Awesome Games in the 21st Century

Today I only have three to share.  And I'm going to start with God of War: Ghost of Sparta. 

This was released Nov 2 in America on the PSP, which makes for the second God of War series on this system.  Whoever owns a PSP knows how badass the system is.  You have all these awesome games like Crisis Core, Monster Hunter, and the first GOW game for the PSP, Chains of Olympus.  While many fans do not believe that Chains of Olympus was in the main timeline, it is said to be somewhere in the story of the first God of War. 

This game is supposedly taking place in between the first game and Betrayal, which is a sidescroller downloadable for mobile phones.  All I know is that if this keeps up, we might end up having a mixed up Zelda timeline, and that would make me nervous.

If any of you have played the first PSP GOW, you understand how the graphics don't look as bad as you think when you play it since it's portable.  In fact I would say the graphics are on par with the first game just in a smaller screen and not as detailed but enough so you don't notice the difference after an hour or so in.  The controls are the same; you just hack and slash through.  In this game Kratos has a different set of magic and skills that are used with the same engine as GOW III for the most part.  I have heard about a few new moves, but I'm waiting to get my hands on this thing to find out for myself.

I did look up the storyline.  Keep in mind that this isn't actually after the first game entirely, but it mainly flashbacks at least for the first part.  The  threat in this game is a marked warrior, an oracle foretold, to bring down Olympus. So as soon as Ares and Zeus find out who it is, a struggle goes on and the game shifts to after the first game when Kratos is proclaimed the God of War.

As soon as I was looking over all this information, a really vital question popped up in my head.  Why does Olympus have to be shit on in every game?  Olympus is a huge part of Greek mythology, and it's the source of all power, but really, how many times have you read a myth where Olympus was going to be taken down by mortals every single time?  I guess the writers think that it hits a close to home feeling that as soon as Olympus will be attacked, shit is going down.  Now I have nothing against this storyline.  Well maybe just the repetition.  However I myself haven't played it yet, but when I do hopefully it will kick so much ass it wouldn't bother me.

I feel that there should be other targets.  In the first one the whole thing was about finding that damn box and getting through that impossible room where harpies, fire, standing too long in one area, and skeleton warriors and archers kill you.  Seriously I thought I have died about ten times before getting through there by chance.  Why can't this game just have someone trying to sack a city?  Or overthrowing a god?  Causing some sort of drama?  I have no clue. 

Next, Alice Madness Returns.  And holy crap was I spinning in circles after hearing about this.  It's due to be released next year for all the major gaming consoles.  Madness Returns picks up after American McGee, the first Alice game.  It was a highly respectable game, but alas not many people have played.  I think it wasn't until the later years after it's original release date that the popularity of this twisted game came to be popular and everyone wanted their hands on a copy.  Unfortunately not many copies were sold so it is somewhat rare to find one in good shape.  It was played on the PC as a third person platformer and early form of hack and slash.  To some people who are not familiar with playing many platformers or even third person shooters on a PC, the controls were hard and difficult.  Alice was probably the fastest thing on earth with how freakin fast she was moving.  Her side steps were about 20 mph and she jumped like gravity is her bitch.

I remember when I was 10 looking through the PC Gamer magazine and finding the promo for this game.  This was the picture, and I just remember staring at it for so long thinking how fucked up and scary this was.  But when I started to look into the story when I was older, I started getting intrigued.  It wasn't until I was about 18 when I found a copy (and friggin finally too I was barking up every free tree for this CD) and shit were the controls nasty.  But after giving it a while and realizing that you could throw the knife instead of just stab, I relaxed and finished it to the end.  The storyline was nothing like I have ever played before, and with the concept of using Alice before all this Alice in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass craze went about the world, I found it be extremely original and creative. 

In American McGee's Alice, Alice's house burns down with her family inside, and she goes through a mental breakdown that isn't fully explained until you progress in the game.  She goes to a mental hospital and enters a dream which brings her back to Wonderland where everything is morbid and nothing like she remembers.  Instead of having tea parties with confused men who wear hats, she has to slaughter her way through the Queen's army, which actually doesn't just consist of card soldiers.  The graphics were good for its time and the voice acting was absolutely over the top spot on.  The Chesire Cat has a great voice actor and is Alice's only connection from what is actually going on in her dream and how it relates to why Wonderland is in ruin.  Ultimately you must face the Red Queen, but before then there are tons of bosses and different levels to explore.  You get different toys, which are used as weapons, and you'll be finding yourself meeting new strange characters and stabbing ones you know and cherish to death.

The first game ends with something that gives you a better explanation about what exactly happened and what the hell you just played, but to truly understand everything, you have to dive deep and really think about certain dialogs and adventures that connects with Alice herself.  Sometimes playing it through again helps. 

So far there are three trailers for the new game, and one of them is bullshit so I'm not going to bother to post it.  The first one is simple and kinda haunting.  It has some cool effects and sets you up for more of a chilling adventure than the last game.  The second is personally my favorite because it shows Alice more in her new character design.  I'd like to point out here that she looks pretty much the same except for little difference in her outfit and overall structure.  However because the graphic jump from 2000 until now is extremely different, it is a necessary change. 

This is probably the game I'm most excited for.  I didn't really expect this to come out so quickly especially after the rumors were confirmed about a movie adaption to the first game that will be out in a few years possibly.  When I saw the trailers, it was like a huge rush.  Not many screenshots have been released yet so keep your eyes peeled towards the end of the year or during the first quarter of 2011.  A Wiki has been made, but not so much info has been posted as of yet.

Lastly Back to the Future by Telltale Games.

Not a lot is known about how the gameplay is.  All that I understand is that it's supposed to take place between a plot hole in the movies so it will be like playing through a plot you haven't heard of before.  Telltale also made such games like Monkey Island's latest installment that launched in five episodes.  So most likely I would imagine this to have a similar engine like the Monkey Island series, which was point and click and established in controller land as an advanced point and click series. 

I have nothing against those games, and in fact Monkey Island is one of my favorite series.  I'm also a huge fan of the Back to the Future movies (except the third one) and I am really looking forward to hearing Christopher Llyod doing some voice acting in here.  Marty McFly isn't going to be voiced by Michael J Fox but by AJ Locasio, who pretty much sounds exactly like him.  Here's an interview with AJ on Cinemassacre. 

http://www.cinemassacre.com/2010/11/05/aj-locascio-interview/

In the meantime I'm going to be really excited for this five episode installment.  You can preorder on the Tell Tale website.