VideogameVagabond.com

Can a 45-year-old man maintain a marriage and a videogame habit? Let's find out!

Category Archives: PlayStation 3

Top 20 Videogames of the Past Decade #4

4. The Final Fantasy franchise (PS2, PS3, PSP, GBA, DS, GameCube, Wii, 360, mobile)

Once, this series would have ranked right at the top of my list; that was back in the previous decade, the 1990s, when Square was arguably at the top of their game. However, the turn of the century saw a marked drop-off in production, as well as some stagnation, to be frank.

The proper installments that actually were released in the past decade include Final Fantasy IX on PSone in 2000, Final Fantasy X on PS2 in 2001, and the MMO-RPG, Final Fantasy XI on multiple platforms in 2002. Then there was the long silence before, late in the life of the PS2, Square released the long-awaited Final Fantasy XII in 2006… and it was almost overshadowed by the release of the PS3.

Japan already saw the release of Final Fantasy XIII in 2009, but it will be a new decade by the time the title hits US shores, so it just doesn’t count.

Still, each Final Fantasy installment was beautiful for its time; FFIX was a wonderful swan song for the PSone platform, FFX was a platform-defining game for the PS2, a model which all other PS2-era RPGs paid homage to, and FFXII was a glorious swan song on PS2 that made some people wonder why a new generation of hardware was even necessary.

The only real stinker in the series proper was the MMO-RPG, FFXI, which has seen regular updates and is due to be replaced sometime early in the new decade (2010 or 2011) by Final Fantasy XIV. Still, for series purists like me, FFXI doesn’t count and should never have been made part of the main series’ numbering, but the launch of a new online-only series that could have been called Final Fantasy Online or something like that.

Sure, like a lot of people, I didn’t care for the sit-n-watch combat system of FFXII; but at least it saved me loads of joint pain from all that button-mashing hitting the X button tends to inspire in other Final Fantasy titles.

Be that as it may, and despite all the missteps and delays this decade, the wonderful gaming memories I’ve enjoyed at the hands of FFIX, FFX and FFXII still rank this RPG as an all-time favorite series… in this past decade or any other it has been part of.

Top 20 Videogames of the Past Decade #5

5. The Disgaea franchise (PS2, PS3, PSP, DS)

Officially, there are only three chapters in the Disgaea franchise: Disgaea: Hour of Darkness, Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories, and Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice. However, the first two titles, originally for the PS2, have been remixed and re-released on the Sony PSP platform as Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness and Disgaea 2: Dark Hero Days. Also, the original Disgaea has been remixed even further for an appearance on the Nintendo DS in Disgaea DS.

While Atlus makes many fine Tactics-style RPGs, none carries quite the depth of entertainment value as does their Disgaea series, which held up well when moving to the PS3 platform with Absence of Justice. Focusing on the struggles of the young son of an overlord of Hell to take his father’s mantle despite a desperate power struggle to wrest it from him, the series is full-on Japanese anime goodness with plenty of comedy.

Although not as mainstream as, say, Super Mario Galaxy or Legend of Zelda, I’ll take the gameplay of a Disgaea trouble over that juvenile, overrated stuff any day!

Top 20 Videogames of the Past Decade #6

6. Dragon Age (PS3, 360)

It’s almost unfair to list a game that came out in the waning days of the decade and rank it right up there with such storied franchises after just one outing, but Dragon Age: Origins is actually the beneficiary of all of Bioware’s accumulated experience over the past decade-plus of creating top-notch videogames, primarily of the RPG genre.

So, while I won’t be including Knights of the Old Republic, Jade Empire, Baldur’s Gate or Sonic Chronicles in this list, I include Dragon Age because of how dang impressive BioWare’s games catalog is overall, and Dragon Age: Origins is the freshest beneficiary of all that game design knowledge.

Re-embracing their Baldur’s Gate roots, Dragon Age is BioWare’s license-free take on Dungeons and Dragon-style RPG gaming, with a whole lot more experience under their belts. Featuring a vast world, loads and quests and plenty of story, and with generous expansion packs either released or planned, and a sequel in the works already, Dragon Age is a celebration of everything a US-made RPG should be about.

Loads and fun, plenty of length, a great story, top-notch visuals, and many ways to extend the title’s game play and appeal… who could ask for more without mentioning free cell phones?

