My Vastly Superior List

[Balls]

Basically the same as Stu's but with 2 key differences:

1. I will also list, among my choices, the 3 most disappointing games of the generation.
2. My selections are better.

Before we kick off, I'm going to troll and list games that won't make it on here that people here and elsewhere seem to bum:

1. Mass Effect, because it's tedious bull[censored], tries to be an RPG and an action game at the same time and succeeds at being decent in neither respect.
2. Halo, because it's for children. Moreso than Sonic or Mario.
3. Gears of War because it's [censored]ing brown and boring and controls like a [censored].
4. Super Mario Galaxy because I haven't played it.
5. Any DS games because the DS doesn't have any good games whatsoever and you're lying to yourselves because you love that Nintendo label so damn much.
6. Killzone, Resistance or any other (usually PS3) dull, black, brown and gray FPS that just lacks any sort of charm whatsoever.
7. Grand Theft Auto IV because it sucks in too many ways to list. If I had to, I'd say overwhelming ugliness and too much bull[censored] and not enough fun.
8. Any of your favourite indie games or whatever from XBLA because I haven't played them but am still certain they suck.
9. Your favourite game.
10. RPG, RTS, sport or racing games, because every single game bar Smackdown 2 in any of these genres is absolutely terrible without further exception.

Will post first entry later today!

[Balls]

May as well actually put an entry here else there won't be replies. Again, this list is in no particular order.

Dead Space and Dead Space 2
XBox 360, PlayStation 3, PC



First of all, I'd like to say that Uncharted was going to be my first entry, but I know not many of you have played it, and I want to promote discussion. Spoiler alert: Uncharted is also in this list.

Before I get on to how much I like Dead Space, I want to dispell a fair few myths for people who haven't played it.

Dead Space is popular. People like it for the wrong reasons. If you go on any review or internet forum, you will find these things listed:

- It has an incredible, scary atmosphere.
- It's good looking.
- It has a good, immersive story.

None of these things are true. It actually annoys me that people praise the game for the wrong reasons and claim it's something it's not.

Its atmosphere is pretty standard. It's dark with monsters. The monsters jump out really predictably. At one point, you walk down a coridoor, and then Bioshock style you pick up an audio log in which a guy talks states "THEY'RE USING THE VENTS TO GET AROUND THE SHIP! THAT'S WHAT THE MONSTERS ARE DOING!" Then, as if without warning, a monster jumps out of a vent. By this point, I was already aiming at the [censored]ing vents.

Game is brown. It's [censored]ing brown and ugly.

Its story isn't any better or worse than the already terrible standards of video game stories, but it's told pretty badly. They went with the whole make the main character a mute thing to make it feel more like it's you.

Doesn't work for several reasons.

Third person. Duh.

Setting is something you just can't [censored]ing relate to so it's damn hard to put yourself in Isaac's shoes.

Everyone seems to have some kind of opinion and connection with Isaac, when as far as I know, he's a freaking robot. Some chick's apparently in love with him. She either likes the strong silent type or he's just a [censored]ing beast when his suit's off.

No, don't listen to those people. Dead Space is good because it's fun.

The first half of the game is where nothing happens and you're learning the controls and it's dull as [censored], but then it picks up and is good.

I don't really know how much I can say about it because it's not really that spectacularly new, it's just really well executed. The combat feels like a beefed up, improved upon Resident Evil 4, but concentrates on smaller groups of more hardened enemies instead of hordes of cannon fodder.

It also mixed the gameplay up a bit with some puzzle sections, zero gravity and oxygen free zones. They messed up the zero gravity a bit, but it was new and interesting and it deserves recognition for it.

Also, good boss fights. Dead Space isn't the second coming of Christ, but it's under a tenner everywhere you look and it's definitely worth that price.

NOW, Dead Space 2. People criticise it for not being as atmospheric or having as good a story and having Isaac talk to people.

It was praised for being more action packed and tense, however. Considering that was the best aspect of the first game, this makes DS2 automatically better.

There are hordes, there are fun as [censored] weapons, the zero gravity was fixed and it's an all around great ride.

Get Dead Space and Dead Space 2 because they're quite good.

MORE GAMES LATER

[Samface]

I still haven't got round to playing either of these yet. But I intend to.

/contribution

[Balls]

Jun 16, 2011 13:25:39 GMT Samface said:

I still haven't got round to playing either of these yet. But I intend to.

/contribution

Do it right now and then type as you play in response to the thread.

[Arch_one_zero_one]

Completed the first and own the second, but haven't got around to playing it yet. I agree with you on it feeling like a beefed up RE4, that was one of my first observations. There's something weirdly enjoyable about decapitating a foe, then dismembering/killing it while it blindly flails around.

