Heavy Rain (PS3): One of the main reasons I ended up buying a PS3 last month was because I kept seeing descriptions of this that said, "if you care at all about videogames you MUST play this game". And it certainly is quite something: at moments mind-blowing, oftentimes an embarrassment, but nonetheless consistently compelling throughout the first play through. I'm hoping to eventually write something meaningful about it, but think I should probably play David Cage's earlier games Fahrenheit and Omikron: The Nomad Soul before I do.
Heavy Rain: Are we now over halfway through the Uncanny Valley?
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (PS3): Another one of the big-hitter PS3 exclusives I'd been looking forward to trying out for a while. To be honest, I don't think its core mechanics are all that good: there's a lot of trial and error and instant death to the exploration (brought about by the inconsistencies of what the protagonist Drake is willing to grab onto when he's climbing), and the cover and shoot mechanics, whilst solid, still too often lead you into doing stuff you don't really want to do. Yet there's a lot of variety to it, and it's got a rip-roaring story with characters who are genuinely funny and charming, meaning that the writing and voice-acting is about as good as you get in videogame cutscenes.
Yakuza 3 (PS3): It might be that I'm enjoying this because of my nostalgic feelings toward Shenmue, but I love these kind of big narrative-driven games that give you lots of "pointless-em-up" stuff to do round the side. The karaoke in particular is comedy gold, and there's a surprisingly robust golf simulation to mess around with too. I'm not that far through the main plot-line yet - probably because of how easy it is to get distracted by mini-games - but the quirky Japanese-and-old-skool-videogamey-ness of it is hard not to love.
Yakuza 3: Ultra-violence and karaoke
Bayonetta (360): Imfamously hard-to-please Edge gave it 10/10, and the consensus seems to be, "if you like real videogames then you'll love this". Unfortunately it seems distinctly okay-ish to me, but then, I never really understood the fuss about Devil May Cry either.
Alien Assault (PC): An indie freeware re-make of a 17-year-old PC game that was based on a 21-year-old Games Workshop game has been the perfect antidote to the glossy showiness of the PS3. It is Space Hulk, and it is as great, nerve-wracking, and fiercesomely difficult as the board game it was based on. I highly recommend you download it if you can handle a challenge.
Alien Assault: Here I'm doing unusually well
Alien Swarm (PC): Another freebie (on Steam) where your goal is to destroy wave after wave of alien menace, but it's about 20 times as fast as Alien Assault. That doesn't mean better: it's nowhere near as thoughtful or atmospheric, although in truth I haven't had a chance to play it as much as I'd like. Holler if you fancy teaming up.
Worms Reloaded (PC): I've already written 600+ words explaining that it is exactly what you'd expect it to be.
Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii): I've already used 1000+ words to say drop everything and play it now.
Psychosomnium (PC): I've already spent 400 words saying, "hmmm".
Red Dead Redemption (360): Although I had been really looking forward to this, it didn't grab me. Maybe I already spent all my sandbox love on Grand Theft Auto 4. Maybe I didn't give it long enough. Or maybe I just couldn't give a damn about any of the characters. Certainly, John Marston was no Niko Bellic (at least, not in the first couple of hours).
Vagrant Story (PSOne): This was one on my undefeatable list of Games I Should Have Played By Now But Haven't, so when I had some left over credit from buying the Heavy Rain DLC I snapped it up. It's a really stylish game, and I am astonished that the combat system hasn't been more frequently imitated in the years that have passed since it was released in 2000. I would have enjoyed Fable 2 about eleven times more if the combat had this level of depth.
Vagrant Story: Unspoken dialogue is always flawlessly acted
Okay. Tip of the iceberg scraped. More later. Probably.
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