• Assassin’s Creed
• Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
• Crisis
• Mass Effect
• Rock Band
• Super Mario Galaxy
• Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune
• Unreal Tournament

And still, four years later, it seems that every single publisher out there feels the urge to release their games during the Christmas season in order to make the best sales, so every year we have a late summer/early fall drought, followed by a typhoon of Triple A titles in November.

The result is usually upset gamers that have to make financial decisions that force them to miss out on opportunities they would have taken otherwise, and upset developers that their games don’t sell as well as they wanted due to them not taking their competition into account. For game reviewers, this is always a busy time. They’re the ones who have to binge through these games so they can tell everyone whether they’re good or not, and ultimately make their decision for what deserves Game Of The Year.

For us at Toy-TMA, it is especially difficult. We don’t have a large staff of people to easily disperse the load, nor do we receive free review copies of games a week in advance. We’re just three guys who have to buy/rent these games at full price, then play and review them on our own time between other jobs that pay our bills. So starting now, I dedicate this new tradition every November: A List of Holiday Games I would love to play and review for you all, but just don’t have the time or money to do so.

In no particular order…

Kirby’s Return To Dreamland

Okay, so this game actually came out late October rather than November, but then again, that’s as close to being in November as you can get. Not to mention it was sandwiched between Batman: Arkham City and Uncharted 3, both follow-ups to arguably the best games of 2009 (and that we somehow reviewed on schedule).

Now, I did play Kirby’s Epic Yarn last holiday, and I adored it. Cute story, fun platforming, gorgeous visuals, tons of variety, and some pretty quirky boss fights. Sure it wasn’t the most epic or memorable game of my career, but there was something definitively new and refreshing about it. Kirby’s Return To Dreamland however is a return to form (if the title was not already a dead giveaway to that): Kirby’s classic suck-em-up/power-swiping ability returns with fierce determination. And he’s brought his friends: Metaknight, Dedede and Waddle Dee (wait, I’m confused, aren’t all these guys former adversaries?). All three join the fray in four-player co-op, each with their own unique skill set.

A game like this one would think to be pretty promising. If only it could have been advertised better. Nintendo didn’t even mention it (or any other Wii games for that matter) during their press conference at this year’s E3, so I had to stumble onto it by chance. (Like Chris’ coverage of his trip to Pax.)

Saints Row The Third

I love me a good sandbox game. But I’m more a superhero fantasy kind of guy than into those gritty urban realistic sandboxes. Yeah, I’d take electric-wire-grinding or web-slinging over hijacking a car any day. Though there is one urban sandbox game that did catch may fancy this holiday, and that is Saints Row The Third, which basically looks like GTA, but on waaaaaaaaaay better drugs. Yeah, I seriously doubt there are going to be any side missions where you have to shove burgers into your fat friend’s face (unless of course the burgers are made of bombs, but I digress). I have not played either of the previous two games, but from what I’ve seen from the previews of SRt3rd, a gang war between two groups that call themselves the Saints and the Syndicate, that will pit you against government SWAT parodies, furies, zombies, and a Mexican Wrestling gang leader voiced by Hulk Hogan? Unapologetically crude sense of humor mixed in? This is the kind of whacky time wasting nonsense I haven’t had since Bulletstorm back in February. And because of the farcical tone, I don’t feel like I’m obligated to play every previous entity before this one so that I’m not missing out on some elaborate continual storyline.

But for when I do want elaborate and deep continuity…

Assassin’s Creed Revelations

Okay, I’ll admit I’ve been a bit rough on the Assassin’s Creed series as of late, more or less due to my disdain of the games’ central protagonist. The more I look into it however, there is a deep sense of intrigue in this story’s very Inception-like plot, with all the memories within other memories. AC Revelations marks the chapter of the story where we will [ideally] have revealed to us what the hell is going on at the center of Desmond, Ezio, Altiar, Sixteen, the Animus, the Assassins, the Templars, the First Society, the pieces of Eden, and just about every other thread to this game’s web of conspiracy.

While I am not entirely prepared to give this series my full attention, I was able to spy a glance at roughly the game’s first hour from a friend’s play through. It begins with Ezio, who has now gone from his teens to middle-aged in just three short games, in the final stages of his Assassin career, which bring him to the heart of Constantinople where he will lay waste to the rising Templar order that has been slowly taking over in the Ottoman Empire. With new territory comes new allies, and a new weapon called the hook blade. It can be used to extend Ezio’s reach in climbing, slide across hook lines stretching across the city roofs, and can grab enemies and throw them to the ground in battle.

There are a few other new mechanics, such as Ezio commanding a group of Assassins in a street-wide stakeout against raiding Templars, which my vary in appeal from person to person, as well as the bomb-making, which… actually turns out to be a tedious process all around. Besides a few missteps, there is a ton I do want to explore further in this series. Not to mention it has an online multiplayer that actually seems half appealing.

Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim

Let’s make something perfectly clear: Skyrim has absolutely nothing to worry about. As the successor to Oblivion, the massive open world RPG that was a frontrunner for Game of the Year back in 2006, (just barely behind Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, both of which take place in Medieval Folklore settings oddly enough), Skyrim is selling selves full of copies for the 360, PS3, and Microsoft Windows by the hour. Gamers with no lives have probably already clocked in 100+ hours. It is officially the title to beat for 2011’s Game of the Year.

Be that as it may, I personally do not have 40, let alone 100, hours to spare to immerse myself in such an epic, large-scale experience that commands such high prestige this holiday season. Especially with Twilight Princess’ own successor, Skyward Sword, releasing just this weekend, a title that will more than likely be in complete ownership of all my sanity for a while. Like I said, we gamers have to make choices this holiday, and me, being the Zelda fan that I am, had to go with the one that will allow me to be Link flying on a giant bird to an island in the sky.

And now for the one that grieves me most of all.

Rayman Origins

I remember this year’s E3 coverage when I got my first real look at Rayman Origins and I reached an epiphany: While I pride myself on being such a huge fan of cartoon-style platformers, with some of my favorite all-time games being Donkey Kong Country, Crash Bandicoot, Jak and Daxter, and Sonic the Hedgehog, I have never once played a Rayman game. Shocking right? Debuting just before the Golden Age of 3D platformers from the N64/PS1 generation hit its stride, Rayman was one of the very last definitive 2D platforming games ever to be released on the market. By the time its sequel came out (along with making the leap to 3D), Rayman had made a name for himself and become the official face of Ubisoft. Over time though, as new projects started to trickle in such as Prince of Persia, followed by Assassins Creed, and those annoying Rabbid tie-ins, Rayman has taken a backseat for far too long.

So when I saw this game at E3, I immediately said to myself, “Okay! I am DEFINITELY buying and playing that game. NO WAY am I missing out on this franchise any longer.”

…And then the launch date came out: November 15th. Dead center of the Triple-A Typhoon Month.

WHY NOVEMBER!? WHY MUST YOU MAKE ME GO BACK ON MY WORD!?

The one consolation to all this is that Ubisoft was kind enough to release a Demo, now available for download on PSN (and probably Xbox Live as well), so I have at very least gotten a taste. Origins is quite possibly the most beautiful 2D platformer I have ever seen. I cannot recall ever seeing colors this rich and vibrant since… I don’t know, maybe Wind Waker? The controls for running, jumping, and combat are so simple to learn, I felt like I’ve been playing the series my whole life. Not only that, it’s yet another game you can play with your friends. Can’t wait to share this with as many people as I can.

And that, ladies and gents, are the five games that got away from me this holiday season. Here’s to high hopes that I can make time for each of these titles sometime in 2012, and for those of you who have played them, I’m all ears. Were they everything they seem cracked up to be? Are any of them your Game of The Year? Or do you have other games this Holiday you personally feel you missed out on due to financial and time constrictions? Don’t be afraid to share.

To all the games we actually do have the pleasure of experiencing, here’s early thanks to you. Along with all our readers out there.

A legit number of sales on the remake wouldn't hurt either.

Beyond Good & Evil comes to us from Rayman creator Michel Ancel. Developed by Ubisoft back in 2003, it was released for the PS2, Xbox, Gamecube, and PC. Despite being available on so many platforms, the game never received so much as a second glance on the shelves as it proceeded to become one of the biggest disasters (sale wise) of the industry. No one bought it, save for maybe X-Play host Morgan Webb. I myself will confess to barely even knowing about the game eight years ago (okay so I was 15, but still). I finished my first run of the HD remake just this last weekend, and now, I just feel this swelling sense of grief that something so humble yet so intelligent and filled with potential was shot down. It’s like Earthbound all over again.

