Review: Tales of Graces f

Posted on March 19, 2012 by geelw

Platform: PlayStation 3

Developer: Namco Tales Studio LTD.

Publisher: Namco Bandai

# of Players: 1 – 4

ESRB Rating: T (Teen)

Score: A

While heavy on the JRPG 101 clichés (even borrowing from previous games in the popular series), Tales of Graces f manages to be a stellar, addictive chunk of gaming goodness thanks to a lightning fast combat system, a fairly engaging cast of characters and a healthy dose of old school charm that keeps the hours flying by. Right from the beginning, you can clearly see and feel Namco Tales Studios’ commitment to making this the best Tales game possible and for the most part, they’ve succeeded. As the game is an enhanced update of the Japan-only Wii game Tales of Graces (with even more content and a few notorious bugs fixed), it’s not shooting for the stars in terms of overly detailed HD visuals at all. What you get is a very pretty looking game with a whole lot of things to do that doesn’t set any new genre standards, but manages to have enough variety to keep you dialed in until the wee hours.

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F1 2012 “Games vs Reality” Trailer: For Some, It’s Not By The Hair Of Your Simmy-Sim-Sim

Posted on March 18, 2012 by geelw

Some diehard Formula One aficionados want ANY game with the F1 license to be nothing but as real as possible with no sort of leeway given to novice players. That’s a fine way to lure in that select few who can deal with this type of driving game, but it makes selling that game outside that audience a slim to none chance. Granted, a full-on arcade experience is a no-go for those that crave a game that’s not going to be a floor it and win every race experience, and I’m one of those who dislikes racers that take too much effort away from actual gameplay. Codemasters seems to have solved some of these issues with F1 2012, although if you’re REALLY picky, the game’s September release comes when the actual F! season is pretty much over. Hey, you can’t expect the team to bust out a game BEFORE the season like EA Sports does with the Madden games, as there are a great deal of variables involved and a rushed to market game isn’t actually good for much unless you’re collecting coasters. Sure, F1 201o and 2011 weren’t flawless, but the dev team is definitely getting better and better each year they have the license (and I’m all for that)…

Kid Icarus Uprising Update: The Kitchen Sink Approach In Full Working Order

Posted on March 18, 2012 by geelw

Anyone worrying about whether or not this game will do well (or be any good) hasn’t been paying attention to all those videos Nintendo has been posting on YouTube. by packing the game with cameos from franchise familiars and in this latest trailer above, showing off how well the game plays, it’s practically guaranteed that Kid Icarus will be at the top of the 3DS charts for some time. That, and it also shows the 3DS isn’t going anywhere anytime soon (which is also a good thing)…

Hawken March Extended Gameplay Trailer: Phantom Crash + Armored Core + Mechwarrior = Faint, THUD

Posted on March 18, 2012 by geelw

PC gamers looking for that mech-wrecking fix that used to be the big thing back in the 90’s are going nuts for Hawken, Adhesive Games’ (with an assist from Meteor Games) phenomenal looking Unreal-powered online mech combat shooter set to launch later this year. I’m shaking my non metal fist at my crappy PC and crappier online connection, but at least I can hope that some smart publisher will want to throw money at the team so some sort of console or portable version can be cooked up down the road. No hurry, I’ll wait just for it to be as close as possible to what’s here in terms of speed and level of detail. Hell, I’d even be interested in a board game if someone made one…

Malevolence: The Sword of Ahkranox Goes The Crowdfunding Route

Posted on March 18, 2012 by geelw

One of my favorite in-progress indie projects is a “little” game being whipped up by a small team of programmers and artists based in Brisbane, Australia (with some assistance from talented folks around the globe). A old-school turn-based RPG using a modern graphics engine? Count me in! I was wondering if these guys and gals were going to go use Kickstarter, but as they’re outside the U.S. of A., they can’t use the popular crowdfunding site at all (boo). However, thanks to another (and more international) crowdfunding site, IndieGoGo, the team is all set up and ONLY needs a mere $8000 to complete their game. These days, I’m always broke, but it’s still my obligation as a fan of all things independent gaming to direct those of you who do have that disposable income to boogie on over and give these guys some support.

As you can see in the video above and through the posts on the development blog, what’s coming is going to be a total sock-knocker-offer (or a really fine game worth playing). The team is also offering up some nice premium items from physical copies to T-shirts to signed posters to even getting your name in the game credits. With hugely popular games such as Double Fine Adventure and now Wasteland 2 getting some massive cash injections from fans clamoring for classic PC games to make a comeback, Malevolence is looking like a more than worthy entry in the fan-funded gaming surge. Anyway, go check out the links above and spend a little cash if you like what you see!

Random Film of the Week: Deadlier Than The Male

Posted on March 17, 2012 by geelw

(thanks, ohwhatamindblast!)

OK, I know I haven’t been keeping you guys and gals up to date in terms of this feature, but that’s what happens when one tries the world domination thing – you end up with too much stuff on your plate and some things get dropped. Speaking of world domination and dropping things, this fun to watch James Bond pastiche from 1967 happened to pop into my head as a film I haven’t seen in ages that’s worth tracking down. Sure, it’s not perfect, but it’s great for a laugh or three and some excellent set pieces keep things quite cool. Even better, in terms of all the Bond spoofs on that landed in theaters during the period, it’s one of the more polished efforts.

