Anyway, Sonic games. Yeah yeah, I know. sonic has been REALLY bad lately. And it hurts me deep… but there are good ones. Lemme show yah what ones.

Starting with a newer game:

Sonic and the Black Knight

No, really. I’m not kidding. The concept for this game was HORRIBLE, but the execution is pretty damn good. Sonic is summoned to the land of King Arthur by a cute loli version of Merlin named (surprise!) Merlina and after some delicious chili dog eating, Sonic gets a magic talking sword named “Caliburn”. The action is fast, and the sword allows you to obliterate most enemies without a care in the world. Now, like Secret Rings, there are a few slowdowns. There are points where you have to give villagers rings and there are large enemies that don’t go down in one hit, but everything else in the game is a pretty damn good time. I don’t really recommend it for someone who doesn’t like Sonic, but it’s worth a try even if  you don’t.

Sonic Rush

This is the game where Blaze the Cat was introduced. The story for this game is something like Blaze comes from the negaverse and there are funky Chaos Emerald style gems there as well and Blaze is looking for them… It doesn’t matter much, it’s really not important. This game also introduced something I think all Sonic games need: A boost meter. You can use it to get to speed with a small burst or use it to destroy everything in your path for a short time. It’s filled by rings, doing mid-air tricks or defeating enemies. It’s awesome and EVERY SINGLE SONIC GAME SHOULD HAVE IT FOREVER.

YOU DON'T MESS WITH THE BEST

Sonic CD

Oh god, this is one of the best Sonic games in my opinion. It brings together some of the best parts of the first three Sonic games, but it adds in cool shit like time travel and some of the most fucking amazing music ever. The level design is amazing, the bosses are challenging and the time travel mechanic gives each level a wonderfully fresh feel. The game has good replayability and looks totally amazing. It’s for the Sega CD, PC and is an unlockable in the Sonic Mega Collection.

And, finally…

Sonic 3 & Knuckles

What happens if you take one of the most critically acclaimed Sonic games, then add the functionality to play as FUCKING KNUCKLES? You get one of the coolest things ever. Ever. This is seriously one of the best things that 16 bits has to offer. Climb shit, swim in the water, get around… You can do it all. You can do it with Sonic 2 as well.

That wraps up this stuff. Sorry about being gone so long, personal shit…

Anyway, I hope that soon I will be able to contribute regularly again!

Till next time!

Jumpluff~

Dissidia final Fantasy

Remember how I keep saying I hate SquareEnix? Well, they keep giving me shit, then throwing me a bone. This was one hell of a bone. Dissidia isn’t out in America, yet. I’ve been playing it on my custom firmware PSP in Japanese. It took me a while to be able to navigate the menus, but now that I can…

Oh damn am I glad. This is a fighting game with characters from Final Fantasy 1-11. Each game has two characters from each game, a hero and a villain. The battles in Dissidia are NOTHING like previous Final Fantasy games. You take control of your favorite hero/villian and go to town. Jumping, dodging, attacking, magic, summons, you name it, it’s in there. The system for dealing damage is a little interesting and takes a little getting used to, but once you’ve got it down you’ll be a pro in no time. If you ever wanted to beat the ever loving shit out of Sephiroth or Cloud, this game is for you.  What’s even better, is it’s fun, and has AWESOME multiplayer. Get this game when it comes out later this year. Or, get it now if you have custom firmware.

Power Stone Collection

This is actually two games in one, both originally on the Dreamcast. Power Stone and Power Stone 2 are fighting games akin to Super Smash Bros, but with the mobility in three dimensions. You get a wide array of characters from every country. There are stones that are dropped in the stages by your opponent (Or you) when they’re hit. Collect three and you change into your super form for a limited time. This part kicks ass. Super forms in the game are usually not game makers(I’m looking at you, Gunrock. Dick.), and last for a short enough time that it can allow the other person to survive. Very well implemented. This game is a bit rare, so keep your eyes peeled.

