Shadow of the Colossus' simple, spare storyline has been repeatedly acclaimed as a high-water mark in video game storytelling.

Even before Mario trekked through the Mushroom Kingdom to rescue the Princess and Pac-Man was pursued by a quartet of ghosts, video games have been a storytelling medium. As games matured from simple sprites to a multi-billion dollar industry, so the scope of video games increased —in terms of graphical fidelity, size and scope of game worlds, and the potential for storytelling.

The problem, though, is that only two of those three aspects have seen real growth to this point. While our favored medium is still maturing, it’s encountered some growing pains in finding the right way to tell a story — and the right kind of stories to tell.

Warning: Spoilers for Grand Theft Auto IV, Bioshock, Metal Gear Solid, Fallout 3, Fable II, and Shadow of the Colossus follow.

The deep, gritty urban environment of Liberty City created by Rockstar for Grand Theft Auto IV opens up to gamers in a way that both advances the storyline as well as the needs of the player.

While storytelling techniques from books, comics, TV and movies may be applicable to games, the nature of the video game medium means not all of these techniques make best use of the gaming experience. A major difference is that video games are an experiential medium: gamers expect to learn new tricks or techniques, or gain access to new worlds throughout the course of a game. While this may not be as true in sports or racing games, for example, players of single-player-focused games of all genres expect a sort of ramp — both in terms of what skills your character has as well as in difficulty. A game like Ninja Gaiden or God of War would feel stale if your character started the game with the abilities, weapons and skills he or she ended with. In order to increase the difficulty of the game (generally from simple to complex as the game nears its close), those skills are needed to introduce new challenges.

Movies and books do not expect you to make such strides throughout the story— however, the convention of unlocking more and more powerful weapons or abilities throughout a single-player role playing game or action game is a video game standby. An issue games have, then, is telling a powerful story within a framework that also makes sense from a gameplay perspective. Done in a banal or uninspired way, a game feels cliché or trite; but when executed well, games marry storytelling and advancement in a flowing, natural way.

A great example is the post-GTA III Grand Theft Auto games. The game world in Rockstar’s flagship series opens up as missions unlock; the key is that it feels natural. An attempt on the life of GTA IV protagonist Nico Bellic and his cousin early in the game forces them from the first opening area of the game to the next one; while it’s still shepherding the player from one area to another, it makes sense in the context of both gameplay (moving from one level to another) and storytelling.

Another challenge to story is in level structure for many games. While movies and novels go through crests and valleys of action and story progression, games take it to another level and build levels around specific action scenes as well as new mechanics. Take a game like Gears of War 2 as an example. Most every level in the two Gears of War games introduces a new technique or experience — whether that’s riding on a giant excavator and firing from mounted turrets, or working your way through a giant worm, the story is oftentimes molded in such a way as to naturally introduce new scenarios for gamers.

Many aspects of Gears of War and Gears of War 2's storyline rotate around the game's level design, crafting the story around what the designers want the gamer to experience. The chainsaw duel, however, is just badass.

The problem that arises from this is that parts of the story can be cut due to difficulty with getting a level functioning properly. If the game’s engine just flat-out can’t handle a level, or the developers lack the time to finish a scene to their desired quality, it gets cut. Compare this to movies, novels and TV shows, where content is cut in the interest of brevity or relevance — scenes are deleted or pages are cut because they’re excess, not because the director or writer doesn’t know how to shoot them or put them into words.

It’s not the case with games because many story-focused games hone in on gameplay first, with the story built to fit. The Gears of War series is guilty of this, with story built to explain away gameplay concepts, but it’s certainly not the only one out there.

Regardless, the medium is still blossoming in terms of finding new and inventive ways to tell stories. There have been advances in taking the best of post-modern storytelling and combining that with the interactivity of gaming to create something that can only be told through the medium of the video game.

