Editorial Rants « Gamesugar

May 19, 2010

An Early Postcard From Bright Falls

Filed under: Editorial Rants — Tags: Alan Wake, Bright Falls, Microsoft, Night Springs, Remedy, Xbox 360 — Jamie Love @ 2:02 pm

I’m only three chapters into Alan Wake and I’m already a happy camper in the town of Bright Falls. That could still change before I reach the ending, and I’ve found a few things that are entertaining for the wrong reasons.

For instance, as Alan explores the woods of Bright Falls at night, sudden gusts of darkness will sweep in with violent winds that give a heads up to imminent danger. Of course these are triggered when the player reaches a certain area, and being a curious jerk I’ve spent too much time walking back and forth to trigger it on occasion, like a kid continually pressing his foot against a squeaky floorboard.

While sinking deeper into the spiraling mystery the game offers, I’ve also had the chance to become addicted to a television show within the game – a Twilight Zone knock-off called “Night Springs” that must be good, because I’ve completely stopped to watch two episodes in full – the entire concept of Quantum Suicide is gold by the way.

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May 16, 2010

Lazy Sunday – Catching Up With An Old Friend

Filed under: Editorial Rants — Tags: Climax, Konami, Lazy Sunday, opossum, Rocket Knight, Sparkster — Jamie Love @ 4:32 pm

Happy as I was at the idea of Konami bringing back their heroic opossum and former mascot, I had reservations about Rocket Knight from the word go. Most of my doubt rode on the 3D artstyle, which is quicker and cheaper than the way mom used to make games, but nothing worth doing is ever easy.

After more than a few play-throughs you still won’t change my mind about the charm of the oldschool approach, but Rocket Knight looks quite a bit better than I expected. Keep in mind that the game uses a zoomed out perspective, which offers plenty of space for details to overwhelm the eyes, with characters in the background, objects in the foreground, and Sparkster himself all fighting for attention. There were times I took damage simply from losing Sparkster for the trees.

The trade off is that you never really get a close-up connection to the characters, so smaller details that make me continue cherishing platformers of the past never really come into play here.

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May 13, 2010

That Old Time Charm

Filed under: Editorial Rants — Tags: Microsoft, Rare, Viva Piñata, Xbox 360 — Jamie Love @ 5:33 pm

Viva Pinata
As exciting as the new release cycle can be, there are plenty of days where I really want to take my SNES, a copy of Yoshi’s Island and a few other choice carts, and seal myself away in a cave for a few years. I’m not necessarily antisocial mind you, there are just periods where I’m incredibly tired of getting excited for titles on the horizon, only to have the final release dash my hopes that there can still be games that make my fingers tingle with excitement the way I remember.

It always seems like an easier option to crawl back into my childhood memories, which probably skews the truth plenty to make the games of yesterday seem so much better than what we have now.

Over the last week I’ve been watching my girl play a game I missed the first time around though, Rare’s 2006 release of Viva Piñata. The result so far is that I’m absolutely stunned at how refreshed I feel, even from passively experiencing the game, which also comes from a company I’d almost entirely written off.

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May 3, 2010

May 2, 2010

Lazy Sunday – Nostalgia Trip

Filed under: Editorial Rants — Tags: Classic, Collecting, Lazy Sunday, Nostalgia, Retro — Jamie Love @ 9:38 am

Nostalgia Trip
Yesterday I took a road trip to Kitchener to meet up with some good friends and a few of my favorite game collector’s at CGCC’s annual videogame swap meet. I’m fairly certain that checking out stacks of classic videogames and shooting the shit for hours about collecting and playing them is what “good times” is all about.

It’s also earnestly refreshing to escape the new release cycle for an afternoon and remember where so many of us came from – there really aren’t that many places to soak in the nostalgia of the games that ruled my childhood and also talk with people about the titles that stood out for them. Every game has a story for someone, and picking up a copy of Megaman X or Castlevania IV and hearing how it came into someone’s collection is the kind of bonus you’ll just never get at a store. We even got to meet two very young kids that were collecting classic Mortal Kombat titles even though they had the newest consoles.

It’s also a great chance to catch up on filling some holes in one’s collection.

I can remember when my own collecting habits were guided almost entirely by the rarity of titles, grabbing them up to sit like fine jewels on the shelf. Lately however, I’m every bit as content finding a few common games that simply bring back good memories or offer a chance to play a game I missed altogether when it originally released. From the title picture it’s clear I have plenty to keep my thumbs busy today, but I did want to share two finds from yesterday that make me ridiculously happy, which is pretty much the guiding principle for any classic game I pick up these days.

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April 27, 2010

Demo Report – Split / Second

Filed under: Editorial Rants — Tags: Black Rock, Demo Report, Disney Interactive, racing, Split/Second, Xbox 360 — Jamie Love @ 9:27 am

Split/Second Demo
So I was more than a little disappointed that the demo for Split/Second only offers up a single-player track – three laps around the airport is all I’ve got to work with here. And let me state the obvious – this makes absolutely no sense, specifically with the goal of “selling the game” via the demo. I’m not handing anything over to Activision’s Blur, but I know plenty of people switched their interest off in the absence of a comparative multiplayer glimpse into Split/Second.

Split/Second is scheduled to release on May 18, only one week ahead of Blur on May 25 – which has had a multiplayer demo hit the press and gamers weeks ago. It’s not impossible to imagine some racing fanatics buying both, but economics makes it one or the other in my world – where the x-factor in making that decision involves how much fun it becomes wrecking my friends online and reveling in that jerk factor. A little bit of mystery is the spice of life, but I can’t help feeling that Split/Second threw in the towel in the fight for more attention.

Again, I’m not handing anything over to Blur just yet. I still prefer what Split/Second has to offer in its approach, a game focused entirely on racing across exploding tracks, with players earning power-play attacks by drifting, drafting, and jumping, rather than tedious item management. The trick often becomes using power-plays without destroying yourself, and there’s plenty of “oh-so-satisfying” moments in wrecking an opponent and watching their auto corpse spin in the air and over your head.

And while I only have that one track to work with, a few dozen laps last night has helped shape some talking points for how the game feels so far.

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April 25, 2010

Lazy Sunday – Hunting The Great Jaggi

Filed under: Editorial Rants — Tags: Capcom, Hunting, Jaggi, Jaggia, Monster Hunter Tri, Wii — Jamie Love @ 1:00 pm

I’ve been feeling out Monster Hunter Tri’s offline offerings this week, certain that I’ve fallen miles behind plenty of other players, but taking it in stride while grinding through Guild quests that slow expectations through some typical “go-fetch” requests, which have had plenty of influence in keeping my sessions with the game on the short side.

Gathering mushrooms, retrieving a few bits of monster guts, killing off a handful of smaller beasts – the game assures the player this is all essential training for up-and-coming hunters, likely to the aggravation of veterans, and leaving me at first rushing through those tasks without striking any hot sparks simply to raise my rank.

It wasn’t until accepting the challenge of hunting a Great Jaggi last night that my outlook started to improve. This was the first solo quest that really made me consider there might be more to this hunting business, specifically in the act of living outside the village, sent to an outpost to survive while tracking a reasonably cunning beast.

I say reasonably because, like most videogame beasts of burden, the Great Jaggi likes to charge in head first, striking out at me and swinging its massive tail to knock me off my feet, all to give a chance for the many smaller Jaggies and Jaggia summoned by the commotion and call of their Alpha to feast on my fallen flesh.

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