Edit: Contest closed! Check out the new contest here.
How to Play: Tell me your favorite piece of content from Brad Shoemaker (Giant Bomb era), whether it's a moment from the Bombcast, a video/live stream, etc. Be specific! Be sure to tell me what game you want. You have until Monday, August 15th.
I've received my 28th donation! Thanks to mracoon for donating their sealed PSP copy of Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions (U.K. participants only)! mracoon has also donated a Steam gift copy of the Humble Indie Bundle #2!
I've received my 29th donation! Thanks to Sin4profit for donating their Steam gift copy of Puzzle Agent and Terraria (two copies)!
This post contains major spoilers for Rez HD. ------
Date Initially Beaten: July 29th, 2011 Platform: Xbox 360 (Xbox Live Arcade)
Child of Eden arrived from GameFly recently. I've been interested in it ever since seeing Tetsuya Mizuguchi demonstrate it for the first time using the Kinect. As a Kinect owner myself, I was excited to see something that wasn't some sort of fitness trainer or minigame collection. Hearing Child of Eden described as a spiritual successor to Rez made me finally decide to check it out, so after buying $20 worth of Microsoft Points and using half of them on the Dragon Age II: Legacy downloadable content, I used the other half to download Rez HD from Xbox Live Arcade.
I knew very little about Rez beforehand. It was something I'd heard mentioned enough times to know it was sort of a cult classic, though, and what I did know I learned years ago, having seen a few screenshots and forum posts about it. I knew the game had an odd graphical style, that it had something to do with music, and that there was a vibrator peripheral released for it. This little bit of knowledge didn't tell me much other than that the game was weird, and I felt it was something that would be difficult for me to grasp and play or even understand. It didn't even seem like much of a game in the traditional sense I had known at the time, and all of this was enough for me not to investigate further. Thankfully, all my preconceptions were wrong.
Perhaps you can see why one might be confused as to the nature of this game.
Rez is weird, but only in its visual design and use of music; from a gameplay perspective it's pretty straightforward. To put it plainly, it's a rail shooter - you hold the A button, hover a cursor over the enemies/objects you want to shoot, and release to fire, all the while being guided on a predetermined path that never changes. Shooting red power-ups give you the ability to use an Overdrive, which, when activated, automatically shoots everything on-screen and is useful for the more hectic parts of the game when you have dozens of things flying toward you. Shooting blue power-ups (known as Progress Nodes) fill up your "life" meter, in which you level up into the next form when full. These forms basically act as your health bar, with every hit you take devolving you into the previous form, and the game ending if you get hit at form 0. I'm glad I watched the tutorial video before playing, as none of this information is given in the actual game. It took me until my second playthrough of Area 2 to fully understand everything. I remember thinking during the Area 1 boss fight, "I don't know what's going on but apparently I'm doing good!" as I watched its health bar drop. I hadn't even known that I had to be hit by things to devolve, thinking that maybe it was based on how many enemies I failed to shoot as they flew past me.
Well, actually, there was one thing I didn't realize until completing the first four areas. Feeling like something was missing, I did a quick search to find out I had to get 100% analyzation on every level to unlock Area 5, the game's last level. See, each Area consists of 10 layers, and to travel to the next layer, you can either shoot the Password Protectors (in the form of a cube) that appear, which are what give you the analyzation points, or you can do nothing and wait a little longer to travel to the next layer automatically, gaining nothing. I thought that the Password Protectors were just a way to jump ahead more quickly, not realizing they were necessary to complete the game.
The lack of explanation goes for the story, too, with everything told through text on a separate menu outside of any gameplay. Rez is about your infiltration of a network run by Eden, an A.I. that has recently become self-aware and shut herself down. Your goal is to bypass Eden's security, find her, and reboot the system. It's slightly more complicated than that (and I really mean only slightly) but that's the gist of it.
Even with the confusion the game wasn't very challenging, as I only failed and needed to restart an area three times throughout the whole game. They were all for dumb reasons, too. On Area 2 it was because I didn't realize I needed to turn around when the boss came out of its shell, on Area 3 it was because I didn't use Overdrives correctly on the final stage of its boss, and it also happened right before finishing the game at Area 5; I used all my Overdrives at the beginning of the encounter with Eden, not realizing that it was a total boss rush. It makes complete sense that a boss rush would be in there, actually, but I thought I was defeating her for good right then and there. The game doesn't have any checkpoints, but the areas are all fairly short, so having to replay them wasn't a big deal. I actually enjoyed it, as it gave me more time with an otherwise brief game. I've never been into score attack modes or anything like that, so I knew that the story mode and the few extras I unlocked after beating it was all I would get out of it.
The boss in Area 4 reminded me of Seven Force from Gunstar Heroes.
There were a couple of specific moments that reminded me of some other music-based games, as well. There is a form that Mars, the Area 2 boss, takes that gave me a heavy Everyday Shooter vibe. The targets you shoot prior to Mars coming out of its shell look exactly like something out of that game, and I wouldn't be surprised to hear that Jonathan Mak was influenced by Rez, with the similarities the games share in regards to how the actions of the player and music are tied in to each other. There were also some camera sweeps during other boss stages that reminded me of Space Channel.
A lot about Rez just emanates a feeling of cool, whether it's the way your character pulsates with the beat of the song, or how your every action is timed rhythmically with the music. The game appropriately hits its high point with the final level as you progress through the evolution of life on Earth, from its beginnings in the sea to the exploration of outer space, with it all ending in a showdown with Eden as you face off forms of all the previous bosses you encountered. It's also my favorite use of music, featuring "Fear" by Adam Freeland. All of this is enhanced with an additional Xbox 360 controller laying on your crotch with the trance vibration functionality activated. That is what I was supposed to do, right? Either way, I recommend it.
