What was my takeaway from the original Red Faction? Geo-Mod. Drilling through Martian rock and creating craters. I don’t believe I even played Red Faction 2 — if I did, it wasn’t memorable at all. This third installment, curiously named Red Faction: Guerrilla, will go down in gaming history as one of the best demonstrations of building destruction. If you love demolitions, you’ll love this game. Buildings of all shapes and sizes can be reduced to a heap of scrap metal and rubble with carefully placed explosives. Or via a sledge hammer. Or better yet, destroyed by a truck running through its front door and right through the back. This game felt liberating, but at the same time, I often found myself wanting to stop playing due to mind numbing repetition.
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Crysis was a tech demo to sell CryEngine 2.
There was an open island filled with lush jungles and forests to demonstrate the sandbox shooter. A frozen landscape to prove that this engine could pull off the polar opposite of a tropical paradise. Zero gravity corridors teasing the possibilities of a new Descent game. A vehicle chase sequence to prove that they could do scripted events well. There was even an air combat segment which can only be described as a poor attempt to attract lovers of flying machines. Crysis screamed: ”Hey, this engine can be used for just about any game you could think of.” And, to some extent, I agree with that. Unfortunately, this engine cannot provide fun out of the box as Crytek has so clearly proven.
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Bright Falls was more than a just an town in the Pacific Northwest of America. It was a living character in Remedy’s Alan Wake. It was creepy and cruel at night, but pleasant and welcoming during the day. It’s not easy to create a convincing world, so I can see why it took over five years to develop this game. As with anything with a long development cycle, expectations are high. I enjoyed Max Payne I & II very much and thus anything developed by the studio which brought me those games could have my money without much convincing.
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There’s so much to like in Borderlands. For starters, it’s Diablo meets first person shooters — that’s a match made in heaven. And after playing Gearbox’s take on the seemingly tough task of marrying the two genres, I believe they’ve cracked it. This is how you add role playing elements to your shooters, people. But even though they got many key areas right, there were a few issues of repetition which reminded me of another original franchise which debuted earlier this console generation.
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I read that From Software’s Demon’s Souls was “tough, but fair”. I’d have to disagree. I’d say that it’s “tough and mostly fair”. I had the misconception of believing that Demon’s Souls was more like another “tough, but fair” game, Ninja Gaiden Sigma, but it doesn’t have nearly the consistency. I’d like to understand the rules of a game and see those rules upheld as I progress though the game. Unfortunately Demon’s Souls didn’t do that.
My deaths in Demon’s Souls can be categorized as follows:
- Due to recklessness
- Due to unforeseen circumstances
- Due to inconsistencies
Reckless deaths were my fault and mine alone. I either didn’t heed the warnings left by other travelers or I underestimated the relentlessness of the enemies. Sometimes I died without the warning from enemies or other players, so I attributed those uncommon deaths as “unforeseen circumstances”. That may seem frustrating, but it wasn’t for me — I considered it part of the learning process.
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“I’ve got an idea! What if we put rocket launchers on her feet!”
“What if she could transform into a panther and a bird!?”
“What if her clothes was made out of hair and can transform into giant fists, spiders and monsters?”
Platinum Games went hog wild with the design of Bayonetta. You can get away with all sorts of shenanigans when your protagonist is 500 year old witch and not an established demon slayer.
It was clear who the target audience was for this game. The references to classic games like Afterburner, Resident Evil and Sonic the Hedgehog were strewn all over. These developers loved games and their work and it shows. If you know Hideki Kamiya by name and appreciate his works, you’ll feel right at home with Bayonetta.
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How many months has it been since Heavy Rain was released? And I still haven’t had the game spoiled? That must be a record of some kind with all the GAF I subject myself to. Heavy Rain lives and dies by its surprises and if it were spoiled, I don’t think I would have enjoyed nearly as much as I did.
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