Highs and lows of 2007?

Andybtsn

Andybtsn

Andybtsn

Don
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Its been quite an exciting year for gaming, a whole host of big name games were released along with the Playstation 3. What were your highs and lows of the year?

Highs

- Guitar Hero 3, the first time I played this game really after hearing so much of the older versions. Love it, so much fun and prompted me to buy GH2 a week later. Great game to play on your own or with family and friends.

- FIFA 08, after 10 years of not owning a FIFA game I expected the same old rubbish from 08, how wrong was I, each year I'd try the FIFA demo's but come away unimpressed, this one however kept me hooked, its a great game online and off with enormous depth and great graphics and sound. Can't wait for the next one! Managed to get a lot of friends playing it also.

- The Darkness, a refreshing change to FPS games. A new concept to a game and a great storyline made this game a great one to play. Loved going back in time, was very creepy at times and being able to to side missions/speak to people prolonged the playing time.

- Mass Effect, Played it religiously last weekend and thoroughly enjoyed the game. Again, so much depth in the game and its a game that’s just down my street. On the 42" it looks amazing. Highly recommend it.

- Forza 2, although I don't own the game anymore, from when it was released to when I sold it kept me fully occupied whilst off work, was extremely fun online with the guys from here and great SP, although the races did get tedious after a while. The car detailing section was great.

- Playstation 3, I’d be the first to admit the PS3 has rarely been used since buying it near release day this year but I don’t regret the purchase. I’m looking forward to future games for the machine but also use it as a media player for streaming media off my computer. I’ve just ordered Singstar for it and Rock Band will be ordered shortly so things are looking good for the machine. It’s also my sole DVD and Blu-Ray player.

Lows

- PES2008, I was a true fan of the PES series, PES6 I loved and remains my most played game above GoW, playing it on 161 occasions! I played over 700 ranked games. It was my favourite PES, of course the next instalment was eagerly anticipated like every year (I usually book a day off work to play it!) after playing the demo I was less than impressed with the ‘’improvements’’, I bought the game on release day and the full game was no better and atrocious online. I still own the game and will hopefully go back to it, but I have no reason to put FIFA down for this game.

- Halo3, one of the most anticipated games ever did not satisfy me enough. An average game in SP with some nice scenes, its FPS that doesn’t do much to be different than any other FPS game. Online is fun although having to play the same maps too regularly gets highly frustrating. A game I hope to go back too again and give it another chance.

- Playstation 3, in highs and lows! Above I mentioned the advantages of owning the machine but the disadvantages are purely from a gaming perspective, not enough has been delivered from Sony in terms of games this year to compete against the 360. This needs addressing..

Might edit this when I think of more stuff, but whats your highs and lows?
 
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Highs

LAN Party. Loved every second, was great to meet people and had an absolute fantastic time. Just wish I hadn't slept in as much as I missed about 10 hours of gaming.

Mass Effect. VERY pleasantly surprised with this. Not played this type of game before and really enjoyed it. Will be going through it again over Xmas.

The Orange Box. Had waited for this for nearly a year when it was first announced and has been the best purchase I've ever made for the 360. The converion to console of HalfLife2 was flawless, and playing Ep1 and Ep2 (having not played them before) was again a totally new experience for me. Portal blew me away with everything it through at me and TF2 is a blast to play and a damn good laugh.

COD4. Apart from Burnout Revenge, I don't think I've enjoyed a MP game as much as this. It's as addictive as hell, I'm like a spoilt kid when I can't join in the lobby because it's full and the fact that you have challenges throughout the multiplayer is a brilliant design of the game and something that draws you back. Single player game was also like COD2 - and incredible experience, touching in places, funny in others ("Don't call me Shirly") and in other horrific ("THE" bomb!!).


Lows

Still lack of good games for the Wii. I still say it's an incredible console but developers just aren't using the controller for anything intuitive.

Bioshock & Darkness. Had huge hopes for these two but both let me down with adequate gameplay.

6th Xbox360 going knockers up and while I appreciate Microsoft pay everything towards replacement costs, I just think 27 days is far too long and possibly absolute dire.
 
Highs

- Mass Effect, echoing what Andy said really. Another gem from the RPG gods at Bioware.

- The 360's games catalogue, especially since this Christmas period, the 360 now has a huge catalogue of games to suit all tastes.

- Portal, a game that came out of nowhere and gave us a fantastic gaming experience, if only for an afternoon.

- Assassin's Creed, Ubisoft show what the 360/PS3 are capable of...

