Top 11 games that I love... but no one else does.

I've actually seen this kind of list done before, and it often gets a bit interesting. Its like some hipster backwards spin on overrated lists, and yet remains more interesting and personal than listing off underrated titles. Being someone who kind of grew up enjoying quite a good bit of what I played, and stumbling on a good amount of cult hits and obscure titles its just fitting I take a stab at making this kind of list. I'm also certain it'll get bigger after its actually finished because I've still got some pretty obscure games like chrome, chaser, and a couple others I have hardly gotten into yet. So this list is just begging to be made overall... maybe even revisited with a part 2. I'll be naming off games I really enjoyed that were either dismissed without much thought, games that bombed, or games that might have simply have been disliked by the fans or a vocal community. Also while they have an order and number to them, its a bit confusing to pick and place them... so forgive me if a game feels out of place by a couple of spots on the list or you just feel like there isn't much consistency. I hope the formatting helps explain them. I guess I should start off by also explaining "top 11" instead of 10. The last number came at the last moment when I remembered a game I simply could not get myself to leave out... so yeah lets go with 11 titles for this top list.

11) Lair

Why I love it: Freakin' dragons! Fly around, fight other dragons, eat stuff for health recovery, participate in big scale war that goes from air to ground, etc. Ok I'll admit I don't actually "love" it, its just good fun. I enjoy it, and its a fun game with a theme I love. Typically I'm not a big fan of flying games, so yeah the genre isn't my thing and this isn't completely blowing my mind in a way that introduces everything. However it is a lot of fun for what it is, and has more control and depth to it that can appeal to me despite its flaws.

Why no one else did: Imagine an entire reception basing their opinions off of the poor controls. Hard to believe, especially considering this is the same brand name that got tomb raider to thrive. Look I get it, the SIXAXIS isn't the best use of motion controls nor is it a great control scheme. But it functions, and there was a freakin' patch to completely fix the issue and people still hate the game because... well I guess it released joy chemicals in their brain to think such. No seriously I cannot find much of a real reason this game was hated on beyond its now fixed control scheme. I manned up and dealt with the default controls and had a good time. I don't see the big deal with this game.

Spot: It gets this place on the list because I didn't care about it so much, and honestly like the majority of gaming audiences I've sort of let it go forgotten. I have no real reason to talk about it often, and there isn't a lot of drive for me to continue with it because I'm simply not that into flight combat games. Its a fun game, and I'll remember it as an obscure fun game that was hammered into the ground by everyone except me and maybe some other lucky soul getting some fun out of it.... but apart from that it just isn't special enough to go higher.

10) Medal of Honor: Warfighter

Why I love it: Multiplayer. All I can really say. I love it for the multiplayer and gunplay. It was the first game to make red dot look realistically blurred, had a great sense of recoil and feeling to weapons, fun modes, a lot of fun with its lean system, and the class balance and buddy system was just awesome. It has the typical multiplayer gimmicks, but what I appreciate is that they are all so heavily underplayed or poorly done that they don't matter to the game and I find myself only worried about going around with a decent gun and killing people through a barebones game with good substance into its gunplay. Oh yeah and there's a server list, so there's that nice bit to.

Why no one else did: Because the game is garbage, and I'm going to admit that and say it loud for everyone to hear. I didn't agree with every critic on just how bad it was, but it was pretty bad and the only redeeming quality of it was some bits of the multiplayer. Players hated it because it didn't offer them as much as other games, or felt like a satire of the modern military shooter sub-genre. Critics hated it for its lengthy amount of buglists even after the giant (and it was quite incredible) day 1 patch. Fans hated it because it simply isn't a good series anymore. One of my favorite gaming critics on youtube even did a video dedicated to making an example of it as why FPS campaigns are just so awful today... and I agreed with him on every single moment and found it tragically accurate. I gave up on it with its pathetic playcount draining life out of the only thing worth keeping it around for, and it will go down as an abomination to the genre and a milestone of how bad this sub-genre can get. Heck this is the only military shooter I just cannot get myself to complete no matter how much I prepare for its lack of quality.... its just that bad, and as you'll see in this list I'm not one to be scared off by "poor" games so often.

Spot: I still love it for a lot of the multiplayer quality I mentioned before. Its like the only game I can say seriously redeemed itself on gunplay alone, and that was fine with me to say I really had a lot of fun with it and found it to be a stroke of genius. For being a very big guilty pleasure to enjoy its feel in lacking gimmicks and its good gunplay, I can't say I loved it much more than that and the gaming community rightfully wants to burn it to the ground. So it can't go far on this list. Without bots, I can't really even say I'd try to return to enjoy it some more because its probably all dead making it a horrible game I'll only play the campaign of one day if I have some nerve to torture myself. So it earns a pretty light spot on the list.

9) Two Worlds 2

Why I love it: I spotted the trailers, and had hope this would basically turn into what Dragon's Dogma was. I found out the bad news.... it wasn't, but still refused to let hope die down. You know what, I was right. Spent $60 on it around launch and I'm perfectly fine with that, because to this day it is one of the most interesting, creative, and entertaining ADD filled quest based RPG games I've played. I freakin' loved the world, combat was good enough to entertain me with an awesome upgrade system, graphics impressed me for the time, and the lack of polish actually felt more charming than bad. Oh yeah and the music is just brilliant. I really enjoyed this game, and will probably go back to it before I call myself really done with the PS3 (if that sort of time comes).

Why no one else did: Yeah remember that bit where I mentioned bad polish? Bad polish and presentation, horrible voice acting, clunky situations, and part of that polish was a framerate that was just constantly bad. Mix that all in with the fact that it was just very campy in a few ways and the market is flooded with much better typical RPGs and its not that big of a deal to skip out or find this game lacking. However I can forgive polish, I am far more appreciative of creativity, and this was one of my first RPGs... so none of the common issues really bothered me. I embraced the campy buggy mess and found gold in the rest of the game's traits. However I wasn't honestly the only one and to the public's credit there is a very tiny pathetic sized cult of people who enjoyed it, or praise it for things like its magic system, online mode, and middle tier developer feeling.

Spot: Not that bad on the list because of what I just mentioned... its not that horrible considering there were still some people able to tolerate it or even love it with me. Its just that for the most part it was still panned, angered some, and left without a footprint.

8) Brink

Why I love it: Heck yeah! A multiplayer FPS that is stylish, interesting, customizable, and made for the hardcore with some innovation in mind. I really loved this game for its core mechanics, and considering the time it came out it was practically a savior. Mixed with the style, voice acting, setting and plot, and I was really sold on the idea of this being a fantastic game. I loved the large bullet spongy health, the class balance, interesting RPG upgrades, the parkour, the strong thunderous gunplay, and some of the objectives and level designs were genius. What could go wrong?

Why no one else did: Son of a bitch. Of course that last statement above was foreshadowing for something going wrong. I actually understand and sympathize with the hate in a lot of ways, because when it comes down to it this game's disappointment hits like a punch to the gut. Much like how I said with Metro in my GOTY article, some games that release just shake up everything you knew and give you the unexpected. Brink did that in a bad way. While the gameplay is beyond solid, and is in fact golden to my standards, the game falls severely short with its 8 map limit, no modes, its "blurred" solo/multiplayer feature that was used as hype is nothing more than MP with bots with some tiny cut-scenes in between missions leaving you deceived because there is no such actual campaign. On top of that at launch, bot coding was worse, the matchmaking was the worst I've ever seen, and graphical glitches were almost at rage's level of bad. HOWEVER... the hate gets a little out of hand. Its more than "trash" or a waste of money. When it comes to playing video games, I love games for their mechanics and their freedom. Brink delivers on gameplay in a fantastic manner, however a lot of the typical vocal gamers can't see that. They just trash it. I think its because a lot of people got cozy with the super casual manner of most multiplayer shooters, like the low reflex based fast regenerating health and gunplay and design that has nothing but point and shoot. Brink is not that kind of game, it is there to serve the more hardcore shooter fans. At the end of the day I can sit back and play brink for a good few hours, getting sucked into how much fun it is to play with its amazing gameplay with some bots... and I really do enjoy this game and feel happy that I got it... even if its not worth but half its actual launch price. By now, there is no reason to stay clear of this game unless you simply weren't cut out for it to begin with. As it stands now the price is low with patches installed, while the gameplay remains fun, and unique.

Spot: Brink hits this mark for truly being a bit of a bad release that deserves some of the hate it got... and I was angry with it to, and still feel awful about all that missed potential. I was so ready and so hyped for it, following it and anticipating it to even overcome my love for killzone.... and then it bombed that dream with the fact that as you only had a season pass worth of content to play it all in. Its an overbloated demonstration of a shooter I've been waiting for... with all that said I love what is there and will defend its mechanics and general design to the grave if I have to. Its a brilliant hardcore shooter that should have been more, and no matter what people think of it I will enjoy it. So it gets an ok spot on the list, but there are bigger fish to fry.

7) Alpha Prime

Why I love it: It resonates with me in a special way. I don't know how I can really say that any better. It blows my mind and sends me in for a nostalgic joyride through a gun blazing space adventure that I really enjoy. I loaded it up years ago in demo form when I was just grabbing all the free demos I could find on steam, and it was laggy and challenging but fun... though a bit familiar to. I picked it up for good recently on the last big winter sale steam had, and man am I glad it was a bit "familiar" to me years ago because its the sort of direction I wish shooters stayed in. Tight corridor shooter action with resource management, fun weapons and gunplay, at least some form of enemy types, and an entertaining (though still bad) attempt at a plot. It also had a look that felt very doom 3-like, and was clearly the type of game made when everyone was chasing after Half life 2 or halo. And I loved every bit of that. The world was interesting and atmospheric enough for me to sink my time into looking around, gameplay was fun and offered a good challenge and made me think before doing stuff, and the gimmicky physics were fun gimmicky physics. This game feels like a lost love letter to the sort of shooters I grew up playing. Oh yeah and there's other fun quirks like bullet time, and hackable objects that can completely screw with your enemies in optional ways. Overall it was a game I could really get into, and a giant relief from modern military style games.... though to be honest its in its own time period, its just a big relief because I bought it late.

Why no one else did: For a start, its on here because its very obscure and practically has no one talking, buying, or discussing it. However what few have stumbled upon it, it still has quite some fierce reception for a $5 game. Others that are happy with it even use $5 as an excuse as if it weren't worth anymore. The problems people have with it apart from the obvious nature of its terrible voice acting, is that it just doesn't do anything special, it forces quick saving, and the AI relies on aimbot-like fighting to challenge the player.

Spot: I'm a nostalgic person, yet despite this most of my love for games and things is backed up with reasoning. However in this case I can't grab enough defense, it really does come down to a lot of nostalgia goggle wearing perspective. I love this game, but its a lot of nostalgia that is giving me the fun. In general its a "meh" old title that some hate and some find for a fun little bargain bin distraction, and outside of that it has practically no attention or value to the world. I feel like this spot is appropriate for such a game.

6) Lost Planet 2

Why I love this game: Because its crazy as can be, and straight forward in getting to the next wild and open ended crazy gun blazing segment. The game has some pretty weak and generic 3rd person shooting to it, but the amount of crazy freedom in such a linear stage by stage design and enemy types make up for it. Oh and the bosses.... wow. Massive alien after massive alien, and they all have cool and lengthy designs to them that make the whole situation really sink in as a playable and great struggle. The story is a bit meh at times, but comes in strong in the final act with an epic vibe that suits the crazy scope of it all making me feel just so good for playing the game. Oh and there is a limited but fun little bot multiplayer bit as well, the real multiplayer was nice to despite some clunky bits to it. Overall I had a ton of fun with the game. Everything from its artstyle, to its silly gamey nature just made it a blast to play through. It also is a shining example of a co-op game done right, no forceful gimmicks or difficulty spikes that require you to play with broken AI partners or feel left out for going in alone, I played the whole lengthy crazy fun filled adventure alone and loved every moment of it without struggling through partner gimmicks like my experience with most co-op driven games.

