Came Back Wrong.

As we’re now only a little over a month away from Mass Effect 3′s release, I’ve decided it’s finally time to start getting my hopes up and my hype on. Everything’s looking very slick so far, and this multiplayer trailer definitely goes a way towards alleviating my concerns that the multiplayer mode would be tacked on and gimmicky. I’m still not looking into ME3 too much because I really don’t want to spoil things for myself, but I’m glad it’s looking so sharp.

Pretty cool Resident Evil 6 trailer from Capcom. They’re bringing zombies back, which might win back some of those grumpy old purists who’ve been complaining about the series’ direction for the last few games. But it seems like there’s even more explosive fast-paced action than in Resi 5, which is good news for most but probably won’t impress the people who wanted their clunky survival horror back. Still, we can’t always get what we want.

In other Capcom developments, this trailer shows off what is likely to be the full extent of the exclusive characters included in the PS3 version of Street Fighter X Tekken. Brace yourself.

So there’s some wacky stuff going on there. Can’t say I’ll miss any of these characters while I’m playing on the exclusiveless 360 version, but at least a lot of people are getting a good chuckle out of the inclusion of ugly American box art Mega Man. More interesting to me is that they’ve outright confirmed that they couldn’t secure any exclusives for the 360 version, a completely different approach than the stringing things out and letting people get their hopes up that’s usually favoured in these situations.

And finally, the demo for Fable 4 Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoining was released last week. It’s actually quite entertaining. The combat is fast-paced and smooth and there’s what seems to be a fairly deep levelling and skill system in place. All of the mechanics feel very similar, whether they’re from Lionhead’s Fable series or elsewhere, but at least it all works together well. Definitely seems worth looking into. I might pick it up but I’ve still got a lot of backlog from before Christmas to catch up on and there’s not long until Mass Effect 3 comes out so maybe I can’t squeeze it in right now. But here’s an old trailer anyway.

Zee.

My Top Ten Games Of 2011

2011 was a year full of great games. Though few new IPs were able to make their mark on the industry, hordes of big-name sequels and reboots ran riot on gamers’ bank balances throughout the year. This is a list of my ten favourite games from the last year. Any resemblance to a list of the top ten best games of the last year is completely unintentional and, considering some of my more eclectic tastes, unlikely.

#10. DRAGON QUEST MONSTERS: JOKER 2

I’ve been a big fan of the Dragon Quest Monsters series ever since the first instalment, Dragon Warrior Monsters hit the GameBoy Colour way back in 1999, so it’s no surprise that I’d enjoy this latest instalment in the series. I’ll admit that when it comes to raising little killer monsters I’m more of a Pokémon guy, but DQM’s addictive monster fusion and skill learning mechanics make it stand apart as its own game and not just an overshadowed wannabe. Anyone who enjoys JRPGs and the Dragon Quest series in particular will probably enjoy this.

#9. MORTAL KOMBAT

If any series was in dire need of a reboot, it was the hyper-violent product of the 90s that is Mortal Kombat. Following the incredibly clunky gameplay of the dire Mortal Kombat: Armageddon and the toned-down relatively bloodless superhero crossover Mortal Kombat Vs DC, it fell to the ninth game in the series to redeem Mortal Kombat in the eyes of both critics and fans. While blood-thirsty fans having been let down by the PG-rated MK Vs DC, they were no doubt pleased to see the series’ trademark gore return bolder than ever. But what won over more discerning fans was hopefully the much improved gameplay. Abandoning the stiff, unpopular 3D movement of the last half a dozen entries in the series, MK9 returned to the traditional 2D gameplay of the much earlier and well-received Mortal Kombats 1 – 3. This return to basics combined with the slickest combo-based fighting ever seen in the series made MK9 the best Mortal Kombat yet. With an impressive character-driven story mode and a plethora of challenges and unlockables, Mortal Kombat proved to be the best single-player fighting experience in a long time.

#8. DRAGON AGE 2

With the first Dragon Age Bioware returned to their roots of high fantasy RPGs. Dragon Age 2 would continue that work, though it would scale down the scope of the first game’s massive adventure to instead focus on the more personal story of one man/woman, Hawke. Fleeing from the events of the first game, Dragon Age 2 follows Hawke’s efforts to settle into the city of Kirkwall, eventually taking a position to influence the fate of the entire city. Though many fans of the first game were put off by Bioware’s efforts to streamline and refine the series in a similar manner to their Mass Effect series, some of the changes made for an entertaining if different experience. Dragon Age 2 might have been disappointing to many and may have failed to exceed the standards of its predecessor, but it still offered one of the best RPG experiences of 2011.

#7. DISSIDIA 012 FINAL FANTASY

More of a remake than a true sequel to the first Dissidia, Duodecim expanded and rebalanced the gameplay of its predecessor by adding a new assist system, allowing you to choose an ally who could be summoned into battle, and adjusting ground combat so that things weren’t just as focussed on the high-flying aerial fighting this time round. What really had Final Fantasy fans interested was the inclusion of a new group of characters pulled from the history of the series. The story mode was remade, incorporating an old school Final Fantasy world map to explore in between conquering dungeons, and entirely new chapters were devised in order to introduce the new group of characters and tie the full story together. It was still fairly incomprehensible abstract gibberish for the most part, but there will still some nice character moments and awesome encounters. Brainless fanservice perhaps, but ultimately harmless. Duodecim is better than the original in almost every way, and offers the same tense, exciting and strategic combat.

