RESOGUN (2013) review

RESOGUN

PS4 (exclusive)

Sony, Housemarque

Arcade, Side-scroller, Shoot-em-up

This won’t be a very long article, quite simply because there’s not a lot to say about Resogun. It’s one of the launch exclusives on Playstation 4 and the spiritual successor to the incredibly popular PS3 exclusive Super Stardust HD. Each level packs the same opening as the previous titles from developer Housemarque: «Save the last humans» (although this time the sound comes from the PS4’s dualshock controller) and so you’re off, thrown straight into action playing an extremely fast paced game with a very simple concept. At set times one or two humans are let out from their protective glass casings and you must pick them up and drive them to one of the several safe spots in the circular level. You play as a spaceship with the ability to move horizontally in orbit around the level as well as vertically (up and down). Your spaceship is equipped with guns being upgraded thru power-up pickups and your bullets follow the curvature of the map, but they do have a limited range. Enemies constantly spawn around you and you need to shoot them before they touch you. Get hit, you loose one of your 3 lives. It’s all classic arcade and you’ll quite quickly understand what to do. What’s going to take you a lot longer is to get the hang of it. Why? Because Resogun is actually insanely f#cking hard. But that most certainly doesn’t stop it from being one of the best games available on the PS4 at launch. Actually It’s one of the very reasons why! You see resogun places a real, genuine challenge in front of you, of the very good old fashioned kind. Are you likely to sit down with it for hours on end? No! It really can get quite frustrating and feel a bit repetitive, but still you’ll come back time and time again to try and beat those high scores, or just try to make it thru a level. Levels witch pack both increasing difficulty and great variety. All though the core concept remains the same, save humans and shoot alien spaceships, the levels keep adding new twists to change up the gameplay and make it harder.

I said you’d quickly understand what to do, and for the core gameplay that is very true, but beyond that i would’ve very much liked to find an in-depth tutorial available thru the games menu. See although it was easy to understand basic shooting mechanics and how to deliver (save) humans, i was at a loss about weapons upgrading, what triggered humans to need saving, unlocking levels throughout the various difficulties and game modes, and above all: what the various game modes actually is. What’s the difference between them and witch one do i play to unlock more levels. All stuff i also found hard to find online and only thru quite a bit of experimentation did i find the answer. I also felt they stepped up the difficulty a bit too heavily from the first to the second level. Although you have multiple difficulty-settings to chose from, the gap between the first two levels is quite huge. They should have put something in between to make the game seem a little more forgiving and welcoming to newbies of the shoot-em-up arcade genre, or just newbies to Resogun, because although I am experienced with the type of games i felt this one in particular had a very unique feel to it.

As finishing words i think i can say that Resogun packs a unique, fast-paced and above all damn entertaining challenge. Although i would like a short tutorial, it’s not that big of a deal and we do live in the age of the internet. Even though i couldn’t find so much info on it when the game first launched, today you can surely find all you need and if not, there are tons of forums to ask on; so i don’t really feel i can draw the game heavily back for lacking a tutorial. You’re not going to sit down for hours on end playing this game (at least most of you will not). It will be a quick escape from reality every now and then when your standard issue, AAA titles frustrate you beyond belief as those games often do. But this little escape is so enjoyable I’m going to give Resogun 85/100 and call it one of the best options on the PS4 at launch.

Playstation 4 (PS4 2013) review

PLAYSTATION 4 (PS4)

Console

Sony

The Playstation 4, alongside the Xbox One marks the consoles entry into a whole new generation, and so the console wars begin. Witch do you choose? In the past generation, the battle has been fierce between Microsoft’s and Sony’s flagship consoles. In the end the PS3 caught up and has currently sold more consoles in total than the Xbox 360, but not by a long shot and the debate is still going strong about witch is the better console. However now gamers have a whole new round coming for them, and it seems to me it’s a little bit more straight forward this time around. In the past generation, both console had pro’s and con’s, as will the One and the PS4, but i feel it’s now slightly easier to compare the two. But first let me be clear; this is not a PS4 vs. Xbox One post. I have played both consoles, but i don’t yet own an xbox one, and thusly i have not spent enough time with it to feel comfortable writing a review of it. One thing you can know for sure is i will not post a review unless i actually know the product. That is for a «my thoughts» style post. The PS4 however, does have some pretty strong pro’s, and quite frankly not a lot of cons, so let’s dwell into them.

