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Friday, December 28, 2007
Games of the Year ('07 Version)
Everyone likes end-of-year lists. Well, even if they don't, here's another one.
(1) Portal
Today's Penny Arcade says it all. Besides the aspects mentioned there (best writing, best new game mechanic, best song) it's maybe the only game I know of which doesn't overstay it's welcome. That is, it ends exactly when it's supposed to, and doesn't feel the need to be any longer than a four-hour game simply because the industry standard is 20-30 hours. This is a game everyone should play; it's just too much fun not to be enjoyed by all.
(2) Stalker
When describing it in a forum, I wrote "this is the game Half-Life 2 should have been". I don't know where that come from, but to me, it's exactly the right description of this game. By "should have been" I mean to say that it is truly the way next-generation first-person shooters should be. It remains essentially linear, yet with wonderful freedom of choice about how you get from point to point. It also shares, with Aquaria, the virtue of not making you feel as if the world is solely constructed to have enemies attack you - most humans will ignore you unless you start to bother them or they want something from you. It's also brilliant in how it handles certain monsters. Most games introduce an interesting creature, then repeat it ad nauseum - in Stalker, certain creatures appear only two or three times, and to great effect. Finally, it's simply a lovely vision of apocalypse - check out some screenshots to see what I mean.
(3) Team Fortress 2
The week before M went away, I was trying a number of squad-based first-person shooters. I played the demo of Quake Wars quite a bit (the "our scv is damaged, repair our scv" voice drove M crazy), and quite liked it. When I noticed TF2 was coming out, in the orange box (which, of course, also included Portal), I thought I'd try the newly-revamped version of TF1 - Fortress Forever. I played it, and thought to myself "there is no way I can ever see myself liking a Team Fortress game". The mechanics of the game were simply too convoluted, and the game didn't appear to reward team work in any way whatsoever. Nevertheless, I did buy the orange box, thinking I'd give TF2 a try. The fact that it is now one of my favourite games of the year is a testament to the developer Valve's brilliance.
They retained the interesting idea of the original - nine distinct classes to use - and made it work. A great example is the medic. No other first-person shooter has got a healing class right - most games simply allow the medic to drop health packs which players generally ignore. In TF2, the medic can keep a constant healing stream on a player, so long as he stays close by him. This allows a great symbiosis between the medic's target and himself, as the player being healed also gets to see the medic's health. By virtue of the design, the two players naturally work together. Besides having great design, the game is also wonderfully amusing, by virtue of the semi-random comments the classes say when they do things. Hearing the "heavy" sing opera off-key as he waltzes into battle is priceless.
Also-rans
Aquaria, The Witcher, and Oblivion (goty edition). I really enjoyed large parts of each of these games. In the end, however, something kept me from finishing each one. Aquaria just got too frustrating. After my initial wonderment (see the post below) the game fell back on old-school nonsensical puzzles, which was just too frustrating. The Witcher was absolutely brilliant, and I hope to continue playing it, but for now, it just got too convoluted (and with slow loading times - hopefully the newest patch fixes that). Finally, Oblivion is the usual Elder Scrolls experience - marvellously open, but in the end, too devoid of personality to last. And, of course, just simply too long.
Disappointments
Bioshock and Phoenix Wright 2. Bioshock has maybe the best first 15 minutes of any game, ever. But it's doesn't even come close to realizing it's potential, as it falls back on the corridor-shooting mechanics of old. The much-hyped "atmosphere" feels tacked on. Phoenix Wright 1 is my one of my favourite games of all time (it would be on the above list except for not being released this year), but the sequel just gets everything wrong. In particular, the writing falls far below par, with numerous leaps of logic that annoy rather than surprise and amuse.
Incidentally, Merry Christmas everyone! :)
Everyone likes end-of-year lists. Well, even if they don't, here's another one.
(1) Portal
Today's Penny Arcade says it all. Besides the aspects mentioned there (best writing, best new game mechanic, best song) it's maybe the only game I know of which doesn't overstay it's welcome. That is, it ends exactly when it's supposed to, and doesn't feel the need to be any longer than a four-hour game simply because the industry standard is 20-30 hours. This is a game everyone should play; it's just too much fun not to be enjoyed by all.
(2) Stalker
When describing it in a forum, I wrote "this is the game Half-Life 2 should have been". I don't know where that come from, but to me, it's exactly the right description of this game. By "should have been" I mean to say that it is truly the way next-generation first-person shooters should be. It remains essentially linear, yet with wonderful freedom of choice about how you get from point to point. It also shares, with Aquaria, the virtue of not making you feel as if the world is solely constructed to have enemies attack you - most humans will ignore you unless you start to bother them or they want something from you. It's also brilliant in how it handles certain monsters. Most games introduce an interesting creature, then repeat it ad nauseum - in Stalker, certain creatures appear only two or three times, and to great effect. Finally, it's simply a lovely vision of apocalypse - check out some screenshots to see what I mean.
(3) Team Fortress 2
The week before M went away, I was trying a number of squad-based first-person shooters. I played the demo of Quake Wars quite a bit (the "our scv is damaged, repair our scv" voice drove M crazy), and quite liked it. When I noticed TF2 was coming out, in the orange box (which, of course, also included Portal), I thought I'd try the newly-revamped version of TF1 - Fortress Forever. I played it, and thought to myself "there is no way I can ever see myself liking a Team Fortress game". The mechanics of the game were simply too convoluted, and the game didn't appear to reward team work in any way whatsoever. Nevertheless, I did buy the orange box, thinking I'd give TF2 a try. The fact that it is now one of my favourite games of the year is a testament to the developer Valve's brilliance.
They retained the interesting idea of the original - nine distinct classes to use - and made it work. A great example is the medic. No other first-person shooter has got a healing class right - most games simply allow the medic to drop health packs which players generally ignore. In TF2, the medic can keep a constant healing stream on a player, so long as he stays close by him. This allows a great symbiosis between the medic's target and himself, as the player being healed also gets to see the medic's health. By virtue of the design, the two players naturally work together. Besides having great design, the game is also wonderfully amusing, by virtue of the semi-random comments the classes say when they do things. Hearing the "heavy" sing opera off-key as he waltzes into battle is priceless.
Also-rans
Aquaria, The Witcher, and Oblivion (goty edition). I really enjoyed large parts of each of these games. In the end, however, something kept me from finishing each one. Aquaria just got too frustrating. After my initial wonderment (see the post below) the game fell back on old-school nonsensical puzzles, which was just too frustrating. The Witcher was absolutely brilliant, and I hope to continue playing it, but for now, it just got too convoluted (and with slow loading times - hopefully the newest patch fixes that). Finally, Oblivion is the usual Elder Scrolls experience - marvellously open, but in the end, too devoid of personality to last. And, of course, just simply too long.
Disappointments
Bioshock and Phoenix Wright 2. Bioshock has maybe the best first 15 minutes of any game, ever. But it's doesn't even come close to realizing it's potential, as it falls back on the corridor-shooting mechanics of old. The much-hyped "atmosphere" feels tacked on. Phoenix Wright 1 is my one of my favourite games of all time (it would be on the above list except for not being released this year), but the sequel just gets everything wrong. In particular, the writing falls far below par, with numerous leaps of logic that annoy rather than surprise and amuse.
Incidentally, Merry Christmas everyone! :)
