Best Games of 2008: Platform Awards

December 28, 2008

Best PS3 Game: LittleBigPlanet
I realize that most people will put Metal Gear Solid 4 at the top of their list of PS3 games this year, but because stealth is my absolute least favorite game genre, it isn’t even on my radar. LittleBigPlanet is a great 2D platformer in an age where they are becoming fewer and farther in between, and it fosters incredible creativity with its editing tools. WipEout HD and echochrome follow closely behind for their refinement and originality, respectively.
Honorable Mentions: WipEout HD, echochrome

Best Xbox 360 Game: Burnout Paradise
Burnout Paradise is another game that gets my nod moreso from personal preference than sheer quality. While both Burnout and Grand Theft Auto IV are amazing games, I found myself playing Burnout much more often. This is probably because it lends itself better to playing in smaller chunks or, when I do have enough time to devote, to better online experiences.
Honorable Mentions: GTA IV, Fable II

Best Wii Game: Mega Man 9
The fact that Mega Man 9 makes my top spot for best Wii game this year says more about the utter lack of quality games on the Wii than it says about Mega Man 9 itself. A game that is released on all 3 major platforms shouldn’t be the best game of the year on one of those platforms.
Honorable Mentions: Super Smash Bros. Brawl, World of Goo

Best PSP Game: Patapon
While God of War: Chains of Olympus and Crisis Core: FFVII are certainly great games, they feel more like PlayStation 2 ports than bona fide PSP titles. Patapon, despite its lack of a pause option, is a great fit for the handheld and is one of the most original games to come out this year. Anyone with a PSP, headphones, and $20 should try it out.
Honorable Mentions: God of War: Chains of Olympus, Crisis Core: FFVII, n+

Best Nintendo DS Game: Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia
I don’t know what it is about leveling up or using a newly found item to access another area of a huge, creepy castle that always has me hooked. If there’s a Metroidvania-style game out there, I’ll play it.
Honorable Mentions: The World Ends With You, Professor Layton and the Curious Village, Chrono Trigger

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Posted by brianfishman

Best Games of 2008: Genre Awards

December 26, 2008

Best Action Adventure: Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia
While Grand Theft Auto IV was certainly a bigger and arguably better experience, my pick for best action/adventure title goes to Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia simply because I put much more time into it. It’s a much more challenging game than its predecessors on the DS, and its improved level design limits backtracking. It’s nice to see 2D platforming mechanics come back into style.
Honorable Mention: GTA IV

Best Driving Game: Burnout Paradise
Criterion reinvented the Burnout franchise with the latest installment. Moving Burnout to an open world with an event at every intersection (and no loading screens) was an ambitious endeavor that they pulled off nearly without a hitch. While the lack of a retry option made some events frustrating, the ability to drive around an entire island and instantly jump online with friends to complete hundreds of objectives or create your own races really extended the game’s lifespan. Criterion continues to support Burnout Paradise with free updates that include motorcycles and new objectives, and those willing to pay a small premium will soon be able to nab iconic cars like the Delorian from Back to the Future.

Best Fighting Game: Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Mortal Kombat has been my favorite fighting game franchise since I was a kid. I realize that the games have gotten somewhat stale over the past few iterations, especially in comparison to recent offerings from Capcom with Street Fighter IV and Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, but I’ve always found guilty pleasure in playing through each new MK game. I was skeptical about MK vs. DC Universe because I have absolutely no interest in comics and saw the game (and its family-friendlier T rating) as a desperate cop-out. Now that it’s out, I like the return to classic 2D mechanics, but I have no interest in the half-hearted story or the DC characters. So with that, my nod for best fighting game of 2008 goes to Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the simple fact that it encourages social interaction with friends who are actually sitting on the couch next to you instead of with strangers only interested in griefing online.
Honorable Mention: Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix

Best Platformer: LittleBigPlanet
Ever since I picked up my first NES controller, platformers have been my favorite video game genre. Since the advent of 3D gaming, the platforming genre has been rather stagnant. The really successful platformers have remained largely 2 dimensional. 2008 saw a resurgence of the genre with unique titles like n+ and PixelJunk Eden. The newest installment of the Castlevania franchise, Order of Ecclesia, was easily Konami’s best effort on the DS so far. But Sony blew its competition away with LittleBigPlanet. It’s the platformer for kids who grew up wanting to be game designers. And while it will take a very dedicated individual to create levels of the highest quality, Sony seems ready to foster this kind of creativity by continually releasing downloadable level packs.
Honorable Mentions: n+, Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia, PixelJunk Eden

