2013 I long the most for...

Wow, we leave a great year behind and look forward to what seems to be an even better year. Why, you may ask? Well, because reasons I am about to say, right now.

I mean, how good can a year start? First of all I look forward (?) to DmC, yeah, well, I've already played it... thrice, and is on my forth run, and despite some flaws, where all are quite small, this is a game that really lived up to my expectations, and then some. But, it that's not all January has to offer. Remember my top 5 hope for the Japanese RPG? In fifth place I placed a called Ni no Kuni. It's been released, to great reviews, and therefore I am hyped. My love for the genre is big enough that this is a real must have.

This spring has a lot to offer, and is the main reason that this year will kick last years ass. We have two huge contenders for the "Best Action Hack 'n' Slash" prize other than DmC, both Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, from the geniuses that gave us the original Devil May Cry and the quite overrated but still good Bayonetta. Let's see if they can do anything new with the genre they once defined, but I have high hopes. Second we have God of War: Ascension and I love the series, so much that I think that Dante's Inferno is a great game, well, it's the same game. So this also promises to be an awesome gore feast with our most beloved demi-god.

In the more serious category this spring we have the Uncharted wannabe Tomb Raider reboot and the Uncharted creator's The Last of Us. Tomb Raider looks sweet, but The Last of Us look to be one of the best games this year, if not the best. I love how the industry seems to be taking a more serious turn to scripts and acting, and I think both these games will play on both amotions and general F*ck Yeah attitude.

Sequel time! The most anticipated sequels this spring are two very different games, in on corned we have BioShock Infinite, a serious, bad ass, dive into despair, but this time in the clouds. I love the feel and look of this game, and yeah, not many shooters this year, so I think this will dominate the genre, by far. Second we have Rayman Legends for the Wii U. Origins was so much fun playing alone, the wacky design, the wonderful controller, the graphics Oh dear mother of all that is good and pure, the graphics! And then three of my friends came over to play. We're talking fun overload here, so just based on that, this is going to be amazing.

I will be looking forward a lot to information this year. Both Playstation 4 and the new Xbox is around the corner, and that's going to be amazing. It will be a close call which company has the best E3 presentation, with two new consoles, and a Nintendo that will probably show us Super Smash 4, a Legend of Zelda in HD, a new Mario game and whatever Retro Studios has been up to (New Metroid *fingers crossed*). I hope to find out more about The Walking Dead Season 2, Watch Dogs, Remember Me, Beyond: Two Souls and what faith has become The Last Guardian.

And there it is, what I look forward to, in 2013. No GTA V? No, I don't like GTA, it's too free, I have no motivation! But yeah, I'll probably play it if someone I know gets it. But this year has plenty of awesome to go around. I'll probably go for The Last of Us or BioShock: Infinite as game of the year. That is, if not a certain steady rock keeps the streak going an produces a game every two years. Then maybe, the price will once again go to the man in the cape.

DmC: Devil May Cry Review

Okay, I just got done playing through DmC for the first time, and I can say, it won't be the last. But I won't get ahead of myself.

Dante is a class A douche, sleeping around, drinking too much, smoking and generally not caring about what anyone else thinks, or about anyone else for that matter. Our protagonist ladies and gentlemen! After a night of all of the above, Dante is rudely woken up by a girl who claims that he is in danger. She doesn't get to say much until Dante is draged into 'Limbo' which is a paralell world where all sorts of evil demons dwell. After a lot of demon slaying in regular Devil May Cry fashion, you beat a boss and gets draged out of limbo. The girl takes you to a masked man who claims to know of your past. And the adventure begins.

As far as the story goes, its not really anything special, it's not bad, but there's really no suprises, not a lot anyway. Not that Devil May Cry has ever been about the story, but they do an okay job, it's not worse than the older games. What makes the story come alive more than in the olds though is the script, the dialouge and the voice actors. Granted, I think Ninja Theory tried a little too much to match the dialouge of the older games, not daring to be more original and creative with the script, but it still works great. At its worst, it's a bit awkward with Dantes weird love for stupid puns, but the rest, the more serious bits are really greatly done. Same goes for the voice actors, they are mostly really really good, at times they too can seem a but awkward but as I've come to expect from Ninja Theory, they mostly deliver greatly.