A game like Bioshock is a step in this right direction. It takes a rather ordinary story idea, with a relatively simple plot progression throughout, but throws the player for a loop by manipulating the story within the context of gaming. Bioshock doesn’t succeed because its dystopian, Ayn Rand-inspired story is groundbreaking, but because it takes certain video game tropes — that gamers have a choice, have control, and that a person giving them instructions can be trusted — and uses them to bring meaning to the player. It takes the idea that the narrator and guiding voice in a game can be taken for gospel and stands it on its head. While it’s a simple concept (and one explored in books like The Catcher in the Rye or Catch-22), it’s one that has not been explored in detail in videogames.

Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima utilized many interesting technical tricks with the PlayStation, including reading from the memory card for other Konami games in the form of Psycho Mantis reading Solid Snake's mind.

You think you have the game figured out, then it turns out you’ve been a pawn all along. Metal Gear Solid did this, too — along with other mind-tricks that took advantage of the medium. This is best exemplified in the battle with Psycho Mantis, a specially trained super-soldier who could read the protagonist’s – and the player’s – mind. How was that achieved? Psycho Mantis could “read your mind” and counter all of your actions if you left the PlayStation controller in the first control port; this boss also read the PlayStation memory cards to see if there was any save data for other games by Metal Gear Solid’s publisher, Konami. Players had to learn to either adapt to the fight…or just move the controller to the second port.

Fortunately, more games are playing with the structure of the narrative for dramatic effect. PlayStation 2 classic Shadow of the Colossus uses bare minimalism to create an emotionally meaningful experience. It’s gaming structure at its simplest — the protagonist must go defeat a series of bosses to save his beloved princess — but the sparseness of the world that the player rides and hunts in creates a stillness, a narrative white space that contrasts with the brutal climbing and killing of the gentle yet gigantic colossi the player must slay. It’s powerful and moving in ways few other games are.

Bioware’s RPGs, including the Baldur’s Gate series, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Jade Empire, and Mass Effect, all seek to evoke emotion through a different method: choice. Knights of the Old Republic popularized a trend towards good/evil choice in games — actions and dialogue in KOTOR affected your character’s development and standing within the game’s community, as well as storyline options that were available. Some characters’ quests were only available if you were good or evil enough, and the theory was that gamers would go for one path or another but must live with their decisions.

Fallout 3's Broken Steel downloadable content retroactively changes the ending to the game from a hard, final conclusion, to a jumping-off point for more end-game content.

Other games, like the Fallout series and the Fable series, have highlighted this as well, but the concept of choice and decisions making last affects on characters hasn’t been executed as well as possible. Why? Gamers right now do not want these choices to be permanent. Downloadable content for Fable II allowed gamers the opportunity to shortcut around the game’s end-of-storyline decisions; everything from weight (gained or lost by diet) to the story’s final impossible choice are reversible now, albeit for a price. A similar effect is achieved in Fallout 3’s Broken Steel downloadable content, which ret-cons the game’s ending, adds new storyline content, and allows the player to continue playing with their character. In Fallout 3, enough good (or evil) karma will balance the other side out; some choices are permanent, but many aren’t. The emotional impact choice and living with decisions can have is washed a bit when it lacks permanence.

One of the highest achievements for all art — including television, music, movies, and, yes, video games — is to convey a strong emotion. Whether that’s happiness, sadness, fear, joy, or whatever the case may be, if a song moves you to tears or a movie makes you laugh for days, that piece of art has succeeded. With gaming, there is a unique opportunity to provide an even stronger emotional connection with a medium because of the interactive nature of video games. While games have not had that watershed storytelling event — there hasn’t been “a Citizen Kane of gaming” as of yet — watch how developers continue to find new ways to tell powerful stories that utilize interactivity and personal choice.

The criticisms largely echo mine in reviewing the first add-on, Knothole Island, and it’s an overall shame to again see Lionhead botch its DLC. Costumes and potions will only get your game so far, you know.

You got all excited for nothing, pup

It’s also unfortunate that my predictions of See the Future being more worthwhile turned out wrong–that’s what I get for speculation, I suppose.

News for Thursday: Sony loses cash, a lack of funding shutters another development studio and Telltale Games sells a lot of Strong Bad. It’s all very money-oriented today.

