The Games I Need To Play – Summer 2010

So as you’ve probably realised, I haven’t been blogging lately. I started my job on Wednesday. My full time job, to be precise, meaning I haven’t really had the time to do anything of late. Still, I’ve reached the point now where I’m going to be able to blog more frequently for the first time in months. Understandably, this isn’t the perfect, daily updates of yore but hey I do the best with what I’m given.

Today, I’m going to tell you the games I’m desperate to play, and probably will be playing when I get my first paycheck. Mainly these are games that have been released, with the exception of one:

I haven’t mentioned yet just how much I need to play Red Dead Redemption. Although it never even warranted so much as a single post during it’s development, I couldn’t help be caught up in the hype surrounding it’s release. It wasn’t the bland linear western shoot-em-up I expected. Instead, it’s a fully released free roaming western epic, in the same leagues as one of my all time favourites, Gun. What is it about the wild west that makes game developers shine?

Oh come of it. I know it’s been out for ages, and I know everyone knows who the killer is blah, blah, blah. Tell me something I don’t know. I’m a sucker for games with an incredible narrative, so leave me to play it in peace will you? Please? Yea. Shut the door on the way out while your at it. Your bitterness has made me cold.

If you’re a frequent visitor you’ll probably know how much I enjoyed Crackdown. A God-damn lot is the answer you’re looking for, and the sequel looks to be even better. This little beauty will be finding it’s way into my Xbox the day it comes out.

To reiterate, I’m a sucker for narrative driven games. Alan Wake certainly looks to be one of the better ones as well. Great atmosphere, great setting for an immersive plot. Yea, looks like my kind of game.

 

If there’s anything you think I’m missing out, new or old, make sure you let me know in the comments below!

What I’ve Playing Lately

I’ve actually been playing games recently. REAL GAMES. First time since around March! Here’s what I’ve been busying myself with:

Red Faction Guerrilla 

Got it for the PC for only a fiver (bargain) and I’m having so much fun with it. It’s one of those games where the game play is so good it can make the game worth playing purely on it’s own. Everything else is depressingly mediocre, but who cares? You can blow anything up! How is that not appealing? Defiantly my most played at the moment.

 

Pokémon Heart Gold

When I’m not doing anything, I’ll play Pokémon. So far, I’ve played it for twelve hours which is… impressive to be honest especially seeing as I only bought it a fortnight ago and I still have no intention of stopping. Possibly the best handheld game I’ve played since the original. I’ve given up on the Pokéwalker though. Too much effort.

 

 Viva Piñata / Forza Motorsport 2

Seeing as though my PS3 is still broke, I’ve taken to buying ridiculously cheap Xbox games in an effort to keep myself entertained. This week, I bought a double pack of Forza and Viva Pinata for £6. Score! Both good, but I much prefer Forza, even though I’m not a racing fan unless the drivers are… well…. Mario characters.

 

Team Fortress 2

I’ve finally gotten back into Tf2 again for the eight millionth time. I swear to God, every time I start playing it again it should be referred to as a relapse. Anyway, now that the Soilder / Demoman update is a distant memory the merry world for Fort warfare is back to it’s normal, utterly brilliant self.

All Work And No Play Makes Meevil A Crazy Psycho Nugget

 

I haven't sat down to play a game properly since Sunday. That probably doesn't sound strange, but for me it’s heresy. I’ve had too much work you see, and just haven't had the time to play!

 

But, starting from tomorrow night, I’m gonna finish the whole of the Red Alert 3 campaign with a lad of the forum.

 

I can’t wait! :D

Red Alert 3

Finally got my hands on a copy of Command and Conquer Red Alert 3 today and I can safely say it’s one of the best RTS’ I've played in a long time. It’s not as good as the legend that is Warcraft 3, but it’s certainly on par with Warhammer: Dawn of War and Company of Heroes.

 

Consisting of insane gameplay (Soviet Bears?), fantastic cut scenes (Casting Tim Curry as the leader of the USSR is just sheer genius) and a rather disturbing view on the role of women (A free poster that consists of nothing but women in low cut tops was included in the game box) means that Red Alert 3 is everything that I expected.

 

A must buy, comrades.

An Epic Discovery

I just found out that on Command and Conquer Red Alert 3, there’s a proton cannon in Teddy Roosevelt's head in Mount Rushmore.

 

Do you NEED any other reason why to buy this game right now? I sure don’t!

Irony. Pure Irony

Although I'm a fan of the Xbox, I do enjoy taking the piss out of it. Yea It's harsh, because lets face it, not a lot of people like the Playstation but I do it anyway mainly to annoy my friend because (and I'm sorry to say this Ryan) he's an Xbox fanboy. So while I'm bragging about trivial things such as disk space and processors, and he retaliates with points such as better games and a better online I always get him with what can only be described as every Xbox owners worst nightmare. Red Ring of Death.

Like the flu, the yellow pages or Graham Norton it happens to everyone. It happened to me, and It's happened to him and everytime I used that argument he never had anything to say back to me. Well, nothing I'd feel comfortable about typing on my girlfriends computer anyway. 

But then last night, after my New Year celebrations, I decided to see if I could clock Mirrors Edge as I was already up to chapter 6 out of 8, so I thought I'd be able to do it. So I booted it up, started playing and then it crashed. It didn't bother me at first, because I presumed it was the disc but after four attempts on Mirrors Edge, one attempt on LittleBigPlanet (the game wouldn't load) and then an attempt on COD5 (again, the game wouldn't load) I panicked. I went straight to the Sony EU forums, and posted my problem. This morning I managed to get Mirrors Edge working, but I'm still worried about whether it's a hard drive problem.

Anyway, the whole point of this story is that when I told my friend last night, he gave a fantastic reply that I thought would be perfect for today's post.

"Definitely Sony's way of saying Happy New Year mate."

A Helpful Tip

 

 

Just remember, only the RED barrels blowup, k?

A Hidden Hatred

Long time readers of my Blog may have noticed a sort of hidden hatred for a certain Wii game "Red Steel". I've never actually justified this hatred, but I can inform you that it's because it's shit.

The other day I decided I was being too harsh on the old girl so I booted it up. Turns out it's still shit.

Making Games

I'm currently half way through making a really simple game. It should be online soon, and I've been working on it for around a week.

The thing is though, whenever I make games I always have this sneaking suspicion that all the Game Developers in the world are smirking behind my back, realising that no matter what they make it'll be better than what I make. Even the developers of Red Steel.