So we've got a lot of good games on deck, and even a few that were just released. Over the last few months, I've been getting progressively more excited about a great number of these games. The problem is, I don't know when I'll have time to play through all these games, and I really don't want to rack up a huge bill by buying all of them at once, either. Christmas is right around the corner, however, and so is my birthday, so I've decided I'm going to separate my hotlist of games into a few groups: must buy, gift request, buy later, and undecided.
Following is the list of all the games I'm looking forward to, and how I've split them up (and if you're reading this, Mom, this might be a good place to start for my Christmas list).
Gears of War 2
Must Buy - Though I've been careful not to spoil any of the surprises of the Gears sequel for myself, each time I get a glance at any new information on the game it seems better than before. This game is going to be awesome, and I'm really looking forward to playing through the campaign with my buddies, as well as jumping back into Gears multiplayer. Grenade sticking FTW!
Fable 2
Undecided - This is another game which I've been anxiously awaiting for some time now, and in only a few days it'll be on store shelves. It's garnering good reviews so far, and like Gears 2, each time I do some research on the title, it seems that much better, and I get more excited about it. Albion never looked better, and it's going to be hard to wait until Christmas or my birthday for this game, if I can go that long.
Left 4 Dead
Must Buy - The co-op multiplayer for L4D looks like it's going to be a lot of fun, and come on, it's a great-looking new Valve game. The only trouble I'm going to have with this decision is which platform to buy it for: PC or Xbox 360.
Fallout 3
Gift Request - Don't get me wrong here; I'm really looking forward to Fallout 3. I like the whole idea of a more modern Oblivion-ish RPG, and all the tweaks Bethesda has made to the game engine in order to create Fallout look both interesting and well done. But since, to my knowledge, the game doesn't feature any multiplayer action, I can shelve it for a few weeks while I play the rest of the games, since the world will be just the same when I decide I'm ready to enter it. And that's why I like single player games.
World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King
Must Buy - Only 3 weeks are left until the long-awaited second expansion to the World of Warcraft universe is released, and after spending two days at BlizzCon and experiencing all the big changes to the game introduced in last week's 3.0.2 patch, I'm more than ready to start working my way up to level 80, and maybe even turning my main character into a Death Knight. I won't be one of the people who gets in line a few days before the release, and I probably won't even pre-order. But I'll definitely be picking this one up within a day or two of it's release.
Dead Space
Buy Later - Initially I wasn't too excited about Dead Space, as it looked very generic and Doom 3-ish to me. Since I've read a few reviews however, I've changed my mind on the game, and I might just pick it up at some point. I'm not sure if I want to buy it or ask for it as a gift - it probably depends on how long I can hold out on buying all the other titles in the list. This game looks pretty fun though, and I am sure that at some point it will become part of my games library.
Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts
Undecided - The vehicle-crafting platformer gameplay in the new BK game looks like it could be a lot of fun, and pre-orders for the game nab you the original game (updated with a better display resolution and higher resolution textures) on Xbox Live Arcade as well, all for only $40. I'm going to have a hard time passing this game up if it gets good reviews on release.
Chrono Trigger DS
Gift Request - It's Chrono Trigger, but on the DS. I shouldn't even have to explain how awesome that is. It'll take a good gift request though, because it's cheap, and like Fallout, is single player only.
Saint's Row 2
Buy Later - I wasn't too hot on the original game until a few years had gone by and I gave it a second chance. Much to my surprise, the original Saints turned out to be a lot of fun, and was a great deal at only $20. Saints Row 2 looks pretty similar, only with more mayhem. The good reviews have convinced me that I will have to pick the game up sometime, but we'll see if that happens before this one hits $20 as well.
Call of Duty: World at War
Undecided - I came to COD4 a little late in the game, but still had a blast with its multiplayer and a good time working my way through the campaign. I'm hoping COD:WaW will be similar, but I want to see how the game turns out before I make any final decisions on it.
Other games I'm interested in, but weren't worth mentioning in the list yet: Tom Clancy's Endwar, Spore, Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise, Need for Speed: Undercover, Far Cry 2
I'll be back later in the week with more to say about some of this stuff, I'm sure. Thanks for reading!
So anyway, BlizzCon! It was awesome. My brother and I arrived in Orange County bright and early on Friday morning, picked up our passes, dropped off our luggage at the hotel, and made our way into the Anaheim Convention Center to see what Blizzard had in store for us.
