The Real Gamer
Smash Hero
Welcome to the Games of the Year Thread!
With the recent release of Mgs4, we can now compare each system's greatest game of 2008! After reading some reviews on the internet, I decided to share each of game informer's reviews on these fantastic games. Which game will get crowned game of the year? Will gears of war2, Resident Evil5, etc. be able to outshine these games? Will Brawl at least be in the top 5? That's what this thread is for! Post your own personal opinions on these games, and overall, enjoy!
Game Informer Reviews
SSBB (9.5 out of 10)
Super Smash Bros. Brawl is unquestionably the most anticipated game to come out on Wii. After all, why play as just one Nintendo hero when you can control almost all of them? Eclipsing the popularity of classic franchises via consolidation, Brawl effectively takes everything that made Melee great and improves upon it in subtle yet effective ways.
The combat system is practically identical to the previous iteration. While this will excite hardcore fans, players who never got into Melee will find little here that will change their minds. The nunchuk/remote control option is completely serviceable, but you’re really going to want a GameCube or Classic controller to truly succeed. The sideways remote-only control scheme is a complete mess, and should only be used to put friends at a hilarious disadvantage.
Outside of alternate control options, the biggest change to core combat is the Final Smash. These icons randomly float through the air and encourage players to drop what they’re doing and go for it. The first to grab it can unleash a satisfying over<2011>the<2011>top, screen-filling attack that may turn the tide of battle. Final Smashes do not, however, guarantee victory and can be turned off in multiplayer for concerned purists.
The dozen-plus new characters bring a little something fresh to the fight and are balanced well with the rest of the roster. Pikmin tamer Olimar gains stronger attacks as more little friends follow him around, Metal Gear’s Solid Snake has a steerable Nikita missile shot, and Sonic utilizes his trademark speed in interesting ways. However, characters like Fire Emblem’s Ike, Zero Suit Samus, and Mother’s Lucas are slightly tweaked palette swap replacements of existing or former characters. It would have been nice to see more reimagined classic characters like Pit, but it’s tough to complain when there’s already this much variety.
New clever stage design is where you’ll find most of the innovation in Brawl’s battles. My particular favorites include arenas based on the constantly changing environments of WarioWare and Pictochat, and the side scrolling world 1-1 of the original Super Mario Bros. With the constant stream of unlocks, it always feels like you’re getting a fresh backdrop to experiment in.
While Classic, Event, and Stadium modes return in similar form, the centerpiece this time around is the Subspace Emissary. This seemingly endless barrage of platforming stages and battles joins together the cast for one giant war against a mysterious enemy. An absurd amount of impressive pre-rendered cutscenes ranging from epic to just plain silly tie everything together, and will most likely be the primary incentive for many players to make it through the entire campaign. Essentially a 10-hour Classic mode, this adventure gradually loses its promising luster through repeated environments, challenges, and enemies. Like most games out there, however, playing co-op style helps keep things fresh.
Online play is implemented about as well as it can be within Nintendo’s structure. After going through the friend code hassle, Smash buddies can be easily browsed to see who’s online. Friend battles include basically all the options of the offline mode, though true voice chat is disappointingly replaced by customizable phrases mapped to the d-pad. Facing off against strangers, however, is a different ballgame. You can’t see anyone’s name, communicate with them in any way, or customize your match outside of item toggling. Everyone’s so devoid of personality that it’s almost like you’re fighting bots. The only match type available is a “2 minute KO-fest.” No time options. No stock matches. The only thing you can definitively choose is your character.
Outside of the need for online improvements and a more concise and engaging campaign, Brawl still hits all the right buttons. With extremely tight controls and finely tuned balance, the core fighting mechanics and local multiplayer are spot on. There’s still nothing like learning the intricacies of every character, discovering possibly the most unlockables in any game yet, and using all of that to beat the crap out of your friends late into the night. -Bryan Vore
GTA4 (10 out of 10)
I now know how film critics felt after screening The Godfather. It’s been days since Grand Theft Auto IV’s credits rolled, yet I can’t seem to construct a coherent thought without my mind wandering off into a daydream about the game. I just want to drop everything in my life so I can play it again. Experience it again. Live it again. No matter what I do, I can’t stop thinking about the choices I made throughout the course of the game. Those people didn’t have to die. I could have saved them. I wasn’t thinking straight. My judgment was clouded. Next time, things will be different.
If you thought that the previous Grand Theft Auto titles offered an amazing level of freedom, you haven’t seen anything yet. In Grand Theft Auto IV, you really feel like you have ownership over the entire experience. You build relationships, approach missions the way you want to, and even dictate the flow of the story. In true GTA style, you do the dictating with your gun. Some of the choices you make will have a dramatic “I can’t believe that just happened” effect on Niko Bellic’s life. This isn’t like Fable or Mass Effect where you can clearly see how your input is affecting the story. You just have to live with it, swallow hard, and hope you made the right choices. It’s an amazing story that ends up having a soul and isn’t afraid to poke fun at society’s hot topics.
As much as the game makes you sweat bullets through its choices, it no longer makes you dread firing them. The new targeting system is a remarkable contraption that, strangely enough, also offers choice. By applying a hard or soft click to the aim trigger, you can switch between free aim and lock-on, a combo that sings on the battlefield, and makes you feel like a skilled assassin. With intelligent foes putting a bead on you, the gunplay is a far more visceral affair, requiring pop-and-shoot tactics, ammo conservation, and some serious skill. Thankfully, with the gameplay firing direct hits, you no longer feel like a death was something you had no control over. The gunplay is extremely polished, and is one of the game’s strongest points.
