Nostalgia: Castle of Illusion Gets The Remake Treatment For A Summer Launch…

Hmmm, so Disney is on a BIG nostalgia kick these days (with Sega along for the ride on this one), despite killing Lucasarts off and pretty much all chances for new Star Wars games. Or perhaps that demise was part of a larger game plan?  Some not so deep thinking shows that between this reboot and the upcoming DuckTales remake from Capcom PLUS the other Disney related games on the way or out already (Kingdom Hearts, Disney Infinity, whatever device and mobile games there are I don’t care about because I don’t like the swipe and drag much), there might be enough loot raked in to put aside a few pennies for the future. As in if that upcoming in development Star Wars flick is looking as it needs some sort of interactive tie-in, whatever is coming will be developed in-house or by a developer contracted to do the job… that has (argh) excellent Metacritic scores for their previous titles.Whatever happened to just making good games, period?

Then again, Disney doesn’t discriminate, as they also killed Junction Point Studios dead after Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two didn’t do so well critically (and it seems, commercially). Yeah, that’s where we are these days, kids – studios shut for spending too much money and their games not garnering great aggregated scores on a faulty site while older games from the back catalog get yanked from their graves and given new life with the hope all will buy and every sin will be forgotten. Yuck. Well, I guess not having to pay $50 – $60 for a cartridge game will draw in more old and new fans of both Castle of Illusion and DuckTales… but there’s still that crowd of noisy ducks who think every game these days should be cheap or free, no matter how much it costs to make…

Hating Aliens: Colonial Marines? Well, It Could Be Better (or Worse) With A Bit of Retro Perspective…

 

ACM_PS3Given the critical drubbing that Sega’s Aliens: Colonial Marines has gotten across most of the Internet-verse, some gamers are still feeling the urge to play something that feels closer to James Cameron’s 1986 film than what ended up on store shelves. Well, allow me to assist in this matter (sort of). Track down a working Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum and MSX and a copy of Electric Dreams’ 1987 game, Aliens or the rather interesting (and free) PC remake over at Derbian Games and see what was scary to gamers of that era. Continue reading

VGA 101: MD/Genesis Library (Too Early in the Morning Version)…

 

OK, back by not so popular demand: another awful video of the library! I woke up a wee bit too early after not enough sleep, grabbed the camera and here you go: a longer look at some of the MN/Genesis stuff to go with the photos I took a while ago HERE. Sega CD stuff is HERE with the US Saturn games I have left and Mega-CD games? Well, poke around HERE if you’re that curious… Back with more shaky movies in a bit.

VGA 101: On Kenji Eno (2): Something Old Brings In Something New(-ish)…

Lumines ES2Lumines ES1So, as I posted last week, I finally got around to sending back that formerly long-lost Kenji Eno autographed copy of D2 about a week or so ago and got this nice surprise as a return response. A copy of Lumines: Electric Symphony autographed by the game’s producer and one of Eno’s close friends. Nice. Amusingly enough, I hadn’t played this Vita game previously, so now I get to do so and having done something nice for someone in the process. Yeah, I’m a nice guy under all that cranky. MOST of the time. Not get the hell off my lawn, you kids. Scoot! I have some games to play and no time for you whippersnappers. Git!

 

VGA 101: On Kenji Eno: A Loss Isn’t A Complete Loss If Something Is Gained In the Process…

D2_signedOne of my favorite game creators, Kenji Eno, passed away on February 20th and I’d planned to write up something memorial-esque last week, but couldn’t for a few reasons. The main one was it’s actually quite hard to write something brief about what playing through some of the games he and his studio WARP created during their brief run meant to me without actually going through the library here and taking time to do so. That’s going to get done in about a month or so, barring incident. The other was I wanted to read what some of his close friends wrote about him in order to get a better insight on the man and his work. There was also a little bit of unfinished business to take care of in getting a certain something back to a certain someone, so that had to come first… Continue reading

The Cave Full Character Trailer: The Gang’s All Here (and Ready to Play!)

Ahhhh… Smell that, kids? It’s the scent of ADVENTURE! Well, adventure gaming to be exact. Wait, you don’t have a “Sniff” key on that keyboard? Hey, it’s 2013 – where have you been? OK, I’ll try and describe what adventure games smell like. It’s sort of a rainy weekend, hot cocoa, graham crackers and recently laundered blankets. A touch of pet hair (*achoo!*) and if you’re really lucky, the lingering scent of tomato soup (not from a can) and a grilled cheese sandwich can be detected. You may only get a hint of that overall aroma, but it’s all in there if you close your eyes and lean back…

Aliens: Colonial Marines TV Spot: Gearbox Going 2 For 2? Seems Likely…

Borderlands 2 was a very huge hit in 2012 for Gearbox, but yeah, I’ve been keeping an eyeball on you too, new game. It’s pretty clear that Randy Pitchford and company love the James Cameron film to the utmost degree and this looks to bring fans of the franchise that sequel they didn’t quite get with Alien 3 (I actually like David Fincher’s debut, warts and all, especially the longer Assembly Cut). I’ll be playing this primarily for the campaign mode, as I’m not a huge multiplayer guy and yes, I’m looking forward to seeing how well Gearbox translated the assorted sets and gear into game form. I’ve only seen Aliens a few dozen times, so I can be as picky and precise as a developer head over heels for the source material. So far, I’m not complaining at all.

