GAME-A-WEEK - MAGICKA

There are a lot of games out there with small yet dedicated fanbases.  Magicka, a wacky Swedish fantasy title from Paradox Interactive, hit with a splash in 2011 and has developed a cult following due to its never-ending litany of pop culture jokes, off-the-wall multiplayer, and a constant stream of DLC rivaled only by tower defense game, Dungeon Defenders.  After eyeing it for a long time, I finally decided to sit down and see what the fans were talking about.

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?

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 - 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.”

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.

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...

PLANET EXPLORERS KICKSTARTER IS LIVE!

That's right folks, the Planet Explorers kickstarter is live as of today!   This is an absolutely incredible game that I've been playing for a few weeks now.  It's a huge open world voxel-based sci-fi action, crafting, building, exploring and everything under the sun kind of game.  Go check out their kickstarter for more information!

Planet Explorers Kickstarter

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.  

REVIEW - SONIC & ALL-STARS RACING TRANSFORMED

I've never liked racing games, as a whole.  I enjoyed F-Zero on the SNES as a kid, but beyond that they've never had much appeal to me.  I had more disdain for the cutesy mascot kart racing games, like Mario Kart and Crash Team Racing.  So needless to say, when I played the original Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing, I was shocked.  For some inexplicable reason, I loved it.  Loved.  I had so much fun with this silly little kart racer.  So when the sequel, Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed, came out, I KNEW I had to get my hands on it.

GAME MUSIC OF THE WEEK - 3/12/13

Today's game music of the week comes from one of my favorite brutally hard indie games, The Binding Of Isaac. This is generally considered the theme of the game, and it's a big part of why I fell in love with it.  This music really sets the dark, disturbing tone of what's to come.

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!

BREAKING FREE OF THE CONSOLE WARS

Since the dawn of home console video games, there has always been war.  Bitter rivals competing head to head for your living room space.  There were minor skirmishes early on, with Atari vs Commodore, and the NES stomped the Sega Master System into the ground.  The first real war erupted when the Super Nintendo went head-to-head with the Sega Genesis, and it was bloody.  Lines were drawn.  Friendships destroyed.  Controllers broken.  Blast processing overhyped.  In the end, the Genesis held on and fought the good fight, but the SNES eventually won.  Since then, every generation has had its console wars.  The past few years have mostly seen Sony and Microsoft in an embittered Cold War, with Nintendo ineffectually waggling its sticks around at them, menacingly. 

The problem is that we as gamers and consumers never really had options.  A console is a long term investment, a heavy chunk of change that would last you 5-7 years.  You could pick a side and become a raving fanboy (or girl), you could save up your money and buy multiple consoles, or you could just opt out, build a gaming rig, and become a PC gamer.  Either way, there was nothing in between.  There were very few alternatives to the mainstream, and those we had either flopped pathetically, or just became short-lived beloved oddities (We love you and miss you, Sega Dreamcast).  Even these oddities were an expensive investment.  We never had anything cheaper, smaller, or more convenient. 

Until now.   

GAME MUSIC OF THE WEEK (A LITTLE LATE)

Also, since it completely slipped my mind to post it yesterday, here's the Game Music Of The Week.  This song comes to us from the game Dishonored, and the song is freakin' amazing.  This song in the original trailer is what completely sold me on the game, more than even the gameplay itself.  It is haunting, powerful, and creepy.   Enjoy!

GAME-A-WEEK - TOWNS

Have you ever played a game where you think to yourself, "Fuck I hate this game! Wait...why have I been hating this game for eight hours now and still can't put it down...?"