Random Indie Game of the Week: Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons (XBLA)

Posted on August 8, 2013 by geelw

Since I’m sitting here with a couple of RROD’d Xbox 360’s (shakes fist at busted consoles) and no willingness to throw more money away at Microsoft to fix them or buy a replacement (shakes fist in the direction of Redmond HQ for producing such faulty junk of a console), I’ll need to wait for this to pop up on PSN or Steam. On the other hand, I think a friend is picking this up over the weekend, so I’ll probably boogie on over to his place and play this after he’s done with it. Given that Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons is designed to be played in a single sitting, I don’t mind at all and I can get a perspective from someone else about the story’s impact and how he liked the unique control scheme. As noted in my earlier hands-on preview, this is one of those special games that’s worth a buy despite the relatively short length because you get to see a great developer stretch its wings with a fine new IP from a film director trying his hand at game development (and succeeding quite well). Back with a review probably around Monday.

Payday 2 Updates: “What Is” (Or: Living Large As A Lowlife)…

Posted on August 7, 2013 by geelw

And in the not too distant future, there will be many Monday morning work conversations that go something like this: “Er, Soooo… what did YOU do this weekend…” followed by a smirk and maybe a knowing nod or three from a few others hanging around that coffeemaker after being up way too late the night before playing too much Payday 2. Sure, it’s not a game for everyone, but if you’re looking for something more like a modern day cops & robbers deal and not another military shooter with a guaranteed few million sales on day one (and super crowded lobbies to boot).

The original Payday was a blast, but this sequel adds so much more cool stuff that it feels like a reinvention in some respects. 505 Games and Overkill Software have a hit here for you would be digital bank robbers, so do them a favor and pay actual dollars to snap this one up, I say…

Random Game of the Month (JRPG Edition): Tales of Xillia

Posted on August 6, 2013 by geelw

It’s finally here and it’s going to be a game genre fans should buy for a few key reasons from the mixed art styles working amazingly well, the stupidly deep amount of stuff to do in this installment (it’s the biggest Tales game to date), the “open world” feel to the gameplay experience plus all the usual stuff that has fans of this series sometimes buying specific consoles to play a single game in the long-running franchise. Tales of Xillia is all that and more, folks.

I’m betting at some point over the next day or three Mr. Baba and the dev team will probably be sitting at home (well, at their separate homes, as I’d hate to know what happens with such a large bunch of people living together biting their nails at the same time each Tales game is released) and wondering right about now how many fans in the US and other territories this is coming out in will be snapping up this one in the Standard, Limited or Collectors Editions. I need to get this one myself, as my backlog is SO huge this year that it’s worth doing a flowchart on (and I did – it’s terrifying). Anyway, if you’re an fan of anime/mamga-styled Japanese RPGs, yeah, you need to buy this game.

Dark Souls II Hands On: Home Again For the Hardcore…

Posted on August 1, 2013 by geelw

As I noted earlier, if there was any doubt that From Software was making Dark Souls II “easier”, all one had to do was play the demo build that’s making the rounds (it was a huge hit at this year’s E3 as well as the more recent San Diego Comic-Con) to be shown the error of misreading that quote from one of the game’s directors a few months back. The game isn’t “easy” at all, but more accessible in terms of getting you into the action quicker, getting rid of backtracking yet upping the scale of the maps to an impressive degree. As to the demo, it’s brutal but beatable and although I didn’t make it to the gigantic knight boss, I did stick around for a bit to watch a few fellow editor types step up to the plate, swing and miss wildly, their chosen characters dying in a few not so pretty ways…

Continue reading →

Lost Planet 3 “Frozen to Death” Trailer: It’s Midsummer, So Half Frozen Will Do, Thanks…

Posted on August 1, 2013 by geelw

Well, today is a bit chilly and rainy here in NYC, but you know what I mean. Actually, both Poles here on the real Earth could use some refreezing now, especially with Santa’s workshop now submerged and probably churning out flippers and scuba suits for all those elves. Don’t even bother asking for a new gaming system or something cool this holiday season, folks. Santa’s going all Oprah on everyone this year: “YOU get an aqualung, and YOU get an aqualung!”… oh, we’re SO doomed, ladies and gents. In the meantime, I’ll be up on the roof away from the flood waters waiting for my copy of Lost Planet 3 to be airdropped with some more supplies. Hey, business as usual here. Anyway, if you have some sort of app-getting device and/or a facebook account and like what you see above, go check out the Great Survivors app and see if you’ve got what it takes to stay warm when things get a wee bit too brain-freezy up on E.D.N. III

KILLER IS DEAD Import Walkthroughs: Game Empire HD Does It Again…

Posted on July 31, 2013 by geelw

I hadn’t realized that this had shipped out in Japan (well, it’s officially out tomorrow there… wait, it’s tomorrow there already, right? Oh, my head hurts…) until I poked around in my inbox and spotted these Game Empire HD play through videos. There are four so far, but I’ll only run two here so as to not ruin too much of the fun. I absolutely LOVE that the menus are in English, which means I can import this and play it (but I’ll hold out for the US version just to support Xseed Games here) and it certainly looks as if Suda 51 and grasshopper manufacture had a blast making this one, so strap yourself in and enjoy the ride. Er, this isn’t for the kiddies, kids – so break out the blindfolds or go put them in the broom closet with a flashlight, a box of Popsicles and a funny hat or two.