Lows

- Assassin's Creed, ... but forget to actually put any gameplay into their game.

- 3RLOD, my Xbox 360 breaking. Again. It boggles the mind that the product still has such a high failure rate.

- Playstation 3, Sony continue to treat their consumers as trash, releasing sub-standard console revisions and forgetting once again to release any games.

- EA, all your developers are belong to us. EA continue their rampant drive to turn gaming into a soulless twin to Hollywood by buying up more developers, including arguable the last great 'Indie' developer, Bioware and releasing another shocking iteration of NFS.
 
Highs

~Mass Effect - As said by everyone, Amazing, Storyline, graphics and gameplay more than make up for the very infrequent low frame rates and stutters.

~Planet Earth - Bluray - I sat watching this at my friends, While house sitting, And I have to say if you've never seen it, You don't know what Bluray is capable of. It is BEAUTIFUL. You do see the odd scene that was shot low res, But on the most part, It really makes you want to get off your ass and visit the worlds beauties.

~360 Revisions - We all know how bad 360 reliability has been from the start, Poor. Well we are finally seeing improvements, The fact is, I'm not seeing many reports of new build 360's dying. There's the odd 1, But it's hardly as epidemic as it was. This is a high point for me, As it finally let me move to purchase one.

Lows

~Bioshock - For me, This was one of the dullest games I've ever played. It was such a let down, Starts out looking great, But it's like you are replaying the first hour of gameplay through the entirety of the game. It dragged on, And I stopped playing, And for a game to look that good and lack game play or diversity. Unfortunately, It get's a big thumbs down from me.

~Halo 3 - From a franchise like Halo, I was expecting big things, What I got was Halo 2 with a makeover. I built myself up for something amazing, and then received something average. That's never going to be a highlight in my book.

~PS3 Game Catalogue - It's been a steep steep climb to get some games out this year, Don't get me wrong, there are nice ones. But they've come out of Sony's closet the last few months of the year! So I have to put this down here.
 
Highs

Mass Effect - Blew me sideways like I knew it would. I had high expectations from a Bioware game, and it fulfilled them all. Less Elavators next time plz... :D

Assassin's Creed - I had medicore expectations for this title and I was shocked as it was superb. I loved every moment of it. Great visuals, fun fighting and a stupid storyline.

Forza 2 - I didn't think they could pull it off but they did. I had a blast playing Cat & Mouse on this game, and it brought back memories of the classic 360 launch day PGR3 period.

That damn Wii - I hate the console. However I truly respect Nintendo for what they have accomplished with it There are a lot of good titles, and poor (farcry snicker) but overall it's had an impressive games catalogue this year.

Half Life 2 - Episode 2 - Even though I'm sick of the game, it was hugely enjoyable towards the end. Earlier moments were the usual repetitive elements we're so used to but there's no denying Sauce is still looking good!

Lows

Playstation 3 - Great build quality, shame Sony continue to talk about Media and Blu-ray forgetting what the machine is all about in the first place.

Bioshock - What an intro! The demo was superb, and that's where it ended. Apparently it's meant to be an 'RPG', yet there isn't any character development and you can wield any weapon you can get your hands on. A great game the first time round, but forget replayability.

Halo 3 - I was due to buy this for the single player storyline, which I knew nothing about. I didn't when I saw a tarted up Halo 2 game.

Will edit this later when I get home.
 
Highs

Phoenix Wright 3 - A fantasic end to a brilliant game series

Mario Galaxy - What a mario game should be

Crysis - Everything i hoped for

Command & Conquer 3 - The return of Kane :D

Lows

Bioshock - Biggest disapointment of the year

Release schedule for Wii - Most ofthe good games for the wii were release in a 3 week period, what published have to understand is people play games all year round.

HL2 - Having to buy HL2 and ep1 to get protal/tf2/ep2
 
Highs

COD4 - Never has a game been so good but so frustrating at the same time! SP and MP both excellent!

Mass Effect - Great story and game mechanics, although some of the side could have been better imo.

Portal - Fantastic from start to finish, I still go on youtube to listen to the ending song!

Half Life 2 - Episode 2 - HL on the 360 did not disappoint. Great story and Gordon might be getting some loving! Ace!

Lows
Team Fortress 2 - Thought it would have been awesome, instead it was laggy with very little matchmaking!

Bioshock - The first play through was fun admittedly, but the eve/biotic system didn't really work for me! Every battle was academic as well as you could just re-spawn and finish off that big daddy with the wrench!
 