February 12 is sneaking up fairly quickly… now, I just need to decide what I want to play this on. I’m leaning towards the Wii U just to see how that GamePad gets used, but I want the PS3 version as well…

The Cave Character Trailers: Adventure Gaming Never Died. You Just Weren’t Paying Attention…

 

Sega of America’s got the great good fortune to have the publishing rights to Double Fine Studios and Ron Gilbert’s upcoming download only multiplatform adventure game which just so happens to be pretty unique on a few fronts. The genre itself has been kicked around as “dead”, “dying”, and other not so positive things, but the actual truth is it never really went away thanks to a combination of older gamers still playing the classics, new players discovering them again thanks to sites like gog.com  (they’re having a GREAT sale on tons of stuff that ends in about 24 hours, by the way) and plenty of indie games popping up on just about every platform with a screen these days.  The whimsical art style here is only the tip of the iceberg, however – The Cave looks to change things up with multiple playable characters with their own motivations for stepping into the titular location for a bit of survival-based spelunking. It’s also a Double Fine game, so you WILL laugh a lot, replay it a few times and think some deep thoughts as you’re doing that laughing and replaying, guaranteed.

 

 

 

VGA 101 Update – Gallery: Pier Solar Reprint Edition (Plus!)

pier solar backs pier solar fronts

pier solar plusWell, that was fast – A game I’ve wanted to play for ages is finally in the library here: Pier Solar and the Great Architects for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive along with the Enhanced CD for the Sega-CD/Mega CD. This isn’t the original print or the Posterity Edition, but the WM Reprint version in English, Portuguese and Spanish. Nice. I need to dig out one of my Sega-CD’s from under the TV set in the home office (oh, that will be a pain, but worth all that weightlifting), but I do have one of my Genesis systems out nearby (Actually, a Japanese Mega Drive), so I can at least start up the game (perhaps this weekend provided I have time).Yeah, yeah – I wanted to support Watermelon’s HD Kickstarter project, but I could only afford to either pick up this set now and play it or sign up for Kickstarter, donate and wait. I’m hoping the HD version of Pier Solar does well enough that it gets a reissue or even better, pops up on PSN (hell, a Vita version I’d kill for – or at least elbow someone gently in the head for)…

As for the other stuff? Well, it was cheap, so I picked them up. Sorcery (which should have been completed so that it shipped WITH the PlayStation Move as a launch title for the peripheral) was $10 and Heavy Rain was a few dollars more. Prometheus I bought to see the edited/deleted scenes and special features. I liked most of the film, but there are a few dumb lead characters and one part of the ending that should have been handled better. Otherwise, the film looks spectacular and ends up answering some questions and leaving others pinging around in the brain.

Video Game Appreciation 101: Recent Acquisitions (Part Whatever)

BOT_ThorOK, quickly now, as I’m still buried under a few Wii and Vita games I need to review: Blades of Time for the PS3 and Thor: God of Thunder for the Nintendo DS, both picked up this week dirt cheap. The former is a sort of sequel/reboot/update to developer Gaijin Entertainment’s poorly received X-Blades, a perfect example of great (in fact, spectacular) visuals and gameplay that’s somewhat lacking in depth. Blades of Time looks better, has tighter gameplay, an awesome time winding feature for combat and puxzzles, some really cheap enemies and yet, scored low to average on nearly every site that reviewed it. Granted, lead character Ayumi talks WAY too much to herself for a good chunk of the game and for those expecting a simple hack ‘n slash, the game can be really tough about a third or so of the way in. Nevertheles, it’s worth a buy if you like fast-paced action games and ton of monsters to kill. Oh yeah, that compass you whip out to find your way around (and hidded treasures) is pretty sweet as well.

As for Thor on the DS? It totally SMOKES the PS3 and 360 versions thanks to developer WayForward Technologies being true gods of 2D programming. Parallax galore, a fun, fast combat system, upgradable gear and amazing use of the DS’ dual screen format (the best bosses are two screens tall!) makes this one an excellent buy for any fan of classic side-scrollers from the 8 and 16-bit era. It’s too bad neither game got the totalrespect they deserved… but I guess that’s one reason I’m still doing what I do here. Go check them out sometime!