Games I Played in 2011: Portal 2

What's this!? A post!? Isn't this blog dead and been dead for like 2 years? Yes, yes it was. Now I'm writing again. I don't know how often I'll be writing, hopefully often, though I don't imagine doing much on weekends as I stare a computer screen all week and try to get away from that on weekends. Either way, DEAL WITH IT. I'm writing now, so read on if you like.

Since the new year just ended, I'll be doing a brief post on each of the significant games I played in 2011. This doesn't necessarily mean games that released in 2011, but just games I played through out the year. Anyway, I'm starting off with Portal 2, a game that DID come out in 2011, and in my opinion, one of the best games of the year.

Writing and voice acting is what separates this game from the pack, more so than anything else. I’m generally and old-school guy, who feels that text in games is superior to voices, as text allows you to imagine the character’s voice and intonations, and voice acting drowns out the music. However, with Portal 2, the voice acting is what makes the game.

GLaDOS, voiced by Ellen McLain, was remarkable again but the two new characters, Wheatley (Stephen Merchant) and Cave Johnson (J.K. Simmons, the psychologist from Law & Order) completely stole the show. Instead of trying to explain how hilarious their dialogue was throughout the game, I provided two videos below that really highlight their characters:

Cave Johnson:

Wheatley:

In case you don’t already know, Portal 2 is a first-person puzzle game. Your gun has two portals that you can shoot almost anywhere and you can walk through one portal to get to the other one. This mechanic is great, and once you add in turrets trying to kill you, gels that make you bounce or run faster, and light bridges that can be manipulated by portals, you get a game that keeps you thinking for hours.

The one problem I had with Portal 2 though was that it was over all too quick… again. The first Portal was more of an add-on side game to Valve’s Orange Box and it was understandable that it was only a couple of hours long when you also had all of Half-Life 2 on the same disc. Portal 2‘s single-player campaign takes about 8 hours long, which I guess is now standard for first-person games. However, my problem was not with the length but with the lack of how much they used and combined all of their new ideas.

Each zone in Portal 2 focuses on a particular new feature, whether it is the light bridges or the mid-air floating conveyor belt energy thingies. Once you’re done with that section, Portal introduces a new cool idea and almost completely abandons the old mechanic. It was only until the final levels that I started to see a combination of these ideas and I thought “finally, now the game is really getting started.” And then, in a flash, you go face the final boss and that’s it. Yes, I know there are user levels that really combine all the new ideas well. That’s great. But those levels never have new voice acting or are any way weaved into the story. The user levels are nice but not a good enough substitute for me.

Two-player split-screen co-op though. That was sweet. I can’t imagine playing the co-op levels again with someone else as I’ll likely recall all the old solutions but, they were fun while it lasted. While there were some times where my partner and I might bark orders at each other because one of us figured out the solution while the other didn’t, every now and then  we had the eureka moment at the same time, which was a very rewarding experience.

All-in-all, Portal 2 was one of the most enjoyable games I played this year. And aside from the first Portal, there is no other experience like it on the market. Definitely an improvement from the first game and I hope Valve continues this series with the same great voice acting with more complexity in the level design.

Top 52: Legend of Zelda (#24)

Whew. School is over so now I can finally get back to writing consistently. Junior year in NYU really at up a lot of time. I'm sorry for abandoning you, my faithful readers. Anywho, I'm continuing the Top 52 segment, with a classic that released before I was even born: the original Legend of Zelda for the NES.


Title: Legend of Zelda
Console: Nintendo DS
Release Date: 08/22/87
Genre: Action-Adventure
My Ranking: #24
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I remember holding this golden cart in my hands when I was about four years old and my brother explaining to me that Zelda is the princess and that the main character's name is Link. I was then confused as to why the game was called The Legend of Zelda but I immediately didn't care once I actually started playing.



The NES Zelda for the first game I played that enabled me to wonder around and choose my own destination. Being four years old at the time, I was a bit overwhelmed but, I enjoyed going to different areas and whacking monsters with a brown 8-bit object that was supposed to resemble a sword. I was also fond of placing bombs and watching walls and enemies go poof.

I only really appreciated this game when I was older however. Hints as to where the next dungeon is were often cleverly cryptic and you would only be able to beat the game if you used all of the tools available to you. The game forced you to be on point with every item you got, from the boomerang, to bomb, to arrows. You also needed to have a strong ability in reading maps, trying to guess where the developers would hide a key or item.


Zelda, in 1987, was ahead of its time. Gone were the linear gameplay elements and replaced with a action-adventure, puzzle, RPG game. Even today it's hard to properly define what kind of game Zelda games are as they break the molds of traditional genre. It's also interesting to note that the Legend of Zelda was the first game game that allowed you to save your progress.

The Legend of Zelda, unlike other installments in the series, is really damn hard. Hearts are hard to come by and if you don't know where your going in a dungeon--which is always the case--chances are you are going to die. Bosses were challenging not only because you had to figure out the best way to beat them but also because if they hit you, you could lose multiple hearts.


