You Still Tell Too Much

So Telltale are doing a Minecraft game now....

Remember my post about Telltale a few weeks ago? Yeah, read that again because my point still stands.

John Cena: Your Time Is Up

Last year I wrote a piece about how WWE’s World Heavyweight Championship should be axed and how we needed just one undisputed champion. It’s interesting how only two months later we got exactly what I (And a lot of other fans) demanded. Now, I’m not saying I can predict the future or anything but if WWE want to take pointers from this next piece then I wholeheartedly welcome them. They obviously won’t of course but hey ho, it’s fun to speculate. As the year closes out I confess to not watching much of the product this year. We can always point to reasons such as the Grumpy Cat being a guest host of RAW or whatever but a larger issue is WWE’s stubbornness to acknowledge any sense of modernity regarding their most trusted and valued figurehead. We are coming close to ten years of John Cena being the top guy of the WWE; ten years of never giving up, of hustle, loyalty, respect but more importantly ten years of stagnation, lack of effort and wasted potential. Wrestlemania 21 was a clear signpost of the changing of the guard and Wrestlemania 31 will most likely be a signpost of the guard having never budged a fucking inch as cobwebs form under his nose and pigeons take a dump on his bright multicoloured shirts.

This may sound really odd but John Cena reminds me of Anita Sarkeesian in a way. You can produce a well written argument against their presence in their respective fields and while a few people have done that, all sensible thought is drowned out by an avalanche of childish screaming and pointless hatred. “John Cena sucks! He can’t wrestle! He’s the worst thing in wrestling! He’s destroyed the wrestling business! He buries everyone” is not uncommonly heard when browsing most wrestling forums and online communities. Yes, there are problems with his character – even respected veteran Mick Foley has addressed this. Most of this post will be related to how to go about fixing John Cena but in order to get it out of the way first I’m going to quickly go over everything that is wrong with Cena at the moment.

OK….deep breath.

John Cena is obviously shares many parallels with Hulk Hogan which is evident through his incorruptible passion to always do what is right and is displayed as the ideal role model for children everywhere. “Never Give Up” his merchandise often encourages, a simple tagline for kids to follow and aspire to live by. This isn’t far removed from the “Say Your Prayers and Eat Your Vitamins” shtick that Hogan lived and breathed in the 1980’s. Yet there’s a big difference between Hulk and Cena – Hogan knew how to act vulnerable. For comparison’s sake, look up Hogan’s reaction when he first lost the title in 1988 where the poor fucker was nearly in tears. Whenever Cena loses in a big time situation, he tends to just shrug it off, go “herp a derp, I lost” and win in the end anyway; almost as if he’s cognisant and knows that there’s no chance of him losing. Many people liken John Cena to Superman, claiming him to be a boring, vanilla do gooder like the Man of Steel but even that is a harsh comparison and kind of an insult to Superman. Superman at least had the decency to be killed off in the 90s. Kal-El is burdened with the task of being a symbol of hope to a planet who doesn’t always love and in some cases conspires against him. He (depending on whatever continuity DC wants to run) is the last of his race and deals with loneliness, loss and juggling two separate identities. There's something in Superman that WWE forgot to give Cena - struggle. This is a basic foundation of character development that John Cena cannot even come close to. John Cena does not know vulnerability and is protected to the nth degree and we’ve had to put up with this for so many years. Basically, this is why I do not like the character that John Cena portrays.

What’s even more insulting is the fact that WWE is blatantly aware of this issue. They know that a large part of their audience dislikes Cena and have hinted at a possible heel turn only to go back to the soul crushing status quo. I get the impression that WWE thinks we should just live with this because fuck our opinions. Cena himself will address the boos and state that we have the right to our voice our feelings – as if that’s good enough to solve the issue of this awful booking. John Cena is placed in the shoes of the almighty babyface and is plotted against a conga line of various heels while WWE expects us to root for him. John Cena is not a babyface, he’s a weird transcendence or mutation of a character that’s hard to define.

Let’s go back to 1994 where Hulk Hogan joined WCW, a move that would solidify the promotion’s stance as a serious competitor against WWE. It sounded nice on paper but keep in mind that Hulkmania was reaching a 10 year anniversary at this point and the act was getting stale. What did WCW do to remedy this? They did the unthinkable – they turned Hulk Hogan heel and a lot of people found this to be captivating television. So that would be the inevitable method to fixing John Cena’s stale character right? Just turn him heel. Pretty much all wrestlers have gone through it: Hogan, Savage, Austin, Rock, Bret, Shawn etc. and you’re not entirely wrong or misguided for thinking that would be the best option but something about John Cena turning heel just doesn’t seem to work for me.

