OK, If you haven’t played this rather excellent game yet, go do yourself a favor and give it a shot. Larian Studios’ well-crafted (and quite lovely) action/RPG is fast-paced and challenging enough that even non-RPG fans can get into it with ease, the story is well done (and often quite funny), there are secrets GALORE and yes, plenty of loot to collect. I’ve played this one three times (the original PC and both Xbox 360 versions) and if I had the time, I’d play it again. All that and you get NEW content in this version. And hey – you also get to transform into a dragon in this game, and that’s always cool. Unless you REALLY hate dragons. Then you’d probably want to be playing something else. But everyone thinks dragons are cool, so you’re good with this game.
Transformers, Thundercats, He-Man – the 80’s cartoon hits just keep on coming to gamers these days (but hey, where’s the Twinkle the Dream Being game?!). Anyway, Namco Bandai has released Thundercats into the wild for the Nintendo DS. It certainly looks pretty awesome and heck, my nostalgia meter says this one will be a ton of fun. As usual, it’s up to the hands-on time and final impressions from dopes like me and other editor-types that will sway you one way or the other, but I trust in Lion-O to NOT be in a stinker. Mumm-Ra, maybe (which is why he’ll never get his own game), but not Lion-O. Anyway, we shall see what’s what in a few days when my review copy pops up.
Hokay, in brief: Ragnarok Odyssey (BUY IT!), Dokuro (BUY IT!) Retro City Rampage (BUY IT!), Orgarhythm (BUY IT!) and Skylanders Giants (BUY IT!) are all incoming reviews this week and next along with King’s Bounty: Warriors of the North (I just got the code now and need to download this, but if it’s as solid as the last couple of KB games, it’s a buy) and some Holiday Gift Guide suggestions, I need to do quite a bit of updating. It’s been a bit hectic here what with all the stormy weather and such keeping me otherwise occupied, but expect a lot more to read as things sort of calm down. We got slapped around pretty badly by Sandy here in NYC, but the home office and games collection are just fine (as am I). Anyway, off to tackle some writing – back later!
Ah, nothing like a little hurricane action to keep you indoors and annoyed (but slightly productive). Anyway, one more post for the day, then I’m off to catch up on some gaming. While Zen Studios is king of the modern digital pinball game these days, the fine folks at Farsight Studios have been making the best recreations of classic pinball tables for consoles and other devices. The newest addition to the ongoing Pinball Arcade series (exclusively for PS3 and PS Vita) will include the legendary Elvira and the Party Monsters table, which last appeared on the Atari Lynx if I’m not mistaken. It’s good to be a PS3 and Vita owner these days, that’s for sure. Anyway, go ogle the video above – I’m off to play a few games and watch stuff blow by my window seven floors up. Sandy, you’re not slowing ME down one bit, grrrrr!
‘Ey! What’s all this now with popular directors tackling video game ads? First it’s David Fincher producing a wild and intriguing Halo 4 ad and now Guy Ritchie on this CoD MW3 commercial… hmmmmm. Well, I guess people need to work and hey, it’s always great to find out some quality movie talent are gamers, right? So it’s all good in the end. It’s also good that we’re not seeing these guys tackle adaptations of the games they’re doing ads for as full-fledged movies. I know I said in an earlier post that it would be a good idea to see longer form works from great directors based on games, but given that you’d end up with 21 writers trying to fit too much into a two-hour flick and the creative control disasters that would result from this sort of collaboration, TV spots and quick trailers are a better thing in the end foe gamers concerned about quality and continuity. OK, someone dial up Ridley Scott – I’d love to see him tackle some upcoming title (if he’s got an interest in gaming at all, that is)…
Hmmm, let’s see now: side story to one of the biggest AAA games of the year, a strong female lead with a compelling back story, a deep plot that could resonate on a few levels for those of us who love compelling single player experiences, some truly stunning visuals and oh, so much more. Yeah, that sounds like something I’m interested in. Ubisoft and Sony think so too, which is why they’re doing it up with a really nice bundle that includes a nice white Vita. I already have a Vita, so I won’t be snapping this up, but I think YOU should, as the handheld is finally getting more and better games worth an absolute buy.
Yep, it’s Catamites (or catmitts) at the wheel again. His offbeat RPG Space Funeral was of the most unusual and incredibly awesome indie games I’ve played this year, but Catamites has most certainly been a busy guy since then, cooking up a bunch of newer titles to make anyone who downloads them appreciate his take on familiar game genres and gameplay conventions. Goblet Grotto is a strange, addictive third-person exploration adventure game where you… collect goblets. Well, there’s a lot more going on under the hood, but revealing it would spoil the fun. Hell, you SHOULDN’T even watch that speed run video above (too late, huh? Oh, OK…) as it’s a fast way through the game and you need to really boogie around the game world to see and interact with as much as possible. What’s cool here is there’s a very functional game world and characters here and all those bizarre sounds and strange hieroglyphs onscreen have some meaning as does every action button on the console.
The fun part in all this (next to collecting goblets) is interacting with characters and objects in the environment. Just going around jamming on the spacebar (which makes a “KILL!” sound each time you tap it) isn’t the best solution (but it does get rid of wolves and other creatures that attack) and yes, you’ll die a lot (unless you cheated by watching that video above). However, the game grabs you, sucks you in and has you hooked in because of the offbeat visuals and eccentric sound design. Anyway, blah and blah and blah – go get this NOW, I say. It runs on PC and Macs, so you Apple-heads don’t need to sit there pouting about not being able to play a decent game. No matter what you play it on, you’ll get a few laughs, scratch your head and maybe even say “WTF???” a few times. I think that’s what Catamites wants, so please do oblige him. Oh yeah, check out his other games as well at Harmony Zone – all are worth trying out (and hell, they’re all **FREE**, so there’s no commitment other than the time it takes to download and play them).
Well alrighty then – after a chunk of time spent downloading thanks to a sloooooow connection and a bit of a false start when booting up the first time (I got a black screen for ages and had to reboot my Vita twice before the game woke up and decided to start), I’m finally playing Ragnarok Odyssey – well, the single player mode so far. So far, it’s quite fun – easy to get into in terms of setting up and creating your character, but not the grind-fest I thought it would be. You actually don’t gain levels by killing monsters (although you can repeat quests to gain extra items, weapons and other drops plus more Zeny to buy supplies and upgrade gear with). Your rank goes up as you complete chapters that advance the overall story.
And all five things can be done before breakfast if you get the game when it hits PSN exclusively on October 30th and wait until early the next morning to play it. Well, that’s not going to happen, as Okami is more of a game you’ll stay up ALL night playing. With spiffy HD visuals, PlayStation Move support, many, many hours of gameplay (yes, there’s loads of replay value here as well) and more, chalk this up as yet another winner from Capcom.
Even though it was released two full weeks before Stephen Spielberg’s JAWS, the late William Castle’s final production, BUG was somewhat destined to fail. Despite some fine direction by Jeannot Szwarc and an intense performance as Bradford Dillman starring as the doomed Dr. James Parminter and plenty of startling deaths (well, startling to an 11-year old me), the film probably freaked too many people out with its swarms of over-sized fire-starting cockroaches causing all sorts of flaming mayhem throughout a small town after they start popping up after an earthquake.
What makes the film work as a nice horror/sci-fi blend is the sheer craziness of the insects from hell being able to start fires anywhere they crawled (which again, leads to some nasty demises throughout the flick) and Parminter’s supremely stuborn insistence on tampering with them even more with his research.
"DESTROY ALL FANBOYS!" 