hello world,
this is your man juice lee just rambling off some thoughts about 2009 in regards to games as it comes to a close.
1. superhero IP’s CAN make enjoyable video games
rocksteady games and raven software have done the impossible. they made 2 outstanding games in batman arkham asylum and x-men origins wolverine
Batman: Arkham Asylum
in the beginning of the year I read a few blurbs about this game and thought that the premise of actually BEING batman and striking fear into your prey would probably be more of “rent, beat, and forget about” gimmick… as it turns out it was a cornerstone a game that really brought you into the world of batman. for me the overall tone of the game felt like a frank miller or paul dini(who wrote the games story) driven arc. To do this with an IP that is known for sucking is excessively hard to do. Here’s to hoping in 2011 we see rocksteady make an even more amazing attempt
X-men origins: Wolverine
how is it that a game tied into a movie can be a billion times better than the movie? I don’t know either, but raven software did it.. wolverine was always a character I felt was consistently screwed over in video games.(next to batman and in many cases spider-man) the dude has arguably best and probably most praised healing factor in all of the comic universe a rich character history, enjoyable rogues gallery, and he STILL gets the shaft whenever he appears in a game? (im not gonna talk about the fighting game wolvie thats for a whole other time) This game, much like the batman game made you feel like the character… This isn’t saturday morning cartoon wolverine where he’s popping the claws and cutting up your copy machine (and maybe your car door for taking his parking space) HE KILLS PEOPLE!! this is the wolverine comic fans have waited 30 years to see in media outside of the comic realm. The depth of moves and the sheer gruesomeness really got everybody attention, especially mine. lets hope raven software gets a contract for the next wolverine game and that they are NOT tied to this horrible movie franchise.
2. The fighting game era has come back!!
one of the fondest memories of being a kid in the 90′s was the local arcade. The arcade was a proving ground for skills in a fighting game. The rewards were often never more than bragging rights among the audience (if you could get one) and if you were that good even a bit of notoriety in your arcade or even the city..
as technology progressed and more games went online the arcades began to die. In the death of the arcade they took the main cash cow which were fighting games… the fighting game community while still kicking but largely underground for several years salivated at the chance to change with the times and eagerly awaited for the time when their favorite games would show up online. in 2009 we saw 3 major contenders enter. 2 old champions and one new challenger.
street fighter 4
Capcom kicked off the year with street fighter 4. Many fans of the series loved that they evolved the look of the game while keeping intact the reason the world fell in love with it in the first place. Others criticized the classic 2d gameplay that is the signature of the series for not changing with the times. While the online play left a bit to be desired in some aspects, capcom listened to the SF community and have now planned a major update for the game thats going to be released in 2010.
Tekken 6
now before anyone (whoever reads this) says it yes, namco’s first official fighting game for the current gen WAS soul calibur 4… but that was 2008.. . so we come to what is another heavyweight contender, Tekken 6 I’ll be the first to tell you I am an enormous fan of the series but with this game there were many broken promises and even more missing things… things that i wont go into great detail about in this blog but I’ll probably rant about sooner or later. For now, I’ll write happy thoughts. Boasting a roster of 40 characters and having immense gameplay depth, tekken 6 manages to appease the hardcore fighting game enthusiast and the casual player. The new character customization has recieved a great deal of praise while the rage and bound system have been met with mixed reviews much like the lengthy scenario campaign. there is word from namco officially is there are patches coming to address the severe online lag and the lack of online co-op for scenario campaign. YES PLEASE NAMCO IT’S BROKEN LETS FIX IT
Blazeblue : Calamity trigger
While you may have not really heard of this game, its a very notable addition to the fighting community for being daring enough to A. be a completely new IP entering into a genre that mainstream gaming figured to be dead. B. bring a compelling 2d(yes, I said 2d) fighting engine to the table with extremely unique characters. C. actually listen to the community and create what may be the best online presentation and handling of ANY current gen fighting game. I really hope this franchise sticks around, I see them really making things interesting for the competition.
3. Japan needs to start taking chances
From the beginning of gaming to the late 90s and into the early 2000′s japan dominated the gaming industry with amazing cutting edge games and franchises. then around about 2003 and 2004 gaming companies outside of japan started to really step up their game (no pun intended) you started to see more non linear gameplay online integration and very good story telling. The japanese seemed to continue making the same types of games while slowly finding out that people want a new level of depth and involvement into the games they were playing. since the mid 2000′s everyone has been providing that except japan. companies like ubisoft montreal, EA and naughty dog are blazing the trail while companies like square-enix , namco and sega are consistently struggling with bringing anything new to the table beyond their tentpole franchises. In short while the world acknowledges the beauty that final fantasy 13 has.. they will ultimately be turned off by the linear gameplay, lack of DLC and the turn based battle system thats almost as old as me… they’ll stick with the modern warfare 2′s GTA’s and assassins creeds of the world…
I’m pullin for you japan, lets get it right in the new decade…
