Gamesugar

June 6, 2010

Resident Evil – The Maniac Mansion Incident

Resident Evil - The Maniac Mansion Incident
From the moment a pack of zombie dogs chase a pixelated S.T.A.R.S. team into Umbrella’s infamous mansion, it’s clear that the merger of two of my favorite game franchises is not only long overdue, but is in fact the greatest thing ever.

MajorNeese’s Youtube channel has been posting the four part series over the past few months, which I have somehow been completely ignorant of. “How have I not seen this?!” is all I have to offer at the moment, and judging from the view count of the videos I’d say I’m not alone, but this will not stand.

You can catch the four part series after the break, and/or pay the videos a visit at Youtube. Whichever you prefer just make sure you don’t miss the greatest mash-up of forever – the chocolate and peanut butter reign is over.

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Refresh Rate – Super Ghouls ‘n Ghosts

Filed under: Archives — Tags: , , , , , — Dan Rankin @ 12:28 pm

Super Ghouls n Ghosts
Throughout the years, countless storytellers have taken up the legends of Arthur, monster-hunting king of yore, and his heroes of the round table; these storytellers sometimes seemed on a quest against one another to put Camelot’s king and his brothers in continually more romantic and fantastical adventures. While the chivalrous hero of Capcom’s 1991 SNES platformer Super Ghouls ‘n Ghosts may not be the same Arthur of circular table-fame, he certainly shares his name, appearance, and general quest; that is, to save a princess from a slew of horrible beasts.

Arthur begins in a classic iron suit of armor, purely utilitarian and consistent with the mythical prehistoric defenders of Britain, but he can uncover several upgrades that become increasingly more ornate and regal. The suit upgrades also magnify the power of whichever weapon Arthur happens to be holding onto; he starts with a lance but other options encountered through the game include speedy daggers, frightful bows, and useless torches. No matter how terrific Arthur appears in his shiny armor, a single hit from an enemy instantly rips our hero from his protective shell, leaving him to carry on in nothing but his skivvies.

But aren’t suits of armor notoriously hard to put on and take off? One wonders if perhaps Arthur expected his quest to the princess to be a rather lackadaisical journey, and designed his suits of armor accordingly, so that when he finally reached his damsel he could more speedily disrobe and make with the obligatory reward sex.

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May 3, 2010

Marvel vs. Capcom 3 – Social Media and Gamers Unite

Filed under: Editorial Rants — Tags: , , , , , — Ryan Paul Thompson @ 2:34 pm

Marvel vs. Capcom 3
Since the original release of Marvel vs. Capcom 2 the world has been introduced and changed by social media, especially the world of gaming. Facebook, Twitter, blogging, commenting, Flickr… these are all familiar elements of our days, often when we should be working. And when we’re not being “socially connected” in that sense, a growing majority of gamers are connected via Xbox Live or PSN, even when we’re not actively playing a game.

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April 25, 2010

Lazy Sunday – Hunting The Great Jaggi

Filed under: Editorial Rants — Tags: , , , , , — Jamie Love @ 1:00 pm

Monster Hunter Tri
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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March 11, 2010

Review – Resident Evil 5 DLC
Lost in Nightmares & Desperate Escape

Filed under: Reviews — Tags: , , , , , , , — Jamie Love @ 10:03 pm

Resident Evil 5 DLC
Resident Evil 5 left mixed reactions with me last year. If only to sound loosely scientific, the game has a 40/60 split between a meaningful co-operative experience and repetitive tricks that induce stress and leave mental scars that have yet to heal. And yet I’ve still considered replaying it several times, because my best girl is also my favorite player 2, and with so much focus on competitive multiplayer, worthy co-op titles that truly emphasis working as a team are few and far between.

Capcom’s offer to revisit the title via two smaller DLC extensions offers space for optimism, because when Resident Evil 5 finds the co-op groove, there isn’t another game that leaves us feeling like the survivors coming out the other side of a horror flick.

Taking root in the small spaces provided by Resident Evil 5’s narrative, Lost in Nightmares follows Jill and Chris’ investigation of the Spencer Estate, while Desperate Escape fills in the details on how Jill hooked up with Josh to escape the Tricell Facility before meeting up with Sheva and Chris directly following their ten rounds with Muhammad Ali Wesker.

Now that we’re up to speed on the basics, let’s do this thing.

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January 19, 2010

Review – Dark Void

Filed under: Reviews — Tags: , , , — Jamie Love @ 7:54 pm

Dark Void
My enthusiasm for Dark Void during the long march toward a retail release owes entirely to a conceptual proposition that represents everything I wanted from a game when I was ten. Admittedly I had no idea at that time that trying to merge two distinctly different styles of play inherently invites disaster – or at least it seems that way given how much trouble many designers have delivering on a single style successfully.

My thought at the time would have been that flying and shooting robots is cool, and running and shooting robots is cool, so that merging the two into a single title should reasonably create the greatest game of all time.

Maybe I wasn’t the brightest kid on the block, but let’s move on.

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December 29, 2009

Catching Up With Resident Evil 5

Filed under: Editorial Rants — Tags: , , , — Jamie Love @ 5:05 pm

Resident Evil 5
Catching up on the year that was 2009 in gaming inevitably led me back to the spiraling saga of Resident Evil, that mix of cherished memories from my youth seeking to merge a marketable sense of action with a lingering air of terror. The week of late-night sessions it took to survive the horror also led to an inevitable conclusion –

Resident Evil 5 is a fool’s errand, and I am the cosmic jester.

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