The Warp Pipe - 21/09/08
By Matt K - Sun Sep 21, 2008 8:57am
Last week’s Warp Pipe covered the games of October, so this week we’re looking at November’s big hitters, including Gears of War 2, Left 4 Dead and Mirror’s Edge.
Animal Crossing: City FolkThe Games of Q4, 2008 Part II
| Hype: Low Impression: Average Animal Crossing remains one of Nintendo’s best catalogue sellers thanks largely to its wide appeal. The third non-Japanese release of the game looks to expand the game’s scope with new city-based locations to visit. Animal Crossing’s online capabilities are also set to get a boost with the addition of voice chat and the ability to send messages to friends through e-mail from your PC or through your mobile phone. Real world holidays which were missing from the DS game are set to be reintroduced. I can’t imagine it being drastically different from what has come before, but we could be surprised. Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts Hype: Medium Impression: Good It’s been eight years since we last saw the Bear and Bird, and the landscape has changed a lot - when Banjo-Tooie hit, platformers were still the most dominant gaming genre. Rare were often criticised for pointless collection activities in their older platformers, so with Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, they decided to go in a slightly different direction, having players collect vehicle parts, which they then can customise to make their own unique mode of transport. Call of Duty: World at War Hype: Medium Impression: Average Consensus opinion suggests that Treyarch did a real half ass job on Call of Duty 3, but they’re trying to turn that opinion in their favour with the fifth game, by spending a lot more time on World at War, and using Infinity Ward’s latest engine. Taking it back to World War II doesn’t make a lot of sense after the fourth game sold an utterly ridiculous amount of copies, but so long as they explore new territory (and don’t rely solely on films/TV shows for their level design), it should at least be somewhat decent. Chrono Trigger DS Hype: High Impression: Excellent Would you believe that it’s been thirteen years, and Square has never officially released Chrono Trigger in any of the PAL regions? It remains one of the finest J-RPGs ever released, holding its own against the best the genre has to offer today. The DS version will feature everything that was added to the PlayStation version (including the anime cutscenes), as well as adding touch screen support, wireless multiplayer, a new dungeon and an all new translation. Bound to be the year’s best DS game. Destroy All Humans: Path of the Furon Hype: Low Impression: Average Pandemic delivered two reasonably good action games in Destroy All Humans and its sequel, but they’ve moved on and THQ controls the IP. After they released the flaccid Big Willy Unleashed earlier in the year, one should be concerned about the quality of their latest effort. Path of the Furon looks to rely on tried and true formulae, so if you don’t expect anything grand, you shouldn’t be disappointed. Gears of War 2 Hype: Intense Impression: Good I think I might be one of maybe half a dozen people who thought Gears of War wasn’t all that and a bag of chips, but rather a mess of derivative game mechanics and plasticky brown and grey visuals. Cooperative play saved the day, providing something resembling fun. The second game looks to be a monumental improvement, utilising an enhanced Unreal Engine 3.0, allowing for more wide open spaces and varied environments, and hopefully more intense battles. Epic promises massive improvements to online multiplayer and co-operative play; let’s hope we’ve seen the last of the ridiculous server player advantage. Grand Theft Auto IV (PC version) Hype: Low Impression: Good The biggest release of the year hit in April, and the reception was mixed. The majority of the press (our own Matt Williams excluded) loved it, giving it the highest ratings of any game to date, but the audiences saw it differently, with the game abandoning much of the extra side missions and bonus content that set it apart from the pack. As far as we know, the PC version is going to be the same, but if Rockstar allows the same (or better) degree of modding and customisation as they did on the previous games, it should easily be the best of the bunch. Guitar Hero: World Tour Hype: Medium Impression: Good Rocks the 80’s, Legends of Rock and Aerosmith made Guitar Hero fans worried that their favourite new plastic toy would be turned into Activision’s next Tony Hawk. World Tour looks set to be the first real overhaul of Guitar Hero since the series’ introduction. Sure, the new instruments are ripped off straight from Rock Band, but the music creation studio, better quality instruments and master tracks for every track all sound very promising. $330 is a bit of an ask, but it’s better than the $520 for the other offering. James Bond 007: Quantum of Solace Hype: Medium Impression: Good Bond games have been mixed in the aftermath of GoldenEye 007; it seems that for every half decent one, there are two that proudly sit at the bottom of the barrel. Activision’s got the license now, and they’ve decided they want to replicate the success of Rare’s late 90’s effort. There’s plenty of reason to have hope; it’s using the Call of Duty 4 tech, and it covers both Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace. The only wild card factor is the involvement of Treyarch, a studio that has proven to be inconsistent and unpredictable. Left 4 Dead Hype: High Impression: Excellent Valve has the closest thing to the Midas touch as far as gaming goes, and Left 4 Dead should continue to uphold the tradition of awesome releases. Four players team up to take on the Infected, zombie-like creatures not unlike the Rage victims from 28 Days Later. There’s a lot of interesting technology at work behind the scenes, like the Director system which spawns enemies based on the