As the old saying goes “ignorance is bliss” and this can be applied to my gaming too. I’ve never paid a whole lot of attention to upcoming games. I used to look a few weeks ahead at the new releases list in the shops or flick through the occasional magazine but it’s only now I have gaming friends and belong to a community (called Ready Up, perhaps you’ve heard of it?) that I’m aware of gaming news. I have an inkling now of what big titles loom on the horizon, what developers may be brewing months or years down the line and this affords me great excitement and with it, the potential for disappointment.
I had my first major taste of this with February’s release of Aliens vs Predator. I spent over a year hugely excited. I couldn’t wait to play as an alien or predator, I wasn’t so fussed about the marines. I looked forward to friends buying it, with new rivalries being created during multiplayer nights. The demo came out on Xbox Live and that was enough for some to lose interest but I played that one map over and over again, almost always as an alien. It made me dizzy crawling up walls and racing along the ceiling but despite often feeling disorientated I loved it. The kills were fun, I liked stalking unsuspecting marines and hitting the Y button to hiss at them. On top of that I was actually good at it! I was coming top of the leaderboards in most matches.
When the full game arrived I loaded it up straight away and went into the alien campaign. It was good but short. So short and I barely got to fight any predators. The game is called Aliens vs Predator after all, not Aliens vs Marines: Then Have A Little Wave At A Predator In The Last Ten Minutes. Each campaign after that was more and more of a let down. The multiplayer took an age to get into a game, only to fall apart if the host left and while some fun was had with friends, it didn’t compare to the highs of Left 4 Dead, Modern Warfare or even Bomberman nights. One by one people traded it in and I got shot of mine begrudingly a couple of weeks later.
AvP caused a lot of dismay with its shortcomings but other titles this year have had some gamers disenchanted and baffled at the hype, including Final Fantasy XIII and the widely acclaimed Bayonetta. The disappointment that comes from a game not living up to my expectations is something I’d like to avoid. Although I can’t put my fingers in my ears and evade all news I can try to reign in my anticipation of any new release that will interest me, keep an aloof air, playing it cool, so on that note…
I will not get excited about Fable 3.
I will not get excited about Fable 3.
I will not get excited about Fable 3.
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