Jeanne d’Arc

I’m not big on SRPGs, but I tell you what… This one is awesome. You play as Jeanne, who’s villiage is destroyed by some army.. It’s supposed to be historically accurate, or something like that… But it’s very not. And that’s fine. Jeanne has the power to change into different armors for a certain number of turns that give her holy ass kicking powers. She has a few buddies as well from a timid little girl to a lion man. This game is pretty sweet, and sucks you in. If you need to burn some time, get it. If you don’t get it anyway.

Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles

This is actually two games in one. It’s Castlevania: Rondo of Blood, a game never released in America and Castlevania Symphony of the Night. Rondo of Blood is pretty much like the old Castlevania games. You have X amount of HP, and the end is down there. Survive till the end. Simple? Yes. Easy? HELL NO. This game is hard. Really hard. If you haven’t played any of the older Castlevania games recently, I hope you enjoy a lot of AAAAAAUGHSGSGHGHG and blood splatter. You’re gonna get a lot of it.

I dare you to beat these and then come back.

Also, don’t forget my radio up there under Live Streams!

Till next time!

Jumpluff~

Written for GIANT ENEMY BLOG

No, not your wallet! I mean that thing that that played games… You know.

Your Gameboy! Hell yeah you remember that. Well, lemme help you find some games to play on that bad boy.

Pocket Bomberman

This game was an instant classic… for me anyway. It was never terribly popular, but it was good and it was challenging. You play as Bomberman(durr) and you have to climb a tower for some reason… I forget. Anyway, each floor of the tower is a new world, guarded by a different giant bad guy type monster. You get lots of cool power ups for your bombs, and what I really liked about this game is you had to use the bombs to solve puzzles… By jumping on them. Sometimes they’d blow up and kill you, so you either had to be fast or have the power up that makes them detonate on command. This game is totally awesome and definitely worth a try.

Revelations: The Demon Slayer

This is an interesting mix of Final Fantasy, your mom, and Pokemon. You play as [Instert Name Here] who is learning the ways of the magic of Gaia. After the orb of magic in town is taken by monsters your journey begins. The overworld map is how you get around, much like Chrono Trigger. You find your destination and head inside… However, there is always the chance for a RANDOM ENCOUNTER. In random encounters, there are monsters. You can befriend those monsters and have them fight alongside you. Cool, eh? Of course there are some that can never be tamed, but having those would be unfair. If you’re in the market for a serious RPG, this is it.

Legend of Zelda Ages/Seasons

I’ve always liked the Legend of Zelda, but these games took it to a new level for me. These games are over the head, much like Link’s Awakening and A Link to the Past. In fact, they’re all made by Capcom. Good stuff.

Both the games play fairly similar with one mechanic being different: The Wand of Seasons and the Harp of Ages. The Wand allows you to stand on a stump and change the seasons around while the Harp allows you to travel through time to solve puzzles or give something to someone. The game really uses the special item to death and back… and that’s good. The dungeons are challenging, it’s got classic Zelda puzzles and more secrets than you can shake a Deku Stick at. Get one, the other or both. It won’t matter because you’ll be happy either way.

Pokemon Pinball

Yeah. Pokemon Pinball. This game will rock you. It has a rumble feature, and an awesome feature. You have to catch pokemon by hitting them with the ball in this one. What the hard part is: Making the bastards come out. It’s even hard to catch them all. You gotta go to different towns by doing all this stuff… Man, that game was hard. And I’d do it over

And over.

And over.

I hate you, pinball.

Well, whip out that ol’ GBC and get crackin’!

Till next time!

Jumpluff~

Rocket: Robot on Wheels

This game was made by the creators of Sly Cooper. I dunno about you, but those games were pretty good.

Naturally, so was this. You play as a young robot set to watch over the new theme park “Wallyworld” while the owner goes to a party, but after he leaves, the costar of the show steals the spotlight,  knocks poor Rocket out cold and steals the mascot. You have to collect tokens, tickets and save the  park by getting upgrades and solving puzzles. This game is amazing and had great controls to boot.

