I've just bought a Nintendo 3DS XL, part-exchanging the original iteration of the device to fund the purchase (I got £100 for it - only £8 less than I paid for it, new, 9 months ago). It struck me that I'd bought the original iteration of the last three Nintendo handhelds - 3DS, DS and GBA - and part-exchanged them all on the day of release of the new, improved version of the device when it became available.
I didn't buy any of the original versions of those three when they launched - those purchases were driven by a software release (Mario Kart Super Circuit (GBA), Mario Kart DS (er, DS) ) or a ridiculously low offer (the afore-mentioned £108 3DS - thanks Toys R Us). Given I'm a sucker for shiny new things, the fact that I didn't feel the urge to rush out and buy the DS Chunky and its friends when they were released, is probably an indication that they weren't quite 'right'. The first, backlight-free GBA was barely visible other than under strong light, the DS Chunky was too heavy and plug ugly and the 3DS was (or is, I suppose) extremely uncomfortable after extended play (and looked a bit 'Fisher Price'). On the other hand, the GBASP, the DS Lite and now the 3DS XL are great pieces of kit - what Nintendo should have done in the first place.
Given the rise of phone/tablet gaming, I have my doubts that there'll be any future generations of dedicated handheld consoles but, if there are, I hope Nintendo's entries are finished versions of its consoles (as the lovely Sony PS Vita clearly is this time around) , rather than a late prototype.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Tuesday, 28 August 2012
Monday, 2 July 2012
Jacked by David Kushner (book review)
When I started this videogames blog, I didn't expect to be reviewing many books. For a start, there aren't many written away from the game guide or 'greatest games ever' market. However, there are now a few books that seek to explore the cultural significance of games, gamers and gaming. Jacked is one such book - an entertaining tale of the rise of one of gaming's largest and most controversial franchises, Grand Theft Auto.
One of the criticisms of video games from those that don't play them is 'why don't you read a book instead?'. Putting to one side the fact that - hey - it's
possible to enjoy doing both, this argument is born of a lack of understanding. It can better be rephrased as 'I don't know/understand this new thing society is doing, so I'm against it. Think of the children!'.
Not only is this the editorial line of the Daily Mail, it also is a theme that runs through Jacked. Not the voice of the author, David Kushner, but that of noughties gamers' bête noire, sometime lawyer, full-time moral crusader, Jack Thompson.
Jacked maintains a twin narrative throughout - one featuring Sam Houser, president of Take-Two subsidiary Rockstar Games and one featuring the anti videogame campaigner Thompson. From a European perspective, this is a strange approach - at an ocean's distance, Thompson seems a curious figure, tilting at videogame windmills in an increasingly sclerotic series of tirades against his twin gaming hates, sex and violence. Kushner however, promotes Thompson to a leading character in GTA's narrative, focussing on his efforts to stop GTA (and other Rockstar games) as a juxtaposition to Houser's efforts to elevate videogames to an adult art form.
Even from an American perspective, I'm not sure Thompson merits this promotion. GTA was/is such a worldwide publishing phenomenon, regular writs from a Floridian lawyer were never realistically anything more than an inconvenience to Take-Two, particularly given the protection afforded by the First Amendment to the US Constitution.
Take Two's unrelated 'issues' with the SEC in the US were a far more resonant threat to its business than a green-ink-brigade Southern lawyer. Unfortunately for Kushner accounting irregularities make for unexciting reading. Fortunately for the reader, while they are covered descriptively, Kushner does not dwell on them overmuch. To have done so would have detracted from the central narrative of how a British videogame series (as American as it is in theme, GTA is programmed by pasty-faced - I assume - Scotsmen and women in Rockstar North in Edinburgh) broke sales records worldwide.
Kushner writes for magazines and, at times, that makes itself apparent - his prose style can be somewhat breathless. However, he tells the tale well (even if you know how it will end) and I would recommend what is an enjoyable read to anyone with an interest in the series (and popular culture generally).
One of the criticisms of video games from those that don't play them is 'why don't you read a book instead?'. Putting to one side the fact that - hey - it's
possible to enjoy doing both, this argument is born of a lack of understanding. It can better be rephrased as 'I don't know/understand this new thing society is doing, so I'm against it. Think of the children!'.
