The O/C Gamer

My avatar is crouched upon a rooftop, my foe on a rooftop two buildings away. A tiny overhang protects me from their gunfire; a city bustles around me. I leap up, instantly targeting an enemy in the middle of the group. Away scoots a homing missile. Or maybe two, I'm feeling feisty.

As I fall back to the rooftop, an explosion rocks the screen. Seconds later, a collection of tiny little orbs of light stream to my body, increasing my avatar's competencies; I level up with a glorious feeling of power, accompanied by an awesome bass-heavy 'FFFFFWOOOOOOOOMPSSSSSSHHHH', my avatar erupting with new-found strength.

This is the joy of Crackdown, a game that is almost impossible to categorise. The popular description would include words like "open-ended sandbox" - after all, there's no load times as you roam the three districts of Pacific City, and you're free to tackle the tasks of the game in any order you please. But there's so much more to it than that; RPG influences are blended with a fantastic selection of weaponry and vehicles, a refined sense of grittiness, and huge dollops of tongue-in-cheek thrown in. Racing, time-attacks, head-shots, stunt jumps, and some of the fiendish collect-em-ups ever… it's all in there.

And then there's the map. The world. Pacific City. Never before has a gameworld been so convincingly three-dimensional. Sure, you can run/kick/punch/drive your way from La Mugre to The Den, but why bother when you can leap from rooftop to rooftop, with a tense nail-biting ascent of the Agency Tower on the way? Granted, it's completely devoid of "plot" - relying instead on the snippets of stories surrounding the three tribes and 21 bosses. As the game ends, there's a sinister little twist that you kinda-sorta knew was coming, but it feels like an afterthought; after all, Crackdown isn't about plot; it's about a place, a premise. And it doesn't suffer because of it.

I'm one of the few people that bought Crackdown on release for the game itself, and not the Halo 3 multiplayer beta that it carried with it; I'd seen demo movies of the game as part of a previous E3 showing, and became utterly smitten with the comic-esque graphic treatment. Sadly, that effect was toned down somewhat for the final release, but Crackdown pulls no punches in the visuals, with a tremendous draw distance and the ability to inspire vertigo with the sheer verticality on offer. Sonically, it's functional - but with a great selection of tunes on offer whenever you jump in a car. And there's no denying the aural power of the music in this clip of sample Achievements.

And what a collection of Achievements! At once tempting, difficult, and ingenious, they extend the playtime by hours… and, most importantly, encourage you to explore the co-op multiplayer. And here is where Crackdown claims the GotY crown for its own: whilst Halo 3's multiplayer provides squillions of laughs (especially when you have 7 mates joining you for Rocket Races), nothing comes close to the co-op of Crackdown. Nothing quite compares to dropping into a mate's game, helping him attack a tower packed with bad guys; covering each other's ascent whilst racking up a massive body count. Suddenly, you accidentally pop him in the head with a rocket launcher - a completely innocent shot of extreme accuracy - and the enemy is forgotten, with pistols at dawn as you hunt each other down.

With rockets.

And you continue to hunt each other, silently cheering your own death (because it results in you getting more rockets).

Hours later, you remember why hooked up in the first place; you meander back across Pacific City and finish the intended attack. Then you shoot each other some more, before trying to help each other jump through suspended purple rings. With the help of rockets. Of course.

And that, my friends, is why Crackdown is my Game of the Year. Still compelling after 10 months, still able to generate a cheesey grin, still capable of providing challenge and laughs and entertainment… and wall-to-wall fun. The only game I've started playing on a second GamerTag, just so I can have the thrill of gaining those Achievements again. Yes, it's that special.

Posted by pete at 05:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Another year on, and still only two readers. Doubtless they'll give not-a-shit about these worthless opinions; why start now, eh? Still, for prosperity, here's my bouquets and brickbats for the gaming world (as I experienced it) circa 2007…

Website of the Year: The always amusing, constantly cutting, totally tongue-in-cheek Sony Defense Force.

Almost-but-not-quite Award: Oh, how I wanted Bullet Witch to work. Something about the movie presented at the 2006 E3 left me utterly smitten. Maybe it was the idea of a gun-toting witch. Maybe it was the fact that said witch was hot. Whatever it was, my pre-order was in as soon as I saw it on my local's list, and I awaited delivery with bated breath. Sadly, whilst Alicia the Bullet Witch was indeed hot (especially when decked out in the schoolgirl and secretary costumes), the gameplay was astoundingly average. A little more content, a few less crashes, and a coherent plot may have made this a winner; sadly, most of the pleasure derived from this game was either lecherous or directed at the laughable "writing".

