Game of the Year Awards 2010 Day 3

The platformer genre was very well represented in 2010 and saw many big name franchise making a splash. At number 8 in my Game of the Year Awards 2010 is Donkey Kong Country Returns.

8:

Donkey Kong Country Returns (Wii)

I was a Sega fan as a kid and hence did not own a SNES which is why I never really knew about Donkey Kong Country series. The Wii did introduce me to the series through the Virtual Console service but I wasn't really impressed with Rare's popular franchise. But when Nintendo announced its barrage of games at this year E3 Donkey Kong Country Returns was the game which piqued my interest. Maybe the graphics were the real cause as basically the game design was identical as its SNES precursor (although the game development was done by Retro this time around rather than now Microsoft owned Rare), but whatever the case the game looked gorgeous. I was keen in knowing what the whole hoopla was about Donkey Kong Country popularity.

Fast forward to November and Donkey Kong Country Returns had knocked my socks off with its awesome graphics and spot on controls and inspired level design. Making leaps across canyons, dodging huge waves, transversing treacherous mines, battling awesome bosses was the quite rush and when you factor in the difficulty, it makes for some fine old school gaming. Yes the game is quite difficulty, sometimes so much so that I would almost fling my Wii controller across the room, but even then the difficulty is not frustrating as usually it would be my impetuousness which would lead to me wasting Kong's lives. The level designs are really well thought out with right amount of obstacles to overcome and finding secret areas. Each area of the game has a cool theme which makes for varied environments to look at and explore. And as I mentioned before the visuals are easily among the best on the Wii with staggering amount of attention laid on in the details and nary a hint of slowdown. Nintendo has brought out its A game and has delivered a stunning comeback from Donkey Kong and his cohorts.

You can always count on Nintendo to turn heads, and usually such events come about more often than other developers. It is as if people at Nintendo know exactly what gamers want and literally pulverize them with such knowledge and insight. Donkey Kong Country Returns is a fine example of such a fact as this game is easily one of the best 2D platformers I have played and is definitely one of the best games for the Wii. Period.

The Big N owned!!!

Just finished watching Nintendo's press conference for the E3 and I have to say I was duly impressed. This year it seem that the Big N have gone the whole 9 yards in reigning in the hardcore gamer with a dazzling array of game titles announcements and game reveals. The last two E3 Nintendo has come in for a lot of flak by the game industry due to their over-reliance on catering to the casual gamers market so much so that they have some what forgotten about the legion of Nintendo fans who have grown up playing truly fantastic games. But this year? Boy have they gone to town. I was truly amazed how they have put in all of their big first party franchises and come out all guns blazing. I am guessing Sony and Microsoft may not have seen this coming. Anyways coming on the game now.

First off its the legend: Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword and after months of speculation Miyamoto-san have unveiled the exclusive Zelda game for the Wii. What impressed me the most right off the bat were the cartoony visuals. I mean to be honest I was blown away by Wind Waker's cel shaded looks so the cartoony look of the new Zelda feel right at home for me. Th colour saturated environs in the demo looked like they were pushing the Wii hardware to the limits. But when the initial euphoria died down I felt a little disappointment due to the nature of game play. Its FULL OF WAGGLE!!!. As a muscular dystrophy patient having to deal to THAT much arm waving and waggle is looking a little tiresome. The bevvy of movement were quite elaborate and it while it look quite fun to play alright, I need to think of it practically. Anyways here's to hoping that there some option of either toning down the waggle or the option of using the Classic Controller Pro.



Then there was Warren Specter. I have heard LOADS of Deus Ex and System Shock world and setting but never got to play them so the twisted nature of Warren Specter's new game Epic Mickey was the one to truly shine. Paying homage to Mickey's 80 year history with a twisted world of the Wasteland, meeting up with many of the Disney characters which have been cast aside, hence creating a disturbing atmosphere. What has got my interest piqued are the different game play styles involving RPG elements, platforming and adventure and is looking to provide loads of depth with its 'paint it or erase it' game mechanics. The graphics too looked quite dazzling esp for a Wii game. Since this game was unveiled a year ago I have kept tabs on it and am intrigued how the end product will play out. But I am sure this game will surprise ALOT of Wii naysayers and haters.


OK so Kirby may be the most cutest characters around in the world of gaming, and although I have never played a Kirby game before, Kirby's Epic Yarn looks right down my alley with its unique visuals. Since the conception of LittleBigPlanet's different visual art style no game have been able to replicate it till now as Kirby's Epic Yarn looks quite wonderfully weird with its yarn based looks and how it translates into the game play as well. Its is if the whole game is made from a piece cloth and also retains its 2D platform tradition. Even as a gamer who is into mature games, I just help get sucked in the cutesy world of Kirby.

The last two games which caught me eye at the Nintendo's press conference are Golden Sun: Dark Dawn and the grand reentry of Donkey Kong Country. Golden Sun: Dark Sun once again targets the RPG gamers this time obviously on the DS and it sure looks quite good. The puzzle based game play returns along with turn based battle system makes its a JRPG I will be looking forward too. Donkey Kong Country Returns comes back to consoles after a long hiatus and this game also looks like it will turn a lot of heads and to be honest I am very pumped for this co-op platform.

So yeah this year Nintendo has totally owned Sony and Microsoft hands down. Sure the big games and the new hardware were on show at the press conferences to those two but the amount of fun games at Nintendo press conference is staggering and too think most of those games are coming this year. I CANNOT wait!!!