Why in the world I keep getting suckered into buying retro-styled arcade game mash-ups is beyond me, but Nimble Quest is just going to encourage me to do it more. Mixing together the basic idea of Snake or Tron’s Light Cycles, adding a combat element, and layering on a leveling-up mechanic got me pretty hooked on this little game originally designed for mobile devices. Nimble Quest fares well in its transition from mobile to PC (unlike a lot of titles) and it’s well worth the low price to have something on your desktop for an occasional attempt at a new high score.
When R-Type showed up on the arcade scene in 1987, it was a force to be reckoned with. Thanks to its razor-sharp graphics and techno-organic alien atmosphere, the game quickly became considered to be one of the best shoot 'em ups (SHMUPs) of its time, rivaling the popularity of the Gradius series. With this arcade gem's success, it was only logical that it should be ported to every major home console, right? In theory, yes, but in reality, it saw a release on only two video game systems compared to being ported to at least eight personal computer systems at the time. Of the scarce home console releases, the Sega Master System saw a port of R-Type in 1988. Although faithful to the arcade version in terms of content, the game takes a nosedive when the action gets heavy.
Any game where you fly a spaceship and blast aliens has my interest. Factor in the added tension of rescuing humans, though, and I’m pretty much guaranteed to hate it. I’ve tried to play Defender and its ilk for decades, but could never “get it.” From the mind boggling button layout of the original Defender arcade machine to every reimagining and sequel that followed, the execution just didn’t hit me right until Resogun tweaked it all just enough to enable the concept to achieve its full potential.
I spent a lot of time playing SoulCalibur II on the GameCube during that era. It looked pretty, played well, and featured guest characters that were appealing – especially Link. SoulCalibur II HD Online pays a nice homage to its original port, and it stands up quite well. The fighting remains tight, and the game remains visually pleasing. Unfortunately, the slim online offering makes this one a tough sell especially if you still own the original.
With its deceptively easy gameplay and deep exploration, The Legend of Zelda represented a few first-time accomplishments for Nintendo, as well as the gaming industry itself. It was one of the first Famicom Disk Systems games to hit Japan in February of 1986, sporting the ability to save progress without needing a password. With its 1987 debut in America, it was released on a golden cartridge featuring a small backup battery to save progress -- making it the first game to use the technology. But most importantly, it was the first game to truly revolutionize the action/adventure genre with elements that similar games would borrow from for years to come.
Sometimes in the sea of dazzling high profile games and personally expressive indie hits, we forget that 99% of everything is crap. Luckily, there are titles like Vivid Games’ Real Boxing, for the Vita, to remind us of the larger ocean of mediocrity. While it’s a cheap, downloadable experience rather than a full retail game – and should be judged as such – overall it’s not very fun after the initial novelty becomes an unpleasant chore.
Now and then, game developers like to mix it up a little and create a game that pitches together several genres into one. Xexyz (pronounced “zeks-zees”) on the NES is one such game. It's a rare attempt to blend elements from the platformer and shoot 'em up genres, with just a pinch of RPG thrown in there for extra measure. Released by Hudson Soft in 1990, Xexyz proved that fusing three genres can work quite well.
If you were given 13 grand, would you use it to make a sequel to an Atari Lynx puzzle game? I can't say that would be my first choice, and I bet it wouldn't be yours either, but could nearly 400 Kickstarter backers go wrong? (I can see Takedown: Red Sabre players are reaching for pitchforks; easy, folks, this is nothing like that. Stand down.) Another adventure in crowdfunding has resurrected one man's decades-long dream, and after playing the final product via Desura, I consider my brain partially teased, moderately amused.
Say what you want about Kickstarter, but it has breathed games into existence that otherwise wouldn’t have had a chance, and allowed artists to construct personal expressions without having to resort to eating dog food to survive. The end results may not always be extraordinary, but sometimes they are still triumphant, as with Lilly Looking Through, a Kickstarter success that asked for $18,000 and ended up with $33,000+ for a point-and-click adventure starring a little girl with time-traveling goggles. The game is beautiful, but brief, with amazing art direction and sublime animation.
Batman: Arkham Origins is a great game. Over the eight to nine hours I spent with the game, I went on a roller coaster full of action, stealth and narrative high points. Arkham Origins provides some of the best character moments in the series, along with some interesting new twists to the gameplay. Unfortunately, game bugs and various gameplay oddities keep the game from reaching the heights of the previous entries.
Have you ever played a game that was such a blatant clone, you literally had the urge to punch digitized ones and zeros in hopes of transforming it into something better? Have you ever felt the desire to quit purely because you could predict what was coming? I wanted to with Marlow Briggs and the Mask of Death, which feels like it’s been done so many times before. What initially began as a promising journey through the depths of life and death, love, and betrayal fell shorter than a pass from Tim Tebow.
Three years later and the Skylanders craze is still in full swing. From kids to adults, it seems that everyone loves collecting and playing with these colorful characters. The latest iteration of the series brings a new wrinkle to the toys as well as to the game, but neither truly changes the tried-and-true formula. Platforming mechanics add a bit more depth to the traversal and combat mechanics, while the swap ability makes it a bit more fun to play with the physical toys by mixing and matching tops and bottoms. There’s no doubt that the whole kit is quite nifty, but as a game, Skylanders Swap Force still leaves something to be desired.