As you know, this is the 8th generation of consoles («next-gen»). The PS3 was released over 7 years ago. This means there are some improvements that are extremely obvious. The hardware is many times more powerful, in every way. Technology has improved very significantly over tha past 7 years, and this is something we can really notice from just your first few minutes of usage. For instance: on the PS3, loading in the Cross Media Bar (the main menu, referred to as XMB) would take anywhere from 5 - 10. Logging into Playstation network (PSN) would take about the same. On the PS4, the main menu is usually loaded so fast it feels instantaneously. The moment you press log in after selecting your profile, you see a 1-2 second long zoom-in style opening animation and you’r good to go. Logging into PSN happens equally fast. It’s a seamless, free-flowing experience that instantly gives you a satisfaction. You truly feel that this is next-gen. Navigating the re-designed menu is also a blast. I was one who was extremely fond of the XMB. I always knew where everything was. It was easy to use and navigate, but now it feels like old, clunky news. The PS4’s redesigned menu is better in every way, and not just because it’s faster. You have much easier access to the things you care about. It puts a great focus on games, having them clearly centered on the main screen. Beyond that, a very practical feature is the all new notification center.   All uploads and downloads ongoing can be found there, along side general notifications such as friend requests, trophies recently earned, players met and so on. There are still some bugs to be corrected here though. Aside from the customary day-one patch, and a very minor one a few days later to correct one or two bugs from the previous, there hasn’t been a general patch yet. This is quite usual though; a new OS, app or game tends to lack optimization when released. This normally comes after one to three weeks has passed since launch so we needn’t worry, but right now there are some transitions on the menu where it sticks and lags a bit. Especially in the PSN store, where surprisingly the performance isn’t that significant upgraded since the disappointment it was on PS3. It was released as a test on Sony’s previous console, but the PS3 lacked the performance to run the esthetic but rather power-demanding software. On the Playstation 4 it is better, but it still lags significantly. This surprised me quite a bit, seeing as most everything else runs so smoothly, except for a very few lags in need of optimization.

Of course the main selling point for a new generation is the specs, and holy **** does the graphics look good. It’s one thing to see a trailer or compressed gameplay on youtube. It’s another thing entirely to be in game, seeing it on a large-scale full HD TV. Exploring for yourself. Seeing every gorgeous little detail simply can’t be described. No, it’s not a leap forward equal to the one from PS2 to PS3, but it’s deeper than that. We already had breathtaking visuals, but they lacked something. Drawdistance, rendering quality and minor details. All those little things that completes the immersion can now be found thanks to the powerful next-gen hardware. What truly excites me is that this is only the beginning. Just compare the graphics between the first PS3 games and the newest. The difference is insane. When we get such breathtaking visuals at the very beginning of the next generation i don’t dare think what we will have in a few years. Just take a look at Frostbite 3, the engine running, amongst other games, Battlefield 4. The developers talks about how the engine takes a lot of work of their hands. They now have the hardware to let the engine have pre-programed certain effects related to complicated lighting and water effects. With them learning how to make and use that sort of engines better, and learning to optimize for the next-gen consoles, we’ll see some truly beautiful games. It will also lead to even lower budget games with shorter developer cycles to look stunning and have less bugs. It becomes easier for developers to think less about how they’re gonna pull off their ideas, and think more about perfecting their ideas. We’re gonna see better games, and thats another thing that should drive you towards buying a next-gen console, witch ever one it is.

As mentioned, the specs is probably the main selling point for purchasing a next gen system. One of the main things to determine witch system, is the controller, and this is a point the PS4 takes home in a big way. The PS3 had a fierce, but generally loosing battle against the 360 controller, but they both had pro’s and con’s. The Xbox 360 controller had and excellent shape that fit in your hand naturally. The Dualshock 3 didn’t. What the PS3 controller could front with though, was having well-designed buttons. On the 360 the buttons where slippery, uncomfortable and not accurate. Additionally, the D-pad was a disaster. With the Playstation 4, Sony redesigned the controller completely. They kept the amazingly tight and perfectly designed buttons, but fixed the controllers overall shape to truly fit in your hand. It’s significantly bigger and feels much more comfortable to hold, in every imaginable way. They added a texture to the bottom, providing some ventilation making it less prone to feel sweaty even during long gaming sessions, they fixed the trigger-buttons so you’r no longer going to slip of when pushing them and they made the joysticks much tighter and more comfortable. Even though logic dictates it’s the specs, as a private person i’ll say the Dualshock 4 controller is the best new feature of the Playstaion 4. It just feels so natural in your hand.