Vehicular mayhem continues to play a huge role in the series, and is enhanced with an array of new jacking animations and realistic physics for both the vehicles and people you hit. The new Pac-Man-like police evasions, and scripted chase scenes are incredible additions as well.
When you aren’t raising your wanted level with a pistol or a runaway car, the game offers mountains of incredible content where you would least expect it. GTA IV has a Sims quality to it, as it starts to feel like real life. You can sit back and watch hilarious fictional TV shows (even cartoons), go to a comedy show, lose hours of your life surfing fictional internet sites, and even play full games of bowling, darts, and pool. Of course, this is GTA so you can always spend your time at a strip club or a bar. I know this is going to sound lame, but one of my favorite parts of the game is people watching. There hasn’t been a world of people in a game that has felt this alive. You’ll see cabbies throwing coffee cups out the window, people on cell phones not paying attention as they cross the street, and umbrellas going up when the rain starts.
It’s unbelievable how much there is to see and do. All of it is captured with stunning realism, and that trademark GTA satire. The single-player game alone is immense, and easily deserving of the perfect score, but there’s something else this breakthrough product does just as well; it blows the doors off of what you expect from a multiplayer game. Just think of the way you play single player (with cops always in pursuit) then multiply that by 16. It’s insanity – wonderful insanity – with rockets and helicopters soaring through the air, and players doing everything they can to win or thwart you. The game offers a slew of game modes, too, including my favorites GTA Race (think Cannonball Run with backstabbing death), and Cops ‘n Crooks. The multiplayer runs just as smoothly as the single-player game, and offers an insane level of customization.
On top of the standout experiences mentioned, there so much more to appreciate about this game. Its dynamic mission structuring, remarkable sound design, wealth of side content, amazing animation, the list goes on and on. Long story short, I never thought I would see this much content in a game.
Grand Theft Auto IV doesn’t just raise the bar for the storied franchise; it completely changes the landscape of gaming. Once you play it, you won’t look at video games the same way again. -Andrew Reiner
MGS4 (10 out of 10)
After years of playing Metal Gear games, I thought I knew the drill: Infiltrate the base, rescue someone, destroy Metal Gear, and fight the last boss. This time-tested approach has won the hearts of gamers and earned Metal Gear Solid a spot on the industry’s short list of premiere franchises. But for a game as ambitious and groundbreaking as Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, sticking to the formula simply isn’t good enough. As the crowning achievement of the series’ 20-year history, Hideo Kojima’s final Metal Gear Solid title may not be what you expect, but it is everything you could hope for in a video game.
MGS 4 plays like the kind of game you always knew Metal Gear could be. The reinvented control scheme is the best thing that has ever happened to the series, giving combat a visceral and intuitive edge. Codec interactions are drastically reduced, which puts the focus on the stunning events happening right in front of you. Similar to games like Call of Duty 4 and BioShock, MGS 4 makes excellent use of scripted events during gameplay, like a rebel’s execution at the hands of a PMC trooper, or a Gecko (hulking Metal Gear-like robots) crashing through a building. I doubt you’ll even see them all in a single playthrough.
This series has always showcased amazing depth, but MGS 4 accommodates a breed of player choice unlike anything I have ever seen, providing you with the tools to overcome obstacles in any way you choose. Many titles may claim to have this feature, but its implementation in MGS 4 is truly remarkable. There is no longer just “stealth” or “not stealth” – you devise your own solutions. How do you bypass the Gecko blocking your path? How do you keep a never-ending flood of Frogs (members of Liquid’s private army) at bay? The answers may seem obvious at the time, but when your friends tell you how they approached the situations differently, you realize the scope of the freedom the game provides.
This freedom even transfers over to the boss fights. The Beauty and the Beast unit – gorgeous women traumatized by atrocities of war – is the most compelling and haunting collection of foes Snake has ever faced. Since you have more choice in how and when you acquire most guns, clashes with these disturbing women don’t feel designed around particular weapons (with one awesome exception). They encourage you to experiment with your guns and your surroundings, leading to some harrowing confrontations that leave your knuckles white.
If you’re looking for faults, the only substantial ones involve what isn’t there. In other words, there are a handful of missed opportunities (with Raiden, ironically) where cutscenes could have been replaced with playable sequences, giving your more control over pivotal story points. But when a game already features an abundance of jaw-dropping moments, complaining about not having a couple more just feels petty. Leveling criticism at the multiplayer is equally pointless, since the inclusion of the Metal Gear Online starter pack is really more of a bonus; the core component of MGS 4 is the 20-plus hours of single-player action polished to radiance.
Speaking of the campaign, I know I haven’t mentioned the story yet. That’s not an oversight. As a longtime fan of the series, there are many revelations I’d love to discuss in detail, but any information is too much when it comes to the mind-blowing culmination of events. I’ll just say I’m beyond satisfied and leave it at that.
Where the Metal Gear franchise goes from here is a mystery. Whatever happens, make no mistake: The story of Solid Snake ends here. With the series’ last breath, Hideo Kojima’s defining opus does more than just surpass the previous Metal Gear titles – it creates a landmark gaming experience that continually astounds with its variety, depth, and intelligence. Metal Gear Solid 4 is a masterpiece. -Joe Juba
DISCUSS
