Blur’s Delay Is Making It A Better Game
Blur is not the same game it was nine months ago. When I saw the game at E3 last June, it was easy to understand the potential of the action-racer, and nod approvingly to the various planned (but not completely demonstrated) features in the game — but the multiplayer demo on the show floor told a less concrete tale. Blur’s speedy mixture of licensed cars with Mario Kart-style weapons and power-ups didn’t create a very cohesive mix in execution, generating some fear that Bizarre Creation’s first racer following the Project Gotham Racing series could come up short.
Luckily, publisher Activision saw the same discrepancies and knows the importance of making a strong impression with a new property, and thus decided to pull back the nearly completed racer for several additional months of development. Bizarre plans to reintroduce the game to the world with next week’s Xbox 360 online beta test, and we were invited to Liverpool, England to test out the multiplayer at a venue near the developer’s studio. And though the promising single-player campaign remains under wraps, both the online and split-screen multiplayer modes impressed — presenting a more cohesive, impactful, and raucous racing experience than previously demoed.
Blur’s Delay Is Making It A Better Game
Blur is not the same game it was nine months ago. When I saw the game at E3 last June, it was easy to understand the potential of the action-racer, and nod approvingly to the various planned (but not completely demonstrated) features in the game — but the multiplayer demo on the show floor told a less concrete tale. Blur’s speedy mixture of licensed cars with Mario Kart-style weapons and power-ups didn’t create a very cohesive mix in execution, generating some fear that Bizarre Creation’s first racer following the Project Gotham Racing series could come up short.
Luckily, publisher Activision saw the same discrepancies and knows the importance of making a strong impression with a new property, and thus decided to pull back the nearly completed racer for several additional months of development. Bizarre plans to reintroduce the game to the world with next week’s Xbox 360 online beta test, and we were invited to Liverpool, England to test out the multiplayer at a venue near the developer’s studio. And though the promising single-player campaign remains under wraps, both the online and split-screen multiplayer modes impressed — presenting a more cohesive, impactful, and raucous racing experience than previously demoed.
Red Steel 2 Feels Radically Different Than Predecessor
When I think of a video game featuring motion controls, sword movements always come to mind. And in my experience, Wii Sports Resort is the last game to utilize it well. Sadly, the sword-play only exists in mini-game form, and didn’t provide me with enough swinging satisfaction. But from what I experienced so far, Red Steel 2 fulfills that desire by making sword combat its primary focus. And mixing the gameplay with a first-person shooter seems to go hand-in-hand for this “Japanese Western.”
First and foremost, Red Steel 2 is a sequel only in name. It’s deprived from sharing any other relation to its predecessor — and for the better. As an exiled (and nameless) member of the Kusagari group, you return to town and find that nearly every original occupant is gone. All that’s left are your enemies, who call themselves “jackals.” As the story progresses, the protagonist is constantly acquiring new skills or enhancements. Specifically, I discovered new katana moves, and upgraded (or purchased) guns in order to match the opposition. Thanks to this, the action feels pretty fresh and demanding. And given the array of enemies (so far, I’ve seen rivals with pistols, katanas, armor, and large mallets), specific new moves are necessary to provide a fighting chance. It’s definitely harder to win if you spam the same moves — you can’t always fight these ever-evolving foes in the same way.
Red Steel 2 Feels Radically Different Than Predecessor
When I think of a video game featuring motion controls, sword movements always come to mind. And in my experience, Wii Sports Resort is the last game to utilize it well. Sadly, the sword-play only exists in mini-game form, and didn’t provide me with enough swinging satisfaction. But from what I experienced so far, Red Steel 2 fulfills that desire by making sword combat its primary focus. And mixing the gameplay with a first-person shooter seems to go hand-in-hand for this “Japanese Western.”