Make me feel it! Make me feel alive again! I'm glad I decided to play this before starting Child of Eden. I learned while doing some research for this that Child of Eden is actually a prequel, so that'll be interesting. I'm sure I'll feel even cooler controlling everything with my hands, but I'll have to see how well that actually works. Regardless, Rez HD was a fun, albeit short experience - not that being short is a bad thing. I prefer a game that's tightly knit as opposed to one that drags on, and Rez never felt dull. 800 points well spent.
How to Play: Tell me your favorite piece of content from Ryan Davis (Giant Bomb era), whether it's a moment from the Bombcast, a video/live stream, something from his Twitter etc. Be specific! Be sure to tell me what game you want. You have until Thursday, August 11th.
I decided to do something special for Christmas 2009 and bought bothsets of Valve's Left 4 Dead Holiday Cards. After filling them out for family and friends, I still had a bunch left over (there were a lot of cards), so I started filling out cards for things that don't fall under "family and friends", like Giant Bomb and Valve. Yes, I sent a Left 4 Dead themed Christmas card to Valve. This one, in fact:
I even drew a picture on the left side. What's on the right is none of your business! Not that it's anything personal - I just believe a message in a Christmas card should only be read by those it was sent to.
To my surprise, I received this envelope shortly after. Apparently they got my card:
So, what was inside? Why, Left 4 Dead bumper stickers, of course! The fact that they sent something back in return is pretty awesome:
Soon. Soon everyone will know your face.
Here's what I sent to Giant Bomb, back when they were in Sausalito!:
I picked this one specifically because it had Bill on it.
Deep.
Man, Christmas 2011 needs to hurry the hell up! I hope it gets cold in this part of North Carolina. If only Jack in the Box still carried taco nachos, I could celebrate Christmas just as I did then ... by watching Giant Bomb content and eating delicious, greasy fast food.
Good times.
Here are the rest of the cards:
And here is White Fluffy Kitty attacking the cards:
And here is White Fluffy Kitty making amends for attacking the cards by licking my hand:
I haven't had a lot of luck with StreetPass encounters. Shortly after the aforementioned post, I met two other Miis in the form of Gamessa and Clif, making for a total of three people I've come across since the launch of the 3DS in March. My experience with this feature has been disappointing, especially since receiving duplicate puzzle pieces in Puzzle Swap is common when purchased with Play Coins, as opposed to being guaranteed a new piece when encountering a fellow player. Having never been to a convention where it's common for people to pack their 3DS, I was excited to see what would happen when I visited the Whiskey Media office on June 24th. Arriving back at my hotel later that night, I had completely forgotten that my 3DS was still on and in my pocket. I excitedly took it out and booted up StreetPass Mii Plaza to be greeted with this:
They both kicked my ass, by the way. And those are probably the last StreetPass encounters I'm going to have for a very long time.
Oh, and if there was still any doubt as to the identity of the man in the following photo ( from this thread ), I think Ryan's Mii is enough evidence to lay this mystery to rest:
Come up with song titles for a fictional Giant Bomb album. :D Feel free to take real song titles and meme them up!
Here are mine:
1. How To Build A Bomb 2. Girl (You Got A Sloppy Wallet) 3. Banana Mouth 4. Never 5. On The Moon 6. I'm A Wizard (And That Looks Fucked Up) 7. C*** 8. Strap It On 9. Silky the Fairy 10. Playing for Keeps (Outro)
I have a bunch more, but I'l let you guys take it from here!
How to Play: Tell me your favorite piece of content from Jeff Gerstmann (Giant Bomb era), whether it's a news story, a moment from the Bombcast, a video/live stream, something from his VYou/Formspring etc. Be specific! Be sure to tell me what game you want. You have until Thursday, August 4th.
Formspring - I know, I know ... but in an effort to write more, I've created a Formspring account. Feel free to ask me questions about the giveaways or anything else you want!
Follow me on Giant Bomb for the latest updates on contests!
Vito's Game Giveaway #30! 10 New Games (5 PS3, 360, 2 PC)! Winner
Congratulations to Pop for winning Audiosurf (donated by Sjosz)! Out of 95 contestants, their username was the one Random Line Picker chose!
Vito's Game Giveaway #31 How to Play: Tell me what your favorite action movie is. Be sure to tell me what game you want! You have until Thursday, July 28th.
Vito's Game Giveaway #28! 8 More Games + Bonus Audiosurf Contest! Winners
Congratulations to baconbringer for winning Puzzle Agent (donated by YoungFrey)! Out of 33 contestants, their username was the one Random Line Picker chose!
Congratulations to l337W422102 for winning Audiosurf (donated by Kyreo)! Out of 9 contestants, their username was the one Random Line Picker chose!
Vito's Game Giveaway: Bastion Edition Winner
Congratulations to ShaggyChu for winning Bastion (donated by me)!
New Games!
I've received my 21st donation! Thanks for ssj4raditz for donating five PS3 games and three Xbox 360 games! All games have been tested and work, and everything (instruction books, cases, discs) are in great condition! Check the PS3 and Xbox 360 sections (haven't had those in a while) below to see what they are. All games are NTSC, so figure it out for yourself whether you can play the game or not.
Special thanks to Greg Kasavin for offering to provide post-launch codes for a future Giveaway if they ever became available. I told him not to worry about it since I'm already doing this contest (and I think as many people should buy their copy as possible), but the fact that he offered is pretty damn awesome.
Congratulations to Supergiant Games on all their future success. They are very much the type of developers everyone should be supporting, and I look forward to playing the hell out of Bastion over the next few days.
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