I posted this on Facebook. I guess people here would be interested, too?
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I play video games. Probably too many! These are the games I completed in 2012 and what I thought of them.
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword: Good, but man, I can't fight back the pangs of disappointment. The new stuff it does is excellent. Although the combat eventually turns into another type of puzzle rather than true battles, the fighting is the most fun in the Zelda series since Wind Waker. The way the motion controls are integrated into item usage is neat, too, if a bit gimmicky. And the visual style is a nice medium between the bright, cartoony style of Wind Waker and the darker sensibilities of Twilight Princess. I'd really love to see this world in true HD. With everything I enjoy about this game, however, there's something dumb to take the fun away. You've got stupid collection quests, dumb fetch quests, escort missions (with by far the most annoying character in the game, no less) and all sorts of other antiquated video game nonsense that should have died with the Nintendo 64. I get the sense Nintendo wanted to go totally crazy with Skyward Sword but couldn't fully commit for fear of alienating the core Zelda fanbase. As long as that's the case, this series will stagnate, even if it's still capable of offering a few brilliant moments per game. (The water temple is actually really good in this, and the boss fight at the end is one of my favorites in the entire Zelda series.) I also must admit I enjoyed flying up to the greatest possible height and then skydiving into each area. Saints Row: The Third taught me to enjoy skydiving as much as possible.
L.A. Noire: I love film noir. The idea of playing as a detective in seedy 1940s Los Angeles appeals to me on so many levels. And then later when I heard this was more of an adventure game than a GTA-style game, I got more hyped for it. I was not let down for the most part. The mysteries are good and have just the right level of nastiness simmering beneath the surface. The overall plot is good, too, although the twist that leads to the downfall of the antagonists is AWFUL. I can't help but think the now infamous behind the scenes troubles at Team Bondi led to that clearly rushed twist. And, yes, you're basically doing the same thing in every case: Shuffling through crime scenes for clues, interviewing witnesses, driving around, making popping off a few shots, etc. The routine gets repetitive, but I love the feeling of sleuthing and trying to put together a case so much that I don't particularly mind. I love that the player is able to advance through each mystery with a lack of evidence and can potentially finger the wrong perp. It feels like there's something actually at stake with each case, though I wish the player wasn't graded at the end of each case. Kind of ruins the feeling!
Mass Effect 3: Yes, the game has a pretty shit ending, and, yes, the DLC practices (including withholding some rather important story content in DLC) are gross. And, yeah, those N7 missions are crap, the fetch quests are lame and a waste of time, the galactic readiness scale is stupid, etc. I concede all of that. But for what it's worth, Mass Effect 3 is still a lot of fun. The shooting and action are the best they've been in the whole series; the firefights I had in ME3 were more tense than just about anything I faced in the first two games. And though the overall story is a bit trite (though I'd argue that none of the Mass Effect games has a particularly great plot), there are plenty of great character moments that resonate because the crewmates have been developed so well throughout the series. The ending sucked, but man, I had a blast with like 90 percent of Mass Effect 3. That's still good!
Ducktales: Ducktales is a tough game, but it's not Mega Man tough, so I actually beat it. The game actually holds up really well even though it's full of those mean precision platforming moments that lead to a lot of dying and frustration. The construction of the game's worlds are pretty clever and interesting; I think this is one of the precursors to the big open worlds of 3D platformers like Super Mario 64 where you search for secrets in a large area. Also, it has an 8-bit version of the Ducktales theme song, so OBVIOUSLY it should be played by everyone.
VVVVVV: VVVVVV is an enraging game, because you will die. A lot. I died more than 1,300 times my first playthrough. (Yes, the game keeps track, and yes, it cheerfully reports this stat to the player upon completion.) But it's one of those games that's constructed so well that you can't help but die over and over again to find the right way to get through each room. Case in point: I got at least half of my deaths in VVVVVV's most notorious room, one that took me nearly 45 minutes to complete. I'm pretty sure my wrists were screaming in pain by the end; however, I beat that damn room, and it was WORTH IT. I actually want to play through again right now ...
