Number 8: Portal 2

I was a bit late on the Portal bandwagon. By the time I got a "true" next-gen console this year (The Wii doesn't count, kids) I'd long since missed Valve's The Orange Box, the undisputed star of which was the original Portal. Developed using the Half Life 2 engine, Portal was a quirky and charming puzzle game centered around the use of a level-bending portal gun. It delighted players in 2007, and since then people had been asking for more. Well this year we got more, and it was even better than we could have hoped.

A sequel to Portal could've been an easy thing to put together. Most fans would have settled for a few new levels, maybe a new gimmick or two. It wasn't exactly a formula that would benefit from too many changes. Such a well-balanced game can't be messed with too much, otherwise you risk alienating the existing fan-base while failing to bring anyone new in. Lucky for us, Valve did a fantastic job making Portal 2.

Maintaining the same tight puzzle/shooter mechanics as its predecessor, Portal 2 carries on the darkly comic sci-fi plot with predictable aplomb. You wake up in a decayed Aperture labs, where you soon realise that GlaDOS (the first game's wonderfully cutting AI antagonist) is back in control, and out to avenge her previous defeat. Joined by a bumbling robot sidekick Wheatly, impeccably voiced by Stephen Merchant, you're tasked with solving more devious puzzle rooms with the eponymous portal gun. But of course, the plot is secondary. As with the first, what really matters is the incredibly intuitive and addictive gameplay.

And boy does it not disappoint. From start to finish each puzzle room presents a perfect little challenge, so much so that you'll find yourself saying "just one more" for hours and hours on end. Gimmick-wise Portal 2 adds to the returning cubes, turrets, and pressure pads of the first game. Hard light bridges and anti-grav gel bring an extra mind bending twist to the action, and the single player campaign benefits from it. But it's in the online multiplayer that Portal 2 really shines.

Bringing a whole new set of levels to the mix, the co-op is easily Valve's best addition to Portal 2. The puzzles require you to work together as a team, but that'll quickly go out the window in favour of screwing over your opposite number in as many hilarious ways as possible. Why simply offer them a bridge over a batch of poisonous water when you can take it away while they're half way across it? If you're looking for a theme in this list so far, "fun multiplayer mode" seems to be a good candidate.

Following up on a game as tightly designed and perfectly paced as Portal was never going to be easy, but Valve have made it seem like the most natural thing in the world. At a time when the concept of game sequels is reaching saturation point (have we really had four Assassins Creed titles in as many years?), Portal 2 was a refreshingly creative and enjoyable experience. It never deviates far from its near-perfect source concept, but brings in just enough new content to make it fee necessary. Dare we hope for the same with Portal 3?

Number 9: Frozen Synapse

Seeing this game for the first time, I was in two minds. On the one hand, I love a bit of deep strategy gaming, and the minimalist presentation with its cyberpunk trappings really caught my eye. However, it was a PC/Mac only release, and I had yet to find a game that would run well on my 4-year old Macbook, so I dismissed it as something I'd never have the chance to play. Luckily I eventually read that it would run just fine, and thanks to my pal Kilted Moose I was given a free code for a Steam copy. The next two weeks were a bit of a write-off.

The description "Simultaneous turn-based tactical squad shooter" just rolls off the tongue, but it (sort of) sums Frozen Synapse up. Players take their turns to move their units and fire on the enemy, and when both turns are submitted the action plays out. Players don't have to be on to take turns at the same time, so you can flit between several matches while you wait. You can test out how your tactical moves will play out before submitting them, so a single turn can take hours as you consider all the possible approaches.  As such, games play out over ponderous days, but in the end are over in less than a minute of fast-paced action. There's a hefty single-player campaign for getting used to the game mechanics, but it's in the online multiplayer that the game thrives.

For every mission you're given a number of units, each representing one of the 5 weapon classes: machine gun, shotgun, rockets, grenades, and sniper. These units all have their strengths, weaknesses, and a wide variety of tactical uses. For instance, the shotgun can take out people up close and at speed, so it's perfect for clearing out small rooms; but it's got a limited firing range, so can't hit distant targets. The rocket launcher can be used to destroy walls, and has a large blast radius; but it takes a long time to reload, and the unit is slow moving, so can find itself exposed in a fast-paced game. The balance between the units is part of what makes the game so compelling, and you'll quickly find yourself preferring a tactical approach with one over the others.

