I just watched this one again. Fantastic!
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A couple of quick thoughts after playing through the first 2 chapters of maybe 1 hour and 30 minutes of effective gameplay.
- The game DO look ALOT better than previous games. I really dont get all the "its still the same graphics" flaming the game has got. Sure, its still going for a more clean and doll like approach but graphics are vastly improved over the previous games. I played through Sigma a while back and compared to that the world has much better lighting, architecture in the enviroments feel much more natural, water looks oh so much better, textures has way more depth to them, even on characters wich actually feels less doll like this time around (some of them anyway) and the overall sharpness of textures is extreme. Textures are so sharp I almos feel they will cause burn-ins to my TV. More shaders and subtle effect has been used to make this feel way more next gen than the upscaled Sigma. I just entered the New York stage and the enviroment and weathereffects there are REALLY good looking.
- The amounts of blood and gore are awesome. This might be the most brutal game I have played. Limbs are flying and blood are squirting everywhere and it stays there. The animation when Ryu cleans his weapons after a fight by throwing the blood off them is awesome aswell. The sound of fighting is also very brutal and you can hear skulls smashing, bones breaking and blood splatter everywhere. Its...yea...its really really cool.
- The combat is hands down the most satifying ever. This is my initial reaction of the combat in NG2 and might change but as of right now that is how I feel. The improvements are vast over Sigma and the combat feels perfect. It feels brutal, heavy, spot on and extremely fluid, smooth and responsive. Especially with the Lunar Staff wich is still my favorite weapon and the one I can handle the best.
- Cutscenes are awesome. The story might be kinda lame but the cutscenes and interactions between characters in them is actually kinda cool. Its way beyond anything NG1 did and its more on par with Devil May Cry.
- Camera is still frustrating. But on the other hand I dont see how you could solve it in any other way. The only other way to make the camera work in this kind of game is making it fixed like in DMC and that is not what NG2 is about. Its more intimate and down close so the thing to do here is to eliminate the frustrating platforming from the first game wich really ruined the experience for me there, because in combat, you CAN handle the camera by turning it and reseting it behind Ryu. So far the platforming havent been too bad but I fear the worst.
- The game is harder than ever. Enemies are smarter and blocking plays a much bigger role in this game. Battles often become most successful when you almost constantly block and then throw some smart counterblows, wich I personally like more than chaotic buttonmashing, this way you can think more about what combos you want to bust out when the enemy has finishes his attacks.
- Bosses will kill you in seconds if you dont learn their patterns wich I had to do on the Chapter 2 boss. The experience itself is more streamlined tho with repleneshing health, frequent savepoints and the ability to try bosses as many times as you want to.
Overall I think this is an improvement over the first game wich I ended up disliking because of its many frustrations and clumsy tries to throw in adventure and platforming elements. Hopefully the game will continue the way it has been going so far. If that is the case I am officially a fan.
Oh, and on a sidenote, best of luck to Itagaki in whatever he might end up doing next. Looking forward to whatever it might be. After all, I am one of maybe three people that actually bought Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 for the 360....
More music to listen to while enjoying your backyard, the beach or a long drive in a cabbed down car. Preferrably relaxing and drinking something cold and fruity, maybe inbetween a good podcast or after taking a dip in the pool.
High And Mighty Color - Dive Into Yourself
High And Mighty Color - Hot Limit
Some music im listening to while enjoying my vacation in the sun with a beer in my left hand.
Juliette and the Licks - Hot Kiss
George Baker Selection - Little Green Bag
So I am on day 5 of my vacation and so far its been 100% relaxation. Over the last couple of days I have snapped alot of pictures and I have decided to pick a few of them and upload them here. These pretty much describes better than words what state of mind I am in right now. Wonderful weather, summer, BBQ & young animals in the area. I love snapping photos of nature and animals, a habit dating back many summers. So these are only a few of about 20-30 pictures of cows, horses, trees and agricultural machines in the area. Me and nature are tight! Bigger versions @ my pictures section. The location is the surrounding countryside of my small town in eastern Sweden for all of you international people on the internet
The weather is still 110% awesome but I have run out of both fruit smoothie, sushi and other cold drinks so I gotta go and refill.
