Working Title 02.10.10: What Are You STILL Waiting For? (Part 4)

Posted by Jordan Williams on 02.10.2010

After a week of thinking on it, I just remembered even MORE games that should have had a sequel by now! How about Pikmin 3? Battlefront 3? What about a sequel to one of the best survival horror games of all time? What are you STILL waiting for!?

Welcome to the #1 Column to be on a new day, WORKING TITLE. So three years ago when I started this column my scheduled day was Wednesdays, and now we have come full circle and Working Title is back home. So from now on when the column is updated it will appear on Hump Day, not Drunk Day. As for what I've been playing this week...it's been pretty much Mass Effect 2 and some dabbling in the Bad Company 2 and AVP Demos (More on those later). As far as ME2 is concerned, I beat it with my "Middle Road" Shepard this weekend. As with any games that provide morale choices or have a good/evil alignment system. On my first play through I always tend to play it realistically in the sense of "the decision I make is the one I want to do" not necessarily sticking to Good or Evil because that shit is boring. Now on the SECOND play through is where I pick a side (usually evil) and this is where I am.

Also, maybe this play through I can manage to keep my squad fully alive. To avoid spoilers, for some reason after beating The Final Boss, Mordin just randomly appeared dead. No real reason or anything, he simply was killed. I did all of the preparations I needed to do, selected the right squad, yet he still died. I eventually re-did it and Mordin survived, which leads me to believe it was a random occurrence. But for the sake of story integrity when ME3 comes out I'll use my "Mordin is dead" save.

Now that that is over, we can get onto what's going on this week. Seeing as the last column got such a great response in the effort of keeping that going I think it's this is a good time to revisit the last column and get even MORE no-brainer games out there. It might be a cop out, but hey...if it ain't broke don't fix it. Plus the feedback from it was amazing (and reminded me of some games I even forgot about that we never got).

So this week it's Volume 4 of...



Working Title - What are you waiting for...and why are you doing THIS!? Part 2

Despite me ranting about it in a giant column a week ago...it seems that the gaming industry still hasn't caught on to the fact that a lot of people want...a lot of games. They keep teasing us with these games, or in most cases don't say a single goddamn word about the games yet they always end up making something else whenever they say "Oh well we don't have the resources to do that right now". Well I will look you dead in the eye, Mr. Game Developer and say BULLSHIET. And I have Workaholics that will stand with me and also proclaim from the mountain tops...BULLSHIET!

So it's time to ask you fuckos again...WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!?



Pikmin 3

Admittedly I was not a big fan of Pikmin 1 or 2 when it came out. But I did like the little charm it did have when I did play it...and it seems like everyone else did. But just like Star Fox and Kid Icarus, Pikmin was another one of those exclusive games that just up and disappeared when Nintendo moved onto bigger and more casual things. But why the hell HASN'T there been a Pikmin 3? Nintendo DID announce it like three years ago and I even recall seeing some non-photoshopped box art for it. So what the hell is the big deal Nintendo? Why are you withholding a game that could actually make a movie to the Wii (and has) without changing the core gameplay around and turning it into something different? What the hell are you waiting for!?


Why we want it : Because Pikmin appeals to the senses of most gamers. Control tons of little minions to do all of our work for us without actually doing any of it ourselves. That way if something goes wrong we are never ever to blame...and then we can punish the ones who we think are responsible by letting them drown in a pond. Or throwing them off of a cliff...or chucking them into the gaping maw of some horrible being that will eat them. Slavery and unwarranted carnage or gamers' best friend.

What you did instead : Mario Party 38. Of course there aren't really 38 Mario Party games...but doesn't it feel like it? I get that Nintendo loves to do the least amount of effort for the most amount of return (that was NOT a fucking shot at Nintendo) but the Mario Party game is a game that is....well...it sucks. There. I said it. The first one sucked, the second one sucked, the 10th one sucked. And you know the 38th one will suck. How about taking just a small fraction of the seven people you have working on that new Mario Party game and throw just a little love into some Pikmin. The people want their plant based Slavery, damn it!



Will we get it? Yes, but I don't know when. Like I said last week, Nintendo is really good at EVENTUALLY making stuff come out. It might not be this year...or next year...or even this generation. But out of the Big 3 Nintendo is the best at going back to the well when nothing else is left. But with Other M, Mario Galaxy 2, the new Zelda, and tons upon TONS of other casual-based games they can crank out. It just doesn't seem that Pikmin 3 (or even a Pikmin DS) is necessarily high on the list for Nintendo.