Anyway, unplesantries aside, lets talk about just what makes this game so promising. Beyond Good & Evil takes place in the future on the lush planet of Hillys, where humans and anthropomorphic creatures coexist together, and not a single soul questions it. Our story focuses on a young woman named Jade. She’s no one special, just another citizen who happens to be a photographer and runs a shelter for a small group of orphans. At the beginning of the game, said shelter becomes one of several victims of a raid by a parasitic alien race known as the DomZ. As any respecting mother figure would, Jade’s protective nature spurs her to seek out answers to why the Alpha Sections, the military force of Hillys, is not doing anything about these attacks. With her Uncle Pay’j by her side—a diminutive, pudgy-but-brilliant mechanic who also happens to be a pig (I SAID no one questions it!)—Jade gets the attention of the IRIS Network, a covert underground agency who wishes to hire Jade for some field missions as they could use her skills in photojournalism. While a little hesitant at first, Jade’s meeting with IRIS Agent Double H eventually convinces her to join IRIS to help them gather evidence of a secret government conspiracy by the Alpha Sections.

Aside from being the only woman I’ve seen to successfully pull off green lipstick, Jade is easily one of the best realized leading female protagonists in any video game. A few months back, she was listed, and quite deservedly, in Game Informer’s Top 30 Characters Who Defined A Decade. Furthermore, of those 30, only six in total were female, if that puts it in perspective. There is something about Jade that feels very real. Her motives are selfless and empathetic. She has friends in town. She catalogs animals as a side job. When she goes on missions, whether it’s with Pay’j or Double H, she works best co-dependently. She saves others just as much as she gets saved herself. Sure, she can fight in tough spots, but she has realistic limits. It’s not like she can lay waste to whole battalions. Any more than two guards at a time can become too much for her. The emotional turns for Jade as the story progresses are very believable and even touching at points. Though I will say, we are left with a lot of questions concerning Jade’s character toward the ending, but that’s just a huge hint that this game was always intended to be the first of a trilogy that never got off the ground. And yet, not having the big picture almost makes her more intriguing. I can see why die-hard fans have been praying for a sequel for so long now.

As for the game itself, it at first feels like a classic action adventure romp, conveniently of the same generation as some of my favorite action adventure series, like Jak and Ratchet and Clank. The visual style is very similar to those titles as well, however the gameplay has more in common with the Zelda genre than a platformer. There is a much stronger sense of exploration. The game is not as linear or strait forward as most adventure titles nowadays, and progressing through the game will take some actual thought. It does not hold your hand in how to unlock the next path. Your co-op partners have abilities and knowledge as well as your own gadgets, and all of these elements come into play in transgressing the world. As I said before, while there is a bit of fighting, the majority of Jade’s field missions involve gathering evidence. As such, there is quite a bit of stealth involved and taking snap shots. Even the side missions are engaging. I myself got easily distracted just looking for secret passages that lead to hidden pearls, or simply roaming the world taking pictures of all the different animals.

While the game is not without its faults, the most potent of them are staples that all 3rd Person games from the early portions of last gen were plagued with: an occasionally awkward camera, some repetitive sound bites, the usual. There has been some notions that the final boss fight can be infamously hard. While I did die several times on that part, I wouldn’t say it was the most difficult thing in my life. Just make sure you found all the Health Packs and you store up on energy restores, and you should be fine. Another complaint is that the story lacks the moral ambiguity that the title “Beyond Good & Evil,” alludes to. My only argument for this is that the game, at its core, is less about the waring factions and more about Jade following her own sense of right and wrong. That, or the title was intended to make more sense with the continuation of the story (as I said, it was planed as a trilogy).

Speaking of which…

Beyond Good & Evil 2 has been labeled “in development” since it was first teased back in 2008. This year, developer Mike Ancel requested that gamers be a little more patient as the project is in fact on their to do list, but was put on hold during the development of Rayman Origins, a game that whole-heartedly has my approval, and is in the final stages of production set to release this November. Furthermore, there is talk about them experimenting with new technology, and rumors of Ubisoft possibly looking toward the next generation of consoles to release the sequel, so… perhaps a Wii U title? Or for Sony or Microsoft’s inevitable new consoles? Difficult to say.

Anyway, there’s really no point worrying about a sequel yet when the good lot of you haven’t even played the first one anyway, so… get the heck on that! Currently in development or not, I can assure you that the success or lack-thereof will be a big deciding factor whether its sequel finally gets off the ground. Please don’t let disaster strike twice. This is a game that everyone who loves games should have played eight years ago, but I will settle for playing it now. If you have either an Xbox Live or PSN account, do not hesitate any longer. It’s only $10. ANYONE can spare $10 on a cult classic. If you’re a Wii owner, then your best option would be to find a GameCube copy of the original somewhere online or at an antique game store not called GameStop.

Just some ideas.

Sony

Due to recent misfortunate events, CEO Jack Trenton was obliged to do some damage control at the beginning of their conference. After assuring us of the PSN’s resurrection and despite the fiscal damage the company has suffered that the PS3 is still keeping strong, we were given quick reminders of just how awesome things are to come. Uncharted 3, check. Resistance 3, check. Twisted Metal, check. Ico Collecition, check and mate. [Not to mention Infamous 2 literally releasing the same week as the con. More on that game another time.] AWe’ve known about all of these for some time, but probably their biggest surprise for me, game wise, was this:

Don't be so sly, Cooper. I'd recognize your shadow anywhere.

For those of us who played through the Sly Collection, we were treated with a little teaser, but this is the first time it’s been official: Sly 4 Thieves in Time is on the way, and while Sucker Punch no longer has the reigns (given to Sanzaru Games) it looks to be shaping up pretty well. There were, however, a few other surprises. For the online crowd, Warhawk is getting a successor called Starhawk, which has found a unique way to blend Action with RTS elements and make it visceral and fun. Another collection called God of War Origins is an HD/3D remastered version of the two PSP games, Chains of Olympus and Ghost of Sparta, which I guess is nice for guys like me who never bought the PSP.

Into the second third, it felt like Déjà vu as Sony continued to demonstrate the new uses of the PSMove (which I still haven’t bought). To be fair, the games they showcased this year were slightly more effective than last year (though I’m kind of confused what happened to Sorcery, the one use of Move they showed last year that intrigued me.) Medievil Moves, despite the disappointment that it wasn’t a revival of the classic Medievil franchise from the PS1, did demonstrate some impressive use of weapons. NBA 2K12 for the Move was Kobe Bryant approved. Even Bioshock Infinate (which is just awe inspiring in its own right) is getting the optional Move treatment, which is impressive when you consider creator Ken Levine openly opposed the idea of the peripheral when he first learned of it but has now openly admitted to embracing it. But enough of the Move. Let’s get to the main event.

It wins in the name category. PSV. Clean.

The whole final third of Sony’s conference was focused purely on the new peripheral, the Playstation Vita. So far, we got close to all the information on the system I was expecting when they first announced it. It has a decent name that’s easy to pronounce and we also got a price: $250 for the WiFi only version and $300 for the 3G powered by At&t. I was expecting the worse, but the lower price puts it at the same cost as the 3DS. So far the the games they displayed look great, the big one being Uncharted Golden Abyss, which, all kidding aside, looks just as good as its console counterparts. Capcom introduced a brand new crossover fighter, Street Fighter vs. Tekken, in which Infamous’ Cole McGrath makes a guest appearance. Easily the most “shocking” (sorry, I couldn’t resist) development of the game. Another impressive feature comes from a new Action RPG called Ruin, which showed off the ability to transfer games from PSVita to your PS3 and play the games on your big screen in full HD.

Call me cautiously optimistic on this one. If Sony can launch with a decent library, they just may be able to hold their own in the handheld market for once. (It will also help if they get rid of that annoying as hell kid).

Microsoft

Much like Sony (minus the PSN Outage damage control), Microsoft opened right up with showing their biggest hardcore titles first. Now as much as I want to avoid flashing my obvious Sony>Microsoft bias, I can’t help but point out Microsoft chose two 3^rd party games to open their conference (CoD Modern Warfare 3 and the new Tomb Raider reboot) while Sony opened with exclusives (Uncharted and Resistance). The games indeed looked great, but I’m just saying, those will be on the PS3 as well. Perhaps a further look into Gears of War 3 with Cliffy B. and guest appearance Ice T declaring he’s bringing Body Count back together to do a song exclusively for the game should more than make up for that.

And yet again, we revert the focus to motion controls.

