Army of Two: The 40th Day
Few people would have rallied for the return of high-spirited frat-pair Salem and Rios after the mess the two made in their chest-bumping, fist-pumping, mass murdering lads tour through the first Army of Two back in 2008. But return they have, complete with a character select screen where they jostle for your attention and finish by flexing their considerable bulk and psyching themselves up in front of the camera before loading your last checkpoint. Lads!
Resonance of Fate
Returning to Resonance of Fate, after previewing it last August, was like having a good time with an old friend I didn't realise I'd missed. Tri-Ace's steampunk fantasy continues to hiss, puff and chug out a universe that, whilst familiar, is continually endearing.
Dark Void
There's a point near the start of Dark Void where Will, the game's hero, unsuccessfully leaps off a collapsing bridge, his outstretched arm mere inches away from solid ground. He's caught by Ava, the game's female love interest, in what is clearly intended as a dramatic moment but is an unnecessary conceit: Will's wearing a bloody great jetpack, after all. Later on, a character asks him how he manages to achieve the things he does. Our protagonist laughs, proclaiming that he just tries to stay out of his own way. But, really, the answer - once again - is his amazing experimental jetpack. It's made by Nikolai Tesla and it's got guns on it and everything.
The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
It will probably come in very handy, the game says. It's referring to the Spirit Flute, and is making the understatement of the year. The latest Zelda might happen to be called Spirit Tracks, and its imagery might be suffused with steamy, quasi-industrial iconography, but it's the magical pan pipes which underpin the entire experience. It's the game's equivalent of the Ocarina or Wand of Wind, just without receiving nearly as much recognition in the game.
Gaming’s 9 Most Important Crates
Back in the 90s, the Crate used to be the most powerful force in gaming. It was actually impossible to find a title which didn’t involve trekking through some warehouse, factory or, in a perfect universe, a Crate research facility. And it didn’t matter if you were exploring an alien world because even despotic extraterrestrial races needed cubic storage devices to transport their ammo and health supplies. It was a golden age for Crates.
Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter
What's Serious Sam like in HD? Well, it's like Serious Sam. It plays exactly, and unapologetically, like the 2001 original. Croatian developers Croteam are confident that this, along with the engine's new jinglier bells and noisier whistles, is enough to tempt you to spend the best part of twenty quid. They also wouldn't mind if you forgot that the alternative is rooting around a second-hand bargain bin and picking up a dusty old copy of the eight-year-old original for fifty pence.
New Super Mario Bros. Wii
The negative qualities of the Wii are often mentioned. The common ones: it's comparatively expensive for what you get, SD graphics look crummier than ever and the supply of quality games seems to be a little on the sparse side. Say what you might about Nintendo's money-printing license, New Super Mario Bros. Wii proves that Nintendo's premier design guru Shigeru Miyamoto is still at the top of his game. We'll just forget last year's Wii Music ever happened.
LEGO Indiana Jones: The Adventure Continues
LEGO games are for kids, aren't they? That might be the whole point, but I'm 23 (and the best part of a half, sadly) and I merrily stroll through them every autumn, lapping up their inimitable sense of humour and simplistic platform mechanics. But whilst those youngsters might be happy to consume any old LEGO game in-between trips to McDonalds and committing knife crimes, I wasn't exactly enthralled at the prospect of spending a week with Indiana Jones 2. It seemed like a bit of a lame duck from the start, signalling a deficit of creativity and inspiration from even its usage of inelegant numbering. Quite simply, I had the game flagged as an unnecessary stop-gap between the excellent Lego Batman and 2010's Lego Harry Potter.
Left 4 Dead 2
You only need to peek at EA's immense marketing spend for Left 4 Dead 2 to see what all the fuss is about. Last year's affair was comparatively muted, spurred along by word of mouth, adulation from the gaming press and a communal respect for Valve's pedigree as a developer. Left 4 Dead 2 begins with the success of the original, creating a sequel born out of dedication, a shrewd understanding of the online market and the realisation that the first one of these was pretty dang good.
F1 2009
Is there anybody left who remembers what racing games used to be like before the arrival of the racing line? Hard, that's what. Case in point: old F1 games. The speed of the simulated cars is so intense that it used to be all too easy to fly straight off a corner and into an unpleasant pause-restart cycle, which was usually enough to put you off those games completely. Needless to say, I was incredibly relieved to see a helpful guiding line in Sumo Digital's F1 2009. Phew.
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- @razedinwhite You should let them use that as a digital-box quote for ALL indie games.
- @razedinwhite Still, literature has spent most of its storied history (DING) as nothing more than pulp for bored housewives.
- @razedinwhite I cannot believe I forgot Chocolate Rain
- @GZ_Dave What would win in a fight: Purple Rain, Acid Rain or Heavy Rain?
- @razedinwhite Jesse Eisenberg?