April 23, 2010 by Paul Eastwood
Infinite Space is a DS game published by SEGA as a collaboration between Platinum Games and Nude Maker. Platinum Games previously developed Madworld and Bayonetta for SEGA, and Nude Maker comes from a background making... well, let's just say their name isn't just a bad translation. However, these two teams had previously worked together on the XBox game Steel Battalion. Yes, the game that cost $200 and came with a giant mech-dashboard controller.
While Steel Battalion went over the top with its controller, Infinite Space seeks to go where no anime character has gone before. The concept of the game is space exploration, and the building of a fleet to undertake said exploration. And because we all know space is a very dangerous place, there will be battles; many battles.
The producer of Infinite Space said this has been a long time dream of his, as he grew up inspired by science fiction. He mentioned several influences, but if I list them here you will get the wrong idea of the game. It's nothing like the influences he mentions.
What is it like? Well, I'll tell you, or at least what the first hour is like.
April 22, 2010 by Greg Noe
Over the last 24 years, popular Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu has awarded 14 perfect scores. For Famitsu magazine, a game review's final score is actually two to four total scores assigned by a collection of reviewers. Technically, there's no such thing as a 40/40 score, but four 10/10's. But gamers love numbers, and we love comparing one game's numbers to another game's numbers, so the 40/40 perfect score list is a great way for fanboys to scoff or gyrate in anticipation.
Outside of the country, Famitsu is the ultimate barometer of what Japan thinks of a particular game. Famitsu scores are thrown about in headlines and rattled around in forum discussions, but you almost never hear why a score was awarded one number instead of the next. This is undoubtedly because of the language barrier between Japan and the rest of the world, but also because numbers are easy for everyone to understand and the fact that Famitsu editors give their reviewers about 100 characters to explain what they thought about a game.
While I'm not personally a big fan of a game review's score (I'd much rather read the why and how), the Famitsu perfect score list is an intriguing specimen. The eighth game in two years just garnered the spotlight: Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, but let's start at the beginning.
Read moreApril 21, 2010 by Greg Noe
Kasumi's Stolen Memory is the first major paid downloadable contentavailable for Mass Effect 2. It was released earlier this month aftera slew of "free" content for those who bought the game new (I'lleventually go back and review each of the major DLC's including Zaeedand the Firewalker pack). For 560 Microsoft Points ($7 USD) you canrecruit a new crew member, play a new loyalty mission, get a new SMGand casual outfit, and satisfy your curiosity of what happened to abunch of famous relics on Earth.
This is almost less of areview, and more of a walkthrough of the actual content, but it's a funway to describe all the new stuff packed into the DLC. Myrecommendation is that Stolen Memory is a really great piece of contentand is worth its purchase price for big fans of the series, butprobably not worth it if you've already moved on completely. Here's myreview of Kasumi's Stolen Memory, played as a renegade female Shepard.
April 20, 2010 by Steve
People generally sit down and playgames for fun and entertaining experiences. In contrast, theygenerally only learn math out of necessity or for financial desires. Rarely does "math" and "fun and entertainment"interact to any significant degree, as shown by the vast amount ofthe population who despises the various forms of math, if notoutright sucking at them. Certainly we can find math in somegameplay, given say a choice between various equippable items, butmodern games readily simplify the process, giving clear comparisonsif not outright displaying the superior choice. Games are certainlyrooted in math, down to the programming, but players are absolved ofsuch things, witnessing only the shiny results. However, a time andplace exists for such contradictions as math and fun, and NumberMunchers is just that contradiction.
April 19, 2010 by Greg Noe
It's easy to forget that Rockstar Games actually develops other series besides Grand Theft Auto. With nine studios making up the Rockstar empire, it's seeminglyunbelievable that the only games they've released since Grand TheftAuto IV two years ago is a new Midnight Club racing game, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Warson the DS and PSP, some music game called Beaterator, and a few GrandTheft Auto DLC's. So what are all the other studios working on? Well,Rockstar San Diego is almost done with Red Dead Redemption, the sequelto our first hour focus today, Red Dead Revolver.
April 16, 2010 by Mike in Omaha
When I first heard about Borderlands, I somehow just knew it was going to be a game that I would like. I don’t know how I knew, I just knew. It reminds me of the days when I was 12 years old and shopped for video games by looking at the pictures on the back of the game box in the toy store so long ago. I don’t know how it worked, but I could look at those 2 or 3 screenshots and read that lonely paragraph and know with certainty if I would like the game or not. Just like shopping in the toy store years ago, I actually knew very little about the details of Borderlands. I knew it was an FPS, and I had heard it had RPG elements. I had read a story on Kotaku that discussed a drastic shift from “realistic” graphics to a more “cartoony” cell shaded design. There was little else I could tell you about the game. But somehow, I wanted it.