Best Puzzle Game: Professor Layton and the Curious Village
Professor Layton and the Curious Village is a thinking man’s puzzle game. I love block-droppers like Lumines, Dr. Mario, Tetris, etc., but the challenge in Professor Layton wasn’t in timing or racing against the clock. Figuring out the solutions to hundreds of brain teasers left me scratching my head in frustration until finally figuring out that the answer was so obvious the entire time. Combine the excellent puzzles with an engaging narrative and some cutscenes that were pretty impressive by DS standards, and you’ve got the makings of a great franchise.
Honorable Mention: Dr. Mario Online Rx

Best Rhythm/Music Game: Rock Band 2
Rock Band 2 may not be the most original option for the best rhyhtm game of 2008, but it is the refinement of an already exceptional design. Guitar Hero: World Tour may have superior instruments, but it owes much of its success to simply copying ideas from Harmonix. An excellent assortment of fairly priced downloadable tracks ensures that anyone will be able to find something they like. Let’s just hope the inevitable annualization of the franchise doesn’t drive it into the ground.
Honorable Mention: Patapon

Best Role-Playing Game: Chrono Trigger
Chrono Trigger has long been on my list of influencial games that I should have played a long time ago. I’m a big fan of old-school Japanese RPGs, and I own the PlayStation version but never got around to playing it. Now that it’s out on the DS, I’m having a great time grinding levels and enjoying the (somewhat convoluted) story. With my hectic schedule these days, Chrono Trigger is the perfect game to play for 30 minutes before going to bed.
Honorable Mentions: The World Ends With You, Fable II, Fallout 3

Best Shooter: Gears of War 2
Anyone who knows me is aware that first or third person shooters are not exactly my cup of tea. Prey was the first FPS I played since Doom, and since then there have still only been a handful of titles I’ve tried out, let alone finished. I’m not particularly good at shooters, and I just don’t have the motivation to finish one once I become frustrated. But Gears of War 2 had me hooked the entire time because I was able to play the entire game cooperatively. The story is somewhat less laughable than the original, and the visuals are amazing (even though the entire game is mostly a couple different shades of gray). I may even hang around in the multiplayer for a while. That is, if the achievements are easy enough to get.

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Posted by brianfishman

Best Games of 2008: Special Achievement

December 24, 2008
2008 has been a great year for video games. It hasn’t been a great year for my ability to play them, however. I’ve fallen behind on a number of games, and there are still a few from 2007 (like Twilight Princess) that I have yet to finish. Since I’m too lazy, even during my two weeks off, to make a list of my favorite games of this year, I’ve stolen most of the categories and nominees from GameSpot’s Best of 2008 Awards. Enjoy!

Most Surprisingly Good Game: Braid
It’s ironic that Braid is actually receiving my first award because I absolutely hated the game. I recognize its importance to the industry, its ingenuity, and its impeccable level design. It had one of the most striking visual styles I’ve seen in modern video games, and I can still hear its haunting soundtrack. Unfortunately, I hated everything else about it. While most people praise the story for its ability to be interpreted numerous ways, I found it pretentious and not at all relevant to the gameplay. Puzzles were, for the most part, fair. But don’t bill your game as a platformer/puzzle hybrid if success in the game is not at all dependent on platforming skills. Anyway, my Braid rant is over. Amazing game, but definitely not for me.

Best Graphics, Technical: Metal Gear Solid 4
I might be the only PlayStation 3 owner with absolutely no intention of playing MGS 4. I’m not a fan of stealth games because I despise guess-and-check gameplay. Hiding from guards is consistently my least favorite part of any Legend of Zelda title. But you don’t need to play MGS 4 to recognize the amazing visual achievement that it is.
Honorable Mention: Burnout Paradise

Best Graphics, Artistic: Patapon
At $20, you couldn’t really go wrong with Patapon this year. It was an innovative mix of real-time strategy, RPG, and rhythm mechanics that became almost hypnotic as you pounded away at the face buttons. It had a distinct visual style unlike any game I’ve seen before. Most importantly, it showed that you don’t have to make a watered-down PS2 port to have a great game for the PSP.
Honorable Mentions: LittleBigPlanet, Prince of Persia

Best New Character: Sack Boy
Sony has gone through a number of mascots for the PlayStation brand, and none of them seem to have the same staying power as Mario or Master Chief. It remains to be seen how long Sony will stick with Sack Boy and LittleBigPlanet, but it appears that they finally have a character with mass-market appeal. It doesn’t hurt that his game is an amazing feat, either. Let’s just hope Sony doesn’t run Sack Boy into the ground with $5.00 downloadable outfits.
Honorable Mention: Niko Bellic (GTA IV)

Biggest News: Nintendo Reclaims Console Supremacy
While I think it’s great that the console makers I grew up with are back on top, I wish it were under better circumstances. When I was a kid, the Nintendo Seal of Quality meant you were buying a product that met a certain standard of excellence. This generation, the insignia has been officially shortened to the Nintendo Seal, and it’s obvious that quality is no longer a priority. There are still plenty of great games for the Wii, but those games are overshadowed by the seemingly limitless piles of shovelware that any and all developers are throwing out to make a quick buck.

