Apparantly scans from the latest Nintendo Power, along with Nintendo's new release date list, reveal that we are all finally getting a sequel to one of my favorite platformers of all time. The purple-haired belly-dancing half-genie is making a comeback on the DSi, and she's making her comeback in three games! I couldn't be happier.
Original Shantae:
It's been a while since I had this much fun playing a videogame. I've only been playing for about 40 minutes, but I can already tell this is going on my alltime favorites list. Muramasa is pure, beautiful fun and should be in everyones collection. Don't have a wii? Get one, because this game is worth it.
That is all.
If I can get a game at retail with a box, I'm going to choose that option every time, even if it costs more in most cases. Of course games like Castle Crashers, where the only option is to get them through download services, still need to be part of my collection, so I'll download those.
And now PAX has ended (rather unceremoniously if anyone saw the Omegathon final). Good year If I do say so myself. I didn't spend as much time on the show floor today to allow a friend to experience it for the first time, but perhaps that was a blessing in disguise, as after two days I was a bit burnt out. But enough about me, here are the rest of the games I got to today!
Click to check out my PAX thoughts from days 1 and 2
Split Second:
I don't want to be misunderstood; the demo was a ton of fun. I like to think of it as a more serious and realistic Mario Kart, since you can cause the drivers in front of you to crash in a fiery inferno under the right circumstances. It was a blast to tell you the truth. That said, I don't see it being worth 60 bucks. Perhaps its just because all there was to the demo was the driving itself (no menus or anything) but I didn't see a lot of depth to the game. I apoligize to the developers if I'm just talking out of my ass.
Tekken 6:
I really only stopped in on it because there was no line and I had a minute or two to kill, so I tried my hand at it, and it was Tekken as usual. Nothing ground breaking here (though Yoshimitsu was especially awesome looking).Its just more Tekken, which depending on the person could either be a good or bad thing.
Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny:
Let me tell my story on this game first. When it was initially announced I was very excited about the prospect of playing Soul Calibur on the go. Then, over time, I started to have my doubts on how well it would control. I will be the first to admit that I ended up being very wrong. Soul Calibur for the PSP works and looks fantastic, and is worth a buy from anyone who has a PSP and enjoys fighters, or has a PSP and merely likes Soul Calibur.
The Saboteur:
Spent some good time with this game, and I love the freedom available to the player in it. From what I saw most all of it can either be played run and gun or stealth, and that aspect is like a good perfume to me. Something seemed a little off about it, but I'm not sure what it was, and it certainly wasn't game breaking. I'll be looking forward to a final version.
Dead Space Extraction:
The only thing I can say about this one is this: Soooo dissapointing. Perhaps I have been spoiled with Umbrella Chronicles, but this did not seem like a good on rails shooter. the enemies were extremely slow and could be made even slower with a press of the z button (as long as you weren't constantly using it, this ability never went away). Ammo was scarce, but it seemed less like a design choice, made to bring out more anxious feelings within the character, and more like a simple annoyance. The horror was there for sure, as I jumped in place at one point where an unseen enemy came out of nowhere, but the graphics aren't nearly up to the level that people made it sound like they were.
Kingdom Hearts 358/2 days:
Another dissapointment, what I played of Kingdom Hearts was so ridiculously simplistic that even the beautiful environments couldn't persuade me from disliking it. Having not played other games in the series, I don't know what the combat was like, but I certainly hope it was more than simply doing the same three slices over and over again ad nauseum. There were magic spells too, but their use was limited, and didn't take away from the monotonous feeling. This is on top of learning that no disney or final fantasy characters will be in the game. The saving grace of this game is the good looks, but to me thats hardly a grace at all.
Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes:
On the other end of the spectrum from Kingdom Hearts is this little game from Ubisoft that I got roped into demoing by a cute Ubi employee, which she described as a "more complicated Bejewled". I could tell early on that this one could be addicting. The game pits you and a group of soldiers on the bottom screen against the computer (or what I can assume would be a second player) and his soldiers on the top. you have three different types of soldiers (plus wizards and griffins occasionally) on a grid, and you line them up either horizontally or vertically in groups of three to progress in the game. vertical lines bring the three troops to the top of the bottom screen and prepare them for attack in a set number of turns, while horizontal lines bring those troops to the front and turn them into brick walls. Attackers will move from the bottom screen to the top screen in the same row they were in, taking down enemy troops and doing damage to enemy walls. The goal is to send your attacking forces through the defending forces to the top of the screen where they do damage to the opposing player, who has a set number of hit points. This is my suprise of the show. I've never played a Might and Magic game before, but this one caught me hook line and sinker.