Okay, now we got that shit out of the way, how about the things that matter? The gameplay, how is the fighting, the jumping and the puzzle-solving. As far as puzzle-solving goes, theres not much at all actually, some but not much. And I don't like that there is close to no backtracking. There's new surroundings all the time, which is nice, but they never become special. These is the thing I am most disapointed about, the puzzle-bit more than the other, but then again, I had a lot of fun without it. The fights are amazingly done, you have full control; if you die, it's your fault, and nobody elses. And I love that feeling, when you die and you feel it's your fault, and when you, as a conequense, win and you know it's your win. And there's a lot to do with the system. For you who were afraid that the moves could not be stoped and changed into another move smoothly, this is as smooth as it gets, both in executing your moves and switching weapons in mid fight. It works like this, you have four main weapon types, the rebellion, witch is for normal attacks, fast and deadly, the heavy weapon, that is slow but all the more powerful, the light weapon which has a wide range but is fairly weak, and the ranged weapons. To use your sword you attack as usual, one button for regular attacks, one for ranged and one for lifts. To use heavy you hold RT (360 version) and then attack, and light you hold LT. Simple and takes only a fraction of a second. It's a joy to fight, never gets dull.

The paths in between fights are not bad either. The platforming is done fairly easy, you can jump and use the light weapon to swing and the heavy to pull objects towards you. It's simple, but is done in many variations, so you don't feel like you do the same jumps over and over again. The surroundig are the second best thing about the game (first is fighting!) and they are beautiful, to move around in and to look at. Especially the dream sequences that Dante has at times.

So what about the new style. I have to say, I don't mind. True it's not as cool as I had hoped but it's still really badass, a lot cooler than the look of the old dante which I still think is a litte out of date. I like the character, he is a douche for a reason, even though I would have liked it if they explored the change he goes through more. The other characters are good to, even though character developement is just for a chosen few. But your partners and the villain is really great. The music really builds to the atmosphere as well, and fits perfectly, some really great pieces in there as well.

Yeah, I really hope for a sequel, develope the characters more, get deeper into the story, maybe have some really clever turns. But in the end, most of what is good and bad can be argued about, if you don't like the look of the new Dante, you don't and that's fine, but I can't see how you could dislike the game for what it is, with probably the best fighting system right now. For me, this is gold, and the bad parts aren't even so bad, just not as good as the other parts. I will say though that the game itself is not more than 8 hours long, so that is a bit short, but for me who likes to play these kind of games over and over again, I will spend a lot of time with this. Is it a great game, yes, yes it really really is, might not be the best when this year is over, but still it will be up there.

9/10

2012, a look back...

2012, two-thousand-and-midgetfrickin'-twelve! Yeah, this year was awesome game-wise. This year let me see the end of an amazing trilogy, some of the biggest triple-A games of this generation of consoles and some of the greatest underdog indie games ever. But first things first, at the end of my 2011 look back I mentioned a lot of games released 2011 that I didn't have the time to play in 2011 and therefore would do in 2012. Here's that list:

Deus Ex: Human Revolution                                Started playing, but never got through it
Gears of War 3                                                         Started playing, found it kind of boring
L.A. Noire                                                              Played through it, loved it
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword                     Started playing, loved it and will get back to it
Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception                          Started playing, loved it and will get back to it
Portal 2                                                                   Played through it, loved it
Rayman: Origins                                                   Played through it, one of the best games of 2011
Xenoblades: Chronicles                                           Started playing, will get back to it
Pokémon Black/White                                           Haven't played yet

So there, I kept most of them anyway, even though I didn't play through many of them. But what games did I play in 2012 then? Of the ones I was looking forward to most, actually many. Let's start with Catherine. This was a lot of fun, the script it like nothing I've seen in a game before, really great and backed by great voice actors. The game itself is just as great, and divided into two parts, one where you have to deal with your relationships, and one where you move blocks to get up a tower (the dream stages). Both is equally good I think, so I never find myself longing for either when I'm not there. All in all, one of 2012's greatest with one of the greatest scripts of 2012, beaten by only one, but I'll get to that.
9/10

