Consolation Prize

It seems to be traditional during the festive season to offer up some sort of list, whether it’s the “Best”, “Worst”, “Overhyped” or whatever adjective fits the agenda – well it’s my turn so I’m going to dish up my top 5 favourite games played this year.

There is, however, a small caveat – and that is to be considered for the list I must have at least played the game to completion this year. You will therefore notice that some high profile games like Fable 2 and Fallout 3 aren’t on the list, as even with the best will in the world there just aren’t enough hours in the day to play EVERY game that’s released in the mad rush towards Christmas. This isn’t a vapour-ware list of games I think should be worthy, but just a plain and honest list of games that I’ve enjoyed above and beyond my expectations this year.

5. Castle Crashers (Xbox 360 - Arcade)

There is something incredibly joyous about returning to the good old simplistic hack ‘n slash genre that is so representative of Castle Crashers. It’s as if the shackles have suddenly been thrown off and your inner child has suddenly been released and you’re free to play a game just for fun again - without worrying about “what it all means”. Castle Crashers wraps this shackle free gameplay up with some beautiful art design, adds a smattering of guttural humour and gives you a game that’s a joy to play time and time again.

Read what I thought of Castle Crashers here.

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Over the years we’ve learnt many things courtesy of the film industry; chief among them is the fact that space is certainly not a safe place for humanity to explore. And we’ve also learnt that when contact, be it with a colony, vessel, or even a town has suddenly and inexplicably been lost it’s not because of something simple like a communications malfunction, or due to static interference, it’s usually because the crew/colonists/residents have all been horribly slaughtered.

Alarm bells should be ringing loudly in the ears of whichever bright spark has decided to lead an expeditionary mission to determine the cause of the silence, but instead they will wander unconcerned (mostly) into danger like the proverbial lamb to the slaughter. This blasé attitude, although not good for promoting a long and prosperous life, does however provide the perfect setup for horror films, or alternatively in our case a Sci-Fi survival horror game.

The reason I’m making such a tenuous link to the film industry is that in some respects Dead Space feels like it’s borrowing aspects from some of the great Sci-Fi flicks of the last 30 years. However, instead of just being a carbon copy of something like Aliens, Event Horizon, or even Solaris there’s enough originality here, and delivered with such panache and polish that makes it a game that is worthy of your attention.

Playing as Isaac Clarke, an engineer aboard the USG Kellion, you and your crewmates are dispatched to the USG Ishimura – a “planet cracker” class mining vessel that rips planets apart in search of valuable minerals and ores. As you may have surmised contact with the Ishimura has been lost after an initial distress signal was received, and on rendezvousing with the stricken vessel above the planet Aegis 7 a decision is made to dock with the ship and provide any help required. It is however, only a matter of time before things go completely pear shaped leaving you to repair various systems on the Ishimura so that you can escape the nightmare.

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Over the last week I’ve been enjoying the highly atmospheric and amazing sci-fi survival horror game Dead Space. I’ve only just started Chapter 5, and although I realise that by only getting this short distance into the game after several days of play constitutes a rather lacklustre game pace, in my defence I’d like to state that this is by far the most frightening game to ever grace my Xbox 360.

You see, I tend to shy away from any game that ever decides to call itself “survival horror” - the only exceptions to that rule being the Resident Evil series which I’ve managed to become acclimatised to over the years and now seems to have become more about survival rather than horror. Looking back on those early Resident Evil games on the PlayStation I’m amazed they ever managed to induce so much fear and tension. I wonder if in years to come when I look back on Dead Space will I view it in the same light when playing the latest and greatest horror game on the Xbox 1080 or PlayStation 5. Probably not, but apart from the obvious future improvements that will be made to the graphics it’s hard to imagine bettering the atmosphere.

Dead Space really does impress, and through the clever use of sound, vision, and story creates a frightening experience. The sound design is simply second to none - bangs and creaks made by a spaceship under duress overload your senses, blood curdling and disconcerting noises from freakish enemies induce fear, and intentionally uncomfortable music scores aim to heighten the tension. Lighting is also used to great effect with flickering lights and shadows of unknown creatures cast onto walls. And of course the game then delivers the coup-de-grace with the truly horrendous Necromorphs - abominations created and mutated from dead human flesh and bone.

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Small alarm bells start ringing in my head when demo’s are released onto Xbox Live Marketplace after a game has already been released. The cynic in me wonders what the publishers are trying to hide and if it’s just an exercise in damage limitation so the game is at least guaranteed some sales before word gets out that it isn’t as good as the developer diaries and the previews showcased. However after playing through the available chapters in the Alone on the Dark demo the game wasn’t as bad as I was expecting.

The demo starts off impressively as the player partakes in an interactive cut scene whilst the character of Edward Carnby lies half unconscious on a bed unable to move but able to see and hear, and occasionally having to blink to stop his vision from becoming blurred. Eventually you’re led off to be taken “care of” by one of your unknown captors giving rise to your release from captivity once your escort falls foul of some unseen assailant and leaves you to free explore your surroundings.

Alone in the Dark has some good production values and the cut scenes shown throughout the demo have a very cinematic feel about them. Graphically it looks decent enough, the main character model is fine, if a little woodenly animated, but the environments all look great and the fire effects as the flames flicker and dance across flammable surfaces are excellent. Speaking of which, fire seems to be an integral game mechanic. Used not only as a hazard to impede your progress but it can also be turned to your advantage; Furniture can be used to create torches lighting darkened rooms, locked doors can be burnt down, but most importantly fire is the Achilles heel of the inhuman denizens of the game.

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