Come Monday and it was time to pick up the mystery package. What could it be?

It came in a pretty decent sized box.  Still no idea what it could be or no memory of expecting any package.

Upon removing the contents, I was greeted with an iconic item block from the Super Mario series.

Surprise! Inside was a really neat figurine of all the classic Mario characters. This will be a perfect ornament to sit atop the old television on my “Old Games Station”.

Let me start off by saying that I’m no game reviewer. I don’t usually have the patience or skill to formulate my thoughts into a well-crafted article that flows like a review should. I am, however, a gamer of at least 20 years and a HUGE Metroid fan. I’ll admit that with my most beloved franchises, sometimes I’ll pass judgement on a new take before I get a full idea of what it’s about. I did this with Other M and remained hugely skeptical from the moment I saw it. After some time, however, I gave it the benefit of the doubt and let myself relax a little bit and read more about it. Over time, I actually became pretty excited about it and was pretty ramped to dive into this next chapter in the Metroid timeline. Ultimately the game fell incredibly short of my expectations and I actually deem it to be one of the worst titles in the series.  Here’s why. (note: there are spoilers listed below so if you plan on playing the game and want to be surprised by it’s incredibly lame story, you’ve been warned)

Samus Aran was a pretty big shock to the gaming industry upon her arrival. For the first time, a video game starred a female character who wasn’t in need of being saved because she could do it herself. Other M takes the concept of our strong Heroine who can manage herself just fine and flushes it right down the toilet… in the cutscenes. During the actual gameplay segments, Samus is as ruthless as ever: Running hard, shooting hundreds of enemies without blinking an eye and, this time, even using her physical strength to submiss enemies to the ground before blowing their FACES off.

In total contrast, the game’s narrative portrays Samus as a whining, scared, submissive character that goes against every single thing her foundation was built upon. Yes, I understand that she’s been a silent protagonist for most of her history so we have no actual proof of what she was thinking about under that helmet but actions most definitely speak louder than words in this case.

Other M reduces Samus to a familiar female role that has been seen many times in the past; Big-breasted and helpless without her male counterparts to save her ass at every turn. Many people would say that the games title, “Other M” stands for “Other Metroid”. Because this game takes place right after Super Metroid, we know that all the Metroids have been officially eradicated from the universe. Thus, another metroid game, another M. Either that or Other M stands for “Other Mother” as in Mother Brain. This makes sense in a way and I agree with these interpretations of the title but I’m inclined to think that the real “Other Mother” is Samus herself.

The game begins with a recreation of the final scene in Super Metroid where the Metroid hatchling she found at the end of Metroid II sacrifices itself to save her from certain death by Mother Brain.  In Other M, this act causes Samus to spiral into a deep and melancholy state where she loses all track of time and has constant flashbacks of the hatchling’s sacrifice, whom she now so lovingly refers to as “The baby”. This is the same hatchling that Samus had no problem turning over to the Galactic Federation moments after they first came into contact with each other. My problem with this is that they’ve put a heavy emphasis on Samus’ maternal instincts (you know, something that ALL women have no control over) and made it a driving force for her character.

There’s also a heavy amount of inconsistencies with not only the way she behaves under your control and during the game’s cutscenes, but also in her actions from past games. During gameplay, Samus is fearless. That’s one of the many reasons why we’ve grown to love her as a female role. That’s why they made the decision to make her a female in the first place way back in the very first title.

“Look guys, she’s a woman and you had no idea until you beat the game. She acts just like all the other gruff and heroic male characters from every other video game on the planet”.

In Other M’s cutscenes, she is fearful and constantly worried over some things that she wouldn’t break a sweat over in previous titles. She is always losing her cool and remains in a panicked state for most of the game.

Here’s my favorite example: In the game, you fight Ridley. I expected it because you fight him in every single Metroid title. It’s a rule or something. When Samus sees Ridley for the first time in Other M, she literally freezes in fear at the sight of him. The cutscene actually shows her standing next to him, trembling and unable to move then, after a camera angle change, shows her as a TODDLER. Like she’s so overcome by Ridley’s massive size and power that she feels as helpless as a baby in his presence. Now, I totally understand a reaction of fright or worry because Ridley is a powerful foe. I even understand one of slight bewilderment and fear because he should, by all means, be dead as he was on Zebes when it blew up. This metaphor is entirely inexcusable. To show Samus feeling so helpless in the face of an enemy that she’s stomped at least 5 times in the past. It’s not until she is saved by one of her male comrades that she snaps the hell out of it and regains her composure.

