Home Gaming rAge Round-up : The Top 5 Games (From my Skewed Ninja Perspective)

rAge Round-up : The Top 5 Games (From my Skewed Ninja Perspective)

3 min read
10

rage2009

rAge 2009 is over. Done and dusted…and despite a few niggles, it was great! Obviously, our focus as gamers is on the games themselves, and it was encouraging to see so many yet to be released games on show this year.

While Nick will give you his thoughts on the games and the show in general,  I’m going to ninja my way in and let you know which games on show tickled me most.

4. Red Steel 2 (Nintendo Wii – Q1 2010)

Ubisoft’s second attempt at a first person shooter that features swordplay seems to have fixed everything that was wrong with the first one. Thanks to increased precision afforded by the MotionPlus peripheral, swordplay, although not exactly one-to-one is now much more fluid. With the Wii obviously lacking the horsepower of its HD cousins, the decision to pursue a more stylized, almost cell-shaded art style has paid off – the game is a visual feast, as far as the Wii is concerned anyway. It’s a heck of a lot of fun, and is now at the top of my list of wanted Wii games.

3. Brutal Legend. (PS3, Xbox 360 – October 16 2009)

Tim Schafer’s latest epic is just that, Epic. A Metal-themed hack-and-slash action adventure that’s the first game to make me laugh out loud since Double Fine’s Psychonauts. It features Jack Black forgoing his regular goofy self voicing the decidedly bad-ass Eddie Riggs, who finds himself in a heavy metal dystopia, armed only with an Axe and the face-melting power of ROCK as his tools for survival.

2. Uncharted 2 (PS3 – October 16 2009)

There’s little that needs to be said about Uncharted 2. A quick look at its current astounding Metacritic rating of 97 demonstrates just how good it is, and getting the chance to play it myself, I can safely say that it’s a sumptuously beautiful game, and undoubtedly the finest PS3 exclusive soon to be available. It’s a game that EVERY PS3 owner should get, and if you don’t have a PS3, it’s a bloody good reason to get one.

1. Splinter Cell Conviction (Xbox 360 – Q1 2010) AND Borderlands (PC, PS3, Xbox 360 – October 23 2009)

This was a tough decision – Early on during the show, after watching Splinter Cell conviction being demoed I was convinced it was the best game there, but after actually leaving rAge yesterday all I wanted to do was play Gearbox Software’s First-Person shooter RPG lootfest hybrid. It appeals both to my addictive nature, and my lifelong goal of melting people by shooting exploding barrels full of acid. Borderlands, with its 50 levels, 4 player drop-in, drop-out  and 87 Bazillion guns will consume your life given half the chance. It’s available towards the end of this month, and my excitement for the game is palpable.

Splinter Cell conviction, on the other hand – from what we’ve seen so far – is marked departure from previous games in the series. Darker and gritter, the dynamic mark-and execute feature removes the steep learning curve, yet still maintains the challenge associated with espionage games. The projection of goals on to the environment, eliminating the need for cumbersome HUD or menu is such a simple, refreshing addition that it’s hard to believe it hasn’t been done before.

Honourable Mention : DJ Hero.

I’m loathe to admit it, believing that Activision are saturating the thy rhythm game market, but DJ hero is way, way more fun than I had ever expected it to be! It plays in a manner instantly familiar to Guitar Hero players, yet refreshingly different enough to be genuinely exciting again. Couple that with the fact that you can plug in a GH guitar and do DJ/guitar collaborations pretty much ensures that it’s going to be a winner. A local RRP of R999 including the game and the necessary hardware sweetens the deal.

That’s it. Those are the games I saw that floated around in my head making me want more. We had a good time at rAge 2009, and hope you did too.

Last Updated: October 5, 2009

10 Comments

  1. ewie

    October 5, 2009 at 12:24

    Have to agree on borderlands, was not even on the radar but after rage, look very promising.

    And am tempted to get a ps3 for uncharted but the wife will kill me so sadly no ps3 in the near future.

    Reply

  2. RampageZA

    October 5, 2009 at 12:54

    Was I the only one there who was disappointed with NAG’s hand’s on demos? Not one of the games were running in HD,Sabotuer,operation flashpoint,brutal legend all looked terrible!

    Reply

  3. Geoff

    October 5, 2009 at 12:56

    Not at all – I was both surprised an disappointed by the lack of HD. they had these huge, beautiful screens, and SD connections. LAME.

    Reply

  4. janrik

    October 5, 2009 at 12:59

    Who the hell setup the LCD screens in SD mode?

    Reply

  5. ewie

    October 5, 2009 at 13:01

    Should be the suppliers. I mean the ps3 and xbox ship only with SD cables.

    Reply

  6. Flamebaitboy

    October 5, 2009 at 13:03

    Noobs…that’s who.

    Reply

  7. Nick de Bruyne

    October 5, 2009 at 13:28

    My Borderlands Hands-on will be up soon. Really tough to decide between that and Splinter Cell for game of the show.

    All I know is that I am sitting here dying to play Borderlands more, which may give me my answer…

    Reply

  8. ClericZA

    October 5, 2009 at 14:13

    Brutal Legend and Splinter Cell certainly came out on top for me. Borderlands also looks incredible, but I can wait until December to pick it up.

    Props to the Megarom guys for the detailed walkthroughs of AC2 and Splinter Cell, really gave insight to some of the sublteties that look to make the games awesome.

    Reply

  9. ribjack

    October 5, 2009 at 14:58

    I fully agree.Operation Flashpoint sucked on that piece of …. TV.Oh and also no MW2.That was a big surprise.

    Reply

  10. janrik

    October 5, 2009 at 16:15

    teh n00b5. sigh. always with teh n00b5.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Check Also

FUSER is Harmonix’s latest rhythm game that’ll turn you into a DJ hero

Combine elements of the world’s most popular songs to create your own sound or partner wit…