Let’s imagine it – John Cena turns heel. He kicks Dean Ambrose in the balls, joins the Authority, wears black jorts and cap and throws acid some kids in the face. Sounds great, eh? Well, you’ve now created a massive black hole in terms of merchandise and public relations. John Cena is extremely vital in terms of attracting younger audiences and let’s not forget his importance in terms of the Make a Wish foundation. Not only is he the most popular wrestler for Make a Wish but he’s the most popular figure for Make a Wish, like…in history. “Well, he’d be a great heel” Would he? We’ve effectively taken away everything that we hate about Cena in this process. We’ve ripped away the pandering merchandise, the condescending poop jokes and the stale, vanilla character. When Hogan turned heel in the 90’s he managed to shed his stale, rusty character and skyrocketed in terms of popularity due to the success of the nWo. The New World Order were the cool guys that a lot of older audiences were drawn to; just look at the countless number of nWo shirts at WCW events. Would the same thing happen for Cena? It could be a possibility. Yes, a change would be nice but I can also see why WWE are hesitant to pull the trigger because for as much as we bitch, Cena still rakes in a lot of money. If he dwindles in popularity, perhaps we’ll see a change but I don’t see that happening in the future.

I’ve gone back and forth, haven’t I? Blasting John Cena while stomping on any chance of a heel turn. You’re right to be kind of confused because this is a confusing predicament. The fact that WWE doesn’t want to turn Cena heel isn’t what upsets me, it’s the fucking laziness of trying to find any other method to solve this issue. And believe me, this is a big issue. Austin, Bret, Shawn or Rock never had this problem and it perturbs me how WWE don’t seem to want to deal with it whatsoever. All things considering, I’m going to try and delineate a theory to solve the issue and try to placate both parties. Would it work? I’unno but it’s better than not doing anything about it and giving him another “Will he overcome the odds?” scenario.

See you on the other side. 

Top Ten Games of the Seventh Generation: Part 2

5. Bioshock Infinite


I’ve been wondering lately what the collective opinion on this game is nowadays. Before I fell out of keeping up with gaming news and message boards, Bioshock Infinite gathered a bizarrely bitter backlash against its initial praise. From hyperbolic comments like “Worst combat ever” to sneering nitpicks, it was an odd turnaround for what is overall an excellent piece of work. Infinite doesn’t spend its time celebrating the success of its predecessors. Instead, it takes what worked and greatly expanded the parameters of its universe and mechanics. Surrounding itself in a bright, idyllic steampunk city established Infinite’s unique appeal and populating this location with memorable characters took the story a whole step further. The journey of Booker DeWitt was not wholly original; an emotionally troubled war veteran looks to escape his past by doing morally questionable jobs for shadowy figures. However, the performance of Troy Baker provided a lot of character to sympathize with Booker.

 The star of the game was arguably Elizabeth and in an age where testosterone packed shooters are the rule, it was a very welcome change to see a Disney inspired lady to steal the show. Unlike a Disney princess, Elizabeth was not just a damsel. She was capable and determined but also extremely useful in gameplay. Above all that, Elizabeth was frighteningly powerful due to her powers, making her character an interesting concoction of Belle and Scarlet Witch. The alternate reality concepts and philosophies were not perfect but they showed a concerted effort to tie the game to the previous entries, not for nostalgia purposes but to weave a layered mythos and come full circle. Like Mass Effect 2, Bioshock Infinite’s gameplay was never revolutionary but it allowed the opportunity to escape mundane shooting by introducing creative powers and concepts which set the fuse for a string of entertaining and explosive battles along the way.

4. Uncharted 2


A large criticism that the Uncharted series gathers is its blatant eagerness to emulate Hollywood flicks with its booming score, large set pieces and combustive cinematics. Funnily enough, this is what I really like about the Uncharted games despite not all of them being perfect. The first title solidly built the foundations to a promising series and I felt Uncharted 3 was too complacent and rode of it's name value alone. Uncharted 2 is where Naughty Dog effectively nailed the franchise's main appeal of feeling like the hero in the centre of a summer blockbuster.