Congrats. You have officially replaced Guitar Hero as the "Greatest Party game Eva."

Since the Kinect launch, Dance Central has become its biggest hit, so naturally a sequel is already underway. The Disneyland exploration game and Tim Shaffer’s Once Upon A Monster looked… cute. I’m absolutely certain they will sell great to the casual and family audience. What impressed me was Fable the Journey and its use of improvised spell casting. Mass Effect 3’s use of voice command to lead your squadron I’ll also give kudos too. I wish I could say I was more excited for the Star Wars Kinect but the force is not with me on that one (I honestly think the Move would have been much more fit for a Star Wars game [Pranger's Note: Agreed]).

And that was pretty much it. I guess you could count the Halo Combat Evolved Anniversary, but that’s a remake of a game we’ve played a dozen times. In the wake of their competitor’s new hardware, the 360 needs something that will pop and keep their audience’s attention.

Me and my big mouth.

Just when I thought Microsoft was out of ideas… they prove me right. The way I see it there are four kinds of gamers: 1.) Gamers who’ll love Halo forever. 2.) Gamers who can’t stand Halo anymore. 3.) Gamers who love Bungie and think this game will suck because it’s not made by them. 4.) Gamers who hate Bungie and think this game might be an improvement because it’s not made by them.  [Pranger's Note: 5.) Gamers who couldn't care less.] If this were five-to-seven years from now, than I can see this teaser being epic beyond belief. Yet regardless of where you fall in the above list, announcing a whole new Halo trilogy not a year after Bungie completed their run of the series with Reach just feels like the most safe, cheap, and uninspired thing they could do.

Nintendo

For the third time in a row, we start with some Déjà vu: Nintendo opens with Zelda. But wait, this isn’t about Skyward Sword, a game that was suppose to release last January, oh no. Nintendo announces in the wake of the series 25^th Anniversary that the Zelda orchestra will be performing in concerts across the world. While this is definitely a treat (because as we have discussed on this site before, Zelda music is AWESOME!) I just wish we had a confirmed release date for the game. We’ll just have to settle for “sometime this holiday” for now.

Then it was on to some 3DS news. After the portable’s lackluster launch library, Reggie introduces a whole batch of games that are certain to come by the end of the year, including Star Fox, Mario Kart, the new Super Mario (Tanooki! Yay!), Kid Icarus Uprising (Multiplayer! Yay!), as well as the surprise return of an infamous GameCube launch title that took a whole decade to get a sequel.

“]

I'm curious. How many people asked for this series' return? [Pranger's note: I did!

Besides those, as well as confirming that Skyward Sword will in fact be on the Wii, that’s really the only games Nintendo showed this year. By now, we’ve all heard the rumors of Nintendo’s new upcoming console, and even before this convention started we all knew it would be the biggest news of the whole Expo. With that, Nintendo pulled the curtain on the console that made us all question if it was even a console: The Nintendo Wii U.

Cue the hoards of Kung Pow references.

I almost don’t even know where to begin. Yes, it is an actual console, even though Nintendo focused strictly on the controller, which in-and-of-itself is an impressive piece of hardware. Yes, the console is backwards compatible with the Wii and can allow the Wiimote controller to interact with the screen on the new controller. Yes, it is an HD system running on 1080p. Yes, third party developers are already jumping on, bringing hardcore games like Batman Arkham City, Darksiders 2, and Ninja Gaiden 3 to the system. All this is great news.

BUT, there is still far too much left in the dark. Besides the third party support, there were no actual games confirmed for the system yet, with trailers showing only tech demos. (They did slyly throw out the name “Smash Bros,” but they have to show me first. THEN they can have all my money they want.) With controllers this huge and complex, how expensive will they be? For all we know, this system could still be over a year away from launch, but they hardly showed us any new Wii games to keep us busy until then.

Once again, Nintendo has demonstrated yet another piece of tech that could very well change the gaming industry, yet since we’ve had that exact reaction when the Wii was first unveiled and have since seen how that turned out, forgive us for being a little more cautious this time around.

And That’s Not All…

Link, Kratos, and Master Chief can duke it out all they want. Meanwhile, there are so many amazing third party games that it’s hard not to please anyone this year, thanks to stuff like this absolutely gorgeous side-scroller from Ubisoft:

How have I never played this series? I will definitely change that.

• Elder Scrolls V, Skyrim: An absolute show stealer. Those dragons look outstanding.
• Assasins Creed Revelations: Honestly do not know how those games get better every year.
• Star Wars The Old Republic: Still no launch date. Sad day.
• Batman Arkham City: Get to play as Catwoman? Sweetness!
• Bioshock Infinite: Sometimes, the best sequels are ones that forget they’re a sequel and do their own thing entirely… like going from the Seaworld to Skyworld.
• El Shaddai, Ascension of the Metatron: The demo is available online. I command everyone to download it from Xbox Live or PSN IMMEDIATELY!

With the exception of the last one, none of these were real surprises, though they’re all shaping out to be great. But lets go to something that was actually a new development. Insomniac Games, who worked exclusively for Sony for the past 16 years with the distinction of never, ever, EVER making a bad game, announced last year that they would be working on a whole new property with EA Partners to go multiplatform. Even though they already had both Resistance 3 and Ratchet and Clank All 4 One set to release this fall, they somehow made room to announce a third game: A four player co-op super-spy adventure with a great sense of style, personally, humor, unique weapons, and stellar writing the company is known for.

Thanks Insomniac.

And with that, I am officially exhausted. So tell me, what are you all excited for?

Want to talk about games? We got you covered:

-Five remakes we should have seen at E3

-Ten Games That Changed Everything

-Top 10 Things About E3 I’m Sick Of

Remember, graphics do not make every game better.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time is without a doubt one of my favorite games for the SNES for a number of reasons, the main three coming down to the Turtles being exactly how I expected them to be, the physical contact with enemies feeling so good, and the music turning out to be smack-your-fanny excellent. I played Turtles in Time over and over again. I’d invite friends to play it with me. I knew where every enemy was coming from, how to throw enemies into the screen, and the best strategy for beating every boss.

I’m telling you all this to frame the expectations I had for Re-Shelled when it was first announced as part of the Turtles’ 25th Anniversary celebration, which turned into a crapfest at an alarming rate. Re-Shelled was a project I became very excited about, thinking, “A remake of one of my favorite games with current technology? Awesome!” I expected the graphics to get better, the levels to get longer, and the game to just get deeper and more elaborate. You may be aware of this, but none of what I’d hoped for came to pass.

Immediately upon starting up Re-Shelled, the faintest hint of Ubisoft getting it right dissipates. The music for the title screen begins just as the original game’s title music sounded, but then breaks away to do its own thing completely separate from the source material. My biggest gripe really does come down to the music. The original has one of my favorite game tracks ever, one of my favorite boss tracks ever, and one of my favorite complete soundtracks overall. This new one? Pitiful.

My hopes were at an insane high when the thought of a remake inspired images of the Super Street Fighter II HD remake from a little while back, a game that had a completely remixed soundtrack as composed by Overclocked Remix, a site you may have heard me mention at least once. Were Turtles in Time to get the same treatment, no amount of gameplay tweaks or content inclusions (or exclusions) could have deterred my mind from assuming the title was a complete success. I can and have salvaged entire games on the soundtrack alone.

Take a break here and listen to the stage music from the first level of Turtles in Time for the SNES:

Okay, now listen to the same stage 1 music as it appears in Re-Shelled:

Can you hear the difference? The SNES and arcade versions had a fast-paced soundtrack filled with a lot of high-energy beats. Once again, listen to the boss music from the arcade version:

And now the Re-Shelled version:

They just don’t compare. The original music is infinitely better as it captures the mood of the Ninja Turtles correctly by acting as great beat-‘em-up music. The new tracks are extremely weak, hardly being memorable other than the usual, “Damn, this crappy song is stuck in my head” sort of way. As Other Chris pointed out to me, “It sounds like they’re making fun of the game itself; like they’re acting like it’s all a big joke.”

One last time, the original music from Sewer Surfin’:

And Re-Shelled’s version:

Awful. Just awful. I need something to get that bad taste out of my mouth.

Much better.