I haven’t been into racing games the last few years, but instead focusing on first person shooters with emergent, interacting systems and hard core dungeon crawlers. Strangely, Need for Speed Rivals falls right in line with my current preferences and ties them together with gorgeous races and thrilling police pursuits. Set in an open world filled with unexpected events, using a system that makes you weigh the risk of each additional mile you drive, and teasing you with a massive list of vehicles and modifications to play with, Need for Speed Rivals is an arcade racer that will satisfy almost any sort of gamer out there.
If you know the company, Shin’en, it’s likely that you associate them with their well-crafted shooters, and not the platforming genre. But back on the Wii, the team charted into these new grounds with Jett Rocket. The WiiWare title was a decent attempt at a 3D platformer that now has a follow-up on the 3DS eShop. Jett Rocket II: The Wrath of Taikai takes a slightly different approach, blending both 2D and 3D platforming, while working in an assortment of mini-games to break up the fifteen core levels. The brief experience is enjoyable at times, but more frequently blasé, being outclassed by other titles in both variants of the platforming genre.
As of late it seems that Ratchet & Clank has been something of a test bed for Insomniac Games. With All 4 One, the team shoehorned New Super Mario Bros Wii-style cooperative gameplay into the Ratchet & Clank formula, while Full Frontal Assault saw the duo attempting Tower Defense. Although these experiments were certainly interesting, they’re no substitute for the tried-and-true gameplay of the franchise. Thankfully, the newest entry in the series, Into the Nexus proves that Insomniac is still devoted to producing new entries in the series’ classic style. Though on the shorter side, this highly engaging romp is a great send-off for the now last gen PlayStation 3.
I stood in line for an unnecessarily long time to pick up my copy of Pokémon X from Nintendo World in New York, but it was worth it. Most would have left the line and picked it up at a more comfortable or convenient location. For myself and many others, the reason why we stayed, braving the cold morning air along the streets of Manhattan, was the sense of community—the very heart of the Pokémon series since its inception. That community is one of the reasons why my time with Pokémon X has been so amazing, but it's much more than that. It's also about the way the the right improvements have been made in all the right spots, the new features, and the nostalgia. X is the best Pokémon game in a long time.
Frightening games require a key ingredient that is not initially present in their makeup: a willingness, on the player’s behalf, to be scared. Without this, horror games are seldom terrifying, and more often than not are only campy experiences as silly and ineffective as the latest Jason & Chucky crossover flick. I went into Amnesia: Machine for Pigs wanting to be thrilled; and I made sure to play it at night, with headphones on, while everyone else in the world slept – to achieve this goal. This certainly isn’t a Resident Evil experience, where you’ll be blowing away fiends with your acid rounds – but something different, more along the lines of some other modern horror games where you are essentially powerless against the forces of evil, rather than being a semi-immortal avenger.
Having largely been left off of the (very small) Armored Core bandwagon, I was surprised that with a little effort I got sucked completely in to the series’ complicated underpinnings when I reviewed Armored Core V over a year ago. From Software has expanded on its last entry and brought us Armored Core: Verdict Day, which corrects a few issues while adding an entirely new complicated system you can dig into. The problem is, this new system has definitely pushed past the series’ tenuous status as accessible by humans using a controller and there’s not enough other new stuff to differentiate it from its predecessor.
Prepare to have your hopes dashed on the rocks of reality: this is nothing like Rainbow Six. There is nothing good, fun, or entertaining about it. It's not something you should try for any reason. It's so bad that it will take months of patches before it could be merely described as bad.
I jumped into AiRace Speed without much prior knowledge of the game. From its eShop presentation, it seemed to have F-Zero written all over it. As a closet racing game fan, I couldn’t help but get excited. After a few minutes playing, it was clear that the developers managed to capture the speed – and the sadistic difficulty – of F-Zero but not much of the fun. Perhaps it’s because the tracks are devoid of racers or the fact that I never had a perfect handle on the ship, but after a few hours grinding away in these races, I never want to look at AiRace Speed again.
I’ll openly admit that I’m not the best reviewer in the world; I’m far from it, actually. Hell, I don’t think I've had a writing class since Middle School; I just try to scrape by with my wits and endless assault of metaphorical quips. Regardless, that’s never once stopped me from attempting to write better than a toddler learning to pick his nose and scrawl in boogers. Also, in my world of candy-coated dreams is my love for heists. I’ve never tried a heist myself (unless you count the time I stole some Legos from my neighbor), but I love to read about successful heists and watch movies that feature incredible against-all-odds heists! So needless to say; when I was offered the opportunity to review Payday 2, I was able to combine my hopes and dreams of being a reviewer with my undying desire for some intricately planned heists into a singular experience of awesomeness!
The third DLC release to hit Metro: Last Light’s Season Pass, the Developer Pack adds a standalone mission plus a few additional odds and ends.
Metro: Last Light was a lot of things, including a competent shooter in which I didn’t actually shoot a whole lot because stealth often was the best approach. Rather than let a good engine be underused, 4A Games has developed the Tower Pack DLC with combat front and center.
Grab a fresh air filter; it’s time to go back underground with the first DLC to hit the Metro: Last Light Season Pass.
