7. Disgaea
The REAL spiritual heir to X-Com
Tom: Here's your chance to put your 'graphics don't matter'
maxim to the test: if you can stomach the anime style graphics --
you know, the big-eyed, bobble-headed kiddies -- you're in for a
long, involved, dynamic game. Even though it sits squarely in the
genre of Japanese tactical combat RPGs, Disgaea is the best squad-based
combat game since X-Com. The gameplay allows for sophisticated tactics
involving flanking, ranged weapons, support roles, and terrain.
The strategic shell has elements of item crafting, political maneuvering,
a rich character class system, and randomly generated levels. And
you can take it all at your own pace, since Disgaea caters equally
to obsessive powergaming or leisurely character development. It's
odd that two of the year's best games are strategy games played
on a console system. The only thing odder would be if the best graphics
of the year were in a 2D game.
Mark: Disgaea is the only videogame ever reviewed
by the New England Journal of Medicine, which gave it four stars
and predicted a cure in the next five years. Bada bing!
6. Viewtiful Joe
We don't need no stinkin' 3D
Tom: Yeah, it's a difficult game. It's got boss battles
from hell. And the save system requires/ensures a lot of replay
(but you earn upgrades even as you're failing a level for the umpeenth
time). Nevertheless, this is still the most satisfying fighting/punching/kicking
game I've ever played. Partly because of the stunning artwork, but
mainly because of the gameplay. You can run through Viewtiful Joe
on the easy setting and just enjoy the pretty pictures much like
you'd flip through a comic book at the newstand. But at the default
difficulty, Viewtiful Joe has a surprising amount of tactical depth.
You have to watch carefuly how you use your limited pool of VFX
power, dividing it among a set of Matrix style tricks that owe more
to the anime that inspired The Matrix than The Matrix itself. As
you learn Joe's moves and unlock his special powers, you can find
your way into a groove of fantastical dodges, superheroic fisticuffs
and roundhouses, and gratifying freedom from gravity and physics.
Prince of Persia's silky animation and photorealism sure look sweet,
but they've got nothing on Viewtiful Joe's stylized splashes of
color and grace. In terms of artwork -- which is where it really
counts -- Viewtiful Joe is the best looking game of the year (with
Monolith's Tron 2.0 a close second).
Mark: Viewtiful? What the hell does that mean?
5. Dark Cloud 2
All silver lining
Tom: About ten hours into Dark Cloud 2, it folds into its
many-splendored world a minigame called Sphaeda, which is actually
just golf. Golf. You're in a game with random dungeons, weapon upgrades,
city building, fishing, quests, robots, fish breeding, photography,
and myriad bonus challenges. And here comes some golf to top it
off. "With the world in danger like this, I know it must sound
pretty dumb," our heroine Monica explains after showing you
how to play, "but I guess people like to escape from reality."
This is why Dark Cloud 2 is so good. It's a carefully developed
alternate reality with a million and one things for you to do, all
of them providing you with some sort of ingame reward. It takes
to heart the lesson learned by better RPGs in a post MMO/Grand Theft
Auto industry: make the world and turn the player lose to discover
it at his own pace. When done wrong, you get something airy and
barren like Morrowind. When done right, you get something rich and
vibrant like Dark Cloud 2.
Mark: Perhaps the game that sums up what's wrong
with console games. You have to play as some cute-as-a-bellybutton
little boy who takes pictures with his camera to combine them into
silly weapons and vehicles to battle the evil circus master who's
chasing you and you cute little robot buddy, or maybe it's a dog,
and the mini-games are things like fishing. This game is like eating
a couple of barrels of cotton candy doused with powdered sugar washed
down with gallons of Kool-Aid.
Four, Three,
Two...
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