Media Molecule, a developer known for putting its most creative tools into the hands of the players, is a factory of imaginative design. The LittleBigPlanet games have done well to demonstrate its talents, but are more a showcase for its fans and not of its own abilities as a studio. Tearaway is the first game from them that infuses their design philosophies and creative ambitions into a title that feels like a passion project. Most importantly of all, it’s probably the best demonstrations of the Vita as a system. READ MORE
The next generation of video games is here! At least, that’s what I’ve been led to believe. Thanks to the increased relevance of PC gaming, we aren’t making a huge generational shift; this is more of a small leap with two more capable devices. With these new systems now out in the wild, I thought I would take this opportunity to reflect back on the past eight years of PS3 and Xbox 360, my experiences with some memorable titles and what I’ve learned most from the games that, in my mind, defined the generation.
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Few franchises approach the same level of destructibility and gunfire as the Battlefield games. This primarily PC-centric series has been one of the highlights of multiplayer gaming every year a new title is released, although those limited to consoles haven’t been able to enjoy the full Battlefield experience until now. Thanks to the release of two new, powerful consoles, Battlefield 4 is finally as fully-featured as it has been on PC for years, complete with some pleasant and unexpected improvements.
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It’s crazy to think about how far the Killzone franchise has come. The original game, released on PS2 back in 2004, was touted as a “Halo killer,” meaning it was essentially Sony’s answer to Microsoft’s monolithic series. There was very little in common between the two, yet Sony pushed it that way and, for the most part, it succeeded. The original game was far from perfect, yet it led to two brilliant sequels. The launch of Sony’s next big console brings the release of the fourth Killzone, subtitled Shadow Fall. It may not impress as much as Killzone 2 did on the PS3, but it demonstrates a lot of potential.
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Crafting original stories for games is probably not a simple task, especially if you’re working with established characters. It can be easy to fall back on something like, say, a prequel story. This might be significantly easier in the long run, yet also may expose an inherent flaw when it comes to creating prequel video games: you have to worry about it from both a story and gameplay perspective. Having to evolve the gameplay while containing the story to certain specifics makes for a difficult balance or a game that, at the end of the day, isn’t much of an improvement over its predecessors.
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