So, you’re looking for a gift come Black Friday, and you don’t know what to get your gamer, and you forgot to ask them what they wanted. Or, alternatively, you are a gamer who doesn’t know what he or she wants… Here’s a list of high profile releases to help you make your decision on what to buy this holiday shopping season for your geeky gamer…
Console
PS3/XBox 360
Fallout 3: A post apocalyptic first person RPG, Bethesda Game Studios (the creators of the Elder Scrolls series, including the 2006 360/PS3/PC hit Oblivion) revives the classic series from defunct studio Black Isle games to excellent results. The gameplay is very similar to Oblivion‘s, except with guns, though they have implemented certain mechanics to bring the action a little closer to the turn based combat of the originals. The aesthetics are still spot on, as Bethesda has created the perfect virtual post-apocalyptic wasteland, and imbued the world with just the right amount of spooky atmosphere, though it is lacking a lot of the dark humor of the original Fallout games. Also, while Fallout 3 improves upon Oblivion character interactions, the Non-player characters still come off as a little robotic. Still, Fallout 3 is an excellent game, and a worthwhile gift for anyone with a thing for post-apocalyptic stories.
Dead Space: Survival Horror in SPAAAAAAAAACE. This was one of the highly anticipated titles of the fall line up that kind of disappeared in the midst of so many other high profile releases. It was getting positive buzz before the release of several other higher profile games, being portrayed as a “mature” version of Nintendo’s classic Metroid games. The story is pretty standard as far as far as sci-fi horror stories go: Space ship goes off into unexplored territory and encounters something that wipes out the entire crew, so you go in as part of a rescue operation. Commence horrific creature killing everybody/you fighting back. If that sounds like your gamer’s idea of a good time, this is probably the game for you. Or, rather, them.
The Force Unleashed: LucasArts produces a Star Wars game? HEADLINE NEWS! Ok, maybe not. While it didn’t quite live up to some of the early hype, what with the outrageously overpowered force powers and high tech new physics engines needed to render them correctly, The Force Unleashed is a decent Star Wars game, though not an excellent one… (oh Tie Fighter, oh Jedi Knight, where have you gone…) and should appeal to fans of Star Wars, Video games, and the combination of the two… ComicsOnline gave The Force Unleashed 4 out of 5 Stars, the review, by knash, is here.
Alone in the Dark: Inferno (PS3 Only): Alone in the Dark was released earlier this year for the Xbox 360, PC and Playstation 2, to absolutely horrible reviews, citing complaints of game shattering bugs that counter all of the innovative gameplay mechanics that the developers built into the game. Now Alone in the Dark: Inferno is here, and it is… better! Structured like a TV series, Inferno breaks its survival horror action up into digestible 30-40 minute episodes. With an innovative structure, amazing fire physics and experimental gameplay mechanics, Alone in the Dark: Inferno should be worth a try for horror fans.
Spiderman: Web of Shadows: A perfect game for Spiderman fans, Web of Shadows improves upon previous Spiderman games in terms of story and combat mechanics. The game gets repetitive later on in the story, and suffers from a lack of polish, but still ranks as one of the better, if not the best, Spiderman games available. Web of Shadows was previewed by ComicsOnline at last year’s San Diego Comic-con, and the write up by the_matt is here.
Bonus Item!: Mirror’s Edge: A first person platformer, inspired by parkour (also called free running and all sorts of different names), Mirror’s Edge takes players across the roof tops of a dystopian city as they unravel a conspiracy to frame the protagonist’s sister for the assassination of a prominent politician. Despite certain First Person action segments, the game focuses more on running than on gunning. It has strong art direction, engaging presentation, inspired platforming gameplay, and a great score, but stumbles with the action gameplay, and the story is a little short and anticlimactic, though replayable thanks to included Speed Run and Time Trial Modes. Mirror’s Edge released to mixed reviews due to it’s bold new gameplay choices and imperfect execution, but it really is a very good game, and worth a try.