Why no one else did: It had its fans and playerbase, but for the most part it was usually disregarded as a lesser game in the series by many fans and critics were more than happy to slam it while others often just didn't have anything good to say. The fanbase that was there just wasn't very loud about it either, and overall you had a pretty crazy and interesting game that left kind of quietly. I also keep note of a hilarious common complaint I hear with people I actually know where people try to suggest its the dark souls of shooters (in a bad way). My friends made me think the bosses were impossible one hit kill death machines, and another friend said the demo boss took him 45 minutes to beat... which would be unbelievable if not for the giant counter making it a real thing you can say and the fact that I also witnessed my dad playing and beating that length by overstaying the fight for more than an hour. I also remember even before owning the game thinking the IGN review was only blaming the game for their sucky playing. I just don't know what it is about the game being too hard on some people and hurting its reputation, but I went solo and blasted through it guns blazing with ease and happiness.... and I'm not really all that great at any game usually. I guess this game was just my thing that clicked with the way I worked. Meanwhile many just really could not get a grip on this game, and I guess that has hurt its value while also just being the sequel to a "meh" cult hit.

Spot: We're getting into the real meat of the list, and I feel like this is good grounds to put a game like this in for the passion I had for it and the lowly and mixed reception it got. Love this game, and its probably one of my top favorite third person games alongside Furfighters, Starhawk, and Space marines. However it faded out as an obscure title within an obscure and "mediocre" series that just can't seem to catch on big with everyone. It was received harshly, but I could care less personally as I got more than my money's worth and will hold onto this. Now Lost planet 3... that is just miserable and boring to even watch let alone think of playing. Sad way for the series to go.

5) Hoard

Why I love it: I really can't explain it so well apart from the obvious love in theme. Its an arcadey top down twinstick shooter about dragons. With the theme aside, because I really do love that, I'm not quite sure why this was more enjoyable to me than the usual twin stick shooter. Each twinstick shooter I've tried seems to do its own thing while playing it safe in most actions and mechanics, like a dark story driven alien shooter that has its own way of doing progression or throws some tiny twist to shooting, or a general short run twin stick shooter that has its own way of doing goals and quick missions. Hoard falls into the previously mentioned one about short matches, made for quick multiplayer runs and competetive record beating... which makes it sound even less likely that I would enjoy it. However I just love it. The ecosystem, the upgrades, the feeling of being a dragon, the random events like trolls, the progressing towns and world that can get harder if you let them go unchecked, the tribute system and rivalry with other dragons, and tiny little elements that effect your lair like princess ransoms and thieves who get a little too brave. I love this game, and found it to be one of the most replayable and enjoyable PSN games out there... even beating out Journey.

Why no one else did: Talk about obscure nothingness. The whole experience just reeks of it. The developer got sucked into a mobile company with no word of it after they failed to properly support the game on any platform, and the audience behind it.... well not a peep. The media and public was just so darn quiet about this game, and for something I had some good fun in and something that holds a record for its tiny genre... it just isn't recognized. I wouldn't be surprised if it falls out of existence completely on digital markets and internet. I can't believe two games staring dragons made this list, you'd expect more respect and love from the many dragon fans when the media sorely lacks dragons.

Spot: I really enjoyed this game, but still because of its genre and the fact that its some tiny digital game I can't praise it or get but so much fun out of it. I really like it, but then there's just nothing really to it.... no hate, no outcry, no following of any kind, bad support, the whole game just went meh and extinguished itself from interest. So I suppose it makes a good middle tier spot being a lot of fun and decent value to myself, and leaving on such an obscure note that it might as well not exist without my personal enjoyment of it.

4) Killzone 1 (and kind of 3)

Why I love it: Killzone 1 was a great ordinary shooter to me that slowly pulled me more and more into it as a game sort of crossing the lines between medal of honor and more creative shooters I played. The campaign itself wasn't so fantastic, but it was still a lot of fun to play and had some cool values. Now it really opened up my eyes and revolutionized things for me when I found out about its bot mode... it was the first time ever seeing something like that in a shooter. The possibilities of playing a randomized skirmish with a player set count of my choice, and map pick ups was just.... wow! It was like creating my own mini-wars as a younger kid, about in 5th grade. I had seen some idea of its mechanics in split-screen gaming, but now at any time with or without friends I could throw myself into a mode like that with a whole freakin' battlefield and plenty of enemies and allies to play with on my own terms and pace. It was magnificent. But fine, want to know more about what I loved? Helghasts! They were amazing in design, tech, and voice. Then there was the crazy secondary weapon fire in a military style shooter, fun levels, grenade cooking and sprinting for the first time to me, and replayability through different characters, and the gunplay was a good attempt at what killzone 2 would later master with a serious depth in shooting and weight that really gave the guns a punch to them and a certain aesthetic that couldn't be found anywhere else at that time. Then there were all sorts of little amazing nitpicks that I loved, like one shot kill sniping, climbing ladders piece by piece and looking at your arms, double tapped magazines, corpses that didn't fade so fast and even pre-set ones to add atmosphere of a deadly war filled world, and other small little things of that sort of nature. I just really loved this game for its time and enjoyed the revolution to me to get my first run at bot mode. Even with nostalgia and "my first time experiencing x or y" aside this game was still a blast and I've had fun replaying it and I think it holds up as a solid and good corridor shooter with a simple but fun bot mode. Don't get me wrong it had its problems. Most notable problems could probably be directed to the fact that The voices had a tendency to get really repetitive, and the multiplayer/bot mode had a tendancy to favor explosives... to the point where whoever got to the hill with rockets, or stumbled upon a grenade launcher first likely rained death upon whoever they wanted to for the length of their ammo supply. Still any problem I found with the game was something I could brush aside for the amount of fun and joy it brought me.

Now as for Killzone 3, I could sort of drag that into the list because it was a lot of the same fun killzone 2 had. In a couple ways it improved, with new guns (including the best SMG ever), better campaign inventory system, and the multiplayer was a lot of fun similar to killzone 2 and was one of the best shooters on the market in its time.

Why no one else did: Killzone 1 was just trashed. I don't find myself often saying this since I can often handle bad reviews and criticism, but the reviews felt like outright strings of burning lies and nitpicks gone unchecked. I guess people got so obsessed over the stupid magazine pushed hype of it being a "halo killer", but that's just unacceptable... it needs to be judged on its own merits rather than trying to be rated purely on whether or not it tops the mainstream crown because a biased magazine told you so. The glitches, and wacky audio were taken out of proportion, and the core values of the game were undermined, and quite a few critics pretended it was unplayable for a framerate problem I couldn't even bother to notice unless I tracked it with a speed gun. Oh yeah and one critic even called it a rip-off of halo because an enemy was called an "elite".... yeah this is who you've entrusted your professional Journalism to internet: people that think the role of an elite soldier is owned by Halo. -_- I cannot do a facepalm hard enough. There were also a few remarks about how the gunplay was generic or mediocre, despite how far from the truth that was with the weighty feel and serious punch guns had to them... and I have still yet to find another shooter around or before that time period that did something like that. In modern times critics still can't get over their old ways of finding some way to hate it. More modern reviews on the HD release cry about controls despite full button mapping, repeat their complaints for bad audio, feel the need to hate on the overuse of bad language, and just try to convince you the gameplay has nothing about it worth enjoying. As for user reception, it was mostly just forgotten and not mentioned... however many people that are vocal were just there to tell you about how awful it was that it couldn't be halo. The people that did love it were a lot like me, and they followed the franchise into its golden age with killzone 2 while keeping old memories of the opening story line, helghast iconography, and nostalgic memories of fun in the military semi-arena style fragfest of the multiplayer.

As for Killzone 3, that is a bit of a tough one to talk about. Critics loved it in big reviews and even somewhat mainstream coverage for the first month it was out and then turned around calling it generic and forgettable in second opinions and through small sneers, and the entire time they were downplaying the story (with over 90 minutes of cut-scenese) as nothing. The fanbase was divided and many rejected it for its changes compared to the amazing killzone 2, and you know they were right to call it a lesser sequel. It ripped out important features like server lists while forcing point pop-ups in your face as well as some dumbed down bot fuctions and a campaign with a few too many rail and scripted pieces.

Spot: This is a tough call since I have so much passion for the series, and yet the first one bombed so hard for such unfair reasons. The first one really elevated me to a better quality in an FPS, finally giving me replay beyond a campaign which would have been enough to qualify as a great game even if it had stopped there. Whether I'm looking through nostalgic goggles, or if I take them off and look at it as an analytical gamer with fun in mind... I found killzone 1 to be great. I'll repeat myself again, I truly believe the criticism for the first game was full of some of the most dishonoest and poorly written reviews I've stumbled upon from the PS2 era; with outrageous expectations, some outright lies (what kind of framerate were they seeing?), and people who felt too big and full of themselves to be grateful for the things that were just fine. The casual public didn't stop to give it proper credit either, as most stayed quiet or fell for the "it failed as a halo killer" crap. So if this were about killzone 1 it would get a very high spot on the list meeting both extremes of my enthusiasm and public hate as well as going pretty undernoticed. However I'm also taking into account Killzone 3, which is honestly more fair and mixed. The series was established well by then and had fans who despised the changes while critics were a bit more forgiving of it. However the purist fans are off for the same reason I mock the 2nd opinions and legacy of this game from critics. They call it COD-ified and bash on it, to even the point of spreading their own lies like saying it had horrible noob friendly aim assists (it actually has less than killzone 2). It was not a forgettable or generic game and was instead a lesser killzone game but never the less a good solid killzone game. Killzone 3 was still fun, and actually has a couple of good qualities over shadow fall which is in general a better game. Killzone 3 got less burned though, while killzone 1 was a revolution to my nostalgic sense and a grand game in general that was scared and bullied at reception so I find this place around middle-high tier on the list to be a good spot for these games to share. So its kind of the big with the small, and I'm going to settle it down around this spot.

3) Cortex Command

Why I love this game: Well for starters it holds some value for being the first indie game I seriously got into (I played a bit of serious sam before that, but just a tiny bit). Outside of that though, I invested some time into it around its late build 18 days when it was a free game up for grabs that was mostly ran by mods. I downloaded and got a real kick out of what you could do in this game, it was basically an engine full of potential and ran by a community of imagination. I loaded up maps and went to war, ordering in troops with a unique loadout system and could send ships down full of supplies, bombs, interesting robots or creatures, or a squad of armed and ready soldiers. Then I defended against endless waves of enemies. The core mechanics were just genius, with a gibable system of nearly everything. Guns could be shot out of your hands, every limb could be shot off requiring you to adapt to a new situation, actual bleeding or robotic circuiting failures were a part of your health, and ships could lose vital engines and fall down taking out cargo, buildings, and terrain with it before it results in a final big explosion. Oh yeah and terrain had its own materials and destruction as well. As you could imagine this was a big sandbox of fun and again filled with player imagination. I would personally stack a ton of mods, hide my brain (goal to defend) in a ridiculous location, and had money placed ridiculously high from editing my files, and just went to survive crazy and insane battles until I got sick of the map or simply destroyed too much of it to continue on. It is to this day the best and most thrilling combat I've had in a sidescroller game. Oh yeah and it got even better in some ways as time moved on. When further builds were released, heavy scripting could be coded in to create deeper guns, characters and gibs were overhauled to be bigger and deeper with a new armor system including helmets and higher or lower tier soliders and factions, and dropships now had way more pieces to them than engines and their core. Over time new modes were developed, modders invented their own factions, and war was a lot more fun. Sadly though there were also more bugs added, some mods were outdated and never to be seen from again, more mods resulted in huge loading times, and the community is currently bordering on dead along with the game itself. Most of the good times for this has passed, but I still love what this game did for me and its still one of the most important and memorable indie games  to me.