Hundreds of games owe their success to the gameplay elements pioneered in the Legend of Zelda. Any open world environment game like Grand Theft Auto III, or the new Prince of Persia, have Zelda to thank for their gameplay style. If you haven't played this game, play in on Nintendo's VC; you won't be disappointed.

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My Top 52:
#52 --- Star Fox 64 (N64)
#51 --- Kirby's Adventure (NES)
#50 --- Roller Coaster Tycoon (PC)
#49 --- Grand Theft Auto III (PS2)
#48 --- Metroid Prime (GC)
#47 --- Halo 3 (Xbox 360)
#46 --- Bomberman 64 (N64)
#45 --- Guitar Hero II (PS2)
#44 --- Super Street Fighter II (GEN)
#43 --- Pokemon Puzzle League (N64)
#42 --- Soul Calibur II (GC)
#41 --- Gears of War (Xbox 360)*
#40 --- Elite Beat Agents (DS)
#39 --- Call of Duty 4 (PS3)
#38 --- Super Metroid (SNES)
#37 --- The Orange Box (PS3)*
#36 --- Metal Gear Solid (PS)
#35 --- Doom (PC)
#34 --- Super Mario Kart (SNES)
#33 --- Mischief Makers (N64)
#32 --- Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii)
#31 --- Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (SNES)
#30 --- Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice for All (DS)
#29 --- Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (GC)
#28 --- F-Zero (SNES)
#27 --- Katamari Damacy (PS2)*
#26 --- Mario Kart 64 (N64)
#25 --- Tetris DS (DS)*
#24 --- Legend of Zelda (NES)

*- Denotes highest ranked game for that console

Amazing Tetris Videos

Most of the easter eggs I put in my posts are in my Top 52 segment. I didn't put any in the Tetris DS (#25) post because there are just too many great Tetris videos out there. So instead I'm just going to compile them here for you all to enjoy.

Note: If know of any other awesome Tetris videos, please tell me and I'll update this post with the video.

The Original Human TETRIS Performance by Guillaume Reymond


Human Tetris (2:05 is hilarious)


Stupid Tetris


Mega64: Tetris


Tetris Ninjas


Tetris: The Movie


Little Big Planet Tetris Completed Version


Tetris Japanese Player (my favorite, if you get bored watch from 4:00 on: your mind will get blown)


Tetris is awesome.

Top 52: Tetris DS (#25)

I love Tetris. I knew Tetris had to be on my list and the DS version is the best one out yet. In fact, Tetris DS is the highest rated DS game on my Top 52. Read on to find out why.


Title: Tetris DS
Console: Nintendo DS
Release Date: 03/20/06
Genre: Puzzle
My Ranking: #25
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Tetris is more than a game. Tetris has become so popular that it has become a cultural phenomenon. One man has been jailed for not turning off his game of Tetris on a flight in England. Tetris has been studied for it's effects on the brain. Some people even have suffered from the Tetris effect, where they either see delusions of blocks falling in their eyes, of look at everyday objects and cannot help but picturing how they form together to make lines.

I've never had delusions of Tetris blocks, but I still organize items into lines in my mind, mostly because of Tetris DS. I've played Tetris for the NES and of course for the Game Boy, but I believe that Tetris DS is the best iteration of the series.



The first thing you'll notice in Tetris DS is that there are classic NES characters running around on the top screen. When you complete lines, Mario will advance in Super Mario Bros., or maybe you'll see Link stabbing Octoroks, or possibly even the Balloon Fight guys flying around hitting balloons. The NES animations are a nice touch to the Tetris game, as both Tetris and the NES characters are nostalgic.

Tetris DS had everything that I think Tetris should have. Tetris DS has the hold feature, where you can store on piece on the side and swap it out for another. Tetris DS also has the "easy spin" feature, where the Tetrominoes don't automatically stick to the pieces upon touching them, allowing you to spin pieces to place them properly. Tetris DS also has six playing modes, most of which are good, and the game also has online play.



Tetris DS has the marathon mode where you can just play forever, and I've maxed out the lines completed counter at 999 multiple times. Within marathon mode though, they also have versus CPU and the CPU character on the highest level is pretty hard so that stays enjoyable. Seriously, if you make one mistake against a level 5 CPU, you lose. I like that. Tetris should appeal to the insane.

Tetris DS also had mission mode, where you have to complete different tasks in an allotted time. Tasks include easy tasks like "clear four lines at once" or ones that require a bit preparation like "clear 2 lines with [insert tetromino here]." All of this action happens with NES Link in the background and the timer is ten heart containers slowly draining if you don't complete the task.

One other mode I'll highlight is one that Lima really enjoyed. This mode was called Touch and required you to use the stylus. To start, tons of tetrominoes would be placed randomly together, forming a large tower. At the top of the tower would be a bunch of caged balloons. The goal is to use the stylus to turn the blocks, form lines that would disappear and then have the balloons reach the floor. I don't know why Lima enjoyed this mode so much, but at least it was creative, I think.


