Wednesday, January 05, 2005
2,004 reasons to stay indoors
The year was pretty obscene for games. The volume, the hype, the HUGE games released, two new portables, first real talk of next-gen, and of course, this website. I've tried to stay on top of everything happening in the industry and play as many games as I can, but I think the former won out this year. If I had spent every minute that I did online reading about and discussing and writing about games actually playing them, I probably would have finished more than the handful that I did. Still, I sampled plenty of flavors from all three systems and at least played most of the big 'uns while maintaining my impression of a social life. Point is, all things considered (reading about every damn game possible, arguing about every one with Tom, working at a game store, and playing as many as possible), I feel decently qualified to make a quality year-end blathering of sorts and have it actually mean something. Enjoy.
This year, in my opinion mind you, saw the best single-player game and best multi-player game ever released, er, released. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and Halo 2, respectively and perhaps obviously. On the one hand it's impossibly tough to compare GTA to, say, Mario 3, but on the other it's pretty obvious which one 99.6% of people would bring to a desert island. That's no fault of Mario's, it's just that games had different implications and functions back then. As perfectly designed as Mario 3 is, it still presents the same overall challenge to everyone and is finite in it's presentation. It's wonderful, but limited. Anyhow, this is just a weird, round-about way of introducing GTA as a truly epic game, and what I now view as the current standard for the medium if there can be such a thing.
There's obviously a ton you can do in it, but the true feeling of freedom you find yourself delighting in is what makes it such an experience. At it's most basic, yes, it's just another GTA game, and yes, it will be made obsolete by the next one. I know Tom and others will hold that against it in the grand scheme of things, but I just can't somehow - it's about what I'm enjoying here and now, not what I think it will provide me with in ten years. I guess it would be a lot more fair, and easier, to just call it the best single-player game this generation, but I like grandiose, condemnable statements. Here's what it comes down to for me: If you took out all the guns and all the missions and all the dialogue and all the characters, I'd still enjoy the game almost as much. I just enjoy the physics of the vehicles, the way it feels to tool around the countryside on a dirt bike or fly low through the city in a helicopter - it just feels fun. I like watching the sunsets, I like the shine of my headlights in the desert at night, I like the way the train tracks curve through the mountains. For all its graphical rigidity, I've found real beauty in it's organic design, city or otherwise. It's just a marvel of design for me at a very basic level, and I really enjoy just "being" in the game. Yes, all the missions and weapons and otherwise are great, but if I can enjoy in such a fundamental way before all that I know I'm playing something special.
As for Halo? It's overall just the most fun I've had playing with other people in a game. Sure, bouts of Goldeneye every evening in high school were great, and I wouldn't trade them for anything. Halo is just a whole new sport - it's competitive, it's exhilarating, it's really fucking awesome. The first Halo had a great basis for multiplayer that people always put to good use, and this time the game really works well from the start for people to battle it out in. The speed and momentum of the game feels great once you get used to it, and all the little eccentricities you discover at first end up as your most helpful maneuvers once you really get into it. Just today, while flying a Banshee and being chased by another Banshee, I did a barrel role, flew high above my pursuer, hopped out, fell down, and stole his ride midair without ever touching the ground - needless to say, I laughed out loud with joy. There are just countless moments like that in every game, whether the developers intended it or not. A lot of it probably has to do with the fact that I play in a clan filled with people who aren't douchebags, unlike the majority of people who play online. But hey, it's not hard to join a clan or start one up, and the party and communication systems make it really easy to find a good group of people to play with at any time. It's just a whole lot more than the sum of it's parts, which are pretty great to begin with. Worth buying an Xbox and high-speed connection for, undoubtably. Oh, and the single-player game is great too - just not amazing.
Now that those are out of the way, what else did I really enjoy this year? Well, Burnout 3 is one hell of a game, that's for sure. I'll add this one to a "best ever" category while I'm at it - best racing game ever. Like Penny-Arcade said, finding out that the game has multiplayer is really just a sweet bonus. The single-player game is so enthralling and well-designed (you're constantly rewarded and always have new things to do), it's shocking that Criterion haven't been bought by EA yet (oh, wait...). The crash mode is hopelessly addicting, the takedowns are amazing every time, and the aftertouch system if just the best idea ever. It's a very, VERY good game all around (well, the soundtrack has it's low points, but those are easily skipped or customized), and my time with it thus far (haven't played it in a while after conquering most of it in two weeks of non-stop playing) has been godly.
Oh, lemme take a second to give props to Ninja Gaiden, seemingly forgotten from the ranks since it came out last January. Dammit, it's possibly the best action game ever isn't it? And I only played about half of it from what I understand (before getting stuck at that one stained-glass window broad - you know the one - and then picking up other games). It's amazingly gorgeous, and badass to the core throughout. I can't say I fully appreciate the whole "play it like a fighting game and you'll get the most out of it" thing, but I still enjoyed the balls off of what I played. On the to-be-finished soon list, for sure.
