10. Sleeping Dogs
Sleeping Dogs is not just another Grand Theft Auto clone. Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, let me tell you why it exceeds where previous sandbox games have failed. The world is gorgeous, the story starts strong and gets exceedingly good as it goes, and the basic structure always feels varied without introducing one too many elements. There are plenty of serious moments, but like any good sandbox, you also have plenty of chances to mess around and have a good time. This is a game that stayed with me long after I finished it and reinvigorated my love for open world games once again. READ MORE
Have you ever considered that you have two social lives? The first is your real-life social experience, whether you are interacting with people in person or online. The other, however, is one not many people consider: your gaming social life. And I’m not talking about how you act when you get killed in a shooter or lose an intense match in a fighting game. I’m referring to how your personality is portrayed through a character in a game and how that character reacts to situations and other characters based on that personality.
Whether it is a character of your own creation or a character created by the developers, it’s very easy to get lost within the lives of these fictional people. With the continuing rise of player choice in games, we see it prevalent in a lot of genres, but the one that always comes back to it is the RPG.
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With few exceptions, you don’t often see good stealth games these days. By that, I mean games that focus almost exclusively on the act of being as sneaky as possible; not games with shoehorned stealth levels or a mix of stealth and action as a focus. The Hitman franchise has always remained consistent in its approach to the genre, and after a six-year absence, Agent 47 is back again. Hitman: Absolution is a game that simultaneously attempts to update the gameplay style, while also returning to certain mechanics from older titles in the series.
While certain changes are more welcome than others, this feels like a true return of one of gaming’s premiere stealth franchises. READ MORE
Now we’re getting to the good stuff. Once we got past the bottom half of the list, it became a lot harder to organize. It’s safe to say that all ten of these consoles deserve a place in history for one reason or another, but there can only be one #1. These are the ten best console launch lineups of all time, according to our panelists. READ MORE
Before New Game+ began proper, I wrote a few assorted columns that eventually led to the creation of this feature. One of my personal favorites was a small piece about evolution of the survival horror genre, titled “the new horror.” While it was by no means great, it was the kind of thing I loved to examine, even briefly. Recently, the genre has gone through even more drastic changes, to the point where the most famous franchises have fallen on hard times or become less about horror and more about action. That’s fine; it’s how potentially-great series grow and become something bigger (and potentially better) than ever before. READ MORE
