The Vita Ladder (March 1 2014)

My how times change. The last Vita ladder I posted at the end of September looks almost nothing like my current list; and that's a good thing. Quite a few new games have come out, and the Playstation Plus freebies and sales have really boosted my library.

Here's how my ladder shakes out today:

1. Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker: In anticipation of MGS5 Ground Zeroes, I'm going back to this PSP classic available on Vita. I've never played it, and I picked it up during a PS+ sale for $12. The controls are a bit wonky because the PSP didn't have a second analog stick, but the story presentation is rad and the gameplay works quite well. When I'm finished, I'll go for MGS3HD on Vita.
2. Soul Sacrifice was free on PS+ for a short time in November. It is a very unusual action RPG which goes back and forth between dull and interesting, easy and hard, good and evil, fun and frustrating. I can't say it's totally worth the full price ($36), but it's gone on sale I think at least once since. There is a ton of content, though it can be a grind.
3. Spelunky thrilled me for about a week. It's brutally difficult and completely unforgiving. I was having a great time making slow, painful progress... and then the final tunnel man challenge sank in. I'm sure it's not impossible, but the time it would take me to get it done is not worth the effort so I haven't been playing much since.
4. Persona 4 Golden: People who like this game really like this game. After a few hours, I'm not all that hooked. I enjoy it when I play, but I haven't chosen to do so very much.
5. The Walking Dead Season 1 is another beloved game that isn't grabbing me like I thought it might. I'm beginning to think most gamers don't read books, because if this game is supposed to be an example of amazing storytelling, I'm not all that impressed. I'd rather read "The Stand" or something.
6. Stealth Inc. is a clever 2D platformer with a good mix of puzzle and timing challenge.
7. Unit 13 is a shockingly good third person action game. Instead of having a story mode, it simply has individual levels with specific goals. Beating any level is fairly easy, but getting five stars in it's Angry Birds-esque grading scheme is usually a challenge. I come back to this one regularly to knock out another mission or two. Apparently it's coming to PS+ this month, definitely download it!

In defense of Warframe

Consider these two games:

• Game A: Sci-fi third-person RPG/action/shooter hybrid aimed at co-op online play where levels are spread across the planets and moons of our own Solar System.
• Game B:  Sci-fi first-person RPG/action/shooter hybrid aimed at co-op online play where levels are spread across the planets and moons of our own Solar System.

Game A is a fair description of Warframe, a free-to-play game out now on PC and PS4. 

Game B is a fair description of Destiny, probably among the top two or three most anticipated AAA releases of 2014.

This is obviously where the comparisons have to stop. The amount of investment into Destiny is on a totally different level. The production value in level design, art assets, and gameplay mechanics will almost certainly blow Warframe out of the water. But for now, Warframe, has a unique and highly entertaining package to offer.

Gameplay

Guns, melee, and powers. These are your tools available from the outset of Warframe with which you dispose of countless enemies. The guns are fairly standard, but highly customizable. The melee combat is exciting, and deeper than it first appears. The tutorial only highlights standard and power attacks, but you also have defensive capabilities like dodging and blocking, and hugely under-rated jump and sliding attacks which can be used to knock enemies down. The action is very fast paced, and the game is engineered to make you feel like a badass space ninja.

The missions take place on procedurally-generated maps and offer some decent variety, ranging from simple "kill all the things" to trickier mobile defense modes. Each planet or moon has a tree of missions: follow straight up the trunk to unlock the next planet or chase all the branches for extra goodies. Each planet has a theme; for example all the missions on Venus are icy and the enemies are robotic. In my first 4-6 hours of play, all the missions have taken place in same-y looking bases, but the backdrops, color pallets, and enemy types keep it from being totally stale.

The game can be played in solo mode, but it's a slog. It works best with one or more friends (up to 4 players only), and pretty well with randomly grouped players.

RPG Elements

The level-up hook is key in this type of game. The different character classes (unsurprisingly called Warframes) have distinct abilities, weapons, and stats. These obviously level up during play. Weapons (primary, secondary, and melee) all level up as well, and do so more as you use them.

Gaining a level opens up one modification point. Modification cards are gained as loot drops and have a variable number of points associated with them depending on how powerful they are. Mods include things like adding elemental damage, increasing crit chance, faster reloads, things like that. The class-specific powers are also a type of mod card.  Mod cards can be upgraded to improve their effects, which often ups their point requirement.

