May 21, 2010 by Greg Noe
This game was a long time coming, but the true evolution of the Ace Attorney series has arrived with Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth. After four games of playing as a defense attorney, we finallyexperience what it's like to play as a prosecutor, particularly fanfavorite Miles Edgeworth. Miles has been a staple of the series butmostly as an antagonist turned sort-of-friend, but now we get to takedirect control of him in a series of cases surrounding a smuggling ringand a great thief.
I've played all the previous games in the series and reviewed the last two on this site, Trials and Tribulations and Apollo Justice. While the games themselves are really long and haven't really evolvedgameplay wise over the last five years, I'm still continually drawn tothem year in and year out. They just have this great charm to themthat not only stems from great original writing, but also the besttranslations in the business. A ton of effort goes into these games'stories and characters, and it shows.
So here's my review ofMiles Edgeworth, in what could be the last game in the Ace Attorneyseries since the team has apparently moved on to a new game calledGhost Trick: Phantom Detective. I truly hope we see more from thePhoenix Wright universe one day though.
May 20, 2010 by Greg Noe
I used to be a huge Halo fan. Played 16 player LAN matches nearly every other night during college in the dorms on the original, and then stood in line at midnight to pick up my copy of Halo 2 even after we had downloaded an early leaked French version. But even though I had loved Halo, the sequel left a bad taste in my mouth. It was probably a combination of the totally crappy and unfinished story along with the extremely gimped pistol that just left me wishing Bungie still cared (not to mention the horrible "ohhh take it!" E3 Zanzibar video). My brand new Xbox Live membership went virtually unused and I used my Xbox to play good games like Beyond Good and Evil.
By the time Halo 3 rolled around, I was as unexcited for the series as ever. Every time there's a new Halo, we always here about how there's now more polygons in a gun than in an entire soldier in the last game. Who cares? Well, I ended up playing through Halo 3 with a friend and I enjoyed it for what it was, a decent ending to a tumultous series. Here I was, a guy who had beaten the first Halo over five times including on Legendary, and I was giving Halo 3 a seven out of ten. What had happened in to this series?
Read moreMay 19, 2010 by Nate
It's rare that we get to combine our love for games with charitable donations, and unheard of that we can feel like a smart shopper while doing both. Such a concoction of impossibility was made real when the Humble Indie Bundle experiment went live on May 4, 2010. For a limited time, five acclaimed indie games (Aquaria, Gish, Lugaru HD, Penumbra Overture, and World of Goo) were offered as a bundle to gamers...at whatever price they were willing to give. For any price you name, you could have access to five games you may or may not love. A sixth game, Samorost 2, was even added to the bunch as extra incentive. You could even split your price between the developers and two partner charities, Electronic Frontier Foundation and Child's Play Charity, at whatever fractions you wanted. I gave $7.50 to the developers and $7.50 to the charities myself, contributing to the $1,270,000 in total donations contributed as of May 15. It's a great cause that also happens to be a great deal.
Having only previously played (or even heard of) the fantastic World of Goo, I decided to go alphabetically and spend an hour with Aquaria first. Aquaria was created by Bit Blot, an independent game company comprised of Alec Holowka and Derek Yu, in 2007. An indie games festival winner known for its atmosphere, Aquaria is an underwater 2D sidescroller with a focus on exploration and puzzle-solving, in the same vein as Metroid.
As I dive into Aquaria for the first time, I wonder if it's true what they say: is it really better down where it's wetter, under the sea?
May 18, 2010 by Ian M. Bagley
In all my years, I’ve never been much of a racing game fan. Quitehonestly, the idea of doing the same thing over and over feels tediousto me. While some games, like Need for Speed Underground and GranTurismo have offered vehicle customization to try and keep thingsfresh, they still seem to fall into a slump of painful repetition.
ButBlack Rock Studios, the creators of Pure, have strived to come up to asolution to this plague, and that is massive destruction and a gamepremise unique from any other racing game I’ve ever laid my eyes on.This solution is called Split/Second.
