PSP Go-oh no
Note: I originally wrote this last October, then emailed it to myself and forgot all about it. While playing Fat Princess: A Fistful of Cake for most of the evening, I unexpectedly rediscovered the consumerism-pangs for the PSP Go and remembered I wrote this silly little article. It’s out of place and damn late, but still valid in terms of how my brain wants something I absolutely do not nee...[Read More]
Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City
It happened again. A championed “console exclusive” turned out to be a “timed exclusive” and ace we foolishly assumed was forever in Microsoft’s hand has, after a considerable delay, folded and re-dealt to the PlayStation 3. Upon their initial release I found both of Episodes from Liberty City’s campaigns, The Lost and The Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony, to be amon...[Read More]
Just Cause 2
Just Cause 2 isn’t concerned with reality. Whereas InFamous, Prototype, and Crackdown have chosen the superhero route as a means of avoiding the frailty and limitations of normal human beings, Just Cause 2’s Rico Rodriguez is basically an inexhaustible badass. The guy can fall a million feet, pull his parachute a second before he hits the ground, and emerge unscathed. He can walk on to...[Read More]
Lunar: Silver Star Harmony
It’s hard not to smile when one reminisces of Lunar. Though 1993’s Lunar: The Silver Star wasn’t short on nefarious villains and was no stranger to difficult battles, collective sentiment is little other than happy-go-lucky. It was quirky in a way contemporary RPGs weren’t allowed to be, demonstrating an altogether different approach from Squaresoft’s more popular 16-bit of...[Read More]
Super Mario Galaxy 2: The End of the World as We Know it
Super Mario Galaxy 2 is going to cause the universe to explode. I don’t mean that in terms of the game’s (science?) fiction, I’m actually talking about the physical solar system in which both you and I are sitting here staring at a computer monitor. The cause for this cataclysm is obvious; Nintendo, a corporation and game developer with the most loyal fan base post-Segapocaylpse,...[Read More]
Final Fantasy XIII
It simply wouldn’t be a Final Fantasy unless the entirety of the Internet was crying foul over a few design choices. Complaints over the inclusion of fresh mechanics and the lack of most of the old ones have set the internet ablaze for the last decade or so, but such baseless claims often demonstrate ignorance over understanding. Ever since its inception, Final Fantasy has been defined by it...[Read More]
Japanese RPGs: An Estranged Relationship
(Note: the following only makes sense if we pretend I never touched Persona 3/4, or Nocturne, all of which I love dearly) Japanese RPGs used to be my favorite genre of videogames. Weeks, months, and occasionally years (hello, Lunar 2) were devoted to exploring every last inch in games that prided their mammoth 40 to 80 hour play time. In the past, my JRPG anticipation and consumption levels were o...[Read More]
Resident Evil 5: Desperate Escape
Lost in Nightmares, the previously released Resident Evil 5 downloadable-content package, worked for me because it took the better parts of Resident Evil’s nostalgia and wrapped it around the RE5 interface. The hallowed ground of the Spencer Mansion pushed aside my problems with the friendly AI, and the frantic pace and puzzle-solving focus made the experience short and sweet. Desperate Escape opt...[Read More]
20 Games I need to buy before E3 – Part 2
Zeno Clash (Live Arcade, April 21st) Using the Source engine for a weird first person melee combat is intriguing, but then wrapping that around weirdass art direction that, from media I’ve seen, looks like an Oddworld + Fable mash up, and it becomes entirely different animal. It looks different, and it seems to be taking a reasonable number of risks – something we don’t typ...[Read More]
Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing
I’ll give Sonic Team (Sonic Riders + Riders Zero Gravity) and Traveler’s Tales (Sonic R) credit for trying to take the kart out of the mascot kart-racing genre, but the truth of the matter is all of those games were sort of terrible. Kart racers featuring Diddy, Crash, Jak, and, of course, Mario are celebrated and beloved by the gaming community, where as Sonic’s cache of attempts have...[Read More]
20 Games I need to buy before E3 – Part 1
Because I love buying more games than I have time to play, here’s what’s on my calender: Final Fantasy XIII March 9th (PS3 – 360) Mainline Final Fantasy games, despite always being overwrought with inane complexity, always manage to penetrate the mainstream market. People who would otherwise, especially in the current game climate, never touch a Japanese RPG are going to pick t...[Read More]
Heavy Rain
Finish the fight. A beautiful death. War, War never changes. Slogans for mature rated videogames often play to one specific method of conflict resolution: combat. It’s design 101 to set a challenge, empower us to overcome our aggressors, and finally receive gratification by means of victory. Halo 3, Assassin’s Creed, and Fallout 3, the three games from which the above slogans are respe...[Read More]