Game Writing of the Year: tough one this, but Super Paper Mario takes the gong for this little next-gen dig:

I long for the sweet peace of the pasture… but the bright colors of the world taunt me!

Why must all things be so bright? Why can things not appear only in hues of brown!

I am so serious about this!
Dull colors are the future!
…The next generation!

Disappointment of the Year: The PS3s lineup of compelling games… or lack thereof. I was expecting my anti-Sony resolve to be tested, but no - release after hyped release was deemed no better than "good" by the majority of the gaming press. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune seems to be upping the ante a little, though - about bloody time. Honorary mention to Shadow of the Colossus - why is this game so revered, again?

Under-Appreciated Game of the Year: Normally, this would have been a no-brainer for Space Giraffe; however, judging by the Leaderboards, that title managed at least 15,000 sales (despite Minter's almost abusive rantings… surely a candidate for Saddest Moment in Gaming for the year). However, the wonderfully weighted and polished Mutant Storm Empire was played by far fewer than it deserved - 6,454 people worldwide have claimed the impossible-not-to-get Beastie Combo Achievement. A massive shame; here's hoping that the PomPom guys (and other publishers, too) don't abandon the fledgling Live Arcade platform.

Funnest Gaming Moment of the Year: Halo 3. Rocket Races. Eight mates spanning three continents. I was hoarse from laughing. Honorary mentions go to Excite Truck, Crackdown, and the opening moments of Just Cause.

WTF Gaming Moment of the Year: Space Giraffe, level 52. Followed closely by level 64. Then there's the other 98 levels, then a real big drop-off to the next game. Of course, Space Giraffe also picks up the Gaming Payback of the Year award, for the absolute glee I felt when I learnt to "see" all the levels. Brilliant stuff.

Couples Counseling Award: Earth Defense Force 2017, for bringing me and my SO closer together - in a gaming sense, at least.

Bring-On-The-Divorce Award: Halo 3, more late nights, early mornings, and inter-continental swearing and laughs than she could possibly imagine. New rule - if you see the headset on, I'm not actually talking to you. Honorable mention goes to Every Extend Extra Extreme - the SO thought it a great idea to drag me out of the zone by asking me something utterly trivial. On level 98 of Revenge Mode. Game over, achievement not unlocked.

Learning On The Job Award: Crackdown, for that initial vertiginous climb up the Agency Tower. With further play - especially with the foot races - comes the ability to just belt up the side of the building like it was an ant-hill. I can't actually recall learning how to do that ;)

Bastard Technology Award: The EEPROM chips in Jaguar cartridges. Lost heaps of good Tempest 2000 progress because of that dodgy mid-nineties tech.

That's What Gaming's All About Award: this is kind of a runner-up for Game of the Year; but Super Mario Galaxy, with its worlds of imagination and gentle difficulty and giggles and fun was a brilliant example of a game for everyone, not just the gaming-since-birth crowd.

In Summary: Last year, I wrote "2006 was a bloody brilliant year to be a gamer "; but it could be argued that 2007 yielded more quality titles than any other year in gaming history. Even the over-hyped critical duds were huge - see Lair, Assassin's Creed, Heavenly Sword. My spreadsheet tells me that I bought a lazy twenty games in 2007, but look at the AAA titles I didn't buy: The Orange Box (an O/C nightmare), Bioshock (the demo scared the shit out of me), Guitar Hero III and Rock Band (I don't need more rhythm games), and all manner of Wii Virtual Console (Super Metroid, Mario 64, A Link to the Past) and XBLA (Pac-Man CE, Alien Hominid) titles. There's far more games than time, and my records show that I've still got 63 games incomplete. Maybe I should consider making a New Year's Resolution regarding the "incomplete" list? Something along the lines of reducing it to around 50? Hah - I'm nowhere near that naïve… a more realistic resolution would be to not let it blow out much further.

But bring on 2008…

Posted by pete at 04:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A bit of time-in-lieu, and I'm off work for the whole week; but a trek to my parents' place for Christmas left me with nothing but the DS to hammer for three days. Regardless, this was a big week... a big week.

Lumines Live, Geometry Wars - didn't play either. Not really hard to avoid these chaps, what with the problems with Live over the last few weeks. Since my 360 Premium hard drive is now attached to my 360 Arcade, I require a Live login to play my XBLA games... and with Live going up and down like a whore's knickers, I was constantly getting booted out of my games. Ho, hum.