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves: Full disclosure: I still haven't beat the first game. The Uncharted games are actually quite a bit rougher than expected, and I got to a part in the first that annoyed me so much that I quit and started the second game. Maybe I'll go back and beat it one day. Anyway, Uncharted 2 is pretty great. It still has plenty of the annoying parts of the first game (there are a few parts that took me forever to get through, because they're so ridiculously tough), but I let it pass because it feels more like a bigger, crazier globetrotting adventure than the first game. The set pieces in Uncharted 2 are truly incredible: Running away from tanks, blasting your way through a moving train, falling through a crumbling building, fighting through multiple cities being blasted to bits ... good lord, what a crazy game! So much fun. I couldn't imagine trying to beat it on a difficult higher than normal, though ...
Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception: I'd say the gameplay and set pieces are better than the second game, but the story is a step down, particularly the end. I think Naughty Dog wanted to stay away from a supernatural explanation after the first two games, but it didn't quite work for me. Oh well. This is still fun; the hand-to-hand combat, in particular, takes some cues from Rocksteady's Batman games and is actually pretty cool. I was sad whenever I had to shoot up bad guys rather than beat the hell out of them.
Batman: Arkham Asylum: I have mixed feelings about this game. The combat, obviously, is top notch. It's deceptively simple; you use a few buttons only, but rhythm is incredibly important, so button mashing will get you only so far. It actually took me a ways into the game to completely master the combat, but it feels great when you do. The predator sections, where stalks and picks off bad guys one at a time feel awesome, too, and are puzzly in an interesting way since a few guys will have guns that can take Batman out pretty quickly. However, I had a tough time getting into the game for a couple of reasons: 1) The story isn't that interesting (not a huge deal usually, because most video games stories are kinda bad, but it feels weird not getting into a Batman story), and 2) the setting isn't all that interesting. That second point is a big deal breaker for me. Arkham Asylum has an exploration aspect to it, but nothing about Arkham Asylum made me want to explore it all that much aside from getting the opportunity to beat the shit out of more criminals.
Batman: Arkham City: Arkham City fixes basically all of my problems with Arkham Asylum. The city is way more interesting and inviting to pick apart than the prison. The story has some good twists and turns even though the grand plans are a bit much. The big set piece boss fights are more clever and cool than the first game's boss battles. And all that is added onto tighter hand-to-hand combat and more gadgets for predator sections. More than any game before it, Arkham City distills how friggin' awesome it is to be Batman. Well, the parts that don't involve crippling childhood trauma, anyway.
Assassin's Creed II: I've had a bit of rough going with the AC series. (More on this at the end.) ACII is the only one in the series I've managed to finish so far. The gameplay isn't all that different from the first game; it's just more forgiving with everything in general, although this occasionally comes at the sacrifice of stealth. Running around and stabbing people and climbing stuff is pretty damn fun, though, and I like the way AC plays around with history, even if it gets quite ridiculous at times. (I actually gave a little cheer when I realized who the final assassination target would be.) If I have one complaint, it's probably that the game is a bit long for what it is. Maybe that plays into the feeling of physical and emotional wear as protagonist Ezio executes his revenge, but it gets tiring after a while. Wait, also Ubisoft is fucking RIDICULOUS with tutorializing. I was getting tutorials like 80 percent into the game! Good lord, give the player some credit here!
Resonance: I like point and click adventures a ton. This is a good one of those, albeit with the usual flaws of those games (occasionally obtuse logic and weird puzzles, sometimes vague objectives, lots of trial and error, etc.). The story is solid pulp sci-fi stuff (although plenty of the beats are predictable) and makes up for most of the characters being cliches. Some of the puzzle mechanics with characters' short- and long-term memories are kind of neat, too. I had a good time with this game! Might play it again some time to get the ending I missed ...
The Walking Dead: Frankly speaking, I think the writing in many games is mediocre at best and often garbage. If I ever say that I'm playing a game for the story, I usually mean I am playing it for the big, ridiculous set pieces that games these days are so fond of giving us. The Walking Dead, however, is one of the few games I would say has a legitimately good story. Its tale of the beginning of a zombie apocalypse is harrowing and mournful even if you could not give the slightest shit about zombies. This is because, like most great zombie stories, The Walking Dead knows that it's humanity that messes everything up rather than zombies. Nerves are frayed, tempers flare, and the group is constantly on edge. Choices need to be made -- HARD choices. Basically nobody makes it out smelling like roses, but damn it, it hurts so friggin' good. The first episode is the only one where I approached decisions with anything resembling practicality; after that, it was all pure emotion, all the time. The game actually made me care about a bunch of cartoony polygons! The story is strong enough to help me overlook the game's numerous technical issues. (I played on the PS3, for reference.) The frame rate dips frequently, there's lag between cuts in scenes, and I ran into a couple of nasty glitches -- one that required me to reset my game, and the other that wiped the save files my brother and I had put together. Not fun. Still, this is a game that should be played by all.
