Blog Style or Sort By Most Bumps This... Day  Week  Month  Life

See that new-looking thing below this paragraph? I hope you do, because it would mean that the gallery system I just built (from scratch, because I'm like that) is working.



Lucky that I should get it done now, at 3am the morning E3 begins and the floodgates of screenshots and media kits  are opened. Like everything else on this site, it's still a work in progress, so any feedback can be left in the comments of this story.

Right now it makes nearly exclusive use of JavaScript, which isn't very friendly to most mobile browsers and people who think any type of HTML newer than baggy pants will explode their computers. A flat, static, boring alternative will be available eventually.

Bumps:

4

  Email This      2 Comments   

If 2007 taught gaming journalists anything it was that much has changed since the days of yore - no longer are we paying $30-50 for quality titles that challenge, engage, and entertain us as gamers. Instead we are forking out boatloads of cash for matching accessories, consoles we can't locate without ebay, games that require patches to actually operate, and new, disappointing sagas without endings.

In the hopes of promoting change for 2008, then, here is GameBump's "most wanted" list written by avid gamers and directed toward the gaming industry. If you've been playing through 2007's offerings and wondering if you're the only one who's been confused about the latest industry trends - don't worry; you're not.

Continue reading...

Bumps:

5

  Email This      1 Comments   

Despite what some award-show winners have to say, this wasn't a very excellent year for games. Think of the biggest, most-anticipated games of 2007 and think about how they turned out.

Halo 3 was probably the most anticipated game, and while its multiplayer component is pretty expansive, the single-player campaign (you know, the reason most of us buy a video game) was mediocre and occasionally downright boring. Assassin's Creed was another hugely-anticipated game, and it had the graphics and control scheme we all wanted, but in the midst of making all that it seems that Ubisoft forgot to throw in an actual game. What about Crysis? One of the most-hyped PC releases by the Microsoft camp? It sold less than 90,000 copies in its launch window.

Only a few of the anticipated games of the year really met anybody's expectations. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is, well, it's Call of Duty 4. You guys seemed to really eat up BioShock, too. Super Mario Galaxy is amazing as well. Our Game of the Year award is supposed to be about innovation, though, and aside from being very well-made products, what this year has really innovated things?

Continue reading...

Bumps:

5

  Email This      0 Comments   

Why It Won: Zelda games come around more frequently than Mario games and so aren't held to the same absurd scrutiny. In fact, after a lifetime of mostly-identical storylines (the princess is kidnapped, oh noes!) it wouldn't be altogether ridiculous to wonder when something new would come along for Link to do besides spend all day fishing, blowing into an ocarina, and looking for pieces of the much-elusive Tri-force. I'd all but discounted the series as an ad-tedium retread of the same concepts when The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass came along and I, feeling sorry for my oft-neglected DS, decided to give it a whirl.

Continue reading...

Bumps:

3

  Email This      1 Comments   

Why It Won: World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade is the expansion to the award-winning, life-absorbing MMORPG World of Warcraft. It adds new battlegrounds, items, lands, races, and much more to the original game. This expansion bumps up the content of the original game tremendously and makes sure that there's never mindless killing to get the huge number of experience points needed to level-up. While most of the content is for post level 60 players, there are also two new races, the Blood Elf and the Draenei, alongside with two classes: the Shaman for the alliance and the Paladin for the Horde, available to new players as well as old-timers who'd like to experience the lower levels again but from a new angle.

Continue reading...

Bumps:

1

  Email This      0 Comments   

Our Review (*****)

Why It Won: Super Mario Galaxy is, quite simply, the best Mario platformer to date. Since Mario 64, many fans have eagerly anticipated Mario’s next 3D adventure as Super Mario Sunshine essentially received mixed reactions and reviews from the media and gaming community. Mario Galaxy is a testament to the lasting influence that Mario still has in the gaming industry today and considering the red plumber’s history, this is no small feat.

Mario Galaxy’s innovative gameplay, breathtaking visuals and epic soundtrack provides an immersive experience for both casual and hardcore fans alike. With numerous galaxies to explore, planet-sized bosses to fight and 120 stars to collect, the gameplay feels refreshingly new and manages to retain the nostalgia charm of earlier Mario titles. Each and every galaxy is unique with its own puzzles and challenges that there’s rarely a dull moment. The orchestral soundtrack manages to effectively transcend the player’s experience of seeing Mario soar into outer space with a sense of awe and wonder.

Continue reading...

Bumps:

2

  Email This      0 Comments   

Why It Won: From the outset Ubisoft Montreal's Assassin's Creed presented itself as a different sort of game, as a stealth title marked by unrivaled beauty and the promise of a more open-ended adventure boasting clever target assassinations, amazing buildings to climb, a great musical score and ambiance, and a level of seamless interactivity when the gameplay goes according to plan. It's a damn-near awe-inspiring feeling the first time you perch atop the highest guard tower, ride through the beautiful countryside with the sun at your back, or engage in roof-top leaping for that quick getaway following a smooth-as-silk assassination (or if you're like me, the tragic unexplained death of a civilian - practice makes perfect).

Continue reading...

Bumps:

3

  Email This      0 Comments   

Why It Won: Call of Duty was already an established series by the time Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare came around. After Treyarch's Call of Duty 3, many had thought the series had caught the "sequel syndrome" that plagues almost any big studio franchise that gets a new installment each year, each game becoming just another iteration of the previous with one or two features interesting enough to be mentioned on the back of the game's box. Boy were we ever wrong.

Call of Duty 4 isn't a greatly ambitious game. It didn't have the mega-millions advertising budget of Halo 3, it didn't have the Ayn Rand-ian objectivist overtones of BioShock, and it didn't really require that you go out and buy a new $4,000 computer to run it like Crysis. The scale of the game itself is somewhat large but it's no Earth-vs-Aliens. What the game lacks in scope, however, it makes up for in pure quality. Call of Duty 4 is a fun game, a well-made game, and a rewarding game. From the first mission you're sucked into the world of modern Special Forces and you're never let go.

Continue reading...

Bumps:

3

  Email This      0 Comments   

Our first annual Game of the Year Week here at GameBump begins tomorrow (Monday, December 17th).

Every day of next week we'll be unveiling another of our picks for each category, culminating with the final overall Game of the Year being unveiled on Saturday. Will your favorite game get the nod, or Kane & Lynch sweep all the categories? Stay tuned all this week to find out.

Check out the Game of the Year homepage to stay on top of things and see what our categories will be.

Bumps:

3

  Email This      0 Comments