Game 98: Mass Effect 3 Well, I was going to wait for the corrected ending to come out before I made a post about this game, but I’m running low on games I’ve beaten and I can always make a supplementary post. Here it is, my most anticipated game ever. I’m going to very clearly label spoilers since the game is relatively new, so feel free to read on. I became a huge fan of the series when I first played Mass Effect 1 a couple of years ago. I loved the story to death, the characters were well done, the worlds were expansive, and the alien cultures were so intriguing. I then played Mass Effect 2 and was blown away again. The addition of the interrupts was fantastic, the characters got even deeper, the cast expanded while still maintaining its fantastic dynamic, and the entire scale of the story and game increased really putting the pressure on. Since finishing Mass Effect 2 I have been following the news for ME3 religiously with some tidbits making me nervous and others making me soil my pants in joy. So did it live up to my hopes and dreams? In some ways it met and even surpassed them, but in others it just collapsed and fell way too short of where Bioware had set the bar in the previous games. That being said, I did very much enjoy this game and did end up going through all 35-ish hours of it in 3 days as I just got sucked right back into the universe. Let’s start off with the things Bioware screwed up so that we can end this on a happy note: The day 1 DLC “From Ashes” really does feel like it was part of the game that was cut. I would have almost been okay with it if it were like the Zaeed DLC that came free with new copies of the game, but no, if you want the full game they really are forcing you to pay $70 which is ridiculous. When I refer to the game from now on, assume I am also referring to the DLC as well. The only places in the entire galaxy you can wander around without getting shot at by something are the Normandy and the Citadel. Why couldn’t we have someplace like Omega? I was already missing the wandering around other places thing a bit in ME2, why take away even more? We don’t see nearly enough of the major villains.SPOILERS!!!!!: I know Kai Leng was a major character in the books, but I really wish we got to learn more about him in the game. Also, why the hell don’t we see more of the Illusive Man? In one of the early design drafts of the ending he was supposed to be a boss battle where he turned into a massive brute-like reaper creature. I think that would have been fantastic with some good lead-up, but nope, pretty much shows up in a hologram, then at the end for a bit and that’s it. Then there’s the reapers. I really wish we got more than one dialogue with the reapers. What happened to all the conversations with Sovereign? Even being talked at by Harbinger was cool, but I just feel like there was too much villain disconnect.END OF SPOILERS!!!! The dialogue was good, but there wasn’t nearly enough choice. There are way too many dialogue sequences with Shepard where you have no control over what he/she says. It leads to some great moments, sure, but Shepard doesn’t feel as much like your character. Shepard started getting characterization of his/her own and it really takes away quite a bit of what I love so much in these games. Also, what the hell happened to the neutral dialogue option? Sometimes I want to pick the renegade option, but not seem like a dick. A great example is at the end of the first game you choose the fate of the council, but there’s the option to “focus on Sovereign” rather than “Let the council die.” Both options have the same result, but the council feels more like a casualty of war than a death on your hands with that choice. What the hell kind of sidequests are these? You walk by someone who says they’re looking for something or worried about some artifact on their home planet, you go out and scan a few dozen planets, outrun a few dozen reaper attacks, collect it by launching a probe, bring it back to them, then you get war assets. What happened to dialogue trees and tough choices like that one sidequest where you choose whether to recover a soldier’s body from the military for burial? What about running around the Citadel trying to stop an AI from exploding once you find out it’s been stealing money? What happened to actually exploring places? The collector’s edition hardly gives you anything beyond the DLC, the nice tin case, and the velcro patch. Everything else it gives you seems to be to encourage you to buy other stuff. The comic and art books are just small parts of the full versions and the lithograph of the Normandy is just tiny that makes me wish I had a version that was big enough to hang on my wall. If I didn’t get it as a gift I would probably regret not just getting the normal edition and buying the DLC. The ending. My thought process while the credits was rolling went something like this: “Wow, it’s finally over. That was fantastic! Wait a minute, some of that shit at the end didn’t make any sense… How come I couldn’t ask any more about the final decision?” The final decision has a good difficult moral choice in it, but it does undermine most of what leads up to it and it really doesn’t make any sense in the grand scheme of everything. Most of the ending is pretty good and has some fantastic moments that really show how high the stakes are and really show Shepard’s struggle at the end. The whole final mission could probably have used a few more coats of polish though. It really doesn’t reflect any of the choices you’ve made up to that point which cripples it right out of the gate in a game all about choices. The part that really gets on everyone’s nerves is the last 5 minutes or so and with good reason. There are plenty of articles out there tearing it apart though, so I’ll move on a bit. To unlock all possible choices at the end you need to play the multiplayer. What the hell Bioware? You need 4000 War Assets to unlock the last choice for the ending, but the maximum you can get without the multiplayer is about 3800. What happens 10 years in the future when nobody is playing the multiplayer? How are people supposed to unlock all the content? You can’t just assume that everyone has an internet connection either. If video games are to be seen as an art, we can’t restrict content based on this sort of crap. Alright, enough ranting, what did I enjoy about this game? What was so good about this game that I still enjoyed it after all of that? The characters were still done brilliantly. Most of the characters in the game are ones that you’re familiar with but even most of the new ones still have fantastic arcs and brilliant moments.SPOILERS AHOY!!!!: Javik is a brilliant example of Bioware characterization at its best. You would expect the Protheans to be so far above us mentally and have all the answers, but Javik isn’t a scientist, he’s a warrior to the core. As he tells you about the Prothean empire and makes some of the best banter in the game, you really get a sense that the Protheans were racist jerks, but through all this Bioware still makes him a lovable character that won’t soon be forgotten.SPOILERS END!!! No matter the scale, there always seems to be a moment that you will never forget around every corner.WARNING SPOILERS!!!!: Whether it’s chilling with Garrus on on the roof or exploring the depths of the Geth Collective itself or deciding how history remembers the legacy of Shepard, there’s just so much you will never forget from this game. That’s not even mentioning Mordin’s death scene or Tali’s “emergency induction port” scene either. END SPOILERS!!!! They got the love interest stuff right (from my Shepard’s perspective at least). I romanced Liara throughout the entire series and despite her distance in ME2 (the Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC helped), she came back strong in ME3. The dialogue was just right in so many places and the final culmination just felt right. I do wish the ending involved the romance a bit more though. They really let you catch up with every character in the series without your party becoming overwhelmingly full. I don’t think I really would have minded having a colossal party to choose from on missions, but the fact that they were all busy elsewhere made sense and when a few did join it was a pleasant surprise. The fact that you get to spend a full mission with each of the old characters is great fun and it’s always great to see where everyone ended up. I especially liked running into Jack again, that was a fun mission. As for actual gameplay, the controls felt a lot smoother and the RPG elements really made a comeback. There was plenty of customization for gameplay in the weaponry you choose and the attachments as well. The actual gameplay side of things did become pretty polished which is great and all, but I do get the sense that they sunk more time into this than they did the dialogue which is where most people focus in this series. So long story short, this game is worth playing, but play the other games first and don’t expect this one to be perfect; the internet has already likely told you that though. So many great moments packed into such a good game, I just wish they had done it all a bit better.

