Thanks for all who have commented on my previous posts, hope you still do.

Now, onto my next topic.

Presentation.

Right out of IGN's (hope i can mention that here) grading scale is presentation. Its doesn't affect gameplay, but I thought of it as I played LOTR:Conquest and World of Goo over the weekend.

Now, Conquest is a bad game. I didn't like it. But the menu's are just some text boxes on clips from the movies basically, and launching multiplayre matches (locally, haven't played online yet) seem clunky and boring to me.

World of Goo on the other hand is amazing, as in a previous post of mine. The vibrant colors and menus are perfect in that game. The overall art is just amazing.

Presentation often gives me an overall feeling of a game. Brawl for instance disappointed me, since it seems too similar to melee (please don't attack me for that; post forthcoming). The Halo and Gears of War series also impressed me with their overall design.

Lock's Quest on the DS also is designed really well, and if anybody hasn't picked up that game I heartily recommend it.

What games have stood out to you for their presentation, art design, or just overall design? Comments appreciated!

So recently I tried to convince a friend to play Half-Life 2. If anyone's played the demo on Xbox Live, its pretty lame.

I told him it was considered one of the greatest FPS's of our time. He wanted to know more. I said it had a Gravity Gun. He asked if there was multiplayer. And on and on and on....

I've been experiencing this lately, and after reading that Section 8 preview it was really brought to my attention. FPS's and games in general need to have a gimmick.

Take Timeshift for instance. If anyone remembers that game, it was a pretty generic sci-fi FPS but the thing was, you could control time. If you pitched that game to anyone it'd sound like this: 'its a shooter, but you can control time!'.

No longer can I just say to my friends "its a really good game." Games need something else to draw them in.

Dark Void is the perfect example of a game thats coming up with a gimmick. Jetpacks, hi-jacking alien ships, vertical cover, perfect gimmick.

Gears of War: Chainsaws+Guns. 'Nuff said. (and broken multiplayer, but thats a different post)

My point is: I think some good games are getting passed by people who haven't played any in that series before simply because they don't have good enough or any gimmick. I'm the only person I know who has played Uncharted, and I wish that weren't true. Other people just aren't draw in, a gimmick is needed there.

Gimmicks are necessarily a bad thing. The first Gears of War drew lots of people in just cause of its gore and chainsaws, and it turned out to be a really good game. Resistance 1, also actually was played by my not-in-the-loop friends (not checking IGN every day). Thanks to its awesome weaponry and graphics, it became a highly played game by us.

What are your thoughts on "gimmicks"? Beneficial? Harmful? Comments appreciated!

This could be a whole separate post of me talking about how awesome Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask is, but that'll come later.

The one single thing that really stands out to me about that game is the sidequests.

With tons of characters who's models were recycled from Ocarina of Time, on the surface it may just seem like a cheap cash in. But this time, they're real people. The sidequest where you drive into town with a woman that works on her farm with her little sister, the dialogue during that sidequest is truly awesome.

And these aren't your normal "I dropped an item in a forest/dungeon. Could you get it for me?" or, "My pet/child is lost in a forest/dungeon. Could you get it/them for me?" these are full on character driven sidequests.

Though Fallout 3 did have some major flaws in it, some of the quests in that game (don't worry no spoilers ahead) were really original and fun. Also, I really like Mass Effect, not for the types of quests you do, but for the way they are presented in the universe.

If you really think about it, what really is a sidequest? Something that doesn't relate to the main journey, but contains the main gameplay core as well? Majora's Mask, in my opinion, is the best example of something like that.

What are some of the favorite "sidequests" you've ever been on or what game do you think had the best "sidequests?" Comments appreciated!

I've been pondering this for a while, and a commentor on my last post really brought this up to the front of my mind (Thanks Icemael). And what it is is this:

2D Graphics are beautiful.

Take Super Metroid for instance. The mood and atmosphere that game creates is simply incredible, and all for a SuperNES game. Megaman games also look really good to me, along with almost every single 2D Mario game.

New games can also recapture this look as well. Take Street Fighter IV, which, in my opinion, looks like one of the best games this generation. Its look, while 2D, looks simply astounding and breathtaking. New Super Mario Bros. is another good example, as its 3D graphics on a 2D plane really advance that genre.

I think there is still a place for 2D games in today's market. The PSN Store and Xbox Live Arcade has really opened up a space for developers to take advantage of somewhat simplified graphics. Bionic Commando Rearmed is also a great example of how a 2D game should look.

How do you guys feel about 2D games? comments appreciated!