Ben-DutkaIt has already sold over a million copies and should surpass 1.5 million; it's also one of my all-time favorite games.
…and it was the leading vote-getter in our recent poll, which listed out many of the 2010 gems to date, and asked you to pick the game you missed but plan to play during the summer drought. And it seems a great many of you haven't yet experienced Quantic Dream's masterpiece, Heavy Rain , a game that has helped to push the industry in a fresh, positive direction. We prefer to be optimistic about these results, though. Rather than viewing it as an oversight on your part, we'd rather see it this way: Heavy Rain is appealing enough to be #1 on your "missed but must play" lists. Perhaps surprisingly, God of War III was a close second; arguably the best action game of the generation and an easy Game of the Year candidate should've gotten plenty of love from PlayStation 3 owners. But then again, there were a lot of great games in the first six months of this year, and perhaps one of the longer experiences was more worthy of your $60.
But no matter. So long as the great stuff gets played eventually, everyone benefits. This week, we want you to address the hot topic amongst role-playing fans: what will happen with Final Fantasy ? Square-Enix boss Yoichi Wada admits to being confused , so what's gonna happen…?
correction, darksiders is by far the best action game of the generation!
as for FF, well get rid of wada, get rid of their money grubbing attitude any maybe FF can be saved.
try get it into their thick skulls that by changing the game from a true JRPG to a more action orientated game is not going to bring them in more sales, its going to loose them!
in bringing in more fans, there effectively telling their fans to f*ck off!
now telling someone to f*ck off is not exactly a good way to increase your sales!
but i digress, the day this happens, the day $E stop being greedy selfish SOBs, is the day i start pushing up daisies! so i wont be holding my breath…………….
Darksiders…. Well we're all entitled to our opinions… i guess.
Darksiders is the best? I enjoyed the game too, but I wouldn't put the game in the top ten.
Darksiders is one hell of a game, I enjoyed it very very much. But compare it to the pinnacle of it's genre: GOW 3, or even GOW 1, GOW 2 and it is clearly less.
So, I ask you. How can a game that is not best of it's own genre be the best game from this generation?
GOW 1 is still the best of the genre, the generation well GOW1s generation is over, the new consoles started a new generation and darksiders is the best action game for this generation.
GOW 3 focused so much on extreme gore and scale it forgot what made it so popular in the first place.
the gameplay and brutality of it!
GOW is famous because of its puzzles, and gameplay.
the first 2 games had a sense of openness, you never felt like you were repeating a previous level.
cant say that about GOW3, its way, way too repetitive and your constantly revisiting the same areas.
than there was the brutality of it, the unforgiving side of it.
like the spikes of hades, or the falling floor room, or the boss battles.
in GOW 1 and 2 you feel like your character is evolving and advancing as the story goes on, in GOW 3 you dont.
you gain new abilities and new powers, but they feel useless.
like the hermes boots, you can only use them when your suppose to, they could of done so much more with them.
especially the puzzles, that is the thing that disappointed me the most.
that is what i loved the most about darksiders it has so many puzzles, and none of them are small ones they all feel huge.
GOW3s largest puzzle is the one in heras garden, i really enjoyed that bit but thats about it.
the game needed more hearas garden levels, and less run into this room and rip everything apart!
even dantes inferno is better than GOW3.
at least that feels like your progressing through the game.
every level you clear, you get a new environment and new enemy types to fight.
plus the story in both darksiders and dantes inferno were top notch!
the story in GOW3 was absolute crap!
it was suppose to end the trilogy, it was suppose to answer all questions.
but all it did was end on a cliffhanger just like GOW 2 did!
Darksiders.
…right.
I suppose you never even acknowledge that not a single solitary critic agrees with you on anything ever?
Darksiders isn't worth the DVD is printed on. Its one of those games a dev throws together in a matter of weeks because they need to meet a quota.
Darksider's is a lot like a Zelda game with a heavier emphasis on combat; it's sort of like a Zelda and Ninja Gaiden sandwich =p
When I observe direct comparisons between the two games I find it annoying (As I did with Gears vs Resistance FoM).
Not that Darksider's doesn't have a strong influence from former action games, like GoW, but the purpose of the game is "adventure" (this was pointed out by the devs).
I hope people give it a chance. Try not to judge it too quickly, as I did with the demo, the game does grow and has great moments of awesomeness. Though despite my fondness, the quality work of GoW3 surpasses it in comparable conventions: graphics, presentation, direction etc.
I just have to edit something here for clarity
When I observe direct comparisons between the two games, God of War and Darksider's, I find it annoying (As I did with Gears vs Resistance FoM).
People kept saying Darksiders was going to be a Zelda Killer. I didn't see how they were at all alike. The game was cornball, the character design was terrible and the combat wasn't even that fun.
I too don't see any connection between Zelda and Darksiders.
@ World, I've done you the favor of running a quick Google search and copying & pasting comments made from game reviewers.
"Half the time it's like playing God Of War. For the rest of the game, Darksiders apes Legend of Zelda, with dungeons to explore and puzzles to solve. The only thing missing is the green tunic." — CVG
"Darksiders is a great way to start the new year, provided you're a fan of games like God of War or The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess."