Mischief Makers

SHAKE SHAKE

SHAKE SHAKE

This game, developed by Treasure…

Well, if that doesn’t draw you to this game, you should probably shoot yourself. In this game, you play Ultra-Intergalactic-Cybot G Marina Liteyears, or Marina for short. She and her creator head down to planet Clancer and Marina’s creator, Proffesor Theo, gets kidnapped.  Go get ‘em, tiger! Your main attack in this game is grabbing, shaking and throwing. The levels are challenging, bosses are huge and difficult to down and the ending video’s length is determined by how many golden gems you collect. This can be a little frustrating, but it’s a really fun test.

Diddy Kong Racing

In my opinion, much much better than Mario Kart 64. The tracks are much more creative and plentiful, there are actually unlockable characters and everything is vibrant and colorful. Of course, it doesn’t just look good, Diddy Kong Racing has wicked unfair boss races, secrets and battles. This game is awesome alone or with friends. It’s got a port to the DS, but that one doesn’t have Banjo… Made me a little sad, but still good.

Banjo Kazooie/Tooie

Rare really threw out all the stops with these two. When I first heard about this game, I heard it was a lot like Super Mario 64, which I loved to death. I picked it up and tried it out.

GO TO HELL CANARY MARY

Oh, boy. They were wrong. This game is BETTER than Super Mario 64 by a long shot.

There are fewer levels, sure, but the levels in BK/T are bigger. Much bigger. It has awesome music, a wide range of moves that Banjo and Kazooie can use, tons of things to collect, minigames, minibosses, HUGE bosses, good humor, bad humor and a seriously amazing time with a good hundred hours of solid gameplay. Per game. Go get it!

Jet Force Gemini

I know, another Rare game… If they didn’t make good games, I wouldn’t tell you to get them! Anyway, I wasn’t into shooters until recently, but this game shone like a star in a sea of diamonds. In this game you can play as Juno, Vela or Lupus, along with a little helicopter thing that can be controlled by a second player named Floyd. You get some nifty guns in this game. Missile launchers, miniguns, blasters, lasers, mines and grenades… And destroying enemies results in colorful splatters and chuncks hopping around the landscape. A third person view and some minor platforming aspects make this game a blast, literally and figuratively.

Yoshi Story

This game is amazing fun, but sadly a bit short. Beautiful graphics, imaginative worlds and paths… Plus, the whole game is based on eating fruit. Eat fruit, get health. Eat fruit, beat level. Eat boss, beat boss! The atmosphere of the game is cute and fun, and some of the levels are damn near impossible. Unlocking levels can be a real challenge, too. I’m still missing one just because I can never find all the damn smiling hearts.

Oh…

Black Yoshi > White Yoshi

Now for the grand finale: Pokemon Snap

You know what, even if you DON’T like Pokemon games, then you should probably pick this up anyway. Just trying to get all the pictures, finding the Pokemon signs, making the Pokemon get into poses… Oh, the joy is unbearable. This game is easily replayed trying to get the perfect score, and if you ever come across one of those old Snap Stations, you can get prints of the pictures you took in game!

Good luck, though, I haven’t seen one since… I can’t even remember.

Also don’t forget to listen to the radio! Right up there under “Live Streams”!

Till next time!

Jumpluff~

Written for Giant Enemy Blog!

First up: Theme Hospital

This game is hilarious. This game is fun, and this is coming from someone who has never really likes simulation/tycoon games like Theme Hospital… But for some reason, this game opened up to me. You’ve got to build a hospital and treat patients with weird diseases like “The Uncommon Cold” and “Slack Tongue”. Just seeing the people with bizarre conditions walk in is worth your money, but then when you cure them(Or fail to), some of them can be quite entertaining as well. This game is for anyone with a decent sense of humor. 100% awesome, get this game.

