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Enslaved: Odyssey to the West
Squandered potential, and I’m not sure who exactly is to blame. Heavenly Sword felt rushed. This game felt rushed. I want to “believe” that there is real talent in this studio, but it’s not showing itself. Sony spends more money on games than should be allowed, and presentation was not Heavenly Sword’s problem; polish on the other hand was one thing both games had very little of.
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Kick-Ass
This is underdog school kid film 101, except for some God-awful reason the underdog school kid gets it into his head that he can be a super hero. Look underdog school kid, we’ve all wanted to, when we were 5. You’re what? 12, 13? 17! Jesus! There’s something wrong with you.
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Dragon Ball Z Kai
The Japanese run of Dragon Ball Z ended in the early 90′s, yet it still lives on in the West. Repeatedly wished back to life by Purunga the Namek dragon and then killed by the loss of nostalgia, only to be revived again. I remember occasionally buying VHS tapes of this show that’s how long I’ve been following it. Dragon Ball Z Kai is at least an attempt to make the show “better”. It’s condensed.
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Toy Story 3
Toy Story was great. Toy Story 2 was good. I was more inclined to believe that Toy Story 3 would be marginally okay. I didn’t think Pixar had a third movie to give, even though I and everyone else wanted it. When I re-watched the first two films on blu-ray recently, it was nostalgia more than anything that carried them forward for me. Especially the first.
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Jak & Daxter
Crash Bandicoot and Nathan Drake may have made Naught Dog famous, but it was their midlife franchise that really cemented their platforming prowess in my book. Back in the last generation, it was Ratchet & Clank all over the place–it made me sick. How a sub par franchise that seemingly carbon copied every good idea featured in Jak & Daxter and then made it suck drove me insane. Boo Insomniac! Get some sleep and make better games!
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Dragon Age: Origins
You can spend your whole life playing video games and never encounter this sort of thing, so listen close those who might haven’t experienced this. You know when you sorta hear rumors about a game. It comes from the good side of town–great pedigree and all that, but you’re still not sure if it’s for you. Then you decide to buy it on the cheap and delve into it over a weekend, see if it fits. Then, without any warning, it’s Monday morning. You smell terrible, your eyes are red, and you have impressions of your feet in the carpet. Then you realize you’re only 25% finished with a play-through of a game with a dozen different endings.
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Wipeout HD
It seems like it was only yesterday when I was sitting on the floor, 3ft away from a 20″ CRT television, sweaty palms gripped tightly around a gray, wired Playstation controller playing Wipeout. Sure, I sucked at it, but it was hectic fun and visceral excitement–more gaming than any 16bit toad jumper could deliver. Gaming has come a long way since the 1990s, and here Wipeout is, more exciting than ever.
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Batman: The Animated Series
Growing up as a kid, this show was my first ritual. Turn on TV, plop in front of couch, watch Batman: The Animated Series. And for the record, Batman was and is my favorite super hero of all time. Leave us remember The Dark Knight as the highest grossing film of all time (I’m just saying). But although to some Christian Bale may be the modern day’s greatest detective, Kevin Conroy still holds that honor in my book.
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Iron Man 2
I cannot even begin to explain to you how ROYALLY pissed I was at hearing Don Cheadle would be playing War Machine. The man is shorter than I am, and STILL to this day gets picked on by second graders. This man would not even be a threat IN a suit. Ugh. Rant over. Now let me tell you how thoroughly I enjoyed this movie.
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Peggle
Moar games plz Popcap. Seriously. If you don’t have a team of thought agents creating new game ideas every ten seconds you aren’t doing your job as far as I’m concerned. Some people have Las Vegas, others WoW, and then there’s me with my Peggle. But don’t worry about me, it’s not wrong to bounce your balls into the big bucket. Just as long as you hit some orange along the way.
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Splinter Cell: Conviction
Oh Splinter Cell, why can’t I quit you? Seriously, I’ve had you for a month, you’re an 8hr game, and I’m still two levels from the end. I know this because I’ve had multiple friends tell me detailed instructions on how to complete the last two stages. As I mentioned before, I am a bit of an offensive player. Which is why I thoroughly enjoyed the first few levels.
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Ultimate Wolverine vs Hulk
Don’t let the name fool you, this isn’t a fight. It’s a rape. Originally debuting in December 2005 and set to conclude in 2006, it didn’t end up being finished till February 2009. Epic fail. So I ask, who was really late to the party on this, me, or Damon Lindelof? The script probably got LOST…
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Mass Effect 2
My first play through took me about 30hrs. My subsequent two took 15 and 12 respectively. When my PC crashed I lost my saves, so there’s 57hrs down the drain (less than Dragon Age, but more on that another day). Luckily there are a billion game saves out there for the PC and the ability to edit my characters face based on presets so it’ll be like Shepard never died (well he did, but my character I meant – gah).
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Crysis Warhead
Am I alone in saying that I didn’t like Crysis all that much? I really felt like I was dropped into a tech demo and left to fend for myself. Plus, on my “older” rig (which was still top of the line at the time) I would get quite a few freezes and some story events would not load. Warhead however sold me on Crytek being a game developer, not just an engine tech.
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Bioshock 2
I LOVED the original Bioshock, even though the whole time I was on edge and anxious. Now I’m a very nervous gamer, but when I’m not “in control” I feel out of my element. Bioshock always had me playing defensively which is something I’m not accustomed to. But the story and world was so engrossing it made me push through the high degree of creepiness. This game however just made me quit.