First and foremost, Red Steel 2 is a sequel only in name. It’s deprived from sharing any other relation to its predecessor — and for the better. As an exiled (and nameless) member of the Kusagari group, you return to town and find that nearly every original occupant is gone. All that’s left are your enemies, who call themselves “jackals.” As the story progresses, the protagonist is constantly acquiring new skills or enhancements. Specifically, I discovered new katana moves, and upgraded (or purchased) guns in order to match the opposition. Thanks to this, the action feels pretty fresh and demanding. And given the array of enemies (so far, I’ve seen rivals with pistols, katanas, armor, and large mallets), specific new moves are necessary to provide a fighting chance. It’s definitely harder to win if you spam the same moves — you can’t always fight these ever-evolving foes in the same way.
When Playing Tetris Party Deluxe With a Steering Wheel Isn’t the Big News
A game system without Tetris is a sad one indeed, and even though the Wii got a respectable version via the WiiWare title Tetris Party, the general assumption that most Wii owners don’t even know the console can go online can cause some headaches for publishers. Wanting to get more awareness of the game out there, as well as bring some added value for previous players, publisher Tetris Online has produced Tetris Party Deluxe, a retail version of Tetris Party that brings back the same gameplay and adds a wealth of new gameplay modes and tweaks for one or more players. We got a hands-on session with the game earlier this week, and despite not coming out until June, it makes a good impression.
Three key modes have been added to Deluxe on top of the dozen or so already in Tetris Party: Sprint, Master, and Bombliss. Bombliss was last seen years ago in Tetris Blast on Game Boy, and mostly stayed in Japan. It involves lining up “bomb blocks” on the play field, then clearing a line and seeing how many explosions you can connect at once — hopefully clearing the whole screen in one go. Sprint is familiar if you’ve played Tetris Friends online — a simple rush to clear 40 lines as fast as possible. And Master is a riff on a similar mode from the Japan-only Tetris the Grand Master series, where the Tetriminos fall at an extra-accelerated speed from the get-go, and is a good choice for Tetris savants. Sprint also has some extra multiplayer variants, and some previous modes have added tweaks. For one, the Wii Wheel can be used in the Stage Racer mode, where you turn Tetriminos to fit through a winding shaft as it falls. Goofy? You bet! But at least the wheel fits the theme. And yes, the Balance Board-compatible modes all make a return.
When Playing Tetris Party Deluxe With a Steering Wheel Isn’t the Big News
A game system without Tetris is a sad one indeed, and even though the Wii got a respectable version via the WiiWare title Tetris Party, the general assumption that most Wii owners don’t even know the console can go online can cause some headaches for publishers. Wanting to get more awareness of the game out there, as well as bring some added value for previous players, publisher Tetris Online has produced Tetris Party Deluxe, a retail version of Tetris Party that brings back the same gameplay and adds a wealth of new gameplay modes and tweaks for one or more players. We got a hands-on session with the game earlier this week, and despite not coming out until June, it makes a good impression.
Three key modes have been added to Deluxe on top of the dozen or so already in Tetris Party: Sprint, Master, and Bombliss. Bombliss was last seen years ago in Tetris Blast on Game Boy, and mostly stayed in Japan. It involves lining up “bomb blocks” on the play field, then clearing a line and seeing how many explosions you can connect at once — hopefully clearing the whole screen in one go. Sprint is familiar if you’ve played Tetris Friends online — a simple rush to clear 40 lines as fast as possible. And Master is a riff on a similar mode from the Japan-only Tetris the Grand Master series, where the Tetriminos fall at an extra-accelerated speed from the get-go, and is a good choice for Tetris savants. Sprint also has some extra multiplayer variants, and some previous modes have added tweaks. For one, the Wii Wheel can be used in the Stage Racer mode, where you turn Tetriminos to fit through a winding shaft as it falls. Goofy? You bet! But at least the wheel fits the theme. And yes, the Balance Board-compatible modes all make a return.
Gunhound Is The Old-School Shooter Love Letter You Didn’t Know About
Gunhound seems like a product of a bygone era; despite being released in Japan in December of 2009, it feels more like a game from the ’90s. This first game from developer Dracue isn’t just a love letter to side-scrolling arcade shooters — it’s a continuation of a legacy established by games such as Contra and Gunstar Heroes. What’s more, rather than the expected PSN or XBLA release, it’s actually available on PC.