Why no one else did: Even the developer hated this game, and that's where most of the problems come from. This game was poorly made under the assumption that it never needed to be finished or updated in truly interesting ways. After build 18 upgraded the shiney new stuff, it became premium and eventually worked its way out to the major public with a $20 release at one of its most broken and uninteresting forms on steam after indies became a big deal and had fierce competition with themselves for far better prices. The developer has been lazy, lacks communication, has done dishonest and hurtful things to its own fans (like spending all the extra support edition cash on buying a real AK47 rather than using it for game work like he implied), and because he got treated like he deserved once it went public he used that reception as an excuse to continue his old habits of not following up the support he promised and doing work just as efficiently as valve is on the continuation of half-life. Cortex command was a broken buggy release with some of the worst support I've seen in an indie development, and because of that and its steep learning curve as well as its general need for a community at a time when the PC market is oversaturated with good indie titles... the game was bashed and hated on only to be left forgotten by now as even steam sales don't bring the game back up to its real form. A cult following mostly from whoever was left from build 18 or previous days still remembers the good times and occasionally checks up on the game, but apart from that this game fell into a state of decay and is considered an abomination by the masses.

Spot: I can see every reason people are upset with this game, and I think the developer is a total jerk for running such great potential into the ground the way he did. Still I am sooooo grateful I joined in at a better time and took the time to understand this game in its younger, better working, and free state so I didn't just blindly throw $20 in and rage quite the buggy mess at first glance. I love what the engine is built around, I adore the core mechanics, I have it packed with mods to give that content substance, and I still continue to really enjoy this game and have such incredible memories of time spent with it. It was a brilliant game with a well deserved horrible reputation and a closed up legacy of pity, yet it deserves a high spot on the list because if you can forgive it you get a game of monstrous potential and one of the most incredible 2D engines ever constructed.... and I love it despite the hate it gets and deserves.

2) Naughty Bear

Why I love it: Love might be a bit overboard, but honestly its a great game that gave me a break from what I'm used to and was relaxing and good fun in a setting that actually felt nice to my sort of niche. I love tropical themes when they're done right and fun (no not farcry3's drug obsessed world). I love saturday morning cartoons that had that very simplistic nature to their world. I love how Naughty bear captured both of these things, kidified it, and then puts an ironic spin on it all turning it into a murder score game. As for the gameplay, it wasn't so complex but the pacing and open feel to it fits right in to what I love and I had a good time running around playing with traps, AI, and trigger events. The level set up was pretty fun as well making you go in with different goals, and different problems giving you a new way to look at each level. Sadly apart from those challenges and events, the level was mostly recycled and I guess that was the main drawback. However I still had a lot of fun in it, and the setting and feel to it make it one of those brilliant summer comfort games to sit back and play for some mindless well paced arcadey fun.

Why no one else did: To be fair if I bought this for full price, maybe I'd be made to. The game was recieved poorly and hammered around 2/10-like scores from most critics and recieved poorly for basically the complaint I had with the level repeating.... except they applied it to everything. It was a pretty cheap game in the end, and sent you through a lot of repetition, a lot of reused things not fleshed out enough, and all in a pretty unpolished title. Other bits could get to and bug the hell out of some people, like the "annoying" narrator or the camera. The game was just trashed for its repetitive nature and it was just seen as a very bad game. It was really hated, and critics and gamers still use it against the developer (which I'm honestly impressed is still around and making the next big W40K game.... awesome). Its just one of those "really horrible" releases that everyone only remembers to bring up as a joke and laugh at, almost like colonial marines without the controversy. Speaking of which, I think that game has its fun moments to but its still bad.

Spot: I suppose it gets one of the highest spots for just how shocked I was with the industry and public reception. At the time I was really begining to trust and get a grip on how to check into whether or not games were good based on their reception. Of course, as you can tell by this list's existence, that's not ever going to completely work out... but this one just really shocked me. I mean a 2 out of 10... come on guys, its not even close. You gave Duke nukem forever, and such forgettable buggy games as rage and alien marines better scores than that. I ran straight to the VGportal forum blog at the time of this and made a post on how off the critics were while giving a mini-review myself. It just shocked me that much. Look I'll admit its not critically amazing game, and it deserves some mixed scores and general disappointment... especially if they tried to sell it off as $60 However I found it to be a refreshing and enjoyable bargain bin game with a good theme and some good design choices resulting in an overall fun experience. At the end of the day, Naughty bear is a strong "guilty pleasure" of mine that deserves a strong spot on the list.

1) Turok Evolution

Why I love it: Lets see.... Crazy guns, inventive amazing world that is so memorable and inspiring just on how weird or cheesy it is, lengthy fun campaign with plenty of fun chapters, great replay-ability through cheat codes, those lizard people enemies are just plain awesome, great music (that theme!), craptastically cheesy voice work that I adore, the gore and gunplay just feels right, and a ton of nostalgic just for being one of the first major FPS games that I really got a kick out of. I cannot find out any reason to call this game anything short of awesome. It sucked that the only non-campaign thing was split-screen arena (this was the standard thing until I came across killzone 1). The only thing I can say I'm disappointed in apart from that last statement, is disappointment in myself that I don't go back and replay this game as much as I should. I just love this game, and its one of those big impact childhood games of mine.

Why no one else did: Yet the world just looked on it and said "meh". The turok series as a whole got kind of thrown under the bus. It was a big hit and a classic on the N64 platform, but it disappointed in its 3rd entry and got overshadowed by goldeneye, and as time went on people just didn't care about the series as it attempted a PS2 entry that went no where and as the company died it got sent to a reboot status with disney that also went no where. As people look back... well that's the thing, they don't really. Even the classic N64 versions are hardly mentioned and not really cared about anymore. This game specifically is my favorite for better controls, better gun selection, better enemies, and just nostalgia yet this is the game a lot of fans made fun of, critics looked back on as "milking" the series, and people just continued throwing under the bus. The reviews themselves were just calling the game out as being mediocre or nothing special, and in general the game just kind of suffered a quite and mediocre reception. Some people even say the cheap death filled arcadey sidescroller GBA port that was nothing like the game I'm actually talking about was better because... I dunno, NES or sidescroller lovers is my best guess. Overall the game was just kind of trashed, or frowned at, and universally kind of forgotten.

Spot: This is the very top place for how huge of an impact it had on me, and how I still just love it and have so much respect for it as a shooter. Yet the masses don't even know what it probably is anymore, and those that will remember... probably don't care or will question if I am talking about the same game since they walked away with disappointment or regret.

My top 5 games of 2013

Its time to gaze back at what has happened this year, and for me to pick out my favorites.

I'll be honest... when it came down to this time of the year and naming off awards I am a bit disappointed. Not because it wasn't a fun year or anything, it was. There were some great games released, and amazing things experienced, some of which I have yet to go for myself (All the great wii U games, tearaway, Shadow warrior, and more) but overall I just felt like few made a big GOTY impact to me. I had a great time with plenty, currently prepared to play some more Assassins creed 4 after typing this and I had a blast with the interesting gameplay and adventure of games like last of us, Anarchy reigns, and many others. However little stuck with me as "GOTY material" so well, and I'm still baffled by the praise Tomb raider gets. I kept finding myself reflecting back on old 2011 and 2012 titles that still have a powerful impact on me... games like Torchlight 2, Dishonored, Space marines, Skyrim, Resistance 3, Dragon's Dogma, Starhawk, etc. I feel like there were fewer of those this year and I've actually spent a good portion of my time playing much older games like the original far cry, unreal 1 and tournament 2004, Postal 2, etc. This year just kind of felt weak compared to others and I struggled to come up with amazing games that defined the year for me or stuck out. Last year it was a struggle to figure out which took the spot, now it feels odd choosing what I do... but it was the best to me. So I finally came up with a small top 5 list.... lets take a look after some honorable mentions...

Honorable Mentions

The big 3:
You should all know what I'm talking about. From hyped teasers to big hits, people wont shut up about The Last of Us, Bioshock infinite, and Grand Theft Auto 5. And I think they're somewhat right to. They are each big hit big budget titles with massive work being driven into their worlds, story, characters, and gameplay. I've got to admit, they're all their own sort of masterpieces and are quite amazing games.... however I just didn't get the full feeling for them myself. I loved Bioshock for returning to a lot of things that made shooters amazing.... really appreciated that and its the closest of the 3 that makes it to the list. But I think some of the enemy designs, while great that they were there, were ultimately bogging the game down from mastering its own design. Likewise the two weapon slots is worse here than it is for most games, it wrecks the feeling and motivation to use certain weapons when some seem to serve very specific purposes. Plus the pacing could have been way better... more clear and interesting bosses, that asylum part was just boring, the peaceful parts felt lacking and just there to steal your time looking for excessive items, etc. As for last of us: Amazing in every way for a cinematic and tense ride.... but then I just can't get myself to replay it. It was hardcore, tense, and fun, but at the end of the day it really needs you to build up to it and go along side its story. When that story was over, I was to and couldn't get myself to go past that dragging first 5 hours again in new game + and go through all those tense moments again. It was great but it needed a new adventure for me to go through it again, and when that happens... I just can't find myself putting it on GOTY. As for GTA5... well I'll admit I couldn't go as deep as I'd like to, and even if I could it was just frustrating at so many spots. Its a great game, but big, clunky, and frustrating at the same time. Overall I can see why these games get the love they do, but all of them left me wanting more in some area... and they all lacked that quality of just giving me those moments where I smile and realize I've hit a gem. I recognize them as true gems in themselves, but based more on general opinion more than my own. So they don't make my personal list.

Killzone Mercenary:
I loved this game, and will continue to support it as one of the best things you can put on a handheld... and one of the best shooters this year. A good twitchy take on killzone multiplayer, one of the best narratives in the series which completely surprised me, some great gunplay and weapons delivered flawlessly to the handheld, and some interesting quirks of its own. However after a short campaign, there just isn't much left. The level designs weren't as strong and replayable as Killzone 2, the tacked on stealth did more harm than good, and the multiplayer is just not worth holding onto. When I have to hover over my router to play a watered down portable killzone game in the very same home with four better killzone multiplayers (counting the original with bots) ready at their stations, its hard to justify mercenary's multiplayer as a great year defining one. With the bot patch coming, it will get better in playability, but for now this game felt lacking by series standards. It was an amazing spin-off for one of the best franchises out there.... but it was still clearly a spin-off that just didn't completely live up to the thrill killzone is used to giving me. So close to the list, and one of the best shooters you could have bought this year, but not exactly my GOTY material through the whole way.

Dust: an Elysian tail and Dragon's dogma: dark arisen: 
I played both around spring of this year and they were fantastic. Dark arisen gave me purpose to go back and replay one of the best RPGs ever, and enhanced it in a couple ways while adding a massive and challenging expansion pack to it. However its for the most part Capcom being Capcom and rehashing the same game as a "super duper" version of itself, and its not much of a real sequel or new game in itself. I was actually about to put it in the list considering its a big favorite of mine combined with the lacking feeling from this year, but it would be cop-out and I struggled with myself over it until I decided just no. Plus despite how much I loved it I couldn't get myself to really keep up with it, and the actual meat of the expansion is still left untouched. I'd rather find room for something else before just finding a cop-out solution to put an old game I keep thinking of back on the list. Amazing RPG, but its mostly last year's amazing RPG. As for dust, similar deal there... while the version I played was released and re-praised this year it was a PC port of a game that already came out last year. I really would put it somewhere special if it were a potential game of the year, but its just a really good port of a last year game... and honestly its not THAT good to compete with some of what came out in last year.