Game 98: Mass Effect 3

Well, I was going to wait for the corrected ending to come out before I made a post about this game, but I’m running low on games I’ve beaten and I can always make a supplementary post. Here it is, my most anticipated game ever. I’m going to very clearly label spoilers since the game is relatively new, so feel free to read on.

I became a huge fan of the series when I first played Mass Effect 1 a couple of years ago. I loved the story to death, the characters were well done, the worlds were expansive, and the alien cultures were so intriguing. I then played Mass Effect 2 and was blown away again. The addition of the interrupts was fantastic, the characters got even deeper, the cast expanded while still maintaining its fantastic dynamic, and the entire scale of the story and game increased really putting the pressure on. Since finishing Mass Effect 2 I have been following the news for ME3 religiously with some tidbits making me nervous and others making me soil my pants in joy.

So did it live up to my hopes and dreams? In some ways it met and even surpassed them, but in others it just collapsed and fell way too short of where Bioware had set the bar in the previous games. That being said, I did very much enjoy this game and did end up going through all 35-ish hours of it in 3 days as I just got sucked right back into the universe.

Let’s start off with the things Bioware screwed up so that we can end this on a happy note:

  • The day 1 DLC “From Ashes” really does feel like it was part of the game that was cut. I would have almost been okay with it if it were like the Zaeed DLC that came free with new copies of the game, but no, if you want the full game they really are forcing you to pay $70 which is ridiculous. When I refer to the game from now on, assume I am also referring to the DLC as well.
  • The only places in the entire galaxy you can wander around without getting shot at by something are the Normandy and the Citadel. Why couldn’t we have someplace like Omega? I was already missing the wandering around other places thing a bit in ME2, why take away even more?
  • We don’t see nearly enough of the major villains.SPOILERS!!!!!: I know Kai Leng was a major character in the books, but I really wish we got to learn more about him in the game. Also, why the hell don’t we see more of the Illusive Man? In one of the early design drafts of the ending he was supposed to be a boss battle where he turned into a massive brute-like reaper creature. I think that would have been fantastic with some good lead-up, but nope, pretty much shows up in a hologram, then at the end for a bit and that’s it. Then there’s the reapers. I really wish we got more than one dialogue with the reapers. What happened to all the conversations with Sovereign? Even being talked at by Harbinger was cool, but I just feel like there was too much villain disconnect.END OF SPOILERS!!!!
  • The dialogue was good, but there wasn’t nearly enough choice. There are way too many dialogue sequences with Shepard where you have no control over what he/she says. It leads to some great moments, sure, but Shepard doesn’t feel as much like your character. Shepard started getting characterization of his/her own and it really takes away quite a bit of what I love so much in these games. Also, what the hell happened to the neutral dialogue option? Sometimes I want to pick the renegade option, but not seem like a dick. A great example is at the end of the first game you choose the fate of the council, but there’s the option to “focus on Sovereign” rather than “Let the council die.” Both options have the same result, but the council feels more like a casualty of war than a death on your hands with that choice.
  • What the hell kind of sidequests are these? You walk by someone who says they’re looking for something or worried about some artifact on their home planet, you go out and scan a few dozen planets, outrun a few dozen reaper attacks, collect it by launching a probe, bring it back to them, then you get war assets. What happened to dialogue trees and tough choices like that one sidequest where you choose whether to recover a soldier’s body from the military for burial? What about running around the Citadel trying to stop an AI from exploding once you find out it’s been stealing money? What happened to actually exploring places?
  • The collector’s edition hardly gives you anything beyond the DLC, the nice tin case, and the velcro patch. Everything else it gives you seems to be to encourage you to buy other stuff. The comic and art books are just small parts of the full versions and the lithograph of the Normandy is just tiny that makes me wish I had a version that was big enough to hang on my wall. If I didn’t get it as a gift I would probably regret not just getting the normal edition and buying the DLC.
  • The ending. My thought process while the credits was rolling went something like this: “Wow, it’s finally over. That was fantastic! Wait a minute, some of that shit at the end didn’t make any sense… How come I couldn’t ask any more about the final decision?” The final decision has a good difficult moral choice in it, but it does undermine most of what leads up to it and it really doesn’t make any sense in the grand scheme of everything. Most of the ending is pretty good and has some fantastic moments that really show how high the stakes are and really show Shepard’s struggle at the end. The whole final mission could probably have used a few more coats of polish though. It really doesn’t reflect any of the choices you’ve made up to that point which cripples it right out of the gate in a game all about choices. The part that really gets on everyone’s nerves is the last 5 minutes or so and with good reason. There are plenty of articles out there tearing it apart though, so I’ll move on a bit.
  • To unlock all possible choices at the end you need to play the multiplayer. What the hell Bioware? You need 4000 War Assets to unlock the last choice for the ending, but the maximum you can get without the multiplayer is about 3800. What happens 10 years in the future when nobody is playing the multiplayer? How are people supposed to unlock all the content? You can’t just assume that everyone has an internet connection either. If video games are to be seen as an art, we can’t restrict content based on this sort of crap.

