Good things come in HUGE packages

Every once in a while, a game will be announced that will hit me right where I itch to the point where I get extremely excited. Right now that game is definitely Shadow of the Colossus by the team that brought us Ico. That was all I really needed to know. Despite the fact that it's not a sequel, just knowing that the team behind Ico is working on another epic tale is more than enough for me.



The preview I read today also hinted at potential gameplay innovations, which is also encouraging, considering the current state of the industry. I'm not holding my breath, though. We gamers have been promised serious gameplay innovations plenty of times only to see a finished product with either half-assed tweaks on old-school shit (I don't see that coming from THIS team), or something genuinely fun, but that was just exaggerated for marketing purposes (a more likely possibility). The bottom line is that Shadow of the Colossus is one of those games that I just know I'll buy no matter what happens. When the preview I read said that it was scheduled for release next month, I thought to myself "Next month?!? But I want it NOW!" A game hasn't made me think those words in a LONG time.

New direction for Ratchet

I just read a preview for Ratchet: Deadlocked that's scheduled for release in November. Now I've been a fan of the Ratchet & Clank series for quite some time now. I've ranted on the series before, in fact. I gotta admit that I'm a little anxious about the new direction the series is headed in. The title alone reflects that. The first thing I thought when reading it was "Where's Clank?", and the answer I got from reading the preview wasn't cool: Clank has been demoted to "supporting character", and is no longer title-worthy.

The whole genre of the series is changing from platformer to shooter. That in itself isn't a bad thing because I rather enjoyed the military missions in Up Your Arsenal. What bothers me more is that, apparently, the game will be less character-driven. I think that's a shame, because the colorful characters you encounter are a big part of what make the Ratchet & Clank world so appealing.

The gameplay will most likely be yet another evolution from the game's predecessor, which is reason enough for me to remain excited about this sequel. Ratchet & Clank has always been about blowing shit up in the craziest ways, so as long as they keep that aspect and stay faithful to their own delivery of wacky destruction, I'm pretty sure I'll remain a fan. I just find it's a shame to see them trimming away from the things that make the series different from other "blow-shit-up" games that are out there.