As far as gaming goes Ive been spending some late evening time with some pick up and play Mario kart Wii and a round or 2 of Pac Man C.E in between a couple of minutes of Doom for the 360 or some multiplayer Guitar Hero 3 (the new Muse Track pack is AWESOME). I have started every morning so far with about 1 hour or 2 of Wii Fit and when evening comes I just want something relaxing and casual to sink an hour or two into. I am actually going to bed crazy early and/or watching a movie and I am awaiting the interesting releases of June like Ninja Gaiden 2, Civ Revolution, Metal Gear Solid 4 and Alone in the Dark. I bought Age of Conan when it was released but somehow the words vacation and levelgrinding dosent sit well with me right now. Ive been playing it some on and off if I feel I wanna wait another hour with going to bed and I am enjoying it so far but it might not have been the best time for me to buy a new MMORPG.
Alright, first of all, I dont have to go back to work for about 5 weeks so I am going to spend all June in the sun with a tropical fruit smoothie in my hand by day, on the couch with a beer in my hand watching the Euro 2008 Soccer championship on TV on the evenings and in front of numerous high quality games by night drinking Pepsi since I just ran out of my imported Mountain Dew :(. I will try to start each day with about 1 hour of Wii Fit since I have actually been slacking off some with that due to loads of work. I started off hard today going at it so hard I was way to sweaty when It came to doing some pushups and side stands at the end of it. I slipped off the board and my feets slipped on the floor. The weather is absolutely perfect for having a vacation in right now. Today peaked at about 27 C with me lying in the sun listening to the latest IGN Beyond Podcast (BEYOOOOND!). I also went and picked up a "vacation starter pack" at the local mall wich consisted of alot of Fruit Smoothie, alot of Apple cider, some salty snacks, some delicious mushroom and ham filled pancakes, some deep frozen Sushipacks for perfect summertime lunches and some supercheap movies. I actually havent bought any movies is AGES but somehow the vacation has made me feel mroe like watching a movie or two when the sun has set. I ended up picking up Transporter 1 since I have only seen the follow up, and Desperado since well, yeah, its a Rodriguez movie starring Tarantino, the ultimate winning concept. I also got a Portugal football (soccer) jersey as a random gift (and yes, I am betting on Portugal to win the Euros).
In other news I enlisted in something called the "The Planetary Society's Messages from Earth" program a while back wich basically meant that you got to write your name on a list wich they sent on a disc together with the Phoenix team to land on Mars as a part of the "Visions of Mars" Project. Today I recieved the following mail:
"Dear Fellow Mars Explorer,
For the first time in human history, we have landed in a polar region on another planetary body. Congratulations to the Phoenix team - we are on Mars!
Now - armed with a suite of science instruments and a digging robotic arm - the spacecraft and its team on Earth can begin hunting for water ice and adventure.
Don't forget that you are a part of this adventure...part of the story of space exploration!
As part of The Planetary Society's Messages from Earth program, your name - along with a quarter million others from around the world - is now on the surface of Mars. Landing with you on the disk is Visions of Mars, a treasure trove of literature and art - from ****c works by Arthur C. Clarke and Ray Bradbury to Orson Welles' radio retelling of "The War of the Worlds" to a special audio recording of Carl Sagan delivering a message to the future.
The story of space exploration is being written everyday."
In other words this means that my name is now on Mars as a part of a huge cultural space project.So yeah, congratulations to the Phoenix team for landing in the polar region of Mars.
Also, just so you know, I changed my XBL gamertag to something more personal.
Alright, I am back to enjoying my vacation, over and out, you know where to find me!
Alright, here is the links to the whole project. I am so glad I am finally done.
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Without further delay, *drumroll* !!
