Bad Company 2

This game wasn’t so bad when it came out, I’ve forgotten it’s technical issues because they have mostly been fixed. It feels like this game has been around for a while but believe it or not, it came out early this year. For an FPS it lacks the smooth movement and controls that I’d like for a foot soldier,  but vehicle combat is great. The DLC’s for this game were awful except for Vietnam which was worth the $15. The guns sound and feel better to use and the levels are well designed. The one thing that would sway me towards a more favourable opinion of this game would be if it had MOD support. It’s sad to see a Battlefield game without community content.

Civilization 5

I’d never played a Civ game before but my God I regret it. Civ 5 is very addictive and I found it surprisingly fun! It’s a complicated game but well worth putting in the effort to learn it.

Medal of Honor

This game will never be remembered for anything. It will be in the bargain bin at Gamestop one day and some kid will be say “they made a modern themed Medal of Honor?” This is an awful end to a great franchise, the game itself was pathetic. But at least we won’t remember it, since this game added nothing new to the genre,  gaming or the series.

Call of Duty: Black Ops

This was another awful release this year. The stuttering issues that plagued it upon release was pathetic. It just goes to show how important testing really is. All of this could have been avoided if they had bothered to make a quality product that actually worked. Not only that, but it seemed only the PC version had issues which just proves that more developers are shunning the PC gaming community. Though I haven’t done my review of this game yet, here is a preview of what I’m going to say:

“Somehow managed to beat Medal of Honor as the worst game release for 2010. Another CoD console game clone for pubeless kids. I regret this purchase.”

This is yet another decent franchise Activision has managed to ruin and unless the next CoD game has a demo they won’t get a chance to get my money.

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit

For me, this is the biggest pleasant surprise of the year. I was expecting another lame console game added to the series. Instead I got a fun arcade racer that goes back to the roots of the franchise. Social elements in games are quickly becoming a fad but it’s done so well in this game to breed competition and fun at the same time. If GT5 was delayed again, I would not have cared if I had this game.

Gran Turismo 5

Oh boy. The big question has been answered: was it worth it? Well, yes and no…

If you had something to feed your racing game addiction, especially if it was Forza 3 or Shift, you may find GT5 not as amazing as the development time would suggest. On the other hand, if this is all you’ve been waiting for and don’t know of anything else, the game is really good.

Don’t get me wrong, let me say to you, ditch the gamepad and get a wheel. The driving model is fantastic and definitely the best racing sim on any console. Because 90% of a racing game is the driving experience (in most cases, Forza 3 I would say 80ish) this game is still worth buying. Unfortunately the game doesn’t feel as polished as it ought to be.

What’s wrong with it? The AI sucks. There isn’t any. They are glued to a rail track. Your car is made of rubber and theirs is made of rock so if you hit them or vice versa, you bounce off them and maybe spin out. They don’t even notice you’re there.

The car list isn’t that great. Forza 3 and Shift have much more variety. GT5 is padded with Skylines and Vettes. Oh and no Porsche.

Whilst we’re on the subject of the cars, they only bothered to model about 20% of them as “premium” cars. That equates to about 200 out of the 1000+ in the game, which in my honest opinion is quite pathetic. The premium models look amazing, the standard models look okay, but when you pay close attention to detail you’ll notice they aren’t as of high quality. For a game where you’d be moving faster than running pace, you probably won’t notice it and it won’t bother you as much. The same applies to the track environments, but this is less important. Overall it won’t detract from the game experience, but considering the development time I’d ask for a higher standard. Graphics play quite a large role in realistic games as they help to make the experience more believable. I wish Polyphony Digital realised this.

Fallout New Vegas

This was basically Fallout 3 but with a different story, characters weapons and location… And it was brilliant! Fallout 3 was good and New Vegas was just as good, if not better. This was one of my favourite games this year.

Final Fantasy XIII

This was another surprise. I’ve never really played a Final Fantasy game properly before so this is kinda my first one. I actually liked it, it has a complex story and gameplay has a bit of a learning curve, but it teaches you in easy to digest stages. I’ve had a lot of fun with this game but I still haven’t finished it. I think it’s going to be a long game and right now I am playing GT5, but I can’t wait to get back into this game again and will definitely play through all of it.

Despite a few good games released, as a PC gamer and an FPS fan, I felt disappointed this year. Times are really tough when developers forget about PC gamers. There are a few games I am looking forward to next year but I’m still very skeptical, but here’s hoping that 2011 will spawn some games that I’d like.

Well believe it or not, I am actually liking Modern Warfare 2 more than Borderlands! After all the crap I heard about them consolizing the game I figured Borderlands would be the FPS I’d like the most. It [Borderlands] looked like a lot of fun, I mean they really did well to combine both the FPS and RPG elements together and it’s a lot of fun. The problem, well problems are; it’s too short! It took my friends and I a week to finish the main storyline and the ending wasn’t even that good! By the way, I promise no spoilers here just in case someone reads this and haven’t finished the games.