Cave Story

If  there was ever a reason to pay for a game, this is it. That being said, you don’t have to. Created by a humble man under the name Pixel, Cave Story is an adventure game of epic proportions. You play an amnesiac-mute robot who wakes up and sets off. Through the game you meet lots of characters and learn the plight that is striking the island. The Doctor is using his minions to bring him Mimigas, the islands fuzzy bunny-like inhabitants. They request you help and like a good little robot, you do. You meet Sue, Kazuma, Professor Booster, Curly Brace, Balrog… All so memorable, each with their own distinct personality. The gameplay is a sidescrolling shooter reminiscent of Metroid, almost. You get a variety of weapons, health upgrades and  for every enemy you defeat you get little power triangles to level your weapons. This game will make you cry. If you don’t cry, you are not human. Play this game. It’s free. It’s a good 4 hours long with TONS of replayability and it is amazing.

Starcraft / Warcraft 2

This is not Orcs in Space, he said. He was about half right.

These games are both Real Time Strategy games, damn good ones at that. They’re a little different in the fact one of them is sci-fi and the other is medieval fantasy. Starcraft is in space (hurr), you can play as one of three races: Terran, Zerg or Protoss. Each one has their strengths and weaknesses, and each one has a lush history filled with sweat and blood. The Terran went into stasis and traveled from Earth to make colonies, the Zerg are a hivemind that like to take things over and the Protoss are honor bound tribesmen with psionic powers.

Warcraft is just a smidge different. You have the Alliance and the Horde. The Alliance is Humans, Gnomes, Elves  and Dwarves. They fight for their land that has been theirs since they could remember as the Horde push through the Dark Portal into Azeroth. The Horde are a brutish bunch, consisting of Orcs, Trolls, Goblins and a manner of the undead. Each race has it’s ups and downs, and it’s up to you to make sure you kick the opposing team’s sorry ass. That part goes for both games. They’re good, and Starcraft still has good online play. Plus, Starcraft is like… $20, for it, the expansion and the players guides for both. Don’t be cheap!

Spore Creature Creator

I god damn hate Spore with a passion…

However, the creature creator is totally awesome… But short.

Like, Yoshi Story short… Kinda. It has infinite replayability in the sense that you can go back and attempt to create damn near anything, or make something totally original. It was a little simplified from what we had seen a bit prior, but still damn fun. Not much else to say except for you can play with it FOREVER.

Much unlike the actual game of Spore. You can, but why would you?

Last, but not least: Afterlife

HEAVEN OR HELL, LET’S ROCK

Ever wonder what life is like after death? It takes electricity from rocks, everyone is a raisin and if you fuck up skeletons surf lava all over the place and you just lost the game. Afterlife is a lot like Simcity, only with a sense of balance. If you don’t keep Heaven as nice as Hell is torturous then your advisers warn you. Take the warnings, because soon after them the surfers come if nothing change. Raise money, it’s in pennies, by the way, make roads and build huge structures for salvation and for anguish and make death a living hell… or heaven.

Welp, go play those games. You won’t be sorry.

Till next time!

Jumpluff~

Written for GIANT ENEMY BLOG

Etrian Odyssey 1 & 2

I’m not gonna lie to you. If you want a challenge, if you want a serious RPG, then this is the game for you. There aren’t flashy graphics, there are only stats, items, monsters and a very cool map-making system. You and your party of adventurers goes down into a dungeon few go into to find the treasure. You can pick classes, have as many members as you want. but can only carry a few around. The monsters get viciously difficult to kill very quickly. The battle system is your standard turns based on speed/surprise factor. Lots of fun, but I’m warning you now: Almost as addictive as an MMO(but so much cheaper!). I thoroughly enjoyed them, even if the god damn F.O.E.s obliterated me for days.

Persona 3 (FES), 4

If you like jRPGs at all, I’m sure you’ve heard about these. I honestly haven’t played the first two, but I do know that they were changed pretty drastically to appeal to Western audiences. These weren’t.

