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Today, 2nd January 2009, is the ninth day of
Christmas. It may seem like Christmas is all but over-and-done with
now, but Electronic Theatre are staying true to tradition and
heading-on through those infamous twelve days! On this ninth day,
The Twelve Games of Christmas enters its ninth edition, and
today we run through the top-performing disc-based releases of
September 2008. Hold onto your hats, it’s going to be bumpy from
here-on out!
After the summer slow-down and the
great-games-that-never-were of August, it’s quite a relief to know
you’ve turned a corner with such a bright and bubbling schedule.
Every system received a worthwhile title in September 2008, and
while that may not always have been to your tastes few gamers could
deny that it was a month with an extremely large collection of
fantastic games.
September was a month of realignment, with Supreme
Commander finally making its way to the Xbox360, Final
Fantasy IV and Dragon Quest: The Chapters of The Chosen
released as NintendoDS conversions of earlier titles, Monster
Madness arriving on the PLAYSTATION3 by way of Monster
Madness: Grave Danger and Assassin’s Creed seeing itself
officially reclassified as “budget”. It was also a month for late
comers, with Rock Band getting it’s eventual release on
PLAYSTATION3, Wii and PlayStation2, Yakuza 2 finally gracing
European PlayStation2’s and the Brothers in Arms series
making it’s way to Wii via a double pack of conversions of the
Previous-Generation releases. And while this is all well-and-good,
September also hosted a slew of inspiringly original titles, and
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed on pretty much every console.
Honourable Mention:
Warhammer Battle March
(Xbox360…
Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise (Xbox360)
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Clear Sky (PC)
Final Fantasy IV (NintendoDS)
De Blob (Wii)
Runners-Up:
Crysis Warhead (PC)
One of the best First-Person Shooters on PC reengineered
as a brand new stand-alone Campaign, for mid-range PC’s, released at
a budget price. Anyone would be forgiven for forgetting the
publishing label responsible for such generosity. Crytek – the
game’s developer – quite obviously listened to fans opinions when
developing Crysis Warhead, and though some would argue the
brevity of its Campaign relates it closer to episodic content than a
full-blown sequel, the pacing and structure would argue a greater
knowledge of what the game’s audience will appreciate than simply
arguing over an hour-or-two of level design.
Spore (PC)
Hailed by many as “game of the year” before even
being released, Spore is most people’s answer to what the
term “platform” refers to when referencing directly to software.
Plotting the evolution of your created species from a single cell to
space exploration, Spore integrates player designs into the
environments of other players’ games. Opening your creations and
world for the exploration and invitations is simple and intriguing,
though the lack of peer-to-peer gameplay deterred many. The
simplistic design of the proceedings has been the biggest barrier
with the Hardcore Gamer who once triumphed Will Wright’s latest, but
as with The Sims, has allowed access to a much larger
audience. Spore didn’t make too many “game of the year” lists
in the end, but Electronic Theatre believes this was due more
to misplaced expectations than poor deliverance.
R-Type Tactics (PSP)
While not being the pinnacle of the genre, R-Type
Tactics
 is
undoubtedly the best example of it currently on the PlayStation
Portable. Turn-based Strategy to most people already has a champion
in the form of the Advance Wars series, but R-Type Tactics
is as close as the competition has yet come. A vast
amount of units featured in the Scrolling Shoot-‘Em-Ups make their
way across, with tactical options that very accurately represent
their real-time counterparts without disrupting the careful balance
and battlefields that provide intelligent variation the combat.
Best of September 2008
Mercenaries 2: World in Flames (Xbox360,
PLAYSTATION3, PlayStation2, PC)
Most likely to cause controversy as to why the
technically superior Crysis Warhead hasn’t been selected as a
better performer of the month, Mercenaries 2: World in
Flames has been favoured thanks largely to it’s wholly enjoyable
and relatively problem-free
online play. The game may have been noted as rather glitchy in
itself, but has been designed with online co-operative play at its
core, and as such is generally remarkable in its stability.
The destructive environments are also impressive – more
so than Battlefield: Bad Company’s sedate crumbling – and
perfectly suited to the manic characterisation of the game’s world
eccentric world. The graphics strike a fine balance of functionality
and style and the game maintains a respectful level of wit
throughout. It may not be to everyone’s tastes, but to the gamers
fuelled by a thirst for destruction, there is little better. |