The House of PlayStation might have expectantly lost money, but they're selling many more of these than before

Sony posted a $1 billion loss for the end of the previous financial year ending March 31, 2009; however the company’s operating losses have been cut in half during the same fiscal period. This isn’t anything new considering the global economic issues still plaguing businesses everywhere, but Sony has in the past especially received flak for the high production costs associated with the PlayStation 3.

Now it seems the company has improved the methods of producing their next-gen console to subsequently reduce monetary expenditures and perform better at market in spite of a weakened Yen and slower PlayStation 2 sales.

However, Sony accomplished much more in terms of sales figures: over the last year the company saw a 10-percent increase in sales of PS3 units and a doubling of software sales for the console. Despite the retail successes Sony expects to lose another $1.25 billion over the course of the next fiscal year.

That price drop doesn’t sound too promising, does it?

If only Factor 5 could've used the Force, financially

In some very sad news (as reported by 1UP,) development studio Factor 5, best-known for their series of Rogue Squadron titles, has closed its San Rafael studio. It appears that after financial problems resulting from the bankruptcy of Brash Entertainment last year–with whom Factor 5 was crafting a Superman title–the long-running development studio could no longer afford to keep going.

On a personal note, the Rogue Squadron series for both the Nintendo 64 and GameCube meant a lot to this then-young Star Wars fan. They weren’t just geek indulgences, but truly amazing games for their respective generations and showed what great work Factor 5 was capable of. In the end the company likely felt pigeonholed into the role of “awesome Star Wars game people.” As such they tried to expand their horizons with Lair, which ended up to be a commercial and critical mess.  The complications with Brash seemed to only make matters worse.

Now, they’re gone. We sincerely wish those affected the best of luck in their future endeavors.

Max is certainly enthusiastic about Telltale's success

On the happy side of videogame development, Telltale Games announced that they reached 1,000,000 to-date sales of downloadable episodes for their Sam & Max and Strong Bad games. Congratulations to the independent studio, as it’s quite an impressive milestone to reach for a smaller and more-focused method of creating games.

That’s not meant to sound condescending; it’s a testament to Telltale’s ability to craft humorous titles people truly want to play. I’ll admit I’ve yet to check out any of their episodic games, but now seems like the right time to do so considering the company’s 5-year anniversary sale currently happening on Steam.

Plus, it’s been so long since I’ve watched anything Homestar Runner-related that I might as well get back into the swing of things.

A beautiful vista symbolizing great things on the horizon. But a chance to see the future? Well…not so much.

After our last journey to Albion’s Knothole Island left us feeling cold, dampened our spirits and hung us out to dry, Lionhead brings us another content pack with See the Future. It promises new dungeons, new items, plenty of new achievements and an enticing glimpse into Albion’s (and the franchise’s) future.

But just like any of Murgo’s wares, this new purchase will probably leave you feeling swindled.

Purveyor of curios, doodads, and mysterious music boxes that make people want to shoot you and your sister, Murgo the trader has returned to Bowerstone with a new batch of slightly cursed wares for your perusal. Purge them of their curses and a glimpse into the future is your reward.

That’s the premise, at least. But the two cursed items merely act as portals to a couple of minuscule, self-contained areas that can be cleared in about an hour in total. They’re not without their charms: one tasks you with returning color to a monochromatic land by defeating color-coded, faceless enemies, and the other (and far shorter) quest has your hero dressing up like a variety of Fable monsters to complete a short puzzle. However, they feel very linear, even by Fable standards, and they lack any semblance of permanent consequences for your actions.

Fable II did a wonderful job of shaping the world based on your actions, and even Knothole Island was altered considerably by how you controlled the seasons and where your loyalties lay. Unfortunately, See the Future suffers from an even greater disconnect. The quests feel like deleted scenes from the retail release with almost nothing anchoring them to the game’s canon (save for an appearance from everyone’s favorite sadistic piece of furniture, Chesty,) and the rewards for your persistence are a colossal disappointment and an utterly missed opportunity, respectively.

