411 Games Fact or Fiction 08.03.09: Assassin's Creed II, Epic Mickey, Sonic, More

Posted by Drew Robbins on 08.03.2009

This week, with Adam Larck and Dan Hirsch, 411 Games Fact or Fiction debates whether or not 2010 will go down as one of the greatest years in gaming, if Sonic can ever be good again, and just how much Assassin's Creed II will blow the first game out of the water.



Forget Contra, you know what is really difficult? Slow news weeks! I get back from a nice, soothing vacation, expecting a heap of news to make my Fact or Fiction process fast and painless, but I return to find…absolutely nothing. Then again, perhaps I'm not trying hard enough, partly because I really want to finish this and go play some Fat Princess. Let's introduce our contestants so I can go ahead and get on with that PSN goodness!

Dan Hirsch - Hirsch puts a lot of work into making our news section as it should be…full of news. Other than that, I suppose you don't see him around much on the games zone, but let me assure you that he is one bad dude. Whether or not he is a bad enough dude to save the president, I'm still unsure of.

Adam Larck - For those who can't remember last year, I'll remind you that the Robbins name used to be synonymous with the 10th Hour. Of course, now its synonymous with Larck, who now hosts the column, with his most recent list taking a look at the Top 10 games of the first-half of 2009. My personal pick at this moment is Street Fighter IV, which he as at #2, good man!

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1.) With all of the delays, 2010 is shaping up to be one of the best years of gaming ever.

Dan Hirsch: FICTION - I think with all the delays and push backs, 2010 is becoming the year of games afraid to compete with Modern Warfare 2. I'm not discounting 2010, there are a lot of highly anticipated games to look forward to like MAG, Bioshock 2, Final Fantasy XII, and God of War III. 2010 is going be a very good year. However I think companies want to maximize sales and as a result we are seeing an inordinate amount of delays which are pushing a lot of big name titles into 2010. With the recession putting a damper on excess consumer spending, publishers want a larger window of opportunity for their games to sell with minimal competition from other titles. In addition any of the listed titles don't have 100% confirmed release dates, just that they are coming at some vague point like Spring or Fall. That has a lot to do with positioning the titles release date so it can do as well as it can before another big name title comes in and steals its thunder.

Adam Larck: FACT - I think the delays are helping next year out a lot. Dan mentioned a few big named titles that will be coming out next year, and there's quite a few more already announced for next year as well, such as Crackdown 2, Alan Wake and even Microsoft's Project NATAL add-on. In addition to this, we still haven't seen the big name games that will be announced to be coming out next year, and we still have another E3 to see next year's slew of games as well. I don't know if it will be THE best year of gaming ever, as there is no console release to help bolster the sales, but you'll probably see one of the better years of gaming.

Score: 0 for 1

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2.) Hardcore third-party games will never be a huge success on the Wii.

Dan Hirsch: FACT - The Wii has very limited appeal outside of minigames and Nintendo produced titles. Head over to VGChartz.com and you have to go down to the tenth best selling game to find a 3rd party title and it just so happens to be the uber popular Guitar Hero III. After another Nintendo title comes Carnival Games packed chock full of minigames. There are some real gems out there on the Wii for hardcore fans (No More Heroes, De Blob, Okami etc) but they are few and far between. I think Nintendo knows there marketing to families and kids and they don't need to cater to the hardcore market anymore to make their money. They can get away with 1st party games, gimmicks (Wii Vitality Sensor?!?!), and minigames and still sell like crazy. To hammer that point home, check out this VG Cats Comic .

Adam Larck: FACT - I really wanted to say fiction here, but I have to agree with the points that Dan makes. Nintendo knows what their market is for the Wii, and they are marketing to them great. Families don't want hardcore games or deep, involving games. They want minigames that don't take too long, and that the whole family can enjoy, even the ones that don't play games. When you look at the game sales, it looks like the hardcore group all but abandoned the Wii. If they haven't, then why haven't some of the better games of this year for the system gotten notice? If you look at Wii top sellers, you see things like the Wii Fit and minigames up at the top, and I see things staying that way for the system.

Score: 1 for 2

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3.) You expect Assassin's Creed II to blow the original out of the water.

Dan Hirsch: FACT - I played the first Assassin's Creed and enjoyed the setting, style, and twist but general combat and game play left me disappointed. After watching the Assassins Creed 2 trailer I can't help but feeling like it would make a better movie than game. However after reading the in depth coverage Game Informer provided a few months back, I am hoping for the best. A lot of the issues with combat are being worked on the Renaissance is great point in history to use as the backdrop. That said, I don't think the sequel will have too much trouble surpassing the original.

