ESPN 30:30 Box Set - ESPN has been running this incredibly awesome series of thirty sports documentaries this year to celebrate 30 years on the air. ESPN reached out to some of Hollywood’s top directors to create these films that celebrate some of the most talked about and under-appreciated moments in sports. The first box set just went on sale last week, and it collects the first fifteen films of the series. This collection covers such memorable spectacles as the OJ Simpson car chase on June 17, 1994, the rise and fall of the USFL, the Wayne Gretzky trade to LA and the tragic death of Len Bias.

No more Lost - I had a very strong love/hate relationship with Lost. For every good episode that saw a major plot development or great moments, it was usually followed with an episode that killed off one of your favorite characters or added yet another unneeded question to keep the WTF balance in check for the series. With Lost finally ending after six seasons in 2010, I am grateful that I will no longer have to anticipate any more episodes of this bizarre program that sent me on a whirlwind of emotions like no other show before it. I promise to never waste another moment on this show again…unless ABC will somehow manage to re-release the entire series in chronological order.

The Book of Basketball - This was actually released in 2009, but the paperback edition just hit shelves a couple weeks ago and it includes all kinds of bonus content! I finally finished the hardcover edition of this book a few months ago, and even only being a casual hoops fan I found it to be an extremely informative and entertaining read. Bill Simmons knows his hoops, and his humorous writing style features all sorts of imperative footnotes that makes catching up on basketball history fun for everyone!

Season Two of The Tester & WCG Ultimate Gamer - As much as it pains me to lay this out there, I love both of these shows. Say what you will about reality television and the usual hi jinx that it contains, but I was entertained by second seasons of The Tester and WCG Ultimate Gamer this year. Both shows are eight episodes and features video game themed challenges where the goal is to win to become either the next PlayStation game tester (yes, really), or for a one year roster spot on WCG USA. There are a few characters and moments on each show that are pretty groan inducing I will admit, but that is par for the course with almost any reality show. If you can manage to stomach that, than you will be in for a fun ride that brought back memories of old video game contest shows like Video Power and Nick Arcade.

Heavy Rain, Alan Wake & Red Dead Redemption - If you happen to remember my article half a year ago here ranking the top 10 games for the first half of the year, you may recall that it was a particularly strong first half of the year for games. Rest assured, now with 2010 nearly in the bag, I can say without a doubt that 2010 is the first year where the first half year of releases easily outclassed the second half. It outweighed it so much so that my top three from the first half of the year are my top three for my overall game of the year. And I hold all three of these games on a high pedestal with not much ground separating them in my rankings. Pardon the cheap plug, but to hear my final top 10 rankings, please subscribe to my podcast where we will be having our game of the year episode within a few weeks.

Pinball FX2/Marvel Pinball - Hats off to Zen Studios for their consistency at pumping out nonstop awesome video game pinball tables! Almost every time I sit down to play games, I tend to warm up with a couple of runs on a pinball game made by Zen Studios. Whether it was them supporting Pinball FX and Zen Pinball with frequent DLC tables throughout most of 2010, and then proceeding to blow us away with Pinball FX 2 and its amazing evolution of table design and leaderboard upgrades. They did not stop at Pinball FX 2, because just a couple months after that fine release, they pump out Marvel Pinball, with four more addicting tables themed after some of the best superheroes in the Marvel Universe…and Blade. I dare you to download a table or two and not get hooked to the amount of sheer fun each table provides and the addictive nature of score chasing everyone on your friends list.

Miz as WWE Champ - This just would not be a “stuff of the year” list from me without a couple wrestling mentions. Mike “The Miz” Mizannin had quite an interesting journey to becoming the current WWE champion. From debuting in the entertainment world ten years ago on The Real World, to riding the MTV reality circuit for a few years until finally debuting in WWE in 2004 on its Tough Enough competition. Being one of the few Miz fans from his early beginnings in WWE when no one thought he would last a year in the company, I nearly lost it when he finally proved all the doubters wrong and  won the WWE championship.

The Nexus John Cena Beatdown - Just one more wrestling moment to add to this list. If you used to be a wrestling fan, odds are you watched during the WCW/WWF Monday Night Wars when each company was raising the bar each and every Monday to get you to flip the channel. With no real competition, WWE has become complacent with its storytelling and features less and less must see moments each year. In 2010 they managed to capture some of that old fire with the debut of the Nexus stable. Here they made an impact with an 8-on-1 beatdown on John Cena and literally tore apart the ring and beat up the entire ringside staff in a moment completely unprecedented. The Nexus has since become one of the most interesting stables of wrestlers in quite a few years.

You know, I think it is safe to say that 2010 will be the first year in the history of gaming where the first half year of releases will eclipse the second half. For the past several years we have been seeing a growing trend of publishers fearing traditional holiday season juggernauts like Halo and Call of Duty and pushing their titles back into spring. This strategy has paid off so well now that publishers are planning their releases with a Q1 release date in mind. What resulted in 2010 was a first half so jam packed with superb new releases that nearly every month felt like a star studded October or November where we are used to seeing this influx of high-quality titles.

