15 Years of Gaming, Part 16 (2010)

Mass Effect 2
Release Date: January 26, 2010.
Platform: 360/PC (later PS3)
ESRB Rating: M
Developer/Publisher: BioWare/EA
GameRankings: 95.6%
Completely Arbitrary Personal Score: 9.6/10 (Legendary)

Look past the horrific box art. Look past the meandering, confused main plotline that only really pays off at the very end. Look past the relative lack of RPG elements. What's left is still one of the most daring, absorbing and best games ever made. The original Mass Effect, while certainly a great game, perhaps reached a little too far, a little too high. The concepts were great, but the execution (and more importantly the polish), was underwhelming at times, ending sequences aside. It was very much an experiment, albeit a high budget, Triple A one.

The second Mass Effect suffers from no such lack of polish. It's staggeringly massive and detailed, featuring a cast of characters at least double in size of the first, and yet no less intriguing. In fact, it's in the other characters in your party that this game truly shines. Their personal quests are among the most involving and high-stakes in the entire game, as they all look to Commander Shepard to help them put their affairs in order before what looks to be a suicide mission. Except that it isn't. Or it is, depending on how you play your proverbial cards, and how prepared those cards are.

This is possibly BioWare's magnum opus (at least until the third game comes out) and one of the best games of this new decade, full stop. I recommend it heavily if you haven't played it (or the first one), or even if hardcore, old school sci-fi mixed with adrenaline pumping action on a scale not usually seen in video games is your thing. It should be.

BioShock 2
Release Date: February 9, 2010.
Platform: PS3/360/PC
ESRB Rating: M
Developer/Publisher: 2k Marin/2k Games
GameRankings: 87.87%
Completely Arbitrary Personal Score: 8.5/10 (Very Good)

BioShock 2 is a game I wasn't sure I thought should exist. The original ended on a nearly pitch-perfect tone, and the sequel wasn't even being made by all the same people. By all rights, it was an unnecessary and possibly terrible game. It wasn't. While the plots and twists weren't as sharp and shocking as the first one, the protagonist and the pacing were miles better, and while the setting and ideologies behind the game were wearing a little thin, the gameplay was arguably better (which was a weak point I found with the original). It's not as good as BioShock, but few games are. It expanded and elaborated upon almost everything that was great about the original.

I will say this, however. It's probably a good thing that the next BioShock isn't set in Rapture. I'm would have had a hard time believing there are any splicers left to kill if there was a third game set in Andrew Ryan's underwater dystopia.

Final Fantasy XIII
Release Date: March 9, 2010.
Platform: PS3/360
ESRB Rating: T
Developer/Publisher: Square Enix
GameRankings: 85.17%
Completely Arbitrary Personal Score: 8.3/10 (Good)

The Final Fantasy series is one that has been slowly fighting the passage of time over the last decade. 2001 saw the release of Final Fantasy X, in my opinion one of the two or three best of the entire series, and the last entry to follow the tried and true turn-based methodology followed by all the others. Since then, the series has scrabbled to find it's way in a more modern gaming landscape. FF12, while a good game, held very little of the magic so often found in its predecessors. FF13 perhaps captures a little more of that old charm that made the Final Fantasy series one of my favorites growing up. The combat system is fluid and truly original, instead of being the clunky clone found in FF12. The characters, while still annoying for long stretches of time, were maybe a little more indelible than those found in 12. The setting, while not as iconic as Ivalice, is visually striking (even if a few too many hours are spent in the same places). FF13 is not a bad game. In fact, it's a better game than 12. But it's not great. And it's still a lateral step rather than a forward one. FFX was a last great gasp. Everything since then has been a wheeze.

Red Dead Redemption
Release Date: May 18, 2010.
Platform: PS3/360
ESRB Rating: M
Developer/Publisher: Rockstar North/Rockstar Games
GameRankings: 94.18%
Completely Arbitrary Personal Score: 9.3/10 (Great)

Manifest Destiny. If there's any phrase that describes Red Dead Redemption, it's this one. The year is 1911. The old west is at it's end. Civilization is spreading, unchecked and unstoppable. The only thing worse than the lawless men who terrorize the wilderness are the civilized men who control it. This might be sounding a little pompous, but if there's anything this game is about, it's the expanding moral bankruptcy of the fledgling American Empire.

How does this translate to a game instead of a concept? Quite well. Few games, if any, quite capture the essence of loneliness like RDR does. It's not the biggest open world in gaming, but sometimes it feels like it, taking place over an extremely diverse landscape that combines pastiches of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and, like all good westerns, Mexico. Speaking of good westerns, many of the characters, towns and situations are homages to many of the great westerns (most noticeable is the Man With No Name's poncho).

Red Dead Redemption sits alone in the history of gaming as a singularly lonely work, one that combines the reality and the fiction of the old west into a sad, desperate game that is as affecting as anything Rockstar has ever done. And it's damned fun to boot.

Halo: Reach
Release Date: September 14, 2010.
Platform: Xbox 360
ESRB Rating: M
Developer/Publisher: Bungie/Microsoft Game Studios
GameRankings: 91.71%
Completely Arbitrary Personal Score: 9.1/10 (Great)

The Halo series has never been one praised for it's realistic depictions of war. And for good reason. For the most part, these games are high sci-fantasy, starring an invincible cyborg as he fights valiantly against an unstoppable alien horde and boogeyman from the darkest corners of the id. But there is, despite what you might think, despite what you may have been lead to believe, more. The same sort of "more" that was in 2009's dark little masterpiece ODST. The same sort of "more" you might find in an actual wartime scenario: the prolonging of the inevitable. It's readily apparent, early  on (even without the sort of familiarity with the background material of the Halo universe that I'm writing from) that the battle for Reach will be lost. No matter what you do, no matter what your squad does, you will lose. But that doesn't mean you can't die trying. And die trying you do.