Again, it has gained a certain stigma where a lot of people accuse it of trying too hard to be a movie which is where the game's nature may draw you in or push you away. It's one thing to simply show the viewer a high stakes, blood pumping and energetic sequence of events (ala Devil May Cry) yet Uncharted 2 drops you into these calamitous situations which serves to heighten the thrill of narrowly escaping death time after time. Not to mention that the dastardly hero is a charming mix between Indiana Jones and Nathan Fillion. The linear structure has also attained a fair amount of bashing and while constant linearity in the medium may be frustrating I would much rather a focused, straightforward journey than an unnecessary sandbox for the sake of it. In the end, I feel that Uncharted didn't simply recycle Hollywood tropes - they added another dimension to it.

3. Batman: Arkham City


There seems to be a lot of sequels on here, am I right? It’s not surprising to see sequels surpass their previous efforts because a successful sequel takes all of the good things the first title accomplished and builds on them. Arkham City was a true sequel to Arkham Asylum and raised everything: the stakes, the ability to explore and I think Batman’s bat ears might have gotten a little longer too. This was a game that embraced it’s comic book roots and basked in everything that makes Gotham the morbid city that we know and love. The story pays tribute to the original material almost perfectly and takes elements from the famous story arc "No Man’s Land" by Greg Rucka. It is also reminiscent of Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale’s Batman stories (The Long Halloween, Dark Victory etc.) by following the Dark Knight through a tense story that encapsulates numerous friends, rogues and those in between (Frogues?). Let’s not forget that we get to hear Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill who voice Batman and Joker respectively.

Capturing Gotham’s surroundings and atmosphere is one thing but what the Arkham series does best is give us the opportunity to really feel like Batman. Many superhero games follow a standard action formula with the chosen hero filling in as the avatar. Arkham City held many gameplay features that allowed us to experience the same dilemmas that Batman faces; crawling in the dark, picking off thugs until you strike down on the last poor sod faster than he can wet his pants. Why is it above Arkham Asylum? Mostly subjective preference but City also had a lot more on the table without it feeling cheap or gimmicky. The setting of Arkham City allowed us to have a taste of what it would be like to roam Gotham City, which hopefully Rocksteady will deliver on in the upcoming conclusion to the trilogy.

2. Borderlands 2

This game sits in this spot just from playtime alone, which would come to about 200 hours if I’m not mistaken. What makes the Borderlands franchise so great? It can be due to a lot of things. The satisfying gameplay is undoubtedly at the vanguard of it’s strengths. The game’s wacky setting allows it to employ a much more cathartic and unhinged sense of shooting and combat in comparison to realistic shooters of the modern age. Guns that explode like a grenade upon reload? You got it. Guns that shoot swords that explode and branch off into three separate swords that also explode? Of course. A not so passive aggressive sniper rifle that berates you for the violent choices you make in life? Why would you want that? Who cares, it’s still there to play around with. The loving devotion to the depth and variety of gun manufacturers adds so much volume to Borderlands' shoot and loot style. Tediore is different to Hyperion. Jakobs is different to Vladof. You know which gun you’re handling by the feel and style of how it operates, not just the logo.

What puts the sequel on this list instead of the first title is the growth of the world and setting seen in Borderlands 2. Gearbox hired Anthony Burch (Of 'Hey Ash What’cha Playing?' fame) to pen the game’s script and opened up a lot of avenues for this game to explore and showed how disparate the many regions of Pandora can be. The first game saw mostly deserts and savannahs which took much inspiration from Mad Max and while it was fine at first it started to lose its appeal towards the end. Borderlands 2 was not content with this and took the player from lifeless deserts, to icy mountains and to endless hills of grassy highlands. You were able to visit high tech science fiction bases, swashbuckling pirate hideouts, morbid swamplands, towns of high fantasy; it fills every geek hole there is to fill (except for maybe ninjas or something). The silly, unhinged attitude of this world allows Pandora to act as a home to so many unique establishments and settings without feeling incongruous or out of place. What lies at the heart of this series along with “shoot and loot” is potential. The potential to create any land or region you can imagine, filled to the brim with levity, excitement and out of this world characters. That’s a feature that is rare not only in games but in fiction as a whole. So while it may look like an impertinent shooter, there’s more to Borderlands than a lot of people think.

