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My Top 20 Favourite Games

I spotted this on Dave Moran’s blog, so I’m going to quite shamelessly copy the whole idea. This should make quite an interesting read as our respective top 20 lists are completely different.

So, what you’re going to find a bit further down, is a list of my top 20 favourite games of all time. Whilst I’m a child of the 80s, you’re not going to find anything like that on this list as they don’t really stack up with the masterpieces I’ve played (my opinion!).

Sure, there was Sonic the Hedgehog on the Sega Mega Drive and Bomb Jack on the ZX Spectrum, but so what?

Here’s the list in full:

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Limbo still haunts me

It’s been a few weeks now since I’ve played Limbo. I snagged it pretty soon after it became available on the PlayStation Store as its reputation preceded it. It is of course the same game that was released on Xbox Live Arcade last year.

If you had to think of a video game that could be called art, then it would have to be Limbo. For a game that’s relatively short, with basic gameplay at its heart, it makes a big impact. The music, the Noir visuals, and the puzzles all add up to a great little game. In other words, it’s gameplay done right!

I’ve since moved on to playing some of the bigger releases this year such as DiRT 3 and L.A. Noire but Limbo still sticks in my mind as a small game with big presence. It is a platform/puzzle game cut to its bare essentials, but with such high-impact visuals.

I’m not going to go on about this game anymore as I’m already treading on familiar ground here. I just needed to get a shout out for this game, mainly for PS3 owners who like myself, will not have had the fortune of playing it last year. A must buy!

inFamous 2

I came to New Marais, I saw the need for a hero, I conquered all enemies. But was it fun?

inFamous 2 didn’t really deliver on my request for shades of grey when dealing with moral issues. Instead, in the sequel, it’s more or less business as usual: save the civilians, or kill the civilians. What these clear moral choices offer is the opportunity to really exaggerate the qualities of good or evil on your play through. I suppose this sits well with the comic book feel to the game, but I believe gamers are ready for an experience a little more nuanced.

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Buy games cheaper with the InvisibleHand

Feel like you’re paying too much for games? Then you probably are. If you’re popping into your local HMV, Game, or supermarket then you are almost definitely probably paying too much!

Sure, you may get a good deal in your supermarket or local entertainment store if they’ve got a particular game on offer. However this tends to be the exception to the rule. So what’s a thrifty gamer to do?

One option which is a particular favourite of mine, is if you can hold off on buying a game, then do so! If you wait a few weeks to a couple of months games can fall significantly in price. Yet this doesn’t help the thrifty gamer who needs their wallet saving from a day-one purchase, or a game that’s recently come out.

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Hands-on with Age of Empires Online

I can finally talk about the game I’ve been playing for the past few weeks as the non-disclosure agreement has been lifted. It turns out that Age of Empires Online was the secretive project that Robot Entertainment had been working on, originally called Project Spartan.

Any fan of the series will immediately be able to tell where Age of Empires Online gets its pedigree from. Looking at gameplay and the historial period covered, Age of Empires Online seems to be a hybrid between the very first Age of Empires game released and Age of Mythology except with a few twists and many refinements.

You can also see heavy inspiration taken from Age of Empires III with the concept of a Capital city and plenty of gameplay additions from that release. However, whereas Age of Empires III was criticised for slowing down the gameplay, this has been rectified in Age of Empires Online. It almost feels as fast as the great classic, Age of Empires II.

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Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood gameplay

Seen as I’ve been playing quite a lot of Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood recently, I thought it would be the perfect game to show my latest addition to the blog: videos!

The following video has something for everyone: avid online gamers can watch my epic fails as I (admittedly) struggle through a couple of multiplayer games of ‘Wanted’, those wanting some action can watch as I lay waste to a large number of guards in the city of Rome, and my fan club can wince as my dulcet tones are compressed through a sub-standard microphone. Enjoy!

Edit 18/04/11: The video no longer exists thanks to Vimeo (boo, hiss), and so I’m now working on alternative videos for YouTube (yay).

I’ll post some in-depth details about the video on Sleight of Hand soon, but put briefly- I’m learning and yes, there’s a lot wrong with the video itself. It runs for about 40 mins which is way too long but I wanted to push the HD content, the running time, and the file size to the limit.

What do you think?

Update 30/03/11: For reference the post, ‘How I record gameplay from my PS3‘ is now up on Sleight of Hand.

The Da Vinci Disappearance

I previously covered Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood on the blog way back in December 2010. Towards the end of my review I said:

As for whether Brotherhood is significantly shorter than it’s predecessor, well, it’s definitely shorter, but not by much. I have completed the main story mode with a smattering of side missions in about 16 hours. 100% completion in AC II totalled a good 30 hours. To achieve the same in Brotherhood I’m estimating around 20 hours as a ballpark figure. So that gives you a game 2/3 the size as its predecessor.

‘When in Rome: Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood single player‘

It turns out that I underestimated the sheer amount of content the developers packed in to Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood. In fact, I’ve notched up 37 hours of gameplay within the historic walls of Rome. And that’s still just the single player.

So, what does this have to do with The Da Vinci Disappearance? Well, we’re talking about DLC that adds more gameplay to a game already fit-to-burst with content. The DLC itself isn’t anything particularly remarkable. If you’ve played through a good chunk of Assassin’s Creed II and/or Brotherhood, then there’s nothing new to see here.

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What I’ve been playing this Winter

You might say that it’s been a rather slow couple of months for gaming. Of course, there’s been loads of gaming news going on but I’m not a news website and in all honesty I haven’t really been bothered passing comment on any news items.

However… I do have an opinion on the whole Next Generation Portable/PSP2 situation, but it’s going to have to wait until I get round to scribbling something for an article on ‘The future of portable gaming’.

The Nintendo 3DS is also a non-event for me as it’s more-or-less a DS but with 3D capabilities isn’t it? You can change the memory card format it takes and call it a new console, but come on. After the innovation with the Wii I have to say that Nintendo has really dropped the ball with this one. Again, I’m not going to explain why until my future article on portable gaming.

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Hands-on with Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit

I like my racing games, and Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit is no exception; I love it! You certainly feel the sheer speed and power of the licensed motors you’re driving and if anything, it certainly feels a lot faster than Burnout Paradise if that’s at all possible.

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit has been two years in development by Criterion Games, the developers of the Burnout series. Whilst this latest title in the Need for Speed series is a homage of sorts to 3DO’s original Need for Speed series in the late 90s, the game also evokes memories of Burnout 2: Point of Impact for me. It really does beg the question then: where does Need for Speed begin, and Burnout end?

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Black Ops connection problems: my chat with Activision

This is a follow-on post from Call of Duty: Black Ops connection problems. Whilst my previous post was more of a way to vent my frustration, as amusing as it may have been, I wasn’t been constructive. I don’t want to sue anyone or go marching in the streets about this issue, I just want the game fixed.

And so, after threatening to ring Activision in the aforementioned post, I actually did. My ‘incident’ got logged as ‘Black Ops is freezing when I play multiplayer online on my Playstation 3’. There’s more to it than that, but freezing is my main concern. It’s one thing to be kicked out of a match due to erroneous connection problems, but it’s another thing entirely to have your PS3 completely frozen, and having to reset it.

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