Month: August 2010

Super Monkey Ball 2: Sakura Edition Can Roll Off a Cliff

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The first Super Monkey Ball caught everyone by surprise when it was ported to the Gamecube from the arcade. This evolution of Marble Madness was simple to learn, hard to master and featured a fun to play campaign mode and mini games. Thanks to the success of that first game, Super Monkey Ball has grown into a profitable franchise for Sega. However, the steady flow of sales has not led to a steady improvement in quality. In fact, I would go as far as saying that none of the Monkey Ball games since the original have surpassed the quality of the first. Some of the entries in the series are flat-out bad.

Prior to my impulsive purchase of Sakura Edition on the iPad, I had been burned twice by Super Monkey Ball sequels. I caved on the iPad version because I was still starved for new iPad-specific games and it was on sale for $5. Is this the game that brings the series back into top form?
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In Defense of Fighting Games

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I was planning on writing a whole post about how the entirety of Alexander Hinkley’s “Why Fighting Games Suck” post is terrible due to his ignorance and poor arguments supported with incorrect facts, but the Internet has done that for me in the comments section. Thank you, Internet.

Review – BlazBlue: Continuum Shift

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If it weren’t for news of a thorough tutorial mode being included in the sequel to BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger, I wouldn’t have picked up Continuum Shift. As much as this may look like a Street Fighter style game, it plays completely different and I couldn’t wrap my head around it.

A year later, it’s back with a few new characters, new stages, balance tweaks and a great tutorial mode, which I’ve already written about in great detail. However, is there enough here for new players and seasoned BlazBlue veterans alike to continue the fight?

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To Infinity and Beyond? BioShock Infinite Announced

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BioShock 2 was a real letdown to me. I’ve never played the game, but everything I have seen and heard about it has completely turned me off. The game’s main selling point was that it was a return to Rapture, but the first game ends in a way that doesn’t give you a reason to go back. The game lets you play as the Big Daddy, but what made Big Daddies cool were the fact that you had to fight them, not be them. The game featured multiplayer, even though multiplayer wouldn’t have fit within the context of the BioShock universe. I understand that the video game industry is a business like movies and music, but it seemed like all the creative in the first game was funneled out by business teams that wanted a quick sequel that would improve on the predecessor through lots of focus testing and marketing dollars. Ugh.

BioShock Infinite was just announced today and it’s coming from Irrational Games, the creators of the original. This post won’t be a thorough preview or a breakdown of the trailer. There are places that will do a much better job of that than I. The following are just a few gut feelings about what I know as of now.

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Feeling Left Out: StarCraft II

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StarCraft II is without question, the hottest game on the planet right now. It’s arguably the biggest game of 2010. Everywhere gaming website I go to, every message board I visit and every video game podcast I listen to is talking about it. Even all of my coworkers are talking about their forays into the campaign and multiplayer modes.

Though I’ve heard and read enough about StarCraft II to hold up a decent conversation about the game, I kind of feel left out. You see, I’ve never played StarCraft II before. Or the original one. I must confess that, I haven’t even played an RTS since before the original Starcraft came out.
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Girlfriend Gaming: Dance on Broadway Review

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Dance on Broadway is a very interesting game. When Ubisoft scored huge with Just Dance, there was no question that they would capitalize on that success. What I didn’t see happening though, was Ubisoft creating a dancing game based on Broadway musicals. I’m not sure if there are enough aspiring Broadway dancers that want to live out their Hairspray dreams through a Wii game to justify this game’s existence.

Even my girlfriend, who just so happens to be a fan of Just Dance and musicals, was reluctant to pick this up. With only 20 songs on the disc, it’s not easy to justify picking this up at regular price. Thanks to a Wal-Mart sale that took 50% off the regular price, she now owns it and we’ve strutted and shimmied our way through a number of show tunes. I haven’t played through every song, but I think I’ve played enough to say if this one deserves a standing ovation or whether it should exit stage left.

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The Decision: Entering A Super Street Fighter IV Tournament?

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My girlfriend and I will be attending FanExpo this year. Neither of us have ever gone to a convention before (or done anything this nerdy before) but between the two of us, there is enough cool stuff to see and do there for that whole weekend. We’re both really excited to be a part of the experience.

One of those experiences includes a few game tournaments. I know I have no business in the Modern Warfare 2 tournament and the existence of a competitive Smash Bros. scene still baffles me. However, I’m heavily debating in my head whether or not I should throw my name in the hat for the Super Street Fighter IV tourney. Maybe by writing down my thought process I’ll come to a decision.

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Game Design Talk – BlazBlue: Continuum Shift’s Tutorial Mode

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Over the weekend, I thought a bit more about whether or not to buy BlazBlue: Continuum Shift. After more deliberation and talking about it with my brother, I totally caved and picked it up. I did get it at way less than retail price though. I gathered up a bunch of the free games I got during my Blockbuster raids that I had no intention of playing and traded those in. On top of that, my brother agreed to pay for half of the remaining cost. Sweet!

Unlike 99% of the games we’ve ever played, we started out our experience by jumping into tutorial mode. Knowing the difficulties we had with the first game and hearing that Continuum Shift supposedly has an awesome tutorial mode, it made sense to start at ground level rather than button mash and wonder why this game doesn’t play more like Street Fighter. If you’ve had any reservations about learning BlazBlue, then I have (mostly) good news for you.
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Video Game Reviews and Nerd Rage

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As I often do, I was surfing through the NeoGaf forums when I found the following thread that caught my eye:

Reviews which you NEVER forgave (EGM/Nick Rox – Grrrr)

In this 500+ post thread, users go off on reviews, reviewers and gaming outlets that said something about games that they didn’t agree with. It’s kind of scary reading through some of the hate in these posts. Some of these users seem to be harbouring more ill will over a 15-year old review than I do about ex-girlfriends who cheated on me.

This behaviour isn’t isolated to NeoGaf. These types of angry and hateful comments are apparent on virtually every video game message board and every game review with a comment system. I’ve even heard numerous stories on podcasts where reviewers said they’ve received death threats from people who didn’t agree with their opinions. Tell me, why do people get so mad over video game reviews?

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Game Music I Love: Street Fighter II Soundtrack

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Back in the early 90s, you couldn’t walk by an arcade without hearing that intro theme music to Street Fighter II. Street Fighter II was revolutionary for a number of reasons. It became the blueprint that every 2D fighting game has followed ever since. It introduced a new layer of video game controls and complexity. It had what would become some of the most iconic sounds in all of video games (hadoken!). What it doesn’t get as much credit for is that it was one of the first games to introduce a new level of complexity in music while being as catchy and timeless as any of the best video game soundtracks ever.

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