Commentary - Five games to play from 2011

So here we are.  We’ve opened our presents, drank our nog and rung in the New Year with earnest abandon. Welcome to 2012 my friends. I sincerely hope you all had a wonderful holiday because the end of the god damn world is just around the corner. Indeed, the Mayan calendar is set to end on December 21^st, 2012, a mere three hundred and fifty three days from now. Three hundred fifty three! Don’t you see what this means? The Mayan long count calendar is ending. Logically the world must be too! It’s not like the Mayan dude charged with making the calendar didn’t just figure that four thousand years’ worth was probably planning far enough into the future, right? It’s not like he was thinking, “Well guess I can call it a day. Someone will just add more years on if we still care four millennia from now. I mean it’s not like they’ll just assume it’s the end of all creation.”

How the hell do you even read this thing? Scheduling must have been a nightmare.

Wrong ancient dead guy! Dead wrong.  I did my own research and I have to say that the folks over at www.2012warning.com seem totally legit, look the twinkling star wallpaper and animated gif of Jupiter. I think these people know a bit more about space and stuff then those NASA hacks telling us all to chill. So what are you going to do with your remaining months on earth?  Perhaps ponder the meaning of life or do and say all those things you wanted to do before you die?   Well I have a better idea.  I’m going to help you invest your remaining days on this earth by telling you the five games from 2011 you must play before the world implodes.

Soon.

Perhaps you’d like to begin by playing a game that puts you in the role of the one man who could save the world from its impending doom? I don’t mean Superman, that guys a douche. All “Do you know who my father is?” and “I’m just naturally this awesome, it’s all because of my sweet tan.” Screw that guy, I’m talking Batman bitches.

Batman: Arkham City (PS3, Xbox 360, PC – Released October)

Batman is sick of your shit.

Arkham City, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways. In the Christopher Nolan age of amazing Batman movies, it’s nice to get a video game series that so far seems to stack up to the quality of the films. Let’s be honest with ourselves, at some point in life we’ve all wanted to be the god damn Batman.  If you say you haven’t you have either A) never heard of Batman, or B) are a Liar. In Arkham City You get to live out all of your caped crusading fantasies by playing the Dark Knight as he opens a family value sized can of whoop ass on the Joker, Two-Face, Penguin and a horde of other supporting villains. Arkham City took everything that worked in Arkham Asylum and improved on it.  The fighting is visceral, the stealth sections are exciting and the game has enough side missions and collectable quests to keep a gamer happily soaring over the city, pouncing on unsuspecting crooks for hours on end. For more check my full review here.

If playing a millionaire playboy/high tech, ass-kicking ninja isn’t your thing then maybe you’re more of the ‘make your own name’ type.  Maybe you think bathing and personal hygiene should be optional? Maybe you secretly wish your name was Elfayis Silverbow and that you’re from the magical domain of the Summerset Isles?   If this is the case then may I suggest you put on your wizard cloak and hat for the Skyrim adventure?

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (PS3, Xbox 360, PC – Released November)

Skyrim - The only game where you can pretend to be a cat and not get accused of being a furry.

For anyone who has been following the buzz on Twitter and other gaming sites since Skyrim’s release, its inclusion on this list probably isn’t a surprise. Since my initial review of Skyrim, in which I confessed that I had only been playing for ten or so hours, the Skyrim game hasn’t left my Xbox. I’ve logged almost a hundred hours on this game. A hundred hours and I’m still not sick of it, not even a little! There is just so much to do and see in this game.   You can join a warrior’s guild, become a werewolf and then run off to the Skyrim equivalent of Hogwarts to become a wizard. Then, while you’re waiting for your classes to start you come across an interesting shrine.  The shrine kicks off a story line that takes you to the other side of Skyrim where you meet a guy who turns out to be a demi-god that slips you roofies over a beer  and starts yet another story-line that is the Norse equivalent of the hangover.  Skyrim isn’t so much a game as a vacation from reality.  Skyrim is all about freedom and there are almost no decisions that can’t be reversed if you decide you don’t like them. The sheer open ended nature and vastness of the game can feel a bit overwhelming but if you give Skyrim a chance you’ll quickly find that the game rewards your perseverance.