Cop The Recruit:
It was my lucky day, as I was singled out by two different cute Ubisoft employees in the handheld lounge for two different games. Cop was another DS stunner (though I actually knew something about this one before hand. The E3 trailer didn't do this game justice in either graphics or gameplay. The cars, buildings, and characters were far bigger and more detailed than ANYTHING (i mean that) I have ever seen on the DS. it puts every other 3D game on the console to shame, and runs at 60 fps while doing it. On top of that, the cars IMO controled like a dream, and each one handled differently. Shooting worked like a DS shooter should and has sensitivity specifications in case you want things a little tighter. Its not GTA (you can't run over pedestrians and shooting them is equally hopeless) but frankly, I didn't miss any of the M rated GTA material in the slightest. There are a few things that should be changed by launch, but I think i'll still buy the game without them. First of all, sometimes its hard to see far away enemies, and some sort of indicator of their location would be nice. Also, the dialogue is cornier than the original Resident Evils. It's really, really bad. lastly, it'd be nice if they implemented diagonal running, as right now you can only run in the directions of the D pad. All in all though, Cop is the complete package, and it will shock DS owners everywhere.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Smash up
What would you have if you took Smash Brothers and stripped away all the special (b) attacks? TMNT Smashup. Its a pretty bland game that could use a lot more flair. Thats really all there is to say on it.
The games I never got to:
Borderlands.
The line for this was pretty insane, even when I got in early on saturday. I was somewhat interested after the art style changed, but after watching someone play a few minutes, I lost most of my desire.
Left 4 Dead 2
Is it worth demoing? Come on, we all know its essentially the same as the first game
Dragon Age: Origins
Sorry, but I don't know the first thing about this game, and It had a line rivaling Borderlands.
Zelda: Chu Chu Train (Spirit Tracks)
Again, anyone who has played "I'm on a boat!" (Phantom Hourglass) will know everything there is to know about this one.
The second day is done, and there isn't much PAX left to go. I won't be doing as much tomorrow as I will be letting a friend take my place for a few hours before the Omegathon, but I swear I will still get to Split Second
Heavy Rain. This is a game to watch out for. It singlehandedly makes me jealous of PS3 owners (or people that have 300 bucks laying around). The choices work well, perhaps even better than Mass Effect, and the story, at least what I saw, really packed a punch
Uncharted. Note I didn't actually get my hands on this one, but I didn't feel like I needed to after watching others play in front of me. Graphics: Top notch. Enemy AI: Brilliant. Shooting/Cover Mechanics. About as good as can be. climbing elements? They looked a little boring from my perspective. Don't let that make this sound like some sort of diss on the game though. It still looks very cool (BTW, the main characters bantering is just as annoying as that main character in Crimson Skies)
Bayonetta. This game is soo full of style its coming out of my hair folicles (which now drape over me like a full body suit). The combat was beautiful and while complex (you have a lot of control over what the character does) the controls were extremely intuitive and I had little trouble mowing down enemies after a brief tutorial. I am very excited for its release (and subsequent drop in price, at which point I will buy this and every other game not called Scribblenauts)
Brutal Legend. Like Bayonetta, this game has a lot of style, but the combat in comparison was bland and unexciting, which I believe is an unfortunate result of Jack Blacks short weapon. That said, this game has some of the best humor i've ever heard in a video game (even better than the Madworld commentators)
White Knight Chronicles. It seems like a good deal of fun, but I'm not happy about the slow reaction of any commands you give your player. Its like you tell him to do something, and about a second and a half later, he does it. Beautiful though, and very large as well
Star Wars: The Old Republic panel. Let me make it clear right now. I am not interested in MMOs, in the slightest. I simply attended in the place of a good friend of mine who had fallen ill with some food poisoning (people, avoid the fourth floor Subway). I will admit it was quite impressive. Bounty Hunters and Sith look like a lot of fun to use, especially with the cover mechanic, and the fact that all the dialogue in the game is spoken is mind blowing. Bioware is certainly a force (see what i did there?) to be reckoned with. after the panel, they gave everyone a code to redeem for KOTOR on Steam (which they announced earlier in the show) but doesn't that seem kind of lame, considering almost everyone in that room had already played it?
The Giant Bomb panel. It was nice to meet the guys in person (even though I met some of them yesterday). That NOS/Ramen mix they made looked absolutely vile, but props to the kid who won and recieved a Beta Key for Starcraft 2. They had a little exclusive cartoon they had made (time trotters was it?) and it was fun and a little bit silly. A shame I thought it was worth leaving early for the...
Capcom party. Pretty lame in general i've got to say, but they were giving out free Tricell ID cards with peoples pictures on them (if i get a good response, perhaps i'll post a picture of mine), zombie face paintings, and raffle tickets for cool prizes like the PC version of RE5 and a expensive video card. I didn't win the video card, but I did, for the first time in my life, win a raffle by getting RE5. Reason number 2 why i need to go get a gaming quality PC (reason one being APB).
tomorrow: Dead Space Extraction, Split Second, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, 358/2 days, and I swear I'll finally remember to ask Sega about the status of Infinite Space. If i have time i'll get around to the Saboteur as well.