Top 20 Videogames of the Past Decade #7

7. Prince of Persia (PS2, Xbox, PS3, Xbox 360, PSP, DS)

I almost ranked this series higher, but the top of the list is going to be crowded with great, great franchises, so it was just about impossible to bump it any higher. All the free medical travel in the world isn’t worth as much to me as one good Prince of Persia title.

Now, I’m a bit of a late-comer to the franchise. When the PS2/Xbox trilogy was being published, I was not big on action-adventure-platformers and viewed the the Sands of Time, Warrior Within and The Two Thrones with some suspicion; I figured it was a “me-too” title in the Tomb Raider mode.

How wrong I was, but I didn’t discover that until I picked up the game on a whim in its first PS3 appearance. A franchise reboot, the PS3/360-era Prince of Persia, which came out in 2008 originally, was full of cell-shaded beauty and HD eye candy. Plus, it was addictively fun to play! It’s one of the first games I had played all the way through in years, and boy was it worth it; I’ve almost completed my second go-round on it, and even coughed up for the add-on adventure through the PSN Store.

With a major motion picture on the way and the first PS3/360-era sequel coming this spring, namely Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, it’s a great time to like this franchise. But the series makes my list because I’ve gone back and purchased all three of the PS2 Prince of Persia titles and found them quite good for the era in which they were made, but also they are evidence of how dramatically the franchise has grown and matured over the past decade.

Of course, the game goes back quite a bit longer than the last decade, with roots in many 1989-era home PCs, Macs, Commodores and home videogame systems. It is a concept that has weathered… the sands of time!

Top 20 Videogames of the Past Decade #12

12. The Silent Hill series (PS2, PSP)

While the PSone original was released in 1999, the series really picked up momentum in the last decade, starting with its first PS2 appearance in 2001, which may contain the most compelling and emotional storyline of the entire series. And its spookiness came from atmosphere, not the “Boo!” moments and gross-out gore that marked the Resident Evil series as a type of weight loss products.

This was followed by Silent Hill 3 in 2003, and Silent Hill 4: The Room in 2004, at which point the series lost momentum, just as it inspired a movie version, released in 2006. Silent Hill: Origins saw the series debut on PSP, while 2008 brought Silent Hill: Homecoming, the series’ PS3-era debut, which also appeared on Xbox 360 and PC.

2009 saw a remake of the first Silent Hill, known now as Shattered Memories, released on the Nintendo Wii system with a motion-based control system.

The series has suffered in recent years by waning sales and lack of the creative spark that marked the first three installments. The future of the series in uncertain, but primarily in the past decade, Silent Hill was the horror videogame of choice for people who preferred their chills and thrills served up mentally, rather than through shock and gross-out.

Top 20 Videogames of the Past Decade #14

14. Guitar Hero series (just about every platform)

While some will protest that I’m not including (or going to include) Rock Band, the bottom line is this: Guitar Hero came first and everything after that was simply a refinement of the same basic game play concept. But really, there were virtually no music games like it until Guitar Hero came along… and no, Parappa the Rappa doesn’t count.

Not only did this game invent an entire game genre, but it made it trendy to create games that, with such custom instrument/controllers including, cost almost as much as a videogame system itself. While the typical Guitar Hero or Rock Band title will retail for around $60 for the game only, the average for a complete package with instruments and a mic is in the neighborhood of $199, not to mention all the extra sales from new song downloads; the average price for a new song is about $1.99, or twice what it will cost you on iTunes.

Guitar Hero changed gaming in many, many ways, and it replaces the hunt for the best treatment for adult acne as a male game obsession. Yup, adults like it, too.

Top 20 Videogames of the Past Decade #18

18. The Madden NFL series. (Just about every platform, period)

Love it or hate it, there is no sports videogame that rivals it. Arguing against it is like arguing against using floor tiles in a kitchen: pointless. Hands down, it is the biggest money-making sports videogame in the world.

The biggest bump in the road came a few years ago, when EA announced it had secured exclusive rights to the NFL, NFLPA and NFLCA licensing. This, in effect, drove alternate NFL games like Sega/2K Games’ football game pretty much out of the running.