Even the content pack’s final challenge, the Colosseum, fails to deliver on expectations. While a five-minute battle royale between your hero and hundreds of Albion’s deadliest creatures sounds like it has the potential to offer a difficult challenge for the game’s most die-hard players, it ends up amounting to nothing more than a button-mashing exercise. On my first run through, I earned around 31,000 points, and the grand prize (and score achievement) only require 20,000. Granted, I had maxed out my hero’s abilities on my first run through Fable II, but I was still disappointed that Lionhead still hasn’t managed to make combat challenging enough to require players to be dexterous and mindful of their surroundings.

An innocent soul is trapped within these ruins. Your hero valiantly proves once again just how dense he/she is to fall for yet another ruse like this one.

The DLC’s raison d’être — that whole “seeing the future” bit — is an even greater letdown than the quests that preceded its revealing. Spoiling the specifics would be a disservice to readers, but suffice it to say that, with the exception of one new proper noun being introduced to the Fable lexicon, nothing really happens.

But if there’s any solace to be had in this expansion, it’s that it reaffirms Lionhead’s commitment to continuing the Fable experience. Here’s hoping the studio takes its time to make our next venture into Albion (or other worlds, perhaps?) live up to Fable II’s exemplary standards, instead of releasing more content that fails to improve upon the experience of the retail game.

Fable II’s See the Future add-on is available for 560 ($7.00) in the Xbox Live Marketplace.

Recommended for:

• Albion’s most avid heroes who will pay any price for a couple of costumes and some of the weakest quests in the game
• Fans of the game’s voicework and lush environments (which are blessedly still present) who are willing to overlook a dearth of content and a disappointing conclusion in exchange for another reason to return to Albion

Not Recommended for:

• Players expecting a tick upward in quality from Knothole Island; despite the intervening months, See the Future is just as sloppy and even less satisfying
• Anyone expecting anything even remotely revelatory from the game’s glimpse into the future

Read our policy on reviews here.

Berserker Barrage

Ah, blessed weekend. You couldn’t have arrived any sooner, particularly as I seem to be coming down with a decidedly non-porcine illness. Unfortunately, the workload doesn’t let up for Doug and me — we’re tackling that most coveted of challenges in fake-rockdom bright and early tomorrow morning. And not to be outdone, Aaron’s looking at a full course of superhero do-goodery this weekend. Let’s just hope X-Men Origins: Wolverine shapes up to be a bit better than its movie counterpart — any game where I can leap onto a helicopter, yank out the pilot and decapitate him with the blades is just dandy.

Nick: Look upon this symbol, ye mighty, and despair! The coveted Bladder of Steel is without question the most difficult achievement/trophy available in Rock Band 2, and nearly impossible for the incontinent. It’s awarded to any players who complete the Endless Setlist 2 — all 84 on-disc Rock Band 2 songs — without failing or pausing once. It’s roughly six hours and ten minutes of non-stop rocking, and it’s a needless, arthritic exercise — not to mention a waste of a perfectly good Saturday. But hey, bring a couple friends along and keep a couple alternates on hand, and it’s not so daunting.

Assuming I’m not wracked with crippling wrist pain, I’m hoping to finish up Halo Wars and Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars in order to whip up a couple of reviews for next week. And my most recent impulse buy, Bionic Commando Rearmed, is giving me a run for my money.

Aaron:

It’s been another week of playing games I’ve reviewed, or am currently reviewing. Aside from Fable II’s Knothole Island and Spider-Man: Web of Shadows (review pending!), I put in some quality time with Left 4 Dead once more. As always, it’s best served amongst friends. Oh, and I certainly enjoyed Stevie Ray Vaughan in Rock Band 2. I treated myself to Texas Flood.

Now, here’s my videogame ordeal for the week: Battlefield 2.

See, one of my friends and I played that game absolutely to death for nearly two years post-release. A little over a week ago I heard of the new beta patch for the game, the first patch at all in about three years, and decided with its Vista and widescreen support, it was time for me to once again crash fighter jets into the ocean. My friend agreed to the suggestion, and I expected nothing less than kittens and rainbows to lead us to our glorious Battlefield 2 promisedland.

Unfortunately, after hours of installs, recovering old accounts, dealing with EA’s download manager and finally downloading patches (nearly two gigabytes worth), the game decides to crash everytime I try to join a match or change the audio settings. At least I see the menu screen, I suppose.