This sounds complicated, and it is. It's actually not very well explained, and it takes some tinkering to figure out which combinations are allowed. But once you get the hang of it, it's pretty fun. You have a lot of control in how you build out your character, and even though each level only opens up one more point, that one extra point often allows you to swap things out and shoehorn in a different combination you couldn't use before.

The downside of this is that it's best to stick with one weapon, and level it up. Mod cards can be moved around at any time, but switching to a new weapon puts you back at square one in terms of mod card slots. There is an in-game crafting system, which allows you to build weapons and Warframes from various materials. Some of the mats are either late-game or pay only, so it's rare to actually get all the stuff you need to make a new item without paying (more on that later).

Free-to-play issues

All free-to-play games are designed to get money out of your pocket through microtransactions (or ads), and Warframe is no different. Playing for free, you get access to one Warframe (your choice of several basic models), and a small number of weapons. It costs real money to unlock other Warframes and weapons (and cosmetic options). Some items, especially Warframes, are laughably expensive. 

The good news is that if you choose your Warframe carefully (I enjoy my Mag!), you can ignore all the paid stuff and just go shoot things. The game is 100% playable without spending a dime. After playing maybe 4-6 hours and having fun with it, I decided to buy $15 of in-game currency (the entry amount). I've spent ~$5 on materials which, along with mats and credits obtained through normal play, allowed me to build a new Warframe and a new primary weapon, which is a much better deal than paying for the suit outright.

Final thoughts

Warframe is a fun game that doesn't cost any money to get into. There are better games out there, but on PS4 I think it's among the most enjoyable multiplayer games, certainly the best co-op. It serves as a great appetizer to Destiny, and has just enough depth both in-game and with RPG elements to keep the experience interesting.

(*)(*)(*)(*)( )    <----- 4 out of 5 stars

Game of my Year: 2013

I've been reading articles and listening to podcasts this week summarizing the best games of 2013 and found it to be a surprisingly rich topic. More than ever, the quantity and quality of video games were matched by the variety in the past year. The influx of "indie" games and widespread adoption of atypical gaming platforms (read: tablets) has lead to a sea change in the types of games that are produced. As in any other form of entertainment, improving variety increases competition and results in improved experiences for the consumer.

For this post, I will focus on my favorite games of the year, denoting my preferred game for each platform as well. As I have not played any Nintendo Wii/U/DS or PS3 games this year, I'm not trying to a "best games" list; I'll leave that to the professionals at Joystiq.com and others. Sadly, exactly zero Xbox 360 games made this list, though some of these games are available on that platform. I originally planned on doing a top ten, but there were only nine that I can recommend without reservation. I also handed out some winners in best visual art, best sound, best story, and achievement in visual which should be self-explanatory.

 Here are the nine games of my year:

9. BioShock Infinite (PC)

A good enough story, a good enough shooter, and some new enough mechanics, Bioshock Infinite ended up feeling somewhat disappointing given the glowing reviews. The memorable city in the clouds and fun-with-physics ideas left a strong positive impression overall. 

8. Tomb Raider (PC)

I appreciate the decision to make the iconic Lara Croft character 1000% more interesting and believable (both physically and emotionally), and the exploration and combat felt right. I didn't like the gameplay balance though: way too much killing faceless badguys not enough exploration and climbing/navigation puzzles. The crafting and leveling-up system felt tacked on and unnecessary. The short of it is I was enormously impressed by the game but didn't find myself coming back to it and lost interest about half-way through. That coincided with the PS4 launch, so there's a good chance I'll go back and finish it later.

7. Dragon's Crown (Vita)

The idea is simple: make a 2D beat-em-up game with enough variety and RPG elements to make a highly re-playable game. In this regard, Dragon's Crown is a huge success. I dropped a dumb amount of time into this game. It's far from perfect, especially the frame rate on Vita, the general same-ness of most the enemies, and the unpleasantly large breasts of two of the character classes, but those didn't stop me from playing it over and over again.

6. Rayman Origins (Vita)

This game debuted in 2011 for Xbox 360 and PS3, but I first played the Vita version which was released in 2013. It's a classic 2D platformer with exquisite art, plenty of variety, and a pitch perfect difficulty curve. It got pretty darned hard in the final stages, but I appreciated the old-school-ness of them and felt genuine accomplishment getting through all the stages. Rayman Legends also came out this year, a well-received sequel that I haven't played. I recommend Origins first, it will be cheaper and a very similar game.