Games of Summer: Dragon’s Crown

Posted on July 30, 2013 by geelw

Atlus may be struggling with its recent financial woes in Japan, but the company is still swinging for the fences hard and knocking it out of the park with some great titles on assorted platforms. Case in point, Dragon’s Crown, already a hit in Japan and headed to the PS3 and Vita in North America on August 6. George Kamitani and his team at Vanillaware have created an absolutely, outrageously gorgeous game that’s a throwback to classic side-scrolling arcade hits as well as a mighty challenging solo and online play experience. I know a few folks with the import and yes indeed, they’re very pleased with the game (and the AMAZING deluxe art book that came with it). Anyway, I’m looking forward to getting my hands on both versions, as I hear they’re different in a few key ways. Of course, I still want a proper Princess Crown remake or sequel one of these days, but at this point, Kamitani and company can make paper bag puppets and I’ll throw money their way…

Deadly Premonition: The Director’s Cut Steam Bound!

Posted on July 25, 2013 by geelw

While a small but vocal bunch of PlayStation 3 owners have been ranting away for Rising Star Games to contract Access Games to stop working on their upcoming Xbox One exclusive D4 to do some fixes for Deadly Premonition: The Director’s Cut, that’s not going to happen any time soon. On the other, stranger hand… the game was recently surprised-dropped onto Steam Greenlight for a potential PC release with even MORE content and wonder of wonders… it was approved in what seems to be record time. Wow. Now, I’ll be the first to say I’m shocked and thrilled at this news, but I’m not expecting the PC version to be “perfect” by any stretch of the imagination. Even higher resolutions and tweaked controls aside, the game will still look intentionally cheesy and probably have the same driving setup for the cars as the PS3 version did (which is much better than the original Xbox 360 game from a few years back). Anyway, this is indeed great news and soon, you horror game fans looking for something TRULY weird and memorable will all get a little FK in your own coffee when DP:TDC is finally let loose for PC. Once I get an actual release date, I’ll let you know…

DuckTales Remastered: Himalayas, Here We Come (Woo-Ooo!)…

Posted on July 20, 2013 by geelw

Capcom shows off their upcoming revisit to the retro days reboot with this nice long look at the redesigned Himalayas stage. By the way, no stupidly cute cartoon bunnies were hurt in this video, the already angry goats got what they deserved and that big and annoying Yeti boss? Well, he was trying to make duck cutlets out of Uncle Scrooge, so he had to go down hard. MORAL: Don’t mess with a rich canard and his fancy cane bouncing skills, folks. All that swimming around in that huge money pool bank vault of his has given him some MEGA strength in that feathered old body. Tough bird, indeed…

Strider Gets An Extra Life Courtesy of Capcom & Double Helix…

Posted on July 19, 2013 by geelw

Well, this was an interesting surprise to see popping up in the inbox yesterday: An all-new Strider game on the way from busy developer Double Helix headed to PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One and PC. Of course (throwing my two cents down here)… it would be better to get this out on the Wii U and Vita as well, but we seem to be in the age of publishers only wanting to get games out on platforms where there’s guaranteed interest and bigger initial full-price sales from a larger dedicated install base rather than trying a title out on a platform that may only rack up less than stellar sales figures or just have users saying they’ll wait for a price drop. Which, by the way is dumb on a game that’s no doubt going to be budget-priced. Hopefully.

Of course, for someone like me who’d rather have MORE choice than less and can clearly see this doing decently enough on some systems it’s not (currently) coming to, the news is great but a tad annoying. Sure, development costs no doubt factor into the decision to not bring this to the Wii U or Vita, but I say Capcom should do some sort of outreach into both of those communities and see if there’s interest in buying this one on either platform (I think there is) and perhaps getting those versions out at some point. With a classic like this making a comeback (that actually looks quite good and seems to be quite challenging based on that video above) as a digital-only release, it’s not as if there will be a ton of unsold retail boxes clogging up an inventory somewhere, right?

Oh… and if this doesn’t toss in the original arcade game as an extra, that would be really silly. Make it happen, Capcom.