So, the remedy is to uninstall and do everything over but leave out the beta patch — the problem there is I don’t know if Vista will even run the damn game without it.

I swear, the one thing about PC gaming I simultaneously love and hate is its complexity.

Next week = Suikoden Tierkreis, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Assassin’s Creed, Fallout 3 DLC and, hopefully, Battlefield 2.

Doug:

Along with usual recent standbys Assassin’s Creed and FIFA 09, here are some things I’ve put just a little bit of time into this week…

I got the chance to go through a bit of a game that I loved when it came out last summer: Castle Crashers. When one of my friends sent a voice message asking to play, I sent him the Castle Crashers invite post-haste and man…man is this game fun.

I’ve played a metric ton of demos the last few days, both for Xbox 360 games and Xbox Live Arcade titles. Quick hits on some of these titles:

-UFC 09 Undisputed (Demo): Despite being based off the biggest mixed martial-arts championship out there, UFC 09 is not a fighting game in the strictest sense; rather, it’s an incredibly technical sports simulator. It’s like a fighter filtered through the Madden NFL series in terms of the tone and, especially, the control scheme of the game. I’m sure UFC fans will love how in-depth that means the game will get, but if you’re looking for something to move onto after Street Fighter IV, you might have to reconsider.

-Outrun 2 (XBLA): Completely unadulterated classic arcade action, updated to Xbox-quaity graphics. Doesn’t mean it’s worth $10 or $15 on XBLA, though.

-Skate: I wish I could get more into this. This is one of a few games absolutely suffering from the terrible old TV my Xbox 360 is shackled to at the current moment.

-Virtual On: Oratorio Tangram (XBLA): YESSSSSSSSSS. I wish I could justify spending the money for this, because it is, in baseball terminology, a fat meatball right in my wheelhouse. Sega? Check. Dreamcast generation? Check. Great old game that suffers a bit translated from two gigantic sticks and an arcade cabinet to an Xbox 360 controller, yes, but it still looks so good.

-X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Demo): Because I need more chances to lock-on and leap onto helicopters in my life. Much like the recent 50 Cent: Blood in the Sand, this isn’t made for discerning audiences; it’s the gaming equivalent of a popcorn movie. It’s nigh-on being a carnival ride, especially on Easy mode. It’s fast, fun, and really, REALLY bloody.

Knothole Island, the first DLC released for last year’s acclaimed Fable II, isn’t exactly what I was expecting. It’s especially disconcerting considering the impact that Fable II’s introductory form left on me.

Let me put it like this: If the core content of the original release was a satisfying four-star dinner, then Knothole Island is an insufficient sno cone dessert — bright and colorful, but not much more than dressed-up frozen water sold at a premium.

Still, the expansion has something to offer to the obsessive-compulsive Fable fans who’ve been wanting an out for their previous mistakes, as well as a few new duds along the way.

Access to the mysterious island is available to all manner of characters at any time in their careers, which is admittedly a good thing. After taking a — for some reason — submarine to the island because of some sub driver’s pleas, players begin the one and only quest chain in the DLC. To be fair, there’s nothing wrong with a singular objective; however, it’s what you’re tasked with doing that proves tedious.

It’s a rather strange situation Lionhead put itself in: having a boring DLC quest primarily targeted at higher-level characters who’ve accomplished things of note during their playtime. The most excitement found in Knothole’s quest is in backtracking the same path, three different times, to activate three different weather-controlling statues.

There’s just something faulty with travelling to a secluded island to help some cold villagers after you’ve saved the world from Lucien’s evil.

The DLC certainly looks great

Even more bothersome are the dungeons’ dependence upon the color-coded strength, skill and will switches from Fable II. It honestly felt like the only way to open anything throughout the two-hour quest was first melee it, then shoot it and finally blast it with magic. Relying on the switches turned them into a crippling gimmick, and served no other purpose than to prolong the main quest.

Additionally, the chieftain of Knothole Island, and the man who gives heroes their one quest, is incredibly demanding and unlikeable. It’s poor judgment on Lionhead’s part to employ such a boring character as the gatekeeper for the sole plot thread. At the end of the add-on’s quest, players are given the choice to back the annoying leader or support the townspeople. I’d be quite surprised if anyone went with him, even for the sake of maintaining an evil persona. He’s that lame.