Alright, enough ranting, what did I enjoy about this game? What was so good about this game that I still enjoyed it after all of that?

  • The characters were still done brilliantly. Most of the characters in the game are ones that you’re familiar with but even most of the new ones still have fantastic arcs and brilliant moments.SPOILERS AHOY!!!!: Javik is a brilliant example of Bioware characterization at its best. You would expect the Protheans to be so far above us mentally and have all the answers, but Javik isn’t a scientist, he’s a warrior to the core. As he tells you about the Prothean empire and makes some of the best banter in the game, you really get a sense that the Protheans were racist jerks, but through all this Bioware still makes him a lovable character that won’t soon be forgotten.SPOILERS END!!!
  • No matter the scale, there always seems to be a moment that you will never forget around every corner.WARNING SPOILERS!!!!: Whether it’s chilling with Garrus on on the roof or exploring the depths of the Geth Collective itself or deciding how history remembers the legacy of Shepard, there’s just so much you will never forget from this game. That’s not even mentioning Mordin’s death scene or Tali’s “emergency induction port” scene either. END SPOILERS!!!!
  • They got the love interest stuff right (from my Shepard’s perspective at least). I romanced Liara throughout the entire series and despite her distance in ME2 (the Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC helped), she came back strong in ME3. The dialogue was just right in so many places and the final culmination just felt right. I do wish the ending involved the romance a bit more though.
  • They really let you catch up with every character in the series without your party becoming overwhelmingly full. I don’t think I really would have minded having a colossal party to choose from on missions, but the fact that they were all busy elsewhere made sense and when a few did join it was a pleasant surprise. The fact that you get to spend a full mission with each of the old characters is great fun and it’s always great to see where everyone ended up. I especially liked running into Jack again, that was a fun mission.
  • As for actual gameplay, the controls felt a lot smoother and the RPG elements really made a comeback. There was plenty of customization for gameplay in the weaponry you choose and the attachments as well. The actual gameplay side of things did become pretty polished which is great and all, but I do get the sense that they sunk more time into this than they did the dialogue which is where most people focus in this series.

So long story short, this game is worth playing, but play the other games first and don’t expect this one to be perfect; the internet has already likely told you that though. So many great moments packed into such a good game, I just wish they had done it all a bit better.

Game 97: Rock Band 2 While I enjoy the original Rock Band, I would argue that its direct sequel is the greatest rhythm game of all time. I’ve sunk so much time into this game and I regret none of it. The soundtrack is fantastic, the customization is even more through the roof, the gameplay feels smoother, it looks nicer and in all my time playing it I’ve never grown tired of it. This game is the ultimate party game making it easy to jump in and play a huge variety of songs while still keeping relatively consistent aesthetics with the soundtrack unlike later Guitar Hero games that started to include country songs for example. The soundtrack is also pretty huge this time around removing a lot of the repetition that the previous game had that made you replay Run To The Hills for the 50-bazillionth time in the end game. The soundtrack also has a large variety of smaller artists which can vary in quality. I loved A Jagged Gorgeous Winter, but every time I played Visions I got carpal tunnel and my ears bled. But out of the huge soundtrack there are about 3 songs I disliked which is pretty damn good. Another huge plus for this game is that DLC was released pretty much once a week after it came out. I’m pretty sure they’ve shifted almost completely to Rock Band 3 at this point, but toward the end of its life, I’m pretty sure that RB2 had about 2000 DLC songs from every artist under the sun and DLC songs transfer between games too which makes Harmonix officially awesome. There are very few things I can say in the negative about this game. It’s a boatload of fun and you should get a copy for the next party you have; just make sure that you have all the instruments. Also, Harmonix, if you happen to be reading this I think you guys are amazing and you should totally put out some Modest Mouse DLC; Float On was already in this game, it can’t be that difficult to do, Isaac Brock is a cool dude.

