Life has not been kind to Sony’s black box. It has had one of the most overpromised and underwhelming starts in recent gaming history. Out of the dozen or so launch titles, only one caught the eyes of critics, which wasn’t enough to justify a purchase of the most expensive consoles on the planet. Additionally, BluRay and other new technologies hadn’t been proven yet, and many gamers were skeptical. Sony also lost many of its former exclusive titles to other platforms, which makes it even harder to justify.
Thankfully, the PS3 is starting to get some momentum in the way of some innovative games, and the console has seen a huge price drop. Here are some games that make the Playstation 3 almost worth having.
Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune (read our review here)
Release Date: Nov 16, 2007
| Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune (Action/Adventure Game – PlayStation 3) | ||
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$26.50 | |
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$29.99 | |
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Uncharted is pretty much another Tomb Raider / Indiana Jones clone, but uses all of the PS3’s horsepower to deliver great graphics, and is one of the few must-play games on the system.
The game opens with Nathan Drake recovering the coffin of the explorer and an ancestor of Nathan Sir Francis Drake from the ocean floor, using coordinates inscribed on a ring in Nathan’s possession. The effort is paid for through journalist Elena Fisher (Emily Rose)’s company, who is there to record the events for a potential blockbuster documentary. The coffin only contains a diary written by Sir Francis Drake, but points to the location of El Dorado, the fabled city of gold. With the assistance of Nathan’s friend, Victor “Sully” Sullivan (Richard McGonagle), they fly to the island without Elena and find clues that El Dorado is not actually a city, but a large statue of gold, and that the statue was removed long ago from where it was kept. However, Nathan and Sully discover a long-abandoned U-boat nearby, with the dead crew’s pockets full of gold coins and a missing page from the Drake diary that points to a southern tropic island where the statue was likely taken.
The Orange Box
Release Date: Dec 11, 2007
The Orange Box is a video game compilation produced and published by Valve, which contains Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episode One, Half-Life 2: Episode Two, Portal, and Team Fortress 2. The Windows version was released on October 10, 2007 as both retail boxed copy, and as a download available through Valve’s Steam service.
Valve planned on releasing an additional compilation entitled The Black Box, which would have contained only the new material (Episode Two, Portal, and Team Fortress 2), exclusively for the PC, but was later canceled for retail, and will only be available through Steam to owners of the ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT graphics card. These owners receive a voucher for a free copy of The Black Box through Steam which can only be transferred along with the graphics card.
| The Orange Box (PS3) | ||
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$49.00 | |
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Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction
Release Date: Oct 23, 2007
| Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction (Action/Adventure Game – PlayStation 3) | ||
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$29.99 | |
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$19.99 | |
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Tools of Destruction retains much of the basic gameplay found in previous Ratchet & Clank games, the game being primarily a shooter-platformer. The player controls Ratchet most of the time, with some sections using Clank, as they explore various worlds to complete missions, using Ratchet’s wrench and other exotic weapons gained during the course of the game. At times, Ratchet may enter free-fall, or with an upgrade to Clank, will be able to fly; during these periods, the player uses the tilt functionality of the SIXAXIS controller to maneuver Ratchet. The tilt-sensing abilities of the SIXAXIS are also used to control some weapons and gadgets, such as steering the path of a mini-tornado, outlining a path for a laser-cutting tool, or using a marble to complete circuitry.
Rock Band (read our review here)
Release Date: Nov 20, 2007
| Rock Band (XB360) | ||
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$26.50 | |
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Rock Band allows players to perform in virtual “bands” by providing up to four players with the ability to play three different instrument-based peripherals (a guitar peripheral for guitar and bass guitar sequences, a drum peripheral, and a microphone). These instruments are used to simulate the playing of rock music by hitting scrolling notes on-screen. Players using the Xbox 360 both online and offline multiplayer capabilities.
Heavenly Sword
Release Date: Sep 12, 2007