With every "we just need to buy some time," to every "we still have a chance" in the script, that experience of sacrifice paints the narrative of Halo: Reach in shades the other Halo games never really had to use. As Bungie's swan song, it does as good a job as possible in encapsulating what made the Halo games maybe THE premiere series of the 2000s, while simultaneously being different enough from the other games in tone to be it's own legitimate game. From the start, you that it's the end, in more way than one.

Fallout: New Vegas
Release Date: October 19, 2010.
Platform: PC/360/PS3
ESRB Rating: M
Developer/Publisher: Obsidian Entertainment/Bethesda Softworks
GameRankings: 83.8%
Completely Arbitrary Personal Score: 8.6/10 (Very Good)

New Vegas is another 2010 sequel that, to begin with, I wasn't sure should exist. Fallout 3 was such a singular, wonderful title, that I wasn't convinced that a sequel, a sequel developed by another studio nonetheless, was necessary. And, much like BioShock 2, I was wrong. Where that game built off what was good about the original, with minor additions, Fallout: New Vegas builds off of what's different about it than it's predecessor. It's similar to Fallout 3 in setting and name. That's about it. Set in the significantly more developed area around what used to be Las Vegas, New Vegas takes place in a more political world. Notice I didn't use the word "civilized." Nothing in the Fallout universe can ever hope to have such lofty aspirations.

Fallout: New Vegas isn't as good as its decorated predecessor, but then again, few games are. It comes close enough (while being different enough) to come wholly recommended to anyone who knows that war never changes.

Fable III
Release Date: October 26, 2010.
Platform: Xbox 360/PC
ESRB Rating: M
Developer/Publisher: Lionhead Studios/Microsoft Game Studios
GameRankings: 80.52%
Completely Arbitrary Personal Score: 7.9/10 (Above Average)

Fable III is unique among the series for finally, finally, living up to at least some of Peter Molyneux's lofty praise and otherwordly hype. After twice promising the moon and delivering just a Polaroid, Molyneux's final (?) entry into the Fable series is the biggest, most ambitious, most tensely plotted entry in the series. That doesn't mean it's the best.

Where the third game differs from the others is in it's political aspirations. The hero does not become any more powerful, in a video game sense, than either of the other Fable protagonists, but he or she does become significantly more powerful politically. Where the second game saw you become a king, the third game sees you become a ruler. Alliances, economics, treaties: everything that one could reasonably expect to come with being a monarch is present in some form or another, and it adds a touch of Real Time Strategy that I found both surprising and refreshing for a game of this type. Another great addition is the co-op feature, which allows a friend to join your game (with their hero) at any point in time, building their character to be just a strong physically as you. While it's nothing novel, it is well implemented.

Why isn't Fable III the best in the series? For precisely the same reason. The first game was simply the journey of a kid growing into an adult, and maybe saving the world along the way. There was a sense of anonymity and...wonder that seems to be lacking (purposefully so) in the sequels. I really can't describe it. That being said, Fable III is still wonders better than the second game. Also, Stephen Fry and John Cleese are in this game. That's certainly never a negative.

Obligatory March Madness Tie-In: More First Round Action!

Hello. Shall we continue?



Miyamoto Regional


#1 The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Nintendo, 1998) vs #16 The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (Nintendo, 2003)

This Legendary matchup (it's the Miyamoto Region, what other games were I supposed to go with?) went into overtime, as the newer, showier Zelda looked to defeat it's older, also showier predecessor. One of these was called the greatest game of all time. The other was called a travesty by certain VERY undesirable sections of the alltogether undesirable Nintendo fanboy swarm. The joke is that they're the same game. One just has cel-shading. That one looks better now, and it will continue to look better in the future. Wind Waker wins.


#8 Super Smash Bros.: Melee (Nintendo, 2001) vs #9 The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (Bethesda, 2002)

Morrowind, one of the biggest games of its time, takes on SSB: Melee, one of the most focused games of its time, and- *falls asleep*.

Melee wins. Because this.


#5 Fallout 3 (Bethesda, 2008) vs #12 Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II (LucasArts, 1997)

I love Jedi Knight. I really do. It's a game well before it's time. It held the title of my favorite Star Wars game for nearly 7 years. It had the first official live action Star Wars footage filmed since Return of the Jedi.

Fallout 3 has Liam Neeson. As your father. Jedi Knight has no chance. This one's over by halftime.


#4 Metroid Prime (Retro Studios, 2002) vs #13 Lost Odyssey (Mistwalker Studios, 1998)

Lost Odyssey was a quiet, literary little throwback to a simpler time in RPGs. Metroid Prime was a quiet, solitary little that took what should have been a throwback to the Metroid games of yore and turned into some sort of mutant behemoth that only knows how to be amazing. Art design is a gift, and Metroid Prime has this in spades.

#6 GoldenEye 007 (Rare, 1998) vs #11 Jade Empire (BioWare, 2005)

GoldenEye was great, but have you played it in the past decade? No, thanks. Jade Empire is criminally underrated. Not anymore. It finally has the recognition it DEMANDS in this silly bracket that 50 people will read.

You're welcome, BioWare.


