As is evidenced by the declining number of reviews I’ve written for this site over the past decade, I haven’t really been playing or writing about as many games as I’d like. Once or twice a year I go manic and indulge, usually every October (traditionally the month of big game releases and nostalgic birthday memories) and around a few other big game launches. It doesn’t bode well for consistent game reviews though.
So, having only just started playing Killzone 3, a mere two months behind the rest of the in crowd, I thought I’d instead write about the games I’ve been meaning to play for a while, but haven’t got around to yet, for whatever reason. Obviously my critical opinion on said games will be moderately worthless, but hey, I like making unordered lists!
Minecraft
The whole world is seemingly playing Minecraft. Initially made by a Swedish guy in his bedroom, over 800,000 people paid €9.95 to play the alpha version of the game. The final version hasn’t even been released yet, and already the alpha and beta versions have sold over 1,940,000 copies and made €23 million – talk about crafty development! Undeniably, Minecraft has been the biggest gaming success story in recent years, turning one bedroom coder into a multimillionaire almost literally overnight.
And yet, I still haven’t played it. I am that lazy. At one point I believe I even got my credit card out and went on to the Minecraft website, but decided against purchasing, in the belief that it would disrupt my workflow and project deadlines (which is fair enough really – World of Warcraft almost cost me a year of my degree).
From what I can tell, Minecraft is about exploring and building whatever you want, on a lego style island. Its simple, blocky graphics certainly have some charm, and clearly it must be pretty good based on all the success and praise. One day I’ll sit down and play it. If you haven’t already played it, you probably should.
Call of Duty: The Newest One
Admittedly, part of me doesn’t give a shit about the Call of Duty series anymore. Somehow, at some random point in time, Call of Duty went from being a dull wartime FPS game with numerous sequels, to the game industry’s annual mega hit. But you’re kind of obliged to play it, right?
I’m sure the latest one, errm, Call of Duty: Black Ops, is quite good. I guess I can expect it to contain plenty of shooting, dastardly conspiracies, and walking through linear alleys or jungles. I’ll probably pick it some day. Perhaps Activision would have sent me a review copy if I asked. Maybe I’ll get around to it before Call of Duty: Postmodernism 27 comes out.
Fallout: New Vegas
Well, technically I got as far as installing this one and playing it for twenty minutes. Seeing as Fallout 3 was by far my favorite game of 2008, I feel a little disrespectful not giving New Vegas the time it truly deserves. A Fallout game requires at least a week of free time to truly experience and enjoy. Maybe I’ll get started with it on a long weekend. Alright, I’ll play with you soon Fallout, don’t worry.
All the new Yakuza games
In this post-Dreamcast world we live in, Yakuza is about as close to a new Shenmue game as we’re likely to get anytime soon. It’s developed by Sega’s Amusement Vision, formerly Sega AM4, which is just two off Shenmue developers Sega AM2. Look past the Japanese gangster setting, and it almost is Shenmue.
I loved Yakuza on the PlayStation 2. It felt like the game version of a cheap Japanese gangster B-Movie, or almost exactly the type of game I’d think up. Unfortunately when I played the demo of Yakuza 3, it felt clunky, boring, and quite old fashioned. That put me off at the time. Still though, now that Yakuza 4 has finally got an English release, I probably should make the time to play it. I hear you can date hostess girls and play arcade games!
Anything on the Nintendo 3DS
Five is a fairly good number for lists, and as I can’t quite be bothered to write about ten games, this should round the list off nicely. Now, I don’t want to seem harsh, as I do keep meaning to do something about the 3DS, but at the same time, the 3DS is almost completely failing to interest me.
Perhaps it’s just the uninspiring launch line-up. Perhaps it’s the idea of cross-eyed migraines trying to experience the third dimension on a flat screen. I’m certainly curious, though simultaneously, not quite bothered. I’d liken the 3DS to limping badger – the concept has me interested, and the urge to go over and have a look is quite compelling, yet I wouldn’t really want to take one home.
At least it’s Easter this week. I might actually make some progress in Killzone 3.