So long 2010 and thanks for the fish

2010 is dead. The year that started with the promise of great things and fizzled to nothing more than the year of sequels and expansions has finally been put to rest. So now, as the last Quality Street are being plucked from the tin, the task of naming the best of 2010 begins.

Looking around the internet most people say that 'Red Dead Redemption' is the best of 2010 and while it is an excellent game I'd have to disagree. For me Mass Effect 2 was the best game of 2010.



Mass Effect 2 resumes the story of Shephard as he or she journeys across the outer reaches of space desperately warning people of the impending reaper threat, like a gun toting Cassandra.
From the cinematic opening sequence to the frantic closing mission, Mass Effect 2 is suspenseful, full of action and with a story line so engaging you'll not want to stop playing.

The gameplay is an improvement over the original and while the absence of the 'Mako' is noticeable. It doesn't hinder the game in anyway. Party management has become a slick and easy to use process that means you no longer have to spend hours changing peoples equipment just because a new pistol is available.
The characters themselves are interesting, and for the most part likeable. Often you will find yourself ensuring no harm comes to your favourite characters.

So if you find yourself with a bit of money left over from the holiday season then go pick up this game (and the original too if you haven't played it). You won't regret it particularly as the third and possibly concluding chapter is coming soon.



Honorable mentions go to:
Red Dead Redemption
While the story line is stretched a bit thin the multiplayer more than makes up for any grievences you may have with this game.
Just Cause 2
A fun and chaotic action game, a bit like GTA on Red Bull that is let down by a paper thin plot and slightly repetitive gameplay.
Fallout 3: New Vegas
If you liked Fallout 3 you'll love this game. If you never played Fallout 3 try this, just don't pay any attention to the random bugs and I don't mean the Rad Scorpions.
Dead Rising 2
2010 was also the year of the zombies, if you're the kind of person that loves Dawn of the Dead and the Walking Dead you'll love playing this game.
Alan Wake
Terribly cheesy but at the same time gloriously wonderful, it has the slickness of a wonderfully polished american tv show. Just avoid the DLC.
World of Warcraft: Catacylsm
Technically not game in its own right but the work that has been done to Azeroth and the various realms of WoW has been absolutely amazing. If you've not tried it yet try WoW now, its the best its ever been right now.

Pound of Ground

Publisher:
Akella
Developer:
Centauri
Genre:
Fantasy Shooter
Release Date:
Nov 08, 2010 (US)

Zombies are cool right now, the new 'Walking Dead Series' is brilliant, Deadrising 2 was a great game, and the Red Dead Redemption undead expansion looks awesome. Who doesn't like zombies? So you'd think the combination of the walking dead, shotguns and a bright red hot rod would work a treat, but sadly you'd be wrong.

Lets start with the paper thin story, you play as Johnny Meyer who wanders out of the desert dazed and confused and runs head first into a zombie encounter. From there you're tasked with driving your blazing red car around the desert with the occasional town shutting down the gas spewing machines that are causing the undead to rise. As your memory slowly returns it becomes apparent that Johnny was on holiday with his newly married bride when things went wrong.



Well I think that’s the storyline, I couldn’t really fathom it due to the horrendous voice acting. I wouldn't normally mark a game down for voice acting and while I respect their attempts to create a 'B Movie' feel, it gets very annoying very quickly. Meyer for instance clearly missed his calling as a ventriloquist as he seems able to talk without moving his lips. You can skip the cut scenes though so lets move on from that.

Gameplay wise its a fairly standard affair, a lot like someone has taken the questing mechanism from World of Warcraft and based a game around it but on a shorter scale. For the most part its extremely repetitive, there are highlights when you get to drive around in your Red Sports car as new areas are unlocked but even they wear a bit thin. Combat consists of either running around beating undead brains in with a baseball bat, blowing their brains out with different guns or mowing them down with your sports car. Things are nice as you get new weapons but for the most part the shotgun works well enough.



The unfortunate thing is there was potential in this game, you can see it now and again but unfortunately its almost entirely eclipsed by the repetitive gameplay and the horrid voice acting.

2011: The year of the sequel?

