While the demo of Vanquish ends as quickly as it begins, it doesn’t take much time for Platinum Games to dangle another title mixing tight controls and sensory overload. This time around, Shinji Mikami and Atsushi Inaba seem to be catching up on the robot bashing Mikami expressed an interest in creating long ago, a void since left to be filled by cult favorite Gamecube title P.N.03 until now.
It has taken more than a few run-throughs, but Vanquish seems to use elements of P.N.03’s dance moves to create more of a hyper bullet ballet, though not in the ways I might have originally imagined when the title was first announced.
I suppose even I can’t resist giving in to Halo hype a little, perhaps thanks in part to an advertising blitzkrieg, not so much meant to assume you’ve never heard of Halo, but more to assure you don’t hear about anything else.
Sometimes I feel morally obligated to not mention Halo, but I don’t know if that’s because I foolishly try to resist the Tzars of fashion, or because I sometimes wake up feeling incomplete unless I’ve found some new reason to like my 360 more while liking Microsoft’s direction less. I might just be a hackneyed writer, terrific lover, and all around bad person.
What I do like, in the simplest words available, are the Covenant Elite. Ever since my first co-op session with Combat Evolved, the Covenant Elite have become one of my favorite adversaries since an Alien knocked boots with a Predator to birth them into the gaming universe.
I don’t know whether alien-samurai-religious-fanatics in space justify a slim hope that Reach can do something interesting. I also don’t know why the elites can never come across quite as fierce as they should, but maybe it has something to do with the fact that if you ever get close enough to one the emphasis is on butting a gun barrel upside their head rather than looking for drool and venom.
At the very least, their split/second appearance caused me to watch today’s extended live-action Halo spot more than once, so I guess I’ll stick it after the break.
If you’ve been looking for incentive or reason in showing an interest for the upcoming PSP port/release of Knights in the Nightmare, Atlus is willing to give it a shot by offering another Sting PSP title for free.
Retail and digital launch purchases of Knights in the Nightmare will include a digital download of 2008’s Yggdra Union – not nearly as sweet as Knights’ original swag bag, but it’s the thought the counts I suppose.
You’ve got some time to decide if that’s enough of a reason to buy one of the best DS games of 2009 again on the PSP – Knights doesn’t release until November 9, 2010 – with an MSRP of $29.99.
XSEED Games sent word about their next release in the arrangement with Falcom, with Ys: The Oath in Felghana due for North American PSP release before the end of this year. As with Ys Seven, expect two packages, with a limited edition that includes a soundtrack CD and a 4-inch by 6-inch 2011 desktop calendar featuring artwork from the game – suggested retail pricing puts the regular edition at $29.99 and the limited at $39.99.
It’s a bit hard to top everything they packed into the Ys Seven Limited Edition, but at least your PSP won’t be waiting very long for another dose of the series. Catch the full image of the limited edition here.
In 2004, the original NES release of Metroid joined several titles deemed classic enough to represent that period of gaming through revisits on the GameBoy Advanced, and yet that same year also saw a much more thorough revisit on the handheld with the release of Metroid: Zero Mission. Aside from several tweaks within the game, the release returned to the source of the series to establish cannon at ground zero, setting the tone and direction for all subsequent releases.
The most significant element of that release was the newly added Zero Mission, a mission that showed Samus Aran stripped of her armor and evading space pirates in the instantly iconic zero suit. It was the emergence of a more vulnerable, but still capable Samus, and a defining moment that opened the floodgates for a greater discussion of the role gender plays within the Metroid series, executed with clever subtlety.
Duke Nukem only thinks he’s captured all the PAX buzz, but Gaijin Games brings the real deal with the next installment in Commander Video’s saga – a rail shooter with an actual rail, where players use the Nunchuk to control the Commander and the WiiMote to aim and fire.
The Bit.trip site mentions in-game appearances from Super Meat Boy and Mr. Robotube, as well as work from chipmusic artist Minusbaby.
Catch the trailer after the break.
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