Animus, TCPS Style! Part One: Looking Back

So, we're going to hop in our Animus and look back at the First 6 months of gaming and tell you what was awesome, what sucked, and what was surprisingly good. Let's not kill anyone on the way. I'm looking at you, Desmond. And just because I look at Desmond, it doesn't exclude you, Megan.
(I have No idea what he's talking about. I would never *stabs passerby* anyone. Damn! I missed my target! *runs)

JANUARY:

TOP:

Mass Effect 2 - Finally, PS3 owners got their hands on the sci-fi epic that rocked the socks of 360 owners almost a year before. Touting the DLC content and the Mass Effect 3 engine, this game easily peaked up there as one of my favorite games of the month.

Dead Space 2 - A follow up to the horror sleeper hit by EA, this game brought even more scares and more blood and gore then forty score of the civil war. Amazing gameplay leaves me hankering for a DS3.

LOW:

MindJack- I'm sure you've heard me rant about this game, and upon looking back on it, I can't say it was a horrible game. It's a terrible game with mildly cool parts. It was very clunky and the touted multiplayer game was terribly done. Big disappointment.

Two Worlds II : I can safely say that it was better then the first one. That's not saying too much at all.

SURPRISE!

Lord Of Arcana - This Monster Hunter/Phantasy Star rehash turned actually turned out pretty cool. Lots of customizable options. Not a GOTY title, but great title.

FEBRUARY:

TOP:

KillZone 3 - One of Sony's strongest titles went strong in February with plenty of sideswipes and action sequences that makes any FPS fan question the better shooter. Damn good.

Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 - Fighting Game quips aside, this was a very strong titles matching the heroes and villains of the gaming and comic book world together in this fast and frenzied fighting game that was easy to learn but hard to master. Solid game from Capcom.

BOTTOM:

Hyperdimention Neptuna - This RPG published by NIS America had a really cool concept. RPG based off the current console war and playing as female versions of the current game systems? How could that fail? Well, subpar graphics, slow story, and uninteresting characters. Oh, and DLC Characters that I can meet in game but can't use until I buy them? Get out.

Knights Contract: This GOW rip off had the potential to be really really cool. But the story ripped from Dante's Inferno and the gameplay that we've seen all too often leads it to not be as great as it should. Don't get me wrong. I have zero problems with games being practically the same gameplay. If you're going to go down that route, however, make the story creative and do something that others haven't done.

Surprise!

Bulletstorm: This EA/People Can Fly/Epic Games mash up that looked like Gears Of War surprised everyone, including me. A story that's totally different from the get go, and the addition of a scorpion style whip and a point system lead to a TON of fun. One of the best games of this month.

MARCH: (Note - March was a HUGE month. It was hard to keep it limited to 2 per section.)

TOP:

Crysis 2: I know in the Ides of March, I said that this was a game that should have gotten a full review, and I still stand by it. One of the best FPS that I've played in a very long time. Special abilities combined with a pretty awesome story and a increasingly difficult campaign leads to a must buy for anyone who likes shooters.

Dragon Age 2: This is a pretty weird post. Some people dislike Dragon Age 2 and some people love it. While I don't think it was as epic as the first one, I thought that DA2 was a great game in its own right and sets up for what could be on the same level as Bioware's other hit, Mass Effect. It's a quicker, faster, more streamlined game, and for that, It was a pretty enjoyable experience.

Bottom:

Homefront: THQ's jump into the foray with Homefront places the war on american soil. Apparently, people didn't take too well to that. Bad graphics and a 3-4 hour campaign left gamers and myself with a very very sour taste in our mouths.

Final Fantasy XIV: This is a potshot, mostly because it's a MMO, but Square Enix really dropped the ball with XIV to the point that the game (to my knowledge) is STILL free to play until Square can fix the numerous problems that plague the game.

Surprise!

The 3rd Birthday: For a lot of us, this was the awaited end of the Parasite Eve trilogy that many of us begged for. Square Enix gave it to us, and did not disappoint, despite the many changes to the game and the doubt of a title that can supply a enjoyable experience.

Part 2 coming up soon where we finish up the list, I point out the greatest games so far and we take a look at the future!

Ferelden Blues: A look back at Dragon Age and the Journey to Dragon Age 2

*Presses Start*

Let me start off by saying that I love RPGs. I love them all, and a ton of them rank up there as one of my favorite game experiences of all time. It's just not the normal Final Fantasy, Either. 3 of my top RPGs of all time aren't even Final Fantasies at all (Chrono Trigger, Star Ocean: The Second Story and Persona 4). That's not to say that I dislike them. There's very few that I can say I really just don't like, and even then, that's not to say that they're terrible games, that's just saying that there was something in that game that I couldn't get into (I'm looking at you, Final Fantasy XII) and caused me to be slightly disappointed. That's also a huge gamble in RPGs today. You have to be emotionally invested in your character and in your team. If not, you're risking having your pride and joy in the bargain bin. A little company called BioWare understood and complied with amazing force.

Back in 2009, BioWare released a game that sucked up over 100 hours worth of game play from me. Dragon Age origins told the story of a man who fought the darkspawn. The back story and the character was entirely up to you. This was one of the first games that I played that let you build up your character from scratch (Save for Fallout) and unleash havoc on the world that BioWare created. For me, I was living the high life until my castle was ambushed and killed my family, leaving me to become a Grey Warden and eventually save the world from the Blight. YES. The way that they told the tale for this game was amazingly well done and enough for me to drop everything that I was doing to finish this game. A year later, While my Dragon Age lust was still hot, they announced Dragon Age II, coming the following year. Now, usually I'm alright with sequels as long as the first one is done correctly (See Bulletstorm review) But what I'm not a fan of is announcing a sequel of a game that is still relatively new. I can understand striking while the iron is hot, but that may have been a bit TOO quick. Bioware was quick to piss people off, and the next announcement wasn't going to be any better.

Bioware announced that they were going to make DA2 more "streamlined", "faster" and "less tactical". For a fan of the first game and how tactical it was, I was kinda upset. I didn't want streamlined. DA:O was for the hardcore gamers who wanted to take control of everything, and that's where I wanted it to stay. Then they announced that the character that you took control of in the second one couldn't be ported to the second one. Why? Because they were giving you a person to start off with, instead of making him your own. That's right. Wanted to be a elf blood mage? Out of the question. You had to be a human. That was the most upsetting thing that I've read. I was a human to start off, but I loved the Elf's back story that was created. If I wanted to replay the game and start off completely new, I couldn't do it. As if all that wasn't a big back stab to the fans, BioWare also made a completely new battle system. You wanted to press X and let your character duke it out while you kicked back? Not anymore. Everything was now in real time, taking away the tactical portion of the game.

Pissed off isn't a way to put it. Fans were fucking LIVID.

It seemed like BioWare had turn their back on their fans. I have to admit, I wasn't 100% sure that BioWare still had it anymore. They cut out what seemed to be major portions of their game for a faster and quicker experience for everyone. Like the selfish fanboy I was, I didn't want the game for everyone. I wanted it for me. Of course, as time goes by, I settled down. I decided that the very best I could do was give it a shot and hope for the best. The trailer looked cool, so at very least I could scoop it up and say "Hey BioWare, I have faith that you'll do me proud". Did they disappoint?

Part 1 of Dragon Age 2 coming really really soon. Until then,

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