Tags
alpha protocol, Bioshock 2, Deus Ex 3, splinter cell: conviction, stalker: call of pripyat, Tron: Evolution
A new year is upon us, and that means we all have a fresh 365 days to spend hiking, exercising, looking at birds, and hugging trees.
Alternatively, you could join me in spending 12 months LOLing at the n00bs outside and enjoy some gaming excellence.
Of course, given the massive pile of games that a certain sequel set in a modern war pushed into this year, there’s bound to be a few letdowns. And looking ahead, I’m already seeing some real crying-shamers headed for a Gamestop near you.
So allow me to lower your expectations. Trust me, it’ll be better this way.
Bioshock 2 (Release date: February 9)
If you’ve spent any time listening to me wax eloquent about video games, you know that I’m a huge fan of Bioshock. The game is as close to pure genius as the medium has ever come.
So when Bioshock 2 was announced, I was immediately suspicious. From the beginning, it has smelled like a cash-in: The exploitation of elements that gave the original such atmosphere (you can now explore the ocean floor and you play as a Big Daddy); the utter lack of comment from the developers on anything other than the superficial elements of gameplay (no real discussion of the deeper themes from the original). The whole process feels like the developers went through the first game, scraped the surface elements from its murky waters, and tossed those elements into the development machine without a thought toward what actually made Bioshock great.
The original Bioshock’s story, and the deep, dark themes it explored, were what made it such a landmark event. The game had a complete story, with a message posited and resolved. It needs no sequel.
I sincerely hope I’m wrong.
But I’m probably not.
Probable disappointment level: face-palming with bricks.
Splinter Cell: Conviction (Release date: February 23)
The Splinter Cell games rank among my all-time favorites. Sam Fisher is one of gaming’s great personalities, and Ubisoft has always done an admirable job of crafting great games for him to star in.
But as I’ve watched the development process of Splinter Cell: Conviction, something has appeared a bit off. The Sam in this game isn’t the Sam I remember from the previous games. This Sam has gone through a personality reboot, and the result appears to be a man with no drive for anything but bloodletting and revenge.
Now. There’s nothing inherently wrong with revenge as a plot device, but when your protagonist’s main justification for getting up in the morning is to kill everyone who ever looked at him funny, he begins to lose credibility.
Plot summaries:
Splinter Cell: Save the world.
Pandora Tomorrow: Save the world again.
Chaos Theory: Save the world, but angrier about it this time.
Double Agent: Save the world even though it’s tough emotionally.
Conviction: Ah, forget it, I’m just gonna kill freakin’ everyone.
Tell me you don’t see a breakdown there. I don’t want to channel this man anymore.
Also, the entire philosophy of gameplay has changed. In the old games, you got in, you got out, and you left no trace. Completing a mission without alerting anyone was one of the more satisfying feelings I have ever gotten from a game. Blowing people away was the n00b’s way out of difficult situations.
Splinter Cell: Conviction, however, appears to be based entirely around murderfying everything that moves. Strategic stealth action has been tossed out in favor of over the top violence. You still hide in the shadows, but only while sprinting toward your next neck-snapping belt notch.
This may end up being a well crafted game, but is definitely not in the spirit of Splinter Cell. And it probably won’t be one I’ll enjoy playing. Probable disappointment level: finding out that Uwe Boll is directing another movie.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat (Release date: February)
If there’s one game on this list that I hope I’m wrong about, it’s this one. The original Stalker (more accurately, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.) was an amazing piece of work. It had quite a few quirks and suffered from a lack of polish, but even so it delivered an atmospheric and intense experience that has rarely been matched.The second Stalker game, Clear Sky, was a prequel, and while it made a few technical improvements, all in all it was a disappointment. The devs spent too much time working on superficial things and not enough time on what made the original great: the sense that the gameworld was a real place, and that you were living in it. Or trying to.