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1: Quake III Arena
Platform: PC / Year: 1999 / Developer: ID Software
Quake III Arena is like another Doom but 6 years later. Not in terms of gameplay but in terms of importance to the gaming industry. Quake III Arena is the ultimate multiplayer shooter experience and as far as I am concerned the ultimate multiplayer experience overall. For starters it sported the new Quake III engine that became industry standard for countless games. It was first to intruduce curved surfaces and new levels of dynamic lightning and organic surfaces. The soundtrack was mindblowing and the soundeffects were superb. The overall polish of Quake 3 Arenas presentation is unchallenged through history. The game itself is the biggest and most played mutliplayer shooter out there and just like some other games on my list its a standard in the progaming world and people win huge sums of money playing Quake 3 arena. Quake 3 is another of those few games that I played for years without pausing. I watched replays of the best people in the game, talked to some of them, played some of them and tried to rise up to participate in tournaments, LAN parties and online leagues together with an old gaming buddy. Everything from the estethic design, to the precision of the controls contributed to make a shooter so tight, no, a GAME so tight that it is the best game I have ever played. The leveldesign was another factor. The Arenas you fight in are marvels of virtual design and the layout of every arena is worth an award in itself. Weapondesign: Variations of cla$$ic Quake and Doom weapons. Playermodels: The ability to chose from a huge variety of different playermodels ranging from a big biker chick, a huge robot, a war veteran or a sergeant, to the cla$$ic guy from Doom, an eye on legs or a genetic experiment. Quake 3 had a single player mode with AI bots so good you could play that for months but as I said the real meat with Quake 3 Arena lies within its multiplayer that starts to feel like you are really playing a professional sport after youve been playing it for a couple of years.
You really become better when playing the game for a long time on a whole other level than in your standard "game". You start to time spawns, aim in certain ways, mod the graphics, trickjump, bunnyjump and plasmaclimb (all of them things that the players of ID Software games invented in the first place). Its like playing a real sport for a long time. You develop you own playstyl3 and watching famous players go at it you could easily find a favorite playstyl3 to watch. At the "peak" of my career I could put on a Quake 3 match between two good clans instead of watching a movie and I marked important games in my calendar to not miss a match. Quake 3 is not only the best game ever made, its really the best sport ever made. ID Software has probably meant more for actiongaming than any other company and with Quake 3 they created multiplayer shooting for a new generation. The genious minds behind this masterpiece deserves so much praise for what they have done. The game is an inspiration on so many levels and it inspired a whole industry to start creating gaming mice, gaming keyboards, gaming rigs, headsets and energy drinks. It inspired a whole generation of multiplayer gamers to join clans and create movies of themselves playing trying to become the next cyberstar. Quake III Arena is a shining example of perfect programming, perfect presentation, perfect gameplay flow, perfect balance, perfect coding, perfect support from the developers, the perfect community and a shining example of a game that deserves the title "Best game ever made". No other game has ever been this big nor this perfecly crafted.
Alright. The last 10. There will be a summary with links to all blogposts posted after this one. Thanks to everyone who actually read this huge project. It was alot of work, way more work than I thought actually. But now its finally done. Feel free to spread this list to people interested in it once I get that summary up and feel free to add me on MSN: jimmy_nyman2@hotmail.com or mail me on the same adress with flaming, suggestions, corrections to faulty information or appriciation. Did I forget something obvious? Tell me! This took so much more hard work than I imagined it to take. Each part of this list took roughly 3-4 hours to write and the planning took at least 30-40 hours aswell.
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10: Warcraft 3-Reign of Chaos
Platform: PC/MAC / Year: 2002 / Developer: Blizzard Entertainment
Together with Starcraft its the biggest Progaming RTS ever created. I myself played Warcraft 3 for pretty much 2 whole years, climbing the ladders and participating in tournaments. Just like with all other Blizzard games WC3 takes 30 minutes to learn but years to master and just like the others you can play them for 1000s of hours without getting bored. On the surface WC3 is a highly polished RTS with excellent artdesign, 4 distinct fun races, and superb campaigns that takes you through alot of Warcraft Lore. Deep within lies an outstanding coredesign and gameplay that works on a pro level and that keeps getting constant updates for years and years. The depth to WC3s races and their gameplay is astounding and this game is truly a marvel to behold from a design standpoint. The attention to the small details and the amount of polish Blizzards puts into everything really shines through in WC3. In retrospective its also kinda fun to go back to Warcraft 3 after playing WoW and realize that the artstyl3 and graphics are pretty much exacly the same but from a RTS perspective. An important piece to the Warcraft universe, probably THE most important piece, and watching replays of Korean Progamers that plays WC3 for an actual job will never stop to impress no matter how many years that passes. And by the way, looking at the sales for games in Sweden Warcraft 3 and its expansion still sells almost as well as WoW. The interest is STILL burning for this game, and I can totally see why.
