Archive: Video Games
Though Sonic the Hedgehog celebrated his 20th birthday yesterday, the spiky-haired Sega mascot's appeal has always come down to his enduring teenage spirit: He tears through every environment (be it side-scrolling 2D levels or his very iffy forays into 3D games) at a breakneck pace, he aloofly throws innumerable hand gestures at the player to put the accent on each victory, and he'll start impatiently tapping his feet and checking his nonexistent watch if you ignore him for longer than five seconds. Sonic had always served as the edgy antithesis to a certain squeaky-clean Italian plumber, the unruffled cool to offset the loveable buffoon, the Rolling Stones to Nintendo's genial and affable Beatles. And while bridges have since been built between the two, a collaborative effort between Sonic and Mario would have been unthinkable at the peak of the early-'90s console wars. To declare your childhood allegiance to Sonic over Mario spoke volumes, and hinted that your next 10 years might be spent listening to Beck and watching Tarantino films. Continue Reading »
Tags: Beck, Crash Bandicoot, Dreamcast, Earthworm Jim, Michael Stipe, Nintendo, Quentin Tarantino, Rayman, Sega, Sonic Adventure, Sonic Generations, Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic Unleashed, Super Mario 64, Super Mario Galaxy, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones
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Widely regarded as the most important trade show for the video-game industry, the Electronic Entertainment Expo brings developers and media every year to the Los Angeles Convention Center, giving large hardware companies space to show off consoles and innovations, and publishers an opportunity to parade new games and reveal future software lineups. There's an enormous show floor where trailers are screened and upcoming games can be played, but for the gaming press E3 is mostly about running back and forth between live demos, presentations, and press conferences. These conferences have become so prestigious that they can now be streamed live over the Internet, giving gamers the chance to experience new announcements at the same time as the media.
Two thousand eleven is an important year for video games. Compared to other mediums like film and television, video games are relatively young, and the industry is still trying to figure itself out, struggling to adapt and survive. Just years ago it would have been unfathomable that a graphically underpowered movement-controlled "gimmick" device would outsell mainstream games and consoles, yet Nintendo's Wii annihilated its competitors in sales, carving out an entirely new audience separate from core gamers. Ditto the rise in mobile games and Apple's handheld devices as exceptionally popular—and exceptionally profitable—gaming platforms. Trying to rationalize these changes and simultaneously appeal to a core and mainstream audience is the problem faced by the holy trinity of industry juggernauts (Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo) as well as the hundreds of publishers and developers struggling with the rising costs and team sizes required to create games. Games themselves present a series of quandaries, with so many different platforms and genres and budgets, from mobile games to big-budget blockbusters to smaller indie and arcade games; achieving success and profit can involve walking a fine line between familiarity and innovation, but neither originality or pre-established interest guarantee success in the current difficult market. Continue Reading »
Tags: 3DS, Bing, Double Fine, E3, Harmonix, Jack Trenton, Ken Levine, Kinect, Kinect Fun Labs, Konami, Los Angeles Convention Center, Microsoft, Move, Nintendo, Origin, PlayStation Network, PlayStation Vita, Shigeru Miyamoto, Sony, Tim Schafer, Ubisoft, Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360, YouTube
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Starving artists—and satiated artists, for that matter—usually shell out what little money they may have on expensive supplies. Fortunately, Nintendo's styled a portable, virtual art studio that budding Gauguins and Renoirs can utilize on the DS, freeing up funds usually spent on pencils and paints.