#3 Halo 3 (Bungie, 2007) vs #14 Halo 3: ODST (Bungie, 2009)


The last game in the Halo trilogy faces it's own spawn in late west-coast matchup. Master Chief was dominant for the favorites, with more rebounds than lines of dialogue. The scrappy underdog fought back with Nathan Goddamn Fillion, but was eventually worn down to the verge of defeat. Then the Halo Array was activated and all advanced life was wiped clean in the entire known galaxy. Oops? ODST wins, just because.


#7 Gears of War 3 (Epic Games, 2011) vs #10 Deus Ex: Human Revolution (Eidos Montreal, 2011)

Gears 3 had a great gameplan in the works, and then the game's ending was leaked and for some reason they didn't change anything. DXHR star player Adam Jensen, despite repeatedly stating that he never asked for this, recorded and sextuple-double and personally assassinated 3/4ths of the Gears cast with these wicked elbow blade things he's got.

Gears 3 forfeits due to lack of players/coherent plotting.


#2 Mass Effect 2 (BioWare, 2010) vs #15 Unreal Tournament (Epic Games, 1999)


Unreal Tournament steps up to the proverbial plate with the sort of swagger only a late 90s shooter could ever hope to conjure. Squealing guitars and crude-looking bits of what we're supposed to believe are people rain down around the arena. When the dust clears, not a single opposing player is standing. Unreal Tourney reigns triumphant.

Then everyone realizes that instead of ME2, Unreal had been fighting longtime nemesis Quake III: Arena, Commander Shepard having used a renegade interrupt to convince them to fight in his stead. In fairness, he had told Unreal Tourney of this development, but they had ignored him while screaming something about frags.

Mass Effect 2 wins in a landslide.

Obligatory March Madness Tie-In: The First Round!

Hello and welcome to the first second round of play here at the OMMT Tournament! Without any further adieu, and because this premise is already wearing thin, let's get the action started. Hooray!


Kojima Regional

#1 Grand Theft Auto III (Rockstar, 2001) vs #16 Final Fantasy XIII (SquareEnix, 2010)

FFXIII, fresh off it's wondrous comeback victory by default in the play-in game, wows the competition with it's beautiful graphics and fully voiced action. It then makes a furious assault headlined by it's frenzied fighting system and memorable characters. And then Claude from GTA III walks up and blows them away with a tank. While already having 6 stars. Impressive.

Final Score: GTA III- Tank. FFXIII: Not Tank.


#8 Max Payne (Rockstar, 2001) vs  #9 Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (Konami, 2001)

The second of Rockstar's crop of 2001 games heads into battle against one of 2001's most anticipated titles. It is, in all honesty, a heated contest throughout, with Max Payne's international conspiracy theme cancelling out MGS2's international conspiracy theme. Then, right near the end, Raiden gets naked and MGS2 eats itself in front of a live, 2001 national television audience. Tragic to see. Max Payne wins.

Final Score: Max Payne- Constipation Face Max Payne MGS2- Naked Raiden


#5 Gears of War (Epic Games, 2006) vs #12 Perfect Dark (Rare, 2000)

Gears of War was all like "Hell naw we got chainsaws." But then Perfect Dark was like "we got laptops that turn into turrets, son!" Then Cliff Bleszinski showed up and called everyone lame and everyone exploded and died. Except Marcus Fenix, because he is apparently made of granite and doesn't wear a helmet because he doesn't have time to bleed. Perfect Dark would have survived, too, except it forgot to bring the Expansion Pak that held it's entire campaign. Whoops?

Survivor: Gears of War


#4 Batman: Arham City (Rocksteady, 2011) vs #13 Warcraft III (Blizzard, 2003)

Warcraft III, mismatched from the start, held off valiantly through 30 minutes of grinding, slogging, true RTS style ball denial. Arkham City, through no fault of it's own, was down by half a dozen entering the final five minutes of play. Then Arkham City remembered that it stars Batman, and it broke both of Warcraft III's collarbone/shin/spleens. The game was called due to blood loss.

The Winner, Vengeance, the Night: Batman


#6 BioShock (2k Games, 2007) vs #11 Halo: Reach (Bungie, 2010)

BioShock uses it's high-concept concept to race out to what seems to be an insurmountable lead, only to see Bungie's last Halo game make a furious comeback based solely on the fact that it is actually fun to play in large bursts. Unfortunately, it couldn't maintain it's own momentum, which is sad considering it's literally the easiest thing for a Halo game to do. BioShock wins in one of the better contests thus far.

#3 Half-Life 2 (Valve, 2004) vs # 14 Dragon Age: Origins (BioWare, 2009)


Half-Life 2 wins solely on the strength of one level. Ravenholm. Dragon Age fans get all upset and start complaining about how their game, the greatest game ever made, is so unjustly neglected. No one listens. Especially not BioWare. Half-Life 2 just won on the strength of one level alone. No big deal.

Has Ravenholm: Half-Life 2.

#7 Resident Evil 4 (Capcom, 2005) vs #10 Final Fantasy VIII (Square, 1998)


FFVIII comes agonizingly close to pulling an upset, until everyone realizes how terrible most of it's characters are and sobers up. The junction system is still cool, I guess. RE4 survives despite it's lack of coherence and and semblance of holding up over time. Hooray!

#2 GTA: San Andreas (Rockstar, 2004) vs #15 Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Nintendo, 2008)


Brawl, though a decided underdog, becomes one of the darlings of the pre-tournament, building up a nigh-ridiculous amount of hype around itself. Then, Sonic grabbed a Super Smash and killed all the other players. San Andreas in a landslide.

Obligatory March Madness Tie-In, This Time With Video Games!

I thought I'd do a little something in honor of the bewildering insanity that is the NCAA tournament, but since my basketball writing mojo is currently less than zero, it's going to be something more in the vein of this illustrious blog.