For all of Nintendo's problems with Wi-Fi, their online play for Tetris DS was awesome. I still find games very quickly and all of the games are really intense. When you complete a line, you send grey blocks to your opponent from the bottom up. However, the blocks you send are lined up perfectly, so if it's open, you'll give your opponent a free Tetris that he'll send back to you, and then you'll send back it back to him, and so forth. It's addictive and you need to be stupid fast.

I still play Tetris DS and I still play it online. Whenever I'm having a bad day, I still put this game on and watch lines (and my problems) disappear. I've always been a Tetris lover, and there's no question that Tetris DS is the best I've seen in classic Tetris iterations. Multiple modes, quirky but fitting NES graphics, and reliable and competitive online play. Tetris DS is one DS game I'll be playing for years to come.
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My Top 52:
#52 --- Star Fox 64 (N64)
#51 --- Kirby's Adventure (NES)
#50 --- Roller Coaster Tycoon (PC)
#49 --- Grand Theft Auto III (PS2)
#48 --- Metroid Prime (GC)
#47 --- Halo 3 (Xbox 360)
#46 --- Bomberman 64 (N64)
#45 --- Guitar Hero II (PS2)
#44 --- Super Street Fighter II (GEN)
#43 --- Pokemon Puzzle League (N64)
#42 --- Soul Calibur II (GC)
#41 --- Gears of War (Xbox 360)*
#40 --- Elite Beat Agents (DS)
#39 --- Call of Duty 4 (PS3)
#38 --- Super Metroid (SNES)
#37 --- The Orange Box (PS3)*
#36 --- Metal Gear Solid (PS)
#35 --- Doom (PC)
#34 --- Super Mario Kart (SNES)
#33 --- Mischief Makers (N64)
#32 --- Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii)
#31 --- Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (SNES)
#30 --- Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice for All (DS)
#29 --- Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (GC)
#28 --- F-Zero (SNES)
#27 --- Katamari Damacy (PS2)*
#26 --- Mario Kart 64 (N64)
#25 --- Tetris DS (DS)*

*- Denotes highest ranked game for that console

Scrabulous, is that you?

Know that feeling of running into an old friend on the street, and having him call out your name You see the face, but you don't recognize it immediately.  Then it hits you, friend!  But wait, some things have changed.  As you see one thing different him, you start to notice others...

This fits well with my relationship with Scrabulous.  You may remember that my first post here was mourning the loss of my good friend.  I moved on, made other friends, and now I find that Scrabulous has risen from the dead.  Zombie Scrabulous?  Enough with these ridiculous analogies, on to some content.

Apparently, about 3 months ago, Lexulous.com was born, and used the old Scrabulous data.  It was until 2009 when it was reborn on Facebook, and we got a message from Rajat and Jayant that they had returned.  I was amazed; all of my old games were still saved, and active.

I made my first move, and was filled with joy.  A few plays later, I noticed something strange.  The Z is worth 12 points???  As any serious Scrabble player can tell you, the Z is only worth 10 points.    Maybe this was just in the new game I started.  No, they went back and updated all of the tiles on the old games too.  Did they update the scores?  Maybe, but there's no way to really tell.  Here's a list of the updated tiles, with their Scrabble values in parentheses:¹

B:4 (3)

C:4 (3)

F:5 (4)

H:5 (4)

K:6 (5)

M:4 (3)

P:4 (3)

Q: 12 (10)

T: 2 (1)

V: 5 (4)

W: 5 (4)

Y: 5 (4)

Z: 12 (10)

Sure, there's a different name², and a slightly different scoring system, but will I still play the game?  Of course.  I can't turn my back on a game I love, even if it's a slightly deformed version of it.

Has anyone else noticed any other changes?  Also, challenge me to a game.

[1]: This is going off memory, so something might be wrong.  But don't tell me if it is, I don't want to feel ashamed.

[2]: Today we debated whether or not it's a good name.  I think it's fine (derived from lexicon, but still keeping the some resemblance to Scrabulous), but other people thought it sounded like ass (their words, not mine).  Your thoughts?

Godspeed.

Cairo's Game Valley

As most of my readers know, I've been in Cairo for 2 weeks. I leave for New York tomorrow, so writing on this blog will be a bit less sporatic soon.

Egypt isn't really a video gaming place but, my roommate did show me a video game store in Cairo called Game Valley. Click on their games tab and you'll notice that they don't show their Wii games, which they had in their store when I visited. Part of the reason why they probably don't show them is because their merchandise is clearly pirated.


First off, all of the Wii games were 80 L.E., which in American money, would work out to be about $14.50. You could argue that since the cost of living is less in Cairo, games would cost less. However, if the extremely low price wasn't a giveaway, then one of their "Wii" games is clearly pirated. They were selling a single Wii disc that had the "Wii" games of Star Fox Adventures, Beyond Good and Evil, and the Zelda promotional disc that had four Zelda games on it. I say these were Wii games because they had the Wii logo plastered on them for the box art. However, anyone who plays games knows that these games came out for the Gamecube, NOT the Wii.