While the “plot” is severely lacking, the game world is at least as enchanting as ever. The art team certainly didn’t slack here: Knothole Island retains the beauty of Fable II’s natural environments while adding a bit more to the overall presentation.

Snow falls heavier on the island than in the rest of Albion, and the frozen lakes are quite striking. Even the heat waves seen during the bone-dry version of Knothole Island will raise a few eyebrows. The world of Fable II is as visually impressive as ever, the DLC at least does its part to add some panache in the graphics department.

Angry role-players everywhere rejoice

Consider Knothole Island a boutique add-on, and if that sounds great then this expansion is for you. The new clothing options vary from additional tartish skirts to goth-friendly skulls on black leather. And as cool as a full suit of armor and Flying V-shaped guitar are, shiny content does not a good game make. In some ways, Knothole Island feels more like a microtransaction pack for a Korean free-to-play MMO than a substantial piece of gaming content.

The main draw of Knothole Island is its role as an “out” for the mistakes players made throughout their journey of Albion.

Available for purchase and hound-hunting are skinny potions, fat potions, tall potions, de-scarring potions and so on. Lionhead even added an augment remover in, allowing someone who, for instance, made the mistake of placing a Golden Touch augment in a rust-quality weapon a chance to take it out.

Despite its problems, the Fonz-style wig is amazing

I initially applauded the tabula rasa idea, but in practice the inclusion of alteration items simply negates the tough decisions players had to make in the regular game. I’m actually quite surprised there isn’t another gender-switching potion available.

Moreover, what was the point of watching your character’s figure by eating tofu and veggies throughout Fable II if now you can just drink the fat away? Or, if you wanted a fat avatar, where’s the fun in a potion that instantly makes your hero hefty? Pouring pies and meats down the hero’s throat was part of the fun of the game; knowing that your choices had consequences. Maybe the development team wanted to give players a chance at a fresh start before the next, and more robust, DLC releases in May.

But that’s the overall problem with Knothole Island: Why pay $10 (800 ) now for a potentially better experience later? If this add-on did more than give heroes a knight outfit and some potions, it might be worth the asking price.

As it stands, save your MS points for the likely more interesting — and $3 cheaper — See the Future DLC pack.

Recommended for:

• Extreme Fable enthusiasts who don’t care about substance for their dollar
• That one guy who complained about no available armor in Fable II

Not Recommended for:

• The true lack of value available for the $10 price tag
• Annoying quest, annoying questgiver
• Over far too fast
• A complete one-eighty of many defining elements that made heroes in Fable II have real weight to them, literally and metaphorically

Read our policy on reviews here.

It feels a lot like that. (Photo by Bruce Ely/The Oregonian)

I’m slowly coming back into the fold as a Portland Trail Blazers fan after hearing some really exciting things. The thought of a mostly young team making such a strong effort this season has got me eager to see what the future holds.

Unfortunately, the Houston Rockets don’t seem to share my enthusiasm, as they’re currently making the Blazers’ lives a living hell. But hey, at least I can seek respite in my recently repaired Xbox 360!

Nick Cummings:

What can I say? I’ve been busy. Other than a few short-but-sweet play sessions on the newly-released Left 4 Dead survival mode (which Aaron was kind enough to review,) my gaming has consisted almost exclusively of games I was playing for review. Fortunately, Prince of Persia’s Epilogue wasn’t half-bad, and Galaga Legions was an awesome, albeit sadomasochistic, experience.

"Young Folks," by Peter, Bjorn & John

I’m looking forward to delving into Fable II‘s Knothole Island DLC this weekend, and maybe I’ll even give The Path another shot. But I’m most excited to bust out some incredibly awkward karaoke on my buddy’s copy of Lips.

Aaron Thayer:

At this juncture, my weekly gaming intake has been quite average.

