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Wallet threat level undead...I mean, red
Last call! Last call for Black Friday! Last call to get your games on the shelves in time for that all-important shopping day after Thanksgiving. Ship 'em if ya got 'em!
A lot of the releases this week seem like heavily marketed clutter that should pose little threat to your wallet, assuming you're equipped with the gift of cynicism. If any of the following aren't awful, I will be surprised: Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, Tomb Raider: Underworld, Shaun White Snowboarding, and Need for Speed: Undercover. I've actually gotten to rank 4 in Need for Speed: Undercover. All I can say it, um, ouch. Speaking of "ouches" from Electronic Arts, this week you can pay five twenty bucks to get more limbs for Spore. I presume you know better, even if you are a Spore fan.
There are a couple of intriguing releases for the Wii. Animal Crossing: City Folk could have done so much with the Wii's online support, but so far, it seems little more than a re-release of the Gamecube version of Animal Crossing. Castlevania: Judgment, the fighting game based on Castlevania characters, is "intriguing" because it's an actual, bona fide game. If I hadn't seen the press release with my own two eyes, I might have thought it was a joke. Finally, Skate It is a Wii port of the critically acclaimed Skate game. It has support for the Balance Board from Wii Fit, which will "deepen the gameplay" according to the back of the box. Uh-huh. I've heard that one before.
Square Enix releases The Last Remnant, which is strangely missing a numeral after the title. This Xbox 360 release is their first attempt in a long time* at a new franchise instead of another Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy. It's - surprise! - a Japanese RPG, but with supposedly less emphasis on the Japanese part. I wouldn't normally be interested, but the battle system looks like it'll be completely different from the usual battle system in a JRPG.
But among the really big news this week is Left 4 Dead (pictured above). I've enjoyed the two levels in the demo well enough, but I can't shake the feeling that this is just a frantic, random, empty thrill. Firing wildly into crowds of zombies gets a little old (I can't believe I just wrote that...). Hopefully, the full game with more levels and the versus mode will bring out some depth. But even if Left 4 Dead does turn out to be a frantic, random, empty thrill, I'll take that any day over a frantic, scripted, empty thrill (i.e. nearly every other shooter out this year that isn't called Far Cry 2).
But the really really big news, at least for guys like me who play Lord of the Rings Online, is Mines of Moria, the first paid expansion for Turbine's online RPG of hobbits, elves, Nazguls, One True Rings, that sort of thing. I know you World of Warcraft people are just tickled pink with your little Burning Crusade and Lich King add-ons, and I'm sure they're quite precious. But finally, waiting for the Mines of Moria servers to go live tonight, I know how you feel.
* UPDATE: Only if you count "since September" as "a long time". Who knew this was actually Square Enix's third new JRPG franchise this year? Not me, that's who.
By LrdApoc at 10:28 AM ON 11/17/08
L4D is all about who you play with, alone it does lose its charm but its one of the best LAN/buddy co-op games ever made.
Also excited about Moria.. who cares about WoW? I want a game with a story and plot development along with the mindless grind!
By Neopythia at 12:51 PM ON 11/17/08
Does this mean the LOTRO journal will return at some point?
By Natus at 1:26 PM ON 11/17/08
Well, Tom, it seems that you've come out of your BfME2 stupor. I agree with you on L4D; the demo leaves me absolutely cold, carefully crafted though it is. There just doesn't seem to be a lot of decision-making in the game, and there's not that feeling of dread that I got from HL2 in Ravenholme or, honestly, from some of the more grim areas in WoW. Maybe the full version will have some of that, but at this point I can't be bothered when there's so much other good stuff out now.
By BobJustBob at 7:18 PM ON 11/17/08
"Speaking of "ouches" from Electronic Arts, this week you can pay five twenty bucks to get more limbs for Spore. I presume you know better, even if you are a Spore fan."
I most certainly do not!
Also, Bejeweled Twist should be up on Steam tomorrow. Hooray!
By markgreyam at 7:54 PM ON 11/17/08
I'm with Natus. I jumped into Left 4 Dead with no expectations, and couldn't even get to the end of the two demo levels before needing to be prodded awake.
It wears the "LAN/Buddy Co-op" factor that LRDAPOC speaks of on it's sleeve; the game reeks of the simplicity prevalent in games specifically designed to be a co-op experience. Can help but feel that single player was basically a waste of time implementing. Having said that, I'm sure it's a blast with 3 other friends. Don't know about random online jerks thought. Suppose I need more friends.
Also, all people rant about is wanting advanced and intelligent AI instead of dumb idiots in their first person shooters, and then a game about shooting zombies comes and everyone is talking about it. Someone explain to me how that works.
And I hope that Tomb Raider: Underworld suprises Tom. I liked the demo enough to ensure I'll be eventually making the purchase.
(And seriously, who is still playing NFS games?)
By chrissiegel at 11:21 PM ON 11/17/08
I'll explain how it works. you have to look at the game like this. 4 humans huddled together, one 'director' AI- this is really who you are playing against, and he seems to be modeled after CliffyB age 14 hopped up on redbull. The Zombies are just his minions trying to beat you down. I swear any time you think you get a leg up in L4D, the director puts the beatdown on you.
As for single player - yea, why bother. But as a MP game it is the best co-op experience since Doom. Hell it is Doom with better graphics. Even has 2 good shotguns. As for pick up games- this actually deepens the experience in some ways, it adds a huge dose of chaos to the mix, which oddly is a ton of fun in the vibe the game is aiming for. I'm not a huge fan of valve's SP games, but MP- they are what iD used to be. TF2 and L4D will keep me busy for years.
By malkav11 at 11:31 PM ON 11/17/08
And while the zombies are not exactly rich in AI, the bots that take over any survivors that aren't being played by a human are better than most humans at the game.
I tend to agree with Tom that it's fundamentally pretty shallow (and I'm happy to see that I'm not the only one who feels that way). Although I for one would rather have the scripted empty thrills - they're a lot more thrilling for the one time you play them, and then you can uninstall them (or return them to Gamefly) and move on to something else.
By malkav11 at 12:44 AM ON 11/18/08
Also, Last Remnant is hardly the first new franchise from Square Enix in "a long time". Does The World Ends With You not ring a bell? How about Infinite Undiscovery?
malkav11:
Also, Last Remnant is hardly the first new franchise from Square Enix in "a long time". Does The World Ends With Yo...More »