Which brings me to my next point. Stereotypical male authority of females. So often throughout the game a man has to step in and get Samus out of a jam.

You know how in all the Metroid titles, Samus has to start the game without any of her upgrades from the previous titles? It’s a classic staple of the series. They used to not even bother explaining it but, as time went on, they at least found some sort of half-believable excuse. In Metroid Prime, she starts the game with awesome equipment but a shockwave sends her crashing into a wall and shorts out a bunch of chips on her power suit – in Metroid Fusion, she gets overtaken by a virus and her suit has to be surgically removed. Do you know how they explain it in Other M? She has her upgrades on her over the course of the entire game but she won’t use them unless she’s given strict authorization from her commanding officer… even in a deadly situation where the upgrade could save her life.

Let me paint the picture for you: Samus comes to part of the ship that is filled with scorching lava. Any seasoned Metroid veteran knows that her Varia suit will protect her from this extreme heat but she still powers through the areas while sustaining damage. If you don’t control her fast enough she WILL die in these areas. It’s not until right before you fight a boss in this area that you get authorization to turn on your Varia suit functionality to protect yourself from the deadly heat. She doesn’t do anything, unless the MAN tells her to. Yes, this is the same Samus who dropped out of the Galactic Federation and became a self-employed bounty hunter because she doesn’t give a crap about listening to authority… just saying.

The last area I’m going to touch on is the actual gameplay. It can basically be summed up in 3 categories: control, flow, difficulty.

Control – The movement in the 3D space really isn’t all that bad but Team Ninja’s decision to force players to use a 4 directional D-pad instead of the omni-directional analog stick was a poor one. You’re constantly making zig-zags when trying to go straight which poses a problem considering you have to maintain a straight course to engage the speed booster. I know why Team Ninja did this, too. I also hate them for it. They did it so that you can shoot missles by pointing the wii-mote at the sreen, giving you a “wouldn’t that be cool” first-person perspective through Samus’ visor. No, Team Ninja, it’s not cool. It’s not cool because now I can’t MOVE while I shoot missles. Here’s a fantastic solution: Give me control over Samus with the Nunchuck. This way, I can use the thumbstick to move. If we really must go into first person perspective, that’s fine too. Trigger it by pushing the C button on the nunchuck and now point at the sreen… now we can MOVE in first person view a-la Metroid Prime 3. Two problems solved with one decision.

Also, I’ll just say that, as seen with the Ninja Gaiden games, Team Ninja knows NOTHING about platforming and Other M is no different.

Flow – This is a really simple one to break down. Metroid titles are usually labyrinthine. I’ve played Super metroid more times than I can count and I still get slightly lost on my playthroughs. Other M holds your hand all the way through, giving you a nice little marker on your map telling you exactly where to go. The puzzles are obvious, and the story is amazingly predictable. Enough said.

Difficulty – This one isn’t as big of a deal if it didn’t conflict so much with Samus’ actions during the cutscenes. The game was super easy. Most of the time I died, it was because of some bad platforming mechanics. The game has a built-in invincible dodge that only requires you to tap in any direction right before an enemy touches you. This mechanic is cheap and way too easy to exploit. If you find yourself in a fight, all you have to do is constantly tap the direction that you want to move. Samus will still get there because of the digital control and she’ll dodge every single attack because the game registers it as a dodge. Remember the fight with Ridley that Samus trembled in fear at like a literal infant? I didn’t even lose a full energy tank. So terrifying. (I always die when I fight Ridley in Super Metroid). The game lets you restock your missle supply whenever you want and, when you get low on health, you can recharge that too. There’s also a save room that fully replenishes your health and weapons every 20 feet.

Basically, this game was one of the biggest letdowns ever.  What makes matters worse, is all of the original minds behind the Metroid series love the crap out of this game which pretty much solidifies my fear that I’ll never get a new Metroid experience that lives up to the games that made me fall in love with the series.  I tried really hard to like this game and not cast my often un-justified judgement that I usually reserve for when someone rapes one of my childhood favorites. Now I feel kind of like an idiot for letting my guard down.

I’d like to do grouping in the pictures to talk about a few things specifically but there’s just too many pictures for me to deal with and I’m lazy. So here’s a whole bunch of pictures all right here in one place. You can use the right and left arrows underneath the set of images to bring up more.

