DAY 365 / GAME 365
Mass Effect 3
Three-hundred-and-sixty-five games later and I still haven't covered all the great games I've played. But I certainly covered the vast majority of them. Some games I didn't feel I played enough of to warrant a post and some games were sequels so close to the originals that they didn't need to be written about. Nevertheless, the 365th and final game of the year is the final piece to a trilogy of games who's characters are as close to me as some of the best novels I've read and the best movies I've enjoyed. Mass Effect 3 was the ending to one of my all time favourite pieces of sci-fi fiction I've ever played.
A trilogy of games that spanned a five year release date, Mass Effect, from Canadian developer BioWare, is a series that has touched a huge audience. An inventive sci-fi third-person RPG shooter, it's gameplay allowed you to developed relationships with characters across space in an attempt to end what is revealed to be the cyclic demolition of the universe as we know it. As this massive war, full of in-fighting amongst races, your crew helps band together all intelligent life from the great to the small in what culminates in a last stand against the Reapers.
By the end of this journey, you've met and hopefully made a difference in a number of different characters. All from different backgrounds, with different hopes and dreams, beliefs and pasts. BioWare wrote these characters with depth; you aren't meant to like all of them, or hate all of them. When you make you decisions they become less logical and more heartfelt as you progress through the game. At least, if you played it anything like I did, which sounds like the consensus amongst gamers.
Mass Effect 3 is like so many other great titles in that I could sit here and write about it for hours. But at this point I'm sure you've either heard it from me or someone else, it's simply a fantastic series and an amazing game. It's visually stunning, has an incredible score and with the right sound system, incredible audio cues. The writing is top-notch and the gameplay is both engaging and solid. Mass Effect is a series I do plan to play through from the start again soon, just to enjoy it all over again.
That's it. I've covered a full 365 different games from the day I started playing games to as recently as yesterday. This are 365 games that I honestly enjoyed and many of them I still own or have re-purchased while writing this blog. There are many more games I could discuss and there are many more I plan to play. In fact, next year is the year where I play what I own, and don't buy anything new. That will be over 30 games. Quite a feat.
Shortly after this post, I'll post a summary. Kind of an addendum, covering what didn't make it in, and what I plan on doing for next year. I'll also try to post a little infographic on which games were covered this year. Until then, thanks for sticking with me for this project, it was one of the bigger things I've completed.
DAY 364 / GAME 364
Never Alone
Never Alone, or Kisima Innitchuna is a real first in gaming. At least, so far as I am aware. I stumbled across Never Alone while browsing games on the Humble online store and happened across it on it's release day. (Just about a month ago.) I was attracted to this game instantly for it's beautiful visuals, but was especially excited for what it offered alongside.
Never Alone isn't simply a game; it's a game combined with a documentary alongside a story from ancient Inuit folklore. You see, Never Alone was created by a small team of Inupiat Inuit from Northern Alaska in association with an American publisher. Based on Inupiat artwork, scrimshaw and tales from tribal elders; Never Alone represents one of the few games which is a game first and yet is equally informative. I guess you could compare it to Assassin's Creed 2, where you can read up on any major piece of architecture as you wander renaissance Italy. But Italy isn't so hidden away from us as the Inuit are.
As you progress through Never Alone, you follow the story of a young girl who gets lost trying to find the cause of a blizzard which is burdening the village. She quickly gets lost, but is guided by a snowy arctic fox. At this point you can switch between either character and often need to in order to complete most puzzles. Likewise, each character can be controlled individually if you have two controllers (and players.) As you make your way through the game, you unlock short pieces of video which form a much larger documentary. Exploring everything from the history of the Inupiat people, to their involvement in the game, their culture, survival in the harsh wilderness and their connection with the world around them.
There's so much to enjoy about Never Alone. The Inuit perspective is unique and refreshing, (Though not too indifferent from other native american cultures.) the artwork is beautiful and the game makes great use of the Unity engine. The documentary alone is engaging and informative, a real eye-opener as so many of us are consumed in our 'modern' lifestyle.
Never Alone is an inexpensive indie title sitting at about $15 and I highly recommend it.
DAY 363 / GAME 363
Atari Star Wars Arcade
One of the few downsides of video game arcades is simply that you can only fit as many game in your location as you can comfortably fit cabinets. And so, sometimes you find that one game that is at an arcade nowhere close to where you life and playing that game ends up becoming a rare treat; like a unaffordable delicacy.
