Gamesugar

June 14, 2010

Microsoft Had Me At Hideo

Filed under: News Feed — Tags: , , , , , — Jamie Love @ 2:42 pm

Metal Gear Solid : Rising
Microsoft might have opened with an obligatory look at Call of Duty Black Ops, complete with an early exclusivity on DLC arrangement that explains where Activision got more cash to throw E3 parties with this year, but the show didn’t really start until Kojima came on stage – even if he did quickly pass the torch.

The trailer for Metal Gear Solid Rising may not have shown a tonne, but it was more than I expected and had it where it counts – namely in showing me a game that finally lets me slice a sword through everything from vehicles to bricks. And this is an aside to the game’s driving philosophy of Zan Datsu, or “Cut” and “Take” which brings a vampire edge to the title with Raiden slicing characters in two and claiming energy from their glowing innards.

If you haven’t seen it yet, or want to see it again and again, you can join my MGS fan party after the break.

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June 13, 2010

Hard Corps: Uprising – Contents May Vary

Filed under: News Feed — Tags: , , , — Jamie Love @ 9:30 am

Hard Corps: Uprising
After watching some rough footage for Konami and Arc System Works’ Hard Corps: Uprising, I don’t know if every Contra fan is going to readily get on board – if you’ve met any you know they always bring high expectations and a well warranted hesitation to new entries in the franchise.

Even with the poor quality of the video, the game looks to offer plenty of what I’m after however – speed, gorgeous backgrounds, and character designs and animations that pop with a pulse. Show me some bosses this week and I’m ready to enlist for this anime nostalgia trip.

You can catch footage of a single and co-op run after the break. Let me know if you agree, or if you think I need to take my meds before the show starts.

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May 16, 2010

Lazy Sunday – Catching Up With An Old Friend

Filed under: Editorial Rants — Tags: , , , , , — Jamie Love @ 4:32 pm

Rocket Knight
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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January 11, 2010

Review – Silent Hill: Shattered Memories

Filed under: Reviews — Tags: , , , , — Jamie Love @ 8:56 pm

Silent Hill: Shattered Memories
It’s been nearly ten years since Silent Hill 2 set the bar for the series, largely owing to the work of Takayoshi Sato, who soon after vanished over the Western horizon leaving a faint scent of J.D. Salinger on the air. The game’s presentation and treatment of a psychologically driven narrative has cast a shadow of expectation over every subsequent release, causing a fair amount of confusion concerning the best direction the series might take.

While there has been some experimentation and deviations from the formula, recent entries in the series have suffered trying to meet those expectations, as much a victim of the legacy as any game that becomes a prisoner of previous accomplishments.

So I very nearly let Shattered Memories pass me by, assuming there was nothing a re-imagining of the original Silent Hill could offer, particularly on the Wii.

But since I’ve been forced to reconsider my stance and find myself suggesting the game is one of the most important releases of 2009, we should probably have a chat about it.

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January 6, 2010

Being The Boss – MGS Peace Walker

Filed under: Editorial Rants — Tags: , , , , , — Jamie Love @ 1:55 pm

Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker
I recently took a run through the English demo for Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker – English being the key draw since I’ve already run through the demo released during the Tokyo Game Show a few times. For all the talk of control schemes, the demo offers two – shooter type and action type – which switch camera controls between the directional and face buttons of the PSP to allow for left or right handed controls.

I went with shooter type, not because it necessarily fit my grip better, but because switching the hand responsible for the camera really isn’t that big a deal to me. Negotiating 3D space in any game is a bitch with no ideal solution on the horizon, especially on a handheld and with a game that involves stealth and taking in as much of your surroundings as possible. MGS is a tricky beast to design controls for, but a certain amount of patience makes it workable – though I’m not sure how quick I’ll ever be at it.

Having already played through the obstacle course, and eluded men wearing bright jackets in the jungle, my return visit was entirely about the English translation of the cinematic sequences.

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January 4, 2010

Review – Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth

Filed under: Reviews — Tags: , , , , , , — Jamie Love @ 7:26 pm

Castlevania The Adventure ReBirth
Spending time with Konami’s rebirth of Castlevania during the holidays has reminded me that new releases in the series don’t deserve an official seal of approval until I find myself confronted by a fairly simple objective, died multiple times trying to achieve said goal, and tossed the controller in anger.

Since this occurred several times last week, we’re good to revisit the Belmont clan and discuss all things short of my issues with gaming rage.

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December 13, 2009

Review – Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia

Filed under: Reviews — Tags: , , , , , , — Jamie Love @ 11:50 am

Review Castlevania Order of Ecclesia
When Koji Igarashi appears with that iconic whip on his hip, he wants us to believe that he IS Castlevania. But considering how the series has developed through recent handheld iterations, I often wondered why he would want to perpetuate that idea. And then when I initially heard that Order of Ecclesia would be radically different BECAUSE you play as a female character, I wondered if I should get back to that novel I’ve been working on from time to time.

I wasn’t alone in my early disinterest, which may well serve as Konami’s theme for 2008. But finally taking the time to play Ecclesia, I’ve discovered an immense void between what Konami PR focuses on and what the game actually achieves. Perhaps games can’t be properly explained with words. Perhaps developers do a poor job explaining their creations, having worked in the absence of a journalism that presses for the rationale behind creative decisions. [Honestly, can you believe no one questions these statements?] BUT, as a favor to Konami, for a nominal charge, I present the following marketing assistance;

Order of Ecclesia is a glorious Bitch-Goddess.

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