Including all of your podcast regulars and favourites, this special edition examines and scrutinises this years best and brightest in this opening heat of the Game of the Year awards! Will your favourite make the cut, or simply just be cut? Find out by downloading it NOW!

Download: Game of the Year: Nominations

To celebrate what has been a phenomenal year in gaming, Zippy Gamer is proud to present the ultimate countdown for game of the year: 10 games go in, only one game leaves! But who should win? And why? We’ll be running down the showdowns as each game takes on one another in an attempt to finally figure out just who is the best!

So here’s how the awards are going to work, rather than doing an overall analysis of every game at once, we’re mixing it up with our tournament ladder. In other words, IT’S A KNOCKOUT!

Each game must defend its honor against their opponent and then triumph in our showdown podcasts. We’ll bring you weekly updates as to how things are shaping up and providing our in depth analysis alongside some exclusive comics for each showdown and even providing some “sub” awards for those games that just don’t quite make the cut.

So get ready, because December isn’t just a month of snow and long nights, it’s the month of Zippy Gamer’s Game of the Year Awards!

Check back soon for this first nominee!

Some of you may know that right now, Lego Universe is in its beta phase, and is currently running a closed, invitation only preview of the game. I was fortunate enough to be invited into it. And because I love you guys so much, I’ve decided to give you an insight into Lego Universe. This is my journal of my adventures into a brand new MMO! Let’s just hope my PC doesn’t brick, eh?

The Venture Explorer and Avant Gardens

It wasn’t a smooth start I’m afraid, it booted in the wrong resolution and was quite laggy to start. But after some technical tweaks, it was looking great, despite a wonky frame rate. The character creation is versatile but simplistic, great for a game about a kid’s toy and I’ve heard that it will let you buy and order your own character in real life! Nice! The graphics aren’t that great, sadly. They’re a bit blocky (ho ho ho, ugh…) and screen tear is all too common, but then again this is a beta and also an MMO, it was destined to never look great. Still, what’s here is at least colourful and suitable, it looks like Lego, and I suppose that’s the point.

The opening levels I was given access to include a basic tutorial on a spaceship called “The Venture Explorer.” The only interesting part of which really is the “build” mechanic. Essentially you use “imagination” (read: Magic or Mana from World of Warcraft) to build objects you can interact with (and by build I mean hold shift until the object is finished, not actually build). There was also an interesting area where you could custom build your own rocket. Although this was basically selecting 3 out of the 6 pieces they had given me to assemble a rocket from premade parts, not quite the imagination overload I was expecting. The tutorial area itself was, well, spacey. The inside of a rocket ship with a sort of glass outer shell and some mechanical looking platforms filled out the area. And a view outside of a seemingly endless universe was shown. It looked pretty nice from an artistic standpoint, and is obviously a preview of the space levels that will come later in the game.

After the tutorial I was whisked off to Avant Gardens, a small grassy battlefield that was very enclosed and only really had one path. A set of very basic quests were handed out, things like “Kill 5 Enemies” and “Build a Wall” that lead to some slightly more interesting affairs such as “Race up the Monument” and “Construct Turrets out of your fallen enemies”. The combat has a closer resemblance to your standard action game rather than an RPG, you click, the character hits, the enemy dies; simple. Perhaps a bit too simple really, there’s only one method for killing enemies and despite an option to buy new weapons I couldn’t tell you how they were any different from the standard sword you’re given. There’s a much stronger emphasis on exploration and platforming than battling however. One area of Avant Gardens involves climbing Assembly Monument, a giant statue of a Heroic Lego man brandishing a sword fighting an Evil Lego man brandishing a scepter. There was a considerable amount of platforming involved. Three different branching paths are laid out before you, each one expecting you to use precision and timing to make it up to the top, as well as building a few mechanisms. Strangely, however, there is no leveling system, at least not yet. It looks like there might be a disabled one, but I never received experience or even loot from fallen enemies, instead I was given money and perhaps some health or imagination restores. Completing quests usually awards new clothing or money for your Lego Man, both of which only effect him superficially. There’s no bonus for wearing the armor or buying a new hat. If this is the first MMO without a leveling system, well, that’s kind of impressive, but it may be a bit too limiting to people expecting an addictive race for gear.

Building with Legos has never been so complicated.