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9: Bioshock
Platform: X360/PC / Year: 2007 / Developer: 2K Games
I dont even know where to begin with Bioshock, it works on so many levels. Its a very open game much in the same vein as Deus Ex or System Shock. You modify your own body and your weapons to fit your playstyl3 and there are often numerous ways to solve any given situation making Bioshock an open shooter playground. But there is so much more to it than all of the mods and genetic splicing. The story is one of the most relevant and intelligent ones ever. It has such deep and serious philosophical and political undertones to it that it really makes you think about the world we are living in like no other game. The mystery of what went wrong down there in Rapture is also a very important part of what makes the game so intriguing. As you make your way through the city more and more is revealed about what is going on down there and what has happened to everything. The Artdirection and attention to detail in the game is mindblowing. Everytime you enter a room there is literally details everywhere in the room . Posters, texts, papers, small items, a recorded tape, furniture, dead bodies with a story to them, restless spirits in the air, you name it. And everything can be interacted with. The atmosphere is also soooo thick. So thick you can feel it. This game dosent let you go for one second, you are in Rapture every second you play the game. The game makes about a dozen unique and smart designchoices that I cant even begin to go into, from the Little Sisters and how they are integrated to the world, to your own background, why your plane crashed there and who you really are to how they handle death in the game. Enemydesign, some of the best music ever, overall audiodesign, the feel of the weapons and the ever present water. The water outside of the city that is leaking into the city as it keeps falling apart is a contant reminder to where you really are, on the bottom of the ocean, where a society has gone wrong, a society where no kings and no gods could rule over one mans dream to build a utopia where man decides is own fate. Bioshock might not look like alot on pictures but its a larger than life game with a plot, a story, a mystery and characters deep as the sea you are exploring. The game is probably to intelligent for many to appriciate all of its qualities but be open minded and this is an experience you will never forget. Read my review for more!
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8: Gears of War
Platform: X360/PC / Year: 2006 / Developer: Epic Games
It feels like everyone has been trying to do their own Gears of War since the release of this giant in the end of 2006. Gears of War set the bar for next gen shooters and said "alright, here is how you do a shooter in this day and age", and everyone picked it up. Coversystem, the way you toss grenades, the way zooming in / shooting / popping out of cover is handled, the way cutscenes are told. It feels like I see them everywhere. GTA4, Dark Sector, Uncharted, you name it. Alot of games draws from the well that is Gears, and it is for a reason, alot of games also borrows the engine that came with it wich is one of the best if not THE best engine on the market. Cliff Blezsinski, one of my personal rolemodels and together with Peter Molyneux, the biggest genious in the industry, is a perfectionist. He dosent let anything just slip by and that results in Gears feeling perfect when you play it. It just feels so right. Its probably one of the tightest actiongame to date and everything is made to be heavy and rough. Soundeffects, enemy and characterdesign, environments, armor, wehicles, weapons. This is a really "manly" game. For some reason some people get turned off by that and I truly feel sorry for anyone who calls himself a gamer or that enjoys GTA 4 without going to play the source first, willingly missing out on the best actionexperience you can have on a next gen console. And I am going to be honest with you, all of the games that have tried to copy the Gears of War concept arent even close to as solid as Gears of War, I would go as far as to say that comparing GTA 4s or Uncharteds covermechanics with Gears would be downright criminal. Gears of War introduced alot of new mechanics and revolutionized the way shooters are made much like ID Software has done many times before. Seeing as they have been working hard on the engine since 2006, Gears of War 2 has the potential to be even better. Cliffys way to look on Gamedesign goes beyond your average lead producer and he thinks 10 steps deeper and we can all safely laugh at the pathetic attempts at copying the concept. The games can be really good, dont get me wrong, but gears is just on a whole other level.