#6. DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION

A prequel to the original Deus Ex, Human Revolution tells an intriguing story of corporate espionage, secrets and betrayal against a background of scientific advancement and the resulting social upheaval. Which is very nice, but what really won me over was the sheer scope of the environments, which depending on your choice of upgrades and weaponry gave you plenty of options on how to stealthily make your way around the semi-futuristic cities and top secret facilities. An excellent dialogue system made conversations almost as entertaining as gunfights, with the results you achieve in interrogations or debates often having dire unforeseen consequences further into the game. So slick graphics, a well-told story, interesting characters and solid gameplay, all add up to one of the most polished and engaging games of the year.

#5. WWE ALL STARS

Probably one of the more personal choices on this list, I had more fun with WWE All Stars than I’ve had with a wrestling game in years. Its fast-paced, combo-based and arcadey gameplay put it head and shoulders above the stiffer, more simulation-based Smackdown Vs Raw games. But it was the bold and vibrant graphics and exaggerated characterisations of the most iconic figures from throughout WWE history that first attracted me to the game. Though its roster and match types were both sadly small and limited compared to other wrestling games, WWE All Stars’ fun and energetic gameplay made me a fan regardless. Most of THQ’s experiments with the WWE license never amount to anything, so I’m definitely taking a long shot in hoping that All Stars gets a bigger and better sequel.

#4. POKÉMON BLACK/WHITE

I’ve been a big fan of Pokémon ever since the beginning, though I’ll admit that some of the more recent offerings in the series were starting to feel a little uninspired and rehashed. I was definitely impressed by this year’s Black/White instalment’s efforts to reenergise the series through enhanced graphics and more dynamic battles. I always enjoy training up a new generation of monsters to add to my ever-growing army of elite fighters, and every Pokémon being more animated than ever before really helps bring the little critters to life. The inclusion of a host of more strategic moves can make battles a little more challenging, and the new three-on-three fights definitely provide a new experience in chaotic warfare. These might be mostly light or superficial updates, but the series’ gameplay was always sound and a new coat of paint really helps things feel a bit more interesting.

#3. BATMAN: ARKHAM CITY

The second game in Rocksteady’s growing Batman series, Arkham City expands on almost everything that Arkham Aslyum did so well. Shifting the action to a much larger free-roaming city environment rather than the fairly isolated island prison facility of the first game might make things feel much bigger, but there are still plenty of indoor environments for you to explore as you work your way through Bruce Wayne’s latest rough night out. Packed with even more classic Batman villains than before, Arkham City one-ups its predecessor with far more entertaining boss battles and a slightly wider range of enemies. Arkham City isn’t perfect of course, its flaws are just different to Arkham Asylum’s. There is a disappointingly lower focus on stealth in this game, and the much wider scope and larger cast of villains means that the story gets a little more convoluted. Nothing last year made me feel more like being Batman than gliding over rooftops to drop in on some unsuspecting criminals.

#2. GEARS OF WAR 3

Gears of War became one of my favourite series’ of this generation, and my multiplayer shooter of choice. This year Gears 3 provided a satisfyingly awesome conclusion to the trilogy. The introduction of the Lambent faction allows for a far wider range of enemies than in the previous two games, as well as providing a more chaotic and tense environment for our seasoned Gears Marcus and Dom, who are joined by a more expansive cast of rotating supporting characters in order to accommodate the four-player multiplayer, which is itself one of the best reasons to buy the game. With hosts of unlockables and achievements ranging from the mundane to the ridiculously time-consuming, there’s plenty of stuff for the slightly obsessive gamer to work towards here. But when it comes to the slightly more casual fan all that matters is that the gameplay is a solid and visceral as ever before, and the variety of multiplayer modes gives the game massive replayability as long as you’ve got a busy friends list of similarly-minded Gears fans. The Gears of War trilogy has been consistently good throughout, and while I’m sure the franchise will eventually be milked to hell and back, at least for now Gears 3 provides a satisfying conclusion to the story and closure to its main cast.

#1. THE ELDER SCROLLS V: SKYRIM

I’d love to have a more unique and personal opinion here, but I’m going to have to agree with the fairly dominant number of people who proclaimed Skyrim to be one of the best things ever. Skyrim is everything I’ve wanted from the Elder Scrolls series since the first time I dipped into Morrowind almost ten years ago. The unmatched freedom to explore and adventure that the series is known for is back, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t prefer Skyrim’s mountainous wintery wonderland scenary over Morrowind’s desert wastelands and strange mushroomy elven villages and Oblivion’s ye olde medieval farmlands. But what really seals the deal for me with Skyrim is the gameplay. Morrowind’s dated combat mechanics and unhelpful journals and map made it feel somewhat cumbersome even when it was new. Oblivion’s dodgy levelling up system and weak main quest prevented it from really setting me on fire. But Skyrim avoids all those pitfalls. Combat is smoother than ever and is now far more engaging and diverse. Levelling up is natural and the perk system is a neat way of tweaking your character to your liking. That’s not to say Skyrim is perfect, many of the quests are fairly short and uninspired and the overpowered crafting systems make most of the loot you can obtain from the many dungeons of Skyrim obsolete, but when it comes to roaming across the mountainside smiting trolls and assorted wildlife, nobody’s done it better than Bethesda did here. Skyrim has already soaked up far too much of my time and I’m certain it’s something I’ll continue to dip into well into 2012 and beyond.

