2013, a look back, or, about time!

Yes I know, 2013 is long gone, and almost half of 2014 have already passed, but still, I like doing these flashbacks of the year gone by game-wise, so I will continue doing them.

Of the games released in 2012, that I in my 2012 flashback said I wanted to try in 2013, there are some I've played, some I've not, here's my two cents.


Dishonored                                                   Never played, might get back to it though
Journey                                                          Never played, might get back to it also
Hotline Miami                                              Played, loved, but never got through might pick up
Gravity Rush (If I get a Vita)                        Played a little, liked, might get back to it
Halo 4                                                            Played, disappointed, but will finish, someday
Assassins Creed III                                        Went like all Ass-Creed games for me
Botanicula                                                     Never played, small chance of picking up
Far Cry 3                                                        Played through, loved it
Thomas Was Alone                                      Never played, small chance of picking up
Dear Esther                                                    Never played, small chance of picking up

So yeah, 2013 started with equal amount awesomeness as disappointment, but then again, both those things are part of the theme of 2013. DMC: Devil may cry was the first game I played, it was good, really good, but I've already said that. After that I tried another favourite of mine, or really, of me and my friend, Army of Two: Devil's Cartel. This was worse, a lot worse. The core mechanics have been dumbed down, no way to dodge, like in the other games, no in-game brotherly love-things to do, no fist bumping button, although we did it a lot ourselves. But the story is pretty much the most insulting thing you could do to this series, simply horrible. You who have played it knows what I'm talking about. The big twist, incredibly stupid, I saw it coming very early, and it's just insulting to the fans of the other games. Customization was awesome though, I spend a lot of time there. It fells kinda like, if you put the story of the first game, with the gameplay of the second, and the customization of this one, into one, that would be the ultimate game. But yeah, this was a bit worse in almost all aspects of the game, than it's predecessors, another theme you'll see later.

Another game that pretty much wowed me was of course Bioshock Infinite, a game that I had a lot of anticipation for, and that delivered on almost all accounts. The story might be the best of 2013 and the characters, the acting and the setting is up to par with it. Gameplay is great, mostly, it just felt a little more hard to control that the other games, which was a shame, but I still recommend it for all it's worth.

One of the most positive things I have to say about this year in gaming, is the often named "worst uncharted game ever" Tomb Raider. I really liked this game, I found it fun to play and I actually spent a lot of time collecting all the stuff and got 100% completion for it, and it felt worth it. One might argue that the characters themselves might be a bit underdeveloped and uninterested, Lara included, but it's still so well acted that you might not even notice. I'm definitly looking forward to the sequel in 2015.

I also played a bit of Metro: Last Light and found it to be really entertaining, something I didn't think I would when I first started playing it. It has a nice balance between stealth and combat, and the AI-problems with the last games are (mostly) fixed. Definitely something worth checking out if you feel like playing a good FPS and have run out of other games to play.

Remember Me was a really bad film, that in no way inspired the game with the same name. The game on the other hand, was a quite good action-game with a story I actually really liked, and got really in to, with twist and turns that I found really engaging. The combat was well done, if only suffering from a bit of the repetitive side of style. The segments in where you rewrites someone's memories to fit your own agenda is both really disturbing and a really great and original segment of the gameplay.

I had huge hopes for The Last of Us, as a huge fan of the Uncharted-series. And the story and acting and characters and all that stuff is amazing. I get drawn into the world immediately and just love it. I played it for three hours straight when I got it, on release. But since then I never played it again. I'm not sure why, but I thing that despite all the great stuff about the game, I was disappointed. It was mostly because of one thing, that seems to be starting a trend lately. And that is story over gameplay. I'm not saying the gameplay of The Last of Us is bad, no it's quite good, nothing special, but good enough. But I really feel like I'm just playing the game to get trough the story. I need to be able to love the gameplay as much as the story, I need the gameplay to engage me and actually feel like a part of the story. Tomb Raider had kinda the same vibe, but fortunately for them, the story wasn't anything special. Maybe I'll pick up The Last of Us again, maybe not, but I will never see it as the masterpiece that many critics and fans hail it as.

Next up is the obligatory Suda 51 game of the year, Killer is Dead. And I got to say, after the quirky and really fun experience I had with both Shadows of the Damned and especially Lollipop Chainsaw, I was kinda underwhelmed by this. The story and the characters seems way to serious to be a Suda 51 game, and comes of like genericly Japanese, with horrible story trying to be deep, and angst men trying too hard to be serious. And the date-missions are, to put it lightly, embarrassing and awkward. With all that said, gameplay is still good and I played the game through, having a good time, so not that bad, just not up there with his other games,

Diablo III for consoles, awesome game that me and my friend had a blast with during the fall, and really not much more to say here, I love consoles more than PC (Come at me bro) and this fit me like a glove.

