Where @npward, @ChaseCantees, @realph and Ken write about video games.
The 90s were great. Zubaz were worn unironically, the “Dream Team” dominated the 92’ Olympics, and the First Person Shooter took its first steps into what would eventually become a billion dollar genre.
“We’re gonna be doing one thing and one thing only…killing Nazis.”
That’s a line from Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Bastards, but it would fit perfectly into the alternate reality world of Wolfenstein: The New Order. It’s 1960, the Nazis have used ancient technology powered by occult energy to win World War II, and it’s up to B.J. Blazkowicz to topple the new world order. Unfortunately for B.J., the Nazi regime has rendered any resistance to this new reality all but non-existent. It goes without saying things are pretty terrible.
As a yearly franchise, the Assassin’s Creed games seem to have become comfortable making incremental changes while simultaneously staying true to their original formula. Black Flag represents the largest shift the series has seen since the confusing and convoluted Templars vs. Assassins story line began nearly 10 years ago. Whereas previous Assassin’s Creed games tried to tack on new mechanics to an increasingly complicated story every Q4, such as the ability to recruit and conduct an order of assassins in Brotherhood, Black Flag ditches the familiar for what feels like an entirely new game. And honestly, that departure is the most attractive part of the latest iteration in the series.
On paper, BioShock Infinite’s episodic DLC sounds like a no-brainer: a film noir-inspired return to Rapture, moments before the libertarian paradise under the sea is set to implode upon itself. However, Burial at Sea attempts to blend two games together and the end result is a brief, confusing, beautiful mess.
I’m hearing a lot of “we’re going to revolutionise television with the Xbox One” coming from Microsoft after yesterday’s announcement.
Over the past few years, we’ve been hearing rumours of this so-called Apple TV that’s going to “change the TV landscape”, just as Apple did for the MP3 player, phone and tablet markets.
I’m not sure how others feel about this, but what has me more annoyed than the blocking of used games or the zero support for backwards compatibility, is the idea of the not being able to transfer over my Xbox Live Arcade Games to the Xbox One.
I, like many others have invested deeply in the Xbox ecosystem over the last eight years. In fact, I’ve bought close to 50 Arcade games, a digital collection I’m proud of. The idea of this digital locker I’ve built up over time being washed away when new consoles arrive makes me sick.
To celebrate the new edition of Bit Thirsty, I wanted to create a post that put together a series of adjectives for each game I found great in 2012. However, Raph persuaded me otherwise. Maybe I’ll turn this into an annualised contribution. We’ll see.
I don’t play video games often and I desperately try my best to avoid them. Why? Well if I do get into a game, I very rarely know how to stop. Seriously, it’s extremely difficult to tear myself away and unplug, and this usually results in me playing for hours on end (Skyrim, Mass Effect… The Sims). Raph gets worried. I get worried. It’s unhealthy.
Due to my strange tendencies I’ve kept gaming light this year, but it doesn’t mean I haven’t stumbled upon some interesting titles along the way. So without further ado here’s my Top 5 for 2012.
It’s been a good year for gaming. Really, it has. But looking back on what I’ve played, and what I actually consider Game of the Year material; I can’t help but be somewhat disappointed with the lack of new IPs. My list for Bit Thirsty’s GOTY 2012 reflects this sentiment. Consequently, (and partially due to having a busy year and not being able to play everything I wanted) my list has been shortened from ten games to five. Don’t worry though, that doesn’t mean there weren’t some great games released this year worthy of the GOTY title.
Big box releases for 2012 have been chock full of mediocrity, IP fatigue and sequels. So there’s no surprise that half the games on this list were delivered directly to my console, continuing to blur the line between the quality of retail versus the downloadable variety. If this trend continues, by 2013 I won’t own a box to any of my Top 10, and instead they will live on a digital shelf up in the cloud. Until then, here’s my Top 10 for 2012.
Coming back to Red Dead Redemption after many months confirms something I’ve known for some time now. The problem I have, and have had with open world Rockstar games for a while is the repetitive and uninspired mission design.
Now I don’t mean to single out Rockstar, but myself and many others think of them as the pioneers of the open world game (see Grand Theft Auto), and I feel it’s time for them to step up and repave down the groundwork once again, if only to revive this dated and ageing genre.