Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty 

Metal Gear Solid 2 was a cultural shift for the franchise, solidifying the brand as a household name in the action-adventure genre. Based on themes of the rapid spread of misinformation in the technology age and how it affects society at large, the opening hours start on a high note as you begin to explore the USS Discovery and get familiar with the new controls. The final hours start to question everything that you know about the narrative: your allies, your motivation, and the ever-looming questions about who’s right or wrong in a world that’s ruled by biased information.

This can be considered a bit of a gut punch to fans of the classic franchise since, without owning physical discs of the games and a PS3, there is no other way to play Resistance: Fall of Man or its sequel except for via PlayStation Plus Premium. Since PS3’s PlayStation Network servers went down long ago, there is also no way to get your hands on digital copies of Resistance: Fall of Man and Resistance 2.

While Sony purges games from the service every year, the company usually avoids removing first-party titles. Rather, the focus tends to be more on taking down some third-party titles, likely as licenses and agreements expire. Interestingly, Resistance 3 and Resistance Retribution will still be playable through PlayStation Plus Premium.

Neither Sony nor Insomniac have made any official statement about Resistance: Fall of Man and Resistance 2 being taken down from the subscription service. While it might raise hopes for some that there might be a remastered release planned for modern platforms, Sony hasn’t confirmed anything one way or another

Back in February, former Insomniac CEO Ted Price spoke about how the studio wanted to make a fourth mainline entry in the Resistance franchise, but the pitch was ultimately rejected. According to Price, Sony refused to greenlight the project.

“Resistance 4. We did pitch that one, and it was a wonderful concept,” said Price. “It’s just that in terms of timing and market opportunity, it didn’t work out. But it was the result of a lot of Insomniac team members being passionate about extending the story further.”

In the meantime, as it takes down more games from its PlayStation Plus service, Sony has also been increasing the price of the subscription in various regions. Australia, South Korea, and four countries part of the Southeast Asia region (Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia) saw PlayStation Plus subscription prices go up across all tiers. This price hike followed a similar one announced for 15 Latin American countries.

“Like many businesses around the world, we continue to be impacted by global market conditions and will be adjusting our local prices for PlayStation Plus,” wrote the company on the PS Blog. “This price adjustment will enable us to continue bringing high-quality games and value-added benefits to your PlayStation Plus subscription service.”

Along with the costs of the subscription service going up, Sony has also announced that prices for the PS5 console itself will be going up in Europe, UK, Australia and New Zealand. Regions across EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) might see console prices go up as well.

For starters, there is, of course, the PlayStation Plus Game Catalog, which is available to subscribers of both tiers. Among the many games that this library will add on November 19, some of the more notable ones of Grand Theft Auto 5, Dying Light 2 Stay Human, Like a Dragon: Ishin!, and Chivalry 2, among many others.

Meanwhile, PlayStation Plus Premium subscribers also get access to legacy and VR titles every month, with this month’s offerings bringing Synapse for PS VR2, as well as classic PS1 and PS2 action-adventure titles Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain and Blood Omen 2, ahead of the December release of Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1 and 2 Remastered.

Finally, Insomniac Games’ beloved PS3 first-person shooters Resistance: Fall of Man and its sequel Resistance 2 will both also be available to PS Plus Premium subscribers, but only via streaming. You can check out the full list of upcoming additions across both tiers below.

PLAYSTATION PLUS GAME CATALOG

• Grand Theft Auto 5 (PS5, PS4)
• Dying Light 2 Stay Human (PS5, PS4)
• Like a Dragon: Ishin! (PS5, PS4)
• MotoGP 24 (PS5, PS4)
• The Sims 4 Island Living (PS4)
• Digimon Survive (PS4)
• Overcooked! All You Can Eat (PS5, PS4)
• Stick Fight: The Game (PS4)
• Clash: Artifacts of Chaos (PS5, PS4)
• Killer Frequency (PS5, PS4)
• Hungry Shark World (PS4)
• Chivalry 2 (PS5, PS4)