Then we get to the game that got a real beating from the fans, Mass Effect 3. Why? Well, mostly because the ending is an unsatisfactory piece of shit. Well, kind of, I liked it fine, it was okay, but then again, 'okay' is not good enough when the rest of the game, and the other games, are amazing. So we are left with a really really great game, with a crappy ending. That is still great and emotional game, that had me welling up at least once. Another game did more, but again, I'll get to that.
9/10

This weekend I had some (seven) friends over to play Diablo III, again, a great triple-A game that took a lot of heat due to overloaded servers and errors. I played it once the heat on the servers where down and I think this is a great game, definitely a worthy successor to the second game, even though I prefer the old one. But still a great game and done with great care.
9/10

Of the other five games I mentioned looking forward to, four was not released and one I have only begun playing. But DMC: Devil May Cry will be released tomorrow, Bioshock Infinite and South Park: The Stick of Truth later this spring. I feel like I have given up hope on The Last Guardian ever being released though, but I hope, although probably not this year. As for Resident Evil 6, well, you might get a review in time. All I can say after playing roughly two hours is, well.... it's not a great game but I'm having fun enough.

So what other games of 2012 is worth mentioning. How about Lollipop Chainsaw. This is in my opinion one of the best games this year, I game that I actually played through no more than 4 times, to get all the collectables and achievements. And I was not once bored, it has a simple gameplay with enough variation to keep one occupied. And then the story, the jokes and the voice-actors, just great fun. I long thought this would be my game of the year, until... I'll get to that later.
9/10

Dust: An Elysian Tale is one of those games you play and have a lot of fun with when you play it, but as soon as you're done with the game, you don't feel like playing it again. Ever. And yeah, it got a bit monotone, towards the end, but I would still say that it's worth a look, because I still had a lot of fun with it, and it looks amazing, just like... I'll get to it later.
8/10

Fez is brilliant in the way it takes the game out of the TV. I sat with a plain sheet of paper, completely  gray with scribbles of clues and patterns that I needed to get all of the cubes. I loved that about Fez. But despite all of that, then the game is done it has close to no value in terms of replay other than to get the last cubes that you can't get until then. But it's still a really really great game.
8/10

Okay, so before I get to... what I'll get to later (I'm guessing most of you can guess it) I have to talk a little about the beginning of the next generation of consoles, namely the Wii U. Oh yeah, I've already done that!

http://gamerbloggz.blogspot.se/2012/12/wiiu-thoughts.html

Okay, I'll address the elephant in the blog The Walking Dead... what can I say, I truly believe this game changed, and will continue to change, games as we know them. I mean, Holy God-blessed shit, is there anything this game does wrong. The script can't even be compared to any other game on the market, The way it makes you care about characters that isn't even real, you really feel for every character in this game, and of course especially for little Clementine. This game makes me want to be a parent, have a little daughter, although not in a zombie apocalypse. I'll probably talk more about what makes it so ground breaking, but for now, lets just leave it at this: Game of the year, the game that makes grown men cry their eyes out.

Let's finish of this with what I feel is the games released in 2012 I want to play in 2013, that I didn't have a chance to play in 2012. They are:

Dishonored
Journey
Hotline Miami
Gravity Rush (If I get a Vita)
Halo 4
Assassins Creed III
Botanicula
Far Cry 3
Thomas Was Alone
Dear Esther

See you in 2013... wait, we're already there aren't we? Darn.....

Blog update, what's on the horizon.

Okay, since I haven't written in a while I thought I would, and let you know what's going on and what you will expect from me a while ahead.

First of all I will do a 2012 look back, and this fairly soon. Maybe tomorrow, who knows. After that I will also do what I look forward to the most in 2013.

I just finished The Walking Dead... There will be a review and mentioning of it in the 2012 retrospect. What did I think of it? Let me give you a hint... Wow...

I hate Final Fantasy XIII... And I can't get further than the last boss... I hate that boss, it's way to hard and unjust. So I've taken a break from it to play other games, I've played a lot of Fez, Diablo III and have started a playthrough of all the Metroid Prime games. Do they still hold up? I'll get to that too.

