Year’s days.
Another great game of 2009 has to be Batman: Arkham Asylum. When I heard about it, I was sceptical and didn’t think it would be any good at all. Having actually played the game, it really is surprising how damn good the game really is. I’m also really glad they’ve announced a sequel this soon because I really can’t get enough of how awesome Arkham Asylum is. If I had to name the biggest surprise of 2009 for me, this game would be it. It’s just brilliant.
A lot of time was spent playing on my Wii and 360, not as much on my PS3, though I still value it for Uncharted 2: Among Thieves by itself… that and the tonne of Blu-ray movies I ended up getting this year… most of which were bought in December lol. I think I bought around 38 Blu-rays in December alone. The only other PS3 game I’ve bought this year is LittleBIGPlanet, though I’ve spent rarely any time on that… when I go down to the store to try to get myself to buy some more PS3 games, I find it hard to justify spending my money on them. To be honest, a lot of them don’t really excite me that much… there are a few I’d buy if they were cheaper.
I also feel really bad about neglecting my DS for most of this year. I’ve bought quite a few DS games over the last 12 months but I still feel like I should’ve paid more attention to it and I’ve probably ignored some of the more obscure DS titles I should be focusing more on. That’s okay though, I can catch up on those titles in 2010 or get them later on when they’re ridiculously cheap like the PS2 games I’ve been buying recently lol.
Anyway, that’s it for me at the moment, how has 2009 been for the rest of you?
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I've already tried playing through some games on PS3 and the games are either buggy (eg. CivRev) or I didn't like the way it felt using the PS3 controller over the 360 controller.
There are some multiplatform games I would consider getting on the PS3 than on the 360 though... like Final Fantasy XIII
2009 was all about catching up on vidya of the decade for me, I started playing a lot of games that I missed earlier in the 2000's. Games like No More Heroes, Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, games that are real gems, but I never found out about when they were released. Oddly enough, I was not very successful in that pursuit as I believe I have a larger backlog of games now, than I did at the outset of 2009.
Let's see what did I play this year...
Well I skipped RE5, I'm not a big fan of the series in general, never was, never will be, even if I wanted to, I have no desire to go back and play the old games to catch up on the story. So I guess the first big game of the year for me was Killzone 2, which was a solid FPS with a very entertaining multiplayer setup, but it wasn't groundbreaking in any way, I mean it looked fantastic graphically, but it didn't stand apart from all other shooters before it. Next up was probably Resistance: Retribution for the PSP, which was the start of the return of games to the PSP platform, developed by the Sony Bend studio, who are responsible for the Syphon Filter games for the PSP which developed the standard for PSP shooters.
Then the first game that really just completely stole my attention away from everything else, Pokemon Platinum for the DS came out in March and I started to re-live my childhood with 493 digital pets... that spit fire and shit. While Platinum didn't really add anything new since Diamond and Pearl, it was still a blast to play. Next came inFamous, for the PS3 which is a solid action title that I'd recommend to those of you with a PS3, it's good quality fun. Then came the quiet summer months played some Rockband Unplugged for PSP, BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger for PS3, a little Battlefield 1943, Wii Sports Resort and Dissidia: Final Fantasy. All in all a solid summer, but of course the big releases don't hit until the end of the year.
The first late year big release I got was probably the Metroid Prime Trilogy... which I still haven't played (Lynk RAGE!!). Then a couple of DS games, Layton's Diabolical Box and KH 358/2 Days, haven't beat those either XD. Then came the 2 big releases that took my attention off of being a poor unemployed college grad, Demon's Souls and Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, no doubt I will be replaying those games in 2010. Then came Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in Time, another great game. The last game that really got my attention was Dragon Age: Origins, and I wasn't expecting it to at all, I thought it was gonna be boring and generic which it kind of is, but for some reason, I really ended up liking it... after turning the difficulty back to Easy XD.
Really though, when you look at the progress vidya has made over this past decade it's pretty amazing. If you take a look at the release list for the year 2000, you'll see games like Final Fantasy IX, Dues Ex, Perfect Dark, and Pokemon Gold and Silver. This year, we had games like Uncharted 2, MW2, Final Fantasy XIII, and Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver. Just think about the graphical and technical leaps that those games are. It kind of makes you wonder if we're going to see the same amount of forward progress in the gaming industry in the decade to come. While I doubt that we'll see nearly as much of a graphical leap, I hope to see more progress in other facets of games....