Regardless, if the Wii was region-free, I was going to buy a whole bunch of games and sell them back in the States and make a pretty penny. However, all of these games were the PAL versions, so they wouldn't work on a United States Wii system unforunately.


Oddly enough, this store also had no Xbox360 games whatsoever. They had a crapton of PS2 games and Game Boy Advance games, but the Xbox360 was nowhere to be seen. They also had PS3 games but they were selling them at 675 L.E. a pop, which works out to be about $120 per game. Who could afford games at that insane price? And why was is so inflated compared to the Wii? I know Blu-ray is a more expensive disc but an over $80 difference? Makes no sense to me.

I can't wait to get back to the States though. The new Prince of Persia and Resistance 2 are calling me. That, and I miss my family and my girlfriend. They are kinda important too.

Top 52: Mario Kart 64 (#26)

Having 4-players at once is pretty standard now but, the N64 was the first popular console to have four controller slots. Part of the reason why Mario Kart 64 was so successful was because it was the first really awesome game to be played with more than two people, and therefore really good to play at parties.


Title: Mario Kart 64
Console: Nintendo 64
Release Date: 02/10/97
Genre: Racing
My Ranking: #26
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Following up on their success from Super Mario Kart for the SNES, Nintendo brought the Mario Kart series to 3D on the Nintendo 64. Sporting sixteen strange courses, a litany of items, and 4-player support, Mario Kart 64 become the ultimate muliplayer fantasy racing game. Why are Mario characters racing in Go-Karts through Bowser's castle and Moo Moo farm? No one knows really, but what I do know is that this game is insanely fun to play, even now.

Everyone knows how Mario Kart works. You do laps on a track and you can pick up items and shoot them at people. However, what makes Mario Kart 64 so great is that the game feels balanced. The person in last place gets better items than the person in first and therefore has an easier chance to catch-up. Sure, this may cause a rubber-band effect from time to time (meaning the person in last quickly bounces to first, and so on) but, in my experience with the game, the better driver/player wins the majority of the time.


Since Mario Kart 64 is balanced, the game works excellently for hardcore players like myself. It's a ton of fun to race against someone who is really good, while each of you are cutting corners and constantly getting boosts from power slides. However, even for non-hardcore players, Mario Kart 64 is an amazing game.

Since newer players tend to fall to the back of the pack, they get all of the cool items, like stars, golden mushrooms and blue shells. Since these items help propel them to the front without intense skill, newer players don't feel left out of the experience. It's especially rewarding to new players when they pick up a blue shell, use it, and hit the first-place player. The hardcore player who was in first will say something like "Oh @#$%," or something to that effect, and the new player will laugh and feel pride at effecting the outcome.



Somehow then, Mario Kart 64 is a game for hardcore gamers and casual gamers. It even works for non-gamers as well since they understand the basic premise: get to the finish line. And since the game is so colorful and there is tons of action happening with items, everyone will even enjoy the game on a purely visual level.

The game does have some faults though. The special shortcuts on Koopa Troopa Beach, Wario Stadium, and Rainbow Road cut so much of the track that if you do make them and someone else doesn't for a lap, there is no chance at the other player recovering. The track design wasn't as top notch as it could have been. Also, one glaring problem is that versus mode doesn't have music for the tracks, which makes the game feel a bit empty at times.



Still, Mario Kart 64 is the best racing game to play with a lot of people. The game moves relatively fast and you'll have a lot of people talking/swearing during gameplay. Course for course, F-Zero has better design (and better music) but Mario Kart 64 will give you one of the best multiplayer experiences in video gaming.
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My Top 52:
#52 --- Star Fox 64 (N64)
#51 --- Kirby's Adventure (NES)
#50 --- Roller Coaster Tycoon (PC)
#49 --- Grand Theft Auto III (PS2)
#48 --- Metroid Prime (GC)
#47 --- Halo 3 (Xbox 360)
#46 --- Bomberman 64 (N64)
#45 --- Guitar Hero II (PS2)
#44 --- Super Street Fighter II (GEN)
#43 --- Pokemon Puzzle League (N64)
#42 --- Soul Calibur II (GC)
#41 --- Gears of War (Xbox 360)*
#40 --- Elite Beat Agents (DS)
#39 --- Call of Duty 4 (PS3)
#38 --- Super Metroid (SNES)
#37 --- The Orange Box (PS3)*
#36 --- Metal Gear Solid (PS)
#35 --- Doom (PC)
#34 --- Super Mario Kart (SNES)
#33 --- Mischief Makers (N64)
#32 --- Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii)
#31 --- Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (SNES)
#30 --- Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice for All (DS)
#29 --- Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (GC)
#28 --- F-Zero (SNES)
#27 --- Katamari Damacy (PS2)*
#26 --- Mario Kart 64 (N64)

*- Denotes highest ranked game for that console

Top 52: Katamari Damacy (#27)

Katamari Damacy is by far the best game on the Playstation 2. If you have this system, you absolutely MUST own this game. Read on to find out why.


