2008 Christmas Wish-List

Now that Thanksgiving is upon us and we're about to indulge in giving plenty thanks and eating boatloads of turkey, I figured it would be a nice little opportunity to look ahead at the next great holiday and come up with a nice little wish-list. Yes, I'm obviously referring to Christmas and there are plenty of excellent games I do not yet have but would really like to try. Will Santa be good to me this year? I sure hope so.

Here are my picks for the games I am dying to get my hands on:


I played the beta of this gem and loved it to death. Granted, it was multiplayer only so I never got a taste of the single-player component. I do know that single-player is geared specifically towards co-op for the first time in real-time strategy history, and that alone has me foaming at the mouth. Come Christmas, this is one of the first PC games I want to see as I peel away the wrapping paper.



I've heard only good things about this Oblivion-styled RPG which is a sequel to the legendary Fallout series (which was previously a series played from an isometric viewpiont rather than first-person). This game has a lot of great features such as the VATS combat system, a gigantic open world, lots of characters to meet, befriend, or even kill, and of course lots of surprises along the way and great character customization and development. This winter, I'm anxious to begin exploring the aftermath of a nuclear winter!



Is there anything about this game that anyone not living under a rock doesn't know by now? It's naughty, it's gruesome, it's big, it looks great, and it's another Grand Theft Auto game. Sure, most have seen and played it by now, but this December we PC gamers are getting to play it on our systems for the first time. I personally can't wait to experience it and to apply a dab or two of anti-aliasing so to prevent those nasty jaggies from taking a leak all over my eye-candy paradise. Let's just hope the performance doesn't take a nose-dive and the game remains solid all the way through. This game is going to be epic. I can feel it!



My lone XBOX 360 choice holds a special place in my dear little heart. The reason is that it brings back childhood memories of playing the excellent Banjo Kazooie for Nintendo 64 and loving every minute of it. Who can forget exploring the colorful world with the cheerful banjo-filled music in the background, turning into different animals, performing different goals, and grabbing up all those sacred jigsaw pieces? Banjo Kazooie gave Super Mario 64 a run for its money, in my opinion, and although I don't think Nuts & Bolts will be quite on the same level as the awe-inspiringly good Super Mario Galaxy for the Wii, I do think it will be good enough to keep me captivated all the way through just like the original. Plus, the vehicle customization is just the icing on the cake.



Nintendo's Wii system hasn't exactly been brimming with top notch titles as of late, but I think Animal Crossing: City Folk looks like a very fun (and time-consuming) game that will be seeing plenty purchases this holiday season. Not only does it finally allow users to communicate effectively via voice-chat for the first time and via real-time chat in the game world, but it will also bring together players, allow them to visit and befriend one another, and also opens up a world of customization just like the Animal Crossing games for Gamecube and Dual-Screen (DS) did. Although many reviews are citing complaints as to how little it differs from the previous Animal Crossing titles, I think that the formula is unique enough as to not require making many drastic changes. You are essentially living in a little fantasy world with your own fantasy house made from your own fantasy furniture and wall paper and alongside your fantasy neighbors (and fantasy online friends!) What's not to look forward to? My Wii may finally be dusted off just for the sake of playing this game come Christmas time.

Left 4 Dead Splitscreen Mode

I recently purchased the PC version of Left 4 Dead and it has been a blast. As you know by my previous post, I played and really enjoyed the now-deactivated demo which did a great job of promoting the game in my opinion. The full version of the game, just as I expected, is every bit as fun as the demo and has in store many more surprises. Some of the later levels in the game have been really fun to play, and thus far the latency and performance has been nothing short of great.

As of today, however, I just came across a really cool feature I'd like to share with you all: Splitscreen mode in the PC version! Yes, you read that correctly. In the PC version only, it's possible to activate splitscreen mode and play together with someone who is using (preferably) an XBOX 360 controller!

How exactly does it work? And what exactly must you do to activate it? It will take you 5-10 minutes tops to implement it, and all the instructions you need can be found HERE.

Like I do with most of my other blog entries, I decided to go ahead and create a gameplay video showing this little trick in action. Please note that because I'm such a loser, I didn't have any family or friends on-hand to actually try it out with me, so in this video I just took turns using the 360 controller (bottom screen) and the standard mouse/keyboard PC combo (top screen) to show that they both work just fine.

Here's the video:


In other news:
Left 4 Dead's status has officially been raised from "great" to "friggin' awesome!"

Left 4 Dead Demo

SPECIAL NOTE: The demo is only good until November 18th.


Anyone who is a fan of George Romero zombie films or even 28 Days/Weeks Later needs to check out the demo they just released of this game. It should be out on the 360 as well as PC, and is one of the best "zombie games" I've played in a long time. In fact, I think it's the best one since "Zombies Ate My Neighbors!" on Sega Genesis/Super Nintendo, albeit the fact that that game was much more cartoonish.

Left 4 Dead is, essentially, a multiplayer co-operative-based first person shooter in which you and a squad of three others (either player or AI-controlled) move from location to location while being attacked and ambushed by zombies of all types. The key points that make this game stand out from the rest are the teamwork required and the innovative artificial intelligence.

Teamwork is important in more ways than one. Here are just some of the ways:
> Giving one another healthkits, etc.
> Reviving teammates or helping pull them up off ledges they've fallen over
> Saving them from zombies that sometimes pin them to the ground or even snatch them with tentacle-like ropes and start to pull them in to be eaten!

The artifical intelligence is very cool and helps make the game different every time you play it. There is an "A.I. Director" that will actually populate the world with zombies at specific locations, and even unleash zombie horde attacks depending on the status and locations of the players. Just as an example: During one play-through, I went downstairs to the first room in the apartments and found myself ambushed by a large group of zombies who broke down a wall to get to me. When I replayed the same segment, the wall never came down and the group of zombies was not present at that same spot! This aspect of the zombie placement/attack methods will keep you on your toes!

Finally, here is a video I recorded showing the game in action: (PC version)


As you can see in the video, it is important to grab items such as health kits and even additional weapons (molotov cocktails as just one example) to aid with your survival and to also help teammates. Unfortunately, I was the only one using a mic and one of our guys even left us midway through the battle, leaving an AI "bot" in his place. This video does a poor job at showing the essence of teamwork, but when you are in a match with three other guys who are using their mics and helping keep the team together, the experience is much more satisfying and thrilling.

But it doesn't stop there.

In the final version of the game, there will also be a "Versus Mode" in which some players control the survivors, while others actually play as the zombies and plot attacks to try and kill off the survivors. I can't wait to try out this mode and to see how it will work on both ends. (How will the zombie/zombie controller players act? What types of attacks will they plan? How will the survivors react? Will they stick together like in the main game mode?)

With that said, I can only say one thing: Play this game! It's a blast.