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We decided that we were going to go to PAX a long time ago. I think our tickets (both plane and event) were purchased back in February and the hotel was booked as well. It was our usual Left 4 Dead crew: JP, Tiffany, D, and myself. We had a pretty good mix of panels and the show floor peppered into our trip but the latter being where we spent most of our time.

I’m going to rattle off my list of the best things I saw while I was there and why they are awesome so here goes:

Donkey Kong Country Returns

I’m really excited and impressed with what Retro Studios has done with this IP. I’m a very nostalgic gamer and, self-admittedly, a big naysayer when it comes to companies revamping my beloved franchises. My worries were laid to rest, however and I can definitely say that this game is going to be a blast. Retro did a fantastic job at capturing the feel and fun of the original DKC series but throwing enough new stuff in there to make it feel both awesomely old school and new at the same time. The jumping mechanics work a little differently so it’ll take just a short while to get used to but overall it has a great feeling control. Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong’s abilities are now quite varied instead of just the difference in strength and speed. This time around, Donkey has all the muscle and oompf that you’d expect and Diddy uses that to his advantage. There are new tag team moves such as Diddy riding on Donkey Kong’s back while blasting peanut pistols or grabbing onto DK and using his jetpack to give the heavier Kong a leg-up. I love Donkey Kong Country and I’m totally stoked to play this new entry into the series.

Kirby’s Epic Yarn

I know everyone is excited for a new actual entry into Kirby’s adventures for a console system (no, I don’t count air-ride…at all). The DS games are all great and fans have been waiting for a great Kirby game to play on the big screen. I’ve seen plenty of gameplay videos of Epic Yarn and I knew the visuals were neat but seeing it while playing it really brings it alive. There were plenty of moments in the demo where I saw things that either made me laugh or smile simply because of it’s presentation or cleverness. It was made by the same team that made Wario Land: Shake It! so I know it’s going to be a blast. My only fear about this game is that it might be too easy but there are lots of hidden things in each stage to keep things challenging.

NBA Jam

Oh my god, I can’t say enough good things about this game. I don’t like or even remotely care about basketball but I’ve always loved the NBA Jam series. There’s something about ridiculous dunking that just gets me every time. This is another series I would normally be wary about a revamp or reboot (they’ve already tried…and it wasn’t pretty, but it looks like EA Vancouver has done their homework. Absolutely EVERYTHING about this game reminds me of why I loved the originals so much to begin with. It’s the only game on the show floor that I played more than once, if that says anything!

Little Big Planet 2

How could I say anything but great things about LBP2? It’s just like the first game, with even better control, more customization, a more robust editor, all the levels (user-made included) from the first game, and all the charm and style of the first. I played a level that was basically set up to be a race between 4 players. It was a tower climbing game where the objective was basically to get to the top first. It made use of a grappling hook, a teleporter, electrified walls, and a narrow tunnel where the walls were made up of spring-pads. Yeah, this game is going to be awesome.

Patapon 3

I’ll admit it, I never finished the first Patapon (but I wanted to really bad) so therefore, I never got to play the second one either but that doesn’t stop me from wanting to play the crap out of Patapon 3. The game is the same as it ever was in terms of gameplay but the presentation has been ramped up by a metric crap-load. The music, which is the core of the game, sound so much richer and has multiple levels of rhythms and melodies (as showcased here . One of the greatest things about Patapon 3 is that, despite their increasing fan base and production value, this entry is still priced at $20! whooo!

Duke Nukem Forever

Yeah, you read that correctly Duke Nukem Forever.
There were plenty of rumors that Gearbox was the new developer and also plenty of rumors that there would be some huge inducement at PAX but when a game like this is involved rumors are just that. So imagine our surprise when we first get onto the show floor and are greeted, right up front, by a HUGE Duke Nukem Forever booth that is closed off and already had a line forming. We knew we had to see what this was all about. Unfortunately, I went to the Nintendo booth first so by the time we all regrouped, the line way way too long to consider standing in so we made our plan for the next day: Get in line early enough for the show floor so that we’d be right up front when the doors opened and would have a better shot at being near the front of the line at the Duke Nukem Forever booth. Turns out everyone else had that idea too. Despite being in the first group of people let into the expo hall, by the time we reached the Gearbox booth, the Duke Nukem line already stretched way around the booth itself and was bleeding into the Rock Band 3 booth. We decided that we had to see if we could always bet on Duke like we’ve been told. 2.5 hours later and we made our way into the booth. We were greeted by Randy Pitchford to tell us a little bit of history about how DNF came to be in the state it’s in now. After a lot of excited talk from him plus a new trailer, he let us all into another room where we could play the demo. The main thing I can say about the demo is that this game is going to be quintessentially Duke. It’s classic with the one-liners by Jon St. John, the humor and even the action is all just as we remember it from Duke 3D. Should we be worried that this game is too old school to be fun? No. Not if you like Duke Nukem for what it is and appreciate the fact that this game has evolved into more than just the next Duke Nukem game, but an homage and a service to all of the fans who waited it out and dreamed of the day when Duke would, once again, be pissed at more alien bastards for shooting up his ride.