What I’m not mentioning: Farcry 2, Call of Duty: World At War and the rest of the solid first person shooters that are overshadowed by other awesome releases this holiday season; Grand Theft Auto 4, Metal Gear Solid 4(PS3 only), and the rest of the excellent games released in the earlier part of the year; Bioshock, Mass Effect(Xbox 360/PC only) and all of the excellent games from LAST year that are now getting some pretty sweet discounts; Rock Band 2, Guitar Hero: World Tour and the rest of the booming genre of music games; Every Sports game EVER; Little Big Planet (PS3 only); and Fable II(Xbox 360 only) and Gears of War 2 (Xbox 360 only) because I’m STILL seething with hatred for the first entries of these series despite the fact that everyone is saying that the sequels are great. Seriously, there are a ton of games out there for these systems that are worth buying this holiday season.
Read More to see our Wii, Downloadable and PC Game Guides… Wii Games
de Blob: This game has been called the Wii’s Katamari Damacy, and with the colorful gameplay and silly, stylish art direction it is easy to see why. Despite some complaints about repetitive missions, de Blob has been widely praised as one of the better Wii games of the year.
Boom Blox: An earlier release of the year, which involved Steven Spielberg as a developer/inspiration at some point in the cycle, Boom Blox has also been called one of the better third party games to be released on Wii. Apparently a mix between Jenga and explosions, I’ve seen a few screenshots and still don’t know exactly what is going on. But from what I’ve heard, the game is super fun, especially in a group.
Sam and Max: Season 1: Telltale Games, who specialize in episodic adventure games such as the Sam and Max and Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People series (which we reviewed here), has released their first season of Sam and Max games for the Wii. Sam and Max features strong adventure gameplay and clever writing. The humor isn’t for everyone, and the Wii port features some technical issues, but overall, Sam and Max is a very worthy game.
Wii Music: The scourge of the hardcore, which will destroy the way that people have gamed for years! Or not. Wii Music has been getting a lot of flak for being more of a software toy than it is a game. But it is, according to some, a FUN software toy. Don’t expect this to be Guitar Hero or Rock Band Wii, but rather as a musical followup to Nintendo’s previous Wii offerings such as Wii Sports or Wii Fit.
Animal Crossing: City Folk: This game is getting mixed reviews for not adding much to the previous two Animal Crossing games that were released in North America. While that is unfortunate for long term players of the series, City Folk should still please the casual crowd, especially first time players, with it’s accessible social mechanics, relaxed pace and casual gameplay.
What I’m not mentioning: Wii Fit and all of the other non-games that anger sensitive hardcore gamers, Super Smash Brothers Brawl, Mario Kart Wii and the rest of the excellent games released earlier in the year, all of the poorly developed licensed games that your children will probably want.
If you are hesitant to spend the money to buy a big budget game for your gamer, or don’t know which of the games above would appeal to them, you could always purchase them some Wii Points/ Xbox Live Points/ Playstation Network money, basically money that buys downloadable games or game add ons for their platform of choice. Downloadable games are more popular than ever, and this year has seen several high profile releases, such as these Downloadable Titles:
Megaman 9 (Wiiware, PSN, XBLA): A brand new game with old school sensibilities, this is a true continuation of the Mega Man series, ignoring everything that happened after Mega Man 3. Despite running on high powered hardware, Mega Man 9 looks and plays like it was on the original Nintendo entertainment system, even going so far as to replicate graphical glitches that occurred in the original Mega Man (which the player can turn off, if they so desire.)
Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix (PSN, XBLA): Released just in time for Thanksgiving, this is, apparently, the definitive version of Street Fighter II, offering similar gameplay and character rosters, but done with all new, high definition graphics. It is just a shiny repackage of a game that you have probably played before, but the package is very, very shiny.
Braid (XBLA Only): A clever, if pretentious, take on the 2D platformer, Braid builds its gameplay up from an interesting time travel mechanic. The art and music are beautiful, the game makes cheap references to classic platformers such as Donkey Kong, and especially Super Mario Brothers, and the story is almost comprehensible until the epilogue, where it veers into complete gibberish. It is definitely a good game, and well worth playing, though some of the praise for it is a little over the top.
Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People (Wiiware, PC): The episodic adventure game for Wii Ware features strong adventure gameplay and some very funny moments. Especially good for adventure game fans, or fans of the Strong Bad animated series from Homestarrunner.com. We reviewed episode three of the series “Baddest of the Bands” here, giving it 3.5 out of 5 stars.
Old Games: Nintendo’s Virtual Console is an excellent source for legitimate, well emulated games for the NES, Super Nintendo, Sega Master System, Sega Genesis, TurboGraphix 16, NEOGEO and Nintendo 64. Xbox Live Arcade has some older games, with a broader selection of Arcade games, a selection of games originally released for the first Xbox, and some games originally released for rival platforms, in their original form or with a new HD polish. The Playstation Network has a series of Original Playstation games available for download. All three platforms have their share of junk of available, but you can also find some of the greatest games ever in an affordable and well presented package.
PC
The Witcher: Enhanced Edition: This re-release took an ambitious but flawed RPG, and removed the flaws. Already one of the best computer RPGs released in years, the Enhanced Edition adds some extra stability, some extra polish, some extra quests and generally enhances the game all around.
GoodOldGames.com: There are many options for people to buy out of print console games via downloadable services without having to pirate your way to satisfaction, but what about PC classics? GoodOldGames, a recently opened service provides legitimate, affordable, DRM free copies of some of the best games from the PC game golden age of the late 90’s/early 00’s.
Left 4 Dead: Co-op Zombie Movie simulator. Enough said? No? Well, with Left 4 Dead from Valve Software, the makers of the Half-Life series, as well as Team Fortress and Portal, have turned their attention to the zombie genre, making a game where you work with three other survivors to make your way through a series of zombie infested levels. The gameplay is fairly straight forward, but the game fosters an atmosphere that perfectly replicates the feel of a zombie movie, and casts the player as one of a series of zombie movie stock cast members. Perfect for zombie fans, though it might be good to have a friend to play through with you. Also available for Xbox 360.
Fallout 3: Yeah, yeah, this was on the console list too, but this is the better version. After the level editor/content creator is released next month, the mod community is going to go wild and make this already excellent post-apocalyptic RPG even better, just like they did for Oblivion and Morrowind before it. Plus, the PC version is $10 cheaper, so if your PC can run it (my system was midrange when I built it two years ago, and still runs it fine) this is the version to get.
SPORE: An “everything game” from the creator of The Sims, Spore was a little overhyped when it was first released, which led to a lot of disappointments among many of the people who rushed to pick it up. Spore is spread a little thin because of its attempt to recreate the progression of a species from single celled organism to a galaxy spanning empire, especially in terms of game play, but the game isn’t really about the individual modes, as much as the hard core wanted it to be. Rather, Spore is about the journey, and the scope of the world is amazing, as a player sees it from every perspective, from a microscopic to a telescopic view. Spore includes a lot of character, building and vehicle editors, which allow players to express themselves in their virtual species. While Spore may not have lived up to it’s full potential, producer EA Games definitely has the resources and motivations to exploit the game with a slew of expansion packs and sequels, so the game might someday reach the glory that gamers saw when Spore was first demonstrated. A good gift for the creative gamer, or for any casual fan of The Sims looking for something a little more expansive.
Bonus Item!: The Orange Box: Technically, this was a game from last year, but it is still around. The best value in videogames, The Orange Box is five games in one package, and it is now even cheaper than it was last year. Included in this package are the excellent Half Live 2, two episodic follow ups to Half Life 2, the multiplayer Team Fortress 2 which provides some slick art direction, and smart sense of humor, and Portal the concise First Person puzzler masterpiece that had everybody quoting it after it’s release last year. If you haven’t picked it up yet… well, you should.
What I not mentioning: Everything else available for the PC. The independent games. The technical powerhouses. While the platform may be struggling as far as triple-A titles are concerned, there are still plenty of options for the PC gamer, especially the casual crowd.
So that’s it for our 2008 gaming gift guides, this holiday season, like last year’s, is filled with wonderful games, and plenty of options for the game playing geek. We hope you find this helpful in choosing your gaming gifts. Good luck on Black Friday!
