It’s been a strange year, one that for a large part has left me
either wanting something more or screaming for something outright
better. It’s ebbed and flowed, and I don’t think has managed to quite
match the force of 2011 (argument already had and stood by here).
2011 had Skyrim, Portal 2, The Witcher 2, Battlefield 3 (before it
turned), and Arkham City – all games which I’m absolutely sure I
absolutely adored.
2012, though, has been the year of the runner up, the year of “it’s good but…”, and that’s a shame – especially considering the names that have been thrown around. Hitman! XCOM! Far Cry! Mass Effect! This could have been one of the best years ever, but the games have glanced off their target – Hitman especially, which has not only missed the target but shot itself in the face.
To say that it’s been a bad year would be incorrect however, it’s far from it. It’s just one lacking in a certain shine. Like, Far Cry 3s disregard for atmosphere and player respect; XCOMs broken multiplayer, often clunky controls, teleporting aliens and lack of proper line-of-sight; Mass Effect 3’s continuation into bad action and too many characters, my list of moans can go on – but at the core, there are good games here.
I get accused of being grumpy over this (XCOM especially). Accused of moaning about the problems with games because, after all, the games are good. That bugs me. I think people can fall into a trap of thinking negative criticism is a reflection of a total opinion, and it more often isn’t. It’s more a product of holding videogames up to benchmarks that are already set and proven achievable – and doing this every time it’s appropriate is the only way I can possibly try to make videogames (subjectively) better. Problems are too often brushed aside in order to justify a passion for a game – but I think the passion should be able to shine through those problems.
Anyway, here’s the stuff that’s topped the list for me. The top two have been easy choices, as has filling a list of “very good games” this year, but picking the third stand-out was really tough, and I think for the wrong reasons.
Towards the end of Max Payne 3, Max is a complete wreck. The
character has degraded, imploded into a mess of bandages, tatters of
clothes and a bad hair cut. He’s gone cold-turkey on booze, the only
thing that’s kept him distanced enough from reality to stay sane and
he’s trying, just trying, to fix anything that’s left.
Up until this point, Max has been slowly falling off a cliff. From a comfortable job and a nice suit, from being surrounded by steel and glass and limousines, from knowing what his job is and what he’s trying to do, everything breaks. Max starts to tumble through drink and gunfights and murder. Up until this point.
It’s in an airport. A clean airport, Max is again surrounded by steel and glass. You are at one end of a very long, wide corridor – the check in desks. There is a clarity, finally, after hours of hanging on and surviving, of what to do. Get to the other end. Stop the bad guy. A beat kicks in the background you start walking, people start shooting. You shoot back.
~~ play this now ~~
You’re walking – trust us now – through the wide, white lines of – it’s time to let me go – the airport, no longer on the backfoot, no longer an alcoholic, broken mercenary – give up on us – but a destroyed hero trying to – follow what you want – redeem every single one of his many failings – trust us now – and, possibly, forgive – it’s time to let me go – himself. Only now does Max have such a clear – give up – objective and path to take. Just get the end – give your soul away – get to the bad guy.
It was empowering, arresting. Music syncing with the beat of the game perfectly and creating this one section that’s made more of an impression than any high-octane set piece than you could probably care to mention. And it’s indicative of the whole game. Rockstar haven’t been afraid to tell a story – a good story – and their method of implementing it might be controversial but as we said in our podcast, it works.
And for that and everything else we talked about in the podcast, Max Payne gets my utmost approval. It’s tried to do something. It’s built and pushed on what’s been done before rather than degraded it, and that deserves recognition.
There are two realities with Dark Souls. The first is that it’s an
often impenetrable, opaquely designed, super hard RPG that I quit after 8
hours. The second is that it’s an often impenetrable, opaquely designed
super hard RPG that I was made to go back to with some assistance, and
it’s become one of the best, most interesting games I’ve ever played.
That assistance is a necessity though, and I think can cause problems as it’s not immediately obvious. Dark Souls systems run deep and the game barely makes an effort to explain them – instead allowing community to do the work. It seems that most people employ a tutor – I have Craig Lam – and peoples desire to teach takes over. It’s a game where watching and advising can be as good as playing for many.
Which leads me to an inconvenient, 4th wall breaking truth. Dark Souls is my “Official GOTY”, but this is why we call it Games Of 20XX rather than GOTY. Craig Lam is much more qualified to talk about the game than I am, so I’ll let him do the big post for it later in the week. Dark Souls, then. It’s ridiculous in many ways, but it’s so unique, fascinating, and has such a respect for the player that it’s nothing short of incredible.