Title: Katamari Damacy
Console: Playstation 2
Release Date: 09/22/04
Genre: Puzzle Action?
My Ranking: #27
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With so many games that have come and gone it is rare to find a game that is as unique as Katamari Damacy. In Katamari Damacy, you control a little green prince who pushes a ball called a katamari. This ball is able to pick up anything that is smaller than itself and upon picking that object up it gets progressively bigger in size. Basically, you playing a a game that revovles around the snowball effect.



Why are you rolling up objects on planet Earth? Well, the American version of Katamari omits this knowledge but the Japanese version gives an awesome backstory. The King of all Cosmos apprently got REALLY drunk one night and destroyed all of the stars in the universe. In order to cover up his mistake, he sent his son, the Prince of all Cosmos, to Earth to roll up objects with his katamari. Upon recieveing those objects, the King of all Cosmos shoots the ball into space and turns it into a star. Yes, our stars are made of thumbtacks, cats, legos, and volcanos.

Aside from the water, EVERYTHING in Katamari Damacy can be picked up with your ball. A dog early on may be able to push you around but once you gain enough objects you'll be able to pick up him. A level may start out inside of a house but, if you are fast enough and pick up enough stuff, you'll be able to then roll up the entire house. The camera slowly pans out further and further as you pick up more objects and before you know it, you're picking up entire islands, clouds, and even rainbows.



As if the premise wasn't good enough, the cel-shaded graphics add even more to the gameplay. Katamari Damacy looks and feels like Japanese mangas on crack. The world is vibrant with bright colors and the sheer cuteness of the people as they wiggle when you pick them up in your ball will make you smile. I don't understand why people are necessary in a katamari to make a star, but the King of all Cosmos never seems to mind.

The music and sounds are also top notch. Sure, some of it is whacky J-Pop, but the Japanese jazz pieces will absolutely blow your mind. All of the songs fit perfectly with the cutesy birght environment and they are all insanely catchy. Upon hearing the main theme, there is no doubt that it will stick in your head for days. Also, nothing beats rolling over a cow and here it go moo. That's just awesome.


Katamari Damacy does have competitive multiplayer, but I never really enjoyed it. I wished they would have had some sort of cooperative mode where you each get a ball to control, but the game can be enjoyed with multiple people in single player mode. Your friends will scream out where they think you're supposed to go and there is so much stuff happening on the screen at once that you'll even enjoy sitting back and watching the madness ensue.

By no means is Katamari Damacy easy either. There is a timer for each level and if you do not get your ball big enough in the alloted time, the King will be very angry with you. You'll fail some levels if you haven't played it before, but by the end of the game you should be good enough to complete the final stage where you roll up just about everything in the world. In addition, in order to unlock all of the comets, you'll need to get your ball big enough in an even shorter time, and some of the comet times will keep you playing for hours.



Katamari was really a complete and unique game. Whenever we bring this to PLAY events, people always want to play it or watch someone else run through the levels. So if you are a PS2 owner, do yourself a favor and pick this game up as anyone can enjoy this game. It made be one of the best game purchases you have ever made.
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My Top 52:
#52 --- Star Fox 64 (N64)
#51 --- Kirby's Adventure (NES)
#50 --- Roller Coaster Tycoon (PC)
#49 --- Grand Theft Auto III (PS2)
#48 --- Metroid Prime (GC)
#47 --- Halo 3 (Xbox 360)
#46 --- Bomberman 64 (N64)
#45 --- Guitar Hero II (PS2)
#44 --- Super Street Fighter II (GEN)
#43 --- Pokemon Puzzle League (N64)
#42 --- Soul Calibur II (GC)
#41 --- Gears of War (Xbox 360)*
#40 --- Elite Beat Agents (DS)
#39 --- Call of Duty 4 (PS3)
#38 --- Super Metroid (SNES)
#37 --- The Orange Box (PS3)*
#36 --- Metal Gear Solid (PS)
#35 --- Doom (PC)
#34 --- Super Mario Kart (SNES)
#33 --- Mischief Makers (N64)
#32 --- Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii)
#31 --- Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (SNES)
#30 --- Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice for All (DS)
#29 --- Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (GC)
#28 --- F-Zero (SNES)
#27 --- Katamari Damacy (PS2)*

*- Denotes highest ranked game for that console

4k and Games and Passage

The Java 4k competition is where people submit game entries that take up 4kb of space or less. You can read more about it on the site's about page, or the rules, but there's not much more to it.

It's pretty amazing what people can do, using such little space.  Oftentimes, a full-sized game is emulated, and shrunk down to 4kb.  An example of this is Left 4k Dead.  It's pretty fun, but really hard.  I can't speak for how true it is to Left 4 Dead, since I haven't yet had the pleasure of playing it.

The winner from 2008 is a game called Spiderball4k, and your goal is to get the ball into the circle.  You control your 'arms' which you shoot out like Spiderman shoots out his webs.  If you touch any walls or objects you die.  Difficult, but fun.

Fkconflict is a fun version of Risk.  Instead of choosing which countries to attack and move from, they are randomly selected.  During a round, a random country is selected, and you can choose to attack from that country, move from that country or pass.  Another random country is selected, and this continues until all countries have been selected.  A pretty fun take on the game.


