2009 saw Sony and others returning their focus back to the PSP. With a lot of great third-party and first-party titles, 2009 was truly a great year for every PSP owner. I was fortunate enough to pick up some amazingly great titles and a few not so great titles as well. Here's a quick rundown of my thoughts on all my games from 2009.SoulCalibur: Broken Destiny - Superb fighting in a bit sized portion. I have to admit that Tekken has been toppled from its position as the king of fighters in 2009. With the boring Tekken 6 not getting it done for the PS3, the PSP was the only console I still played a Tekken game on. Not anymore, SoulCalibur has become my fighting game choice for the PSP. With great graphics, fun gameplay, and deep customization - SoulCalibur: Broken Destiny is a must for any fighting fan who owns a PSP . . . maybe even a must if you don't own a PSP. Gran Turismo - After waiting . . . was it three years? Anyway, after waiting for quite some time for GT to hit the PSP I found myself somewhat disappointed with the showing. While it looks amazing and plays very well, the lack of certain must have features and a better PSP racer has booted this game back to the shelf.Half-Minute Hero - A very fun and frantic old school style of RPG, Half-Minute Hero gives you only 30 seconds to save the world. How is this done? I actually have no clue. After attempting to complete the tutorial, I found myself lost and very frustrated as I continually ran out of time. With little time of my own to play through all the games I picked up, Half-Minute Hero ended up running out of time in my PSP.Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier - Unlike the other games, I haven't even popped this one in yet. Out of the twenty new games I did pick up from August to December, Jak and Daxter was the only game I did not have time to play. Hopefully, I'll get a chance to run through it soon.Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines - Surprisingly, AC on the PSP works really well. I was worried about the lack of a second analog stick to control the camera, but for the most part, I had little trouble navigating the rooftops of Cyprus. The combat in the game works better than the combat in the original AC as well. Though its not as nice looking as it's PS3 counterpart, all the mission styles and high risk assassinations are all there. The game even helps to answer a few of the questions that are brought up in the flashback sequence of AC2. All in all, if you enjoy the AC series, Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines is a game you might want to look at picking up.LittleBigPlanet - Honestly, when I played this game I felt like I was playing an expansion or DLC for the PS3 version . . . and that's a good thing. While there was a dip in graphical design, everything else about the portable LBP is the same as its older brother. This is truly a must own title on the PSP.MotorStorm: Arctic Edge - I was actually worried about picking up MotorStorm for the PSP. I have broken a controller over MotorStorm on the PS3 and didn't really want to have to buy a new PSP just because I got frustrated at its portable counterpart. Yet, when I played Arctic Edge I found one of the best racing titles I have ever played and I'm not just talking about PSP racers either. I actually like Arctic Edge more than I do the original MotorStorm or its sequel Pacific Rift. The controls work well, the camera is always where you want it, and the sense of speed is exhilarating. Since I bought the game, I haven't played another racer since . . . it has me that hooked.
Katamari Forever - I don't know if it was such a good thing to put this game on a big HDTV. The bright colors, trippy music, and really odd story gave me quite the headache when I played through it for the first time. While I haven't had the time to really plunge into this game, what I did find in my brief playthough was everything that I have come to expect from a Katamari game: flying cows, lots of food, broken stars, and most of all - amazingly addicting gameplay. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves - What can I say about this game, it's gotten GotY from almost every major name in the gaming industry. If you are still on the fence about this game, just play what is supposed to be the tutorial level. In all my years of gaming, I have never played a more complexly designed level and that's a good thing. I am still amazed and absolutely floored by the "train" level and that was the first one! The story is intriguing, the characters are realistic and not only in a graphical sense, and the gameplay is everything that you'd expect from a Naughty Dog game. If you are looking for a game of the highest pedigree, you will find no other that can compare to Uncharted 2.