Rayman Legends was another game I looked forward to for a long time, and when it was finally released, I loved almost every second of it, incredible and amazing game. The music-levels might be the best thing I have ever played, a delight every time. Maybe even a bit too awesome, since it made the other levels feel like busy-work to get to the amazing reward. But still really fun busy-work, so can't complain. If you, like me, loved Rayman Origins, you'll love this one even more.

I also tried two HD-remixes, DuckTales: Remastered and Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix. Both as good games as they were when they were first released, an not much more though. fun to play again though.

Man, I've played a lot of games this year, comes with having a real full-time job I guess. Anyway, Beyond: Two Souls. what a piece of crap that was. David Cage thinks he can get away with releasing another interactive film, but I was already tired of it when Heavy Rain came out, that only got away with it because it had a fun murder mystery behind it, but this is just horrible, like watching a film that is ten hours long, and not a good film either. just a long for perverts quest to get to see Ellen Page shower (definitely not me).

Here we go, Pokémon X and Y, have you ever played a Pokémon game, before, then you know what you're up for. As far as that goes, this part of the franchise make the most to change a lot of the world, which is a good thing, I had a lot of fun with this for a great while. Check it out, if you're a fan of the series, but then again, if you are, you probably already have.

Lastly, I need to talk about the game I looked forward to, for a very long time, that I hoped to be, and that I wrote in the expect of 2013-log, that I thought would be the game of the year, of 2013. It wasn't, oh how it wasn't. Not even close. That honour I proudly give to Bioshock: Infinite, followed by DMC: Devil May Cry. Actually, I'm not even going to do this here, I'm going to review the living shit out of the crap-fest that is Batman: Arkham Origins and I will try to be merciful, and open, but I know in my heart that this can not go unpunished. I will review, long overdue.

(Catching my breath)

Lastly, here are some game from 2013 that I hope to get around to (or already have) in 2014:
Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch
Shin Megami Tensei IV
Pikmin 3
Saints Row IV
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
Killzone: Shadow Fall
The Wolf Among Us
Super Mario 3D World
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds

I'm not doing a anticipated for 2014, It's a lot too late, this might actually be a bit fun to read, but I'll see you soon for at least two reviews, maybe even more. Until then, have a nice time and game on!

First impressions - Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

So I had the chance to try out a upcoming game. Let's not waste any time, here is what I thought of my first hours with Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

Metal Gear is for me a game I played a long time ago. Both Metal Gear Solid and the sequel is really great games. Why not the others you may ask? Well, I've only played them, and not a lot. The third was fun enough, but I found myself not having the patience to play it. Therefore, the first and second game remain the only one I've really played. So what then do I think of Revengeance? It is, in many aspects what I should have expected, but didn't. It's one of those game that are not nessesarily bad games, but I just get so irritated and angry at them. Like Final Fantasy XIII... So what's good about this? Well, the gimmic itself works good, being able to slice up anything, in any way. It will probably get old, but for the time I spent with it, it was fun. So fun in fact, that I trapped myself on the beach with no way up, because I destroyed the stairs. Took me a while to figure out how to get up from there without it. But what I hate the most about this game is the simple and stupid fighting system. There are three things to do, either quick attacks with X, heavy attacks with Y, or holding the LT to enter blade mode and slice however you want, but that's retarded in a fight, unless you're at the end of a fight and want to slice and dice the enemy. And that's it, no alternative combos as far as I can see, maybe you can unlock them later but there's still a messy system. You don't even have the ability to dodge, no, instead you have to parry pressing x and point the Left Stick at the enemy. Mostly this works fine, I have not too much trouble on my way to the first boss, but I still died once or twice. I'm not sure why, because I kind of did the same thing twice and made it the second time. The boss is the worst though, I really have no idea of what I'm doing. I parry, but have no time for retaliation, because the boss attacks immediately afterwards, leaving me to parry again, and again and again. And when I actually attacks, he does to, and I end up loosing more life than him anyway. And there's no trick to him either, you just have to wail on him enough and hope for him to die. I have no idea what I'm doing, no sense of control. I always end up just smashing X and Y, hoping something works.