On one, maybe two occasions as a young child I visited Toronto's theme restaurant The Organ Grinder. (Which no longer exists, to my knowledge.) This restaurant which existed as one giant pipe organ was a popular pizza house for kid's birthday parties and thus, contained a half-decent arcade.
My brother discovered it first, this arcade housed one cabinet that stood out above the rest. So much so I recall no other games existing at this venue. This was likely in the mid-to-late 80's and we found what seemed like the best thing we've ever seen. A Star Wars flight simulator, specifically emulating the famous trench run scene from A New Hope.
The visuals looked exactly like something out of Tron. (The 80's flick, obviously.) Which at the time, felt like the future. Red, blue and green outlines forming three-dimensional shapes, allowing for a the feel of truly moving through a virtual space. The cabinet design, closed in like a ship's cockpit really added to the experience and let you block out the world around you. Even if that included a hyper-noisy pipe-organ restaurant.
It's unfortunate that I would have only had the opportunity to play this game a few times at most, and yet it's an experience I haven't forgotten. Even if it has been almost thirty years later. It's one of those games that was not only fantastic at the time, but having played leaves you with a benchmark for which you can appreciate just how far games like this have come over time. From Tron like visuals to well, Tron Legacy visuals. All in a portion of my lifetime. I can only imagine what the future holds.
DAY 362 / GAME 362
Panzer Dragoon: Orta
After the demise of the Dreamcast console, Sega dropped out of the home console business and divided itself up with different focuses on software and arcade hardware. When this happened, there were no more Sega 'exclusive' titles anymore. Suddenly you started to see Sonic the Hedgehog showing up on the Nintendo Gamecube of all things. Soul Calibur on the PlayStation 2 and Panzer Dragoon on the original Microsoft Xbox.
This latest Panzer Dragoon, Orta, seemed to included a huge jump up in graphical quality, even though the Dreamcast was pretty much the same generation of console as the Xbox. I keep forgetting that Orta wasn't actually an Xbox 360 game. Of course, part of this would be because it was one of the few titles that was supported with backward compatibility and so I played this most recently on my 360.
Though I swear I beat this title, reading up on it now so much of the story seems unfamiliar. Either the story was told in a manner unclear enough that I don't remember it well, or I simply never beat the game. There's also a good chance I just really have to pick it up and play it again someday soon. Perhaps there's a story in there that I just glazed over and somehow missed out on.
As interesting as the Panzer Dragoon series always have been, for me it's always been about the incredible design, unique worlds and the simple gracefulness of the rail-shooter mechanics.
Panzer Dragoon is a series that I always wished got more attention. Though perhaps that was never a problem, at the very least I wish it were more widely released and certainly continued into current day. Unless you own a Sega Saturn, I don't think you can opt to play parts 1 and 2. Panzer Dragoon Saga, the RPG released on the Saturn was impossible to find and went for well over $100 on Ebay for years after it's release. The series seriously deserves a reboot, and at the very least an HD collection. Especially one that includes the elusive and highly recommended Panzer Dragoon Saga.
DAY 361 / GAME 361
Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped
I had almost forgotten how more Naughty Dog put into Crash Bandicoot 3 until I did a little digging to refresh my memory. I played Crash 2 the most to this day and so, it's still the one I'm the most familiar with. But Crash 3 could easily be considered the better game.
Completed in just over 10 months, Naughty Dog built 3 additional game engines to accommodate the new level designs incorporated into this new title. Warped contained some motorcycle racing levels out in the desert, some WW1 air combat levels and some new revamped jetski levels. Of course, the developer was careful not to abandon the traditional core gameplay and so the majority of the levels still use the original engine and feel very similar to Crash 2.
Crash Bandicoot 3 uses the same gem collecting system for the basis of the game, mainly to add some replay value, leaving you with something to search for to truly complete the game. In the new story however, you find yourself traversing time to defeat the evil witch doctor Uka Uka. You ride a motorcycle across the 1950's desert, shoot down zeppelins in a WW1 biplane, ride a Tyrannosaurus Rex across a Jurassic swamp, dodge knights and frogs in medieval times and ride a tiger across the Great Wall of China. More levels include visiting Atlantis, ancient Arabia, a future underground New York City and ancient Egypt.