[Baron Canier]

One recurring complaint I've seen levelled at Dead Space is the inclusion of backtracking. I never understood the griping: you're isolated on a ship in space, you're not going to be able to resolve the situation by going from one side to the other in a straight line. Of course you'll have to backtrack. And yet people whined. Because apparently logic and the act of becoming familiar with a setting are somehow bad things. Apparently EA listened to these gripes, however, since (based on what I've played) the sequel features much more linearity. Boo.

In terms of presentation Dead Space is basically Resi 4 pumped up, yeah. So it's kind of weird that is presents itself as Survival Horror when you're almost always kitted out, can improve all your weapons and have access to a shop. Were you forced to rely solely upon stuff you scrounge from corpses and lockers I'd have been more distressed. Once you learn to take advantage of the stasis ability the horror is mitigated even further.

It's kind of a shame, since they obviously did a great deal to maximise immersion (and in turn increase the sense of fear). Despite the third-person presentation, you do find yourself becoming immersed in your surroundings due most relevant information being located on Isaac's back (with an ammo gauge on each weapon). Skimming through your inventory in real time (rather than being able to "hide" in it, like in Resi 4) was another good move, since it meant you had to risk exposing yourself to attack in order to manage your pocket lint.

This is why I was somewhat fond of DS2's opening, where all you've got is a kinesis module and a flashlight; you felt much more vulnerable and so the horror began to manifest.

Having said that, the Hunter [censored] me right up every time I saw it...

One problem throughout Dead Space is that its story devices become transparent. Reeeally transparent. Encounter a problem, fetch quest, solve problem and cause another. Rinse and repeat. This didn't ruin the game for me, but the fourth or fifth time it happened I was honestly expecting Isaac to just sigh and mutter "For Christ sake..."

Talking of which, while I kinda like Isaac (probably via association with the game), they really did fumble the ball in attempting to make me get invested in his plight. The only time anything even close to that occurred was immediatly prior to the final boss fight, which was too little-too late. My friends and I did end up making up random crap about him whilst playing, though. Usually for the sake of humour.

Dead Space does get some points in regards to horror, though. While it does rely on jump-scares all too often, the monsters themselves look just human enough to make you shudder in revulsion and it's the only game I can think of that allows you to punt undead babies across a room.

The fact that it still sits on my shelf should show I don't want rid of it. For all its perceived faults, I like it.

Edit: Oh, yeah. I also liked how Dead Space tried to do something different with the "space marine shootan" approach. They managed to put him in "armour"(and thus appease that demographic) while doing something unique: Isaac's outfit more or less resembles a boiler suit, which is a refreshingly humble change. However, that just made me more annoyed when they overhauled it in the sequel.

[Sam]

Will GTA be in this list?

[Warped‽‽‽]

I loved Dead Space.

I bought Dead Space 2 second hand last week now I have some free time. Glanced at the back and read about the online pass required for accessing online content. Silly me reckons that surely that wouldn't even include just playing multiplayer, especially on a service I already pay for. Or, if they were going to be that tight fisted, it would only be a few points, a hundred perhaps. Tops, 400MS points.

Get home, shove game in 360, 800MS points just to play online. Yeah, okay, [censored] you EA. For those not so savvy with Xbox Live money, 800 points is about £7. I bought the game for £20, could have bought it new for £30. A saving of a tenner reduced to £3? I'm not so okay with that, especially as the reality is I bought the game with a voucher from awhile back anyway.

I haven't heard anyone suggest the Dead Space 2 multiplayer is a must-play addition either, merely a nice diversion. The audacity of charging the price of a full DLC to use what is already on the disk just because I'd chosen to buy second hand I think is disgusting and a little bit unfair. Now everytime I boot it up I have to reaccept the EA license agreement (something I've NEVER done on a console before) and opt out of their emails. Every. Time. I'm absolutely nowhere in the game, but this mess has completely put me off it for the time being.
(Was also annoyed when I heard about Bioshock 2 pulling the same trick with DLC included on the shipped disk.)

Don't get me wrong, I think developers should get rewarded duly for their efforts, and by choosing to buy second hand I'm also choosing not to reward them so to speak. But then completely removing that choice doesn't only make me resent the company, but also only urges me to never purchase a first hand EA game again.

For some reason I'd even thought EA had been a lot less douchey recently as well. Obviously not!
It still feels like EA are charging legitimate consumers because of their own ineptitude at an anti-piracy system that works without irritating the crap out of everyone who uses it (leading them to pirate the game anyway)

[Retro]

EA has been a lot less "corporate" then in past times. However it is worth remembering that with these VIP codes they aren't restricting the player entirely, as these codes reward the player in greater amounts.

