November 8 - November 12

Section: 

I'm going to go ahead and add Call of Duty: Black Ops to the list of high profile military action games like Medal of Honor and Halo: Reach that I didn't play this year. It's not that I have some fundamental disagreement with Black Ops, though the idea of trudging through yet another CoD game is not a particularly pleasant one to me. I'm just not in the same shoot things in the face headspace that I've been in the past. Maybe that’s just me.

In fact, were some kind of weapon placed to my tender head, and I were forced to choose a game I want to pick up this week, it’s probably The Sly Collection. Sly Cooper games somehow fell into that category of games that I had always intended to get around to playing at some point but never did. The temptation of an under $40 collection of the three games is certainly powerful.

It would be simple enough, I suppose to slap up CoD: Black Ops as the game of the week, and perhaps it’s stubborn pigheadedness that prevents me from doing so, but the idea of aggrandizing yet another military shooter is distasteful for me, at least today. I'm sure at some point I will move to a different position on the matter. Instead, I think I will give the nod this week to Sly after all.

PC
- Call of Duty: Black Ops
- Football Manager 2011
- Majesty 2: Battle of Ardania
- Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. 2

Xbox 360
- Call of Duty: Black Ops
- Monster Jam: Path of Destruction

PS3
- Call of Duty: Black Ops
- Monster Jam: Path of Destruction
- SingStar Dance
- The Fight: Lights Out
- The Sly Collection

Wii
- 101-in-1 Sports Megamix
- Call of Duty: Black Ops
- Family Feud Decades
- FlingSmash
- Just Dance Kids
- Karaoke Revolution Glee
- Monster Jam: Path of Destruction
- Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. 2

DS
- Call of Duty: Black Ops
- Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Miniland Mayhem
- Monster Jam: Path of Destruction

PSP
- Football Manager 2011
- Knights in the Nightmare
- Monster Jam: Path of Destruction

Comments

I think I'm going to get the Sly collection even though I've played and own all 3 games for the PS2. Just having the first one not run like crap will be a pretty big deal.

Fun GWJ trivia: Before there was the Conference Call, there was the Conference Call -- which I believe was both the first time either Pyro or I had written for this site. Our topic? Sly 3.

So for old time's sake, this week I'm picking up The Sly Collection. That, and Sly Cooper is one of the best gaming franchises of all time. OF ALL TIME.

I bought Black Ops on the PC.

And the 360.

On some deep dark level I must really hate myself

I'm glad Sly was chosen over Call of Duty. I've been seeing the CoD picture everywhere, and before that Medal of Honor was everywhere. They have pretty much the same cover, so it's like I've been seeing the same game for a month.

Got to say, been tempted to track down those Sly games for quite some time - and now all three turn up in shiny hi-res-o-vision and a reasonable price...don't quite see how I can say no, to be honest.

Screw CoD though. I'm so utterly bored of 'real world' military shooters it's not even funny.

'Real World' military shooters are the new WWII.

Thin_J wrote:

I bought Black Ops on the PC.

And the 360.

On some deep dark level I must really hate myself :|

Wow, you double dipped right away. That's crazy.

You folks are aware of the juggernaut that is Call of Duty aren't you? Thing is going to outsell every other game released this month in the first 24 hours.

I bought it on PC thanks to the beauty D2D sale. I'm really interested in the SLY games as I didn't get a chance to play them on PS2, and I love me some platformers.

El-Producto wrote:

You folks are aware of the juggernaut that is Call of Duty aren't you? Thing is going to outsell every other game released this month in the first 24 hours.

So? That doesn't mean we need to be interested in it. Avatar was still a lousy movie for all that it made swimming pools of money.

ClockworkHouse wrote:
El-Producto wrote:

You folks are aware of the juggernaut that is Call of Duty aren't you? Thing is going to outsell every other game released this month in the first 24 hours.

So? That doesn't mean we need to be interested in it. Avatar was still a lousy movie for all that it made swimming pools of money.

I am avoiding it precisely because it is the game of the month. I am pretty much burnt out on gritty real world shooters. Give me a space marine or an alien infestation, we can talk - but if it just another rough-neck with an m60, I am pretty sure I have played that game already.

More Minecraft, you say?

SallyNasty wrote:

I am pretty much burnt out on gritty real world shooters. Give me a space marine or an alien infestation, we can talk - but if it just another rough-neck with an m60, I am pretty sure I have played that game already.

Pretty much my feelings as well. I can only play Army Man so many times before I feel like I am just going through the motions, doing the same stuff I did in so many other games. I need *some* kind of twist or change of setting, some spark of actual imagination to get interested.

MrDeVil909 wrote:

Wow, you double dipped right away. That's crazy.

Well, the PC version was $45. It likely won't be that cheap again any time soon and I was probably going to end up double dipping anyway.

Just got my stupidity out of the way all at once

I avoided Halo: Reach as well, for the same reason. I am sick of military shooters. However, my wife brought it home the other night from the redbox because I guess some kids in front of her were lauding it. Anyway, I am floored by the quality and I will be purchasing. I guess that would not be a good way to reinforce good behavior on my wife's part though:-)

wordsmythe wrote:

More Minecraft, you say?

Minecraft game of the week, again? Amazing!

Sly 4 would be nice...*sigh*

What about gritty historical shooters? But before WW1.

Ooo. Sly in Hi-Def. Count me in. I've played all three, though never finished any of them. The first I couldn't get into, the second I loved and the third is probably one of my all-time-favorites.

Maybe I'll actually finish them this time...

mellonchollie wrote:

What about gritty historical shooters? But before WW1.

