Alright! 2009 is over – and as I did at the end of last year, I'd like to discuss the games that I played during the year. I already covered the games from the first half of the year here, so here's a look the second half.
In the first half of year I was mainly playing games on the Nintendo Wii. Around the middle of the year I finally decided to take the plunge and buy a Nintendo DS, so the second list for the year is very DS game heavy. Please note that I've only included commercial games (I play far too many free ones to remember them all :D ). Also, whilst I played through the main campaign of all these games to the end, I don't try and get 100% achievements or anything like (not very often, anyway).
Time Gentlemen Please (PC) – You lot should already know all about this one. The folks that made Ben There, Dan That! return with the sequel that builds on the strengths of the original and gets rid of most of the weaknesses. Colourful, funny, clever and cheap – it's a very sensible choice to add to your “games to get” list if you've not already played it.
Metal Slug 7 (DS) – Once I'd decided to buy a DS and went looking for games to buy, I knew I had to have this. Although portable, it retains all of the insanely stylish graphics, superbly fluid animation, rocking soundtrack and intense gameplay of the others in the series. New vehicles and weapons keep things interesting even if you've played all the others in the series. Big stompy robot boss battles, a parachute themed level and tanks falling down waterfalls... what more could you want? (don't say “a storyline”, please ;) )
Peggle Dual Shot (DS) – I wanted Peggle for PC and then I saw it on DS. Sometimes you have to make a decision, so I chose this version of the game. It has like a billion levels, some of which are really quite challenging, special DS features which kinda make it a bit more interesting (nothing groundbreaking though), but in the end... it's Peggle and it's on a DS. If you hate Peggle then this isn't going to suddenly bring about a change of heart, but for the rest of us it's sweet, sweet peg breaking goodness.
Sonic Rush (DS) – It's the little blue hedgehog guy that runs faster than any spiky fellow really ought to. You all know of him, and most of him have probably at least played a Sonic game once. Sonic Rush is, basically, a racing game disguised as a platformer. And that's exactly what I want in a Sonic game. Getting the perfect line can be very challenging but when you finally get that flawless run it's oh so very satisfying. The boss battles are also nice and tough (the last one had me for a fair while), so expect plenty of playtime, even for a game that is paced super quickly.
Full Throttle (PC) – This one had been sitting on my shelf for ages and then one day I noticed it there and said “I really should play that!” So I did. And it is incredible. For once an adventure game from the 90s had puzzles that I could actually understand (surely not!?), plus it has a beautifully rich colour palette, great animation, a well told story... it's basically the full package. Never does it feel boring or drawn out, never was I stuck for a frustrating amount of time using junk on other junk to try and solve a stupid puzzle and to wrap it all up it had interesting (if sometimes a tad awkward) minigame based puzzles. It's an adventure game where you also get to bust some skulls, and well worthy of the title “classic”.
Artist Colony (PC) – Woah... is that a... a casual game? Yes, actually, I try to make sure I play a casual game or two every now and then just for something a bit lighter in design. Like a comic book compared to a novel, or pop music compared to... well, anything else in my collection, casual games offer a simple, easy to play alternative for those times you just don't really want to kill another 900 minions. Artist Colony is fairly simple at first, and one spends a lot of time sitting around watching. Soon enough, though, the game turns into a well executed management affair with lovely graphics and a cute story as well. I personally found the pacing at the end absolutely perfect, and was constantly clicking to make sure everything was done but never at a speed that felt overwhelming. A nice bit of entertainment for a few hours.
Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box (DS) – If you read the first half of my gaming year you'll remember that I loved the first of Layton's adventures. I was a bit worried that the sequel wouldn't be as good, but my fears were unfounded. This one is even better. The same charming presentation and gameplay style of the first one with some improvements here and there. At first I thought the story was a touch less inspired, but by the end of the game I was completely sucked in – and what a beautiful ending! It's still totally puzzle based, but it's so darn good you won't mind for a moment.