Tuesday... The fifteenth of january, that is the date where I pick up the game I've been longing, a little dreading, but after many positive reviews mostly longing, to play, to prove all the non-believers wrong. I am of course talking about DMC Devil May Cry. I still have a lot of faith. Review when I'm done.

And that's about it. If you wan't my oppinion on something, write it, and I'll adress it in some way. Keep on gaming sisters and brothers in games.

Final Fantasy XIII - The rant continues

I hate this game. You know, for a game that strives to be fluent and quick, most of the boss fights sure take a long time. I mean, I don't think I have ever had to play this long for one boss, and one try, in any of the Final Fantasy game. At least it didn't feel so long. The duration means that when you die at a boss, after a long and tedious battle (I'm talking at least 15 minutes) you don't have much drive to try again, but in my case, I kind of have to, because if I don't, I have to beat the first stage of the final boss again, and that too is a long and tedious battle. Did you know that the second form, not only has the ability to insta-murder one of your team members, preferly your leader resulting in game over, but when you get near the end of his life, he at times attack you with an attack that not only does as much damage as half your total health points, but it also casts deprotect and deshell, leaving you extreamly weak and easy to kill of. And this shouldn't bother me, I should just go out, fight some bad guys and level up some more, so I can beat him easier, that's logical, right? That's what you usually do in a JRPG, or most RPG's for that matter, when you can't beat a boss, you get stronger and kick his ass. Only THIS piece of rotten garbage of a game decides to put out a bullshit LEVEL BLOCK on my crystarium that they raise at certain points in the game. So guess what, I can't level up more right now, because all my characters are already at their best, which in turn means that I just have to keep trying and trying the same *insert foul word i swore I wouldn't use* strategy until it works. And since every attempt takes FIFTEEN MINUTES, I hope you understand my frustration! I will be sitting here for a good while! That in turn means I HATE THIS ABOMINATION OF A GAME!

And who can blame me? There is no good aspect of this game, that does not have an equally, or worse, flaw. And I can tolerate a lot, I mean I actually loved Final Fantasy XII, which I know not many fans did. But this piece of shit? Just take the crystarium for example. Here we have a system for leveling up, where you spend points to proceed to the next node which gives you either more HP/strength/magic or an ability. And since you don't really have a choice as to where you can go and only can proceed to the next node this was like something done automaticly in other games called leveling up! Now instead I have to guide my light and spend my points, witch takes me away from the game. But that is a minor complaint, because the fact that you can't develope your characters as you want to is a huge flaw. I really feel like none of the characters are special, I feel no need to play through the game with different characters because they're kind of the same anyway. Besides, you don't get to pick your team until the last part of the game anyway.

And don't think I'm done, when I've played through this game and managed to kill the boss, I will be back, I haven't even scratched the surface of the hardened cow manure that is Final Fantasy XIII.

Final Fantays XIII - Let the rant begin

I really hate this game. Despite my efforts, stupid luck is the only thing that matters in this game... I am at the final boss(es) and just to be clear, I am going to try and keep the SPOILERS to a minimum, but won't make any promises. Did I know when I went after the end boss that his second form has an attack that insta-KO's one of my characters? Nope, but I sure found out, and having no idea at all that it could be a good idea to equip some sort of ward against it, I died a lot. And this wouldn't even be a problem in my opinion, if I didn't get game over every time my leader dies. That is nothing but bad design, reducing the battles from somewhat strategic to mostly luck.

You see, the thing about the fighting system is that you are often more lucky than skillfull playing this game. I can go into battle with a hard boss and lose, go at him again, same strategy, and win. And I hate that feeling, because I feel no sense of responsibility. It's not my fault that I lost, and I don't feel that I had any hand in winning either.

And I don't want my victory to depend on what characters I'm using or my equipments special abilities. Why can't the characters be more alike, more flexible to evolve as I like them to? But I'm getting ahead of myself, because I'm not done ranting over this game, because it deserves every harsh word. So why do I even play it. Well, look at my top 100-list and see if you can spot a pattern, especially the top 10. What can I say, a fan's gotta do what a fan's gotta do.

Well, I'm going to bed, tomorrow's my birthday, hopefully I will get through this rotten piece of shit of a game then, and then the rant will continue.