I also had a look at making my own models in an area of property I now “own” according to the game. The idea is that you can make your own house and various things to go in and around it. Building stuff with bricks you’ve collected by finishing missions and killing enemies. It’s even been said that you can have your creations sent to you on order, just like your character; so the prospect of building should be great fun! The problem is that the building mode is so frustratingly difficult to operate (at present) that building anything is an exercise in aggravation. Blocks won’t go where you want them to. I can’t figure out how to rotate and buttons don’t do what you tell them; it’s all rather sloppy. Not only that, but the parts I was given were useless at making anything at all. I managed to make a door… thing with a barrier attached to the top. Not really the dream home I was thinking of… Still, I imagine that this will be the alternative to the leveling system. And while I like the idea of battling through to make the ideal place to live, the current building mode is far too difficult to operate, a note out of “Banjo Kazooie Nuts & Bolts” should be taken, and bricks should lock into an invisible grid.

There are of course, a few problems in the beta. But if they make it to the final version I’ll be horrified and amazed. One such problem was that I ended up doing the same quest 6 times in a row. It was only after I received an email from the Lego Universe team did I discover that this was intentional. It seems you can repeat certain quests to get more money. I wish they had told me sooner; I thought that I had to do it several times to progress and as a result wasted plenty of time trying to finish an unfinishable quest. I can only hope in the full game these quests will come with an explanation.

As it stands, I currently can’t leave the first world as the beta has restricted my access. But fingers crossed that in the future I can tell you about the rest of the game, and maybe even a little about the different classes that Avant Garden has hinted at. The game is incredibly simple, but the prospect of the various worlds (Pirate, Ninja, Space Ranger, Knights, Cowboys) all sound great and hopefully the difficulty will ramp up as I get further into the world. As an MMO though, I can’t see how teaming up with anybody could have or indeed would have helped. I beat this portion of the game on my lonesome. Other people proved more of a nuisance than nything; constantly killing things I also was trying to kill and building things I wanted to build. This is probably because the party system isn’t fully working yet, but regardless for an MMO, I felt like I wasting my time with these other players. There’s one section on the Assembly Monument where helping each other out can help a bit, but the goals are still completely doable one your own. I know; I did them that way. To anybody over the age of 12 frothing at the mouth for this game, I say this; lower your expectations. That might sound a little pessimistic but here’s the truth of the matter: this is a game aimed at kids. As a result, it is extremely basic and while it makes it easy to play, it sadly doesn’t make it all that enthralling. You certainly won’t be handing in your Night Elf for a Lego Man just yet. Although, that could all change. What will Nimbus Station hold for me? Will I get a class? Will I get a ranged weapon or even a magic spell? Who knows, stay tuned to Zippy Gamer to find out!

Without ruining anything (not that it can be ruined… you know what I’m just going to leave these side comments alone now) Passage is a game about life. There is a lot of depth here to what is essentially a 5 minute diversion. Literally 5 minutes. That is exactly how long this game is.

Basic graphics, deep themes. Click to download Passage

Why only five minutes? Well hopefully when you play it you’ll get it. It’s a top down 2d game with extremely basic controls, just 4 arrows and 4 directions to move. But to be honest in a game like this controls are almost a side note, a thing you point out so that you can play it, it controls neither good nor bad just… exactly how it should be.

The graphics are extremely basic but cute pixels reminiscent of the Atari era, but with a bit more color thrown on and perhaps a tiny bit more detail. The music is a chippy, 8 bit thing that loops. It is vaguely annoying but sets the right tone.

And really that is all I can say without spoiling it. Sorry to be so mysterious but with a game that is literally 5 minutes long there’s not much else I can say. Suffice to say it’s an interesting if slightly pretentious experience that depending on the way you look at it will either be extremely powerful or confusingly dull.

When I say this game is not for everyone, I mean it. As for value for money, on PC this game is technically free so knock yourself out, on iPhone it’s $0.99 or £0.59 and I’d say it was worth that if you want to fund crazy ideas like this (also the controls on iPhone are fine, no issues, don’t worry). Passage is unique and quite touching, but you have to be the right kind of person to like it.

Score: N/A. It’s an entirely personal thing.

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Heavy Rain is the latest release by Quantic Dream, the game developers who brought you the equally story heavy game “Fahrenheit” (or “Indigo Prophecy” for our American Readers). The experience isn’t your standard gaming fare and instead opts to be an “Interactive Movie” with a strong focus on characters and emotional manipulation. The method Heavy Rain uses to achieve this is very reminiscent of two currently existing genres, the “point and click” adventure games of the 90’s and Quick Time Events. The “point and click” parts are sequences which involve marching your characters around environments looking for clues progress the story and these sections tend to be the slower, less interesting parts. Not only that, but they control horribly, instead of simply moving your character with a joystick as you would expect to, you instead sort of aim your character and then press R2 to move them. Why? I have no idea. It’s fortunate then that these segments are merely looking about and not action based, but even simple actions like walking to the correct locations can be tricky. It can break the immersion in a second, which is a shame because Heavy Rain does a lot to make to make the experience as atmospheric as it can be.

