Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Poll Results - What are you looking forward to?

This holiday season (and the first quarter of next year) are looking to be a gold mine for great games coming out. I'll probably get all the big games but I got to wondering which one you guys were most looking forward to. Hence my latest poll. Here are the results.

What upcoming game are you most looking forward to?

Halo: Reach = 1 vote
Fable III = 1 vote
Dead Space 2 = 0 votes
Call of Duty: Black Ops = 1 vote
Gears of War 3 = 1 vote


So let's look at each game individually. Why? Because it's my blog and I said so. Anyway.

Halo: Reach
I'm not like a lot of other gamers out there in that I don't have anything against the Halo games. They're great games, filled with action and excitement. What I do have a problem with is all the shitty players that play the game. I'm not certain but I'm sure "tea-bagging" didn't exist until online Halo games. If you can get into a good room it's not bad. Unfortunately I think stupidity and bathroom humor are staples to playing Halo online these days.

Will I get this game at release? Probably not. But I'll probably wait until it drops in price because there are other games I want more.

Fable III
I loved the first Fable game although I've never gotten far in the game. I loved stealing from people's homes (I most always select a thief-type character when playing RPGs) and I loved the side quest missions. Unfortunately I had other games to play so I've never finished the first one.

I love the second Fable game even more. I think I've actually progressed even less in the main story than the first one because of all the side quests, blacksmithing and wood chopping I could do. Not to mention the pub games. In my first game my save got glitched. It happened just after I bought the Snowglobe DLC. My character wouldn't move properly and when I finally got them to Bowerstone they wouldn't move at all. I tried deleting the DLC but then my game wouldn't load because it had been a part of the last save. I finally gave up and restarted the game. And then I got robbed. So what's a girl to do? Restart the game (again) of course. Some times I get so tired about restarting games that I'm less motivated to even play them. That's were I'm at now.

Will I get this game at release? Yes. I might even put in a pre-order for it. I'm a RPG fan at heart so I love these types of games. I hope this time no one spoils the story for me by saying my dog dies again.

Dead Space 2
This is a game that I'm late to the bandwagon for. I haven't played much because every time I do my blood pressure rises because it creeps me out so much. Every time I see a body on the ground I have to beat that thing into an unrecognizable pulp before moving on. I've seen what those "dead" bodies can do and it scares the crap out of me.

My problem with the first Dead Space is that I play it in short bursts that I have a hard time remember where I need to go or what I need to do. Then I get to a puzzle, a door that needs to be propped open so I can go through it, etc., and I can't remember how to do what I need to do. So I save the game and go play something else. Eventually I'd like to play this game for an extended period of time, preferably with all the lights out, the volume turned up and a raging windstorm outside. At least until the game scares to death anyway.

Will I buy this game at release? Maybe. I might wait until I've played more of the first one and to hear from my friends who picked it up what it's like. I heard they are changing things to make it more accessible to more gamers and that's not always a good thing.

Call of Duty: Black Ops
While I like playing the Call of Duty games I'm really indifferent to the gameplay. I play them because my friends like them and I like my friends and want to play them. I'm not saying they're bad games or there's nothing to like about them. I really enjoy playing Vacant with a shotgun. And the co-op missions in MW2 are fun to play with Evil and/or kai. I'm sure once I get a better TV I might like those games more. There have been times when I've watched the kill cam and there was no way I would have been able to see my character, let alone kill them. I'm sure that person is playing on an HDTV so their picture is much clearer. If that's something that could help me out in the game I'll go for it.

My biggest problem is that you have to be slow and careful when playing the game. My first experience with shooter games was Star Wars Battlefront. The whole point of that game was to run out there and kill the enemy. There were hardly any corners to hide behind. No boxes/crates to provide cover. You were exposed all the time so your only true defense was to keep moving. With these more realistic games there's any number of places for enemies to hide, corners to shoot around and balconies/rooftops to snipe from. You have to be careful if you want to do well. For me that's taking a lot of adjustment.

Will I buy this game at release? Depends. I'm sure all my friends will buy the game and if I want to play with them I'll have to buy it too. I might try to hold out for awhile but I don't see that lasting long.

Gears of War 3
The first Gears game is one of the few games I've actually played through to the end credits. And I enjoyed every painful minute of it. I can still picture Evil and I battling RAM on the train at the end. Or Zenra and I trying to get through a particularly hard room with a Locust on a troika firing at us. Those were good times.

I was making good progress in Gears 2 on my own when I was robbed. I was in the first area of chapter 5. The place where you have to ride those flying creatures out of the lair and shot anyone that follows. So close to the end and yet so far. Now I've had to start the game all over again (I really hate doing that). I bumped up the difficulty and I've run into problems doing it all on my own. I've even been desperate enough to set up an open Xbox Live room so total strangers can jump in and help me out. They don't usually stay long.

I love the story of the game and the gameplay itself. I just wish I could use the sniper rifle and torque bow as well in multiplayer matches as I seem to do in the single player game. I'm not to the end (but I will get there someday) so I don't know how much the story will make me want the next game, but I'll get it any way.

I know I have some friends that are not really liking the online play lately in Gears 2 but I don't care. I'll get it. I'll play it. And I'm sure there will be things I don't like about it. No game is perfect. I just want games that are fun.

Will I get this game at release? Yes. I might not pre-order it but this is one game I'll want to have in my library whether any of my friends get it or not.

So now that I've covered all of the games you probably want to know which one I voted for. Well, I didn't. Evey time I went to vote I couldn't decide. It was always a toss up between Dead Space 2, Fable III and Gears of War 3. I eventually eliminated Dead Space because I haven't played enough of the first game to be as "excited-as-a-kid-on-Christmas-Eve" about. And honestly I couldn't pick between Fable and Gears. It would be like picking your favorite child. You love them all but one might please you in one way, the other in a different way. By then the poll had close and I couldn't cast my vote.

I know there's more good games coming out like Fallout: New Vegas and Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood and many more. Right now I'm just trying to save up enough money to get everything I want when it does come out. It's either that or I go back to eating Top Ramen while I feed my gaming habit.

3 comments:

Helll Weasell said...

Ah, yes. Ramen noodles. This generation's KD.

I'm most looking forward to Gears 3 on that list, but there are games not on the list I'm extremely excited about - Dead Rising 2 and The Force Unleashed 2 in particular. I have both of those pre-ordered, as well as CoD: Black Ops and Halo:Reach. Mmmmmm... Noodles.

I generally get the multi-player games quickly because they will be purchased by most friends at launch. Single player games like Assassins Creed and Fallout can go on the Xmas list.

Pengwenn said...

I'm with you on the multi-player games but only because if you wait to get them but the time you're online playing everybody else has moved on to something else.

I've noticed every couple of holiday seasons we get bombared with games. The last one for me was Assassin's Creed/Call of Duty 4/etc. The next year was just bland for me.

Helll Weasell said...

Not every second year - EVERY year. The difference is personal taste. One gamer's blockbuster is another gamer's bust. Last year could have been really expensive for me but 2 or 3 titles were pushed until early in the new year. The summer for me is generally blah, but the holiday season is crazy. I try to pre-order well in advance and pay them off little by little so that when they do come around it doesn't take a bit bite out of my Xmas shopping budget.

Last year was an interesting year for pricing, though. With the recession and consumer sending down I was good finding deals on A-list titles (buy 2, get 1 free). I also saved about $100 by buying titles that were underpriced on eBay and trading them in to EB Games for pre-orders. Despite the savings it still took a good bite out of my wallet. I doubt I'll get that lucky again this year.