I’ve played through the game a total of about five or six times, at least once with each of the four Turtles. They do play differently, mostly from their SNES/arcade counterparts. Years ago, their actions total actions were a basic attack, a special attack that instantly destroyed the enemies it hit, a jump, four versions of the jump kick, a dash attack, a dash-flip-slide attack, the ability to throw enemies into the screen, and the ability to slam the enemies from side to side. Re-Shelled reduces the jump attacks to two, makes the slide special move what happens with you hit your special attack while dashing (thus making it less about skill), and makes the special attacks about as powerful as regular attacks. Taking the “special” out of the special attacks is an odd concept for me. They no longer require you to lose health to use them, but now they’re little more than a “heavy attack” button, not a special attack. You can hit an enemies three times with your special attack before they explode, which sort of takes away the “special” aspect.

Speaking of hitting enemies, everything sounds likes it’s made of wet sponges. The SNES version delivered a definite “thump” when you smacked an enemy, and an even bigger “smash” when you used a special attack or completed a combo of regular attacks. Taking away this sense of power causes the Turtles to sound weak and, frankly, uninteresting.

Even worse, the controls got worse now that you have full range of motion. Instead of just attacking to the left and the right, you are capable of attacking in all directions. Rather than allowing for greater accuracy, it causes you to swing away until you manage to hit something, making the best strategy in every encounter come down to “keep mashing the attack button until every sponge explodes.”

Even rocks are made of sponges in this game.

One thing that I found incredibly odd was that every Turtle had a different voice actor. Okay, that alone isn’t odd. What made it odd is that while every Turtle had a different voice actor, they all had the exact same dialogue. This made sense as a limitation in the classic versions as the same voice played every time a Turtle said anything, but here it once again just feels lazy. The Turtles themselves don’t even have that many lines of dialogue. They say, “Shell-Shocked” when knocked out, “My toe, my toe!” when they stub their toes, “I feel sea sick” when spin around, “Cool off, suckers” when hitting a fire hydrant, “My nose!” when they smack their nose on the annoying planks in the pirate ship, and “This cave is creepy” when they fall down a manhole. That’s about it other than “Pizza time!” and “Cowabunga!”

They took the time to find four different voice actors to give varying personalities to the Turtles, so why waste yet another great opportunity for a better game by just having them all repeat the same dialogue? For instance, “Cool off, suckers” can still be Raph’s line, but Don can say, “Hope you can swim,” Mike says, “Take a bath, stinky,” and Leo will say, “You need to chill out.” I spent about ten seconds writing out perfectly acceptable dialogue for the various Turtles, but that was too much time for Ubisoft. Let’s try again with “I feel sea sick.” Mike can say that when spun, whereas Don says, “I’m gonna hurl,” Leo says, “Treated like a top,” and Raph says, “What goes around, bub.” Am I over-simplifying things? Am I missing some complicated aspect needed for writing at Ubisoft? Why not just have every turtle say, “This game’s a disappointment!” every time they do anything. That’d be more honest.

I’m not a fan of the new versions of the Turtles as made popular by the new cartoon and the CGI movie, but I accept that they have to look that way now. I can’t hog the Turtles’ appearance just because I knew and loved them when they were an 80’s cartoon. But I wouldn’t mind seeing them return to the proportions seen in the original comics with longer limbs and necks as opposed to the stubby-headed things we have now.

These Turtles. I want a game with these Turtles.

This goes double for the bosses of Re-Shelled. Every one of the bosses receives the “Poochie” treatment here, making them darker and edgier without retaining their original charm. Fans can see through reimaginings of characters and understand when they were made by people who have no clue what made the characters memorable to begin with. Leatherhead, the gator boss from the train stage, originally had a vest and a hat, plus he has a Cajun accent in the show. Re-Shelled gives him the standard gruff voice and gets rid of his hat. In addition to this, when you beat him he just falls over like he had a heart attack. In the original game he fell off the train, sounding like he gets run over. Simple goofy charm is what I want, and yes, getting hit by a train is goofier than having a heart attack, something too many of us can relate to on a personal level. Other bosses just get stupidly short, like Tokka and Rahzar, who are now shorter than the Turtles, thus reducing their intimidation factor to zero.

I was also hugely surprised the version not favored for source material was the SNES version, the one that had more bosses and an extra level. Why not? The boss from the Prehistoric level of the arcade version was Cement Man, a dull blob that didn’t really do much. The SNES version had Slash, one of the cheapest but most difficult bosses from Turtles in Time. They went with Cement Man for Re-Shelled. The SNES version added the Rat King as a boss for Sewer Surfin’. Re-Shelled omits a boss fight for Sewer Surfin’ (and calls it “Sewer Surfing” instead of leaving out the ‘g’ when speaking). The SNES version had a level in the Technodrome that led to a fight with Tokka and Rahzar, then changed the place they’d usual show up (the pirate ship) with Bebop and Rocksteady. Re-Shelled doesn’t have an extra level and neither Bebop nor Rocksteady make an appearance. I’m just, sort of sad is all.

This is a remake! Just because you’re playing off the original doesn’t mean you have to adhere strictly to the nostalgic factor! I get that every Turtle said the same thing in the arcade version, specifically saying “Cool off, sucker,” but you don’t HAVE to do the same thing here. Give me a reason to want to play the remake over the original game other than, “Well, the graphics are cooler, and it’s online now!” I played the game online a few times and hated it as characters were skipping around the screen, bosses were regaining health at random intervals, and players were getting insta-killed by seemingly nothing.

My biggest complaint just comes down to the music, yes, but after that I’m disappointed we didn’t get more levels. The limitations of the SNES and arcade versions prohibited dozens of levels, instead giving us an opening level, a street level, a sewer level, a Technodrome level (SNES version only), a prehistoric level, a level on a train, a level on a pirate ship, a level on hover boards, a level on a space station, and a final boss fight once more in the Technodrome. That represents about six time periods, including present day. Here’s what I would have added:

A level in feudal Japan with Foot Soldiers dressed in samurai armor riding horses. The boss of the level could have been the shogun panda from the toy line.

A level in the snow and ice, perhaps during the ice ages. Make the boss fight against Groundchuck and Dirtbag.

A level on a WWII battlefield with bombs going off, tanks rolling past, and General Tragg fighting you at the end.

A level during the Middle Ages through a castle as Foot Soldiers get catapulted into the action, boiling oil get poured as a hazard, and end it with a fight against King Lionheart, another action figure from the toy line (that’s where Metalhead came from anyway).

A level from a post-apocalyptic world that takes place half in a ruined city and half underground, culminating in a fight against a Triceraton.

C'mon. Dooooo it.

Once more, am I asking for too much? Am I way out of line requesting even a hint of something new from a game remade in the year 2009? When the SNES version has more content (besides the extra level and bosses, it had specific time trials, a sparring mode, and the ability to change the appearance of the Turtles from cartoon colors to comic colors), what’s even the point of trying to compete? Why not just release that version with four players and online multiplayer for the Xbox Live Arcade? Sometimes things just don’t make sense to me.

And there you have it, 2011’s first Bad Game That Should Have Been Great. I paid about $2 for my download due to an insane Black Friday deal, and even then I wanted a refund. Re-Shelled is that worthless. But maybe you liked it? Maybe it was the exact game you were hoping for? Let me know with a comment. Let’s even turn this into a game: Leave a comment with new dialogue for the Turtles to say. C’mon, we gotta give those voice actors some real work!

Want more on the Ninja Turtles? Check these articles out:

-Go Green Machine! A Ninja Turtle Video Game Retrospective

-Forget-Me-Nots: Mutating Michelangelo

-10 Awesome Ninja Turtle Action Figure Outfits

Some of you have already played Scott Pilgrim’s arcade game on the PSN since it was released a few weeks ago. However, the XBLA didn’t get the game until this last Wednesday, and since I don’t own a PS3, I had to wait. As soon as I could on Wednesday afternoon, I went onto the XBLA and bought Scott Pilgrim’s game. Okay, first I had to buy $10’s worth of XBLA points, which is crap because I had roughly $4 in points and just needed $6 more, but you can’t buy $6’s worth of points, only $5 or $10. That’s also crap. Oh yeah, the game!

Ready, set, START!

The Scott Pilgrim movie had me sold the moment the Universal logo came on all pixilated with a chiptunes soundtrack. The Universal logo appears at the beginning of the game, though it’s just the normal logo and everything. That was…kind of disappointing. Okay, whatever, that’s not the game. Onto the game.

The game is good. I was extremely hesitant when I learned Ubisoft was the one handling the Scott Pilgrim game property, mostly because I’ve seen how Ubisoft has handled the TMNT property (spoiler: not very well). Thankfully, they got things right, for the most part. And I’m going to be using that qualifier a lot here: “For the most part.” Get used to it.

There was a lot Ubisoft could have got wrong. Thankfully, they didn't screw things up too badly.

