Posts belonging to Category Video Games

The crossover we all wish would happen.

For all the complaining we Sonic fans do about how terrible the new Sonic games are, it’s easy to forget that Sonic Team did make an excellent Sonic game in 2005. Sonic Rush featured the traditional elements that we’d all been missing. Speed, side scrolling, and platforming. A.k.a ALL THE ELEMENTS THAT NEVER SHOULD HAVE LEFT!

The game is oodles of fun. It even improved on some the concepts of earlier Sonic games. In earlier Sonic games you’d get up to full speed, but usually run into a trap or an enemy shortly after, robbing you of all your rings and joy. Sonic Rush however featured level sections that had you running at top speed through loops, over cliffs, even upside down on the roof. These section let you sit back and enjoy the fun of just zooming around the area. There’s also a power meter that allows Sonic to go even faster, sending enemies flying when you slam into them.

Sonic Rush also rocked by having only 2 playable characters. They controlled basically the same and both handled perfectly. The story was thankfully less convoluted than previous titles. Dr. Eggman accidentally creates a rift in time and space and an alternate Eggman starts causing trouble. That’s it. Thank God.

If you find it on the shelf for 15 bucks pick it up. It’s a fantastic game and has great replay value.

The Ultimate Question by ~Jeibi on deviantART

No Sega. Sorry. No.

I suffered through your horrible slew of new Sonic games. I played through every controller throwing moment of Sonic and the Secret Rings. I watched in disgust as you turned Shadow the Hedgehog into a gangster. I even stuck up for you when Sonic Unleashed was coming out and it looked like you had somewhat learned your lesson (on air).

I’m done. Every time you claim “Sonic is back!” and every time it turns out to be a giant pile of unplayable sludge. You say the traditional elements are back, but then you throw more characters and gimmicks in at the last minute. You obviously have no idea what you’re doing and we’re not fooled by this trailer.

If it turns out this game is the amazing comeback of Sonic I will gladly eat my words. Until then I fully expect this game to be like the other mountains poo that proceeded it.

Sorry. Couldn’t resist.

Thank God Harmonix got the franchise. Anyone else want to pick up Beatles Rockband?

I didn’t get into Prince of Persia until recently. I bought the Sands of Time trilogy last May and fell in love with the games (with the exception of Warrior Within which depressed me more often then wowed me). That being said, I just finished the newest game in the franchise, Prince of Persia.

As you can tell from the title and box art, this game is a reboot of the franchise. I don’t think all reboots are bad because they can allow new people to experience a franchise without having to know ten years of back-story. This game does a great job of this by not being connected to any of the previous games, making it so anyone can jump into the franchise.

What I really loved about this game is that not only is the game fun, IT’S GORGEOUS. If this game was a painting it would be the one that replaces the Mona Lisa at the Louvre. Every level of this game is so eye poppingly beautiful that worried I was going to go blind from staring at the screen too long. This really helps to immerse the player in the world.

The gameplay is similar to Sands of Time, but with new moves added. You can run short distances along ceilings, slide down walls, and activate magic plates to get to new platforms. However combat has been revamped so that it based more on strategy and timing rather than just slicing and dicing. Also you can never die, which at first sounds like a terrible choice, but this insures that the game never breaks flow because you’re constantly moving forward. The music is also one of the game’s strong suits. Every time you liberate a fertile ground(he he) you’ll be treated to an amazing suite that makes you feel like your on the most amazing adventures known to man.

What I think I like most about Prince of Persia is the fact that it’s different. Ubisoft could have easily made another “Prince of Persia: You’re Rewinding Time Again” and easily made money off the cash in. This reboot gives players something fresh and fun.

And now the reason I almost burned this game alive.

Unfortunately Prince of Persia can become very repetitive. You fight the same four bosses five times each. I’ll repeat that. THE SAME FOUR BOSSES FIVE TIMES EACH! Do you think that’s enough? Sure they change the strategy a little each time but it still doesn’t change the fact it’s the same guy!

But that’s not the sin that made me curse the games name. No no. The giant blotch of ink on this Rembrandt is the ending. I won’t give anything away, just know that the ending is frustratingly awful. It ends on a cliffhanger. A stupid cliffhanger.

Imagine you’re in a movie theater watching Star Wars. It’s the scene where Luke has just launched the proton torpedoes, saving or damning the rebel cause. Suddenly at the exact moment they’re about to enter the exhaust port, the screen goes black and the theater owner tells you that in a couple months you’ll be able to buy the ending for 10 dollars. This is what Ubisoft did.

So I paid my 10 dollars for the resolution to the cliffhanger and the end to the story that should have been in the finished game. Guess what? ANOTHER CLIFFHANGER! When I finally came to there was blood all over my room and the bodies of my roommates hanging from the ceiling.