Another one that's not really worth a screen is Scr4mble.  It's fun, mostly cause I love word games.  It's a great example of how 4k or 4 is often cleverly inserted into the title.  Left 4k Dead is one of the best in that regard.

Passage isn't a 4k game, but it's graphics/simplicity remind me of it.  It is an artsy game which lasts 5 minutes.  Before you read any further, I suggest you go play it, since it's impossible to discuss without spoilers.

Last warning before I start talking about it...  I didn't get at first, which is to be expected, since it's on the weird/artsy side, but I liked it by the end of it.  Given that the end is only 5 minutes away, it doesn't take long to warm up to.  Your first choice, marriage or not?  You get more points by being married, but that damned woman holds you back.

If you avoid marriage, and live the single life, you get less points, but you have more manuevarbility.  You can go around hunting treasure in a maze, and don't have to worry about finding openings that you can both fit in.  (Not meant to sound dirty...)

It got pretty big coverage, here's a few articles on it.  I played through it twice, and don't feel like I've learned anything, (since I already knew to avoid women) but I feel a tear in my eye...  (But not really, I'm too manly for that.)

Godspeed.

Top 52: F-Zero (#28)

Racing games aren't my thing. This game is. Read on to find out why.


Title: F-Zero
Console: Super Nintendo
Release Date: 08/13/91
Genre: Racing
My Ranking: #28
-------------------------------------

F-Zero is a hyper-intense futuristic racing game. You control one of four really fast hover cars and you race on tracks with crazy turns, jumps and in some cases, lava. I love the story wikipedia gives for F-Zero, as if a racing game actually needs a story:

"F-Zero is set in the year 2560, when humanity's multiple encounters with alien life forms had resulted in the expansion of Earth's social framework. This led to commercial, technological and cultural interchanges between planets. The multi-billionaires who earned their wealth through intergalactic trade were mainly satisfied with their lifestyles, although most coveted more entertainment in their lives. This resulted in a new entertainment based on the Formula-1 races to be founded with vehicles that could hover one foot above the track. These Grand Prix races were soon named "F-Zero" after a rise in popularity of the races."

LOL.



The reason F-Zero is on my list is because of the awesome track design. F-Zero moves fast, REALLY fast. Yet, despite the speed, almost all of the stages feature 90 degree to 180 degree turns and in order to cut corners well, you need to have a solid feel for the controls. The best example of this is probably on the White Land maps which have 180 degree turns with ice to screw up your traction.

Not only do you need to be perfect in order just to make the turns, but the opposing cars on master difficulty will always be right behind you, making the game only barely beatable on the hardest difficulty. It took me weeks of grinding to be able to stand a chance on King league on master, and even now I can't get first place on all five stages in that league.



I can't talk about F-Zero without talking about the music. Every song in F-Zero is amazing, and all of them NEED to be replayed with live guitar, bass, keyboards and drums. I think my favorite song is the ending song, when you see your place and time for each stage. Then again, Silence has awesome music too. They're all good. Except for Death Wind. Screw Death Wind.

F-Zero did have some glaring flaws that prevented it from being the best racing game ever. For one, there's only 15 stages in the entire game, and while the difficulty and high-speed excitement keeps you coming back, the game feels a little too short. Just one more league would have solve this problem, I think. The other extreme flaw is that there is NO MULTIPLAYER. Seriously, who makes a racing game without multiplayer?

Yet, even with these problems, F-Zero is still fun to play, even today. I think that since you can enjoy this game without a multitude of tracks or cars and with no multiplayer shows how strong quality the tracks in this game are. F-Zero would be higher on my list with these minor additions, but even so, it's still one of the enjoyable racing games I've ever played.

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My Top 52:
#52 --- Star Fox 64 (N64)
#51 --- Kirby's Adventure (NES)
#50 --- Roller Coaster Tycoon (PC)
#49 --- Grand Theft Auto III (PS2)
#48 --- Metroid Prime (GC)
#47 --- Halo 3 (Xbox 360)
#46 --- Bomberman 64 (N64)
#45 --- Guitar Hero II (PS2)
#44 --- Super Street Fighter II (GEN)
#43 --- Pokemon Puzzle League (N64)
#42 --- Soul Calibur II (GC)
#41 --- Gears of War (Xbox 360)*
#40 --- Elite Beat Agents (DS)
#39 --- Call of Duty 4 (PS3)
#38 --- Super Metroid (SNES)
#37 --- The Orange Box (PS3)*
#36 --- Metal Gear Solid (PS)
#35 --- Doom (PC)
#34 --- Super Mario Kart (SNES)
#33 --- Mischief Makers (N64)
#32 --- Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii)
#31 --- Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (SNES)
#30 --- Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice for All (DS)
#29 --- Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (GC)
#28 --- F-Zero (SNES)

Top 52: Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (#29)

I've already talked about the awesomeness that happens when Mario meets the role-playing genre. Super Mario RPG was so enjoyable to play that it seemed almost impossible for another Mario RPG to top it. Paper Mario for the N64 was good, but not as good as Super Mario RPG. Then came Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, which still remains as one of my favorite RPGs ever. Read on to find out why.


