TSA’s Top 100 of 2013: 80-76 – Dragon’s Dogma, Tekken & Final Fantasy

It may be Sunday, but what won’t stop us from keeping our countdown rolling. In the first of today’s two articles we cover sniping, sword fighting, fist fighting and platforming. That seems like a nice range of topics, so lets get going.

80. Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2

You’re in luck with Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2, as teflon actually previewed the game this week. Although he found the game a little linear, it does seem that he enjoyed his time with it and it’s clear that it’s a big improvement over the first game. Those improvements are also why the game’s missed its original August release, with developers City Interactive shifting the game to January to add more polish to the title. As the game’s Producer, Michael Sroczynski, said to teflon:

We wanted to get SGW2 right for release, and didn’t want to rush it out. We feel the first SGW was a bit rushed, because as a studio we weren’t in such a comfortable situation. Back then we just needed a game out, and though we kept working hard and tried to patch the flaws quite fast, it’s not the same thing as getting a more polished product on day one.

I don’t think you can really have any complaints about a developer taking that kind of attitude.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the first Sniper: Ghost Warrior, the general aim of the series is realism in sniping. You’ll have to account for wind, distance and the trajectory of your bullet to hit your target, although easier difficulty levels scale back the amount of physics you’ll need to take account of when taking your shot. The game also focuses heavily on stealth elements, as you’d expect, and hand-to-hand combat.

If all of this talk of death from a distance has peaked your interest then you’ll only have to wait until January 18th to start your sniping career.

79. Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen

It’s not really clear what Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen is, apart from being a “major expansion” to Dragon’s Dogma. We have no idea what Capcom have in mind, and don’t even know when it’s coming. All that’s really clear from the TGS announcement is that it’ll be coming to both Xbox 360 and PS3 and that, well, it’s for Dragon’s Dogma.

The core game faired well in our review though, earning itself a 7/10 and leaving Dan impressed by its combat and pawn systems. However, the game’s characters and lack of enemy variety did strike a bit of bum note, so there’s clearly room for Dark Arisen to improve on what’s already there.

78. Tekken

The first of two Tekken titles featuring in today’s top 100 articles, this Wii U game is by far the most mysterious of the pair, being based largely on rumours that Peter came across when pulling the list together. Whilst we’ve already seen Tekken Tag Tournament 2 arrive as a Wii U launch title, and there may well be the possibility of Tekken X Street Fighter appearing on the console, there’s been rumours floating around about the possibility of a third Tekken title for Nintendo’s newest console.

However, for the moment they’re just that – rumours. Will it be a port of Tekken 6, or a brand new game for the console? Have some wires been crossed about the version of Tekken Tag Tournament 2 for the Wii U? Perhaps we’ll know in the new year. What I can confirm is that Tekken X Street Fighter will be cropping up in the second of today’s top 100 articles.

77. ibb and obb

I’d never heard of ibb and obb before but it’s now firmly onto my radar. The game’s a platformer for PSN and PC that was actually due out right now. The game was on target to be released in November or December, but in an announcement on the game’s website project manager Richard Boeser delayed the game for two reasons.

The development reason was that the development team, consisting of Sparpweed on design and Codeglue on coding, had decided to add online multiplayer. The game has a strong co-op focus, and whilst they strongly recommend playing the game with someone in the same room, they recognised that online has now become an expected staple and the game stood a better chance of success with it included from the get go.

On the marketing side of things, the realisation was made that it’s more than tricky to compete in the holiday period, particularly when you’re a small game with no marketing budget. Delaying the game should help with it getting noticed, and from what I’ve seen it certainly deserves some appreciation.

So just what is it that’s caught my interest? Well partly it’s the game’s wonderfully cute aesthetic; Sparpweed have done a great job in that regard. However it’s more the gravity based co-op platforming that’s really peaked my interest; it looks absolutely great. You see each level in split into an upper and lower half, with the gravity in the lower half the opposite of that in the upper portion of the screen. The titular ibb and obb will need to work together to succeed, switching back and forth between the two parts of the level via portals in the ground.

As a downloadable platformer the game looks simply great, and I love the co-op element of it. If it’s struck a chord with you then keep an eye out in spring 2013.

76. Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn

The final game in this portion of today’s list is the second, and last, Final Fantasy title to make an appearance in our list. That’s right, despite perhaps being Square Enix’s star franchise, Final Fantasy hasn’t managed to make its way in the top 75 games in this year’s list.

As for Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, it’s not technically a new game. Instead it’s the new version of the latest Final Fantasy MMO, Final Fantasy XIV. Having said that, the original version of Final Fantasy XIV has now been taken offline, with A Realm Reborn currently working its way through the Alpha stages.

What may perhaps be the most crucial element of the games subtitle ladened relaunch is that the heavily delayed PS3 version of the game will be releasing when A Realm Reborn arrives. Given that the Windows version originally hit in September of 2010, I’m sure PS3 Final Fantasy fans will be more than happy to have the MMO accessible on their console.

There’s a wide variety of changes and improvements coming in A Realm Reborn, including a new graphics engine, revamped UI and updates to the game’s job system. It will also see significant changes to several areas of the game’s world, which will be explained by the impact of a meteor named Dalamund that some lunatic summoned to crash into the planet.

Hopefully the changes to the game will pay off when A Realm Reborn relaunches in mid 2013.

Five games isn’t enough for us, so we’ll be back later today to take you all the way down to 71.