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I have a confession to make. I've not actually played Dragon Quest IX. Well, that's not technically true ? I did spend a few minutes on it, back in September. It looked very nice. So why has it ended up as my game of the year?
Because for the last six months, since Nintendo belatedly brought the game to European shores, I've heard about almost nothing else from my eight-year-old son. He's obsessed with it. Besotted. Immersed in a way that adult brains can't hope to match. Every conversation somehow comes back round to Dragon Quest IX. He's abandoned Cartoon Network in favour of walkthrough videos on YouTube. He'll randomly quiz me on things I have no way of knowing, like how many magic points you need to cast Ka-Frizz. He'll re-enact his favourite attack moves, and patiently explain the exact recipe needed to craft the Agate of Evolution.
He's finished the entire game several times over, keeps going back for more, and I've not helped him once. Obviously that says a lot about his skill, but it also speaks highly of the game design. Enabling kids to tackle a mountain like that, and reach the peak single-handed, is worthy of applause. I loved Red Dead Redemption and swooned at the intelligent blockbuster scope of Mass Effect 2. And yet, without playing it for any length of time myself, Dragon Quest IX has impressed me more than any other game in 2010.
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I have a confession to make. I've not actually played Dragon Quest IX. Well, that's not technically true ? I did spend a few minutes on it, back in September. It looked very nice. So why has it ended up as my game of the year?
Because for the last six months, since Nintendo belatedly brought the game to European shores, I've heard about almost nothing else from my eight-year-old son. He's obsessed with it. Besotted. Immersed in a way that adult brains can't hope to match. Every conversation somehow comes back round to Dragon Quest IX. He's abandoned Cartoon Network in favour of walkthrough videos on YouTube. He'll randomly quiz me on things I have no way of knowing, like how many magic points you need to cast Ka-Frizz. He'll re-enact his favourite attack moves, and patiently explain the exact recipe needed to craft the Agate of Evolution.
He's finished the entire game several times over, keeps going back for more, and I've not helped him once. Obviously that says a lot about his skill, but it also speaks highly of the game design. Enabling kids to tackle a mountain like that, and reach the peak single-handed, is worthy of applause. I loved Red Dead Redemption and swooned at the intelligent blockbuster scope of Mass Effect 2. And yet, without playing it for any length of time myself, Dragon Quest IX has impressed me more than any other game in 2010.
Read more...
More...