Friday, June 12, 2009
This just in (or not) – Twenty five years to life with Tetris
Ok people stand up and give props to a game legend: Tetris. This year (it was on June 6 actually) the puzzle classic reaches 25 brains crunching, multi-colored, didy humming years of entertaining us all. Virtually impossible not to play (or love) as it’s available on almost every console (since the beginning of time) and PC with an internet connection. Ridiculously easy to play but impossible to master, it was only equaled to the Rubik's cube in pure puzzle enjoyment. Alexey Pajitnov, the game’s creator, only got a computer for Tetris at first; but now has a company devoted to the Tetris band in all its forms across the world. I am thoroughly convinced (and so is Time) that Tetris is an irreplaceable game that helped make video games what they are today. So thank you Mr. Pajitnov for making a game that changed the world; this is for you.
Character Quotes – Paul Barnett
Ok, ok I know Paul Barnett, Creative Director for Mythic Entertainment and big wig for Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning isn’t a video game character either (see Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw) but if I’m going to just keep finding quotable quotes about video games from people as well as game characters I might as well as include them as well - it just a good idea. Anyway, this quote was given on the MMO Report with Casey Schreiner explaining to the idea of the ‘Tomb Kings’ in Warhammer Online’s latest “Arms” expansion: Land of the Dead (a land with a clearly Egyptian feel about it).
“Well what you got to remember is that almost everything that the games workshop guys do is English xenophobia, redressed with a bit of comedy. When it comes to Egypt, we gone to museums; over here in American I notice your museums are all about the things your good at; nuclear weapons, flight, space, cinema. Over in Britain, museums are about gloating – it’s about showing all the stuff we stole off people at gun point.”
“Well what you got to remember is that almost everything that the games workshop guys do is English xenophobia, redressed with a bit of comedy. When it comes to Egypt, we gone to museums; over here in American I notice your museums are all about the things your good at; nuclear weapons, flight, space, cinema. Over in Britain, museums are about gloating – it’s about showing all the stuff we stole off people at gun point.”
This just in (or not) – Meet the Spy
You know ladies and gentlemen I hate to be the last to know anything, especially in gaming. That’s why I almost cried (well not really) when they put out the ‘Meet the Spy’ video almost a month ago, and I didn’t find out until recently. Now for people who don’t know, the ‘Meet the’ videos are funny, hyper-violent profiles on the characters of the Team Fortress 2. I love the game but not so much Valve, the creators of the game. Why? Because TF2 first released on the Orange Box and it was good; but then they released it (TF2) for the PC as a stand alone game. Now the PC version get’s regular software updates, new stages, upgraded weapons, and all other bells and whistles; while the console versions are super glitchy, have no type of content upgrades and hacked roughly in one out of seven matches. Valve, I don’t care what issues you’re having with Microsoft and/or Sony about the Orange Box but overlook them and give your console fans some love.
Anyway, enjoy the video and if you want to see more go here.
Anyway, enjoy the video and if you want to see more go here.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Game Review - Bionic Commando: A legacy game that deserves some love
Ladies and Gentlemen, while these days I verbalize my game reviews I won’t give up of the written ones so easily. After all you don’t dump the girl that brought you to the dance. Enough about that though, let’s, move on to the star of this review which is Bionic Commando.
Bionic Commando is a game in the Capcom ‘Commando’ legacy series that follows a continuing story from the NES game with the same name. The new game takes place 10 years after Nathan "RAD/ LADD" Spencer and Joseph “Super Joe” Gibson (the original commando) saves the world from the ‘Imperial Forces’. Instead of receiving a hero’s welcome, Spencer and all other Bionics are incarcerated under the government’s ‘Bionic Purge’ act. This causes a backlash between bionics and norms and gave raise to ‘BioReign’, a pro-bionic terrorist group. Their goals are shrouded in mystery, but will go to any length to meet them; which is evident by their nuclear bombing of Ascension City. Now what’s left the city is under the control of BioReign and sending troops in to stop them has been ineffective. Joe, now the Tactical Arms and Security Committee (T.A.S.C) Superintendent, knows only one soldier who can infiltrate the Ascension City ruins and find out what BioReign is up to, and that’s Spencer the Bionic Commando.
