242 on 26/12/2008 at 12:18

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Liked these:
Penumbra: Black Plague, World of Goo, Dead Space, Fallout 3, Stalker: Clear Sky.

henke on 26/12/2008 at 14:18

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Best X-Box 360 games of 2008:

1. GTA 4
Been playing this pretty much non-stop since April 29th. Singleplayer story twice, but mostly multiplayer. Looking forward to that DLC biker mission-pack.

2. Fallout 3
Started playing FO3 last sunday and I've been spending most of my christmas holiday in the wastelands so far. And it's just... I don't have words for this. I haven't had this feeling exploring a gameworld since Deus Ex. This is what games should be like.

3. Burnout Paradise
Only got this one two weeks ago and it's gotten moved to the sidelines a bit since I started playing FO3. Not quite as addicting as Burnout 3 was but I can see myself playing this for a long time. And the bikes add-on is a lot of fun and totally changes the gameplay.

june gloom on 26/12/2008 at 17:47

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Yes it is, and yes it is.

Halo 1 and 2 are hands down two of the worst games I've ever played. I don't care how "polished" they are, I do not have fun shooting 8 million goddamn midget aliens while going down THE SAME DAMN HALLWAYS OVER AND OVER AND OVER.

That said, Gears of War isn't nearly as bad, but it's bad enough that comparisons can be made. The plot is shit, the dialogue is shit, the gameplay is shit, the engine is shit. Go play Rogue Trooper.

I hope CliffyB chokes to death.

Zillameth on 26/12/2008 at 18:54

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Well, one thing that must be said about Gears of War 2 is that it's even more dumb in terms of story than the original was. They tried to make it deep, and they failed utterly. For instance,

there is this cutscene when you find Tai after going underground. He had been tortured, and commits suicide at first opportunity. This was supposed to make players feel sorry for the guy, and feel how cruel and uncivilized the Locust are. The problem is, Marcus acts like na asshole in this cutscene. He sees this tortured guy, who's barely standing on his feet, and he just gives him a gun and tells to hurry up. All this cutscene did for me was reinforcing my dislike for that jerk.

However, in essence, it's just more of the same. If someone liked first Gears, there's no reason not to like the second, because, let's face it - you don't play this kind of games for their narratives. Personally, I find both Gears boring and unconvincing, but that's a matter of taste - I just don't like the machismo theme.

Admittedly, the gameplay is slightly more interesting than it was in first Gears. The explicit cover system put severe limits on level design, but they've actually managed to improve their designs slightly. There's more variety, and sometimes I even had a good reason to switch to a different weapon.

As for Bleszinski - he's doing his job, which is precisely to polarize gamers so that they keep talking about Epic. I bet he's got it written into his contract.

Aja on 26/12/2008 at 19:34

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Downloading it now on gametap. Though unless it has slicing through the arteries of a giant worm, or else something of equivalent awesomeness, I will be severely disappointed.