Games I Bought And Then Didn't Play That Were Released In 2007 - Now With Previously Unannounced Bonus Content

As promised, here are the games I picked up that were released in 2007 that I didn't actually play along with the reasons why. Special Bonus Content at the bottom!


Adventures of Darwin - A lot of these "bought but didn't play" titles were purchased to support the release of unique budget games. I love a lot of the ideas of the Simple 2000 series and so far Adventures of Darwin is the only one released in the US. Europe, the wonderland of budget PS2 games, has seen many of them released with full translation so maybe more will show up over here but with D3 having a serious presence in the US and releasing award winning games I'm not holding my breath.


Fire Pro Wrestling Returns - For 15 bucks, I had to pick up this one too see what all the fuss was about. 2d wrestling on the PS2, how could I pass it up?!


Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories - 20 bucks, another GTA game I'll probably never finish. I have the other four(!) for the PS2, I had to complete the set!


Th3 Plan - Reviews aren't great but the gameplay and presentation seem interesting. 3.33 well spent.


The Red Star - Still kicking myself for not having played this yet, especially since it was such a hassle to find a sealed copy at Gamestop. Someday...someday.


Brave: The Search For the Spirit Dancer - I actually played through this in the last month and it's a great character-based 3d platformer that only Dave Halverson and I can truly appreciate. From what I can piece together, it was originally developed by Vis Entertainment(who then went out of business) and later picked up by Evolved and ultimately published by SouthPeak. Looks great, plays well, and the level design is stunning. The only problem I have apart from some difficulty spikes is that the camera control should have been a bit more dramatic to show you more of the impressive landscape. Southpeak is releasing a remake just entitled Brave for DS, Wii, and PSP. Hopefully they'll market it a bit better this time because it's worth experiencing.

BONUS FOOTAGE - Here's a few I played from 2007 that I forgot about until Just. Right. Now.


Crazy Frog Arcade Racer - Actually just the Euro-only Crazy Frog Racer 2 renamed for our delicate American minds. I guess this rules out getting the original over here. Sigh. It's pretty awful gameplay-wise but it looks somewhat nice, and there's a bad rhythm game thrown in for now reason. The novelty is very much worth the 3.33 I paid for it.


Lumines Plus - I was excited to play this and tried to, but I just didn't get the gameplay. I tried though. Oh, how I tried.


Mountain Bike Adrenaline - Another from the three "3 for 9.99" PS2 game packs I bought on Black Friday. The weird shimmery tesselation(or whatever) effect on everything is disconcerting and takes a bit to get used to. All in all, a terrible game in everyway, but a good game based on this sport should still be made.

Games I Played That Were Released In 2007 - Part II

As promised, here are the rest of the Games I Played That Were Released In 2007. Looking over it, there's only two PS2 exclusive titles, how sad.


Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - From what I've been able to gather, the PS2 version is exactly the same as the 360 and ps3 version, only with lesser graphics. This in itself is pretty amazing, considering the console's age. Or maybe they held back so that all four major console versions would be the same. Already the increasing complexity of the next round of console is widening the gap between multiplatform titles, with most losing content or features(Rock Band and The Simpsons Game) or just making a completely different game(the upcoming Ghostbusters). Anyways, this is a great game, they borrowed a lot of ideas from Bully, lots to do, wonderful use of the maurader's map as a guide to the next task, up there with best looking PS2 games.


Jackass: The Game - Looks and plays better than you'd expect. If you're not a fan, don't expect it to convert you, but if you are, it's very very fun.


Meet the Robinsons - The only non-PS2 version game I played on this list and one of the last Gamecube game released. It ties very well into the movie's story and emulates the (highly underrated)film's look well. Nothing too special, but very well done.

Game Of The Blog's 2007 Game Of The Year

Raw Danger - Yet another game I obsessed about... but I actually played through this one! Not graphically impressive in any obvious way but contains an engaging multi-faceted story that is probably the closest form of urban exploration you'll get in a videogame. The empty crumbled city is effectively creepy yet peaceful and the brief action sequences are exciting, harrowing and well placed. It does get a bit too Japanesey, design-wise, with the strict save system and level progression. I would have preferred an easier way to repeat levels to see more of the branching storyline. Also, the caucasianation process was entirely unneeded. Here's to hoping that Downfall: San Francisco actually exists because it sounds similarly awesome.


Rock Band - I was lucky to have a friend who has the 360 version and got to first play the game as it was designed, live with four people. He later hooked it up on the screen at a movie theatre and it feels almost as good as actually playing live. The drums are awesome, the vocals are super fun, but yet again, the PS2 version is sorely lacking. The world tour game is strangely absent and just like Dancing With The Stars, the on-screen action is just video footage. This FMV band info is strangely absent from most major reviews with Gamespot going as far as to say "the character modeling and animation still look great, and a lot of the visual filters the other versions had are on display here. Granted, it almost seems like the game is just running full-motion video of characters from the PS3 or 360 versions playing because the game uses a lot of the same band members over and over again". I assume they didn't spend much time replaying the songs. IGN doesn't even mention the graphics. Luckily, my old original Guitar Hero SG works with it and it also recognizes the Logitech mic from Karaoke Hero. I look forward to picking up the drums when they're released separately.


Shrek the Third - It's better than the other Shrek games if that's saying anything. The film was aggressively terrible, the game is just the normal afterthought. Some interesting spots here and there(the mechanical version of frogger was interesting) but unmemorable as a whole. The cut scenes are amazing though, someone needs to put all of those online. They're done in a cut out puppet style, the intro one can be seen in this video starting at 1:30.