A 64 (or 68) video game bracket, replete with scouting reports and game recaps! Enjoy!


Play-In Games

Fallout: New Vegas (Obsidian, 2010) vs Final Fantasy XIII (Square Enix, 2010)
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (Nintendo, 2003) vs Dragon Age II (BioWare, 2011)
Star Wars: Jedi Outcast (Raven Software, 2002) vs Star Wars: Battlefront 2 (Pandemic, 2005)
Left 4 Dead (Valve, 2008) vs Soul Calibur II (Namco, 2003)

The first play-in game got off to a rousing start, as New Vegas took a quick early lead into halftime. FFXIII's characters got together to decide if they should try their hardest or not and had a 45 minute cutscene, accounting for the hole they found themselves in. Unfortunately, New Vegas bugged out with mere seconds remaining on the clock, awarding the victory to FFXIII by default.

The second play-in game saw The Wind Waker facing off against a vastly inferior game in Dragon Age II. BioWare maintained that DA2 was really a solid candidate, worthy of not only it's inclusion in this tournament, but of the victory over this forgotten classic from 2003. They then banned the shit out of everyone who disagreed. While they were distracted with making acceptable same-sex romances, Wind Waker ran away with the contest. A laugher.

In an all-Star Wars matchup, Battlefront 2 won in a close one that apparently only I attended, because apparently no one else can be bothered to remember these games.

Left 4 Dead came out like a game possessed, blowing away all expectations and looking like the major developer powerhouse it is. Then, during the second half, it did almost the exact same thing as in the first half, only pretending that everything was different. It wasn't. Soul Calibur II wins.


Check back in the next few hours for the opening round of games.

15 Years of Gaming, Part 15 (2009)

Batman: Arkham Asylum
Release Date: August 25, 2009.
Platform: PS3/360/PC/Mac
ESRB Rating: T
Developer/Publisher: Rocksteady Studios/Eidos Interactive
GameRankings: 92%
Completely Arbitrary Personal Score: 9.3/10 (Great)

This might surprise you coming from the biggest Batman fan you'll meet, but I wasn't sold on Arkham Asylum until a couple weeks before I played it. It looked fun, but maybe a little too much of a beat-em-up to be the Batman game to end all Batman games. It seemed...lacking, is perhaps the word. That is until I found out that Paul Dini, producer and writer of Batman: the Animated Series was involved. Not to mention Kevin Conroy as Batman, Mark Hamill as the Joker and Arleen Sorkin as Harley Quinn. Four of the biggest parts of what made the Animated Series one of the best things about my childhood were in place, and I was intrigued.

Then the game had to be better than I had ever hoped or imagined it would. Dark, claustrophobic and unmistakably Batman to the core, Arkham Asylum remains one of the most pleasant surprises in the history of my gaming fandom. It was brilliant beyond hyperbole, mixing the heart and humanity of the Animated Series with the dark thematic brilliance of the best graphic novels and the breakneck pacing of the Nolan films, Batman: Arkham Asylum is maybe the quintessential Batman work of the past 15 years.

One of the things the Batman mythos has always operated on is the concept of fear. Both in how a man in a bat costume can manage to be so terrifying, and how that same man's fears are both what drive him in his quest, and what arguably makes him as insane as the maniacs he regularly defeats and locks up in the eponymous Asylum in never-ending battle for Gotham's fate.

So, yeah. I enjoyed Arkham Asylum a little.

Halo 3: ODST
Release Date: September 22, 2009.
Platform: Xbox 360
ESRB Rating: M
Developer/Publisher: Bungie/Microsoft Game Studios
GameRankings: 85.14%
Completely Arbitrary Personal Score: 8.8/10 (Very Good)

There are those among Halo-fandom who will tell you that Halo 3: ODST is the worst thing the series has ever produced. Those people, while technically right, are missing the point. ODST is easily the most unique and experimental of the Halo games. Set during Halo 2's storyline, the game follows the exploits of squad of eponymous UNSC troopers lost in the destroyed and conquered city of New Mombasa.

To be honest, the setting and plot of ODST are less important than the atmosphere. Fallout 3 aside, this game does as well as any other in illustrating the effects of loneliness on the human psyche. The "flashback" levels that occur whenever you discover evidence of the rest of your squad are fun, but more traditional Halo sequences. It's what happens while you're looking for said evidence that sets this game apart. Traversing through a decimated city, with the rain coming down just light enough to keep the fires going, never sure if the next alleyway will take you where you're wanting to go or just another dead end is truly magical, and is more than enough to warrant to full price tag this game demanded, despite being an expansion. The soundtrack stands at the top of Marty O'Donnell's already majestic work on the Halo series. Everything about this game is dark and unique like very few things that came before it. There's not really any way for me to describe it other than by giving you a gameplay video. It took me a while to find one with no voiceovers.

Brutal Legend
Release Date: October 13, 2009.
Platform: PS3/360
ESRB Rating: M
Developer/Publisher: Double Fine/EA
GameRankings: 80.9%
Completely Arbitrary Personal Score: 7.4/10 (Solid)

Tim Schafer is one of the funniest and most original people in gaming. While I understand Jack Black isn't everyone's cup of tea, the prospect of him working with Tim Schafer to make a game about heavy metal was a very intriguing idea. I have to say, despite whatever ever else comes out of this review, it worked. Brutal Legend is a funny, original game that draws upon the vast and epic history of one of the most deeply beloved genres of music to deliver a truly unique and interesting experience.