The entire convention center was dark, illuminated only by multicolored lights and spotlights shining the Blizzard logo on the ground. Various islands of booths, displays, and photo areas were placed around the floor, and much larger areas were sectioned off to house many rows of computers set up for people to try out all of Blizzard's latest and greatest (Starcraft 2, Diablo 3, and Wrath of the Lich King).
In the convention center's largest room, a massive hall of chairs had been set up for the opening and closing ceremonies, and for other announcements and forums where the audience size was expected to be large. At the opposite end of the center, a smaller stage had been set up, as a special place for awards to be handed out to tournament players, as well as an alternate viewing area to the live events happening in the main hall.
Various other areas included a small elevated platform with a desk on the top, at which a few commentators would sit and deliver their take on the event as it rolled on (for pay-per-view viewers), two merchandise stores, a retrospective on past Blizzard games, a collection of concept art, a TCG/adventure game store and play area, information booths, and small bars, where drinks of all sorts could be obtained. An upstairs room was also reserved for other segments of the conference, and huge screens were set up all over the convention center so that no matter what one was doing, the important stuff would not be missed.
After a quick breakfast at the Rainforest Cafe (the only restaurant that was open at the time) in Down Town Disney, we arrived at BlizzCon. My brother (Spencer) and I wandered around for a while just taking in the various sights and sounds. We leaned over the low barrier to watch fans trying out Diablo 3 and Starcraft 2 for the first time. We gaped at the seemingly endless lines to get into the Blizzard stores. And we checked out the display set up for Blizzard's past endeavors in gaming, which included the Lost Vikings games, an isometric racing game, and of course, Warcraft.
We then settled into the standing-room-only crowd in the main hall to watch the opening ceremony, which lasted an hour, and then filed out again to go look at more stuff. We briefly visited a discussion panel set up for World of Warcraft's UI design, and then decided to head back out for a breather - we both only got about two hours of sleep the night before, and the lack of rest was starting to affect the experience. There was nothing else we wanted to see until later in the day, so we trudged a few blocks down the road and back to our hotel, and after looking through our BlizzCon goody bags for a while, we were both fast asleep.
We ended up heading out again at about five o'clock. We made a quick stop for pizza and were on our way back in only about twenty minutes. I had wanted to check out the World of Warcraft and Diablo 3 art shows, but we'd slept through them. I was happier to have had some revitalizing sleep however, and throughout the show we got plenty of chances to watch the actual games being played, so I wasn't disappointed in the slightest. The /silly contest was in progress when we walked back through the doors of BlizzCon, and we proceeded to watch over two hours of fan-crafted jokes, the dance contest, and though we missed the formal competition, many fans dressed in their best imitations of their favorite characters from Blizzard's games. The dance contest was the best part; seeing a full range of people, men, women, fat, skinny, young, and old recreating the dances their characters perform in World of Warcraft was really funny at times, and slightly impressive at others. We also saw a brief (and funny) interlude by The Guild, and this was all hosted by a very lascivious Jay Mohr.
Once the festivities were over for Day 1, my brother and I walked back over to Down Town Disney and hit up the ESPN Zone for some beers and arcade games. Lucky for us, Spencer is a DisneyLand annual pass holder, so we got 15% off of everything in DTD. He smashed me at hoops, I got winded on a bicycling arcade game, and then we went back to the hotel for the night.
In the morning of Day 2, we went back to ESPN Zone, but this time sat down in their sports lounge for some breakfast and to catch up on all the football going on the weekend. At around noon we made our way back to BlizzCon to catch the show for upcoming World of Warcraft dungeons, as well as part of the Q&A that followed. The dungeons looked pretty sweet, and though I rarely have enough time to do the scheduled runs with my guild, I hope to explore them at some point.
One member of the audience, who asked an argumentative question about hunters and their pets (if I remember correctly), had the gall to tell the game's designers that they were wrong in their judgement of his question, which was met with furious booing from the crowd.
After all that, we decided there wasn't much else we wanted to see until the closing ceremony that night, so we left BlizzCon for our hotel yet again, and ended up playing a few games of the World of Warcraft TCG, which actually turned out to be pretty fun (especially when I almost came back from a near shut-out with just one well-timed card). We had debated whether or not this time would have been a good opportunity to get in line to try out Diablo 3 or Starcraft 2, but we decided against it, as the lines for those games quadrupled after the dungeon preview session ended.
