ulture

4 last-gen

video games to

Colin Slark
Team Member

ideo game collecting can be an expensive hobby. New games have gotten more expensive
Vin the advent of the current generation of consoles, and the consoles themselves are
a significant investment. If you are unable to afford the entry cost for next-gen gaming, you
might still be looking for games to play on your trusty Playstation 3, Xbox 360, or Nintendo
Wii. Here are 4 last-gen games to help stave off boredom.

From the studio that brought the world the much
beloved Persona role-playing series comes an interesting meditation on commitment and
relationships. Vincent is a man in a stagnant long-term relationship with his girlfriend
Katherine. One day he gets drunk and appears to have slept with a younger woman
named Catherine. After this happens, Vincent starts having nightmares every night
where he is forced to navigate labyrinths and the player controls him as he ascends a
seemingly unending tower of bricks. Unusual for a platformer is the ability to affect
the game’s story at the end of levels. Vincent finally arrives in a confession booth and
is asked questions about his views on relationships. Depending on how the player
answers, you can end up with one of nine different endings which when combined
with varying difficulty levels. Bonus levels also give the game a lot of replay value.

The real-time strategy genre is not one that lends itself well
to console gaming. RTS games rely on using the mouse to quickly select units and assign them
tasks. On consoles, using your controller’s sticks to try and select units is painful. However,
with its motion sensing remote, the Wii could roughly imitate mouse movement. This allowed
Little King’s Story to not only be competent, but fun. As a young king who has just inherited a
crown from his father, you are tasked with assembling and leading an army in order to defend

the kingdom and expand your territory. The art style is charming and the gameplay is fun.
If you like any of the Pikmin games or even The Wonderful 101, you'll like Little King’s Story.

If you are looking for a game with complex characters
and snappy dialogue, you should probably look elsewhere. Vanquish is the equivalent of a
popcorn movie, paper thin narratively, but a spectacle when it comes to gameplay. In the
future, there is a war between the United States and Space Russians over a space station. The
Americans send a squad of elite troops to repel the Russian invasion, which includes Sam
Gideon, a soldier with an experimental robot suit. You control Sam as you use a variety of
futuristic guns as well as rocket boots to fly around while destroying robots in bullet time.
The game controls perfectly, and while it is fairly short, it is a thrill ride from start to finish.

From the creator of the fantastic Ace Attorney
video games comes a unique puzzle game. Sissel is a ghost who suddenly comes to
consciousness when a young detective is murdered near his spirit. Another spirit tells
him that he has the ability to jump into the past four minutes before the young woman’s
death in order to change events and save her life. He jumps back and is able to possess
and manipulate objects to thwart the would-be assassin. Throughout the story, Sissel
is placed into situations where someone’s death is imminent and he must manipulate
the environment to prevent loss of life. Ghost Trick has surprisingly smooth animations
for a handheld game and combines a great soundtrack with a gripping mystery.

I don’t know what the availability of these games is, but fortunately Prince
George has some pretty good secondhand stores that have large selections
of games. If you are looking for something that gets your blood pumping
or perhaps something more cerebral, try one of these games.