Swarm

This is a new game by Hothead game studios and it looks like way too much fun. They didn’t have it playable but a rep from Hothead was there giving a walkthrough demo every hour of the current build. Think of it like a combination of Lemmings and Overlord but with it’s own distinct flavor. This game really rides on it’s humor and, from what I saw, it does a really good job. It’s pretty amusing just how hopeless those little swarmites are.

Ok, now to switch gears, I want to talk about a couple of things that didn’t impress me much. Of the things I tried, I can only think of 2 off the top of my head so here they are:

Infamous 2

I enjoyed the first one (despite my constant whining that the game carried on for way too long AND the really dumb ending) so I was pretty excited to play the next one in the series. Unfortunately, this one felt pretty different from the first one unless I’m just remembering differently. This time, Cole is equipped with a blunt weapon that produces an electric current for shocking and beating his enemies all at once. Gone is regular hand-to-hand combat unless it just wasn’t included in the demo. This weapon feels really awkward to me and the animations they used make it looks like Cole is swinging it wildly without a clue as to what he’s actually doing. In the combat, every strike has slow-down effect right before the point of impact to try and make each hit feel more visceral. I don’t enjoy the effect at all and I find it to actually be pretty disruptive to the gameplay. This even happens when you shoot a foe with a generic lightning blast. In addition to the combat issues I had with the demo, some of the presentation elements are a little wonky. At one point in her run through it, Tiffany said she saw parts of Cole’s body being stretched out as other parts moved. The engine looked really choppy and it hung /froze fairly often. I noticed on every single screen while I was waiting that the demo froze for a significant amount of time during a cutscene. Perhaps this is just one of the engines that don’t hold up too well to the gaming industry standards or perhaps they’re revamping it and they’re still working out the kinks. Either way, the game isn’t due until 2011 so hopefully Sucker Punch will be able to address some of these issues before it’s launch.

Kinect

I already had very low hopes for this device but since the line for it was (laughably) short, I figured I’d give it a fair chance. The software that I demoed was the cleverly titled “Deca Sports Freedom”. I’m wondering if maybe the software wasn’t the best showcase of the device but it was absolutely atrocious. D and I played fencing together and even navigating through the menu controller-free was a giant hassle. We were standing a good 3-4 feet apart and it kept confusing his left hand with my right, our cursors kept flickering in and out, and the movement lag made it quite the task to select any options. I also really hate having to hover over a button for 5 seconds to select it. It’s cumbersome and annoying.
When we finally got into the game itself, things didn’t get much better. I kept trying to do a sideways slice to D’s torso but by avatar would only keep attacking vertically which was pretty good indication that the Kinect wasn’t recognizing my instructions.
I’m not about to blame it on all the commotion that was happening on the show floor either as they had a nice, walled off section for the demo to prevent any background activity from confusing the device. The whole experience was eye-rolling and a total joke. The idea is cool but the technology just isn’t there yet, I think. I also think that Maybe the programmers for Deca Sports freedom aren’t the best out there so maybe I’ll be proven wrong with a better piece of software.

All in all, PAX was tremendous fun. It’s great to be surrounded by like-minded people, all enjoying the things that they do the most. You get to meet and talk with a few industry professionals too as it’s usually the developers manning the booths. Seattle is awesome, and PAX is awesome. I’m going to do everything I can to go again next year!

Previously, on Alan Wake…

I was able to finally play this game over the weekend, despite having since it came out in May.   I have been looking forward to this game ever since I first heard about it way back during E3 of 2005.  Back then, the game was slightly different and it was also supposed to be a PC game as well (which was later canned for reasons I totally don’t agree with).  Eventually, it was restricted solely to the Xbox 360 and took quite a long time to complete.