5. XCom: Enemy Unknown (iPad Game of my Year)

XCom is another game which debuted years ago but was re-released for a new platform this year. I deeply enjoyed the PC version, and was a little shocked that they were porting the whole thing over to the iPad. Getting to play a game of this quality and magnitude on a tablet was a real treat. While not an original, XCom is easily my favorite iOS game of all time.

4. Guacamelee! (Vita Game of my Year) WINNER: BEST VISUAL ART

Games like Super Metroid and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night are amazing classics that prove you don't need realistic 3D world to have a great time exploring. I'm surprised there aren't more games of this genre (which doesn't even have a name, other than the lame portmanteau "Metroid-vania"), but luckily Guacamelee! burst onto the scene this year delivered an absolutely fantastic experience. The game is dripping with character, the graphics are genuinely beautiful, and the gameplay evolves at a great pace. The only knock on this game is that it is fairly short. I think I played it through in 4-5 hours and haven't played since.

3. Gone Home (PC Game of my Year) WINNER: BEST USE OF SOUND & BEST STORY

This is a hipster pick, I get it. So sue me. I was totally enthralled for the 2 hour experience this game provided. I came in with very few expectations other than the exceptional critical reviews, which I think helped. Some may argue it doesn't have a hugely creative story, but that's beside the point. Getting drunk and going to a bullfight doesn't sound all that compelling either, unless its being told by Hemingway. The storytelling in Gone Home is above and beyond anything I've ever seen in interactive entertainment and is on par with literature quality short fiction. I have it ahead of Tomb Raider as PC game of my year because it was so original and well executed.

2. NBA 2K14 (PS4) WINNER: ACHIEVEMENT IN VISUALS

I always love NBA2k, but the last two years have been treading water without any competition. The off-court aspects of this game (MyPlayer and MyGM etc.) feel unfinished; I haven't played them much, though I like the direction they're heading. This is a top game for me because the on court action. The game is a significant leap forward in graphical fidelity. To me, while the faces and expressions are pretty impressive, the improved body movement engine allows for much smoother and varied animations. That combined with the detail put into recreating real players movements makes for an amazing experience.

1. Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag (PS4 and Overall Game of my Year)

This game is fantastic. It's legitimately thrilling to explore the sand, surf, and seas of the piratical Caribbean. I was terribly disappointed with AC3, a mess of poor story-telling, awful pacing, and laborious central missions. I wanted to love that game for its setting, but nothing ever felt right. With AC4, the magic is back in the series. There are still plenty of silly tropes and cringe moments, but they are minor and off to the side. The main attraction of exploration, sneaking, and fighting is balanced really well. I'd love to see a deeper combat system requiring precise timing and combos (Arkham City is my game of the decade so far), but I've enjoyed swashing and buckling for hours on end.

Almost made the cut:

Killzone: Shadow Fall (PS4) and Killzone: Mercenaries (PS Vita)

The single player campaign for Shadow Fall a gorgeous mess. And I don't really mean that in a loving way. The graphics are spectacular, but the attention to detail in storytelling and world design doesn't come close to comparing with that of the visuals. Example: in one early mission, the game designers appear to have mistaken air pressure for gravity; going into an airlock should not drop me out of zero gravity! That kind of ridiculousness is absolutely everywhere in the single player campaign for Killzone. Are you ready for the "however"? However, the multiplayer is pretty bad ass. I don't usually go for online shooters, but I've sunk a silly amount of time into this game (mostly on team deathmatch; the "Warzone" tactical games are rarely well balanced and end up being frustrating). One the opposite end, the campaign for Mercenaries was really fun and is definitely the best FPS I've played on a portable. I never really got into multiplayer though.

A comment about GTAV

Grand Theft Auto V came out this year, if you hadn't noticed. I did play it on Xbox 360, and I was hugely impressed with the love that went into recreating my home town LA. Dozens of real life places, from the famous Santa Monica Pier to a pretty old building near my office that is now a Verizon store, are immediately recognizable to me, highlighting that I've lived here for almost a decade now. I have two huge problems with this game: first, the sophomoric "humor" has been pathetically unfunny for several games now, I can't believe they are still relying on the double-lowest-common-denominator (toilet puns). And second, the gameplay isn't actually any fun. Drive around with meh controls. Shoot zillions of cops with meh controls. I just don't get how they haven't gotten better at this yet. Maybe there's just no teen-aged boy in me anymore!



