This Week in Video Games
Tuesday, October 28th, 2008
The fall onslaught of games continues this week. If you are a video game fan, this is the time of the year you look forward to. This week’s big game (Other than the delayed LittleBigPlanet which was supposed to drop last week instead) is Fallout 3. It’s supposed to be one of those multi-platform gems that really takes the whole gaming community by storm. Bethesda, creators of The Elder Scrolls (Morrowind and Oblivion) series took control of the franchise, and tries their hand at re-creating the post-apocalyptic sci-fi setting. Reviews are looking promising, if this type of open world setting is up your alley.
Next week sees the release of Gears of War 2, Resistance 2, Quantum of Solace, and Tom Clancy’s End War. Hope you have you wallet’s primed for use. Keep reading:
This weeks releases of note are:
Sunday (Oct. 26)
Guitar Hero World Tour (PS2, PS3, Wii, 360)
Monday (Oct. 27)
Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People Episode 3: Baddest of the Bands (Wii, PC)
Tuesday (Oct. 28)
Fallout 3 (PC, PS3, 360)
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 (PC)
FIFA Soccer 09 All-Play (Wii)
SingStar: Vol. 2 (PS3)
MotoGP 08 (PC, PS2, PS3, 360)
MotorStorm: Pacific Rift (PS3)
Scene It? Box Office Smash (360)
Wednesday (Oct. 29)
Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness Episode Two (Steam, PSN, XBLA)
Thursday (Oct. 30)
Meteos Wars (360)
Sunday (Nov. 2)
AC/DC Live: Rock Band Track Pack (PS2, PS3, 360)
What have you bought so far, and what are you looking forward to?
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Well, I already talked about World of Goo in the other games topic, but it’s kind of buried now so I’ll paste it here so it’s easier to find:
Everyone here should play World of Goo. In fact, every gamer should play World of Goo, whether they are a “casual” gamer or “hardcore”. It’s smart, slick, imaginative, witty, and addictive as hell. It’s available on WiiWare for $15 and on the PC for $20, and let me tell you that it is worth every single penny. Every single puzzle brings something new to the table, and it never gets old. I can’t believe it was made by only a couple of guys. I hope they get to continue making games, because they’ve got some serious talent.
So Guitar Hero World Tour isn’t a big release this week? ;)
I fully expect the Guitar Hero brand to push sales in a big way. Add in the “new to Guitar Hero” drum kit and the incredible sales numbers of GH3 on the Wii, and I fully expect that Activision is going to make some serious cash with this one. If you have a PS3 or a 360, picking between Guitar Hero and Rock Band is a fairly tough decision, but if you only have the Wii, Guitar Hero is a much better package on the system than the problematic ports of the Rock Band games.
Personally, I don’t have the cash or the physical space in my apartment for either right now. I have GH3 for the Wii (I bought it before I had a 360), and I am going to wait a while to see how things shake out. At the moment, I think I like the Guitar Hero hardware better (I really want to try the drum kit), and I like the Rock Band software better.
Can somebody make a hybrid game with all the best features from both franchises?
Wii is dead to me, and I don’t play PC games much anymore. So I’m holding out hope for Goo on XBLA at some point in the near future.
The music genre is only so large. I don’t think that GH:WT and Rock Band are going to be able to continue to duke it out if they are both going to be so outrageously high. Granted, you only need one set of instruments between the games. Still, I think World Tour should do pretty well. But the reviews I’ve seen so far haven’t been stellar. The drums are having big issues right now, apparently. As for the guitar, I’m quite content with my GHIII guitar.
Yeah, I don’t think the new touch pad will be anything more than a novelty for most. I’m also not very surprised that there are problems with the drum kit. Didn’t Rock Band have some problems with its drum kit when it first came out? I seem to remember something about that. Anyway, I fully expect the casual crowd that ate up GH3 on the Wii to go out and buy the new game as well. Most of those people don’t read online reviews, and they probably couldn’t care less about some of the nitpicks these reviews have been listing.
Trust me, SaberJ. Buy World of Goo. It doesn’t matter where you play it. I can tell you right now that it will never come to XBLA. If by some crazy twist of logic that it did, it wouldn’t work very well. There have been countless times that I have needed to save my wobbling tower with some fairly quick reflexes. Nothing insanely fast, mind you, but I just don’t think it would work without the control provided by a mouse or the Wii pointer functionality. I don’t think control by analog stick would work quite fast enough.
Regardless, World of Goo is totally worth buying. If the Wii had more games like this, perhaps the system wouldn’t be dead to you. If you absolutely don’t want to play the Wii, get it on PC. Trust me when I say it is a completely unique and worthwhile experience.