#5) Risk of Rain

Well this feels odd. I despise rouge-likes by their very concept, and usually hate plenty of other bits in their gameplay as well. To me they come off as shallow games based on trying to kill you fast to make you restart for some cheap thrill or achievement.... or just bragging rights of "I got this many levels done before the game kills me with a cheap attack". There's minimal interaction, little lore or creativity, and it often comes down to coin flipping your way to the restart button. Yet here this one is on my list. Well I can't really explain myself other than to say its the exception rather than the rule, and a damn good one. It didn't exactly fix all my problems with the genre, but it came in an acceptable exciting package that kept me enjoying it and more than happy to go for that "one more round" and I'm no where near done with it yet. It sets you up in a world, starting with either a dry lake or ruined forest, and you have basic but distinct attacks and a drive to explore the randomly generated landscape. You explore around collecting loot, building up your character with crazy weapons and buffs (it actually begins to feel like a sidescrolling ARPG form of Ratchet and clank), fighting off random hordes of enemies, and get to a teleporter that activates a gauntlet sort of challenge to survive while it fires up preparing to take you to the next level in a new environment. Its gamey, replayable, fun, and different in each run. It also uses a nice visual flare of very detailed sprites and backgrounds of a beautiful (but very hostile) world full of interesting creatures as well as electric rockin' soundtrack that never gets tiring. The attacks have purpose and intelligent use, the art and world is awesome, there is value to explore, exploits are set up just right so you can get your cheap shots in but are penalized for wasting your time taking advantage of slow health regen, and the game is just a general blast. I will admit I still hate that feeling of losing everything when you die or just need to quit, and I hate how the unlock system is missing with easy since the game is punishing, I also hate that while the timer fixes health exploitation it also feels like I'm being rushed a bit too much... but its all forgivable considering the amount of fun I have with this game and I feel like I got a pretty grand high quality product out of this. Risk of rain earns a backseat spot in one of the best new games I've played this year.

#4) Ratchet and Clank: Into the Nexus

Not only a game I really underestimated, but nearly nothing else this year made me smile as hard as playing through this game over and over again. When I heard it was a miniature return to Ratchet and Clank's true formula, I was excited... but skeptical it wouldn't be so good with the short length and with all the bad spin-offs in recent time. However I've been proved very wrong. It was not only a blast to play through the 5 planets, and get everything accomplished, but the formula used nearly all of my favorite series cliches and combined them into one small new refreshing and very well refined adventure. It also went extra big on graphics and audio, the thugs 4 less guys have to be some of my favorite video game villains since the orks in space marines. Their cartoonish European gangster voices mixed with some good dialogue and the novelty of just being lizard aliens was awesome. The guns were amazing, the voices amazing, the graphics amazing, the story was great, gameplay was as perfectly tuned as the series has been despite the hover boots, and what new elements were introduced worked fine. Everything was perfect until I played it the fourth time after a week of play and realized I had experienced every tiny inch out of this game. Its a tiny game, and for that reason I nearly made it void of this spot... but then again I've got a freakin' rouge-like on the list, and rather than removing both I realized they were just too fun compared to the other games of this year to just snip. R&C: into the nexus is a short experience, but replayable and a highly valuable gamey experience that kept me smiling throughout the way. It was more than just Ratchet returning to his roots, it was ratchet mastering the best of his roots under the disguise of a budget game. Insomniac... more of this and less of all4one and fuse please.

#3) Metro: Last Light

Ah yes now the more content heavy big releases begin to show. Last Light is the sort of game that comes along every once in a while and changes what you know about games. In this case it shows you how tacked on awful formulas that this past generation has been full of in shooter campaigns can not only be done right, but be presented as the selling factor in a game made for a more hardcore audience than the typical release. I researched the hell out of this game being very careful about it, waited to have it recommended to me over and over again, and I'm glad I choose to finally believe in it and play it. Metro was a blast to play, and covers all sort of things I enjoyed under gameplay I would usually be very critical of. From its dark earthy foreign culture vibe to just solid and great FPS mechanics once the gameplay gets going, it is a great experience that carters to gamers like me while somehow getting away with things that would usually piss me off. It may have quick time events, and a large heavy amounts of scripting, but it gives me enough time to let me soak in the world and enjoy it all and isn't afraid to give back control at the right times. Last light builds a world and knows when to let the player enjoy it. You may have to put away your gun a few moments for some exposition heavy dialogue, but you get rewarded for taking your time and looking at all the details. But how is the gunplay and mechanics? Fantastic as well! Just like those peaceful or exposition moments, when they hit it's hard and leaves a good mark. You get decent stretches of being tossed out into the middle of the wastelands or tossed into a tunnel with an objective and tools and get to let it all sink in and play the way you want. You also manage a sizeable amount of tools and utilities, guns feel powerful yet match their crude style, currency can be used as high powered bullets for an interesting choice of sacrifice, and there are multiple solutions and ways to overcome most enemies and obstacles. All of these gave the gameplay a great amount of depth. This is a shooter made for those who want challenges that get you thinking for your moves, gives you immersion, and is for those who crave creativity and imagination brought out in a big dark campaign. This is not just the biggest shooter of the year to me, but it is one I feel is important enough that the industry should learn from. That's not to say it is a flawless game... far from it. Parts of the central plot flop hard, The lengthy exposition bits are a bit hard on to sit through a replay, and even here the quick time events shouldn't be a thing (especially since ranger mode removes the prompts forcing you to memorize and guess them out), but overall the game comes off as a gem of a shooter and delivers its purpose and role with good strength.

#2) Killzone Shadow fall

I still insist that metro is my shooter of the year with a brand new feeling, surprise, and interesting mechanics to it. However Killzone shadow fall still came out late this year and in the end comparing the two is just like having comfort food win out over some fancy special cuisine. Killzone's multiplayer and its general world and style is a blast to return to, and its just a lot more replayable and assured fun for me. Mercenary was a great spin-off title, but it didn't have the weight shadow fall did and its very appreciable to have a full blown next gen killzone sequel release in a weird year for gaming. Its got problems, and the campaign is hit or miss, but overall I'm really getting quite a kick out of this game and I'm a satisfied killzone fan despite some nitpicks. It might be too soon to call for sure, but I'm going to probably be playing it out for a while into this new year chaining points in chaotic battles, playing custom modes, trying out tactics as I learn the maps better, and goofing around with bots or campaign moments. Thank you Guerrilla games for bringing me another entry in my favorite ongoing series, and its a great way for me to start off the PS4's life cycle.

#1 & GOTY 2013) Sly Cooper: Thieves in time

I don't get it... when you have some routine or great base for games that are loved by so many, why on earth would you stop making that? This is the question I've been pounding away at with some of my favorite types of games, as you just don't get them much anymore. However when that game comes out that actually remembers a sub-genre, or style that brought you so much happiness and it releases in a full blown updated form bringing amazing graphics, features, and a new adventure to hit high potential and keep past brilliance fresh the result just feels so good. In this case I'm talking about 3D platformers and sly cooper. No its not some cinematic emotional masterpiece like Last of us or Tomb raider. No its not redefining what gaming is or lighting up the charts of this year. Instead it brings back what gaming was to me, and made me smile big while I enjoyed a long lengthy and satisfying polished adventure across my PS3 and Vita. The 3D platform routine is something I really love to death when its done right, just look no further than my favorite game of all time called Spyro. Sly cooper was oddly a series that didn't quite click with me though. I skipped out on it during its actual lifetime on the PS2, but then picked up on it with the HD re-releases. Character was awesome, some ideas it had were great, and the games were fun but eventually there would be some bumps that annoyed me and turned me off of the experience or it just wouldn't grip me enough. The 4th game was a better take on that which really fixed most of my complaints or that lack of hook with the series. The adventure was amazing and compelling, the gameplay was more consistent and interesting without going too far with minigames, and while the bosses still felt cheap and frustrating they had checkpoints casting a more forgiving light on that issue. However I felt like there were no compromises towards what I guessed old fans enjoyed, and I was right judging by a lot of favorable views on the forum and youtube comments.

Sly cooper thieves in time is a refined and fresh take on an old and enjoyable series within a genre that is nearly dead right now. This game had no competition this year in the way of giving me bliss through its awesome style of gameplay, nor was there anything to rival the stylish and enjoyable world full of charm and character that helped to keep my attention and gave me more interest in the story. It's big and numerous hub sections full of collectibles in between missions, and variety in interesting changes in its pattern by switching characters and sets of mechanics while still being consistent in its values as a 3D platformer was unmatched by any other game released this year. I took my time collecting things, taking in the world and style, and then had a blast progressing the story and the flow of going from one setting to the next. Each time I was about to fear disappointment or some short ending or broken piece of the gameplay or some shameful side effect of modernized gaming, the game threw another massive chunk of fun and enjoyment out. It wasn't too easy or hard, it wasn't too short or too overpadded, and it was polished to perfection, the game was everything I loved about the simple and glorious older days while doing everything it could to bring and update the great side of being on a higher generation and even featuring as a cross-play vita game bringing the enjoyment of a brand new 3D platforming adventure on the go, flawlessly updating and refreshing an old style that I love and making it a lot more accessible. This type of game is what brought me into gaming, and an occasional and fresh release of something like this is a purchase and experience that really sticks on me. I just couldn't find myself saying the same for the more "matured" and heavier toned games that took over the news and acclaim of this year. Don't get me wrong, they're fantastic experiences too and its fascinating to see gaming progress and try things in that area taking advantage of big budget and widening expectations, but at the end of the day I want a gamey experience that resonates with me as a gamer who just wants to have some fun. Sly cooper thieves in time masters and delivers that in a big way and has earned my personal spot for Game of the Year 2013.

Well that's my list. I know its not exactly popular opinion, but I double checked some of these and brought the best memories and fun I had with this year to figure out what could make this list and I'm satisfied with the results. Again, I didn't walk away feeling like this was such a strong year despite a lot of fun games and big releases. However it was still fun, and the games that made this list all put a smile on my face and left me impressed. I am looking forward to this new year as it tests the new waters of the new consoles and brings big titles like Destiny, Watch dogs, Elder scrolls online, Titanfall, and my personal most hyped game: Wolfenstien new world order. But I'm also certain we'll get a good mix of new smaller games like starbound and maybe some medium tier games that bring a lot of fun to the gaming crowd. There will be new obstacles and problems, new fads and odd obsessions, but we'll get through them and come out with some fantastic games like we do every year. Have a happy new year everyone, and keep up the fun in gaming! 

The overlooked joy of being pulled in

Nothing wrong with in game distractions

I love games of course. Even though for the most part I love games for their mechanics... how deep things are, what you can customize and change, and what effects the way you play and how it reacts to certain game scripting, its really not all there is to a game. By contrast there is the current more popular side of things where things are about a cinematic experience. Big budget story and thrills, scripted sequences flowing with small interactive bits, and interesting characters that try to tell a story in between your interactions. A lot of times games will go for one approach or the other, like serious sam giving you lots to play with, change, and shoot up, and most of the hours logged into that game will be full of your own actions in gunning and your prograss after learning and mastering the game's design... yet the story, characters, and scripting are bare to the point where its just an excuse to give you more gaming. By contrast the new Tomb raider giving you a lot of story, prompted actions for you to follow that trigger events for you to be impressed with, and it all leads to bigger planned climaxes until ultimately you reach the end of the story and finished the main game. Gameplay is pretty limited and minimal with the exception of some optional tomb puzzles, but even then its pretty set for you and easy to get in an out of without having a say that the developers didn't already give. Of course there are more radical and different forms of these styles being done like comparing mario to heavy rain, but at the end of the day the point I want to talk about is actually something in between these and very unique to gaming for the way it does it so differently than anything else: Atmosphere and immersion through the subtle touches that pull you into the game. Get you distracted into finer details, and pondering things.