Spencer is armed (pun totally intended) for war and gives players many options for taking out BioReign opposition. The quickest method is gunning them down, and the game provides the commando with standard but effective weapons like pistols,
shotguns and rocket launchers. However these conventional weapons have limited rounds and ammo cylinders are few and far between so most enemies will be dealt with in melee combat (which is more fun). The bionic arm doesn’t just get Spencer point A to point B; it also trashes faceless grunts. What’s more, as the game progresses Spencer gains new abilities with the arm such as throwing heavy objects, causing shockwaves by falling from great distances, and the like. This commando is ready for war, but sadly so are BioReign. Their grunts, the weakest of their fighting force, can pack a surprising punch especially when they travel in numbers, which is often. Then there are the battle suits which have greater strength than your arm, deceptively quick, equipped with wrist-mounted shotguns and can fly in small bursts. BioReign also have air support vehicles that maybe small but are difficult to hit and dole out missiles like an MF’er. All of these though are just warm ups to the bosses you eventually have to face, which aren’t pushovers and are many times larger than you.
Bionic Commando is a standard action game, meaning ‘you see it, you shoot it.’ No thinking, no experience points, no mercy. Ok, so they try to mix things up by adding combat challenges and finding hidden 8-bits icons of commando games past in stages, but really it is simple text book stuff here. What really set’s this game apart from your standard fare is the Commando’s mode of travel and attack, the Bionic arm. So
far Spencer and his famed arm only handled the 2-D plain in the past, but in this game he has length and width to deal with, and does so like a pro. Don’t be fooled by X-Play’s spiteful words (lacking rhythm and flow, indeed!) about the swing mechanic. All it really takes is some practice to get it down; and before you know it your Spiderman. Blaming a reviewer’s failing on the game is just lazy X-Play. This isn’t an isolated incident though; both Miller and Ben of ‘Game Informer’ seem to mirror X-Play complains about B.C. but none more so than the random pockets of radiation in the game, which can kill Specter in a few seconds. They’re present in most stages and server as a barrier to keep the player on track. A simple annoyance that is EASILY avoidable, but to them it some sort of omni-present grim reaper in radiation form that makes the game too linear. This is incorrect. Halo 3 is a more linear experience than B.C, there’s more than enough ways to move about and take down enemies on the fly before the radiation ever becomes a problem.
Both the look and the sounds of the game are excellent, they complement each other well and make the experience feel realistic like ‘Lost Planet: Extreme Condition’. Unfortunately, like that game, it was made mainly for hi-def T.V. playing B.C. without one makes captions hard to read and some graphical details blurry. Combat’s fine (despite opinions to the contrary), but the game definitely leans towards melee and than shooting (which is fine by me).
While I rather enjoyed the voice acting of the characters the things Spencer said outside of cut scenes are really corny, and confusing. Honestly though the game’s true weak spot is it online multiplayer; with only three simple game modes it can easily be avoided (though it is fun Tarzan killing opponents) without consequences of ‘missing out’ anything. Truth be told people I’ve played the NES Bionic Commando back in the day, but I don’t remember much from it other than it was fun. This game is also fun, but compared to ‘infamous’ and/or ‘Red Faction: Guerrilla’ it does seem a little outclassed. However I judge a game based off its own merits and not by its closest competition at the time, but at the end of the day is this game worth anything higher than a silver rating? No. It’s a great game, no question and has gotten a raw deal by E3 bound reviewers; but after beating the single game and playing a lackluster multiplayer there is no other reason to play it again.
Bionic Commando is a game in the Capcom ‘Commando’ legacy series that follows a continuing story from the NES game with the same name. The new game takes place 10 years after Nathan "RAD/ LADD" Spencer and Joseph “Super Joe” Gibson (the original commando) saves the world from the ‘Imperial Forces’. Instead of receiving a hero’s welcome, Spencer and all other Bionics are incarcerated under the government’s ‘Bionic Purge’ act. This causes a backlash between bionics and norms and gave raise to ‘BioReign’, a pro-bionic terrorist group. Their goals are shrouded in mystery, but will go to any length to meet them; which is evident by their nuclear bombing of Ascension City. Now what’s left the city is under the control of BioReign and sending troops in to stop them has been ineffective. Joe, now the Tactical Arms and Security Committee (T.A.S.C) Superintendent, knows only one soldier who can infiltrate the Ascension City ruins and find out what BioReign is up to, and that’s Spencer the Bionic Commando.