2011 was a great year for gaming and saw a lot of massive releases. While no doubt the same few games will be making the rounds in the top numbers of anybody’s list, there are more than enough gems to choose from. Hopefully 2012 will prove to be packed with just as many quality titles.

Stop the Cavalry.

Well if you loved War for Cybertron and Transformers in general as much as I did that video might make up for how unforgivably dead I’ve let this place get over the last few months. I know I’m now fully aroused and ready for another trip to Cybertron, hopefully with a longer campaign than last time and as I’m feeling greedy hopefully with plenty more playable Transformers too.

If, like me, your lust for Gears of War 3 had run dry in recent weeks due to competition from the scores of new games that came out through November, the latest DLC instalment might be just what it takes to win you back over. I know it’s already been out for a week but in true GamerZee tradition, here’s the trailer.

I really enjoyed RAAM’s Shadow, it’s a great little campaign chapter that really makes itself stand out from the main game. It’s nice to see some development go to some of the secondary characters in the series’ expansive cast, and it’s awesome to see RAAM, big boss of the first Gears, stomping around again. The final boss fight is actually tense and satisfying, something which had somewhat eluded Gears 2 and 3 until now. It’s great to see Gears 3 get some really meaty DLC seeing as how the first pack, the Horde Command Upgrade, was so light on substance. I’ll be interested in seeing what Epic confirm next, though chances are good we’ll be looking at a big map and characters pack for online play or an add-on to the Beast game mode.

Time for a quick run-down of my latest gaming adventures. WWE 12 was a surprising step-up for the series but still ultimately failed to really win me over. I still prefer the gameplay of WWE All Stars but it’s hard to argue with the incredible depth of 12′s creation tools. With the inclusion of create-an-arena they’re really reaching the point where you can customise just about everything in the game, which is definitely awesome if you’re into that kind of thing.

And I finally picked up Sonic Generations, which I’m enjoying quite a bit. A very nostalgic trip through my long thought to be forgotten childhood. A little short maybe, but with plenty of challenges to keep you revisiting it.

That should about do it for now. As always I’ll try to update this place more regularly, and as always you should be sure to check out www.spong.com where I’m sure to have more stuff go up in the near future. I’ll definitely aim for one more update here before New Years.

Happy holidays, Zee.

Dragonborn.

Skyrim is amazing. If you haven’t already discovered that for yourself seeing as how it’s been out four days now, then you’re doing it all wrong. Skyrim is everything you could ever want in an Elder Scrolls game, all the freedom and exploration of its predecessors but with far superior gameplay and a natural and intuitive levelling system. I’m not going to gush endlessly here, I’m just gonna say flat-out that Skyrim is one of the best games I’ve ever played and I can see myself playing it for a long time.

But on to other business. Capcom have finally caught up with themselves by officially revealing all of the characters for Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 3, even though everyone’s already known for months. Got to kind of admire that ability to stubbornly stick to a schedule even after messing it all up. But with a full roster reveal comes the final iteration of the UMvC3 trailer.

Not sure how much I like this. It’s very pretty but considerably less action-packed than Capcom’s fighting trailers tend to be. And at nearly six minutes long it’s a bit of an endurance test by trailer standards. But there are some awesome moments in there regardless.

Next week brings us the release of WWE ’12, which I’m looking forward to quite a bit despite it obviously not being nearly as exciting as Skyrim. THQ have seemingly put some work into improving this one over last year’s Smackdown Vs Raw 2011. And I didn’t buy that one so I’m sure there’ll be massive improvements over my last outing in SvR 2010. While I don’t expect the gameplay to be as good as my beloved WWE All Stars nor am I a big fan of the graphics, it’s the amount of creation stuff that always wins me over with these games. With all the usual create-a-superstar, create-a-finishing move, create-a-story and so on being joined by the brand new create-an-arena mode, I’m sure there’ll be plenty here to keep me busy in between Skyrim consuming my life.

Zee out.

Yes, I’m going back on Skyrim. Don’t judge me.

The Next Big Thing.

I think I might have mentioned in a previous update that Transformers: War for Cybertron 2, or Fall of Cybertron as it’s now been officially titled, had been confirmed, and now we’ve got the first teaser trailer showing off the already hinted at but now gloriously revealed leader of the Dinobots, Grimlock. Definitely got high hopes for this one based on how good the first game was, but considering all we’ve got out of this trailer so far is an awesome badass robot dinosaur there’s not really much to be said yet.