Not only is this the editorial line of the Daily Mail, it also is a theme that runs through Jacked. Not the voice of the author, David Kushner, but that of noughties gamers' bête noire, sometime lawyer, full-time moral crusader, Jack Thompson.
Jacked maintains a twin narrative throughout - one featuring Sam Houser, president of Take-Two subsidiary Rockstar Games and one featuring the anti videogame campaigner Thompson. From a European perspective, this is a strange approach - at an ocean's distance, Thompson seems a curious figure, tilting at videogame windmills in an increasingly sclerotic series of tirades against his twin gaming hates, sex and violence. Kushner however, promotes Thompson to a leading character in GTA's narrative, focussing on his efforts to stop GTA (and other Rockstar games) as a juxtaposition to Houser's efforts to elevate videogames to an adult art form.
Even from an American perspective, I'm not sure Thompson merits this promotion. GTA was/is such a worldwide publishing phenomenon, regular writs from a Floridian lawyer were never realistically anything more than an inconvenience to Take-Two, particularly given the protection afforded by the First Amendment to the US Constitution.
Take Two's unrelated 'issues' with the SEC in the US were a far more resonant threat to its business than a green-ink-brigade Southern lawyer. Unfortunately for Kushner accounting irregularities make for unexciting reading. Fortunately for the reader, while they are covered descriptively, Kushner does not dwell on them overmuch. To have done so would have detracted from the central narrative of how a British videogame series (as American as it is in theme, GTA is programmed by pasty-faced - I assume - Scotsmen and women in Rockstar North in Edinburgh) broke sales records worldwide.
Kushner writes for magazines and, at times, that makes itself apparent - his prose style can be somewhat breathless. However, he tells the tale well (even if you know how it will end) and I would recommend what is an enjoyable read to anyone with an interest in the series (and popular culture generally).
Sunday, 24 June 2012
A Digital First
Last week, I bought what would otherwise have been a boxed game, via digital distribution - something I'd never done before. I have no doubt that, as broadband speeds increase, this will be the primary method of distribution in future hardware generations but I didn't think I'd buy into that method this gen.
The game in question was the fantastic Everybody's Golf on the PS Vita and the reason I bought it via a download was the simple fact that it was cheaper - Sony was offering it for £11.99 via PSN and bricks-and-mortar shops were selling it for upwards of £15. Often with download versions of boxed games, the price is the same, or even higher than their boxed brethren, so this pricing was the exception rather than the rule (at the moment, anyway).
I like the idea of owning a physical product when I've paid money for something but I think that this is, more than anything, habit. I am quite used to not owning physical media any more when buying songs and am getting that way with magazines. Games are just another step along that particular road and I'm sure that, in ten years' time downloads will be the norm.
Bringing retail doom to a High St near you. In a mini skirt
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
The game in question was the fantastic Everybody's Golf on the PS Vita and the reason I bought it via a download was the simple fact that it was cheaper - Sony was offering it for £11.99 via PSN and bricks-and-mortar shops were selling it for upwards of £15. Often with download versions of boxed games, the price is the same, or even higher than their boxed brethren, so this pricing was the exception rather than the rule (at the moment, anyway).
I like the idea of owning a physical product when I've paid money for something but I think that this is, more than anything, habit. I am quite used to not owning physical media any more when buying songs and am getting that way with magazines. Games are just another step along that particular road and I'm sure that, in ten years' time downloads will be the norm.
Bringing retail doom to a High St near you. In a mini skirt
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Saturday, 9 June 2012
Dynamite Dan II - ZX Spectrum/iOS
As it says in my bio, I've been playing games since 1983, when I received the seminal UK micro, ZX Spectrum, for Christmas. Back then, it seemed like every other game was a platformer of one kind or another and two of the best were the Dynamite Dan games, programmed by Rod Bowkett and released on the Mirrorsoft label. They are now also available in iOS versions - the first game is available as part of the Spectaculator Spectrum emulator app and the second game is a 69p in-app purchase in that app or for the same price as a standalone game (the photos here are from the latter app).
The second of the two DD games, Dynamite Dan II: Dr Blitzen and the Islands of Arcanum, was one of my favourite games on the system (which is saying something on a system that had 10,000 games released for it over its lifetime).
