And so another year draws to a close, and we can take a week to reflect on an entire year’s worth of gaming.  2010 delivered so many fantastic games, many of which were supposed to arrive in 2009, but it also dropped a great deal of disappointing titles too.  Choosing just one Game Of The Year seemed a little bit too much like hard work to us (after all, we’re all hung over and in food comas after last week), so instead each writer has delivered their own Game and Shame Of The Year.

Matt:

Game of the Year: This was actually quite a tough decision for me, but I’d have to give my official thumbs up to Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood.  Although the single-player was interesting enough, it was really the multiplayer aspect which had me hooked.  There is something about the “hide in plain sight” concept that translates so well to a riveting multiplayer experience, and you couldn’t care less if it takes you several minutes of planning just to pull off that perfect incognito kill.

Of course, matchmaking needs some serious fucking work (you can stare at a “Loading” screen longer than playing the actual game), but the game itself is just too much fun to let it get you down.

Shame of the Year: Although there have been plenty of average games released this year, I’d have to say Army of Two: The 40th Day was my low-light.  It wasn’t even the worst thing I scored this year, but the fact that EA took what was such a humerous action licence and turned it into a “serious” shooter with morality moments just reeked of wasted potential.

If the series gets another installment, I’m hoping they go back to doing what Rios and Salem do best: bro-fists and explosions.  Of course, 40th Day potentially killed one of them off, so how’s that going to work?

Jess:

Game of the Year: Though not a complete surprise hit (quite a few people have lauded it), Ninja Theory’s Enslaved: Odyssey to the West ticked all my happy gamer boxes. Post-Apocalyptic? Check. Excellent characterisation and dialogue? Check. Mythology? Check.  (Button  mashing fighting style? Check). Mix in some very pretty graphics and I’m sold. While not the high-punching Triple A title like the guys have picked, Enslaved was a game everyone could play, accessible and enjoyable. There was humour and heart in the plot which hooked me in and kept me interested where other games this year fell short.

A sneaky second for me was Alan Wake: clever, original and well, nothing beats this: Poets of the Fall – The Poet and the Muse

Shame of the Year: Speaking of falling short, holy shitting eels did Final Fantasy XIII come up flush with boredom, repetition and those bloody clippity-cloppity footfalls. Playing this game was a chore. At first glance, FFXIII impressed me with its design and cinematics, but after nearly 5 hours of tutorials masquerading as gameplay, I was ready to frisbee the first of the three discs out the window. It was overblown, obtuse and there was no pleasure in the time I put into it. Square Enix should have spent the money and time making an animated movie, or done something like Heavy Rain, rather than churning out another cookie cutter JRPG.

Stu:

Game of the Year: This one was a total no-brainer for me: in my eyes Mass Effect 2 pissed on every other game released this year from such a great height there just wasn’t any other choice.  Bioware took all the good points from the first game, made them better, ditched some of the irritating bits and only found a few annoying things to put back in their place. The game was visually stunning, the sound design was excellent, combat was fun, there’s been some decent DLC to keep us coming back and the voice actors were top notch.

But it’s the story that really makes Mass Effect 2 work for me. There just aren’t enough studios out there that can compete with Bioware in terms of the time and effort they put into their stories and they’ve already got me dying to get my hands on the next installment. Game of the year for me, no contest.

Shame of the Year: Since there’s no such thing as trade ins on PC games I don’t take a punt on many games that might suck – if I’m going to be stuck with it I want to have a decent idea it’s a game I’ll like before I bother with it.  It feels kind of unfair to put Poker Night at the Inventory up for worst game because I don’t think it had many pretentions towards being a proper game in the first place. Whether Torchlight was released this year or not depends very much on how you feel about physical boxes and discs – suffice to say I didn’t think much of it regardless of the release date.

But I’m not actually going to nominate a “worst” game. Instead I’m going to nominate F1:2010 for the “y’know, I might’ve got that one wrong” award. Since reviewing it I haven’t been able to bring myself to play it – finishing even my first season of a potential seven just seemed like way too much hard work to be bothered with and I don’t see myself picking it back up again any time soon, if ever. It’s triumphs speak for themselves but along the way I missed the fact that they forgot to bring the fun.

Moose:

Game of the Year: Without a doubt (and I don’t expect any major disagreements from my fellow reviewers) the high point of the year as far as gaming goes is Red Dead Redemption. With the expanded online mode and the classic GTA style gameplay, it was always going to be a success. In many ways, I feel this game succeed where GTA IV failed. GTA on horses. Can you think of a better idea?