At around five o'clock, we descended on BlizzCon for the final time, arriving early in hopes to grab some seats in the main hall. Walking in, we noticed that about 75% of the seats in the hall were already taken, but to our dismay, every available seat left was being reserved by someone for a group they belonged to. At one point, we encountered someone saving four seats for friends, and we also observed at least one man with a disability (he was walking with a cane) being denied a place to sit by one of the seat-savers. I'm still planning on writing Blizzard to complain about this. If people wanted to see save a seat for themselves, they should have sat in them.
In any case, Spencer and I decided we didn't want to watch the three hour closing ceremony standing on the sidelines of the floor, where the acoustics prevented much of the audio from even being understandable, so instead, we made our way over to the second stage on the other side of the center, where only a handful of people had gathered. We weren't sure if they would show the closing ceremony on the handful of screens there, but figured it was worth the chance, as we'd be standing to watch in the main hall regardless of if we were there when it began or had to hustle back over. My brother bought us a round of beers, and we sat and waited.
As it turned out, the closing ceremony was indeed played on the second stage, and we had a good time watching it as we took turns buying rounds of drinks. Two comedians, including Patton Oswalt, gave performances, and were followed by Level 80 Elite Tauren Chieftain, and finally a performance of various Blizzard game music by Video Games Live. I didn't catch much of the opening comedian (he was dressed like a lumberjack), but I thought Patton Oswalt was pretty funny. L80ETC was alright, though their music isn't really my type, and I really enjoyed listening to Video Games Live. By the time the whole thing was over, Spencer and I were on our fifth or sixth round of drinks, and we stumbled back to our hotel room and got to sleep pretty early that night.
We got up early on Sunday and ran over to Disneyland for a few hours of rides (I hadn't been in over ten years!) and then we made our way back to the hotel a final time to get our stuff together before our mid-afternoon flight home. I would have liked to have had more time to spend at Disneyland, but by the time we were leaving, the park was getting to be so full of people anyway, I was partially glad to be leaving.
All in all, it was an awesome weekend, and despite the amount of running around, standing around, and junk food, I came out of it feeling pretty good on Monday - which is rare for my usual trips. I think I owe a lot of that to the fact that we ended up getting a decent amount of sleep every day of the trip, save the first. I would definitely attend BlizzCon again, but maybe again on another year when they have another slew of huge games on the horizon. It was good to just "nerd out" and enjoy myself for a weekend.
Of all things BlizzCon, there was really only a few things that I didn't like. The seat-saving bit was annoying, and expectedly, the bathrooms at the convention center got particularly gross at times. The only part that I really didn't anticipate (and probably should have) was that when you got into large groups with others, to stand and watch a performance or when a large crowd was exiting one of the halls, you were treated to the overwhelming smell of body odor, with the occasional fart thrown in here and there. I would liken it to the smell of a locker room after a football team just had a big game. Kinda gross sometimes, but not so frequent or strong as to be a deal-breaker. Still, if you're planning on attending BlizzCon, expect to get a good whiff of this smell at least a few times!
For the curious, I thought I'd list the contents of the BlizzCon goody bag, which I was pretty impressed with (even though I know a lot of it is the standard give-away fare, with a Blizzard theme attached):
Blizzon Pass (with World of Warcraft character name included)
BlizzCon Gift Card (includes code for special WoW mount, and participation in upcoming StarCraft 2 beta)
World of Warcraft Heroes of Azeroth TCG Starter Pack
Inflatable Frostmourne Sword (some bags had inflatable Paladin hearth/bubble instead)
Special StarCraft 2 board game square
Rubber BlizzCon keychain
Metallic Diablo 3 keychain
Orc mask
Diablo 3 stress ball
Kleenex packet with "QQ Noob" printed on it
Zerg Creep packet of colored goo
WoW mousepad
WoW Alliance necklace
Pandaren Brewmaster beer holder & bottle opener
StarCraft 2 wristbands
Double-sided WoW/SC2 comic book
Bookmark
Postcard
Hand Sanitizer
Diablo 3 Cinnamints
WoW Pin
Event map & schedule
There was probably more stuff in there that I forgot to list - but that's a lot of stuff as is, and I was anxious to drop that sucker off at the hotel room so I wouldn't have to carry it everywhere!
Anyway, I think I've rambled on long enough. I had a great time, and I hope I can visit sometime again in the future. BlizzCon rocks!
Soon my brother and I will be packing up and getting ready for what will hopefully be a fun two days down in Anaheim, as we attend BlizzCon 2008!
I've been so busy with work and other things over the last few days, I haven't really had time to even think about it, but now that we're a day before the event I'm getting very excited about going. After only a short flight and a quick ride, we'll be heading over to the Anaheim Convention Center and getting an early start on the long days Blizzard has planned.
