A post like this is difficult when you play so many games. It's really tempting to just throw whatever you've played last in there and call it good, completely forgetting about great stuff that came out. We'll call this "The Short List."
Dead Space (Played on Xbox360)
Art from the Ben Templesmith comic that tells the game's backstory.
This was an easy one for me. I'll be the last person to call it original, but the first to say it kicked all kinds of necromorph ass. It took some of my favorite movies--Aliens and The Thing--and a solid refinement of Resident Evil 4's gameplay and stuck'em in one very well crafted package. I didn't think the game was that scary, but it was incredibly tense. The fun and creative weapons, the relentlessly oppressive atmosphere, and a pretty interesting (if predictable) SF-Horror story all helped pull me in. Very few games pull me in for a second play, but this one had a brand new save on it barely 10 minutes after the credits rolled.
Grand Theft Auto 4 (Played on Xbox360)
This one's a little harder to talk about. There's a LOT of good to be had here, and I'll give respect to anyone who lists it as their favorite of the year. The animation, the cinematics, the improved mechanics and the environments all were top-notch. What really hurt the game for me was the battle between the narrative and the player. The Niko in the cutscenes was mostly pretty interesting - this sad man, who'd done some really bad things that he wanted to get away from and forget about. He's the kind of character you really want to learn more about. But then the one in the game, he was a fucking jackass. "Hey, let's go kill people for money!" "I just hit an innocent person while driving, take that old lady!" The character was literally at odds with himself and, in the end, with me. I was angry enough that I actually just stopped playing the game. If you look at my 360's blog, you'll see I played the shit out of the game. I put a good 35 hours into it easy. Then something that wasn't making me angry came along, and I forgot about it. I'd like to go back to it, but I doubt I ever will.
Pixeljunk Monsters (Played on PS3 - Download)
Pixeljunk Monsters really took me by surprise. The only game that's scored more time on the PS3 this year is Valkyria Chronicles. This one gets at least a couple hours of play every week. The real draw in it is the co-op play. If I just played single player, I don't know that it would've lasted too long. The co-op, though, is an absolute blast. Coordinating money collection, tower upgrading and of course tower choice and placement keep talk about the game on your lips but let you just sit and chat about other stuff while you do it - a perfect game for hanging out.
Valkyria Chronicles (Played on PS3)
As readers already know, I have a huge nerd-boner for this game. As one of the guys in Area5.tv's latest video said, it brings the strategy to "Strategy Game." Leveling affects all characters in a given class, largely keeping you from playing the same 10 characters over. You'll still come to favor some, but it's for their personality quirks instead of "because I played as them last time." The visuals and the hybrid gameplay both give the game a fresh feeling that not many games have. I might bitch about the piggy with wings that pokes his nose into a few too many cutscenes, but the story and voice-acting are both top-notch, and it's easy to see why an anime is being produced. If it hits the US shores, I hope they bring in the same voice actors.
Little Big Planet (Played on PS3)
I was so excited about this game! I managed to get into the beta and I was ecstatic. More than I ever have been for a beta, probably. Too bad I've barely touched the game. It's not that it's a bad game - I just have zero interest unless there's someone there to play it with me. There's so much I should adore about it, but on my list of games to play it just stays at the bottom. I'm not sure what else to say about it. I have nothing bad to say about the game. There's so much there that should make it infinitely replayable, but I'd probably pick up Prince of Persia again or get owned in MegaMan 9 some more before I even so much as thought about this one.
This is getting long, so I'm calling this part 1. Look for part 2 in the coming days!
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