Well, I could. It’s called MacGyver Under The Sea. Keep your eyes peeled for that.

Shame of the Year: Well, there were a few stinkers to sift through this year, but I would definitely go with Iron Man 2. Given my man-boner for Tony Stark and all things related, I found myself wanting this game to reward my rigidity … it did not. The one good thing I can say about it is that it was short. And may we never speak of it again.

You think this car crash looks bad? Wait until you see our update!

So if you’ve been enjoying Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit as much as I have, then you’ve probably also come to love (or loathe) Autolog, the social engine that allows you to troll all your friends by beating their fastest times and tell them so next time they log in.  So when a free patch to update Hot Pursuit arrived this morning promising new cars and an “upgraded experience”, I downloaded it gladly and unknowingly joined the ranks of Xbox 360 players to have their career progress wiped.

Download complete, I was treated to those insufferabledandy trailers for Shift 2 and Autolog (again), told thank you very much for playing the demo (again), and then went to check my Autolog Recommendations, only to find them completely empty.  When I logged into Career I found that my entire bounty and event progress had been erased, and I’d been demoted back to a Level 1 Cop and Racer.

I’m not alone either.  From the looks of things only Xbox users have been affected, but there are multiple accounts coming in online with the same results.  The official word from the Need For Speed Twitter account is that Xbox gamers should avoid downloading the update until Criterion can figure out just what is going on.  They don’t sound particularly optimistic about being able to recover gamers progress either, here’s what they had to say to me when I asked about the chances of recovery:

Depends on how much is saved to the servers. If it can’t be fixed, we’re thinking up ways to make it up to users that lost data.

-@NeedForSpeed

Maybe they’ll send me a poster or something, who knows.  Whatever the case, EA is asking any gamers encountering the same problems to leave their details on an official forum post so they can try and find the reasons behind the bug.

But the offical message is clear: If you’re playing Hot Pursuit on 360, do not download the 1.1 update until further notice.  Now if you’ll excuse me, I guess I’ve got some Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood to play online.

I wonder if the crown would like to hold hands for a while?

The strongest memory I have from the entire Fable series is way back at it’s beginnings.  My hero is old.  Very old.  Deeply wrinkled skin and baggy eyes stare out of a face framed with grey hair and a golden halo.  He stares down at a woman who appears to be around half his age … his mother.

In a title packed with innovative features, it was this moment that defined the game for me, and remained with me all the way through the sequel.  A prime example of a brilliant concept that’s execution was fundamentally flawed.

Which is the stigma that surrounds the series as a whole, if we’re honest, due in no small part to the over-enthusiastic promises of lead designer Peter Molyneux.  After long ago promising not to discuss ideas that he can’t demonstrate, he’s actually said some rather interesting things in the lead up to Fable 3‘s release, but the one that caught my interest the most was the fact that Fable 3 would probably upset a great deal of gamers, most likely because the game has been redesigned to be less of an RPG and more of an action-adventure.

Now although that seems like a very strange thing to admit pre-release, and even though I’m generally a fan of RPGs, I took this admission as a promising sign.  I figured Lionhead finally was sitting down to fundamentally rethink Fable and enhance what worked while fixing what didn’t.

But I guess I figured wrong.

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Come on sweetie, we'll bludgeon him to death with a shovel together

It’s been four years since we initially wandered the Willamette Parkview Mall in a dress, guzzling orange juice while gleefully slapping hockey pucks into crowds of zombies, and in four years the world of Dead Rising hasn’t changed dramatically.  Although the zombie infection in Willamette was just the first in a series of large-scale outbreaks, the world has rolled with the punches and simply absorbed the undead threat as a part of everyday life.

Dead Rising 2: Case Zero is our first introduction to the series’ new protagonist Chuck Greene and his daughter Katey.  The pair are fleeing a zombie infested Las Vegas, trying to reach a safe distance before the military cordons off the surrounding area.  Katey has been infected by a zombie bite and now requires a dose of the suppressant drug Zombrex every twelve hours to keep her turning.  If the military manages to close of the area, Katey will be screened and taken away from Chuck as a potential zombie threat.