It sort of never really goes past that concept and becomes an actual game, however. It's fun, but only overcomes being a VERY generic slasher when it attempts to become some sort of hybrid action/first person RTS game, and it only works with middling results.

Still, this is an uncommonly clever game, and it sometimes very funny. Lemmy Kilmister, Rob Halford and Ozzy Osbourne are in it, and that certainly can't be a bad thing.

Dragon Age: Origins
Release Date: November 3, 2009.
Platform: Xbox 360/PC
ESRB Rating: M
Developer/Publisher: BioWare/EA
GameRankings: 90.5% (PC version)
Completely Arbitrary Personal Score: 8.6/10 (Very Good)

Dragon Age was the first medieval based, "swords and sorcery" style original IP from BioWare since the halcyon days of the Baldur's Gate games in the early 2000s. As is fitting for a company as good as BioWare, they appeared to have lost none of their touch. Dragon Age is an wonderfully expansive game, filled to the brim with the sort of political strife and ethical grey areas that are so often commonplace in a BW game.

The gameplay, while easily seen as being tailored to the PC, was still more than acceptable on the console port (which I played, having not had a high-end gaming computer since 2004 or so). All in all, despite the game's high pedigree and even higher quality, it ended up being a much quieter game, in tone and in presentation, than I had become accustomed to. That isn't to say that I don't understand the opinion that it's just as good as KOTOR or Mass Effect, just that it didn't seem to be operating at its full capacity. I felt like it could have been more.

Still, what it was was one of the best games of 2009, and just another example of the mastery BioWare had developed over gaming.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Release Date: November 10, 2009.
Platform: PC/360/PS3
ESRB Rating: M
Developer/Publisher: Infinity Ward/Activision
GameRankings: 93.39%
Completely Arbitrary Personal Score: 8.2/10 (Good)

Like most sequels, Modern Warfare 2 suffers from expectations. Not to say that it wasn't as good as the original, or even that it wasn't as good as expected, just that everyone pretty much knew what it would be. What made the original Modern Warfare such a surprise for most people was how much more intense and fluid it was than the other Call of Duty games (also how many risks it took from a storyline perspective). The second game, while certainly rife with memorable moments, falls into the unfortunate trap of being functionally indistinguishable from its predecessor. When you can't tell, offhand, if a certain set piece comes from a the first or the second game, that can only hurt the second. The first is what people remember. The second is what people forget.

Left 4 Dead 2
Release Date: November 17, 2009.
Platform: 360/PC/Mac
ESRB Rating: M
Developer/Publisher: Valve
GameRankings: 89.21%
Completely Arbitrary Personal Score: 7.2/10 (Solid)

Let's get something out of the way right off the bat: I didn't think there should have been a sequel to Left 4 Dead, at least not immediately. I admit to being more than a little upset that Valve thought this game was more important than making a new Half-Life game. Thankfully, I was able to put that aside when I played L4D2. That doesn't mean I thought it was any better than the original. Honestly, it suffers from a lot of the same problems as Modern Warfare 2 does: functionally, it's not really distinguishable from the first. It follows the same formula, with the same engine, with similar (if slightly more enjoyable) characters and locations. It does a few new things, but the same basic formula, both online and off, maybe isn't the best way to go about releasing a sequel less than a year after the original.

It helps that said formula is still pretty enjoyable, but it doesn't quite do enough to not make this game a slight disappointment. I'm probably less excited, to this day, about this game than any other game Valve has ever made.

15 Years of Gaming, Part 14 (2008)

Lost Odyssey
Release Date: February 12, 2008.
Platform: Xbox 360
Developer/Publisher: Mistwalker/Microsoft Game Studios
ESRB Rating: T
GameRankings: 79.8%
Completely Arbitrary Personal Score: 8.2/10 (Good)

Lost Odyssey is a game ten years too late. Had it come out in 1998, it would been considered just as good as any of the Japanese RPGs of that age. Created by Hironobu Sakaguchi, the original creator of the Final Fantasy series and his Mistwalker Corporation, Lost Odyssey is in many ways a throwback to the kind strictly turn-based combat systems seen in games a decade earlier, which might as well be a lifetime when video games are concerned. This is not to say that Lost Odyssey is a relic, or that it plays like it's ten years old. Smooth production values and a sprawling storyline make it every bit as engaging in 2008 as it would have been in 1998.

But to be honest, the gameplay is a secondary draw behind the "Thousand Years of Dreams" feature, a series of short stories based around the exploits of Kaim, the game's immortal protagonist. These stories are calm, short interludes in the life of Kaim, often highlighting the trials and tribulations that come from knowing everyone you meet will die before you do. They're subtle, often beautifully written pieces that ramp up the game's enjoyment factor a dozen-fold.

Super Smash Bros.: Brawl
Release Date: March 3, 2009.
Platform: Nintendo Wii
Developer/Publisher: Nintendo
ESRB Rating: T
GameRankings: 92.75%
Completely Arbitrary Personal Score: 8.5/10 (Very Good)

In Super Smash Brothers Brawl, the series trademark craziness seems to finally run a little thin, at least to me. Maybe it's my age relative to the other entries, maybe it's the inherent wonkiness of the Wii's controls (playing it with a GameCube controller helps, but obviously wasn't the original intent), maybe it's the so-called story mode that plays itself a little too seriously at times. Whatever the reason, I wasn't nearly as into SSB Brawl as I was either of the first two installments, especially 2001's Melee.

All that aside, it's still damned entertaining. Not really a whole lot else to say. If you enjoy these games, you'll have enjoyed Brawl. You know what it's all about.

