Urgent Message: Heroes Wanted

The action/adventure genre of video games has to follow a strict set of conventions over the past 10 years or so, with only a few games straying from these guidelines (the Tomb Raider series come straight to mind), these are:

1.Introduction - the game teaches you how to use your character(s)

2. Conflict - your begin to understand the situation your character is in

3.1st Boss Battle - you face a henchman of the boss character or the boss him/herself

4.2nd Boss Battle - you recover from 1st battle with a new power and face the boss again

5.3rd Boss Battle - you face the boss for the final time, save the world and get the girl

Basically this is a generic sequence of events in any platform, action/adventure and RPG game out right now, also this can be altered for major action films in Hollywood.

I so wish they made a God of War film

But seeing as you have your conventions in place, you need a lead character to carry the game, a protagonist to fight the bad guys with style and charisma to engage the audience. They need to be smart and intelligent to come out with snappy catchphrases or dumb enough so we could at there actions and most of all, they never need a reason to fight.

Uncharted 2, the best movie-esque game since Uncharted 1 and Viewtiful Joe (correct Spelling)

I think that the king of the video game protagonists is Dante from the Devil May Cry Series, he ticks all of the boxes above and the game are not half bad either (except for Devil May Cry 2, it was all bad). The DMC series is the tale of Dante, a half human half demon hybrid, who has a job as mercenary of the supernatural, during the 4 games he has starred in has faced (in no particular order), his father's arch enemy, a giant falcon/hawk thing, a spider made out of fire, his evil twin numerous times, his nephew, his girlfriend/associate, fellow bounty hunters and her father, tanks, helicopters and a slime slug, and they are just the bosses. But a unique thing about this series of games is every time you beat a boss, you gain a weapon from them, a murderer and a thief, that's cool.

They would be so helpful in real life.

As the saying goes, "Imitation is the most sincerest form of flattery." and when you have the perfect formula for an action/adventure game people would to copy it, this is the case with Bayonetta (correct spelling) technically, the same person who came up with DMC concept made Bayonetta, so he is copying himself which is just lazy, smart but lazy.

The female Dante in action.

As long a action/adventure hack 'n' slash (correct term) game follows those guidelines then it will be a pretty sound game, but nowadays nobody really wants a sound game, they want a great game, an excellent game, a gripping game, so game producers dare to be different as Devil May Cry 1 did, as Uncharted 1&2 did, as God of War 1 did and don't forget to be funny.

Soundtracking Progress

Technology in gaming has evolved over the years, from its humble beginnings as many houses had Pong in their living rooms (the game not the smell) to having teenagers locked in their bedrooms playing their Xbox 360 or Playstation 3 'til 4 in the morning (my record is 3:30am) as with other aspects in video games, one thing has remained constant. Music.

Every single game has to have a soundtrack whether it is just a single track played during every fight scene or car chase etc., all games must have one. But the funny thing is, the game doesn't have to be good in order for the soundtrack to be good, it helps but it isn't always the case.

Now, with a sensitive topic like video game music, people are going to be divided on what they think is the best, in my opinion Sonic 2&3 have the best music ever but there other games that have brilliant soundtracks.

Why is Sonic the Hedgehog 10th?

While I don't agree with some of the choices on the list, they have some classics there anybody who has played games as long as I have can appreciate the choices on the list. But what about the games that are music orientated Guitar Hero and Rock Band and their various sequels and spin-offs, they actually have popular songs released to the public but DJ Hero (my favourite game that I can't play) takes it a step further by using these tracks and remixing them together and some are not even the same genre.

Now you can see why I can't play that game.

With the recent increase of celebrity tie-ins with these music games you would be forgiven for thinking that this is a recent trend especially for the musicians who are releasing music anymore (see The Beatles: Rock Band for proof), but unbelievably the king of pop started it all off. Michael Jackson released a little known game called Moonwalker in the early 90's at the height of his popularity. But what wasn't well known was that he was drafted in by SEGA to help with Sonic 3 soundtrack (which was why it was big, meaning good) but due to allegations of his private life, SEGA withdrew from the deal but released copies of his work in the game (well done SEGA) but remade and re-released the game with a different soundtrack (boo, hiss).

By the way, Who Is It is my favourite MJ song because of Ice Cap Zone

So, Michael Jackson wasn't just the king of pop but was the king of video game soundtracks as well, who would of thought it? Also there so many videos like this on youtube, you would think that these people have so much time on their hands.

P.S. SEGA backwards is ages, I played my Sega Mega-Drive for nearly 6 years and didn't notice.

Warning: May Damage Your Health

Video games have taken a lot of stick over the years, and Mortal Kombat (correct spelling) started it all with its excessive blood splatter and the introduction of the FATALITY. They have been taking the blame for the youth culture of today, crime and just a general hatred for authority for the best part of 18 years.

Not all video games are all blood and guts and shooting and killing people, most games develop teamwork and social skills, as well as feeling in part of a group. Problem solving and hand-eye co-ordination are also greatly improved.

But with everything in the world, if something does good, it must do bad, and video games is no different, they are known to nurture violent tendencies such as aggressive and addictive behaviour, a reclusive attitude and a potential loss in academic skills.

But enough of the serious stuff, everybody is different and different things effect different people in different ways, I have been playing video games for the best part of 17 years and i have felt most of the advantages and some of the disadvantages but I know the differences between reality and computer generated imagery.

