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2009 was my last year of freedom and now I’m all ready to join the ranks of subordination and eternal slavery in the world’s grander demise to corporate capitalism. With foresight towards inevitability, I selfishly slogged away at my game collection throughout the year, salvaging the remains of precious time. So in celebration of all I have left, I wish to say a few words on the games I’ve completed this year. My goal here is to either hit at the game’s essence or, in the case of the more popular titles, just say something interesting.<\/p>\n
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This’ll be a two part series which, in the face of GOTY awards and all that, I’ve unusually started after the new year. It’s worth noting that the games below are only<\/em> the games I’ve shelved over the year, not the ones I’ve played in part. A number of the games below I finished in their heyday and returned to fully complete in 2009, there’s plenty of repeated plays too. Thanks for reading DP.com<\/a> in 2009, I hope 2010 affords me the same generous window of time to continue my frequent writing schedule, which should be back to normal from today.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Original article<\/em> <\/p>\n Teamed with Fury<\/em>, Wipeout HD<\/em> has been my most played game over the past 12 months, largely for the split-screen multiplayer. Wipeout HD<\/em>‘s strength is its ability to draw maximum enjoyment out of a concentrated set of tracks, weaponry and refined racing mechanics. One might call it a very eastern style of design in that all parts meaningfully contribute to the whole.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Original article<\/em>: None<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Wipeout HD<\/em> was already incredible value for money, and then Fury<\/em> comes along, adding another 70% of content for a slither of the price. Eliminator mode reinvents the experience yet changes only a handful of rules; an example of the well-considered design.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Original article<\/em> <\/p>\n Another PSN gem that’s been unfortunately overlooked by the masses. Trash Panic<\/em> is in part the cause of its own demise. The uncertainty of the physics, fire and decomposition mechanics make every round unique, yet placing such a reliance on the infavourable probability of these variables removes the mastery from this masochistic puzzler.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Original article<\/em>s\u00a0 A stylistic trip until you fall and learn that Eden<\/em> is an unforgiving mistress.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Original article: None<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Artistically the most interesting and adventurous Donkey Kong Country<\/em>, plus much more coherent and polished than the favoured DKC2<\/em>. Furthermore, DKC3<\/em> adopts the newer features and abilities from DKC2<\/em> without skimming on the experimental levels (inverted control layout in water, bee chase, etc), making it the most wholesome game of the three. The ugly GBA version has a neat riff on Cobra Triangle<\/a><\/em>: Rare’s speedboat game for the NES.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Original article <\/p>\n Gotta love the ‘tude, I say. Unirally<\/em>‘s music track, similarly to Super Punch Out!!<\/em>‘s, captures a mood which I personally find very reminiscent of the era.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Original article<\/em> <\/p>\n It’s hard to restrain yourself from Zuma<\/em>‘s captivating spell, it was the only game I played for 2 months. The best puzzle game in years.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Original article<\/em> <\/p>\n I don’t think that many people understood that behind the dark humour you were being played by the institution. As I wrote about on GameSetWatch, Portal<\/em> is an interesting text for studying institutional power and subordination. Well realised.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Original articles<\/em> <\/p>\n Gabe Logan’s PSP outings are as technically credible as they are engaging with a diverse range of objectives, locales and characters. The best portable espionage around, tangibly better than MGS: Portable Ops<\/em>. If this were a console game, people would have cared. Expect some finger strain.