Speaking of big surprising and badass reveals, THQ’s WWE ’12 had a big announcement last week, revealing the final character in its impressively massive roster to be Brock Lesnar, former WWE and current UFC juggernaut.

Quite a impressve coup for THQ and a great addition to an already packed roster including all of the WWE’s current roster of superstars as well as a host of wrestling legends such as the Legion of Doom, the Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin and the promise of even more grapplers as DLC. The wrestling fan in me is definitely tempted by the roster, but the gaming fan in me is still wary of the so-so quality of previous Smackdown Vs Raw titles. There’s still a month left before release so there’s still plenty of time for them to try and win me over for a day one purchase.

Speaking of day one purchases, the imminent release of Batman: Arkham City is doing everything it can to win over my cash with gushing reviews pouring in from all over the Internet. While I might have mentioned that Arkham Asylum was a little overrated, it was a pretty brilliant game and the idea of more of the same but even better definitely appeals to me. I might resist heading to the shops this Friday but no doubt it’s only a matter of time til I pick this one up. Ditto for next week’s release of Dragon Ball Ultimate Tenkaichi, which seems to be the best Dragon Ball Z game yet judging by the in-game footage that’s kicking around.

Holding on to my money while I can, Zee.

It’s Still Alive.

Ho! I’ve left this place woefully dormant for  an entire month now, which starting now is something I’m going to be working on rectifying shortly. Probably the main reason for my lack of updates is because I’m having something of a tordid affair, writing reviews for Spong.com, a relatively local and therefore awesomely British gaming website that’s been around almost as long as I have. Please feel free to go read my stuff over there. But having stuff up on somewhere with considerably more traffic and exposure is no excuse to start neglecting my baby, so expect another update in at least the next three weeks!

But now, some gaming news. Obviously the big news that I recently missed was the release of Gears of War 3, which I managed to get quite hyped up over in the weeks before it’s release and which I’ve been enjoying tremendously since picking it up. The campaign is probably the most exciting so far, and thanks to Epic putting professional writer Karen Traviss, perhaps best known for her Star Wars novels unless that’s just me being a Star Wars nerd, has some of the best dialogue and character moments of the series so far. The conclusion ties together the story really well for my money, and I was very satisfied with the ending. There are a few unresolved issues which may or may not be wrapped up in future DLC chapters, but for now I’m just looking forward to more maps and characters to use online. Horde mode has recieved some particularly awesome upgrades and is where I spend most of my time online, and it’s counterpart Beast mode, which lets you play as the Locust monsters, is a lot of fun too. Advising you to get it as soon as possible seems like a waste, seeing as how everyone should have picked it up already unless they have some deep-rooted psychological objection to doing so. Or, unbelievably, bigger concerns in their lives than computer games. Whichever.

And with that somewhat gushy bit of adoration out of the way I’ll call it a night. Expect more regular updates from now on as many of the games I’m looking forward to are getting close to release or having more information revealed on them all the time. I imagine I’ll be writing less reviews here now that I’m writing for Spong.com, so I think I’ll be focussing more on the Top 10 Lists I started last month. Look forward to it.

Zee.

Oh, and I’m now on Twitter. Check out my efforts to embrace the digital age at @GamerZee.

My Top 10 Dead Series’

…That I’d Like To See Resurrected.

Anyone who’s been playing games for any decent length of time has probably had those moments in their childhood where they experienced something brilliant only for it to disappear from their lives forever. Sometimes genres just fall out of favour with the audience, sometimes companies just have too many other projects going on, sometimes sequels just don’t live up to their predecessors. This is my personal top ten list of games which I once loved but were taken away from me, leaving a variety of little unusual-shaped holes in my soul, that I would love to see get brought back out of retirement for one more run.

#10. ALEX KIDD

Alex Kidd’s story tells of one of the sharpest changes of fortune in gaming history. Once a strong enough mascot for Sega to even bundle his original game with their Master System console as a built-in game, Kidd was quickly replaced as Sega’s frontman once Sonic the Hedgehog debuted.

Kidd wasn’t just demoted, he was kicked to the curb hard. Outside of blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo appearances Alex Kidd wouldn’t be seen again until his inclusion in Sega Superstars Tennis and it’s not-really-a-sequel Sonic & Sega Superstars Racing, appearances that increased his chances of ever headlining his own game again from absolutely nothing to incredibly unlikely. I find it impossible to believe that I am the only person in the world who thinks a quirky 3D platformer with motorbike and helicopter racing sections and rock-paper-scissors challenges for boss fights sounds like a really cool idea.

#9. BLAST CORPS

A bit of an underrated gem from Rareware during their prime as the right hand of Nintendo during the N64 era, Blast Corps had a unique gameplay concept that would still stand out today. Taking the role of demolition experts, Blast Corps challenges you to clear a path ahead of an armed missile by knocking down all of the buildings that stand between it and it’s destination. To aid you in this task you can commandeer a wide range of vehicles, ranging from Bulldozers and vans to giant mecha. Racing to stay ahead of the missile and wipe out all obstacles in the tight time limit provided made Blast Corps fun, challenging and unique, a total package that I’m sure could make for a great updated game today even if Rare’s best days are behind them. Although considering that Blast Corps was, like many of Rare’s games at the time, published by Nintendo, I’m not even sure if it would be down to Rare to come up with a sequel.