1. The Last of Us


One of the most acclaimed and celebrated games of all time is number one? Shocker. Well, blame the game for being so damn good. However, it’s not surprising that this game has also received some criticism due to Naughty Dog’s supposed habit of making “Movie Games”. Yahtzee from Zero Punctuation referred to this title as the video game equivalent of “Oscar Bait”. Should this game have been a movie instead? No. The game does not give the same experience if you just watch all the cutscenes on Youtube. This game does borrow a lot from film, such as the deep character drama and emotional score but it’s not trying to be a film. It uses these effective methods of film and blends them with video games to construct its own approach to storytelling. The gameplay and interaction matters just as much as the scripted segments of the game.

The stealth sections and heated shootout moments are paramount in immersing the player into the character’s mind-set. The real time crafting while trying to hide is sticky, frustrating and panic inducing but it manages to do all this while also being highly satisfying and rewarding with the sense of an emotional high. You feel like a survivor against all odds in often hopeless situations. This feeling is heightened when you pensively analyse the best routes to surreptitiously creep through or when you give up entirely and just desperately brick the unknowing sods in the face in order to escape.

Naughty Dog was able to tell a story that not only favourably nods to film but in some ways surpasses it; the use of violence being one of the main appeals. The Last of Us may feature lots of violence but it does not celebrate it. There are no satisfying headshots or fancy melee combos; only sluggish wailing of whatever you can find against vulnerable human flesh. The realistic sounds of force against the human body echo through the drab hotel hallways that lead to your freedom. You are not a hero, you are not capably conquering your foes – you are simply making shit up as you go along and using anything you have to bash your opposition into the ground. The violence is not amusing like Borderlands or enthralling like Uncharted. It is survival at its purest and the game isn’t ashamed to show the ugly side of it, instead of mindlessly praising the player for shooting some guy he doesn’t know.

The ability to play as Joel allows you see things from his point of view, to experience his loss and eventually understand why he turned out to be this person. He is not a paragon of virtue but an illustration of what someone becomes when you strip away all essence stability and empathy. At his core, there is a semblance of humanity but is overshadowed by a garish capability to commit horrific acts in order to attain what he wants or to keep what is (in his mind) rightfully his. The Last of Us has the balls to tell a full story with a beginning, middle and end without teasing any chances of a sequel or franchise expansion, which is rare for a Triple A developer to do these days. The ending does not feature an alternate or interactive ending which would water down the emotional impact of the character’s choices. It simply shows us what Joel chooses to do without any shame or celebration of his actions. Instead, it allows us to interpret the morality of Joel’s decisions which is an argument that can go either way.

This game understands how to tell a story of loss, pain and suffering without being overly morbid to the point of silliness (Something Game of Thrones fails to understand at certain points). There are many low points in The Last of Us but it also has the time for laughter which is displayed in the interaction between Joel and Ellie. This is all the more heart breaking when the story takes a turn for the worse and robs us of what little light of hope we had. We can only miss and yearn for what we once had and a macabre tale that doesn’t show us what could exist in this world eventually wears out its ability to be depressing. The overgrown nature and plant life effectively contrasts with the hopeless setting this characters inhabit. The apocalypse is bleak and morose yet there are hints of a brighter future – there is always something to lose in The Last of Us which makes it all the more tense.

That shining light of hope is brought to life in the form of Ellie, who is as important to the story as Joel is. Ellie represents the only thing Joel has left to fight for but she is not just a McGuffin to drive the plot. Ellie is capable, eager to act and most of all, generally fun to be around. She is also an interesting character due to the fact that this world is all she knows; she is only able to observe society’s long gone stability through the scope of old tales, torn newspapers and old movie posters. If a world this harsh can produce a beacon of hope like Ellie, then surely there is something left to fight for. This is why I believe The Last of Us is more emotional than The Road, more heart breaking than Game of Thrones and can be called the greatest game of the Seventh Generation*.

*Well….subjectively, please don’t ready the pitchforks.

There you have it. I hope you enjoyed reading this if you find this list in a sea of trivial opinions; hopefully it doesn’t take me another year to write something else. 

You Tell Too Much

Adapting their work from movies, comic books, TV shows and even other games, it's interesting to see how many stones Telltale Games won't leave unturned. Telltale was still a smooth running machine years back when they released Jurassic Park and Back to the Future but it wasn't until their interpretation of The Walking Dead in 2012 when the machine went into maximum overdrive. Now we've got the developer working on all sorts of projects in a manner that both draws my interest and raises some red flags. It's great that they want to try their hand at so many franchises but there's a point where you can spread yourself too thin. Assassin's Creed has fallen prey to this overeager marketing strategy and have found themselves shooting out constant yearly releases.

