November 2009: Mois D'or Pour Gamers

If you are wondering what that means, it's french for "Golden Month For Gamers." This month is so special for us unsocial, nocturnal beings that I had to make it sound exotic. :P

If you are a gamer, you'd surely know what I am talking about. If not- there are tons of huge titles coming out this month. Borderlands has been out for a few days, Dragon Age: Origins and PES 2010 were released this morning and Modern Warfare 2, Left for Dead 2 and Assassin's Creed 2 must be getting ready to ship out as I type this post. To make things even better Fifa 10, Torchlight and Risen were released just a few days back. Now that's easily more food than one can chew. But I am not complaining ;)

How many of these have I played so far? Borderlands, Risen and Fifa 10. I was mightily disappointed with Fifa 10 for omitting some content for PC,which made its console versions such a blast. Risen is your average RPG. It is heavy on content, has a slightly disappointing combat system, good quests presented in a bland manner and is definitely not for newcomers. What pissed me off the most was the lack of an dynamic, interactive map. I have quite a tight work schedule and can't spend hours memorising every nook and corner of the game world or trying to figure where to go next. Why can't they just tell me where to go??

One game which has really made a huge impression on me is Borderlands. I had heard some hype before its release but wasn't expecting too much out of it. But everything in the game, right from the toon shaded graphics to treasure hunting and fighting crazy bandits and high level beasts is immense fun. As IGN so aptly put it- "Borderlands is for gamers." I would say this is a perfectly designed "Shoot-em-up RPG". What is that? Ever heard of a "Hack-n-Slash RPG"? The like of Diablo and Dungeon Siege? Well this game is exactly that except in first person, futuristic time zone, different planet and has guns instead of swords and spells. But the core game mechanics i.e. "get quest, kill, loot, kill, kill, loot, kill, loot, complete quest, level up, invest skill points" remain unchanged. And trust me, this is a lot of fun. Do yourself a favour and give this game a shot.

But what pity, Dragon Age: Origins is out today. I believe, and gamespot has confirmed it, that this game is a must buy. I have started making rounds to all video game vendors in the city, and the moment I find it somewhere, Borderlands will be put on the backburner for a while.

Signing off for another round of "kill, loot, kill, loot, kill, loot, kill, loot."

Div