This is where games like Skyrim, Metro, The original Spyro trilogy, Dishonored, and killzone 2 can all meet and relate in some weird way even if they all are totally different. These are all games that give you a world big or interactive enough to goof off in, or immersive you in something richer than what you're used to in the typical games. Skyrim is probably one of the best at it. I love going into white run, walking up to that big castle having people stop and chat with me, and then making my way up to the lovely designed tree center with the preacher shouting blessings of talos and rebellion against the law. I love the children asking you to join in on their problem. I love how you can go in and read each book in the castle. I love how you can spend your time playing with physics, putting baskets on people's heads, and just playing around with your powers at the risk of trouble. And that's not counting the rest of the world beyond white run. All of this goes on while amazing music plays, time progresses, and events that may unfold further shaping the world. Meanwhile even in something as straight forward as Killzone 2 or Spyro, you still get that extra sense of belonging to the world just because of what you can stop and do. In spyro, the skyboxes are wonderfully designed to stop and admire, the roll button combined with the obvious hill at the very start sets loose that childish desire to just roll off and climb back up to do it again, legdes are everywhere and your power to glide through levels encourages none get left behind, and these sort of lands and designs just wrap you in the joy of escapism.

Excited for the gameplay, or excited for the gameplay AND adventure?

Now even without the childish joys of goofing around with the world and just interacting for the sake of interacting, there is also just the value of immersion this can bring. In killzone 2 the death animations from your foes, kicking their loose helmets around, seeing the wind blow sand and curve fire around, and having the gorgeous graphics introduce 3D-ish dent decals from bullet shots all adds to this feeling that your actually in a gritty fierce war... and yet its fun because its still a believable and interesting game serving us a proper dose of escapism. It all feels so much better than some generic fade or brick heavy corpse in a lot of past and sadly some currently shooters, and it feels more real and gives you a quirky laughter the first time your visible feet kick a detached helmet across the field. Its just fantastic little touches like this adding up throughout the experience making it more powerful of a game.

There are so many other ways games capture this sort of thing... and honestly I could hardly name them all. There's those moments of eaves dropping on people, running around messing with NPCs, Other ways of meddling with physics, simply reading in game books, activating trivial objects, just looking at wall designs (things like posters, following blood decals to figure out what happened in an area), etc. Certain things will depend on a personal level to some degree. Maybe some found FarCry3 to have this flow with its wide open world, animals to hunt, fire effects, and chaotic paradise atmosphere... but to me it was just a good open world game, and while I paused to admire or look into details of something world gripping... it would never amount to anything seriously impacting me. Similarly, I can see someone likely passing by all those things I listed about spyro without getting the same feeling I did. But overall it is without a doubt that some games, such as both I just mentioned, go above the average and make that effort to impress and grip someone. Compare something like Call of duty to Dishonored and you can see what a difference the effort to make an immersive and gripping world can have, even if that doesn't automatically make either game superior overall. Some games just try more in building up their world and trying to get the player into it, and I feel like this amazing work can be an under-appreciated subtle effect while cinematic games get all the rage now these days and mechanical games hold a strong legacy. But that is not to say its a crooked fate or anything, atmosphere and immersion will stay with us and last and it still puts smiles and joy on people even if they don't consciously know it. And if a game chooses not to go for that route, that is fine to... Call of duty is still fun without it, and so is vanquish, Timesplitters, and others that kind of skip on big world enhancers. No worries, this article is all just to say a big thank you to the games that do try though, and it will probably be one of the continuing things that make me love a game even more than for the game itself sometimes. After all, its this aspect of Spyro that I think hooked me and made me play the rest... and from that game I felt happy like never before in a form of entertainment that quickly adapted to becoming my dominant hobby to this day. So thank you for all the shouting Skyrim preachers, thanks for the slow paced playful world spyro, and thanks to all the interesting interactions within a steampunk world Dishonored. I hope these interactions and world gripping moments continue and subtly enhance the gaming world for the fans who slowly pace themselves to get the full experience of their games.

Don't cut the party short, there was so much to see an do before that!

Are games too easy today?

So I'm going to ask the thing many people have been saying for some time now, even for over a console generation: Are games too easy now? Well to be a bit blunt about the answer: No, you can turn just about anything up to max and get stupid calculations against you. However that isn't quite the full answer... they have gotten more convenient and have less depth making them less of a "true" challenge. Some of the convenience is nice, but some changes in popular gaming have cost it a lot of it's depth as well and that's not exactly desirable by all.

Before I really get into the problem though, I've got to talk about where I come into a disagreement with the series as well. Some of the guys who have been complaining about "easier" games are trying to bring gaming into a comparison of much older styles and execution. People who will tell you about how mario and contra were tougher than Knack and Call of duty. Well they're right, but maybe not for the right reasons. Back in the NES era you had a quite some challenge from the inferior designs. You didn't have saves, you didn't have much for checkpoints, lives were done just to throw you back to a game over screen and frustrate you into spending hours over again, and lets face it: it was too simple to control your fate but so well under how pressure. If you wanted a game with shooting enemies, it was probably on a 2D plane. It probably had some space ship, or laser gun scrolling along the side of the screen firing little laser balls at you. This can be done simple, and pretty easily, but what happens when you expect the game to get more difficult. Faster gunning? You can only do that but so much before your screen is just a bunch of fireworks and you made it into a bullet hell, and that's not "difficult" as much as it is an annoyance and just trying your patience. Especially if your options to fight this lie within moving, A, B, and select. It was mostly do or die, fast paced moving or death out of not dancing the right tune. You can't outsmart it, you can't train yourself against it, you remember its shooting pattern or find the only safe zone on the screen and get there as fast as you can. It's a fast paced memorization, or even just an outright reflex contest.... kind of like a certain casual multiplayer shooter that's popular now that is criticized for being for kids. Ok fine that's a bit of a stretch to make, but you can't deny some similarities between the difficulties here. In call of duty's multiplayer you can die because someone pulled the trigger first on you, in old games with certain ranged attack enemies you can die by the same exact principle of shooting speed. But to be fair, that's also the same thrill of it that people like. Speed masters, memorizing and doing that perfect run, and that joy of just not being shot on your one and only chance. Criticizing the defficulty, or lack of "true" difficulty, in call of duty or battletoads wont really change the fact that both games thrill players when they hit that perfect adrenaline and get a nuke killstreak or to the end of the stage.

Memorizing and reflex is all you can do to avoid the walls. How is that much of a challenge?

Over time as games got more complex, they got easier out of just giving you more freedom and responsibility. For simply opening up another dimension to move in, you've made it harder for the player to die by just ranged attacks, or heck even if you put the enemy right up in someone's face you have more space to distance yourself, more buttons to tie attacks and defenses to, and more dynamic levels and bits of it that might help the player. However this complexity is a new opportunity for difficulty as well. Now if you want enemies with guns, you can go make a first or third person shooter with a full list of enemy AIs, quite a few gun types, there are a variety of health systems you can choose from with their own pros and cons, and your own character might be able to just do more to interact with the world and their enemy. For example, maybe it was "harder" to go down a strict hallway, but it is more advanced and entertaining to blow a hole in the wall and your enemy at the same time in some games with destruction. Maybe it was harder without cover, but now if you can take cover that's a better player option to add more options and thus keep the player from repeating gun fights with less options. This doesn't stop the challenge though, for everything you make you can do something to counter it. Have cover? How about AI that throws grenades. Have a large pool of health for the player? Well make it a static number that relies on resupplying at health packs that are distantly spaced, or placed in risky optional pieces. This is how you properly keep challenge through deeper gaming. You no longer have to go relying on a dumbed down binary difficulty that means you have to be perfect or die, and have that on a repeat until you get the player frustrated out of the game or gasping with relief at the finish line that everything is over with. Letting the player discover tactics, using them to overcome their obstacles, and letting them figure out pieces of how to achieve their victor and work successfully or fail and rethink their plans is far more rewarding than overcoming outright frustrating difficulty for many people. Don't get me wrong, you still have those guys out there that love time consuming rage inducing challenging arcadey simple games. You also have games meeting a very strange middle ground now, often in the form of rogue likes where they're built to kill you and put you back in the start of the game... yet also built to give you interesting new toys and features that open up player discovery and interactions. But for the most part, challenge through depth has came out of gaming since the older days. We went 3D, and it might not be as "hard" as a bullet hell shooter but it doesn't have to be.


However since then we still see gaming getting a bit easier. That cover mechanic for example is a bit abused in 3rd person shooters and now it's basically mandatory for the player as you have small regenerating health making it the obvious winner in any fire fight, and you also have waist high walls conveniently placed all over any battlefield for you. This takes an opportunity for tactics, intelligence, and knowing the battlefield... and dumbs it down into a very binary experience of running to any of the obvious cover spots #1-5, taking and receiving pot shots, hiding long enough for your health to go back up, and moving to the next room. Or your other option (used loosely) was sit in the open watching the color of your screen drain (as a health indicator) and die until you use the other plan. A pretty dumb experience there honestly, and unlike the older games full of cheap deaths and poor reaction times this style is often too easy and too telegraphed. What good is it to have depth if your going to drive it into a corner and make the player use all those things rather than giving them a real freedom with it and letting them figure out how to overcome the enemy? Even something as simple as making an old 100 point health system would make it much better, meaning you could only pop out of cover if you were SURE you wouldn't lose your health, only able to take risks if it was high enough or you knew a health pack was near. But... no, no game really has used that old system in a while, especially a 3rd person cover shooter (I can't name a single one right now honestly). Now don't get me wrong, I'm going to say that these games can still be entertaining. Uncharted is pretty big on this mentioned easy cover style, and it goes beyond that. Like the platforming that is basically down to just mashing the jump button to the next obvious climbing piece. Or melee combat which is mashing square unless the triangle "block" function pops up. Yet the series is still fantastic amounts of fun, and is an amazing example for the best and worst of triple A gaming yet it seems like the good is way more noticeable than the worst. Also a lot of these easy problems are solved in the competitive online world, where people are more unpredictable and cover and climbing has more strategy to it.

Hiding and shooting wont be quite as easy online

Honestly I think I've pretty much covered all I wanted to say. The comparisons could continue quite a bit really, but it doesn't change much from my main point. I love difficulty by depth, and I think that's where games are losing it a bit and the "golden" age never honestly had much of it either as much as some want to say. I wish games would stop going in the route of making things "easier" by removing the depth. Health regen isn't exactly deep, nor is making your character glass on elite difficulty a better challenge. It's just annoying. You get a real challenge out of the need to learn your weapons or tools, your enemies, and having mechanics that work with or against you based on how you use them. Sometimes this may not lead to the most tough games... Serious sam is a good game for depth yet it isn't exactly as tough as battletoads, or ghosts and goblins, and honestly I think putting Call of duty or battlefield 3's campaigns up on the highest difficulty would be tougher than Serious sam's easier difficulties. Yet people who want a true challenge, or get their head working towards thought for risk and reward success would probably prefer it more. Instead of giving you low health that forces you into hiding or a very quick death, it gives you a lot of health but asks that you stay in charge of it and look out for refills. The game wont do that for you. Serious sam gives you a full set of guns, but if you go firing off your rocket launcher all the time you wont have ammo when it really counts. I could go on. Honestly even games that do strip mechanics and depth can also give it back in surprising areas. Take the original bad company for example. It has one main gun slot, infinite resupply of health, and can rip apart the battlefield at your will. But the one gun rule makes you think hard about how you'll be fighting. If you are doing good at close quarters, shotguns will be great and yet when you need a ranged gun it's your own fault and an honest mistake that adds to the challenge. You may also find that assault rifles are all around amazing guns, but when it forces you to choose a grenade launcher over throwing them you'll find that one really irritating enemy that you know could be fixed by a grenade toss you don't have. That infinite health bit is a recharging tool you have, and in order to use it you need to stop your own fight, get to a safe zone, put down your gun and inject yourself with health. This means you'll have to think about your recoveries or if you can risk holding onto your gun for the fight a bit longer. Destruction is a powerful tool, but the enemy can use it to and you can end up destroying too much and finding yourself lacking cover. I feel like uncharted multiplayer also follows a similar idea of giving you usual dumbed down rules, and then turning them on their head in a weird way that keeps the player conscious and on edge over their decisions on how they use them. Games like this that cleverly change up the pace from the usual deep game choices, or very simple and dumb ones, are quite interesting and are worth playing for their own weird little way of being difficult.