Game 97: Rock Band 2

While I enjoy the original Rock Band, I would argue that its direct sequel is the greatest rhythm game of all time. I’ve sunk so much time into this game and I regret none of it. The soundtrack is fantastic, the customization is even more through the roof, the gameplay feels smoother, it looks nicer and in all my time playing it I’ve never grown tired of it.

This game is the ultimate party game making it easy to jump in and play a huge variety of songs while still keeping relatively consistent aesthetics with the soundtrack unlike later Guitar Hero games that started to include country songs for example. The soundtrack is also pretty huge this time around removing a lot of the repetition that the previous game had that made you replay Run To The Hills for the 50-bazillionth time in the end game. The soundtrack also has a large variety of smaller artists which can vary in quality. I loved A Jagged Gorgeous Winter, but every time I played Visions I got carpal tunnel and my ears bled. But out of the huge soundtrack there are about 3 songs I disliked which is pretty damn good.

Another huge plus for this game is that DLC was released pretty much once a week after it came out. I’m pretty sure they’ve shifted almost completely to Rock Band 3 at this point, but toward the end of its life, I’m pretty sure that RB2 had about 2000 DLC songs from every artist under the sun and DLC songs transfer between games too which makes Harmonix officially awesome.

There are very few things I can say in the negative about this game. It’s a boatload of fun and you should get a copy for the next party you have; just make sure that you have all the instruments. Also, Harmonix, if you happen to be reading this I think you guys are amazing and you should totally put out some Modest Mouse DLC; Float On was already in this game, it can’t be that difficult to do, Isaac Brock is a cool dude.

Game 96: Rock Band After Guitar Hero 2 came out, Activision and Harmonix went through a bit of a spat before Harmonix went “Screw it, we’re making our own series of rhythm games that’s gonna have drums and singers and hooker and you’re not invited! Wait, what do you mean we can’t have a T-rated game with hookers? Fine, no hookers, but everything else!” And thus the Rock Band series was born. It really did take the rhythm game genre from something you play after work or school to unwind to something that’s a kickass party game. The group aspect became heavily emphasized and the career mode became much more open with the ability to go between venues around the world in whatever order you wanted including playing some full sets in a row rather than song-by-song. Given it wasn’t truly connected to the Guitar Hero series, it also left itself open to put any songs it wanted into the set list which made for a pretty good overall soundtrack. The character creation mode allowed for full band customization levels that are quite impressive and had me wasting more time than I would care to admit. The amount of instruments is quite plentiful and allows you to find the perfect instrument for your character. The aesthetics were also cool and consistent, although they did take a bit more time to get used to after seeing all the goofy aesthetics of the Guitar Hero games. Despite all the great things about the game, it does definitely come off as a first installment. The notes feel a bit stiff compared to other rhythm games, the soundtrack is small enough that you run into lots of repetition with the sets you play, and the song “Green Grass And High Tides” is terrible. The series improves with later installments as any good series should, but this game is also definitely worth playing unless you just want to buy its whole soundtrack for Rock Band 2 on the XBL Marketplace…

Game 96: Rock Band

After Guitar Hero 2 came out, Activision and Harmonix went through a bit of a spat before Harmonix went “Screw it, we’re making our own series of rhythm games that’s gonna have drums and singers and hooker and you’re not invited! Wait, what do you mean we can’t have a T-rated game with hookers? Fine, no hookers, but everything else!” And thus the Rock Band series was born.

It really did take the rhythm game genre from something you play after work or school to unwind to something that’s a kickass party game. The group aspect became heavily emphasized and the career mode became much more open with the ability to go between venues around the world in whatever order you wanted including playing some full sets in a row rather than song-by-song. Given it wasn’t truly connected to the Guitar Hero series, it also left itself open to put any songs it wanted into the set list which made for a pretty good overall soundtrack.

The character creation mode allowed for full band customization levels that are quite impressive and had me wasting more time than I would care to admit. The amount of instruments is quite plentiful and allows you to find the perfect instrument for your character. The aesthetics were also cool and consistent, although they did take a bit more time to get used to after seeing all the goofy aesthetics of the Guitar Hero games.

Despite all the great things about the game, it does definitely come off as a first installment. The notes feel a bit stiff compared to other rhythm games, the soundtrack is small enough that you run into lots of repetition with the sets you play, and the song “Green Grass And High Tides” is terrible. The series improves with later installments as any good series should, but this game is also definitely worth playing unless you just want to buy its whole soundtrack for Rock Band 2 on the XBL Marketplace…

