Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two Hands-On: Twice As Fun (And Then Some)…

Posted on June 30, 2012 by geelw

As great fun as Disney Epic Mickey was on the Wii, the game did have a few issues. Granted, the innovative gameplay that allowed players to paint in or remove chunks of the game world meant the Wii was doing some spectacular calculations behind the scenes, but the game camera suffered in too many areas. That and the game could have used a bit more in the way of actual voices for its cast, especially as it captured a wide range of Disney history that demanded to be heard as well as seen. Yes, James Dooley’s fantastic score carried the aural experience to new heights, but something was still missing. For the sequel, I’m happy to report that not only are PS3 and Xbox 360 owners going to get in on the fun, those camera and sound problems are gone and Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two should be on your list of games to dive into when it hits retail in mid-November. I finally got to play the E3 demo of the PS3 version at a Disney event here in NYC and as good as the first game was on the Wii, the new camera system absolutely sings using the Move and /Navigation Controller setup.

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Zombeer? Really? OK, Zombies in Games Are Officially Played Out.

Posted on June 29, 2012 by geelw

Yeesh, now I’ve seen everything. Still, you KNEW this was coming, right? That said, The ride is officially shut for the winter, kids. Show’s over, monkey’s dead, and he ain’t gettin’ up anytime soon. Go on home, now… git! Resident Evil kicked off the zombies thing in games for many and after over 15 years of assorted games featuring the undead in all sorts of genres from nearly every major and plenty of smaller publishers, here we are at Zombeer: Zombies & Beer. Which means (to me, at least) this is the end of the line for anything original and undead-related in gaming. Of course, I could be dead (or undead) wrong, but that title makes my stomach churn for some reason (and not in a good way). All I’m saying is this had better be the best horror comedy first person shooter ever made AND it better be a bit scary too. That awful pun-wreck of a title nearly made me want to poke my eye out with a cold spoon. Anyway, I have a the fingers on one hand crossed that this one doesn’t stink as much as the title and concept do. Eh, maybe I’m in a crappy mood today or something, as stuff like this usually makes me crack up…

When The Last CRT Display Goes, It’s The End of An Era…

Posted on June 28, 2012 by geelw

I hadn’t thought about this much as frankly speaking, I’ve actually not been paying too much attention to the classics I grew up with until recently. They can take care of themselves in terms of their familiar gameplay and assorted visual styles holding up, but things are certainly a lot more grim on the technical side. Nostalgia is indeed wonderful when it does what it does and makes you smile, but today’s gamers are getting the shorter end of the stick despite having better, faster (and yes, more expensive) ways to play games.

Sure, today’s fast-moving technology is great and all, but sometimes “vintage” is more acceptable for some things for a few very key reasons. According to a press release I got from the fine folks at Dream Arcades yesterday, the lack of new CRT’s is probably going to affect their bottom line at some point (and sooner that they’d like) and will probably signal the death of another central core of vintage gaming history…

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On Replay Value: Why Most Critcs And Gamers Are Dead Wrong

Posted on June 26, 2012 by geelw

One of the annoying trends I’ve seen grow far out of hand over the last decade plus is the issue of griping about longevity in games, or more precisely, the overemphasis on criticizing length versus cost divided by quality. Pop onto any games review site or message board and you’ll see whining about games being too short for what they cost (no matter what they cost) or worse, too many posts about people who play certain types of games ONCE and immediately trade or resell them, often for far less than what they paid. This is dumb, and thanks to too many reviewers who write as if they’ve never set foot inside an actual arcade (or even if they haven’t, fail to understand that most games are made to be replayed), this trend of limited thinking and under-appreciation will keep thriving. For me, unless a game is so terrible that it HAS to be removed from one’s sight as soon as possible after a single play-through, it’s worth replaying… and in many cases, keeping.

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Journey: Collector’s Edition Trailer: My Psychic Powers At Work…

Posted on June 25, 2012 by geelw

As I predicted, here’s what’s coming in the retail version of Journey: Collector’s Edition, coming soon to the PS3. The only things missing are more PSN demos, but Sony is offering up a PlayStation Plus subscription for those of you who want to check out the service and see what’s what. Granted, this means not a thing to games without the means to go online at all, but hey, I guess SCEA will figure that out at some point. Still, this is a must purchase collection and heck, will make a great gift for any gamer out there who hasn’t tried these gems yet.