The Saboteur - One of the games that I was really questioning on picking up or not. Coming from a team that I have always loved, Pandemic is known for their over the top explosions and destruction of an in-game world. If you've played any of the Mercenaries games then you'll be very familiar with a lot of the gameplay in Saboteur. Driving, shooting, blowing stuff up . . . check, check, and check. A new gameplay element added is stealth attacks and the ability to put on a disguise. It's fun and works pretty well but you'll soon be finding yourself just running and gunning because disguises don't last very long. While not what I'd call a blockbuster title, Saboteur is solid and definitely a few steps up from Mercenaries 2: World in Flames. If you have ever been a fan of Pandemic Studios, then you have to pick up their last game.Assassin's Creed 2 - AC2 is the Godfather 2 of video games. Better than the first, much, much better. There are so many improvements to this game over the original that I couldn't even believe it was even related to the first Assassin's Creed. The story, the character acting, the missions, the controls - just name it and it's better. The story was less confusing but still kept up the complexity and the intrigue. It was more personal this time around as well and you could actually see your character not only growing in abilities but also maturing as a person. The life and vigor of the Italian Renaissance was captured beautifully and I found myself climbing the monolithic cathedrals just for the view. With a more open ended mission selection process, I found myself able to mix it up with assassinations, races, and some good old fashioned smack downs. While a lot of the story and events in the story are very fictional, it still ties closely enough with the real world to make everything come together, like it could have happened in an alternate universe. For the most part I enjoyed the story, the ending was a bit "you've got to be kidding me" but it was enjoyable none the less. Upgrading Ezio's equipment seemed much more balanced than what I had to go through to get Altair's gear back. It felt to just the right speed, I had enough time to play with the new gadgets yet I wasn't dying for something new when I did get another upgrade. The cities were much more varied this time around and much more enjoyable. Combat is much less frustrating and entertaining with the wide variety of special take downs. The variety of weapons also helped to mix it up. Exploring the Assassin's Tombs was one of my favorite parts of the game - pure platforming goodness. While I still find just holding "R1" and "X" while controlling Ezio to still be too simplistic, it was still enjoyable to quickly run up a wall and jump across beams all around Italy. If you liked the first game but found it was broken as I did, you'll definitely want to try AC2, almost every major complaint I had about the original game has been fixed. Ubisoft truly delivered this time around with an excellent revamp of a game that had great potential.
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 - Another Christmas gift, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 is like a comic book lover's dream come true. The best of the best collide with some of the most memorable super villains to ever exist. Basically, a beat-em-up arcade game, MUA2 adds in character combinations as an RPG element, a progressive leveling system, and amazingly cool combo special attacks. If you were a fan of the first game, you'll enjoy this sequel. Double the fun, double the characters, and double the players. With a better co-op system, the game becomes even more enjoyable when playing with some friends.Tekken 6 - The arrival of Tekken 6 to the new generation of gaming consoles felt late and very lackluster. A solid fighting title, it seemed to lack some of the elements I loved about the previous titles in this major fighting cannon. A (somewhat) new arcade style that allows you to free-run around levels beating up baddies seems to take up a majority of the game when it should have only been an added bonus. Online play was very broken but a recent patch has seemed to touch it up. With a ton of characters and new arenas, Tekken 6 still doesn't feel as fully fleshed out as games like SoulCalibur IV. As a longtime Tekken fan, I have to admit I was very disappointed with this release. Namco Bandai needs to go back to Tekken 2 and re-examine what made that game one of the best fighters of all time.Demon's Souls - Another Christmas gift, I will admit I haven't even finished the tutorial on this game. But what I've seen so far, it's very . . . big. Everything is large from bosses to levels, the scale of the game will remind you of something out of Shadow of the Colossus. While and RPG at heart, the real time combat will have you wonder if you're not playing a hack-n-slasher instead. And yes it is very hard, this game will test both your patience and your mettle as a gamer . . . often.Borderlands - I thought I was done with the first-person shooters for a while until I got talked into picking this game by a friend. What I found was a fast paced, RPG styled shooter that is amazingly enjoyable - with friends that is. A very boring and bleak game if you plan on going it solo, this game was meant for friends and lots of 'em. While there are no competitive modes, everything is co-op up to four players, you'll