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7: Super Mario World
Platform: SNES / Year: 1991 / Developer: Nintendo
This should not come as a surprise at all. Super Mario World is a masterpiece, a golden game, a game so well crafted it dosent have any flaws and it will be fun to play forever. Mario World is just as fun to play today as it was in 1991. The graphics were among if not THE best on the SNES and the design is unforgettable. The leveldesign is just pixelperfect, everything is there for a reason and there is not 1 misplaced pixel in the entire game that dosent enhance the gaming experience. Super Mario World is Platform nirvana. Yoshi is introduced as a rideable animal and adds new depth to the gameplay together with new powerups like the feather. Super Mario World can be enjoyned on so many different levels. Playing a stage casually, going through the lenghty campaign and exploring the entire land and all of the different backdrops or trying to find all the secret stuff scattered throughout the world. But most of all SMW is just pure fun to play, pure, untouched fun. Gaming would collapse into a black whole if Mario World dissappeared.
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6: Doom
Platform: PC/PSX/SNES.. / Year: 1993 / Developer: ID Software
I recently checked my Xbox Live statistics and one of the games I have played the most since I bought my Xbox 360 at launch is Doom for XBLA. That says alot about the games quality compared to todays market. The story of Doom is a long and extremely interesting one. The story of John Carmack, John Romero and friends who sat in a cabin out in the woods and created a game in their teens. Its a long and very emotional one for someone as into gaming as I am to read and everyone should read it. Anyway, the end result of this hard work of pure enthusiasm was Doom, a work of pure love for gamecreation. Sure, there were shooters before Doom but Doom is really the game that created the genre. This is it. Doom is still a checklist for everyone that does anything even remotely actionoriented. It was Doom that made it so that a shotgun or a rocketlauncher has to be included in every game these days. I feel that the developers today dosent pay enough respect to Doom. Think of any game that has some shooting in it that you have played, well, deep deep down there is an essence of that game that comes from Great great grandfather Doom. But not only is Doom the reason the actiongenre exists the way it does today, its still more fun to play than most other actiongames that gets put on a disc these days. The release on XBLA is something that everyone should own, its worth buying a 360 just to buy Doom since its hard to find a PC these days that runs it. Doom is perfected shooterdesign, its the essence of action, its a PC revolution and something that way to many kids these days goes "hah, really? you still like doom, dude doom is just a mindless shooter" at before they return to playing Counter Strike wich makes me both sad and angry at the same time. The kids of today dosent know that Counter Strike wouldnt exist without those few enthusiast boys in the early 90s who sat up around the clock and coded Doom.
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5: Starcraft
Platform: PC / Year: 1998 / Developer: Blizzard Entertainment
The best RTS ever made. Everything with Starcraft is crafted to RTS perfection. The races, their desings, their lore and their units. The unitbalance, the maps, the Sci Fi universe and the totally awesome soundtrack. Just like with Warcraft 3, Starcraft is still played actively on a Pro level in constant tournaments and by now this game is perfected even more than when it was originally released. Starcraft is 100% waterproof so to speak. Its tight and snug and perfected in every aspect of its design wich really creates a game so perfect there is no reason to ever stop playing it. In South korea this game is so huge that the good players are like rockstars, so big that you can buy milk with Starcraft themed pictures on them and shoes with Zerglings on them. You all know Blizzard by know and I have ranted about them so much over the course of this list that I feel like I dont need to anymore. With a sequel on its way I am of course superexcited. I have a feeling I will be playing Starcraft 2 like I did with Warcraft 3 or WoW. If its only half as good as Starcraft 1 its bound to keep me entertained for at least a year. Yea, there are a few days in your life that never gets erased from your memory. I still remember the day I got Starcraft in my hands. I still remember installing it on my PC like it was yesterday. I still remember the shirt I was wearing and the weather on that particular day..it was 10 years ago..thats says alot about the impact this game made on me, my gaming taste and my childhood.