It was a flip-screen platformer, set across the titular Islands of Arcanum. In true 80s computer game style, there was a hokey, probably tacked on, plot linking all the onscreen action together. Series bad guy, Dr Blitzen, was enslaving the youth of the world by putting subliminal messages into vinyl pop singles (possibly commentary on the mid-80s rise of the PWE stable of singers? Or probably not...). You have to shut this evil enterprise down by - of course - finding a record on each of the islands and then playing it on the Island's jukebox, before grabbing a jerrycan of petrol to refuel your airship to travel to the next island.
DDII featured a lot of innovative elements that are still being used in games today - health bar rather than lives, different coloured baddies having a different effect (e.g. a magenta enemy, when touched, would remove fuel (also magenta) from your inventory; a white enemy removing white bombs and so on); different enemy designs on different islands; secret passages that were only available if a particular object was held - which bears testament to its forward-looking approach. It also had - for a BEEP-y Spectrum, anyway - great sound.
In common with pretty much all games of this era, it was insanely difficult - I only ever got to the sixth of the eight islands when playing on Spectrum in the 80s and I played it *a lot*. Back then, once you died, the player would have to go back to the very beginning of the game, to island 1 (very frustrating when you'd been on island 6). That type of game dynamic is unacceptable in the molly-coddled world of 21st Century gaming (thankfully) and the iOS version allows the player to manually save as they go along. Saves games can be reloaded after each (inevitable) death, making the game much easier (but still not easy) to complete.
As a result of playing the app I have now discovered, 25 years after I'd originally played the game, that the game is impossible to complete as envisioned in the instructions! Those instructions state that, on the last island (The Pressing Plant) after the record has been played on the jukebox, Dan must find a bomb and plant it in Dr Blitzen's (Pete Waterman's?) office, in order that the Doctor's nefarious plans cannot resurface. I played the record, found the bomb and what I took to be Blitzen's office (gold records on the the wall) but there's no way of planting or detonating it! I did wonder if I was doing something incorrectly but after a quick look around the internets, I saw it confirmed that the game could not be fully completed. I don't blame the programmer, Rod Bowkett, for who DDII was to be his last game before becoming a full-time musician/sound designer. He must have struggled considerably to put such game as there is into the Spectrum's 48k. No, I blame Mirrorsoft owner and pension-plunderer, Robert Maxwell. Just, y'know, because...
Rod Bowkett still has a public profile now (no mention of DD, sadly). It would be great if premier old games magazine 'Retro Gamer' could interview him regarding these games (and why the ending never made it into the finished game).
Despite the anti-climax at the game's end, it is still a very playable and enjoyable game, even today - I was playing DDII on iPad in preference to playing on my PS Vita while my family was watching The Voice - and great value for money. After 'completing' DDII, I found myself top of the worldwide Game Center leaderboard for the game, the first time I've been top of anything. Admittedly, there are only 33 entries in the leaderboard but still...
The second of the two DD games, Dynamite Dan II: Dr Blitzen and the Islands of Arcanum, was one of my favourite games on the system (which is saying something on a system that had 10,000 games released for it over its lifetime).
 |
| On iPad, the lower half of the screen is given over to the joystick/fire button |
It was a flip-screen platformer, set across the titular Islands of Arcanum. In true 80s computer game style, there was a hokey, probably tacked on, plot linking all the onscreen action together. Series bad guy, Dr Blitzen, was enslaving the youth of the world by putting subliminal messages into vinyl pop singles (possibly commentary on the mid-80s rise of the PWE stable of singers? Or probably not...). You have to shut this evil enterprise down by - of course - finding a record on each of the islands and then playing it on the Island's jukebox, before grabbing a jerrycan of petrol to refuel your airship to travel to the next island.
 |
| In the 80s, that use of colour on Spectrum was like witchcraft |
 |
| The car park island. As far as I got in the 80s |
In common with pretty much all games of this era, it was insanely difficult - I only ever got to the sixth of the eight islands when playing on Spectrum in the 80s and I played it *a lot*. Back then, once you died, the player would have to go back to the very beginning of the game, to island 1 (very frustrating when you'd been on island 6). That type of game dynamic is unacceptable in the molly-coddled world of 21st Century gaming (thankfully) and the iOS version allows the player to manually save as they go along. Saves games can be reloaded after each (inevitable) death, making the game much easier (but still not easy) to complete.