Best Original Downloadable Console Game: Mega Man 9
Most of my favorite games this year weren’t even retail releases at all. Because of my increasingly short free time, most of the games I played this year came from Xbox Live Arcade or PlayStation Network. Even though I’m far from finishing it, Mega Man 9 gets my nod for best downloadable console game because of sheer audacity. I never imagined they’d continue the original Mega Man line like this, especially after running each of the million spin-offs into the ground. It’s impossibly difficult, but if a game that comes out in 2008 can remind me of playing Mega Man II as a kid, it deserves an award. Even if Capcom is milking every last cent from pointless downloadable expansions that should have been included in the original release.
Honorable Mentions: WipEout HD, echochrome

Best Downloadable Content: Burnout Paradise – New tracks, modes, & motorcycles
2008 was a great year for downloadable content, with plenty of games getting worthwhile additions long after their retail releases. n+ had some great level packs and Harmonix continued its amazing support for Rock Band, but Burnout Paradise gets my commendation for the sheer fact that all of their extra content in 2008 was free.

Best Original Music: Patapon
Patapon gets my award for best original music because the player takes an active part in making the music. Even if it makes it difficult to play Patapon anywhere but at home with headphones, the rhythms in the game are what make it so addiciting.

Best Licensed Music: Braid
As I said before, my favorite part about Braid was its haunting score. Rock Band 2, obviously, is a close runner-up.
Honorable Mention: Rock Band 2

Funniest Game: Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law
Harvey Birdman isn’t a good game. At just about 4 hours, it probably isn’t worth more than $10. But if you’re looking for a good laugh and some watered-down Phoenix Wright gameplay, it’s probably worth picking this one up in a bargain bin.

Best Cooperative Multiplayer: Burnout Paradise
The lack of a retry option in Burnout Paradise occasionally made the single-player experience frustrating. But throw in a few friends and a couple hundred online objectives, and you’ve got a party.
Honorable Mentions: Gears of War 2, n+

Best Competitive Multiplayer: Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Super Smash Bros. Brawl was a Nintendo fanboy’s dream. It’s packed with nostalgia and has enough content to last you the next 5 or 6 years until the inevitable sequel. There were plenty of games this year that had arguably better competitive multiplayer experiences, but Smash Bros. gets my top prize because it actually encourages real life friends in the real world to sit down next to you on a real couch and play a game on the same television set. Social skills are fun.

Best Original Game Mechanic: echochrome – Altered perspective gameplay
I’m probably a bit biased for this one because I wrote GameSpot’s review of echochrome, but I really love its perspective mechanic. It has its issues, like occasionally not following its own conventions, but there’s something about seeing an M.C. Escher painting come to life that really has me.
Honorable Mention: Patapon – Using rhythms to command your tribe

Most Innovative Game: echochrome
See previous award.
Honorable Mention: Patapon

Best Use of Control Scheme: Boom Blox
Something about grabbing a ball and chucking it at a bunch of blocks in a sort of anti-Jenga parallel world is really satisfying. Like most good games on the Wii, Boom Blox builds a game around a successful mechanic instead of shoehorning a succesful game into a shoddy new control scheme.

Best Implementation of User-Generated Content: LittleBigPlanet
The possibilities for creativity in LittleBigPlanet are endless. Granted, it will take a very determined player to design the best levels, but the stage is set for some amazing content. As long as Sony doesn’t go overboard on the moderation, LittleBigPlanet has the potential to nurture some great future developers.
Honorable Mention: n+

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Posted by brianfishman

Professor Layton Review

February 27, 2008

 

Professor Layton Review

Developer: Level 5
Publisher: Nintendo
Platform: Nintendo DS
Genre: Puzzle, Adventure
Official Site: Professor Layton DS
Release Date: February 10, 2008
ESRB: Everyone
MSRP: $29.99

Review:

Innovation is an interesting topic in the video game industry. We often hear complaints about publishers relying too heavily on sequels that don’t introduce enough new ideas to tried-and-true formulas. On the other hand, some truly new and innovative ideas go largely unnoticed by consumers. Perhaps, then, the success of recent titles like Puzzle Quest and Patapon suggest a new direction for developers. Rather than take risks with unproven design philosophies, it may be best to take successful ideas from different genres and blend them together to create new yet familiar experiences. Professor Layton and the Curious Village does just that. Borrowing the best aspects of adventure and puzzle games, Level 5 creates an experience that is both familiar and refreshing.

