Huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge backlog for everybody this week. Nick is trying to tie up loose ends before the fall games rush starts up, Doug is tearing through demos of some impending releases, and Aaron is spending time on some small game by a developer in Seattle…has something to do with Rings (maybe they’re finally doing a good Sonic game?). Oh, you mean it’s called Halo? Haven’t heard of it.

Seriously, the crew is in a verbose mood this week. Bring a drink, sit down and enjoy our wordiness. Without further ado, the backlog awaits.

Doug

Two German soccer teams prepare to do battle. Oh yes, it's FIFA and PES season. Good luck naming these teams, too!

While I’ve still had a steady diet of the current games I’ve spoken of recently — Dragon Quest IX, NCAA Football 11, and Civilization Revolution — there’s been a few demos and game trials I’ve gone through this week that I can render an opinion on, too.

First up is the downloadable next-gen brush-up of Sonic Adventure. It’s out now on Xbox Live and will be available soon on PlayStation Network. And it is…definitely a brush-up of the Dreamcast launch title, which I’ve played recently in its original form. Now, let’s be fair: the controls feel much tighter than on the Dreamcast, the graphics definitely look the business in HD (the textures haven’t really suffered at all), and the Sonic stage featured in the demo is still very fun. However, playing through the trial makes me want to finally buy the VGA box for my Dreamcast than invest in the downloadable game; it’s still going to have the same issues I complained about in my Dreamcast retrospective last week.

Next is a pair of demos for sports games. A demo for NBA 2K11, the new version of the highest-rated basketball series the last few years, is also available now. I came away a little unimpressed with the demo; the physics seemed floaty, there didn’t seem to be as much heft or physicality to the game of basketball on display. It may not be as hard-hitting as football, but basketball is a contact game, and there did not seem to be much routing of that contact to the player. The demo has great presentation and graphics, but that won’t save it if the game doesn’t feel better — especially with hype for NBA Elite revving up.

Last is the FIFA 11 demo. While I enjoyed FIFA 08 and 09 when Konami’s PES series was missing in action, last year’s PES 2010 proved that my taste for soccer games lies clearly with Konami. However, I’m still interested in seeing what FIFA has to offer; neither game is perfect, and EA Canada has made strides with each FIFA since 08. After playing two quick matches in FIFA, I like how they’re shifting much of the team management and player ranking to look more like PES — but with added twists, like individually rating how high- or low-energy players are in attack and defense.

The presentation on the field is good, but man, I still prefer the feel of PES. FIFA’s players still feel stuck in a dead zone and, despite the promise of needing to establish play with passing, FIFA remains a vertical, fast game. There are some good points, though, like EA adding the ability to play as a goalkeeper in the Be A Pro mode, and it’s amazing. I’ll probably keep going back to the demo for a while…if only because the special unlockable in the demo is the ability to play as my favorite soccer club, Arsenal. They really know where my proverbial bread is buttered.

Nick

This is Jimmy…and that's Tychus

Even though it’s very much already dead and buried in Oregon, summer is quickly drawing to a close. With that in mind, I’m racing to finish up a couple of the best games of the first part of the year before we’re bombarded with quality games on a weekly basis.

At the top of my to-do list is a pair of Japanese RPGs, Valkyria Chronicles and Final Fantasy XIII. It’s a shame that Valkyria didn’t sell better, because it’s that rare sleeper hit that would actually appeal to just about anyone if they were able to look past its soft, cute exterior and awkward, teen-dramedy storyline. I checked out the sequel at PAX and walked away impressed with how well the first game’s novel turn-based, tactical shooter mechanics translated to the PSP. And while just about every cutscene where a gorgeously rendered character opens their damn mouth in Final Fantasy XIII frustrates the hell out of me, the combat system continues to be an absolute joy. I’m very close to the point where the game opens up dramatically, which has me excited. It’s been almost a decade since I had the patience to max out a party in a Final Fantasy game, but I wouldn’t rule it out with XIII just yet.

I anticipate I’ll have wrapped up the final sequence of single-player missions in StarCraft 2 by the time this article goes live. When I bought StarCraft 2 back in July, I was pretty sure I’d eventually regret my purchase; fortunately, I was dead wrong. This is high-quality storytelling and accessible gameplay on a level not seen out of Blizzard since Diablo 2′s expansion, Lord of Destruction. And thanks to the game’s highly accessible campaign and solid online matchmaking, even an SCV-mismanaging fool like me is finding a relatively non-threatening competitive arena to learn the ropes within. I can’t imagine anybody not getting their money’s worth out of StarCraft 2, even if they only focus solely on the online or the offline portion of the game.

I also feel obligated to mention that I’m about a third of the way through Halo Reach, but what am I supposed to say? It’s a Halo game, thoroughly and unapologetically. Whatever you’re expecting from Reach is pretty much exactly what you’ll get. Maybe there’s some credence to the thought that Bungie ought to be faulted for resting on its laurels, but when that core Halo gameplay is still so fun and so very well-refined, should anyone care?