 

NBA2k15 idea: Tournament of Legends

I love the NBA2K video game franchise. The 2k14 version is incredibly fun (and the graphics are jaw-dropping on next-gen), but overall it feels very similar in style to the previous two years.

My favorite year in the series is 2k11, which introduced the "Jordan Challenge" mode where players were tasked with re-living MJ's greatest moments by achieving certain in-game goals (drop 55+ on the Knicks in Madison Square Garden wearing #45, for example). It was a clever device that was fun and challenging. Since that game, each year has seen more "classic" teams added to the playable teams list, but no real reason to play with them. Here's an idea for a way to liven things up which I'm calling "The Tournament of Legends."

The premise: a 32-team single elimination tournament. This would include all 30 current NBA teams plus the Seattle SuperSonics and one international team. Each team consists of two PG, four wings, and four big men. And those players are the best players at those positions in team history, all at their peak with that team. Basically, every team would be both incredibly fun to play with and difficult to take down. Here are some candidate rosters:

Obvious teams like the Lakers would be ridiculous:

L.A. Lakers
PG: Magic Johnson, Byron Scott
Wings: Kobe Bryant, Jerry West, James Worthy, Elgin Baylor
Bigs: Kareem, Wilt, Shaq, Divac

That sounds like a pretty stacked team right? Somehow I don't think Kobe and Kareem would get along very well, but we don't have to simulate the locker room!

What about my beloved Chicago Bulls? Jordan and Pippen took the league by storm in the 90's. What if you could just plop a (healthy) Derrick Rose in the backcourt with them?

Chicago Bulls
PG: Derrick Rose, John Paxson
Wings: Jordan, Pippen, Deng, Toni Kukoc
Bigs: Artis Gilmore, Joakim Noah, Dennis Rodman, Horace Grant

Even random teams like the Orlando Magic would be ridiculously fun to play as/against:

PG: Penny Hardaway, Jameer Nelson
Wings: Tracy McGrady, healthy Grant Hill, Nick Anderson, J.J. Redick
Bigs: Young Shaq, Dwight Howard, Nikola Vucevic, Hedo Turkoglu

Oh, and what about a Tony Parker / Hakeem Olajuwon pick and roll? The international squad would absolutely crush:

PG: Tony Parker, Steve Nash
Wings: Manu Ginobili, Drazen Petrovic, Detlef Schremf, Andrei Kirilenko
Bigs: Hakeem Olajuwon, Arvydas Sabonis, Dirk Nowitzki, Yao Ming

What do you guys think? What would be your favorite teams and rosters? How would you seed the tourney? Remember the caveat that you are getting the best version of a given player with that team; so don't put Shaq on the Suns or MJ on the Wizards/Bullets unless you really really have to...

A couple final rules:

• The Thunder get a bit screwed by not having the Sonics to pick from, but them's the breaks (and I'm not crying for them: Durant, Westbrook, Harden, Ibaka, Jeff Green... they can hang). 
• Players from the Hornets belong to the city, so the Bobcats get Alonzo Mourning and the Pelicans get Chris Paul (and etc.). Both New Orleans and Charlotte can use alternate uniforms to play as the current or Hornets version of themselves.
• Positions are flexible. PG can include combo guards or ball-dominant guards (like Harden) and some players can be used as wings or bigs (Shawn Marion, LeBron, etc.).

PS4 first impressions

Well, my PS4 arrived as scheduled and I've had almost a week to play around with it. Here are some thoughts and quick game reviews for what I've played so far.