The PS4 also packs a Share-function. It has built-in a function that constantly records your gameplay. At any time you can press the new share-button on the controller, edit and upload the last 15 minutes of gameplay. You also get a screenshot of your current moment in-game. Additionally you can livestream your gameplay with both in-game audio and if you so desire, your microphone audio and/or live video of your face using the playstation EYE camera. You can stream directly to either Twitch or Ustream and connecting to your account is very easy. One complaint i have though is that the recorded gameplay can only uploaded to Facebook and not youtube. This is slightly weird. There has been talk about Sony adding youtube-compatibility in the near future, but for now it’s a lacking feature. Furthermore, for now you can’t record gameplay with an external capture device thru the HDMI port. This however, Sony have confirmed they’re working on and that it will be added very soon. Thusly; people hoping to upload their PS4 gameplay, and who doesn’t wan’t to upload it to facebook, download it from there and then put it on youtube, there is no need to get a different console just for this. There are also work-arounds in form of adapters that you can use in the mean time. Once they fix the youtube-compatibility it will be far more practical as well. You won’t need to have tons of extra cables and you won’t need yet another box underneath your TV to record and publish your gameplay. An average youtube gaming video counts less than 10 minutes, meaning you have plenty to go on here; and once they make it so that your livestreams are saved and uploaded once your done, you can use Twitch or Ustream to post longer podcast style videos.

I have a very hard time deciding what’s best about the Playstation 4. I know i said earlier logic dictates it’s specs but that i personally feel it’s the controller. The truth is; it’s neither. What’s best about the Playstation 4 is the whole package. It feels like Sony thought of everything. Although there are a few here things i miss, it’s mainly talk about features Sony has confirmed they’re working on. I know i can’t give the console credit for having those features right now, but i don’t feel i can quite count them missing. All in all, the PS4 really is the complete package. It has amazing specs, a superb new controller packing a excellently integrated share-function and the menu has been redesigned to look, navigate and feel amazing. I need to congratulate Sony on creating an absolutely amazing console. And i’ll give the Playstation 4 an official score of 90/100. Not perfect and in need of some patches, but these are coming and even before they arrive the console is wonderful experience at a very comfortable price. This is a must-own, and i feel confident saying it’s my next-gen console of choice.

UPDATE -- I got the PS4

The reason for posting this update so late, is quite simple. I got the PS4. I got it. Holy h#ll YES i got it. Now i wanna go back to gaming, and testing out the system, and i’ll have a review up shortly, hopefully by tuesday. Additionally, i’ll post my review of Resogun, Contrast and Battlefield 4 (next-gen). Those are the only 7 PS4 games i have right now and most of them are free-to-play. It’ll probably be a week though, before i get done writing all of those reviews though. I’ll need to spend some time in those games before i feel comfortable reviewing them.

Quick update (added post writing this article):
I am well on my way with my review of PS4. I'm going away this weekend though. This means that either i'll be able to write a lot, or almost nothing at all. I'll try to work my way to publish the PS4 review before leaving, and hopefully i can have my BF4 review up shortly after but i need to finish the singleplayer campaign first. Until now i have barely started it; having only played a few missions. My time has been put into the multiplayer. For now, you can follow me on Twitch, where i livestream gameplay. It's mainly Battlefield 4 and Resogun but i'll probably play some Contrast as well. My twitch account is

 http://www.twitch.tv/mr16thprestige

My main audience on Twitch so far is norwegians though, so if you'r an international viewer please write a comment on twitch when you'r watching. I speak quite good english and i'm comfortable switching away from my native tounge if asked. Hope to see you viewing my streams

UPDATE -- PS4

This is not really a long, philosophical post. I’m just writing this to inform my readers of a very pleasant surprise i got today. See, i was a few weeks late in pre-ordering the PS4, and thusly not on the fast track to getting one today, when it launched in Norway. Not only wasn’t i gonna get it today, i was nr3 in line (aka so insanely f#cking close). However, at the end of last period on school, i got the most pleasant call. The guy asked me «on a scale of 1 to 100, how much do you want a PS4?». I replied «110». He then told me there’d been some cancelations, and i could come in and get it today. And so now i’m typing this. Why do i have time to write this? Because i still lack about $60, and another $97 to buy BF4 (in Norway, games cost roughly $100, depending on the exchange rate). My dad owes me some money, and was one the way home. I called him, saying i need it as fast as possible, and why i needed it. He said he’d be home around 2.30, yet still no sign of hime. That shiii….shiny rainbow of a sunshine had stopped for a haircut. Da fuq? da fuq? now, however, he’ll hopefully be here damn soon, give med the money and i’ll be on my way to get a PS4. I’m so fucking psyched i’m trembling. I can barely even write this because i keep having to go back to correct major misspellings. Thusly i’ll cut it here, and be back online with an update when i have the console