The main difference between Gunhound and other games in the genre is that you control a mech, and this difference isn’t merely aesthetic. Don’t worry, it’s certainly not a simulation, but it does have a few nods to the fact that you are piloting a mech, as opposed to running around on foot. Getting to grips with how the mech handles ends up being the most challenging and rewarding part of the game. The mech moves slowly and deliberately in a cumbersome manner, but this is compensated for by its boost and dash abilities. When dashing, the pace of the action becomes far quicker and more hectic, but it’s still satisfying to tear through a level spraying enemies as you charge past them. The boost allows the mech to float along for a fair distance after a jump, and it opens up the possibility for some interesting multi-tiered platforming.
Gunhound Is The Old-School Shooter Love Letter You Didn’t Know About
Gunhound seems like a product of a bygone era; despite being released in Japan in December of 2009, it feels more like a game from the ’90s. This first game from developer Dracue isn’t just a love letter to side-scrolling arcade shooters — it’s a continuation of a legacy established by games such as Contra and Gunstar Heroes. What’s more, rather than the expected PSN or XBLA release, it’s actually available on PC.
The main difference between Gunhound and other games in the genre is that you control a mech, and this difference isn’t merely aesthetic. Don’t worry, it’s certainly not a simulation, but it does have a few nods to the fact that you are piloting a mech, as opposed to running around on foot. Getting to grips with how the mech handles ends up being the most challenging and rewarding part of the game. The mech moves slowly and deliberately in a cumbersome manner, but this is compensated for by its boost and dash abilities. When dashing, the pace of the action becomes far quicker and more hectic, but it’s still satisfying to tear through a level spraying enemies as you charge past them. The boost allows the mech to float along for a fair distance after a jump, and it opens up the possibility for some interesting multi-tiered platforming.
Final Fantasy XIII is Not an RPG
The single most divisive element of Final Fantasy VI — 1994’s much-loved SNES RPG, originally released as Final Fantasy III — is the way the adventure is cleanly broken into two halves. The first half, set in the game’s World of Balance, is a predominantly linear, story-driven affair which sees a large party of characters band together in a bid for world peace. The game’s latter portion transpires in the post-apocalyptic World of Ruin, a free-form quest to reform the scattered party and build sufficient strength to take on the maniacal overlord Kefka. The change in quest structure makes for a stark contrast between the game’s two worlds, and many players find that the open-ended nature of the World of Ruin undermines the game’s pacing and detracts from the intensely focused introductory chapters of the adventure.
Fast-forward more than 15 years to the launch of Final Fantasy XIII, and the bulk of chatter about the game (based on impressions of the import version) center around a similar debate. This time, however, gamers are largely dissatisfied not with the openness of its latter portions but with the stiflingly linear nature of its first chapters. In many ways, this controversy is simply a sign of changing tastes within the gaming public, but it also reflects on just how far FFXIII strays from the classical concept of the RPG.
The single most divisive element of Final Fantasy VI — 1994’s much-loved SNES RPG, originally released as Final Fantasy III — is the way the adventure is cleanly broken into two halves. The first half, set in the game’s World of Balance, is a predominantly linear, story-driven affair which sees a large party of characters band together in a bid for world peace. The game’s latter portion transpires in the post-apocalyptic World of Ruin, a free-form quest to reform the scattered party and build sufficient strength to take on the maniacal overlord Kefka. The change in quest structure makes for a stark contrast between the game’s two worlds, and many players find that the open-ended nature of the World of Ruin undermines the game’s pacing and detracts from the intensely focused introductory chapters of the adventure.
Fast-forward more than 15 years to the launch of Final Fantasy XIII, and the bulk of chatter about the game (based on impressions of the import version) center around a similar debate. This time, however, gamers are largely dissatisfied not with the openness of its latter portions but with the stiflingly linear nature of its first chapters. In many ways, this controversy is simply a sign of changing tastes within the gaming public, but it also reflects on just how far FFXIII strays from the classical concept of the RPG.
The RPG That Wasn’t
Final Fantasy XIII is Not an RPG
The RPG That Wasn’t
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