Game 95: Star Wars: Dark Forces This is the only game I can recall my father ever being really into. I was too young to appreciate it when it came out and didn’t get around to actually playing it until late last decade when I found the disc in a yard sale pile. When I did get around to playing it my first thought was “hey, this is a lot like Doom.” Sure enough, many first-person shooters of the day were like Doom, but this one seriously reflects it, but it works. It has the sprawling levels and the big-ass guns and the colorful variety of enemies that Doom did best except within the Star Wars universe. What I’m trying to say is the game does everything right that we love 90s shooters for. The game is pretty tough at times with the sewer level and the level at Jabba’s Space Yacht being some of the most notably difficult, but it’s fun and well done with plenty of good little puzzles and challenges involving such things as giant crushing ceilings, conveyor belts, and rotating platforms. The environments are cool and varied as well and using the guns makes you feel totally awesome. There are a few boss battles against Boba Fett and dark troopers that are a blast and the ending is appropriately difficult with swarms of dark troopers chasing after you do destroy your ass, but you’re playing as Kyle F’ing Katarn, one of the biggest badasses of the Star Wars universe and once you play through this game you will understand why. One more thing of note that makes me nostalgic for games past is the fact that the game had cheat codes and hidden secrets in each level that really encouraged exploring. This game is a blast to play and most definitely worth your time if you don’t mind the 90s pixelated graphics. Go play and have yourself some fun.

Game 95: Star Wars: Dark Forces

This is the only game I can recall my father ever being really into. I was too young to appreciate it when it came out and didn’t get around to actually playing it until late last decade when I found the disc in a yard sale pile. When I did get around to playing it my first thought was “hey, this is a lot like Doom.” Sure enough, many first-person shooters of the day were like Doom, but this one seriously reflects it, but it works. It has the sprawling levels and the big-ass guns and the colorful variety of enemies that Doom did best except within the Star Wars universe. What I’m trying to say is the game does everything right that we love 90s shooters for.

The game is pretty tough at times with the sewer level and the level at Jabba’s Space Yacht being some of the most notably difficult, but it’s fun and well done with plenty of good little puzzles and challenges involving such things as giant crushing ceilings, conveyor belts, and rotating platforms. The environments are cool and varied as well and using the guns makes you feel totally awesome.

There are a few boss battles against Boba Fett and dark troopers that are a blast and the ending is appropriately difficult with swarms of dark troopers chasing after you do destroy your ass, but you’re playing as Kyle F’ing Katarn, one of the biggest badasses of the Star Wars universe and once you play through this game you will understand why.

One more thing of note that makes me nostalgic for games past is the fact that the game had cheat codes and hidden secrets in each level that really encouraged exploring. This game is a blast to play and most definitely worth your time if you don’t mind the 90s pixelated graphics. Go play and have yourself some fun.

Game 94: Half-Life 2: Episode 2 And here we come to the installment of the Half-Life series everyone finds the most infuriating, not because of the gameplay or story, but simply for the fact that there is a huge cliff hanger ending, the game came out 5 years ago, and the sequel is nowhere in sight. I’m not here to complain about that though, I have an entire April Fools Day post that does that. When Valve realized just a bit too late that episodic game making doesn’t work well for them given their perfectionist development philosophy, they apologized for Episode 2 taking such a long time by releasing it with the Orange Box (Portal, TF2, and the other HL2 games) which was absolutely fantastic. Everyone was excited, and for good reason. Episode 2 is great. It has all the great moments you would expect from a Half-Life game with some truly fantastic moments throughout such as (skip to the next paragraph to avoid spoilers) being chased through the caves by the antlion guard, being interrupted by the G-Man while healing Alyx (I shouted “NO!” at my screen over and over when he popped up), the run-in with the Combine Advisor, the race against D0g, the awesome finale where you fight all the striders and hunters, and of course, finally the cliffhanger that left me wanting to punt a baby since Episode 3 wasn’t out yet… Gameplay-wise it’s more of the creative Half-Life fun but everything in the game just seems a little bit more polished. The graphics look nicer, new enemies make he combat more varied and fun, and the Magnusson devices make the Strider combat a blast. Yes, you absolutely should play this game, but don’t be that guy who jumps into the middle of the series here, it’s just not a good plan because of spoilers and nothing will make sense. Once you do play this one though, you will know why everyone hates Valve for not releasing the sequel. It’s not that there is anything bad about the series, it’s the fact that it’s so good that makes it tough.

Game 94: Half-Life 2: Episode 2

And here we come to the installment of the Half-Life series everyone finds the most infuriating, not because of the gameplay or story, but simply for the fact that there is a huge cliff hanger ending, the game came out 5 years ago, and the sequel is nowhere in sight. I’m not here to complain about that though, I have an entire April Fools Day post that does that.

When Valve realized just a bit too late that episodic game making doesn’t work well for them given their perfectionist development philosophy, they apologized for Episode 2 taking such a long time by releasing it with the Orange Box (Portal, TF2, and the other HL2 games) which was absolutely fantastic. Everyone was excited, and for good reason. Episode 2 is great. It has all the great moments you would expect from a Half-Life game with some truly fantastic moments throughout such as (skip to the next paragraph to avoid spoilers) being chased through the caves by the antlion guard, being interrupted by the G-Man while healing Alyx (I shouted “NO!” at my screen over and over when he popped up), the run-in with the Combine Advisor, the race against D0g, the awesome finale where you fight all the striders and hunters, and of course, finally the cliffhanger that left me wanting to punt a baby since Episode 3 wasn’t out yet…

Gameplay-wise it’s more of the creative Half-Life fun but everything in the game just seems a little bit more polished. The graphics look nicer, new enemies make he combat more varied and fun, and the Magnusson devices make the Strider combat a blast.