Art Academy uses the DS stylus and touch screen to present several drawing and painting tutorials. If it sounds like a glorified Microsoft Paint, you'd be mistaken, because the game also teaches fundamental elements of 2D art: shading, color theory, perspective, how to use light, etc. There are 10 lessons available with on-screen instructions and several different stages. For example, in the "tree" lesson, the first stage involves using one of three types of drawing pencils to sketch an outline. You can also choose which effect the pencil will have—that is, drawing with the lead's point, or on the tip's side for a shading effect. Next, you'll switch to one of six paintbrushes to colorize your creation. Continue Reading »
Tags: Art Academy, Headstrong Games, Nintendo, Nintendo DS
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On the heels of the Dancing with the Stars craze, as well as the continued trend of workout games like Wii Fit, it should be expected that a dancing game like last year's Just Dance would spawn a sequel. While the first one (which sold very well) met absolutely deflating reception, the second one's a big improvement, and is pretty fun to play—that is, if you're really, really self-assured. Or really wasted.
You see, unlike other games of this type, like the wildly popular Dance Dance Revolution series, in which you simply hopped up and down to a song's beat, Just Dance 2 requires you to actually dance. Well, what they call "dancing," anyway. In all honesty, you'll probably look like airport ground crew, trying to direct a plane while having a seizure on a moving treadmill. Some of the choreography is ridiculous, as are some of the graphics—specifically a few of the on-screen dancing avatars, whose moves you must mirror. (The Wii remote detects your motions. The more in sync your writhing is, the more points you'll get.) For example, if you select Wham!'s "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go," you must shadow a doughy, mullet-sporting display of foppish androgyny in hot pants, who flails about as if Carlton from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is playing Whack-a-Mole. Continue Reading »
Tags: Dance Dance Revolution, Jamiroquai, Just Dance, Just Dance 2, Ke$ha, Nintendo Wii, The Pussycat Dolls, The Rolling Stones, Ubisoft, Vampire Weekend, Wii Fit
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by Huw Jones on October 26th, 2010 at 11:22 am in Video Games
Jigsaw wants to play yet another game, but after the uninspired puzzles, monotonous environments and antiquated combat mechanics of last year's Saw: The Videogame, you shouldn't feel obliged to take the ageing gorenographer up on his offer. Saw II: Flesh & Blood is a slapdash sequel released to coincide with the latest film in the franchise, and though it makes some concerted efforts to improve on its precursor's failings, they're often made in vein. Then, with its new QTE combat system, it somehow manages to make things even worse.
We assume the role of Michael Tapp, son of overanxious detective David Tapp from the last console outing, a morally ambiguous journalist abducted by Jigsaw and made to earn his freedom through a series of do-or-die challenges. For the lion's share of Flesh & Blood's puzzles, perception is key: Hints are cleverly concealed in tape recordings or splattered in blood on the walls, sometimes requiring deft use of light switches or your torch. None of these tasks require too much sleuthing, though, as Michael will usually offer a helpful comment whenever the going appears to be getting tough. And while there are a wide variety of mini games to prevent the action from growing stale, picking locks or wiring fuse boxes seldom feels as rewarding as intercepting a callous execution. Continue Reading »
Tags: Konami, Saw II: Flesh & Blood, Saw: The Videogame, Xbox 360, Zombie Studios
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Back in 2005, peripheral developers Red Octane and software developers Harmonix came out with a neat little game called Guitar Hero for the Playstation 2. It would surpass everyone's expectations by selling well over one million units. However, in late 2006, right after the release of Guitar Hero II, both Harmonix and Red Octane had to go their separate ways with Activision buying Red Octane and the Guitar Hero license, while Harmonix was bought by a rival company MTV Games. Harmonix would eventually create the Rock Band series, which pushed the peripheral-based music genre forward, while the Guitar Hero series has essentially been recycling the same base mechanics that it had created in its first iteration back in 2005. With Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, the series's newest iteration, developer Neversoft is promising a brand new experience, and while the game does push the series into a new direction, it does so at its own expense.
Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock is the sixth proper installment of the series, not including various off-shoots like Band Hero or the band-specific spin-offs. Yet even with all the talk of change, for the most part the game is essentially still a peripheral-based music game, with the same highway of notes that cascade down the screen and the player still having to use a plastic guitar, drum set, or microphone to try and hit those notes at the right time. There's also the same modes—Quickplay and Party—that we have seen in the last couple of Guitar Hero games. However, Neversoft has decided this year to focus on a brand new mode called Quest Mode, hoping the game will distance itself from other music-based peripheral games like the Rock Band series by introducing the idea in which the player embarks on a rock n' roll odyssey. Continue Reading »
Tags: Activision, Band Hero, Guitar Hero, Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, Harmonix, MTV Games, Neversoft Entertainment, PlayStation 3, Red Octane, Rock Band
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With either a terrorist plot of assassinating the president or the threat of global nuclear war being a daily occurrence, the Tom Clancy universe is ripe with military conflict. For that reason, I've always felt that the Tom Clancy franchise of video games always looked to attract those that never quite outgrew their "G.I. Joe phase." Games under the Tom Clancy banner like the Splinter Cell or Ghost Recon series have always teetered on the line between banal insanity and credible plausibility when it comes to creating a war-torn virtual battlefield. That is, after all, their "thing." They create experiences where a player feels like an army of one, effortlessly mowing down countless terrorists, in its somewhat plausible reality. This idea encompasses every aspect of the Tom Clancy games and H.A.W.X. 2 is no exception.
For those who aren't familiar with the H.A.W.X. series, it's the Tom Clancy universe's take on the video game flight sim. Much like the other Tom Clancy games, the series's last iteration was known for its arcade-like feel in a real-world setting. H.A.W.X. 2 follows very much the same formula: You choose from a plethora of fighter planes to accomplish certain tasks, which run the gambit from escort missions to bombing runs. While the game's various backdrops and dog-fighting sequences look spectacular, playing these missions becomes quite monotonous. Some of the later, intelligence-gathering operations add a little variety to the mission selection, but there are far too many times in which the objective is to shoot down anything that makes the reticule on the screen turn red. And while the mission objectives might be lacking in variety, luckily the act of flying in H.A.W.X. 2 is quite exhilarating. Continue Reading »
Tags: Ghost Recon, H.A.W.X. 2, Splinter Cell, Tom Clancy, Ubisoft, Xbox 360
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Captain Smiley wants a lot of things. He wants his own comic. He wants Origami Kid to get out of his pants. He wants his own chest to stop mocking him. But most of all, he wants you, dear reader, to smile. Comic Jumper, the game chronicling Captain Smiley's efforts to get back on top, works hard to delight both gamers up for a challenge and gamers who want to cruise through delightful worlds. Sometimes maybe a little too hard, but it's tough to begrudge such determination to delight.
From the instant you boot up, Comic Jumper's presentation will astound, with a host of techniques hardly any game has tried. Using full-motion video for comic instead of dramatic effect redeems that long-forgotten cutscene enhancer, and the comic book panels that carry you through scene changes are dynamically laid-out and charmingly animated. Even better is the design work within the levels; other games have tried the "every level a different style" approach, but few have done it with Comic Jumper's attention to detail. Special kudos go to the sound designers, who do a lot to support the visuals with such classy touches as a Silver Age comics level where the gunshots make the sound of a bebop-era trap set. Continue Reading »
Tags: 'Splosion Man, Comic Jumper, Sin & Punishment, Twisted Pixel Games, Xbox Live Arcade
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by Huw Jones on October 19th, 2010 at 10:55 am in Video Games
Labour or Conservative? Pepsi or Coke? Blur or Oasis? These are three big questions that have plagued British consciousness in recent years, but even these topics fail to divide public opinion as much as the bitter rivalry between EA Sports and Konami: FIFA Soccer or Pro Evolution Soccer? Arriving at roughly the same time every year, just as the nation's Premier League starts getting spicy, these camp-splitting football simulations and their staunch fanbases contest a fierce battle for supremacy in schoolyards, on the Internet, and in local pubs up and down the country. The developers are playing one-upmanship ad infinitum, making minor tweaks to the format and dynamics of the game in desperate bids to be crowned champion.
