#528: TrackMania Nations Forever (2008, PC)

I can think of no better example of how much loading times and other such bullshit can color ones impression of a game than Trackmania here. Here we have a racing game that actually makes quite ludicrous demands of its players - in order to actually win you are going to have to find and hit your lines more or less perfectly, and the slightest mistake will render your entire race essentially null. One of the tracks here I found myself redoing a good 30 times before I won.

This sounds like an unmitigated disaster - the sort of thing that would frustrate to the point where a title would be banished to the inner reaches of hell, never to be touched again. Instead, it was addicting and - shockingly - fun. How did they manage such a feat? Simple - they made restarting as simple and painless as possible. Unlike most games, where reloading from a checkpoint will throw you to (at least) a good few seconds of loading, here pressing the restart key (positioned helpfully near your steering controls) instantly takes you back to the start - the only delay is the 3-2-1 to start the race. Equally important is that the races are kept as short as possible - typically no more than 20-30 seconds. Those which are longer (several tracks are actually circuits, not a point a to point b affair) are also far more forgiving in terms of the times required.

Something should also be said of the opponents. Instead of racing cars on the track, this entirely a ghost affair. This may sound bad - who doesn't like interactivity - but given the nature of the game (the need to hit lines, the degree to which mistakes will ruin your run), I would imagine having opponents on the track would be something of a minor disaster. The presence of ghosts running the same route every time also means they can be leaned on as a way of seeing what to do and not to do, and also means you can know midway whether you're on track to get a gold, since you're literally racing alongside it. I should also mention that Trackmania boasts an extremely robust track editor, but the fact is I had plenty of fun with the stuff out of the box here.



Finally, this game is free! You could almost call it a demo, but its a bit too full-featured to be that. The proper version boasts additional car-types, but based on my experiences with those other cars (in actual demos), I'm going to say you can do quite fine by just the F1-style cars here.

TrackMania Nations Forever

Publisher: Nadeo
Developer: Nadeo
Released: April 2008
Obtained: 5/24/2008

9.0/10

#575: Gears of War 2 (2008, X360)

It feels to me like Gears of War 2 kind of forgot what it was that was good about Gears of War. In their quest for Bigger, Badder, and More Badass - coming in the form set-pieces and 'variety' - they almost lost sight of their core, basic gameplay.

This is not to say that Gears 2 is bad - far from it. But Gears of war was a triumph of the 30 seconds of fun school of gameplay design - the idea that if you can make your most basic interactions fun, everything else will be gravy. A good example of a success in this was the original Halo - simply running around with the assualt rifle and some grenades, fighting a group of enemies was fun enough that it sustained the rest of the game. It took some steps to shake things up - vehichle segments, for example - but for all the additional weapons and such it would throw at you, you were going back to that assualt rifle (and maybe the shotgun) mixed with some grenades. By the time Halo 3 came around, they forgot about this, never providing enough ammo for the weapon you wanted to use (the assault rifle) in an attempt to more or less force you to use all the other dozens of weapons available - forgetting that those weapons weren't as fun - and throwing more and more set-pieces and such at you - forgetting that, by their nature, these segments never give the player the level of control or choice that the regular gameplay does.

Gears 1 was similarly successful on the 30 seconds of fun maxim. Stick the player in a room with some cover, give them a lancer, and throw them against a few locusts. Boom. That sustained the entire first game quite well - it was probably 90% of the first game, but you didn't care.

Gears 2, however, brings this ratio way down so that it can either toss you in neat-looking (and boring) on-rails and vehicle sequences (oh look, I'm in a tank, but it's so powerful it renders the sort of tactical gameplay that makes Gears fun pointless), or so it can toss you variety in the form of new enemy types that are just obnoxious to fight (little exploding things, guys with chain-guns, guys with sheilds, big flying things that sit on the ground and shoot at you instead of flying around and shooting you, &c).

Also - glitches. Somehow I went through all of Gears 1 without really encountering many glitches (though I am aware it was called Glitch of War by... well, many). No such luck here, where I had the pleasure of dying a few times from scripted events in the environment simply sort of happening on top of me (I'm not referring to things that obviously were meant to be dangerous, by the way, I mean stuff like doors).



Multiplayer-wise, they added bots, so I no longer have to deal with Live-types. Much thanks for that.

