We have all become cynical because we’re lied to all the time, and in a way, we expect to be lied to by the publishers, and even games magazines. How many of us still wait until we’ve seen the reviews before we buy the latest games? Back in the 8-bit days, reviews were everything, but now I generally just like reading them to see if they agree with what I thought of a title. Of course, sometimes the hype is justified, those initial moments and emotions when you start up a truly genre defining game are something which stay with you. We all have certain moments like those we can remember, for me they are Wave Race 64, Knight Lore, Dungeon Master, the first Ridge Racer on Playstation, GTA3. The feeling it seems is more addictive than the games themselves, it’s the feeling of a ‘jaw drop’ moment, the feeling of amazement. It’s a gift which games can give, but it’s getting increasingly difficult to see that feeling happening again. Maybe the next generation, or the one after, or even maybe not.
As someone who has been playing games now for over thirty years, i’m quite interested in my own attitude towards games in the last few months. I’m losing the desire to play current console games, I try them for a bit, Fallout 3, Race Pro, even GTA4. A few hours on each, then I kind of switch off to them, can’t be bothered to load them again. Considering the thousands of hours of manpower, and vast creative budgets that goes into these titles, it is mind boggling the lack of interest I have in them. I’ve amazed myself! Part of me has become numb to these kinds of games, should I be worried, or is this just an early warning, is it actually games which are moving in the wrong direction? Or, as you get older, do these huge epics just seem ever more daunting, the will to play them being eroded by every additional hour required to complete them.
Let’s get this straight, I’ve not lost my passion for games, in fact, i’ve spent more hours gaming in the past month than I have since those heady N64 days. And it’s not that i’ve been playing all the Amiga games we’ve been adding to the site lately, it is because I got an Ipod Touch for my Birthday, and taken solely as a games machine, it blows away pretty much all other current formats.
I know, I can hear your teeth grinding, if you’re unfamiliar with how the Ipod/Iphone gaming model works, let me explain. The Apple App Store is currently being viewed as the biggest threat to both Nintendo and Sony, and a few minutes looking around it can see why. There are more than 10,000 applications available, the majority being games. Unlike say Xbox Live Arcade or the downloadable retro titles on Wii, there are far less restrictions on what kind of games go on there, so you have big studio arcade games nestled amongst homebrew and back bedroom coded titles. This huge wealth of development talent has given the format a wide variety of content, and the prices are fantastic too. Most of the bigger titles include a free version for you to download and play, need more options or levels, and you can buy the full version. Most of the games i’ve been buying have been 59p, and strangely, shopping on the console for new games is almost as much fun as playing them.
A brilliant review system means you have to grade a game when you remove it from your Ipod, and provides everyone using the store with an average rating. Some games are instant classics, and if you’re thinking the lack of a joypad is a problem, sure, it means games have to be a bit more inventive. Like the stir of inventiveness caused by the Nintendo DS and its stylus, the Ipod’s ability to manipulate the screen with more than one digit at a time, or control the action by tilting the machine, has created some hugely original games. Its not just novelty, puzzle or casual games either. There are some brilliant shooters, epic space trading games, first person dungeon crawler rpgs, and super fast racing games to get your teeth into. It’s possibly the fact that the mainstream games publishers haven’t yet got involved with the Ipod which has kept the range of games so fresh and exciting. Who knows, in a year’s time it could be full of copycats, re-hashes and sequels like the rest of the games world.
Technically the Ipod Touch is supposed to be less capable than the PSP, but this is a tricky comparison. Who’d have thought you’d ever compare the PSP to a brick, but in comparison to the ultra thin Apple machine, it is. The screen of the IPT may be smaller, but then so is the machine. PSP is slow to load from disc, IPT is like having all your games on cartridge. PSP front end encourages you to use the console for movies, music and photos, but doesn’t have the capacity to fit it all in. IPT has a front end which is simplicity itself, and with the 32GB option, you can includes 1000s of games, TV shows and tunes. I worked it out, taking the average size of the applications, you could actually fit tens of thousands of games onto your IPT, and all accessible at the touch of a screen.