Then again, maybe having near infinite freedom and zero consequences doesn’t appeal to you, maybe you want to agonize over every decision you’re faced with. Does the idea of deciding to have eggs with breakfast instead of pancakes, only to learn at lunch that the pancake maker was forced out of business due to your pro-egg/anti-cake policy and thus committed suicide excite you? Then boy-howdy is Assassin of Kings for you!

 The Witcher 2: Assassin of Kings (PC – Released May)

Assassin of Kings is an adventure/RPG game that is all about consequences.  Throughout the game the hero, Geralt of Rivia, is forced to make morally grey choices and decisions. This approach to decision making was refreshing as most Role Playing Games make your decisions too black or white, good or evil.   More often than not I found myself deciding based on my own belief system and not on any real direction provided by the game. The decisions in the Witcher aren’t trivial decisions either, they can and do have profound repercussions on the games story hours of game play later. For example: Do you side with the Imperials who protect the civilized world but are slowly committing genocide against Elves and Dwarves? Or do you side with the rebels who are fighting for Elven and Dwarf kind but do so by slaughtering innocent civilians?

Geralt gets a lot of action... The ladies dig scars.

Beyond the consequence based plot line, Assassin of Kings also focuses on Geralt’s vocation in life, hunting down and slaughtering of monsters for monetary gain. The real enjoyment of this facet of game play comes from the monsters all being based on characters and creatures from folk lore and fairy tales. As the hunt unfolds you’ll find yourself remembering childhood tales that add another level of enjoyment to the game.  Although Assassin of Kings is not without its flaws - no real tutorial for how to play and combat that is punishingly difficult until you get the hang of it - the Witcher has excellent graphics and a thought provoking plot that will draw you in from the moment you pick it up.  

Speaking of killing monsters for a living, once you get the hang of combat, the Witcher, makes it look easy. If you’re the type that wants to slay horrors that should not be, but want the added danger of possibly craping yourself while you do it, then turn off all the lights, turn up the volume on your sound system and play Dead Space 2.

Dead Space 2 (PS3, Xbox 360, PC – Released January)

This is actually part of the game play, not a cut scene. Where you stick a needle... in your eye. Urk.

Survival Horror games have always been a pleasure of mine. There is something about being so into a game that I find myself on the edge of my seat. Dead Space 2 was exactly what I was looking for. From the moment this game starts, Dead Space 2 throws you waist deep into the shit. You begin the game running for dear life through utter chaos, bound in a straitjacket, plagued by the pursuing necromorphs (monsters that infect the dead) and your own psychological dementia. Everywhere you turn in Dead Space 2 something is going to come scuttling out of the dark or attack from a shadow. In the moments when you aren’t under attack it’s even worse because you worry about when the next thing is going to pop out and scream at you..  It is clear that the developers took time to develop the main character Isaac Clarke from an easily forgettable silent protagonist in the first game, into a broken man clutching to the shreds of his sanity and plagued by guilt that you can identify with. For anyone that enjoys sci-fi horror, or psychological stories, Dead Space 2 is the title to play.     

Part of his psychosis is seeing his dead girlfriend... I'm not sure what he saw in her in the first place.

Last but certainly not least, is a game that I was looking forward to for most of 2011. This is a game that will be enjoyed by Tom Clancy and Phillip K. Dick fans. I of course speak of Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution (PS3, Xbox 360, PC – Released August)

At its heart, Deus Ex is a partnership that takes Square-Enix’s ability to tell a story and combines it with Eidos’ Montreal’s ability to make a game that isn’t a fucking hallway simulator. Honestly Square? What the hell was Final Fantasy 13 all about? Was it a test to see how long I could tolerate pressing the forward button on my controller? Thankfully Deus Ex is a far superior game and has a plot involving government and big business and is set in a future heavily influenced by Blade Runner and Ghost in the Shell. Although the protagonist Adam Jensen, appears to have taken raspy voice acting lessons from Christian Bale, the game has a solid plot which I enjoyed all the way through.

"Bale gave me some real pro tips on sounding like a badass."

The world painted by Deus Ex is intriguing and the environments are detailed. The game has plenty of discoveries and places to explore. Deus Ex also gives you a fair amount of choice in how you play through the story line.  You can play the stealth game or you can do the run and gun. You can be a hero and avoid unnecessary death or you can be the maverick and murder everything that gets in your way. Deus Ex provides you with the tools and upgradeable skills to allow you to play a style that is enjoyable for you and doesn’t make you feel like you’re missing out on half the game.

