Now Playing: Metroid Prime 2 – Echoes
I left the original Metroid Prime highly confident I would never revisit Retro’s take on the franchise, but, since I couldn’t justify only using 1/3 of the Trilogy disc, I decided to give the sequel a shot. Much to my surprise, after about ten minutes, I was really into it. The familiarity earned with the prequel, both in regards to gameplay mechanics and the basic control scheme, came...[Read More]
Resident Evil 5: Lost in Nightmares
Critical reception of Resident Evil 5 was across the board. One particular observation I whole heartedly agreed with centered on its apparent genre reclassification. Resident Evil 5, a serious knowing for pioneering survival/horror, had been into a pure action game. Gameplay issues aside, my chief disappointment with the game arrived with its inability to create tension. The sense of dread so prev...[Read More]
Heavy Rain
My anticipation level for Heavy Rain is hovering somewhere around the level of mindless hype last experienced when I saw Mario 3 in The Wizard. I loved it at E3, and I loved it at CES. I want this game badly, and my irrationally thinking brain has already elevated its arrival to second-coming status. I’m hype-drunk, and I’ve convinced myself that Heavy Rain has the capability to right ...[Read More]
The Misadventures of Mr. P.B. Winterbottom
One of the coolest things about independent games is the plethora of information available months, sometimes years, before the project crawls to retail. Not subject to the veil of secrecy or PR-controlled flow of information, most indie developers are easily accessible and wholly willing to discuss their work in considerable detail. They are, after all, often seeking to have their game bought and ...[Read More]
I don’t understand what Sega is doing with Yakuza 3
I love Sega’s Yakuza games. Japanophiles should share a similar admiration. Most Japanese-developed videogames feature otherworldly, highly stylized art direction not often present its their Western counterparts. That’s fantastic for fantasy environments, but doesn’t often (aside from something like Okami) offer insight into the minutia of Japanese culture. Yakuza ga...[Read More]
Why I love Bayontta way more than I hate it
I am of two minds about Platinum Game’s Bayonetta. On one hand I can’t believe how a videogame with so many forehead slapping design choices aced both Edge and Famitsu. The oddities associated (and lambasted) in Japanese game design are widely prevalent; a lengthy narrative presented as essential yet constructed of absolute nonsense, autosaves that force the player to either watch a cu...[Read More]
Mass Effect 2
The first Mass Effect functioned along the same lines as the original Assassin’s Creed; a fantastic design concept and outstanding presentation couldn’t conceal overbearing repetition. Mass Effect wasn’t close to being a bad game, but it was hard to walk away feeling Bioware had fully executed on Mass Effect’s (and their) potential. Thankfully, again like Assassin’s Creed I...[Read More]
Still Playing Assassin’s Creed II
Sometime last summer Ubisoft held some sort of press event that entailed flying a bunch of game writers over the Atlantic and into Venice. The purported goal of the trip, aside from the typical schmoozing the press, was to boast about the historical allegiance of Assassin’s Creed 2’s architecture. I thought it was stupid and pretentious (though I will admit the obvious envy of our site...[Read More]
Complex versus simple control, or, I like Assassin’s Creed II
A particularly polarizing facet of Assassin’s Creed II (much like the original) lies with its control scheme. On foot traversal is easily the most important mechanic in the game, both in terms of context and Ezio’s move set, but assigning those typically simple functions to a bunch of buttons might not sit well with casual or impatient players; most people aren’t used to there be...[Read More]
Every Day The Same Dream
1UP’s Oddcast features a segment called “Recession Gaming” where they talk about cheap or free PC games. This is how I found out about classics crap like Don’t Shit Your Pants or legitimate gems like Captain Forever. While those two titles are great examples of how to pass time or work toward a higher and higher score, Flash games usually fail at completing my favorite aspe...[Read More]
In defense of Jank
Jank, while not a legitimate adjective (or word, for that matter), is a fantastic label to apply to certain aspects of electronic entertainment. Lack of technical prowess, as in, “the Playstation 3 version of Bayonetta is pretty janky,” is correct in principle, but not in terms of the precise area of jank I’m striving to identify. I see jank as more of a general clumsiness ...[Read More]
Random Encounters
One of the best parts of attending a massive convention is getting to meet like minded individuals. For example, Steve and I can have endless conversations about whether or not Chrono Trigger is the greatest game ever made (note to Steve, it’s not), but having this same debate with random people at normal parties isn’t a naturally occurring phenomenon. With CES, you’re almo...[Read More]