These game is broken up into two different parts: Dungeons and Towns.  In dungeons, you fight. Turn-based battles involving your party members and you either attacking with your weapon or summoning your Persona, a representation of your soul, to preform magic that uses HP(Physical magic) or SP(Special magic). In towns, you can socialize and make social links, one of the big parts of making strong Personas, buy stuff and increase your social attributes, allowing you to make more social links.

There is a really really really big difference between these two games, however.

In P3, you only directly control the Main Character in battle, and in P4, you can, if you choose, to control your entire party manually.  This was a big step for me, and a bit of a sad one. If you choose to play these games, play Persona 3 before you play Persona 4, because you will NEVER be able to play 3 again.

Despite Aegis being the most fuckable robot ever.

The World Ends With You

I’m pretty sure I’ve said I don’t like SquareEnix. If I didn’t, then here it is.

I really hate SquareEnix.

But they still make some good games sometimes. This one proves that.

TWEWY is a very interesting DS game. You play as Neku, as well as Shiki, Joshua and Beat. The three characters that change change with the scenario in game, but Neku is playable the entire time. The battle system is very VERY interesting. Neku is on the bottom screen, and one of the other three is on the top screen. Neku is controlled with the stylus by tapping, slashing and making circles. The top screen is controlled with the control pad or face buttons. The enemies on either screen are the same and share HP. When you kill something on the top or bottom screen, it dies on the other. Thankfully, you don’t HAVE to control both of the screens at once, the top screen goes to auto play(or not) after 6 – .5 seconds. Pick this game up, or you’ll be so Zetta sorry!

Fallout 3

I’m sure if you’ve head my first “Play These Games” you’d have seen I pissed a good week away on this game… and I’m still putting time into it.  In this game, you play as a custom young man/woman from Vault 101. The setting for this game is bleak at best: 2277 is post apocalyptic Washington D.C. Everything has been destroyed and new stuff has popped up.

First thing you come across is giant mutated mole things that, while not difficult to subdue, look rather scary. Your part in this game is simple: Be good, be bad, or be someone no one cares about. The game is so damn open-ended it isn’t even funny. You get awesome weapons, from the plasma pistol to the Fatman, a mini-nuke slingshot and you can even make your own weapons with schematics you find. The big thing in this game, though, is the main story.

It’s compelling, depressing, hilarious and infuriating. The one thing I found angry about the game is the ending does not allow you to continue after you finish the main quest. Now, this is a very open ended game, a damn good one… Now why is there an ending with no continuation? Why is there no alternative because you can bring a character to the ending that could complete the task as easy as you and live!

Sometimes, I wonder if developers do shit like that to games just to get reactions like mine from the players.

Last one for today:

Pokemon (Series)

Like you didn’t see that one coming eventually.

That’s right. A whole damn series. You need to play ALL of them. You’re a kid starting off in a little backwoods town and you wanna be the very best like no one ever was. You can start with any one of three Pokemon, and go on your journey. It’s hard, it’s long, it’s fun, and it never ever ends. There are nearly 500 Pokemon to catch today, and more to come soon. There are tournaments, the newest versions support wifi battles and trades, and there’s a new version coming out in mid-March to screw over everyone who bought one of the other two versions released last year.

Oh, Nintendo… I love giving you my money.

Alright, I think I gave you enough to chew on this time. Think about it!

Don’t forget my good ‘ol radio up there under “Live Streams”!

Till next time!

Jumpluff~

Written for GIANT ENEMY BLOG

Elite Beat Agents/Ouendan

If you haven’t heard of EBA, you probably need to come out of your cave. This game is totally amazing. The song selection is a bit… Odd, yes, but solid. Every second of this game is hilarious. The EBA go around the world and cheer on people who are in tough situations. How this would help someone steal back plans for their business or help a cat save a baby from a construction zone is beyond me, but I won’t complain. The game gives you numbered circles, and you have to tap them in sequence and rhythm with the playing song. Easy, right? For a while, sure, but you’ll be crying when you fail at the last stretch of “Without a Fight”. This game is on the DS only, has an American version(EBA) and two Japanese versions with different characters, scenarios, music, but that same awesome gameplay. There’s even a custom song game with gameplay very much like it on the PC called “Osu!”, but unless you have a touch screen PC you’re gonna be mousin’ it.