Last year, FIFA Soccer 10 made some serious strides that its Konami counterpart simply could not contend with. No longer was this war waged on EA's superior licensing versus Konami's more engaging gameplay, with FIFA Soccer delivering a comprehensive football experience on and off the pitch. Their challenge this year is to extend their lead, refining their already superior game engine without making too many radical overhauls. PES arch-producer Shingo "Seabass" Takatsuka has an almighty task on his hands, having taken his series back to the drawing board with the sloppy PES 2010, his latest effort must deliver on those glimmers of potential and make some big changes. Essentially, Konami has nothing to lose. Continue Reading »
Tags: EA Sports, FIFA Soccer, FIFA Soccer 11, Konami, PlayStation 3, Pro Evolution Soccer, Pro Evolution Soccer 2011, Xbox 360
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The original Scribblenauts, released last year for the DS, promised: "Write anything. Solve everything." It's a mantra that's continued in this year's follow-up, Super Scribblenauts, a more polished and equally ingenious package that renders you a puppet-master and veritable creator god.
Speaking of God, he's one of the objects you can create in the game—along with zombies. It's a pair that gave way to the "God vs. zombie" battles we've all seen play out in the first installment of this series. You see, the Scribblenauts games grant you the ability to scribble any of your diabolical mind-drippings into existence: space shuttles, nautili, chimeras, the Grim Reaper, a pizza, flowers, yo-yos, whatever. Use these objects to solve puzzles, dispatch enemies or overcome obstacles. For example, draw a bridge (actually, you'll type the word "bridge" into the game using the DS stylus) to cross a pit of molten lava, or help a hairdresser transform brunettes into blondes by conjuring up some bleach or dye. It was a novel formula that gave gamers a level of control and creativity we've never seen before. Continue Reading »
Tags: 5th Cell, Nintendo DS, Scribblenauts, Super Scribblenauts, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
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Most reality-based first-person shooters use their authentic geopolitical locations, enemies, weaponry, and tactical strategies as mere window-dressing; regardless of what these environments or adversaries are called or look like, they still function only in rudimentary video game terms. So it most definitely goes with Medal of Honor, which like Activision's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare series, finds EA rebooting its classic WWII-themed franchise for the modern age, positing you as a Tier 1 special ops badass tasked with eliminating Taliban strongholds in Afghanistan. What this in fact means, though, is that the action takes place in scraggly mountains, caves, and towns, and requires that you mow down vaguely Arab-looking fellows alongside comrades dressed in local attire and matching beards. Otherwise, it's the same old FPS mayhem: Go here and kill lots of robotic villains, then trudge (by foot, or ATV vehicle, or chopper) to the next venue and battle even more faceless foes whose behavior is so predictably routine—everyone either runs right at you, or takes cover in the same spots, emerging at regular intervals to shoot at you—that any verité trappings are immediately and conclusively undermined. Continue Reading »
Tags: Battlefield, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, DICE, EA LA, Electronic Arts, Medal of Honor, Xbox 360
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For anyone who grew up with video games, playing the games of Nathan Fouts is like rubbing your face in a Proustian madeleine scented with Chuck E. Cheese's pizza. You can practically feel the zits popping on your face as he drops even the most thoughtful devotees of art games into the headspace of a sullen 12-year-old with a switchblade. At a time when gaming is working hard to be regarded as capital-A Art, Fouts's work is a gleeful punk-rock blast of disreputable goofiness. Explosionade—the title alone!—might be a little too self-consciously retro in some regards, but at an Xbox Indie price point, the only reason not to buy is if you're determined to slap a green eyeshade over your inner child's not-yet-receded hairline.