Darkest of Days? Well that aside, that's probably a broad and rich premise, if any one is willing to take the risk. After all, Infinity Ward had to fight Activision to set CoD4 outside of WWII. Even WWI wasn't all trench warfare. And how about the American Civil War? Or at least something ACW-era that isn't a western. Actually scratch that, we need more westerns too. In fact, for the mighty deluge of hot man shoots that come out every year, it's incredible that they are all mined from such a narrow genre. If potential settings were broadened, think about how many more FPSs we could have. And I believe that would be a Good Thing.

Tangentially, I also find it funny/depressingly restrictive that settings seem to be immutably bound to particular game genres and vice versa. FPSs are military or sci-fi. American Civil War is strategy. RPGs are medieval fantasy. And so on.

Gravey wrote:
mellonchollie wrote:

What about gritty historical shooters? But before WW1.

Darkest of Days?

That was probably the worst/buggiest game I have ever played, which was a shame because it was actually a pretty interesting premise with some interesting gameplay elements. I think a well done game in that genre would actually be a lot of fun.

SallyNasty wrote:
Gravey wrote:
mellonchollie wrote:

What about gritty historical shooters? But before WW1.

Darkest of Days?

That was probably the worst/buggiest game I have ever played, which was a shame because it was actually a pretty interesting premise with some interesting gameplay elements. I think a well done game in that genre would actually be a lot of fun.

I actually did some research after posting, and I see that there are some shooters in non-traditional settings—The History Channel's ACW shooters, for instance. But I think the key part of your sentiment, and what's missing so far, is "a well done game".

Red Dead Redemption's Undead Nightmare is my game of the week, simply because it took me this long to clear the massive $10 overhead with the CFO at home.

While I enjoyed Call of Duty 4 and World at War, I was never really blown away by them. MW2 is still 60 dollars, and now Black Ops is out? Eh, I guess I can wait for the prices to drop in about 47 years.

Back to Final Fantasy V!

I don't really understand how Halo gets lumped in with the military shooters. I understand the modern-day military shooter fatigue, but Halo is about as different from those games as Half-Life.

I'm planning on nabbing the Sly Collection sometime over the coming months as well. I loved the Jak and Ratchet & Clank series on the PS2, but for some reason I never got around to playing the Sly Cooper games. I'm loving these HD remakes. Bring on the Team Ico mix!

Dyni wrote:

I don't really understand how Halo gets lumped in with the military shooters. I understand the modern-day military shooter fatigue, but Halo is about as different from those games as Half-Life.

Obviously the setting is different insofar as it's sci-fi, but I can see the similarities. FPS, primarily a console franchise, military protagonist with a small squad of soldiers backing him up, short single-player or co-op campaign paired with a focus on online multiplayer.

The one franchise in that vein that's my guilty pleasure is Gears of War, probably because it seems a little more aware of its own machismo bullsh*t than the others. It's exaggerated to the point of self-parody, and I like that. Also they don't crank out a sequel every single year, so I have more time to rest in between installments. About eight hours of that sort of thing once every two or three years is about right for me.

Gravey wrote:
wordsmythe wrote:

More Minecraft, you say?

Minecraft game of the week, again? Amazing!

Again?! It's the game that just keeps on giving.

Thin_J wrote:
MrDeVil909 wrote:

Wow, you double dipped right away. That's crazy.

Well, the PC version was $45. It likely won't be that cheap again any time soon and I was probably going to end up double dipping anyway.

Just got my stupidity out of the way all at once :P

Well, if it's inevitable it makes sense I guess. I suppose you could call me a hater though, since CoD 4 I've been totally cold on the series, so buying it once is an alien idea.

Some people spend $xx a month to play MMORPGs, others pay $4-5 a month to play COD online. I just think of every new COD as an annual subscription payment that allows them to keep the servers running, so if it's not a whole new experience every time, I'm fine with that.

MrDeVil909 wrote:

I suppose you could call me a hater though, since CoD 4 I've been totally cold on the series, so buying it once is an alien idea. ;)

Well, for me I loved CoD4 but didn't care for World at War and MW2 drove me nuts in maybe three weeks.

The only reason I'm excited for Black Ops is that it seems like almost everything they've removed or changed from MW2 is aimed almost perfectly at fixing the things that killed the game for me.

I'm still holding out for a clover studios anthology disc on the PS3.

Viewtiful Joe 1 and 2, and God Hand all on one disc. Make that happen.

I'm glad I'm not the only one that feels this way. Wait, let me qualify that. I like military shooters and I think they'll still be relevant in the future. I even found myself becoming genuinely interested in CoD Black Ops (mostly because of the setting and presentation from the trailers) although I made an effort to ignore the hype. I actually like Treyarch as a development studio and enjoyed World at War for what it was. Plus I find it amusing that Treyarch seems to be have been lifted to be the new flag-bearers for the CoD standard since the whole Infinity Ward exodus-meltdown debacle.

But I'm just a bit tired of the premise for now. The apathy and creative stagnation, not to mention the willingness to just churn out another bland sequel has killed my enthusiasm for FPS games at the moment. As a consumer, I'm interested in something wholly new and fresh. I know I will want to play more of these types of games at some point (but hopefully by then they will have made some significant advancements, not just in graphics, but other areas), but right now, I'm sitting this round out. Please wake me when they get interesting again!

JonSolo wrote:

But I'm just a bit tired of the premise for now. The apathy and creative stagnation, not to mention the willingness to just churn out another bland sequel has killed my enthusiasm for FPS games at the moment. As a consumer, I'm interested in something wholly new and fresh. I know I will want to play more of these types of games at some point (but hopefully by then they will have made some significant advancements, not just in graphics, but other areas), but right now, I'm sitting this round out. Please wake me when they get interesting again!

I was having pretty much this exact conversation at work today. I like creative/interesting FPS games a lot, but the ones being released at the moment don't feel like they have a hook that differentiates them from games that I've played plenty of times before.

Also:
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