Super Mario Galaxy - finished. 100% complete. Crossed off the list. All 121 stars, with both Mario and Luigi. That included a particularly heroic 14-hour day doing Luigi's last 56(!) stars, including all the bastard muscle-memory-test purple coin challenges. Fantastic stuff; I loved Galaxy.

Stranger's Wrath - finished. Just a few hours ago, in fact. After finishing Galaxy, I figured I'd push on through with this. I hadn't felt especially driven to do so; sure, I really enjoyed playing it when I had the controller in my hand, but I wasn't being compelled to play it. All that changed when I hit the plot twist about two-thirds through the game; when the game changed from the (decent) first-and-third-person shooter style to start incorporating run and dodge and hard-core shooter and... wow. Just wow. Great game. Will give this another play-through in a few weeks.

Phantom Hourglass - finished the main story... but, as with all modern Zeldas, the game doesn't end there. Oodles of side-quests and ship parts and trading games and fishing left to do.

The completion of Zelda niggled me, though. In some ways, Super Mario Galaxy and Phantom Hourglass have a lot in common; both are flagship titles for their respective systems, and both show that careful design can lead to brilliant new control mechanisms that exemplify what those systems are capable of. The difference between them, though, is that the liberating control methods Galaxy are built on top of a game which, by itself, is all manner of awesome; it's pretty hard to say the same of Zelda. Great controls, and some bits of the game are fantastic; but there's huge chunks of crud there, too - walking into the Temple of the Ocean King for (what was to be) the penultimate time was utterly demoralising, and nearly broke my resolve.

So that wraps up a big week for me. Tonight, I start the critical darling that is Killer 7; I can't wait :)

Posted by pete at 05:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yet another quick catch-up entry. Progress is as follows:

Lumines Live - bugger all progress. A couple of scores in the high-300-thousands (using the Rockin' Holiday Pack, which seems a lot easier than the Advanced, and I haven't even clocked the skins yet), but nothing new unlocked.

Geometry Wars - oooooh, something's coming together. First, I managed to string together a stack of inspired dodge-and-shoot, netting me 1,000,315 points - and an Achievement! Quite proud of that, especially considering it was built on an utterly craptacular first-life score of under 100,000. Followed that up the next day with a first-life score of 465,000 - another Achievement. Feeling good about Geommie Wars now...

Stranger's Wrath - didn't play it.

Phantom Hourglass - didn't play it. But a bit of travel over Christmas bodes well.

Super Mario Galaxy - oh my word yes. Finished with Mario - all 120 stars, including the complete bastardry of Luigi's Purple Coins (a pain made worse when you find a YouTube video of someone grabbing all 150 coins... playing as Luigi). Have started playing as Luigi now, a touch over 30 coins in... his slip-slidey nature, of course, adds a little to the difficulty level, but the first Cosmic Luigi race I attempted left me aghast - Cosmic Luigi seems a much more cluey individual than his shorter, fatter brother.

So there you go. Feeling a bit of a hankering to tackle Killer 7 soon, but one of these buggers is going to be wrapped up first...

Posted by pete at 11:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

OK - a few days on, and I'm forcing myself to write again. How's my progress going?

Lumines Live - unlocked a bunch of skins (currently at 82%, what with the Base, Advanced, VS CPU & Puzzle packs), and managed to loop Advanced in Challenge Mode for a decent score of 457,000. My 60 second Time Attack is stuck at 57, though... well off the pace. Really enjoying Lumines, though, even though my Challenge Mode games are usually over an hour apiece; there's a whole lot of blinking later in the game when my eyes have dried out from the staring :}

Geometry Wars - no real progress, though I did have one pearler of a game that yielded a first-life score of 425,000-ish (another two seconds and I would've netted that ninth life, but no, I had to run straight at that black hole, didn't I? Idiot). The big problem with Geommie Wars - apart from the fact that I'm crap at it - is that it's very hard for me to start a second game. Going from the frenetic late-game stages back to the start is so jarring it almost dooms the subsequent game.

Stranger's Wrath - didn't play it.

Phantom Hourglass - another few days away from home with work presents another perfect opportunity to belt this around. I'm now two-thirds of the way through the second "half" of the game - you know what I'm talking about, right? - and managed to have a blissful moment in the airport. To my left was a young girl, maybe twelve, playing Nintendogs on her white DS. To my right, a boy - about the same age - playing something D-pad-centric on his black DS. And there's me, a fat dishevelled bloke in his late thirties, grinning like an absolute fucking loon because I just figured out how to deal with Gleeok, the Two-Headed Dragon, by scribbling madly on my little white screen. Some mad tapping battles raised some eyebrows on the flight, too.

