March Madness

I didn't spend the month of March watching college basketball. Nope, I spent it catching up on some of the games I missed in the crowded holiday season.

The first game I tackled was Dead Space. This game hit on almost every cylinder. The atmosphere was brilliant and tense, especially the audio as I played through most of the game while wearing headphones. The controls were tight, allowing the player to move and shoot (unlike some other horror game) all while managing your inventory in real time. But it was all of the little things that made this game great. For example, the character's head moved with the cursor as the player navigated his HUD and that all of the pertinent player information was built right into the character model really drove home the immersion. With the minor exceptions that many of the missions were fetch quests and the 3D map was finicky (I remember it being much more fluid and readable in Metroid Prime), this game stood out for me as one of the great experiences of this last year.

The next game I devoted my time to was Mirror's Edge. This game, mush like EA's other gamble Dead Space, was served by beautiful art direction and audio. The parkour mechanics translated rather well to the first person genre and offered some brilliant moments of free running that were both nerve-racking and exhilarating. If that was the whole game, I would place it up with Dead Space as a must play. However, the hand to hand combat was absolutely dreadful and, unfortunately, is unavoidable at set pieces throughout the game. Which leads me to my next negative point about the game - if parkour is about going anywhere, why was there really only one correct path through the game? If the level design was opened up more to allow craftier players to find paths to avoid enemy encounters while other could charge through, run and gun style, this game would have far exceeded any one's expectations. That being said, it warrants a sequel if only to see where the developers can take this and hopefully improve upon said short comings.

I then moved on to Tomb Raider: Underworld. This game was a mess, with some sketchy controls and camera; the game even crashed a few times throughout my play through. In addition, many times I felt like I had no idea what to do next and I was forced to rely far too heavily on the hint function in the menu for direction. Unfortunately, this seems par for the course for a Lara Croft adventure, but I forged ahead anyway because, graphically, it was a pleasure to look at and the story line was intriguing because of how set up Norse myth as a basis for all other mythologies and the (fictional) reality that forged those myths. In the end, I would say that I had fun playing through the game but technical issues marred the experience.

I ended the month with Resident Evil 5. I know I've been tough on the game for its unwillingness to evolve but, you know what, I ended up really enjoying it. I still stand behind the idea that the game has one of, if not the worst, first impressions of any game ever. With the controls they way they are and then to throw the player right off the bat into a confined area with a boss and numerous fast moving enemies was a recipe for disaster and I image that many people who didn't give this game a chance was because he or she didn't get past this part. It's a shame because once this section is over, the pace settles down and the player can settle into a groove that lasts through the end of the game. I ended up playing through the game several times to get some of the additional achievements but the game gave me no incentive to try the Mercenaries mode, Co-op or the dowloadable VS. mode but I imagine someone that is a huge fan of the series would dive right in to them. At the end of the day, RE5 will have to go down as a contender for game of year (so far), which is not something I expected to say after my time with the demo.