Grand Theft Auto IV
Release Date: April 28, 2009.
Platform: PS3/360/PC
Developer/Publisher: Rockstar Games
ESRB Rating: M
GameRankings: 96.2%
Completely Arbitrary Personal Score: 9.4/10 (Great)

Where the previous entries were nearly games, Grand Theft Auto IV is an experience. Where the previous games got by on sophomoric, (if occasionally hilarious) parody-based humor, GTA IV got by with a more serious, almost misanthropic view of American culture and Americans in general. Because of this, the series' trademark humor is elevated from merely interesting to venomous social satire, and the trademark violence is elevated from mere entertainment to a sort of social commentary on the role violence has in our culture. This is not to say that the story elements are necessarily any better than even San Andreas, but it is perhaps told more organically, moving naturally from island to island in a progression that feels more natural that the sometimes stilted storylines of the previous games.

And speaking of the islands, Liberty City in GTA IV is perhaps the deepest, most interactive, most vividly alive cityscape in all of gaming. It is, upon first play, truly mesmerizing. The attention to detail and to capturing the feel of New York City is as intricate and beautiful as anything every accomplished in a video game. This game really catapulted Rockstar into the upper echelon of game makers (a spot where it rightfully should have been all along). After this, the studio went from simply capturing the feel of a place (think of Vice City/Miami) to capturing the feel of a time. This game is the best in the series, the best in the genre, and one of the best ever to exist.Grand Theft Auto IV is the American Dream. They call it the American Dream because you have to be asleep to believe it.

And here's the theme song, just because that wasn't a gameplay video.

Soul Calibur IV
Release Date: July 29, 2008.
Platform: PS3/360
Developer/Publisher: Project Soul/Namco Bandai
ESRB Rating: T
GameRankings: 85%
Completely Arbitrary Personal Score: 7.6/10 (Above Average)

You'll never hear me say this again, but I sort of wish someone had decided against using Star Wars. Soul Calibur IV is a very good installment of what is my own personal favorite fighting game franchise (which isn't saying much considering I'm not much of a fighting fan), but it was slightly ruined by the inclusion of three Star Wars characters, in anticipation of the release of the game directly succeeding this one on the list. It's really an unnatural combination, unlike guest characters in previous Soul Calibur games. Despite all of that, it really is a good game, maybe the best in the series. The character customization is superb, and the series' trademark depth is retained and expanded upon. Sure, a few characters (Mitsurugi) are still unbalanced, and sure, a few characters exist as nothing more than creepily oversexualized caricatures (Ivy), but it's still Soul Calibur, and it's still very good.

Despite all my whining about the Star Wars stuff before, this game is the closest we've yet to come to the good SW fighting game I've wanted my entire life. Imagine the people from Project Soul making a Star Wars fighting game with dozens of characters.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
Release Date: September 18, 2008.
Platform: PS3/360/Wii
Developer/Publisher: LucasArts/Activision
ESRB Rating: T
GameRankings: 74%
Completely Arbitrary Personal Score: 7.1/10 (Solid)

First and foremost, The Force Unleashed is an exercise in wasted potential. While not a bad game, it had the look, feel, and pedigree of a game that could have been great. That should have been great. As the centerpiece of the biggest multimedia project undertaken by LucasArts since Shadows of the Empire, TFU: the game was meant to be the Star Wars action game to end all Star Wars action games. It ended up being merely good.

Set in between the two trilogies, TFU stands as a perfectly decent go between between Episodes III and IV (referred to as "The Dark Times" in Star Wars canon). The plotline of the game is, in all honesty, a real strength, as is the performance of Sam Witwer as Starkiller, the game's main protagonist.

As far the action goes, it's pretty fantastically visceral, if a little thin. It's certainly fun, but the addition of a few too many quick time action sequences robs it of a little momentum, as does the enemy and level design. Also a horrible camera. Still, with the exception of the Jedi Knight series, no Star Wars game has captured the sheer power and brutality of being a lightsaber wielding badass as this game did.

Dead Space
Release Date: October 14, 2008.
Platform: PS3/360/PC
Developer/Publisher: EA Redwood Shores/EA
ESRB Rating: M
GameRankings: 89%
Completely Arbitrary Personal Score: 8.3/10 (Good)

Dead Space is, to put it simply, the Resident Evil of this generation. Darker, shadowier, and much more terrifying than the one-tone Resident Evil 5, Dead Space explodes out of the gate (more about it here), establishing a general tone of uncertainty and fearfulness that persists for the entire game. Set in an original sci-fi future (that originally reminded me of the Mass Effect universe), Dead Space takes place almost entirely on the U.S.S. Ishimura, a "planet-cracker" ship that has fallen silent. The player, in the role of mostly silent engineer Isaac Clarke (somewhat cleverly named after famed sci-fi writer Isacc Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke), investigates the ship along with a small crew, most of whom die terrible, gory deaths to the creatures that have taken over the ship. The combat is less military engagement and more survival, and the weapons, which are mainly re-purposed engineering tools, are satisfying and believable. One interesting thing to note is that, for a survival horror game, Dead Space manages to delve into some relatively deep themes, such as corporate negligence, the perils of religion on the frontier, and the impact of loss on the Human psyche. Not bad for what, by all standards, is a space zombie game.