Unlike many developers working in the neo-retro-gaming genre, Fouts doesn't go for 8-bit fidelity. The shimmering heavy metal riffs that slather his soundtrack would have been unimaginable with the old technology, and the same goes for his triumphantly gnarly character designs, which depend for their effect on the high resolution of modern consoles. Similarly, the smartly dumb writing would've been both over the head and under the belt of arcade managers in the average pizza parlor; it's hard to imagine any game in those innocent days being so irreverently intertextual with other pop culture. Continue Reading »
Tags: Chuck E. Cheese's, Explosionade, Marcel Proust, Mommy's Best Games, Nathan Fouts, Weapon of Choice, Xbox Indie Games, Xbox Live Arcade, Yngwie Malmsteen
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As the fall and winter months barrel down upon us, so does the cavalcade of retail video game releases. Traditionally speaking, this is a time for many video game fans to dive into the plentiful bounty of popular franchises that have come back after long hiatuses, like the Halo or the Call of Duty series. Yet not all great games come in boxes, some come in the form of digital distribution, through the wondrous "system of tubes" which we call the Internet. Here were some of the standout downloadable titles for the month of September. Continue Reading »
Tags: Call of Duty, Dead Rising, Dead Rising 2: Case Zero, Halo, Lumines, Nevercenter, PAX 10, Penny Arcade Expo, Shibuya, TerRover, Tetris, Xbox 360, Xbox Live Arcade
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Hydrophobia is the gaming equivalent of a good B movie: solid, unpretentious, and reasonably satisfying. It's not out to compete with the eight-figure budgets of the blockbuster gaming world, it's just trying to give you a few hours of fun with some twists you haven't seen before. And though it has serious problems that keep it from low-expectations perfection, it's got enough technical achievements to keep it from being dismissed.
Hydrophobia is the kind of third-person action adventure that used to come out by the dozen for the original Xbox. You play as Kate Wilson, an engineer/security operative on a near-future floating city. Props to Dark Energy Digital for giving us a game heroine who isn't a gun-toting sex bomb, though I could've done without the whimpering every time she bumps something. Kate is sulking in her room when the ship is invaded by murderous Malthusians, a terror group that seems to have decided to hurry along Malthus's prediction of population collapse by shrinking the population. Or are they trying to stave it off? Or just increase Malthus's paperback royalties? It's a little hard to say, but whatever; though Hydrophobia's oceanic environments and leprechaun-voiced guide show a distinct Bioshock influence, this really isn't a game about story. Continue Reading »
Tags: Batman: Arkham Asylum, Bioschock, Dark Energy Digital, Hydrophobia, Tron, Xbox Live Arcade
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by Huw Jones on October 11th, 2010 at 12:26 pm in Video Games
The Castlevania franchise has been ferried across almost every platform imaginable during the last three decades, ceaselessly shedding its skin to suit whatever happens to be voguish in the contemporary video game climate. And just as 2003's Lament of Innocence was an unabashed replica of Devil May Cry's pioneering battle dynamic, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow is a cocktail of Uncharted's wall-scaling heroics, Batman: Arkham Asylum's close-quarters-combat chains, and Shadow of the Colossus's behemoth bosses. Once again, though, the producers have executed these borrowed ideas with aplomb, and have tweaked these already absorbing mechanics with enough original touches to avoid any nauseating similarities. When the protagonist is aping Nathan Drake, for example, he uses his Combat Cross to hook onto elevated objects and swing or rappel to navigate the treacherous terrain. Moreover, there are instances where Gabriel, a descendant of the Belmont clan, the franchise's fictional vampire-hunting dynasty, must mount his foes and employ each of their unique abilities to further his quests. Giant spiders can weave bridges of web, giant wolves can jump longer distances, and giant—yes, everything is giant—warthogs can be used as battering rams. Even though these oversized beasts are exploited fleetingly and to achieve very basic goals, conveniently placed just before you need them, it's a nice touch that keeps the action fresh between the epic boss battles. Continue Reading »
Tags: Batman: Arkham Asylum, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, Devil May Cry, Konami, Mercury Steam, Metal Gear Solid, PlayStation 3, Shadow of the Colossus, Uncharted
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