If you want to “try before you buy”, I believe there is a PC demo of it out there on the internet….yes there is! It looks like the demo is the entire first chapter of the game. That’s quite a bit for a demo. The first chapter is about ten levels or so. The first chapter has some cool stuff in it, but my favorite stuff so far has been in the second chapter (”Drool” goo!).
Anyway, here’s a link to the demo for those interested:
http://2dboy.com/2008/10/15/demo-of-world-of-goo-available/
I’ll give the demo a try. I already sold my Wii, so that’s not an option currently :)
That would make it a bit difficult. I like it because I can lounge on my couch while playing. Of course I get frustrated every once in a while, and the lounging thing goes out the window in favor of leaning forwards on the edge of my seat.
yeah my friend got GH:WT and his drums were broken
Quite the fun game. Though I’m wondering how much extra the full version gives you. Because that first chapter went by pretty fast with only a slightly hint of re-playability. I did feel good getting an OCD award in one level, though…
Let’s just say that World of Goo gets more and more creative with each chapter. The first chapter is pretty good, but it’s just the tip of the iceberg. The second is great. The third is awesome. And the fourth one is just as awesome. The puzzles also get harder and more involved as you go, making some take quite a while.
As for replayabillity, in the full game all of the extra goo balls you get on each level go to a freeform level where you are just trying to build the tallest tower that you can. This puts a little bit more emphasis on getting as much extra goo as you can in the main levels, because the more goo that you have, the bigger you can make your tower. As you are building it, little clouds show up at different heights showing you how high other people have made their towers (and the number of goo balls it took).
So it doesn’t have an insane amount of replayability, but a lot of the puzzles are so much fun to do, even after you know what you are supposed to do.
Fallout 3.
That’s pretty much all I care about.
I’ve been reading the reviews, all good- the one complaint I’ve seen is that the truly random comic elements of Fallout 1 & 2 aren’t really there.
Well, I picked my copy up yesterday during lunch. I’ve only gotten to play a couple hours so far, but I have to say that I am hooked.
As a straight shooter- fighting in real time, FPS- the mechanics can feel a little odd- not bad, just odd. However, the V.A.T.S action point, turn based combat system is brilliantly woven into the real time element and true a joy to use. The violence and mayhem you can unleash, even in just the first few hours, in incredible: grenades, mines, lasers, machine guns, revolvers, sledge hammers, knives, hunting rifles, IEDs- this game is a symphony of destruction.
Like I said, I’ve only gotten through a few hours, so I probably haven’t even seen 3% of the world at large, but I think that perhaps the reviews I saw may have been off; I haven’t run into any out and out zany encounters yet- like finding the TARDIS or the bridge keepers from the Holy Grail-, but there’s a real subtle and biting witt hidden in the world around you if you have the eyes to see it. The characters are fascinating, the dialogue engrossing- hell, your dad is played by Liam Neeson!
Some people have called it “Oblivion with guns”, but, frankly, that’s not a bad thing at all. The world is gorgeous, the characters and creatures are amazing, the effects are great, the detail is mind boggling. Bethesda has again made a world, from the stunning architecture right down to the placement of rusted out school desks, burned books, and broken glass in the ruins of an elementary school.
Plus, the things set in DC, I live in DC, this is just awesome!
Right, as soon as I get out of work, I’ll be in the wastes. Don’t wait up!
I’m playing the hell out of Rock Band 2 and I’m enjoying it immensely.
I’m getting GH: WT (Guitar pack only) next month probably (wait until I play out RB2 first, plus fundage is low :) ).
From the vids I’ve seen, GH:WT (instruments broke for RB too) looks and seems to play much better than GH3, and it looks like they got rid of allthe art on the fretboard. It seems to be black like Rock Band. That’s good news.
I’ve been playing GH:WT on the Wii this week and I love it. Plus, I’m one of those freaks who really liked GH3 :).
As for the art on the fret board, you can choose whether or not it is there. You can edit each rocker and customize what art is there, if any. That’s a big plus.
I’m with Chris. Fallout 3 has consumed me. I finished Dead Space waiting for it to come out.
I’m only a few hours into it and I think I’m going to restart now that I’ve gotten my head around things.
I’m also probably going to get Red Alert 3 but it’s not on my MUST BUY NOW list.
Fallout 3 is one of the games I had to push to the January time frame. Mostly because I want to give it the full amount of time it deserves. But also because I was a little leery of it, considering how bad of a taste Oblivion left in my mouth.
That’s good news about GH:WT (about the fretboard).
Anyone know if the new GH guitar will work for Rock Band 2?
I’m also one of those freaks who really liked GH3, although the difficulty annoyed me at times.