MegaMan ZX Advent (DS) – I never had a Gameboy Advance but one of my school friends had one, and it was on this that I discovered MegaMan Zero. I knew that if I was going to buy a DS I was 100% committed to buying a MegaMan game on it, and not one of those RPG ones, either. ZX Advent is so much better than the one I fell in love with – graphically it hasn't come far (I consider this a good thing as I loved the graphics in Zero) but the gameplay has evolved into something incredible. Action and adventure in perfect balance, superbly tight controls that never let one down and a ton of abilities to try (Atlas' Buster Editor ability is the coolest special ability I can remember) and good use of the touch screen – I can only hope they'll keep making games of this caliber for the system.
Star Wars The Clone Wars: Jedi Alliance (DS) – The Star Wars game I played on Wii left me a bit underwhelmed with sadly uninspired level design, despite all its efforts to be a good game. Thankfully this managed to feel interesting the whole way through. The combat is simple enough to be picked up quickly and at times feels a touch unresponsive but for the most part it's very good, and the puzzles are scaled well to be slightly more difficult as you progress. It's a less story based than the other SW game I played this year, but still manages to do a fine job of giving us a playable version of a well known universe.
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars (DS) – I've been playing Grand Theft Auto games since the second one, so it wasn't really that much of a shock to enter the universe from the top down perspective. Still, after absolutely loving Vice City, San Andreas and Bully, one is bound to be disappointed by a mere handheld title... right? Wrong. Chinatown wars is fantastic. As soon as one gets used to the controls, it's just as good as the others I've played, with the characters written to make you laugh at them and want to hurt them at the same time (which is a good thing as one ends up hurting most of them in the end), and the great little touch screen minigames mix in seamlessly with the rest of the game. I did miss a licensed soundtrack, but the reason such a thing couldn't be included is really rather obvious. If you like the other GTA games and have a DS, buy it.
Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword (DS) – That Ian guy I sometimes mention on this blog once got me to watch him playing Ninja Gaiden and for all I could see, it was really just a whole lot of bashing things up. But hey – I love bashing things up. This got a favorable review and I decided it was time to see what all the fuss was about. Basically, one plays the game by talking to some NPCs, then going and hitting about 200 monsters with one's sword, solving a really simple puzzle, and then hitting a level boss while avoiding getting hit. Repeat roughly 13 times and you've got Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword in a nutshell. Strangely enough, I really rather enjoyed it. It's refreshingly honest about that fact that it's basically about hitting things, the fact that one must rotate the screen to play is interesting and works well, as do the touch controls, and the story... well, it gives one a reason to hit things, if nothing more. One thing that slightly perplexed me was the way that the game says “Okay, time to fight the final bad guy” - and then after this fight goes “Good job! Now, time to fight the real final boss!”... only to reward us with “The bad guy is dead! Time to go and fight the actual proper final bad guy that was the bad guy all along!”,“Okay, now that bad guy is dead, now this next fight is the actual proper honest last battle we promise this time”... etc. I understand the concept of having a greater story and story twists and such, but telling me that the next battle is the actual final battle five times in a row is a touch odd.
Brothers In Arms DS (DS – obviously :P) – I like first person shooters on the PC. Mouse and keyboard work seamlessly together to give one control and anything else I've played feels worse by comparison. But a touch screen and d-pad should be pretty close, right? Well, almost. It works well, but it still feels clunky. I had no idea what to expect, and was pleasantly surprised by the level of detail put into this game. It's very playable and enjoyable paced despite some needlessly frustrating sections. But, more importantly, it's a portable FPS and it works pretty well. It's not perfect, but it is well worth the price of admission.
