[Review] Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate
Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in 3DS, Features, Reviews | 5 Comments
System: Nintendo 3DS
Release Date: October 25th, 2013
Developer: Armature Studios
Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
Author: Austin
“Hi, I’m Batman, and here’s uh… here’s my next game thing.”
Batman has been on a real kick lately, courtesy of the The Dark Knight trilogy of movies (which in turn, I understand, are courtesy of some graphic novels), and some of his most critically acclaimed recent appearances have been in videogames. This trend– on its fourth year– continues with the release of Batman: Arkham Origins and its sister game Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate. The latter of the two is the one that will be discussed here.
[Review] Pokémon X & Y
Posted on 11 years ago by Patrick(@Patricklous) in 3DS, 3DS eShop, Features, Reviews | 3 Comments
System: Nintendo 3DS
Release Date: October 12th, 2013
Developer: Game Freak
Publisher: Nintendo/The Pokémon Company
Author: Patrick
By this point I shouldn’t have to explain what this long-running RPG series is about. The coming of age story of an adventurous kid and their menagerie of bizarre monsters has been constantly repeated over the last fifteen years with a very gradual evolution in the gameplay. While I enjoyed Pokémon Black, White and their sequels, the lack of meaningful mechanical changes that came with staying on one console for too long started to set in and I was hopeful that X & Y would breath new life into some of the staler aspects of the series. Now that the series finally makes the jump to the 3DS, does it manage to revitalise the franchise with new features while still capturing the same je ne sais quoi as the other titles? Well I think it does, at least.
[REVIEW] Deus Ex: Human Revolution Director’s Cut
Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in Features, Platforms, Reviews, Wii U | 18 Comments
System: Nintendo Wii U
Release Date: October 22nd, 2013 (NA)
Developer: Eidos Montreal
Publisher: Square Enix
Author: Austin
Some games like to take themselves extremely seriously. Deus Ex: Human Revolution is one of those games.
The non-director’s cut (editor’s cut?) of this particular Eidos title came out back in 2011, and at the time it had not a home on a Nintendo console, which meant that folks who aligned themselves exclusively with the big N missed out on the game. When Square Enix saw the Wii U, apparently they also saw an opportunity to release an updated version of the game to a new audience– tag-lined “Director’s Cut”– and test the third party waters on this latest home console and its strange controller.
Roughly 7 months after the initial announcement, the game is out, and there’s good news: It’s pretty dang good.
More: deus ex, director's cut, highlight, human revolution, top, wii u
[REVIEW] Cut the Rope (3DS eShop)
Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in 3DS, 3DS eShop, Features, Platforms, Reviews | 1 Comment
System: Nintendo 3DS
Release Date: September 20th, 2013
Developer: Zeptolab
Price: $9.99
Author: Jack
Ever go to prom? Remember the overwhelming tension and excitement surrounding the build-up to the big day? Rushing to get a last-minute suit vest the same hue as your beloved sweetie pie’s dress, making sure that painful last payment on your limousine rental went through, flipping through your anthology for the optimal Ja Rule record on the way there to set the mood just right… ah, I can almost feel it as though it were yesterday. In fact, my prom was yesterday (I’m in the Navy), and the most vivid memory I have of that fateful eve was getting my mullet trimmed and cut into a bowl cut earlier that afternoon.
While there’s surely no surrogate to be had for a proper trim and cut, with the recent release of Cut the Rope from hitherto unknown Russian developer ZeptoLab, you can now come close to replicating the same pleasurable feeling I experienced at the hands of the barber in the comfort of your home with your 3DS stylus. At a price of $9.99 (compared to the lousy $17 run-around deal I got for a pretty standard bowl shape), Cut the Rope checks off every box a figurative contemporary downloadable game assimilates, and through sheer content and professionalism, releases as one of the most polished and notable puzzle titles to be consumed on the 3DS eShop. Om Nom.
More: highlight
[REVIEW] Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure
Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in 3DS, Features, Platforms, Reviews, Wii U | 0 comments
System: Nintendo Wii U/3DS
Release Date: September 24th, 2013
Developer: 5th Cell
Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
Author: Austin
Scribblenauts had pretty humble beginnings four years ago when it made its first public splash at E3 2009. Back then, the game was known as little more than an ambitious title from a somewhat-proven developer (5th Cell, who were at the time known for Drawn to Life and Lock’s Quest) that promised you the moon and seemed to be delivering on it. The game released to fairly warm reception despite some naysayers, and has since gone on to become something of a household gaming name like LEGO or Skylanders.
With Scribblenauts Unmasked— the latest, DC Comics-infused entry in the series– the spiritual parallels to a franchise like Skylanders have become even more apparent. The game feels unapologetically directed towards younger audiences, and while it’s obvious that any lay-gamer (or D.C. comics fanatic) would have a hayday merely playing around with the object creator, someone looking for real satisfaction on a deeper level probably won’t find it within Unmasked.
[REVIEW] Rune Factory 4 (3DS)
Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in 3DS, Features, Reviews | 1 Comment
System: Nintendo 3DS
Release Date: October 1st, 2013 (NE), Q1 2014 (EU)
Developer: Neverland Co.
Publisher: XSEED Games (NA), Marvelous AQL (EU)
Author: Austin
There’s an implicit warning to the player the moment they start up Rune Factory 4, and it goes something like this:
“I really hope you like anime.”
