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Two Things…
…to set you up for the New Year. Gold Chains with Rock the Parti, because it is literally the only record you need right now. And Chewing Pixels’ Kid A wishing you a very happy one, because it’s a photo that makes me indescribably happy. 2009 is going to be the best one yet, right? ...
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2008 Videogame Micro-critiques: 10-1
So Eurogamer’s Top 50 Games of the Year list draws to its conclusion. Because of the unique way in which the list is compiled the order of games bucks expectations, something many of the readers have struggled with. As contributors and staff only get to submit their own top 10 games, a low ranked game ...
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2008 Videogame Micro-critiques: 20-11
20. Condemned 2: Bloodshot Monolith stole the blueprint of hell and with it designed Condemned 2. A grotesque game both visually, thematically and ideologically, it trades the threat of violence and white fear that was so effective in the first game for its dumb and brutal reality, taking what was terrifyingly implicit and making it ...
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2008 Videogame Micro-critiques: 30-21
30. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots Nobody’s interested in the middle ground when it comes to polarizing videogames. When it comes to MGS4 this is a shame because there is just as much of merit in this experience as there is to spoil it. In his fine, thoughtful review for Eurogamer, Ollie ...
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2008 Videogame Micro-critiques: 40-31
38 Lost Odyssey Videogames’ immaturity has ensured that we’re used to questing for humanity’s baser goals: wealth, power, immortality and Princess Peach. Lost Odyssey turns convention on its head (at least that of the narrative variety, this is a traditional JRPG elsewhere) by revealing an immortal protagonist who is fed up with life and wants ...
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2008 Videogame Micro-Critiques: 50-41
Eurogamer has begun publishing its Top 50 Games of 2008 rundown, a series of articles to which I contribute some words and thoughts. This year, rather than commenting in rambling long posts or smart-arse one liners I thought I’d try to critique those games I wanted to write about in a paragraph of around 100 ...
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Bad Santa
The Tallest man on Earth, Happy Christmas 2008
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In Search of Forgotten Treasures
Last night was spent collecting and writing up my thoughts on a selection of games that are to feature in Eurogamer’s Top 50 Videogames of 2008 list (published towards the end of the week). What struck me, particularly when trying to articulate something fresh and interesting about those games that feature in the top ten, ...
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The Nightmare Before Christmas
“Wow. This is excellent wine.” She is exactly right. This is excellent wine. In fact, that’s not the half of it. This is an excellent restaurant. The excellent food we are about to order will have been cooked from excellent ingredients by an excellent chef and we’ll eat it to the soundtrack of an excellent ...
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Guinness World of Records: The Videogame
Minigames haven’t so much fallen from favour with contemporary gamers as plummeted to a grisly death on the spikes of their cynicism. While the Gameboy Advance’s WarioWare was a machinegun volley of microcosmic creativity, (requiring players pick the snot from a wincing nostril or jump a fast-approaching sausage on wheels), since those magnificent beginnings, our ...
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Best Games Writing of 2008: Part 2
Contrarian Corner: Gears of War 2 Date: 24th November, 2008 Publication: IGN UK Author: Michael Thomsen Link This careful, insightful critique of Gears of War 2 is not only the best thing I’ve read on IGN but also one of the best pieces of writing about the game available anywhere. It sits within a new ...
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The Best Games Writing of 2008: Part 1
Sometimes we’ll decide to go to the cinema on the spur of the moment. While the decision to leave the house in search of a story is often a snap one, deciding what we’re actually going to watch rarely is. Like most mature cinemagoers, we like to think that we’re more interested in seeking out ...