#8. PRIMAL RAGE

At the peak of the 2D fighting game craze came Primal Rage, a fairly shameless Mortal Kombat rip-off that stood out because of it’s cast of giant dinosaurs, which were pretty awesome to people at the time. Primal Rage actually managed to make quite a name for itself at the time, becoming successful enough to garner both a short comic book series and a novel adaptation for itself and selling more than enough to ensure a sequel. But then the sequel never came. Taking far too long to develop and not showing enough progress for Atari to risk putting more money into it with it’s fanbase rapidly diminishing, Primal Rage II never saw the light of day. Which is a shame, because I loved giant dinosaurs. Still do really, which is the main reason why I think this generic and uninspired fighting clone could be fairly prime material for a fresh new start. Primal Rage’s backstory puts a lot of focus on these dinosaur gods’ worshippers and territorial nature, a bit of expansion could add in a lot of god-sim elements. It could be like Black & White but retaining it’s focus on brutal violence as opposed to Black & White focussing on nothing of any real substance.

#7. BREATH OF FIRE

The least dead series on the list so far, the last instalment of Capcom’s premier RPG series was released only a meagre nine years ago. While Breath of Fire V: Dragon Quarter received mostly positive reviews, the drastic changes it made to it’s predecessors’ standard JRPG fare alienated it’s fanbase and it performed poorly enough to convince Capcom into rolling over and abandoning the RPG market to it’s more powerful opposition, the dominating forces of Square-Enix. But is there really no room in the world for JRPG series’ outside of Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy? Breath of Fire had five solid titles under it’s belt before the end, even if they were lower quality than the big dogs and suffered from some very questionable and often outright sloppy translation jobs.

#6. BAHAMUT LAGOON

Speaking of Square, why won’t they ever stop churning out Final Fantasy games and spin-offs and maybe revisit this obscure gem of a strategy RPG that I fell in love with on the SNES? Despite never receiving a western release Bahamut Lagoon managed to secure a bit of a cult following through fan-translations, most likely due to it’s fantastic gameplay. Blending aspects of Square’s Final Fantasy games with the traditional model of strategy RPG popularised by games like the Fire Emblem series, Bahamut Lagoon’s unique hook was in the inclusion of AI controlled pet dragons, whose abilities and even appearances you could customise by feeding them a wide variety of magical items and snacks. With a massive cast of likeable, though admittedly underdeveloped in some cases, characters and a sweeping, sometimes soap opera-like story with some very unconventional twists, Bahamut Lagoon made for a memorable experience even if it was one time only. And it really wouldn’t kill Square to put out a title without the Final Fantasy brand on it once in a while.

#5. THEME HOSPITAL

The semi-sequel to the far more well-known Theme Park, Theme Hospital took it’s unique concept of a hospital management sim and ran with it, resulting in a funny, smart, challenging game that due to it’s smaller scope had a more focussed and personal feel than it’s amusement park-based sibling. Theme Hospital was packed with unique and amusing medical conditions and matching curative equipment, treating everything from the common cold to balloon-like inflated heads, invisibility and other physical mutations, as well as a host of weird psychological issues like bad cases of Elvis impersonation. But behind the entertaining gimmicks was a solid management game, patients needed to have the best of care provided or they’d lose patience in your hospital and leave in a huff. This meant proper facilities had to be provided, waiting rooms had to be organised, even the central heating had to be efficiently set up to keep your hospital suitably toasty. And that’s not even touching on the business side of things, with more versatile and highly trained doctors and nurses costing more to employ, unhappy staff constantly threatening to resign unless their pay was raised, and the constant balancing act of trying to wring every last penny out of the unwitting public while still keeping them happily comfortable and not letting your hospital get clogged up with more patients than you could handle. Management sims are becoming less common these days, but if one were to drag itself up out of the past like a shambling zombie I’d want it to be this one.

#4. CUSTOM ROBO

Not seen since Custom Robo Arena’s release on the Nintendo DS five years ago, Custom Robo is again one of the least dead series’ on this list and probably the only one with a good chance of reappearing. It’s simple concept of bashing together interchangeable parts to build your own robot and then throwing them into the arena to pit your reflexes and skills against your opponents’ robot champion would make it a great competitive multiplayer game once Nintendo start taking online gaming as seriously as Sony and Microsoft do. Even disregarding online, a console instalment of Custom Robo with lots more parts, bigger arenas and the option for more robots to take part in battle at once could make Custom Robo a great single-player experience, and it’s hectic fast-paced action could make it a fun offline multiplayer contest. Custom Robo might be one of Nintendo’s smaller second string franchises, but if they can’t find the time in between putting out Mario and Zelda games then they could at least do what they did with the Metroid, Star Fox and Donkey Kong series’ and get someone else in to do it for them.