All this and instead of just controlling Crash this time around, they included levels in which you take control of his brainy sister Coco instead, making her a bigger part of the story. The visuals were as fantastic as always in the series, Naughty Dog seriously pushing the limits of the now aging PlayStation console, but continuing to make a lasting game that is still playable today and not just a mess for your eyes.
Plus, as was the case I believe with Crash 2, the soundtrack was produced in part by Mark Mothersbaugh of Devo fame. This guy just about does everything, but it of course explains why Crash has always had this fantastic background soundtrack that will always make it that much more special.
Naughty Dog, in all their glory, really should return to this original trilogy and re-release it in HD for all those who missed it the first time around. But, since the series is still being released (I believe) and it's no longer in the hands of Naughty Dog, I suppose it's completely up to Sony. And at the very least, they have made it available online for purchase on your PSP portable or PlayStation 3. (Which I have) and it functions quite nicely.
DAY 360 / GAME 360
Shenmue
Once again the Sega Dreamcast pulls through with another bizarre Japanese import. Though not entirely as strange a game as Seaman or Crazy Taxi, Shenmue was definitely seated in Japanese culture and didn't appear to pander at all to American audiences. The portion of the game I had completed, felt like some kind of Asian soap-opera filled with weird time-wasting mini-games.
Shenmue is a tale about a young man's revenge against an unknown assailant who he witnesses kill his father. Ryo recovers after a few days of grieving to start tracking down this man and claim vengeance. Shenmue is a fairly open-world game, allowing you to walk about mid-80's Japan, questioning people and looking for clues. Similar to Grand Theft Auto, it's full of mini-games that add action between the story; from fight sequences to motorcycle races, bar fights and less exciting small jobs. Though, I'm pretty sure I spent most of the time buying and drinking pop from a vending machine, buying collectible toys from a quarter machine, and petting a local cat.
Though I didn't realise it quite so much at the time, Shenmue was a very complex game. I always appreciated how real it felt. How the Japanese suburbs were alive with people and you were in no rush to do whatever you wanted. But Sega went much further than just that. Turns out it has an incredible weather system that worked at random, based roughly on the time of year and included everything from rain to snow and shine; which could change at any moment. Even more incredible though, was the fact that the game was set at a specific time period between 1986 and 1987 and in the options, you could tell the game to use the actual recorded weather for that location during that time period. That fact alone blows my mind.
Though I may not have completed Shenmue and definitely didn't spend the time on it I think it deserved, it was certainly a game I'm glad I had the chance to experience. It was also one of those games that I've grown to appreciate more and more as time passes and I think, like a lot of the games I've discussed over the past year, I should make the time to go back and try out again.
DAY 359 / GAME 359
Diablo III
For Christmas I thought it would be nice to post about a holiday themed game, but the truth is there's only one I can think of that I've ever played and I posted about that already. (James Pond 2, which takes place at the North Pole.) So whatever, I'll just talk about Diablo 3 instead.
Though Diablo 3 didn't stick with me quite the way Diablo 2 still does. It did certainly earn it's title in a lot of ways as a proper successor in the series. I remember keeping a close eye on Blizzard's outgoing info regarding D3 as it slowly inched it's way towards release. Having been over a decade since Diablo 2 was released, I was more than excited to get back into that dark and delicious territory that created so much nostalgia 10 years ago. The brilliant Matt Uelmen score and the rainy ruins of Tristram full of undead beasts, the Eastern Desert, Jungle and the Halls of Hell itself. There was nothing quite like that game.
As I awaited Diablo 3's release Blizzard teased us with details on the new classes and world we were going to encounter, along with tidbits on the overall graphical look of the game. I was so excited about this new Diablo game I even preordered the collector's edition version. This version came with a hardcover artbook (the main reason I bought it) as well as a special Diablo skull with a USB key that included Diablo 2 on it and a couple game keys to share with friends for a trial run.
Diablo 3 looked absolutely gorgeous in the end. I went out of my way to buy a new video card for my Mac Pro tower just for this game (though in hindsight, a poor idea) and so it ran great. I'll always appreciate that Blizzard decided to keep the same isometric camera and tried to maintain the overall graphical look while switching from a prerendered platform to a fully 3D one.
Though I certainly didn't invest as much time into Diablo 3 as I had with Diablo 2 in the past, a lot of that simply had to do with the amount of free time I had in the past. Now that I've got a new PC, I've been dying to reinstall this and seeing how incredible it will look; I'm sure I'll do that someday soon.