So you have four choices of characters between Scott, Kim Pine, Steven Stills, and Ramona Flowers. I played through the game as Scott because it made the most sense to me. It’s nice to have the four options to choose from, but I honestly would have liked more. I kind of wanted to play as Wallace, or even Young Neil, and especially Knives, but I’m stuck with these four choices. That’s okay I guess, for the most part.

Alright, combat. Combat is good, for the most part, insomuch as you have some basic attacks and then level up to gain new abilities. Your four main buttons let you jump, block, light melee and strong melee, but you quickly gain the ability to do a heck of a lot more. The tough part about combat is that you really, really need the higher-up moves to survive later in the game, but you can only gain those by leveling up, i.e. grinding your character a bit. Granted, you’ll be retrying some levels due to dying so it’ll balance itself out, but be aware that there is some grinding involved to beat the game.

My big complaint with combat falls on the limitation of the 2-D sprites. They look awesome, no complaints there, but frequently, as with a lot of old-school beat-‘em-ups, you’ll be trying to hit someone with an attack and they’re just slightly above your character’s plain, so you don’t hit them, almost like they’re literally a flat, 2-D character that can move in 3-D. It’s not awful, but it’s something that frustrated me about older games and it’s still broken today.

Maybe the grind isn't so bad with friends, but I'll never know.

If you have to pick one game that Scott Pilgrim borrows from the most, besides the numerous references, it is River City Ransom for the NES, a super sweet beat-‘em-up that plays almost identical to Scott Pilgrim: The Game in terms of combat. However, that’s not a bad thing at all because I loved River City Ransom. The big thing it did was incorporate weapons for use by all characters. You can pick up trashcans, bats, snowballs, even downed enemies, and either beat your foes with it or hurl it across the screen. This would be great, except for the fact that my character hardly ever wants to pick up an item when I command him to. You have to be standing in just the right spot to grab the item, and then if an enemy hits you, probably from behind because that’s where they like to stand, then you drop the item and have to pick it up again. Even worse, I repeatedly injured myself throwing an item, only to have it bounce off the edge of the screen and smack me in the face. That’s annoying, even more so when you keep doing it by accident.

All things aside, the game is really fun, for the most part. Levels do a good job of varying things up, and enemies range pretty well between standard and specialized enemies. Everything remains pretty fun until the final level against Gideon. The first boss fight with him is pretty simple once you figure things out. Then comes the second boss fight, a fight that was absolutely terrible. My fun plummeted for a few reasons. The first is that the second fight required almost zero skill. Just keep rushing up and beating away until you get super-punched. Then, when you ARE super-punched, you get hurled across the screen. This wasn’t fun because I’d get punched, hurled, land, and instantly punched again before I could do anything. I wasn’t at risk of losing the match because I had leveled Scott up enough to withstand crap like that, but still, I hated that finale.

The funny thing is, if this had come out on the SNES it would be considered an honored classic today.

Now comes the worst part of the review: Things that broke for me. I’m talking literally, as in “Times while playing where the game glitched and broke.” Simple things happen all the time, such as an enemy getting knocked out but remaining in the background, untouchable and just standing there doing nothing, but then there were bigger problems. For one, I keep hearing the music pull an 8-bit skip similar to what the NES would do right before crashing. Moments when the music stretches a note for a second longer than it should freaks me out and sends me back to the days when at any moment the game could freeze up and have to be restarted.

However, the worst glitch happened in the last level of the game when fighting that second form of Gideon. Before even getting to the boss encounter, you have to run across a random floating pathway, then jump on some clouds to the final platform. This is fine, but I fell off the pathway. Normally, when that happens you’re just placed back on the pathway with a few health points reduced. For me, instead of falling off and being placed back on, I somehow fell through the top layer of the game, meaning I was running around in the background unable to do anything. I ran to the spawn point for Gideon, and he showed up, but he couldn’t touch me and I couldn’t touch him. I then ran past the edge of the screen to the literal edge of what the programmers had programmed, and found myself in a white void. I was forced to restart the level, super pissed and with little confidence in the game’s QA department.

My final gripe is that the multiplayer is local only. I really want to play multiplayer here, but that would require me to have enough friends with Xbox 360 controllers who care about Scott Pilgrim AND who like beat-‘em-ups, and that combo isn’t easy to come by. If the multiplayer supported Xbox Live players, too, similar to how the TMNT Arcade Game does, then everything would be roses. Oh well, the single player is still good, for the most part.

Scott, teach me your ways, and I shall in turn teach you why some of them are wrong.

I just don’t know what to think about Scott Pilgrim’s game. It’s a fun game, and the references to other games only makes things better. The game has tons of personality and is by all regards a fun game to play. I just wanted more, I guess. I can play through the TMNT Arcade Game over and over because it’s short and simple. Scott Pilgrim is a game I don’t really want to play through again right away because I know the amount of work it requires, but after the game is beat, there’s not much else to do except replay it. I know there are a Boss Rush mode and a Zombie Hoard thing, but I don’t know where those are since they’re not listed. All I’m really left to do is complete a few silly achievements should I choose (seriously, 10 points for getting through a level untouched and 20 for just buying everything at a store? Are you kidding me?).

For you, the choice of whether to buy the game rests on your love of Scott Pilgrim and beat-‘em-up games. The game does both of those really well, but as a whole, it’s somewhat lacking. Pick it up if you have the points to spare, otherwise, maybe wait until this goes on sale with a half-price deal or something. Scott Pilgrim barely wins video game.

Want more game reviews? Check these out:

-Why Are You Reading This? StarCraft II Wings of Liberty Review

-Outlaws to the End: A Review of Red Dead Redemption

-An Epic Gaming Session: A Review of God of War III

Thank the gods Leonidas and his 300 never ran into THIS Persian Prince.

“Most people think time is like a river that flows swift and sure in one direction. But I have seen the face of time, and I can tell you: they are wrong. Time is an ocean in a storm. You may wonder who I am or why I say this. Sit down and I will tell you a tale like none you have ever heard.”

As much as I wish I could say this line was true, unfortunatly I have seen a Disney Movie of the same name a month prior and am very aware of the tale. However, after taking a little trip to it’s roots I couldn’t be more happy with my time traveling experience, literally.

Have The Time of Your Life…Figuratively Speaking

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is a 3D platformer adventure game released in 2003 for the GameCube, PS2, Xbox, and the PC, so there are more than enough options of where to find this game. Made by Ubisoft, the same team that brought us the recent hit series Assasin’s Creed, newcomers may notice just how much new platformers like AC or even Uncharted have been inspired by this game. But even now seven years later, when it comes to agility and acrobatics, this one still takes the cake.

Running across walls while narrowly avoiding spikes never gets old. Ever.

I cannot stress enough how well the platforming is done in this game. Seriously, it’s like they extracted the exploration mechanics of the original Tomb Raider, then encased it in gold. Leaping, climbing, crawling, somersaulting, wall jumping, wall running, pole swinging, pole balancing all feel incredibly intuitive. The level design is made specifically to test your reactions with every new obstacle, and they progress in difficulty at a very fair pace. The whole time-mechanic in the game helps soften the frustration you may have in certain tricky parts. If you miss a jump, simply hold the rewind button and try again.

More Than a Pretty Control Scheme

For a game with such a strong focus on game play, the story is incredibly well crafted as well. A villain named Vizier (the guy that conveniently looks and acts exactly like Jafar from Aladdin) tricks The Prince of Persia into plunging the Dagger of Time into an hourglass, creating a sandstorm that turns all the people of Azad to monsters. The only three unaffected possess magical objects. Vizier with his staff, the Prince with the dagger, and Farah, the Princess of Maharajah, with her medallion. The Prince and Farah quickly make a pact to transverse the labrynths of Azad to return the Sands of Time to the hourglass and undo the damage he has done.

What you do you prefer? Magic carpet ride for two? Racing through temples fighting off hoards of Zombie Sand Monsters?

While there are only two real characters in this entire game (plus the villain Jaf- I mean Vizier), they are both done excellently. The Prince is basically an arrogant jerk, but we quickly learn it’s a façade to hide his true insecurities about his lost father and feeling he may or may not be developing for a certain princess of a town he’s now responsible for sacking and cursing. Farah is quite possibly one of the greatest female companions I’ve seen in a video game. Unlike other games where it feels like a tedious escort mission, Farah never feels completely reliant on you. She has her own motives as the story progresses, but to avoid spoilers, I won’t say no more.