The game is developed by Remedy Entertainment who is mostly (a.k.a. “only”) popular for the Max Payne series.  They also developed a Carmageddon style game before Max Payne but not too many people have actually heard of it.  If you ask me, if my company was only know for one game series, I’d be glad to know that the series was as solid as Max Payne.

Part of what made those games so amazing was the contribution of Sam Lake, a Swedish writer and employee at Remedy who lent his writing talent to both games.  Coincidentally, most of what makes Alan Wake such an incredible experience is that it was also written by Lake.  The game is split up into 6 chapters that play very much like either chapters in a novel or episodes in a Twilight Zone styled TV series (with a little less cheese).

From the very beginning, The story pulls you in and keeps you there with an intense sequence that instantly lets you know how the game will be played and how the element of light will be used throughout the game.

I can’t really say much about particular events that happen without spoiling anything.  I’m also not claiming to be any kind of game reviewer– But I can say that this game will keep you guessing and guessing until the very end.  It’s filled with awesome plot-twists, moments of extreme suspense, and just an overall engaging story.  You won’t want to put it down until you’ve finished it.

That brings me to my next point regarding the length of the game.  I just have to get this out there.  A lot of game sites and publications have noted that this game is pretty short… but the spin they put on it was that it was a bad thing.  First of all, let me say that the game is exactly as long as it needs to be, it never felt like it was dragging on in any way or cut short in any way.  Secondly, this game is not short.  My definition of a short game would be something like Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 where you can blast through the campaign in about 4 hours or any other game in similar length where it wouldn’t be at all far-fetched for even a more casual gamer to beat it in one (or one and a half) sittings.  Alan Wake probably took me about 10-12 hours to beat.  I’m not exactly sure because there is no gameplay counter or anything.  But each of the 6 chapters can easily take 2 hours each, or more to beat.  Some are shorter than others, but even the short ones are quite lengthy.

I enjoyed Alan Wake 100% through and I’m very excited to play both of the planned DLC episodes (The Signal is already out and The Writer is planned for release).  This game is easily on my “play multiple times” list.

If you have a 360 and are any kind of fan of thrillers, action games, or just a fantastic story, you owe it to yourself to pick this one up.>

This is Tiffany’s dog, Diamond who lives with us in our apartment with our 3 other cats.

This past Sunday, JP, Tiffany, D and myself were gearing up to play some Left 4 Dead 2 and we realized that Tiffany didn’t have a headset to talk to us all with. She just built a new desktop and all the other times we played together before, she just used my laptop which had a built-in microphone.

So, in the middle of the game, D realizes something: “Oh! She can just use one of the Rockband Microphones!” A good enough idea, so I take off my headset and set it on my desk and go out in the living room to grab her a mic. This is where Diamond comes in…

She decided to follow me out in to the living room, as most dogs tend to do, only she got herself slightly tangled* in the cord to my headset. *Side note: when Diamon gets remotely stuck in anything, she violently freaks out. So I’m out in the living room and I hear a bunch of yelping and then a huge crash. I run back into the bedroom to see what happened and there’s my headset, completely destroyed. I’m talking headphone part is all out of place and the cord is torn right out of the body.

So I sit down and type to JP, who is still waiting, “Now I don’t have a microphone…” :p

Just watch:

Once you appear on the mysterious Donkey Kong/Rambi hybrid, you’re limited to just moving around with the D-Pad for if you press any of the face buttons, everything returns to normal.

My question is, how did somebody figure this out? Surely it was an accident. And, even more importantly, if it was an accident, how did they know exactly what to do to recreate it? Now, I’ve been known to have a little too much fun finding glitches in video games (more so in earlier years than today) but some people just have too much time on their hands!

Once again it seems as if another year has given us the slip. Did 2009 feel like it went by too fast? Yes.

Just like I said it last year, it seems like everyone says that about every year:
“is it really [insert year] already?”

The way I see it, time is always whizzing by and it’s all relative. These days, a year doesn’t seem like much anymore because you have so many under your belt. If this is true, when I’m 50, will each year feel half as short? I hope not.

A lot happened this year, though. An amazing amount of things, actually.

To name a few; we got a trampoline, I learned how to make delicious curry, I had my first art exhibition in a gallery setting, Keymaster was born, I graduated, I met Tiffany, started taking a dance class, moved into a new place, did my first paid freelance job (whoo!), went to Dragon*Con, Went to Jacksonville, got to know both of my last grandparents a little better, and saw 2 great concerts. There’s so much more, though.

