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It’s the eleventh day of Christmas today, and that means it’s time
for the eleventh instalment in The Twelve Games of Christmas.
A feature series running every day on the
twelve days of Christmas here at Electronic Theatre, The
Twelve Games of Christmas aims to highlight the top performers
of 2008 month-by-month, and help you decide what you should be
picking-up in those January sales!
Having reached the eleventh edition of The Twelve Games of
Christmas means that today we shall look at the disc-based
releases of November 2008. Attempting to define last year’s November
release schedule as any other than “incredible” is simply an
exercise in futility. A wealth of games covering every conceivable
taste across every format arrived on European shores – enough to
please even the most discerning gamer.
The volume of games orientated towards the Casual Gamer has never
been so substantial – most telling is the amount of music-based
releases. Disney Sing It!, SingStar ABBA, Lips,
High School Musical 3: Senior Year Dance!, Wii Music,
Guitar Hero World Tour, Guitar Rock Tour and Rock
Band 2 all arrived in November, accompanied by a host of quiz
games including Scene It? Box Office Smash, Dinsy Think
Fast!, Guinness World Records: The Video Game and
BUZZ! Brain Bender. The Hardcore Gamers’ needs would be
satisfied with Resistance 2, Mortal Kombat Vs. DC Universe,
Alone in the Dark: INFERNO and Gears of War 2 for the
bloodthirsty, Cradle of Rome, Professor Layton & The
Curious Village and Dungeon Maker for those demanding a
bit more mental taxation, and Tomb Raider: Underworld,
Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia, Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts
and Mirror’s Edge taking you on grand adventures.
With such a volume of games released in November 2008, it’s been a
considerable challenge to decide on just a handful of titles to
include in this feature. Below are Electronic Theatre’s
top-picks of November 2008, and you’d be wise to look again at any
that you haven’t picked-up already.
Honourable Mention:
Professor Layton & The
Curious Village (NintendoDS)
Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts (Xbox360)
Tomb Raider: Underworld (Xbox360, PLAYSTATION3, Wii,
NintendoDS, PC)
WWE SmackDown! Vs. Raw 2009 (Xbox360, PLAYSTATION3, Wii,
NintendoDS, PlayStation Portable)
Runners-Up:
Gears of War 2 (Xbox360)
Straight into the “Runners-Up” and straight into a game
 that’s
likely to cause controversy with it’s placement. Gears of War 2
is a fantastic creation – oozing to-tier design out of every
pour – but there’s no denying it’s a clunky game. Perhaps to
emphasise scale, the lumbering animations and tactical cover make
Gears of War 2 a game of timing, as opposed to accuracy.
Gears of War 2 has been devised for two Hardcore Gamers playing
side-by-side, and is staggering in its ability to enthral when
playing with friends. As a solo experience however, you can often
feel as though a piece of the puzzle is missing.
LittleBigPlanet (PLAYSTATION3)
Again, undoubtedly a choice that will spark much debate
amongst the Electronic Theatre community, LittleBigPlanet
sits alongside Spore as perhaps the best
 definition
of the term “platform” within reference to software (and not in
terms of genre). Some would argue that LittleBigPlanet goes
further than Spore by allowing players to directly sample
others work as if it were as simple as downloading a movie from the
PlayStation Store, however others would suggest this system is more
reflective of an online community less willing for experimentation
and diversity. Both arguments, however, are quashed as soon as a
gang of galloping phalluses march across the screen.
LittleBigPlanet creates more than the toolbox of
Spore, although it’s actually little more than a User
Interface; a prettifying of typical (though incredibly simple)
development tools. Whereas Windows allows PC users visual
representations of files and documents, LittleBigPlanet gives
players the visualisation of a LEGO brick world, snapping
together their planned arrangement while the software confirms
alterations and their viability on-the-fly, allowing a player to
jump straight back in and test their creation. It may not be as deep
as the likes of RPG Maker for PC, but it’s unquestionably
easier to use and undeniably more fun.
Sam & Max Season One (Wii)
Third-Party games on Wii often suffer by comparison to
Nintendo’s own titles. There are in-fact very, very few titles
considered peers to Super Mario Galaxy, Mario Kart Wii
and Disaster:
Day of Crisis. No More Heroes and the Wii conversion of
Resident Evil 4 were considered the line to be trodden
early-on, yet little seems to have actually followed in their
footsteps. Sam & Max Season One may not be adult in that of
its aesthetic, nor its morality or by virtue of its gameplay;
however, the wit incorporated into the game is on a level that nay
discerning videogame player in their twenties can wholly appreciate.
Devised in a similar manner to animated series such as
The Simpsons and Family Guy, Sam & Max Season One
features comedy that will appeal to children as well as social
commentary that will make most adult gamers chuckle to themselves
for quite some time. A Point-N’-Click adventure (previously
available on WiiWare, the merits of it’s disc-based release
certainly open a new discussion about the suggested success of
downloadable services) with an inspired Chapter service shadowing
Alone in the Dark’s decisive system, Sam & Max Season One
has been labelled “Videogaming’s first Sitcom” for a reason.
Best of November 2008
Left 4 Dead (Xbox360, PC)
The seemingly slight on-disc offering, the one-trick
gameplay and the fairly dated presentation no doubt have put many
off. However, none of these issues mar the
simply astounding gameplay values of Left 4 Dead.
Co-Operative gameplay has been said to have been a benchmark of
2008, with Army of Two and Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas
2 upping-the-ante early-on in the year, and Gears of War 2,
Mercenaries 2: World in Flames, Fable II,
Resistance 2, Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3, Saints
Row 2 and Fable II all featuring Co-Operative play as a
predominant gameplay mode, and yet the best has quite clearly been
saved for last.
Left 4 Dead not only encourages co-operative
play, it scolds you for being selfish. With hordes on zombie vying
for your blood, it’s tough to be one of the survivors at the best of
times, but when the Special Infected lie-in-wait, there’s little a
sole player can do. The Xbox360 versions’ Achievements are based
entirely around this strict requirement, with all four players
needed to work together for that all-important GamerScore – no
matter whose profile it will eventually end-up being unlocked on.
Playable in Single-Player, two-player Split-Screen or four player
online/System Link, with Artificial Intelligence filling-in for any
missing numbers, the four campaigns hold plenty of replay value. And
then there’s the Versus Mode, allowing up to eight players to
compete in teams of two, with one group of four survivors, and a
second group acting as the Special Infected. For many people, it was
a very violent New Year. |