Aaron

Ah, Halo. Spartans firing sniper rounds off under a pale moon. So…romantic.

It was Halo: Reach week across the world, a time for Ewok-like celebration via the constant “pwnage” of “newbz” online. Ah hell, I’m being too hard on Halo — I can finally admit that. Reach, in my opinion, is the best Halo game that’s ever been released. Not counting the nostalgia factor of Combat Evolved and how exhilarating it was to drive a Warthog for the very first time, a closer look at the maturity level of Bungie’s work in Reach has amazed me to the point of unflinching praise.

Here we have a better plot than Halo: ODST, which was already a refreshing change from the dense sci-fi nonsense of the previous two core Halo titles before it. Noble Team, the committed squad of Spartan soldiers on the front cover, has its share of militaristic-space-soldier stereotypes, but these characters aren’t integral to the enjoyment of Reach. Sure they matter in terms of progressing the plot, but even when a member (or two) meets their demise, the emotional impact is sudden yet brief — which is a fantastic choice on Bungie’s part. Halo enthusiasts in general won’t care how deep the characters are amidst the cacophony of plasma rifles and magnum pistols firing around them, both in the campaign and online.

However, even the most cursory, backwards-hat-wearing fan of Halo should pay attention to what Bungie’s personal finale to their beloved series represents. Reach is what Halo needed to be: A game that doesn’t take itself too seriously; a game that doesn’t try too hard; a game made by people who are experienced enough, and old enough, to know the meaning of the word subtle.

It’s just too bad Bungie needed nine years and its departure from the Halo franchise to figure it out.

DJ Hero has a dedicated Flavor Flav button. Well, no; it’s technically a “sample” button that triggers a set of predetermined samples when playing a mix. But unfortunately, the default sample set is the first of two sets of Flavor Flav clips, including the infamous “Yeahhhhh boyyyyyyyeeeee!”

Experts agree that Flavor Flav can present a number of daunting questions that are difficult for a young child’s mind to process. We’re pleased to announce our upcoming parent’s guide to teaching your child the truth about Flavor Flav — and why he isn’t so scary after all.

Unfortunately, we still haven’t figured out how to just make him go away.

Aaron's confronting some tough questions about himself this week. He asked me to make this image link to a, uh, helpful YouTube video. Enjoy.

Aaron:

“Get money, get paid.” It’s a classic pursuit-of-happiness phrase, a self-evident truth we should all adhere to. Without money, we aren’t getting paid, no? And what does one do when this “paid” status is finally reached? I don’t know about you, but in that position I’d feel accomplished and willing to purchase exorbitant varieties of goods. Maybe, once I was “paid,” I could afford to buy contraptions such as a gold-plated PlayStation 3. However, I’m currently not getting money, and as a result I’m not getting paid. So I must use the little resources I have to intelligently scour for deals on games I’m interested in.

The point is, you should see my Google calendar. For the past few months I’ve persistently added upcoming game deals to my calendar, and other things like free Xbox 360 themes and avatar rewards. Websites like Cheap Ass Gamer are excellent tools to help you save cash. Digital distribution services on the PC have shown me throughout 2009 that you should never pay full price for any game, big or small. There have been simply too many noteworthy deals from Steam, Direct 2 Drive and Impulse to list in this backlog.

So, I’ve been playing my old games lately, getting as much mileage out of them as possible while I wait for other titles to drop their price; Modern Warfare 2, Rock Band 2 and Left 4 Dead 2 were my sources of entertainment this past week. All those number twos are starting to look like a math problem by the way: (MW²) x (RB²) x (L4D²) = Enjoyment/Time. Clearly I know nothing about math anymore, but I’m basically implying that the more I play these games — two-thirds of which are still very new — the more I feel I’m getting my money’s worth. And as far as Left 4 Dead 2, Nick and I joined up with two other people for the four pack Steam discount, bringing the grand total of each PC copy to $33.75. Like I said, don’t pay full price for anything, if possible. Oh, and I got Modern Warfare 2 as a gift. So, that doesn’t really count.

The rest of December is looking fantastic for cheap gaming. Christmas gifts are an obvious focus, but soon Direct2Drive’s “24 Days of Christmas” sale (where a new game is on sale for 24 hours each day, and it’s generally 50% off its normal price) will be featuring Torchlight and Machinarium, each for $10. Having played the demos for both, I’m extremely tempted to just pay full price right now so I can satiate my crazed hunger. But, without getting “paid,” I’ll hold out for the $10-per-title sale on D2D. Also, Xbox LIVE Arcade will be briefly dropping the price of Shadow Complex (a game we expertly discussed on a past podcast, if I may be so bold) for a week, from $15 to $10 starting December 21st (or from 1200 to 800). I’ll finally snatch that up too.

