I've still only touched a handful of the ten free Game Boy Advance games I got along with other early Nintendo 3DS owners late last year. I've played quite a bit of them though, and this is what I think. F-Zero: Maximum Velocity - There's a type of gamer that has emerged fairly recently, one who probably has the skill to complete games on harder difficulties, but is more interested in seeing al...
It's getting close to a year since I've done of these. I'm not quite as focused on seeing every piece of content from every game I play as I used to be. Bioshock 2: Minerva's Den - Minerva's Den has a reputation as one of the best DLC add-ons for a game ever made, and it's well earned. If you didn't need to buy Bioshock 2 first to play it, I'd say you could just skip it and play Minerva's Den t...
These are all games I got on PSN in 2011 and never got around to talking about. They're all worth playing, although I didn't actually have to pay for half of them. Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike Online Edition - I got two Street Fighter games on PSN because Street Fighter Alpha 3 was the only one I owned, and I figured I ought to have a couple more, if only for history's sake. Street Fighter II...
With the recent release of the Game Boy Advance "Ambassador" games for early adopters of the Nintendo 3DS (which seem pretty cool so far), I realized I never wrote anything about the NES games that were released in the same way a few months ago. There's a pretty good reason for this: four of the games are interesting and probably worth playing through, and the other six are basically garbage an...
There's been a lot of Zelda stuff going on this year, being the 25 anniversary of the original game's release in Japan. The 3DS saw the release of a 3D remastering of Ocarina of Time , the first two games were included in the batch of free downloads that early adopters of the system got, and later this year we'll get to play the first new console game in the series since 2006. The most recent p...
Surprised it's been over a year since I've done this. But I guess that happens when you don't buy any new games for almost a year. Costume Quest: Grubbins on Ice - This add-on to Costume Quest was roughly one third the length of the original game at one third of the price, which made it a nice way to extend the experience a little for fans. It takes place after the original and has a winter the...
This might be the last one of these I do for this blog. Oh yeah, life goes on, long after the thrill of summarizing a few months of game demos is gone. Army of Two: The 40th Day - You see why these are pointless? I try to wait long enough for a bunch of demos to build up so the post seems substantial, and I end up talking about stuff people have already long forgotten. This demo was all about t...
We ain't gonna stop this DLC thing. Assassin's Creed 2: Battle of Forli - Assassin's Creed 2 was a lot of fun, so I was excited when I heard they were extending its life with a couple of cheap add-ons. They were made up of content that had to be cut from the original release for time, but I was still interested in seeing those gaps get filled in. Unfortunately, both packs had a few issues that...
So I've played some more downloadable content. It was mostly pretty fun I guess! This is the significant stuff. Fallout 3: Broken Steel - I liked Fallout 3, but the ending was, well... irredeemably stupid. Without spoiling anything, finishing the main quest ends the game immediately with a cheap cutscene instead of wrapping up the story nicely and letting you keep playing as your character, and...
The last handheld system I owned was the Game Boy Color, but I recently reentered that arena when I bought a white DSi bundle (I wanted the blue one with a couple Mario games, but I couldn't find it). The "bundle" aspect meant it came with five DSiWare games and applications already installed in addition to the default ones, and here are some brief thoughts on them. Brain Age Express: Arts & Le...
Demos demos demos. Afro Samurai - Quickly wore out its welcome. Adequate sword fighting but little else. Age of Booty - Cute, simple, entertaining strategy game. Didn't get to see much of it at a high level. Batman: Arkham Asylum - Demo showed a cool mix of stealth and combat while everyone in the world's gone apeshit over it. I'm generally averse to licensed games, but I might try this one. Ba...
Ridiculously Ambitious Attempt to Experience the Heart of Two-Dimensional Video Gaming, Part 3 I hope to start getting these out quicker, although it's going to be a challenge considering how much stuff there is I can and should be doing these days. Maniac Mansion (PC) Maniac Mansion was the first game released using LucasArts' SCUMM engine, which actually stands for Script Creation Utility for...
It's becoming an increasing trend in gaming, especially since the launch of the Xbox 360, to extend the life of games via downloadable content, which is cheaper than traditional expansions but also less substantial. Sometimes the DLC is really lame profiteering crap like paying for cheat codes or content that's already on the disc and just needs to be unlocked, but some developers do really int...
The Electronic Entertainment Expo has come and gone and once again, I spent way too much time watching video of unreleased games being played. Here are my shallow opinions in blurb-form. Alan Wake - Much more of a shooter than I expected to see, but it's nice that the game actually exists and I'm sure there will still be some interesting story elements during the daytime. Assassin's Creed 2 - T...
Ridiculously Ambitious Attempt to Experience the Heart of Two-Dimensional Video Gaming, Part 2 The long-delayed second entry. This took me longer than I expected because I ended up having far less free time for this sort of thing than I expected and I might be less of a Zelda fan than I thought originally. I can't guarantee I'll post these any more regularly, but I'm not giving up. The Legend o...
Hey more demos. Alone in the Dark - Really not good. There are some games that just seem like they're wrong somehow. Doesn't really get either perspective right. Battlefield: Bad Company - Blowing up buildings is cool, although I don't think the Battlefield respawn thing really works in a campaign setting. I ended up just running into battle over and over without worrying about death. Bioshock...
Ridiculously Ambitious Attempt to Experience the Heart of Two-Dimensional Video Gaming, Part 1 So here's something I've been working on. I've been playing games for a long time, but I only really started playing significant ones during the PS1/N64 era. Before that, it was just what my relatives got me or just what I could get my hands on. I wanted to fill in the large gap in my knowledge and me...
Here are my thoughts on every demo I've played through the PS3's online network. BlackSite: Area 51 - I like the concept, but the controls didn't handle that well, and the first time I died it sent me back to the title screen. I never tried it again. Bladestorm - I don't get it, it looks like it should be a third person hack-and-slash with troops at your disposal, but all you can do is command...
Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway - Second year in a row. Looked nice, especially the increased focus on story. Never played many tactical shooters, though. Crysis Warhead - If it can do what the original couldn't and run at a decent level on my computer, I definitely want to check it out. Dead Space - Creepy looking survival horror in space. Could be pretty cool. Fallout 3 - I'm pumped for this...