My 2010 Game of the Year Awards

Best Xbox 360 Game

Honorable Mention: Alan Wake

Mass Effect 2 took almost every negative from Mass Effect 1 and turned it into a positive. Bioware created a fully realized sci fi universe here that’s as deep and interesting as any universe before it.

Best PS3 Game

Honorable Mention: Heavy Rain

God of War III sports one of the most amazing openings to any game I’ve played. Although the ending left fans polarized, the brutal gameplay, visual fidelity, and cool boss battles make this one of my favorites from last year.

Best Downloadable Game

Honorable Mention: Shank

This was a tough choice for me because to be honest, I didn’t play a whole lot of downloadable games, but Guardian of Light’s fun coop really helped it edge it out over Shank.

Best Wii Game

Honorable Mention: Donkey Kong Country Returns

This was a toss up for me.  You can pretty much flip a coin as to which game was my favorite.  Ultimately, it’s amazing what Super Mario Galaxy 2 does in a 3D space, so that nudges it over Donkey Kong Country.  Between SMG2, Kirby, and DK, 2010 was an awesome year for Nintendo platformers and I couldn’t be happier about that.

Best PSP Game

Honorable Mention: God of War: Ghost of Sparta

Easily the best PSP MGS game to date, Peace Walker looked and played more like a full blown console release than a limited portable game.

Best DS Game

Adjectives, that’s all you need to know.  Super Scribblenauts also added an actual face button control scheme and more of a puzzle oriented gameplay structure.  All of these improvements basically took away most complaints gamers had about the first game.

2010 Game of the Year

Honorable Mention: Mass Effect 2

It was hard to choose between ME2 and RDR, but ultimate I chose RDR because it went from a game I only got because I was talked into it (for the multiplayer), to being one of the best experiences I had with a game last year. The characters, gameplay, and awesome ending really set it apart from most games of 2010.

Other fun choices:

Best Graphics: God of War 3
Best Artistic Design: Kirby’s Epic Yarn
Best Action Game: Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood
Best Fighting Game: Super Street Fighter IV
Best Adventure Game: Back To The Future Episode 1
Best Music Game: Rockband 3
Best Platforming Game: Donkey Kong Country Returns
Best Racing Game: Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit
Best RPG: Fallout: New Vegas
Best Shooter: N/A
Best Sports: NBA 2K11
Best Score: Red Dead Redemption
Best Voice Acting: Mass Effect 2
Best Story: Red Dead Redemption
Best Online Multiplayer Game: NHL 11

Disney Epic Mickey Impressions



I’ve been playing the game and thought to post some of my impressions.  Keep in mind that these impressions are based on one hour of play time.

Graphics: I really dig the art style that they went with here. It has a Tim Burton-like quality I wasn’t really expecting.  More than anything I really like Epic Mickey’s unconventional color palette. Junction Point went with colors that you wouldn’t typically expect in a game starring Mickey Mouse.  The use of purples and neon blues and greens really add to the darker-than-usual-for-a-Disney game atmosphere.

Sound: Really digging the music. There is some of it that sounds vintage Disney and other bits of it that sound original. I’m enjoying most of it so far, but I’m really early to judge for sure.

One thing I’m really disappointed with is the lack of voice acting. It would have been awesome to hear Mickey Mouse actually voice his lines during the cutscenes! They are pretty damn cool and would have added a lot to it IMO, especially considering that the subtitles go pretty fast, guaranteeing that my 8 year old son might not be able to keep up with it. All you get is Rare like sounds that emote what they are feeling.

Gameplay: I can definitely see where the complaints about the camera are coming from. I’m honestly not having a REALLY hard time with the camera, but I really wish that they would have gone the route of Metroid Prime Trilogy and had the camera pan around as you aimed the reticule around the edges of the screen. I find myself doing this instinctively at times and it would have helped with aiming the camera up and down since it’s a little on the uncomfortable side to reach and press up and down on the Wii Remote’s D-pad (which acts like an analog stick).  Using the D-pad as an analog stick does take a little getting used to.

Centering the camera makes up for some of the issues of using the D-pad to turn the camera.  I’ve always thought that Super Mario Sunshine and Kingdom Hearts had the worst camera implementation in these types of games and Epic Mickey hasn’t reached those depths of frustration yet.  More than anything, looking up and down is what becomes a bit of a chore as I’m getting accustomed to things.

Now that the camera woes are out of the way, I have to say that I really dig the gameplay thus far and I’m just scratching the surface. The jump mechanic feels good to me which is vital in an action/platformer and the Paint vs. Thinner mechanic is simple to use and fun. So far so good.  You have quests that you can do as well as collectibles that you can obtain.  Seems like there are some pretty cool extras that range from collectible pins that can be acquired by exploring areas using the Paint/Thinner mechanic, E-Tickets (not sure what these are for yet but they are the equivalent to collecting coins in Mario thus far) and film reels that seem to unlock animated shorts (I unlocked Mickey and the Beanstalk but haven’t checked to see if it’s the actual animated short or not).

