Gaming pleasant surprises/disappointments in 06

[Yoshi]

That entry is fantastic. I even got mild mannered NZE to call me a "jerkoff."

[Salsashark]

- Wii: I still really like the concept of the system, but the launch did nothing to alleviate my doubts about it. Outside of a Gamecube port, a DS port, and Monkey Ball the launch line-up didn't interest me at all, and stuff like Red Steel showed just how awful it could be. I'm still hoping that 2007 will see a glut of quality creative software for it.

- Okami: This game made me really sad, because I was sure I was going to love it. Instead, it bored me into submission and I traded it in after about 15 hours. Too much hand-holding to be fun and taking a class about Japanese art at the same time didn't help (the real thing is much nicer). And contrary to most reports I've read, there was nothing about the gameplay that felt especially fresh to me.

+ Zelda: Twilight Princess: After being so let down by stuff like Beyond Good and Evil and Okami I almost didn't buy this game, and I certainly wasn't looking forward to it like I had been any Zelda before it. I thought that maybe the whole gameplay formula had lost it's luster for me, but no. Twilight Princess is a total masterpiece. It is undoubtedly yet another incarnation of Zelda, but it's so refined and well-designed nothing in it feels like a chore. It's huge, but tight and focused. The cinemas and character designs drip with charisma and the soundtrack is the best of the series. It really feels like the work of master's of their craft.

[youandwhosearmy]

Pluses+

+World of Warcraft- Almost everything about it. From Leveling to endgame raiding. A brilliant game. It consumed me for two years and now thats its finally dying down (probably to reemerge as an almost entirely different game after the expansion) I need to take a moment and congratulate blizzard on making a MMORPG thats actually fun and playable. Thank you.

+Gears of War- Multiplayer is everything Halo 2 online should have been (if it was bungie's goal to shrink the game down to smaller maps and quicker games. As it is, its almost a perfect single player experience as well. Story leaves a lot to be desired but no one can criticize epic for milking the gameplay when its this good.

+XBLA- So good. So very good. They need to make it their goal to pick up and distribute forgotten 16-32 bit 2D games, instead of the late 1970's arcade games that only Yoshi remembers. Their original stuff is golden though. I don't think I ever had any hope this would work when I first read about it, and honestly thats what makes it so amazing to me.

+Dead Rising- Been a long time since I've wanted to be GOOD at a game. Not like just beat the game and be done with it, but be GOOD at it. Thanks Capcom.

+Sony's DOA launch. I call this a positive because I hate Sony. That being said, question...

Why was Sony Advertising constantly when they had no systems left to sell, and all it was doing was encouraging parents to go into the store, find out they can't by one for little tommy, and inquire about an Xbox 360

+EA probably losing their NFL liscense is the best news EVER for any football fan even if they don't know it. You see Madden sucks without 2K games to steal from, and so lets get some competiton back into this market and get an actual football game released.


The Bad will come later cause I just don't want to think that much now.

Happy new year all of you.

[Joust Williams]

"Why was Sony Advertising constantly when they had no systems left to sell?"

So people don't buy 360s instead.

[youandwhosearmy]

"Why was Sony Advertising constantly when they had no systems left to sell?"

So people don't buy 360s instead.

Its generally a bad idea in advertising to bring consumers into situations where your competitors have plenty of product available and you have none.

[Joust Williams]

Eh

I don't think that's as huge as an issue when things cost a lot of money. I'm not sure how many people wanted a PS3 and got a 360 instead. There were probably a lot, but I bet there are more people conviced of the PS3. Problem is, they can't afford one, LOL. So they probably will get a 360 regardless.

[youandwhosearmy]

Eh

I don't think that's as huge as an issue when things cost a lot of money. I'm not sure how many people wanted a PS3 and got a 360 instead. There were probably a lot, but I bet there are more people conviced of the PS3. Problem is, they can't afford one, LOL. So they probably will get a 360 regardless.

I hear you. I just don't get spending 300 million dollars to send consumers into situations where all they can get are things your competitor makes.

[Bojack]

Yeah substitution products can be a real bitch economically speaking.

Oh yea,

- anything from Nintendo or Sony
+ anything from MS

At least that's what TNL tells me to think.

[Toupee]

(+) The Wii. Since I was never planning on spending a money for ROMs that everyone's been emulating for ten years - I mean, the Virtual Console games -
I can't say I'm "disappointed" with the paltry selection. Or the lack of a huge jump in graphics from the Gamecube. That's not what this console's about. It's about control. New control. And yeah, I realize that there's no game that particularly stands out that uses the controls as a selling point. But Wii Sports is a delicious taste of what's to come - it's like those little hot dogs wrapped in a biscuit, sliced into pieces about an inch long and stuck with a toothpick that an old lady wanders around the mall passing out. Sort of. The controls in most games are unrefined now (Red Steel) but I can just imagine what's going to be available in the years to come. And even if it can't pull off the most precise movements that we're hoping for - well, I'm thinking we can wing it pretty close, and there's always Wii 2.

(+) Twilight Princess, for the most part. I know it's more or less at home on the Gamecube, but hey, they did release it for that too, so big deal. The sword swinging is a *little* gimmicky but at least it's not overblown. It works, it's fun. What works REALLY well is the aiming of weapons like the bow; being able to strife and aim feels WONDERFUL. It's natural. In any case, this is a HUGE improvement on Wind Waker, even if it does stick to more-or-less the same formula that Ocarina started. But Wind Waker added virtually nothing besides a boat - and that got old fast. Here, you can now fight on Epona - nice - and it's much more subtle, but you can also continue to run and swing your sword without stopping, as can you continually roll without a real pause like before. Putting weapons on a separate snappy screen is a good idea. They really smoothed everything out. Then there's the pretty big aspect of being able to change into a wolf as well as some cool new weapons, and a decent story, too. My only real qualm is that it's a little long in the tooth. The overworld is almost too big - but it could stand to be inter-connected a little more. Warping helps a lot. Some of the gameplay was bordering on filler, but just as I was starting to get annoyed, the game moved on (for example, with the vessels of light)... yeah, it's not revolutionary, but it's really good.

(-) I haven't spent too much hands-on time with one, but the Playstation 3 seems to be more or less an overpriced game console or a reasonably priced game console/blu-ray player combo. Either way the graphics aren't really beyond the 360's at all, and since that's sort of what it was going for, I guess you could say it's a bit disappointing. I certainly won't be buying one until they're much cheaper.

(+) Half Life 2: Episode One was a really nice surprise. I knew I'd enjoy it but it was actually got my emotions going a little, and not too many games have done that. Good stuff.

(-) Yoshi's Island DS. Again, I haven't played it too thoroughly, but what I DID play was thoroughly disappointing. I almost bought it but opted for a real copy of the SNES original instead with the intent to get 100's on every stage. I'm glad I made that decision. It's a classic, and this new one is more like a "I'm too pussy to really try anything new, so here's a bunch of familiar stuff, although you'll have to live with our new out-of-place music". Sorta.

(-) I still haven't played Okami, so I'm disappointed in myself.

[Salsashark]

I forgot Sam and Max. That's a plus. Bone really bummed me out so I thought the new Sam and Max was a lost cause, but they captured the art style pretty well and, most importantly, the dialog. The episodic distribution is a good idea for an adventure game too.