find that you won't have the time or the ammo to fight your friends because the baddies are tough and the bosses are tougher. The shining gem for Borderlands is their fresh new revamp of character classes. The Solider has a special attack that lays down a turret gun which also acts as a shield, healing and replenishing ammo for anyone who stands near it. The Sniper's special attack is a bird that can attack multiple targets at a time and as you level up, he gets really really powerful. There's the berserker dude who basically smashes anything and everything in his way. You can think of him as your own personal tank. Then there's the Phasewalker (my choice of class) who has the ability to turn invisible and run super fast. Sounds a bit pointless at first until you start leveling up and find that you can light enemies on fire, shock them with electricity, spray them with acid, heal yourself, replenish your shield, and still have time to eat a cookie in the process. If you're tired of your average FPS games and want something fresh, definitely turn towards Borderlands. With the fun RPG leveling style and colorful cast of characters and enemies, this game will sure to help refresh this already crowded genre. And if you get tired of seeing deserts all the time, pick up the DLC "Dr. Ned's Zombie Island" it is well worth it.Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time - What can I say? I'm an R&C fan and will always be. I was excited about this game but I knew it was going to be good so it really wasn't on my "oh wow!" list of games. But when I popped this sucker in and continued my journey to find Clank, I found not only a solid R&C title but one of the best since the original. Ten times, no maybe a hundred times better than Tools of Destruction, the story, the guns, the puzzles, the levels - they all had me craving more and more. Don't get me wrong, I loved ToD and was excited to finally see Ratchet and Clank make it to the HD era but there was something about the game that just seemed missing. Whether it was the time puzzles, the new set of boots, upgrading Aphelion, the return of the moon levels, open space combat, or getting to fight Dr. Nefarious once again - A Crack in Time has become one of my favorite R&C games among all of the great iterations of the series. While the story got a little cliche at the end, I couldn't have asked for a better ending. Finding out more about Clank's story was a joy and duking it out with Dr. Nefarious again, who is one of my favorite villains, was enjoyable. The comedy was all there, the one-liners and inside jokes, and none of it was stale or old. The addition of all the hidden items to find added hours and re-playability to the game. Exploring the various planets wasn't a bore at all, the colorful and well designed planets with their wide variety of sights made it worthwhile trekking back over old territory. The revelations in the game also have me wondering what will become of Ratchet and Clank in the next game, because I am sure there will be a next game. The Future arc might be through but there were too many stones left unturned and too many questions left without answers to end the adventure here. Definitely one of my favorite pick ups for 2009.
I somehow managed to survive the tremendous flood of games that happened to hit last holiday season. There were quite a few hits and very few misses in the collection of games I picked up during August through December 2009. Here are some of my thoughts on all of those games, in no particular order.Batman: Arkham Asylum - Absolutely one of the best superhero games I have ever played. Batman was exactly like you and I have always thought of him. Strong, mysterious, stealthy, skilled, and intelligent. All of these traits showed up through the gameplay and story with powerful combos, stealth kills, amazingly cool gadgets, and an interesting story that pitted you against some of Arkham's worst patients. The depth of the game was also surprising, with the entire compound to explore (as it becomes unlocked), the variety you find throughout the game helps to mix up what could have been a very repetitive game. There are puzzles hidden throughout the game by the Riddler, detective mode to help solve puzzles, platforming sections, large boss fights, fast paced action, and some great character actors. If you have ever liked Batman and wished for a good game with him as the center, this is the game to get.Mini Ninjas - Surprising tough for a kiddie game, Mini Ninjas provided more variety than I was expecting. Missions can be completed by going in swords blazing or with sneak attacks, you can even complete some of the levels without even fighting any enemies if you know where the secret paths are. I wouldn't recommend it for your average gamer, but if you have a younger audience and need a game that is both suited for them yet challenging enough, Mini Ninjas is it. Surprisingly high quality for a budget title.NHL 2010 - The best hockey game I have played to date! Make your own pro is both fun and easy to do. While the options of customization are a bit slim, leveling up your player a la RPG is a great way to keep you playing over and over again. The various difficulty levels also provide a great experience for those new to the sport to the pro that plays in the big league. Online play is also very fun and works well. Just how Skate changed how we view skateboarding games, NHL 2010's new controls have changed the way I view hockey games. Using the right analog stick to control the player's stick is amazingly intuitive and brings the gamer that much closer to the action. Instead of a tap of the "X" button to pass to another player, now you just swish your analog stick in the direction you want to pass and off the puck goes. Definitely a great buy for me and I'm glad I switched from NHL 2k10.Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition - This game wasn't actually on my list of pickups and granted the original was released in 2008. But a friend of mine gave me the GotY as a Christmas present and I have to say that I'm now hooked. I loved Oblivion to death and have played the game numerous times (never beating it though) so when I heard that Bethesda was going to make Fallout 3 I was extremely excited. As I started to hear more of the game, the post-apocalyptic setting turned me off from the game and I never thought about it again. Even with all the rave reviews and recommendations, I still didn't have any desire to play it. Then one day I get the game in the mail and the rest is history. Running through the wastes of Washington D.C. was a bit depressing at first. Seeing a place that is so beautiful and the fact that I haven't seen it in real life made it a very awkward feeling seeing it as a crumbling ruin.Just like Oblivion, the sort of tutorial level is closed off from the world and set in a controlled environment. Yet once that level is completed, you are unleashed onto the world and allowed to do whatever you want and to go wherever you want. Stepping out of Vault 101 for the first time was a mixture of awe and shock. Seeing the vastness of the wastes expanding out for hundreds of miles before you made you feel small and insignificant. Seeing the skeleton of a once thriving suburb put the entire world's and your existence into perspective. This was about survival . . . not the world's survival but more importantly your own survival. Unlike the sugar coated "you're the hero of the world" outlook in Oblivion, Fallout 3 didn't tell you to save the world, Fallout 3 told you to do something much more personal . . . to save your father, the only family you have. Instantly, I found myself connected more to the story than I was to Oblivion's story. I wasn't going out into the world to save it, I was going out into the world to save someone I cared about. That is why hands down I have to say Fallout 3 is truly the better game out of the two I have experienced from Bethesda. Spending many (and I mean many) hours in the wastes, I found myself becoming an experienced explorer, fighter, and scavenger. It's a dangerous world filled with mutated animals and people, radioactive waste, and scarce supplies. At first I was overwhelmed with the lack of protection and security that I was left with. After leaving the Vault, the only home I knew, I had nothing to my name but the clothes on my back and a BB Gun. Finding one of the few makeshift settlements was like hitting the jackpot in Vegas. I quickly found that the nuclear fallout left more than just radioactive waste, it left the remaining survivors skeptical and defensive. There were bandits and marauders that seemed to have lost their humanity, killing and stealing whatever they could. Those that lived in the settlements were not as depraved but were just as violent. Cross them and your life would be the cost to appease them. I won't get into the actual story too much, all I can say that it had me captivated enough to actually beat the game, I feat that doesn't happen often. The game also makes you appreciate the little things. Like when I finally got a house, unlike in Oblivion where you just need some money, in the world of Fallout 3 such commodities must be earned. In a world where everything is dead, finding a small green patch of life was stunning and humbling. Seeing children having to result to slaying mutants opened my eyes to how fragile life was in the wastes. Witnessing firsthand the violence that a new form of racism brought helped me to appreciate those who were no longer seen as human. In a way the game forced me to become a hero along my journey to find my father. I could not let an innocent child get slaughtered by a bandit nor could I watch the violent discrimination of people who have been transformed by the wastes to continue. Unlike other games that make you choose between good and evil, Fallout 3 subtly offers you situations, situations that are terribly familiar in our everyday lives and asks us to act or not act at all. I originally began the game with the mindset that I would be an "evil" character but I soon found the affect of the wastes could not let me. It was too real, too close for comfort . . . so I acted the way I feel and hope I would if met with those situations in real life. For me Fallout 3 transcended this invisible line that we all know exists within video games, the separation of what is real and what is illusion. I could not go against my real world morals and beliefs, even though this was a fictional world and a fictional character, there is something in the presentation of Fallout 3 that makes it so much more real than its simple description - a video game. It may sound cliche but Fallout 3 will always be placed with my highest echelon of games because it made me do something no other game has ever done - follow my heart.
