Best Downloadable
One of the biggest factors in my personal gaming resurgence this year was the fact that a lot of new games that I looked forward to actually came out exclusively as downloadable titles. Ranging from Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 to Echochrome to Pixeljunk Eden, there’s something for everyone online, regardless of whether it was on the Playstation Network store or the Wii Shop channel or XBox Live. There’s always some value priced instant gaming gratification to be found online – plus, it saves me some gas and a trip to the store.
This year, Capcom took the reins and led the charge in the downloadable realm across all three of the major gaming platforms. Beginning with Bionic Commando Rearmed in August followed by Megaman 9 in September and most recently with Street Fighter 2: HD Remix this past November, there is no question that Capcom had set the bar as far as downloadable titles go. Megaman 9 impressed me with its bold retro direction; an 8-bit game being released sixteen years past its prime is very meaningful in its own right. SF2:HDR showed me what a rabid fan following and community can do when handed the wheel to a beloved game franchise. But to me, it was Bionic Commando Rearmed that really set the standard of what a downloadable game can and should be.
Capcom took a tremendous risk with Bionic Commando Rearmed, especially considering that it very much wasn’t a well established franchise like Megaman and Street Fighter. Bionic Commando, as beloved as it was back in the NES days, did not have the storied history that the other two series had. For all intents and purpose, it was a forgotten franchise. But somehow Capcom allowed Grin to work with the intellectual property and BC:R wound up being much more than a simple remake given a high-def makeover – the game was completely modernized. The classic Bionic Commando soundtrack was completely remixed and features one of the best soundtracks of any game all year. Archaic features of the original NES game were completely re-thought out; the old luck based wiretapping was converted into a three dimensional cyberspace puzzle minigame. Add in a new two-player co-op and challenge room modes where you can compete against the rest of the world and you have one of the best value games of the year.
Eh, if you mean they have not made a new Bionic Commando game every year (or, counting Japanese releases, maybe more like 5 a year…) as they do Megaman, I agree. But there are plenty out there that remember the franchise. And I doubt they put too much money into it… You need a 360, you are just not used to the idea of upgraded coolness of old games, since it seems that is largely a 360 area of exploration so far. Most of the classic games they release have both a classic and modern mode.