I like Dishonored a lot, but I’ve also really enjoyed the games
listed below in my “also” list. Dishonored is a stealth game, though –
one that’s dared to do things differently too. It has faults, I’ve
documented them in my review,
and I’ve been through a phase of being really down on some of the
systems Dishonored employs, but on a reflection post distance and some
discussion, it’s a very good game.
It’s difficult to ignore the faults when I think about the game: the trinket collection, the morality system, the often poor AI, the predictable story – but when I push them aside there’s a very good stealth game here with genuinely interesting mechanics. And it’s brave, very brave. It makes the player incredibly powerful but has systems just complex enough to make deploying the power a challenge.
I’m going to go back to Dishonored and do the proper stealth playthrough – no murdering, etc – and allowing for that is the sort of flexibility I’m coming to demand from the games I play. So, considering Dunwall, Corvo, the stealth and the flexibility of the game, there’s something solidly good here that I would recommend above all others below.
2012, though, has been the year of the runner up, the year of “it’s good but…”, and that’s a shame – especially considering the names that have been thrown around. Hitman! XCOM! Far Cry! Mass Effect! This could have been one of the best years ever, but the games have glanced off their target – Hitman especially, which has not only missed the target but shot itself in the face.
To say that it’s been a bad year would be incorrect however, it’s far from it. It’s just one lacking in a certain shine. Like, Far Cry 3s disregard for atmosphere and player respect; XCOMs broken multiplayer, often clunky controls, teleporting aliens and lack of proper line-of-sight; Mass Effect 3’s continuation into bad action and too many characters, my list of moans can go on – but at the core, there are good games here.
I get accused of being grumpy over this (XCOM especially). Accused of moaning about the problems with games because, after all, the games are good. That bugs me. I think people can fall into a trap of thinking negative criticism is a reflection of a total opinion, and it more often isn’t. It’s more a product of holding videogames up to benchmarks that are already set and proven achievable – and doing this every time it’s appropriate is the only way I can possibly try to make videogames (subjectively) better. Problems are too often brushed aside in order to justify a passion for a game – but I think the passion should be able to shine through those problems.
Anyway, here’s the stuff that’s topped the list for me. The top two have been easy choices, as has filling a list of “very good games” this year, but picking the third stand-out was really tough, and I think for the wrong reasons.
Max Payne 3
Up until this point, Max has been slowly falling off a cliff. From a comfortable job and a nice suit, from being surrounded by steel and glass and limousines, from knowing what his job is and what he’s trying to do, everything breaks. Max starts to tumble through drink and gunfights and murder. Up until this point.
It’s in an airport. A clean airport, Max is again surrounded by steel and glass. You are at one end of a very long, wide corridor – the check in desks. There is a clarity, finally, after hours of hanging on and surviving, of what to do. Get to the other end. Stop the bad guy. A beat kicks in the background you start walking, people start shooting. You shoot back.
~~ play this now ~~
It was empowering, arresting. Music syncing with the beat of the game perfectly and creating this one section that’s made more of an impression than any high-octane set piece than you could probably care to mention. And it’s indicative of the whole game. Rockstar haven’t been afraid to tell a story – a good story – and their method of implementing it might be controversial but as we said in our podcast, it works.
And for that and everything else we talked about in the podcast, Max Payne gets my utmost approval. It’s tried to do something. It’s built and pushed on what’s been done before rather than degraded it, and that deserves recognition.
Dark Souls
That assistance is a necessity though, and I think can cause problems as it’s not immediately obvious. Dark Souls systems run deep and the game barely makes an effort to explain them – instead allowing community to do the work. It seems that most people employ a tutor – I have Craig Lam – and peoples desire to teach takes over. It’s a game where watching and advising can be as good as playing for many.
Which leads me to an inconvenient, 4th wall breaking truth. Dark Souls is my “Official GOTY”, but this is why we call it Games Of 20XX rather than GOTY. Craig Lam is much more qualified to talk about the game than I am, so I’ll let him do the big post for it later in the week. Dark Souls, then. It’s ridiculous in many ways, but it’s so unique, fascinating, and has such a respect for the player that it’s nothing short of incredible.
Dishonored
It’s difficult to ignore the faults when I think about the game: the trinket collection, the morality system, the often poor AI, the predictable story – but when I push them aside there’s a very good stealth game here with genuinely interesting mechanics. And it’s brave, very brave. It makes the player incredibly powerful but has systems just complex enough to make deploying the power a challenge.
I’m going to go back to Dishonored and do the proper stealth playthrough – no murdering, etc – and allowing for that is the sort of flexibility I’m coming to demand from the games I play. So, considering Dunwall, Corvo, the stealth and the flexibility of the game, there’s something solidly good here that I would recommend above all others below.
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