As a result of playing the app I have now discovered, 25 years after I'd originally played the game, that the game is impossible to complete as envisioned in the instructions! Those instructions state that, on the last island (The Pressing Plant) after the record has been played on the jukebox, Dan must find a bomb and plant it in Dr Blitzen's (Pete Waterman's?) office, in order that the Doctor's nefarious plans cannot resurface. I played the record, found the bomb and what I took to be Blitzen's office (gold records on the the wall) but there's no way of planting or detonating it! I did wonder if I was doing something incorrectly but after a quick look around the internets, I saw it confirmed that the game could not be fully completed. I don't blame the programmer, Rod Bowkett, for who DDII was to be his last game before becoming a full-time musician/sound designer. He must have struggled considerably to put such game as there is into the Spectrum's 48k. No, I blame Mirrorsoft owner and pension-plunderer, Robert Maxwell. Just, y'know, because...
Rod Bowkett still has a public profile now (no mention of DD, sadly). It would be great if premier old games magazine 'Retro Gamer' could interview him regarding these games (and why the ending never made it into the finished game).
 |
| This screen features a VERY annoying shortcut |
Despite the anti-climax at the game's end, it is still a very playable and enjoyable game, even today - I was playing DDII on iPad in preference to playing on my PS Vita while my family was watching The Voice - and great value for money. After 'completing' DDII, I found myself top of the worldwide Game Center leaderboard for the game, the first time I've been top of anything. Admittedly, there are only 33 entries in the leaderboard but still...
Thursday, 26 April 2012
Xtendplay (Xbox 360) Review
As a - ahem - 'veteran' gamer, I've been playing videogames for over thirty years. At times I think that this has had a noticeable impact on my hands and wrists (because, y'know, gaming's the only thing that could have had such an effect). Often, the morning after a lengthy session, my hands feel a bit 'tingly' (sorry about the medical jargon there) and stiff - not exactly uncomfortable but a sensation is present where usually there is none.
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| Yes, it is fugly |
When I read about the xtendplay controller extender, I thought that it would be worth a try to see if it alleviated this issue. The product's basic premise is that 'gamers' claw', the stiffness and discomfort following lengthy play, is caused by the gamer gripping the hard plastic of the controller while playing. With the xtendplay it is the product that grips the plastic, whereas the user instead grips the moulded foam of the xtendplay. The controller fits snugly and securely (no wobble) into the foam extension (see photos).
The extended length of the unit allows the controller to rest against the gamer's stomach, thereby removing another cause of wrist stress - weight is being borne by the gamer's midriff, rather than all on the wrists. With this in mind, the bottom of the xtendplay has a convex profile, an allowance for gamers with *coughs*, a bit of timber about the middle.
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| Snug |
I have the 360 version and there is also a PS3 version.
I've been using the xtendplay for over 9 months now and, for me, it has been a success. I've not played games any less, yet my wrists and hands, while not 'tingle-free' have felt noticeably more comfortable the morning after a heavy gaming session and no problems at all while actually gaming. Early on in those six months, when yet to be convinced of the benefits, I removed the extension before playing EDF: Insect Armageddon for a lengthy Saturday night/Sunday morning session. EDF:IA is a high-energy game, with a lot of intense controller use. In the more high-octane moments towards the end of the game my hands (tightly grasping the controller) and wrists, possibly having been spoilt by the benefits of the xtendplay in the preceding weeks, were screaming in agony. Since that time my 360 controller has worn its attractive green sheath continually.
On the downside, it does take some getting used to. I had a palpable feeling, early on, that my hands just weren't 'quite' big enough to hold my new Franken-controller's monster. I wondered if this would hinder my mad gaming skillz by not being able to reach buttons as easily or as quickly. However, I don't think that that has happened and that any mistakes made while gaming with the xtendplay have been mine alone.
If this review tempts you into buying the xtendplay and you, like me, have dainty girl's hands, you might feel the same way initially but it is worth persevering with, as after a time it is far more comfortable and 'right'.
