Ben-DutkaAfter TGS and an onslaught of reviews, things have lightened up just a little, even though October remains quite full. Onwards into the holidays!
Dante's Inferno is like God of War? GOOD.
While I still believe something like Quantum is a blatant rip-off of another popular title – Gears of War – I think Dante's Inferno could stand on its own as a fantastic action title. Of course, it takes a lot of cues from SCEA's God of War franchise but then again, who really cares ? I completely agree with what EA said when they addressed this issue; they considered any comparisons to GoW to be "a great compliment," and well they should. If it's even close to any GoW I've ever played, it's going to rock . And besides, we need to remember that in every creative-oriented entertainment venue, the designers and artists involved do learn from their peers and colleagues. It's absolutely impossible to have an entirely original idea at all times, especially when we've seen as many games as we have in the past few decades. Besides, EA's project really is its own animal; it's based on Dante Alighieri's classic novel, after all, and there appears to be some seriously awesome stuff. Did you check out that gameplay montage ? It looks sick .
I will soon be doing an editorial on how EA has really turned things around this generation. There was a time when they could do no right ('cough' 2007 'cough') but these days, they've been impressing me as of late. Gimme Dead Space 2 !
Maybe Square-Enix are just slow starters…
Well, they usually are. But while we haven't seen anything from them just yet, we know Final Fantasy XIII is on the way and Final Fantasy Versus XIII is also turning a lot of heads (await the big detail unveiling early next year). Then there's the action/RPG Nier , which looks extremely promising. But perhaps most important of all are the 8 new IPs that are in development. Many have accused Square-Enix of milking certain franchises and cashing in over and over without providing something new. FF fans will be quick to remind everyone that all the FF installments are all entirely different (and that's 100% true) but of course, those are few and far between. In the meantime, we'd like to see Square-Enix produce several new titles, and although I know they're including Eidos projects, at least they're still new . I'll be interested to see what they have in store for us over the next few years, and I maintain my firm belief that FFXIII will be a bona fide insta-classic. Oh, but it's true.
Personal gaming update
Well, as I was review-crazy for most of September, I haven't done much for myself, besides play a few old classics here and there, plus work my way through Katamari Forever . Tonight, I been playin' some Castlevania: Symphony of the Night ; getting my Crissaegrim, Rings of Varda, Wizard Hat and all that good stuff to make myself totally invincible as I always do. Just fun, you know. Arnold has Uncharted 2 and is almost done with it so you can expect a review pretty damn soon, but I gotta wait until the game comes out on the 13th. I'll also probably get Brutal Legend on the same day, just because it looks great; there are some control issues with the demo, but the entire premise rules . Being a metal fan and a Tim Schafer fan, I knew it would. It's just gonna be awesome and I implore all of you not to ignore it just because Uncharted 2 is out on the same day. Yeah, the latter should certainly take precedence but damnit, Jack Black and Schafer's crazy mind are so worth a look.
I also just played the Need for Speed: SHIFT demo, which was pretty intense. I think I might want to play that one, too, so perhaps it goes on the Christmas list along with Halo 3: ODST . Other than that, I don't have much to add. The girl thing is done for a while. Heh.