So… the platforming’s an A+, story’s an A, characters are an A, graphics and level design are all an A. But nothing’s pefect The combat unfortunately is a C. It’s kinda cool at first to slow down time, turn enemies to sand sculpures, flip over them, chop them in two, or any combination of the four, but you quickly learn all there is to learn and they just end up becoming tedious interludes between the platforming and puzzle parts that are actually fun. Not only that, the enemies get larger and larger in numbers and they become a far pain to dispatch. The more you get frustrated the more you die. Just be thankful that by the time all those fights are over, you get to the final boss Vizier and he’s only one guy so he’s cake. Sorry to spoil that for you all, but I figured you all could assume a plot point like “the bad guy is the final boss.”

To be quite honest, it actually wasn’t that bad.

It’s been a month since Jerry Brukheimer’s Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time arrived in theatres. Since then, it has garnered praise as “The first genuinely good movie to be based on a video game.” (Moviebob) As for myself, I was actually very pleased with how well the elements of the game were adapted to fit in the structure of a film. To be fair, only the very beginnings and very ends are a whole lot similar, but the complex hero/heroine dynamic, the action, sense of adventure, mixed with the magic of time was all there. As for which one I prefer? The movie does a fair job, but definitely the game.

If you won’t take my advice for it get this. Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw, the Gordon Ramsay/Simon Cowell of game criticism, has declared that the Prince of Persia Sands of Time trilogy is “the greatest franchise of the last console generation.” I must confess that I feel absolutely embarrassed to be seven years late to such a wonderful feat. To make sure nobody else suffers from the same fate, I strongly recommend to all who haven’t done so, defy the future and pick up this game.

Yup, the Foot Clan doesn't stand a chance.

This last week my mother came to visit me/clean my apartment and one of the things she was kind enough to bring me, upon request, were my four really cool Ninja Turtle action figures based off the black and white comics. I set them up on my shelf to constantly remind me of my Turtley roots, so I got to thinking about where my two favorite childhood loves crossed paths. I decided I’d like to talk about Ninja Turtle video games today, so sit back and grab a nice cool mutagent canister ‘cause this trip down memory lane is gonna be radical.

Sweet Memories of a Better time

The very first Ninja Turtle game I had the chance to play, as with most kids, was the game simply titled Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for the NES. It’s the only Ninja Turtle game like it, and it’s unfairly difficult. If you’ve played it then you already know how tough it can be, and even if you haven’t played it you’re probably familiar with the common knowledge that it’s completely unforgivable. It’s a strictly one-player game but you’re allowed to switch between the four Turtles at any moment to utilize their various weapons. Leo has his katana, which get twice as powerful when he’s at half health, Raph has his sai, which become very effective against later enemies, Don has the all-powerful long-range bo, and Mike is worthless. It always broke my heart but Mike had to be used as the damage sponge since his usefulness otherwise depended on which secondary weapon he’s picked up. The big trick to the game is patience. Anyone could dominate in the game as long as you take the time to max out each Turtle with the scroll weapon, but it’s tedious and takes exactly one forever. I never beat this one but I’ve become progressively better and better each time I attempt it.

By the way, the intro music for this game is one of my favorite video game tracks ever. Seriously, it's awesome.

I still loved the challenge of a good NES game, so when I got my hands on TMNT the Arcade Game for the NES, also known as TMNT 2, I was incredibly happy. It became the standard style for Turtle games from then on since it adhered to the Beat ‘Em Up formula, a genre that works perfectly here. You could finally have a second player join in the fight and the game was at least reasonably beatable, something that I did and did with gusto. I got so good I could beat this one without losing a single life. I was amazing. You just had to know the special attack that destroyed every minor enemy with one hit. Sadly, the Turtles all played exactly the same, just with different skins.

For bosses, it was all about the jump attack. Super cheap but super effective.

While I had played the actual TMNT Arcade Game in arcades as a kid, I never got very far before the difficulty became tremendous. After all, the game was built to suck quarters, and it knew just how to suck quarters. However, the NES version had more levels, so I wasn’t sure which I preferred. It wasn’t until Xbox Live got a port of the arcade game that I was able to truly appreciate the Arcade Game the way it was meant to be enjoyed: with all four Turtles at once. Awesome, despite the problems with lag. I still had a few weeks mastering the game once again, and while I don’t think it’s possible to beat it without losing a life, I’ve gotten quite good again.

It definitely had the NES beat in terms of graphics and multiplayer, hence the decent Xbox Live port here.

The successor to the Arcade Game was Manhattan Project, TMNT 3 for the NES. This wasn’t a port of an arcade title but a game built specifically for the NES. Once again, it was amazing. Konami knew how to treat the Turtles well, something I’m sad to say Ubisoft, the current holders of the Turtle rights, don’t have a clue about, hence why none of the newer games are going to show up in a favorable review from me. TMNT 3 took the style from 2 and pushed it further so that each Turtle did actually play differently and had individual special moves, except now they cost life to use, meaning you couldn’t just spam your way through the game with them. This was another one I never beat but I’ve been to the final boss many, many times. I only wish it’d get an Xbox Live treatment like the Arcade Game, with updated graphics and levels and all that for four players. Oh well.

The jump to the SNES was huge. Turtles in Time, TMNT IV, is one of my favorite SNES games and my absolute favorite Ninja Turtle game since it controls so perfectly. It’s tough to pinpoint what the precise aspect of the game is that makes it good, but the remake doesn’t have it, in case you missed that review. It may just be the soundtrack, but I can’t even come to a consensus with myself which version has the better music between the SNES version and the arcade version. I prefer the SNES version of the game since there are once again more levels, plus a ton of bonus features like Time Trials and the option to change the art style to the comic versions, making each Turtle look a bit different in comparison. Nothing huge, but it was great. Still, the prospect of four-player Turtles is always tempting.

But dang it did you feel dumb when you hit a spiky ball.

My final memory with Turtle games happens to be the biggest stretch for the franchise, Tournament Fighters. I played the NES and SNES version, but I can safely say the SNES version was the best. It was a shameless Street Fighter rip-off, with the various moves assigned to the different Turtle cast such as Don knowing Chun-Li’s Spinning Bird Kick, Leo knowing Guile’s Flash Kick, and Mike capable of the Shoryu-ken, though he calls it “Rising Thunder” in this game. While the four Turtles are obviously playable, as well as Shredder, the other fighters are more obscure, assuming they even appeared in the Turtles catalog to begin with. You have Wingnut, which I know they had as an action figure, Chrome Dome, another action figure and character in the cartoon, and the Rat King, though you had to input a code to play as him. Otherwise the other players are Armaggon, a shark mutant, War, a spiky thing, and Aska, the girl character. The final boss is Karai, a character none of us knew at the time of the game’s release but who has become fairly well known at this point. My favorite aspect to the whole game was the special meter that charged up as you did damage and blocked attacks. When it was full you could unleash your super move, with Mike’s “Dance of Fury” being my favorite since he just bum-rushed his opponent and used every single move he had to beat the heck out of them. It wasn’t a great game, but it had Turtles in it, so I was rather happy with the outcome.

Ninja Turtles in Street Fighter? Sure, I'd buy that, and did.

You may be asking, where are the Game Boy Turtles games? Well, I only played Rise of the Foot Clan, and while I thought it was pretty great, I don’t have much to say about it. I never played the others, despite my desire to do so. Overall, these are my memories, which I write to you as I listen to various Ninja Turtle game remixes and the soundtrack to Turtles in Time. I’ll just never tell you which version of the soundtrack I’m listening to. That’s my secret. Okay, it’s the SNES version. But my memories are running out, which means it’s your turn to talk Turtle for a bit. What were your favorite Turtle games? Did you ever beat TMNT on the NES? Do you wish Ubisoft would just give the rights back to Konami? Me, too.

Don't forget to tell the man in red what you want for Christmas.

Do you have a loved one who’s into video games? Are you yourself into video games? Did you forget that Christmas is fast approaching? Yikes, looks like you could use a helping hand when it comes to what games to shop for. Lucky for you, I’ve compiled a handy little list here of some of the best games from 2009. I don’t have them all, mind you, but I have a good selection to choose from. So get those pens and papers ready and your wallets out and let’s go over my Holiday Game Guide.

Nintendo Wii Games:

The Nintendo Wii is always a good choice for the casual video game player. You’ll find a lot of family and kid friendly games on the Wii, as well as a very low failure rate for hardware or controllers (which is very nice). Also, the interface is about as simple as they come.

New Super Mario Bros Wii:

No, I'm not going to stop telling you to get this game until you do.

