Rec Zarf some PS3 smack
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Comments: 6 (latest 4 days later)
Tagged: ps3, zarf, please comment
I noticed a few months ago -- I guess when the E3 PR wave was cresting -- that a new Silent Hill game was coming. Also a Prince of Persia game, and a Tomb Raider game, and now a God of War game, and this "Mirror's Edge" thing looks pretty slick, and it was about then that I realized that I was going to wind up buying myself a PS3 this Consumptimass.
I had tried to avoid it. I have a PS1 and a PS2, but when Sony started piling on the screw-you features (I am not your blu-ray sales rep) I said "You know what? I'll pay a third as much, and ride out this generation of consoles on the Wii. The decent games will be cross-platform anyhow."
As it as turned out, Tomb Raider was cross-platform. Everything else quietly receded into the distance. I played a lot of PC adventure games.
So, okay, I'm getting a PS3. But I haven't been paying attention to the market. Two years' worth of games came out, and I don't know which of them are worth looking at. Time for me to trawl the minds of the Gameshelf Collective. What released PS3 games should I grab?
Assume that I like action-adventure games -- the titles I mention above are a guide. I also liked the Soul Reaver series, Fatal Frame, Sly Cooper, Ratchet+Clank, Okami, and (inevitably) Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. Beyond Good and Evil was decent but I wasn't bowled over like everybody else. I'm okay with the more fight-y action games like Onimusha and Devil May Cry, except that I'm not quite good enough to be their target audience (DMC3 was way the hell beyond me). Squad combat and shooters are not my style.
That's a one-dimensional picture, so feel free to mention the quirky and weird as well. (I liked Rez and Katamari too.)
What should I look for in the used-game bin?
Comments imported from Gameshelf
Andrew Plotkin
(September 18, 2008 at 8:11 PM):
Ho. I already saw a reference to Pixeljunk Eden, and it looked interesting indeed.
(FlOw, of course, I've known since it was a wee flash app. :)
thistle
(September 18, 2008 at 10:19 PM):
fl0w is a bit different on its various platforms, and the few dollars on PSN are well spent, IMO. You might also check out Super Stardust HD there.
Have you already taken care of Oblivion in its PC incarnation? Are you looking for games specific to the PS3, in other words? My spouse liked Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction. I think Assassin's Creed is definitely worth a rental (during a week when you can give it some time), but I can't quite recommend it as a purchase. And I liked Lego Indiana Jones, but I believe one can play it on Windows as well. (I'm more a PC gamer than a console one--the kicker is that we subscribe to Gamefly, which doesn't cover PCs.)
So far, I don't regret our PS3 purchase yet also can't summon to mind any strong PS3-only games.
Andrew Plotkin
(September 18, 2008 at 11:27 PM):
No, I'm not asking only about PS3-specific games. I have a Wii, as I mentioned, but not an Xbox; and while I have a PC, I don't like to use it for action games.
(I made an exception for Portal.)
So I haven't played Oblivion. Nor Bioshock, which is on my list. I'm definitely up for R&C, as long as they've gone back to the platforming (and reviews say they have).
The Lego games are on PC, Wii, and your Christmas turducken as far as I can tell. I just went through Indiana Jones, and I don't feel the need to jump on Batman right away.
Andrew Plotkin
(September 21, 2008 at 8:12 PM):
I had this discussion with some people by email, as well. In the interests of putting everything in fewer piles (and not solely to make this thread look less parsimonious), I'll copy in some comments:
- Everyday Shooter, Flow, PixelJunk Monsters ("pure resourcer")
- Lemmings
Andrew Plotkin
(September 21, 2008 at 8:14 PM):
Also many of my friends are excited by Wipeout. They would hit me if I didn't mention that, even though racing games are not my thing. I'm sure they'll all be showing it off to me soon enough.
It's more what you should look for on PSN: Calling All Cars, fl0w, Pain, the PixelJunk series, and Everyday Shooter.