The Last of Us (2013) Review

The Last of Us

PS3 (exclusive)

Sony, Naughty Dog

Survival, Horror, Third-person action

ESRB Mature, Pegi 18+

Every now and then, a game comes along and re-shapes a genre or even the entire industry. It may not be the best. It may be a game testing out a new concept or approach method, laying the grounds for future games to provide incredible experiences, but the game itself fails in execution. This has never been a problem for Sony owned Naughty Dog studios. They have always been amongst the most acclaimed and respected developers in the entire world. In the PS2 days they created timeless classics, for instance the «Jack and Dexter»-series. After some time staying quiet, they rendered the world of video games speechless with Uncharted: Drakes Fortune. A game that became synonymous with the PS3. If you got the PS3, you got Uncharted. Since then, Naughty Dog has thru their most famous franchise, and whats very much became the Playstation 3’s flagship, twice shown us they are absolute masters of storytelling, visual esthetics and amazingly engaging characters. 3 Uncharted games have been released to raving reviews, always being scored at the very top of the scale. The franchise seemed unrivaled, until early summer 2013. That’s when i, as millions like me was literally mind blown. The Last of Us took storytelling, emotional depth and visuals to a whole new level, even surpassing many of the best looking PC games.

In The Last of Us you meet Joel. In the early hours of a apocalypse outbreak he suffers a great, personal loss. Years later, he is a hardened survivor with trust-issues and being afraid of losing a loved one again, he is determined in not letting anyone in on him. The US has been divided into quarantine zones, where brutal military forces rule with an iron fist, operating with lethal force and not letting anyone out of the quarantine zone. Life is difficult and dangerous. A rebel force known as the Fireflies are attempting to take control and fight the oppressive regime. Joel and his partner Trish have made a deal with the Fireflies. In exchange for a shipment of heavy weaponry, they’ll have to smuggle something out of the quarantine zone, to a location a few states away. The deal turns out to be the smuggling of a 14 year old girl, Ellie. When the Fireflies base turns out to be a lot further away than they thought, and very unwillingly Joel takes on the mission. You play as Joel, and in a short segment as Ellie, as they travel across a post-apocalyptic United States. 

The main gameplay consists of stealth, combat and solving puzzles. In the world you face a mix of infected and humans. Originally enough is that for once you’re not facing zombies gone brainless from some unknown, fictions virus. The virus in play here is one that is very real. So called Fungus, a virus witch takes over the brain, very much like a zombie-virus. In todays world however, this is «exclusive» to flies. In this alternate future, the disease has jumped species, something witch is not unheard of, and people infected become violent, unstable and unable to control themselves. It all feels very similar to a zombie outbreak, but at least here it comes with a much more believable backstory. In addition to infected you face humans. Groups of survivors who have escaped the quarantine zone and shoots on sight to protect themselves. This provides good variety to combat. Your strategy when fighting the infected compared to when your fighting humans, have got to be very different if you are to stand a chance. The puzzles works as more of a distraction though. They’re never much more than «how do we get up there», «how do we get across here» kind of stuff. They all make sense, and aren’t overused, but there are a few of them that i deem slighlyt unescessary. In most games, stuff like that would need to be there, to fill in with additional gameplay, but in The Last of Us, there is no need for this. The combat, crafting and the story is plenty. Sometimes i even felt slightly frustrated because puzzles where stalling my progress. I was so excited to get to progress the story and learn what happened. Unlike the puzzles though, the previously mentioned crafting works as a very well implemented RPG element. You gather supplies of many different kinds, and use them to create makeshift weapons, ammunition for the various weapons you pick up, medicine and painkillers. You also need to upgrade your weapons. The supplies are very scarce. Especially if playing on the harder difficulties. This means you’ll never have enough to upgrade everything, even if you collect every last supply, thusly you’ll have to carefully choose what you want to upgrade. This adds to the already exceptionally immersive survival-theme in the game.