I can't really think of any major highs and lows for this year. I suppose if I really thought about it, it'd be something like this:

Highs
Warhawk's release paved the way for full multiplayer experiences to be developed and made available over networks. The poster-child for digital distribution that really showed that there is a serious market for proper games that extend beyond rereleases of games from decades ago, and rubbish little knockoffs that took little more than a few minutes to throw together. I hope we see more full budget titles being made available for the console networks soon.

Lows
The Xbox 360's massive failure rates really hit gamers hard, with many threads still popping up about the 3RROD. Apparently this problem is still ongoing with revisions of the console, which is inexcusable and hopefully will be a lesson to console manufacturers; stress test your consoles!!

The only two I can think of - I don't really consider the high price of the PS3 and relatively tame libraries of that and the Wii to be issues worth putting in a 'high' and 'lows' list for 2007. Those sort themselves out with time, if not already.
 
My High so far (dont get Mass effect till Xmas) Has to be Bioshock - I must have played through it about 10 times, graphics are a bit dull in places but the story does it for me :)

Unfortunately I cant believe I'm saying my Low is Halo 3. As some people have said - it seems a lot like Halo 2 which don't get me wrong was incredible - I played the campaign hundreds of times! Halo 3 just dosnt "feel" like Halo - the campaign is far far far too corny and the multiplayer is actually quite dull at times (not to mention the massive latency issues)
 
Highs

Crackdown ~ An absolute gem that came from nowhere
Bioshock ~ Looked and played as well as I'd ever hoped
Halo 3 ~ Didn't think it would be my thing but a very late night where I played through the campaign on legendary with 2 buddies over Live was one of the highlights of the year
The Darkness ~ One of the most memorable games I've played this year

Lows

Eternal Sonata ~ Abysmal repetitive combat spoiled a rpg highlight for me
Speedball 2 ~ A game that I should have kept as a glorious memory
Getting chicken pox ~ I'm 33 and shouldn't have got it but I did. 2 weeks of absolute hell.
 
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Crackdown, another cracker of a game :D Like it so much sold it ages ago and now bought it again! (If it ever turns up after I bought it off someone here :()
 
Highs

COD4 - Short but sweet

Unchartered - AAA

Mass Effect - Simply a great game

360 - MS finally getting the hardware up to scratch and letting falcon loose

PS3 - For it's silence, reliability and plain all round quality


Lows

Halo 3 - Biggest, over hyped piece of crap ever

PS3 - For not having those killer games it really should have had to begin with

360 - Having some great games but not the build quality to back it up

Forum'ers - Whinging, whining and arguing about the PS3 when they don't even have one
 
Highs

Orange Box - Never before has so much gaming goodness has been offered in a single package.

Assassins Creed - I can't believe gamesTM gave this 4/10. Ok, so it could have been even better but that doesn't take away from the fact that it is still an awesome game.

Zelda: Phantom Hourglass - Its a Zelda game that makes brilliant use of the DS's features. Nuff said.

Guitar Hero II - If you could reduce 'fun' down to its essence then it would look something like a copy of Guitar Hero II.

Lows

PES2008 - I heard the moans on the forums but thought 'hey, this is Pro Evo, it can't be that bad'. Well, it is. The more I played it in the hope that it would finally click the more I realised what an absolute POS this franchise has become.

3RROD - Its a happy day if I can play my 360 without encountering the dreaded 3 Red Rings of Death. Its been so heavily modded to keep it alive it looks like it belongs on Blue Peter.
 
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Great thread.

Highs

COD 4 Multiplayer, just works really well. To me its a polished GRAW online. SP is ****

The Darkness, enjoyed it start to finish.

Mario Strikers, great fun to play local MP.

GRAW 2 Multiplayer.

Weirdly looking through every game on my profile for 07 not many have actually been great games for me.

Lows

Biggest dissapointment of the year, Assassins Crud. How can they take such a brilliant time period with the best settings I've seen on the 360 then run out of gameplay ideas after level 1.

Bioshock, Too easy, pointless and linear.

PES08 Ruined the best online game there is. They wont be getting money next year.

Halo 3, the fanboys that still play this multiplayer are stuck in the 90's. I enjoyed the co-op campaign but the MP is seriously showing it's age when you compare it to COD.

Forza 2, made racing dull. Only high point was andys **** car.
 
Highs
Played some fantastic games this year with some great people off here (you know who you are), and made many friends by doing so.

Lows
Have lost my rag in too many 360 v's PS3 threads this year, when in all honesty I don't really care, I for one won't be getting involved in any more of that.
 
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