2011 GOTY and stuff

It’s been an interesting year for me, mostly because I’ve spent a fair portion of it writing about games at both www.plughead.net and www.gamingdaily.co.uk. As the year ends though it has become increasingly difficult to balance that with playing games for their primary entertainment purpose. And the family of course. Mustn’t forget them. So as the year ends and I look at the 105 games currently installed and yet to be completed in my Steam list and realise I really am going to have to reign it in.

I think I went out on a high though with my Xmas 2011 Waffle: http://www.plughead.net/happy-waffle-xmas-2011 (Do feel free to share that with everyone you know)

There have been some truly stunning releases this year but of course Skyrim is my game of the year. You were perhaps expecting me to be different and controversial and choose something that panders to the masses like Modern Warfare 3?

As nice as it would be to be able to separate myself and stand out from the crowd, sometimes something rare and beautiful comes along which unites the righteous as one voice. Something that no longer exists outside your consciousness but envelopes it. That is so compelling you measure time and space by it’s absence. Those weren’t ten minutes I spent sat on my couch watching the headline news item, those were ten minutes I wasn’t crossing the river and running up the hill towards Solitude. The thirty minute ride to work should be more than enough time to investigate and clear Wolfskull cave. As I write these words I’m 9.4miles away from Breezehouse, my Whiterun home, where I left Lydia to rest while I went in search of a Redguard woman who continues to elude me.

That’s not to say Skyrim was the only contender, as while I think 2011 has seen a fair number of titles falling short of expectations, Brink, Dragon Age 2 and Rage being examples that immediately spring to mind, the consequence of this has made those that have actually succeeded in meeting or even exceeding expectations appear all the more magnificent for it. For weeks Portal 2 provided me with tales of joyous narrative discovery and puzzles overcome. Of multiplayer larks where we’d regale each other with how we removed the light path from beneath a colleague’s feet and guffawed into their headset. Or cast a friend into the void by changing the exit portal location just as they’d reached sufficient velocity to be unable to avoid their fate.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution made me the most violent and abusive pacifist imaginable. A contradiction the game itself wears throughout, never truly providing a satisfying consequence to my selected course of action, as irrespective of my desires there’s a story to be told and divergence doesn’t feature in it. Until the push button ending, which was a bit of an elbow blade to the scrotum. And those boss fights! Even when replaying as a gun toting psychopath with a side in kleptomania they felt tagged on, which we have since learned of course, they were. That didn’t stop the game being a thrilling adventure and one I will continue to revisit, as I have with its forebears.

Crytek returned with the their trademark stunningly realised visuals with Crysis 2. A continuation of the franchise that felt more focused and polished than either of its prequels and also acknowledged that the suit is the star of these games, not the lump of meat the player inhabits. That focus however also narrows the field of view and much of Crysis 2 felt a little claustrophobic. Arguably the choices in how to take on the enemies, be it by stealthily cloaking and working my way around or bolstering my armour and going in all guns blazing, are no less decisive to the outcome than in Deus Ex: Human Revolution’s vent crawling versus shotgun to the face approach. Without the pretence of real choice or notion that decisions will affect the outcome it was easy to enjoy a traditional shooter for the modern age. Certainly in terms of pure action gaming it’s difficult to see past Crysis 2.

And let’s not forget that this year I once again get to put on my gruffest voice and whisper into the ear of anyone who’ll listen, “I’m Batman!”

I also think the independent sector has truly risen above the main game studios this year in terms of reconnecting with the audience as to what constitutes an enjoyable gaming experience. They’ve certainly filled the void that endless wheelbarrows of money thrown at cross platform development had created. Trine 2 is puzzle platforming art in motion. Waves is an adrenalin fuelled acid trip. Orcs Must Die is a bizarre action tower defence hybrid that has me sniggering and on tip toes, while I’m sat down.

However, as good, and indeed great, as all these games are they are cast aside and left on the road to Riverwood simply for the crime of not being Bethesda’s latest opus. Certainly it lacks a little polish with its bugs, pop up, broken dialogue, ill conceived UI, and backwards flying dragon patches. Nevertheless, how could Skyrim not be my game of the year when it’s the most fraught, exciting, mysterious and beautiful land I’ve ever visited?

And that was 2011, or as Cave Johnson would say, “We’re done here!”

Alive alive d'oh!

