Gaming – December and Beyond…

After looking at games up until December, we figured we’d complete the journey and see what’s on offer in the coming year.

Plenty on offer, mostly sequels of course.  Let’s crack on…

Gran Turismo 5 – PS3

Jesta: Will be as pretty as ever and be super realistic.  If you played the prologue, or any other in the series you’ll know what I mean.  I do like earning the cash and improving the car in order to win more cash in the next race, lather rinse repeat.  Sadly, it’s the repeat part that’s going to put me off.  When you’re $2000 short of that next key upgrade and have to race the same track 4 times at $500 a time to buy it, I’d rather go back to Mario Kart.

Diablos: Not overly bothered by this one either. I am sure it will be OK, the graphics will be nice and it will last forever but I don’t enjoy this overly real race experience, gimme Burnout or Mario Kart any day.

Bioshock 2 – PC

Jesta: Bought the first but it didn’t hold my interest very far in.  Again, very pretty with a slight twist on the storey lead FPS.  I was happier with Fallout 3 and Crysis at the time but I would have liked to have followed the seemingly very good, and creepy, storey line.

Diablos: I really enjoyed Bioshock, it was a different approach to FPS and the mix of magic (ok Plasmids) and guns was loads of fun to do. I also really liked the whole setting of the game, I am a big Steampunk fan and everything about Bioshock ticked those boxes. It could be very difficult at times but often this is a welcome change  and the fact that the game had so many little sub-sections and mini-games made it last so much longer.

Bioshock 2 is shaping up to be awesome and it will definitely be a welcome return to Rapture for me. Here’s the E3 trailer to get you interested.

Phantasy Star 0 – DS

Jesta: We have a soft spot for this game after spending far too many hours playing the Gamecube version.  Not to mention the amount of Chinese food and M&M brownies consumed at the time.  This one is looking good.  Multi-cartridge 4-player online\offline co-op, 14 character types to pick from, all customisable, 350 weapons and no dodgy Gamecube player 4 pad for DoctaJonez.  Unclear if the multi-player element is in story mode but I would ensure that 4 copies will be bought by us.

Diablos: The GC version was definitely one of the best split screen multi-player co-op games ever, it required co-operation and had loads of fun elements, it was just missing that good story element! Hopefully this will be fixed and PS0 will be a really interesting game. I think we are all biting on this one before we even have all the facts so it better live up to the promice!

A little sneak peak by the way if you hadn’t already seen footage, I love the cutesy manga character interaction popups. Also looks like we are getting some Wild ARMs style anime cut scenes.

Red Steel 2 – Wii

Jesta: Wow, what an eye-catching advertising campaign.  Certainly got my attention.  The game itself did at E3 too.  Hopefully the controls are better than the first effort and the “designed for Wii Motion Plus” tag may help.  Really good idea for the “mission mode” multiplayer game with all 4 players having a different target.  If they’ve cleaned it up, I’ll pick it up.

Diablos: Yeah any game trailer that asks me “Am I ninja enough?” is throwing down a pretty big gauntlet! I think the control system from the first game was OK as long as you kept using it, 1 day of down time and it’s all slipped from your mind and your character is spazzing out again, maybe it’s difficult or we are just getting old.

I may pick this up, it will depend on funds and time when it’s released. This trailer is really good though.

Metal Gear Solid: Rising – PS3

Jesta: Isn’t he dead or something?  Who cares, Raiden isn’t so keep these coming.  Ditching Nintendo was an inspired choice as the last Metal gear game was simply fantastic.  Coming to PS3 and 360, I can’t wait to veg on this one.  Will Snake appear?

Diablos: Jesta, a thousand fanboys just went “No blah blah blah” MGS4 really was something special, graphics were stunning, gameplay was varied and interesting and weapons and equipment really added a buzz to it all. The whole super cinematic thing could get a little too much but the story was interesting enough to not make it a chore. I think my biggest gripe was actually the whole “the bosses are 4 supermodels” thing. That was unneeded and gratuitous but hey it’s from Japan.

A new Metal Gear with cyborg Raiden could be great but I am going to want to see the supporting cast and a bit of a new flavour, Raiden is more attack than stealth.

APB: All Points Bulletin – PC – PS3

Jesta: Wait, it’s not 1987 and you’re not in an arcade.  This is a new game for 2010.  MMO that looks a lot like Grand Theft Auto, brought to you by the creator of… Grand Theft Auto.  VERY customisable characters etc  Also, they say that skill determines level progression rather than grinding, which works for me.  100 people in your world can usually mean 99 people ruining your game, it’s always a risk but this one might be worth it.

Diablos: I love the idea of this game but I agree with Jesta in knowing that people will be ass-hats on this game. Oh well, we’ll see I suppose. The trailer makes it talk the talk but GTA is getting old so this better be serving up something new when more details are released.

Warhammer 40000: Space Marine – PS3

Jesta: How can a Warhammer action-RPG be bad?  It looks really pretty and those aren’t bull-shots, it’s the real thing.  All depends how button-bashy it is.  People who know me know they don’t hold my attention.  Even Arkham Asylum is not for me.  Will have to learn more about this one closer to the time.

Diablos: I do enjoy this genre so maybe. The WH is rich and entertaining and quite a few good games have been spawned from it including the old PS1 Space Marines game. gotta say it does look button bash time from the battle trailer but potential multilayer is looking good.

Coronation Street – DS

Jesta: Heh, just kidding.  This is ridiculous, unless you’re a DS owning Corrie fan.

Diablos: I think Grand Theft CS has a good ring to it.

Diablo III – PC

Jesta: If you played the others I need not say a thing.  If you haven’t, why are you reading this? Get to Game, it’s on sale!  This does look good.  Very pretty graphics, decent classes with customisation, co-op multiplayer and Horadric cubes.  All is missing is a confirmed release date!

Diablos: I am really excited about this one. Diablo II was one of the best (and first) graphical MMOs and it literally broke the genre. Current graphics and gameplay previews look awesome although i’m betting I will have to buy a new PC for this one :(

Previous Diablo instalments offered fun, fast paced and intense multi-player experiences and that’s what this Guild is all about. Come on Diablo III please deliver! Also I am bagsy Witch Doctor!

Various Final Fantasy Titles – PS3, Wii, DS, PSP

Jesta: Rikku still doesn’t have her own game, I mean come on, she MUST be over 18 now!  Loads coming out and nothing to say on them, especially if you watched the trailers Diablos posted a while ago.  Final Fantasy XIV Online is very appealing if their promise to make the “finding a party” portion of the game easier.

Diablos: We’ll cover most of these as more information emerges but I am really excited by the FFXIII and FXIV campaigns, both look amazing and both seem to be completely different. Figures crossed they learnt from the mistakes of FFXI (which was still a good game).