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Original article<\/em> <\/p>\n The Resident Evil<\/em> framework sped-up with dinosaurs and combos, rather short but very enjoyable and arcade-like. I really ought to play the original as its supposedly a reskinned Resident Evil<\/em> and not a true divergence to formula like the sequel.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Original article<\/em> <\/p>\n Great for the first 50 levels until the stages become seemingly unsolvable and desire to play ends shortly after.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Original article: None<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Unlike most jerks like myself who write about games, I’m empathetic towards the expanding game-playing audience. Consequently, I should be an advocate for the Wii Sports<\/em> craze, but even 3 years after first going hands on with this title, I still don’t \u201cget it\u201d<\/em>. Nothing ever responds the way I want it to.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Original article: None<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Like Wii Sports<\/em>, I still don’t \u201cget it\u201d<\/em>. The dogs don’t do what I tell them to!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Original article<\/em> <\/p>\n I’m still not sure why people are so cynical towards Wii Play<\/em>. Considering its measly price of $10 when bundled with a Wii-mote (I saw it in a catalogue today and compared to a standard Wii-mote it only costs $4!!), I don’t think there’s much to complain about. Particularly considering the latitude and highly addictive nature of Tanks, Table Tennis and the pseudo Duck Hunt<\/em> remake.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Original articles<\/em> <\/p>\n Rejuvenated the platforming genre and it still gets insufficient cred\u2014hardcore gamers ignoring Super Mario Galaxy<\/em> (and the recent New Super Mario Bros. Wii<\/em>) and instead preferring to shoot things are the reason why I have more respect for bed wetters than I do \u201cgamers\u201d.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Original articles<\/em> <\/p>\n Zelda for the conservatives. The game you were hoping for was made by Capcom and called Okami<\/em>, you should go play it. Otherwise, engaging in a familiar way, no one does it better than the best.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Original article<\/em> <\/p>\n Just like retail releases of 2D games<\/a> (or Wii Play<\/em>, for that matter!), gamers reject anything that is ill of convention, and\u2014as proved here\u2014even when said game is branded with nothing less than the Zelda franchise. Link’s Crossbow Training<\/em> is an ideal arcade shooter.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Original article<\/em> <\/p>\n Take this, its pseudo sequel<\/a>, the above title,<\/span> the two Resident Evil games, Ghost Squad<\/em> and Dead Space Extraction<\/em> and it’s easy to argue that light-gun are making a resurgence on the Wii. (This is why Link’s Crossbow Training<\/em> IS relevant, because it can only be bought with the Wii Zapper, and the Zapper = good). This should have been a trilogy, including the fantastic original and some more extra features. Awful loading times mar arcade bliss.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Original article: None<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Treasure’s first example of their supreme ingenuity. Retro Gamer magazine did a brilliant feature on this game (and coincidentally the House of the Dead<\/em> franchise too) which is worth a read, 50th<\/sup> issue.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Original articles<\/em> <\/p>\n Half-life<\/em>‘s narrative scaffolding falls apart in the year 2009, which proves that the idea was always more important than the execution.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Original articles <\/p>\n Gimmick after gimmick after gimmick, spliced with characters that begged to be liked, Half-life 2<\/em> introduces no fundamental changes to the genre. Too bad everyone was busy playing with gravity guns and antlion bait to notice its poor construction.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Original article<\/em> <\/p>\n Critics razzed on Episode 1<\/em> for being too similar to Half-life 2<\/em> without noting the obvious connection that Half-life 2<\/em> lacked substance to begin with. True, the entire game amounts to redux, but at least the gimmicks are interwoven instead of being drawn out over long stretches of play. Closer attention is paid to the player and minute-to-minute gameplay scenarios. Valve are finding their feet.