The premise of the game isthat you’re a stunt driver in a reality television series calledSplit/Second, that has these stunt drivers racing against each other incities manufactured by the television show. While stunts, inthemselves, are not entirely new, the massive chaos is extremelyrefreshing.
We’ve all played Mario Kart, and we’ve shot koopashells at our enemies and laughed as they were rendered motionlesswhile we passed them into first place, and it’s relatively satisfyingto a point, but this is different.
But where Mario Kart is setto stun, Split/Second is set to kill. From gas station explosions andhelicopters dropping explosive barrels to air planes crashing on theraceway, this game delivers a completely original adrenaline rush thatdelivers over and over again.
You’re in control of these beautifuldisasters with power plays, which are your weapons in this dog-eat-dogracing world. The way to activate them is to accumulate energy. You canaccomplish this by drifting around corners, drafting behind youropponents, and jumping with your vehicle. You also receive a bonusamount of energy by passing opponents while drifting, jumping pastopponents and dodging power plays set off in your path.
Read moreMay 17, 2010 by Mike in Omaha
Sequels. Comic franchises converted to video games. Movie tie-ins.Studios closing their doors. Needless to say, there are a lot ofbarriers that can narrow the odds of producing a high quality title. Itwould seem that Iron Man 2 was forced to hurdle all of them. As Imentioned in my recent First Hour review of Iron Man 2, its predecessorwas critically panned. But did it deserve it? Or did it fall prey tothe echo chamber of hate that often befalls licensed products and spinoffs? The truth is, Iron Man had it’s problems. From unwieldy controlsto frame rate issues, it seemed like it stumbled each time it wouldjust get up to speed. But it had moments of fun, high intensity superhero action that carried one through to each subsequent mission. Goinginto a sequel, one assumes that Sega Studios San Francisco, thedeveloper behind both titles would make an effort to improve thefailings of the original while trying to maintain those things they gotright the first time. The question is, did they pull it off?
After sitting in on the developer conference call for Iron Man 2, I washopeful that things were looking good. They talked about a dedicationto listening to fans, and to implementing those lessons they learnedfrom user feedback on the first game. They talked about simplifiedcontrols, vast levels, destructible environments and deepcustomization. They touted a boss that is “bigger than any boss in anygame ever”. And War Machine. War Machine sounded like a perfectaddition to the Iron Man gaming universe. Yes, it sounded like it hadreally come together. And so I eagerly anticipated my review copy,thinking back to the flawed but fun experience I had with the firstgame.
May 14, 2010 by Greg Noe
Today's my birthday so I thought I'd build my ego up a bit and tell the world how I was once featured in Nintendo Power magazine. No, I wasn't one of those dopey kids holding his Game Boy in a ziploc bag in front of Niagara Falls (though I did submit one just like that, sad). And no, I never had the pleasure of winning one of their contests to be featured as a background extra on the show Seaquest DSV (worst contest ever?).
No, I won an Arena Challenge. I was featured on their high score list. There was my name, in lights and on glossy paper: Greg Noe.
Everyone, quickly grab Nintendo Power issue number 85 page 93 and read on...
Read moreMay 13, 2010 by Nate
Some games are unforgettable. After forking over our birthday money at K-Mart, we bounce all the way home in the backseat of the station wagon, wrestle the plastic wrap away from the box, gingerly place the game in the system, and steady our feverishly shaking hands with an anaconda grip on the controller. We don't let go for hours. And when the credits roll, we tear up a little, knowing we'll always cherish that first time through.
And then there are games that are largely forgotten weeks after release. Niche appeal, scathing reviews, or even just lack of hype can doom a game to obscurity and the Target bargain bin. But even these games deserve a second look...sometimes. Every once in a while, a kernel of brilliance can be found within these steaming piles of mediocrity. The purpose of this feature is to sift out some of these conceptual gems and put them under the microscope.