That's all well and good but how much is too much? Surely this could be solved by splitting the labour fairly amongst the developer so each project gets a fair amount of development. Again, like Assassin's Creed, these games will probably all be well and functional but it's still entirely possible to suffer "Telltale Burnout". A lot of the Assassin's Creed games aren't that bad but there's just so many of them. Look at Lego and their excitement to stick their fingers in all the pies. (Although if Lego want to make their own Game of Thrones video game I would totally be up for that.)

I am intrigued but proceeding with caution. Am I buying the first episodes of Game of Thrones and Tales From the Borderlands when I get the chance? Of course, so Telltale have already done their bit selling me on this. When we play so many of these games though, it's easy to grow tired of the typical Telltale issues such as awkward choices and sticky action sequences. Perhaps like platformers, military shooters and music rhythm games, the genre of interactive story drama will become the new popular thing to sell (which isn't a particularly bad idea). It'd be nice to see some competition against Telltale actually - before anyone mentions David Cage, I meant "good" interactive story dramas.

Top Ten Games of The Seventh Generation: Part 1

'Sup.

It looks like this blog was neglected and sunk to the bottom of a sea of endless, unimportant opinions. Oh, the many ideas I had for this little corner of the internet. It may not be large or grand but I always find myself wanting a sounding board to absorb my deranged rants. Shall we kick this horse back onto the racing track and have another go at this? Is that even a phrase? Probably not, what kind of asshole kicks horses?

So yeah…top ten list.

I’m kind of giddy at the thought of doing this; top ten lists are awesome. Maybe it’s the exciting countdown or the tense anticipation to whatever the number one choice is. Maybe it’s the fact that people will always shit on whatever the number one choice is in a hilariously barbarian manner. Maybe it’s a lot of things…but it’s most definitely the latter. If you read my last post a million years ago regarding the new console releases you may be surprised to know that I still haven’t bought either console. In fact, there hasn't been much time in my life for gaming which makes me a sad panda. Life sort of got in the way, causing me to move to a new city without room for a TV or a big ass black box. Let’s not mention the fact that a lot of new releases don’t even strike my interest all that much. While a forced break from gaming may be slightly difficult, it is kind of nice to miss out on the mind boggling controversy that is Gamergate. If you want me to quickly summarize my limited knowledge on the subject, here it is: 1. I can’t be arsed to give a shit. 2. Stop adding the word “gate” to everything that is mildly scandalous – it’s fucking annoying.

So let’s reminisce, my dear readers. Or dear reader….are people even reading this? Whatever, I’d like to countdown my favourite games of my time with the 7^th Generation as I feel like I might not be gaming much for a while. This generation was special to me; while I have fond memories of playing Sega’s Megadrive and Sony’s older consoles, the 7^th Generation was when I became completely absorbed in the world of gaming. It was when I learned about the history of the medium and its potential for epic storytelling. Of course, this is a double edged sword because it also exposed me to message boards and Youtube’s comment sections but hey, you've got to take the rough with the smooth.

Quick point before we get started – I'm not a professional journalist or credible media figure and I haven’t been able to play every game out there so don’t be upset if I haven’t included Super Robo Dinosaur Exorcist 3: The Reckoning. Countdowns are extremely subjective and this one is no different, so let’s play nice.

10. Enslaved



A lot of people have forgotten about this game which grinds my figurative gears. Not only was it released as a new IP in the fourth quarter but I remember people kept confusing the developer “Ninja Theory” with “Team Ninja”. Quick rundown: Team Ninja were responsible for turning beloved heroine Samus Aran into a whiny, frail thumb sucker and made Dead Or Alive (Also known as Boobs, Boobs, Boobs). Ninja Theory were the guys that made Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, a post-apocalyptic tale that features two disparate characters coming together to make their way across a hopeless dystopia and whether or not they are able to escape the terrors of what lies beyond their safe habitats. It’s not hard to see how it can be compared to the story of Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us, a post-apocalyptic tale that features two morally disparate characters coming together to make their way across a hopeless dyst-yadda yadda yadda.

