It’s extremely difficult for an independent developer to produce a runaway hit when up against blockbuster games with million dollar budgets. Even more strenuous is creating a memorable character, however there’s something brilliantly simplistic about a small talking red cube of meat (aptly-named “Meat Boy” for the carnage he’s set to endure). Indeed, if the character was given any more physical dimension en par with say Mario or Metroid this would be a more brutal title and imagine would have a hard time getting passed the Playstation Network, Xbox Live Arcade, and WiiWare censors.Continue reading »
Demon’s Souls was first released to North American audiences it was purported as one of the most difficult games in existence, a reputation it rightly deserves. Friends traded stories about this excruciating challenging title to other friends (and for those that eventually went on to complete the game there was no shortage of bragging rights to be had either). As word spread about Demon’s Souls’ notorious difficulty more became interested in playing it and in the two years since its release a rather sizable audience was prepped and ready for a sequel. So the question became how do you create a sequel to one of the most challenging games ever created? The answer: you make it harder. That end product was ‘Dark Souls‘.Continue reading »
Now that the honeymoon phase is over and the dust has finally settled many will advocate that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is the better game with its Michael-Bay-esque storyline and constant injection of action, but this is simply untrue. What is true is that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 was more highly anticipated than its predecessor as many believed Black Ops was merely a stop-gap title to bide time before Modern Warfare 3?s release. In any case, Black Ops was something special in the genre of first-person shooters, especially after Modern Warfare 2 and World at War. Its emphasis on story and character development is what drove this near-perfect blend of action, drama, and tension.Continue reading »
From Dust seems like the most unlikely title to come from a studio whose recent library is made of blockbuster franchises. With series like Assassin’s Creed, Splinter Cell, Prince of Persia, and Rayman in its arsenal Ubisoft shows no signs of slowing down. But when the company released its downloadable title From Dust the game made a big splash by separating itself from other action-oriented titles the studio usually scribes to.
(I’m going to preface this review by stating that I’ve never been a fan of online multiplayer in the Modern Warfare franchise. I realize this entry is supposed to focus on Battlefield 3 but it’s hard to talk about one without bringing up the other. I’ve always likened multiplayer in the Call of Duty games to fighting in a fish bowl or a hamster cage. There’s too many campers, the maps are too small, and don’t even get me started about the kill streaks. And while I understand they’ll always be millions of people who favor this franchise over Battlefield I thought I’d be better to get this out of the way sooner rather than later.)Continue reading »
The Stanley Parable is a short experience but a worthwhile one (and a must-play for those thinking about either a career in video game writing or video game design). At best it’s a metafictional quagmire, at worst it’s an absurdist mind-fuck en par with Beckett’s Waiting for Godot or Albert Camus’ The Stranger. Created by Davey Wreden, known on forums as “Cakebread”, The Stanley Parable is a mod that utilizes Half-Life 2?s Source Engine and is free to download off Steam provided the player has a Valve title already on their account.Continue reading »
Not since Killer7 have I had the pleasure of playing a unique experience such as Catherine. This game is a true gem. Its greatest strength is that it takes your expectations of what a game should be and makes you realize what a game could be. Like Demon’s Souls, Persona 4, and Odin Sphere that came before it, Catherine falls in the tradition of Atlus Games’ tendency towards the peculiar and the macabre.Continue reading »
Magicka is an action role-playing game for players that don’t normally play action role-playing games. It lends its success for three very distinct reasons: its humor, its simplicity, and its accessibility. Initially developed by eight students at the Lulea University of Technology in Sweden, which would later become Arrowhead Game Studios, this is a game meant to be played with a mouse in one hand and a keyboard in the other, but not in the way you think. The game draws upon inspiration from titles like Warhammer and Diablo with its roots entrenched in Norse mythology, albeit however loosely.
For those who’ve never played Magicka let me present you with a primer. Players take on the role of wizards allowing for simultaneous co-operative play using available elements (Q,W,E,P controls water, life, shield, and cold respectively, and A,S,D,F controls lightning, arcane, earth, and fire respectively) to create spells. Spells are created through any number of element combinations. For instance, combining shield with ice creates an ice shield while combining ice and arcane creates an arcane coldbeam. But there are drawbacks. The more elements you have charged the slower your characters moves. Similarly, if you cross two contrasting elements together (lightning/water, arcane/life, etc.) you can do serious damage to yourself and your friends. Having said that, I take issue with calling this an action role-playing game because Magicka differs from its genre forebearers in very distinct and notable ways. There’s no class structure or leveling system. There’s also no limit to the amount of magic used with a “mana-bar” and its acquisition of goods and materials during gameplay is scant at best.
Now I can’t go further in this retrospective without talking about Magicka’s humor. Firstly, when characters talk they speak in a garbled Scandinavian-dialect akin to the Swedish Chef from the Muppets, more to do with how Americans think Swedish people sound rather than actual Swedish. There’s also no shortage of pop-culture references in-game that are bound to put a smile on your face. At one point you come across a mourning Connor McCloud before decapitating him with his own sword and receiving a “There can be only one!” achievement, a clear reference to the movie Highlander. This humor isn’t lost in its first expansion either, Magicka Vietnam, which takes historical liberties by putting our wizard characters in war-torn 1960s Vietnam amidst Vietcong-themed enemies.
According to its developers, Magicka sold over 200,000 units in its first two weeks and it’s no secret why. It’s charm, whimsy, and tongue-in-cheek humor helped propel this game to success merely through word-of-mouth, and while the game emphasizes enjoyment over strategy, simplicity over complexity, and accessibility over specificity, it’s still an amazing achievement that’s more than worth your time.