Title: Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
Console: Nintendo Gamecube
Release Date: 10/11/04
Genre: Role-Playing Game
My Ranking: #29
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It's rare that a single-player video game makes me laugh out loud. Paper Mario 2 is now always the game I think of when thinking of a legitimately funny game. There is an absurd amount of text in this game, even for an RPG but, you can see why there is. The dialogue is fantastically cute with Mario only making facial and body reactions to what characters say to him. I especially loved the bomb-omb town where the bomb-ombs have a pseudo-Tourette's syndrome, and randomly say BOOM when they speak. See the video below for an example.



The humor isn't the only aspect that makes this game great. The battle system was astounding and a huge improvement over the simplistic Super Mario RPG timed hit system. In addition to having to time your attacks correctly as the hit animation ensues, you also have to press A at certain times to gain stylish points. The more stylish moves you do, the faster your star gauge fills up, and your star powers are extremely powerful.

Even action you take in battle requires the player to do some correct input in order to get a good attack-including the star powers. For example, one star-ability called Sweet Treat puts you in a minigame where hearts, flowers and poison mushrooms fall from the sky. You have to aim and shoot properly to pick up health and flower bonus while avoiding the poison mushrooms that stun you. Instead of most traditional RPGs, Paper Mario 2 keeps you busy even during the attack animation.


The battle system doesn't stop being creative there either. With every battle you go into, you have an audience watching you. By doing the stylish moves I mentioned before you can impress your audience and they give you star power. They may also even throw items to help you out or throw blocks to try and hurt you. If you catch a bad guy trying to throw a rock at you, you can jump into the audience and beat him up, if you so wish.

On top of all this you have a badge system, which is just a glorified ability system. By collecting different badges and spending badge points to equip them you can have abilities that make you have a electrified shield around you, a multi-jump attack, a health point increase, etc. Depending on the boss fight or dungeon you are in, these badges can make or break the battle for you and require some strategic thinking to use them effectively.



I remember running through this game pretty quickly, but I don't remember it being incredibly easy or insanely difficult. The Pit of 100 trials was a bit crazy, as you had to go through endless amounts of battles getting no break to go an inn or save point, only to face a really hard boss after travelling 100 floors to get there. Albeit this was optional, but to have the opportunity to partake in this hardcore challenge was appreciated.

Lastly, what I really enjoyed about Paper Mario was that they made good use of the "paper" concept. Mario and all the characters are 2D living in a 3D world. And since Mario looks like he's made out of paper, he gets to use paper like abilities when not in battle. Mario can turn into a paper airplane to fly over large gaps or turn into a paper tube to fit into tiny tunnels. The first Paper Mario didn't make any use of the paper concept, but this one did.



Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is an all-around solid RPG. If you like humorous storylines, engaging turn-based battle systems and creative abilities, you're guaranteed to enjoy this game. There's a lot of text and the story is very similar to Super Mario RPG, but trust me, you won't care about these minor flaws.
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My Top 52:
#52 --- Star Fox 64 (N64)
#51 --- Kirby's Adventure (NES)
#50 --- Roller Coaster Tycoon (PC)
#49 --- Grand Theft Auto III (PS2)
#48 --- Metroid Prime (GC)
#47 --- Halo 3 (Xbox 360)
#46 --- Bomberman 64 (N64)
#45 --- Guitar Hero II (PS2)
#44 --- Super Street Fighter II (GEN)
#43 --- Pokemon Puzzle League (N64)
#42 --- Soul Calibur II (GC)
#41 --- Gears of War (Xbox 360)*
#40 --- Elite Beat Agents (DS)
#39 --- Call of Duty 4 (PS3)
#38 --- Super Metroid (SNES)
#37 --- The Orange Box (PS3)*
#36 --- Metal Gear Solid (PS)
#35 --- Doom (PC)
#34 --- Super Mario Kart (SNES)
#33 --- Mischief Makers (N64)
#32 --- Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii)
#31 --- Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (SNES)
#30 --- Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice for All (DS)
#29 --- Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (GC)

Fallout update

This is just a followup to my review of Fallout 3 a few weeks ago.
Around the end of November, Bethesda announced the upcoming DLC for their game Fallout 3. Among other things this included the release of a construction toolset for the game. Well last week they released the toolset and the trickle of mods for the game has turned into a torrent of user created material.

The construction set is available for download at the Fallout 3 website as well as on Fallout3Nexus. They've even put up a wiki to explain how it works along with a tutorial to get you started.
So far the best site for mods seems to be Fallout3Nexus.

While the mods out so far vary from nude mods to new weapons to replacement companions for your character, it's only a matter of time until we start seeing some pretty amazing work.

For now though I'm comfortable in saying that Fallout 3 is now a game worth buying. That is, as long as you're buying the PC version. While there will be DLC for the X-Box 360, the mods are only on the PC version and there are alot of bugs in the game that will only be fixed by the fans.