Panzer Dragoon

If playing DarkSiders pointed out anything out to me...it's the fact that we need a new Panzer Dragoon game like...RIGHT NOW. Panzer Dragoon was fucking GREATNESS on the Xbox and I am still happy I kept my copy. And it still actually looks decent...so with Sega going through their current upswing of good titles (Bayonetta....and...Bayonetta) why haven't they decided to dust off Panzer Dragoon for a new run? It's one of the few games that could go on ANY system and still be good. Panzer Dragoon with Wiimote controls would be pretty neat; having the extra power of the 360 or the PS3 behind it would be even greater. Just imagine PDO was released 8 years ago and still looks that good then it should play and be GIANT awesome this time. Besides...the shmup is making a comeback. And while many people might not consider Panzer Dragoon a proper shmup, I am sure that won't hold them back from playing it. So...Sega (or whomever has the license now)...What are you waiting for!?


Why we want it : This is one of those nostalgia fueled decisions. While the Panzer Dragoon games have all been pretty decent, it's not like they set the world on fire or will god own as classics to be remembered for years and years. It's just the simple fact that separation makes the heart grow fonder and we haven't had a decent Panzer Dragoon game is nearly a decade. When Orta was released it was known for being one of the first games to showcase just what the Xbox could do and really solidified it as one of the graphical powerhouses of that generation. Now that we have consoles ten times stronger than that (or in the Wii's case, two times...again, not a dig) it would just be cool to see what someone could do with the Panzer Dragoon series with all of that power and technology behind it. I actually wouldn't even mind playing a Panzer Dragoon game with NATAL or Sony Motion Control.

What you did instead : A whole lotta nothin'. Well, that's not exactly true. Sega (who held the PD license) has done some stuff. But from all of the other developers and people who worked on the various other PD games...there hasn't really been much of anything. So this isn't necessarily a case of a developer ignoring a game in order to do something else...it's just that I think someone just up and forgot about the whole damn franchise...and someone SHOULD BRING IT THE FUCK BACK.

Will we get it? No. Sadly, if Panzer Dragoon has been forgotten about for the long and the only thing the franchise has to its credit in the last few years are crappy portable versions then I think Panzer Dragoon is just destined to be a forgotten franchise. This is a shame...because it still gets a lot of love from the gaming media. Well...just me....which means I am the gaming media. Huzzah!


Star Wars Battlefront 3

The funny thing about this one is that there were plans for the longest time to actually come out with a Star Wars Battlefront 3. It ended up moving to different studios after LucasArts wasn't exactly happy with what was going on and then the last words we ever heard from the title was that it was sitting around in development hell. Now a few months later EA dissolves Pandemic Studios, the original makers of the Battlefront franchise. And Vicarious Visions just falls silent after releasing Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2. So now that this game seems to be in development hell...but still has a rich history and fanbase to play off of (People still play Battlefront 2 online on PC and 360 (until April anyway)) it's just a surprise that no developer has decided to pick this up and finish what everyone else has started...so...what are you waiting for?


Why we want it : The battlefront series' marked a point in the Star Wars games where you got to have your cake and eat it too. So much of Star Wars is based among the story and the characters and all of the deep stuff that not many people want to delve too deep into. But the franchise has the name "WARS" in the title, yet you never really saw any of them play out in any of the games. It was always one man's struggle against something. Battlefront finally put the War aspect of the game to work. You had large scale land and air battle that were ripped from the movies and other expanded universe things plus there was the whole 'alternate ending' thing that had most people hooked. What if The Battle of Hoth went a different way? How about the assault in the Deathstar? We WANT that feeling again. Although we haven't seen any new or significant wars in the Star Wars world in awhile...the first two games always have room for improvement. I saw a video a while back detailing seamless ground and space battles. I want that fucking game in my hands.



What you did instead : Star Wars Battlefront 3...then not...then did...then not. Again, it's not that they did something else that was inferior or wasn't needed. It's just that this game keeps getting ping ponged around to so many different people that it never got off of the ground. But LucasArts for some reason is making The Force Unleashed 2...and this just makes NO FUCKING SENSE. If there was ever a game that did NOT need a sequel...not to mention that there was NO ROOM FOR A SEQUEL it was The Force Unleashed. Yet it's happening...the...the sense this makes is in the negative levels.