Yes, you absolutely should play this game, but don’t be that guy who jumps into the middle of the series here, it’s just not a good plan because of spoilers and nothing will make sense. Once you do play this one though, you will know why everyone hates Valve for not releasing the sequel. It’s not that there is anything bad about the series, it’s the fact that it’s so good that makes it tough.

Game 93: Soulcalibur III As much as I played other Soulcalibur games, I’m pretty sure this was the only one I actually got around to beating. While it didn’t have Link or Spawn, this game definitely had all the notable Soulcalibur cast back in fun, fighting form. Raphael and Nightmare still remain some of my favorites and I played plenty with them although this game did have a character creation system which was pretty awesome. It wasn’t nearly as thorough as most modern character creation systems and certainly nowhere near the level that Soulcalibur V has, but it was still great fun to spend hours unlocking new parts and creating the most badass version of yourself you could to beat the crap out of Astaroth with. I played this game back when I didn’t quite know how to actually play, but neither did any of my friends and we had a fun time anyways. I would like to go back and play it now with a more competitive perspective and see how it holds up. I heard II was the best for that sort of thing, but V is certainly fantastic as well. One thing I remember about this fighting game in particular was that it actually had more things going on than arcade/story mode. There were tons of cool things to do including the Chronicle of the Sword mode which I though was a really cool touch. It was kinda like an RTS RPG where you could play out the fights as a combat match with your custom character and go through the story. It worked well although in later areas became pretty tough if you didn’t level up enough. I do wish more fighting games had those sorts of alternate modes, I feel like the fighting game genre could use a little boost in content for people who just want to play single-player for a bit. Overall, fun game, memorable characters, great mode selection, and tons of fun things to do. Suddenly I’m having a huge rush of nostalgia and feel like I should buy a copy of SCV with my next paycheck…

Game 93: Soulcalibur III

As much as I played other Soulcalibur games, I’m pretty sure this was the only one I actually got around to beating. While it didn’t have Link or Spawn, this game definitely had all the notable Soulcalibur cast back in fun, fighting form. Raphael and Nightmare still remain some of my favorites and I played plenty with them although this game did have a character creation system which was pretty awesome. It wasn’t nearly as thorough as most modern character creation systems and certainly nowhere near the level that Soulcalibur V has, but it was still great fun to spend hours unlocking new parts and creating the most badass version of yourself you could to beat the crap out of Astaroth with.

I played this game back when I didn’t quite know how to actually play, but neither did any of my friends and we had a fun time anyways. I would like to go back and play it now with a more competitive perspective and see how it holds up. I heard II was the best for that sort of thing, but V is certainly fantastic as well.

One thing I remember about this fighting game in particular was that it actually had more things going on than arcade/story mode. There were tons of cool things to do including the Chronicle of the Sword mode which I though was a really cool touch. It was kinda like an RTS RPG where you could play out the fights as a combat match with your custom character and go through the story. It worked well although in later areas became pretty tough if you didn’t level up enough. I do wish more fighting games had those sorts of alternate modes, I feel like the fighting game genre could use a little boost in content for people who just want to play single-player for a bit.

Overall, fun game, memorable characters, great mode selection, and tons of fun things to do. Suddenly I’m having a huge rush of nostalgia and feel like I should buy a copy of SCV with my next paycheck…

Game 92: Desktop Dungeons Apparently this game is having huge updates as of late but you can still play this fun little freeware game as I have in the free download in the title link. I learned about this game because of the guys over at Extra Credits. This game is good for some patiently paced time wasting in a very solitaire-esque way. Since I’ve downloaded it, it’s become my go-to game to play on the side while watching a movie or fighting game streams. The game feels like a less open and less evil version of Nethack meant for shorter increments of time. The game has a good sense of humor and pretty well balanced mechanics making for a very lighthearted yet still notably difficult but fair game. There are tons of classes and races to choose from each with their own style of play to help you get through each dungeon. One of the most interesting mechanics is the fact that each square you explore gives you a little bit of magic and health, and given the limited size of the dungeon it makes exploration a limited resource. Overall some fun and challenging gameplay for a good side project while multitasking, check it out, you’ve got nothing to lose.

Game 92: Desktop Dungeons

Apparently this game is having huge updates as of late but you can still play this fun little freeware game as I have in the free download in the title link. I learned about this game because of the guys over at Extra Credits. This game is good for some patiently paced time wasting in a very solitaire-esque way. Since I’ve downloaded it, it’s become my go-to game to play on the side while watching a movie or fighting game streams.

The game feels like a less open and less evil version of Nethack meant for shorter increments of time. The game has a good sense of humor and pretty well balanced mechanics making for a very lighthearted yet still notably difficult but fair game. There are tons of classes and races to choose from each with their own style of play to help you get through each dungeon. One of the most interesting mechanics is the fact that each square you explore gives you a little bit of magic and health, and given the limited size of the dungeon it makes exploration a limited resource.

Overall some fun and challenging gameplay for a good side project while multitasking, check it out, you’ve got nothing to lose.