There are differences of course, Enslaved has more robots while The Last of Us has more zombies (and bearded people). What was so engaging about Enslaved was its story. Yes, it can lose points for missing the original aim of adapting the old Chinese novel (Are Chinese monks usually hot redheads?) but the two lead characters shared a rich chemistry that was hard to dismiss and easy to become enamoured with. The lack of supporting characters helped heighten the loneliness of the world established and the need for these two to have one another. Not to mention it had giant robot scorpions which was pretty kick ass. The overgrown flora covering buildings and skyscrapers crafted a colourful dystopia that gave a new meaning to the term “Concrete Jungle” and was a much needed fresh breath of air from the endless sea of brown, dull colour palettes that exhausted many post-apocalyptic stories at that time. The story and visual aspects carried this game home for the most part. Gameplay wise, it was fun to mash the X button and beat the shit out of mindless robots. That approach could only go on for so long before it grew very repetitive towards the end. Also, the end wasn’t great but it wasn't about the destination - It was all about the...giant ass mechanical scorpions.

Oh, and the journey was pretty rad too.

9. Saints Row 4



This was another game that didn't gather a lot of hype at the time of its release. Not only was it going up against the colossal monster that was Grand Theft Auto 5 but it looked and felt a lot like Saints Row: The Third. Why is Saints Row 4 on my list then? It could easily be placed on here for the sheer amount of fun that was had with this game. The introduction of super powers and aliens into an already quirky crime sandbox was reason enough to make a purchase but there was always a sense of underlying maturity to me. Maturity in a game that lets you bludgeon people to death with giant dildos? It might be difficult to explain or perhaps I’ve read too much into it. While it is easy to see why so many people wanted GTA V, I fell out with the series after the ungodly angst ridden bore that was GTA IV. The series had shed so much of its initial, colourful nature to tell a more serious tale. The only problem was that it didn't do it very well but this isn't the time to go into that. The point is you don’t have to be super serious to be a respected piece of work. Saints Row 4 wasn't serious, it tells the story of the Third Street Saints taking down alien invaders in a sci fi war that includes pop culture referencing and drug induced superpower battles. It could be described as completely “off its tits” if the tits weren’t chopped off, stuffed with silly string and shot out of a cannon.

Saints Row 4 referenced aspects of gaming culture not only for childish giggles but with a cheeky satire reminiscent of Mel Brooks’ Spaceballs. The vapid sex interactions with your crew members can show how ridiculous and impertinent these relationship features can be – not just in Mass Effect but in gaming as a whole. You can dress up as a big breasted, thong clad stripper yet the game liberates both genders more than the majority of Triple A games out there. The Third Street Saints features female characters that are more than just “The girl”. They have quirks, flaws, story arcs that gave them the chance to grow. You didn’t have to be a macho, angry jerk who scowls while holding a big gun. It didn't pander to pre-determined stereotypes and embraces the true nature of player choice - Be whoever you want and fuck whoever you want. The game didn't borrow tropes from Mass Effect just to get a laugh out of the player but used Bioware’s story telling advantages to make the Third Street Saints a varied and likeable crew.  It does not aim to criticize gaming, only to roast our culture and have a bloody good time.

8. The Walking Dead: Season One



We’ve gone from “Bloody Good Time” to a bloody fucking nightmare. Good lord, what a morbid game this was. Yet it still sits comfortably on this list for how damn great it was at ripping out our heart strings and choking us with them. The Walking Dead video game might be my favourite interpretation of the popular zombie franchise, which is notable for establishing that zombie fiction itself is rather old hat and instead uses the setting as a backdrop for a survival drama between increasingly amoral human beings. This game’s appeal rests solely on its story and interactions between the characters. Moral choices in games are very rarely pulled off well as they are mostly split between being a morally clean do gooder or a batshit nutter who gets off on the tears of children. It can be argued what the right choices were in the Walking Dead, as it questions the player on whether life should be the battle between right and wrong or the obvious choice of doing anything to survive. Player choice was necessary to drive the story forward and the outcomes of said choices were never really satisfying or rewarding which slightly soured my opinion of the game when I first finished it.

Perhaps Telltale didn’t want us to feel like an accomplished hero at the end of this story. At the end of every episode I was exhausted, frustrated but always hoping to find a silver lining to keep me going to see the end. This made me see the viewpoint of characters like Rick Grimes, Lee Everett or even Batman. These characters who are trying to make a difference in a hopeless setting in what seems like an endless struggle. Everything you do pisses someone off because that’s what it’s like in this world. You’re not going to please everyone and not everyone is out to please you. So what do you do? This game helped us understand the importance of interactive storytelling and the potential of what video games can be. It didn’t boast big graphics and fancy effects because it didn’t need any of that. The heart wrenching plot and intriguing characters captured our hearts, only to take a massive shit on them because fuck our feelings.

