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Most Anticipated Games of 2010

By moelarrycurly January 29, 2010 4 Comments

Here's the list of games that I am most stoked about for this year. Should be a good one. Shall we kick things off?

	1. Super Mario Galaxy 2 I stand by my belief that Super Mario Galaxy is the best game of this generation, and the sequel looks to be even better. The boys at Nintendo are getting more adventurous and experimental with this one, creating even crazier galaxies and planets to romp through. And dude, Yoshi! 'Nuf said.
	2. God of War III The God of War series defines the term "epic," and this time Sony Santa Monica is pushing the envelope even further. From the screens that are out there, the scope and scale of this game is absolutely immense, with mind-blowing camera pans and intense, gory action. Fortunately the developers are sticking with the tried-and-true combat system, which will be all that much more glorious in high definition.
	3. Red Dead Redemption Men with guns in the Wild West has never looked so damn fine. The gunplay looks fabulous, the graphics look excellent for an open-world game, and realistic gun physics! Yes! People are going to DIE in this game, and it is going to be AWESOME.
	4. Pokémon HeartGold/SoulSilver God damn you Pokemon. Try as I might to escape my youth, I cannot deny that I have a soft spot in my heart for the second-generation of Pokemon. Sixteen badges, two whole worlds, and even though it's a remake of a game that I played years ago, I couldn't be more excited for it. Also, I will be starting with Cyndaquil.
	5. Metroid: Other M Team Ninja Metroid = ZOMG. I have no idea how Nintendo decided to let Team Ninja, a developer noted for its intense action games (and boob fetish), take charge of a Metroid game. Metroid has always been a slow, solitary experience with a few stellar boss fights mixed in to make up for the slack. And now, although Team Ninja may be known to be fairly sexist with female portrayals, it seems that Samus Aran is going to get some serious character development in this game. I'm all ears for news about this.
	6. Heavy Rain Gameplay? HA! Who needs that when you have a dark, suspenseful story with enough interactivity to call it a game. Although I never played Indigo Prophecy (or anything else by Quantic Dream, for that matter), this game is very interesting to me. I won't know what to think until the reviews are out, but everything looks great so far.
	7. Final Fantasy XIII Call me a blasphemer, but Final Fantasy VII is the only game out of this series that I have played. It was fun, entertaining, and I still get One Winged Angel stuck in my head from time to time. This is the first FF game to really pique my interest since then, and so far the gameplay looks solid and the story looks nonsensical, but then again, everything is as it should be in the realm of JRPGs, yes?
	8. Unannounced The Legend of Zelda For Wii (working title) If this game does indeed come out this year (which I honestly doubt), my life will summarily end on its release date. As one of many in the world of Zelda fandom, I will lose all sense of sanity when the title for this is inevitably announced at E3. Until then, I can only hope and dream, as well as try to decipher every minuscule detail is this one piece of artwork that Nintendo has oh-so-coyly let out. You bastards! You'll drive me mad, I say! MAD!
	9. Gran Turismo 5 RACING! IN CARS! OH JOY! Hopefully this game can live up to (and potentially overcome) the great leaps in simulation racing genre brought about by a little series called Forza. With a stupid numbers of cars and tracks, as well as very pretty damage (about damn time!), this game has all the right things for a racing game. But the controls? Let's just say that the demo left me a little less than confident... all will be told I suppose.
	10. The Last Guardian Team Ico is making a game with a giant cat/bird/rat that a little boy with more than likely grow to love. This game will probably emotionally rip me to shreds when I play it, but that's what this developer does best, is it not? I can't wait to get more information about this game.

4 Comments

What if Nolan North voiced Link in the next Wii Zelda?

By moelarrycurly January 8, 2010 53 Comments

I just had a horrible/amazing idea: what if Nintendo finally made Link have a voice, and what if that voice was Nolan North? Would the everyman of game voice acting be able to pull off one of Nintendo's classic silent protagonists? Or would it be an awful mixture, hearing Nathan Drake coming out of Link?

Mr. Drake and Mr. North, in their respective forms.

As we all know, North has done a lot of voicework for games recently, most notably as Drake in Sony's ever-popular Uncharted franchise. However, the sheer amount of games that North has worked on is nothing short of astounding. He's Desmond Miles in Assassin's Creed, Jason Fleming in Shadow Complex, Will Grey in Dark Void, and hell, he was Hades in the original God of War. For the full list of North's accomplishments, turn your attention here.

This is never going to happen, but what if he was Link?

Mr. North as Link: impossible?

Yes, I know: Nintendo would never in a million years have Link voiced, but I feel like the age of the silent protagonist is coming to a close. This realization came to me when Gamespot had its "Greatest Game Hero" contest a few months back. Gordon Freeman won. Gordon Freeman! He's barely a character within the context of the Half-Life games, being only an arm and some piece of weaponry. Within the game, you never see his face, he never responds to anything Alyx says, and he might as well be an emotional amoeba for all we know. The saddest part of it all is that it seems that Alyx is falling in love with him. Craziness, I say!

But, back to Nintendo. Link has never been voiced, and has never made any response even in text to other characters. He, like Gordon Freeman, is completely silent within the game world. Other Nintendo characters share this silent protagonist theory, such as Samus and Mario. If Link were to talk though, could he sound like Nathan Drake and be voiced by Nolan North? Also, could Ganondorf be voiced by Mark Hamill, or would we just hear the Joker?