By now you’ve seen both my preview and review for New Super Mario Bros Wii, so you already know everything I could say about this one. This is the best title for the system at this point in time, either for one player or multiple players, though it will take some getting used to when you have two or more characters vying for limited platforming space. Basically though, this one is sure not to disappoint.

Rabbids Go Home:

Chaos is about to happen, you can be sure of that.

Ubisoft has been pumping out these Rabbids games for the past few years and unfortunately they come with the connotation of “Shovelware titles” since they’ve previously only been a collection of minigames. Well, Rabbids Go Home is an actual adventure game with a real plot, and the game handles itself really well to diversify the gameplay into great bursts of hilarious antics spliced with good fun. Kids will love this one.

Punch-Out!! Wii:

Get used to this view because you'll be seeing it a lot.

For those on your list with a Wii but an unquenchable thirst for punishment, Punch-Out!! Wii is probably one of the best titles you could get for them. I have a review article on Punch Out wii from a few months back that goes into my thoughts on the game, but I really can’t emphasize enough how brutally difficult the game is. But don’t misunderstand, that difficulty is a good thing. You want a challenge? A FAIR challenge? Punch-Out!! Wii is that challenge.

A Boy and His Blob:

Remember kids, cute alien blobs sound like a good pet at teh time, but they grow up someday.

Slightly less of a challenge is A Boy and His Blob (Hey, I wrote a review of that, too!), a game with hand-drawn artwork and just the right amount of difficulty for midcore gamers (which is somewhere in between casual and hardcore). Also, you might notice that A Boy and His Blob is slightly cheaper than some other titles on this list. Good for the more value-minded among us.

Metroid Prime Trilogy:

Can you handle the awesome power of the Power Glove? Samus totally can.

You want value? How about three games in one? Metroid Prime is a trilogy that I place great stock in as one of the best video game trilogies to date. Now that it’s been packed into one case, there is no better time to give the gift of Metroid. If you’ve heard a guy complain about the lack of “non-kiddie” games on the Wii, see if he’s played the Metroid Prime Trilogy, and if he hasn’t, bam- you win Christmas.

Muramasa The Demon Blade:

I don't know what the heck that thing is, but I'm pretty sure it needs to die.

Please don’t pass this one up because you haven’t heard of it. Muramasa The Demon Blade is another game with hand-drawn artwork in it and even though it pains me to say this, “It is important to support hand-drawn art in video games so that we get more of it.” Hacking and slashing your way through this game looks better than some 360 games, purely because of the amount of detail done with the art. Also, the game is great. It’s a bit on the short side, but it’s also not overly expensive, either.

Xbox 360 Games:

Most of you probably have an Xbox 360. The 360 has the best online system for play at the moment and the best exclusive DLC, usually getting things long before the PS3 does. If you’re looking for a good gift for a 360 owner, Xbox Live Arcade Points is always a good idea, as well as a Gold Subscription for Xbox Live.

Assassin’s Creed 2:

Just give up now; you're not getting away from this guy.

One of the newest games on this list, Assassin’s Creed 2 is a game for the murderous hitman in all of us (or at least every college male). The game sets about correcting most of the faults people had with the first game and does a rather good job of improving as a franchise. Stealthy kills and parkour over rooftops just makes for a great gift, wouldn’t you say? Also on the PS3.

Modern Warfare 2:

You better make your next move count because you're losing at the moment.

Assassin’s Creed 2 is a single player title, but Modern Warfare 2 is a game almost best played online. The only thing I can fault this gift idea with is the fact that most people already probably have it. If you have a gamer on your list that loves First Person Shooters, ask if they already have Modern Warfare 2. If they don’t then they’re just hoping to get it for Christmas, so make sure to right that wrong. Also on the PS3.

Halo 3: ODST:

Still delivering the spank to alien scum after nearly a decade.

The Halo franchise is still going strong this year with Halo Wars and Halo 3: ODST. The star of the franchise, Master Chief, is gone from ODST, but surprisingly that doesn’t turn out to be a terrible thing. ODST is a good gift for anyone you know that can’t get enough Halo, but hasn’t been given enough Halo recently. Also, it makes for a good alternative to online play if you’re tired of Modern Warfare 2 kicking your butt.

Borderlands:

You know, I don't think those bird things should be up there. Better take them down just to be safe.

First Person Shooters and Role Playing Games don’t typically sound like things that go well together, but Borderlands proves the theory spectacularly incorrect. The art style (man am I talking about art styles a lot lately), is pretty fluid and the controls work as good as you could hope, but the selling point here is the sheer amount of guns you can collect. All the weapons in the game are randomized, making for constant switching and swapping to take place to find the gun that works best for you. Also available on the PS3.

Guitar Hero: Metallica:

I said it before and I'll say it again: No one can destroy The Metal.

Hardcore Guitar Hero fans, this is the game you wanted to play since Guitar Hero first came out. The entire tracklist consists of Metallica songs (gee, didn’t expect that), as well as a few selected songs from bands that toured with Metallica. The basic Guitar Hero format doesn’t change, but Metallica is the perfect band for causing yourself endless strife attempting some truly epic guitar parts. Also on the PS3.

Batman: Arkham Asylum:

Who doesn't love a good Joker choke?

I played through Arkham Asylum twice in one week. I don’t do that very often, but in this case I made an exception. In fact, I have nothing left to do in the game since I did everything possible. That’s how addicted I was to Arkham Asylum. It has the best combat system in any game I’ve played in recent years and excellent pacing to go along with it. Any Batman fans, this is the best gift out there. Actually, anyone with an Xbox 360 should have this one. Also available on the PS3.

PS3 Games:

The PS3 has recently dropped its price down to a reasonable $299.99, making it a decent option as a video gaming platform at last. And to go with that, it started getting some excellent games this year. But keep in mind that it’s still one of the best Blueray players currently on the market, so anyone you know with a PS3 is fair game for Blueray movies as well.

Uncharted 2:

Why does everyone insist on shooting you when you're running across dangerous bridges?

The best exclusive Sony got on the PS3 this year was without question Uncharted 2. I gave my review already, so you’re well aware of its system-selling qualities. It’s a game that plays like a movie, and a fun movie at that. It improved over the first game, making sure to fix everything fans disliked about the previous installment. Support companies that do this. It’s hard to find a video game developer that actually listens to its fans.

Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time:

Ready to waste more enemies Ratchet & Clank style? You should be.

While Uncharted 2 may be a bit violent for the younger crowd, it doesn’t mean they shouldn’t get an equally amazing game as well. The Ratchet & Clank series is solid all the way through, and A Crack in Time only continues this trend with great platforming and fun characters. Basically, Ratchet & Clank is the Mario for Sony consoles.

The Beatles Rock Band:

Remember kids: Don't do drugs.

Oh The Beatles, how more iconic can you get than the band that just about everyone respects? Somehow through some deal with demonic forces, Rock Band was able to make a version filled out entirely with Beatles songs (a feat I find difficult to imagine considering how tough it can be to get those rights). You can even buy instruments that look like replicas of The Beatles’ actual instruments. And the game adds harmonizing to the vocalists among us, a welcome new feature that should have been in Rock Band from the start. Perfect for Beatles fans, obviously. Also available on the Xbox 360 and Wii.

Killzone 2:

This is the reason you don't typically sleep at night.

Sony’s been looking for a worthy combatant to Halo’s crown, and Killzone 2 does a fine job of letting PS3 fanboys know that they have an awesome First Person Shooter as well. Killzone 2 was a long time coming, but it was well worth the wait. Don’t listen to any hype surrounding the game. Just be aware that the game is good and needs to be played should you own a PS3.

InFamous:

Yeah, I'd do about the same thing if I got electrical powers.

While it sounds a lot like Prototype, InFamous did its own thing with a sandbox-style game involving a character with crazy electrical superpowers that let him shock people, heal people, and even fly. That makes sense, right? Ah who cares? InFamous is a great gift for fans of super heroes that have to make many moral decisions between helping people and shocking people. The correct answer? Always shocking people.

Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2:

Man, being a ninja must be rough.

I was pretty bothered when I saw the ads for Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 since Ninja Gaiden 2 was SUPPOSED to be a 360 exclusive and I just can’t stand lies such as that. But then I found out that Ninja Gainden Sigma 2 isn’t just a port to the PS3. It’s actually a completely retooled game with extra characters and features. The game even got a little easier, which makes it accessible to a whole wider audience than the 360 version. They also scaled back the blood a little bit, but that doesn’t mean the game isn’t still meant for mature audiences only, since it absolutely is.