I always learn so much about myself and everyone else around me. I gained new appreciation for things and lost appreciation for others but that’s life. Always has been, and always will be.

In regards to last year’s post: am I any better at the drums? No, not really… but that doesn’t bother me. I’m sure I’ll get to it eventually. 2010 could be full of surprises. I have no idea what’s going to happen.

Here’s some of the games I’ve been playing or have beaten lately and what I think about them

Henry Hatsworth

The main thing I can say about thtis game is holy crap! It’s a sidescrolling, platforming action game on the DS with a very unique twist: The game has two “realms” and each one takes place on one of the DS’s two screens. The first realm is where all the crazy hardcore action platforming occurs and the lower screen holds the puzzle realm where you have to constantly solve a moving block puzzle that I constantly refer to as Bejeweled on steroids. It’s one of the hardest games I’ve played in a while but also one of the most enjoyable.

The game is loaded with non-stop action, great humor, awesome music, tea time, moustaches, gentlemanly affairs, and giant robots.

Uncharted 2

Uncharted 2 was amazingly awesome. I was a little slow to play the first one but after getting increasingly more excited about the second games release, I finally played the first one and got hooked.

I’m amazed at the production value of this game. Awesome score, really good voice acting, good action, great story and plot twists… it’s got it all.

My main gripe with the game was the puzzles. They promised more difficult puzzles than the first for the sequel and, while they were more intricate, they weren’t at all harder because while you’re doing them, Nathan is constantly giving you verbal clues like “this looks familiar” or “I bet if I put this block over there…” Crap like that. I don’t know which one was better as far as puzzles go: The first game’s way of laying out the solution to every puzzle in the notebook or the second game’s hold your hand through every step of the puzzle. They both kind of kill the puzzles if you ask me. But that still isn’t even close enough to make me not like this game. I just wish Naughty Dog would have faith in their demographic’s abilities to solve slightly difficult puzzles.

Dead Space

Another game that I was slow to jump on but not for lack of trying. See, I have a history of certain games causing me motion sickness and this game does it to me hardcore. I think it’s the over the shoulder view with the super slow tracking and the semi-elastic camera. I’m muscling through it because I enjoy the game and Tiffany and I want to finish Dead Space Extraction without having anything potentially ruined for me.

Anyways, this game is pretty cool. Not really scary but genuinely creepy. The sound is one of the most amazing things in the game and the atmosphere is really great, too.

Machinarium

a.k.a. – “everybody knows how much I love robots!”

Brought to you by the same team that did the wonderfully creative Samarost and Samarost 2, this point and click puzzle adventure game is a great follow-up to such unique games.

It has everything you’d want from a point and click, including the genre’s trademark humor though, this game has no dialogue.
The art style is amazing (it’s nuts what you can do with flash these days), the puzzles are rock solid, the soundtrack is fantastic, and it’s $20. If you like point and click games, do yourself a service and play this one!

Lucidity

I’ll admit, I bought this game strictly for the art style. I’d been eyeballing it since I saw the trailer and because of Steam’s recent sale, I was able to snatch it for the disgustingly awesome price of $2.50

This game is put out there by LucasArts and, while I was hoping for a more old-school experience, this game is pretty cool. It’s like a super-simplified version of Lemmings. I don’t have too much to say about it because I only played for about an hour so far but it’s charming, to say the least!

Donkey Kong Country

Yeah, you read that right. I recently popped in my old cartridge and had myself a good time doing what I like to do with that game the best: beat it in one sitting.

This game is super classic and if you don’t know that much about it, I’d suggest you really give it a try. It paved the way for some awesome platforming titles that followed it and, while it was nothing revolutionary at the time of it’s release (aside from the art style), it was still an amazingly solid game that deserves copious amounts of praise to this day. It still has one of my favorite soundtracks.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii

Oh man, this was the game I was waiting for for so long! I LOVE old school platforming action (if you couldn’t tell from this post alone) and this game delivers in full force.

Following up to it’s 2006 DS predecessor, this game takes what was good about the first and expands on it in most ways. The new power-up items are cool and unique (even if they look kind of stupid) and the level design is as awesome and difficult as it should be. I have a rule about Mario games: If I’m not pissed off while playing it, something is wrong. (and by that I mean that it’s challenging, of course. I’m not actually pissed at the game. I’m enjoying the ever-loving crap out of it).