Released over the weekend;

Arkham City

Features a very menacing Hugo Strange (who sounds alot like Christopher Lee) injecting a soldier recounting a failed attempt to capture Batman with various colored liquids. Possibly Titan? Who knows but I am looking forward to this.

Mass Effect 3

A minor confession, I've still to finish Mass Effect 2! Thankfully the trailer doesn't give anything away in terms of spoilers and still manages to look pretty awesome.

Thanks to CVG for these trailers.

What about the Flux Capacitor?

This really snuck up on me but apparently it was offically announced in September!

Going in back in tiiiiime!

Telltale, who have been involved in 'CSI: Deadly intent', the remake of 'Tales of Monkey Island' and more recently 'Pokernight at the Inventory' are going to give us a series of episodic games based around the Back to the Future series! While not explicitly "canon" they will be closer to the story than previous BttF games and feature Christopher Lloyd as the voice of "Doc"!

Christmas Presents

Apparently Microsoft are releasing two new games on Xbox Live today that are completely free! 'Crash Course' and 'Harm's Way', both products of a promotional Doritos competition, offer achievements and unlockable gamer pics!

Thanks to CVG for initially reporting this!

Bread Rising 2: Dead Rising 2

Genre = Action
Developer = Capcom, Blue Castle
Publisher = Capcom
Players = 1 Player
Online = 2-4 players, 2 player Co-op
Age = 18

The "zombie" genre has been around for a long time but it wasn't till George Romero's 'Night of the living dead' that the zombies became the shambling, fleah eating corpses that we know and perhaps love. Many films have attempted to add to the genre, '28 days later' gave us the marathon runner zombies, 'Evil Dead' showed us a comic side to the horror and that it's cool to add chainsaws into the mix. So what does Deadrising 2 add? In truth, not alot, and that probably describes Deadrising 2. A game that doesn't add alot.

Deadrising 2 is set sometime after the outbreak of the original game. Humanity for the most part has weathered the zombie onslaught and even developed a medicine that can prevent people from turning, naturally though its extremely expensive. You play as Chuck Green who's daughter needs a constant supply of the aforementioned medicine to prevent her from turning into one of the dead. Unfortunately the only way for him to get the money is to use his skill as a former motor cross champion and participate in "Terror is Reality". A horrific gameshow where the undead are butchered and points are awarded for the most graphic kills. Having won the tournament (as part of an optional introduction) Chuck's hopes of a quiet life are quickly shattered when a zombie outbreak occurs and he is framed for it. As Chuck you have 72 hours to clear your name, find Zombrex for your daughter and stay alive, after that time the military arrive and hopefully will wisk you away to safety.



The previous game was set in a shopping mall, very similar to 'Dawn of the Dead', in it you used all manner of tools to survive whilst uncovering the mystery of what caused the zombie outbreak. The sequel is set in "Fortune City" a Las Vegas esque town which is essentially consists of a mall with the odd casino thrown in. So little has changed from the original. The gameplay is similar as well, everything is a weapon and there are literally hundreds of zombies on screen at any given time so you have to hack and slash your way through the large groups of zombies ducking and weave past the smaller numbers. The controls for the most part are simplistic enough to make this relatively easy, the only difficulty comes when your inventory has grown so large it takes a decade to cycle through all your weapons. On the topic of weapons, the biggest feature that you may have heard of is the ability to craft new more powerful and amusing weapons out of existing items. These require a work bench but they are dotted around the map and often provide you with the items to make something relatively easily. Its one of the big features of the new game but in reality you will rarely use it, I was able to get through most of the game using just 2 ridiculously overpowered combinations. Even the boss battles that appear in the form of "psychopaths" are easily won by using the combination of boxing gloves and large knives. The psychopaths being human beings who have been driven insane by the outbreak and need to be quickly dispatched.