I don't have much more to say for now, other than I'm getting more excited as the event draws closer. If you're interested in seeing BlizzCon but weren't able to get tickets, Blizzard's apparently struck a deal with DirectTV for a live PPV broadcast, so you might be interested in that. Either way, with upcoming games like StarCraft 2 and Diablo 3, it should be a great show, and I will be back to say more about everything when I can!
Perhaps it's a bit too early in the year to start worrying about what game might actually win GOTY for 2008, seeing as almost all outlets for gaming have a strong holiday lineup on deck. But I read an article over on DLB-Network, a website run by a buddy of mine, and it got me to thinking - just what games this year are likely to be GOTY? Which one do I think will nab the title on other websites/magazines?
I decided I'd list all the contenders, give my thoughts and my reasoning, and see what other people think. Many of these games came from the list proposed at DLB-Network, and some are from my own line of thought.
Grand Theft Auto 4
I believe GTA4 is a strong contender for GOTY 2008. Some may balk at this, saying that the game wasn't all that it was cracked up to be, but I beg to differ; the game was solid, fun, and even though it didn't always live up to the hype, it was unarguably one of the better games released in '08. The game was epic in size, it sold amazingly well, was a multi-platform release, and became a cultural phenomenon in the weeks building up to and following its release. It pushed the GTA franchise outward in all the right directions and had an interesting message, and it would not surprise me at all if GTA4 piles on the GOTY awards for 2008.
Metal Gear Solid 4
I've not played MGS4, but I've heard a lot of mixed things about it. The game upped the bar for graphics in PS3 titles, as well as for (non-)interactive story-telling, possibly to detriment. Though the game garnered strong ratings across the board, many now complain (much like GTA4) that the game was over-hyped and over-rated. Another common complaint was that the game bogged down players with too many cut-scenes and not enough actual gameplay. The final strike against it however, in my opinion, is the PS3 platform exclusivity. MGS4 had impressive sales numbers, but too few people have played this game for it to be dubbed GOTY 2008, in large part due to its release on a single platform. In an age where reviewers are too afraid to give the same game on different platforms different scores, I just can't see a single-platform title earning GOTY, good as the game may be.
Spore
Will Wright's wet dream, Spore, had always shown promise of being a game-to-end-all-other-games, even from its early unveiling at E3 several years ago. Even a year before its release, I recall talking with people about how great the game would be and being quite excited about it myself. Upon its eventual release, the world found that, while it was a decent and fun game, Spore wasn't exactly all it was cracked up to be. The game also fell prey to the same DRM woes that have haunted other recent PC releases. And though many are playing the game now and will be playing it into the distant future, I think that the possibility for achieving any sort of GOTY commendations were dashed long ago when the game became a shallow amalgam of different game genres, and a rich simulator of none.
Gears of War 2
Though the screens and videos of the new Gears game look promising, and I am sure the game will be a fun title, I don't think we'll see the sequel grabbing at GOTY, both for it's platform exclusivity and because it will be too similar to Gears 1 to show any real innovation.The original Gears of War, though not entirely original in most respects, did everything it set out to do so right that it was hard to say much bad about it. I feel that the sequel will be much the same, but since we've already broken the ground (a Gears pun?) with Gears 1, Gears 2 won't be a contender for GOTY. Of course, I've read that Epic has tried to fix many of the original Gears' shortcomings in the sequel, but unless they really pull off something spectacularly better than the already-great Gears of War, I don't see it. I'll definitely be in line to buy this title, though.
Resistance 2
I feel the same way about Resistance 2 as Gears of War 2. See above.
Little Big Planet
What can I say about LBP without inciting riots among its throng of fans? I think I'll just come right out and say it: LBP will be one of the most over-hyped games of 2008. Developed by Media Molecule, a company whose first game (Rag Doll Kung Fu) was met with a lukewarm response, Little Big Planet puts the developer's tools in the players' hands and asks them to create levels for others to play.
The game has a nice look to it, and the tools look easy enough to use - but I question how interesting most gamers, who don't typically delve into the development side of things, will find it. I also think that people who are truly interested in being creative will be disappointed, as there is only so much you can do easily and comfortably with a dual shock controller (as opposed to a keyboard, mouse, and with real creative tools like Photoshop, 3DSMax, etc.)... and that's ignoring the obvious limitations of the single hard drive and paltry amount of RAM. LBP will be an interesting diversion for sure, but not a system-seller, and for that reason, I don't see it as a serious contender for any GOTY awards.