So there it is, my friends, five games from 2011 that I feel are worthy of your hard earned money. If you want to share your thoughts on the best of the year gone by, toss me an email, or leave a comment. Maybe I’ll do a readers choice article down the road, who knows?  Happy New Year once again and here’s to an even better 2012.

Review - Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Review: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Pros: Revamped levelling and advanced combat system makes the game accessible to a wider audience.

Cons: Busy storyline and numerous quests make it easy to lose focus and become overwhelmed

Final Judgement: A must for any fan of Elder Scrolls or RPG’s (Roll Playing Game) but definitely not the title for the casual gamer.

http://www.elderscrolls.com/skyrim

Available for: PS3, Xbox, PC

Vikings! Mead swilling, axe wielding, village pillaging, fuck-you-and-your-culture-I-have-a-horned-hat wearing Vikings. If you think about what it is to be hard core, if you examine the tao of it, Vikings a.k.a. the Norse more or less have it on lock down. Only the Norse could come up with a story where the hero kills a dragon, bathes in its blood and then eats its heart. You may be asking: “Redcoat, why would he do this?” Well he was bored and an old man told him to. Some old guy said ‘Hey whipper-snapper, go have a dragon blood bath.’ and his response was: ‘Roger that old dude, dragon killing time.’ The Norse are also the men who believed the goal in life was to pick fights and die a warrior’s death. That way the top god Odin would put you on the guest list of the giant party that was the afterlife. There you would get pissed on mead with your dead buddies until the end of the world. At which point you go forth and die all over again in bloody combat while the world burns and I can only assume Odin wails away in the background on a guitar. As I said, the Norse, much like the Wu-Tang Clan ain’t noth’in to fuck with.

This is what the Norse looked forward to in the afterlife. Hardcore.

There really aren’t a lot of good games on the market that explore Norse Mythos or culture.  Too Human was essentially a sci-fi retelling of Ragnarok (the Apocalypse).  However, most people couldn’t finish the game because every time you died you had to watch a thirty second cut scene just so youcould respawn. Valkyrie Profile was another great game, but it was more just using the names and places as opposed to really following the Mythos.  

So here comes Skyrim, the fifth entry in the Elder Scrolls saga. Imagine my joy at picking up the game and being immediately inundated with Norse inspired story lines all mixed in with Dungeons, Dragons-esque fantasy, magic and role playing. Indeed, Role Playing Game + Norse Mythos = Win. Can it get better? I submit to you, that it cannot.

The game is not based on Norse Mythology but rather inspired by the culture and legends. Norse architecture dots the landscape of the game.  Norse titles such as “Thane” are bantered around and the world is populated with tall muscular and pale humans called Nords who have a distinct Scandinavian accent. The Norse legends are subtly woven into the main story lines. One legend in particular is central to the story and appears a few hours into game when you character learns he or she can “Shout” or project magic by uttering a word of power. Apparently this is a big deal as you are the first person in many years to possess this ability.

This is Sven... he's a Nord. Not Norse... Nord.

In Norse Mythos, Odin has this exact same power. The myth is described in the poem Havamal.  The poem follows Odin, the original Charlie Sheen, as he tries to prove how ‘winning’ he is by hanging himself from the tree of the world. He did this as a sacrifice… to himself. That’s right; he felt he was such a rock star from mars that the only person worthy of sacrifice to Odin was Odin. I would accuse Odin of being a narcissist but I’m fairly sure he’d kick my ass. Long story short, he hung around (tee-hee) for nine days on the tree at which point his sacrifice was so bat shit insane that he unlocked the mysteries of the Runes which were magic words he could utter or shout to create miraculous effects. A focus of the games story is your characters quests to harness the power of his voice by learning the runic language of dragons. Ability to kill people by saying a word, thanks Odin, that’s a sexy hook for a game.

"Hanging from a tree to get power? Duh... Winning."