In the end though, what really makes The Last of Us stand out as a truly unique experience isn’t the engaging combat or the gathering of supplies, nor is it the visuals. It’s the story. It’s the way Joel and Ellie interact with each other. How Joel refuses to grow affection for Ellie, and she seems unable to understand why. You feel great sympathy with her because after all she is just a little child. One born after the outbreak. She has lived her short life knowing nothing but the suffering of the post-apocalypse. You feel genuinely sad for her, because she is hungry for recognition and love, as is any child, and Joel stays ice cold. At the same time however, you never feel like Joel is a douche bag. You know what he’s been trough. I almost genuinely cried with him when he suffered his loss. You understand why he’s become what he’s become. The real story here, is how Joel gradually warms up to Ellie. From where he started out, wanting nothing to do with her, to eventually being willing to do anything for her. Loving her like a daughter. Another stroke of genius is how the people you fight are given a face. In most other games, despite it having a great story, there is one flaw they all have in common. You go trough the campaign, fighting countless faceless enemies who are only there to fill the void of gameplay. Without spoiling it, i’ll say that In The Last of Us, later on in the campaign, you get to more deeply meet a group of survivors. You hear them speak of their friends, who some time ago was sent on a supply run to a location you’ve just cleared of enemies and raided. There is more to this, but i won’t spoil it. All you really need to know is what you learn here, and the way it’s presented, gives you a feeling like each and every person you killed in the game is something more than just another disposable body. It humanizes them. Beyond this, there is humor deriving from Ellie’s inability to understand a world she’s never known. Stuff like she not knowing what a job is, or never having read a comic book. How she doesn’t know what it used to look like. There are also several very emotional moments, but you’ll have to play the game. The Last of Us is all about the story, and i don’t want to ruin you’r playthrough of what is without a doubt the greatest, most emotionally deep story i’ve ever been told. And that includes not only video games, but movies, music and books.

As a first on this blog, I will award The Last of Us with 100/100.

Top 10 - video game sequels

So what’s a great sequel? I mean in general. Well, a great sequel would be something that not only learns from it’s predecessors mistakes, but fixes them. So what’s a great video game sequel? Well, it’s a game that has duly noted the phrase «if i ain’t broke, don’t try to fix it». A lot of follow-up games today have this notion that they need to change up just about everything, just for the sake of changing it up. For this, i blame reviewers and the community alike. If a game is too much like it’s predecessor, they all scream out in rage against it, saying it’s a bad deal and lacks innovation. If they try to innovate, and change stuff, people nitpick to find any kind of flaw with the new, and blame it on the developers for not keeping the good old stuff. However, we do have a selection of games that don’t get this poor treatment, simply because there is no way anyone could ignore their superiority. I’m talking about the truly great sequels. The ones that takes everything people loved about previous entries in the series, fixes (most of) it’s predecessors problems, and adds enough new stuff to keep it fresh. With that in mind, i’d like to tell you witch games i believe fits this criteria the best, and of course, why. So here’s my top 10 video game sequels. Keep in mind that this is not a «top 10 games of all time». Although all the games on this list are great games, not too far from my top 10 list, the ones here are first and foremost judged on how much they improved upon it’s predecessors, not on how great of a game they are.

NR. 10

Battlefield 3

So Battlefield 3 was released to spectacular reviews after winning tons of best-of-the-show awards and similar. Though it’s not a direct sequel, it’s a entry in a franchise, and the spiritual successor to it’s preceding games. It’s main steps forward lied in multiplayer. Though the game wasn’t huge on innovation, it’s still a great sequel. This because although, yes, it didn’t bring a huge list of entirely new stuff, it so massively improved upon everything that was already there. Much less clunky menu’s and UI. Much better balance between vehicles and infantry. Much more interesting and different-feeling weapons, huge improvements to map design and of course, the stunning visuals and beautiful destruction. In a game that focuses so much on realism as Battlefield does, the graphics are very important and in Battlefield 3, they are quite top-notch.

