30 Days of Video Games Day 28

My Favorite Developer:

It's a tie, it's gotta be a tie.  I like these two developers for different reasons, so let's hash this out.

First is Valve.  I pretty much told you why I love Valve a couple of days ago when I wrote about the best voice acting I have seen in a game.  But I didn't touch on the polish that Valve gives each game before it is released into the wild.You can watch any video of a game released by Valve to get an idea of just how polished their stuff is.  Of course, this comes with a cost.  Click the link to be taken to a chart of Valve Time.  A little-known fact: Valve works in a temporal vortex which results in their time-stream fluctuating rapidly.  In short: they rarely live up to a release date, even when it's "...any minute now."

We could've had Half-Life 2 in January 2003 if they didn't put so much time into that sweet goatee.

Despite all of this, Valve makes games that tend to amaze players and critics alike, and it makes the wait worth it.  Maybe when I'm 30 we might actually see Half-Life 3 (or to be more realistic, Half-Life 2: Episode 3).

The second developer I would have buttsecks with if that was a thing you could do with developers is Grasshopper Manufacture, headed by Suda 51.  They are the madmen (and ladies, I must remember to not be sexist) responsible for Killer 7, No More Heroes 1 and 2, and most recently, Shadows of the Damned.  I've said a lot about Killer 7, so there is little need for me to go on with that track.  But added to the games I wish I could play are the other three I've listed.  It's amazing when you can get Yahtzee to like a game, and he  sums up the appeal like this: there's nothing like Killer 7 or No More Heroes.  Flawed as the games may be, get them anyway! (he says.)

Travis Touchdown (yes, that's his name) recharging his lightsaber.  Note that he is shaking it up and down near a certain nefarious region on his body.  Very subtle, Grasshopper.

And I agree on that note.  Shadows of the Damned was the game that critics had been waiting for, giving Suda 51 a little bit of leeway with his weirdness in a gameplay setting that makes the game appealing to more than just weirdos like me.  For an example, watch this video.  Great gameplay combined with an 8-year-old's sense of humor?  Sign me up!

30 Days of Video Games Day 26

Best Voice Acting:

Again, I'm told that Uncharted and Uncharted 2 would be one of those games that would take this title if I had played it.  But luckily, Valve has me covered on multiple fronts for this one.

Firstly, the Half-Life series.  Unfortunately, I haven't played Half-Life 2 in a while, so I don't remember the voice acting very well.  It was high-quality stuff, though.  I remember the first Half-Life, though, and that is mostly because of the G-Man.

Or as he's also known: Seriously What the Hell is Your Agenda?

At the end of the original Half-Life, he congratulates you for defeating the final boss of the game and blah blah blah enigmatic crazy bullshit.  You could see him in every chapter of the game, but to hear him actually speak to you is creepy as hell.  He also makes mention of his "employers," who are again completely unknown (but there are theories.  Oh boy are there theories).  The G-man's speech stands out greatly as probably the most memorable parts of Half-Life and Half-Life 2.

Then there's Team Fortress 2.  I haven't gushed about the game in a few blogs, so I'll hear no complaining from any readers on this subject.  One of the things that really can draw you in to the game is the different (ridiculous) accents that each mercenary has, giving away their countries of origin.  But it's the fun that the script has with the characters that makes it great.  It's like a room full of Americans went, "What would an Australian say as a battle cry?"  And then we end up with a bad Australian accent yelling "God save the queen!" and a Scotsman yelling "Freeeedooooom!"  It gives a very light tone to a game where I will end up setting people on fire and blowing them up into small bits.  The game's a cartoon, and the characters really make it great.  Watch any of the Meet the Team videos and you'll get the idea.

But the best voice acting, I think, has to go to Portal and Portal 2.  They really turned two pretty damn good games into two of the best games in this field.  I can't say enough good about GLaDOS.

Ceiling GLaDOS is watching  you...

As the only "companion" you have in Portal, she quickly becomes your best friend, even though you KNOW that she has every intention of killing you.  Any time I heard her monotone, auto-tuney voice come over the loud-speaker, it was a joyous occasion.  It really helped, too, that the script for this game was amazing.  The same goes for GLaDOS's script in Portal 2.

Portal 2 really set the story element in motion with its voice acting, though!  Bringing in J.K. Simmons to play Cave Johnson, the founder of Aperture Science, was amazing.  Wheatley was a great contrast to GLaDOS; where she was extremely intelligent but had the personality of a serial killer, Wheatley was a welcome-wagon that never stopped welcoming you with the warmest of greetings... until he wakes up GLaDOS and starts the events of Portal 2.  Because Chell is a mute protagonist (and maybe just a straight-up mute person), the story depends entirely on the physical looks of Aperture Labratories and the voices around her.  Portal and Portal 2 pulled this off better than any other game I've played.