SOMETIMES YOU CAN'T GO BACK

I've cited Just Cause 2 as one of my absolute favorite dumb fun sandbox games, great for when you just want to bang around, blow stuff up, and have silly, wacky fun.  It's more serious than Saints Row, more open and free for destruction than GTA, and graphically one of the more beautiful games out there.  Sure, the voice acting may be legendarily bad, and the plot is a thin veneer that just gives a half-assed reason to blow shit up, but that's all insignificant.  I own Just Cause 2 on PC, PS3, and XBox 360, and have hundreds of hours clocked in between the three.

And yet, I'd never played the original.  When the first Just Cause went on sale on Steam this week for $1.75, I figured it was high time I explored this series' roots.   This isn't a review by any stretch, just a slightly baffling comparison, as I sit here and wonder how something so awesome came out of something so...not awesome.

GAME MUSIC OF THE WEEK - 4/09/13

Why?  Because I'm a sadistic bastard, that's why.

GAME MUSIC OF THE WEEK - 4/2/13

Today's Game Music Of The Week is one of those weird little songs that no one knows the lyrics to (there's actually heated debates as to whether it's even sung in a real language, or just nonsense), yet manages to get stuck in my head a lot.  It was actually a challenge, picking one track from Beyond Good & Evil, because the game has one of my favorite gaming soundtracks ever.  It's just so weird and wild and atmospheric.  Doesn't hurt that it's one of my favorite games of all time.

X-MEDIA WEDNESDAYS - RATCHET & CLANK COMICS #1-6

It's been a long week here in the Cranky household, with car troubles, job interviews, and games to catch up on.  So for this week's X-Media Wednesday, I needed something light, something fun.  And so I turned to comics.  Specifically, comics based around one of my favorite action platforming series from the PS2 era, Ratchet & Clank.  I have loved almost all of the games (we don't like to talk about All4One around here...), so how did the comics measure up?

THE RESEMBLANCE IS UNCANNY

I can't claim to have ever played Persona 3 due to my intense loathing for JRPGs, but now I kind of want to.  The columnists at Kotaku have uncovered some unsettling similarities between P3 and television cult favorite Buffy The Vampire Slayer.   From the sound of it, they're practically one and the same!   Well played, Kotaku...


Persona 3 Really Is Buffy The Vampire Slayer Down To The Smallest Characters 

(Though I have to admit, their assessment of Tara made me a little sad...maybe it's just that I've met Amber Benson, but I always loved her.)

FAVORITE PLACES - PSYCHONAUTS: LUNGFISHOPOLIS

Picking a favorite place in Psychonauts is almost futile.  Every single level in the game is memorable and unique, as each one is the mind of a different character.  While I'm not as big a fan of say, the 60s acid-trippy Milla's Dance Party level or Stella's Theater (although the play is hysterical), I will never forget the brain-twisting Milkman Conspiracy or the artsy-cool Black Velvetopia.  Even as I was trying to narrow it down, I had trouble choosing between Waterloo World and Lungfishopolis.  The mighty Goggalor won out.