I can’t say much for the multi-player as I haven’t experienced it yet but the game feels super solid and it’s loads of fun.

I wish more old franchises would get this kind of treatments instead of every single one trying to get a reboot or a remake. Keep trying to do something new with the series, that’s cool with me, but at the same time, give us something that feels simultaneously fresh and nostalgically old-school.

It’s called “Metroid: Shadow Complex” and the whole game takes place in an underground facility that is just as cavernous and labyrinthine as it’s Zebesian and SR388 predecessors.

The game works just like any other game in the Metroid series. It’s all about exploration and finding ways to get into previously unreachable areas using items found throughout your spelunking. It’s got the classics like Missiles, grappling beam, bombs, ice beam and speed booster. This time around, you get a totally sweet new item. It’s a helmet that slowly collects energy and, once it reaches capacity, makes you invulnerable to enemy fire as long as you’re standing still or walking slowly.

Badass, I know.

It’s a bit different than previous installations, though, and I’m going to tell you guys some of the differences.

Story

First of all, no space pirates. I know, I know… what’s a Metroid game with it’s space pirates? But you quickly forget all about it. You’re actually fighting humans who are part of a large underground army who are amassing their forces to control the planet. Yeah, the game takes place on earth (WHOAH)!.

The story is actually pretty weak, to be honest but that’s never what these games were really about. Don’t get me wrong, the Metroid series has some awesome plots and lore, and the stories of the previous games are good, they’re just not the central point so it’s pretty forgivable for one to be bad now and then.

Gameplay

This game is a classic, return to roots, Metroid game with side-scrolling gameplay. This time around, however, you have the ability to shoot into the background as well as your middle ground to take out enemies. This adds a new element to the classic action aspect of the older titles. It’s a bit wonky at times but I really appreciate the effort and, overall, the inclusion was great.

You upgrade your weapons just like before but now you have the ability to use ballistic weapons as opposed to the energy beams of before. Starting sound a little strange? read on…

Presentation

This game is presented in what is now called “2.5D”. It’s a sidescrolling game but done with 3D models and environments. This is nothing new to the industry and has been done countless time before. It’s using Epic’s Unreal Engine 3 so there are some great effects in there to go along with the weapons and the graphics are nice (not amazing but that’s not really important).

The environments are varied enough and I’m pretty impressed with all the different locales that they included in one underground complex.

One of the biggest changes is quite the atom bomb: you don’t play as Samus! Thats, what I said, no Samus. Instead you play as some guy named Jason. But remember what I said before: The gameplay is so solid that you really will forget all about it after about an hour into the game.

The biggest difference in Metroid: Shadow complex is that it wasn’t made by Nintendo. Nope.

Not Nintendo.

Why was it made by someone other than Nintendo? Probably because they won’t man up and do it themselves, that’s why. For the past 6 or so years, Nintendo has been auctioning off their Metroid titles to other studios like Retro studios for the Prime series and now Team Ninja (gross) for Metroid: Other M. Are you really surprised? the difference is that this third party metroid game is a true homage to the series we all know and love but only have memories of. Games like that only get released on smaller platforms like Xbox Live Arcade, PSN, and WiiWare because, apparently, they don’t “stack up” to the “quality” of games nowadays.

I’m not saying that all games today suck, far from it… What I’m saying is this: recent games like Megaman 9, Bionic Commando: Rearmed, and Shadow Complex has showed us that games with nods to the old way of playing are still wildly popular.

This post really doesn’t serve much else other than to just talk about some of the games I’ve been playing and why they’re totally awesome .

Chrono Trigger DS

What can I say about this game that hasn’t been said a million times already? It just came out for the DS and I knew that I had to pick it up right away. I’ve played this game more times that I can count and every single time I play it’s still a joy.

The DS Version is largely untouched which is nice for a change. They’ve added touchscreen functionality which I don’t use but they’ve redone the menu layout to make it easier to use the touchscreen. The result is actually quite nice and the menu is much more intuitive and accessible than it was before. They have added two new areas, Only one of which I’ve done. The one I’ve completed is called The Lost Sanctum . This is a new side quest that is not really related to the story. It’s actually a big disappointment as the whole “quest” is really just a bunch of smaller “fetch quests” strung together. You have to do alot of running back and forth just finding items for people. If you do the series of optional side quests that were always part of the game before doing the lost sanctum, much of your rewards for The Lost Sanctum will be obsolete.