Champions of Norrath was a really fantastic game too, and has also apparently been forgotten somewhat. Easily a game of the year contender. Well, a Nick Had the Most Fun With award nominee, at the least. Me and Tom played through it twice, and except for gathering kittens and driving a lava tractor, it was gravy. Tasty, tasty nerd gravy. The thrill of finding a new item (which happens ever eight steps) never gets old, and provides a shockingly strong argument to scour every last corner. I thoroughly enjoyed our discussions that went something like: "Which is the right way to go?" "Over there." "Ok, let's not go that way."
Fable. I still have mixed feelings to this day. I didn't even finish it, mind you, just played about three quarters and then decided I'd rather be playing KoTOR, so I did. I really enjoyed the first ten hours or so, then just got damn bored with it damn quickly. Some of the things are sooo well done - the towns feel alive, you really feel in control of your character through his actions, and it looks and sounds gorgeous. And yet, there are dozens upon dozens of little problems that hold it back - a useless map, overly complex controls, lack of environment interactivity, lame story, etc. etc. etc. It's become a quintessentially flawed game to me - so ambitious, so almost there, but just so damned fundamentally unsound. It's a shame too, especially since I think it led to Molyneux "cancelling" B.C., the other reason I bought my Xbox.
Not that there's any method to this madness, but I should definitely mention Fight Night and Spider-Man 2 here. Both provided a wonderfully realized game mechanic that made their respective games a blast despite any other problems (one is a boxing game, the other has lame missions). Anyone whom I showed Fight Night to had a blast after spending twenty minutes learning the nuances of the controls, without even a passing interest in boxing (like myself). And the web-spinning, city-exploring dynamic of Spider-Man was just spectacular. Being able to move accurately in any distance in any speed in any direction has never been done that well in a videogame, and Treyarch nailed it. I don't know if there's enough reasons to ever buy either game considering what else is out, but they both provided me a huge amount of fun during their rental periods.
And what else can I say about Katamari Damacy that hasn't already been said a million times over? It's charming. It's wonderful. It's unique. It's addicting. It's inspired. It has the best videogame soundtrack, ever. It's hard to really compare it to anything else, so I'm glad I'm not making a list here; rest assured though, I'd find a way to put it near the top if I did. It's a game that makes me happy and proud to be a gamer - that I can interact with others' artwork and enjoy and appreciate it so much. If you haven't bought it, buy it. If you have bought it, buy someone else a copy. Sliced bread wishes.
So that was, briefly, my year in videogames. I laughed, I cried, I grew a little inside. I'm also still trying to wrap up some others - Ratchet & Clank 3 currently, then MGS3, then maybe Paper Mario - so I can start on the new year's big games (which begin showing up, like, next week). Oh, and one day I will play through all the stuff I missed that I definitely wanted to play, namely Bards Tale, Ghosthunter, Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne, THUG2, Otogi 2, and KoTOR2. Sheesh. Here's to 2,005 more reasons.
This year, in my opinion mind you, saw the best single-player game and best multi-player game ever released, er, released. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and Halo 2, respectively and perhaps obviously. On the one hand it's impossibly tough to compare GTA to, say, Mario 3, but on the other it's pretty obvious which one 99.6% of people would bring to a desert island. That's no fault of Mario's, it's just that games had different implications and functions back then. As perfectly designed as Mario 3 is, it still presents the same overall challenge to everyone and is finite in it's presentation. It's wonderful, but limited. Anyhow, this is just a weird, round-about way of introducing GTA as a truly epic game, and what I now view as the current standard for the medium if there can be such a thing.
There's obviously a ton you can do in it, but the true feeling of freedom you find yourself delighting in is what makes it such an experience. At it's most basic, yes, it's just another GTA game, and yes, it will be made obsolete by the next one. I know Tom and others will hold that against it in the grand scheme of things, but I just can't somehow - it's about what I'm enjoying here and now, not what I think it will provide me with in ten years. I guess it would be a lot more fair, and easier, to just call it the best single-player game this generation, but I like grandiose, condemnable statements. Here's what it comes down to for me: If you took out all the guns and all the missions and all the dialogue and all the characters, I'd still enjoy the game almost as much. I just enjoy the physics of the vehicles, the way it feels to tool around the countryside on a dirt bike or fly low through the city in a helicopter - it just feels fun. I like watching the sunsets, I like the shine of my headlights in the desert at night, I like the way the train tracks curve through the mountains. For all its graphical rigidity, I've found real beauty in it's organic design, city or otherwise. It's just a marvel of design for me at a very basic level, and I really enjoy just "being" in the game. Yes, all the missions and weapons and otherwise are great, but if I can enjoy in such a fundamental way before all that I know I'm playing something special.