Review: Diablo III

Posted on June 25, 2012 by geelw

Platform: PC

Developer: Blizzard North

Publisher: Blizzard

# of Players: 1 – 2

ESRB Rating: M (Mature)

Official Site

Score: B

With no reliable internet connection and no desire to play any game with a solo mode that demands one, no matter the reasoning, I’m exactly the sort of gamer Blizzard doesn’t want playing Diablo III, and that’s a shame. No one asked the many thousands of folks like me who happen to love the series what our thoughts were on an online-only Diablo experience, and the fact remains that not everyone who wanted a straightforward campaign is some sort of pirate or cheat-happy coder out to break the game up into pieces and make our own content or whatever else Blizzard was fearful of. That said, last year when I heard about the game being online only, I automatically thought I’d never get the chance to review it. However, I was able to wrangle a deal with a friend where in case a copy DID magically show up, I’d use his spiffy, always updated gaming rig in trade for the game if he set up an account just so I could at least play through it to see how it turned out.

Amusingly enough (and much to my surprise) a review copy showed up two days before the launch and after letting out a nicely demonic laugh (you should hear it – your spine will rattle), I made a phone call and set aside what I thought would be enough quality time to go through the game. Let’s just say that everything I was concerned about came to bear in a few ridiculously annoying ways, but when the game works, it’s addictive as ever (despite some changes made for the casual crowd) and about as good as I’d hoped. The caveat being WHEN it worked…

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Random Game Never To Play Alone (Or Else) #1: Dokapon Kingdom

Posted on June 24, 2012 by geelw

I have a stupidly long list of article idea and as usual, not enough time to get them all written, but every so often I’m going to post the occasional test article for your perusal. Here’s one goofy idea I had ages ago while writing for another site about games that made for a terrible time when played alone. I thought about reviving the idea recently while listening to some folks in a game shop arguing about what was the worst game to play alone and getting a chuckle that every game mentioned in their discussion revolved around survival horror, MMORPGs or assorted shooters (with every game mentioned in the latter two genres geared for multiplayer gaming). The first game I thought of was Atlus’ 2008 US release of Sting’s 2007 hybrid board game/RPG, which some have very incorrectly labeled a straight Mario Party clone. The Dokapon series was around a bit longer than Mario Party and Dokapon Kingdom is more or less a polygon-based reworking of a Super Famicom game from 1994 called Dokapon 3-2-1: Arashi o Yobu Yuujou, which is equally challenging as a solo play experience. Now, neither are anything resembling “bad” games at all. They’re fun to play and funny, but are both just designed to work better with more than one person playing them…
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Mass Effect 3: Extended Cut Trailer: Finally Finshing The Fight (And The Fight With Some Fans As Well)…

Posted on June 24, 2012 by geelw

Boom. BioWare gets right to it, and of course, some folks STILL aren’t happy about this soon to be released DLC. Oh well. My only suggestion is for any and EVERY publisher out there to let a game this huge get more time to cook so it’s DONE and done right when it ships. Sure, even if the game had shipped with more closure, there would have been fans unhappy that everything they wanted to see wasn’t there. That said, I didn’t mind the ending so much as the oddball deal with the Normandy being in a weird place at a certain point. But all fiction needs its shortcutting, as does actual history in every retelling, it seems. Anyway, will this content show up on a disc at some point so folks who don’t have an Origin account or don’t care about online play actually be able to finish the story THEY started? That’s the more important question for me…

Go Buy This: Tomba! Hits PSN (Thank You, Monkey Paw Games!)

Posted on June 24, 2012 by geelw

I sold off my mint Tomba! and Tomba 2: The Evil Swine Return sometime last year for a nice chunk of change (I was surprised at how much they went for), but of course, I miss them terribly now, as they both were fun to play and pretty hilarious to boot. Anyway, thanks to the fine folks over at Monkey Paw Games, I can at least play the first game again, as it’s gotten a PSOne Classics reissue. Yeah, yeah, I’d prefer it on a disc with a bunch of other PSOne games, but that’s not going to happen, so this is the next best thing. Like Klonoa and before it, Pandemonium!, Tomba uses a “2.5D” perspective that combines traditional side-scrolling gameplay with occasional plane shifts into different parts of the 3D environment. It’s also got some light RPG elements (but isn’t a RPG a tall) and is one of those games that will keep a smile on your face from the moment you fire it up. I’d actually LOVE to see Monkey Paw get more PSOne games out (including a ton of the imports I have here), but I guess I should go bug them about it on their site, right?

Today’s GOG.com Battle of the Games: Sacred Gold vs Divine Divinity – Larian’s Take Makes Perfect Sense

Posted on June 24, 2012 by geelw

Of all the “battles” in gog.com’s ongoing brawl it out for a discount promotion, this one has to be the toughest call yet (well at least for me). Both games are absolute essentials for any core RPG fan’s library (don’t even THINK of mentioning the words “Diablo” and “Clone” here, as both SG and DD are more expansive in terms of a few core elements) and both will eat away at your free time once you start playing.

That said, a few folks at Larian Studios (divine Divinity) took a hard look at this battle and made a pretty obvious choice for their pick. Take a peek at the video above, go vote and buy the game that wins as well as the “loser” when the contest is over. No matter who wins or loses here, both games come highly recommended.