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Original article<\/em> <\/p>\n The first Half-life<\/em> worth liking. The slew of gimmicks from the prior two games are streamlined into the basic formula of Episode 2<\/em> (Gordon begins with the gravity gun and the less substantial gimmicks are either scrapped or isolated) with the focus placed on concocting interesting gameplay scenarios. The narrative ramps up too.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Original articles<\/em> <\/p>\n Gives an ol’ PAL gamer goosebumps. Surprisingly breezy and progressive too\u2014you can see how Intelligent Systems would later construe and then reimplement ideas seen here in the reboot of the series (below). Provides additional perspective on Squaresoft’s diversity at developing the 16-bit RPG when considered with Chrono Trigger<\/em>, Final Fantasy VI<\/em> and others.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Original articles<\/em> <\/p>\n Perfect across the board and so far ahead of the curve that it was accused of being an RPG-lite at the time. It took J-RPGs another six years until they began to incorporate real-time action elements into their tiring RPG sub-systems.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Original article: None<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The frequency of death is probably what makes it so realistic. I thought little of the franchise until I played this a few years ago and become a believer. War is a terrible, terrible thing and CoD4<\/em> makes this shockingly apparent. Modern Warfare 2<\/em> seemingly dilutes common sense and goes overboard as far as I can tell.<\/p>\n <\/p>\nWipeout HD<\/h3>\n
\nTuition of Curves: WipEout HD<\/a><\/p>\nWipeout HD Fury<\/h3>\n
Trash Panic<\/h3>\n
\nTrash Panic: Causing Much Mayhem, Dropping Drama!!<\/a><\/p>\nPixel Junk Eden<\/h3>\n
\nDownloadable Drug
\n<\/a>PixelJunk Eden: More So Facebook Than Ninja Roping<\/a><\/p>\nDonkey Kong Country 3<\/h3>\n
Unirally<\/h3>\n
\nPlay Impressions (And the Rest #3)<\/a><\/p>\nZuma<\/h3>\n
\nWhat I Learnt From A Stone Frog Spitting Coloured Marbles<\/a><\/p>\nPortal<\/h3>\n
\nPortal and the Deconstruction of the Institution <\/a><\/p>\nSyphon Filter: Dark Mirror<\/h3>\n
\nThe In-Game Mini-Blog
\n<\/a>The Trophies Dilemma + In-Game Rewards
\n<\/a>Syphon Filter:Dark Mirror Design Notes<\/a><\/p>\nDino Crisis 2<\/h3>\n
\nPlay Impressions (And the Rest #2)<\/a><\/p>\nWrecking Crew<\/h3>\n
\nPlay Impressions: Revisiting Wrecking Crew and Wii Play<\/a><\/p>\nWii Sports<\/h3>\n
Nintendogs<\/h3>\n
Wii Play<\/h3>\n
\nPlay Impressions: Revisiting Wrecking Crew and Wii Play<\/a><\/p>\nSuper Mario Galaxy<\/h3>\n
\nSuper Mario Galaxy Observations #1 Bite Sized Design<\/a>
\nSuper Mario Galaxy Observations #2 Build me a Space Ship
\n<\/a>Super Mario Galaxy Observations #3 \u2013 Representation of Boss Battles<\/a><\/p>\nZelda: Twilight Princess<\/h3>\n
\nZelda: Twilight Princess \u2013 Conformity, Innovation and Relevancy<\/a>
\nZelda: Twilight Princess \u2013 Nintendo-fying Stolen Mechanics<\/a>
\nThe Final Word on Twilight Princess<\/a><\/p>\nLink’s Crossbow Training<\/h3>\n
\nLink’s Crossbow Training Review<\/a><\/p>\nHouse of the Dead II+III: Return<\/h3>\n
\nDifferences Between House of the Dead II and III<\/a><\/p>\nGunstar Heroes<\/h3>\n
Half-life<\/h3>\n
\nAn Entree to Half-life Discussion<\/a>
\nHalf-life \u2013 Foreplay, First Person Platforming, Implicit Direction and Whitewash Vanilla<\/a>
\nHalf-Life \u2013 The Journey<\/a><\/p>\nHalf-life 2<\/h3>\n
\nAn Entree to Half-life Discussion<\/a>
\nHalf-life \u2013 Foreplay, First Person Platforming, Implicit Direction and Whitewash Vanilla
\n<\/a>Half-Life \u2013 The Journey<\/a><\/p>\nHalf-life 2: Episode 1<\/h3>\n
\nPlay Impressions: Kirby\u2019s Dream Land 2 and Half-Life 2: Episode One<\/a><\/p>\nHalf-life 2: Episode 2<\/h3>\n
\nHalf-life: Episode Two Commentaries<\/a><\/p>\nSuper Mario RPG<\/h3>\n
\nMicrotransactions: \u2018Non-Interactive Sequences, the Author and the Player\u2019 and \u2018Super Mario RPG and Alternative Dimensions\u2019<\/a>
\nSuper Mario RPG: Quirks and Annoyances<\/a><\/p>\nPaper Mario<\/h3>\n
\nPaper Mario (in as Many Pieces)<\/a>
\nPaper Mario Vs The Traditional JRPG (Structural Breakdown)<\/a><\/p>\nCall of Duty 4<\/h3>\n
Kirby’s Dreamland 2<\/h3>\n