Another Sonic game is out. Guess it's time to finish the cycle.
You know what cycle I'm talking about. Every time a new Sonic game gets announced, fans become apprehensive and cautious about the whole ordeal: Will it be new? Will it be classic? Will it be good? Then, as tidbits of information, photos, and videos are slowly revealed, the anxiety seems to wane and excitement builds. "Hey, this one could be different," they all say. And then comes the day when it's finally released.
Well. We all know how that goes.
Sonic Generations seemed to break this cycle. For once in the blue hedgehog's tainted past few years, a fluid, intuitive, and (most important of all) fun Sonic game actually got released. Of course, some fans may argue, but for the majority of players it seemed like Generations was putting Sega's famous mascot on the right path. And then Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 2 was released.
Before we jump to conclusions here, I will state this: Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 2 is not a bad game. It's just not the best game in the franchise.
Oh, Sonic Team. I really, really wanted to be in your corner for this one. Sonic Generations had me giggling with raw, childlike glee. Sure, it was a big retail title and as such in a different category than this game, but it captured what made Sonic games great. It spoke to the eight-year-old in me that spent countless hours with Sonic games and recreated that madcap, on-the-edge-of-losing-control feel that kept me playing. I didn't care about collectibles or platform gaming; Sonic Generations let me trust the developers enough to press right and watch Sonic go really, really, holy-hell-I-can't-believe-it fast. That's what these games do best.
Sonic the Hedgehog 4, Episode 2 tugs at many of the same retro strings that get my inner 8-year-old's attention. The soundtrack sounds like it was composed almost entirely on a Genesis chipset, the cinematics and level design are reminiscent of Sonics 2 and 3, and the enemies mostly originate from old games. ("Holy crap! They put the arrow guy that looks like Olmec into the game! How about that?) But in dropping all the right retro references Sonic Team forgot what makes their games fun.
The Augmented Reality features of the Nintendo 3DS are lots of fun to mess around with, but can they really sustain an entire game? That's what Tecmo Koei's Spirit Camera: The Cursed Memoir hoped to find out, with the latest installment in the popular Fatal Frame series (technically considered a spin-off, I believe). This time, you're using an actual camera to capture the ghosts... but does it work?
The Walking Dead comic book was such a success that it spawned a TV series on AMC that was such a success that it spawned even more tie-in product. And since zombie games are already a popular genre, it was only natural that somebody would license the property to do The Walking Dead videogame.
Thankfully, that somebody turned out to be Telltale Games, so instead of a gory shooter, we instead get to enjoy a dramatic and tense zombie adventure game. Episode One of the five-episode serialized game has now been released for download on PC (through Steam), PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and I had a chance to play through the Xbox version. The full review is waiting for you just around the corner in the dark...
I was a big fan of Art Academy on the DSi, so I was certainly intrigued to hear about Collecting Smiles' Colors 3D, a sequel for the DS app Colors this time for the Nintendo 3DS. Unfortunately, since I had Art Academy, I never actually tried Colors, so I won't be able to compare Colors 3D to its predecessor. But to find out what I thought about this new 3DS app that lets you create illustrations in 3D, make the jump!
Among the successful Kickstarter campaigns within the last year has been Fun to 11's Miskatonic School for Girls, a deck building game focused on a young all-girls school which happens to be run by all manner of Lovecraftian monsters, the goal is to be the one to survive the attacks on your sanity. As my roommate had supported the project, I have been able to play the game over two weeks, so I figured I would share my thoughts.
First, the game is quite gorgeously put together, with artwork that balances well between the cute and school-girlish and the more horrifying and frankly punny takes on Lovecraft's villains and elder beings. Among the noteworthy is Lunch Lady Lulu, who brings to life all the stereotypes of a lunch lady with Cthulhian grotesquery.
The players also all get mats which resemble paddles, harking back to days of yore, and thankfully excluding any overt sexual intent (among my primary concerns when dealing with school girls and tentacles in any way, shape, or form). The cards themselves are of a wonderful stock that makes shuffling a dream, with their contents all displaying various puns on the Lovecraft mythos. If I had a complaint? The paddles also have a track to note where you are on sanity, and the pebble used can move about if you're not careful--which largely becomes an issue during the classroom battles, where you are moving around cards on the center of the board (though you can choose to enact that elsewhere).
As to the game itself? It will not be everyone's cup of tea.
Nobody was more surprised than I was when the Kinect game Disneyland Adventures became one of the standout titles of E3 2011. So it was with great curiosity that I awaited its release to see if it would be as much fun as it seemed to stroll around a virtual recreation of Disneyland and play a series of fetch quests and mini-games.