Game 91: Time Crisis Well if it isn’t my good old friends the arcades? I tend to visit every now and then, but I must admit I don’t keep in touch as often as I should. As much as I love them they do make for temperamental bedfellows what with their high levels of difficulty and greedy quarter eating. On top of that visits tend to be far out of the way and a pain if you don’t live near one. Despite all this, I do love them with their sleek cabinets and luscious retro game selection and their rock hard control sticks that I… I… I’m a bit off track now, aren’t I? Ahem. Anyways, one of the games I actually dumped enough quarters into beating in the nearby arcades to my hometown was Time Crisis. There have been many sequels to this game each of which making progressively more and more ridiculous addition of fun and story which could have been written by a twelve year old after watching one too many 80s action flicks. The series has gotten more ridiculous and over the top as time has gone by but looking back at the original, it’s a Super Mario Bros plot of simply rescue the girl from the clearly evil man who I swear deserves a crack of thunder in the background every time he laughs. Gameplay-wise it’s an incredibly fair rail shooter. It’s tough in the sense that you have little time to complete your task of clearing a room of soldiers and you have very little reaction time for your attacks, but it’s fair because it gives you warnings when attacks are coming and you can actually duck out of the way, something that makes you wonder why other rail shooters don’t let you do anything but shoot. How come you can’t run away from the monsters in House of the Dead? Namco knew what it took to make a fun and fair rail shooter and they did just that which kicked off a fun series that’s eaten more of my quarters than I would ever care to admit. It’s simple, it’s fun, and I wouldn’t want it any other way.

Game 91: Time Crisis

Well if it isn’t my good old friends the arcades? I tend to visit every now and then, but I must admit I don’t keep in touch as often as I should. As much as I love them they do make for temperamental bedfellows what with their high levels of difficulty and greedy quarter eating. On top of that visits tend to be far out of the way and a pain if you don’t live near one. Despite all this, I do love them with their sleek cabinets and luscious retro game selection and their rock hard control sticks that I… I… I’m a bit off track now, aren’t I? Ahem. Anyways, one of the games I actually dumped enough quarters into beating in the nearby arcades to my hometown was Time Crisis.

There have been many sequels to this game each of which making progressively more and more ridiculous addition of fun and story which could have been written by a twelve year old after watching one too many 80s action flicks. The series has gotten more ridiculous and over the top as time has gone by but looking back at the original, it’s a Super Mario Bros plot of simply rescue the girl from the clearly evil man who I swear deserves a crack of thunder in the background every time he laughs.

Gameplay-wise it’s an incredibly fair rail shooter. It’s tough in the sense that you have little time to complete your task of clearing a room of soldiers and you have very little reaction time for your attacks, but it’s fair because it gives you warnings when attacks are coming and you can actually duck out of the way, something that makes you wonder why other rail shooters don’t let you do anything but shoot. How come you can’t run away from the monsters in House of the Dead?

Namco knew what it took to make a fun and fair rail shooter and they did just that which kicked off a fun series that’s eaten more of my quarters than I would ever care to admit. It’s simple, it’s fun, and I wouldn’t want it any other way.

Game 90: The Beatles: Rock Band I guess I’m just in a rhythm game mood lately. Here’s one of my favorites. It’s short, but looks great, sounds great, and done fantastically. The Beatles: Rock Band is truly the best single-band rhythm game in my opinion. When I first heard this announced the first thing I though of was how much of a nightmare the licensing must have been. My next thought was of how many ways they could seriously screw it up. My next thought after watching the trailers was how awesome the art style looked. Then the game came out and a few friends and I popped it in at a party. A few hours later we had gone through the story mode and walked away saying “damn that was good.” Yes, it was short, but it gets through tons of fantastic songs including a few that I hadn’t heard before but loved to death upon playing. The songs they chose had good use of every instrument making for a great party experience. The levels went through tons of famous venues The Beatles played at including the rooftop concert and the Ed Sullivan Show. Later studio tracks would have been boring to show them sitting around some microphones playing, so Harmonix did what I think was the best design decision of the game. They made each of the visuals for the studio songs into what they called “dreamscapes” that captured “the spirit of the song.” That translates in layman terms to getting to see super trippy and awesome background with fantastic visuals. If you want and idea of what this was like, watch this video of I Am The Walrus: They did a unique visual for each song making for some of the coolest rhythm game gameplay segments I can think of. With all of this combined with the fantastic visual design, the game seriously feels like lots of care was put into it and it truly did justice to what a game of this magnitude deserved. Making The End the bonus song after the credits was a fantastic touch as well. Even once the game is over, I’m pretty sure they’ve put up the entire Beatles discography on the game store for track purchase, each song made with the care that was put into the rest of the game. Plus there are plenty of unlockable bonus things such as videos of The Beatles when they first came to America and pictures of them backstage at some shows. This game is just fantastic and if you’re a hardcore Beatles fan, unless you hate video games (which would make me sad) you really need to play this game. The only complaints I can level at this game are that the difficulty curve is wonky at times since they made all the tracks chronological, and that overall, since The Beatles aren’t the heaviest band, the game is much easier than most rhythm games. If you care about The Beatles, rhythm games, good visual aesthetics, or just music in general really, I can’t recommend this game much higher. Go out and play and enjoy.

Game 90: The Beatles: Rock Band

I guess I’m just in a rhythm game mood lately. Here’s one of my favorites. It’s short, but looks great, sounds great, and done fantastically. The Beatles: Rock Band is truly the best single-band rhythm game in my opinion.