The Simpsons Game - Probably more fun for big Simpsons fans, especially a nerdy gamer ones. Due to the cel-shaded graphics, the PS2 version looks almost exactly like it's next gen brothers, but the entire town of Springfield that can be accessed between levels in those versions is reduced to just the Simpsons house in this one.

Next up: Games I Bought And Then Didn't Play That Were Released In 2007!

Games I Played That Were Released In 2007 - Part I

I play a lot of older games(mainly because I only own a PS2 and Gamecube and also usually have to wait until they drop in price) so my list of Games I Played That Were Released In 2007 is small enough that I will subject you to brief reviews of all 17.


Alvin and the Chipmunks - A terrible rhythm game complete with confusing gameplay & graphics that have nothing to do with the song that's playing. I played through the whole thing in 2 hours and 45 minutes. Even worse? Slowdown...in a rhythm game. Since there are a lot of well known songs(40!) done Chipmunk-style, I'm surprised this hasn't gotten a soundtrack release(even indirectly), it's the best part of the game. Sadly, the actual movie soundtrack is mostly R&B & Hip-Hop tunes. Make sure to check out their version of Phantom Planet's California.


Arthur and the Invisibles - One of the better 3D platformers I've played on the PS2. Beautiful graphics, voice, and control. For those who like the genre(I'm lookin' at you, Halverson!), an unheralded gem.


Bee Movie Game - Although it truly captured the tedium of being a lowly worker bee with it's constant stream of mandatory jobs in between the interesting parts, it's a great licensed kid's game with lots of various things to do. Maybe the best stab at a "GTA for kids" style game so far. Also, providing his own voice is further proof of Seinfeld's commitment to the project.


Biker Mice from Mars - Awful horrible trash. I was only able to stomach playing a half hour of this UK only garbage. BREAKING NEWS: As I was searching out the box art for each of these, I found that this was actually was released in Americatown in early June. With such universally reviled gameplay, I'm amazed that SCEA let this one slip through.


Carol Vorderman's Sudoku - I got a bit obsessed with this earlier in the year, mostly because it was one on the earliest horsemen of the coming tidal wave of strange PS2 bargain releases but after playing it for a bit, I probably never will again. It's a great game, just not entirely my bag.


Chulip - Here's another game I spent too much time thinking about and then hardly played after buying it. It's one of the most unique console titles ever and I look forward to setting some time aside to fully experience it's complete freakishnessism.


Dancing with the Stars - Decent rhythm game that actually evokes ballroom dancing steps while using the controller...if my thumbs were Stacy Keibler's feet. Not sure if the dance pad movements are as interesting. Sadly, all of the onscreen dancing is just video(ballroom dancing mocap!) and the song list is filled with random original pieces, but gladly it all looks incredibly creepy.


God of War II - Incredibly well done and an amazing swan song for the PS2's stellar library. Playing as a weakened and defenseless Kratos near the beginning of the game was one of my favorite gaming moments. Quite possibly the manliest game ever made.


Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s - Mostly due to the weak number of songs, this collection is highly underrated, even getting called "aggressively awful dreck" by the pinnacle of videogame critique, Playboy.com. If they had just added 10-15 more songs and/or dropped the price 10 bucks it probably wouldn't have been so harshly received. "Only A Lad" is worth the price of admission alone.

...

And really, what's wrong with not changing gameplay and just adding new songs? it's not liek there aren't 25 different freaking versions of beatmania for the psone and PS2 in Japan(grumble grumble).


Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock - Boss battles aren't that fun or even predictable(I beat Tom Morello after 20-30 tries but when I won it seemed random, when I got to Slash and Lou I took then out in the first try), the product placement was excessive(I bet Morello just loves being introduced by the Axe deodorant Bom Chicka Wah Wah strippers), and the character models questionable. I played the PS2 version, which brings up a whole 'nother list of ups and downs. Here they are...in list form:

Downs: The lead singer looks even more freakishly Muppet-like, the drummer has only two arm positions, no star power animations for the regular characters, no Bret Michaels(even thought the video of his mocap session is still on the disc), and worst of all...no breast physics

Ups: No Bret Michaels(HA HA, GET IT), a Budcat logo guitar, and vastly better unlockable characters than the ps3/360 version(Elvis and a robot!)

OTHERWISE, it's awesome and one of my favorites of the year.

The last seven Games I Played That Were Released In 2007 will be revealed soon!

X-Treme Gaming Update - Strawberry Shortcake: The Sweet Dreams Game

So after playing through the PS2 version of Strawberry Shortcake: Adventures In the Land Of Dreams(crudely renamed "The Sweet Dreams Game" for uncouth Americans such as myself) in all of 4 hours or so, I was perusing the instructions for some helpful gameplay tips(Which I did not find. Hopefully publishers The Game Factory or developers Eko System will read this and respond with directions on how to unlock higher levels of difficulty) and noticed the odd feeling of the outside cover.

It was slightly rough and textured, not the smooth glossy finish that usually adorns most official Playstation 2 manual covers.

I scratched at it slightly, listening to the sound as my dirty fingernails attacked its unusual surface and then...

what's...that smell?

OH NO, it couldn't be...

Strawberries

The game manual for Strawberry Shortcake: The Sweet Dreams Game has a strawberry scented scratch and sniff cover.