With that said, I can see by the end of the year that at least a few of these titles from the first half will be slipping under the radar when it comes to the game of the year awards coming out. So I went out of the way to make my Top 10 Games for the First Half of 2010 list. That is right, not only was there plenty of games I enjoyed this year to make a top 10, I also have several more honorable mentions!

I was initially really into Darksiders, but as I progressed I realized my Zelda-esque dungeon puzzle skills have some serious rust. I kept getting stumped to the point I could not take it anymore at only several hours into the game. Dante’s Inferno is an enjoyable God of War clone, and I had quite a bit of fun with it, probably more so than most because I have yet to have some serious playtime with any of the God of War games.

Green Day Rock Band was more of the same, and I was having a good time with it playing at a friend’s place until their material from 21st Century Breakdown nearly put me to sleep. Army of Two: The 40th Day was a sequel that alleviated a lot of my core gameplay gripes with the original and was a blast to play through with a friend in coop. However, in the process of doing that EA forgot to attach a meaningful story, and blew it big time on no inclusion of a persistent unlock system for online multiplayer, which seemed like a gimme with how much the single player focuses on gun and armor customization.

UFC 2010 has a fully stacked single player arrangement of modes and features some of the best multiplayer out there. At least in local couch based multiplayer that is, where I spent many hours button mashing my controller to hell. It is too bad the online (from my experience on the 360 anyways) is insanely busted, where on the three separate occasions I was only able to complete three online fights of approximately 20 attempts that was filled with countless glitches and hiccups setting up fights. Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing just missed the top 10. It is easily the best Mario Kart clone yet, which is a great thing since I do not own the Wii. Any game that features Shenmue’s Ryo Hazuki and his forklift racer gets a stamp of approval from me!

So now, without further ado is my “Top 10 Games For The First Half of 2010”

10) Split/Second

This is unlike any arcade racer before it. I applaud Black Rock Studios for instead of sticking with the safe route and releasing the sequel to the awesome quad racer, Pure, they went the high road and created an all new IP that I could best relate to as a videogame version of the recent film remake, Death Race, albeit a more family friendly version with all kinds of game changing obstacle “powerplays” that could be triggered to take out your opponents and even yourself if you got careless. It laid a solid foundation that I highly hope this time Black Rock capitalizes on with a sequel.

9) Yakuza 3

Initially, I was having trouble taking the plot seriously for the third Yakuza. Was I really running an orphanage? Then as the hours and chapters went by, I found myself caring for those kids and attached to their personalities. Before I knew it, Yakuza’s trademark fighting system grabbed me again, and I was reeled in and convinced that I must defend that orphanage against all its opposition by any means necessary!

8 – Super Street Fighter IV

This game convinced me to finally pick up my first console fight stick since the NES Advantage! As much as a fighting newb as I am, Street Fighter is so easy to pick up (but insane to master!) that I still found myself rolling out Hadokens and Sonic Booms like I was in the arcade nearly 20 years ago. I never had any problems playing online with friends, and the lobby/quarter matches brings back the incredible feeling of “Winner stays” in the arcades last set of glory years.

7) Splinter Cell Conviction

I usually despise stealth games. I played through Metal Gear Solid 4 on very easy and practically run and gunned through the entire game. Not so much in Conviction. Even though UbiSoft made the game feel like more of a shooter, and quite a good one at that, I was rewarded with sneaking and stealth kills so much that it motivated me to play through roughly 30% of the game with stealth tactics, and for me that is saying something! Throw in another separate campaign designed specifically for online coop and DLC missions currently out, and you have a Splinter Cell game with some serious legs.

6) Blur

Big ups to Bizzare Creations, the former developers of Project Gotham Racing for proving that kart racer style power-ups can be successfully mixed with racing modern day muscle and exotic cars. Blur’s incredibly deep single player features some of the best use of friends leaderboards I have seen on a disc based game that kept swaying me to play just one more race. Its multiplayer component is loaded with persistent unlocks and far superior matchmaking that gives Blur the longevity edge over its rival Split/Second.
(more…)

Email Us: mailbag@drunkengamersradio.com
Voicemail Line: 612-424-3835
DGR Twitter Feed
Facebook Group

SHOWNOTES

00:00-Show Intro
04:39-Drunk Dials
15:31-Mailbag
34:01-Metal Torrent Review (DSiWare)
37:55-Soldner X2 Review (PSN)
43:52-Alan Wake Review (360)
51:44-Super Mario Galaxy 2 Review (Wii)
57:57-Retro Review: Pitfighter (SNES)
1:02:48-Five Things
1:16:30-The Last Shot
1:17:38-Show Close

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

DGR: 05.30.2010

TL:DR version. The game is mad linear and a little short, but has some really pretty lighting and interesting enough combat to accent a fantastic atmosphere and reasonably good story. Highly Recommended.