Once you finish the game, it allows you a second playthrough but with harder enemies and better loots. I have wanted to go through this second playthrough, as I haven’t reached the max. level, but still, it would be the same thing over again. Whilst it was fun, I think it would get a bit repetitive.

Another thing was that it didn’t seem like they finished porting it over from the consoles. Yes that’s right, it felt like a console game. At least you could edit the game files to get it to a point where some things could be fixed (like turning off voice, for example) but there were things in there that you couldn’t fix yourself. For example, some of the in game menus were hard to use because instead of letting you click  on menu items, you had to scroll to them using the arrow keys! I mean seriously! Why? We have a mouse for a reason! It makes it so much easier.

Back to the second playthrough – I want to do it again, if only just to level up. I don’t feel I have fully explored all the characters and their abilities and also the fact that they are releasing a DLC by the end of the year. Supposedly. It would also cost $10 (even for PC gamers?), which if it does, I don’t think I will want to pay for it, unless my friends get it. I think I’ve already paid enough for games.

As for Modern Warfare 2, well I didn’t have high hopes for it anyway, which is no surprise that it was… Well a surprisingly good game! The singleplayer was way too short, but this seems to be the norm these days. A real shame really, I like a good singleplayer experience and I know Infinity Ward (the developers) can deliver on this. But the main focus with this game was the multiplayer. The co-op missions are brilliant and are a lot of fun! Try it with a friend on Veteran. It’ll be frustrating but fun and rewarding once you complete them. Make sure you use an external voice chat program (I suggest Skype, Ventrilo or TeamSpeak) so that you can communicate with each other. There is no in game voice or chat for the co op and communication is essential for some of the missions, especially if you plan on doing them on Veteran.

Now the multiplayer, the main meal of this game. It’s like the first Modern Warfare but better! More guns and attachments, more perks and it’s still a lot of fun. The biggest hitch though is the lack of dedicated servers! I really don’t mind the lobby system, but to have the games hosted on someone’s PC is lame. Especially when their connection goes bad and it has to pick a new host, in the middle of a firefight! It can be really annoying. Left 4 Dead has a similar system, you wait in a lobby and the game finds a suitable server. This way is much better, at least you will end up on a dedicated server. If they did this, instead of having the games hosted on someone’s PC, it would be better. Dedicated servers are one of the things that separate multiplayer gaming on PC and consoles! It’s one of the reasons I believe multiplayer gaming is better on PC!

I don’t mind the player cap. Actually I complained about it in the last game. I don’t like the huge games, they just because a huge chumpfest and have no structure. Especially since it had a broken respawn system (which was brought back in the second game too). I didn’t use lean much either so that doesn’t bother me.

What does however, is the removal of the console and lack of support for mods. It’s what makes PC games better than console games! Just look at a game like Counter-Strike for example, or even Battlefield 2 (think Desert Combat mod for BF1942 ). I have seen however, that some people have hacked the game to allow dedicated servers. I hope there will be some more hackage, it would be interesting to see what people come up with!

As for Forza 3, I think it’s a great game, easily the best racing game out (until GT5?). I like how it appeals to anyone who likes cars. But I still have a few issues with it. I think the developers got lazy! I mean it doesn’t feel like they finished it before they released it. There are some small bugs that need fixing, one I’ve noticed for example, is that you can’t tint the windows of the Range Rover Sport. Not a really big deal, but I bet it’s an easy fix! Also when you paint the rims of some of the racecars, it removes the paint job and makes them plain grey models, even though you didn’t want this! The new cockpit view is nice, I like using it. But they forgot to finish some of them. Some cars, the displays aren’t on and some are?! What gives? Then there’s the gear changes. They may of only added this recently, or only on the race cars, but I’ve noticed when you change gears the driver doesn’t take his hand off the wheel. I know it’s a small issue but it’s the details that count! It’s like they just wanted to release the game, no matter how unfinished. Unfortunately console games aren’t patched as often as PC games. With PC games, a fix is usually released in a couple of days.

There is one major feature missing from the game too. In the multiplayer, you can’t create a public lobby. Unless I am missing something?

Speaking of things missing, I think there should have been some cars they should have included but didn’t. The GT-R for example. Ariel Atom. They include a Dodge Ram but not an SVT Raptor or a Lightning? That doesn’t even make sense! It looks like they have plans to include the 458 Italia as a DLC though. I can’t wait for that! Next they need to include that new Gallardo and the McLaren. Would also love to see the SLS AMG in there too! I could list more cars that I’d like to see (VXR8 Bathurst S!!!) but then I’d be here all day

All things considered, it is a pretty fun game and I really love it. Again a few more tracks would be nice, some of the new ones aren’t that great (the demo track for example). Otherwise this game is easily worth the money. And I got the Limited Collectors Edition Which by the way, it seems makes me entitled to a free car from Turn 10 every now and then. I mean, I planned on buying an RX-8 or a Murcielago but they sent me one. For free. Thanks!

Enough rambling from me now. I will post stuff about Left 4 Dead 2 and Dragon Age some time though. Not soon as I am nowhere near finishing either of these!

P.S. I have three Google Wave invites left.