Tag: 2010Page 2 of 3

“It ain’t like you’re qualified for anything else” – Mafia II

As Rockstar successfully expanded out its open world Grand Theft Auto formula to new settings, they were far from alone. Such was the boom for the genre around…

“It’s fucked” – Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days

Before reaching this point in 2010’s journey, there was only one thing I knew about Kane & Lynch. It was that in 2007 the video game website Gamespot…

“Fought on dozens of worlds” – StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty

My experience with real-time strategy games is largely limited to the Command & Conquer series — and limited further still to my encounters with those through this blog….

“We’re in the money” – Dance on Broadway

Of Just Dance, I said “Nothing to top the charts has looked so barebones a proof of concept since the days of PS1 3D and Cool Boarders, and…

“Playtime” – Toy Story 3

The UK’s Official Charts Company — the fact they don’t need to have “music” in the name is indicative — publishes many different singles charts each week. There’s…

“Mega ultra power dosing” – Crackdown 2

Ponder the orb. All around in Crackdown 2, as in the original game, there are agility orbs which permanently boost your powers when collected. Collect them and you…

“Bowser on Ice” – Super Mario Galaxy 2

Super Mario Sunshine showed the problems that can come up when making a Mario game about something. Delfino Isle proved an awkward halfway house between cohesion and freedom….

“Sweet, peace-loving people with a love of social justice” – Red Dead Redemption

Grand Theft Auto IV continued Rockstar’s run of world-beating success, but in the costly new era of HD game development they weren’t going to be able to follow…

“Nowhere to run now, Dan Brown” – Alan Wake

There is a concept which rings somewhat true to me of an “anxious interval” in cultural nostalgia. As described by Elizabeth Sandifer citing Momus, the interval is “the…

“Tell me places, all the places” – FIFA 2010 World Cup South Africa

It’s not often that FIFA games lose the voiced “it’s in the game” intro. In FIFA 2010 World Cup South Africa, it’s replaced with a cheer and a…