player’s location and status, rather than at pre-determined spawn points. Deathmatch mixes it up even more by letting an additional four players control the Infected. The Xbox 360 version won’t be gimped like many other console shooters, with Valve providing full dedicated server support. Lips Hype: Low Impression: Average Microsoft does SingStar with a different name and a motion sensing microphone. The prospect of being able to load your own tracks up is exciting, but I’d be willing to be it’ll be gimped in favour of making you purchase songs off the Marketplace. Let’s not forget the Xbox Music Mixer, which promised to do a similar thing for karaoke, but failed miserably. Lord of the Rings: Conquest Hype: None Impression: Average Pandemic takes their successful Star Wars Battlefront formula (shamelessly ripped from Battlefield), and applies it to Middle Earth. Play as the forces of Good or Evil across the various different battles featured in the film trilogy. It’s meant to be sort of a mix of Battlefield and Dynasty Warriors, which could prove to be interesting, or very tedious. WETA and a bunch of the actors from the trilogy are involved, so the production values should at least be top notch, but the lack of promotion from publisher EA is a concern. Mirror’s Edge Hype: Intense Impression: Great Mirror’s Edge takes Breakdown’s commitment to the first person perspective, and pumps it full of steroids. DICE is trying to make it different to every other first person game out there; where others are dark, star beefcake marines and focused on combat, Mirror’s Edge is bright and colourful, the main character is a slender, athletic young lady and it concerns itself more with getting your character through the wide open spaces without confrontation. At this stage, the only concern of mine is how much freedom the character will have in a given level – it won’t be very fun if there are only one or two ways to get through a level. Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe Hype: Medium Impression: Average After Marvel vs. Capcom, you’d think Midway would have jumped on this concept years ago. It’s not really as simple as the Marvel crossover though; DC has too many omnipotent characters and many who don’t like to kill, which makes this crossover a poor fit. On the other hand, after seeing the Joker’s fatality, I’m almost convinced Midway found a way to make it work. If the fighting is more balanced than recent Mortal Kombat games, it should be worth a look. MotorStorm 2: Pacific Rift Hype: Medium Impression: Average The original Motorstorm promised a new level of terrain deformation, exciting races and mindblowing crashes. It delivered almost none of the above, and threw in extremely long load times to boot. The second game offers a jungle/tropical racing environment, the new monster truck class, and the usual smattering of new vehicles and tracks. Pretty hard to get excited about after the first game, though. Naruto: The Broken Bond Hype: Low Impression: Good Naruto: Rise of a Ninja was pretty damn cool with its mix of open-world adventure and one-on-one fighting, but suffered from limiting itself to the early parts of the Naruto story. The Broken Bond picks up right where the first game left off, and covers up to about the start of the filler sagas. The second game will have more emphasis on the ninja teams, playing up the importance of character specific abilities. Ubisoft Montreal promises that the game will be more interactive, and will feature 2 on 2 battles over Xbox Live. One of this quarter’s hidden gems. Need for Speed: Undercover Hype: Low Impression: Average The last Need for Speed title didn’t appear to please anyone, so EA’s taking the series “back to its roots” with Undercover, which will focus on police chases. There seems to be a bit of emphasis on story, with some EA folks suggesting the game will take some inspiration from action movies. If they fix the terrible AI that has plagued the series for the last five years, it might actually be fun. Prince of Persia Hype: High Impression: Great Ubisoft begins a new chapter in the Prince of Persia saga with new visual and gameplay styles, and a significantly different setting. They’re using a modified version of the same tech that drove Assassin’s Creed which they claim will allow them to produce a less linear gameplay experience. Combine that with highly detailed cel-shaded graphics, gravity defying acrobatics and a more intimate combat experience, and you’ve got one of the potential game of the year candidates. Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 Hype: Low Impression: Average FIFA has gone from strength to strength in recent years, Konami has sat on their arse and done jack all with Pro Evolution Soccer. The series has barely many any attempts to improve since PES3, and while the core game is still pretty damn lovely, it’s really showing signs of age. This year’s release looks like it’s too busy focusing on off-field antics, rather than adding much needed things like, oh say, analogue movement. Resistance 2 Hype: High Impression: Great I always felt the original Resistance wasn’t all that and a bag of chips, benefitting more from the lousy PlayStation 3 launch line-up than its own qualities, so I really didn’t give a rats about Resistance 2. That is until I saw the E3 demos. 