For most, there will have been only one game released this week (and that most includes a number of major publishers, who, gun-shy from the competition, have pushed their own releases to Q1 of next year): Infinity Ward's return to the Modern Warfare franchise they laid down in 2007.
Modern Warfare 2 [Infinity Ward, PC/PS3/Xbox 360]
The developer has twice courted controversy in recent weeks, one for the very unfortunately devised viral video gag (for which IW has yet to offer a formal apology), and the second with early leaked video of what it surely intended as its most emotionally charged level -- a scene in which an agent embedded with an arms trafficker is present for a civilian massacre.
Infinity Ward were correct on one count: taking the scene out of context is misleading, as the premise is the hook on which the global geo-political fallout that guides the rest of the game is hung, and your involvement in it has its own twist of fate. But they otherwise squandered what could have been a multi-faceted moral quandary and flattened it into a paper-thin action scene with no real ramifications.
Players, who experience the scene looking down the barrel of their own gun, can easily simply play witness to the horrors around them without once pulling the trigger, but IW make it impossible to actually finish the level without killing at least a few of the SWAT team that arrives when the damage is done (unless I missed a route in my hour-long trial to do just that). But simply observing also never overtly raises the suspicion of the rogue team you're embedded with -- that only comes if you deliberately try to hang back away from the group for more than a minute (and, I don't know, say, distract yourself by taking a closer look at all of the hardcover jackets in the airport bookstore).
Devoid of any real freedom of choice, then, and coming -- as it does -- far too early in the game for players to first become emotionally invested in its world, its execution (no pun) falls flat. That's a shame, too, because its bombastic volume drowns out a number of more genuinely affecting subtleties. Chiefly, the return of 'Soap' McTavish -- the rookie recruit who served as the first MW's player-character -- as a vet seasoned by your own actions in that game, now guiding and protecting you as an even fresher face (whose approval I found myself actively seeking in our duo levels).
As a summer-blockbuster-esque rollercoaster (and one clearly made by a team in love with the essence if not the lessons of HBO miniseries Generation Kill), it's hard to come away unaffected by the thrill of its ride, and -- as with the original -- its true long term draw the unique lite-MMO structure of its multiplayer (that unlocks abilities as you level up through wins and kills), but it's a shame that it doesn't require more of you than thinking -- in the Colbert-ian sense -- from your gut, for as much as it chides you for shooting from the hip.
Spore Islands [Area/Code / Maxis, web]
Also recently launched and well worth your time is one of EA's first forays into the Facebook gamespace with one of its largest brands: Spore. Created by NYC developer Area/Code (the studio behind masterful iPhone puzzler Drop7) in conjunction with original creator Maxis, the game feels more closely akin to the direction the Spore franchise was headed in in the earliest days of development.
Influenced by the biodiversity (and the high number of evolutionary experiments that died in their tracks) of the Burgess Shale, Spore Islands is a numbers game of statistic modifications to create a creature that can withstand both the elements and the set of creatures that inhabit your island -- or, with its deep social hook, the islands of your Facebook friends.
The catch is that your observations (the simulations that let you see first hand how your character is faring and what weaknesses or strengths it needs to focus on) and the DNA point modifications to tweak your character to flourish in its environment are unlocked over real-time (or by purchasing them outright), but it's one of the games on the platform that's actually worth that wait, and easily the smartest time-sink on Facebook.
Half Minute Hero [XSEED, PSP]
And finally, another game released just a week or two prior but still eating up most of my time (in very tiny chunks) is the PSP release of XSEED's Half Minute Hero, a game which tells you more about its premise in its title than you'd first believe.
Created originally as a miniscule freeware indie release that would be expanded to a full commercial production, Half Minute's hook is that of a traditional RPG, shooter, and strategy game played out in a world where there's only 30 seconds before total demonic annihilation.
What this means as a player is that your 8-bit hero is tasked with leveling up via CPU-controlled random battles and player-controlled returns to town for better equipment while staring at a rapidly decreasing timer, desperately trying to save up the precious last seconds to defeat the inevitable time-controlling demon at the end (and undertaking various seconds-long missions in between to get there).
It's a slow-motion version of the three-second micro-games of Nintendo's WarioWare series, and -- split as it is into easily digestible chapter missions -- is the perfect addition to a platform that's been very much in need of more portable plays. Already too much overlooked even by the hardcore, there aren't many other recent games that are more deserving of your 30 seconds at a time.
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Nothing about Phantasy Star Zero for the DS?? It too was released in the USA last week a couple of days after Modern Warfare 2. It's been out in Japan for about a year now.
Probably one of the best ever online multiplayer RPG games on the DS. Some forums are even having reports of people forgetting about Borderlands and yes even Modern Warfare 2 to play Phantasy Star 0. Though some fault goes to Sega for not promoting this game more than they did.
Funniest comment came from a guy who said his wife was getting ticked off at him because she spent half the night at a midnight release of Modern Warfare 2 to get it for him but now he's play Phantasy Star 0 instead of that.
The Globe and Mail rated Modern Warfare 4.5/5:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/personal-tech/call-of-duty-modern-warfare-2-a-compelling-conflicted-hit/article1359286/
FTA:
"On one hand it's a rousing and sensational first-person shooter, while on the other it instills fear of war and its horrific consequences. Its film equivalent would be a Michael Bay blockbuster with a pacifistic premise, and if such a thing seems irreconcilable then it's all the more impressive that the game's developers actually manage to carry it off."
Wait... people are still playing Spore? There's no gameplay! How does a game that's that boring (inspite of the admitadly cool editors) manage to become that popular?
Modern Warfare 1 and Modern Warfare 2 both feel like you are playing Tom Clancy novels.. which is not a bad thing! :D
Agreed--Spore was a massive let down. Hopefully the facebook version is actually fun?
It just doesn't add up. The only thing a Michael Bay film has ever roused is bile and the only fear I've ever felt watching any of his films is the fear I may have to watch another one at some point.
Ha finish the quote and answer your own question.
"and if such a thing seems irreconcilable then it's all the more impressive that the game's developers actually manage to carry it off."
The thing is, they didn't.
There's no "pacifist bent" to pull off. "Gee, ain't war hell?" isn't pacifist, especially when followed by "...but ain't it fun, too?" The writer's claim is hollow; at best it's a weak attempt at helping kids convince worried parents that it's not gratuitously violent.
Hell, there's a quick shot in a cutscene where a prisoner is about to be tortured with live battery cables--by the "good" guys. And if we want to get into the politics of it, where previous CoDs at least presented quotes like Bertrand Russell's "War does not determine who is right - only who is left", this one quotes Cheney and Rumsfeld--and not ironically.
Having said that, I got it, am playing it, and my complaints are about the stripping down of the PC version. IW has basically flipped off it's PC audience, presenting nothing more than a console port. So be it. They'll either make amends with their next version, or just write off its base.
I'm guessing they're going to kiss off the PC.
Although the singleplayer campaign appears very good. Modern Warfare 2 was a big slap in the face for online (multiplayer) Windows players.
As a long time online PC player, I simply cannot support Activision/Infinity Ward in how they treated the online PC community on this one. They should be ashamed of themselves.
Ars summed it up well in their article:
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2009/11/pc-modern-warfare-2-its-much-worse-than-you-thought.ars