Discriminating Gamer

As promised, here’s part 2 of my best games of 2007 list. Read part 1 of the best games of 2007 here.

Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)
Super Mario Sunshine was more of a vacation than its island theme indicated… Galaxy is the true spiritual successor to Super Mario 64, as it makes significant advances in the series while maintaining Mario’s classic sensibilities. This game brings back the wonder I recall taking flight for the first time as Raccoon Mario in Super Mario 3. The Wii-mote controls are fluid, intuitive and don’t feel even the least bit tacked on. What little story there is is typical Mario fare, but you don’t play Mario games for engrossing narrative.

Portal - The Orange Box (Xbox 360)
In a year chock full of name brand sequels and big budget mega-hits, quirky and diminutive (in size, not impact) Portal still managed to stand out from the crowd. It already has a legion of disciples dutifully spreading its dessert-related fallacy… and the truth revealed when the curtain is finally pulled back.

Half Life 2: Episode 2 - The Orange Box (Xbox 360)
Episode 2 eschews the first episode’s been there, gravity-gunned that dalliances in favor of more original, exciting sequences, none of which feel like plot-driving busy work. Hopefully I’m not giving away too much, but the vignette climaxes with a thrilling battle against an onslaught of Combine Striders, followed by the best-acted and most heartbreaking scene I’ve witnessed in my many years of video game playing. I can say without exaggeration that I was agape when all was said and done. Thank you, Valve, for pioneering the concept of tight, focused episodic game content and bringing the unbelievable Orange Box compilation to the console realm.

God of War II (PS2)
Read my full review of God of War II. The Cliff’s Notes version: the game is amazing.

Rock Band (Xbox 360)
Let me give you a case-in-point example of what makes Rock Band so great: Last week, an old college friend of my wife and her family were in town for a wedding. Word got around that we had Rock Band in the house, and I ended up mock rocking with my wife’s college friend’s husband’s brothers and cousins. Yeah. I was belting out Oasis and Metallica in front of people I had never met before and it wasn’t at all awkward. Plus, it was only the most recent in a series of Rock Band-centric gatherings I’ve hosted over the last six months. Sure, it has some interface issues and other minor annoyances, but Rock Band brings people together.

Honorable Mention (Which just means I’m pretty sure these games would be on the list, except I haven’t played them yet): Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (Wii), Super Paper Mario (Wii) and The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (DS).

Seeing that we’re already half way through 2008, what better time than now to quickly review the best games of 2007. Actually, it’s taken me this long to play through enough games to review. 2007 was an unbelievable year for video games and every one listed here is more than just worth your time, it’s an experience not to be missed. Here is part one of the list, in no particular order. Look for part two shortly. (Update: Here is Part 2 of the Best Games of 2007)

Halo 3 (Xbox 360)
Anyone that reads this blog on even a semi-consistent basis knows how I feel about Halo 3. For further proof, scroll down and check out the tag cloud on the right. Halo 3 is big. Anyway, for Bungie to deftly pull off a project of such magnitude is an incredible achievement, meeting or exceeding ridiculously high expectations in the process. Playing through the satisfying conclusion of Spartan-117’s story was worth the price of admission me, but in reality that’s only one in a series of fully realized layers, including online matchmaking, the Forge level editor and the Theater. Also, I still marvel at the insanely thorough game/website integration and extensive stat-tracking whenever I stop by my Bungie.net profile.

As a blatant Halo super-fan, I’ll admit I was annoyed by the game’s conspicuous absence from a lot of year end best-of-2007 lists. Game Informer issue #177 immediately comes to mind, where I couldn’t help but notice that, out of 10 GI editors, only two had Halo 3 in their top 10. Two! And neither had it higher than #6. I realize those lists are strictly opinion and designed to elicit heated responses, but Crackdown, Assassin’s Creed, Picross DS, Phoenix Wright and Guitar Hero III (just to name a few) are NOT better than Halo 3, end of story. The editors at GI weren’t the only offenders, just the ones that stuck out most to me.

Anyway, I figure the collective year end snub can be attributed to a handful of factors. First, (as you’ll see in the next few paragraphs) there was some legitimately stiff competition last year, especially in the First-Person Shooter realm. Second, there was some understandable backlash to the oppressive hype-machine surrounding the Halo 3 launch. Third, many reviewers threw their support behind original IP’s and innovators like BioShock and Portal or series redefining titles like Mario Galaxy and Call of Duty 4 rather than a perceived retread, albeit an outstanding one.

Lastly, and most importantly, the game is hurt by the reputation of its staunchest supporters. Yeah, a lot of the players you run into online are immature, homophobic, racist idiots. In Bungie’s defense, they have implemented many features to counter the morons, but they can only regulate your matchmaking experience so much. Basically, don’t hate the game, hate the players.

BioShock (Xbox 360)
I’ve already written some extended impressions of BioShock, but I’ve since finished the game. Although I found the final boss battle somewhat lacking, the immersive audio, visuals and narrative create a polished gaming experience second to none in this generation or any before it. Well, maybe second to one…

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Xbox 360)
COD4 is so polished it makes a wide-eyed recruit’s spit-shined combat boots look dull and so intense it makes a grizzled drill Sargent look mellow. Intricate visuals, realistic audio, varied level design and a taut, twisting narrative synthesize into a game you don’t just play, you experience.

