February GEAR column
From GEAR's RPG-focused issue.
Gamer gazing in 2007
Here we are, a full month already into the new year. Chances are that you’re working on trimming away that festive season flab, or at least contemplating it as you sit slack-limbed back in the office, lecture theatre or classroom.
We have a whole new year ahead of us, and in terms of gaming, the radar is jammed with upcoming titles.
The problem with gaming, though, is that it’s very easy to grow jaded. Whether you’re a casual player, or prone to more serious gaming analyses, over time you can become bored. In a market stuffed with sequels and unfulfilled promises of revolutionary gameplay, truly original games are lacking.
So we substitute our boredom with a permanent state of superficial, sweaty excitement. We just bounce our enthusiasm from one game to another. No sooner is a title released than we’ve lost interest. Sometimes we don’t even play what we’ve been heralding for months. We’re already off seeking a new fix.
I’m attempting to break the habit this year. I’ve admitted myself into gamer rehab, and will remain focused on only a handful of titles in 2007. No longer will I accumulate games I don’t play, or discard after only a few stages. I’m committed to giving each game in my selection the attention their developers intended.
Surprisingly, three of my most anticipated 2007 releases are Role Playing Games. It seems odd to admit this in GEAR’s RPG issue, but I’m not a huge fan of the genre, largely because I don’t have chunks of time to craft my character and their adventures. I’m an instant gratification gamer after all.
For this reason, I’m very eager for Fable 2. I was a fan of the original Fable, a stylised ‘RPG-lite’ with stripped down spell systems, clutter-free inventory, and nifty tendency for your behaviour, whether good and bad, to impact on your physical appearance.
With Fable 2, creator Peter Molyneux is supposedly extending character freedoms, even allowing you to father children. And this time around, instead of a traditional medieval location, Fable 2 takes place against an urban 18th Century background. Goodbye archery, hello pistols.
If Fable 2 has its predecessor’s sense of chicken-kickin’ fun, The Witcher by contrast, looks to be deliciously dark and mature. Based on the work of Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski, your hero tackles assorted occult entities, including werewolves and ghouls. Think Constantine meets Knights of the Old Republic.
This year there’s also Immortal Throne, the expansion to Titan Quest, Diablo’s spiritual successor. Players are promised 15 to 20 hours of additional mythological beastie bashing in the Ancient World.
Of course there’s always room for surprises, those buzz-free games that emerge from nowhere to become classics. For now though I’m otherwise restricting my enthusiasm to Portal, Assassin’s Creed, God of War 2, and the collected first season of Sam and Max.
Plenty of other high profile titles, like Command & Conquer 3, haven’t made my Watch List. But the reasons for these exclusions are material for a year of GEAR columns. Keep reading in 2007.
Gamer gazing in 2007
Here we are, a full month already into the new year. Chances are that you’re working on trimming away that festive season flab, or at least contemplating it as you sit slack-limbed back in the office, lecture theatre or classroom.
We have a whole new year ahead of us, and in terms of gaming, the radar is jammed with upcoming titles.
The problem with gaming, though, is that it’s very easy to grow jaded. Whether you’re a casual player, or prone to more serious gaming analyses, over time you can become bored. In a market stuffed with sequels and unfulfilled promises of revolutionary gameplay, truly original games are lacking.
So we substitute our boredom with a permanent state of superficial, sweaty excitement. We just bounce our enthusiasm from one game to another. No sooner is a title released than we’ve lost interest. Sometimes we don’t even play what we’ve been heralding for months. We’re already off seeking a new fix.
I’m attempting to break the habit this year. I’ve admitted myself into gamer rehab, and will remain focused on only a handful of titles in 2007. No longer will I accumulate games I don’t play, or discard after only a few stages. I’m committed to giving each game in my selection the attention their developers intended.
Surprisingly, three of my most anticipated 2007 releases are Role Playing Games. It seems odd to admit this in GEAR’s RPG issue, but I’m not a huge fan of the genre, largely because I don’t have chunks of time to craft my character and their adventures. I’m an instant gratification gamer after all.
For this reason, I’m very eager for Fable 2. I was a fan of the original Fable, a stylised ‘RPG-lite’ with stripped down spell systems, clutter-free inventory, and nifty tendency for your behaviour, whether good and bad, to impact on your physical appearance.
With Fable 2, creator Peter Molyneux is supposedly extending character freedoms, even allowing you to father children. And this time around, instead of a traditional medieval location, Fable 2 takes place against an urban 18th Century background. Goodbye archery, hello pistols.
If Fable 2 has its predecessor’s sense of chicken-kickin’ fun, The Witcher by contrast, looks to be deliciously dark and mature. Based on the work of Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski, your hero tackles assorted occult entities, including werewolves and ghouls. Think Constantine meets Knights of the Old Republic.
This year there’s also Immortal Throne, the expansion to Titan Quest, Diablo’s spiritual successor. Players are promised 15 to 20 hours of additional mythological beastie bashing in the Ancient World.
Of course there’s always room for surprises, those buzz-free games that emerge from nowhere to become classics. For now though I’m otherwise restricting my enthusiasm to Portal, Assassin’s Creed, God of War 2, and the collected first season of Sam and Max.
Plenty of other high profile titles, like Command & Conquer 3, haven’t made my Watch List. But the reasons for these exclusions are material for a year of GEAR columns. Keep reading in 2007.
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