Already the PSP and Nintendo DS look outdated, why didn’t Nintendo completely revamp the DS with the DSi rather than just create a chubby sister with a couple of very cheap cameras. Once upon a time our games companies made hardware at the cutting edge of technology, but now a 1970s computer company is making handhelds which look like they’re from outer space. But even forgetting about technology, the Ipod Touch has ten times the number of games of its rival formats added together, and all priced at considerably less than even a 1980s ZX Spectrum budget game. If Sony and Nintendo want to stay in the handheld market, they’d better get their boffins working on some new hardware.
Ok, a round up of some of my favourite Ipod Touch Games.
Fieldrunners by Subatomic
The field defence genre is a whole new kind of game. Stop the bad guys from getting across the play area, lose a life if they escape. You try and block them in using weapon clad towers, and earn money for each kill. Ridiculously addictive, and this is by far the best example.
Inside Trader by Jeff McFadden
Tedious to many, this intense stock trading game is just too addictive. For someone who grew up with Stock Market on the Atari ST, it’s the global high scores which keep me coming back for more trading.
Galcon by Phil Hassey
Really groovy space action game where you try to grow your force before taking down enemy planets. Tactile and addictive, but needs a top ten score board so you can try to beat your scores.
Dungeon Defence by Inmotion
Another tower defence game, but this time with you as the dungeon master, trying to hack apart brave heroes with your skeleton army. Like many Ipod games, this one recently had a free update, and added two whole new game types.
Bike or Die 2 by Chillingo
Crazy gravity fuelled stunt bike game. A bit like the BMX game on the Atari Lynx’s California games, but with added gravity. Takes careful control to avoid horrific ragdoll injuries. Very addictive.
Chopper by Majic Jungle
Brilliant Choplifter inspired helicopter shooter. Appeals to my retro shooter roots.
Sentinel by Origin8
Another Tower Defense game, I told you I was addicted to this new genre. This time it’s aliens on a distant planet. This game is so polished it will blind you, and again, so addictive you’ll wear off your fingerprints.
Airport Mania by Reflexive
Cartoony arcade management game, where you run an airport. It’s all about landing and take offs, and making sure the customers are happy. Brilliant fun, but takes a while to get challenging.
Slay by Sean O’Connor
This may look like a version of Catan, but it’s a completely original strategic boardgame, all about taking over islands in medieval times. Amazingly simply to play, but really hard to master, this game features brilliant AI.
Lux DLX by Sillysoft
A reworking of the classic board game Risk, with up to six computer controlled players. Amazing speed, who’d have thought you could play an entire game of risk with six players in less than five minutes. There are fifty all new maps, including Battle of Britain and Earth Vs Mars. This is a game i’ll be playing for years to come.
________________________________________________________________________
23rd January 2009 : Year Review
Well, here we are, another year, and another new look to the site. While some things change every year, one thing stays the same, and that is my run down of the best games of the past year.
As far as quality goes, it’s been a real mixture. This has been the biggest year for UK games sales of all time, up 22% on 2007. Many will say this is just down to GTA IV , but actually Nintendo have had the lion’s share of everything. In previous years, i’ve argued how they deserved much more success, this year though, i’m not so sure.
So, the PS3 is now outselling the 360 by two to one in some territories. Who those new customers are is an interesting prospect, with many viewing the PS3 as just a cheap Blu-Ray player, and not even using it for games. And who could blame them, for much of 2008, the PS3 offered nothing you couldn’t find on the Xbox 360. The recent PS3 launch of ‘Home’ may have been much anticipated, but the end result is a laborious trawl through a pretty but pointless fake front end. It may well appeal to fans of the Sims, but they aren’t the people who are playing consoles games anyway.
Meanwhile the battle of the handhelds continues, with DS trouncing the PSP in every country other than Japan. With the poorly equipped Wii pretty much destroying hardcore gamer faith in their home console division, we all thought the new DSi was going to put new Nintendo power into our palms. However, the DSi has to be the weakest of any console revamp since the PSP Slim and Light. The sound recording and video features are actually quite fun to play with, but in action they show visible strain on the processor, and why put 0.3 megapixel cameras into current hardware, it is beyond belief.