PSP Games:

The PSP is a powerful little handheld system, but it does have trouble coming up with solid titles to call its own. This year, Sony released the PSP Go, a new version of the handheld that eliminated the UMD drive altogether and does everything based on an internal memory system. Beware of this new system as it is incredibly limited in what games are available to download for it. Rest assured though, these three games are among the downloadable titles.

Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny:

Dang Kratos, why you gotta be like that?

I reviewed Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny already and mentioned how it is a perfect transition of the Soul Calibur series from consoles to handhelds. The big selling point is the inclusion of God of War’s Kratos as a playable character, but beyond just that the game is an excellent choice for fans of Soul Calibur that own a PSP.

Little Big Planet PSP:

Parents, better learn who Sackboy is now before it's too late.

Little Big Planet is a strange game. It’s a platformer that relies entirely on the player to generate content, forcing you to create levels to play after you complete the single player mode. This is the strength of Little Big Planet. The content is endless and the amount of things you can create is staggering. If you know someone that wants to get into designing video games and has a PSP but not a PS3, then Little Big Planet PSP is the gift to get.

Final Fantasy: Dissidia:

I can't even begin to explain this one.

Final Fantasy: Dissidia is a love letter to the fans of the long running series. It takes heroes and villains from every numbered Final Fantasy title and throws them into huge battles against each other. The gameplay is very similar to Kingdom Hearts and looks utterly confusing when viewed from the outside in, but once you get used to the mechanics of the game everything works great. This is a game that every Final Fantasy fan wants to have if they don’t already own it.

DS Games:

The DS is the cheaper of the two main handheld options, but it’s also the less powerful of the two. Typically that doesn’t stop it from pumping out some memorable titles as often as it possibly can and this year we got a nice selection. The DS in general is cheaper than the PSP or the three consoles mentioned earlier, games included, so it makes for good gift ideas such as cases or fancy styluses.

Scribblenauts:

Oh how delightfully absurd!

I gave a preview of Scribblenauts a while back (it should count as a review as well), in which I said you should buy Scribblenauts. I stand by that statement as the game came out and put me into shock with the kind of things I actually got to do. This game is for the creative puzzle solvers in your family and seeks to push them to think up new items to write in as much as possible. Yes, there are some control-based hiccups that can become downright infuriating, but overall the game is a great option for casual gamers looking for short play sessions.

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars:

Seriously kids, don't do drugs.

The Grand Theft Auto series is usually only console-based, but Chinatown Wars burst out on the DS and showed that it can be just as good on a handheld. The style harkens back to the pre-GTA III days when the perspective was top-down but the action remains fast-paced and fantastic. However, this is GTA, so it’s not for the young kids out there. There is violence and theft and drugs and all sorts of bad things, but if the gamer is old enough to play, they’ll enjoy themselves here. Also recently released on the PSP.

Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story:

Please, just listen to me already. Why won't you just listen to me?

I’m just a Mario fan, and I’m guilty of telling everyone to go play the Mario & Luigi games more than I probably should, but I haven’t overdone my telling of you to buy this game for people you know and love. Bowser’s Inside Story is an RPG with Mario and his crew. Battles are turn-based but you constantly have to press buttons at the right time to either increase your attack or dodge an enemy, which keeps things from getting boring. Plus, the writing is as funny as ever. Great for kids and people that enjoy having fun while playing games.

The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks:

A great way to end the year.

On December 7th Nintendo will release The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks to a nation of people that so sorely need a new Zelda title. After giving a preview of the game, I got a chance to see a lot more in terms of what the game is about and how it’s played. At this point I’m happy to say that Spirit Track is infinitely better than Phantom Hourglass, making it a great experience for DS owners and Zelda fans. I want this game for Christmas, but I know I’m not the only one.

Obviously, this list isn’t entirely complete. My goal was to find a handful of good games for each system that show off the best the system has to offer in terms of everything. But I couldn’t include every single game that came out this year.

What games do you want for the holidays? What games are you buying for your loved ones? Do you have some suggestions or questions about any of these games or others? Post a comment and get the conversation going.

Haven't I seen this game before somewhere...?

No Ubisoft. This is not how you make a Ninja Turtles game. You had a good concept going for a while. “Take the developers from Super Smash Bros Brawl and have them make a TMNT game to celebrate the Turtles’ 25th Anniversary.” Yes, good concept. But then we get a game that fails to understand what exactly makes Brawl such a successful game: It does justice to the source material.

TMNT Smash-Up for the Nitendo Wii will make you want to play Brawl, pure and simple. You’ll think you’re watching Brawl with new characters whenever you watch footage of gameplay. You’ll wonder when the Smash Ball comes out and what Leonardo will do when he picks it up. Do yourself a favor and just go play Brawl, because there isn’t much to offer fans of either Smash Bros-style gameplay or those in love with the Ninja Turtles. I fit into both categories and I wasn’t satisfied by either aspect.

It’s All About The Characters

Simply put, a game touting a concept like Brawl and the claim that it’s celebrating 25 years of Turtle Power dang well better include exactly one metric ton of characters. Instead we get…16, and three of those are Rabbids. What is a Rabbid? They are Ubisoft’s shovelware mascots, and what they’re doing in my Turtle game is beyond me. One, that’s understandable, but three? When you only have 16 total characters? And you have 25 years of Turtle history to pick from? What, did you get lazy? Did you forget about the entire 80′s cartoon? The movies before the CGI TMNT? The ACTION FIGURES?!

No seriously, I'm sure I've seen this game before?

Playable characters: The four Turtles, Splinter, Shredder, April, Casey Jones, a Foot Ninja, Karai, (Shredder’s daughter for those not watching the current show), Nightwatcher, (Raphael’s alter ego from the new movie), Fugitoid, (from the original comic, the new show, and action figures, so YAY), and Utrominator, (based somewhat off of Krang and his species, the Utroms). And that’s it save for the three Rabbids. No, I don’t consider that a spoiler.

The spoiler is the characters not included by Ubisoft, including Usagi Yojimbo, Bebop, Rocksteady, Baxter Stockman, The Rat King, Leatherhead, Tokka, Rahzar, Ace Duck, Genghis Frog, Ray Fillet, Slash, Hun, Super Shredder, or a Triceraton. And that’s just off the top of my head. That comprises a nice grouping from the original cartoon, the new cartoon, the movies, and the action figures. Ubisoft dropped the ball there, or better yet, they dropped the Smash Ball there.

Plays Like a More Popular Game

So gameplay, let’s talk about it. Gameplay isn’t too pitiful. You will feel a bit like the characters can float too much, but otherwise combat is solid and play control works well. You are able use the Wiimote, the Nunchuk attachment, or just a GameCube controller. Basically, you can use Brawl’s control-scheme. Just like Brawl, “smashing” the control stick with a button press will result in a stronger attack, but the goal in Smash-Up isn’t to knock players out of the ring but rather to whittle their health down to a KO, so a heavy attack will just stun your opponent and knock them to the ground. When you’re knocked down, you’ll stay on the ground a lot longer than you’d like.

Crocodile hazards are never cool, unless they happen to someone other than myself.

Stages are fairly well done. It is impressive to see what every stage does as most stages don’t just have the one area but actually break away to new sections of the same stage, so fights aren’t exactly stagnant in that regard. The only downside is that the stages have borderline nothing to do with the Ninja Turtles. There is a rooftop stage and a sewer stage, a stage with the Technodrome in the background, a stage in a jungle similar to some scenes in the CG TMNT…uh…a Japanese pagoda stage? And that’s about all that connects to the Turtles. Everything else is just…there. Cool stages, like a sinking ship or a train, but what does this have to do with the Turtles? It all came down to Ubisoft once again not using the property to the fullest regard.

I’m surprised Ubisoft didn’t just pick other characters from their popular franchises and throw them in, just to make a Ubisoft-themed brawler instead. Altair from Assassin’s Creed, Sam Fisher from Splinter Cell, the Prince from Prince of Persia, and Rayman from the Rayman series all would have been cool to add. They might as well if they’re going to just toss in three Rabbids for the heck of it.

Yeah I'm sick of this image, too.

If you couldn’t guess, I was extremely disappointed with TMNT Smash-Up. For kids, yeah, they’ll probably enjoy it. For fans of Brawl, don’t worry; this won’t overshadow Brawl in any way. For Turtle fans, sorry, your game still hasn’t been made. This is strictly a free rental game. Don’t even pay $8 to rent it. Make someone else rent it for you if you need to play it, but I warned you, you’ll just want to play Brawl.