NR. 9

Hitman: Absolution

So you’ll find me to be quite the fan of the Hitman series. Though it had a slightly ill-faced attempt at hitting the big screen, Agent 47’s interactive tales have always been worth visiting, because we always get to see innovation, originality whilst the developers still manage to keep the feeling we all want. The feeling that you actually are a highly trained Hitman, picking your strategy, sneaking in on your target, wipe him out however you deem fit and then slip away unnoticed. The previous games all had the same, amazing core concept, with a few poor design choices. The main problem though, was always the lack of technology. In a game of this sort, responsive control-schemes, extreme realism as far as you’r freedom goes and a realistic AI, are all absolutely crucial. These are the main problems that plagued the previous titles. I’ve always been thinking «man, these games have these gaping problems, yet still i love them! What if they could keep the magical feel, but fix all of these problems, it’d be the best game ever, right?». Well, although i wouldn’t go as far as calling Absolution the best game ever, it’s actually not an outrageous statement. Because my dreams from early Hitman days came true. They gave us a great AI, wonderful realism and complimented it with absolutely gorgeous visuals. Also, i have to mention that the setup works a lot better this time around. They give us a slightly more traditional story-mode, allowing people who still wan’t the 47-experience, but would like to take part in a put-together story, rather than just hit after hit, can now do that. Then, for those who are purists, or wanna play both, there is Contracts mode. You get complete freedom to make you’r own hits and challenge others to beat you at them. In every way imaginable, Hitman: Absolution beat’s it’s preceding games at just about everything.

NR 8.

inFamous 2

There’s not a lot to say about inFamous 2, that hasn’t been said already. It takes the original’s wonderful, but roughly executed formula, and gives it the main thing the first inFamous game so sorely lacked. Polish. Fixed the rather major problem with pop-ins, added more powers to play with, a much more engaging and living, breathing city and above all, a tighter story with better, more flushed out characters.

NR 7.

Super Mario Galaxy 2

Let’s be honest. We all know why this game is here. Super Mario Galaxy took platforming to whole new level that’s been attempted copied countless times since, but never been outdid by anything, except it’s sequel. SMG2 nailed everything about it’s predecessor, and added so many new features as far as level-design, challenging puzzles and a funny, cute and riveting storyline. It did everything SMG did, but better, bigger and more colorful.

NR 6.

Assassin’s Creed 2

Often hailed as the popular series’ highpoint, the sequel to the original game really hit the world like a bomb. The original Assassins Creed was one of the most anticipated games of all time, but ended up being a huge disappointment for many. Not that it was a bad game, it had originality, charm and a whole new way of approaching gameplay, introducing the now famous climbing mechanics. The reason for the disappointment would be that it was massively built up, but ended up having a few almost game-breaking core flaws. The excellent climbing mechanics where severely underused, because of the fact that so little of the map had a city you could actively climb. So much of your playtrough was spent walking, riding a horse and having less than engaging conversations. In Assassin’s Creed 2 however, all these game-breaking flaws where flipped on their head. The high majority of the map is covered by one of the several well-design cities. Laid out in such a manner that climbing them, navigating from roof-top to roof-top is a genuine joy. Beyond that, the renaissance Italy setting is far more interesting than the middle-ages Jerusalem of the original. You also meet much more engaging characters. Hell, you even become a close friend, and invention-test-subject for Leonardo Da Vinci. It outdoes the original Assassin’s Creed in just about everything, without taking away any of the stuff that was actually good about the first game

NR 5.

Grand Theft Auto V (five)

When i gave my definition of a great sequel, that’s pretty much the very definition of GTA V. I’d also like to, in order to avoid repeating myself too much, have you read the part about inFamous 2 again, seeing how it very much applies to GTA V as well. If you read my review of the game, you’ll also hear me talking about why it’s such a great sequel. It captures the magical feel of San Andreas, the innovation of GTA 3, the gorgeous, riveting map of Vice City and much of the humor from the entire series. It brings us a deeper story than any previous GTA game. Although the story in itself isn’t the most epic, the screenplay is absolutely amazing and top of line, making for some of the beast and the funniest dialogue ever in a video game.

NR 4. 

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

So the first Uncharted game was pretty much «the one». If there was a console-war going on, you could be 110% certain a playstation owner would almost immediately jump to exclusives, and from there right onto Uncharted. If you owned a playstation 3, you owned Uncharted. That was kind of just the way it was. And with good reason. It brought and entirely new style to the table. Although it was clearly inspired by games such as Tomb Raider and movies like Indiana Jones, it had a very unique and distinct feel. Beyond that, it came from extremely skilled, Sony-owned developer-team Naughty Dog, know for always pushing the playstation-systems to their very limit, always creating games remained the best-looking title on any console for years after it’s release. Luckily though, it wasn’t all about the graphics. Naughty Dog just so happens to be absolutely masters of story-telling, and this was brought out clearer than ever in Uncharted. Therefore, when a sequel was announced, everybody, quite naturally, flipped. They where right to. U2: Among Thieves improved upon the original in most ways imaginable. First of all, they spread it’s reach. Where as in the original game, you where after the prologue, tied to the same island trough out the entire story, in Uncharted 2 you where sent on a globe-trotting adventure that was both longer, deeper, more exiting and epic than the original. It also took huge steps forward as far as cinematics goes, executing this better than the original, where it felt slightly less polished, simply because it had never been done that way before.

