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February 16, 2011

Review – Explodemon

Filed under: Reviews — Tags: , , , , , — Brad Johnson @ 6:16 pm

explodemon review
I was perhaps too young to fully appreciate classic platformers like Mega Man during their heyday; I certainly played and enjoyed them, but that was a time when I didn’t have the coordination to excel (or even succeed) at them. For me, the resurgence of these games in the market marks a second opportunity to explore that classic style of game and more fully appreciate those offerings.

Explodemon, like Shadow Complex before it, seeks to revisit that place with a contemporary twist and a unique property. The player controls the eponymous Explodemon, the unstable robot creation of Dr. Light Dr. Nitrous, afflicted in such a way as to spontaneously explode at regular intervals. Sealed away to protect the world, Explodemon is accidentally freed during an alien invasion, and sets out to defeat the invaders in the way you’d expect from an exploding anime robot: by exploding them.

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February 12, 2011

Review – Stacking

stacking review
Stacking is one of those games that could only exist in the current generation of consoles—a labor of love the digital market allows for that, six or seven years ago, would have never seen release. In the vein of LittleBigPlanet, it often feels more like someone’s cute arts and crafts project than it does a videogame, characterized by sharp art and a carefully designed gameworld—however, in this instance the art unfortunately overwhelms the game, leaving the experience ultimately unengaging.

The player controls Charlie Blackmore, the youngest child in a family of chimney sweepers. The game begins as Charlie’s brothers and sisters are drafted as child laborers to pay the family debts; Charlie, too small to be of any use in such endeavors, is left behind, and embarks on a journey to reclaim his lost family. The story is told through silent-film style interludes, and the design here is impressively genuine—though the animation in these films largely consists of dolls shaking (to indicate speech), which becomes tiresome as the game progresses.

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February 11, 2011

Review – Hard Corps: Uprising

hard corps uprising contra review
The jury may be out on whether an alias allows a rose to ditch its sickly scent, but I can confirm that Konami’s anime-styled breakaway from the Contra brand doesn’t sacrifice the bullet-points that have come to define the franchise. This uprising begins with heavy guitars and vibrant explosions to paint a scene of idealistic resistance against the forces of old and evil, with characters cut from a familiar cloth of eighties anime memories and mournful war-zones – but Contra’s principles of play are ever present, remixed once again to provide a war opera worthy of the twitching that stirs in fingers left unsatisfied by many modern releases.

The lush palette softens the traditionally gritty edges of Contra’s battlefield, but a merciless spirit wears the pop-shifted aesthetic, and veterans can rest assured that Hard Corps: Uprising is fucking metal.

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February 7, 2011

The Fifteen Dollar Man

Filed under: Editorial Rants — Tags: , , , , , , — Jamie Love @ 4:59 pm

bionic commando rearmed 2 review
Despite intending to spend a healthy slice of the weekend devouring Nathan “Rad” Spencer’s latest mission in Bionic Commando Rearmed 2, bite-sized doses became the norm, strongly encouraged by the volume of stages, which vary greatly in scale and often left me questioning whether I wanted to chew on another right away.

Granted it’s hard for any game to compete for my affection the same weekend that the Puppy Bowl airs.

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January 6, 2011

Capcom at CES

Capcom CES 2011
Other late night CES news I didn’t notice while distracted features a release date for Capcom’s sequel to Bionic Commando Rearmed, which hits the PlayStation 3 on February 1, 2011 for $14.99 and the 360 a day later for 1200 MS Points.

Okamiden also gets some love with more art, video, and screens showing off another partner for Chibi, Kurow, along with a wind based mini-game as well as what appears to be a Chibiterasu jam session in the sky.

Okamiden is still set to hit the Nintendo DS on March 15, 2011.

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December 23, 2010

Demo Report – LittleBigPlanet 2

LittleBigPlanet 2
We’re back with yet another demo report, this time covering Media Molecule’s LittleBigPlanet sequel, now 87% more lethal—like a sharpened sausage. Now featuring rocket helmets, grappling hooks, and horrifying cybernetic bunny vehicles, LBP2 is gearing up to be perhaps even more preposterous than its predecessor.

The demo begins with the same silly charm as the original; here you are, strange little sackperson, in your cardboard imagination pod, ready to take on the imagination superhighway. There are three story-mode stages ready for your examination; the first introducing players to the new grappling hook.

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December 22, 2010

Lords of Shadow DLC

Filed under: News Feed — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , — Jamie Love @ 3:59 pm

Lords of Shadow
Konami Europe has offered up details on new downloadable content for Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, which involves two installments titled Reverie and Resurrection.

Reverie sends Gabriel back to the castle to destroy evil, while Resurrection picks up from the retail release’s insane ending, which is said to feature a showdown with a notorious enemy as Gabriel meets his destiny.

Both DLC installments are expected to release early next year, the first in February and the second following in April – leaving us waiting only for pricing details, and Konami to issue the announcement for North America.

In lew of those details, I offer you art.

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