PLAYSTATION PLUS PREMIUM

• Synapse (PS VR2)
• Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain (PS5, PS40
• Blood Omen 2 (PS5, PS4)
• Resistance: Fall of Man
• Resistance 2

Battle for Helm’s Deep – The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

One of the most important battles in The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, the Battle for Helm’s Deep is arguably the best in the films. Despite running on sixth-gen console hardware, the video game adaptation captured the desperation of fighting hordes of Uruk Hai, pushing ladders off the keep’s walls, and meeting them at the breached wall to stop their advance. The fight spills over into the courtyard, with a somewhat awkward but cinematic view.

Killzone 2

Leading up to its launch, Killzone 2 was embroiled in controversy over its graphics (which wasn’t helped by Sony’s “demo” at E3 2005). Not only was it an utterly gorgeous title on release but also incredibly fun, packed with well-designed missions, challenging enemy AI and compelling combat. The characters and story were mostly serviceable, but all in all, Killzone 2 put Guerrilla Games on the map as a developer to reckon with.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Super Smash Bros. Melee served as the series’ watershed moment, providing a near-perfect combination of gameplay, graphics and music. Super Smash Bros. Brawl didn’t win over everyone with some of its changes (hello, tripping) but it was superior in a number of other aspects. Subspace Emissary is an incredible story-driven mode till this day; the base roster was large and grew even further with the addition of non-Nintendo characters like Solid Snake, Sonic the Hedgehog and Cloud Strife; and the Stage Builder was introduced for creating one’s own levels. The Nintendo Wii already had a number of great exclusives but Super Smash Bros. Brawl is definitely one of its finest.

Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor

That Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor’s story veers off course from the original lore is one thing but the climax comes out of left field. When finally facing the Black Hand, Celebrimbor is separated from Talion, the Black Hand commits suicide, Sauron is reincarnated in his body and Talion suddenly has to fight him in a QTE battle. Got all that? Once he succeeds, Celebrimbor wants to peace out but Talion wants to make a new Ring of Power, thus setting up the events of Shadow of War. Overall, it felt like a strange way to set up a sequel rather than provide any real closure for Talion but he still got his revenge. So there’s that.

Killzone 2

While Guerrilla Games has become well-known for the Horizon series, remastering Killzone 2 for the PS5 seems a given. It’s the game that put the company on the map and its excellent visual fidelity, attention to detail, fun gun play and solid multiplayer would make a smooth transition over to the console. If a new sequel on PS5 isn’t coming any time soon, then it makes sense to revisit Killzone 2 in some capacity.

It goes without saying, but owing to this feature’s nature, there will be major spoilers ahead for every game we speak about. So if you see us beginning to talk about a game you’d rather not have spoiled for you, go ahead and skip to the next entry.

PERSONA 3

Persona 3’s ending is an unpleasant one in a slightly different way- while we do end up managing to beat the larger threat and save the world and all that, it ends up extracting a heavy toll. The main protagonist ends up sacrificing himself to keep Nyx sealed away. It’s a much more personal loss, and sure, in the grand scheme of things the good outweighs the bad- but it still hits you like a ton of bricks.

In this feature, we’ll be taking a look at fifteen games where despite all your best efforts (or perhaps because of all your worst ones), the villains ended up coming out victorious.

Obviously, there will be spoilers ahead for every game on this list. If you see us mention a game you don’t want spoiled, skip ahead to the next entry.

RED DEAD REDEMPTION

Red Dead Redemption saw John Marston fighting with all he had to escape the cycle of violence that his life had been caught in since he had been taken in by Dutch van der Linde as a boy, but we all saw how that turne out. Things kept spiralling out of control, and Marston’s past came back to bite him with the deplorable Agent Ross marching down on his ranch with a posse an tearing him apart with a barrage of gunfire. Jack would go on to avenge his father and kill Ross, but in doing so, he also ended up entering the life his father had tried so hard to keep him out of.

]]> https://gamingbolt.com/15-video-games-in-which-the-villains-won/feed 0 392190