Quickie Thoughts

I don't have time to write my full thoughts on some of the games I managed to finish since September, but here are the quick hits.

Muramasa: The Demon Blade
I haven't technically finished the game (two more endings on each character to go...) but after putting in the 15 hours on each character, I feel like I just need to come back to this some time down the line.
There are really two points I wanted to touch on: First, there's no Christianity in the game. It's pure Japanese mythology and religion... and I'm sure it was a difficult decision for Vanilla Ware to make a game that is so foreign to western audiences because it limited its potential in the West, but for me it was just refreshing to see a game deal with Buddhism in a serious manner. Also, the fact that there were no crosses and resurrection isn't limited to a Christ-like figure (since everyone is reborn after all) just got me more excited to play through the game that I otherwise would have if this was set in medieval Europe or some hybrid Japanese-Western fantasy setting.
Second, the difficulty settings. I'm just not good at action games, but easy mode is extremely trivial while the hard mode is extremely difficult (let's not even talk about the one hit death mode). I'm sure they wanted to appeal to the two extremes - the people who might just want to finish the game and the people who want to experience the agency of being a sword master, but they probably should have had a more balanced mode for people in the middle.

Halo 3 ODST
There's not much to talk about here... the single player is an average campaign with a story that isn't all that great... but the standout again is the collectible videos spread throughout the game. Not only is Sadie's story just more interesting (an African girl trying to find her father in the midst of an alien invasion set in the far future? An outstanding premise on its own), but the way it is incorporated into the game's narrative is clever as well.
Essentially, the Superintendent, an AI that runs the city of New Mombasa, guides you to terminals that contain pieces of the collectible videos by manipulating the environment. Since "he" is able to control all the vehicles, the lights and street signs, when you are near a terminal, the signs will point you in its direction and any sirens or cars around will start blaring. It's a nice way to indicate that a collectible is in the area (unlike other games which just produce a glow around the object or some other conceit).
Collecting them also changes the story very slightly, as a guard in the final level will turn hostile toward you as you try to collect to last video. It's another small touch, but it helps conclude Sadie's story in a satisfactory manner and bring a story that you can only experience through these videos into the game itself.

Uncharted 2
There's not much to say about this one. It's like the first game but greatly improved - the gun mechanics and the platforming are just much easier and the frustrating elements are limited to the ending boss and the train sequence.
That said, while I love the characters and the cutscenes... the game does absolutely nothing in terms of trying to tell story through gameplay. Perhaps the only time it tries is during the short sequence where you have to carry Jeff through a battlefield to safety and even that section is only a few minutes long.
While Kojima was self-indulgent with his cutscenes in MGS4, at least he tried to do some clever things with the game play and level design. Uncharted 2 doesn't do much of that unfortunately.
I still love the game - I "Platinumed" the game and played a lot of the multiplayer. It's just unfortunate that something so good tells a story in such a pedestrian manner.

Borderlands
In terms of story, there's nothing here at all. It's not that kind of game and I really don't have anything to say about it. It fulfills the promise of Hellgate London - a first person Diablo shooter - and that's all it needed to do. It probably helped that the game was 40 bucks (as opposed to Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2, which I'll probably never play again any time soon).

All that's left this year is Dragon Age - which I won't finish any time soon - and Call of Duty 6/Modern Warfare 2. I'll be back then!

Oh right, Infamous
I stopped half way through and I'm not sure if I'll get back to it any time soon. The gameplay is fairly interesting, but the morality system is so shallow that it serves only as a conceit for power differentiation - almost like the Jedi/Sith powers in the old Jedi Knight games. Perhaps the only good thing is that the game forces you to make a choice early... it's just too bad the choices themselves are so thinly veiled you don't give it a second thought.