The escape plan hits a snag when they stop at the small town of Still Creek (population 758) to refuel and someone steals their truck.  This not only leaves Chuck stranded, but also robs him of the supply of Zombrex he’s accumulated.  With the military closing in Chuck has twelve hours to find a way out of the zombie populated Still Creek, while making sure Katey gets her next dose.

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Tier 1: Here Be Hirsuitism

While I’m thoroughly sick of first-person shooters constantly returning to World War 2 for inspiration, I have to admit to feeling slightly hesitant when EA first announced they would be rebooting their Medal of Honor series and setting the first new installment in the modern day War On Terror.  After all, you only have to look at the still-definitely-being-released-oh-my-yes Six Days in Fallujah by Atomic Games to gauge the public sentiment about creating games set in current military campaigns.  What I can appreciate, however, is the gargantuan pair of cojones it must have taken both the developer and publisher to say “fuck it” and run with the idea anyway.

The new Medal of Hono(u)r represents EA’s first attempt to wrestle back it’s share of the modern shooter genre, a genre that Activision is still managing to dominate with Call of Duty.  Obviously not wanting to leave anything to chance, they split the game’s development in two, giving the single player to in-house studio Danger Close and entrusting the all-important multiplayer to it’s DICE studio, creators of the addictive Battlefield series.

The fact that EA split the game in two just to allow a “proven” studio to handle the online component should already tell you where the real focus of the game is going to be.  But being a traditional type of lad, I’ll begin with the single player.

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Another round against Eddie Gordo, sport?

If I took anything away from the recent Melbourne independent games festival Freeplay (other than a lingering hangover), it was that great things can happen when developers aren’t afraid to mess around with traditional gaming conventions.  For me one of the festival’s stand-out titles was Hazard: The Journey of Life, a philosophical first-person puzzler that created environments based upon impossible physics then used them as a metaphor for human existence.

It’s definitely worth checking out if that type of thing is your bag, but if Hazard sounds a little bit too … arty for your tastes, then maybe you’ll find something to enjoy in the following collection of indie games.  I’m an avid fan of unconventional games (and always partial to a well executed troll), and all of these titles certainly have their own unique take on what a game can be.

Now some of the games I’m about to list can reach dizzying heights of frustration, so it’s probably best that we begin with p0nd.  P0nd is a medatative relaxation game that teaches the player breathing exercises as they walk through a picturesque forest.  You could technically call it an art game, I guess, as the goals are never specifically stated and your success can only be gauged by the level of relaxation it affords you.  Just remember to breathe along with the game’s instructions for the best effect.

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LeChuck's Revenge is a dish best served cold

A year or so ago when I reviewed The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition, I tacked a little comment on to my suggestion to purchase saying that we should all buy ourselves a copy to ensure that LeChuck’s Revenge: Special Edition was made.  Given LucasArts’ fine tradition of recycling their IPs I’m not sure what inside me ever considered that they wouldn’t deliver a special edition of the sequel, but a little over a year later and here I am sitting in front of a spectacularly re-rendered version of Monkey 2.

The game begins with Guybrush Threepwood (purveyor of fine leather jackets) stuck on the lawless Scabb Island, continuing his search for the mythical treasure of Big Whoop … but then you already know that story, and I’m sure almost 95% of people who end up buying MI2:SE do too.  The Monkey Island games are undeniably pure genius, but their continued creation relies on the fact that nostalgic gamers like myself will shell out the cash unquestioningly.  Luckily the brand new Monkey 2 will only set you back ~$10 however, a price that more than equals it’s value in lingering nostalgia alone.

But if the nostalgia isn’t enough then what you’ll be paying for is a completely voice acted, re-rendered, re-orchestrated, widescreen version of the original game, with a couple of neat little extras thrown in.  If you played Monkey Island: Special Edition then you know just what to expect … and if you haven’t played Monkey Island: Special Edition then why are you even considering buying it’s sequel? (more…)

Don't look in his eyes, he can smell fear

Panic in the streets today, as a recent study undertaken by the University of Rochester has found that people who play first-person shooters make decisions up to 25% faster than people who play more family orientated titles.

The study took a test group of 18-25 year olds and split them into two groups.  One group clocked 50 hours of fragging in Unreal Tournament and Call of Duty 2, while the other group spent an equal amount of time playing The Sims 2.  After gaming, participants were given a series of audio and visual perceptual tests.  While the ratio of correct answers was around the same, participants in the action gaming groups came to their conclusions consistently faster than their simulation gaming peers.