Granted, Hugh “Bulldog” Drummond is NOT a spy, but an updated version of the classic British detective for the swingin’ 60’s set and thus, sure as heck looks and feels like a fun Bond knockoff. Richard Johnson ably plays Drummond as a Bond not so lite tough guy insurance investigator (that’s longhand for detective for hire) who’s good with his fists, pistols, a snappy quip or two and the ladies (not necessarily in that order). He’s put on the case of a dead oil company executive and soon finds out that there are some sexy female assassins (the drop-dead gorgeous Elke Sommer and Sylva Koscina) and a mastermind behind the whole thing to deal with in his particular (albeit Bond-like) manner…

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The Whitney Museum 2012 Biennial: “Well, I Don’t Know About Art, But I Know What I Like…” (I Think)

Posted on March 17, 2012 by geelw

OK, I needed a break from gaming for a tiny bit, so yesterday, I took a trip down to the Whitney Museum of American Art here in NYC to check out the 2012 Biennial. It was definitely interesting to see what’s been going on in the art scene since I hadn’t been to a decent museum in a while and over the past two weeks, I’d been to a few galleries in Brooklyn poking around to see what’s what (and finding some nice surprises). I was expecting a lot of contemporary art in the usual forms (painting, sculpture, film/video, et cetera), but after experiencing some engaging performance art (of the audience perception challenging kind, especially if you don’t “get” Jaques Tati and dislike nudity, even if it’s cleverly silk-screened on different articles of clothing), seeing a dance rehearsal work in progress (made up of dancers and non-dancers), an entire artist’s studio moved into the museum (with the artist included, happily interacting with attendees) and other stuff you’ll need to go see for yourself, I have to say my brain is cooked up pretty good.I feel like making soemthing arty, but I haven’t a clue just what yet…

A lot of other art there was a bit odd, but really interesting from a few perspectives. I’ll probably go back again next week (Friday after 6pm is a pay what you like admission) and maybe do the life drawing session, as it’s been ages since I drew anything from a live model and I’m supremely rusty. Or maybe I’ll stay home and play some more games, as I need to catch up on a few reviews as well as get through the pile of other stuff I’ve started this year. Speaking of reviews, yeah, the two I’m working on are late, but fear not. They’ll get done and posted over the weekend. Not today, though – I have one more arty stop to make, but it’s kind of game-related, too…

The Avengers Japanese Trailer #2: Playing Into The “Hey, They Get ALL The Good Stuff!” Stereotype

Posted on March 16, 2012 by geelw

I got that header quote in an email about the trailer and got a nice chuckle before i went into common sense correction mode. It’s not as if those brief snippets of tease-y galore not seen in the US trailers are going to be cut from the film here. Still, it’s nice to see more bits and pieces of the film and how super it all looks, although I have one gripe that bugs me about almost every recent comic book flick. How come we get to see some heroes without their masks in public acting like it’s no big deal that they’re revealing their true identities? Go watch Spider-Man 2 and 3 for the worst examples of this silliness.

Anyway, I’m pleased as punch otherwise. Hell, I’ll even accept Sam Jackson as Nick Fury after holding out for so long. He sure makes a better Fury than David “Hamburgular” Hasselhoff did, that’s for damn sure…

Diablo III Officially Dated: Wake Me When There’s An Offline Solo Mode…

Posted on March 15, 2012 by geelw

Yeah, yeah, I was bitching earlier about people bitching about Mass Effect 3’s ending, but this is entirely different and worth it’s own special gripe. Sure, Blizzard wants to be in better control of its long-awaited baby, but shutting out Diablo III to those who don’t have constant online connections, don’t WANT to play nice (or nasty) with others or hell, just want a game they can play when they want to without having to rely on constant updating just blows. Not everyone who wants an offline mode is a hacker, cheater (or whatever is considered “bad” for DIII) looking to bilk Blizzard. We just want to enjoy the story as solo players and not go near the Internet, that’s all.

Yes, Blizzard will make a MINT on DIII pre-sales and launch day sales and based on what I’ve seen of the beta, they deserve every penny of your hard-earned gold. However, YES, you’d better believe there will be such a download crunch-fest on and around day one that a lot of people will be screaming that they can’t get online or download the game or are suffering through whatever other issues that ALWAYS crop up in a big release like this. A lot of you guys and dolls will be doing the happy dance on May 15, 2012, but for me and a lot of other folks, it’ll be business as usual until we hear of some solution that can get us enjoying SOME form of the Diablo universe (even if it’s a console side-story set in the same period as the game).

Tinkering With The Wayback Machine…

Status

Heh. I’m actually STILL working on updating/fixing those 2010 and 2011 posts, so yes, those articles that are chopped of or oddly formatted WILL be fixed up as time goes on. I still don’t have that typing monkey I ordered from that old comic book, so I blame the slowness of the mail for much of this still ongoing. That and the time machine plans I bought off some stupid website didn’t work at all. I just ended up rewiring the toaster and vacuum cleaner here into a weird thing that shoots sparks and makes a lot of smoke. It also makes random old comic books fall from the sky, but they always arrive all burnt up, so there goes my chances of getting a copy of the first appearance of Superman in a decent condition…