This FBI agent serves as the games main investigator. Oh, and he's a junkie.

The quick time events, on the other hand, are definitely more exciting and interesting; what is most interesting about them is that you can’t exactly “fail” them, if you don’t press the button in time there’s no “Game Over” screen, the sequences just carries on. I won’t disclose any specific events or actions in this review (that would only ruin some incredibly brilliant and startling moments) but suffice to say some made me physically flinch in disgust or jump in surprise. Yes, Heavy Rain did manage to get me to “feel” like I was part of the experience. Except it didn’t make me feel like the characters, it made me feel like a movie director. Instead of asking myself “Should I kill this man?” it became “Would he kill this man?” I don’t know if this was Heavy Rain’s intention or a misstep by the developers, but I can truly say I’ve never had an experience anything like it. Perhaps it’s a testament to the characters development; they feel incredibly real and trying to project yourself onto them feels almost impossible. At least three out of the four main characters, that is. The female character, Madison, serves no real purpose to the plot. She just turns up in the story and suddenly wants help the main character and most of her segments are stupidly dull. The developers should have either made her interesting and relevant or just cut her entirely. I’d actually favour cutting her entirely; Heavy Rain is an incredibly interesting and gripping experience, but it doesn’t half suffer from excess fat.

Heavy Rain’s biggest flaw is that the developers like their ideas just a bit too much. The opening sequence is probably the most self-indulgent and excruciatingly dull moment in a video game ever. I do not want to brush my teeth, I don’t want to have to find the plates, playing with my kids is not something I wish to simulate. What is even worse is that the opening segment plays no role in the overall plot, you can spend a good half an hour opening cupboards and sitting on chairs achieving nothing… it’s frustrating. What’s worse is that the pointless actions aren’t restricted to the opening segment; you might have returned to the police station to investigate clues, but then for some reason you can sit on a desk, go for a pee, or just stare out a window. I don’t want to do this stuff; I just want to move on! Do these actions serve the plot? No, all they do is slow down the narrative. Quantic Dream should have trimmed the fat; remove the trivial interactions. I get that they were trying to make the game feel “realistic” but it just frustrates the player, nothing more.

Why are you in this?

Now that I’ve told you about the gameplay in Heavy Rain, I would like to talk about the story. I would love to discuss the games “big twist”, but really it’s kinda difficult without giving away stuff. Suffice to say, I didn’t see it coming. But that isn’t necessarily a mark in its favour, if anything it’s a quite a damning statement; one of the great qualities of a detective story is to let the viewer try to make their own connections and decisions. For the most part Heavy Rain is excellent at doing this. I played this game with my friend Chris (from the podcast) at my side and we were constantly talking and theorizing about who we thought the murder was. So when the final moments of the game came about, and the curtain was pulled back, I felt almost betrayed by the developer. Almost all the major clues that pointed at one character were discarded and replaced with new evidence to convict another. There is one major plot point in Heavy Rain that is never explained and if you try to read anything into that point you’ll definitely feel mislead by the end of the game. Not only that, but on an entirely personal note, I didn’t want that character to be the bad guy! To me it didn’t fit.

So what to make of Heavy Rain? Well, I liked it a lot. The plot is disappointing towards the end and the opening is almost a test to see how dedicated you are to the idea of an “interactive drama,” but the main bulk of the game is both interesting and enthralling. I was with my friends almost everyday insisting we push on and got to the nub of the case. One of the biggest features Heavy Rain boasts is perhaps one of my favourite; the new video game craze of displaying that actions have consequences. This is one I hope never goes out of style. I can definitely see how my decisions affected the narrative, but I can’t help but wonder what would have happened if I made different choices throughout the game. Sadly, I haven’t had the opportunity to go back and replay some of these segments. However, for what it’s worth, I can definitely vouch that the game makes great use of its scenarios to dictate a series of consequences.

Scott Shelby is by far the most likable character in the game

Heavy Rain is a fascinating and unique experience that I recommend for those with the patience and interest for an “interactive drama”. It’s definitely a unique experience, but it’s not without its faults. Characters look great, but objects look dreadful. At best, voice acting is inconsistent; whenever a child talks you just want to cry with frustration. Additionally, the sound suffers from some glitches and will cut-out at times. It’s a shame, as the music in the game is moody and perfect for each setting. Overall, Heavy Rain may be the start of something wonderful, but it is not the peak of it. It’s a fantastic and daring concept that, ultimately, is let down by its developers focusing in the wrong areas. The next time we see a Heavy Rain-esque game we might have a more streamlined experience with more plot and, hopefully, better voice actors. I look forward to that day immensely. For now, we have this flawed master piece, this imperfect storm, this… Heavy Rain.