#3. WARCRAFT

This might come off as an odd choice considering World of Warcraft has been doing such a good job of dominating the MMORPG market for such a long time. But really the success of World of Warcraft is why I’m putting Warcraft on this list, as it makes it increasingly less likely that we’ll ever see Blizzard return to the strategy origins of the series. Warcraft III is one of my favourite games of all time, it’s gameplay was great with a more small-scale, personal feel than more traditional strategy games, and it’s story was brilliantly told, weaving between different characters in order to keep the narrative flowing from all perspectives of their epic battles. While World of Warcraft’s numerous expansion packs have served to expand it’s lifespan to the better part of a decade now, it does finally seem to be drawing to a subdued finish. Whether or not the end of World of Warcraft will see a return to the franchises’ roots with a Warcraft IV or the rise of a World of Warcraft 2 is anyone’s guess, but I’d put my money on the MMO considering how massively profitable and popular it became. But frankly I can’t see why we can’t have both.

#2. MUTANT LEAGUE HOCKEY

Now we’re in the top spots we’re really getting into games I would really love to see brought back to life. The Mutant League sports games made me a big fan of the concept of sports games incorporating standard fantasy and science fiction aesthetics as well as Mortal Kombat-like levels of violence. Substituting the players with line-ups of muscle-bound mutants, monsters, skeletons and robots, the Mutant League games were surprisingly solid sports games that also happened to offer the player the option of trying to wipe out the other team in order to claim victory. Of the two games released I personally favour Mutant League Hockey, mostly because I didn’t know American Football rules well enough to play Mutant League Football in any other way but relying on violence to solve my problems, which admittedly was working out quite well. But Mutant League Hockey was more accessible, had slicker action, and had at least as much potential for horrific brutality. I’ve been treated to the occasional glimpse of how a more modern Mutant League game might work, mostly in Cyanide’s Chaos League and, most recently, Blood Bowl games, but their focus on RPG elements and table top game rules makes them markedly different from Mutant League’s fast-paced arcade action-packed gameplay. Brought up to modern-day standards with a single-player season mode, team management options and customisation, and competitive multiplayer and Mutant League could be fantastic.

#1. DUNGEON KEEPER

Here we go, the big one. One of my most beloved games from my youth, Dungeon Keeper was unlike anything else at the time. As a management sim/strategy game Dungeon Keeper’s gameplay was satisfying enough, with challenging levels, plenty of secrets to be found, and a healthy dose of monster raising RPG-style aspects mixed in. But what really made Dungeon Keeper stand out was it’s presentation and setting. Casting the player in the role of a straight-up villain, something rarely seen in games even to this day, Dungeon Keeper set the task of annihilating the forces of law and order in each level, but only once you’d adequately built up your own forces and the navigated through the dark and treacherous environments and found a way to break into the enemies’ stronghold. Dungeon Keeper was just such a full, satisfying game. Whether it was building up your own dungeon, seeking out the resources required to fund your dark ambitions, fortifying your borders with an array of deadly traps, training up your military forces or organising your workers, the management aspects of the game were just as entertaining as the tearing through the enemies’ defences and slaughtering them part. But what really puts Dungeon Keeper up there as one of my favourite and most nostalgic games is it’s dark sense of humour, exemplified by the sarcastic, scathing comments by your perfectly voice-acted guide/narrator. From some of the quirkier designed monsters mixed in with the more traditional fantasy staples, to the chicken spell that allowed you to transform your enemies into helpless poultry, there were plenty of harmless smiles and chuckles to be had. And true to the dark nature of the game there were plenty of full-on maniacal cackles for the taking too, including such gems as guiding giant boulders to flatten your foes, selling your bridges out from invading enemies’ feet to unceremoniously drop them into rivers of lava, and so on. Dungeon Keeper was a great success for developers Bullfrog, enough to earn a sequel which refined many of the first game’s best elements. But it was the third game in the series that never fully materialised, signalling the quiet demise of the series, and despite some fan demand there’s never been any sign of EA looking to start the series up again following Bullfrog’s disbanding.

And there we have it, ten games of which I have the fondest memories and greatest desire to see brought back into modern gaming. There were quite a few more I considered but eliminated from the running because they’d either already had sloppy sequels or spin-offs in more recent years just to keep the franchise somewhat alive, or because I simply couldn’t see how some of my beloved old favourites could possibly work in modern gaming without changing everything that made them what they were. Despite that, some of these are clearly more likely than others, and I’m sure some of these are things that only myself and four or five other people in the world care about anymore, but that’s why this is my list, and I’m sure everyone has their own.

Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn – Wii

In 2005 Nintendo’s long-running Fire Emblem series made it’s return to home consoles after three Game Boy Advance instalments with Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance on the GameCube. Set in a brand new world with a brand new cast of characters, it was the perfect jumping on point for newcomers to the series. A well-received success, Path of Radiance helped secure Fire Emblem’s spot as one of Nintendo’s staple franchises in the west, and two years later saw the release of a direct sequel, a rare occurrence in the series. Returning to the world of Tellius and the continuing adventures of a now adult Ike and his companions, Radiant Dawn brought the Fire Emblem series to the Wii.