PC wins again console junkies. Bwahahahahahahahaha!!! ^^

Top 52: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Justice for All (#30)

This pick is more of a shout out to the entire Phoenix Wright series for the Nintendo DS. It's hard just to pick one game in the series without talking about the others since they are so woven together but, it would also be silly for this series to take up four slots on my Top 52 list as well. Regardless, the Phoenix Wright series owned my life for a semester and all I could think about was playing this game.


Title: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice for All
Console: Nintendo DS
Release Date: 01/16/07
Genre: Adventure/Visual Novel
My Ranking: #30
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In the Phoenix Wright series, you play as Phoenix Wright, a up and coming lawyer. Yes, Phoenix Wright is a lawyer game. In each case, which is always a murder case of some kind, you are playing as the defense attorney for someone who has been wrongfully accused. It is your job to find the contradictions in the witness' statements and find holes in the prosecutor's arguments.



Sounds boring at first, trust me; I know. However, once you start playing the Phoenix Wright games, your hooked for a couple of reasons. For one, the cases you deal with are astounding and finding the contradictions is a surprisingly difficult task if you're not accustomed to thinking outside the box. I would love to give an example here of what I'm talking about, but I do not want to spoil anything about the crazy twists that are in every case of every Phoenix Wright games. Seriously, you can NEVER foresee how a case will end. Sure, you'll end up winning the case, but how you win will blow your mind.

Calling the Phoenix Wright series a visual novel is surprisingly accurate. The connection you'll gain to Phoenix Wright will become so strong by the end of the fourth game because the writing is by far the best I have ever seen in any video game. When you catch a tricky contradiction in a witness statement, you'll share your excitement with Phoenix. When you see Phoenix lose a battle, you'll emphasize with his feelings. Anyone who enjoys character development in video games has to play this game.



This game should have failed miserably since the gameplay is minimal. When investigating a crime, Phoenix Wright is a point and click adventure. When finding contradictions, all you are doing is reading text, searching through your evidence and pressing the "Press" button for more information out of the witness. However, since the story is so engaging and the music is fantastically composed (and fits the environment of the game), the minimalist gameplay doesn't even matter.

Though Phoenix Wright is a lawyer game, you can see from the videos and photos that the game looks very anime. This works to Phoenix Wright's advantage as whenever you counter an argument the screen shakes, the background moves really fast, and the animations are highly exaggerated, making the pleasure of finding a contradiction that much more exciting. Sometimes you'll just laugh from the animation alone (e.g. a prosecutor throws coffee at Phoenix... multiple times, lolz).


I highlight Justice for All (the second of four games in the series) in this post since it features my favorite case in the entire series. The wikipedia article on this game gives an excellent description of the case without giving away the major twists. "Phoenix defends Matt Engarde, an actor charged with the murder of his television rival Juan Corrida. This case ends up becoming a personal matter after Maya [your assistant] gets kidnapped by an assassin hired by the real perpetrator." Ah! I want to say so much but I have to respect the spoilers! Lame.

The Phoenix Wright series has gained a huge following of deeply devoted fans. On Newgrounds I discovered a long series of flash animations and spinoffs called Phoenix Wrong. The Phoenix Wrong animation series takes the animations from the Phoenix Wright series, as crazy as they are, and re-appropriates them with sound bytes from movies, songs, pop culture, etc. It sounds silly as first, but some people are REALLY creative with the combinations of sound bytes and Phoenix animations. (Howard Dean's famous exclamation + Von Karma's scream animation = ROFLMAO). A good example is shown below.



The Phoenix Wright games are probably the best sleeper hits in video games right now. Even after four games in the series being released, and a fifth one being announced, this series isn't at the forefront of video gamer's minds, and it should be. Sure, there are many ways you can attack Phoenix Wright's style, the main one being the gameplay is minimal. However, regardless of how bad it looks from the outside, once you play it, you'll be captivated in fantastically fun experience.

>.>

OBJECTION!
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My Top 52:
#52 --- Star Fox 64 (N64)
#51 --- Kirby's Adventure (NES)
#50 --- Roller Coaster Tycoon (PC)
#49 --- Grand Theft Auto III (PS2)
#48 --- Metroid Prime (GC)
#47 --- Halo 3 (Xbox 360)
#46 --- Bomberman 64 (N64)
#45 --- Guitar Hero II (PS2)
#44 --- Super Street Fighter II (GEN)
#43 --- Pokemon Puzzle League (N64)
#42 --- Soul Calibur II (GC)
#41 --- Gears of War (Xbox 360)*
#40 --- Elite Beat Agents (DS)
#39 --- Call of Duty 4 (PS3)
#38 --- Super Metroid (SNES)
#37 --- The Orange Box (PS3)*
#36 --- Metal Gear Solid (PS)
#35 --- Doom (PC)
#34 --- Super Mario Kart (SNES)
#33 --- Mischief Makers (N64)
#32 --- Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii)
#31 --- Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars (SNES)
#30 --- Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice for All (DS)