Games of the Year
2008 was a year full of great games and long awaited titles. Each respective website gives their picks for the game of the year.
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Once again that day when we all stay up late just to see another digit change in the year is here. 2008 has come and gone and there was plenty of memorable points in it. I searched all over the web to bring you the peoples choices for the coveted Game Of The Year award. The winners gain the right to flag stickers all over their packaging and websites. "Judges, please hand me the envelope." - "and the winners are...":
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots - Gamespot
Grand Theft Auto IV - Gametrailers
Fallout 3 - Actiontrip (Peoples Choice)
Grand Theft Auto IV - Spike
Fallout 3 - Gamespy
Fallout 3 - Yahoo Games
So there you are, the awards for Game Of The Year 2008. Hope this year was as memorable for everyone as it was for me. 2009 will ring in a new year filled with must-have titles and I will be patiently waiting.
Fallout 3
This game has been out for a while and many reviews have been done for it, but I had to give my own rundown of the game.
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To understand how Fallout 3 got where it is, you have to understand where it has been. To many gamers, in 2003 the unimaginable happened. Following a complete staff layoff, Black Isle Studios officially closed its doors due to "serious financial difficulties". To the fans of the studio, this move had a very harsh reality - "Project Van Buren" aka "Fallout 3" was cancelled. Which left many people wondering what was to happen with the beloved title.
According to Wikipedia, "the license to develop Fallout 3 was sold for a $1,175,000 minimum guaranteed advance against royalties to Bethesda Softworks." Bethesda Softworks picked up the title and rather then continue on Black Isles' work, decided to start an entirely new game from scratch. This came as a shocker to many fans of the series. Bethesda Softworks had the responsibility of creating a game that would stay loyal to fans of the series and at the same time, put their own mark on it. As quoted by Game Informer:
"Taking on a game like Fallout 3 is a risky venture for
Bethesda, as hardcore fans will deem any variation from the original games’
formulas a monumental disaster. Like all creations imitated by another hand,
Fallout 3 retains elements from the original games’ source material, and
continually reminds you of why you loved playing these games, but not without setting itself aside as a largely different experience.""It really is the perfect marriage of the two games; a
chemistry that seamlessly unites Fallout’s fiction and atmosphere with the
first-person gameplay and open world questing of Oblivion."
Fallout 3 shines beautifully as a make-your-own-adventure game. I have been playing this game for some time now and can't seem to ever willingly be able to turn it off. From the beginning of the game, you realize that it has a feel all of its own. The games' center of focus revolves around your father leaving an underground vault one night with not so much as a goodbye. You leave the vault in hot pursuit to discover a futuristic post-apocalyptic world crawling with mutated animals, deformed creatures/people and the many colorful inhabitants of this land known as "Wasteland".
The game follows a very basic questing system - obtain a quest, fulfill the quest requirements, receive a reward. But it's what happens around these quests where the game shines its brightest. There really is no set course you have to follow throughout the game or to get your quests done. Free choice is the word that resonates the loudest with Fallout 3. From being sneaky to take out a specific target, running in with guns blazing, or even trying to reason with the target. Even in your conversations with NPCs, you are given many choices from lieing, being caring and understanding, to even rude. The choices you make throughout the game directly affect your "Karma", quests available and even the storyline.
You are even given choices in the style to play the game. You can have an OTS view of your character or play like a traditional FPS. I found it much easier to play in the FPS perspective. As you progress through the game, you get to upgrade things like weapons and armor. Their is an implemented "wear and tear" feature so that anything that you use eventually starts to wear down and must be repaired in order for it to work to its fullest potential or work at all.
The game brings the introduction of "V.A.T.S.", a shooting style that freezes time and lets you target specific points on your target and shows you a percentage that you have of hitting that spot.
Staying alive isn't too difficult or too hard, as you progress it does start to get a bit tougher but leveling and implementing your points in stats and perks, correctly evens this out.
It does have a few drawbacks, but nothing huge. Voices and dialogue can sometimes make it too evident you are in a game then actually make you feel your living the experience. You can get so many quests at one time, its possible to feel overwhelmed and keep having to jump from place to place just to catch up. A few other issues arose but ultimately nothing in this game is bad enough to keep a person from enjoying it.
This game is a must try for anyone. I can't recommend it enough to anyone who enjoys video games. From the free roaming and free choice, to the interesting and often humorous dialogue, this game can't be summed up in words. It has to be played for a person to fully appreciate it. I am very happy with where Bethesda Softworks took this game and I will more intently be waiting to see what other games spawn from this endeavor.
Why I play games
I was reading another blog today and at the end of his post, I was presented with a question :
"Why Do You Play Games?"
What began as a simple one paragraph answer, became a whole page of typing that seemed to take itself over and sound more like a school report then a comment to a blog. I guess its true that its easy to lose yourself if you are writing about something your passionate about. I ended up cutting it down to one paragraph but thought I would share the whole thing. Well, here is my entire answer to the question...
As any hobby does, gaming gives you an outlet for many things - whether it be boredom, stress, a need to socialize, etc. A game is no different to me than a book or writing or even drawing. To me, it mixes the best of what makes alot of other things great, together. Like a book or movie, a game can take you to another place and let you experience a secondary life, but you get to interact with the story yourself. Games can have intriguing story lines and unexpected twists in the plots that keep you wanting to continue to see what happens. From going back to another time to recreate events (as many war games or RTS's do), to jumping ahead into a futuristic FPS or RPG, or even sitting behind the steering wheel of some of the fastest cars in the world, games allow you to live another life. It allows me to experience things (from a players view) that would otherwise stay locked inside of my imagination.
I consider myself obsessed (for a lack of better words) with anything that has to do with art or anything where a person is able to take something from their thoughts and make it a reality be it Drawing, Painting, Sculpting, etc. That being said, games are nothing more than someones thoughts and ideas made a reality for everyone else to experience.
I myself was brought up in a time when gaming had already made an impact on the world. I did not get to experience things like the Atari and such, but my first console was an NES. Since those days sitting back playing Super Mario Bros. 3, I have been playing and watching gaming evolve. The changes that have surfaced in today's games are, in my opinion, the reason why there are so many gamers and it has become so mainstream. Today's games can have story lines where the choices you make throughout the game actually affect the storyline and ending so each player can have a different experience. Some directors even occasionally participate in a games creation to make it better.
Today's games have even found a way to stretch out and allow players from all over the world to connect. With additions like being able to look and share photos, watch/rent videos, IM, talk to or join a game with a friend, more and more people are starting to play games and see the appeal in them that many of us already saw.
I consider myself a "Hardcore Gamer", which according to wikipedia is defined as:
"...those whose leisure time is largely devoted to playing or reading about
video games. This type of gamer prefers to take significant time and practice on
games..."
Alot of my time (and unfortunately money as well) gets put into gaming. People have asked me before how I can waste so much money on games. In my opinion its no different than an artist can spend on high quality paints, canvases or brushes. Don't get me wrong, I have many other hobbies that I love to do, but gaming is top of the list.
So to more easily answer the question:
"Why do I play games?" - Because I am a gamer.