Fable II
Release Date: October 21, 2008.
Platform: Xbox 360
Developer/Publisher: Lionhead Studios/Microsoft
ESRB Rating: M
GameRankings: 81.5%
Completely Arbitrary Personal Score: 7.6/10 (Above Average)

Fable II is a strange game. On one hand, it was the great equalizer for Peter Molynuex, his grand chance to atone for the perceived sins of pride he had committed with the original Fable. On the other hand, it's an even greater sin, as the game it supposedly was atoning for is actually a better game. Fable II has the same level of charm of British-ness that was a strength of the original, this time with a put-down industrial sheen that perhaps brings a little social criticism into the picture. Or maybe not. Really, I'm just giving lip service to the improvement Molynuex so obviously lived and died for.

That being said, this game does have possibly a more readily noticeable plot structure, and a better supporting cast. The gameplay, which is by no means unpleasant, is largely the same, which forces the setting to be where the improvements came from. They didn't. It's really unfortunate, to be honest. If Peter Molynuex would have just let this series speak for itself, it would have been rated where it belongs to be: very good. Not great, but good.

Fallout 3
Release Date: October 28, 2008.
Platform: PS3/360/PC
Developer/Publisher: Bethesda Game Studios/ZeniMax
ESRB Rating: M
GameRankings: 92.79%
Completely Arbitrary Personal Score: 9.4/10 (Great)

Fallout 3 is, without a doubt, one of the bleakest and least hopeful big market games ever created. I love it. As a modernized, open world realization of a beloved franchise long thought dead, Fallout 3 wasn't initially well-received upon its original reveal. "Oblivion with guns" it was called. They couldn't have been farther from the truth. What makes this game more than what it might have at first been thought to be is the setting. Set in a post-apocalyptic Washington D.C., Fallout 3 makes use of a multitude of recognizable locations, from the Washington Monument to the Capitol Building, to really hammer home one of the game's most enduring themes: than man's existence is inexorably tied to war. This can be seen not only in the semi-destructed state of our nation's capital, but in the depths of the subway and cave systems, where the player can find evidence of loneliness the type of which you can't usually see in games.

Another of the games' defining themes is the idea that despite our destructive nature, man persists. We survive. And indeed, while mostly small and primitive, the game's settlements are enjoyable not only in their steampunk aesthetic, but in their sheer doggedness.

Don't be mistaken, though, this game is more than setting and exploration. The combat system is possibly the greatest blend of turn based and shooting mechanics in the history of the medium, and the storyline expands slowly over time, moving from a simple quest to find your father to a battle for the very future of the Capital Wasteland. Fallout 3 is, quite possibly, the best game of 2008, which is a high compliment indeed when GTA IV is still around.

Gears of War 2
Release Date: November 7, 2008.
Platform: Xbox 360
Developer/Publisher: Epic Games/Microsoft
ESRB Rating: M
GameRankings: 93.3%
Completely Arbitrary Personal Score: 8.7/10 (Very Good)

Gears of War does everything we expect a sequel to do. It adheres to the gameplay formula that made the original such a success, while adding a mostly enjoyable amount of new weapons and mechanics. It builds off the story of the original, accepting a larger scope and more impactful endgame. It does everything the original did so well, but better. Then why don't I feel it was better? Perhaps it was because the original was, before release, very much an unknown quantity? Perhaps it was because for all its improvements, Gears 2 feels more impersonal and detached than the original?

It doesn't really matter, because Gears 2 is still a very, very good game, and it's still just as fun co-operatively, which I feel is the optimal way to play this entire series. Great fun.

Left 4 Dead
Release Date: November 18, 2008.
Platform: Xbox 360/PC
Developer/Publisher: Turtle Rock/Valve
ESRB Rating: M
GameRankings: 89%
Completely Arbitrary Personal Score: 7.3/10 (Solid)

If you had asked me in January 2009 what my favorite game of 2008 was, I might have said Left 4 Dead. I initially bought it after trading in Dead Space, which, while possibly the superior game, doesn't have all that much replay value. Left 4 Dead is a Valve game, which for me guarantees a level quality in design on which the game certainly delivers. Co-operatively, it might be the first modern game I've ever played that truly encourages working together, instead of just stealing each other's kills. The AI Director, which, in theory, is supposed to make every playthrough different, is great fun the first few times you use it. Enemies come from completely different directions during the normal, "run and gun" gameplay. What is maybe a little disappointing is how the big, back to the wall confrontations always play out in the same way.

Still, the ability to play the game co-operatively with up to three other people lends itself to a pretty enjoyable time, as does the online versus mode. All you need to remember about L4D is that it really isn't even a game. Just an experiment. Even Valve's experiments are ridiculously enjoyable.

Oh, Carlos

Earlier today, the Cubs and Marlins completed a trade sending eternal malcontent Carlos Zambrano to South Beach in exchange for some leftover DVD rips of Miami Vice Chris Volstad and some cash money. You, as the loyal reader of this video game/basketball site, may not be very familiar with Big Z and his explosively mediocre decade in the Windy City. You certainly aren't familiar with my feelings about him. I promised myself that whenever Big Z was no longer a Cub, I would finally put down exactly how I feel about him. Here goes nothing.

Zambrano made his debut with the Cubs on August 20, 2001, against the Brewers, at Wrigley, during the second game of a double-header. I remember it somewhat vividly. He started off well, before running into some trouble in the fourth. He threw maybe 70 pitches (I just looked it up. He threw 74). All in all, not a bad debut for a wide-eyed 20 year old making his first appearance in the Majors. Zambrano spent the 2001 and 2002 seasons bouncing back and forth from the Triple A Iowa Cubs and the Majors, making a majority of his appearances with the Cubs out of the bullpen.

