The Deluge

Wow, what a summer I've had in regards to gaming.

That said, I apologize for the lack of posts, even though I've been chewing through a lot of games, including a handful of franchises that I'd previously overlooked.  The combination of work, commute, and need for downtime killed most of the time I would have had to blog, and while I'd love for this to become something more, it is still just a little diversion.

If I were getting paid for this... well, that'd be a different story.

So, I'll give a brief rundown as to the games I've been playing since I last posted.

Vanquish: This is Shinji Mikami's attempt at what is largely a western genre, the third person sci-fi shooter, and it's largely successful.  Mind you, I've nicknamed it Metal Gears of Bayonetta, but it is less derivative than I make it sound there.  It does have a goofy, convoluted conspiracy story ala the Metal Gear series, but that gives it its charm.  It's a game about a hard-as-nails space Marine, but it's the Japanese cliche version of it.  (Fun fact:  your character can take a smoke break in the middle of a gunfight, and then flick the butt to distract the enemy.)  It also uses the same game engine as Bayonetta, which was also developed by Platinum Games for Sega, and it has the same frentic/breakneck pace of that game, just not its weirdness. Once I play through Bayonetta I think I'll write up a comparison of the two games, as it will be interesting to see how much gameplay diversity there is with this engine as compared so something like Capcom's MT Framework engine.

Dead Space 1 & 2:  I've been playing these largely back to back, with breaks to ease the tension the series creates, and you can see a definite evolution in game play.  I haven't played a survival horror game this generation, unless you count Deadly Premonition, and it's sort of the opposite of Vanquish, in that it's a western attempt at a largely Japanese genre.  I'll say for certain that Visceral Games have given Capcom a run for its money, and are probably more successful at it than the Resident Evil games of late have been.

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit and NBA Jam:  I am not a fan of racing games or sports games, but I absolutely adore these two games.  For the former, it's the presence of developer Criterion Games, the folks behind the Burnout series, that have brought me in.  They have taken arcade racing games to a new level, and continue to do so with this one.  Kudos go to EA for letting them do an entry in their flagship racing franchise, as it successfully hooked me into it, and I'm sure it did others.  As for the latter?  Well, that's been a trip down memory lane.  I used to love playing it on my roommate's Genesis back in filmschool, and well, this brought all that back.  I'm slowly playing through campaign mode, picking it up every couple of weeks, but I'm enjoying the hell out of it.

Saints Row 1 & 2:  In all honesty, I completely wrote this series off when it first came out.  It looked like a cheap, gangsta riff on GTA's sandbox, and I regret it.  Saints Row is its own beast, even if it comes off as derivative of the GTA series.  I think the primary draw of it is that it has a gonzo sense of fun to it, and goes to the goofy extreme where the GTA series tries to be serious.  Based on the strength of the double pack I snagged, and playing the two games back to back, I've preordered the next installment directly from the publisher, as it takes to the next level.  If the first game was GTA cranked to 11, and the second was GTA cranked to 100, then the third one looks like it's GTA cranked to Infinitely Awesome!  I'm looking forward to it more than Assassin's Creed Revelations, Batman Arkham Asylum, and Gears of War 3 combined, and I've been really looking forward to them.

Dark Void:  Capcom's new IP is a crying shame, as it's better than the reviews make it out to be, but at the same time, they aren't completely wrong about it.  There's an amazing game in there, but it really needs more focus and a tighter narrative, especially when it comes to player agency, at least in regard to how your character fits into the narrative.  I think this one deserves a study of its own, as there's definitely something to discuss about this one.

On top of these games, I've also been playing Wanted: Weapons of Fate (which has me thinking about the 'right' length of a game), Hellboy: The Science of Evil, The Darkness (which has got me thinking about gameplay vs. storytelling), Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2 (this one will be mentioned along with Wanted), Warhammer 40,000: Kill-Team, Super Street Fighter IV, Sega's Dreamcast Collection (featuring Sonic Adventure, Space Channel 5 Part 2, Crazy Taxi and Sega Bass Fishing... which is my favorite of the bunch, and I wish I had the Dreamcast rod & reel controller) and I've been revisiting Deadly Premonition.  (Note how most of those games are based on other media.)  On tap are Bayonetta and Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter, once I get Dark Void and Dead Space 2 out of the way.  Plus, I've got a handful of Japanese RPGs that I really need to get going, plus I should finish/start-over Devil May Cry 4 one of these days.

On top of that, I really need to actually get my life back in gear, so I think I'll be largely game free until Saints Row the Third.

So, yeah, I've been lost in gaming, but at the same time, the concepts and themes that I've been talking about here have always been on my mind, and will be the subject of future posts.