NR 3. 

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

We all know this game, and you can’t even pretend not to. Even the most sincere haters of the COD-series have to admit this game created a unprecedented revolution to change the FPS genre forever. Although today the series has gotten into a rut, with little innovation and quite a lot of repetition has led to many haters of the franchise, it wasn’t always like that. When Call of Duty 4: Modern warfare was released, not only COD, but the entire genre of online shooters would never, ever be the same again. Perks, complete customization of your combat equipment, killstreaks, and above all, the insanely addictive leveling system. All stuff that have influenced literally every single multiplayer FPS-game released since. But this is a list of best sequels, so let’s talk early COD. The first COD games themselves where industry leaders. They revolutionized the genre, and changed what people expect from a shooter. I might as well have picked Call of Duty 2 for this list, and believe me, i was close to do so. However right now you’r reading about COD4, for one simple reason. It made drastic, radical changes to the formula laid down by it’s predecessor’s, but not because of just being able to say they changed things…because it was all for the better. And massively so.

NR 2.

Team Fortress 2

Anyone who has played this game (on PC that is, the console version has extremely few of the features that makes this game stand so much out) knows it’s one of the best times you can possibly have. It feels very much like the spiritual successor though, rather than a direct sequel to the original Team Fortress classic. Pretty major things have been revised, but that’s more than fine, because just like with Call of Duty 4, it’s all for the better. It’s cartoonish visual style, combined with gorgeous level of detail, greatly written, hilarious humor and amazingly satisfying blood-splatter, really makes it stand out as a must buy. Or rather must-download. Seeing as Valve made the wonderful decision to make it free-to-play on Steam, without ruining it with a pressure for using micro-transactions.

…and now for my number one pick….

NR 1.

Portal 2

Was there ever any doubt? I’m sure many of you where expecting Half Life 2, so I feel i need to explain why it wasn’t here. Although HL2 is one of my favorite games, i don’t feel it really beats the games on this list, as far as improving on the original. It was a great upgrade, but i dunno what to tell you. I feel the games on this list made bigger, better improvements on previous titles, than Half Life 2 did. Portal 2, on the other hand, is THE very definition of a great sequel. The original was introduced to unanimous applause from critics and the community alike. The unique, never-before-seen concept captured the hearts of countless gamers, and even many non-gamers. the hilarious story and exceptional writing was the cause of extreme amounts of laughters and enjoyment throughout the short game. Expectations where therefore high for a sequel, and boy did Valve deliver. They Built a game with a story even more solid story than the one of the original with a devious and surprising twist. They added enough new stuff to the amazing and unique puzzle-solving mechanics from the original, to make the game interesting to play for a campaign more than 4 times longer than the original game, witch clocked in at just above 1 hour, maybe 2, depending on your puzzle-solving skills, because it was easy to get stuck if you started thinking «suitcase» and lost your ability to think freely and logically. Portal 2 also had the jokes coming more frequently, and more varied than the original. In both games, they’re disguised as not really being jokes. They’re just a character saying really funny things, and you genuinely believe the character actually has that personality. It never feels forced, and it’s never out of character. All in all, those are my reasons for why Portal 2 is the greatest sequel ever made. 

I hope you enjoyed this slightly longer-than-fortunate post. Feel free to post a list of you’r top 10 sequels, either in the comment section, or send it as a mail, using the contact form and the bottom of the page. If you have a top 10 list (top 10 funniest-, hardest-, all time best-games ETC) you would like to share with me, do the same. If there is a list you would like me to make, same rules apply. Send me an email, or place a comment. Have a good day and happy gaming

Why "Among the sleep" is among the greatest

A look at originality in video games


For those of you who don’t know. Some time ago, the international video game community was mind blown by a demo video coming from the little town of Hamar, in Norway. It was developer team «Krillbite Studios» who showed off their first large-scale indie-title; «Among the sleep». A first person horror adventure, in witch you play as a two year old child. After lots of international attention and several news-stories they took the project to Kickstarter, asking for $200 000 so that the core team-members could quit their part-time jobs, and work on the game full-time. In the project description they had quotes from big game personalities such as Cliff Bleszinski, saying the game looked interesting, and that they wanted people to support it. After the funding-period was over, they had raised over $248 000. A tremendous success.

