video games

Tatsunoko vs. Capcom – Time to Get Pringles?

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I don’t think I’ve ever been torn about a game like I have been for Tatsunoko vs. Capcom. With this game, I can put together a fairly solid case for why I don’t want it. I’m not a “Versus” series style of fighting game player. My only experience with this style of fighting game was with the XBOX Live release of Marvel vs. Capcom 2. After years of wanting to test my chops in one of the most popular fighting games of all-time, I finally came to the conclusion that I’m awful at that style of game. I end up mindlessly mashing buttons and randomly doing traditional Street Fighter special move command inputs and hoping for the best. It’s cool to see all the flashy action on screen, but I didn’t find the fighting satisfying enough for me to commit to getting better. My only experience online with Marvel vs. Capcom 2 was an absolute disaster, where I didn’t win a match and at times, didn’t connect a single hit on my opponent.

I Can’t Quit You, Borderlands

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I thought I could separate myself from Borderlands the moment I beat it. Sure, I only beat it on playthrough 1, and my character had only reached level 35, but I had basically seen everything there was to do in the game. All that was left was playthrough 2, which is the exact same quest, with tougher enemies and more awesome guns. I figured now was the time to move onto the next game in my backlog.

And yet, here I am, still playing this game.I took a few days off to chip away at my backlog, but one lazy Sunday playing co-op on playthrough 2 with my brother was enough to reel me back in. My usual nightly routine of late has been to play a few missions in Grand Theft Auto IV: Episodes From Liberty City followed by Borderlands.

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It Takes Two to Tango

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Hot off the heels of Army of Two: The 40th Day, I thought I’d take a minute to write a bit about the original Army of Two. I received this game as a Christmas present this year and have put in some time with it, so I thought I’d share my thoughts on it while it’s relevant again.

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Unhappily Ever After

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The other night, i could sense that I was close to beating Borderlands. When I get that feeling, I can’t stop and leave that game until I beat it. In spite of the game’s flaws, I was having a ton of fun with the game. However, Borderlands suffers from a problem that has plagued video games since games were designed with a clear progression from beginning to end: a crappy endgame experience. I ended my Borderlands experience with a bad taste in my mouth, feeling like the extra time I could have dedicated to sleep that evening were wasted on a poor endgame experience.

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The Party is Over

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Last week, Gamasutra posted an article about how at least two major retailers have begun refusing to stock Wii mini-game collections. According to Gamasutra’s Paul Hyman, he says, “Stores like Target and Best Buy have reportedly told game publishers not to even bother approaching them with collections of mini games, which they will no longer pick up.” Not to be spiteful, as I recognize that I’m not a fan of the genre and that the target audience for most mini-game collections isn’t me, but good riddance.

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Making The World A Better Place, One Assassination At A Time

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The original Assassin’s Creed was one of the most successful launches of a new IP this console generation. It was best known for having absolutely gorgeous graphics that were beyond anything else at the time, but the gameplay left a lot to be desired. While most people would agree that it wasn’t a bad game, the faults I heard about the first one really killed my interest in it.

With the release of Assassin’s Creed II, the overall perception of the game was much more favourable. Everyone was hyping this up as one of the best games of the year. I figured that now may be the time to check it out. It also didn’t hurt that I was able to pick the game up for $30 brand new during an EB Games sale.

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Achievement Junkie

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When the XBOX 360 launched in 2005, nobody expected the runaway success of the platform’s achievement system. The advent of platform-wide rewards across games has really changed the way many consume them. Ever since the 360 implemented it, equivalent systems have been put in place for the PS3, WoW, Steam and within certain Wii titles, just to name a few.

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So Many Games, So Little Time

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Along with a bunch of holiday cheer, Santa blessed me with a number of video games to play. As a video game enthusiast, I can’t complain about my loved ones giving me more games to play. I don’t think that part of my gaming habits will ever change.

Unfortunately, other parts of my life have changed dramatically since the days of Super Nintendo games under the Christmas tree. I finished school. I started working. I’m blessed to have a great girlfriend. More and more of my time is going into other aspects of life, which eats away at my video game playing time. Thus is the act of growing up, I guess.

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I Walk Through the Valley of the Shadow of Death

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As I write this, I’m trying to shake the glaze off of my eyes. In the last two days, I’ve put in a good 15 hours into Borderlands. I played for about 7 hours today; only stopping because my brother and I felt physically sick from the non-stop Borderlands marathon.

This game has been a huge surprise to me. Nothing about the game’s pre-launch hype grabbed me at all. I didn’t care that there were 17 million guns in it. I didn’t care that it was sort of a mix of Fallout 3 and Diablo. I didn’t care much for the cell-shaded art style either. It’s pretty, but it doesn’t make my jaw drop or anything like that.

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Modern Warfare 2 Review: All is Fair in Love and (Modern) War(fare)

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During the early days of the World War II shooter (early 2000s), controlling a character from first person and shooting dudes was not really something I wanted to do. After games like Perfect Dark and Goldeneye sucked away hundreds of hours of my life, there wasn’t really anything out there like it that I wanted to play. None of the FPS games of that generation appealed to me and I couldn’t get a handle on playing these styles of games using dual analog sticks. Yes, that means I even missed Halo 1 and 2 in their prime. In the case of Call of Duty, I couldn’t handle a dual stick FPS and I didn’t want anything to do with WWII. Both of those elements combined for a series I had 0 interest in ever playing.

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