General comments

• The box
• The PS4 unit is small, sleek and quiet! My gaming PC sounds like a jet engine, and my wife (understandably) hates the racket. Not a problem at all with PS4. 
• The system  
• The UI is simple and easy enough to use, but it won't scale well. Things are fine for now, with only a half dozen or so games installed, but Sony will have to address the layout eventually.
• The hard drive space is an issue. It comes with a 500gb drive, which is good enough for maybe a dozen retail games (all games, even disc-based, require full install). But the only way to get these hugely complex games running smoothly is to use a hard drive. Optical media read speeds just aren't fast enough. It's a give and take that I am more than happy to sign up for.
• Eventually I'll have to juggle which games I want to have installed and which I'll delete, but basically there's no scenario I can imagine where I would actually care to have more than 12 different games available to play at the same time. Installing from the disc only takes a few minutes anyways!
• Game sharing
• Watching other people play is almost as good as playing a demo. Live streaming and clip sharing are well integrated, it will be interesting to see where this goes.
• Remote play
• I got a PS Vita this summer after watching the PS4 reveal press conference, in large part in anticipation of remote play, and I'm happy I did. My impression so far is that it's unbelievably cool. It isn't perfect, but that's due in large part to it being so new (button mapping will be an evolving issues due to the missing triggers and stick-clicks). Technically, it performs to near perfection on my home Wifi network, despite the fact that my PS4 is connected over Wifi and not hard-line ethernet as recommended. I've noted how the retail games I have perform in more detail below.
• The controller
• Let me be the one-hundred eleventieth person to laud the DualShock 4 controller: it feels great, I love the track pad, and it's light as a feather. The headphone jack works beautifully with 3.5mm headphones and stereo chat headsets. 
• I do have two reservations: 
• The battery life seems worse than I'm used to (8 hours maybe?), so I plug in the controller every night. This is mainly an aesthetic complaint, as it's most convenient to just leave the micro-usb cable hanging out the front of the PS4. 
• Second, the d-pad placement (above the left stick) is definitely a downgrade over the Xbox layout. I've got big hands so I can reach the Xbox d-pad with my right hand. On Playstation, I have to awkwardly reach way over to accomplish the same thing. This has come into play on NBA2k (calling plays) and Assassin's Creed (weapon switching), though future iterations of such games should learn to take better advantage of the 

Killzone Shadow Fall

• Single player (4/10)
• The single-player campaign in this game is pretty meh. The first mission treats you like a child, literally. The second mission was a bit better, but didn't make me at all interested in continuing. The OWL is pretty cool though; I particularly enjoy the rappelling mode to reach any lower area of the map.
• Multiplayer: 7/10
• Luckily, the multiplayer is more interesting. I enjoy playing as the support class (can revive downed teammates and place turrets or spawn beacons) with the minigun (I can't aim, but you don't need to!). The Warzones concept hasn't quite caught on, as the vast majority of players go with the standard mode. But that's because the standard mode is pretty awesome! You essentially play "sets" of five "games". On one map, you cycle through 5 different play types (team deathmatch and capture the flag, capture points etc.) with the same squad. At the end, a winner is declared.
• Unfortunately, I've found that most matches are totally imbalanced, with one team winning 5 out of 5 games per set pretty easily. I suspect that one team is filled with a group of friends who know how to play together and the other team is filled with random folks who pop in and out. I'm not sure if there is a good solution to this.
• I'm looking forward to the "horde" co-op mode coming via DLC.
• Remote Play: 4/10
• Looks and controls great! It's just the wrong kind of game for couch-playing. 

NBA2k14

• Single player: 7/10
• I'm surprisingly disappointed by this game. On the one hand, it's gorgeous and plays as well as any game in the series. On the other, the new game modes (MyGM and a revised MyPLAYER) feel unfinished and tacked on. Both modes heavily encourage "grinding" for in-game virtual currency (also available for purchase with real cash), making them feel more like "free-to-play" than retail. But I already paid $60!
• Remote play: 6/10
• It looks great, especially with the more zoomed in cameras. The only problem is that the controls are poorly mapped (default system mapping, cannot be changed). The turbo button is mapped to the upper-right rear touchpad. Ugh. I'm starting to get used to it, but I tend to get creamed in the second half.

Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag

• Single player: 9/10
• YAAAAAAARRRRR! I love this game. It's awesome. AC3 was a lifeless sack of crap, but AC4 is a delightful romp. It's not perfect, but I like it better than GTAV. There, I said it.
• Remote play: 9/10
• This game is ideal on remote play. Everything is easy to see, the developers took the time to re-map the buttons so that they make sense, and exploring the side quests and hidden items is perfect for the couch. I prefer to leave the story missions for when I'm on the big screen, though there are optional subtitles so it's do-able.

FIFA 14

• Single player: too early to review
• I just started playing last night, but it's FIFA! It seems nearly identical to Fifa 12/13/14 on previous generations to be honest, but if it ain't broke don't fix it!
• Remote play: 7/10
• Similar to NBA2K, the control mapping is wonky. You basically lose much of the nuance playing on Vita. If you are a very technical FIFA player (especially dribbling and fakes etc.), it just won't work out for you. Me, I'm more of a clinical passing kinda guy, which works really well! I got blanked in my first match, but I blame myself (and Giroud, because he's French).