Fallout 3
I'll admit that I haven't done much research about Fallout 3 yet, despite my plans to buy the game. If the experience is a little more polished than Oblivion, but with the same open-endedness and emphasis on exploration and discovery, I think it could be a latecomer to the GOTY arena. From everything I've seen so far, it looks much more crisp and refined than Oblivion. It'll be interesting (and hopefully fun) to see how well Bethesda's role-playing recipe holds up with the company shifting gears into the more modern setting of Fallout. Fallout is also being released for multiple platforms.
Rock Band 2
Like Gears of War 2, Resistance 2, etc. I think Rock Band 2 won't be viewed as particularly innovative purely for the fact that it's a sequel. Also, I don't see a rhythm game as a real contender for GOTY in any capacity.
Fable 2
Lionhead has promised a much longer, more rich experience than the original title with Fable 2, so I'm not sure if I can write this game off as just another sequel quite yet. I really enjoyed the first game, and though I liked the good/evil dynamic, and felt that the game as a whole was a very unique experience, I never really felt like any of the individual elements of Fable were particularly ground-breaking. Fable 2 may change that, but until the game is released, I will withhold judgment. The hype machine hasn't turned its evil eye towards Fable 2 yet, and I'm not sure if that's a good sign or not. At the very least, I hope Fable 2 is a fun and unique experience like the original, even if not GOTY fodder.
The Xbox 360 platform exclusivity may also come into play here, especially since Fable 2 will lack a lot of the universal appeal that propels other titles like GTA4.
Conclusion
Regardless of who actually winds up winning GOTY 2008, I think gamers are the real winner this year. Each system has received a good stack of quality games, and more is on the way soon. Couple that with the Xbox 360's soon-to-come fall dashboard update (the Xbox Experience), which completely redesigns the look and functionality of the system, and I might just have some trouble getting my work done this winter!
That's not to say that I'm done playing around with the game necessarily, but I finally made my way through the final mission of the game today. I'm writing this as I listen the music during the credits (which have been going on for at least ten minutes now, with no end to the stream of names in sight).
The last mission was, appropriately, one of the missions I had to play more than a few times to get right, and had enough good cinematics and explosions in it to make it a worthy final mission for the game.
Overall, I've enjoyed Grand Theft Auto 4, and I think that many of the complaints people have had after the initial flurry of praise, about the game being a disappointment, were mostly unfounded. Grand Theft Auto 4 was the next logical step for the series, and I think that it was a great success in taking the franchise into the next generation of cpu/gpu power.
My biggest complaint was that the final mission, and the jobs leading up to it, just never had as "epic" a feeling as some of those from the other games, like GTA: Vice City or even the first itteration of the game to go 3D, GTA 3. When Rockstar went to such great lengths to make the city alive and full of detail, I would have liked to have seen the story get so out of control that at the end the entire city sees the destruction and carnage as it happens between Niko and his enemies. Something like the end of the Matrix, where Neo and Smith virtually destroy the world (pun intended).
Still, the ending was good, I enjoyed the game from start to finish, and I liked just about everything that Rockstar has done with the game. There aren't too many games I've played that represent the real world so well that, when you see little things happening in the game that reflect life so perfectly, you can't help but smile. I'm sure I'll continue to do that as I play through it some more and uncover the secrets I missed while playing through the main story.
For now though, I'm set to finally beat Phoenix Wright as well (I put it off for a long time, huh?), and I'm also considering picking up a used Game Cube to scratch a Mario Sunshine itch I've been having lately. For about the same price as an Xbox 360 game I can buy a Game Cube, Mario Sunshine, and a memory card, so I'm totally tempted.
I've got to work on my competition entry some more too, probably... so we'll see. In any case, I've finally scratched at least one of the games off my backlog now. So the summer wasn't a total bust, I suppose.
Once again, <a href="http://yoyogames.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">YoYo Games</a> has announced a game-crafting competition, this time following the "green" theme "save the planet."
I'm actually quite excited about the theme selection this time around. It presents an argument rarely seen in video games, and could spawn some pretty interesting creations. Not only will I be looking forward to seeing what aspects of environmental awareness can turn into successful games, but I will also be ready for the more off-the-wall games, since the wording of the rules has left things a bit open.
From the official announcement:
These days our planet seems to be in a constant state of peril, together we ride the unicycle of fate atop the high-wire of self-destruction. Our busy little lives seem to be warming up the planet, and no one really knows where that will lead us. Worse, global warming isn't the only green problem: pollution, acid rain, over-crowding, starvation and drought, and extinction threats are all waiting in the wings.
