In the last post, I mentioned that video games I usually like playing don't really excite me anymore. It's not like I stopped playing video games, but I certainly don't play them as much. Which is interesting, because I'm not exactly sure why. So I thought I'd do a rundown of the games I've played this year, with a 5 point rating system. Because people like to assign numbers to things!
Minecraft: This really is a heck of a game. It's basically Legos with monsters, and flexes the ol' creativity muscles. The only problem I have is the way the multiplayer servers are handled. I think my crowning achievements were the giant twin statues I made. One peed water, the other pooped lava. 5 out of 5.
Catherine: I really wanted to like this game. It's a puzzle game with a role-playing angle. It's not role-playing in the manipulating of stats and skill sets, but in the decisions you make, choosing between two different women. It's cell-shaded anime-style, like Valkyria Chronicles was, so it looks nice. But it's BOOOORRRRING. Sorry, but block puzzles do not hold my interest. They're repetitive and bland looking. The non-puzzle parts were also boring. I don't want to walk around a diner and talk to uninteresting people. The conversations don;t hold my interest like, say, the ones in Mass Effect do. And I couldn't get invested in the story because like a lot of protagonists in animes, the guy you play as is a COMPLETE FUCKING PUTZ. I hate the guy! The way he "accidentally" cheats on his girlfriend is just stupid, and his "uahh"s and "ummm"s that go with his indecisiveness are annoying as all hell. I appreciate game developers trying something different for once, but you have to make it more fun. 2 out of 5.
Portal 2: I demand you to play it. After playing the first one. My only grievance is that my roommate didn't want to play co-op with me, and played with someone else (the jerk), so I still haven't finished the cooperative mode. But that's not the game's fault. 5 out of 5.
Batman: Arkham City: I loved Arkham Asylum. It set the bar high for super-hero games. But something seemed off to me about its' sequel. The first game's story was tight and the game flowed well. The story in the sequel is just as good, but the flow isn't there. I think that's because of the sandbox-style gameplay. The first game I was getting distracted by Riddler trophies, and this game adds on to it with the addition of side-missions. I'm not as invested in the story because of these distractions. But playing as Batman is fun, and the game is still solid. 4 out of 5.
Battlefield 3: I was a huge fan of the original game, and a bigger fan of Battlefield 2. The Bad Company series never really sit well with me, so I was excited to hear the series was going back to its' roots with this one. The single player campaign is boring, so don't bother with it. This game is all about the multiplayer, and it's fun as hell. But the game has a few small but annoying issues, like how easy it is to steal the enemy team's helicopters. Get those ironed out, and the game is perfect. 4 out of 5.
Call of Duty 8: Modern Warfare 3: I wasn't impressed with Modern Warfare 2, with it's way-beyond-stupid-and-nonsensical campaign story and unbalanced multiplayer, but Black Ops came along and showed me I can have fun playing a CoD game again. So I had high hopes for CoD8:MW3. The story still makes NO SENSE, and the campaign is waaay too short, but it was enjoyable. (Except the ending, where, like the last Modern Warfare, it turns into a quick-time event jamboree.) The multiplayer, however, doesn't do it for me. After the exciting and nicely-paced multiplayer of Battlefield 3, CoD8's multiplayer is just frustrating. It's almost too fast. Pretty much it's spawn, run for about 3 seconds, shoot some bullets, die, repeat. I can't enjoy that. I'll stick with Battlefield 3, thank you. 3 out of 5.
X-Men Destiny: This game had a lot of potential. Choose from 3 different original characters, and 3 different mutant powers, and choose to help the X-Men or the Brotherhood. It had a good story too. But unfortunately it was made by Silicon Knights. What do they make? Oh yeah: SHIT. Ever since they made Eternal Darkness for the Gamecube, which is one of my favorite games, they've been phoning it in, heading downhill with each new release. But back to the game. The gameplay is repetitive and the graphics/physics are bad. But I like that they didn't make you play as a known X-Man, and spotlighted lesser known characters like Northstar and Pixie. (BUUUT they gave Pixie a stereotype teenie-bopper American voice instead of a Welsh accent. Do your research, voice director!) And Wolverine is barely in it, and Cyclops gets the bad-ass cutscene! Because of that, 5 out of 5! Naah just kidding. 3 out of 5.
That's all I can think of for now. Agree/Disagree? Lemme know. Till next time.