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4: Super Mario Galaxy
Platform: Wii / Year: 2007 / Developer: Nintendo
Takes every mariogame ever made, throws it in a blender and adds a revelution into the mix. Super Mario Galaxy is everything good from all the great Mariogames but it also throws out everything you expect from a platformer or just games in general and totally revolutionizes gaming. Super Mario Galaxy is the best platformer ever made and easily one of the best games ever made. Its a completely mindblowing experience in every sense of the word. The game plays around with gravity, physics and the very laws of nature itself. The fun of playing Super Mario Galaxy cannot be described with words. Its the reason to own a Wii. I would even go as far as to say that if you dont own a Wii and Super Mario Galaxy you might aswell find another hobby since you obviously dont care for games. Screw the "everyone has a different opinion". Anyone who sits down with Super Mario galaxy for enough time to get his/her mind blown by it will place it up here on their own versions of this list. Every stage of Mario galaxy is unique enough to fill a whole game but just as you think you know one aspect of a game it throws you away to a completely different one and its like playing a whole new game all over again. Its one of the best looking games out there and it created magic with the Wii hardware. I have been looking at the OST CD for this game and I might end up getting it since the music is even better than the graphics. Mario Galaxy would be almost as awesome without the nostalgia factor but the game is also very smart with playing on your nostalgic feeling for Mariogames and it adds alot to the experience to hear a song from Super Mario Bros 3 when landing on a certain galaxy.
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3: Dungeon Keeper
Platform: PC / Year: 1997 / Developer: Bullfrog Productions
The pinnacle of Peter Molyneux founded Bullfrog Productions and also his finest work there before he left to set up Lionhead Studios. Took a standard strategy/management formula and turned the tables on it. Instead of playing the good guys you play an evil Dungeon Keeper and you task is to dig out a huge cave filled with different rooms to attract dark creatues from a portal wich you then have to feed, train and take to battle when the good lord of the land comes to visit. You dig out "rooms" and fill them with room tiles much like Theme Hospital but in a dark and evil cavesystem. The concept is actually very close to the more recent Viva Piñata. I dont know if anyone but me noticed that VP was a Dungeon Keeper ripoff set in a sunny garden. Maybe thats why I liked VP so much even tho it was so childish. Anyways, Dungeon Keeper was extremely innovative in how it worked. Different creatures gets attracted by different things in your dungeon and some of them fight each other so you have to keep them separate. Dungeon Keeper also succeeds by being very unique in graphical styl3 and overall theme. It has some of the best audio ever and its a legendary cla$$ic that I recommend everyone to play right now because guess what, it still works flawlessly on modern PCs and windows Vista. Thats says quite alot of how professionally programmed this game is. DK had a dark sense of humor to it and it really made fun of the general fantasy hype while also incorporating revolutionary new ways to look at management simulations and strategy games on the PC.
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2: The Curse of Monkey Island
Platform: PC / Year: 1997 / Developer: Lucas Arts
As you should all know by now I really love good old cla$$ic point and click adventure games from Lucas Arts, Monkey Island in particular. Monkey Island 3, aka The Curse of Monkey Island is easily the best one in the series. The artdesign is terrific and the whole game got a cartoony and very soothing look to it. The game is really the perfect adventure game. The amount of love and detail that has gone into every screen in the game just leaves me without words. The locations are all beautiful and extremely varied. Characters are each and every one the best characters ever in a video game. As usual with Monkey Island the game is soooo funny. The humor is so good It makes me wonder where all the humor has gone, games arent this funny anymore. The adventuring itself makes for countless memorable scenes, comments and characterinteractions. As I have said before, Monkey Island (and MI3 in particular) formed me as a person more than anything else I can remember. The type of humor, sunny carribean islands, pirates and cozy coastal towns. Thinking about stuff like this makes me go dangerously nostalgic. Getting up that christmas morning and finding MI3 is one of the best moments of my life, yea, thats how important Monkey Island 3 is to me. Its really a part of my personality.
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