What criticism Path pf Radiance received was mostly focussed around a lack of innovation, keeping it’s gameplay, story and characters very close to the style of it’s predecessors despite the jump from a handheld to the considerably more powerful GameCube. Radiant Dawn takes the step up by delivering one of the largest scale adventures seen in the series so far. Switching between different groups of characters each chapter, Radiant Dawn takes the player through the initially separate stories of each group, and even forces you to fight against your own former allies as the stories weave together and conflicts arise between the groups. Veterans of the series might not appreciate not being able to use all of their characters at certain times, but there’s no doubt that this no approach gives Radiant Dawn far grander and more involving storytelling than the series usually delivers. Dividing the cast up in this way also allows the game to address another recurring problem throughout the series, not enough development being given to the increasingly vast army of characters under your control. Even by the series’ standards, Radiant Dawn has a massive number of characters, bringing back all but one of the playable characters from Path of Radiance as well as introducing a host of new guys and upgrading some former NPCs to usable unit status. By splitting them up into smaller groups even the lowliest of characters has more time to shine, and while a lot of them still end up a little flat, Radiant Dawn at least offers the opportunity to test more of your soldiers in battle than ever before.

Perhaps the most polarizing aspect of Radiant Dawn is it’s much higher difficulty than previous Fire Emblem instalments. With some of the strictest maps seen in the recent games and a very steep, if also inconsistent, difficulty curve, Radiant Dawn is likely to test even veteran fans of the series. Whether or not this makes for a refreshingly entertaining challenge or an arduous slog depends on the player’s tolerance levels, but newcomers to Fire Emblem would probably be better off starting with a different entry in the series, ideally Path of Radiance as Radiant Dawn’s storyline and characters will seem much less interesting without prior knowledge of the backstory. As mentioned, the difficulty is incredibly inconsistent largely due to the regular shuffling of the player’s characters. Newcomer main character Micaiah, for example, is a fragile spellcaster with a small group of similarly fragile inexperienced young warriors. This makes her chapters considerably more difficult than the chapters where the player is reunited with Ike and his team of hardened mercenaries, at which point the game suddenly becomes far easier despite being further into the game. With the option of importing saved data from Path of Radiance to give further stat boosts to the returning characters, Micaiah and her team of newcomers become more and more outclassed.

The other big issue with Path of Radiance was it’s fairly underwhelming graphics. Plain by anyone’s standards, they did their job but fell pretty far short of pushing the GameCube anywhere near it’s limits. Despite Radiant Dawn’s improvements over it’s predecessor graphics are still recognisably it’s weakest area, though the nature of the game prevents this from really becoming much of an issue. The maps are somewhat plain, but necessarily clear and fairly easy to navigate aside from the more complicated multi-layered stages which can become somewhat more difficult to follow. The character units are again, fairly clear and easy to make out and recognise. Clearness and ease of use are more important than the graphical flair when it comes to the maps and units when it comes to top-down strategy games, but it’s when the perspective changes to the close-up battle mode that their blandness most stands out. While your individual character models are detailed enough to stand out, they still lack overall detail and look very plain, and the attack animations are somewhat basic. Enemy units really suffer here, lacking the minor details and accessories that set apart your own characters and looking incredibly generic and undetailed as a result. Despite these shortcomings the game’s overall presentation is actually very nicely done. Menus are clear but also intricately decorated and the anime-styled artwork for all of the characters is of a high standard, though the lack of animation makes long conversation scenes feel fairly lifeless, especially when they try to use the map models’ limited range of motions to depict plot events. The lack of voice acting feels fairly dated, but Radiant Dawn makes up for it with an excellent soundtrack, bringing back the best pieces from Path of Radiance as well as adding new melodies.

Much like Path of Radiance, Radiant Dawn boasts some impressively beautiful cel-shaded cutscenes scattered throughout it’s lengthy campaign. These are well animated and do a great job of getting across the story in a more vibrant way than the fairly dull in-game cutscenes, and even feature voice acting, though not of an excellent standard. They are unfortunately far too few, but they are at least memorable enough to stand out.

Radiant Dawn is a difficult game to judge on it’s own merits, being undoubtedly difficult and inaccessible for a newcomer to the series but also serving as a challenging and rewarding sequel to Path of Radiance. Fans of Fire Emblem should find this a worthwhile experience, while fans of Path of Radiance specifically should definitely look to pick this up. Radiant Dawn makes some bold departures from the series’ standard formula, telling a more dynamic and character-driven story than seen in previous Fire Emblems and serves as a fitting conclusion to Ike’s adventures and the Tellius saga as a whole.

The Lamentations Of Their Women.

I’ll kick things off with another Arkham City Villain trailer. It really does feel like it did with Arkham Asylum now, with new villain showcases every month or so. Nothing so far has really captured my attention as much as when they first showed off Killer Croc, Bane and Scarecrow’s new designs for AA, but AC does seem to be putting together a decent gallery of rogues for Batman to take down. The more I see of Arkham City the more I remember all of the good stuff from Arkham Asylum, and there was a lot of good stuff. Hopefully AC manages to pull off improving all of the strongest parts of AA while mixing in the new free-roam city-exploring elements that are sure to set the two games apart.