The full review is after the jump, but SPOILER ALERT: It is!
I remember fondly sitting in my friend's basement, the two of us playing Soul Calibur II like mental patients. For months, we'd stare at the TV and pass the controller around like a cheap date, stuck in an endless phase of combat. The petty arguments that would arise over last minute ring outs, the deep connection we'd feel with our favorite characters, and that moment of glory when we had finally beat every level of weapon master mode. Over time our interest in the game faded as we moved on to newer games and, eventually, Soul Calibur II became a five dollar trade-in at Gamestop. Every time a new entry in the series is released I rush out to buy it and hope it rekindles my thirst for souls, but it's always a tragic disappointment.
Soul Calibur 5 is no exception to this.
It's not that the newest entry in the series can't stack up by itself; this is an enjoyable game in its own right. On a technical level, the controls have become tighter, the graphics are sharper, and new characters have mixed styles well with classic fighters. Sadly, the je nes sais quoi that made Soul Calibur II so deep and compelling might just be gone forever.
Since I moved to San Francisco in 2009 I've wound up working in two different bars for part-time work: Chaps II (now called Kok) where I was security and eventually a barback, and then Beatbox where I do security and occasionally coat check. It's decent work, but at both locations I watched the bartenders with a small degree of envy. They have the fun job where they get to talk to the customers, earn major tips, and engage in the modern alchemy of mixology when people aren't being "ironic" and ordering PBR. Sorry, but no amount of trendiness is worth subjecting your tastebuds to that stuff. *gag*
Though bartenders at both locations have let me experiment a little bit with the booze to mixed results - an International Incident was pretty tasty; Bull Sweat about broke my bartender when he tried it - I have pretty much zero experience, so the position is presently beyond me. Well, what are video games for if not allowing you to live vicariously through the lives of someone else? Enter Nimble Strong - Bartender In Training.
When we last checked in with Gorg, he was planning his brazen onslaught against the people of Earth.
The cities of man would be laid to waste, entire civilizations would be blown into red mist, and the monuments that once came to symbolize humanity's greatest achievements, would forever more serve as so many headstones - a somber memorial to a once-proud race. Gaia: Mother, provider, and if Gorg were to have anything to say about it, our tomb.
Now that the dust has settled, and Gorg's myriad misdeeds have been captured in video game form, the question remains: Is this a lovely romp through the digitized cosmos, or is Unstoppable Gorg the shame of Futuremark Studios's Finnish motherland?
The answer, as well as some fresh screenshots, awaits after the jump!
Hey there, gaymers, got a new video review for y'all. Since I got such good feedback from the one I did on Bastion - including from Logan Cunningham, aka Rucks himself on Twitter! - I thought I'd put my vid cap device to use and make another one. This time it's a big one: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword!
DC Comics recently collected the six-issue InFAMOUS limited series into a trade paperback, and it turns out it's a good read that nicely bridges the gap between InFAMOUS and InFAMOUS 2.
Written by William Harms, who also penned the script to the PlayStation 3 best-seller, the Infamous comic begins with Cole MacGrath dealing with the aftermath of the events of the first title in the series and as he tries to avoid capture by FBI Agent Moya Jones, keep the First Suns in check, and keep the city itself from being blown off the map, it leads nicely into setup for the second game. The art by Eric Nguyen is dynamic, and nicely replicates the rough, shadowy comic-style cutscenes from the game. It veers a little away from that style in later issues, but not so drastically that it's distracting. So between the words and the pictures, the comic does a really good job of recreating the feel of the game.
In InFAMOUS, it was up to the player to choose whether Cole would take the path of good or evil as he learned to use his powers, but obviously the comic can't do the same. But while comic Cole has clearly become a hero, he's still pretty dark, just like in the game. The basic storyline is entertaining enough, but what I really appreciated was the way the comic delves into the effects that the situation in Empire City has had on the general populace, something the game couldn't really do. The citizens in the comic series have much more impact than the random NPCs wandering around the game world getting themselves killed.
InFAMOUS is available now from DC Comics for $17.99 US and $19.99 Canadian.
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You know what cycle I'm talking about. Every time a new Sonic game gets announced, fans become apprehensive and cautious about the whole ordeal: Will it be new? Will it be classic? Will it be good? Then, as tidbits of information, photos, and videos are slowly revealed, the anxiety seems to wane and excitement builds. "Hey, this one could be different," they all say. And then comes the day when it's finally released.
