25 Days of Begging: Part Two

25 Days of Begging: Part Two

Well, week one is gone, and you still can’t be sure that your loved ones have made the right gift decisions, maximizing the awesome and limiting the suck. To improve your begging effectiveness, part two of this article has five more awesome games, more great honorable mentions, and another neat bit of kit for you to open, and then scream over like an eight year old kid.

20.

Super Mario 3D Land

         Let it be known: I am no big fan if the 3DS, it’s just not my thing yet. But more games like Super Mario 3D Land are going to change my mind in a hurry. I think this might be the first three dimensional Mario game that I like. Almost all the old suits, neat camera angles, Shadow Mario. and more await you when you pop this in your 3DS, and seeing as it’s the first new game just for the 3DS, it’s a must have.

19.

Metal Gear Solid HD Collection

         If I have to explain to you why more Metal Gear Solid is a good thing, then I’m not even sure how you found this website. Computer glitch? Monkeys typing on your keyboard? That’s how this is getting written: some Reese monkeys, a couple cans of Four Loko, and some bananas. Bradjelina adopted all my child workers, so I had to diversify.

         All jokes aside, this is a remake: you probably had great fun beating Solidus, Liquid, Boss, and company already. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy doing it again with shiny new graphics! Plus, if you didn’t get the PSP entry Peace Walker, then there’s a whole new game waiting for you, complete with a brand new control scheme. Plus, Snake Eater: Subsistence still comes with Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. And a boss mode. And then there’s the online multiplayer to think about. And it only costs $50.

18.

Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Edition

         I heard that ‘Chief shows his face in this edition. You just have to put in the special code on your Game Genie. What, you can’t use a Game Genie on your 360? Well, no face for you. But what you do get is a completely reskinned edition of the reason that shooter games got hot on our current generation of consoles. Yes, Goldeneye did it big, and Doom before them, but the reason why we are able to enjoy the Battlefield, Call of Duty, or Gears of War franchises is because of the innovation in the genre by Bungie.

         So, what makes this game special? Well, HD graphics for the first two games in the series are a good start, and you can actually toggle between the old look and new in game with a button press. Pretty neat. Second, achievements and online multiplayer on the new XBL has been added, so if you’ve found yourself missing the three shot pistol of death, or the green gun combo, then you’re in luck. Just don’t expect them to add sword sniping back in.

17.

Resistance 3

         If you have a PS3, and only a PS3, you don’t have the new Halo. You don’t have Gears of War. You almost didn’t get Half Life. But what you do have access to is a downright silly roster of weapons, enemies, and game play options in Resistance. In Resistance, it is normal to get attacked by a facehugger. Or an Invisodemon. Or a platoon of zombified aliens. And to defend yourself you have a shotgun that lights enemies on fire, a gun that shields and shoots through just about anything, biological weapons, and everything gains perks over time. Plus, let’s not forget that if there were a competition of whose game has humanity at the most desperate position in any game ever, Resistance may well be a winner.

16.

Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3

         You could make a reasonable fighting game from just the characters added in the new edition of the Vs series. It doesn’t matter if you gravitate for traps, chainsaws, penance stares, or objections, there’s probably a new character you have been looking forward to fight as, or beat up. This game is literally mind blowing, every match by similarly skilled players holds excitement and drama. Matches between uneven competitors become combo expos, which hold their own entertainment value. Don’t feel bad though: pwning builds character.

Honorable Mentions

Bulletstorm

Get rewarded for violence. What’s better than that?

Yakuza 4

Tired of old, fat Italian gangsters eating pasta, and killing each other with Tommy guns? Well prepare for young, tattooed gangsters drinking sake, and killing each other with katanas!

Crysis 2

Pretty enough that if your wife sees you playing with it, she might get jealous.

Fifa 12

Maa-den? Who ees Madden?

L. A. Noire

Use the lessons of sniffing out lies taught to you in this game to figure which one of your friends is in fact the one that dealt it.

Hardware

The Playstation Vita isn’t out yet. It won’t be out by Christmas. It won’t even be out by New Years. But in Febuary, we will finally get a chance to see Sony’s view of the future of portable gaming. One of the major gripes about the PSP, lack of killer games, seems to be a thing of the past, with AAA titles like Bioshock, Uncharted, and Call of Duty developing games just for the new system. With two touch screens, dual analog sticks, wifi and 3g, and by far the best portable graphics ever, the Vita will be finding its way into many happy pockets soon after all the Eggnog has been drunk.

Games to watch for:

Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 (w Cole from Infamous)

Uncharted: Golden Abyss

BlazBlu: Continuum Shift Extend

Touch my Katamari