Working Title 02.24.11: Working List - Top 5 Games I Have No Hope for That I Really Want To Do Well

Posted by Jordan Williams on 02.24.2011

From WWE All-Stars and Duke Nukem Forever to Phantasy Star Online 2 and more, 411's Jordan Williams lists the top 5 games he thinks will fail but that he wants to do well! Check out the full article to see what made the list!

Welcome to the #1 Column to really not have anything super clever to put here...WORKING TITLE! Yeah, I know I have been gone for a few weeks but this time I was needed elsewhere to help with a friends cancer. Chemotherapy ain't no joke kids. But since I have been out of town mostly I have actually had some time to play some video games so I will have a decent sized Working Backlog this week.

And not much of anything else.

I mean I suppose there is stuff I could talk about like Fox News once again trying to turn video games into the scapegoat for all of society's problems. Or why the internet hates Dragon Age 2. Maybe I could touch on the idiocy that is Vietnam wanting to bang online gaming at night.

But honestly? I'm fucking tired. News has been slow outside of people getting hired and fired; this year hasn't had a big game pop-off like last year. We are all just sort of sitting on our hands.

This is why I am going to do something I haven't done in Working Title for 2 years.






















A list.


I know, I know. This isn't 10th Hour or Top 5 but sometimes when time demands it and you have a thought in your head...you just want to make a list. They a nice, simple, and to the point. So for this special onetime engagement or Working Title I will dust off the old list-o-meter and do a list! What is that list about?

Fuck if I know. I'll think about it as I talk about the...


Working Backlog


Halo: Reach

You know what? I said last time I wasn't much of a Halo person and I have found out something very important when it comes to Halo: Reach.

It is fucking fantastic if you have a group of friends to play with. When I was playing Reach by myself in campaign on online I simply was not having a fun time at all. But I put a call out to the BroForce and all of the sudden playing with six other people in a party makes the game AMAZINGLY tolerable. Rocket Hog Race, Big Team

Battle, fucking Multi-team Headhunter is goddamn fun as hell. I went from Private to Warrant Officer Grade 2 in a week simply having FUN. Bad Company 2 is still my preferred online shooter, but that is when I am feeling more serious and want to get a job done, for some reason with Halo all of that pressure to win isn't there...it's just me fucking around. And it's really fucking fun.

Solo Campaign is still shit though.


Marvel vs. Capcom 3

Okay, before I point out some stupid ass shit with this game let me just say that I think the game is fun. I like the character roster and how accessible it is (Oh no!Im a scrub!).

That is where the praises end, though. How in the FRESH COATED FUCK did Capcom let this game ship with such an atrocious fucking net code? And how in the FUCK did they let this game ship WITH NO SPECTATOR MODE. What the FUCKING FUCK!? Capcom I want to like you...I REALLY DO but you are doing some BONEHEADED ASS SHIT WHEN IT COMES TO THIS GAME. I am not going to talk about the obvious spamming and cheap shit going on because that stuff eventually gets patched out our dealt with by the community, but you have made it REALLY hard for me to actually like PLAYING this game because outside of the barebones arcade mode (in which you promised would have an actual story, but in the end ended up being every arcade mode ever) and the mission mode there is almost ZERO fun in playingthe game online with a group of friends. Two people can duke it out while the rest...stare at cards humping.

You somehow managed to put spectator mode in the DECADE old MvC2 but couldn't work it into a game released in 2011 at launch? I still like the game, and I'll love it when this shit gets fixed but I am really disappointed in how poorly this launch was handled.


Enslaved

I finally got a chance to pick this up and beat it and it was actually a pretty decent game. A bit too easy overall and a touch too short but I really like what Ninja
Theory has done here. It was obvious they were pulling for some sort of franchise or sequel to come of this and that probably won't happen due to the poor sales but I am still eager to see what Ninja Theory can do to improve the use of cinematic and cut scenes in games overall, although I think Rockstar might've beat them to it with L.A Noire. I can see why some people had this on their best of lists for 2010.

But the entire time I was playing it all I could think about was that this is the team that is going to take over Devil May Cry...and I sort of liked it. I am not the biggest fan of DMC but I really REALLY am interested in DmC (Emo Dante aside) because if they can do this with a pretty tame and low-octane sort of game like Enslaved I just wonder what kind of madness and lunacy they can bring to Devil May Cry...and how good they can MAKE it look.

Alright. The Backlog is over and I am still at a loss for what I should make my cop out list to be.

Wait...cop out...list...cop out.

I got it!


My list will be about...




Working Title: Working List - Top 5 Games I Have No Hope for That I Really Want To Do Well


This is the internet, the home for eternal pessimism and skeptics. Of course we hear about new games getting released all of the time and unless they wow us out of the gate we usually have no hope for them. We will mercilessly pick the game apart and do everything we can not to get hyped by something that might just end up failing in the long run.

But we can still have hope...we can still dream. And that is what this list is about.

FUCKIN' DREAMS.

These games either have been already blazed by the internet or for some reason just are not giving off the aura of being 'good enough' but I REALLY want these games to do well. If not for some poetic justice...just because I really like these franchises and if these games end up being the swan song for them I'd at least want them to go out on a good note.