In an optimal situation, I wouldn’t hesitate to pay talented developers every penny they deserve, but I’m not in an optimal situation. They’re still getting my money in the end. And that’s better than resorting to pirating, right?

Doug shot a video on his iPhone 3G S of me playing "Groundhog" by Noisia on expert, arguably the toughest song in the game. Not pictured: Me doing pretty terrible after the first thirty seconds.

Doug:

So now that the strange trailing finals week is complete, it’s time to play some damn games.

I paid co-managing editor Nick a visit earlier this week and got to give DJ Hero a try. And I now believe the hype that Nick has been giving it the last few weeks. It’s so easy to dismiss the game — especially given Activision’s recent track record with music games — but it’s actually, from my brief impression, very well thought-out and put together. The aesthetic is interesting and makes sense with the music on tap; the licensed characters spinning records for you look great (especially Daft Punk); and, most importantly, it’s a very fun game to play. Giving the fake wheel of steel a spin on medium, I felt active but not totally overwhelmed at first — there’s a lot going on in the game, but it feels manageable. It scratches the multi-tasking, switch on the fly itch that many other great games get right as well.

DJ Hero feels like the sort of evolution of the Konami Beatmania games that the original Guitar Hero was of Guitar Freaks. Besides lending a more Western touch to the soundtrack (Anglo-American rock for GH, American hip-hop and electronic music for DJH), both games also evolve the core gameplay mechanic while retaining the basic concept — and the difficulty. Watching Nick take a stab at one of the hardest sets in the game on Hard drove in not just how deep the gameplay here can be, but also how fun it is to watch somebody proficient at a music game.

I also FINALLY started up Batman: Arkham Asylum, borrowed from Nick as well given my free time. God is it good; the only real complaint I have is that you can definitely tell it’s an Unreal Engine game — it’s got that ugly plastic doll look to the characters, especially when the camera pulls up close during cinematics. The gameplay…man, I can’t say enough good about it. The controls fall right to hand simply and easily, everything works like it should, and the puzzles and set-pieces the storyline guide you through are interesting and very fun to play. Looking forward to continuing on with the game and seeing what waits later on. What an experience.

Also got more time into NCAA 10, Forza Motorsport 3, and Brütal Legend, the latter of which I’m re-warming up to despite its (numerous) gameplay flaws. Forza 3 saw a DLC pack drop this week, and I feel like a total consumer whore for giving in to temptation….but it’s so good. 11 more cars for the game, including a few more super-advanced racing cars…mmmm. Awesome.

Apparently it's okay to feature a violently racist character in a game so long as she never refers to her scapegoat by the real-world name.

Nick:

I bet you thought I was gonna talk about DJ Hero! Yeah, it’s a blast, and I’m getting close to five-starring every song on expert, but it wasn’t the biggest draw for me this week.

My PlayStation 3 and I haven’t always been on the best of terms. I succumbed to her siren song last summer when the temptation of a Metal Gear Solid 4 bundle and the short-lived ecstasy of being a college graduate motivated me to pick one up and see what this HDMI nonsense was all about. While it has since proved itself to be the absolute best DVD upscaler I’ve ever seen (really — it’s gorgeous), most of the console-exclusive games Sony fans have boasted about have all struck me as lackluster. LittleBigPlanet, though bursting with charm, wasn’t as tight to control or easy to navigate as it should have been; InFamous was a marvelous platformer with an unforgivably terrible story with characters even a mother couldn’t love; and Resistance 2 and Killzone 2 were both gorgeous and perfectly playable, but nowhere near as memorable for me as the Halo or Gears of War franchises.

Somehow, I forgot about Valkyria Chronicles, the much-lauded action-strategy gem that gamers either didn’t play or absolutely fell in love with. It’s even more embarrassing because I’ve owned a copy for almost a year now, but for whatever reason — maybe the stereotypical anime illustrations and voice actors — I never gave it more than an hour of my time. That changed this week when I sat down to give it another shot, and stood up after three hours and four chapters had passed in the game. I’m hooked, without a doubt.

What’s there to say? It’s brilliant. It’s the most creative and purely fun tactical strategy game I’ve played since Advance Wars was released eight years ago. The game flows along seamlessly, despite the relative mediocrity of many of the voice actors and the sometimes-uncomfortable combination of manga-style storytelling with a pseudo-realistic Europe in World War II. If I were to pick one exclusive game to convince somebody why a PlayStation 3 is worth owning — something unique and memorable — Valkyria Chronicles is the one. Sure, Uncharted 2 is an incredible adventure, and the whimsy and charm of Ratchet and Clank is unparalleled, but nothing else out there plays like Valkyria Chronicles. Games this creative and engaging are rare lately, so if it’s within your means to play it, I highly recommend doing so.