In the few days after being hacked, I barely played my 360. Instead I played Resident Evil Revelations on 3DS (with Circle Pad Pro). I do most of my gaming at weekends and my hands and wrists, after a weekend of 3D survival horror, were noticeably more painful on Monday morning than the when gaming on the extended 360 controller.
Another niggling doubt in my mind is that, while the xtendplay is easier on my wrists, the tension created between my hands, arms and shoulders by wedging it against my stomach might not be doing my shoulders any good. However I've no noticeable problems in my shoulders to date from this, so it is probably an unnecessary worry on my part .
When I bought my xtendplay last year, I paid £15 for it. For the purposes of checking for this review, I discovered that Amazon are now knocking them out for £6.99 (on 360 & PS3), which is an absolute bargain. If I didn't use the Power A Pro Elite third party pad on PS3, I would definitely buy an xtendplay for PS3 as well.
Saturday, 28 January 2012
Hacked Off
Earlier this week, my Xbox Live account was hacked. My Microsoft points balance of about 1600 was all but emptied and an attempted purchase of a further 6000 points only failed as the credit card linked to my account had expired. According to my purchase history 'I' had purchased three items of FIFA 12 'Ultimate Team' DLC (I hadn't). According to my Windows Live account, I'd added another email to my account (nope) and changed my security to one in Chinese (hmm, no).
I'd had a hard, tense day at work and really wanted to unwind by shooting some terrorists in the face (MW2) followed by an early night. As it was, my evening was completely free of face-shooting and I was up until gone midnight deleting stuff and wandering around the internet changing other passwords and generally upping my security levels. Not what I'd wanted to do at all.
I'd been aware of a hacking problem on Live, particularly in relation to FIFA DLC - one of my friends list had had an identical hack before Christmas and you don't have to search far on the internet to find similar stories. Indeed, the verb 'to be FIFA'd' has started being used ("I have been well and truly FIFA'd").
I'd never succumbed to a phish for my log in details and my password was judged 'strong' but a fat lot of good that did. The Internets say that there's a weak link in Microsoft's security software and that may be the case (I'm no expert). There's clearly something wrong given the number of incidences of hackage reported on the Internet.
I reported it to Microsoft, who said that my Live account would be locked and the details passed to its 'investigation team' and that this was likely to take up to 3 days. 12 hours later, I received an email from the investigations team, which said that they had verified that unauthorised access had taken place and then gave me a code for Microsoft points slightly in excess of those that I had lost. All I need now is for my account to be unlocked and I'll be back in the game (this hiatus may do something to remedy my FIFA addiction - 80+ hours to date).
Given how quickly my claim was agreed, coupled to the fact that early reports of this problem last autumn stated that accounts were being locked for up to a month, has led me to think that Microsoft know what's causing the issue and don't want to fix it. The 360 is coming to the end of its lifespan, with its successor expected to be announced, in some quarters, at this year's E3. Who knows what shape Live will take in the next generation of Xbox consoles? Do Microsoft consider it cheaper to pay off those unlucky games like me who've been hacked, compared with the cost of altering deep-grained issues within Live's code, when Live for the Xbox 720 (this almost definitely won't be its name) may be far different?
Friday, 30 December 2011
Game of the Year 2011
It's been a long time since I blogged (again), as that pesky 'real life' thing has been interfering in my free time (and I like to use at least some of that which I have left to actually play games!). Hopefully, I'll get more time in the New Year. I had hoped that my family taking over the TV for X-Factor 2011 would allow me some time for gaming but, no - I laid into my DS and 3DS instead, the better to block out the tuneless wailing and, frankly, shouting (Kitty, I'm looking at you, through eyes squinting in pain) that was on my TV.
Anyway, as I did last year, I thought I'd post on my favourite games from those that I'd played during the year. I haven't played everything this year - there are some triple A releases (Gears of War 3, Skyrim) that just don't float my gaming boat - and I have a couple (most notably Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword) that might have a claim to sneaking in my top 5 when I actually get around to playing them. However, there's not much point of a 'best of' list being posted in April the following year, so here it is, in reverse order for an illusion of tension -
5. Batman: Arkham City - the sequel to what was my game of the year 2009 (Batman: Arkham Asylum) and not as good as that superbly structured and balanced game. The story and look of Gotham City (aka Arkham City, a prison built in the fenced-off streets of parts of Gotham) were great, as was the respect shown towards the Batman mythos. There was too much unnecessary padding of side missions though and I hope that any subsequent Batman game from Rocksteady is more focussed. Admittedly, I didn't have to do any side missions (or I could have picked and chose those that I wanted) but there's a bit of OCD towards collecting in most gamers - I blame Mario - and, in getting sidetracked, I lost some of the focus of the central narrative. A special mention to the boss fights - far better than in the first game and one (Mr Freeze) was one of the best boss fights I've ever played.