This isn't as simple and dumb as it looks

Games like Serious sam, Dragon's dogma, Duke nukem, Space marines, Dishonored, and a few others are quite interesting as a challenge, not because they're a dark souls or battle toads game that stresses you with constant deaths, but because they are deep and allow you to stay on top of your choices for the big victory. I don't think this style is exactly dying, but it is sad whenever I hear people cheer on a multiplayer shooter with low reflex health, or an action title that is filled with button mashing themed gameplay and these are becoming quite common to see. But we still have games with depth, and games that try to turn the usual easy bits on their heads in weird ways that get us thinking. We're also always going to have some form of the old school style of difficulty, rage quite inducing platformers and simplistic games that make you do it their way or die. They're simple to make, simple to pick up, and yet have a bizare unique drive that gives it an audience. So I can't say difficulty in any form is going to go dying, so no matter how you find your challenge... don't worry. But I do think the mass marketing and simplistic easy depth lacking games are becoming a little too common for some people to be comfortable.

My top map designs list

I love shooters. Mostly older kinds, but in all honesty there will always be that urge to just play any shooter and get some fun out of it. Part of the fun that almost can't be taken away no matter what a shooter wants to do with it's mechanics, is mapping. Maps are key to a shooter more so than just about any other genre. RPGs can be randomly generated for all people care, it's the monsters and loot and other such mechanics relating to them that make up those games. RTS and strategy rely on the exact mechanics and the players ability to use them right, maps can vary on importance but at the end of the day you don't enjoy the games for their maps, you enjoy them for how you can plan or outsmart the opponents. Puzzles rely on a strict set of rules to sell the whole experience. Meanwhile with shooters and platformers, the designs and levels make or break lots of things. Yet this isn't about platformers, so lets stick with the shooters. You need great levels, and man do they always deliver. Even in games that are absolute crap, it can be entertaining to look at the level. Sometimes you just get to really soak up the atmosphere and immersion, other times you enjoy the strategic implications of each map with the use of chokepoints, jumpads, pick-up placements, hiding spots, traps, locations good for your own traps, etc. Shooters are one of those genres you can really put yourself into, and thus the map makes a huge deal of the experience.

So in this list I wanted to bring together a lot of fantastic map ideas I've seen over time. I'll admit since there's a lot, there might be some ties within games that just love making awesome maps. I'll admit right off the bat I'm a sucker for well placed narrow spaces and chokepoint-like areas, it's just in my nature to love the corridor shooter style and no game can be complete without adding some narrow spaces into it's map design. Even monster size open maps like you'd find battlefield and Starhawk had to submit to some small spaces in some manner or another. Now without further intro, here is my humble and flawed but fun to make list of awesome maps.


#5) Blood Gulch (Halo series)

I don't play halo since I'm not an Xbox guy, but I still know this was a fantastic map. Well that and I was addicted to the demo which lets you play multiplayer on blood gulch. This was just brilliance through simplicity. You had two copy and pasted bases, a wide open canyon, a cave, vehicles, and the perfect weapon loadout and it all ripped into a fun blast of a multiplayer. It was also set up just right to naturally discourage camping, as who the hell would camp anywhere except right inside the base. Anywhere else useful to camp would just get you shot too fast. Overall it was just a really fun map, and honestly I should consider grabbing the halo PC demo again because that was a lot of fun to play and I'm sure there's still people gaming on it.

#4) 2Fort, and MountainLab (TeamFortress 2)

2Fort- Ok last "simple CTF" maps, I wont make that a theme. But it's usually where the fun really is, and TF2 masters their own form with 2fort. 2Fort has a great layout of putting CTF points or "intel" in small little underground pieces under big barn-like forts complete with 3 floors, a balcony, a sewer system, and the two bases are only seperated by a bridge. This map is a perfect exercise in all classes completed with great ways to build and counter each of them. Without a doubt this map is popular for a reason. Personally I love taking the sewers, getting underneath all the sniping, bombs, and avoiding those hiding pyros all in one swoop and I usually get away with it as most people still ignore the path even if it is kind of like that open secret area. As a spy it's the perfect planning and stealth route, engineers can build nests in the enemies base undisturbed, and anybody else decent for going in can just raise a surprise attack from within the base. Genius!
MountainLab- It's just a very entertaining Control point map. If it wasn't for how strong the defense can be on the 3rd point, I'd say it's just perfect. It's got alternate routes good for both sides, it's great with all classes, and it's just a very fun and replayable experience. Again there is a problem with the 3rd point being absolutely torture for the attackers, but it's still a great map with a nice look and even has a reskined Halloween haunted mansion version if you wanted something darker.

#3) Office (counter-strike)

Counter strike is a much under appreciated game these days. However one thing that does often show up when it's mentioned is the office map, and what a great map it is. I love the feeling of getting ready to go in for a big shoot out, whether it's in the garage, stairways, out the windows, or through the halls on my way to locating the hostages. I think it's the suspense that sells this map more than anything else, you just never know the enemies plans, you know your death will put you out for the round, and yet you know somebody has to go in to fight and take the hostages... and if you're on the terrorist side the suspense is still there. Where will the CT guys come in? What guns are they packing? Will one pop around the corner and blast you with a shotgun, or are you expecting to loyally gaurd the window and catch a few or get knifed from behind? It's just a very suspenseful map but in a fun way, and even when you're so sure of everything the gameplay within it is fun and well thought out. Also as a little bonus you could just throw the map on this list for how many destructive small bits can be shot up, and the goofy online gaming motivational posters hanging up on the walls.

#2) Nelson Bay and White pass (Bad company 2)

One of the main complaints I had with Battlefield 3 was the lack of snow maps... or the general lack of any good maps. Snow maps made bad company 2 triple in awesomeness for some reason, I don't know why they had a charm the normal maps didn't but I just found each of the snow maps to be so much fun. Most notable...

White pass- Best played on squad deathmatch, because that put you in the area that gave this map the most purpose: It's neighborhood. Row upon row of straight up houses looking into each other. Thow in good core mechanics, a closely knit group of players, and house leveling destruction, plus a power-up like tank, AND an additional hill and set of trees if house hoping gets boring and you just have an absolutely amazing combination. When I first played squad deathmatch here my respect for this game nearly doubled, I just love this map. But again it should be done on squad deathmatch, the other modes can make it a bit if-ish.

Nelson Bay- Best on rush mode, but generally just a great map anyways this map was great. You start off running through forests trying to break into houses, move up into more military territory surroundings with hills, bridges, and generally more open terrain yet more closed objective points, and ended the match shortly after. It was just a lot of fun attacking and defending, and the team with the best classes always won. You had to have a balanced use of it all or it simply didn't work. It was also one of the few maps that allowed me to enjoy the sniper a bit more.

#1) Beachhead, Blood Gracht, Bilgarsk boulevard, Junk Yard, and Radec Academy (Mother****kin' Killzone!)

What did you expect, Homefront? I adore Killzone as a shooter series, and there are many reasons behind favoring but one of them I don't talk much about is excellent maps. The only time I ever really find myself complaining about a map is by a basis of comparison, but for the most part the games have had amazing maps at every corner. So to keep some mild order in this blitzkrieg monster tie I've decided to name one from each game, pick a best DLC map, and then the community favorite which is obvious to any Killzone 2 fan as you've seen it take over the server list in 24 hour Deathmatch servers. Also since there's so many, I'm providing a picture for each.

Beachhead-

 KZ1 classic. You got two bases and a long stretching beach with guns, trenches, and a well mashed up amount of both friends and foes. A great map for older gameplay, porting it over to the much more organized and team focused Killzone 2 didn't work out quite as well but it was still a fantastic map.

Blood Gracht-

 Did I mention how I love corridor shooters? This is basically a level design from the Killzone 2 campaign's most in your face emphasis on corridor shooting sewn together and tossed into Multiplayer. Tight spaces, many routes, many places to choke people up, and the map manages to feel huge while being very compact and in reality pretty small. This also got a remake that was rather faithful and looked nice, though I prefer the darker bluer tones of the original in Killzone 2. Also yes I note it shares a similar name with another map on this list, not sure if that was some intentional reference but the two maps are really nothing alike and are practically polar opposites.

Bilgarsk Boulevard-

 I think this was Blood Gracht's cousin that showed up in 3. It's kind of like a combination of that, and white pass because of the big focus the game will have in some buildings when the right objectives ring. It's got tight alley way corners that catch fire fast, balconies armed with machine guns, buildings great for stationing plans in or defending objectives, and lots of wreckage in the main road that makes the general field a blast to fight in. I love holding up behind rubble as a cloaked sniper, or dashing into the crate pit saving someone as a medic and then holding up there wiping out or getting pinned by enemy forced. Amazing map. Oh yeah and it's the only one with the grain filter that was in past killzone titles, I love that effect for some reason and so it's a bit of nostalgic joy.

Radec Academy-

Also pictured as the head of the killzone choice

 Community pick here, and it is a brilliant map in all honesty. It's a small square-like map that focuses on a connected building that surrounds a courtyard. A big balcony sits up on all main sides of the building with door ways filled with rooms weaving in and out all over the place, it truly is a small school turned into a battlefield. Killzone 3 does a lot of changes, but manages to keep the basic shape and love of the map that everyone overused in Killzone 2. Only issue is that it was spawn campable, and in Killzone 2 spawn grenades caused a mess on mission objectives.

Junkyard-

 Damn does Killzone have some great DLC maps. Bullet train giving you running trains to wage war on and jump across, a desert map unleashing hell with a flame thrower pick-up, a smashed ISA ship, a locked up steampunk style factory map with a minigun, a nice frosty revisit to tharsis depot with jetpacks, and who can forget lente's missile base which is an absolute amazing map. But best of all would have to be junkyard. It's the sole reason I kept returning to Guerrilla warfare. Jetpacks meets mechs, and the infantry are treated to an amazing network of tunnels and surfaces. Even though I'm sure at the end of the day the map was one big circle, you had so many paths, shortcuts, halls, open spaces, and all vehicles, and the suspense of everyone else having that choice as well was just brilliant. Plus I just loved the art design so much. The rainy atmosphere, the crushed up junk metal in flooded watery creeks and mountains of scraps, and some of the areas look like someone was outright living there making for an interesting scene to look at. Overall I just adored this map, and it's a damn shame they couldn't make it available to bots over the silly idea that "they can't fly, so it's not fair. -_-


Well that about wraps up my list. Does that make these the best maps? No. Are they really my favorite? Can't actually say that for sure either. Despite what the title and intro seem to say, I can't say with certainty what the best I've played is or my favorites. I tried mostly sticking to more current games here, who knows what i might be leaving out. I know I adored coruscant from Star wars battlefront 2, and bespin in the 1st, and then there's quite a few good ones from timesplitters, and then there are games I haven't even played. Honestly at the end of the day this list was about awesome maps I know I loved more recently, and ones I can go back and jump into on my usual hardware. So I picked some awesome maps off of my head, and justified why there's pretty awesome. I think this makes for a fun list at the end of the day.

My opinion on DRM and used games

Well it's been a hot topic that just wont die down. Ever since the invention of DRM in PC gaming, people have had some reason to realize they can't just pick up any copy of a game and play it. It's one of those things to fear in a gaming world, and there's a pretty good reason for fearing it if you ask me.

