WC writes: Videogames are about doing as you’re told. Short-leash shooters like Call of Duty keep you in line with objective marker sticks and action-beat carrots: they say jump, you press X to ask how high. Bigger games like World Of Warcraft and Fallout give you the space and freedom to play how you like, but they still have rules; sure, you can strip your Lone Wanderer down to his Vault-issue undies, but his pork ‘n’ beans are strictly off-limits (probably a good thing considering how accurate VATS can be).
Cultured Vultures: In the spirit of preserving some kind of history of this industry, we’ve decided to list some of the best games that you just simply can’t get hold of digitally at the minute.
I just started playing Spec op. I've had it for years on steam and forgot about it. Such a good game.
Honorable mention to the excellent Driveclub, one of the best racing games of all-time and one of my favourite games ever.
Outrun Online Arcade, Sega Rally Online Arcade, After Burner Climax... all good stuff. I keep my 360 hooked up to play these as well as the TMNT games that were also delisted.
wow...I have all of them except the Nintendo ones either in physical or digital version.
Also..Deadpool the Game is missing on that list.
Tim and Luis talk what they’ve been watching and playing along with the news from the past week, including all the games from Sony’s “State of Play,” Evil West, Silent Hill: The Short Message, Hideo Kojima weirdness, Spec Ops: The Line delisted and more!
A stellar work of sobering proportions, Spec-Ops: The Line is an outstanding third-person shooter that on first glance conceals its hidden depths.
It's really a shame that the Spec Ops reboot didn't continue into a series. Obviously the story in The Line is over. But each game could have delved into the different psychological effects of war as well as exploring different takes on Heart of Darkness. In a sea of mindless military shooters it was nice to finally play a shooter that actually had something to say.
This game was the last of a dying breed, a signifier of where shooter games (and videogames more broadly) COULD have gone if developers didn't pivot so hard into the online services, micro transaction, season pass, yada yada.
New narrative territory exploring the actual art form of gaming and storytelling within it.
A brilliant depiction into what war can really do to a person and doesn't glorify it in any way.
I heard this game might be getting delisted, which is a travesty, this is one that should be preserved forever
I think the title was unfortunate - it was when Moder Warfare got big so I assumed it was yet another clone. Fortunately, because ps plus I checked out this gem of a game.
I don't get this at all. If a game is advertised "correctly" then the final product is what was advertised. Spec Ops was advertised to have you questioning your morality and giving you the options for the choices you're forced to make. The game did that. I certainly had no idea what was right and what was wrong in my playthrough and I noted that in my review. The game was actually better than I had anticipated by a long shot.
"And when the game turned out to be a pool of slo-mo, gore effect, rock soundtrack kill-spunk, it was too late to back down. "
Back down from what the game was advertised to be? It had all those aspects in there and more like I said above. It's a shooter, what did you expect? But the narrative in the game is far above and beyond 90% of the other shooters out there. Either the reviewer didn't pay attention to what was really going on, or just mindlessly played the game to review it and get it over with. This game literally made me keep asking myself even after I was done if there was another way I could have done something.
This makes no sense.
1 If game journalism is broken, then fix it! Don't sit there and say that....
2 It isn't broken because you fall behind the bigger websites....Do your own research, base your opinions on that, and talk about it that way. I personally knew what Spec Ops was going to be like a while ago, IGN sitting there telling me it was going to be godly didn't change my mind at all....I don't start "praising" a game until it releases and I've played through it. Just because YOU did that, doesn't mean EVERYONE does it....
Plus you don't NEED to be negative. I hate MW3, but I'm not sitting there constantly writing articles about why I think it sucks. I just avoid it, talk about COD as a whole or the past games. When news comes out I cover it, I'll try to come up with a different spin, perhaps bring both sides to the table. This is how journalism is. Unless MW3 did something drastically stupid that hurt other sales and the industry, then no need to put it down.
On the other hand If I think its godly, then I throw tons of coverage at it. If a publisher was kind enough to send a review copy, then I'll throw coverage at it too as a thank you.
If a developer gets butt hurt about a negative article they will either contact you about it to allow them to explain or put their spin on the story, or in the worst case....blacklist you. If you get blacklisted, then guess what? Their game sucked, and now your free to say it sucked all you want, who cares? The major publishers won't do this, and if someone is caught doing this you can complain. The only way it happens is if you constantly attack their product though. You won't get blacklisted for simply stating a game isn't that great. Why do you think little bobby in high school with a video game website gets a review copy? Because more people see the name and will talk about it, good or bad, its good for them in most cases.
3 I don't consider little fanboy blogs as gaming journalism. You can tell real journalism from the "im doing it for review copies!" sites.
i recently finished it and liked it but the game provided me with little option, my hands were forced to do what the game wanted me to. The story is really mature and shows the toll a soldier can take during a mission
when you start the game there is hope, your team believes in you and your team is joking around about 7-8 hrs later they call you a killer and you don't even know what's fake/real
i wish there were some more player choices other than that the single player is a solid 8/10(though i do wish this game had a longer story)
i rather have 15hrs of very good single player plus some sort of co-op than 7 hrs of good story with throw in MP
Another "games journalism is broken" article? Because Jeff Gerstmann got fired like five years ago? Christ, let it go. Gerstmann's firing was a big deal because that shit practically NEVER HAPPENS.
So what's the point of this article? Publishers having an influence over journalism? Well that's obvious.
The Gerstmann thing was more of a "perfect storm" of things that led to his firing. Under normal conditions that probably wouldn't happen, but other things might. In fact someone getting fired for a review would only make matters worse for everyone.
I don't buy that SO:TL is even remotely high profile enough to influence the reviews it got. But, whatever, this issue is hardly news, and won't solve anything anyway.