If he can be the Joker, why not Ganondorf?

Anyway, I'm very interested to see what Nintendo does with the next Zelda game for Wii. Having Nolan North and Mark Hamill as two of Nintendo's greatest characters is almost completely impossible, but it's fun to dream. The bottom line of all this is that the next Zelda better have voice acting, and it better be good.

53 Comments

I finally bought my PAX East 2010 ticket.

By moelarrycurly December 24, 2009 1 Comments

The GB re-reunion tour, PAX 2009.

This will be my fist time going to a gaming convention, largely due to the fact that I live on the east coast. PAX East should be a great deal of fun, right at the end of March. I wonder what new games will be announced, and what will be playable there. I'm hoping Gran Turismo 5 and Super Mario Galaxy 2 will be there, as well as Lost Planet 2, etc.

If anyone's interested in going, you should get your ticket soon: the early bird special (which lops $10 off the normal price) ends December 31.

Also, Merry Christmas everyone!

1 Comments

I've been watching a lot of Mel Brooks movies recently

By moelarrycurly December 15, 2009 12 Comments

Within the past week, I have watched a ton of movies by Mel Brooks, and I would like to say that every last one of them has been enjoyable. Of course, I have seen plenty of them before, but not like recently. My personal favorite is still Blazing Saddles, but Spaceballs takes a close second. Damn, Young Frankenstein is good too... ARGH!! I can't choose I guess.

Blazing Saddles, anyone?

OK, so this week I've seen:
-History of the World: Part I
-High Anxiety
-To Be or Not To Be
-Silent Movie
-The Twelve Chairs

All of these are fantastic movies, but I think History of the World: Part I was the best, simply because of its sheer insanity. It's absolutely all over the place, making fun of 2001: A Space Odyssey, as well as the the Roman Empire, Da Vinci's The Last Supper, and the Spanish Inquisition. Brooks totally turns history itself on its head, making for one of the best films I've seen in a while. Sure it's stupid, but I love it just the same.

High Anxiety was a lot of fun because of all the direct correlations to Hitchcock films, with scenes torn straight from Vertigo, Psycho, and The Birds. It's all absolutely silly, and it still blows my mind. I've seen this movie before, but it has been a long, long time.

To Be or Not To Be stands out from the other movies because it has much darker theme, involving the Nazi invasion of Poland. It's a solid movie, but it's not as outrageously funny as some of Brooks' other films. The main draw is the impersonations Brooks pulls off throughout the movie, because he is supposed to be a famous Polish actor. Anyone impersonating Hitler is usually a good time, and this movie is no different. If you liked Inglourious Basterds, this is another interesting take on that era for you.

Silent Movie is pretty damn weird, mainly because it's a silent movie about a director trying to make a silent movie! Most of the gags in this are intentionally goofy and antiquated in order to better channel the feeling of old silent movies. It's a fun time to be sure, but the beginning can definitely make you uneasy when there is absolutely NOTHING to hear for over a minute, not even music. This is a great comedy throwback, if you're into that kind of thing.

And then we have The Twelve Chairs. This is an interesting film indeed, set in Russia in 1927 and is about a several men trying to find jewels in a particular set of dining chairs. Of course, the chairs have legs of their own, traveling all over the place by means outside of the characters control. It can be very crazy at times, with chase scenes having the music and picture set up in order to purposefully make things feel more frantic. It's great stuff.

Don't worry, I have already seen The Producers and Robin Hood: Men in Tights. I think I just may go watch the latter now.

12 Comments

Dante's Inferno Demo Impressions

By moelarrycurly December 13, 2009 6 Comments

I downloaded the demo for PS3 a couple days ago, and after meandering through it, I have come to a reasonable conclusion. Dante's Inferno plays exactly like God of War, or almost exactly. Don't get me wrong, I love God of War, but something about Dante's Inferno feels forced, as if Visceral Games is merely attempting to copy the God of War formula without any major changes. For example, in God of War, you press square for a light attack and triangle for a heavy attack. This is exactly the same in Dante's Inferno, with specific combos that fit in between the buttons almost identically to God of War.

If you enjoy this...

...you'll feel right at home with this.

However, there are some major design differences. For example, a lot of the cut scenes in Dante's Inferno look like they were torn straight out of an 80s cartoon, which has a tendency to dampen the overall "epicness" of the experience. One minute, you're fighting the minions of hell, and then you're in a cheesy cut scene that completely obliterates any sense reality the game might give you. But let's not confuse reality with the game's subject matter: although the game looks very good (the graphics are nothing to sneeze at), you are not necessarily supposed to believe this a realistic world. Hell, you straight-up KILL the Grim Reaper in the demo.

Another difference between it and God of War is that instead of being based on Greek mythology, Dante's Inferno is based (very, very loosely, mind you) on the book of the same name. But that's about it.

Want health? Collect green orbs from a fountain that behaves EXACTLY like the chests in God of War.

Want to power-up your abilities? Collect white orbs that behave very similarly to the red orbs in God of War. Dante's Inferno has a power-up tree that at first glance looks fairly customizable, but the demo doesn't allow you to delve deeply enough into that to really get a good feel for it.

Finally, I love God of War, but it seems to me that Dante's Inferno is merely trying to be a clone, and not push the envelope in any way. We won't know the final verdict until the full thing is released next year, which I am probably foregoing for God of War III.

6 Comments

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