Its no secret that I have taken an interest in console gaming since “Santa” delivered a PS3 to Chez Hall last Christmas. But I have been struck by just how disappointing some of the actual games on offer are, ah well that just means that when I find a good one, it is just so much better by comparison. For instance I think that I mentioned that I had bought Mafia II and to be honest I did enjoy the good aspects of that game, the cars and the period music were great but it was far to mission only , you had to do the missions to drive the narrative forward and while you could take little detours to do some free play that was largely pointless because there was nothing to do and to top that off the world was not realised as a true sand box which would allow you to really explore and immerse yourself in it. The Music in that game was excellent with tracks that I recognised but there was only three stations and a play-list that was just not extensive enough to give you enough variety. Anyway when I had played it through I felt very little desire to replay it so I traded it in for “Red Dead Redemption, Undead Nightmare” which I have been playing while I await the arrival of “Red Dead Redemption” proper which I know will get here today from the UK. Now despite the things that I have written about the campaign for a R 18 classification for games I have done precisely what any grown up can do if they really want an adult game and that is to buy it on-line. Back to “Red Dead Redemption, Undead Nightmare” the game was originally a derivative of RDR and I got it not for the zombie killing (which is strangely satisfying BTW) but to become more familiar with the game world and the control layout that it shares with RDR I just love the graphics and the way that the world has been so beautifully rendered so this makes it the third tick of approval that I am willing to give Rockstar games. The first was for Grand Theft Auto IV, the second was for “Liberty City Stories” and I am more than happy to give “Red Dead Redemption, Undead Nightmare” a pretty big tick as well even though the narrative is rather limited and just a little silly. As for “Red Dead Redemption” proper I’ll let you know how it goes but I can’t help thinking that one of the friends of this blog who is fond of Clint Eastwood westerns would love this game.
While we one on the subject of good gaming can I suggest that the upcoming game, also from Rockstar, might just be the future for “grown up” gaming ?
By Grown up I don’t just mean games with more realistic depiction of sex or death and destruction, but gaming that stimulates the intellect and allows you to enter into the narrative in a truly engaging way. I previously wrote about Heavy Rain which was a more adult game but did not quite make it for a number of reasons. L A Noire on the other hand may just be, dare I say it , a game changer .
Cheers Comrades
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