Elder Scroll games are like a Universe in themselves, trying to catalogue everything that’s going on in them will break you. The good news however, is that each game has you create your own character which you then play in a unique land with an innumerable number of story paths available to choose. Because of this unparalleled freedom Bethesda is forced to make each individual game its own self-contained story that only shares a common thread of all occurring on the same planet with the same history. The developers simply couldn’t make a story that builds on its self as no one would be able to keep track of what was supposed to be going on. Simply put, you don’t have to play the previous games to enjoy Skyrim, there is really nothing for you to know, and you can pick it up blind and understand the story.

Speaking of the story, Bethesda Software has claimed that this is the largest Elder Scrolls game to date and has three hundred hours of game play and story events. As a result the ten or so hours I’ve been able to put into the game so far really doesn’t scratch the surface of its plot and I’m not even going to comment on it beyond saying that what I’ve seen of the main plot line so far is engaging and original.  What I can talk about is the sheer amount of things that you can do in the game. You can, in fact, completely ignore the main quest of the game, and Skyrim won’t hold it against you. Everywhere you go in Skyrim you are going to find ruins to explore, people that can be friends or foes and quests to play through. The game offers several different guilds and associations that your character can join. Each of these groups has their own campaigns and story lines that you can experience and could be considered stand-alone plots. You are free to more or less to experience Skyrim and craft your experience as you see fit. The main plot is just an experience that Skyrim is recommending. I have to say it’s a refreshing change to have the freedom to do what you want in a game and not be reminded constantly about what the game feels you should be doing.   

Each of the people in this screen capture have a quest for you.

Skyrim also has made some major gameplay mechanic changes since the last entry in the series.

The first thing a veteran to the Elder Scrolls series is going to note is that the levelling system has been reworked. In previous instalments of the game, after selecting your race then gender and appearance, you selected favoured abilities and major skills. Using these abilities and skills caused your character to level up. The system was nice because you could create any combination of these skills and abilities that you wanted and then create a class name that was unique to your characters configuration alone. It also meant that you could take some rather silly skills such as athletics (your ability to run) as a major ability and level up by just running around a town. It also made it so your minor abilities were fairly difficult to develop. What it came down to is that you could create any character you wanted, but if you wanted to be able to play the game in a way that wasn’t a constant uphill battle you were forced to give up some of the skills you wanted for skills that were boring but made your life a lot easier.

The new leveling system has you star gaze to choose your characters path in life... there is something so very zen about that.

In Skyrim, Bethesda has done away with the complex levelling up and creation system. All characters now start the same. You level up by preforming any one of 16 skills.  The more you use any skill such as swinging an axe or shooting a bow the quicker that skill increases. As your skills increase your level increases. When you level up you choose to increase one of three attributes, mana (your ability to cast spells) health or stamina. You then choose one perk for the skills, such as making locks easier to pick or making your swords do more damage and that’s it. It’s simple, it doesn’t fence you in with a structured class and it gives you a lot more leeway to play your character how you want. The new system takes a bit of getting used to, but in my opinion superior to the old complicated one.

The combat system has also been reworked and improved. The first person sword play feels a lot more natural and less like you’re just repeatedly waving a stick in the direction of your foe. The game has also included pre-scripted critical hits and finishing moves.  For example, the action will now break away from first person to a cinematic third person clip of you running a monster through on your sword or beheading a crippled foe. These cinematic breaks add some much needed variation and visual pop to the combat of the game without interrupting the pacing of combat.

Get used to this... Dragons really, really don't like you.

Any fan of RPG or fantasy settings can find something that they will enjoy in Skyrim. However, Skyrim is probably not the game for someone who is either new to gaming or new to the role playing genre. Skyrim does not hold your hand, it places the experience of playing the game very much with the player. As a result, what the player puts in is what they will get out of it. Skyrim will tell you where you should go but the player has to be the one driving the story forward.   The game will also continue to barrage you with new quests and plots as you are trying to work through an adventure. This happens so often that I could easily see a player getting overwhelmed and not knowing how to proceed or which quest to tackle next.

So for fans of Elder Scrolls, Skyrim is a fantastic next chapter. For the casual or busy gamer, who likes to be able to pick up and put down games, Skyrim is definitely not the title for you. Its streamlined levelling system and revamped combat has made the game more accessible and easier to play but the game is vast and deep that it can be easy to lose yourself and your plot direction amongst the many plains and mountains in vast land of Skyrim.