I've looked into this chat before, and it can get quite interesting. I feel awful and sympathetic for so many people, because I have yet to see a solution that doesn't involve someone getting hurt or suffering (unless of course magic happens where retailers and devs work out a deal). If you live DRM free and allow your copies to exist everywhere, developers and publishers don't get their potential funding. If you protect them by killing the sales of used games, the customers are hurting and retailers that used a trading system are now hurting their own potential. If you make a game rely on extra purchases (inner game markets, pre-order overdose, or big DLC plans), your hurting the core design that could have been shipped in a more full and fun experience rather than having people shell out cash over and over again after they bought it to begin with.

Next problem I have with the situation is that it's such an odd gray area full of so many emotional opinions, questions, and arguments that people from all sides look like idiots. I'm not sure if I'll be any different, but one of the things I'd like to do in this article is reflect on why some arguments of both sides are flawed or hold less water than they'd like to admit. Lets start there, I'll start with the favored internet standpoint and point out some of the stranger anti-DRM arguments made and shine some light on the holes in their logic. Trust me, I'll be revealing the pro-DRM swiss cheese amount of holes soon enough as well.

Common Pro-Used Game Arguments

What's next, used cars are banned? What makes games so different?
Ugh, I hate this argument. I really do, and it's sadly one of the most popular ones. What makes games different? How about everything! This argument has got a point to it, but it's lost in how specific it is. Look, it isn't about cars. It never was. Used cars are a different thing altogether. Parts need changing or more worn, seats can be torn up, it's not going to be spotless, and there might be a funny smell or some weird choices tied to that car. Used games aren't nearly this... well used. And that's what countless anti-used guys will bring up, and it's becoming somewhat of a pinata smashing fest for them because of how easy this argument is to poke around with. The point that got lost is the concept of basic trade, and while it's awesome that this type of trade is done with cars it doesn't have to be the golden example because it simply isn't. Nothing is that I can think of. Any physical object or anything that really exists can have tradable value, so it's not as simple as saying "if cars can do it, then anything can". No. Just no. Go to something else while we're talking about digital entertainment on a disc, how about DVDs, Music CDs, or heck even a used vacuum cleaner would be a better comparison than a freakin' used car.

I can't afford to buy everything new, I'm too broke.
Right, so you want to protect your typical 5-10% discount discount on used games because your too poor to go to that "extreme" of paying $4 more for a new copy? Oh you poor thing (note the sarcasm). Used games can lead to cheaper prices, but not quite in this sense. The DRM crew is worried mostly about people like gamestop and those play 1 week, sell the next week type gamers. Used games will drive costs down, and I'll get to more on that in a minute, but it's not going to save starving children and broke families. Heck, even if that was the case, this is a video game we're talking about. If you're "too poor"to help your own industry, then go look for a new hobby because it's just not in your range. If you really want bargains or need them because your poor you can simply wait out the game. That, and now we're seeing a huge indie scene that welcomes great games for lower prices at the start. When you can get such outstanding triple A embarrassing games like Torchlight 2 for $20, $5 on sales, etc why are you trying to worry about protecting your $4 gamestop discount. It's ridiculous.

Ok so if I can't re-sell them, that kills the disc after I'm done with the game!
I thankfully haven't seen this statement much, but when I do it makes me cringe. Look buddy, if you bought the game willingly thinking it had limited value but then turn around to complain it had limited value, your kind of stuck in a strange loop you made. You're not guaranteed to re-sell that disc even without DRM, maybe nobody wants to buy it off you. Another thing is your re-sells are usually in the form of gamestop... and if this rings up as true then I'm sorry but that's just a stupid plan you had to begin with, and the disability to re-sell is doing you a favor. They'll often take multiple used games off your hand for some pocket change. But that's getting sidetracked into my biased hatred of those sell within a week gamers. Getting back to the subject, you simply can't use this as an argument for used games. It's not exactly holding any water or making people feel like they're entitled to let you sell your game. What you're doing is basically complaining you can't re-sell your coffee after you just drank it. If you bought something you'd know was expendable to you, dispose of it in your use, you aren't entitled to get that money back. Whether it's a cup of coffee, fired bullets (which can be expensive depending on the type), an empty box of pills, or now a digital device played from start to finish there was never any guarantee that you'd be happy with your device forever with some money back guaranteed at the end. I think you should be able to do what you want with your game now, even if it is stupidly trading it off for a couple of cents, but this complaint as it is wont hold water on the subject. Your better off talking about how it's better to have that free will and control over a product you own... which is basically putting this argument up with the car one, it's got a point buried within it but the point is made so sharply specific to something so silly it makes the argument dead on arrival.



Common Anti-Used Game Arguments

DRM is great because you support your developers!
Ok that's nice. I'd love to support developers for putting their hard work into making fantastic games. However you know what isn't fantastic within games? DRM. Yeah I'd like to support Diablo 3, but hey they want me to tie everything to my internet and their servers because I don't own their game, I'm just renting their servers. Fuck that, I'm not supporting their games until I see a turn of events... which means I'm waiting for PS3 Diablo 3 and will just have to stick with StarCraft 1. Hey, look Battlefield looks fun but you know who buys that? My dad who bought it in mind to share between the two of us, and do you know who can't play it because of their stupid online pass? Anybody except my father who had to tie the stupid code to his account. I'm out of that, and discouraged my father from supporting them again. Well... maybe I'll rent their future title and see if things work out better so that me and him might go for it again, OH WAIT no nevermind that DRM screws with your ability to rent something. Guess I'll continue putting the game on my blacklisted section because I can't do anything to figure if it's worth taking off that list. Oh hey, new game is coming out... darn it's by another one of those guys with an online pass, I'm sick of entering those codes. Yup, supporting your devs when they're punishing you for it. Awesome argument there DRM fans (Sarcasm strikes again!). Stop and think for a second, how is DRM putting more money into the pockets of developers? What, I give them $10 of an online pass to make up for the $60 I avoided giving them? I have to steal an activation code? Wake up for a second and think that outside of awareness, DRM is giving nothing of true value back to the developer. It is only hurting the gamer. When the developers or publishers are hurting the gamers, they have failed their job to deliver fun. They have failed and do not deserve my support.

Ok throwing that bit aside, lets just say the argument was just about getting people to support your devs. That's nice, but this was supposed to be gaming. It's about having fun, not money. Even as a developer, you should be putting fun first and letting the money evaluate how well you did in that, not seeing how many ways you can get money off of people by teasing fun. Used sales are into more than gaming. It's not cheap to make cars, guns, a full album of music, and movies but those can be traded off without a dime going to the maker and yet these industries are well and alive. Gaming isn't a charity, it's not about giving off money to people you like, it's about getting entertainment you value. It's a hobby and fun based industry, it will last that way with or without re-sells and it's a lot more fun without obstacles so lets hope you get the ability to have full ownership, ok. Gaming has survived for plenty of years without DRM and it's done fine, it's just that control and need for "moar money" has gotten developers and publishers thinking that anything that can be done to get more money and see every penny should be done. This is evident not only by DRM, but by the cutting corners, by the lousy priorities, by the rushed releases and milked franchises, by the political nature that gaming is becoming. It's no longer just about that child-like sense of fun that thrived before DRM, it's got to be about "the industry" and making sure people get cash. That's not exactly something I can agree with. I will happily support a worthy developer, and I agree that it's the right thing to do, but don't shove that in my face or punish me when I prioritize fun in a fun industry over it. The only duty I have as a gamer is to be a passionate player, I don't need EA, Ubisoft, Activision, Crytek, Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, Quantum Dream, Epic, Blizzard, Capcom, Square enix, Bethesda, etc telling me how I should be giving them more money. That's not what gaming is about, and that's not what it should come down to.... ever! Especially from publishers, they're far more responsible for the problems we have now than anything else factoring into this.

Screw gamestop, those rich bastards can rot while DRM takes over.
Yeah, contradicting a bit much? Something that baffles me a bit more than most things is this idea that Gamestop and other "rich" guys can go take a hike because our poor rich devs need more money. Look, last I checked Gamestop aren't exactly the bad guys here either. They are successfully selling used games because of the consumer. They are successfully rich because they offer a service people like. They are the big game seller that you go to if you like your games to be a physical thing of joy instead of slapping random and high amounts of data and memory onto your limited console and PC machines. Yet apparently they're evil because they're rich. I'm sorry, but these "99%" rejects can go take a hike while the big boys resume a real debate. These guys aren't doing any more harm than a casual yard sale. They're just a lot more rich and successful because it's a whole business doing it, that's not exactly evil at all.

A Digital only future without re-sales will be a victory for everyone!

Nice wishful thinking there. Ok I may have to explain this one a bit... You see there is a theory out there, growing thanks to the help of some PC fans that feel spectacular over being able to tolerate this DRM crap longer than everyone else. The theory is everything will be better when everything transitions into a steam-like situation. Steam has no way of getting used copies, so steam sales happen because developers can afford it to happen, steam has amazing daily deals, steam doesn't feel like DRM so you can happily play your games, etc. You should be able to follow the main message now, basically digital only is supposed to be a liberating feature where devs get every penny sold and gamers get cheaper games. In theory, it's not such a bad idea and being very hypothetical it's hard to argue with. But in my attempt to do so, I'd like to point out some W40K games that are still $30 despite being $20 and under elsewhere. I'd like to point at how I got quake wars and the special edition rage (new) for $5 and could for over a year while steam wont touch quake and only had rage match that price for 8 hours on a special event sale before reverting back to $20.  I'd like to point out how steam is one of the few areas doing these price drops when they do happen, though it's competing with a few other PC sites. Meanwhile PSN and XBLA refuses to do such and wont ever match their retail prices. "Oh, but that's because people can buy them used" you say, well if the devs were worried about that they would beat them with the digital price to begin with and see more money in direct sales instead of letting the used and normal retail sales directly beat them while new sales on the digital store stay at day 1 prices for the first half of the year. Then I'll also bring up that I got Prey 1, Quake 4, and some mythology RTS game for $5 and under as well at small little mom n pop shops. Steam would love to charge me quadrupedal... or at least for one game, they don't even bother to have the others. Used games end up offering more benefits... actually heck it's not even about used games, it's about physical copies. If you let loose 5000 copies of Sims 3 I can gaurantee you they wont stay a solid price forever. Meanwhile if you check up on Journey or Demon souls in PSN, Dawn of war 2 retribution on steam, and the virtual games on nintendo's market they are the same price as they entered that store. Digital games don't have to go down, physical copies do unless they're in a suffocated market. That's just a fact, and we can see this in practice now even while steam and PSN have competitors. Likewise you actually get ownership over physical copies , or at least if DRM hasn't leashed you to the internet with a big middle finger to the consumer. That's something your digital paradise world wouldn't ever see thanks to possible lawsuits if something were to happen to these services. And you know what, while I'm at it I would like to point your attention to this: http://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/1/828937979095845728/ Oh yeah online DRM. It may not be always on, and it may not be a problem for everyone even when they lose a connection briefly but it's one of many issues that do exist with offline mode and as a whole you can't expect gamers to universally accept steams conditions.

There's a big reason why steam is a great little world, but not exactly the monopoly: it simply shouldn't be. It has it's flaws, it has it's limits, and it doesn't have what console gamers have been loving for years. They love renting, trading, borrowing, loading a game up and playing it FROM A DISC, and just enjoying the feeling of a dedicated gaming machine that was marketed, crafted, and made with support from a company that had gaming on it's mind when it made that machine. *cough* *cough* not microsoft *cough* *cough*. It's why there is PC and there is consoles, even if PC is the "superior" choice it's not a final solution and a monopoly and it should never try to be so. Let console gamers keep their abilities and PC keep their side. Keep things open for choice and fun because when it comes down to it this is about gaming!