When I first heard this announced the first thing I though of was how much of a nightmare the licensing must have been. My next thought was of how many ways they could seriously screw it up. My next thought after watching the trailers was how awesome the art style looked. Then the game came out and a few friends and I popped it in at a party. A few hours later we had gone through the story mode and walked away saying “damn that was good.”

Yes, it was short, but it gets through tons of fantastic songs including a few that I hadn’t heard before but loved to death upon playing. The songs they chose had good use of every instrument making for a great party experience. The levels went through tons of famous venues The Beatles played at including the rooftop concert and the Ed Sullivan Show. Later studio tracks would have been boring to show them sitting around some microphones playing, so Harmonix did what I think was the best design decision of the game. They made each of the visuals for the studio songs into what they called “dreamscapes” that captured “the spirit of the song.” That translates in layman terms to getting to see super trippy and awesome background with fantastic visuals. If you want and idea of what this was like, watch this video of I Am The Walrus:

They did a unique visual for each song making for some of the coolest rhythm game gameplay segments I can think of. With all of this combined with the fantastic visual design, the game seriously feels like lots of care was put into it and it truly did justice to what a game of this magnitude deserved. Making The End the bonus song after the credits was a fantastic touch as well.

Even once the game is over, I’m pretty sure they’ve put up the entire Beatles discography on the game store for track purchase, each song made with the care that was put into the rest of the game. Plus there are plenty of unlockable bonus things such as videos of The Beatles when they first came to America and pictures of them backstage at some shows. This game is just fantastic and if you’re a hardcore Beatles fan, unless you hate video games (which would make me sad) you really need to play this game.

The only complaints I can level at this game are that the difficulty curve is wonky at times since they made all the tracks chronological, and that overall, since The Beatles aren’t the heaviest band, the game is much easier than most rhythm games. If you care about The Beatles, rhythm games, good visual aesthetics, or just music in general really, I can’t recommend this game much higher. Go out and play and enjoy.

Game 89: Guitar Hero: Aerosmith Back when I was on my huge rhythm game binge, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith was a notable change of the series bringing in single-band games that I found rather intriguing. I actually got this as a birthday present and I’m not sure I would have bothered too much otherwise given I’m not the biggest Aerosmith fan and my budget was approximately 0, but I still had a good time with it. Honestly, if you’re a big Aerosmith fan then this game was pretty much made for you, otherwise I would just get Guitar Hero 3 or 5 if you hate Harmonix for some reason. The game has some great tracks like Dream Police and She Sells Sanctuary, but I think the game falls short a bit when I’m more excited for the songs that aren’t by Aerosmith. Don’t get me wrong, Mama Kin and Sweet Emotion were a blast to play, but Dream On was just a bore to play especially considering how easy it is compared to the other songs of the set. The game had to decide whether to go chronologically through Aerosmith’s library or to give the game a good difficulty curve. They really tried for both and almost did it right with many of the songs throwing off the difficulty curve being bonus tracks you had to unlock, but why would I need to use points to unlock the original version of Walk This Way rather than the Run DMC version which is in the campaign mode? It just seems a bit annoying is all. The game has plenty of great Aerosmith trivia and interviews, but you can definitely tell this was the first single-band game since later ones like Guitar Hero: Metallica and The Beatles: Rock Band had many more memorabilia pics and bonus vids and the like. As amusing as it is to see a CGI Steven Tyler’s mouth open up twice as wide as you would think is physically possible, this game is really only for hardcore Aerosmith fans or hardcore Guitar Hero fans. If you fit some other category, you can get rhythm games with much more variety that are much better overall elsewhere.

Game 89: Guitar Hero: Aerosmith

Back when I was on my huge rhythm game binge, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith was a notable change of the series bringing in single-band games that I found rather intriguing. I actually got this as a birthday present and I’m not sure I would have bothered too much otherwise given I’m not the biggest Aerosmith fan and my budget was approximately 0, but I still had a good time with it.

Honestly, if you’re a big Aerosmith fan then this game was pretty much made for you, otherwise I would just get Guitar Hero 3 or 5 if you hate Harmonix for some reason. The game has some great tracks like Dream Police and She Sells Sanctuary, but I think the game falls short a bit when I’m more excited for the songs that aren’t by Aerosmith. Don’t get me wrong, Mama Kin and Sweet Emotion were a blast to play, but Dream On was just a bore to play especially considering how easy it is compared to the other songs of the set.

The game had to decide whether to go chronologically through Aerosmith’s library or to give the game a good difficulty curve. They really tried for both and almost did it right with many of the songs throwing off the difficulty curve being bonus tracks you had to unlock, but why would I need to use points to unlock the original version of Walk This Way rather than the Run DMC version which is in the campaign mode? It just seems a bit annoying is all.

The game has plenty of great Aerosmith trivia and interviews, but you can definitely tell this was the first single-band game since later ones like Guitar Hero: Metallica and The Beatles: Rock Band had many more memorabilia pics and bonus vids and the like.

As amusing as it is to see a CGI Steven Tyler’s mouth open up twice as wide as you would think is physically possible, this game is really only for hardcore Aerosmith fans or hardcore Guitar Hero fans. If you fit some other category, you can get rhythm games with much more variety that are much better overall elsewhere.