Gears 2 at least has the good sense to go out on a very strong note - the last few levels are very back-to-basics, under the idea that they've introduced you to all the new stuff, now you can bring it all together (I'll use the lancer, thank you very much) and also ends on at least the most fun of the on-rails/vehicle sequences (the Brumak) - I just wish they'd done this sooner in, or perhaps cut some of the fluff (Gears 2 is much longer than Gears 1, which would be fine if it didn't feel to bloated).

Gears of War 2

Publisher: Microsoft
Developer: Epic Games
Released: November 2008
Obtained: 12/25/2008

8.5/10

#548: Mega Man 9 (2008, XBLA)

I finally get it.

I've always liked Mega Man (well, the NES ones) - they're some of the best crafted titles available on the NES, bar-none. I just never understood how to play them. These are not games you can just run and jump your way through (like say, Mario), they're simply too hard for someone like me. And that is pretty much how I left things, 'here is something for those hardcore types to do well at, while I work my way through with the aid of the good old Game Genie'. I still got to experience the solid level design, the top-notch art direction and music, and I had a good time.

Fifteen years or so later, along comes Mega Man 9 to bring all that back. I was certainly excited to see a new retro-styled game in this day and age, but I also became immediately concerned - there would be no way on the Xbox or Wii for me to cheat so that I could get through it! I pretty much resigned myself to getting it and being unable to do anything but beat some of the robot master levels. I could see Wily himself by proxy, watching someone play on YouTube.

So what did I finally understand? You were never supposed to run and jump your way through! Mega Man is about planning - about plotting your way through the difficult platforming segments ahead of time, about knowing where to place yourself to avoid damage in boss fights, and about utilizing the tools you are given to your advantage at every turn. And so, by planning my moves ahead of time I was able to actually, legitimately, beat a Mega Man game all on my own - what's more, I was able to beat what is considered a very hard Mega Man game on my own.

I don't think I've ever been more proud of a gaming accomplishment in my life. (120 stars? Pfft, I can do that in my sleep at this point - I beat a Mega Man, baby).

For being one of the hardest Mega Man titles out there, it does give you some help. The blue bomber is able to collect various bolts and screws in levels he can exchange for items (energy tanks, spike guards, lives and the like). As an added bonus, there is a spot where you can grind for these on some infinitely spawning enemies using Jewel Man's jewel shield that allowed me to max out my inventory before attacking our good friend Wily -- this still just saves you some time lost due to some simple mistakes, the rest, I'm proud to say, was all me.



And how about those retro-stylings? The 16-bit era and beyond saw Mega Man get a bit distracted - it simply isn't as easy to control a more articulated character (as seen in Mega Man X, for example), and the extra hardware power was usually put towards throwing more stuff on the screen or making things more busy. Gone were straightforward corridors, replaced by spralwing 4-way stages that were mostly a pain to navigate. Far from being a cheap way out, the simplified styling enhances the gameplay. And if you're like me, someone who loves the 8-bit look and sound, Mega Man 9 is an outright treat. The series always had far and away the best soundtracks on the NES, 9 revels in using the NES sound to its fullest, creating wonderfully rich (synth) textures - I mean, listen to Jewel Man's stage up there. It's amazing - even Capcom didn't do stuff like that in the day.

Mega Man 9

Publisher: Capcom
Developer: Inti Creates
Released: September 2008
Obtained: 10/4/2008

8.5/10

Oscar Prediction Results

15/24 Total, 5/8 Major, 9/13 Non-Major/Non-Short, 1/3 Shorts

In all, I made the mistake of underestimating The Hurt Locker, thinking the recent campaigning controversies would hurt it. Hindsight being 20/20 I would have switched on Picture, Original Screenplay, and the Sound awards and had one of my stronger years.

Oscar Predictions 2010

As I do every year (usually on my older site):

• Picture: Avatar
• Actor: Jeff Bridges
• Actress: Sandra Bullock
• Sup. Actor: Christoph Waltz
• Sup. Actress: Mo'Nique
• Director: Kathryn Bigelow
• Ad. Screenplay: Up in the Air
• Org. Screenplay: Inglourious Basterds
• Animated: Up
• Foreign: The Prophet (Un Prophete)
• Documentary: The Cove
• Original Score: Up
• Original Song: The Weary Kind (Crazy Heart)
• Cinematography: The Hurt Locker
• Costume: The Young Victoria
• Art Direction: Avatar
• Makeup: Star Trek
• Sound Mixing: Avatar
• Sound Editing: Avatar
• Editing: The Hurt Locker
• Visual Effects: Avatar
• Doc. Short: China's Unnatural Disaster
• Short: The Door
• Ani. Short: Logorama

Results to be posted following the show.