BlazBlue Continuum Shift Extend pushes the fighting game off the deep end. Crazy deep, crazy colorful and just plain crazy, this Vita fighter offers up a lot of content including a helpful tutorial that teaches the basics of 2D fighting games. Too bad Network Mode, your window to the outside world, needs an overhaul.
The main character in Tales From Space: Mutant Blobs Attack, a spiky green blob with one perpetually grumpy eye, is one of my favorite new characters in a video game. And he never utters a word. I don’t even know if he’s a he. He seems like one. Maybe the spiky patina around him could be beard stubble. I couldn’t see a female blob looking that disheveled. In any case, Blob is a, um, blob of action. Of many actions! He can absorb anything, he can grow, he can ground pound like Super Mario and even telepathically control platforms to launch himself or other things in the air and to solve simple physics puzzles. He’s multi-talented, a big grump and he’s striking out against a world that wronged him. He’s a hero. The hero the PlayStation Vita deserves. Or, uh, the villain I guess, since he eats … everything. Really.
Alan Wake’s American Nightmare is a downloadable B-movie in video game form from Remedy, the guys behind the first two Max Payne titles. Trading in film noir and John Woo action for supernatural, reality-altering weirdness, American Nightmare follows the be-flanneled Alan Wake, a writer for a cheesy Twilight Zone (or Night Gallery) take-off called Night Springs and it seems he’s found himself in one of his own stories. Stuck in an Arizona town with only a flashlight and a gun (and then an arsenal of guns), he has to battle the Taken, regular people corrupted by “the darkness”, and put an end to the plans of his own dark doppelganger, who wants to take over Alan’s life and spread darkness all over the world.
The PSP didn’t have much going for it for a while. Quality software took a long time to show up. Said software came on noisy, energy-sucking UMDs that were easily pirated and quickly rendered irrelevant by digital distribution. On top of that, Sony’s marketing said nothing about what the PSP even did. Remember these horrid things? Yeah, I don’t think anyone would want to.
This past Monday, the Paley Center for Media in New York City hosted the premiere of Justice League: Doom (Amazon.com, $16.99), the new original animated movie from DC/Warner Bros. Animation. I was there to take a few snap shots, gather a few quotes from voice acting stars Kevin Conroy and Phil Morris, and voice acting director Andrea Romano. I also got to see the movie, which was almost an afterthought after meeting voice acting legends!
Previously on The Final Fantasy XIII-2 Diaries! Side quests that involve experimental drugs! A giant semi-invisible… giant! Cutscene direction that isn’t just a static camera floating around (looking at you, Kingdom Hearts)! Monsters that can be caught and dressed up in bow ties and hats! This game is an entirely different than one the last!
The Neo Geo Pocket Color, released in August of 1999 and made by SNK, makers of the (incredibly expensive) Neo Geo systems and arcade cabinets, was a great little handheld — one of the last dedicated to 2D gaming. Made of a smooth, sometimes see-through, sometimes multicolored plastic resistant to finger smudges and damage, it felt great to hold. Battery power lasted so long they rarely needed replacement and huge, backlit 16-bit color screen was a relief to see after over a decade of the Game Boy’s muddy display. There were only two face buttons on it but my god, man, the tactile feedback! They had a joyful spring to them. And the joystick!
Previously on The Final Fantasy XIII-2 Diaries! Noel, a boy from the future has to get main character Serah, Lightning’s younger sister, to Valhalla via time warp gates! A moogle with a fat head named Mog accompanies them! The Paradigm Shift battle system from Final Fantasy XIII returns with a few tweaks, random encounters with weak monsters happen, and I’m pleasantly surprised by just about everything so far!
Part One of a chronicle through the time-traveling odyssey Final Fantasy XIII-2. Does this RPG sequel start with a bang or a whimper? With this sequel, Square Enix set out to right the wrongs of the previous game, namely tunnel vision level design, off-kilter pacing, and a lack of player immediacy. But this new one promises to be a different beast. Let’s find out together if that’s true. Instead of playing, finishing the game and then posting my final review I will chronicle my time with it. This will be different from my typical reviews. The format will be looser, a bit more free-form. It should be fun! So let’s dive in.
HD, dual soundtracks, Miles “Tails” Prower… Available on Steam, PSN, XBLA and many other platforms, the downloadable version of Sonic CD is the definitive version of the game. It’s the new shining example of how to resurrect an old game for new audiences. Pick up, errrr, download this game right now. It’s a must-have for hedgehog fans.