For example, Bad Company 2 had the same system, but the VIP code you get to access multiplayer also guarentees you access to every map release for free. To getthe same thing on say, Call of Duty, you'de have to pay thirty freakin quid extra.

It is an extremely polarising move by them though, don't think I don't understand that, dude. And I can see why some are irked.

However I can see why they've done it. Around 60% of games sold are sold preowned and often less than a week after they have been released. The reason EA has put this in place is so that in those first few weeks (when the sales of a game truly matter to decide it's future) shops cannot drop 2 pounds off the price for preowned varients to undercut the RRP and rake in all the profit and kill the game's success before it even got out the door. In this reality, it's a great move that helps new games stay new without hurting the consumer much.

The downside is continuing into the future these games are now left with polarised preowned/new prices when compared with the online activation. This is when it hurts the consumer a bit more.

That said, generally any game can be found on a deal or online for the same price as most places do them preowned with a bit of hunting anyway. Play.com has Dead Space 2 for 17.99 brand new right now for example.


All things said though, it's a big biting point. From my retail and PR work in a games company I can understand EA's decision. From my stance as a consumer I can also see the negatives and grievances it can cause. But I wouldn't hold too harshly on them, afterall, they have been trying to soften the impact by offering a ton of free DLC for said games when you have the code.

[madhair60]

I think that charging secondhand customers for online is completely reasonable, considering that the publishers/developers presumably don't see a penny from pre-owned sales.

[Juliett. Bravo. Alfa.]

Jun 17, 2011 8:31:38 GMT madhair60 said:

I think that charging secondhand customers for online is a completely reasonable, considering that the publishers/developers presumably don't see a penny from pre-owned sales.

This actually. Very this.

The amount of sulking from the MK fans when Kombat Pass was announced was hilarious.

[Balls]

I had to sell my first hand MK before the PS Store was back up so couldn't redeem my code. Likely I'll buy it second hand again and will have to pay.

Rage.

[Juliett. Bravo. Alfa.]

The online isn't actually that brilliant. Its comparable to MK Vs DCU and Soul Calibur IV. They are ok matches with anyone 4 bars and up but below that its a bit of a delay.

[Balls]

Yeah, but, fighting games need to be online for me. I don't like fighting AI.

[Warped‽‽‽]

I'm surprising torn about the issue to be honest. I can definitely understand the motivation; like I say, good developers I think deserve my money. Nonetheless, it still irks me. I don't feel as though this is the way to go about it. Unfortunately I can't think of a better way, and apparently nor can they.

Though ashamed to admit it, it's definitely the kind of thing that if it were to happen to someone else I'd tell them it's fair enough, but now it's happened to me I'm kinda pissed about it.

Also, more on the actual topic, Gears of War has, 95% of the time, stunning controls, 99% compared to some other cover games recently. But then I'm becoming more and more a bit of a Gears man so take that as you will.

Quite agree about Mass Effect. Finally got around to that very recently, about to play it now in fact. It's one of the games making me realise just how good GOW is with respect to its cover system (I'm finding ME combat pretty horrible. Bearable now, but horrible) but the plot at least is interesting and little extra things keep popping up to make the universe feel interesting which is nice.

[Retro]

ME1's cover system was a bit meh, definitely. The sequel fixed it completely. The third's looks as good as Gears' systems for cover.

You've made me want to go play ME2 again now actually. Well deserved game of the year last year on every level. All the trailers for the next one only make me want to set up a dozen differing story varients to see how they all turn out.

[Balls]

Mass Effect is [censored]. All of my friends love it which means I need new friends.

Really wanna bone Warped. Really, really wanna bone him.

[Samface]

I tried Mass Effect and gave up fairly quickly. What did it for me in the end was not the cover system (although that didn't help) but the fact that after you used a health pack you had to wait for a bit before you were allowed to use one again. Despite the fact that you're getting shot in the face repeatedly. Thanks guys!

[Retro]

Jun 18, 2011 9:40:44 GMT Samface said:

I tried Mass Effect and gave up fairly quickly. What did it for me in the end was not the cover system (although that didn't help) but the fact that after you used a health pack you had to wait for a bit before you were allowed to use one again. Despite the fact that you're getting shot in the face repeatedly. Thanks guys!

Except in dire situations, medi-packs aren't really meant for combat so much as between combats. The lack of consistent healing was to make each firefight more tense without having a massive stash of healing to burn through.

That and it'd have broken characters like Wrex who'd be able to kill everything without a single worry then if you keep buffing him.

That said, the sequels healing system was way better, with health slowly regenerating on it's own instead if you didn't have an ability to heal ready. Less tense, but more accessable.