One final stab in the back for Nintendo’s old hardcore faithful, is the lack of a language setting, meaning all the options on import machines will remain in Japanese. Then there’s Nintendo’s new download channel, which on Japanese machines will never work outside of Japan. It’s amazing how archaic the DS hardware is already looking, the DSi should have provided a significant technical improvement, this is not a console which can rely on its stylus forever. With Apple providing real competition for casual gamers with the Ipod Touch and Iphone, the DS and DSi are looking pretty vulnerable.
So, what can 2009 bring. Rumours abound of a new Playstation in the works, and Microsoft have already admitted they are working on a sequel to the 360. A follow up to the PSP has strongly been denied, but mock up pictures and specs continue to appear on gaming sites. I actually don’t think we’ll see any new machines in the year ahead, and the major talking point will be Apple’s assault on the handheld market. If they just released some kind of regular joypad adaptor for their Ipod Touch, then I think they’d attract a lot more interest from traditional gamers.
I think 2008 is going to be a pretty hard year to top in terms of triple A titles. We’ve had a staggering amount of quality games, and as ever, I wish there was more time to play them all. This is my run down of my favourite games of the past year, there were a few that got close to being included, Pictoimage by Sega for the DS is a brilliant drawing game when played with a bunch of friends, despite barely being a game at all. Braid on XBLA is also brilliantly clever, certainly the best platform game I’ve played for a long time, but also so utterly infuriating, that it would make my blood boil just by including it. And the Wii has given me an excuse to exercise, I’m just amazed I haven’t broken the Wii Fit Board yet! Ok, here goes my top ten for 2008.
10: Lock’s Quest by THQ – Nintendo DS
Regular readers will know that I was absolutely addicted to Advance Wars, so I’ve always had a soft spot for strategy on the DS. However, rather than a regular strategy game, Lock’s Quest has more in common with the Atari classic, Rampart. It’s a turn based affair, build your castle, then repel the hoard of monsters, and back to re-building your castle. Unfortunately what lets it down is a rambling story between levels, when you really just want to carry on with the action. But any game that resembles Rampart is ok with me!
9: You’re in the Movies – Codemasters – Xbox 360
While Sony’s Eyetoy games were fun for a while, they never really offered any lasting challenge. Actually, neither does this, but thanks to it’s party based gameplay, and clever image masking, it packs in plenty of laughs. Compete against friends in loads of different mini-games, then see everybody’s efforts re-assembled into a fake movie trailer. You can save the trailers too, immortalising your friend’s most embarrassing moments. This must be the most original and entertaining party game of the year.
8: New Track & Field by Sumo/Konami – Nintendo DS
I was cautious when I heard Sumo were converting Konami’s classic button basher to the DS. How would it work with a stylus? Would it still feel like ‘Track & Field’. Thankfully there’s a resounding ‘Yes’ to both of those. All the character and fun of the original, all the original sounds, a total of 24 events including lots of new ones, brilliant multi-player link up if you can afford multiple copies of the game, wi-fi world records, and all wrapped up with the comedic style which made the original such a stand out game. Without doubt the best Track & Field ever made.
7: Peggle Nights by Popcap – PC Download
Proof that sequels should be just more of the same. Peggle is Infuriatingly random, yet eye scorchingly addictive at the same time. Bounce your ball on the pegs, trying to touch all the highlighted ones before you run out of balls. Finally I realise why the Japanese are so addicted to Pachinko. Apparently a Nintendo DS version is imminent, so soon we’ll have peggle on the go – can’t wait!
6: TOCA Grid by Codemasters – Xbox 360
Unusually this is the only racing game in this year’s top ten, but what a racing game. I’ve loved all the TOCA series since they first appeared on the PS1, but was skeptical when Codemasters revealed they’d be involving a lot more Project Gotham style street racing. However, the results provide the best example of racing on a console. Personally I’d prefer the ‘real series’ racing of previous TOCA games, but you can’t fault the driving action, tense and tight, but still possible to work your way through the field in a couple of laps if you concentrate hard enough. With Codemasters now holding the official Formula One license, the future of console racing is looking very bright indeed.
5: Anno 1701 by Touchstone – Nintendo DS
Back to strategy on the DS, and finally a stylus based strategy game which actually benefits from the format. There have been many attempts at creating a PC style strategy game for the DS, Sim City, Age of Empires, Settlers, Civilization, yet all have seemed cramped and ill suited to the format. Anno 1701 uses the dual screens so well, and flows so nicely, that you soon forget the limitations of the screen area, and get engrossed in the game. There’s a classic mix of establishing new island settlements while fighting off pirates and rival explorers. The only disappointment was when I completed it, as I remained so addicted.