And in completely different news, we’re not only a few months away from the release of yet another Dragon Ball Z game, there’s also a new Naruto title to look forward to. Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations, while having a rather wordy and grand title, looks set to follow in the footsteps of the Dragon Ball Z Budokai and Tenkaichi games by tweaking it’s gameplay a bit and then throwing in as much fanservice as they can before calling it a day. Admittedly this does tend to work for most fans, including yours truly. I’m not really a big Naruto fan but I picked up Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 and found it surprisingly decent, though the genuinely impressive boss battles stand head and shoulders above the rest of the game. Generations’ selling point is the inclusion of characters from all throughout the show’s timeline, including both young and adult forms of most of the cast as well as long-dead villains and a host of new characters. Naruto fans will probably eat this up, even if it is nothing they haven’t really seen before. Maybe including me, although there might be a few too many AAA titles due out between now and Christmas to spare money on a fanservicey rehash. Here’s the first trailer anyway, now already a few months old in true GamerZee style.

Speaking of AAA titles due out between now and Christmas, Bethesda have finally started rolling out more and more Skyrim screenshots and information, and with every nugget I become more and more enticed by what, for my money, seems like a sure-fire winner of many Game of the Year awards. Just about every aspect of the game seems to have been improved over Oblivion, especially the graphics. The last few days have seen the release of countless screenshots of characters by the journalists invited to take the demo for a spin as it’s been doing the rounds at gaming conventions over the last few months. Judging by the host of characters seen so far, Skyrim’s character creation seems far more flexible and user-friendly than Oblivion’s, and the character models are far more attractive. Granted Oblivion is a five year old game already so it can probably be cut some slack, but frankly graphics were never it’s strong suit. In conclusion, start getting your Elder Scrolls hype on baby.

And to end on a bit more of a downer, WWE Pay-Per-View SummerSlam saw the release of a tidal wave of roster reveals and screenshots for upcoming WWE ’12. It’s looking, as always, slightly better than the last one. But with how much WWE All Stars spoiled me with it’s bright and bold designs, fluid animations and smooth gameplay, I don’t think WWE ’12 can really pull out anything that’ll win me over. C’est la vie.

If you’ve taken anything away from this it should be that you should really be looking forward to Skyrim.

Zee.

Change The Channel!

Well, Comic-Con is long gone and it’s time to round up on the things I missed out on or didn’t go into much detail over in my last post. We’re pretty much out of the comics-related stuff now and into the ‘We just wanna be at Comic-Con’ games. But hey, nine times out of ten not being based on a comic property is a good thing in a game. Even if you’re the goddamn Batman.

Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 3 wasn’t the only thing Capcom had to show off at Comic-Con, we got new character reveals and a trailer for Street Fighter X Tekken too, revealing the inclusion of Street Fighter’s old-school Indian  rubberman Dhalsim, Tekken’s sword-wielding cybernetic ninja Yoshimitsu and English boxer Steve Fox, and, surprisingly, Poison the transexual/cross-dresser/hermaphrodite/woman from Final Fight, making her playable debut in any fighting series. The accompanying cinematic trailer is far more interesting however, potentially further confirming the giant wrestler Hugo, and the street-fighting duo Cody and Guy, all originating from Final Fight before becoming Street Fighter regulars. While Capcom’s actions and attitude have turned me off from most of their other games lately, I can’t stay mad at Street Fighter X Tekken. Here’s the awesome wrestling-packed trailer.

As I mentioned briefly at the end of my last post, Comic-Con also saw the reveal of Mortal Kombat’s final DLC character of the summer, guest character and iconic horror villain Freddy Kreuger. While it was obvious that the mystery character would have to be someone fairly special in order to warrant being a mystery character, I don’t think anyone was really expecting Kreuger so kudos to NetherRealm Studios for managing to keep a secret in this digital age, especially when Capcom failed miserably to keep the entire roster of Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom under wraps before the game was even officially announced. Considering I’m never really a fan of guest characters in fighting games, Freddy makes for a fairly uninteresting addition. I’ll accept that his inclusion isn’t nearly as awkward as the ‘You’ve got your Star Wars in my Soul Calibur!’ thing, but it still doesn’t do much for me. Though I doubt I’m really who they were aiming at with this promotion, not really being much of a horror fan and being fairly lukewarm towards MK in general when compared with it’s generally superior competitors. With horror fans already starting to get their hopes up that Freddy’s inclusion opens the doors for other iconic slasher villains like Jason Voorhees, chances are good that we’ll be seeing more MK DLC later in the year.

And in a little bit of non-Comic-Con news, Bioware have released Legacy, a new chapter of Dragon Age II that delves into the apparently sordid family history of the games protagonist, Choose-A-Name-Here Hawke. Considering the amount of support the first DA got I actually expected more like this a little sooner than now, but hey, better late than never. I probably won’t be picking this up any time soon since I haven’t really finished DA II yet, but going by Bioware’s track record with this stuff I’m sure it’s worth picking up. Unless you’re one of those people who just really hate DA II. In which case you probably won’t bother. Think I’ll finish on that bombshell.

Zee.