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