Ok, that’s out of the way, now let’s actually talk about the game.

Alan Wake is the long, long, long, long awaited title by Remedy, the makers of the Max Payne series. For those of you who are too young to remember Max Payne properly, get off my lawn. Also, pick those games up, as they’re a fantastic videogame take on the crime story and well worth playing.

Wake is a similarly-styled game, only with a focus on the Stephen King/Lovecraftish horror rather than action. As such, Wake is much less of an action star than Payne, and your weapon selection is significantly limited. None of these are necessarily bad things, as it makes combat feel more desperate than rote, but it would be nice to have a protagonist who can run more than thirty feet without getting winded. Seriously, I can do that, and years of desk work have left my body composed entirely of graham crackers and marshmallow cream.

The core premise of Alan Wake is finding out what’s happened to you (you have amnesia…yup, that’s a thing that happens in video games) and your wife in the town of Bright Falls. Those of you familiar with Twin Peaks? Yeah, that’s Bright Falls. You’ll go through a lot of beautiful woodlands, logging camps, mines, and small, quaint town. Always in a very well-defined path.

Like Max Payne before it, Alan Wake is an unapologetically linear game. You’re never without a big yellow dot on your radar pointing at the next objective. NEVER. Diverting from the path never takes you far, though it is rewarding for the obsessive compulsive gatherers among us. Alan Wake has literally hundreds of collectibles to be found, many of which are well off the beaten path. In addition, the watchable TV shows from Max Payne return here, with live action productions. In addition to the watchables there’s a number of radio broadcasts to catch as well as a couple other recordings. All of them together with the manuscript collectibles give you a nice sense of what’s going on in the game world, as well as appropriate levels of dread for upcoming events (one manuscript page foreshadowed a scene, ending with “Then I heard the chainsaw”).

Characters are also pretty solid in, though a couple remain inexplicably one-dimensional. The majority more than make up for any failings in the second-tier cast, though, and the characters Wake befriends (two of which become rather competent NPCs as the game progresses) are very solid. I can’t talk more about the characters without giving away the enjoyment of meeting them, but rest assured the people of Bright Falls are a strength of the game.

Graphically the lighting is the standout for the game, and it should be, as it’s a core component of the combat. Your enemy in the game is darkness, and Alan must use light in varying forms to burn the darkness off of enemies, either destroying them completely or making them vulnerable to (weighty and satisfying) gunfire. Weapons are basics you’d expect in the country: hunting rifles, a couple shotguns, and a revolver. A flashlight (which increases in size and potency over the course of the game) and other light sources are your primary source of defense, though, and your only method of crowd control. It’s also fun to just wave a flashlight around to watch the beam play over objects, reflecting on the right surfaces and catching against tree limbs. Bright lights at night give off a nice oversaturation effect as you look into them, as well.

Unfortunately other details don’t hold up as well. While Alan’s animations are smooth and solid and most objects look great, facial animations throughout the game are generally pretty bad. Many characters suffer from the meat muppet effect: instead of being synced to the words they say the mouth just flaps back and forth when they speak. It’s not horribly distracting in the larger scheme of things, and probably reflects Wakes long development time, but in comparison to recent games it’s noticeable.

Sound quality and voice work are both top notch, though. The music builds and ebbs appropriately during the creepier segments of the game, and enemies sound horrifying and fascinating as they gibber at you. Your first encounter with the darkness in the game proper is memorable in this respect, and the game doesn’t allow that introduction to be the only high point.

My only other dig on Alan Wake comes in the ending. Currently there are at least two DLCs planned to expand the story, and by expand Remedy should really be saying “finish.” The arc is partially completed by the end of the game, but a lot of questions are left unanswered, and I’m left with the impression that some expository content was truncated to make the DLC make sense. Other games are just as guilty of plays like this, and many are far more so, but it’s less forgivable to me in Wake, which is so heavily focused on story. Other folks I’ve chatted with have found the combat repetitive over time, but though it is limited in scope (6 guns and a couple extras) the hefty feel of the firepower you’re given as well as it’s context balanced this out for me.

At the end of the day I enjoyed the hell out of Alan Wake, and will undoubtedly be picking up all of the DLCs. If you’re a fan of Remedy, Stephen King, or story-driven games this is a no-brainer. For everyone else this is still a game that’s well worth experiencing, and I’m going to enjoy future takes on storytelling genres by Remedy.

We’re talking about Bionic Commando: Rearmed and Bangai-O Spirits for the DS. Moe’s back with a Retro Review of Spider Fighters along with the usual news and nonsense! Don’t forget to write an iTunes review! Thanks!

SHOWNOTES

PSN Review: Bionic Commando: Rearmed
DS Review: Bangai-O Spirits
Retro Review: Spider Fighters (2600)
News: Chrono Trigger DS Dated
Alan Wake Still Exists
Day of Disaster
Kid Quits School for Guitar Hero
Release List
The Last Shot
DGR Mailbag

Drunken Gamers Radio: 08.18.2008