Pictured above is a receipt about two feet long. After making a snap judgment to trade in Battlefield 4, I also decided that there were 21 other games that were due to go, too. I generally don’t like to trade in games. Part of that is from the relatively low payouts that stores usually give. Also, after an incident many years ago where I was robbed of almost all of my video games, I’ve grown reluctant to let anything go. If a game has any sort of sentimental quality to me, or if I feel like I’ll ever want to play it again, I’ll keep it. However, over the course of many years, I took chances on a number of games that ultimately didn’t prove fruitful. Along with Battlefield 4, I blew out many of them in one fell swoop.
video games
Top 10 Games of This Generation – Honourable Mention – Batman: Arkham City
Batman: Arkham Asylum surprised the world. Expectations for licensed superhero games were at an all-time low, and this was far from the usual crap. For many (myself included), Arkham Asylum was a legitimate game of the year contender. Instead of falling into the sophomore jinx, Batman: Arkham City builds upon a solid foundation to create the pinnacle superhero game.
Resogun Review
From the makers of Super Stardust HD comes Resogun. This PlayStation 4 launch title is clearly building off the foundation of its spiritual predecessor and Geometry Wars, but that’s not a bad thing. Featuring a distinctive art style and gameplay that is a bit more involved than your traditional dual-stick shooter, Resogun makes a great first impression.
Top 10 Games Of This Generation – Honourable Mention – Gears of War 3
If this was a list of the most influential games of this generation, the original Gears of War could very well take the #1 spot. It’s take on the third person shooter and cover mechanics became the blueprint for third person action games. However, despite enjoying it enough to beat the campaign 3 separate times (including on insane difficulty), I felt like that game was rough around the edges. Some of the action outside of its core mechanics felt sloppy, the last boss encounter wasn’t fun or satisfying and its dumb story felt tacked solely as a means of justifying the gameplay scenarios rather than being integrated at a root level.
Gears of War 3 cleans up all of the mistakes of its predecessors to finally reach the franchise’s full potential.
Super Mario 3D World Review
Super Mario 3D Land is a very tough act to follow. To this day, I have fond memories of how it perfectly blended the 2D sensibilities of classic Mario within its 3D environments. I would go as far as saying that it’s better than any of the Super Mario Galaxy games. Are the cat suit and 4-player co-op enough to propel Super Mario 3D World above its predecessor? On their own, no. However, combined with the plethora of brilliant new ideas and a remarkable level of polish, this convincingly earns its place as one of the best Mario games ever made.
Top 10 Games of This Generation – Honourable Mention: Uncharted 2
I think the original Uncharted is a bit overrated. As Sony’s answer to Gears of War, I think people glossed over its faults in order to rank it on that same level. It’s sequel, however, stands on its own merits as a landmark release.
NBA 2K14 Review
NBA 2K14 and I got off on the wrong foot. Upon first booting up the game, I was immediately thrown into a quick match between the Miami Heat and the San Antonio Spurs while the game installs in the background. This took a good 30 minutes to complete. It’s odd being forced to play as the Miami Heat in a game where there’s only background music, but I guess I’ll take that over waiting a half hour for it to install. Once I completed that, I thought I’d finally get to play some hoops in its MyCareer mode. Instead, I largely sat through what seemed like hours of exposition that played out through a barrage of painful cutscenes.
Top 10 Games Of This Generation – Honourable Mention – Injustice: Gods Among Us
Injustice: Gods Among Us won me over long before it came out. At Fan Expo 2012, I got to play an early build of the game featuring only Batman and The Flash. Though I didn’t have very long to play it, something about it just felt right. More right than even the Mortal Kombat reboot, which I also really enjoyed.
What I did not anticipate was how far down the Injustice rabbit hole I’d go. Having played virtually every major fighting game released this generation (most of which are good), most of them just fall out of my rotation while I continue to play the same old Street Fighter and Marvel. But once this game hit, I couldn’t put it down.
First Impressions of the PlayStation 4
After months of waiting with bated breath, my PlayStation 4 finally arrived. Showing up at 10:30am, it sat at my building’s concierge desk until I could pick it up later that night. Once I did, I cracked the box open and stated noodling with it immediately.
The Recurring Bosscast: 030 – I Don’t Know But I Bought A Suit
Next gen fever has hit the Bosscast in a big way, as everyone recently bought a new console. Listen in for their first impressions of the PlayStation 4 and Wii U!
Games Discussed: Battlefield 4, NBA 2K14, Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, Resogun, Contrast, Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, Call of Duty: Ghosts, Ni No Kuni, Spyborgs
Jett – In Third Person
Jason – Downstab
Mat – Biff Bam Pop
In Third Person 