It’s the middle of August which means that the new Madden is out and we can say that the annual “Retarded Fall and Holiday Gaming Release Flood” has officially begun. While the coming weeks probably won’t bring us anything quite as bountiful as last year’s Bioshock followed by Halo 3 followed by Ratchet and Clank followed by Rock Band, there are no lack of interesting titles.
But first, Madden. The “HD” Madden engine is now on its fourth release and I have to say that this time they have finally gotten something close to as playable as the older PS2 versions of the game. The pre-snap controls have finally been fixed. The play calling screens, while still sucky, are at lease usable when you navigate using the d-pad. For me, this requires that you use a PS3 controller, rather than the Xbox 360 controller (better known as “that white controller with the shitty d-pad”). Running and passing the ball work smoothly and without any completely obvious and incessant glitches. They’ve also streamlined the presentation a bit so you don’t spend so much time watching inane post-play animations.
Still, I miss some small details, like how the game used to remember the last play I called so I can get to the same screen again quickly. Or how the old game would give you little achievement tokens for doing things like gaining 250 yards rushing against the pathetic AI defense. There is still no accelerated clock, but to replace it you can use the “supersim” feature to skip playing defense if you want.
So far I’ve only found these and other minor and forgivable foibles. In general the game appears to be up to the task of providing me with that little dose of that “I can run an NFL team and have them go undefeated because I rock” fantasy when I feel like indulging. In other words, with a bit of practice you can get the game to let you win every time, but make you feel like you worked for it. And that’s really what Maddenis for anyway.
I’ve been through about half a season of a Patriots franchise (I know, I know) over the past 3 or 4 days and nothing has happened that makes me want to put the game on Ebay. If I make it to the end of the week we can write this up as a general success and move on to try Head Coach.
In addition to Madden I have been click-click-click-click-click-click-click-click-click-clicking by way through Diablo 2. I restarted the game as a Necromancer because I didn’t realize before that this character class could use dead bodies as grenades:
I put this picture up as an indication of two things. First, that making dead bodies explode never gets old. Second, that the morons on the intertubes who were bitching about too many bright primary colors in the Diablo 3 demo really are borderline delusional. I made it through the first two acts with my skeletons, golems, and exploding body grenades. I see no reason why I won’t eventually grind my way to the end.
But in the mean time, the flood will be taking over. On the PS3, there will be the new Disgaea, a Ratchet and Clank download game, a new SOCOM and Resistance 2. Fallout 3 will be coming for both of the big consoles, but I’ll probably get it for the PS3 to avoid the “leaf blower in the living room problem.” I guess Spore is coming too, but I don’t have a PC on which to install it and then not play it. Maybe I’ll try it on the iMac. There will be a new Mercenaries, a second Gears of War, Fable 2 and a second Rock Band because you can never have too many fake drum sets.
No one except people who are either insane, have infinite time, and/or have infinite amounts of money could possibly get through the whole list. And I’m sure there are a dozen or so titles that I missed. Having built this list, I have come to realize that the best strategy for coping with this overload would be do the following on each evening instead of going out and buying yet another new title:
1. Play a game of Madden where the Patriots win again!
2. Make some corpses explode so that I can collect loot.
I can always pick up that other stuff next year, when the next flood of new stuff you can’t possibly find time to play comes around.
It’s going to be rough on me when both Fable II and Fallout 3 come out within a week of each other. On the bright side, I think after that I don’t need to get anything else for the rest of the year (though may still pick up Gears of War for some co-op play). At least they both come out before all the November holidays.
You forgot LittleBigPlanet, which may be the only game I purchase this year.
But then again, my discretionary budget disallows games where I kill people. (or I would have bought Soul Calibur already)
I dunno, the whole “zOMG user generated content will rulez” thing just doesn’t grab me.
This is the autumn of my dis- er, of me breaking down and getting a PS3.
Then I might have to take December off work to play games.
The Necromancer is awesome in most places, but has some real trouble against a few opponents. Notably the blacksmith in hell and Diablo, himself. I think that any other class can defeat those guys solo, given enough leveling and potions, but the Necromancer never will. Both of these bosses can kill minions pretty much instantly, leaving you helpless. Unless Blizzard has “re-balanced” the game since the last time I played with a necromancer.
Pshaw Joshua, the necromancer is unbeatable against bosses. All you need to do is put a few points into Iron Maiden (a curse that causes afflicted monsters to take damage every time the deal damage) and then let them whale on your golem. Then you can stand back gleefully shouting “Why are you punching yourself, Diablo? Why are you punching yourself, Diablo?”
I was sure Andrew was going to say “This is the autumn of my Disgaea.”
Oh no, don’t tell me you were actually psyched about Halo 3…
Please, do me a favor and play Unreal Tournament III (everyone, for that matter). They both came out at the same time and if memory serves me correctly (and it may not, forgive me), I believe it was at least ten bucks cheaper and a helluva lot more fun to play than that marketing gimmick you call a game. Sure the first one was okay. Insanely simple, but okay. The graphics were nice for it’s time.
At least you can make your own weapons and levels and bots in Unreal (given it’s really tough to figure out, but they give you a complete tutorial on how to use their editor when you buy the game). Hell, Super Smash Brothers Brawl has more customization than that.
But I digress. I do that often. I’ll ignore the Madden stuff. I’m not a sports-game player and never will be, so my opinion on such will not be a very educated one. But in any case, isn’t this always the way of the game distributors? Puking out a slew of games around the holidays so that the kids grab at their parent’s ankles and shoving their gift list in their faces.
I am upset, however at the lack of mention of any Wii games. Now granted, their list is depressing at best and I was really hoping they would live up to their hype, but it doesn’t seem so at this time. However, I think if you are going to mention Fable 2, you might as well mention the new Tales of Symphonia that at the last time I heard, was SUPPOSED to come out this November…but I doubt it now.
Anyhow. If you don’t have a Wii, others might and I’m sure they’d be dying to hear what games you’d recommend for them this coming holiday season. I guess that’s it, but I did find this site by searching for Persona 3-related stuff…if you think that game’s bad…geez. Have you even seen Grand Theft Auto 4? I’m not saying you’re wrong, but I’m saying there’s a lot worse games out there. Oh well. Another point that shouldn’t be made here.
I hope I remember to come here again sometime, your ideas are interesting and different from popular opinion. You’re intriguing. Later.
Whoa-ho. Sorry. I thought this blog was run by one guy, and I could’ve sworn the author was that peterb fellow. Oh well. Sorry about that, but most of my previous comments still hold, I suppose.