Despite the lack of originality I'm still a fan and I think its because there is so little to the game. It's an odd statement but think of it this way, you're given a large area, its littered with implements with which to dispense death and thousands of zombies to dispense death to. There's a simple purity which creates some truly fun moments. Yes there are missions but rather than being linear they are based around a schedule, so you don't have to complete them but if you do you've only got a certain amount of time to get to them before they dissapear. Missions fall into one of 3 categories, people to save, psychopaths to kill or main story missions. The thing is they are all entirely optional, if you miss any of them at worst you may get a cutscene telling you off and from there you can either reload or just carry on what you are doing. You can spend an entire session dressing your character up in a manner of different costumes and riding a tricycle round whilst shooting fireworks from your dinosaur mask. How could that not be fun? When the 72 hours is up you can restart the game with your character's stats intact and play in an entirely different manner. I'd recommend your first run through should focus on levelling and exploring, just so you can get to grips with the area and its shortcuts before beginning in earnest.



Visually there's little over the original, there's still hundreds of zombies on screen at any time and all manner of gorey things taking place so not alot has changed. I suppose the engine works a bit slicker, I vaguely remember slowdown in the original when things got particularly hectic but for the most part this game has been quite speedy no matter what chaos unfolds on screen.

Musically there's the nice addition of Celldweller based soundtrack whilst fighting bosses or taking part in particularly interesting events. Personally I quite like Celldweller so thats good for me but if its not your cup of tea you might get quite annoyed at every boss fight because it features quite prominently.

The multiplayer isn't really worth mentioning, the "Terror is Reality" modes where you play mini games with other people are amusing but I think you'll struggle to find other players to join you now that the game has been out for a while. They do give you money which you can spend on different weapons, vehicles and medicines in game so its quite useful if you do get to play. The co op mode is very good fun as well but again it will only work as long as you have friends who have the game as well.

So if you enjoyed the original you'll enjoy this, its the exact same albeit slightly better. If the first one wasn't your cup of tea then there's nothing new here to entice you. For those on the fence, try it, it's only £20 on the pc at the moment and you'll easily get your moneys worth.

Code Monkey a simple man! (Game Dev Story)

Genre = Game developer sim?
Seller = Kairosoft Co., Ltd
Platform = iPhone

When I first heard about Game Dev Story I have to admit I was a bit confused about what I would be playing. Was I to be a rogue bracket on mission to bring down a function? Was I a coder on the edge who's inevitable mental breakdown would result in an office based shooter? I write code as part of my job and truthfully it's not that interesting, definitely not something that could be the subject of a game. Thankfully Game Dev Story is less about the code and more about managing those damn dirty code monkeys.

You start the game with a small company consisting of a receptionist and 2 minions. Your job is presumably to make the next 'World of Warcraft' or 'Modern Warfare'. To do this you first pick a genre, and a type for your game. If the combinations go together like for example RPG, Fantasy then you can assume it will sell well. If they clash like shooter and golf then you're not going to make a profit. Once this has been done your loyal monkeys will begin coding. Each developer has skills in coding, art, sound and writing. Picking the right staff member for a job results in more “quality” points in your current game's stats. These being; fun, graphics, creativity and sound. At the end your game gets released and depending on what console and the popularity of the company you'll start to make money.

In truth it sounds rather simplistic but it's actually a fairly difficult balancing act, staff members get tired and bored of certain genres so you have to continually mix things up... or fire them. New consoles come out all the time so you aren't releasing title after title for PC, instead they mock the last 20 years of gaming meaning you have to keep up with the latest trends and tailor your games to the types of audiences. Cute RPG and puzzle games sell quite well on the DS. Managing your staff is also more complicated than just giving them a role, you get to train them and level them to improve their stats. You also get to hire and fire new staff depending on what skills you need.

There's not a great deal to say about the graphics of the game, it looks very 8bit and cute, so while it's not ground breaking or amazing it's functional and adds to the charm of the game. The sound again is fairly standard stuff, the music changes as you move between offices and events occur but you may still get sick of the standard theme song which gets repeated quite frequently.

If I must criticise the game at all it's the lack of focus, it would be nice to have a bit more direction, am I trying to just survive the 20 years? Should I be creating the greatest game of all time? Is it all about the money and booth babes? Still this is a minor issue, the games so light and easy to pick up such focus would probably weigh it down. There doesn't need to be a story line when the game's purpose is to help kill time, which it does magnificently.

I honestly didn't think this game would be worth a review with its 8bit style graphics and sound, and simplistic experience but it's such good fun I simply had to. The formula works so well that it will keep you hooked for hours and you'll find yourself constantly saying, “Just one more game” as you desperately try to out do your last effort.