Dance Dance Revolution!

If you’ve ever even seen someone play this game, you’d know what I’m talking about. This game is everywhere from arcades to Gamecube and even the original Xbox. There’s enough remixes and such to put Final Fantasy to shame. Pick a song and step on the dance mat. You get arrows coming at the top of the screen and you have to step on the arrows on the mat as they hit the ones up top. Simple? Sure, just set it on heavy and we;ll see how simple it gets.  The song selection in more recent titles has degraded a bit, but it’s not like the gameplay is any different. This is on damn near any console you can find since the Playstation, and with every mix of music you can imagine.

Parappa the Rapper (2)

Ever play a rhythm game with ORIGINAL music? I know, not uncommon, but every song in Parappa from Cheep Cheep the Cooking Chicken to the Hair Scare are not only catchy, but funny and well suited for the situation. You’re the rising rapper Parappa trying to win the lovely Sunny Funny’s heart. Why a dog loves a flower, I’ll never know… Anyway, in your adventures Parappa comes across snags where he’s gotta raise money to buy a new car or bake a cake… This is where the RAP MASTERS come in. The rap master and Parappa have a rap off and Parappa has to win in order to get shit done! Sometimes Parappa sounds a little inquisitive about what he’s doing, but it’s all good. Just make sure you have awesome rhythm or you ain’t gonna get nowhere in this game. The original Parappa is on the PS1 and PSP, number two is PS2 only for now.

AudioSurf

This game is beautiful, and that’s just part of it. Audiosurf uses your own music, something not many music games do. The game makes a personal track for every song, you choose a car and difficulty and you’re set for the next song duration. The point of this game is to make color clusters of the same color as you go down this track, see? The vehicle you choose can give you different abilities to aid you in doing this. One vehicle pushes the blocks into different lanes, another can share them for later, and one can erase block you don’t want. This game is cheap. Like, $10 cheap. If you don’t own this, then just end yourself because not only is this beautiful, it’s fun and it uses your own music. Give the director of this a medal because he deserves one.

I wanted to add in a few more, but I have yet to play Gitaroo Man and Guitar Hero is over rated.

So play these~

Till next time!

Jumpluff~

Written for GIANT ENEMY BLOG

Anyway, I had a few, and have recently come across more. Here’s what I think  you should take a peek at.

Threads of Fate

Gonna be totally honest with you here. I have never really liked a lot of the games that Squaresoft/enix developed, but this (And Crystal Chronicles) are a few exceptions.

In this game, you can play as one of two characters: Rue, a young, mysterious boy (Who you can tell is a boy!) is found in a temple and cared for by a nice lady named Clair. Then, one night, the two of them are attacked by a strange man with a very large black handclaw thing. Rue wishes to find this called the to revive his dead housemate. His gameplay consists of playing as Rue himself with his giant pizza cutter, as well as several of the local monsters that he can transform into after defeating and collecting their tokens.

Mint, on the other hand, is a princess who wishes only to use the to take over the world after her sister kicks her out. She uses two rings to cast magic as her specialty. The game is interesting, you earn more HP by taking damage and healing, and it incorperates a fair amount of platforming elements. I dunno who scored this game, but whoever it is deserves a god damn medal.

Chocobo Racing

I love silly little spinoffs, and this one isn’t half bad. You play as the ever lovable Chocobo(Or several other cute versions of Final Fantasy staple character types), and race! It’s simplistic and fun. Not much to say about it other than it’s a cutesy racing game. So, if you need a racing game… This is a good one.