We’re often told that the only solution to these collective problems is mass action - the message must be spread to as many as people as possible if our own environmental compromises are to count for anything. Computer games are a great way to reach people and get them interacting with these important debates. What we’re looking for in the next competition are games with a message, games which encourage the player to get involved.
Politics: Most of us at YYG believe there's something to this global warming idea, but we're not out to indoctrinate our gamers, or game makers. Whatever you believe, it cannot be denied that the debates themselves are important, decisions made here will affect all our lives. If you firmly disagree with the green message then feel free to make a game where the world must be saved from a bunch of crack-pot environmentalists.
Finally, we’re still on the hunt for the perfect casual game. The most important thing is that the games are fun. Don’t get too carried away with the theme at the expense of gameplay.
As with previous competitions judging will be conducted by YoYo Games and Prof. Overmars, with community response taken into account.
P.s. Yes, we are aware of the irony of using energy-hungry computers to communicate a green message. Better this than 300 games about saving princesses.
The contest will end on January 4th, 2009.
The announcement at the GMC brought about the usual slew of questions about what fits within the rules and what doesn't, but thankfully most concerns were laid to rest when our friendly YoYo Games admin dropped in. Hopefully we won't be seeing a lot more "does _____ fit the rules?" questions for a while now.
Though I'm starting to have a strange feeling of déjà vu about all this, I think I'm going to try to enter this competition. I've got a pretty decent idea for a game right now, even though I'm not sure if it completely fits IGDA's description of "casual," and I think that if I can pull it off, it'll be a pretty fun little app. I'll post more news on this later though, as I make some progress beyond the basic engine.
Since I never really got around to programming the whole thing, and I kind of left it on a cliffhanger here at the blog, I thought I'd share my idea for my last competition entry now. My idea, a puzzler which never really came to fruition, was to create a game where the user is presented with a side-scrolling course full of obstacles and tasked with moving an object (a water capsule) from one side of the course to the other (to a fire). To do this, the player is given a limited amount of robots that can be placed anywhere on the course, and then programmed by dragging one of a limited number of "scripts" onto them, which would tell them which direction they could throw the water capsule. A number of courses with obstacles of different type would be included, and as the player moved through each level, the game would put more emphasis on using each robot and script to its fullest to traverse the obstacles.
Maybe I will continue this one day... I've already got much of the level graphics and base programming finished. But for now, it's on to the green-er pastures of competition #4.
On Wednesday I wasn't feeling very good, and took a sick day from work. Don't worry - I'm better now. A little rest and relaxation can go a long way!
In the midst of my brief recovery, I fired up my Xbox and had some time to try out (and eventually purchase) a fun little game called Castle Crashers, by The Behemoth, the same team behind Alien Hominid HD.
I'd seen some trailers for Crashers before, and thought the game looked like fun, so you can imagine my excitement after playing it for a few minutes and finding out that the game was indeed fun, and even more so than the trailers made it look.
In Castle Crashers, you (initially) take on the role of one of four animated heroes ready to take on legions of baddies and bigger baddies. The game plays like your standard beat-em-up game, where players advance slowly through levels by killing each wave of enemies, and usually take on a boss somewhere in between start and finish. Levels can be re-played via the world map, and players can accumulate new weapons and pet orbs to use as they punish hordes of minions and level up each playable character. Up to four players can play at a time, either on the same console or via Xbox Live, in any combination of locals and players abroad.
The world is presented from an isometric side-scrolling view a la Streets of Rage, and Flash/Newgrounds style animation is applied liberally. In fact, the entire game has a sort of Flash-like hand-drawn look to it, and is incredibly attractive to view. Animations in players, enemies, and backgrounds are slick and smartly crafted. Color is utilized expertly. And the game's catchy soundtrack and effects compliment the visual style impossibly well.
I dove into the game not knowing much about what to do, and found myself playing as the orange knight, wielding a long sword and magical fire. I battled through the first area, cleaning up my home castle, picking up a sweet bow and arrow, and eventually thwarting the leader of the opposing castle crashers amidst a crowd of his fellow (and smaller) baddies. The demo ended as the leader approached death by my sword, and I promptly bought the game and continued playing. The boss was destroyed, I rescued my princess, and proceeded on through the next few areas.