Today, there has for some time been a public demo out, and countless have played it. The dev-team has also gotten their hands on a dev-kit for Oculus Rift (a virtual reality headset) and at the time of writing, they have incorporated it quite successfully into the game. I was lucky enough to go to Norwegian Game Expo, where i got to meet the team. Also, not only did i get to play the demo on a normal computer in a dark-room with sound-isolating headset, to aid the horror, but i also got to try out the game with Oculus Rift. I remember being blown away when i saw the first trailers and concept art for the game. I remember being rendered speechless when they published the public demo. When i played it with Oculus Rift, it was beyond my abilities to describe. But why is that? Why is «Among the sleep» such an amazing experience? I think it’s got to do with the fact that it’s just so unique. Do you remember back in the day? Games like Counter Strike, Doom, the early Super Mario games, Zelda and all the other classics where all hailed as incredible. Today, we have games in all those genres, that far surpass those old games in almost every way. Today, if a game came with the same clunky controls, short campaign and multiple poor design-choices, the title would be frowned upon. But back then, they were praised, and they still are today, because they had one thing games today doesn’t have. They had originality. They were unique. People hadn’t played anything like it before. Thus they were sucked into it. Consumed by it. What makes people still like those old classics better than many games today, are the fond memories, and not the classics superior quality. Star Fox 64 is one of the most iconic and praised games of all time, yet still, it had a campaign six times shorter than games that today get’s significant drawbacks on their review, because of a short singleplayer. So why was Star Fox able to pull of shipping such a short campaign, yet still be praised? Because of originality. We see the same today. Portal released with a 1 hour campaign, yet still it’s one of the most praised and beloved games of all time, by critics and community alike. Why? Most of the other games get’s ripped on for having a 6 hour campaign. Yet, because of originality, the ridiculously short campaigns of Star Fox and Portal are allowed to fly. People accept it, and they don’t care, because they’re having so much fun, playing something they haven’t played before.

I talked about this in my review of GTA V. A big part of why It’s such a success, is because it dared take risks and it was never afraid to innovate and try new things. This is why i’m so much in love with Among the sleep. Though in the sense of graphics, smoothness in gameplay and content it may not be at the very top (although it’s certainly shaping up to be fantastic in those aspects as well), it doesn’t really need to be. It’s got the best weapon of them all. It’s unique. Just think about it. Have you ever played a first-person game, from the perspective of a toddler? We’ve all seen everything in our house, but we’re looking down on it. Sure, maybe you crawled on the floor to do push-ups, lie down on a soft carpet or pick up something that rolled under the table, but you can move a chair that’s in the way. You can reach up and open a door, you can get back up again right away. The days when you couldn’t are long forgotten. This is what makes the concept so unique. Sure other games throw puzzles and challenges at you. Get 6 headshots. Kill 50 guys within the time limit. Find away on top of that building. Don’t break stealth. All stuff we’ve done a billion times, in a billion different games. As a toddler, something as simple as opening a door becomes a challenge. All in all, you get puzzles and challenges that you’ve never had to face. They may have much of the same structure, but it’s an entirely different feel. I’ve never felt so handicapped as when i played. But at the same time, i’ve never felt so empowered. You can hide under a table or in a kitchen closet. As a toddler, it’s the world from a whole new perspective and things you never deemed possible in you’r state and mind of adulthood, suddenly becomes a reality. You have to throw away everything you know and start fresh. Thinking in an entirely different way. 

At the same time there’s the horror aspect. Anybody who has played a horror game today, or seen a horror movie is used to getting scared by bloody corpses, ghosts jumping out at you or a big guy wearing a scary mask, carying a chainsaw or a pickaxe, but would you ever dream of being scared of thunder? Are you scared of going to the bathroom late at night, because the house is empty and dark? Most likely not. But all of those things are stuff that could genuinely scare a little child. When you’r little, there’s completely different things that scare you. And thats a big part of what Among the sleep plays on. The ambience. The unknown. You don’t know what dangers lurk in the shadows. You get thrown into, and completely immersed in this little child’s world. You find yourself running from things, yet you don’t know why. It doesn’t rely on direct graphical violence or horror, of the kind that most games and movies do. It relies on the unknown. The fears of little, scared child so far, far away from his warm, cozy bed and a loving, protecting mothers goodnight kiss.