I also did one of the side scrolling levels which was super simple, but fun. It helps to break up the pace of the game and it was really cool to see a 2D level themed after one of Mickey’s cartoon shorts.

Overall: I’m having a lot of fun with it, but I’m way too early to say anything definitively one way or another. I can say though that the game is a lot of fun so far and I’m looking forward to playing more.

The 10 Minute Review: One Prime Down, Two To Go

So I beat Metroid Prime Yesterday.  I had originally bought the game when it came out years ago on the Game Cube.  Although I really enjoyed the game for its feeling of isolation and ambiance, I only played it for a few hours before I forgot about it.  I was a bit turned off by the awkward controls and lack of a strafing option.

Apparently Nintendo heard my complaints and released Metroid Prime Trilogy.  MPT contains all three games in the “Prime” series and reworked the controls of Metroid Prime 1 and Metroid Prime 2: Echoes to take advantage of the Wii Remote Ala Metroid Prime 3: Corruption for the Wii.  With so many complaints of games shoehorning in Wii Remote controls into games, MPT is the exception to the rule.

The controls work great for the original game and although it does make the game a little easier because of it, it’s a welcome addition.  Progressive Scan, true widescreen support, and a ton of extras round out the new features.

As for the game itself, I had a lot of fun with it.  Admittedly, collecting all of the artifacts got really tedious towards the end, and so did the enemies respawning when you left a room, but it was still a great game.  You can see where Metroid Prime was an inspiration to games such as Bioshock (using methods other than cutscenes to tell backstory. Ex. audio diaries in Bioshock compared to scanning in Metroid Prime), Batman: Arkham Asylum (level structure and feeling of isolation), and Dead Space ( a little of both).

The story was pretty weak seeing as there barely was one, but what was there was pretty good.  Metroid has never been the type of game you play for the story anyway, so I suppose no harm no foul.

In case you were wondering, yes…I was scratching my Metroid itch playing Prime in preperation for the release of Metroid: Other M.  I suppose I wanted some perspective before I played that game.  I’m sure I’ll be posting Metroid: Other M impressions come Tuesday.

My 2009 Game of the Year Awards

Best Xbox 360 Game

Honorable Mention: Halo 3: ODST

Best PS3 Game

Honorable Mention: inFAMOUS

Best Wii Game

Honorable Mention: Silent Hill: Shattered Memories

Best PSP Game

Best DS Game (by default)

2009 Game of the Year

Honorable Mention: Uncharted 2

I went back in forth between this and Uncharted 2. Ultimately, Batman surprised the crap out of me while I expected good things from Uncharted 2. Rocksteady Studios really raised the bar for what licensed games should be. This all coming from a studio who for all intents and purposes had never made a “good” game.

Other fun choices:

Best Graphics: Uncharted 2
Best Artistic Design: Brütal Legend
Best Action Game: Assassin’s Creed 2
Best Fighting Game: Street Fighter IV
Best Adventure Game: Secret of Monkey Island
Best Music Game: Beatles Rockband
Best Platforming Game: New Super Mario Bros. Wii
Best RPG: Dragon Age: Origins
Best Shooter: Halo 3: ODST
Best Sports: Madden X
Best Score: Halo 3: ODST
Best Voice Acting: Uncharted 2
Best Story: Dragon Age: Origins
Best Online Multiplayer Game: COD: Modern Warfare 2

Welcome to Ready, Set, Game!

Ready, Set, Game is the name of the video game blog I created….er today!  I can’t promise you that I will update this as much as other blog-type of sites like Kotaku or Joystiq but at least you get the personal touch of “the little guy”;  someone that doesn’t have to compete with the bigger gaming conglomerates because I’m simply doing this because I love the video game industry.

Think of me as the Dunder-Mifflin of gaming!

I will also post other personal blog entries as well as other media (comics, TV, movies, news that I care about, etc.) just to keep things spicy.  Enjoy and feel free to comment…any constructive criticism is encouraged!

Just to give you a little bit of background, I’m 29 years old and have been playing games since I was 7 years old.  I own all three current generation consoles.  In a previous life, I did a stint being the EIC of a now defunct gaming website called GamerWeb.com as the Editor-in-Chief of the SonyWeb section along with a few freelance jobs here are there afterwards.   As far as what I do as a profession, I’ve been a Firefighter for nearly five years now and have a son and a beautiful wife.  Hope you enjoy your time on my little slice of internet.