In Conclusion:
Wait, is this my first time actually using the font size tool like I should? Anyways I kind of summed up things throughout these points, especially the last one. I don't think consoles would really be around with a crap ton of DRM, and likewise I think a lot of those gamers would disappear as well. However we're also seeing a backlash that's needed in the PC community as well, and quite frankly at the end of the day nobody likes DRM... unless the publishers are seriously delusional enough to think people are enjoying their online only restrictions, clients, stupid activation codes, and other such nonsense. Meanwhile used games can be more of a gray area when it's well known that they strip developers of their owed money. But then again at the end of the day, it's not just about them and really this shouldn't be a problem if we desire continue to enjoy the free market. Markets should work like this where we have the ability to sell things we own... and without a doubt why shouldn't we be capable of buying and owning our games? It would be a shame if the entire world just woke up to find flee markets gone, no yard sales, no auctions, people looking to black markets over key codes to everything, and the fact that every single thing you own is tied to you and dies with you. That's not the type of world I want to live in, and I don't see why game publishers and developers are trying to push that sort of thing on us and demand we feel bad because we don't live in that kind of world. Used games tie into our rights on owning the games as well, so as far as I'm concerned if you're going to say no to DRM it's not hard to find your side on used games as well.

 I grew up in at a time when these policies and politics in gaming simply weren't around, and I really wish that sort of thing would come back. Buying spyro without being forced to tie it to a console, account, or person was great and there wasn't anybody crying over it. Yeah it was pirated, and yes I'm sure someone bought it cheap off ebay. But guess what, insomniac is still around and despite doing some sucky stuff they still survive even in this costly age without shoving DRM on us. They even broke made an exception of EA, who later decided to scrap online passes because it didn't work. Because they don't use DRM, the fun that was had with spyro can still be had today on the original console because people can still buy it on Ebay, can still find it in rare stores that sell PS1 games, and still have a damn good time as long as they have something to run it... it'll stay that way to the end of time and at the end of the day fun prevails. I dare you to say the same dark spore, your falling apart with less age due to your stupid server reliability. The latest sims was falling apart since day 1 and still has been for people last I heard. That's not what gaming is about guys, try again. Steam can stick around, but let that be an option. Let retail copies free to fully own and use as the buyer pleases also roam on the same timeline. In the end that's the best way to reach the goal of fun and to let gamers enjoy their hobby the way they want. I personally want as little as possible getting in my way of entertaining myself on a game. Maybe every once in a while the only way I can do that is by buying off of Ebay, but if it's a serious hobby of mine (and it is) you bet I'll still support developers but it's a world without them crying for it that I came to love and support... not them begging for attention and asking me to donate to them like some charity and making my life miserable even if I was going to support them with DRM. That's not gaming.... gaming is fun, DRM is not fun. End of discussion.

What I'll remember....

Another generation of gaming is slipping away, and what a rough one it was. Despite problems and gaming getting its own share of politics, we still had some great games. Each time a generation passes, people carry experiences, adventures, and their favorite innovations with them boxed up in nostalgic memories. We also tend to remember some awful things, like ET of atari days, blowing cartridges, etc, however for once this is a subject generally nostalgic for the better. The weird thing to is that everyone kind of has it in their own sense, sure half-life 2, metal gear solid, and mario bros are universally held to high regards in their times, but most of the true favorites and nostalgic bias comes in our very own opinions likely shared with a small fan cult. I know that most people will look back and think highly of bioshock, meanwhile that's kind of sinking into the background for me already despite how amazing it was. I've moved back into games that wont die with me... like dragon's dogma, and Space marines which wont likely be mentioned much as on par with bioshock. Well here is what I will remember when looking back on this generation in no real order:




The 3 major  sony shooters:

Honestly I go on a rant quite often about what's wrong in the shooter industry. Such a decline has caused me to be extremely fond of the few shooters that break the horrible mainstream grounds, and honestly every time I go looking for example 3 of the same shooters keep popping up representing different types of shooters done right. I then feel like a fanboy desperately looking for something else because it's a huge coincidence that they were all under the same publisher and exclusive to the same system. However, Honestly even without the bad industry, these shooters made memories in my head and I'll bet I will still be remembering them well into the future. Those shooters are starhawk, Resistance 3, and Killzone 2. Killzone 2 was an amazing milestone in the series, despite leaving behind some things. It brought forth an amazing multiplayer feeling to me, a great campaign that I kept on replaying into 30 hours of clocked time, jaw dropping graphics (I remember staring at a bullet hole decal so long thinking "Holy crap, it's a 3D dent!") backed with equally great physics and gritty war tones, and honestly the story was good enough. ...and that ending... Visari and his intros always appeal to me in some hypnotic way, and the ending on Killzone 2 did as well. Starhawk was a purely multiplayer example of an amazing shooter, mashing in the perfect amount of chaos, order, and balanced mechanics without the help of mainstream gimmicks. Not to mention the art style was pretty cool to. Resistance 3 is the style of shooter I grew up with, brought back to show me a real next gen FPS that is up to par with the amazing shooters that kept me into the genre. I loved fighting against the menacing aliens, with crazy weapons and health bars, and unlockable cheat codes, and the good story is an extra plus. Each of these shooters sticks to my mind pretty well, and I can't get myself to stop replaying them from time to time.


My RPG escapism:

I've never been glued to one genre. I play general shooters mostly, but if you think of that as a restriction you're kidding yourself. However I've never been too big on RPGs. My first memorable experience was some FinalFantasy demo on a PS2 disc, which I just found to be nothing more than run around and bump into turn based battle monsters. It felt too linear, and too boring despite the crazy and interesting monsters. I played it all the way through, but never touched it again. I tried enjoying some other games, but the turn based JRPG wasn't my thing, and when I discovered other Western RPGs they basically consisted of nice ideas with too much "combat" that wasn't any real combat. It was all about mashing a button until someone's health count hit zero, something arcade fighters do much better. My young dragon obsessed self really wanted to enjoy some of these amazing fantasy worlds, but dark messiah was the closest thing to ever make the combat any fun in an RPG, so I kind of avoided these games for some time. Then in this generation I realized the current market just wasn't cutting it. Shooters were on the decline, platformers didn't seem to exist unless they had nintendo's name on it, worms sucked, and I sucked at RTS too much to keep that up by itself for long. So what now? Well I kept up my wishful thinking, that's what. I saw Dragon's age, and was trapped in inspiration by some videos and lore. Meanwhile when I bought it the entire game was overran by shorter humans, combat that seemed like it was trying to be an overgeneralized satire of RPGs, and a quest that was getting nowhere. With some nitpicks in mind, I still managed to stomach it enough to get some value out of character development, some of the plot padding was good, and I was obviously being pretty tolerable about it. But I wouldn't make the same mistake again, right? Yeah I would. Two worlds 2 caught my eye, and I just knew it had to make combat improvements... well not quite. I got it, and loved the game, but the combat was still 1 button mashing just with a better interface. I marched through the glitch infestation and adored the adventure, the leveling and skill trees, loved the world and crazy enemies, loved all the plot distractions, loved the customization, damn this was great even if the combat still sucked. Then skyrim sent me deeper into the desire to adventure, and with combat that was tolerable if you had a one handed combo going with weapon changes in between shouts, and item tricks. Nice. Then kingdoms of amalar came along and despite not being so great for the reasons skyrim and TW2 were, its combat was the best giving me a serious feeling of wielding great weaponry. I enjoyed the art style as well. I even ended up buying and enjoying Guild wars 2, an MMO that allowed me to pace myself and enjoy the questing, lore, and a tolerable combat system. Not to mention Torchlight 2, what a wonderful throwback to being the absolute definition of "fun". I even came around and ended up playing some golden sun on the DS, and managed to enjoy that as well. Overall RPGs became a way to escape from that lacking feeling in other games. I ended up loving two worlds 2, I return to skyrim and torchlight 2 at least once a month, and I can't help but get that urge to go back into guild wars 2 if it weren't for the massive updated I've missed out on. Yet... there is something I'm not mentioning here. What could it be.....


Dragon's Dogma:

This is the game that inspired this list. I kept telling myself how this game was a dream come true. For as long as I could understand how to hold a gaming controller, I've always  wanted a big imaginative fantasy world you could interact in, and actually be a hero in control. Done to a generic point huh? Well yes, if you consider mashing a single button until someone's health runs out, or being a pro hot-key user as heroic. That's been my experience with most RPGs, and I've been waiting for one to put me in control of actual sword swings. Let me be capable of slashing vertical, horizontal, a jump, a thrust, special shield commands,etc. Not just mashing a button and letting numbers do my fighting. Dragon's dogma understands me, and it was even a "dream" of the director to make as it was mine to play. An open world that puts you in charge of real combat, while still keeping RPG tones. It goes out of the way to do more things than I'd expect of it. A nice party system, a big dragon plot, climbing on monsters, perfect learning curve, monster > dwarves and other less imaginative types taking up the lore's time. The adventure really pays off in the end with one of the most epic and cinematic fights I've seen in a game. Ultimately it executes 90% of everything it hopes pretty well, and more than passed my expectation and ideal game. I will not be forgetting this one anytime soon.

Hoard (and another handful of indie games):

I'm not a very big indie gamer. I respect what they try to do, but they often result in super linear or NES retro style games. Some of the few that get my attention go in the opposite direction, and even end up being either too expensive, too flashy, or too dependent on multiplayer. What is Limbo good for outside of that one play? Why would I play that airships game online when everyone has left and there isn't anything ready for solo play? How does Super meatboy appeal to someone like me? Many of these indie games, especially the usual popular ones just aren't for me. However some will hit a sweet spot though, and they make a huge impact on me. I can't think of any exception right now. If it was a major indie game I enjoyed, I LOVED it and nothing short of that. Hoard being a big example. You simply fly a dragon and have it control a bit like a twin stick shooter. But it gets to be so much more with smaller details. Towns build up, wagons carry gold back and forth, princesses ride around with knights ready to come to their rescue based on their outpost's strength, giants will go on rampages, crops produce goods, and you as a dragon get to choose what you'll dominate for some earnings and to rank up. You can make the people fear you for a tribute, ransom princesses, destroy taverns and rid of theives or just put the whole damn town in flames. You're usually competing with another or 3 other dragon's to. The game gets very addictive while remaining simple and arcadey, what's not to love? Then there is the amazing experience of Journey, The incredible 2D sandbox worlds of war in cortex command, or exploration of Terraria, and finally how could I ever forget Torchlight 2 and Serious Sam 3? While it may sadly depend on the online, I also have to bring up Chivalry... simply an amazing game that also hits home with swordplay like dark messiah and Dragon's Dogma. All of these games have earned some memory. Castle Storm stands a good chance of being the next one.

Warhammer 40K: Space Marines

Ah, yes this is tied with two great things. The game itself, and the opening to the universe of W40K that I now adore. The game was a fun demo at first, and as I was playing it I was slowly reminded that it had a ton of smaller old details older games I loved had. Cheesy british enemies, check (Killzone). Dusty war torn world with making for a dull war focused setting, check (turok). Massive ammounts of violence and gothic themes, check (turok, again?). Fast and violent corridor shooter gameplay, check (many games, including the two just mentioned). Might be worth investigating sometime. So some time afterwards I asked for space marines around Christmas, and had trouble putting it down. It later featured more enemy types, demons, a surprisingly interesting plot, and more of the fun the demo had offered. Oh and the campaign was quite lengthy and the multiplayer has my favorite co-op survival to this day. I keep picking this game up from time to time, and after becoming a big fan/nerd of the universe it takes place in I kind of need to keep coming back if I want to combine my favorite sci-fi universe to one of my favorite genres (shooters) As it's the only one right now... I'm really hoping for a sequel.