I don't like criticising. Honest. Sure I like to point fun as much as the next socially inept intellectual failure, but that's different. It's hard for me to justify anger sometimes as those my anger would be directed towards are far and away on a higher tier. Take my current bile inducing situation, the bastion of all that is unholy, Games For Windows Live. Those responsible for it are well education suitably qualified professionals and were we to meet I can see it going something like this:

Me: Games For Windows Live is shit!

GFWL Team: Could you do better?

Me: Erm, no.

Argument lost and I'd slope off home with my stomach acid reaching tonsil tickling levels, develop massive stomach ulcers and drop dead. Probably best I don't pop over to Redmond then.

The thing is though, the statement stands because as far as a user experience is concerned, Games For Windows Live wholly fails to deliver on it's premise of providing seamless interaction between itself, the user and the game. I've seen numerous rants about GFWL and I've always thought they were a little harsh, however I now find myself a fully paid up hater. My first experience of GFWL was, like many others, with Gears Of War (PC). A competent 3^rd person shooter that by the end I was playing simply to finish and complete the story rather than any real desire to keep playing. When every now and then a little achievement box appeared it was fine, I wasn't particularly interested in the achievements, they're not something that I have any drive to collect. I kind of regard them like the Panini football stickers. I collected them as a kid and if I was still ogling pictures of Sam Fox and listening to Adam & The Ants I'm sure I'd want to collect them now, but I play games for entertainment and any sense of competition or need to collect artificial trinkets has long since left my old and weary frame. So why do I now hate GFWL? Fallout 3 (PC) is why. Fallout 3, a little slice of gaming heaven. I've been lost in the wastelands of post apocalyptic Washington DC for weeks and I have loved every second of it. Most of the time I've resisted using the fast travel system to move between discovered locations because I am feeling that lone man in the wilderness vibe, and that includes the trek and any pitfalls it may encompass. It was a little irritating therefore to have achievement boxes popping up periodically as while it's okay for a shooter, Fallout 3 is an RPG at heart and those moments break the bond between me and the environment I had completely given myself over to. Not to worry though, at the end of the day that's what the developers decided to do and as everything else they've done is right I can accept their decision for the achievements too. So why my sudden allegiance to the “GFWL must be destroyed” brigade? For that we must journey back to a time of innocence. When men fought great beasts to secure their family's food and shelter, about 8 weeks ago. I had a problem following a Windows update that left me unable to update further. Remote connection from a Microsoft tech' bod resulted in him telling me is was basically screwed and to reinstall the OS. My PC is used for a multitude of sins only one of which is gaming and at that time I had numerous personal projects on the go and so wasn't in a position to wipe it all there and then. So while I'm finishing my bits off I'm playing Fallout 3. Fallout 3 being a GFWL game wants me to log in to GFWL when I play, but GFWL has an update it wants installed but with all my update features AWOL and no way to replace them without a reinstall of the OS it can't, so it logs me out but still used the GFWL account details for my save games. That's fine, I have no problem with it so far. Over the past couple of days, I've finished all the previous odds and sods I was doing, I've backed up everything of any remote significance and I've formatted and reinstalled my OS, with the obligatory 24 hours of then getting all the hotfixes, service pack and more hotfixes. Reinstalled Steam and all my Steam games, and reinstalled Fallout 3 and copied over my save games. Why then, when I launch the game can I not access my previous saves? Why does it want me to create an offline account in order for me to continue my game? A bit of Googleing later and it appears the fix it to download the GFWL client separately and install it and sure enough a reboot later and all seems well. Indeed the new interface is not wholly unpleasant and it looks like Microsoft may be finally learning from Valve's example and Steam, except ,where are all these immersion breaking achievements I've collected while wandering the wastes? It would appear that because I wasn't connected to the GFWL service when those achievements were unlocked, they aren't saved or credited. They are lost. Gone. Vanquished. I have to ask then, why have them in the first place? If achievements in an offline game have no value, what is their point? Surely the unlocking of the achievements would be part of the save game and on connecting to the GFWL service the appropriate records updated? Is that so hard?

Like I said, I'm not an achievement seeker in games and I have no great desire to see and collect them all, however, having forced them upon me and in the process breaking, all be it fleetingly, my immersion, to now simply cast them aside is as insulting as it is careless. I hate you Games for Windows Live. You made me want achievements.