Castlevania Symphony of the Night

Castlevania is amazing. End of story.

In all seriousness, this game is good for lots of reasons. First off, it’s the first Castlevania to use the leveling system, and the first one to allow for “open ended” gameplay. You play as Alucard, son of Dracula. Big Daddy’s raising from the totally dead and it’s your job to take him back. You get weapons, subweapons, magic, abilities… This game is the foundation of what modern 2D Castlevania is today. Bosses, a killer story and  nifty unlockables make this game awesome every single time you pop the dick in your machine.

This game is a classic that will never get old.

CTR: Crash Team Racing

A racing game rivaling Mario Kart, this game is wacky, zany and has all the characters from Crash Bandicoot. Remember when those games weren’t shovelware?

Me either. ;_;

Anyway, you got your power ups, courses from the game and a god damn hoarde of unlockable characters. Definatly worth at least playing until you unlock everything and multiplayer leaves playing with friends open for a long time.

Digimon World

Yeah, you remember this game. If you don’t, hoo boy… Are you in for one hell of an adventure. This game is one hell of a challenge. You, a young boy who plays with those Digimon toys, gets sucked into your little game. In there, you find the Digimon you’ve been training after a Pokemon Mystery Dungeon style question sequence. Your main goal in this game is to stop the trouble that’s been going around the island. Easy right?

Haha… No.

You take your buddy around, pick some fights… The battle system is very interesting. You don’t directly control the Digimon. You watch him fight, cheer him on, throw him power-ups and give him orders. Eventually, your Digimon digivolves. The Digimon you get from that is determines by SO MANY THINGS. There are so many stats that you can train for, and they all matter for what your little buddy changes into. What also determines something: The virus bar.

Your partner needs food, and a bathroom. If he doesn’t get food, he dies or can’t fight. If he dumps his load on the floor, his virus bar goes up. This can be challenging because while there are portable toilet items, they’re scarce, and so are toilets around the island.

The story, the DAMN challenging gameplay and pretty visuals all come together to give this game a powerful presence, and lots of sequals and spinoffs.

Alright, that’s all for now, I’ve been typing these suckers up as fast as I can.

Till next time!

Jumpluff~

Written for GIANT ENEMY BLOG

That being said,  something that doesn’t always make a game enjoyable is the graphics. Sure, graphics can be nice, especially in a game where it serves a purpose. However, in my time, I have heard far too many people tell me that they wouldn’t play a game simpily because it wasn’t top notch graphics or it didn’t push the hardware of the machine to the max. Why would you wanna do that to your machine?

If a game is fun and has good graphics, that’s great, but what if it’s not the best image capture top notch stuff? Some games look amazing even without the magic of the third dimension. Ever take a look at Cave Story? The game would pass for a SNES game, the gameplay is something that’s involving and fun, and the story, while confusing at first, will have you in tears.  Ever take a look at Sonic the Hedgehog on the PS3 and 360? I’m a huge Sonic fan and this game, while very pretty, was a nightmare to play. Sonic clips through curbs, jumps make him slow to a near stop and a personal killer for me: I can see his feet the entire time. I never ever wanna see Sonic’s feet when he’s running. Ever.

Good, pretty, but short

When you think about it, you were a kid once. When you were younger, you sure as heck didn’t have near realistic graphics and amazing surround sound, but you still played your game and man you had a blast! Why wouldn’t that work again? I gotta give Capcom kudos for giving us a new “classic” game, even if I still can’t beat one robot master, the joy it gives me is huge. Partially from nostalgia, partially from frustration and greatly from the gameplay… It’s been years since I felt this way.

I guess partially because I feel this way is that when I go to work at my game store, and kids come in and tell me about how old the Gamecube and PS2 are and I wanna strangle them. They’re telling me I sat down and played a new game for last week is old school. I could have been a little more understanding if it was a clueless old gramma or something, but a kid of 10 – 12? Come on, you’d have to live under a rock. Last week I was cleaning up Gamecube discs for a kid and said he had no idea what a cartridge was. I know not every game in the past is worth playing, but they won’t even give them a second glance.