4. Mario Kart 7 - an excellent entry into a series I've been playing for nearly twenty years. It followed the tried and tested template of 32 courses (16 new, 16 plucked form earlier iterations of the game) split into 8 cups, with various unlockables (characters, kart modifications) to pick up along the way. The addition of underwater and in the air paths through courses gave a sense of 'verticality' to the courses (and the shortcuts available in them). I was sceptical about this verticality at first but it really has an impact of gameplay and pathfinding. It also has the best use of 3D on the 3DS that I've yet seen.
My only gripe is that there's too many Mario Kart Wii courses on the retro cups - I've nothing against the courses picked (Maple Treeway, Coconut Mall, Mushroom Gorge and Koopa Cape), which are all very good (the former two are probably my favourite courses on MKW). It's just that I still regularly play MKW and one of the great things about playing retro courses in successive Mario Karts is that they take you back to courses that you've not played for a while - this time around, I still play a quarter of the retro courses on offer in another game.
3. LA Noire - a game that can be summed up as a James Ellroy's LA Quartet simulator - and just as good as that sounds. Spooky facial capture tech puts recognisable actors (including many of the cast of Mad Men and John Noble from Fringe) into the game. The facial expressions used by the actors are a key part of the gameplay, as you try to 'read' them in interview sequences, something that had never been done in a game before (and that worked very well). Excellent narrative (even if there are a few holes and too many 'borrowings' from Ellroy) and interview sequences.
Unfortunately, the developer went into administration shortly after the game was released but hopefully another developer has picked up the tech used in the game - it showed massive promise
2. Portal 2 - It's not often that I laugh out loud at a videogame (50 Cent: Blood on the Sand excepted) but I did, several times, in Portal 2. Intelligence, wit and humour are three attributes not always found in videogames but Valve's excellent first person puzzler had them in spades. As with the first game (that I did not even play until after this one), the gameplay revolves around the portal gun - a device that shoots two (at any given time) holes into reality that then create a portal between them that the player can pass through. The puzzles are essentially a series of passages from A to B but that brief description does not do them justice. You get a sense of real achievement (which is always far better than an Achievement) after working out a particularly tough puzzle without resorting to an internet guide. This was my game of the year until today (30/12), when I reached the end of -
1. Uncharted 3 - Uncharted is one of Sony's console exclusive crown jewels (along with Killzone and Resistance, neither of which I'm that keen on). Uncharted 2 was excellent in every area (still only my third favourite game on 2009 though, behind Batman and Assassin's Creed II) but this one surpasses it. The same treasure seeking template as before (think 'Indiana Jones' (but try not to think of the awful fourth film)) but this has been polished to perfection. The story was spot-on and didn't succumb to the narrative foolishness in the final reel as the previous two games. Some of the set pieces were breathtakingly good - straight out of a Hollywood blockbuster. The environment effects - fire, water - were superb, giving a true sense of danger to what you were doing onscreen and Nathan Drake is a genuinely engaging central character. All of the characters were excellently voice-acted, particularly Drake and the always in need of rescue Victor 'Sully' Sullivan (Princess Peach to Drake's Mario). Special mention goes to the music score, which was pitch perfect for the game.
Well, that brings to an end my games of the year. Honourable mentions must be given to those that just missed out - Little Big Planet 2 (in the top 3 until the autumn), Super Mario 3D Land, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and FIFA 12 (the best football game I've ever played). Same time again next year...
