Since my latest review is taking (FOREVER!) a while to finish, I thought I would share this little tidbit that a friend forwarded to me.
Its a Kotaku article about a Mortal Kombat video floating around the interwebz. Supposedly people are shopping around a new take on the Mortal Kombat franchise and made this video as a demo.
Even if you aren’t a huge MK fan, this video is definitely worth checking out, its quite promising!
This is a game for all those people who used to play space invaders back in the day, for those who want to relive the glory days of when two bit graphics were awesome and games were simpler. Or maybe just for those, who want to torture their kids by trying to share some “history” with them.
For me it’s a blatant reminder of how much I suck at Space Invaders. I sucked at it back then and (shockingly enough) I suck at it now. Thankfully by the time I was introduced to computer games it was already ancient, meaning there were lots of much better options to play. Which is probably why I never got any better at playing it.
The DS version isn’t all about nostalgia; they did tried to modernize the game a bit. It boasts the original version, plus an updated advanced Space Invaders, which are essentially different variations on the original. Additional levels and bonus fighter plane skills get unlocked as you progress through the game.
Nostalgia is back in style and the huge success of the newest Super Mario Bros game on the Wii is a true testament to the trend. With over ten million copies sold its clear that plenty of gamers are not only pining for the less graphic intensive games of their childhood, but also appreciate excellent game play.
As a long time Mario fan I truly felt that the soul of the Super Mario games was lost once they switched to 3D. But they are finally back, in original 2D with one of their best titles since Super Mario World.
Evil never looked so cute. Or maybe cute never tried so hard to be evil. Whatever the case, cute clearly triumphs over evil in this fabulously entertaining tower defense game.
I have long been a fan of playing the dark side of things, especially when presented in a humorous light. Dungeon Keeper 2 hooked me, while Overlord cemented my devotion. FFCC – My Life as a Darklord only reaffirms that humor and evil are made to go together. Throw in some cute and it’s nigh irresistible.
One of the main reasons that I started with the Lego Star Wars review was to use it as a baseline. Fundamentally, Lego Batman is the same game. Why rehash all their similarities then?
Since my last top five list revealed the serious lack of quality in game to movie adaptations, I thought I would follow up with some great online material.
While there are a ton of game related videos out on the web, it has been challenging to find the ones of higher quality. All of these were given to me via web word of mouth, aka group emails.
Be warned, some of these are not kid or workplace friendly.
While Uwe Boll has garnered game to movie adaptations a horrible reputation, there are in fact a few movies about games that have managed to not offend, even entertain.
And though Mr. Boll can be attributed with the most recent epidemic of terrible remakes, the trend was set long before. Super Mario Bros anyone? In a way he is really just carrying on a long-standing tradition.
Actually there are more game related movies then I realized. This is a decent list. I’m not sure how complete it is, what I can say is that most of the game movies that I have seen are on it.
Some of these movies found their way into my favorite pile and that’s what this is really all about.
I should mention that I chose these movies not for their award worthiness or for their ability to bring about world peace. They managed to sneak into my top five because I enjoyed watching them. And lets not forget that the genre is sparse on quality, thus expectation is brought down a lot (a LOT).
What type of game would a world famous director make? The answer has now been revealed; digital Jenga, aka BoomBlox.
That’s right; Steven Spielberg broke barriers and slummed it with the computer game development geeks to make a game. It’s not clear how involved he really was. He is credited as being Creative Director (which could mean anything, participation wise). Most likely he contributed to high concept designs, played monthly builds, and gave feedback then.
Regardless of all that Mr. Spielberg joined the elite group of game developers that have their name over the title, and I’m sure that in his case it helped sell quite a few units. All those clueless soccer moms shopping for Christmas presents migrate to the one name that’s familiar to them.
Both of these are demo reviews. Wanting to indicate that within the review I used a new special mushroom type. Seems that I will use any excuse to come up with new mushroom type. =)
I really didn’t feel good about doing a whole review on either. Even though I fully utilized the playtime of each demo, I was limited by what sections of the games were available. Its doubtful I made it past an hour play on either.
Each game was looked at more in regards to whether the demo would encourage purchasing the full version or not.
That being said, I have not purchased the full version of either game. Why? Well you will have to read the reviews to find out.
It did occur to me while writing the reviews, that maybe I should purchase these games, just so I can support the small developers, the underdogs, and the innovators. The game industry needs more Geometry Wars and Braids out there pushing the boundaries, helping everyone redefine what is profitable and worthwhile.