I began seriously following the Cubs in 2001, just in time to watch a few games with my dying grandfather, who remains the biggest Cubs fan I can ever remember meeting. It was he who convinced me to start watching baseball, a sport I never had more than a passing interest in, despite it being the only sport I've played in an organized fashion. It was he who first mentioned Zambrano to me, likely after one of his late-night scouring of the primordial ooze that was Early Millenium internet baseball scouting reports. "He pitches like his life depends on it," my grandfather had said. Being a small man with great passions and an even greater temper, that was the sort of thing he appreciated.

My grandfather, Neal Hagan, lost his battle with congestive heart failure on Memorial Day 2001, less than a week before my 12th birthday, and less than three months before Zambrano would make his highly anticipated debut.

Then came 2003. The wonder season. The season that never was. The season that surely would have killed my grandfather had he still been alive. "Big Z," as he had then started to be known as, locked down the fourth spot in the rotation, becoming the more overlooked portion of what would hopefully be the threesome that saved the Cubs in himself, Mark Prior and Kerry Wood. He claimed 13 victories for the Cubs in 2003, posting a 3.11 ERA, showing just as much promise as he did lack of control. Zambrano was relatively poor in three postseason starts in the Cubs' doomed playoff run, but wasn't altogether terrible, and managed to avoid any real blame for the eventual collapse (which, to be fair, he really wasn't a part of).

After what happened in 2003, which I'm sure any Cubs fans knows and fear, and any Cardinals fan knows and mocks, I was ready to give up on the team my grandfather lived and died for. Again, I'd never really loved baseball, and it would always seem to be a distant third behind football and basketball, the latter of which I was really starting to fall in love with. Then 2004 happened. Zambrano came out of the gates like a man on fire, pitching as if he was going to single-handedly destroy the demons that had plagued this most unabashedly terrible franchise for the better part of a century. On the season, Carlos won 16 games and finished with 2.75 ERA, tied for the team lead with the immutable Greg Maddux and good enough for fourth in the National League. He also made the All-Star team, the first in his career and quite an achievement for a pudgy 23 year old.

My faith (or at least my hope) in this team was restored. My interest was piqued.

Zambrano was the Opening Day starter for the Cubs in 2005, an honor he repaid by immediately getting ejected on Opening Day for arguing balls and strikes. Oh, Carlos. Still, Zambo finished with another strong season, ranking in the top 10 in the National League is most major categories, and establishing himself as the future ace in The Windy City.

2006. 2007. 2008. 2009. These years passed by nearly the same of the rest, with Zambrano at times looking like a Cy Young candidate, other times looking like an angry Venezualan Kenny Powers, without the charm. Ejections, near no-hitters, brawls, declaring himself a future Cy Young winner, strikeouts, back and forth, back and forth. Eventually, my uncle and I (who had apparently inherited the "Cubs or Death" fandom from his father) gave up on Carlos being the guy who would rescue us from the evil of billy goats and Steve Bartman.

2010. Zambrano makes his sixth consecutive Opening Day start, a Cubs record, against Atlanta. Zambrano goes through his regular Opening Day motions, looking lost at times and generally avoiding going after the opposing team's best hitters in an attempt to find his groove. Then strode Jason Heyward to the plate. This video should tell you what happened next. Zambrano challenged him, Heyward won. One franchise's savior obliterates another one's. Typical Cubs. Watching that game, I noticed something...different about Zambrano. For the first time, I felt like he knew the thing I had known for the better part of three years. That he wasn't going to save the Cubs. That he wasn't going to lead this team to anything. It broke my heart. Despite my own thoughts, I had defended Carlos throughout the years, proclaiming that if he ever did figure it all out, he'd be worthy of the ace-like contract the Cubs had given him. That he'd be great.


This was only confirmed further when, on June 25 of that year, Big Z imploded. Pitching against the White Sox, of all teams, Zambrano proved, once and for all, that he wasn't going to save anyone. Jim Hendry suspended Z indefinitely, and when he returned (after undergoing anger management), he was a more docile player. Not necessarily more docile emotionally, but more docile in confidence. He was defeated. I was defeated. Sure, he was strong during the latter stages of 2010 (very strong, in fact), but I was done believing. Apparently, so were the Cubs.

2011 saw the first time someone other than Carlos Zambrano was the Opening Day starter for the Cubs in seven years. This year, it would be Ryan Dempster (a wholly more depressing thing, but that's a tale for another time). He slogged on through the season, much as the Cubs themselves, never looking entirely sure that he really wanted to be anywhere. Then, on August 12, he imploded again for the last time. After giving up five homeruns to the Braves. Big Z threw inside on Chipper Jones two times and was ejected by umpire Tim Timmons. Zambrano then cleaned out his locker and told reporters that he was retiring. Instead of letting him retire, however, the Cubs placed him on the 30-day disqualified list, prompting Z to eventually apologize to the team and its fans, telling us all that he wanted to "remain a Cub for life." He never again played in a Cubs uniform.

I still have a Carlos Zambrano poster. It's right next to my Kerry Wood one. Fitting, considering how their respective Cubs careers seem almost in anathema with one another.

"A Cub for life" sounds all too similar to the "Cubs or Death" fandom I spoke of earlier, and it might interest you to know that my uncle, Dennis Hagan, officially renounced his Cubs fandom before the 2011 season. He died from complications resulting from open-heart surgery on September 2, 2011. He didn't watch a single Cubs game until his death. Cubs or death, indeed.

Thus is the story of Carlos Zambrano's Cubs career, and how it ebbed and flowed with the trajectory of my own life, and that of my family. Thus is the end of the Cubs career of Carlos Zambrano. Franchise savior, franchise destroyer. Firebrand. Bringer of hope. Hitter of home runs. Bringer of despair.

I think I'll keep that poster.