However, in some news that is real (and awesome), Australian gamers took to the streets to protest their censorship. For those not in the know, Australia has two rather worrying issues: firstly, several games are seeing censored versions being released in Australia or not seeing a release at all. While I can always rally behind a cause that supports video games, what I find even more disturbing is that the Australian Government has proposed an Internet filter… for the entire country. That’s not so much a nanny state as a totalitarian one. So when I heard about the protest I felt for the guys and gals all going out to make their stand. I’m a pretty left-wing guy at heart and protests always rile me up. So when I saw what the protesters were actually doing, well, I thought it could just be the most awesome thing ever. They were dressing up and protesting as zombies:

Click to see the Zombies get their March On!

Yep, bona-fida zombie protesters folks. Gotta love their thinking. The protest was followed by beer and party, making the day out a worthy one for all. Good on you guys and good luck with your campaign.

Moving away from the political, Activision managed to do something so abysmal that it seem like something only Sony would dream up. As if the price of the MW2 stimulus package wasn’t insulting enough (a staggering 1,200 Microsoft points for 5 maps!) it seems that Acti wanted to make sure everybody suffered. When the map pack launched, it wasn’t only broken (images failed to load and matchmaking didn’t work), but it also made it impossible for anybody to buy anything off Microsoft’s Xbox Live service. How they managed to do it I don’t know, but I bet the PS3 owners are damn happy the 360 owners got the pack first. For approximately 24 hours, Xbox Live suffered a colossal server failure that made purchases, registration, and redemption of codes entirely impossible. Thankfully, the issue is now resolved, but let it never be said that my hatred of Activision is unfounded.

As for other developments… well I could give you a rundown of the April Fools this year, but there were so many and you probably saw most of them that I feel my efforts would be pointless. That and it’s not really news. And I can’t be bothered. So instead, let’s talk about the launch of a product. Am I a hypocrite? Yes. And I don’t care, because there’s a lot to write about the iPad, mostly that there is basically nothing new about it at all. I’ve been looking forward to talking about the iPad, so if you are an Apple lover you might find the next paragraph either painful or enlightening. If I wrote it properly, it will be both.

He's basically a Bond villain except that he bought James Bond

The iPad is a con. A big shiny con. Admittedly, it’s like one of those cons where you go to a casino, flirt with a beautiful woman, drink a few martinis and get to soak up the atmosphere, but at the end of the night you’ll find yourself in an alley with no clothes and £1,000 less than what you started with… and no home because Steve Jobs took it. You see, the iPad is the ultimate example of selling you the same product twice. If you own an iTouch or iPhone you already own this; not only that, you own a version that is not only smaller, more comfortable, and has more functionality (get this, some can make phone calls!), but also cheaper.

The iPad, on the other hand, is a larger and more cumbersome product with less features. Why would someone want this? I could understand if it had a powerful processor, the ability to stream films on it without Netflix, and maybe giving us some real buttons for games. If the iPad could run the Source Engine and let consumers use Steam on the move, you would have my money on the table, but it can’t. Sure, it can play Sam & Max (which I am impressed with) but that’s also on my PC and the more I thought about it, the more I decided it was a better PC game as opposed to a portable one. As it stands, it’s a big iPhone that can’t make phone calls, or use flash. Oh, and before anybody accuses me of being anti-Apple, I own an iTouch and I love it. I’ve spent far too much on apps I don’t want or even use but I still buy more and that is why I will never trust Steve Jobs because behind that cool exterior lies the mind of an evil genius. An evil genius with a casino and the deed to your house.

So that covers product releases. But, what about games? Here are a rundown of the more interesting ones:

BlazBlue: Oh! Fighting game from the US and Japan sees it’s UK release at last. Mega balanced and very fun, for the Street Fighter fan who wishes there was less Hadouken.

Lips I <3 the 80’s: SINGING! WHILE BEING JUDGED! These kind of games are two a penny and usually completely pointl… wait… it’s made by INiS? The guys who did Elite Beat Agents? I want 10 copies.

Cyberbike: For people who just hate the real world. And fun.

Anyway, enough ranting, check out the Zippy Gamer UK Podcast for more thoughts on some of the games we’ve been playing (Episode 3 is all about Bioshock, Just Cause 2 and a little Red Steel 2 and Episode 4 coming at the end of this week should be all about Heavy Rain and maybe a bit of Pokémon) and for our thoughts on some announcements. This is Lewis Dunn signing out.