lost in games

On Sunday I completed Hotel Dusk: Room 215 on the DS. It is a deeply flawed game that still managed to captivate me. It had the promise of being a fantastic game but did not deliver. Its strengths which were the characters, writing and plot proved to be its greatest flaw.

If you didn’t already know, the game requires you to hold the DS like a book as well i.e. the screens are on your left and right instead of up and down. Unfortunately the excellent writing and dialogues overwhelm the game at the expense of gameplay which is in short supply. Too much time is spent tapping the screen with the stylus to read the next text instead of actually playing the game.

Maybe that is what Cing, the developer of the game, was aiming at. I don’t know. I believe however that the company needs to decide what it wants to do. Develop games with great stories AND gameplay or just great stories? A story in a game, as great as it is, must be delivered through or alongside strong gameplay because ultimately that is what makes a game what it is.

November 2008 marks the month of the war of Xbox Live. The 2 heavyweights of FPS multiplayer, Halo 3 and COD4, are facing a new kid on the block. This kid that has been around the block before, dominating multiplayer sessions. Gears of War is back. I am not a fan of the series and in fact i am more interested in Motorstorm (,LittleBigPlanet again!) and EndWar but there is no denying the impact which Gears of War is going to have. X360 gamers have the upper hand on their PS3 counterparts when it comes to shooters. Epic’s Gears of War 2 is my game of the week.

The PS3 however does get two major exclusives of its own this week. Motorstorm, (loved the original’s soundtrack) which hopefully will be a game that finally helps me get online on the PSN with some friends and of course the delayed LittleBigPlanet. Last i would like to mention EndWar. I played the demo a few days ago and i was really impressed by the quality of the voice recognition software implemented in the game. I am not sure that i like the perspective in which the game is played though, as i would much prefer a top down approach. But it does provide a different experience compared to the shooters, racing games and RPGs flooding the scene so keep an eye on it.

Enjoy spending some money on Friday! Here is the list of the major releases.

Gears of War 2 (X360)
James Bond: Quantum of Solace (PS3/360, PC/Wii, PS2, DS)
SmackDown vs. RAW 2009 (PS3/360/Wii/PS2/PSP, DS)
Motorstorm: Pacific Rift (PS3)
LittleBigPlanet (PS3)
Tom Clancy’s EndWar (PS3, 360, PC)
PES 2009 (PSP)