Several game modes are included, but most of the time is spent in Dark Extermination, where the opponent's units are hidden unless in your line of sight. It leads to incredibly tense battles, as you nervously approach each corner with caution, and are terrified of making a break across open ground. It's here that the beauty of the unit balance becomes clear, as each player starts with the same randomly generated types, so there's no unfair upper hand. At the end you can view a replay of the battle, and see exactly what your opponent was doing and how they maneuvered around the level. A built in Youtube uploader means you can share battles with the world too. So you can enjoy four different videos of me getting my ass kicked and laugh.

Put simply, Frozen Synapse is an incredibly engrossing and rewarding game. It reminds me of Advance Wars in so many ways: the near-perfect unit balance, a lengthy campaign, endlessly enjoyable multiplayer, wonderful presentation, and addictive as all hell. I don't get the chance to play many strategy games (they rarely work well on consoles), so I was really grateful for this one. If you fancy a game you can find me under Westendweegie, and if you haven't already then I heartily recommend you pick up Frozen Synapse and give it a go.

Number 10: Rayman Origins

It's been a long time since you could legitimately consider a Rayman game to be amongst the best of the year. You'd probably have to go back 16 years to the release of the first game actually. A couple of fairly mediocre 3D sequels followed, before Ubisoft gave up the franchise in favour of releasing an endless stream of Raving Rabbids sequels instead. Which was a shame, because the original Rayman was a bit of a last hurrah for 2D platformers at the time, coming out shortly before Mario 64 arrived to change the genre forever. But thanks in part to Nintendo, 2D platformers have enjoyed something of a renaissance in recent years; and Rayman Origins is its masterpiece.

The first thing to consider is just how incredible it looks. Origins harks back to the original's style and character, but gives it the spit and polish it deserved. The term "playable cartoon" hasn't felt so applicable since The Wind Waker, and the variety between the levels is stunning. Not one to fall into the old cliches of your typical fire/ice/desert worlds, here you'll visit lush green forests, dark caverns, and beautiful underwater caves all begging to be explored. But not content with simply being a pleasure to look at, it's an incredibly fun and rewarding game to play. Exploration never feels like a chore, and there's usually something surprising just around the corner. It harks back to the original in terms of its challenge, which can sometimes take you off guard. Levels never feel unfair though: more often than not, with a bit of practice you'll overcome most obstacles.

Oh but I've yet to mention the multiplayer. Co-op inevitably descends into chaos, madness, pure hilarity; and it's what makes the game so brilliant. A lack of internet connectivity means you'll be playing with people sat right next to you, and it's all the better for it. This sort of thing is traditionally Nintendo's territory, seen most recently in New Super Mario Brothers, but for my money this has it beat. It just feels more original, more fun. The wicked sense of humour and delightful visuals help, naturally.

It's funny, in the last couple of years we've had many fantastic 2D platformers, like NSMB, Limbo, Sonic Generations and Kirby's Epic Yarn, but this is easily the best of the lot. It's a genre I'm so happy to see making a comeback, and with such strength too.  Playing Rayman Origins reminded me of why I love videogames in the first place. You can tell Michel Ancel and his team had a lot of fun making it, and that's reflected in just how much fun it is to play. With Sonic and Kirby also flying the 2D flag this year, I'm looking forward to seeing where the genre goes from here.

The Best of 2011

Real life has gotten in the way of blogging over the last couple of months, but I'm going to make up for lost time with a list of my personal top 10 games of the year. Well I say list... what I really mean is a post a day, counting down from ten to one, and another for a wee nod to some of the games that didn't quite make the grade. I just love drawing things out you see. Also, it'll hopefully keep you coming back.

Anyway wow, what a year. Maybe I just haven't been paying attention during this generation of consoles, but there's been an unusually high number of quality games releases this year, especially in the last three or four months. And the range has been fantastic as well. From great sequels in established franchises, to groundbreaking original IP, captivating indie titles, and inventive mobile releases. It's been years since I had so much I've wanted to play, and so little time (or money) to do so. So I did my best, and put this list together straight from my own brain. As such, I'm sure there are plenty of fantastic games I've missed out altogether, simply because I haven't had the chance to play them. I started with a longlist of thirty, and whittling it down was hard enough without having to consider more.

So if you disagree with my choices then great, if you agree then even better! If 2012 proves to be even half as good as this year's been, we'll be lucky.