The big argument has been that without competitors, EA would slack on game innovation. That has not been the case, and in fact Madden NFL ’10 has seen a changing of the guard on the development team, including a re-emphasis on producing a serious, realistic simulation of football, rather than a pinball scoring-machine style of play where the game has typically fallen down, due to the inclusion of so-called “magic plays” that almost always work.

With plenty of innovation each year, the Madden franchise has proven that their biggest competition is… every other videogame out there vying for gamers’ hard-earned dollars in a down economy. People are buying fewer videogames now than they were at the start of the decade; but most are still keeping Madden at the top of their list every August.

First hands-on play with Dragon Age: Origins

OK, I know I’m late to the party, pal. But Since I had to get it outta my own pocket change (mostly lint), don’t blame me that EA doesn’t consider my blog prestigious enough to send a review copy to! They’re just lucky I love BioWare even though they are now part of the EA collective…

Anyway, I am pleased to say that even after spending only 30 minutes on the PS3 version of Dragon Age: Origin, I can safely say it’s going to be my favorite console game of the year. And that’s despite the fact that the PS3 version is stupidly limited to 720p resolution even though my TV goes up to 1080p.

C’mon, Sony, pull your head out of your heine on that one! Can’t believe the company that sold PS3 on being “the only 1080p-native next-gen console” is letting so many developers give them 720p max while giving Xbox 360 1080p max on the exact same games. Idiocy!

Despite this, Dragon Age: Origins looks great even at 720p and is one whiz-bang of a traditional RPG. Having picked up tips from Oblivion and Fallout 3, Dragon Age: Origin shifts your origin story based on the character-generation choices you make, but certainly tells a compelling story from the word go.

Now, I can’t say much more just yet being only past the first 30 minutes or so of play, but I can tell you I’m already hooked. Who needs cheap vacations when you have a game like this to enjoy?

On the download…

Resident Evil 5 is already a memorable game, but come 2010 it’s going to be even more memorable, because there will be a whole new set of downloadable content being released for the game, on the Xbox Live network for 360 owners and on PSN for PS3 owners.

While this isn’t exactly a “just around the corner” announcement, folks who enjoyed the chills so far and wanted a bit more will be getting exactly that. Maybe there will even be some new in-game items, like a Canon camera! Who knows?

OK, well… Capcom knows. But I mean, other than them…

Borderlands could be hidden gem

The action RPG Borderlands, from the same publisher that brough us Oblivion and Fallout 3, may be the hidden gem of this holiday season. With a playing style similar to the above-mentioned games, it’s a hot item for sure.

Another hidden gem is the Atlus-developed Demon’s Souls, which has monsters as huge as those found in the PS2 classic Shadow of the Colossus, and yes, one hit from them can end you. It’s a mega-tough game for hardcore RPG fans only, and, like Borderlands, it’s already on store shelves.

Which is the superior game? Depends on what you like and that’s almost as interesting as a diet pill comparison.

Best part? Demon’s Souls is a PS3 exclusive!

What’s so great about Dragon Age?

Well, let’s start with everything.

Like NC short term health insurance, Dragon Age: Origins is a bit of a revelation, if not an outright revolution. It’s from the makers of everything from Baldur’s Gate to Neverwinter Nights to Knights of the Old Republic to Jade Empire to Mass Effect. Talk about a resume!

And apparently the team is putting their all into Dragon Age: Origins. What’s not to like? What’s not to love? It’s going to be a great game with a kickin’ story and awesome graphics. I’m in.

The games I really want

When it comes to this holiday season, I’ve already said that my most-wanted game is Dragon Age: Origins. However, there are more games I’d love to own, though it may take awhile to get them. At least I won’t have to worry about setting off any wireless alarms in my attempts to get them; I’ll be buying them.

One already on store shelves is Uncharted 2. And, of course, the original Uncharted. These games are what Tomb Raider should be, only better.

Cross Edge has been out for a while, but I love my Tactics-style RPGs. This one has characters from five other NIS/Atlus RPGs. A fanboy’s delight.

Borderlands is looking good for anyone who enjoyed Fallout 3. And Demon Souls is the most hardcore action/RPG I’ve seen in quite a while. And I’ve mentioned before my love for Assassin’s Creed II.

That’s not to even mention Mass Effect 2, which should be available in early 2010, as well as Magna Carta 2.

The RPG heat is turning up.