I played a bit of Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars to help with the DSi overview, which, while enjoyable, wasn’t what I really wanted to play — Suikoden Tierkreis will have to wait until next week (full disclosure: Suikoden is my absolute favorite RPG series, ever). Fearless fellow editor Nick and I had a blast for a couple of hours in Left 4 Dead thanks to its wonderful new DLC pack, and I romped through the first hour-and-a-half of the Knothole Island DLC for Fable II as well; so far it’s visually captivating and typically Fable, to say the least.

But the mediocrity will dissipate tonight, as one of my dear friends is coming for a weekend visit and we plan on getting some old buddies together to play the following in between bar-hopping and such: Rock Band, Guitar Hero: Metallica, LittleBigPlanet, Killzone 2, Resistance 2 and probably 20 other games. As you might have gathered, he has a PS3.

Doug Bonham:

Honestly, gaming hasn’t been at the forefront this week — I’ve been busy starting up a part-time job and going on wild adventures with the City of Portland’s parking bureau. I’ve played a little bit more FIFA 09 and Assassin’s Creed, but the only really great time I had was last weekend with Nick and another of our friends. We all played a bit of Rock Band 2 now and then — including at Ground Kontrol on Tuesday nights — but an extended play session was a long time coming.

We rectified that last weekend, playing for a good four or five hours. Hanging out and rocking out like that is one of my favorite things in all of gaming, ever, and it’s great to get to do that with people who have similar tastes in music and song choice. Rumor has it we may be tackling the Endless Setlist at some point in the near future, and I can’t imagine a better crew to play with.

Nick:

I wouldn’t call myself an achievement hunter, but I’m definitely playing through Prince of Persia once again for 100% completion. While it’s not quite as breathtaking as the first time I laid eyes on it, it’s still a remarkably enjoyable experience. If it doesn’t satisfy the hardcore (and we’ll see about whether the Epilogue DLC scratches that itch next week,) well, I guess I’m proud to represent casual platform gamers. Hey, I beat Ninja Gaiden II — I’ve earned some rest.

I’m hoping to wrap up the single player component of Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars as well. I’m still not finding much of a draw within the storyline, but I’m still holding out for a touchscreen-powered chainsawing minigame. Somehow, the scalpel in Trauma Center just didn’t quite cut it for me.

And finally, I picked up a ten-dollar copy of Marvel Ultimate Alliance today. After a couple hours of bruising a cast of hallowed comic book villains with an ensemble of the big-name heroes, I’ve come to realize that comics really are as cheesy as they always seemed. I mean, what kind of name is Dum Dum Dugan? Seriously. I thought I was watching The Venture Bros. for a minute there.

Aaron:

This week, and by week I mean over a day and a half, I beat Mirror’s Edge. I’ve been postponing playing the game since its November release, partly because the demo didn’t wow me in a major way and also because GameFly is unreliable.

It’s a fairly decent title overall, and definitely a case where the experience of first-person free running is more fun for being unique than for gameplay-related purposes. I’m mostly impressed that DICE can do more than excellent multiplayer war titles. Mirror’s Edge was frustrating in some parts, and completely illogical at later stages with its “runner’s eye” gimmick of red-hued pipes and ledges. Plus, as I’m not into time trials and all that (except for Mario Kart 64), the lasting appeal really, well, didn’t.

The other day I put Fable II back into my 360′s (very loud) disc tray and found myself enjoying it all over again. This time around I’m trying to propel a fresh character to some undetermined place in the game world to justify purchasing the Knothole Island DLC. Unfortunately, I still don’t think I’ll ever complete the “Dollcatcher” achievement. So annoying.

Next week I look forward to some DSi action, which you’ll be reading about!

Doug:

I’ve been trying to make room for games I really want to play…and that’s gotten me sucked back into the world of soccer, like clockwork.

I’ve started Assassin’s Creed and gotten a few hours in. I’m really enjoying the experience – the controls fall to hand really easily, I like what the game’s story is doing so far, and the ambiance is really good. Now to get busy killing people – should be good fun.

Along with Assassin’s Creed, I picked up a game I missed until it was in the bargain bin – Xbox 360 racer Project Gotham Racing 4. I loved multiplayer in PGR2 back on the Xbox, and enjoyed PGR3 well enough when I first got my 360, but I just wasn’t enthused about this most recent title. Racing-game newbies would enjoy it, as it’s very approachable, fast, and fun. The single-player progression is very fair, too. I’ll have more on it as I wind my way through single player.

