Game of the Month - January 2011

What’s been your primary game this past month? It could be a recent title, a new discovery, or something from your backlog. It could be an old favorite or a new flame. What game defined January 2011?

World of Warcraft. I just got into the new Cataclysm zones, so I probably have another month of two before I tire of it again. Vashj’ir is a particularly lovely zone. Meanwhile, I’m picking up games in order to build up my backlog for the eventual withdrawal.

Magicka, rough edges included.

Divinity 2, which continues one of the best RPGs I’ve played in many many years. Loving every minute of it.

Magicka

Apart from WoW (dailies) my main game was Darksiders.
Pretty gory game perfect to let out some frustration without harming anything / anyone.

My gf is a hardcore HdO (Hidden Object) nut and once in a while I see some game that grips me, too while watching her burn through them.
This time it’s Brunhilda and the Dark Crystal.
From the outside it sounds like a game I wouldn’t touch in a million years (Magic get sucked out of a magical kingdom and somehow you end up there trying to save the day being the niece of a witch and therefore having a talent for wielding magic without knowing it yet).
However the game is pretty close to being a real point n’ click adventure with an enjoyable story and nice puzzles (in HdO form nevertheless mostly).
Pleasantly suprised by it so far and a real gem besides all the crap released as “HdO”!

Well, I got an Xbox 360 in the last week of 2010, so I’ve mostly been playing games I’ve picked up for that over the month of January. First, I beat Fable 2. Had a good time with that, though I was a bit disappointed it wasn’t a bigger world with a more involved story.

I’ve also been playing lots of Final Fantasy XIII. Got about 35 hours under my belt so far and I’m still really digging the combat system, even if other elements are lacking.

I just got Brutal Legend last week. It was on sale for $9.99 shipped from NewEgg and the demo was one of the favorite things I played when I first got the 360 and just downloaded a ton of stuff to try. I’ve got a few solid nights into the single player campaign, through the first stage battle, and I’m really loving it. I’m not sure what it is, but the chrome effect in this game on Eddie’s wrist band and lots of other things in the world is just so fucking beautiful. The story is really great, the humor works really well and I’m having so much fun just tooling around in my Deuce discovering the world and figuring out how things work. It took me a long time to figure out where to upgrade my car and weapons, for example. And it took a lot of experimentation to discover the key to releasing the dragon statues. I wonder if that’s one of the things that turned off reviews. When you’ve got a review deadline you probably don’t have the patience for a game that wants you to experiment and how things work for yourself. There’s no FAQ to fall back on so it probably seems less charming when the game gives you subtle hints instead of popping up tutorials and button prompts for every little thing.

I also picked up Nier and Resonance of Fate on sale and popped each of those in for a bit. I really, really liked the opening of Nier, so that’s probably next at bat.

Dead Space 2, I’m on the last chapter right now and plan to go through at least another two times.

Defence Grid and Mount and Blade: Warband

Then my graphics card died, Mount and Blade struggles on the older system I am using, and as such, reverted to Jagged Alliance 2.

DCUO by far. I think I have not touched anything else since it has been released.

Which divinity 2 are you guys talking about? There seem to be 2 of them up on steam…

Dragon Knight i suppose. It’s the original game + expansion + extra polish.

I’ve discovered Minecraft. I can’t even begin to explain why, but I’m totally addicted.

And the usual FIFA 11 on the office PS3.

A tie between the PS3’s LittleBigPlanet 2 and Ascendancy for iOS.

War in the East with some Field of Glory and Squad Battles Modern War PBEM thrown in. I’ve been in a wargamer mood.

Not only is the Dragon Knight Saga the expanded, rebalanced and polished version, it’s actually $10 cheaper on Steam. Strange but true. Get that one.

I’m playing The River of Time, sequel to Drakensang. It’s really, really well done in terms of how many interesting avenues are open to you at each stage and the rule system is nice. If you fancy a turn-based with stats & pauses party RPG, try this. I’d play it in preference to the first game (this is a prequel) and for some reason the English version launched at $19.99, which is about half what it should have.

I actually played a bunch of games this month which is unusual for me. Here I will list them in the order of preference:

Demon’s Souls – I got about 18 hours in this and have finished 6 of the levels. Great fun.
GT5 – This game is kind of a mess, but it’s a guilty pleasure.
Mass Effect 2 – Played 60% of this in December but finished it in Jan. Good story, passable game play.
Uncharted: Drakes Fortune – actually started and finished this in Jan. Pissed me off but among the best game stories that I can recall off the top of my head (yes, I see I posted ME2 right above it).

I’ve been addicted to Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood. I’ve done 100% on every mission so far. I’ve got all the feathers, all the Romulus lairs, all the war machines, bought every building in Rome. I just need to find and finish all the “Truth” puzzles and complete the last couple memory sequences. (Not sure if I’ll get all the flags) Played the Ezio parts in Italian and Desmond parts in English. (I can’t stand Ezio’s accent in the english VO.) Also played most of the game with all HUD options OFF.

Other then that I’ve been playing through Little Big Planet 2 and having a blast. I love how easy the multiplayer works. Yesterday I had a friend who was online, jumped right into his game and saw he was in the middle of building a level. Got a sneak peek before it was released. After that I played a few single player missions and some random person joined in and we had a blast getting all the bubble prizes.

Got Tumble from the PSN sale last week and it’s my favorite PS Move game. Very precise and challenging.

Finally I got my Rock Band 3 pro-drums last week and have been having a blast with them. I need more practice because when things get crazy I lose track of where all the drums and cymbals are and I start missing and swinging at air. Got my keyboard rocking, my drums banging and soon enough the Pro Squire shall be mine. Oh yes. It shall be mine.

I played Fallout New Vegas exclusively.

I played more StarCraft 2 than anything else. Mostly I was waiting to start enjoying it, but in the end I realized I was just playing to unlock cinematics.

For boardgames it was Defenders of the Realm. Its a little rough around the edges but overall a fantastic epic coop strategy boardgame.

Nothing but World of Warcraft.