There is a new area called The Dimensional Vortex that I’ve heard is a lot like the Black Omen where it’s just run through and beat up on stuff and fight a boss. Beating this quest, however, will earn you a brand new 14th ending for Chrono Trigger. I’m excited about seeing this even if the new quest is lackluster.

They’ve also added a multiplayer feature that is essentially a pokemon-type battle arena. I’m not at all interested in that so I’m not going to talk about it.

The DS version uses an updated script with a better translation than the original SNES English version. Back when the game was first being translated, they were under a tight schedule and the one guy that they put in charge of translating and localizing had a rough time getting everything done proper in time. He even said himself that it could have been done way better. So they new script is not vastly different but a few things have changed and as someone who has played the game a bazillion times, I’ve picked up on alot of them.

All in all, the game is so worth getting on the DS, if you’ve never had the chance of playing it before. It’s an amazing experience that every gamer deserves to have. It’s also a much better option than the PSX version as it has no unnecessary load times.

WarioLand Shake It!

I’ve been looking foward to playing this game for a while and I was lucky enough to snag it off Amazon for $30 a week or so back.

The game is alot of fun and really brings you back to the age of really awesome 2D platformers. It’s really funny, plays very well, and is lots of fun. It’s also amazingly gorgeous and is one of those games that showcases how doing things differently than everyone else can result in a very unique experience. All of the animations are hand-drawn and playing it literally looks like you’re playing an anime or a cartoon. The animations are really smooth and fluid.

The game itself isn’t too hard or very long but it’s very enjoyable. There is a set of challenges for each level that is very difficult and hard to accomplish all of them. This adds a bit of challenge to the game without detracting from the main game by making it ridiculously hard.

Mirror’s Edge

I had some really high hopes for this game and while they weren’t quite met, I did enjoy the game. I rented it which was a really good choice. Alex was going to buy it and I bet he would have been disappointed if he paid the full $60 for the game.

The game has a really semi-dystopian feel to it all and the environments are a great reflection of the world and it’s government control. It flows pretty well and the free running works quite well, for the most part. Only a few times did I experience a problem with hit detection or the game’s auto grab system. It was a really neat concept and I enjoyed playing something that felt very fresh in a time where I’ve been disappointed with nearly every game that comes with hype. You die ALOT in the game and it’s constantly reload and try again. At first I really hated this as I found it to be really annoying but then I started to think about how it kind of reflects the pin-point precision required for free-running/parkour.

The few things that I did not like about the game:
There was virtually no focus on what the runners are all about or the bags that they carry. It seemed like they could have at least made a few chapters that focused on that before the main arc took place. Which brings me to next complaint: Length. the game was quite short. I beat it in one sitting. granted, it was a 6 hour sitting but one none the less. I would have beat it in a shorter amount of time had I not attempted the no guns challenge. Which leads right into my final complaint. For a game that focuses on hand to hand combat, in areas where there are more than two police they offer no other option other than to pick up a gun and kill everyone. I died a million and a half times during these segments and was getting ready to tear off parts of my body.

Team Fortress 2

We’ve all been playing this over at the house for the past couple of days. It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to play and i nearly forgot how much fun this game is. I’ve already talked about this game in great length before but I’ll just add this: one of the best things ever is when 5 or so of us join a server, get on the same team, and proceed to hold the top 5 spots on the server and kick some serious ass.

Urban Terror

For those of you not in the know, Urban Terror is (was) a total conversion mod for Quake III Arena that we used to play ALL the time back in the day. I was never too huge on Counterstrike and I always found this to be a much better alternative. The Quake III engine went open source a few years ago and as a result, it is now available as a standalone over at urbanterror.net.

Yeah, it’s a little dated but that doesn’t mean it’s not totally badass. We’ve been playing it here at our official pre-LAN Party LAN Party and having a blast.

Gaming Forecast

I’m getting ready to play through Xenogears again as I’ve had a terrible itching to play it lately. It’s one of the best games on the playstation and ranks up there on my top games of all time list (especially when referring to my RPG-obsessed younger self).

I’ve also got Super Mario RPG on the virtual console and want to give that a go pretty soon too. I haven’t played this game in a very long time but it, also is one of the best games ever.

Also to come:
Fallout 3
Deadspace
maybe Fable II
etc.
etc.