If you haven't heard already, Sega announced a while back that Yakuza 3 was coming stateside. I cannot express how excited I am about this game. With elements from so many genres including brawlers, sandbox gameplay, RPG tactics, and arcade fighters - the Yakuza series has always been a fun, fast paced action game with an intriging cast of characters and a deep story.In preparation of this coming sequel, I have been playing Yakuza 2 for the PS2. Taking place a year after the events of the first game, you find that Kiryu Kazuma has left Kamurocho to live a better life with Haruka. One event leads to another and you find yourself back to help save the Tojo Clan. But this time around, you won't just be stuck running the streets of Kamurocho, you also get to take a trip out west to Kansai. There, you get to explore a bit of Osaka - the sights, the food, and the accent. In case you didn't know, there is actually a pretty big rivalry between Tokyo (East) and Osaka (West). In some ways it's like comparing California and Florida, both have nice weather and both states grow oranges - but the similarities stop there. Likewise, Tokyo and Osaka are often compared with each other. One thing that stands out the most when traveling through Osaka is the accent of the people there. Because Yakuza 2 retains its original voice actors (which is a huge plus), you get to really hear the differences between both styles of Japanese. Here's the interesting thing about Japanese accents, unlike what you find with English, its not how the words are pronounced that differs but the words themselves. A Californian accent is definitely different from something you'd find in New Jersey or Texas, but for the most part the words stay the same. It's like the to-may-to/to-ma-to thing, it's all how you say it. In Japan, you are dealing with brand new words, even something as simple as the verb "to be" can be a completely different word. Accents make Japanese all that much harder to learn.While I'm enjoying Yakuza 2, I can't wait to head back east soon. The game is just as tight as the first with an interesting story that has me wanting more. With a leap in graphics, Yakuza 3 is definitely one of the games I'm most looking forward to this year.
This is not quite how I was expecting to start 2010 off . . . with a blog about a 6.5 magnitude earthquake that hit only miles away from where I live. I'm a Cali girl and I have grown up with earthquakes happening all the time. I used to live in an area where you could get on average at least 5 tremors a day. Now that I'm in NorCal, we don't get earthquakes as often and I'd found myself lulled into a sense of security. So, when the quake hit Saturday afternoon, I have to say I was really surprised. It started out as a small rumble but quickly grew into a strong jolting force that practically catapulted me off the couch (I happened to be playing Borderlands at the time). As things started to fall off the walls and fly off of the bookshelves, I found myself hurriedly grabbing my TV as it started to sway off of its stand. Then I heard a really loud "CRASH" in the living room as the lights flickered and then everything went dark. A few seconds after the quake was over, power came back on and I went to survey the damage to the house. Luckily, everyone was a-okay though my dog was really freaked out. The crash I had heard happened to be a big mirror in the living room that shattered when it fell from its mounted position above the fireplace. When it fell, it took a few surround sound speakers with it. Most of the bedrooms only had a few things come off a couple shelves. My room unfortunately had a lot of stuff fly off of a lot of things. My entertainment center had become a huge concoction of tangled wires and hookups that had become detached. All in all, it took us a couple hours to get everything cleaned up. Luckily, the house was perfectly fine, the only thing we lost was mirror, a few of my mother's figurines, and a lot of plates and dishes.After the clean up at my house, we headed out to work to see if there was any damage. Unfortunately, the main building in town had broken windows, damaged merchandise, and a large crack in one of the walls. The other location up north didn't even have one picture out of place. As we headed back home, we went into town to get something to eat and found that almost half of the town was without power. It was an eerie sight when you pass by a place like the mall or a restaurant, usually always lively, now completely black and empty. The only place open was a McDonald's that had a line of cars down the road. As we drove back to the house, you could see dozens of houses and businesses with shattered windows, some were taped up with "danger", while others seemed unaffected. There were hundreds of city workers, firefighters, and other personnel out trying to restore power, assess damage, and look for any fire threats. While the block that I lived on kept power, roughly 28,000 people lost theirs. While you still see clean up crews around town and tons of people flooding the local grocery stores (the one near my house lost around $100,000 worth of goods), most everything else has gone back to normal. I can definitely say that I wasn't expecting to start 2010 off with such a bang.