Will we get it? Only if 'The Old Republic' and 'The Force Unleashed 2' do well. It's kind of weird that the fate of Battlefront 3 is left up to two games that don't have anything directly to do with it. But I think now that Star Wars has been out of gamer's minds for so long that they won't rush into a production of Battlefront 3 until they can prove that there are still fans out there that will eat up any Star Wars games that come down the pipe. This means that the MMORPG The Old Republic will have to do pretty damn well and they will also need to see some sort of success for The Force Unleashed 2. If those two games tank out big time then I think we will see a massive return to the drawing board instead of them throwing another Star Wars game out to die.





Eternal Darkness 2

This. This is the one game you will find namedropped one every single Nintendo fan board in the world. When people always go on about how Nintendo has sold out and dropped the M games. This game is brought up. When people talk about how Nintendo could turn around and drop a good mature rated game, this game is brought up. When people always detail the best survival horror games of all time...this game is always brought up. Eternal Darkness was one of the best Survival Horror games of its generation whether the Silent Hill and Resident Evil fanboys would like to admit it or not. It laid groundwork down for a great series and a great franchise. And the insanity meter was a total gem. This was a game that NEEDED a sequel...but as the years grew on it became more and more unlikely that we would ever see ED2...but every few months some gaming news site or magazine will do an interview with Silicon Knights about the possibility of an ED2 and they always answer with "Well, we'd like to do one but..." but that excuse is wearing a bit thin. So Silicon Knights and Nintendo...as someone who still owns the original ED and loves to play through it...what in the headless Edgar Allen Poe FUCK are you waiting for!?
Why we want it: Are you kidding me? Why we want it? This was one of the few Survival Horror games at the time that actually took a step forward when it came to the tried and true formula. It legit fucked with your mind and actually SCARED you at times. Resident Evil honestly hasn't been SCARY since Resident Evil 2. Silent Hill was NEVER about scary as much as it was just about creepy and foreboding. But there were moments (a certain bathtub comes to mind) that are downright JUMPY. And this was a FIRST generation GameCube game. So imagine how that shit would be NOW. As much as I would love to see ED return to the Wii, I wouldn't mind seeing it on the PS3 or the 360 either. The fact is that this game NEEDS to be made while people still have warm and fuzzy feelings about it.



What you did instead: Too Human. Do I need to say anything else?

Will we get it? No...But feel free to prove me wrong. While I REALLY want this game to happen, I just have a feeling that Silicon Knights (and Nintendo) are just injecting everyone with a bit of false hope the longer and longer they tease this game. They know by saying "Maybe...one day" to any questions related to it that they will still garner interest out of the fans who will keep buying their products hoping that the next one will be Eternal Darkness 2. Of course, I will openly welcome Silicon Knights and Nintendo to prove me wrong on this.

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Working Demo

Whoo! Time for once paragraph reviews of the demos that I have been playing!

Battlefield Bad Company 2
This game is polarizing. When you are with a good squad and against a good team, this game is a fucking blast. If you happen to be on a bad squad or against a team that does nothing but camp one guy in the hidden attic of a base so his squad keeps spawning in or park three tanks in the middle of the road and a helicopter above them so they can spawn camp you...then the game sucks. Probably will rent this when it comes out though. Engineers for life. ***3/4

Dynasty Warriors: Strike Force
I actually like the DW games...but this is fucking horrible. The End. *

Aliens vs. Predator
I didn't care much about this game before I saw the Demo...and now I care about it a teeny bit. The fact that the demo is an online 8-man Death Match and not a Race War is a bit disconcerting, but I think what is more disconcerting is how downright BROKEN Aliens are. While to me playing as a Marine is by FAR the best experience (running scared while you can FEEL an Alien closing in on you is GREAT) it just feels like the Predator is severely underpowered and the Aliens are overpowered. Plus they need to FIX that Trophy Kill shit ASAP. I was in a game where literally all 8 players were in an endless chain of Trophy Kills while the Marines simply shot at us. Make them invincible or SOMETHING. Pred stabs alien, alien stabs alien, Pred stabs marine, alien stabs Pred, Pred stabs Pred, marine shoots Pred, alien stabs marine...it just goes on and on and on. ***


Working Question


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Who dat?



Until next week, I'm Jordan Williams...and...You know what? I usually don't sign off with something negative but...FUCK HEAVY RAIN Goddamn QTE BUSHEET. Yeah, I haven't played it yet and this is ignorant but a gave has to look INTERESTING for me to play it and I have NO INTEREST in playing a game where I just watch all of the awesome shit go down and every once in awhile hit a button. Someone ANYONE tell me why this is worth my time in an INTELLEGENT manner, not the "HURF DURF UR BIASED AGAINST SONY" bullshit that shows up in every other column.