#5 - WWE All-Stars

Yes, I have hope for this game. It might look like the biggest roidfest since late 80s WWF but it is something I have been wanting for a LONG time. An honest to go arcade fighting/wrestling game. The last time we have a decent one is with Def Jam Vendetta 2 and that was a LONG ass time ago. EA proceeded to shit the bed with DJ: Icon so WWE All-Stars might be the last hope. Of course it's already being written off by not only the IWC but the entire internet as a whole for being too unrealistic...but did we forget that the first few WWF licensed games were...well...this?



I want this again. Please be good. Give me this again!

#4 - Phantasy Star Online 2

PSO1 was probably one of the biggest gaming experiences of my life, and I am not ashamed to say that. Never being one for PC games back then this was the first real look I had into a type of game I had never played before. A game where I could get online and play with REAL people...ON THE FUCKING INTERNET. I blew my fucking mind how goddamn addictive this game was. I would be at school and literally going through fucking PSO withdrawal. It had gotten to the point where I could calculate how much experience I needed to gain a level in MY HEAD...and I knew that I had to grind Ruins 4 times to on Ultimate to hit level and that I needed to feed my MAG every 178 seconds in order to make it change. This game for lack of a better word was MY FUCKING LIFE.

And then they came out with it for GameCube.

Those fucking bastards.

Then it happened ALL OVER AGAIN.

I got to level 20 and KEPT PLAYING. I could not get enough PSO. HAVE A FUCKING PSO BASED TATTOO FOR FUCKSAKES().

And then Episode 3 was a fucking card battle game.

And then Universe sucked.

But PSO2...although it's PC only I fucking want this game to be good. I think I NEED this game to be good. I will never end up getting into WoW or other MMORPGs...but PSO will always have a spot in my poorly tattooed heart.

#3 - HomeFront

I know it's fairly recent and it might be because you can't seem to turn on the Xbox 360 without being bombarded by adverts with it, but Homefront looks like the first game in a long time that looks like it's actually TRYING to do something different with the Modern Warfare online structure rather than just slap a new coat of paint on it. Plus since it's from THQ, someone who has a lot to lose on the venture they are actually pressured to make something that might stick. Will it have the name recognition and other things to do so? Probably not. Will it end up taking down Modern Warfare? Probably not.

But I really want to see if a game will ever take down

Call of Duty...well, before Activision takes it down themselves that is.

#2 - SSX Deadly Descents

I'll openly admit it. When I saw the debut for this trailer at the VGAs last year I was leading the charge against EA for taking my beloved SSX and turning it into Call of Duty: Snowboards. The characters I loved were gone, the settings I loved were gone, the FUN I loved was gone...it just looked like they made any snowboard game they good and decided to throw SSX onto it just to give it name recognition. I think out of all of the games on this list this is the only one I actively dislike and want to get cancelled.

But I hope it doesn't.

I hope it does well, I hope EA manages to somehow turn this fucking turd I see before me into the shiniest motherfucker at the ball. I want to see this game succeed because in my eyes SSX3 (On Tour doesn't exist) was not only the best game of the series but probably one of the best Snowboarding games EVER and that came out 8 years ago. We have seen with our own eyes how better gameplay, graphics, sound, and physics have gotten better. So if EA really wants to make SSX a successful game...they have all the tools to do so. We've seen games bounce back from bad trailers, we have seen games get grim dark and still somehow work. Will it work with SSX? I don't think it will but if EA can do for SSX what they did with Skate then we might just eat our words when SSX comes out. Of course if it turns out to suck then we will fully blame it on the new direction because...really...that shit looks BAD.

#1 - Duke Nukem Forever

"Dated"

"Old"

"Generic"

"Just...there"

That's all I have been hearing about Duke Nukem Forever and it is probably the biggest praise the game can get in my opinion. But there is still an inkling of doubt about this game...there is still something that nags at me everytime I see it...it's almost like the world wants me to NOT bet on Duke. Is it because the game was announced so long ago that anyone who would've had an interest in it has already moved on from the fandom of Duke and moved onto other games. Is it because no matter how much we try to delude ourselves there is just no fighting that Duke Nukem might just be a product of the 90s that will no longer translate to the new whippersnappers gamers of the current generation?
Or maybe it's that Duke Nukem was never that great to begin with? No matter what the reason I still want this game. I already have it preordered and it is one of the few collectors' editions I will own simply because...IT'S FINALLY FUCKING GOING TO HAPPEN. The game has been the biggest running gag on the internet this side of the fucking Phantom and after all of these years, all of the jokes, all of the memes, it's finally going to fucking come out and we suddenly are faced with the realism that...this game could either be REALLY REALLY BAD and thus making the 12 years of jokes worth it...or be REALLY REALLY GOOD and make the 12 years of jokes TOTALLY worth it.

I want the latter to happen so badly. With all of the game companies getting closed due to low sales and all of the general bad shit that seems to happen in the industry every fucking week I think that Duke Nukem Forever coming out, being great, and getting some GOTY Awards and nominations might just be one of the best feel good stories in all of interactive entertainment. But we all know that will probably be the case for Half-Life 2: Episode 3.

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Working Question

DOUBLE SLAP IN THIS BITCH!

Who is your Marvel vs. Capcom 3 team at the moment?

And what is your #1 Game that you have no hope for but you really wish it does well critically and commercially?

Since you already know my answer for the latter I'll give you my answer for the former.

Viewtiful Joe, Deadpool, and X-23.

Cheap? Probably...but at least it's not Sentinel, Dante, and Doom.

Until next time, I'm Jordan Williams...and...there MIGHT be a column next week. Also...me a favor and click this link.