Archangel3371 said:

I've been mostly playing Reach and Vanquish. Really looking forward to picking up Black Ops and GT5 this week.

Is Vanquish holding up?

I've been playing DKC quite a bit this weekend. I was originally planning on making this a quickie rental, but it's tough enough that I'll have to end up buying it or at least renting it a second time. Either way I won't do it right away. It's fun but not totally my thing. Besides when Epic Mickey comes out on Tuesday I won't be doing much of anything else.

It's just been announced that Leslie Nielsen died today at age 84. Rest in peace Lt. Frank Drebin. You'll be missed.

I must come out and say this outright:

RED DEAD REDEMPTION IS THE FINEST EXAMPLE OF A SANDBOX GAME YET! NOTHING. EVEN. COMES. CLOSE!

Forget your GTA's. Forget Crackdown. Forget inFamous. Forget Bully. Forget Prototype. Everything a Sand-Box game is supposed to do is done here in the highest quality and style, so FAR above and beyond anything offered in your typical game, it puts most Hollywood movies to shame!

The Setting: Now, I haven't played many Western games before but... The brutal way of life. The rampant lawlessness and anarchy. The feeling of struggling simply to survive... All represented here. You have your big open plains. You have your sprawling ranches. You have you cramped mining caves. You have your Ghost-Towns and Outlaw-filled Gulches. From the Old-Time Sheriff's Jail to the Telegraph Office, Saloon and General Stores. All present. Packs of Coyotes. Circling Vultures. Untamed, Wild Horses. Yup! Got them too!

The Graphics: Every inch of this world is PAINFULLY detailed. From the rotting wood in the Old Stables to the Red Hued Mesas as the Sun Sets in Mexico. The Sombrero wearing Banditos. The Medal wearing, decorated Mexican Colonels. The Wheels of the Stage-Coaches, the flora and the fauna. The character models are more robust and detailed than ANY open-world game yet. The scars on John Marston's face. The buck teeth and shifty-fingers of Nigel West Dickens. The crossed-eyes of the double-chinned Deputy. The way the smoke billows from the train. The way flames spread after a fire-bomb is thrown. The realistic way bodies and animals drop when shot in different ways. Masterful!

The Gameplay: The Dead-Eye makes you feel like an Bad-Ass Cowboy. The targeting is PERFECT. I have NEVER felt so satisfied sniping, shooting rifles or chaining Revolver shots together like I do in this game! The horse controls are perfect and natural. Lassoing and Hog-tieing is flawless too. Of course, the waypoint and navigation system of GTA 4 is present here too and even better than before. The Survival, Sharp-Shooter, Treasure Hunter Challenges are top notch as well and always, always, always keep you on your toes and give you some reason to explore (live in) the world. Hunting and skinning your prey, Foraging for Plants and Flowers and seeking other Collectibles. This game NEVER leaves you bored. The content this game provides make it feel more like an RPG than a GTA! Did I mention there are even Stealth-Kill Executions?! Rockstar has pulled a page from EVERY one of their previous titles in making this game!

Side-Missions: Jumping from building to building, catching children's lost balloons has never been done better! (I kid!) Saving people being attacked by Bobcats. Foiling a robbery, only to then have them turn around and try to hold YOU up. Rescuing a Treasure Hunter from Bandits. Helping the law to apprehend escaped criminals. These are a few of the RANDOM world events you encounter. THEN there are optional Side-Missions you do for Strangers (gathering flowers for a elderly husband... never saw the twist coming there!) that are complete with Fleshed-Out Stories and Cinematics in themselves! You don't HAVE TO do any of them, but they help increase your Fame and Honor and the world adjusts the way it reacts to you accordingly! Hunting Bounties and Gunslinger Duels...? What do you think?! Of course they are in there too!

The Story: None of the above would matter if it wasn't held together with a cohesive, believable story-line. You can't help but FEEL for the plight of John Marston. Each and every character is acted so well and so differently, they are ALL unique personalities that contribute to this living, incredible world. Yes, the story is basically a seek and destroy, manhunt mission but the colorful way it all comes together and your freedom at deciding your role/path/morality in all of it... Wow! The character of John Marston... His simplicity, yet his honesty. His bravery and his ruggedness. His heroism and his humility. How many times have I said: "I don't like Westerns?"

...I do now!

Just an aside: I played and loved Mass Effect one. As Bio-Ware games go, it is one of the very best. So well-done. So unique. A Role-Playing Shooter unlike ANY other game out there. I couldn't wait to play Mass Effect 2 after finishing the first. When I heard Red Dead and Mass Effect 2 were going to be going head to head for GOTY for 2010, I said to myself: "Psshht! Yeah Right!" I never thought I would be saying this, but a RockStar, Sand-Box game REALLY, TRULY, ABSOLUTLEY D-E-S-E-R-V-E-S that honor! Will it be --MY-- GOTY this year. Next to Super Mario Galaxy 2, Kirby, Metroid: Other M, Donkey Kong Country Returns and Sin and Punishment 2 and Dragon Quest 9... A year UTTERLY filled with games I have dreamt of my whole life...?!

...

...I'll have to get back to you on that one! The choice has --NEVER-- been this hard before!

(More to come! I am sure!)

SteelAttack said:

This game will be under my Christmas tree this year. Glad you're having a blast with it, Leo.

Weren't you the one that made the Official Topic for this game in the Forum?! You mean to tell me you haven't even played it yet?!

I'm totally SHOCKED but also fully ERECT in anticipation of hearing YOUR reaction to this game!!

SteelAttack said:

This game will be under my Christmas tree this year. Glad you're having a blast with it, Leo.

I have a feeling I will be playing this after Christmas as well.

Iga_Bobovic said:

Funny you mentioned heartless, because that is exactly what I felt about the game. It is just so sterile, the cars look too clean like they just do not belong there. The background were not impressive in a technical or artistic level. The flat trees and flat crowds were ugly and the track design was  nothing special.

Granted realistic driving sims are not my expertise, to say it politely, but I am currently taking driving lessons and my frame of reference would be the real thing. The sense of speed, is the main thing I am missing. In real driving you really feel the sense of speed, even at lower speeds like 50km/h, but GT feels slow even at higher speeds. One time I was going straight and I just looked around and was thinking 'come on, cross the finish line!' This could be avoided by making the cars faster or a track with shorter straights.

Only played the arcade mode or quick race against another opponent. It is not enough to judge the whole game, but my initial impressions are 'meh'.

That sounds like other GT games. Fine by me.

If it ain't Crazy Taxi, it's shit! That's the only car game that matters!

I don't think anyone is going to have a problem forgetting Prototype.

Dvader said:

SteelAttack said:

This game will be under my Christmas tree this year. Glad you're having a blast with it, Leo.

I have a feeling I will be playing this after Christmas as well.

I doubt I'll ever play it.  I'm done with Rockstar's open world games for a while. They are so mechanical.