Much of COD4’s beauty lies in its attention to detail. Shoot an enemy in the leg and he’ll go down, arms flailing. Approach a downed enemy to finish him off and he’ll pull out his pistol in a last ditch attempt to fend off your murderous advances (FYI - if you’re playing on ‘Veteran’ difficulty, they can kill you with that pistol… and fast).

Realistic animations are only one example of the extreme level of detail. The audio and sound effects received the same thoughtful care in development. Each weapon has a distinct sound when fired and kicks appropriately. Your comrades call out enemy locations and your field commanders bark orders with authority in the midst of intense firefights. I especially enjoyed the banter from the rest of the crew when you man the cannons on the AC-130 gun ship.

Speaking of the AC-130 mission, it’s one of a few sequences used to break up the intense shooting levels that compose most of the game. Some of the segments are full missions, others are more like interactive vignettes that draw you further into the story, but they’re all well crafted, welcome distractions from the main action.

Although COD4 lacks the vehicle combat and cooperative modes of Halo, I was too busy fighting for my life to notice. It’s difficult to nail down any real shortcomings of the game, but on the harder difficulties, your squadmates are basically bullet sponges that don’t cover your flank. Also, the game is briskly paced, almost to a fault… but not quite. The speed in which you get whisked through most levels makes it difficult to enjoy some of the more subtle detail. Any complaints I have are minor, at worst.

If you own a PS3 or Xbox 360, chances are you’ve played Call of Duty 4. If you haven’t, go buy, rent or borrow it right now… you will not be disappointed.

Check out Part 2 of the Best Games of 2007. Don’t worry, they’re not all FPS’s.

As reported yesterday on various popular gaming sites, singer/songwriter Jonathan Coulton’s catchy and hilarious tune “Still Alive,” from the closing credits of Orange Box gem Portal, is available today for download and play in Rock Band on Xbox 360. Sorry PS3 owners, you have to wait until April 17th to rock out with your Portal guns out.

When news broke that the song would be released on April Fool’s Day, some people were understandably skeptical about its legitimacy. Although the scenario is rife with prank potential, I can confirm from first hand experience that the song is available and indeed free. In fact, I tested it out just this afternoon with my best GLaDOS impersonation. No word on how long the tune will be free, so go get it now. However, if you haven’t played Portal, go buy that first because, 1. It’s amazing, and 2. the song contains plot spoilers.

I enjoy a well-executed April Fool’s gag as much as the next person, but the video game industry has taken the practice to extremes of late. Maybe because gaming nerds and fanboys are such easy targets, blinded by a volatile combination of unbridled fanaticism and wishful thinking. Still, game-related pranks have become increasingly obvious; expected, even. Electronic Gaming Monthly has run an April Fool’s joke every year for the last 17 years. At this point, it’s more of a tradition than an attempt to fool anyone but the most gullible readers.

EGM brought game-related April Foolery to the mainstream, but many industry publications and game makers have since followed suit. Case in point: someone at IGN obviously put a lot of work into this Zelda movie trailer, but I only had to read the headline to immediately know it was a fake. Watching the better-than-homemade-but-still-straight-to-video-caliber trailer only confirmed it. The actor playing Link looks 35 years old, for crying out loud. Anyway, the video game industry needs to take a break from April Fool’s Day for a couple of years.

Here’s my first attempt at a Haloramic composite Halo 3 screenshot. It lacks the depth of some other Haloramics I’ve seen, probably due to the nature of the source images. I rotated the camera significantly for each capture, so much so that the large moon on the left and my flying corpse on the right were never in a screen capture together. Still, it sort of comes across as just a wide screenshot. Anyway, the depth is lacking but I like the cool hues and stark, minimal feel it has going on.

The story behind this Halo 3 panoramic is much better than the shot itself. I was trolling the underground on Snowbound, as I customarily do, when a well placed frag set off the fusion cores near the shotgun spawn. Anyone who’s traded rounds in the tunnels of Snowbound knows this is not an uncommon occurrence. Needless to say, I didn’t survive the subsequent fireworks.

It wasn’t the first time I died a fiery death looking for the shotgun, and I’m sure it won’t be the last. It was after the explosion this situation became unique. My corpse was blasted through the shield door, up the ramp and out of the wide tunnel. It barely clipped the ridge the automatic turrets sit on, cartwheeled though the air (the source of the Haloramic) before it hit the ground and skittered to a halt way, way out in the middle of the barren wasteland. I couldn’t even get the camera near it in theater mode because of the invisible barrier out past the auto-turrets.

It’s funny, what may appear to be a super hero soaring to new heights is actually a corpse blasted into frozen desolation. It’s a fairly amusing sequence of events. I’ll upload the video to my Bungie.net fileshare if anyone cares to check it out.

Check out this nifty feature over at 1UP about some of the ways games have changed over the years and why many good games go unfinished. The author touches on many aspects synonymous with being a discriminating gamer and echoes many of the sentiments that inspired me to start this website in the first place. Anyway, it’s another voice touting the virtues of discernment in gaming - an unknowing accomplice in the battle against bad games.

The article is three whole pages long, though, so I understand if you are unable to get through the whole thing. Ha!