Then when it comes to gameplay, I just look at something like Diablo II which was released in 2000 and no game in the action RPG genre has come up with a better formula or innovated enough to make a better game. Something like Torchlight has a few new features and great art but is basically still a Diablo clone.
Not to get too down on the games industry, I think this is the best decade in gaming, I just hope the next decade sees some new formulas rather than just improving on what existing games do.
Then when it comes to gameplay, I just look at something like Diablo II which was released in 2000 and no game in the action RPG genre has come up with a better formula or innovated enough to make a better game. Something like Torchlight has a few new features and great art but is basically still a Diablo clone.
Also you need to play Demon's Souls so you can compare it to Diablo.
The games of this year that have been played were usually smaller, indie titles - including Machinarium or Torchlight - both of which surprised me in terms of finesse and execution, with the former receiving my undivided exaltation.
In terms of evolution of gaming then and now, I'd have to say that the industry is taking a turn for the worse, for AAA developers and publishers, that is. I'll be ballsy enough to say that gameplay in terms of evolution is receding, particularly with the advent of QTEs and "cinematics". DLC is also another vector, which I suppose could concern the MMO onslaught. The most telling aspect is the fact that I seem to receive more joy with playing older, ~2000-era games than their modern-day counterparts. For example, I find Deus Ex to be deeper in gameplay and more RPG-y than Mass Effect, which isn't quite a good sign, considering that ME is made from bonafide RPG developers, whereas DX is more of a straight-up FPS. Or perhaps I'm just thick...
Which also brings me to the onslaught of digital distribution and its impact on the indie market. The indie scene is going to explode within the next few years, and big-time publishers are going to feel it, if they aren't already. Coupled with the DRM-backlash and the DLC trend, perhaps that will bring about a renaissance in the industry, where publishers enforce stricter QA to make each title inherently unique from the rest, in order to increase competition and diversity. Or, conversely, it might bring about a second video game "crash", where most of the industry liquidate themselves, and everyone has to start anew with bold, untested concepts.
Time will only tell, I suppose...
I've also noticed that scripted events in games are on the rise with Uncharted 2 being one scripted event after the other, which is fine in itself, it's just that I worry that it may become a trend.
Also, with all the supposed improvements to AI... they're not really being improved that much, they're just teaching the AI to do more things rather than having them seem more aware... which means that the player can still outsmart them pretty easily.
Nowadays when I see them in todays games it's kind of annoying. Hell they're even in Assassin's Creed II but for stuff that doesn't matter. It was funny at first though, testing the buttons in the very first one that showed up lol... but aftger that it started to get annoying having to press buttons in cutscenes for stuff that didn't matter.
Also I think if you can blame 1 single game for the 'advent' of the QTE it'd have to be God of War. I think RE4 was the first game out with it, but God of War really used QTE button presses for damn near everything, and hell at the time I loved it. Mostly because what QTE does is attempt to make it feel like you're still in control of your character during a cutscene, makes it feel like you're actually responsible for all that evisceration and not just watching it, and that was exciting! Now however, it just annoys me, because I'm too worried about the button presses so I don't even get to focus on the action.
Speaking of distractions... MGS4 SPOILERS...
That part where Raiden is fighting Vamp on top of the Gecko pisses me off, because you have to focus on playing as Snake to blow up all the damn Geckos, so you don't get to really watch a pretty epic fight.
Of course, it's obvious that this is to avoid any retailer backlash... kind of what's going on with the PSP Go. Down here EB Games refuses to stock the PSP Go at all and only managed to sell just over a thousand units in tis first week. Got no idea how it's selling now, but with the lack of retail support as well as consumers not being interested, it seems like it was a wasted effort to even release the system.
Of course, steam on the other hand is thriving as well as Wii Shop Channel, PSN and XBLA... so I guess it seems to me that it all depends who's doing the selling, what's being sold and how pissed off retailers will get with companies that determines the success of the digital distribution.
Obviously retailers don't care about ye olden day games that they don't sell anymore
lulzDual Operating (system).
Nintendo's answer to Microsoft Windows!
er wai. that makes the acronym DOS. heh.
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