Spencer is armed (pun totally intended) for war and gives players many options for taking out BioReign opposition. The quickest method is gunning them down, and the game provides the commando with standard but effective weapons like pistols,
shotguns and rocket launchers. However these conventional weapons have limited rounds and ammo cylinders are few and far between so most enemies will be dealt with in melee combat (which is more fun). The bionic arm doesn’t just get Spencer point A to point B; it also trashes faceless grunts. What’s more, as the game progresses Spencer gains new abilities with the arm such as throwing heavy objects, causing shockwaves by falling from great distances, and the like. This commando is ready for war, but sadly so are BioReign. Their grunts, the weakest of their fighting force, can pack a surprising punch especially when they travel in numbers, which is often. Then there are the battle suits which have greater strength than your arm, deceptively quick, equipped with wrist-mounted shotguns and can fly in small bursts. BioReign also have air support vehicles that maybe small but are difficult to hit and dole out missiles like an MF’er. All of these though are just warm ups to the bosses you eventually have to face, which aren’t pushovers and are many times larger than you. Bionic Commando is a standard action game, meaning ‘you see it, you shoot it.’ No thinking, no experience points, no mercy. Ok, so they try to mix things up by adding combat challenges and finding hidden 8-bits icons of commando games past in stages, but really it is simple text book stuff here. What really set’s this game apart from your standard fare is the Commando’s mode of travel and attack, the Bionic arm. So
far Spencer and his famed arm only handled the 2-D plain in the past, but in this game he has length and width to deal with, and does so like a pro. Don’t be fooled by X-Play’s spiteful words (lacking rhythm and flow, indeed!) about the swing mechanic. All it really takes is some practice to get it down; and before you know it your Spiderman. Blaming a reviewer’s failing on the game is just lazy X-Play. This isn’t an isolated incident though; both Miller and Ben of ‘Game Informer’ seem to mirror X-Play complains about B.C. but none more so than the random pockets of radiation in the game, which can kill Specter in a few seconds. They’re present in most stages and server as a barrier to keep the player on track. A simple annoyance that is EASILY avoidable, but to them it some sort of omni-present grim reaper in radiation form that makes the game too linear. This is incorrect. Halo 3 is a more linear experience than B.C, there’s more than enough ways to move about and take down enemies on the fly before the radiation ever becomes a problem. Both the look and the sounds of the game are excellent, they complement each other well and make the experience feel realistic like ‘Lost Planet: Extreme Condition’. Unfortunately, like that game, it was made mainly for hi-def T.V. playing B.C. without one makes captions hard to read and some graphical details blurry. Combat’s fine (despite opinions to the contrary), but the game definitely leans towards melee and than shooting (which is fine by me).
While I rather enjoyed the voice acting of the characters the things Spencer said outside of cut scenes are really corny, and confusing. Honestly though the game’s true weak spot is it online multiplayer; with only three simple game modes it can easily be avoided (though it is fun Tarzan killing opponents) without consequences of ‘missing out’ anything. Truth be told people I’ve played the NES Bionic Commando back in the day, but I don’t remember much from it other than it was fun. This game is also fun, but compared to ‘infamous’ and/or ‘Red Faction: Guerrilla’ it does seem a little outclassed. However I judge a game based off its own merits and not by its closest competition at the time, but at the end of the day is this game worth anything higher than a silver rating? No. It’s a great game, no question and has gotten a raw deal by E3 bound reviewers; but after beating the single game and playing a lackluster multiplayer there is no other reason to play it again.
Character Quotes - Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw
Now normally I reserve this segment for wacky/interesting quotes said by video game characters. Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw may not be a video game, but he’s certainly a character. This is what he said at the end of his review of Velvet Assassin (a WWII game) upon finding out it was made by a Germany company.
“Between this and Valkyria Chronicles what’s with all the World War II games being developed by the Axis forces, what is this – community service?”
“Between this and Valkyria Chronicles what’s with all the World War II games being developed by the Axis forces, what is this – community service?”
Monday, June 1, 2009
Game Review - Punchout
Little mac is back and pulling no punches in this Wii title; here's my review.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
