Post mortem: Uncharted 2 - Among Thieves

Video Games 7 Responses »
Mar 312011
Post mortem: Uncharted 2 - Among Thieves

Three weeks ago, hot on the heels of polishing off Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, I came home from the mall with a copy of Among Thieves.  Upon seeing what was in the bag that I handed her, the conversation with my wife went something like this: Me: “Look what I bought! Uncharted 2!” Wife: “When are you going to play it?” Me: “Well, I….” Wife: “Now. You’re going to play it now!!” And so it began again. Like with the first game, I was not allowed to play Uncharted 2 without her in the room watching, and even more than the [... read the rest ...]

Posted by Andrew at 07:34 Tagged with: , ,

My contradictory position on co-op

Video Games 6 Responses »
Mar 092011
My contradictory position on co-op

It seems that almost every game that is released these days has some form of online cooperative gameplay built into it. Magicka is best experienced online, Portal 2 will release with a co-op campaign, Bulletstorm has a co-op horde mode, Red Dead Redemption featured co-op posses, and pretty much every stock shooter comes with a cooperative mode for you to play with your e-friends. Even more disturbing are the games that are all but unplayable without some online buddies: Left 4 Dead, Monster Hunter Tri, and Lost Planet 2 are some of the more egregious examples of this recent trend. [... read the rest ...]

Posted by Andrew at 13:41 Tagged with: , ,

Post mortem: Uncharted - Drake's Fortune

Video Games 3 Responses »
Mar 052011
Post mortem: Uncharted - Drake's Fortune

A few weeks ago I sat down in front of the television and popped Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune into my PlayStation 3 for the first time.  My wife, who was sitting beside me knitting as the introduction started to roll, perked her head up and watched the cinematics unfold.  Mere minutes later she was hooked, and declared that I was not allowed to play Uncharted when she wasn’t around.  Kevin Butler wasn’t lying in his commercials – this game has a whole lot of movie in it. Uncharted has outstanding production values.  The graphics are crisp and realistic, the soundscape is [... read the rest ...]

Posted by Andrew at 10:27 Tagged with: , ,

Demo: Dragon Age 2 (PS3)

Video Games 11 Responses »
Mar 022011
Demo: Dragon Age 2 (PS3)

I have no intention of picking up a copy of Dragon Age 2 when it releases next Tuesday – the buggy Dragon Age: Awakening saw to that – however I still intend on picking up a copy in a few months after it has a chance to get patched up a bit, and the price drops a few dollars.  Although I played the original Dragon Age on the PC, I have been seriously considering purchasing the sequel fir the PS3 so that I can play it with my wife.  After a few days of hyping her up on the game, [... read the rest ...]

Posted by Andrew at 17:27 Tagged with: , , ,

Post mortem: Kirby's Epic Yarn

Video Games 3 Responses »
Feb 102011
Post mortem: Kirby's Epic Yarn

I have never played a Kirby game before.  For whatever reason, probably the kiddie look of the series, I avoided it during my early console days and never bothered to try any of the titles up until  word of mouth for the latest installment – Kirby’s Epic Yarn – because so overwhelmingly positive that I simply could not resist putting it on my Christmas list.  My wife, always willing to indulge my geeky habits, obliged and put a copy under the tree. Kirby’s Epic Yarn is a completely unique looking game.  The entire world is designed to look like it [... read the rest ...]

Posted by Andrew at 18:00 Tagged with: , ,

Post mortem: Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box

Video Games 4 Responses »
Nov 022010
Post mortem: Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box

Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box is the second game in a series of Nintendo DS brainteaser games.  Like the original title, I played through the game in thirty minute sessions while snuggling with my wife before bed. Instead of me doing the bulk of the reading this time, I read most of Layton’s lines, while she took on the role of Luke; we split the various other roles fairly evenly and I always read out the explanations for the puzzles. In one respect, I don’t have a lot new to say about the second Layton game that I didn’t [... read the rest ...]

Posted by Andrew at 18:56 Tagged with: , ,

Games of September

Video Games 5 Responses »
Sep 162010
Games of September

At the mid-way point of September I find myself spending a lot of time on video games, but am really no where close on finishing any of the titles that I’m working on.  All three of my current games are RPGs at their cores, but each is dramatically different in both focus and implementation. PC – The Witcher The Witcher is an odd hybrid between a third person action game and Dragon Age.  Combat is fairly twitch-focused and fluid, while the actual story is all about ambiguous moral choices and character building.  Although my early impressions of the title were [... read the rest ...]

Posted by Andrew at 13:02 Tagged with: , , ,

Of fanboism, unnecessary change, and self-induced failure

Video Games 7 Responses »
Jul 152010

In no particular order I have a few bullet points to discuss today: Nintendo 3DS Despite the compelling devil’s advocate argument against Nintendo’s new 3DS unit presented by Jeremy Parish, I will still be running down to my local gaming store to buy two units – one for myself and one for my wife -  on March 31 2011 (assuming Nintendo hits their planned release date).  Still, Parish’s list of five perceived flaws could cause some gamers to think twice: – 3D doesn’t really add anything to games – The 3D effect doesn’t always work for people with vision problems [... read the rest ...]

Posted by Andrew at 07:33 Tagged with: , , , , ,

Post mortem: Might & Magic Clash of Heroes

Video Games 1 Response »
May 242010
Post mortem: Might & Magic Clash of Heroes

For the past two months I have been working my way through Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes on my Nintendo DS and, after many hours – some frustrating – I finally managed to complete the game a couple of nights ago.  I had actually purchased Clash of Heroes a few months prior to starting my play through, however I made the tragic mistake of showing it to my wife, and the game consumed her;  sixty hours later she relinquished control of the cart, and I was able to start my own thirty-three hour journey. Might & Magic: Clash of [... read the rest ...]

Posted by Andrew at 10:46 Tagged with: , ,

Difficulty, entitlement, and frustration

Video Games 2 Responses »
May 012010
Difficulty, entitlement, and frustration

The most recent episode of “Gonzo Gaming“, the new spin off mini-show that The Digital Cowboys are experimenting with, discusses a topic that has intrigued me for a while:  the sense of entitlement that most gamers feel these days when it comes to completing video games.  The episode runs a mere seven and a half minutes, but in that time Alex Shaw does an excellent job of self analysis as he breaks down not only what he feels when he hits a wall in video games, but how that has changed since he was a child, and why. The episode [... read the rest ...]

Posted by Andrew at 08:58 Tagged with: , ,
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