Releases:

This month we’ve seen some interesting new IPs come out of the wood works.   The long awaited PS3 exclusive “Heavy Rain” brings adventure gaming to the next generation of consoles.  “The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom” for the Xbox 360 acts as this months “must get” indie game, with puzzle platforming to rival that of Jonathan Blow’s “Braid.”  “Star Trek Online” adds another frontier to MMORPG gallery.  And “Bioshock 2″ (a much talked about game on the site) brings us back to Rapture for another adventure; this time as a Big Daddy.

So it’s been another month that will be favorably looked upon throughout history, if history judges the past solely on monthly video game releases.

So what were we doing?:

This month Rob discussed his experiences with “Mass Effect 2” and “Bioshock 2.”  Speaking of “Bioshock 2,” Skizz also brings up his play through of the game and also talks about “WET.”

Chad plays some more of The People’s Games, this time featuring: “depict1,” “Cosmosa,”"Starfeld,” “Balloon in the Wasteland,” “Vatn Squid,” and “Nuclear Baby.”  He also reviews “Vanitas” and “Noby Noby Boy” for the iPhone and retrospectively looks at “Feel the Magic: XY/XX.”

And Tom plays for us another Battle Tunes.

It is very difficult to find a game these days that is all that it’s cracked up to be.  Expensive marketing campaigns, ludicrous promises to the consumer, and excessive media coverage are all issues that are plaguing the industry and is likely the biggest reason why so many people experience  buyer’s remorse after rushing out to buy the next “big game”.  Games just do not live up to their hype anymore and rely on flashy graphics and high production value to sell themselves.  That said: Mass Effect 2 lives up to every single ounce of hype that it’s ever gotten.  Hands down.

This game is fantastic.  Visuals, sound, gameplay, and story all come together here to make one truly amazing work of art.  I don’t even know where to start.  I guess the best part of this game, if I were forced to choose one, would be the plot.  The story picks up where Mass Effect 1 left off, where a very large laser gets all-too-cozy with The Normandy’s  hull.  The ship is a complete loss, but you are eventually rescued from the vacuum of space by Cerberus, a controversial war machine of the human race, which has dedicated itself to chasing down The Collectors.  The Collectors are a race of malicious aliens seeking to amass a large pile of humans for some nefarious purpose.  Your job is to assemble a crew (on your NEW Normandy) to help you fight The Collectors and stop the invasion and abduction of various human colonies  while also discovering just what they’re doing with them.  I won’t spoil any details, but the story was one of the most dynamic and suspenseful pieces of writing I’ve seen in quite some time.

Gameplay is also wonderful.  The cover system is straight out of Gears of War, and it’s done very well.  Combat is heavy and well balanced.  I did find that my crew members would occasionally wander off out in the open, but I never had to revive them more times than was allotted to me (you get 3 res’s per mission).  Battles don’t just feel like battles, there is a clearly defined goal in each one and the arenas are so diverse that I rarely found myself getting bored.  The decision making that you do throughout the game makes even more of an effect on your overall outcome.  During the last mission (no spoilers ahead, I promise) you actually select your team leaders and assign roles to each person.  Who you select to do what determines how the mission comes out at the end.  Assigning the hulking Krogan to sneak around will likely result in your mission’s monumental failure, whilst assigning the stealth specialist to do so will end in success.  I wish this dynamic was presented more than once in the game but this is a small gripe.

Production value here is second to none.  This. Game. Is. Beautiful.  BioWare selected the Unreal III graphics engine to power this game, and by god does it look stunning.  It is quite possibly one of the prettiest things I’ve ever seen rendered real-time.  Voice acting is quite nice, although the issue with proper mouth movements is still present from the first game and can take away from the experience for some.  For me, this wasn’t a big issue and didn’t annoy me in the slightest. The pinnacle of production value for this game was likely when I landed on Ilian for the first time.  You arise out of the docks to see a living, breathing futuristic city straight out of a Sci-Fi novel.  My jaw could do nothing but drop to the floor.

Honestly, I could go on and on about just how FUCKING AWESOME this game is but you’ll never understand until you just go out there and grab it.  It is clear that BioWare learned from mistakes made in Mass Effect 1 and applied those lessons to the squeakquel.  It it, thus far, the best game I’ve played this year and is worth every SINGLE penny of the cost.  If you buy anything out of this last wave of games, get this.

Releases:

There were a ridiculously large number of surprisingly good games that came out just in this first month of the year.  Some beckoned us to be nostalgic with them: “Darksiders” and “Bayonetta” come to mind.  Some of them were critically praised sequels: “No More Heroes 2″ and “Mass Effect 2.”  Some of them were innovative in scope: “MAG.”  And some were nostalgically experimental: “VVVVVV,” I’m looking at you.

The greatest part about the releases this month was that there really was something for everybody.  A hardcore/indie game, an arthouse slash-em-up, a space opera epic, “Devil May Cry” with tits, “The Legend of Zelda” with portal guns, and a MASSIVE online shooter.

This better be a good omen for the rest of the year, or else twelve months from now, we’re going to be talking about “that one good January.”
“Yeah, those were the days…”  Then we’ll sip our beers as we watch the sunset off of our rickety, old porch swings.

So what were we doing?:

This month, Senior Skizz was playing Zuma and Turtles in Time Re-Shelled, going crazy with Arkham Asylum, and watching his girlfriend play Wii Fit.

Chad was up to his usual indie game snobbery with the People’s Games, playing Sunshine and Trundle, as well as indie titles, Guru Meditation and VVVVVV.  He was also playing Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes and Sonic Adventure.

Rob gives his thoughts on Wings of Prey.

And the always lovely Tom (King of the Site) was playing Half-Life 2 mods: Dear Esther, The Radiator, Goldeneye Source, and Missing Information.

We also discussed (in two parts) our Games of the Year, and there was a list of great freeware games that came out in 2009.