Lastly, I’ve been pouring more time into FIFA 09. Even more of my life has gone into Be A Pro, and I’ve also picked back up the “regular” manager mode. After comparing a bit with one of my all-time favorites, Winning Eleven 9 on the PS2, I have to crown FIFA 09 as the best soccer game I’ve played – at least, within the context of playing a match. FIFA still gets some of the ancillaries wrong, but the gameplay on the pitch feels oh-so good. Now I just need to justify spending the money to unlock the Ultimate Team add-on mode, which plays like a sports game crossed with a collectible card game…

Rez HD: The first playthrough

The Rez experience

Somehow, I managed to skip the PlayStation 2 release of Rez. Color me embarrassed. But I had no excuse to ignore the game once the high-def remake came out on LIVE last January. I may have been out of the loop for seven years, but Rez HD managed to hook me right from the start. Having heard about the interactivity of the music, I figured I already knew what was coming. Instead, linking together low-poly wireframe models into aural-enhancing chains was so intuitive and still genius by today’s standards that the gameplay easily burned a hole of “Awesome” through my cranium. Thus, Rez HD takes a spot in our 2008 list, even though it would be more at home on a “Moments” compilation from 2002.

GTA IV: Drunk driving

Officer Niko on patrol

The fourth Grand Theft Auto did a lot of things right (relationships, i.e. having them), and it did a few things wrong (relationships, i.e. maintaining them). But the game truly shined in one of its more controversial moments: driving piss drunk through Liberty City. The first time you grab some rounds with your favorite friend, flame or family member and stumble to your car, stepping from the curb and tumbling over, you begin to see exactly what GTA IV is about: reality caramel-coated with hilarity. Sure, that could sum up every GTA to date, but number four chose to tone down the jetpacks and weight gain to provide players with “reserved” chaos. For instance: While driving drunk, a police car notices and speeds off in pursuit of you and your horrified passenger. Suddenly, a pedestrian flips over the hood of your car in a fantastic display of pseudo-physics. You then knock over a fire hydrant and hit the adjacent wall, causing your body to launch from the windshield while your car, still running, is lifted into the air by the extreme amount of water pressure from the tipped hydrant. Truly, Rockstar didn’t take away the over-the-top experiences of San Andreas, it redefined them through a lens of feasibility.

Fable II: A dog and his ball

I wonder what breed that is?

Fable has always been the little-franchise-that-could. Stepping back from the shadow of negative internet press over Molyneux’s boasts and the constant bellowing about undelivered gameplay promises, Fable and Fable II have ended up being extremely fun and unique titles at their respective cores. With the second game, Lionhead delivered 2008′s DogTech 2.0 (working title of my own invention); The sheer joy of playing with ol’ rendered rover was miles above shooting your billionth bullet in FPS Sequel 13. Stepping out from the gates of your adopted Gypsy home into the rays of sunshine reflecting off of Bowerstone Lake was impressive enough. But watching your dog realistically play fetch and adore you in the way pets do put the game over the top. The plot moments and combat tweaks in Fable II kept it exciting. However, the dog caused the title to rise to the developer’s promises of true choice and emotion in a videogame, making Fable II truly memorable.

Metal Gear Solid 4: The ship-top Street Fighter battle with Solid Snake and Liquid Ocelot

Nick picked the microwave tunnel part of Metal Gear Solid 4. He has a thing with Hot Pockets. Now I agree that it was memorable, but having been a fair-weather MGS fan after number two (it wasn’t because of Raiden), I tend to look past those cinematic and “deep” elements of the series and focus on what made me the most amused and satisfied in the end. For me, the final battle between Solid and Liquid could be called epic, and it totally deserves that worn-out word. The old school fighter presentation was great. Seeing both hero and villain slow down and struggle to fight back was a nice touch as well; it illustrated the vulnerability of Solid Snake’s rapid aging syndrome better than having him cough every five seconds and saying “damn!