After franchises like Guitar Hero and Rock Band began to lose their luster towards the end of the decade, developers waited with baited breath for the next big trend in gaming. Now dance games are nothing new. The first Dance Dance Revolution arcades were released in North America back in 1999 (I remember fondly playing my first round of DDR at Sega City’s Playdium in downtown Toronto) as well as subsequent iterations of the game later released on the PS2 (and having to grudgingly drag the dance mat out of the closet every time I wanted to play).
I often wonder what the Kinect’s future would’ve been had it not been for Dance Central. I imagine it’d act as a little more than a paperweight with the ability to access the Xbox360?s dashboard without having to reach for a controller. There’s no denying that this franchise helped push Microsoft’s new technology off the shelves, but beyond the hardware itself Dance Central showcases the true potential of a game that doesn’t require a tangible controller. Oh sure there are imitators, and franchises like Just Dance and Everybody Dance shows no signs of slowing down. But Dance Central delivered something gamers had been waiting for for years, the chance to experience a full-motion dance game without the necessity of a mat or controller.
In the game, players learn choreographed dance moves via one of eight in-game avatars. If the player steps out of sync with the music; doesn’t execute a dance move properly; or misses a dance move completely, that body part will highlight red on their avatar. Now the game isn’t perfect. There’s no online multiplayer in the first game or the ability for two players to dance at the same time (most of these shortcomings are remedied in its sequel), however with over 650 individual dance moves, 90 dance routines, and 32 songs on each game’s disc (with 32 DLC songs available for Dance Central and 44 new songs available in Dance Central 2), there’s no shortage of fun to be had with either title.
What people tend to forget is that Dance Central isn’t solely a dance game but a synergy of both music games and exercise games, capitalizing on widely successful karaoke titles like SingStar and the health-conscious sensibilities of games like Wii fit. I’m probably reading too much into this franchise at this point. These games are simply an all-around fun experience to enjoy by yourself or with friends. The soundtrack isn’t pigeonholed to the most popular hits of today but it diverse and eclectic, spanning as far back as the disco era to modern artists like Pitbull, Rihanna, Lady Gaga, and Usher.
Believe it or not this game does actually make you a better dancer. At first you might feel hesitant but rest assured once you complete your first dance number all of those reservations melt away. Sure you’ll look ridiculous doing it but personally it’s the best kind of ridiculousness.
As a platformer Limbo doesn’t do anything to break the mold but it has one thing going for it that sets it apart from other titles in its genre: atmosphere. Taking queues from predecessors like Ico and Lost in Shadow, the player navigates a nameless boy through the monochromatic landscapes of purgatory in search of his little sister. On the surface it sounds like a meager plot–in fact, some critics have criticized Limbo for its anemic storyline and abrupt ending–but its the emotional connection the player has to this character that’s the ultimate driving force of this title.
At a time when most independent titles released on the Playstation Network or the Xbox Live Arcade were vying to be the loudest, fastest, most destructive games available, Limbo made a name for itself with its minimalistic visuals, ambient soundtrack, and simplistic gameplay. Not to say this game is easy. It is near impossible to predict traps before they happen due to its aesthetic, but I think that’s intentional, and watching its protagonist die in the most brutal fashion over and over again takes a gut-wrenching toll on the player. The mechanics of the game are simple: run, jump, reach, climb, and push, but it’s how the player interacts with the environment that makes all the difference. It is also noteworthy that the game gives no tutorial prior to playing. This only heightens the experience as players are left to fend for themselves in a harsh and unforgiving environment.
It’s amazing the notoriety this game has achieved in such a short amount of time. Despite being an independent game this gem managed to crack the top ten lists of 2010 for such publications as Time, Wired, and IGN. And as of 2011, Limbo is PSN’s best-selling independent game developed by a third party, has received critical acclaim from players and critics, and has sold more than a million copies across all platforms.
I’m not going to lie to you, I absolutely loathe L.A. Noire but to deny the game is nothing short of a technical marvel would be selling this game short. Rockstar has never shied away from taking their games in new directions so when they took a chance on a relatively unknown small Sydney-based developer they had a lot riding this single title. Even after the dust has settled L.A. Noire managed pulled off an impressive and incredible feat.
The player takes the reins of Cole Phelps, a rookie cop who rises through the ranks of the LAPD in 1940s Los Angeles, by collecting evidence, questioning witnesses, and solving cases. Players be warned. This isn’t Grand Theft Auto. If you’re expecting a game that allows you to crash your police cruiser into anyone or anything or shoot your gun willy-nilly then look elsewhere. This is a game that relies more on the drive of its characters, its dramatic storytelling, and suspense rather than the action of shooting a gun.
My gripes with the game are mainly superficial. You never really die during gameplay and you rarely ever fail a case (even if you are the worst interrogater imaginable). Despite being an open-world sandbox game, L.A. Noire is extremely linear, providing little incentive to explore the meticulously crafted 1940?s Los Angeles. But for me, I found the game extremely repetitive, never being about to take on more than two cases in a single sitting. What the game does get right is its film noir aesthetic taking queues from recent films like The Black Dahlia and L.A. Confidential, a perfect musical score to match, and superb voice-acting from a star-studded cast. Interrogating witnesses utilizes Team Bondi’s MotionScan technology, which filmed the facial responses of real-life actors with 32 surrounding cameras.
It’s a shame we won’t see any future games from Team Bondi since the studio officially closed its doors in October 2011, citing excruciating working conditions during production and not signing on to any future projects. At its heart L.A. Noire is a mystery game, just like what Rockstar did with Red Dead Redemption and the Western so to did L.A. Noire for the hard-boiled detective genre. A title that won’t soon be forgotten.