Adam Larck: FACT - You know, I didn't really have that much of a problem with the combat. Sure, it got repetitive so that all you had to do was parry, attack then finish them, but I liked it. What got boring to me, though, was those intro travels to the areas, and the same set of minigames you had to do to get information about the target. The sequel looks like it should be pretty fun. Plus, I'm holding out hopes that the way to get information will be changed and actually vary from place to place. Assassin's Creed I was a good starting point for the series, and the team looks like they have really built on what they learned from the first game.

Score: 2 for 3 Put me in the same boat as Adam, the combat didn't bug me.



Switch!

4.) The new Mickey game, codenamed "Epic Mickey," has potential to actually be good.

Adam Larck: FACT - I know that not much is really known about the game. Actually, I really don't know much about the game besides the screenshots that have been shown. The destroyed Epcot Center on the back of a whale looks pretty intriguing, along with the mecha-Goofy. I would like to know quite a bit more before I make a full decision on this game, but they have a great chance to give Disney characters a darker feel that would appeal to an older crowd when it comes to buying games. I know that Disney characters in a game have sold well in the past (the Kingdom Hearts series), but if they continue making this Disney game with characters from only the franchise, this new look could be a great way to go.

Dan Hirsch: FACT - I'm in the same boat as Adam about "Epic Mickey". I hadn't really heard anything about it until those screenshots were released. With the success Kingdom Hearts had with using classic Disney characters in a completely new way, I can;t help but be interested. Of course what we have seen are screen shots and nothing more, so of course the has the potential to be good. Any game does. But seeing Disney's track record with taking their characters in a new direction, one can;t help but be optimistic.

Score: 3 for 4

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5.) You really don't mind mandatory installs with your games.

Adam Larck: FACT - As many of you know, I don't have a PlayStation 3, so I really haven't had to deal with mandatory installs for games. However, I do install games to my 360 hard drive from time to time, and I have found a good difference in load times normally. About the only thing I mind is when the install time is insanely long (like I have heard it is on some PS3 games). Unless the benefits from such a long install time is that much better than a game without install time, I can't see the point in it. However, for short install times to cut down on load times, I'm all for it.

Dan Hirsch: FICTION - 100% fiction. When I buy a game for my console I want to be able to pop it and play it right of the bat. This is no problem with my Xbox 360. With my PS3 it's a whole other story. My lovely experience with Far Cry 2 comes to mind. First there is the 20 to 30 minute install, then a firmware update, plus losing 3 to 5 gigs worth of space on my hard drive: by the end of the process I don't even want to play my game anymore. Gamers should have the option of choosing whether or not they want the option to install a game to their hard drive. Sure it can effect load times, but what's chopping off an extra 5 seconds of loading when you are still going to have sit there and watch a load screen anyway? At the end of the day it should be the gamer's choice and not the manufacturer's choice whether or not they want to optimize their load times at the cost of immediate accessibility and occupied hard drive space.

Score: 3 for 5 I usually don't mind them, what really bugs me is constant patches that I'm forced to download when I start a game.

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6.) Sonic will have another good game.

Adam Larck: FICTION - I've held out hope for this for years. I try the new iterations each year normally, hoping that they'll finally hit the glory of earlier Sonic games. However, I just can't see this happening anymore. The fun 2D versions of the game are a thing of the past, and Sonic Team just can't seem to perfect a 3D iteration of the series. They need to take a page out of Capcom's book, and go back to another 2D Sonic, like Mega Man did.

Dan Hirsch: FACT - Adam brings up a great point which lets me hold out for just a small smidgen of hope. I think we have the potential to get a re-imagined 2D Sonic that takes the game back to its roots ala Mega Man. We can only hope Sega picks up on Capcom's success and brings Sonic back to his roots.

Score: 3 for 6

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Until next time…

Adam and Dan finish with a decent 3 for 6 this week, much thanks to both contestants for participating and even helping out with the editing process while I was trying to spend one of my last weeks of summer with the family. Be sure to check out Adam's column, the 10th Hour, every Thursday. Also, don't forget that I'll once again be the host of B3yond the Report this week, so make sure to check it out when it goes up on Tuesday! There will be plenty of talk of Fat Princess and PSN!