I've now fought my way (all solo, so far) through a forest, a lumber mill, and a swamp, and though each progressive level is considerably harder than the last, I'm still having a great time with it. The humor in Castle Crashers is in tune with a lot of the goofy stuff you see on the internet these days (particularly NewGrounds, for obvious reasons), and I'm looking forward to crashing some castles with some friends on Xbox Live as soon as I've got enough time set aside to do so.
The game also features an eating mini game, and an arena mode. Player versus player combat is also an option.
If you've got an Xbox 360 and you're looking for a fun beat-em-up game that's a joy to watch and listen to, and which doesn't feature a steep learning curve (but still offers plenty of more complex fun), I recommend trying out Castle Crashers. The demo's free on Xbox Live Arcade, and from the looks of my friends list over the last few days, you shouldn't have any trouble finding other players to fight with online.
As a gamer, I'm not normally the type to look down upon the gaming habits of others. Sure, I'll make the odd quip about "freestyle" DDR players now and then, but generally I don't give my fellow gamers too much grief for doing whatever it is they choose to do.
This stance has led me to defend Guitar Hero/Rock Band, games which I have played very minimally, whenever someone brings up the "you should just learn a real instrument" argument. I've even argued this point with my dad, who is an actual musician (he plays bass guitar). I had an epiphany at a GameStop which changed my views on this slightly, and which makes me wonder about how far the rhythm games can go before they've gone too far. It also makes me wonder if I'm the only person who's ever had an epiphany at GameStop.
While I was at GameStop, they had a Guitar Hero III display set up. Instead of the usual speakers, the display was outfitted with headphones so interested players could try the game out without disturbing other shoppers too much. I was waiting in line to order a game. A kid who was obviously familiar with Guitar Hero walked up to it and - headphones on, guitar in hand - got set to play. The people in line in front of me were going back and forth with an employee about trading in games, so I curiously looked on as the kid began to run through a jam session.
I heard the game in a way I'd never heard it before. Without the music to accompany the rhythmic input, the mechanical monotony of the whole thing was instantly exposed. And while I know that many games, some of my favorites probably, could be broken down into a series of infinitely repeatable hand motions, the illusion of Guitar Hero, nay all rhythm games, had been broken from this moment forth.
Enter Rock Band.
Guitar Hero got me used to seeing people rocking out holding small, plastic guitars with buttons instead of strings, but I'm not sure that I'll ever be able to accept the ridiculous menagerie that is the full band ensemble of Rock Band. Not only does this setup look completely ridiculous standing before the TV in anyone's living room, but it costs a small fortune, and so starts to encroach on the grounds of "you might as well just learn to play a real instrument." Feast your eyes on this piece of work:
All this for a video game? Really? Do I even need to say anything else...?
If you're going to put all the effort into buying, building, and learning to play these ridiculous game controllers, why not just put in a little extra effort and learn the real thing? It'll likely be more personally satisfying, and could even land you a career you'd always dreamed about, but never really considered.
Don't get me wrong though - I still don't wholly agree with the naysayers; I don't really think anyone is trying to substitute real musical talent with a game of Guitar Hero or Rock Band. There is definitely a place in the world for our beloved rhythm games. I personally think it's awesome that an entire family can rock out to tunes in Rock Band, with each member on a different instrument. I like that Guitar Hero is doing its part to revive interest in classic rock. And hey, even those DDR freaks dancers have impressed me from time to time. I just feel like these things have gone a bit too far (the drum kit above being a prime example), and if there's a possibility for some non-electronic achievements now and then, why not take them? I think that with the advent of more advanced (and expensive) "instruments" that argument is becoming more valid.
Alright, I'm done preaching. Public service time is over. Pick up the plastic guitar, and rock on.
With the latest Team Fortress 2 update, which includes the new Heavy class achievements, weapons, and a new game mode, Valve has also released another short trailer for the game: Meet the Sandvich.
The "sandvich" made its debut in the Meet the Scout video, where it changed hands between the Heavy and Scout after a scuffle, and continues to be the source of conflict in the newest video. It's also a new unlockable item for the Heavy class. It can heal 120 health, and the Heavy who has it equipped has an unlimited supply. The downside is that eating it makes a considerable amount of noise, and leaves the Heavy vulnerable for four seconds while he consumes it.
Though it still feels like I got the required amount of relaxation this weekend, I look back on all the stuff I did (or played and watched, to be more specific) and almost feel like I couldn't have. Throughout the weekend I've watched two movies, beaten one game, played through a good amount of another, spent a good portion of time with my girlfriend, and even got some work done on some web/game stuff I've been meaning to do.