Bleach: Dark Souls (DS) – If I were to try and describe every element of the gameplay and story of this game (well, the ones I understand at least a little bit) it'd take me all day and probably sound really complicated. The characters fit into groups and ranks and the like that is probably very well detailed somewhere, there must be a billion moves/combos/powerups/special moves/super moves and the back of the case tells me there are 44 characters to play as (I know I played as a fair few going through the story). Learning the basic backstory would probably take an entire week and a pad full of notes and venn diagrams (I mentioned this to a friend and she says it makes more sense if you've seen the tv series). At the end of the day, though, the game is basically about fighting and playing minigames. Sometimes fighting while playing minigames. The game has a card system for powerups that I couldn't work out the rules for, so I stuck with the set deck, but which seems like a nice idea. For the rest of it, the story seems like an excuse to fight and play the games. Often I found myself laughing because I'd go to fetch someone from lunch to help someone out and they'd fight me before they'd come with me... just for the sake of it. Also, the story made about as much sense as “Bad things start to happen, so we fight, they keep happening so we keep fighting, good things happen so we fight still (but there's more minigames now too!) and then a really bad thing happens so we fight some more.” I didn't realize the final boss fight was the final boss fight until the credits started to roll, but all this aside it's a fun and fluid fighting game. I'm sure lots of people understand this and probably smirk at those like me who just can't get a hold of what is going on in the story. Play for the action, not the story.
Assassin's Creed: Altair's Chronicles (DS) – I played the first AC game on PC last year and liked it quite a bit. When I saw that a version of the game had been made for DS, I was skeptical to say the least. Still, horrified curiosity got the better of me and I just had to try it. It's actually quite a fun game; it feels a lot more like a 'game' than the first one, and the story is about as complex as the opening paragraph in AC, but it's still fun and challenging. My biggest complaint was that every now and then one found a spot in a level that was incredibly well designed and an absolute joy to play, but the rest of the game was fairly standard fare. It leaves me thinking they could have pushed their level designs a touch further and really made this a memorable experience rather than just an enjoyable distraction, but I had fun and was nowhere near as disappointed as I expected to be.
Mahinarium (PC) – If you haven't heard of this game and are reading my blog then I'm incredibly surprised. Basically, you play as a little robot that doesn't talk who has to stop bad guys and save his girlfriend. Oh yeah, and the puzzles are really, really good, the graphics are amazingly evocative and the whole thing is an absolute joy to play. If only they'd let us right click! (Yes, I know I designed two single button games this year, but at least right clicking in those didn't bring up that ugly menu)
Wandering Willows (PC) – Towards the end of the year I found myself all DS-ed out, and wanted something simple, easy and yet still compelling. This caught my eye and I tried it, and found myself impressed enough to get the full thing. If Nintendo allowed Pokemon and Animal Crossing to breed, the result might be something a bit like this. It's simple to the point where you'll never actually get stuck, charming enough to keep you playing and quirky enough to keep you amused. Somehow the game manages to break up repetitiveness by throwing in new elements just at the right time, and every time I got to the point where I was thinking “This is getting a bit dull” something new would happen, and I'd go off exploring again. It's not complex, it's not challenging, but it is compelling enough to hold my attention to the end.
Dream Chronicles (PC) – Yes, another casual! Dream Chronicles plays something like a simplified Myst game – the puzzles all take place in single rooms, and are all of fairly basic difficulty (although some of the ideas in here actually impressed me), the story is pretty simple and a lot of the non puzzle gameplay amounts simply to just finding stuff. Happily, it's pretty and sounds great, well paced, if rather on the short side, and if you get stuck it won't be for very long. Probably won't satisfy hardcore gamers. Did satisfy me.
Dream Chronicles 2 (PC) – Guess I must have enjoyed the first one, hey? Dream Chronicles 2 is presented as the second chapter in the same story, and that's almost exactly the way it plays. The puzzles are a touch more interesting this time, and the story is a touch more complex but it's basically the exact same game. Sadly, towards the end it turned into more of a hidden object game – the only point I got stuck was trying to find tiny objects which were hidden around the rooms for one puzzle. Apart from this frustrating moment, it was a satisfying experience, if still rather short.
So, that's the year – 30 games in the finished pile (including the halfway list) and a lot of good times had playing them. Well, not quite. Aside from playing games, I had a pretty darn good year making them as well. 2009 was an incredible year for myself, and I have to say thanks to everyone for playing the games, helping me make them, comments, emails... you guys are great!
I have no idea what 2010 will bring. There's some really exciting stuff I'm working on but I'm wary of announcing anything yet. I hope that I can bring you at least a couple more games to play for 2010... and if not, I hope you'll have plenty of fun with all the other games you play anyway.