As the story begins, Professor Layton and his young apprentice, Luke, are called to the village of St. Mystere to investigate a mysterious will. It seems that Lady Dahlia requires your assistance to recover the Golden Apple, an heirloom that will dictate how her late husband’s fortune will be divided. To find the treasure and solve the mystery of St. Mystere, you’ll explore the streets of the village, talk with the inhabitants, and collect clues. In this way, Curious Village resembles traditional point-and-click adventure games as you use your stylus to move, talk, and search for clues.

Along the way, you’ll find that the villagers are hesitant to cooperate with your investigation unless you first help them solve a riddle. Solving these riddles takes up the majority of your time in St. Mystere, and for good reason. They’re quite difficult. Puzzles range in theme from simple word play and mathematics to involved logic puzzles and obtuse brainteasers. If you get stuck on one problem, you can always come back to it later armed with up to three hint coins that you find hidden throughout the village. There are a limited number of these coins available, but you should always have enough to get you through the most difficult puzzles. You’re also given an unlimited amount of time to solve the brainteasers, as many of them involve computations or scenarios that must be worked out with your stylus on the screen.

Playing through the adventure will take most people about 15 hours, but there is plenty to do once you’ve completed the story. The game has well over 120 puzzles, and you only need to complete two thirds of them to finish the game. You’ll want to explore the village to find hidden puzzles and collect objects to unlock more challenging brainteasers. Nintendo is also offering free, weekly puzzles for download via the Nintendo WiFi Connection, so you’ll certainly get your money’s worth for purchasing the game.

Speaking of value, you’ll notice a consistently high production level throughout Professor Layton. The game’s charming visuals are conveyed through impressive FMV sequences or artful still shots reminiscent of childhood storybook classics. Voice acting, a rare treat for a Nintendo title, is of similarly high quality. Unfortunately, most of the time you’ll find yourself playing with the audio turned down because the music can easily become repetitive and grating.

If you enjoy adventure games for their story or puzzle games for their imaginative brainteasers, Professor Layton and the Curious Village is easy to recommend. As long as you can handle the occasional obtuse riddle, Level 5 has created a great addition to your portable library that’s easy to pick up and play for a few minutes or long stretches of time. They’ve also proven that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel to create a unique game experience.

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Posted by brianfishman

Patapon Demo Impressions

February 26, 2008

Patapon Impressions Header

Patapon is a charming 2D side-scroller from the studio responsible for LocoRoco, another infectious PSP exclusive title. While the visual style is similar to LocoRoco, Patapon’s gameplay mechanics are wholly unique. Those interested in trying it out for themselves can download the demo from the PlayStation Store. Successful completion of the demo allows you to save your progress for use in the retail version of the game and gives you access to an exclusive weapon.

Although Puzzle Quest and Professor Layton stand out as recent successes, it’s not often that developers are willing to take risks and create new genres in this industry. It’s surprising then, that Patapon manages to borrow the best aspects of old genres and create something entirely fresh and innovative. Best described as a rythm-based real-time 2D side-scroller, Patapon truly breaks new ground on the portable system.

While the essential objective of 2D side-scrollers remains the same (start at the left side of the screen, move to the right, repeat), the means with which you do so have radically changed. As a deity, it is your job to guide the Patapon army into battle by beating a ceremonial drum. Different rhythm patterns tell your subjects to perform various tasks like advance, attack, or defend. Chaining these beats using timed presses of the PSP face buttons increases the effectiveness of the command, sending your troops into fever mode. In this mode, accurate timing is more difficult due to increased background noise coming from the game, and this strategy makes for a compelling risk-reward system. As you progress through the story, you’ll collect new troops and various items to equip your soldiers. This mechanic adds role-playing elements and strategy to a game already bursting with new ideas.

At a surprisingly low price of $19.99, it’s likely that many PSP owners will find something to like about Patapon. Unfortunately, the game is not without its faults. Even from the demo, a few niggling issues are apparent. For example, the difficulty curve ramps up fairly quickly, meaning you’ll have to replay a number of stages if you want to be ready for the onslaught of the next level. Furthermore, Patapon is quite possibly the least portable game available for a portable system. Because the gameplay is rhythm based, there is no way to pause in the middle of a level (unless you put the PSP in sleep mode), and you must be listening intently at all times (meaning you’ll probably want to use headphones while you play). Although the PSP’s wide screen is ideal for 2D side-scrollers, Patapon seems like an easy candidate for a downloadable PlayStation Network title on the PS3.

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Posted by brianfishman

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