That being the case, I’m concerned for this game. It has the potential for greatness. But if Clear Sky is any indication, Call of Pripyat may find itself uninstalled and tossed into my “Crushing Disappointments” box.
Probable disappointment level: Custer realizing this may be his last stand.
Alpha Protocol (Release date: Quarter 2, 2010)
Obsidian is the creative bunch of people behind Neverwinter Nights 2. They also did Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords. In short, they are paragons of gaming greatness.
Their latest effort, Alpha Protocol, is a joint venture with Sega, and by all appearances will be the RPG equivalent of a James Bond movie.
I’m not really worried about this game from a technical perspective. I have little doubt it will be done extremely well.
What’s already disappointing me about this game, however, is the focus on the amoral side of spy fiction: the women, the callous violence, and the embracing of a utilitarian view of the world (i.e. the ends justify the means).
I’m all for games with mature elements, and even for protagonists with major flaws in their moral fabric, depending on how it’s handled. But if I’m going to slip into the shoes of a character, particularly in an RPG, I want to feel good about that person. I want to play the hero, the overcomer, the one who holds himself to a higher standard. There are exceptions to this, but in general I don’t want to roleplay a complete tool.
Playing a character who takes what he wants just because he can, be it sex, money, or lives, doesn’t sound appealing to me. Watching Bond do it on screen is one thing; doing it myself for dozens of hours in a game is entirely another.
Hopefully the game will offer the player the choice of whether or not to take the high road, but I’m not optimistic.
Probable disappointment level: Buzz Aldrin after Neil Armstrong beat him down the ladder.
Deus Ex 3 (Release date: september)
Potentially the biggest disappointment about this game is that it might not even come out this year. There’s only been the faintest of rumblings about its existence from the devs, and little information of real importance has been released other than a teaser trailer back in 2007.
Even if we offer the benefit of the doubt, however, the fact remains that this game has big shoes to fill. Deus Ex rests solidly in the halls of glory in many a gamer’s heart. The game was a groundbreaking exploration of not only game design, but also of human nature and morality. Admittedly, the story offers little in the way of answers to the questions is raises about free will, government, and other subjects, but I have to give it credit for crafting an experience that causes the player to stop and think about such heavy subjects.
Such games are few and far between, however.And the odds are stacked against this one, because even a good game would be a disappointment here; Deus Ex 3 will have to be straight up fantastic to meet the expectations that are laid upon it.
Probable disappointment level: Japan on December 8th, 1941
Tron: Evolution (Release date: December)
Apparently a prequel for the movie (Tron: Legacy) coming out this Christmas, Evolution has a lot of bad karma working against it: It’s a movie game (never a good sign); the trailer oozes edginess and melodrama (Warrior Within, anyone?); and the developer’s last effort was Turok, a reboot game that showed little respect for its roots and barely registered above average with the critics.
The trailer for the game has me worried. It’s intense. It’s dramatic. It’s dark. And it’s really not what I’m looking for in a Tron game.
The last major game set in the Tron universe was Tron 2.0, which was great fun. And really, that’s all that this game needs to be: fun. It doesn’t have to be dark. It doesn’t have to be thought-provoking. It doesn’t have to be superficially “mature.” It just has to be fun.
Admittedly, it was just a trailer, so I could be wrong and the developers could be on the right track.
But I’m not getting my hopes up.
Probable disappointment level: I’m beaming down to the surface, and I don’t have a last name
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Here’s hoping I’m completely wrong about all of these! With any luck, at least one of these games will turn out to be worth playing. And I’ll let you know which one(s) that is.
Happy New Year, and keep gaming on.
Jerod Jarvis is an independent gaming journalist and founder of Duality Games. He maintains gaming columns for The Washington Times Communities and for The Outpost. When not blogging madly about games, he freelances for the Spokesman-Review in his hometown of Spokane, Washington and attends school at Whitworth University. Check out his presence on Facebook and Twitter to stay up on Duality Games updates and the inside scoop on the gaming news you care about.
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