7. inFamous 2

Sucker Punch’s follow up to their 2009 hit inFamous was everything that a sequel needed to be. We live in a time where sandbox games are a dime a dozen but we have to consider what makes or breaks a sandbox game. Yes, it’s great to have a bunch of toys in a box with lots of side activities to do. Something that the developers miss at times is the actual point of why you should do these activities. While it is fun to take part in a simple task when exploring the game’s world it’s hard to carry on when there’s no real rhyme, reward or reason. It’s there, it’s something to do but why should I do it? We’re gamers, we want some kind of useful reward that helps us in the main campaign. You’re not putting a carrot at the end of the stick, you’re just taping a stick to my head and making me look like a nobhead. Should ancillary side activities that can easily be neglected even be there? Some people can be kind of sort of responsible for this practice. I won’t say who they are but they rhyme with “booby-soft”. Even Red Dead Redemption was guilty of this.

So yeah, inFamous 2 totally didn’t do that stuff and then some. The sandbox features all provided relevance and necessity for upgrading Cole McGrath in order to succeed in the game. Not only was it relevant but it was also, you know….fun. Sprawling around the city of New Marais was exhilarating and provided many opportunities to zap your adversaries in the balls. If you’re a comic book geek like me, it’s easy to become absorbed into the game’s superhero inhabited world and ultimately fall in love with it. While the Conduit prejudice may have borrowed a little too much from Marvel’s X Men, the story showed us characters with surprisingly endearing story arcs and struggles. The city that these characters live in was also an extremely welcomed change to the constant barrage of New York inspired locales. The charm of New Marais shone bright from the bustling, Jazzy town centre to the dangerous swamps and the tragedy stricken ghettoes. All of this ultimately distracted me away from inFamous’ shaky moral choices which always lied at the heart of this franchise. Too bad New Orleans doesn’t have superheroes, although I imagine there are people to zap in the balls.

6. Mass Effect 2



Don’t hate me for making fun of Mass Effect’s relationship choices – I put the second instalment on this list didn't I? We’re cool now, OK? Good. Let’s continue. Now I never actually beat the first Mass Effect game…

Oh, you hate me again, don’t you?

So yeah, I never actually got around to finishing it and going back to Mass Effect after playing the other two games always felt kind of uneasy to me. Bioware’s sequel into the Mass Effect franchise featured many tweaks and trims, mainly dropping the vehicle sections and character customization. Cutting these features out entirely instead of refining and improving may not be the best method to go about things yet it never bothered me because the shining light of Mass Effect is the strength in Bioware’s ability to construct a detailed, elaborate and captivating universe. The Iain M. Banks-esque lore filled with aliens, planets and intergalactic war raised Mass Effect’s tale to a level of epic proportions. Following the story of Commander Shepard, the universe is basically your oyster to explore and there sure is a lot of that to do. Hours upon hours of side missions help flesh out the worlds that these characters live in, rich with history and back story that places the game’s status above many others in terms of world building. Even acclaimed films and books could have trouble matching the profound depth that Mass Effect reached.

Mass Effect 2 gives you the chance to feel like Bill Adama, Mal Reynolds or Jeffrey Sinclair. A leader of your own vessel, allowing you to roam the corridors and grow to love or hate your crew members. It was like a sci fi geek’s wet dream. Mass Effect 1 loses me due to my inability to enjoy the gameplay and drive the Mako which felt as stable as a soggy cardboard box. Also, it had Kaidan Alenko (who I swear to God is based off of Matthew Broderick in that Godzilla movie) and Ashley Williams who was as culturally open to aliens as Nigel Farage is to people who dare to not be born white.  Mass Effect 3 was good too but while I didn't hate the ending, it certainly wasn't the super spectacular smackdown that we were all expecting. Mass Effect 2 (in my opinion) has the most likable cast of characters with their own unique personalities, traits and back stories. Helping them with their issues and quests really makes you feel like an accomplished commander which is an experience that is hard to find in other games. It’s a game with depth, presence, complexity and a journey that is unique to each player because nobody’s Commander Shepard is exactly the same.

Halfway through - you're excited, right? The next post will feature the top 5 games of the last generation filled with perpetual, geeky gushing because I really have nothing better to do on a Saturday night.