Wholly Schmidt!

Chipping away at the pile of unfinished games is actually yielding some results.

Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy is a lot of extremes. It’s probably the simplest game I’ve played in a long time. It’s probably the most charming. It’s one of the easiest. It’s probably one of the most accessible. It’s definitely the Legoiest. Its most unique quality is that it makes me wish I had kids to play it with. If I’m a father someday, I hope they’re still making games this awesome. There isn’t much on my shelf I could see myself sitting down and playing with a six year old.

Assassin’s Creed a lot of things too. The plot is convoluted nonsense, and the structure of the game is terrible. The introduction is a series of false starts before getting into the game proper, at which point it becomes one of the most repetitive titles you’ll play. It puts the burden of motivation almost entirely on the player; you have to find your own reason to continue playing. It was a technical joy though, and for me that was enough. Despite its failure in the big picture, it does enough masterfully that I really got back into it once I started playing in the last couple weeks. The three cities (Acre, Jerusalem, and Damascus) are truly beautiful and make Assassin’s Creed one of the few games to give GTA4 a run for its money when it comes to a fully realized world to run around in. The acrobatics as you traverse the cities from rooftops to alleys would make Batman jealous, and the lovely animation carries over into what would otherwise be fairly routine combat. Even at the end of the game, which is nothing but combat, I was still occasionally surprised by new counter-attacks and brutal combos unleashed when I thought I’d seen everything the swordplay had to offer. It gives me a lot of hope for a sequel.

Grand Theft Auto IV only came out about a month ago, so it’s almost a misrepresentation to lump it in with the embarrassing backlog of unfinished games that go back to the PS2. Still, any progress is noteworthy, and last night I completed GTA IV.

New York City’s stunt double, “Liberty City”, is one of the most expertly realized and beautiful settings video games have given us. It’s smartly crafted from top to bottom, and it’s not until you stop to really notice the details that you see how nearly ruined it was by a game that is too frequently an example of the most crass and juvenile elements video games have to offer. The game swings wildly (and often) from attempts at complex relationships, meaningful consequences, and serious reflections on the kind of amoral lifestyles lead by much of its cast, to jokes and gags so childish, perverse, obvious, and shallow, that the whole game is nearly dragged down.

Yet while the sense of humor is a near total loss, there’s still too much accomplished to look back at the game and be anything short of impressed. A massive world, well developed interactions with that world, some amazing voice acting, moments of beauty, and solidly presented action from start to finish leave you wishing Rock Star would grow up and get over themselves so they could simply make the greatest game ever.