Yes, the first thing you’ll lay eyes upon after clicking the game’s icon on the 3DS’ home menu is a fully animated music video where anime-styled characters are introduced and a Japanese woman sings a wonderfully cliché (in a good way, I might argue) tune in the background. If you had seen the video without any context, you may as well have assumed it was the theme song to a TV show or the title sequence of a film– and depending on who you are, that might be a joyous setting of stage for a game. Regardless, this opening is actually a very serviceable measuring stick for whether or not Rune Factory 4 will tickle your fancy.
Beyond that outer aesthetic layer, though, there’s a lot to Rune Factory 4: Players will be asked to tend crops, foster relationships (both romantic and platonic), tackle dungeons, learn to cook, forge items, take up chemistry– the list of activities, superficially, is extremely long. Quantity does not equate to quality though, and in the case of Rune Factory 4, the quality does prove somewhat unstable.
[REVIEW] Tangram Style (3DS eShop)
Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in 3DS, 3DS eShop, Features, Reviews | 0 comments
System: Nintendo 3DS
Release Date: August 8th, 2013 (NA)
Developer: Moving Player
Publisher: Moving Player
Author: Jack
Tangram game, perfect for boy and son, finally has a representative on the 3DS eShop! The ancient Chinese puzzler with seemingly infinite (though absolutely finite) configurations composed from the same eight blocks mirrors LEGO not only in open-endedness via face-value simplicity and accessibility, but as a developmental catalyst for pattern recognition and critical thinking in little children. With the glut of quality time-wasting and brain-exercising works available not only amongst the eShop, but the collaborative Internet as a whole, is the jungle-themed Tangram Style worthy of a place in your digital collection? Does it manage to power past the replacement-level iterative puzzler black hole problem that oh-so many no-name puzzle games fail to conquer?
While Tangram Style certainly passes the base litmus test as a fundamental tangram simulator, too many bush-league problems mar what should have been an easy game to push through the development process. Tangram Style does not indeed exceed the bounds of the aforementioned black hole, and should only be purchased by T-Gram aficionados in search of familiarity– not puzzleheads in search of another brainy rush.
[REVIEW] The Wonderful 101 (Wii U)
Posted on 11 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in Features, Reviews, Wii U | 20 Comments
System: Nintendo Wii U
Release Date: September 15th, 2013 (NA), August 25th, 2013 (EU)
Developer: Platinum Games
Publisher: Nintendo
Author: Austin
“They can do it! They can do it! ‘Cuz they’re super sisters and brooooos!”
I encourage those with a passing interest in The Wonderful 101 to start their purchasing deliberation process by experiencing the game’s brilliant theme song. I suspect that anyone who cracks a smile or feels a sense of joy while listening to it will fall well within this game’s intended audience, and if you laughed aloud (like myself) while listening to the lumberjack-esque men sing very silly words written by game director Hideki Kamiya himself, then you can stop reading here and go wait eagerly for the game’s September 15th release date because this game is for you.
But if you’re not a dedicated part of the game’s intended audience and you view the package as a whole, you’ll probably begin to see some pretty substantial blemishes. Not enough of them to ruin the experience, but plenty to leave certain players frustrated and wishing the game had done a few simple things a lot more elegantly.
Read onwards to decide if The Wonderful 101 is for you.
[Review] Mario & Luigi: Dream Team (3DS)
Posted on 11 years ago by Patrick(@Patricklous) in 3DS, Features, News, Reviews | 1 Comment
System: Nintendo 3DS (and 2DS, I guess)
Release Date: August 11, 2013
Developer: AlphaDream
Publisher: Nintendo
Author: Patrick
Dream Team begins with Mario and Luigi off to enjoy a much-needed vacation at the sunny Pi’illo Island and this sets the tone for the rest of the game. It’s a refreshingly relaxed experience with a forgiving difficulty level, and chill bossa nova music courtesy of Yoko Shinomura. However, it’s also a bit too relaxed for its own good, as poor pacing and overbearing tutorials threaten to bring the adventure to a halt. Make no mistake – the latest in the Mario & Luigi series is still as fun as its predecessors, but it takes a lot of patience to get to the charming and creative parts.
[REVIEW] Bike Rider DX (3DS)
Posted on 11 years ago by Spencer(@spencerstevens) in 3DS, 3DS eShop, Features, Reviews | 0 comments
System: Nintendo 3DS
Release Date: August 1st, 2013 (NA) – August 15th, 2013 (EU)
Developer: Spicysoft
Publisher: Spicysoft
Author: Spencer
As far as gameplay goes, Bike Rider DX is quite simple. You control a stick figure riding a bike on 2D plane while jumping onto platforms and over gaps and obstacles,. The bike rides automatically, so the only real control is pressing the A button to jump. You can also double-jump, as indicated by one of the loading screen tooltips (of which there are only two, due to the simplicity of this game), and even triple-jump if timed correctly, although I found this out completely by accident. Optionally, you can use left and right on the directional pad to adjust your bike’s position on the screen, which is helpful for this game as it is for the most part about timing jumps from platform to platform. You complete each course by reaching the finish pole, and you fail courses by falling into pits or crashing into walls or obstacles.
One-button gameplay might work in a game with more depth, involvement, or variety– like Kirby Air Ride, which had several different gameplay modes, objectives, maps, etc– but in a game where you are simply jumping over holes on 2D maps where the only real variance is the aesthetics, it just comes off as monotonous and repetitive.