Free games!

• I played Resogun for about 20 minutes. It's cool and all, but not my type of game. I'll pop in from time to time, but I'm not hooked.
• Jumping into Warframe for a few rounds is a good diversion. There's no other good co-op on the system yet, so it has it's place. The biggest flaw is that melee targeting is atrocious. You miss almost every swing of the blade, so it's completely not worth trying. There's never an ammo shortage, so the only reason to use melee is because it seems like it should be fun, except it isn't.
• For an MMO, DC Universe Online has great voice acting and surprisingly deep combat, and character customization is a pretty fun diversion. The graphics haven't aged well (the game is like 4 years old), but I've had a few fun hours blasting away with my tech-powered acrobatic lava-man.

Any questions on these games or the system in general? Leave them in the comments!

PS4 Launch!

As I write this, the  Playstation 4 launch is fewer than 24 hours away. This is about as exciting for me as the release of Star Wars Episode I and the Fellowship of the Rings put together. I've got a million ideas running around, so I figured I'd write them down if nothing else to enhance my calm. Check for me on PSN, username stromulus28. Happy gaming!

Burning Questions:

Will my wired PC headset work as a microphone?

I find earbuds incredibly uncomfortable, so I want to avoid the included mono headset if at all possible. It's been made clear that normal headphones will work fine with the Dualshock 4 for game audio (10/10 would ask for, great feature), but will a standard three-tiered headset allow for in-game chat? I hope so!

How awesome will Remote Play be? 

From my previous posts, you can tell I'm a big fan of my PS Vita. Is this whole remote play thing going to work over my local wifi network? I don't have an ethernet hard line in the room where my PS4 will be, so I'm going to have to rely on the un-recommended wifi-to-wifi route. I've got a strong router, so hopefully I will be able to game on my Vita in the living room!

When will the next wave come?

It looks like these launch games will keep me busy for at least a few months (see below), but there are a whole bunch of games on the horizon that get me really excited. Solid franchises like Infamous, Metal Gear, Dragon Age, The Witcher, and Mass Effect have all at least teased next gen sequels, and there are two very interesting new franchises on the way (The Order and Watch Dogs). Plus the Sony-tied Naughty Dog studio hasn't announced their next game; whatever it is (my money is on Uncharted 4), Playstation owners are probably in for a treat. When will these games actually hit the market? Hopefully they will trickle in over the next year or so, which would make 2014 a ridiculously great year for gaming.

Is this the best console launch library ever?

Despite some tepid or worse reviews for some important games (I'm looking at you Knack), the number of consensus 4/5 star games available at launch is surprisingly long: Flower, Resogun, NBA2k14, FIFA 2014, Assassin's Creed IV, Battlefield 4, Soundshapes, Trine 2, LEGO: Marvel, and possibly more. Of course, these are all ports of current gen games (save Resogun), but I've not played any of them yet and they should be at least graphical upgrades over their older cousins. There is also a triple-A exclusive (Killzone Shadow Fall) and a smattering of PS+ free or free-to-play games. In the next section, I'm going to go over my personal most-excited games list for the launch game-by-game. It's hard to remember exactly how bad console launch games typically are, but I don't think either Sony or Microsoft is going to let that happen this time.

Games, games, games:

NBA2k14
Excitement level: 9/10

This is my most played game every year, going back to 2k6 or so. NBA basketball and video games are my two favorite sources of entertainment, so I'm very glad that 2k games has consistently nailed this series. The current gen version is (disappointingly) almost exactly the same game as 2k13, with only a few minor control changes. Luckily, the next gen versions appears to be a big step up a couple ways. First off, the game is running a totally new graphics engine and it looks ridiculously great. Except LeBron's nose, which looks too big and to light in color for some reason... Don't blame 2k, blame the uncanny valley.

Next up, the MyGM mode is a total re-design of the utterly exasperating Association mode. Association mode in 2k13 and 2k14 are 99.9% identical, right down to the inexcusable bugs and imbalances (for example, while planning for the draft, the in-game "mock draft" has had the wrong teams next to the draft picks for a few years in a row now. It only displays the draft order once, so I would get out my phone and take a picture of the screen so I could plan trades etc. Noooot great.). MyGM won't be perfect, but it's new and I'll have a blast learning its ins and outs. It's a particularly good fit for Remote Play, because it's essentially a turn-based mode for much of it.

Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
Excitement level: 8/10

This is a previous generation game (available on PC/360/PS3), but I haven't played it yet. Although AC3 was one of the most disappointing video games of all time for me, ACIV appears to have mostly righted the ship so to speak. This series has picked up some serious bad habits, especially in the storytelling. Hopefully those won't mar the gorgeous-looking pirate adventures.

Killzone Shadow Fall
Excitement level: 8/10

The reviews have been mixed so far, but have mostly centered on the so-so campaign. I am almost done with the KZ Vita game (Mercenaries), which has a mediocre story and terrible dialogue, but the campaign was still really fun due to all the weaponry and gadgets. I'd be shocked if the Shadow Fall campaign is less enjoyable.

But I'm much more interested in the online multiplayer. I'm not totally sold on the highly customizable "warzone" approach (vast majority of modes will be one-off gimmicks I'd bet), but the fact that each map has a well-defended home base for respawns is a cool idea and the class system looks like it should spice things up.

Resogun
Excitement level: 6/10

The arcade shooter genre isn't my favorite, but I had some fun with geometry wars back in the day. This game, free for us PS+ subscribers, has a surprising amount of hype behind it. I expect to get a few hours of fun out of this game, and the price is right!

Need for Speed Rivals:
Excitement level: 6/10

This open-world arcade racer looks like a blast for casual online gaming. Unfortunately, the disc I ordered from amazon might not arrive for another month or so :-/

Warframe
Excitement level: 5/10

Free-to-play co-op space-ninja third-person action-shooter? That's so many hyphens!! The PC version (technically a Beta, but out for a while now) has been well-received, and because all PS4 players can give it a go there should be plenty of folks to team up with. I much prefer co-op play to competitive (because I don't have enough time to actually become good at any of these games), and this game is really the only serious co-op offering right now (pending Shadow Fall's expected expansion pack horde mode).

FIFA 2014
Excitement level: 5/10

FIFA is fun, and I haven't played it in over a year. Soccer is probably my second favorite sport to watch/game (Go Gunners!), but it's a pretty distant second.

The Vita Ladder

I've owned a PS Vita for a few months now, and I couldn't be happier with it. While there may not be that one "killer app" for the system, the number and variety of high quality games has been a pleasant surprise. To keep track of the awesomeness, I'm going to make a ladder of games I'm playing these days starting with the most enjoyable.

Underlined games are those I have completed and have decided to put into my permanent Vita Hall of Fame.

1. Dragon's Crown: A gorgeous 2D action RPG that's built to be replayed over and over. For me, this is the game that exemplifies the best in hi-tech mobile gaming.
2. Killzone Mercenaries: Almost a current-gen console quality shooter that controls well, keeps up a great action-packed pace, and has light RPG elements through weapon upgrades. Mindless fun!
3. PixelJunk Monsters: A really gratifying tower defense game that really pushes replay and retrial. 
4. LittleBigPlanet: The main campaign is smile-inducing and wonderful. The community levels are a rabbit-hole of weirdness with some amazing stuff to find.
5. Guacamelee!: The only reason this isn't higher is because it's a short game and I finished it within a couple weeks. It has the best art/style of any game I can think of on any platform and has great exploration and fighting mechanics.
6. Uncharted: It's an Uncharted game on a handheld. Unfortunately, much of the game isn't really a game at all (the climbing sequences in particular feel totally pointless after a while). But the music is great, the exploration elements are pretty solid, and the shootouts are often fun.  
7. Gravity Rush: The story is presented in a jawdropping 2D/3D comic-book style and the open-world gravity flying gameplay is unique in gaming.
8. Rayman Origins: The definition of a polished 2D platformer. Lush art and a near-perfect difficulty curve make this a crowd-pleaser.
9. Velocity Ultra: An indie vertical-scrolling space shooter with plenty of game-play twists (teleportation, directional bombs, special weapons, etc.). Plus it has minesweeper for some reason!
10. Lumines: The PSP Hall of Famer has a Vita version which is... almost exactly the same. Hard to complain.

Top games I haven't played but will get to: Persona 4 Golden, Walking Dead