GAME-A-WEEK - METRO 2033

With last week's release of Metro: Last Light, I figured it was high time that I go back and play the original game, Metro 2033.  A bleak, dark survival horror FPS set primarily in the metro tunnels of post-nuclear Moscow, Metro 2033 is based on a series of novels by Dmitry Glukhovsky.  Reminiscent of both S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and Fallout 3, I wanted to see if the original would capture my attention enough to warrant checking out the sequel.

REVIEW - FAR CRY 3: BLOOD DRAGON

The year is 2007...the not-so-distant future.  After we nuked Canada and invaded Australia, a former soldier gone rogue has seized control of a remote island and is threatening the world with weapons of mass destruction.  You are Sergeant Rex "Power" Colt, a Mark IV cyborg supersoldier and hero of the Vietnam War II.  Together with your hacker buddy Spider, you must stop Colonel Sloan and his cyborg Omega Force soldiers, liberate the nerds scientists, and save the world...AND AMERICA.

(Warning...this review, like this game, has a lot of profanity in it.  But in a good way...)

GAME-A-WEEK - X3: TERRAN CONFLICT (PART ONE)

Sometimes we dive into something without looking, and we end up in over our heads.  The only thing that I knew about the X³ series was that they were in-depth space simulators, and that they had a small but rabid, passionate fan base. I had no idea how deep that rabbit hole went.  And so I'm going to have to do multiple reviews for this game; one preliminary first impressions, and one once I've explored more and really gotten a handle on the mechanics.

Let's take a look, shall we?

MY DISAPPOINTMENT WITH DOUBLE FINE

So the more I play of their games, the more I'm starting to rethink my opinion on Double Fine.  I have always considered their logo to be the mark of absolute, unerring quality.  I recently played and reviewed Costume Quest, and now I'm getting around to playing Brutal Legend.  Psychonauts is easily in my top ten list of my favorite games of all time.  I have played the first couple hours of The Cave, and I've played the entire demo for Stacking.  As I pull back and look at the bigger picture, I'm noticing a single thread of a trend that goes through all of them.  These are some of the most brilliantly conceived, creative, imaginative, clever, witty games I've ever played....but none of them are very fun to play.

GAME-A-WEEK - COSTUME QUEST

This week I finally get around to playing Double Fine Production's cute Halloween-themed game, Costume Quest.  When monsters come out to steal the neighborhood's candy and kidnap your sibling, it's up to you and a few new friends to don your costumes and save the day!

VIDEO: LET'S PLAY PATH OF EXILE - PART ONE

I am going to start posting some of my youtube videos on here, I think.  What I'll do is post specific videos, like my Indie Spotlight series I'm going to be making, and any Part One of a Let's Play series, but I won't post every single LP video as I put them out. 

So here's Path Of Exile Part One!  It's recorded in HD, so if you want to fullscreen it, you can.

GAME-A-WEEK - BINARY DOMAIN

Sega's 2012 third-person shooter, Binary Domain, was sort of slipped into the gaming domain quietly as a sleeper title.  Featuring a science fiction plot and philosophical themes, the game boasted an intriguing blend of thought-provoking story and original, immersive functions in its gameplay.  However, sluggish sales quickly relegated this one to the bargain bins of many game stores.  So was this to be another lost cause, or a hidden gem?

GAME-A-WEEK - HOME

Home.  A tiny one-man indie game that bills itself as a "unique horror adventure".  Well, I love horror, and I love indie games, and it's better to be unique than be just another cheap knockoff, right?   Sounds good to me...I think?

GAME-A-WEEK - THE MAW

Originally released on XBox Live Arcade in 2009, The Maw is a cute little cartoony action/puzzle game.  You play as Frank, an adorable alien captured by...er...other aliens and thrown into a menagerie of exotic species.  When the ship crashes onto an unknown planet, Frank must team up with a little one-eyed purple blob with a huge appetite named The Maw in order to escape.

THE ENDING

WARNING:

BIOSHOCK INFINITE 

ENDING SPOILERS AHEAD

“There's always a lighthouse, there's always a man, there's always a city.”