Call Connect Review

Smartphones are amazing things. Everything from video editing and photography, to internet access and games available on a single device that fits in the palm of your hand. But would you expect some of the most fun you can have on the iPhone to come from a switchboard simulator? Thanks to Call Connect, a new game from Australian developers Walk Through the Clock, you can get a taste of the stressful life of a 1950s telephone operator: probably not high on many people's lists of “dream jobs”, but you might change your mind after this! Taking the form of a fast-paced colour matching puzzler, Call Connect presents you with an intimidating looking switchboard, covered in colour-coded sockets and jacks.

A slow start will ease you in nicely

 A light above a socket will flash when a call is coming through, connect the red jack and a light will flash the corresponding colour for the black jack to connect to. When the call is finished, both sockets will flash, and you tap the jacks to disconnect. Sounds simple enough! And it feels it, at least initially. The game eases you in slowly, throwing you a call at a time, maybe two. The efficiency meter at the top, which indicates how well you're doing, will be a happy yellow, and the score will be increasing steadily. You begin to think you can handle it without problems. But before you know it you'll be facing a wall of tangled cables and flashing sockets, while an angry alarm indicates the meter's sudden slide into the red. Call after call piles up until the switchboard literally explodes under the strain, presumably leaving our hapless operator either injured or in need of a new job.

Oh God how do I even keep track?

 Pacing is key with this game. The first couple of minutes ease you in nicely, and as a result can end up feeling a bit slow. Bonus points are earned by connecting jacks flashing multicoloured, which raises the efficiency meter and can really take off the strain if you're struggling. And you will struggle eventually. It takes a lot of concentration to mentally arrange and keep track of all the calls, and in the end it catches up with you. But, like the best puzzle games, the thought of improving your score, of bettering yourself, drives you to try again and again. The touchscreen control works great, and the way jacks auto-snap into sockets means you never feel as though you have to be 100% accurate with placements. Presentation-wise, Call Connect is lovely. The bright colours and sleek design lend the game a cheery feel, even as your switchboard slides slowly into madness. Everything's clearly indicated, so it's never the fault of the game if you misplace a jack or leave one plugged for too long. The blame can always be laid on your own reflexes, and the limited matching skills of your brain. But it's worth trying again just to see that score go a little higher.

There's an easy mode for the faint-hearted

 At times you can wish there was a bit more to do. Oh sure, it's difficult to imagine what variation can be added to a game about switchboards; but a game like Flight Control (with which this bears a lot of similarity, despite the vast differences you'd imagine exist between playing as a switchboard operator and an air traffic controller) kept players interested with different airfields, each offering a slightly tweeked challenge. Perhaps we can expect something similar from the Walk Through the Clock boys in time. But the bottom line is: Call Connect manages to combine an odd concept, brain bending gameplay, and the “one more go” feeling of the very best puzzle games, and as such it's a winner.

Demo Day!

Yesterday I'll admit to having gotten a little over-excited on the Playstation store, downloading no less than 21 demos for my shiny new PS3. I'm what you could call a late convert to the current-gen: I made the stupid mistake of asking a Wii at launch, using up the last big Christmas present my parents would ever buy me, and consigning myself to a miserable 5 years of WAGGLE while my friends enjoyed their shiny graphics and online functionality. But that's a blog post for another day!

So as soon as I found out the Playstation Store allowed me to download demos of new games, I went a little bit mental with excitement. A fair chunk of my childhood was spent playing the demo discs you used to get with magazines, which gave you a great indication of whether a game would be worth pestering your mum for. I remember playing the Future Cop: LAPD demo with my brother until my eyes nearly melted, trying and retrying to make as much progress as we could before the timer cruelly ended our fun. A bit like an arcade game, only free, and without the reward of actually getting past the first level.

I never even bought it!           Pic courtesy of Gamespot

So there I am, giddy with hope of reliving a small part of my youth, and ready to waste an afternoon. First things first, connect to the store... Well that was easy. Next, search through the demos... Hmm, well the selection isn't great considering the PS3's been out for 5 years, but I mustn't complain! The very idea of downloading stuff straight to a console still seems weirdly futuristic to me, like I've somehow modded it into doing something it shouldn't. So I find a title, click download. I find another! Download that too. And a couple more, let's get them started as well. And I'll stick on Deus Ex while I'm waiting. Christ, the future's brilliant!