Today we'll take a look at how the Checklist Grids in last generation's Kirby Air Ride add a special something to one of the current generation's biggest innovations: the Achievement.
Read moreMay 12, 2010 by Greg Noe
I recently had the chance to sit down and play some Heavy Rain while my brother-in-law (who had already beaten the game) provided some running commentary. Heavy Rain is one of a handful of games on the PlayStation 3 that makes me jealous of those who own one. In 2007, I played the first hour of Indigo Prophecy (the fourth first hour review ever!), also by developer Quantic Dream. I really enjoyed it and went on to beat the game within a few days. While the game had plenty of flaws, I thought it was still a fun experience that brought me on a slightly hilly ride of emotions (that basement level in the precinct was so creepy!).
Without knowing anything about Heavy Rain I wanted to play it. I guess that's the most any developer could ask for, Heavy Rain isn't a sequel to Indigo Prophecy (commonly known as Fahrenheit outside the U.S.), it's not even on the same set of consoles, but I still counted down the weeks until it would arrive.
Heavy Rain's arrival came and went though and it wasn't until last weekend that I finally sat down and played it. I wish I could have set aside a solid hour along with a notepad or voice recorder to do a proper first hour review, but alas, sometimes you just take an opportunity when given it.
Read moreMay 11, 2010 by Nate
Picross 3D is the latest brain-teaser game for the Nintendo DS. If you're not familiar with the concept of Picross,it's a simple puzzle game: a grid of squares is presented, and numbersnext to the rows or columns indicate how many squares in that column orrow should be colored in. As squares are colored in, they clue theplayer in on what other squares should be colored in. The end result isa crude object, like a person or a clock. It's simple enough that itcould be done on graph paper, but Nintendo has made millions of dollarscollecting these puzzles and putting them in videogames, most recently Picross DS a few years ago.
Picross 3D takes the concept in threedimensions, giving the player a large cube or rectangular prism made upof blocks. Remove the right blocks and an object appears. The conceptis almost as simple in 3D as it is on graph paper, though it would benigh-impossible to do with physical objects. It's well-suited forvideogames, however, where virtual representations can easily becreated.
As someone who enjoys brain-teasers and puzzle games, I have a feeling I'll enjoy Picross3D as long as I'm sufficiently challenged. But this is one of thosenew-fangled "Casual games" that seem to be popping up everywherenowadays and trying to appeal to everybody, so it may be oversimplifiedor very slow to start. Let's find out.
May 10, 2010 by Mike in Omaha
You may have seen our recent article covering a conference call presented by Iron Man 2 developer: Sega San Francisco. The First Hour was invited to take part in a small pre-release Q&A with two of the people involved with the production of the game. I sat in on the call and submitted a few questions. It was a good conversation and lots of aspects of the game were touched on, so if you’d like some more insight into what went into making this game what it is, please check it out here.
Ok, now that that’s out of the way, I recently sat down with a copy of Iron Man 2. To state the obvious, Iron Man 2 is the sequel to Iron Man. Both games were released to coincide with the movies of the same name. As most people know, releasing a game on a movies timeline can be... problematic. It often leads to rushed development schedules and lots of cut corners in the final product. Despite this situation, the first game was commercially successful. However, it struggled to win over most critics. With an aggregate score of 45 on Metacritic, that’s probably an understatement. However, I was one of the people who enjoyed the first game (while recognizing it’s many flaws), which is why I was chosen/volunteered to review the sequel.
Much like Greg’s recent review of Saboteur, this game is the final release of a studio before it gets shut down. Sega San Fancisco, formerly Secret Level Games will close shortly after the release of Iron Man 2. This does not bode well for the 3 other gamers besides me crossing their fingers for a Golden Axe: Beast Rider sequel.
I went into this first hour with an open mind and reasonable expectations. Having enjoyed the first game, more of the same with increased graphical performance, control tweaks and mission diversity would be a good start. Let’s see if they were able to squeeze any of that into the first 60 minutes of Iron Man 2.
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