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Summertime Bits and Bites

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Summer is about as close to an off-season for video games for me as it gets. Sure, I’ve dabbled a bit in a bunch of different games on different platforms over the past few weeks, but I’ve been very much caught up in the spoils of the season, such as good weather, outdoor parties and street basketball.

Gaming and writing about gaming have taken a serious nose-dive on my list of things-to-do of late. For the few people who follow my blog regularly, I apologize. I’m hoping I can write more in detail about what’s happened and what’s to come, but for now, I will give you some snippets of things that I’ve been up to gaming-wise and my thoughts on current gaming events.
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Impressions on the Green Day: Rock Band Demo

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I like Green Day. I like Rock Band. Therefore, Green Day: Rock Band should be a day-one purchase for me, right? Maybe not. I’m definitely starting to feel burned out on the music game genre, and I’m not sure I want 47 Green Day songs at once. Going into this demo, I was a bit skeptical about what I’d find.

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Me vs. Popular Opinion

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A few weeks ago, after putting up with hearing me talk about Metacritic, website reviews and podcast discussion about new games, my girlfriend said something that took me aback.

“You put a lot of stake in other people’s opinions when it comes to games.”

While I do feel that my opinion ultimately comes first, yes, I do put a lot of stake in the opinions of others when it comes to games. I think ever since Famitsu began running reviews in the late 80s, public opinion has been a huge part of video game culture. For a hobby as expensive as this one, it’s no wonder that gamers have looked for second opinions before making very expensive purchases.

With the release of Super Mario Galaxy 2, I find myself a bit conflicted as my personal opinion of the first game makes me reluctant to sip the Galaxy 2 Kool-Aid.

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Closing Thoughts on Super Mario Galaxy

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Last time I wrote about Super Mario Galaxy, I gushed over how it was a technical and creative masterpiece, yet I found myself not having that much fun with it. At the time, I wasn’t completely sure whether or not there was something wrong with the game or something wrong with me. I was hoping that the final stretch of the game would bring it all together and I would have a blast with it. Though after completing the game with the bare-minimum number of stars, it’s failed to hook me in and I don’t know why.

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It’s Not You, It’s Me

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In November of 2007, Super Mario Galaxy was released to great fanfare. It received eye-popping reviews and a number of awards. I bought the game on day 1, but for a number of reasons, didn’t actually play it until a few months after the fact.

When I finally did play it though, I found myself in the midst of Nintendo magic. Even without the benefit of HD, Mario Galaxy is pretty to look at. The orchestrated soundtrack is excellent. For the most part, it controls really well. Most importantly, the game’s unique take on 3D platforming was highly refreshing and creative.

However, I got about 40 stars before I just stopped playing the game. Up until recently, I hadn’t played the game in years and forgot why I stopped playing it in the first place. After about an hour of playing the game again, I remembered why.

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“You” Suck at Making Best-Of Video Game Lists

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Normally, I am not one to argue a “best-of” list in any serious manner. Due to the subjectivity behind these lists, there will never be a definitive list that everyone can agree on. The “best-of” lists that are the worst are the ones voted on by “the people”, because regular people make the worst choices.

In spite of that, people love to make them anyway and argue about them till the cows come home. Recently, Guinness announced its top 50 video game franchises, as chosen by you. Snap judgment: you suck. If you would like to read the full list, I advise you to hit the link. Otherwise, continue to read as I highlight a few key spots and add snarky commentary.

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Closing Thoughts on de Blob

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When I first wrote about de Blob, I was really digging it. I loved the visual and audio presentation. The gameplay was really fun and easy to pick up. The second time I wrote about it, I voiced what was (and still is) my biggest problem with the game: its pacing. Now that I have beaten de Blob, how do I feel about this sleeper hit?

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de Blob Makes Me Think About Pacing

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I’m just over half way through de Blob and I’m still enjoying it. The gameplay mash-up of Katamari Damacy, Super Mario Galaxy and mercenaries mode in the Resident Evil series works really well and the developers at Blue Tongue have done a great job of polishing the details around that core experience to make the game a pleasure to play.

With the core game mechanics of de Blob, I would like to play this game in 20-30 minute chunks, with the ability to save mid-mission at any time. All things considered, I think this game works great in short bursts. If you want to speed run through it, you can beat each level in about 20-30 minutes. However, if you want to get a reasonable chunk of the levels done, your time per level will balloon to the point where it’s no longer a pick-up-and-play game.

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The Colour of Fun

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Not that many games are fun anymore. No, I’m not talking about the ratio between good games and bad games. I’m talking about games whose sole existence is to be fun. Street Fighter is fun, but wrapped in a game where you get enjoyment out of beating the crap out of someone else. Grand Theft Auto is fun, but that fun comes from wreaking havoc on a city an its inhabitants. The Resident Evil series is arguably not fun at all, as the enjoyment is derived from the games scaring the crap out of you.

This is why de Blob smacks me like a breath of fresh air. Behind the colourful visuals (which haters may call kiddie) and cheery music is a game aiming to achieve fun in it’s purest sense. I’ll be quick to admit that I’ve only played the first level, but this Wii game had me grinning from ear-to-ear from the opening cinematic to the end of my initial playthrough.

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Death of the Video Game Instruction Manual

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Earlier this week, Ubisoft announced that it will no longer make instruction manuals for it’s games, beginning as early as this fall. As someone who grew up in the 8-bit era, when instruction manuals were critical part of the experience, it kind of saddens me to know that this is probably the beginning of the end for paper instruction manuals. Back when I was younger, I used to love reading the instruction manuals on my brand new games as I was being driven home from the store. Some games were totally incomprehensible if you try and play them without reading the manual first. Also, as someone who used to trade in games a lot, keeping the original box and manual would always increase the value of your trade-in.

In the grand scheme of things though, the death of video game instruction manuals is probably well overdue.

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