Comparing this with DmC is kind of obligatory, and the only thing I can think of that Revengeance does better is the graphics, it looks beautiful. Otherwise, DmC has a better script, characters, story (probably), fighting system and overall gameplay. DmC is the game that held your hand and slowly let go to let you meet harder and harder foes, the game that says, "wanna be awesome and bad ass? Let's be awesome and bad ass". Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is the game that throws you into the wolves and says, "prove you're worthy" but you're not, you've just started playing. It's the game that says, "I'm so much better than you and you suck! Oh, you finally managed to beat the boss? Just a fluke" and you know he's right. May e I just suck at it, but I find it hard to see how most people be good at this. So there's my ten cents, I'll probably never play this game again.

Microsoft's E3 Press conference

These are my thoughts of Microsoft press conference on E3 today.

First of, we get a demo of Modern Warfare 3, not too surprising. I have never played the former MW-games before, but this makes me want to. The graphics looks great, the gameplay is great, the game looks all around great and you get some sort of a wow feeling about it all. I hope to play it when it comes out.

The second game is Tomb Raider. I just have to say, as great as the new Lara Croft looks (I love the makeovers characters known to the gaming world is getting) I can't help but think that she's really whiny in the trailer. Although I must say that I feel the pain she's having during the first couple of minutes of the demo. The game looks not that different than it's predecessors, if anything, it looks a bit messy. But who knows, lets hope that it's not.

At this point, Microsoft starts to talk about a lot of Xbox innovations for the Xbox 360 as a multimedia platform. Things like easy access via voice and the addition of Bing searching and YouTube. This looks really great and well done. They have accomplished what they wanted. But is it what we want? I for one wants games, and this takes up way too much of the time of the conference. This is what Microsoft has to conquer Nintendos Café, and it's not enough.

Next they show a new Ghost Recon with Kinect features. I have always been a bit sceptical against Kinect, it's a toy, not a tool for gaming. Ghost Recon does not help prove me wrong. It tries, but I still prefer a controller.

And then, Mass Effect 3, and this is just great. I longed of this game when I had played the second one, and this just makes me want it even more. They have added some Kinect voice features that some seem pointless, like choosing a dialogue in the dialogue tree by saying the phrase, but some seem kind of cool, like quickly ordering your teammates to do certain attacks by saying the name and the attack. The sixth of mars 2012 is the date to look for.

Next they show two games quickly following each other. Ryse, which is the new name of Codename: Kingdome. Now THIS is what I wanted Kinect to be used for. Slashing and defending with shields, like it's real. I'm really looking forward to knowing more about the game soon.

The other trailer was for Combat Evolved Halo: Anniversary. It's Halo with HD graphics. Nice!

Forza 4 was shown, nice graphics, but I can't really say m
uch else about it. Not a big fan of racing games so not something I will buy.

Next up is Fable: The Journey. Now, I love Fable, all three of them. And this seems to be a first person version of it, going on tracks and completely being steered with Kinect. It looks rubbish actually. The atmosphere is great and I'm interested in the story. But it's not a movie, it's a game, and I'm not sure if I'm going to like playing it. I can just hope, because I love Fable.

They also showed Gears of War 3, of course, looking as amazing as ever. This, I'm really looking forward to, and I hope for four player co-op. Hopefully we will get more information during the week.

After this, the conference cools of for me. They show a conversion of Minecraft to the Xbox that looks kind of cool. They show some games for the Kinect that are clearly kids games, like Disneyland adventures, which just makes me long for Kingdom Hearts III, and the Sesame Street game, that looks really bad. The only thing going for it is that it is made by double fine. Kinect Star Wars were also shown, but that also looks quite bad. Let's hope I'm wrong.

More for Kinect, Kinect Sports 2 and Dance central 2. I know that Harmonix knows what they're doing, so for people who like to dance, this is the game to play. Kinect Sports 2 is... well, Kinect Sports 2.

Kinect Fun Labs is a tool to do a lot of things with the Kinect, like building your avatar quickly without needing to flip through a bunch of menus, and such. It look kind of cool, but again, nothing really game related, just a customizing feature.

The presenter ends the conference by thanking everyone here and the room darkens for a last trailer... A new trilogy. The screen shows the cells of a body... The heart... We can hear a muffled voice... I becomes clearer... "Wake up John." Of course, it's Halo 4, once again with Master Chief and Cortana in the leading roles. I'm exited to see what 343 studios does with the popular series. I hope it's amazing, and I hope it's new and fresh, but still recognizable. The hype is bigger than ever, lets just hope anything can live up to it. We will see at the end of 2012.

To sum it up, Microsoft's E3 press conference 2011 was a dissapointment, and I don't see how Nintendo and Sony could not top it. With too much focus on the Kinect, the only things I went "awesome" at were Ryse and Halo 4. It's not good enough. In a few minutes we'll se how Sony does.