Tropic Thunder
The first thing my girlfriend and I did on Sunday was head on over to the local theater to catch the matinee of Tropic Thunder. I'd read glowing reviews, a little bit of controversy, and I'm a fan of both Ben Stiller and Jack Black, so I had a feeling the movie would be good. And it was. From the opening trailers (go see it, you'll see) to the end credits, the movie was intensely funny. If you're into comedy flicks and you don't mind humor that is occasionally offensive humor, you'll enjoy Tropic Thunder.
Before the movie began, we sat through all the silly trailers. I think that out of the seven to eight trailers shown before Thunder started, only one looked decent. Most of them just left me, my girlfriend, and the rest of the audience making jokes and shaking our heads in shame and disgust. One trailer in particular comes to mind now, for "Disaster Movie," but not because it was particularly good, and surely not because the movie looks like it will be anything but another steaming pile of crap in the line of "_____ Movie" parody films.
I find it funny that the trailer for Disaster Movie was shown though, because after watching Topic Thunder, you can't help but feel bad for anyone who actually believes that that movie, or any of its ilk, is in any way "real" comedy. I guess every now and then Hollywood manages to produce something above and beyond the norm, and it serves to put all the other trash back in its place. That's not to say that Tropic Thunder is a perfect movie (it's certainly not), but it's entertaining, it's damn funny, and it makes you wish more movies could be like it.
Overlord
About a week ago, while I was waiting for my girlfriend to get done picking out some clothes at the local mall, I wandered into the nearby GameStop and found a game I'd been meaning to pick up for some time but hadn't yet seen it available for $20: Overlord.
It's not the best game ever made; the controls are a little hard to get used to, and the camera bugs me sometimes. But I really like the concept of Overlord, and the way the game actually works is just really amusing to me, so I enjoy playing it. Overall, there's a lot more good stuff here than bad.
In Overlord, you play as the newly resurrected, evil "Overlord," and you lead an ever-growing horde of minions (little gremlin-ish creatures) to do your bidding. At your command, the throng of minions will destroy everything in sight, gang up on baddies, and clear the way for you to continue forth. As you play, you gain the ability to control different types of minions, each with a unique ability. You also learn magical spells and forge new items at your tower. The core game works a lot like Fable, where you pick up new quests as you move along, and have the option to complete them when you want, albeit instead of having to choose between acting good or evil, in Overlord, you usually have to choose between acting evil or acting more evil.
As I mentioned above, I really like the idea behind Overlord - that some nameless, evil guy runs around with his crowd of minions, and together they conquer the land. It's a clever idea, and it runs against the grain of all the traditional "hero" games in a really fine way. The voice acting for the minions and their leader is excellent and brings the game to life in a way that could not have been achieved otherwise. The ability to customize your evil tower and imbue your arsenal with the powers of your minions were also great additions and serve to round out the game in a satisfying way. Codemasters put a lot of effort into making Overlord fun to play, and in my opinion, they succeeded.
Hopefully that opinion doesn't change as I much through the rest of the game!
The Simpsons Movie
I finally had the opportunity to watch <a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/simpsons_movie/" target="_blank">The Simpsons Movie</a>, and I enjoyed it a lot. The movie was consistently funny throughout, and not one opportunity was lost to use one of the show's hundreds of characters. I've always liked how the Simpsons works so many levels of subtle (and often not-so-subtle) social commentary into the plots of each show, and the movie followed suit with this trait in spades.
Truthfully, the whole thing seemed a bit like a really long episode of the normal show, only with better animation, but I think this was one of the movie's strengths. It gave the writers time to do jokes that simply aren't possible within the constraints of a thirty minute show, and there's hardly a moment where you feel like the film has lost its momentum.
There are plenty of awesomely funny moments in The Simpsons Movie, and I'd definitely recommend it to anyone who likes the show.
Braid
After spending over three hours working out the last two puzzles I had left (one of which I solved on accident after giving up completely), I've finally beaten Braid. I won't spoil things for anyone who's playing (or planning on playing) the game, but I will say that the ending is appropriate to the rest of the game, and I can say with confidence that if you enjoyed the game up to the end, you will enjoy the ending a lot.
3D Animated Texture Water
Like that picture above? That's a screenshot of a new 3D water example I've got ready for release - but I really want to write up a tutorial so people can learn how I made the textures included in the example. It looks great in motion!
Anyway, that's my weekend in a nutshell. Thanks for reading, and sorry for the delays between posts, I'll try to be more prompt with future posts.