Right said Fred Dead Redemption.

Genre = 3rd Person Shooter/Horse Simulator
Developer = Rockstar San Diego, Rockstar North
Publisher = Rockstar games
Players = 1 Player
Online = 2-16 players
Age = 18

Wandering through the desolate plain atop my horse, I scanned the horizon for signs of life. My dusty coat blowing in the wind behind me. Just on the horizon I could make out the vague outline of my target. The murderer, the man with the bounty on his head, the team killer. He was a good distance away but I drew my rifle, slipping into focus I lined up 20 shots at his head. I was determined he wasn't going to walk away from this one. In an instance I let loose a salvo of shots that would put even the most trigger happy lunatic to shame. The target dropped instantly. Drawing my revolver and walking closer I went to confirm the kill. It would take time for his friends to find me and by then I would be long gone. I waited at the site of the kill planning my next move when a stray mountain cat pounced, killing me instantly. That pretty much explains Red Dead Redemption, really amazing moments tempered by frustration and annoyance.

The story is set in the at the end of the wild west era, where technology is starting to appear and the days of gunslingers are coming to the end. You play John Marston, a man desperately trying to turn his back on his lawless past. I presume the lawless aspect was occasionally failing to tip his hat to ladies because for a bad ass outlaw he's a bit of a softy. Unfortunately for him and his flower picking ways the US government has plans for him and they don't include spending days on the ranch rustling cattle. or whatever cowboys do when they aren't robbing banks. Instead you're sent to track down your old buddies and bring them to justice so that you can free your family and return to your former life. Queue gun fights, bar room brawls and more horse riding than you could rattlesnake at.

Sadly the rather flakey story is stretched so far it needs to be nailed down at the edges. You will find yourself begging for an ending that never seems to come. To get near to the aforementioned buddies you have to help every low life in the old west. Which means you are reduced to moving from town to town either killing x, capturing x, protecting x or rustling x like the handy man from hell. All the time bound to what is essentially a cover based shooter with relatively well thought out horse physics. No serious there are horse physics, you can trot around town like you own the place or you can race around like a lunatic, just don't push your four legged friend too far else you'll be thrown from the saddle and end up looking like a right idiot. Get used to the horses though as you'll be using them at every opportunity. Rockstar seem quite proud of their little mechanic which means you get to spend every opportunity on horseback accompanied by people who refuse to shut up. This could have been bearable but horse riding itself isn't always easy to do. You're supposed to press A to keep up with your companion but whenever they changed speed my horse refused to. Like it had suddenly succumbed to a bout of depression brought on by the repetitive scenery. I don't blame it though, the scenery, while expansive and different, is often quiet and uneventful. The quiet occasionally being punctuated by someone challenging you to a skinning competition or the sound of your shins being eaten by a pack of wolves. It's nice to be away from the crowded and claustrophobic cities of the GTA series but would it hurt to make the towns a bit bigger? I found myself wondering where half these people lived because there simply weren't enough houses for them. Was the old west known for being the biggest collection of homeless people?

That being said while the storyline goes on for far too long and sometimes feels like a broken record, at least it has one. You start to feel John's frustration as he's made to pick flowers for the 15th time and the characters while not particularly helpful are for the most part interesting and relatable. The game itself can be enjoyable, being forced to six shooters and lever action rifles slows down the combat to a more suspenseful and strategic pace and despite the emptiness of the setting the scenery is often stunning and atmospheric. If you can look past the faults and uselessness of the mini games you've got a decent game here. Of course you can always disregard the single player and its faults and go straight into the multiplayer.
The multiplayer has the usual death match settings which are quite enjoyable but the real beauty lies in the free roaming mode. You get to roam the entire world of Red Dead Redemption and form posses with your friends. From there you can go around taking down gangs or laying siege to the innocents of a town. Everything you do giving you experience which unlocks, new horses, characters and weapons!

If you have friends get yourselves online and enjoy some good old fashioned cowboy shenanigans. If not, you're going to find yourself in a decent cover based shooter with problems that can be for the most part overlooked. At least until the story gets boring.