I’d love to give this game a full recommendation, but my hatred for the ending really tarnishes the experience. If you do play this game just be ready for a lot of head shaking and yelling “Wait why!?!” at the end. Also just youtube the Epilogue chapter. It’ll save you a lot of time getting rid of bodies…

God I hope they make the rest of this movie.

I remember back in 2007 when I was shivering in line to get my Wii. I hadn’t put to much research into the Wii, all I really knew was that it had motion control and a free game. Also I had a copy of Twilight Princess that was begging to be played so I needed the console badly. Deciding to try out the free game first, I couldn’t believe how much fun Wii Sports was. The motion control worked almost perfectly with the games (with the exception of boxing which worked about 50% of the time) and I was surprised with how much the motion controls brought to the game.

Fast forward to 2008 when Wii Motion Plus is announced. I have a confession to make, I didn’t think Wii Motion Plus would work. As much as I believed in Nintendo, I figured that true 1 to1 motion sensing was something that wouldn’t be around for another 5 years. So for a year I fully expected Motion Plus to completely disappoint everyone.

I love being proved wrong.

Wii Sports Resort is a blast to play mostly because that hunk of plastic works almost perfectly. I couldn’t believe how accurately it was reading my movements, even when I’d try and deliberately screw the device up. I’d put the controller behind my head and wiggle it around, and my onscreen character would follow, looking just as stupid as I did.

I’m not sure how much fun the game is to your average Joe, but if you are a fan of the first game you’ll probably really like Wii Sports Resort. By far my favorite game is Sword Fighting. Not only is it amazing to play, but I finally get to live out all my Jedi Star Wars fantasies. Golfs been greatly improved, making putting a effortless process rather than the “you didn’t swing it hard enough” frustration fest it was in 06. The Frisbee games are awesome once you get the hang of the them, and I think table tennis actually works better than tennis did in the old game.

Surprisingly, one of the best games in the set doesn’t even have you acting out sports movements. There’s an island flyover game where you hold the controller like a toy airplane, and I think that they could make an entire game out of it. It’s fun and relaxing to fly over the island and look for all the secrets, plus the control scheme makes it feel like you’re a little kid again. My only regret being that you don’t hold the remote like a joystick. Did that not cross their minds as a good idea?

Though I don’t know if it’s better than the first game, Wii Sports resort is a lot of fun and I highly recommend it.

When I interviewed Unskippable creators Graham Stark and Paul Saunders a couple months back, I enthusiastically recommended they mock the gaming masterpiece Metal Gear Solid 4 on their show. They politely responded that MGS4 is the number one requested game people ask them to do. I ignored their response and pretended that it was my idea all along.

Well it looks like they took my advice and are doing an entire month of Metal Gear Solid 4 cutscenes. I’m really excited that they’re devoting a whole month to the game since one 5 minute video wouldn’t do it justice. You can check out their first video over at The Escapist. Also you get to see Graham and Paul in mustaches. What more could you want!

When I’m not editing the podcast or swimming in my Olympic size swimming pool filled with money, I’m usually playing a video game or two. Seeing as this site desperately needs some new segments, I thought I could give recommendations on games I’ve enjoyed. These won’t be reviews since I’ve never fancied myself as a critic. If I enjoyed it I’ll recommended it, if I hated I’ll tell you to be wary. These will probably mostly be Wii games since as we all know, 70% of Wii games is a sea of crap.

Klonoa is remake of a PlayStation game originally released in 1997. I never played any of these games so I picked up this one not really expecting  much. What I found was a fun sidescroller with a interesting twist. You see the levels don’t move on a traditional 2D plane. The paths wrap around buildings, go further into the countryside, and branch out into multiple paths making exploration pretty fun. You can also interact with objects outside your path, making for some interesting puzzles.

The gameplay was something I really enjoyed since the jump button is mapped to the A button, and attack is mapped B. This makes jumping and shooting using the Wiimote and Nunchuk setup simple to use because you’re able to hit both buttons easily. It’s a control system that needs to be used in more platformers. 

The visuals were great too. They were nice and colorful, and really added to the worlds you explore.

A lot of people have criticized Klonoa as being too easy and I can definitely see their point. However I’d compare it to playing any of the Kirby games. They’re all very easy games, but it still doesn’t take away from how fun the gameplay is. Also Klonoa features some jumps that almost had me throwing my controller in rage at the nearest living thing.

Currently the game is priced at 30 bucks and I think that’s pretty reasonable. If you’ve got nothing to play I’d highly recommend Klonoa, especially if you’ve never played the original.