Dear youngins,

Put down your Halo and Grand Theft Auto and play Doom and Vectorman.

Love,

Jumpluff

]]> http://giantenemyblog.com/graphics-dont-make-the-game/feed/ 0 http://giantenemyblog.com/play-these-games-xbox-edition/ http://giantenemyblog.com/play-these-games-xbox-edition/#comments Tue, 27 Jan 2009 22:00:37 +0000 Jumpluff @ Delicious Pink Ribbon http://giantenemyblog.com/?p=3958 Yes, even the Xbox has good games to play. Not many, though. Thankfully, I’m here to tell you a few for that hulking black monster. Let’s take a dive.

Stubbs the Zombie in:

Rebel Without a Pulse

FINALLY A USE FOR HALO. Hoho. With all seriousness,though… This game, made with the Halo engine, was what should have been big instead of Halo if you ask me. You play as Stubbs, a zombie with nothing better to do but zombify everyone he meets. You get a choice: Bite people to turn them into your zombie follower, posses them with your hand and have them kill other people or just kill them. Your followers automatically attempt to turn everyone they see, so keep that in mind. Stubbs has some cool things he can do. He can take his head off and go bowling, take over people’s minds with his severed hand, throw his organs as grenades or fart to unleash a deadly toxic gas. Cool job, Stubbs, you look pretty Wario!

Kung Fu Chaos

If you ever had the wish of making an over the top Bruce Lee style movie, then this is the game for you. You get a cast of different fighters with different styles, and you’re thrown into different sets. The director tells you what to do, be it jump over this or beat up this many ninjas and you do it. The game is challenging, fun, and pretty long. If you’re in the mood for a good beat-em-up, then get this little gem.

Raze’s Hell

This game is wrong on so many levels… But oh so satisfying. You play as Raze, a young… thing who’s world is being taken over by these cute little critters. They look cute, but they have big guns, big armies and big arteries. You get to rip these little cuties apart, stab them, cut them or shoot them with bug things. This game is so ridiculously bloody, and that’s a good thing. Along with all the killing, you get a few minigames like… Golf and Soccer(???). If you want gore and killing, this game is just for you.

Conker: Live and Reloaded

So, this is actually a remake of an N64 game, Conker’s Bad Fur Day. That game was god damn amazing, all around. Good Multiplayer, fucking hilarious story(I want a squirrel for a table leg), and gameplay reminiscent of Banjo. You play Conker the Squirrel, a sodding foul-mouthed squirrel. You’re trying to get home after a night of drinks and good times, and the only way you can get home NOW is to go through the biggest line of bullshit in the world. Trotting around in a mountain of crap, feeding mice cheese, going to war, entering the Matrix… And that’s just the tip of the iceburg. If you liked the N64 one, if you like toilet humor, if you liked anything Rare has ever made then you go out and get this game right now. You won’t be sorry. Just don’t expect to get every joke that references the N64 version… Even if it is unlockable.

Last one!

Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath

I’m gonna be honest here, I didn’t play any of the other Oddworld games and I only decided to try this out because a family member liked it. So, here it is. You play as Stranger. He’s a stranger in these parts, but he’ll fit in just fine. You gotta get bounties by finding the suckers on the wanted posters and hauling their sorry asses back. Sometimes there are requirements like “Bring  back alive”, but mostly living or dead only increases/decreases the amount of “moolah” you get, alive is generally better.

The gameplay is actually really interesting. You get a third person platformer and action, plus a first-person shooter type deal. Your ammo is living creatures that do different things. Some are traps, others home in, some explode and you got an all-purpose crossbow with their names on it. Awesome game, awesome theme, awesome everything.

Alright, that’ll do me for now. Enjoy these ones!

Till next time!

Jumpluff~

Written for GIANT ENEMY BLOG

Woo, Number 300~