The Stupid Gamer

January gave us a chance to play through all the goodies we picked up during the holiday rush or to catch up on backlog titles that have been waiting a long time to get some play in our rotation. Here are the games I completed in January, most of which were for the first time, others just for nostalgic reasons.

Bayonetta (Xbox 360) – This was a game I reviewed for Kombo and one I was beyond excited to get my hands on after getting a few short minutes with it back at E3 last year. The game turned out to be what I was hoping to be and I had an absolute blast with it from start to finish. With fluid controls, an excellent combat/combo system, and a wacky presentation, Bayonetta will more than likely be in my top games of 2010.

Assassin’s Creed (Xbox 360) – Yeah, it took me until early 2010 to finally finish Assassin’s Creed. Like many I became a bit fatigued by the repetitive nature of the missions, so when other releases started coming out that interested me I set the game aside. With the release of Assassin’s Creed 2, I needed to go back and wrap this one up for storyline continuity sake. In the end I enjoyed the game, but I’ll always be quick to point out that it has its fair share of issues.

Duck Tales (NES) – One of my favorite games ever made (look for an upcoming Best Game Ever feature on this), I will come back to this one for a few speed runs or high score challenges. Never do I put this game into my NES and feel like I’m only enjoying it for the nostalgia effect. This game is a timeless winner from Capcom and Disney.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (PS3) – Simply a fantastic game that deserved the many awards it picked up in all the game of the year voting for 2009. The action, story, presentation, and overall experience all combine to make Uncharted 2 a must play for all PS3 owners. The behind the scenes content on the disc is pretty fun to watch as well (you can also find the videos on YouTube).

Castlevania (NES) – Another game I commonly go back to for a quick play, Castlevania is a challenging title that tests my ability to stay sharp when it comes to retro gaming. Much like Ninja Gaiden on the  NES, these old action games really keep the enemies coming nonstop and have very basic but solid level designs. This is definitely not the last time I’ll be playing through Castlevania.

King’s Quest VI (PC) – Ah, the Sierra On-Line classic. I was a big fan of the King’s Quest, Space Quest, Quest for Glory, and Police Quest games and I tend to play through one or two of them every couple of months. They’re great to have on your laptop to play on the go or to casually experience while watching TV. King’s Quest VI was probably my favorite in the KQ series, though they’re all pretty fantastic if you don’t recognize King’s Quest VIII (it NEVER happened).

So here’s what I’m working on in February so far, and I’m hoping to get to Dragon Age: Origins, BioShock 2, and Mass Effect (yeah, the first one) by the end of the month.

Assassin’s Creed 2 (Xbox 360) – Wow, what an improvement over the first iteration in the series. I put this disc in almost immediately after finishing the first game and right away I could tell they had upgraded the graphical engine. The first game looked nice, this one looks fantastic. The free running feels more accurate and the mission variety is way better. More importantly, the game really does a great job at urging you to explore the landscape, but there are also plenty of helps to make it an easy going experience rather than a frustrating one.

Retro Game Challenge (DS) – A funky little game that came out a few months ago, this is one I’m glad I didn’t pass on. It’s hard to explain this one in a few words, but basically you’re playing retro style games to meet specific challenges laid out for you such as a high score to beat or to achieve a number of kills in a certain manner or time period. The game has tons of nods to classic games, magazines, and industry professionals. It’s just a great package overall.

Star Control II (PC) – I come back to this game a lot. A lot.

Note: Best Game Ever is a series of posts I’ll be doing dedicated to the best games ever made. Each game I profile will be a game I’d accept as someone’s answer to the question, “what do you think the best game ever is?” So please, do not email me and tell me I’m stupid for posting about game X when game Y is clearly superior. And you never know, game Y might be the next game profiled. For more in the series, check out the “best game ever” category in the side bar.

Star Control II.

Originally on the PC but also ported to the 3DO with enhanced sound and added speech, this game was easily the best open world game of its time. You can now download it FOR FREE (link at the bottom of the post) as it’s been made open source. It’s really rare, even today, to find a game that offers the same level of freedom, non-linear progression, and sense of scale. Here’s the lowdown.

Game is set way in the future after a big galactic war in which the Earth and its alliance lost. Earth is trapped under a slave shield and a race called the Ur-Quan rules the galaxy along with anybody else that chose to join up with them and avoid being annihilated or enslaved.

You’re a descendant from science team that left earth way in the past that had colonized a new planet where you’ve found alien tech. You go out to find out what happened with earth. After finding out that the alliance basically got curb stomped you decide to take it upon yourself to fly around the galaxy recruiting races to start the fight back up again against the Ur-Quan. Depending on the alliances you make the game changes and the storyline can get altered quite a bit.

The game is split into three main styles of gameplay. First there’s exploration where you’re looking for resources (money), new races to ally with, and alien technology to augment your ship. Secondly there’s the political aspect where you need to convince races to join your fight and keep them at peace with one another. Finally, there’s combat that plays out as a 2D top down battle. It’s all great stuff.

Here’s the intro video:

Here’s a battle sequence:

A conversation with the Spathi, a coward race that you still want to recruit as allies because they make awesome starships.

You can get the game for free here: http://sc2.sourceforge.net/downloads.php

Versions of the game are available on Windows, OS X, Linux, and a few other devices (including PSP).

I know it’s a busy time for gaming, but honestly, I doubt any game coming out in the next few months will be as good.

Um, wow.