I just got home from the first day of Penny Arcade Expo, and figured it'd be good to drop some thoughts on a few of the games that made appearances
Winners:
APB. It wasn't actually playable at the show, but people who knew where to go were treated to a short play through of the game by a Realtime Worlds employee and Mark Rein. I cannot state this enough: This game is amazing. It may singlehandedly force me to buy a gaming-quality computer. When the closed beta starts, I guarantee people will start raving about this piece of art.
Scribblenauts. Its just as good as everyone says it is. The best part, IMO, is that you can rickroll god.
Resident Evil 5 PC. I only played it to get into the exclusive capcom saturday party, but I was pleasently suprised at how well 3D can work in a videogame. It really looked nice, and I will keep my eyes out for games that do that in the future.
Tatsunoko vs. Capcom. Every bit as good as Street Fighter 4, though perhaps Marvel vs. Capcom 2 is a more accurate comparison. A blast to play (though I wasn't expecting much)
Mass Effect 2. The combat seems more wild, and I don't like the apparant switch to ammo rather than overheating weapons, but all in all, it seems this will be a more than adequate follow up to one of the best current gen RPGs.
Flipnote Studio. This DSiware program allows you to make your own animated movies, and it's a pretty cool tool. If only you could combine it with Jam Sessions...
Cave Story. Yes.
Other things:
Nostalgia. I put some brief time into this DS RPG and I can see myself loving it just as much as any of the many other great DS adventures.
Sands of Destruction: Another one i only spent a few minutes with, this game seems to harken back to the old days. I might try to put more time in tomorrow
No More Heroes 2. They were giving away toilet paper with NMH2 themed imprints to people who completed the demo! i got myself a roll. It's quite nice.
Head Honchos: Met the GB crew on the expo floor, and spoke with Nintendo's Reggie about Golden Sun DS briefly. cool stuff
Jerseys. It was cool to see all the Seattle Sounders jerseys out (of course with the XBOX 360 logo on the front). I even saw a Dreamcast jersey out there.
Tomorrow I plan to spend some time with Heavy Rain, Uncharted 2, Borderlands, Bayonetta, and Split Second. If there are any other games people want me to talk about, let me know and i'll see what I can do tomorrow.
Hopefully I'll see some of you on Saturday. I'm going to stick my giantbomb tag and avatar to the back of my pass during the GB panel, so see yall there.
a few ticks after 6:30, the Seattle Sounders FC put their stamp on a big time road win over the most storied franchise in MLS history, D.C. United, in a 2-1 win. Goals by Fredy Montero and Roger Levesque, both scored in the second half, allowed the team to win the storied cup in their first year in MLS.
For those of you that have forgotten, the Sounders are sponsored by XBOX, and their jerseys display some major gamer cred. If you are going to PAX, it'll be pretty easy to pick up Sounders jerseys at the nearby Pacific Place, which has a team store inside.
The most recent price drop is like a breath of fresh air for anyone who has ever enjoyed a game on a sony console. The drop was long-warranted, perhaps even as long as since when the console was infamously introduced at E3 over 3 years ago. Frankly I was thrilled that the PS3 slim was announced at the 300 dollar price spot. However, there was one aspect of it that was a complete deal-breaker for me.
As recently as a week ago I finally obtained my own PS2 (in a straight up trade for the entire Naruto series, which i had gotten on the cheap and never bothered to unwrap). I've loved it so far, especially Odin Sphere. So you would think that I regret the trade now? Not at all.
The main problem that I had with the PS3 is something that has been maintained, despite consumer dismay. That is the lack of backwards compatability. On its own it only has a bare minimum of games I want that I don't already own on the 360 (Those being Metal Gear Solid 4, Valkyria Chronicles, Uncharted and perhaps the Ninja Gaiden remakes). If the console at this 300 dollar price had backwards compatability, I wouldn't be here writing this blog post (my first in a few months). Instead I'd be banging on the doors at Target begging them to let me in when the sliding doors were only feet away (i can be kind of a loon sometimes).
So, in summary:
Playstation 3 worth 300 dollars for people who do own PS2s and not 360s? YES
Playstation 3 worth 300 dollars for people who do own PS2s and 360's? No
Playstation 3 worth 300 dollars for people who don't own PS2s and do own 360s? NOT NEARLY
If/When Sony does release a BC PS3 at 300 dollars, I'll be there day one. Until then, I'll be happy with my PS2 (and Wii, DS, PSP, and 360)
This weekend was probably the most busy gaming wise (not even including the Sounders game) that I have had in years. While I didn't complete any of these games strictly in the span of the weekend, finishing 3 games at once is almost unheard of for me.
Last night, despite running on little sleep from a 4th party the night before, I felt determined to get my PSP into full working order. The struggle spanned months (mostly thanks to inaction on my part) but eventually, I was able to get my PSP into full Sony approved condition, which means that I can finally get on PSN and buy Fate Unlimited Codes. Or at least I would be able to if it was out yet.... Regardless, that was on my to do list, along with finding the english versions of songs from Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad and finally going at my Itunes collection and getting everything rated and labeled properly. Now, only the Itunes thing is left, but its going to take forever.
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