Bastion has a beautiful art style that really works
As I do most summers, I’ve bought into the XBLA Summer of Arcade hype. The problem is, all these games retail for $15 these days so it’s tough to choose what to get. I decided to pick up Bastion, an action RPG with a strong narrative element. I’ve put what feels like 3-4 hours into it, but it doesn’t feel like I’m near the end (a good thing), so I decided to just do some impressions.
Is Ms. Splosion Man the new Ms. Pac-Man?
As regular readers of this site know – I love to splode. So when Twisted Pixel had signups for a limited beta for the upcoming sequel, MS. SPLOSION MAN, I sploded at the opportunity. Luckily for me, I got a beta key so I got the chance to play through the trial version of the game. So, what is splodin’ like with a pretty yellow bow on? Hit the splode to find out!
Duke Nukem Forever’s bland gameplay is supplemented with uninspired humor and jokes.
Duke Nukem 3D is one of the first FPS games I played growing up, along with Doom 2 and Quake. I still remember to this day hooking up my PC to a modem just to play 1 on 1 against a childhood friend in Duke Nukem 3D. I’m sure many FPS fans these days also grew up with Duke, and were probably all sad as well when Duke Nukem Forever looked like it would never release.
For those not in the know, Gearbox, the studio behind Borderlands and the Brothers in Arms series, resurrected the Duke Nukem Forever project and the game is finally releasing to stores today. I picked up the Borderlands: Game of the Year Edition several months back when Gamestop had it on sale for $19.99, and with it came a free pass to download the Duke Nukem Forever demo. Hit the jump to read my impressions on it.
Crysis 2′s single player campaign takes place in New York City and is surprisingly accurate
Since I still don’t own a PC that can play Crysis, I ended up missing that boat. I wasn’t planning on getting Crysis 2 for console, but those New York, New York trailers really got to me. I guess I’m a sucker for music in advertising. I’ve played through about half the campaign, and although I was having trouble at first, I’ve started to really become fond of the game.
LA Noire has some of the best costumes and acting I’ve seen in a game
When I think of Rockstar, I think of one thing: grand scale, open world games where anything goes. Grand Theft Auto. Red Dead Redemption. Yet after watching the commercials for LA Noire, I was intrigued: is Rockstar going to do an open world game where you’re a good guy? I decided that LA Noire seemed like an ambitious and risky gamble for Rockstar, but one that I was interested in checking out. After a couple hours with the game, I’m still not sure if that gamble paid off, but I think I can give some impressions that might help people who are on the fence decide whether to pick it up or not…
Stephen Merchant’s character (who looks a bit like Guilty Spark) is hilarious
Portal 2. PORTAL 2. During my whole trip last week, I concocted a plan. I would get off the plane on Monday, grab Portal 2 from the mailbox, walk my dog, and then beat Portal 2 by Wednesday and have a review up today. A GREAT PLAN. Unfortunately, as they say, the best laid plans of mice and men all go awry. Fortunately, I did get enough time in with the game for some impressions, after the jump!
DeathSpank combines Monkey Island humor with Diablo-style action/RPG gameplay.
I often prefer playing downloadable games because I feel like they are more bite sized so I don’t need to make a huge commitment to play them. I think I may have given up on Brotherhood, so I decided to check out DeathSpank, an XBLA action RPG that I picked up on sale a few months back. I have been wanted to try this game forever, because it’s from Ron Gilbert, who was one of the creators of Monkey Island. Does the humor from adventure games translate to an action RPG?
Who’s the dummy? Play the game to find out
I feel like I’ve been a bit of a casual gamer the last couple of weeks. Although I did run through Splosion Man again, my wife taking up the TV for dance central combined with me actually reading books has cut my gaming time down. With that in mind, I decided to pick up a game that Mrs. cmfl3x and I could play together, an old school trivia game rebooted for next gen systems called You Don’t Know Jack. Hit the jump for my impressions on the game.
The Nook Color is a fully functional Android tablet for $250. Can it replace a portable console?
I haven’t been playing too many games lately, so this week I want to blog about my newest purchase: the Nook Color. Like any major purchase these days, I need to run this thing past my wife, but with my birthday coming up I asked to buy it for my birthday since I had planned to get a tablet at some point. The recent $199 sale combined with the fact that the Nook Color can be fully rooted to be an unlocked Android-based tablet piqued my interest enough to get me to purchase it. Plus, as an Android-based tablet, it can sort of play games like Angry Birds, so I will share my initial thoughts on both the tablet and Angry Birds in today’s entry.
You will never look this cool playing Dance Central, a fact you are reminded of by the pictures it takes
No, I did not buy a Kinect. I did, however, borrow my friend’s for a party this past weekend and since it’s still at my house, I’ve been trying out Dance Central. Actually, to make that statement truthful, I should say that Mrs. cmfl3x has been trying out Dance Central. A lot. Yesterday, I turned on the Xbox for her before I went out, and when I came home, I could see a strange glow in my living room from the window. I went upstairs, all the lights were off, but my TV was on. Mrs. cmfl3x wasn’t sure how to turn the Xbox off, but she had been playing the game all night. True story: she played an hour of Dance Central but does NOT KNOW HOW TO TURN THE XBOX OFF. I am not joking you. Impressions are in order.
