I was able to score Uncharted 2 for $11 new. Having not finished the first, but hearing good things about this one, is that a good deal?
Newspaper in Red Dead Redemption
There is a LOT to do in this game. One of the more interesting things is to read the daily newspapers being sold in the streets. Here is an announcement made in one of them:
The marriage is announced to be solemnized of Miss Mollie Brannigan, daughter of Cole and Ella Brannigan, to Mr Melvin Brannigan, son of Cole and Ella Brannigan
Good to see Rockstar has kept in some humor. Actually, this game is pretty humorous altogether.
Split/Second Is Not A $60 Game
With some credit and Sony points I’m glad I only paid about $30 for it. However, don’t read into that wrong. It is a fun game. It is a frustrating game. Think Mario Kart Wii frustrating. I’ve not seen rubber-band AI this bad since well into the early ’90s. That was the last century mind you.
I’ve played somewhere around 10-12 races and I’ve placed only twice–these are the first two races of the game. In the last 30 seconds of the race it’s Mario Kart Wii all over again. The only power up in the game is essentially a blue shell, but it’s also a shock when five cars whip around you at the end at the last split second. This is weird because I never experienced any of this in the demo, and one of the tracks was in the demo.
The boys love it (explosions–what’s not to love?), and play with other humans is pretty fun, but it’s going to take a while for the single-player game to grow on me. I just need to approach it differently.
Everything else? Impressive.
Tonight might be a Red Dead Redemption night. I need a little redemption.
PING: Bit.Trip.Runner
It must be video day today. Bit.Trip.Runner has finally been released on WiiWare for $8.
Some of us here are big fans of the Bit.Trip games.
PING: ModNation Racers Bringing Teh Phunny
Let’s just say it rhymes with Man Farizmo Jive!
This just came up on my radar for later this month. Three racing games released in two weeks. That’s just a little too intense.
My only fear is that we are seeing a lot of info around the game, not about it.
To much hair gel says what?
I’ll Have a Mac Steamed, Please
I just installed the Mac client for Steam and now I own 20+ games on my Mac–just like that. Torchlight, Portal, Civ IV, Braid, a bunch of other indie titles. The list just goes on and on.
Torchlight on Mac? Tomorrow!
Kotaku is reporting that the Steam client for Mac computers comes out tomorrow. If you already own Portal and Torchlight on the PC, you may already own it on the Mac.
If you bought Portal or Torchlight via Steam on your Windows-based PC then you may in fact already be the proud owner of tomorrow’s releases. Portal (and possibly Torchlight — the press release is unclear) will support a feature called Steam Play, which, according to a press release from Valve today, “allows customers to purchase a game once and play it on all Steam supported platforms. Gamers who have previously purchased games on Steam will find them available in their account on the Mac as they are released.”
I think this is AWESOME because these games should run fine on my MacBook. I can now play Torchlight on any computer I own.
Wait. That may be a bad thing.
PING!: Red Dead Redemption
I had a passing interest in this game. It’s now on the “radar.” Giantbomb has a look at some online play.
If you don’t see the video, visit our living room.
Freaking Inkies–for a freaking good time
Let it be known that I have bought more games from the App Store than any other gaming medium this year. I’ve enjoyed each and every game. The winner so far? Tilt to Live.
However, this is not about that great game (that could easily be ported to any other platform, please!). This is about Freaking Inkies. Take the charm of Plants vs. Zombies, add a little bit of de Blob, and some precise tilt controls and you get this new game.
I love this stuff.
This Game You Should Play: Beat Hazard
Seizure inducing for the win
Pictures do not do this game justice. Beat Hazard by Cold Beam Games is a new entry in the music as game genre. You essentially fly a ship that shoots down anything that moves a la Geometry Wars. The catch? It’s all created by your music.
The Audiosurf of 2010
How does it work? Each song is a game. The game reads certain characteristics of your own music and then relays that as enemies on screen, their frequency, and the rate or power of your ship’s own guns. What this does is makes each song unique but each song plays exactly the same. Usually upbeat tempo (think trance) songs work best because there’s a lot of action. Sometimes it’s too much–it’s a blast. Have a song that crescendos? So does the action on screen. Is there a quiet pause after that crescendo? Uh, oh. A lot of enemies and no force behind your pea-shooter of a weapon. However, all is not lost.
Added brilliance
Instead of being a typical shooter there are a couple of neat innovations:
- Shooting some enemies nets a POW reward. This in turn powers up your ship’s weapon.
- Some enemies release VOL. This increases your songs volume and also draws more enemies to the screen thereby increasing your chance for failure and glory.
- Little +1 symbols net you a score multiplier. (Oh, this game is all about points and rank.)
- You can also protect yourself during the quiet lulls of the song by using bombs. They are a mechanic that is in every shooter: everything on screen is destroyed.
- Your music generates bosses. Have fun with multiple bosses.
- Of course, there are leaderboards. Always a win. Ranks too. Cumulative ranks. The higher you are the more perks you have at the beginning of each song.
- Achievements.
Blue Light Special
So, where do we get it? It’s on Steam for $10 and can be had on XBLA indie for 400 MS points. The XBLA version is cheaper but there are a few more features (nothing major) with the PC version. The Steam version can be played with a mouse/keyboard combo or an 360 controller (only–but there are some simple workarounds for this).
Honestly, there are some songs that cause so much chaos on screen you have no idea what’s going on, but you do know what to do. It’s the best feeling to have your ship survive a huge onslaught of enemies, pulsing lasers, and seizure-inducing light effects.