FAREWELL, OLD FRIEND

There will be no X-Media Wednesday post today, for I am in mourning.  This morning, an old beloved friend of mine was murdered by a rat.  Wednesday, April 3rd, 2013, Disney officially shut down LucasArts.  All current projects have been cancelled, including Star Wars 1313, which many people were greatly anticipating, as well as Star Wars: First Assault, which was meant to be a sort of precursor to Battlefront 3.  

Today is a black day in gaming.

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.

BIOSHOCK INFINITE

Sorry folks.  There was no Game Music Of The Week yesterday, nor will there be an X-Media Review this week.  Why?  Because one of my two most anticipated games of the year was released at midnight on March 26th (the other, GTA V, comes out in the fall), and it took priority over everything.  Like a man obsessed, I beat the game in two sittings, and while I'm still digesting it all, I think I'm ready to give my thoughts on it.

GAME-A-WEEK - DREAMKILLER

This week, I decided to take a look at a surreal indie first-person shooter, Dreamkiller.  Trailers for this one really caught my eye, and I really liked the concept of delving into people's dreams and combating their fears and nightmares on an ever-changing hypnagogic battlefield, inspired by each patient's individual phobias.  I just thought it was strange that I'd never really heard anything about it before...

GAME-A-WEEK - SIMCITY 4

In the wake of EA's huge debacle with the newest SimCity game, I thought it'd be a good idea to boot up the last official iteration (we're not counting SimCity Societies), which was 2003's SimCity 4.  For all of the complaints about the new game's always-on DRM, awful server issues, and small build areas, I thought it would be refreshing to go back and see where the series peaked.  In doing so, I learned one very valuable lesson:

I am fucking terrible at these games.  

GAME-A-WEEK - SLEEPING DOGS

See?  Not ALL of the games I review are indie games, or older games from several years ago!  Today we have an actual AAA title that is less than 6 months old.  And a damn good one too!

I DIDN'T FORGET THE FRIDAY VIDEO!

I know I said I'd be doing a video on Fridays, and I haven't forgotten!  I've just been doing several videos.  I've fallen madly in love with Planet Explorers, the indie game that I did a video highlight of earlier this week, so in order to drum up some awareness, I've elected to do a Let's Play of the game.  I'm up to Part 3 as of this writing, and I'm not stopping anytime soon!

DOWNLOADABLE CRAP: MY TOP 5 DLC PICKS

My ass has a combover.

Downloadable content has had an interesting journey over the past couple of years.  It's taken for granted now; games are expected to have DLC.  Just a game alone isn't good enough for today's consumer!   But while add-ons and expansion packs have been around on PC for a long time, the ability to download and add on new material for a console game is actually fairly new.  It has been pretty much exclusive to the 7th generation of gaming.   Some companies have tried everything they could think of to get those couple extra dollars out of your wallet, while others genuinely added to and refined the experience.

GAME-A-WEEK - SYSTEM SHOCK 2

Okay so, I kind of cheated.  This one is NOT on the List Of Unplayed Games like the GAW reviews are supposed to be.  However I have been dying to play this game for years, and it's finally been released in a playable build on GOG.com, so I couldn't resist. 

GAME-A-WEEK - VAMPIRE: THE MASQUERADE - BLOODLINES

I'm not just cranky.  I'm also old and, as you may have deduced, I'm a gamer.  But what you may not know is that it hasn't always been just video games.  All through high school and into my early 20s, I was an avid pen-and-paper gamer.  I did some D&D here, a little Shadowrun there, even experimented with GURPS and Palladium games.

My heart, however, belonged to White Wolf.  Vampire: the Masquerade, Werewolf: the Apocalypse, Mage: the Ascension, and occasionally even Changeling: The Dreaming.  These were my gaming bread and butter.  My purple Crown Royal bag overfloweth with 10-sided dice.  With all of the hours spent poring over sourcebooks and character sheets, I always wondered, how would our adventures in the World Of Darkness translate to a PC game?