Anyway, as I did last year, I thought I'd post on my favourite games from those that I'd played during the year. I haven't played everything this year - there are some triple A releases (Gears of War 3, Skyrim) that just don't float my gaming boat - and I have a couple (most notably Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword) that might have a claim to sneaking in my top 5 when I actually get around to playing them. However, there's not much point of a 'best of' list being posted in April the following year, so here it is, in reverse order for an illusion of tension -
5. Batman: Arkham City - the sequel to what was my game of the year 2009 (Batman: Arkham Asylum) and not as good as that superbly structured and balanced game. The story and look of Gotham City (aka Arkham City, a prison built in the fenced-off streets of parts of Gotham) were great, as was the respect shown towards the Batman mythos. There was too much unnecessary padding of side missions though and I hope that any subsequent Batman game from Rocksteady is more focussed. Admittedly, I didn't have to do any side missions (or I could have picked and chose those that I wanted) but there's a bit of OCD towards collecting in most gamers - I blame Mario - and, in getting sidetracked, I lost some of the focus of the central narrative. A special mention to the boss fights - far better than in the first game and one (Mr Freeze) was one of the best boss fights I've ever played.
4. Mario Kart 7 - an excellent entry into a series I've been playing for nearly twenty years. It followed the tried and tested template of 32 courses (16 new, 16 plucked form earlier iterations of the game) split into 8 cups, with various unlockables (characters, kart modifications) to pick up along the way. The addition of underwater and in the air paths through courses gave a sense of 'verticality' to the courses (and the shortcuts available in them). I was sceptical about this verticality at first but it really has an impact of gameplay and pathfinding. It also has the best use of 3D on the 3DS that I've yet seen.
My only gripe is that there's too many Mario Kart Wii courses on the retro cups - I've nothing against the courses picked (Maple Treeway, Coconut Mall, Mushroom Gorge and Koopa Cape), which are all very good (the former two are probably my favourite courses on MKW). It's just that I still regularly play MKW and one of the great things about playing retro courses in successive Mario Karts is that they take you back to courses that you've not played for a while - this time around, I still play a quarter of the retro courses on offer in another game.
3. LA Noire - a game that can be summed up as a James Ellroy's LA Quartet simulator - and just as good as that sounds. Spooky facial capture tech puts recognisable actors (including many of the cast of Mad Men and John Noble from Fringe) into the game. The facial expressions used by the actors are a key part of the gameplay, as you try to 'read' them in interview sequences, something that had never been done in a game before (and that worked very well). Excellent narrative (even if there are a few holes and too many 'borrowings' from Ellroy) and interview sequences.
Unfortunately, the developer went into administration shortly after the game was released but hopefully another developer has picked up the tech used in the game - it showed massive promise
2. Portal 2 - It's not often that I laugh out loud at a videogame (50 Cent: Blood on the Sand excepted) but I did, several times, in Portal 2. Intelligence, wit and humour are three attributes not always found in videogames but Valve's excellent first person puzzler had them in spades. As with the first game (that I did not even play until after this one), the gameplay revolves around the portal gun - a device that shoots two (at any given time) holes into reality that then create a portal between them that the player can pass through. The puzzles are essentially a series of passages from A to B but that brief description does not do them justice. You get a sense of real achievement (which is always far better than an Achievement) after working out a particularly tough puzzle without resorting to an internet guide. This was my game of the year until today (30/12), when I reached the end of -
1. Uncharted 3 - Uncharted is one of Sony's console exclusive crown jewels (along with Killzone and Resistance, neither of which I'm that keen on). Uncharted 2 was excellent in every area (still only my third favourite game on 2009 though, behind Batman and Assassin's Creed II) but this one surpasses it. The same treasure seeking template as before (think 'Indiana Jones' (but try not to think of the awful fourth film)) but this has been polished to perfection. The story was spot-on and didn't succumb to the narrative foolishness in the final reel as the previous two games. Some of the set pieces were breathtakingly good - straight out of a Hollywood blockbuster. The environment effects - fire, water - were superb, giving a true sense of danger to what you were doing onscreen and Nathan Drake is a genuinely engaging central character. All of the characters were excellently voice-acted, particularly Drake and the always in need of rescue Victor 'Sully' Sullivan (Princess Peach to Drake's Mario). Special mention goes to the music score, which was pitch perfect for the game.
Well, that brings to an end my games of the year. Honourable mentions must be given to those that just missed out - Little Big Planet 2 (in the top 3 until the autumn), Super Mario 3D Land, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and FIFA 12 (the best football game I've ever played). Same time again next year...
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