4: Fable 2 by Lionhead – Xbox 360
I’m sure we all read the hype, and after the first Fable, I’m sure we all added a hefty fist of salt to what was promised. But in reality, it’s very easy to get absorbed into Fable 2’s vibrant game world. It’s a truly beautiful game to stroll through, dog at your side, sword in hand. The decision to become good or evil seems not to play as big a part in the game as we were lead to believe, and I’m sure like me, most players want to be good some times, and bad at others. The skill level is also perfect, you never feel stuck, though the story sometimes holds you back. Once you’ve bought all the buildings, and worked your way through the missions, you find the game isn’t any longer than the original fable, but these days I don’t think short but beguiling games are a bad thing.
3: Grand Theft Auto IV by Rockstar – Xbox 360
Let’s remember to tell the world that the fastest selling, and biggest grossing game of all time is British! There’s a lot to be proud of with this game. GTA IV provides a truly immersive game world, with characters so real you’d fill your pants if you ever met them for real. Almost everything you want from a GTA game is here, but somehow there’s something missing. It took hold of my life for weeks after release, then I just drifted away. I guess it is because all GTA fans will have finished all previous GTA games, in a way, you know what to expect. There are huge difficult missions, like Nicko’s bank job, running in parallel with familiar transport missions or hits. GTA is a diamond of a game series, and GTA IV has polished that diamond nearly to perfection, but where do we go from here? Possibly online, but are we really prepared to work our way through the same game every few years?
2: Geometry Wars Retro Evolved 2 by Bizarre Creations – Xbox XBLA
I was in two minds about downloading this game. While I enjoyed the original version, I was terrible at it, and comparing my scores to the online competition made me feel pretty useless. But I tried the demo, saw my friend had put up some scores, and paid for it so I could try and beat him. I’m so thankful I did! GWRE2 introduces six different game modes, and each one has been masterfully thought out. They’re short too, whether it’s the three minute chaos of Deadline, the one life blast that is Waves, or the fire free Pacifism, each one offers its own incredible challenge. Playing for points is the adage of any self confessed retrogamer, and this game takes the fight for scores to the next level.
There is nothing more taunting than having your friend’s score at the top of the game screen – tantalising you into having ‘just one’ more turn. My favourite mode is pacifism, driving through warp gates to blast the surrounding enemies, then scurrying to pick up their multiplier pellets. It’s like finding a brand new 1980s arcade classic. It’s like the first time you played Defender or Tempest. Jeff Minter has been disappointed that nobody has been downloading his Space Giraffe, and the reason is because Bizarre Creations have beaten him to the game he should have created. There is no way the team that created this game aren’t arcade nuts, Vectrex owners, and retro fans. And you crazy Japanese gamers, ignoring the Xbox 360 in your droves, when it has provided what is probably the best arcade shooter for the past twenty years. Your loss.
1: Little Big Planet by Media Molecule – Playstation 3
You wait all year for a decent game on PS3, then you get punched in the face with one of the greatest games of all time. Little Big Planet initially amuses, a pretty platform game for up to four players. You play for a while, laugh at the strange contraptions, enjoy the clever levels, then you get more and more engrossed. It grows, partly in your own mind, from being that game which is ideal to play with the kids, to this amazing building set. Like the ultimate box of mechano, but with motors and lights, and as many pieces as you want. In the end you are up to the small hours building a working Starship Enterprise out of bits of wood and string. Once you get into building, the game’s levels suddenly drag you back, the continual quest for new parts and stickers seems even more important than the construction. Never have in-game items felt so valuable. Then there are all the guest levels, all those odd things other people have made, that you want to play around with yourself.
Little Big Planet is such a spectacular game, so full of cleverness and ingenuity, yet cute and adorable at the same time. You get to a point where you feel you’ll never need another game again. I’ve actually not played it for a few weeks, and I don’t recall a game ever making me feel guilty for not playing before. Such is the power of little big planet, it’s a life changing event in the gene pool of gaming and I’m sure we’ll be talking about this game for decades to come.
Hurry! 1 left