–Arstechnica
"Darksiders is an action-adventure that takes inspiration from several different video game sources, culling concepts like Portal's portal gun or the basic lock-on style shooting from Panzer Dragoon and placing them into game that most directly resembles the structure of a modern Legend of Zelda game that comes complete with a boomerang, a hookshot, and a horse that helps you get around more easily." –Giant Bomb
Hopefully you'll take our suggestions and accept that the connection is there.
i hant playd RDR yet…hmmm idk why tho lol no time with so much going on this yr i suppose
I want to play it, but Heavy Rain still cost 55 Euro.
Last time I bought "a must play" , I bought Oblivion…. I still get angry that I bought Oblivion. Crap game.
I wait till Heavy Rain cost around 20-30 euro's.
i still need to play ff13 one of the last games i originally brought my ps3 for just need the moneys
Apparently I don't follow the crowd. I voted for Split/Second on that last pole. 🙂
Then on the current pole, I decided to try to have some optimism and vote that it will only get better. I almost voted for the "if they make changes" one, but it's pretty certain they will make changes. Every Final Fantasy game is different from the one before it.
The production values of FF13 were very high. It's only the stylistic choices that I didn't like. In my eyes, it's not like they can't make a good game that feels like a Final Fantasy, it's that they didn't.
I think they'll be able to turn it around. People didn't like the linearity of X so they came out with XII. People didn't like the license board of XII so they came out with the crystarium. Obviously they hear all of the complaints, and make some sort of effort to improve.
one of my favorite games of all time. If you missed it, play it.
Hey there, CD (bizarre that you and your brother's initials are the same as two storage formats created by Sony….. =o )
For someone who likes this HR game as much as you do, I figured I'd bounce some thoughts off on you.
For starters, there's a lot about HR's presence that really doesnn't appeal to my usual interests. I'm not big on murder mysteries, or games that make heavy use of dialogue. Despite this, the positive HR influence this site has had on me has given me cause to re-download the HR demo and take the time to finish it up.
I'm intrigued by the extraordinary take QD has taken while attempting to mix interactivity into a traditional form of cinematic story telling. Sometimes the combination of elements are positively synergistic. I found it engaging to be given a set of options that allow the user to play an active role in modifying the behavior of a given character. This is significant, because in what has been traditionally a static medium, film, where the story creates the characters and the reader needs to interpret their roles, the user is empowered to modify the general decisions of an interactive character, thus shaping the character's portrayal in the film-like presentation. The subtleties of the story experience are actually being shaped by your efforts. This isn't the same as something like Infamous, or Fable. These games may allow you to direct a path of objectives, but the user is engaging the content after the manner of a game, not as a film. The user in these cases witnesses "cut-scenes" that happen discrete of the usual play. In contrast, HR's events unfold as seamlessly, where the developers did not want any disconnect between the cinematic story telling and the actual interactivity of play.
Being a person of good moral standing, I liked the feeling I'd get when I could control the decisions of the John Goodman-looking dude from dropping a $50 for an immoral decision.
Anyhow, I may give the full game a shot sometime down the road this year.
Temjin001
Murder mystery and heavy dialogue are not my thing either and yet I couldn't stop playing heavy rain every chance I got it the first week I had it. This is the first game I've played where the choices really make a difference.
It's weird to play a game where if you kill off the person you're playing as, the game doesn't go to the load screen, it instead continues the story without them.
Game is awesome, I was really surprised by how much I couldn't get enough of it.
@Kraygen, wow, I didn't realize the main characters could die like that with a continuing plot.
I love Heavy Rain because I love story telling. And this is story telling with a user interface, every decision you make effects the outcome and the story dosen't stop. It's not just the big things either. Deciding to hide a shoebox containing certain information under your bed or on your desk can change the outcome. It's not just choosing good or bad like inFamous (which I'm not bashing mind you, great game that) it's much more detailed. Instinct and emotion really dictates the way you play and the seamless story makes it extremely immersive.
And as mentioned above if you die.. your dead, you can't play as that character any more because well you died. I think this might be a link to the "instinctual play" because if you're in a life threatening situation, there's no game over.. and whatever happens happens and the story continues. There are twenty something different endings and everything you do directly effects the outcome.
As for the environment and the murder mystery thing. You're not just solving a murder you're jumping into different people the entire time surrounded by different circumstances but all the characters are slowly being wound into the same story. For people with no patients what-so-ever then no this game would not appeal to them but I truly think this is the future of gaming. And if it isn't well, it's certainly the direction I would like to see us moving in.
damn.. now I have to play it again.. oh well 🙂
Interesting, it looks like there's more to the full game than what I could tell from the demo alone.
I predict FFXIII Versus will have a combat system that consists of a dialogue box popping up saying "FFXIII Versus needs your permission to continue", and then you hit "OK". And then you do it 10,000 times. Basically the same as XIII in other words. It will appeal to the Microsoft crowd, you know.
Just finished, what an awesome game!