… researchers found that video game players develop a heightened sensitivity to what is going on around them, and this benefit doesn’t just make them better at playing video games, but improves a wide variety of general skills that can help with everyday activities …

-University of Rochester, confirming our fears

Note the results of this study too.  It’s not that action gamers answered more questions correctly than other gamers, just that they were quicker in making up their minds.  This effectively means that if an action gamer makes a bad decision, he makes it far faster than a mere Joe 12-pack could.

And if that’s not enough reason to be shitting your pants in terror, this is the same university which claimed in 2007 that playing action video games sharpens gamers eyesight by ~20%.  So not only are gamers more prone to violence (something which incidentally they’re completely desensitized to) but they can decide to be violent 25% faster and use their hawk-like eyes to carry the violent act out.

It’s the clear the only response governments around the world can now take is to quietly mobilise their respective military forces, and scatter Cheetos in front of key staging areas with the hopes of delaying the hyper-aware yet hopelessly snack food addicted hordes.

How can people continue to ignore the warning signs?  Science is telling us to remain ever vigilant against this menace, friends!  Or at least try and limit your gaming to titles like Pony Friends 2 and Imagine! Babbies!

Are you sure we got all the key points in the box art? Did you remember to add explosions? Very good!

The camera tracks a lone Agent, clad from head to toe in cybernetic armour, as he leaps across the deserted rooftops of Pacific City.  He jumps effortlessly, only seeming to graze the concrete surfaces before he hurls himself forward again.  Suddenly, wings snap open between his arms and he glides down to street level, bathed orange by the light of fire and flickering street lights.  Below, shambling mutants cover the ground like ants, moaning and baying in their lust for blood.

Cut camera to the ground.  The Agent slams into the pavement fist first, scattering mutants left and right with the shockwave.  Those unfortunate enough to break his fall explode into a green mist, the impact leaving no remnants.  The Agent stands, unhooks the machine gun on his back, and begins to fire indiscriminately into the swarm.  The mutants fall before the hail of bullets like wheat before the harvester, green blood spraying everywhere and staining the asphalt.

The scene continues for a few minutes, the only pause in the carnage comes when the Agent needs to reload.  When the last mutant falls to the ground, and the final tinkle of shell casings has echoed away, we hear the Voice of the Agency.

“Good work, Agent,” he says in a confident, authoritative tone, “now how about we see how many rings you can drive a car through?”

I’ve been struggling to write a review of Crackdown 2, because I’ve found it a little difficult to work out just what the game is trying to present to the player.  On the one hand it’s a very simplistic, fairly enjoyable sandbox game with a focus on exploration and experimentation.  On the other hand, it appears to want to imply a very deep, immersive experience that just isn’t there … and charge you accordingly.

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Your Kinect unit will travel to you in style, international gamer!

Microsoft Australia today delivered the official pricing plans for their upcoming motion controller Kinect (nee Natal).  EB Games have had the RRP estimate at $199 AU for a while now, and this announcement now makes that number gospel.  Still no release date available, but as the press release makes a big deal of talking about Christmas trees, so you can probably assume November/December sometime.

The standalone Kinect bundle will include the Kinect Adventures game, which is good news considering I’d have expected to pay a lot more for a game that lets you go anywhere you want.

America have lead the pricing announcements, stating that Kinect will retail over there for $150 US.   Which I guess leaves only one question for us non-US gamers to ponder:

Why the fuck is it so expensive for us?

Apparently Microsoft care so much about the release of Kinect later this year that they’re going to be shipping each Kinect unit in it’s very own air-conditioned shipping container covered in solid gold.  Or at least I assume that’s what they’re doing, because how else do we explain the ~$30AU price hike that seems to have attached itself to each Kinect somewhere over the Pacific Ocean?

I guess we should be used to it by now.  After all, we are the continent that’s expected to pay ~150% of a game’s original US RRP.  I suppose at the very least we can be thankful that we’re not the UK, who’ve been given the stunningly inflated RRP price of 130GBP, the equivalent of around $200 US.

So with prices this artificially inflated consumers better take heed of Xbox AU’s David McLean advice, and “will definitely want to pre-order at their retailer of choice to secure their Kinect”.  Unless of course we discover there is no region locking for the Kinect, in which case I’m sure we can always find less lavish ways to ship ourselves a unit from the States.

Check out the full announcement over at InsiderX, and don’t forget to pre-order! We don’t want to all gouge ourselves stupid at once and cause a shortage!