Yesterday: A decent adventure game, but most of the good stuff is at the beginning, which sets a nice mood and has a good twist. Many of the puzzles, particularly later on, are of the classic obtuse adventure game variety, which killed a lot of my enjoyment. The story also takes a nosedive because the protagonist is bland and uninteresting. You can't use amnesia as an excuse to write a character with no personality! Quite disappointing.
Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness episodes One and Two: Lumping them under one entry, because they may as well be the same game. They're amusing trifles: Some nice dialogue that reminds me of the rare times Penny Arcade doesn't fill me with loathing, silly plots, and some OK Paper Mario-style battling (though it's not quite as good as that series). I had a decent time with them.
Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slice Precipice of Darkness Episode Three: This one, however, I liked quite a bit. The twists and turns are a fair amount sillier and more engaging, and the battle system is actually interesting this time around. For whatever reason, I've always had a tough time getting into job systems; however, it just works for me here. I had a great time tinkering with each class and figuring out what strategies and combinations would work best against the various enemies. Fun times!
Final Fantasy VIII: This will sound insulting at first, but this is WAY better than I expected it to be. I still like FFVII and FFIX more, mind; however, points for exceeding expectations. Part of it is because the story is a great deal sillier and more ridiculous than expected. It's not GOOD, mind (and irrevocably falls apart during a certain scene on a certain basketball court), but the general outlandishness of the plot entertained me more often than not. (My theory: I like anime, so I am used to dumb, ridiculous, melodramatic excess.) My other area of entertainment: The battle system. It is broken to a ridiculous degree and insanely easy to exploit (even for a dummy like me), but it feels pretty awesome to overpower all your characters. That makes the game stupidly easy, but hey.
To the Moon: A very charming, sorrowful story, though I found the interjections of humor to be occasionally jarring. But that's really the only fault I find with the story; it's well told and quite interesting.
McPixel: Scratches that WarioWare itch quite well. There's so many dumb things to do and interact with in each levels that it's often disappointing when you actually succeed and disarm the bomb through some bizarre means. Every time I cleared a chapter I immediately hopped back in to get gold in each part (meaning I saw all the failures and the success). My only problem is that I couldn't clear more than section at a time; the ridiculousness is almost too much to take in all at once. I couldn't imagine beating the whole game in one sitting.
Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward: The sequel to 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors. (And, yes, it is a direct sequel that builds on the prior game, although it doesn't feel that way at first.) It unfolds similarly to the first game: You have novel sections in which you get the plot, and puzzle sections in which you solve your way out of a room. There's another wrinkle, though! There are chances to vote and accumulate points to escape the deadly game that comprises the basis for VLR, and it's based on the Prisoner's Dilemma. (You can choose to ally or betray with your opponent, and points are doled out accordingly based on what each person does.) It's here and in the choice of which doors to tackle where the game's branching paths occur. I was a bit skeptical about how the plot could outdo 999 ... but it's WAY CRAZIER. I'm not sure if it's always in a good way, but it's totally wild. The developments at the end have me somewhat worried about the next game, though. The justification for the game is a bit of a stretch here, and it sounds like the next game's death game will have an even flimsier justification. Relating more directly to this game, though, I didn't find the voting sections to be particularly suspenseful after the first couple of votes. Without giving too much away, it's easy to jump back in and view other possible decisions, so I felt more like I was going down a path than making an actual choice. The cast as a whole isn't quite as interesting as 999's, either. Still, well worth playing for 999 fans and despite my misgivings, I am all in on the final game.
Some quick hits with games I've yet to finish: Assassin's Creed (did the first assassination and then went on to ACII; I'll probably get back to this eventually), Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (just got tired of playing after a while; I'll go back eventually), Assassin's Creed III (lol a bit of a pattern here; almost done, but I keep running into missions that make me want to quit), Hotline Miami (so brutal and tough, but I desperately want to keep going), Xenogears (just dicking around a bit; I like the battle system, but haven't done too much yet), God of War (beat the hydra)
