This is a bit of a continuation of yesterday’s post, except that this post is devoted solely to video games. Obviously, even as a person who is entrenched in the industry, I was not able to play every game that came out this past year – not even all the well-hyped AAA titles!
With that disclaimer, here we go!
Major Trends: Digital Distribution and Indie Games
Until 2009, I had purchased three games on Steam. This year alone, I bought over a dozen games and packs on Steam and Direct2Drive. Whether it was the great deals that Steam rolled out every weekend of the year or the ease and increased confidence I had in trading away my money for just bits, this was definitely the year I gave in to Steam.
A big factor was the fact that a lot of the games I bought were indie games instead of full-priced $50 retail games. I’d say about half the games I bought were sub-$10 indie games, with the other half being sub-$20 older games that I hadn’t had a chance to play but I knew would run flawlessly on my computer.
Titles That Lived Up to Their Hype: Batman: Arkham Asylum and Modern Warfare 2
Batman was the less hyped of the two titles (in my opinion), and was one of the few titles this year to completely engross me for weeks. I beat the main story, then went on to play all of the challenge rooms multiple times. It certainly helped that a co-worker was playing at the same time and kept me challenged on the leaderboards. Still, I spent far more hours on the game after beating the story than I have on any other game in recent memory…
except maybe Modern Warfare 2. There’s not too much that changed from the formula of Modern Warfare, but nothing really needed to change. The story is engaging and entertaining, the multiplayer gameplay is great fun (and the leveling up mechanic is as addicting as ever), and the new spec ops mode is some of the most co-op fun I’ve had with a game ever.
Best Value: Torchlight
I got hours of gameplay out of the free demo of Torchlight before I even bought it. Had I waited a week or so, I could have gotten it for $5 on Steam’s one-day sale, but I have no real regrets for buying for $10 (already 50% off!). It’s a fantastically fun, light game where the Diablo gameplay formula has been tuned to perfection. Run through a dungeon, pick up guns and armors dropped from dead monsters, and feed fish to your pet to transform them into a spider. What more could a guy want?
Game That Exceeded My Lowered Expectations of It: The Saboteur
It was the last gasp of a closed Pandemic Studio, a result of the sad economic climate that video games lived in this year. I expected nothing better than a mediocre shooter with some good flavor. What I actually got was a GTA clone that’s more fun than GTA with an art style that really helps convey the feel of an oppressive Nazi France. Besides, it’s always good fun to blow up propaganda speakers while disguised as a Nazi sniper.
Game That Didn’t Quite Hit My High Expectations of It: Scribblenauts
This isn’t to say that I didn’t enjoy Scribblenauts. But I think I built it up a bit much in my mind. It ends up being a fantastic explorative game but the controls are frustrating and the actual puzzles can be a bit oddly designed. Sometimes it seems that, even though you can create anything in the game, the puzzles are sometimes designed to expect one or two particular solutions.
Best Game from Yesteryear that I Just Played This Year: Valkyria Chronicles
I’m not even done with game yet, but in the 20-odd hours I’ve put into it, it has managed to grip me emotionally multiple times in a way that games often attempt but fail at. The art style is whimsical and charming and the balance of story and gameplay is about right for me.
Best Game from Yesteryear that I Still Play: Trials 2 SE
Am I really still playing this? This game that uses four arrow keys and whose levels can vary from taking less than 5 seconds to over 30 minutes? This game that induces screaming and gnashing of teeth? Yes, yes I am. And I still, somehow, am enjoying it.
And that’s that. I’m in the middle of playing Uncharted 2 right now, and I’m not quite sure whether it’ll live up to the hype yet. Happy new year, gamers!
And everyone’s a gamer. Even you, Elisabeth. Even you.