In Deathspank, you’ll be spending most of the time dispensing “justice” and being “heroic”, because those are the favourite words of the titular protagonist. Justice, you will find, is all about balance. It does not discriminate, be it merciless orques, undead skeletons, dragons that swallow felt salesmen, sabertoothed donkeys, smelly orphans, or unicorns.
From this writer
Paul the Octopus continues to ruin my mood as the FIFA World Cup 2010 rages on towards an action packed grand finale, and we’ve already seen something of a spectacle at the Wimbledon this year. These are exciting times for the world of sports indeed, and Codemasters and Trickster Games have decided to pitch in to the festivities by releasing the follow up to last year’s Ashes Cricket 2009. Yay! Inexplicable release window aside, International Cricket 2010 does deliver with its solid gameplay and improvements over last year. But is it one small step for gamers, or one giant leap for uhhh… gamerkind?
Too close. The gap between the release of the fourth installment of the Sands of Time series and the new Prince of Persia movie is too close for the game to not reek of another rushed movie cash-in. As the game booted up, my eyes narrowed down and the curses readied themselves to fly off the tip of my tongue at the first signs of a final product that does not meet the high standards set by the series in the last generation. But as I vaulted, swung and wall-ran my way through the besieged city ruled by the Prince’s brother, the realisation hit me – I was having fun! Despite its short development period, could this game be a worthy addition to the Sands of Time series?
Throughout its development process, Sony Santa Monica kept God of War III closely under wraps. Details were few and far between, and all we had to go by was Stig Asmussen’s quiet assured look during interviews when he talked about the latest (and final) chapter of Kratos’ quest for vengeance. Given how the odds were stacked against him, it spoke volumes of what was in store for us.
The weight of the franchise is a great one to carry; two directors before him had done a fantastic job of taking the franchise and its protagonist to astronomical heights. All this made it very easy to forget that God of War III is Santa Monica’s first game on the PlayStation 3. After three long years of building a bomb from scratch, Santa Monica has finally arrived in style, riding the back of a gigantic titan, with Kratos in tow as he climbs a mountain to begin his final assault on the Gods of Olympus.
In 1497, the priest and leader of Florence, Girolamo Savonarola carried out the Bonfire of the Vanities. In an act of open hostility towards the Renaissance, Father Savonarola and his acolytes collected objects such as books, art, cosmetics or anything that fell under the category of ‘immoral excesses’ and burned them in bonfires across the city. Had it not been for Ezio Auditore, the golden age of Italian art, culture and architecture would have been lost.
Mixing historical events and fiction with incredible finesse, the downloadable episode that serves as the thirteenth memory block of Assassin’s Creed 2 picks up immediately after the Battle of Forli. Ezio returns to Florence to retrieve the Apple of Eden from Father Savonarola. But the good priest is in control of the city and has his lieutenants (by choice or coerced) running the city. Needless to say, these are dark times for Florence, and if the premise wasn’t bleak enough to get through to the player, the city has a perpetual cloud cover giving it a washed out look to underscore the point.
Boring!
There really isn’t a better (or nicer) way to sum up Dark Void. It’s a rare example in recent memory of a game which turned into a chore to finish. And when that happens, it pretty much defeats the whole idea behind gaming. You can very well imagine how boring a review for a boring game would be. What would be more interesting, however, is to try and re-construct the meeting between the developer and the publisher, where Dark Void got the green signal for full steam ahead. Before we begin though, it is important to clarify that while Dark Void is boring, as a game, it is technically adequate and playable. With that said, lets get cracking, shall we?
The PSP has died many deaths in its lifetime. And the commonly proclaimed reason for its untimely demise is the lack of quality software on the platform. While games such as the recently released Motorstorm: Arctic Edge, LittleBigPlanet and Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars chip in from time to time as counter arguments, it is fair to acknowledge that the story of Sony’s handheld isn’t exactly a fairy tale come to life.
At this point, you must be wondering if this is the review of Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines or an obituary for the PSP. The thing is, Assassin’s Creed: Bloodlines felt like an obituary to the PSP. For all its flaws (which I shall describe to the tiniest gory details shortly), the fundamental mistake lies in the core design model that many developers have attempted time and again on the PSP and failed at it more often than not. Bloodlines goes down as yet another futile attempt at delivering an experience similar to that of the home consoles.
I remember Assassin’s Creed. I remember how to me, it represented the first true “Next-Gen” game with its revolutionary control scheme and sprawling cities, full of life. I remember the urge to get a new console just to play the game, to experience a new era of gaming. Most of all, I remember a final product with unfulfilled promises which seemed rushed to the market to meet release deadlines. Despite all its shortcomings, the promise that Assassin’s Creed held was far too great to go unnoticed. It brought new gameplay ideas to the table and told an intriguing story. To sum it up, Assassin’s Creed felt like an elaborate “tech-demo”, the potential of which has been finally realised after two years with Assassin’s Creed 2.
The following is part of IVG’s year-end feature, where each of our writers will highlight their top 5 games of 2009. You too have the opportunity to let us know your top 5 games of the year, and in turn contribute towards picking IVG’s overall Game of the Year for 2009. Click here to participate in the Game of the Year polls.
I’m not really fond of Top 5 lists, or top 10, 20, 25, 50, 100… you get the drift, right? And compiling a list for the top 5 games of 2009 just highlighted my dislike. This year saw some truly fantastic games, and more than choosing five games out of them for this little featuring, putting them in order was nothing less than a Herculean task. However, after putting in more thought than I’m normally used to, I managed to put them in order. A disclaimer here though; I wouldn’t put too much stock in the numbers if I were you. Each of these games is a brilliant experience in itself and your life is meaningless without playing any of them.
Since its not-so-distant beginnings in December 2006, the Motorstorm Festival has made its mark at some exotic and dangerous locales around the world. The offroad racer started its journey on the PS3 at Monument Valley before arriving at greener pastures, complete with dense forests and smoldering volcanoes in Motorstorm: Pacific Rift. Now, following the trend set by many major Sony franchises, Motorstorm has made its way to the edge of the Arctic Circle on the PSP with Motorstorm: Arctic Edge courtesy Bigbig Studios.
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