The big winner, though, has been Super Mario Galaxy. 96 stars now, and they're starting to get pretty damn devious. I left an infuriating bunny hunt to come write this, and I hear their little bunnyish snickers haunting me now, the bastards. SMG is obviously very polished, and a hell of a lot of fun to play... but Game of the Year material? Hardly.

Game of the Year, eh? There's a thought for another entry...

Posted by pete at 09:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A mere fortnight after privately declaring that I would post something - anything - at least once a week, I slipped. For the best part of a month. A frantic cocktail of work and work managed to dismember my plans whilst allowing a tantalising morsel of time each day to get my game on. As such, there's been a bit of playing, but no writing.

Let's redress the balance, shall we? This is the first of (hopefully) many updates that will outline exactly what I'm up to - what I'm playing, how I'm progressing.

After I had a blitz of game completion (Space Giraffe, E4, and Dig Dug all falling in quick succession) I thought it appropriate to start clearing my backlog. So I turned my attention to the very first Xbox 360 game I ever played, Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved. It's always annoyed me that I'm not better at this than I am - it's the type of twitch gaming I love, and the graphical aesthetic appeals to me no end. But I'll be buggered if I can consistently get reasonable scores; a mere 60 GS is all Geommie Wars has coughed up, with a high score around 570,000. The aim, then, is to practise until I can up the score, and get at least another Achievement before the end of the year; the "nine lives" Achievement looks like the target, since a first life of 450,000 would hit the target.

After not having played Geommie Wars for at least six months, first signs looked good - I seemed to see the playfield clearer than I ever had before, and somehow manage to zip in amongst the swarms of baddies in ways that genuinely excited me. Within a day or two, I'd bumped my high score to 620,000. A few more days yielded one extraordinary (for me) game that was constant panic, bumping the high up to 930,000. And yet, the best first life score remains tapped at about 350,000, and further progress has been limited - scores greater than half-a-million are becoming more common, but not frequent enough. Lots more practise required.

At the same time I nominated Geommie Wars, I also chose Lumines Live - I figured that concentrating on two such different games at once would provide sufficient variety. And Lumines is another of those games that I really want to be able to love - and, truth be told, I wasn't sure I had enjoyed my first excursions with the game at all. Something about the structure of the game - most likely the timeline - had rubbed me the wrong way, and the 50 GS I'd gleaned from the game seemed forced. I really didn't like it, yet felt like I should - bloody hell, I loved all the other games Miz had touched, why not this one?

No matter - I committed to improving my return of Achievements from Lumines. And a few days of practise yielded the remaining lower-tier Time Attack Achievements; another day or two of punishing the Base skins gained me a complete lap. 100 GS; half-way there. But the higher-tier Time Attack Achievements are renowned for being hellishly difficult, and I'm struggling to hit a half-million points for the last score-based Achievement. Not only that, in-game stats tell me that I've only unlocked 70% of the skins! This game will be the end of me :}

So - two games on the go. Both pretty tough, but that's OK.

And then a friend mentioned that he was selling Stranger's Wrath for the original Xbox. This had been on my "must play someday" list (yes - another list), so a quick visit to Paypal and it was on its way to me. Bloody hell, it's impressive. Really impressive. But somewhere along the way I forgot to pick up a rather important item from the shop... a shop that's no longer open. So I'm important-item-less. Granted, it's not critical, but I'm pottering around thinking life would be much easier with this item. Regardless - I'm loving this game, with it's mixture of gruff charm and freedom-of-movement, and looking forward to playing it at every opportunity.

So - that's three games on the go. Then another friend decides to put in an order at DVDCrave... "can I piggyback on that order?"

And suddenly I've got Zelda: Phantom Hourglass in my DS and - whaddayaknow - I'm away from home on work for a week.

What an ace game. Four solid nights of play in, and I'm loving it to bits. The problem is, I know there's more work-based travel in my future, so I'm trying (desperately) not to play it at every opportunity.

Anyway - I get home from that week away, and there's a shrink-wrapped copy of Super Mario Galaxy sitting there, waiting for me.

...

So - my plan of two-games-on-the-go has ballooned somewhat... there's now five. And I'm loving Every. Single. One. Of. Them.

Yes, even Lumines.

Hopefully, future posts will include details of progress in these five games... and others. There's untold delights in Killer 7 that I'm looking forward to over the Christmas break, a bit of Halo 3 with the lads, I just got a PS1 memory card allowing me to hammer N2O, and Psychonauts is available on Xbox Live now...

What a great time to be a gamer. What a shit time to be an O/C Gamer ;)

Posted by pete at 10:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)