As for Halo? It's overall just the most fun I've had playing with other people in a game. Sure, bouts of Goldeneye every evening in high school were great, and I wouldn't trade them for anything. Halo is just a whole new sport - it's competitive, it's exhilarating, it's really fucking awesome. The first Halo had a great basis for multiplayer that people always put to good use, and this time the game really works well from the start for people to battle it out in. The speed and momentum of the game feels great once you get used to it, and all the little eccentricities you discover at first end up as your most helpful maneuvers once you really get into it. Just today, while flying a Banshee and being chased by another Banshee, I did a barrel role, flew high above my pursuer, hopped out, fell down, and stole his ride midair without ever touching the ground - needless to say, I laughed out loud with joy. There are just countless moments like that in every game, whether the developers intended it or not. A lot of it probably has to do with the fact that I play in a clan filled with people who aren't douchebags, unlike the majority of people who play online. But hey, it's not hard to join a clan or start one up, and the party and communication systems make it really easy to find a good group of people to play with at any time. It's just a whole lot more than the sum of it's parts, which are pretty great to begin with. Worth buying an Xbox and high-speed connection for, undoubtably. Oh, and the single-player game is great too - just not amazing.
Now that those are out of the way, what else did I really enjoy this year? Well, Burnout 3 is one hell of a game, that's for sure. I'll add this one to a "best ever" category while I'm at it - best racing game ever. Like Penny-Arcade said, finding out that the game has multiplayer is really just a sweet bonus. The single-player game is so enthralling and well-designed (you're constantly rewarded and always have new things to do), it's shocking that Criterion haven't been bought by EA yet (oh, wait...). The crash mode is hopelessly addicting, the takedowns are amazing every time, and the aftertouch system if just the best idea ever. It's a very, VERY good game all around (well, the soundtrack has it's low points, but those are easily skipped or customized), and my time with it thus far (haven't played it in a while after conquering most of it in two weeks of non-stop playing) has been godly.
Oh, lemme take a second to give props to Ninja Gaiden, seemingly forgotten from the ranks since it came out last January. Dammit, it's possibly the best action game ever isn't it? And I only played about half of it from what I understand (before getting stuck at that one stained-glass window broad - you know the one - and then picking up other games). It's amazingly gorgeous, and badass to the core throughout. I can't say I fully appreciate the whole "play it like a fighting game and you'll get the most out of it" thing, but I still enjoyed the balls off of what I played. On the to-be-finished soon list, for sure.
Champions of Norrath was a really fantastic game too, and has also apparently been forgotten somewhat. Easily a game of the year contender. Well, a Nick Had the Most Fun With award nominee, at the least. Me and Tom played through it twice, and except for gathering kittens and driving a lava tractor, it was gravy. Tasty, tasty nerd gravy. The thrill of finding a new item (which happens ever eight steps) never gets old, and provides a shockingly strong argument to scour every last corner. I thoroughly enjoyed our discussions that went something like: "Which is the right way to go?" "Over there." "Ok, let's not go that way."
Fable. I still have mixed feelings to this day. I didn't even finish it, mind you, just played about three quarters and then decided I'd rather be playing KoTOR, so I did. I really enjoyed the first ten hours or so, then just got damn bored with it damn quickly. Some of the things are sooo well done - the towns feel alive, you really feel in control of your character through his actions, and it looks and sounds gorgeous. And yet, there are dozens upon dozens of little problems that hold it back - a useless map, overly complex controls, lack of environment interactivity, lame story, etc. etc. etc. It's become a quintessentially flawed game to me - so ambitious, so almost there, but just so damned fundamentally unsound. It's a shame too, especially since I think it led to Molyneux "cancelling" B.C., the other reason I bought my Xbox.
Not that there's any method to this madness, but I should definitely mention Fight Night and Spider-Man 2 here. Both provided a wonderfully realized game mechanic that made their respective games a blast despite any other problems (one is a boxing game, the other has lame missions). Anyone whom I showed Fight Night to had a blast after spending twenty minutes learning the nuances of the controls, without even a passing interest in boxing (like myself). And the web-spinning, city-exploring dynamic of Spider-Man was just spectacular. Being able to move accurately in any distance in any speed in any direction has never been done that well in a videogame, and Treyarch nailed it. I don't know if there's enough reasons to ever buy either game considering what else is out, but they both provided me a huge amount of fun during their rental periods.
And what else can I say about Katamari Damacy that hasn't already been said a million times over? It's charming. It's wonderful. It's unique. It's addicting. It's inspired. It has the best videogame soundtrack, ever. It's hard to really compare it to anything else, so I'm glad I'm not making a list here; rest assured though, I'd find a way to put it near the top if I did. It's a game that makes me happy and proud to be a gamer - that I can interact with others' artwork and enjoy and appreciate it so much. If you haven't bought it, buy it. If you have bought it, buy someone else a copy. Sliced bread wishes.
So that was, briefly, my year in videogames. I laughed, I cried, I grew a little inside. I'm also still trying to wrap up some others - Ratchet & Clank 3 currently, then MGS3, then maybe Paper Mario - so I can start on the new year's big games (which begin showing up, like, next week). Oh, and one day I will play through all the stuff I missed that I definitely wanted to play, namely Bards Tale, Ghosthunter, Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne, THUG2, Otogi 2, and KoTOR2. Sheesh. Here's to 2,005 more reasons.
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