Oh great, so I guess I won’t be able to lug my PC rig to a central location with a bunch of my idiot friends to play Starcraft 2 while we all feed from a giant bag of Doritos and suck down bottles of Mountain Dew. People are already freaking out about no LAN support in Starcraft 2 and the news just broke. I don’t exactly see why they don’t include it in the game, as it would be an easy thing to support, but let’s be honest here…99% of the time you play with friends it will be online. I’m sure if enough of a fuss is made it will be added in at some point as well.

Back away from the ledge, Blizzard fans.

Source: http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3175004

I won’t pretend that a lot of people didn’t feel that Operation: Anchorage was a bit of a let down (I personally loved it), but it was certainly a departure from the regular style and pacing of the rest of the game. With The Pitt DLC coming our way, Bethesda is promising that it will be much more like the main quest and will not only give gamers access to a new city (Pittsburgh), but it will also introduce new weapons, quests, and a chance to interact with the Wasteland Raiders in a more personal manner. Here are some screens that Bethesda released.

How awesome is Valve? The upcoming Left 4 Dead DLC, which is actually pretty significant, is going to be absolutely free for both PC and Xbox 360 users. In a recent press release, Valve gave all the tasty details. Here’s the direct quote:

San Francisco, CA – February 11, 2009 -The recently announced Left 4 Dead Downloadable Content (L4D DLC) will be delivered to Xbox 360 and PC gamers free of charge.Due for release this spring, the DLC for 2008’s best-selling new game property on the PC and Xbox 360, is dubbed the L4D Survival Pack and introduces a new multiplayer gamemode entitled, Survival, plus two complete campaigns for Versus Mode (Death Toll, Dead Air). A Critic’s Choice Edition of the game will be heading to retail stores this spring, and will include access to all the content introduced in the L4D: Survival Pack. Left 4 Dead is a survival action game from Valve that blends the social entertainment experience of multiplayer games such as Counter-Strike and Team Fortress with the dramatic, narrative experience made popular in single player action game classics such as the Half-Life series of games. Released in November of 2008, L4D has earned over 25 industry awards from outlets around the world.

For more information, please visit www.l4d.com

It sounds like Valve is basically willing to give us what most devs are charging between $10-$15 to receive. That’s pretty generous, and I hope other developers follow suit.

IGN put up their video review for Left 4 Dead and it’s a pretty fair assessment. The game scored 9.0, which is outstanding. Check out the video below. Also, there are some pretty good additional videos showing off the gameplay, so check those out as well.

For some reason zombies are hot in gaming, film, literature, and geek culture as a whole right now. From books like Max Brooks’ World War Z to games like Resident Evil, zombies are getting tons of attention and people seem to have fun plotting out their own zombie survival scenarios across message baords (geeky, I know). With Valve’s upcoming Left 4 Dead, you and up to 3 more players get the chance to make a survival run through a zombie infested city, and working together is key to survival. Over the weekend I had the chance to delve into Valve’s invite-only demo with some friends and the experience was quite impressive.

The Left 4 Dead demo only has one level, but you can still play online with up to 4 people at one time. You begin the demo on an apartment rooftop where you can choose between a sub-machine gun or a shotgun as your primary weapon. You’ll also each grab one med pack and everybody has a pistol as their secondary weapon. The four of you need to make your way across the city, through hordes of zombies, to the hospital rooftop where you can be evacuated. Along the way there are safe rooms where you can switch weapons, restock your ammo supply, heal up, and just catch a quick breather. At each of these checkpoints the game gives you updates on who has killed the most zombies, who has taken the least damage, which player pulled off the most headshots, and more. Once you’re ready to face the droves of zombies again, you open up the safe room and head back out. 

The demo is fairly short, but it’s worth playing through multiple times for one big reason: The Director. The Director is the name that Valve has lovingly given the AI in Left 4 Dead that manages how the zombies populate the city. Every single time you play the game, the zombies will be scattered differently and they will attack with varying frequency. The first time I ran through the demo things were pretty evenly paced, but the second time zombies would be absent for long stretches and then just crammed into strategic choke points. Another time I played the zombies were scarce in corridors, but they were rushing in large numbers in open areas from all directions. The result of all of this is that Valve has created a game that keeps you on edge, keeps you working closely with your teammates, and keeps you interested in playing the same levels over and over again.

The demo also stresses just how important teamwork is in Left 4 Dead. With most co-op experiences, if each player is just good at running a level with guns blazing, you’ll do just fine. In Left 4 Dead, you really have to watch each out for each other, and you can’t stray from your team. At times the zombies will take you down, and getting up is impossible without a teammate shooting them off of you. Also, certain zombies can incapacitate you for a moment until a teammate saves you. If you wander off alone, you are going to die. The Director is not kind to wandering souls.

The demo only manages to show the gamer a little of what is in store for them. Screenshots show that we can expect a variety of locales and a lot of different weapons (the demo features 4 main weapons). I have no doubt that Left 4 Dead has the potential to become one of the best co-op experiences ever to be seen in gaming. Here’s hoping that in the rush of releases this year that the game gets its fair shake on the console front, because I already know that the PC community is behind the game in a big way.

Gametrailers.com (seriously, one of the coolest sites ever) has put up a retrospective for the Fallout series to prep everybody for Fallout 3’s big release. They’ve done a few of these retrospectives in the past, and they do an excellent job at getting everybody up to speed with the story and major themes that are present in the series. Check out the video below.

Some fine YouTube user has uplaoded some shaky cam footage of the BioShock 2 teaser. The game is going to be a prequel to the original BioShock, and I can’t wait. Here’s the clip.