300 ft tall bosses, bigger and badder levels, more satisfying weapons, 8 player cooperative play and 60 player multiplayer with dedicated servers are just some of the things to be excited about. Should be this year’s biggest multiplayer game. Shaun White Snowboarding Hype: Low Impression: Good The two versions of this game are pretty darn different. The Wii game uses the balance board, and has players going on a cross country road trip with the titular athlete. It didn’t look too bad at Nintendo’s E3 conference; almost reminiscent of 1080 Snowboarding. The HD console version is not unlike the first two iterations in the Amped series; you are let off at one of 4 different mountains where you participate in all sorts of different events, like racing, trick contests and so-on. Both versions of the game (see also: Road Trip) look pretty solid. Silent Hill: Homecoming Hype: Medium Impression: Average You have to wonder what’s going on at Konami with the way they’re outsourcing a lot of their franchises. Silent Hill: Homecoming is being done by Double Helix Games (the result of a merger between The Collective and Shiny) and looks to be a little more reliant on action than previous games. So long as they get the mood right, and tell a good story (unlike Silent Hill Origins), then it should be a good game, but I’ve seen little reason to be confident that they will. Sonic Unleashed Hype: Medium Impression: Needs Work Prepare to be disappointed once again. Sega showed signs of “getting it” when Unleashed first showed up as a primarily 2D Sonic game, even if it was a little too focused on speed. Then we saw the 3D stuff, which was acceptable, if unpleasant. The werehog, on the other hand? No. Just no. How hard is it to go back and play those old Sonic games on the Mega Drive, and see what made them good? You know what I want to see in a Sonic game? Robotnik brutally murdering Amy, Shadow and the rest of Sonic’s gang and using their heads on sticks to play Samba De Amigo. Follow that with a well paced 2D action-platformer starring Sonic (and Sonic alone) and you’ve got a million seller. The Last Remnant Hype: Medium Impression: Average Square seems to be taking quite a shine to the Xbox 360, as The Last Remnant will be their second game of the season to debut on the format. The Unreal Engine 3.0 based J-RPG promises a battle system unlike anything we’ve seen before; a sort of turn based fighting system that takes place in the midst of larger battles. As cool as that sounds, I’m expecting another longwinded game staring an idealistic androgynous teenager who intends to save the world...you know the drill. Tom Clancy’s EndWar Hype: Low Impression: Average Tom “’sif I’d write books anymore” Clancy is such a money-grabbing freak that he sold the rights to his name to Ubisoft, so they’re going to slap it on any old crap knowing that some sucker is going to buy it. This utterly banal real time strategy game is meant to take place in some future World War III after the world runs out of oil. Voice commands are an interesting inclusion, but it remains to be seen whether they will be more than a barely functional novelty. Tomb Raider Underworld Hype: Low Impression: Good Since Eidos kicked Core to the curb, Tomb Raider has gone from utterly hellacious to mildly enjoyable, taking the focus off Lara’s jubblies, and putting it onto gameplay. Underworld is the first one to have lead development take place on a HD console, so it should certainly look the part. So long as the gameplay holds its end of the bargain up, it should be a good package. Might even be better if you ignore the plot. Skate It Hype: Low Impression: Good Skate gave Tony Hawk a real hiding last year, so much so that the Birdman has retreated to his nest until after the holidays. The Wii and DS get their first version of Skate this year. The Wii version focuses on motion control, using either the Remote or Wii Balance Board for various tricks, while the DS game uses the stylus. If said control systems are reliable, then EA will be onto a winner once again. Valkyria Chronicles Hype: Low Impression: Good Sega’s PlayStation 3 S-RPG has a lot of pedigree, coming from the folks that brought you the original Phantasy Star games. In a way, it’s sort of like a more modern version of Fire Emblem - a war game with a Rock-Paper-Scissors dynamic, but Valkyria Chronicles adds a few of its own inventions, like real time movement and aiming on the field. While the non-save-the-world story is a breath of fresh air, the game’s most intriguing factor is the rather pretty sketch-like visual style. World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Hype: High Impression: Good Wrath of the Lich King is the second add-on for the most popular MMO of all time, adding lots of new things, including a new character class, in-game achievements, a new continent and all sorts of new items, quests, creatures and so on. Other existing things will be tweaked, and level and profession level caps will be increased. Should be enough to keep the fans happy. WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2009 Hype: Low Impression: Needs Work Smackdown has been in dire straits for years, and won’t be sorted out until THQ kicks Yuke’s to the the curb. The game needs an entirely new engine; last year’s game was still based on the same engine they’ve been using since the first PSX game back in 2000, and even retained some of the original animations. It’s time they quit focusing on stupid gimmick matches, and delivered a game worth playing. You’re in the Movies Hype: Low Impression: Average Starring in your own cringe-worthy B-Movie might have a lot of appeal for the binge drinking crowd, but I personally cannot see myself touching it with a 10 foot pole. It’s another one of Microsoft’s half-cocked attempts to chase after the casual audience. | ) Smarter than the average bear |
) Chrono Trigger is still one of the best J-RPGs | |
) Overdosing on HGH is a prerequisite to being a COG | |
) Activision’s putting on the red light with Guitar Hero, if you know what I mean | |
) Dad! You killed zombie Flanders! | |
) What about second breakfast? | |
) Nana nana nana nana nana nana na! Fishing! | |
) Kamehame...oops, wrong series | |
) Keep the metal bikinis and Godsmack out of the sequel, thanks | |
) This is my mental image of Germaine Greer | |
) That’s not a knife - that’s a spoon | |
) Chicks dig fire | |
) Lara must have one hell of a chiropractor | |
) Valkyria Chronicles is a lot different to the standard J-RPG fare | |
) Well, he is the boss’ son-in-law |
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