But everybody needs a release from the real world, some read books, some watch films and others jump off very tall places (with parachutes, obviously) and mine is video games, the more people I kill in Grand Theft Auto IV and Left 4 Dead 2 (correct spelling), the less people I kill in the real world and I think the general public will like that.

Sonic 4 The Win

I want to take you back to when the major console battle was between the 2 super powers in video gaming (at the time), Nintendo and Sega, the Mircosoft and Sony of the early 90s, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (or SNES for short) and the Sega Genesis/ Mega Drive were fighting for supremacy of home entertainment.

Now, of course everybody has their favourite mascot depending on what console they had, if you had a SNES, you were a fan of everyone's favourite plumber and princess rescuer, Mario and if you were like me and had a Genesis or Mega Drive, you were a fan of the blue blur, the fastest hedgehog on the planet, Sonic.

With the launch of the Wii and countless Super Mario games recently, Mario has taken the title of master mascot of the gaming world, with Xbox's Master Chief a distant second. While Sega's blue hedgehog has had string of sub-standard games out recently (excluding Sonic & Sega All-Star Racing) but all might be forgiven with the announcement of the blue one latest 2-d adventure.

Sonic 4, formerly known as Project Needlemouse set to take gamers back to Sonic's side scrolling, fast paced, spin dashing and Dr Eggman beating days with the addition of his new move the Homing Attack which is exactly what is sounds like. While all the action will be moving from left to right, the interactive characters and environment will be 3-d and from the teaser trailer they released earlier this year it amazing compared to Sonic of old.

I know it isn't much to go on but if it beats Ice Cap Zone 1 and 2 then this game is going to be huge.

By the way, Sonic 2 has the video game soundtrack of all time, followed by Sonic 3 and these 2 songs will prove this.

>

Achievements vs Trophies

There is one burning questions that divides PS3 and Xbox 360 owners, what is better? Achievements or Trophies?

On the Xbox, the achievement system is a way of tracking your overall progress through a game by giving you points or Gamerscore for all to see, these achievements are graded by difficultly easy achievement are generally given 5G and harder achievements normally given 100G or more but this isn't always the case.

Trophies are unique to the PS3 and is basically the same but instead of a score of points, it just tells you how many trophies you have, there are 4 types of trophies:

Bronze - Easy

Silver - Medium

Gold - Hard

Platinum - Getting all of the trophies

While this seems like a good idea, Sony, kind of dropped the ball with trophies because, the system isn't on all of their games just the later ones.

With Achievements, they give you something to play for, to have those bragging rights over your friends by having a bigger score than them or to have a competition to see who reaches a fixed amount first. You can't really do that on PS3, while Sony are catching up now it still isn't the same, apart from actually the game with your friend, there is no competition with them. But on Xbox Live there are some people who play the game just to get achievements and that ruins the game playing experience for everybody online.

So people on Xbox Live have to remember, Achievements aren't everything but your Gamerscore is and people on the PlayStation Network, good luck on getting your pretty useless trophies.

So Real It's Scary

Anybody and everybody who plays video games knows that Call Of Duty 6 better known as Modern Warfare 2, is special but it is not just me who waxes lyrical about this game after getting rave reviews from just about everybody associated with video games but this is what The Sun's security adviser Andy McNab had to say about the illustrious Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

I SOMETIMES play the last Call Of Duty with my godson, who wipes the floor with me, and I was already impressed. But this new game takes it to a new level.

The movement of the characters is spot on.

The way a trained soldier holds and fires a gun is very specific - and they've got the movement right, down to the last detail.

Even the blood spatter and impact of a bullet on a human is correct.

Some maps in particular are very close to the real thing. In the opening level you are fighting insurgents through rat runs, in and out of back alleys, mosques and markets in a city.

That is exactly the sort of conditions our troops were fighting under in Basra, Iraq.

The game really gets across the frantic chaos of a firefight.

I'm sure this game will be on the receiving end of some stick - but its biggest defence is its realism.

It isn't glorifying war, it's bringing it into living rooms and simulating it as closely as possible.

Game Of The Year

2009 was a big year for video games, PS3 included, there was the launch of the New Xbox Experience and the introduction of the avatars in the dashboard for obviously the 360, and the PlayStation 3 borrowed the idea of avatars and created PlayStation Home, a virtual world where you go and explore the PlayStation Home and watch films, fly planes and generally meet and talk with new people a.k.a. Second life for the PS3.

The games consoles didn't stop there, they invaded television as well, PlayStation launched the BBC iPlayer allowing you to catch up on your favourite BBC programs, while Xbox was called Sony and raised it with the genius of the Sky Player, not only does allow you to catch up on favourite digital programs but watch live TV including football matches, movies, cartoons documentaries and anything else you can find on your sky box. But there is a downside, you have pay, just like everything else on the Xbox.

but that all secondary to what all gamer buy their consoles for, games and 2009 was big year for games, I'm sure I've said that already. First the multi-platform games. 2009 saw the release of Resident Evil 5, Street Fighter 4, FIFA 10, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Tekken 6 and of course Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 aka the best of all time.

But all these titles are not the game of the year, that accolade belongs Uncharted 2: Among Thieves for the PS3. Story telling, graphics, cut scenes, multi-player and game play this game has got it all, if I was to give this game a rating out of 10, this game would get an 13 and a half, the beginning alone deserves an 8.

If you have any suggestions for your game of the year, please comment.