Heed this warning: never believe the rubbish Virgin will throw your way when trying to sell you broadband. "You're in an area that will get you super-fast speeds! Unlimited downloads! Give us money you muppet!" After a good 3 hour session on Deus Ex, I quit to find one of my downloads on 5%, and the rest yet to begin. It was then that I looked up Sony's well documented wireless issues, and nearly threw my router out the window. Oh sure, it'll run ok through an ethernet cable, but wireless was crawling along at around 2kb per second. Problem: my ethernet cable is about 2 foot long, and the router is on the opposite end of my flat to the TV. Solution? The following setup.

MADNESS

Yep, that's my PS3 and TV plugged into opposite ends of the house. Don't get me started. Well at least the downloads were actually ticking along now, and before I knew it I was 21 demos better off and wondering why it was suddenly 4 in the morning. Still, plenty to play now. I'll give each one a wee review. Almost none of these demos are particularly new, so don't expect anything interesting if you've already played 'em.

Ghostbusters
I came for the great dialogue and cinematic atmosphere, I left because of the duff controls and dreadful combat. Deleted.

FIFA 12
Exactly the same as FIFA 10, right down to me being crap at it. Deleted.

PES 12
Seemed to consist solely of an unskippable and endless cutscene trumpeting the improvements from the last edition. Deleted without even getting a chance to play it.

Red Baron Arcade
Dogfighting nonsense with the slowest planes this side of a Microsoft Flight Simulator. Deleted.

Blast Factor
Geometry Wars-alike twin stick shooter, which I'm sure could be anywhere between brilliant and horrible if you're into that kind of thing. Deleted.

No More Heroes Paradise
One of the few Wii games I enjoyed made almost unplayably confusing by converting to Dualshock controls. You win this time waggle... Deleted, but I'll probably pick it up if I ever buy a Move controller.

Hoarde
Strange dragon looting sim that wouldn't have looked out of place 15 years ago. Deleted, but at least I played the demo to the end.

Sonic Generations
Initially seems like a fun celebration of Sonic's roots, but is confusing as hell to play at speed. Kind of a problem for a Sonic game. Kept it for another go later.

Limbo
Haunting and beautifully paced, this was the only demo that made me really want to play the full game. Kept because I can't afford to yet!

Eufloria
Bizarre comet-hopping plant colonisation thing, that plays like an iOS game. Hard to describe and I had no idea what was going on. Kept it.

Fat Princess
Ever heard of Team Buddies? Yeah well so have the developers of this game. I could tell this would be fun online, so I kept it.

From Dust
I spent nearly 20 minutes trying to build a land bridge so that a set of whining tribesmen could reach some totem pole, and they wouldn't budge no matter how big it was. Deleted.

NBA Jam
Got torn apart by the computer even on easy. Still not entirely sure why I downloaded this. Deleted.


Heavenly Sword
Looks and plays almost exactly like a PS2 game; Pity that game is God of War. Deleted.

Eat Them!
The mix of cell shaded visuals, comic book style, and Blast Corps approach to destructive gameplay made me more nostalgic than anything else I played today. This one's a keeper.

Chime
Some kind of sideways musical Tetris, which offered no explanation as to what to do before throwing me in. Kept though, because it promised me the chance to remix Orbital tracks if I ever understand it.

Beat Hazard
Keeping this until I actually have some music to play it with.

Ace Combat: Assault Horizon
Was having a lot of fun with this until I randomly crashed into a motorway. I'm keeping it.

Marvel Pinball
After 10 minutes of trying to flick a ball into a Sentinal's foot, while a laughably bad Wolverine shouted rubbish like "Be careful what you wish for!" and "WAARGH!" I gave up. Deleted.

MAG
Refused to even start without internet connectivity, and wouldn't let me return to the menu to sort it out, meaning I had to turn off the console. Deleting it was so satisfying. 

MercuryHG
Puzzle game in the Super Monkey Ball mold, which doesn't work properly because the PS3 sticks are twitchier than a paranoid crack addict. Deleted!


Between downloading, installing, and playing all those, as well as writing this post about them, I've wasted around 2 days. This is why I'm not a good role model.

Welcome Back

Ah, after over 2 years I'm back on the blogging scene! Not that you could really count my last contribution (the laughably bad Football Manager review below) as being "on" the scene, so much.

Anyway, hi all you gals and guys reading. I'm Joseph, student journalist and videogames enthusiast. Expect this blog to contain a few reviews, features, opinion pieces, and other assorted rubbish that I want to share. As you'll gather from the title, I'm a gamer, and I'm from Glasgow; a stunning set of circumstances that led to my wildly imaginative name for the blog.

Anyway, more coming soon.