So, I added it to my mental list of games to play without too much thought. I wasn’t in a big hurry, simply because I’m generally pretty patient about getting games. This allows me to scoop up great deals from the Target clearance game shelf. As Greg, purveyor of First Hour, noted in a recent conversation on LIVE, I’m a person who often likes games that other people don’t. Well, I’m also a person who loves to get a bargain and both traits suit me well for the clearance shelf. If I wait that first month to buy a game and it’s a critical and commercial failure, there’s a good chance it will see 50% off on the Target clearance shelf. It wasn’t long before I realized that Borderlands would not be one of those games. Apparently, people were liking it. Good for the developers and bad for my wallet. This only fueled my desire to play the game sooner rather than later. I finally found a Sunday ad with the game on sale for $39.99 and decided it was fate. You’re about to read the first hour of what fate decided was a game I must play.
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April 15, 2010 by Greg Noe
It was just a few years ago that I was a Japanese RPG freak. Injust one holiday, I asked for and received Persona 3 FES, ValkyrieProfile 2: Silmeria, and Rogue Galaxy. Three of the biggest JRPGs toland at the end of the PS2 lifespan. You know how much of those gamesI've played since? About 30 hours of Persona 3, the first hour of Rogue Galaxy, and I haven't even touchedValkyrie Profile 2; I blame it all on the games themselves.
If Iwere to make an exhaustive list of my all-time favorite games, it wouldundoubtedly be topped by Chrono Trigger, closely followed by SuikodenII and Final Fantasy VI, with Final Fantasy X somewhere up there too. All Japanese RPGs, and all very good games for varying reasons. Ispent my college years playing more from what used to be my favoritegenre, and watched my roommate play a ton of them including theoriginal Valkyrie Profile, Shadow Hearts: Covenant, my copy ofXenogears, and pretty much the entire Xenosaga trilogy.
Maybe Iwas already burned out on the genre when I heard about how greatPersona 3 was; how it was the ultimate JRPG and that a re-release ofthe game was going to put it into my budget again. By the time Istarted playing it, I even had Persona 4 in my possession already(which I also haven't touched). I knew without a doubt I was going tolove this game.
Note: This post evolved from a rant onPersona 3 into a rant review on Persona 3, so while it's designated asa full review, I have not beaten either Persona 3 FES or Odin Sphere. No final scores will be given for obvious reasons.
Read moreApril 14, 2010 by Steve
Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter isa recent remake of the fps classic, Serious Sam, both developed byCroteam. While I own the original Serious Sam Second Encounter, Ireally never played it, being somewhat put-off by the seeminglycheesy nature and waves of ugly enemies. But I recently got theupdate fairly cheap and decided to give it another shot. Afterquickly running through the demo level, I start the actual game here,so here we go... and if you wish, you can follow along with theyoutube playlist.
April 13, 2010 by Greg Noe
The iPhone App Store is flooded with games, some of them very good, most of them bad, but there's just an oversaturation of everything. Only the lowest common denominator crap rises to the top (unless it's Plants vs. Zombies, that game is awesome) and tons of gems are drowned by a sea of Sally Spa clones.
One of my close friends, Rory Johnson, is an iPhone game developer, and he just released his second game: Bad Cube. Early last year he released Circle Challenge, more of a personal challenge than anything else, and I finally got the chance to talk about it at the end of last year. It's a fun, free time waster where the object is to just draw circles. A simple concept, but it helped Rory learn the ropes of Objective C and the App Store.
Bad Cube is definitely a game, and a fun, challenging one at that. It's in 3D, features the shooting of hexahedron objects, and kicked my butt many times. I had the pleasure of watching the game mature from the "look! a 3D cube!" stage to the "look! a 3D cube that I can shoot!" stage, and it was entertaining to say the least.
Read moreApril 12, 2010 by Greg Noe
I've been delaying writing my review for Mass Effect 2for a while now. It was my most anticipated game in years, and Ibought it the day it came out and finished it a few long nights later. I pored over 40 hours into my first playthrough of the game, longerthan even my first run of the original. This was going to be mydefining game of 2010, my Game of the Year. It's two months later now and I've played it more since I beat it, butI still haven't compiled all my thoughts on it. Half of me wants towrite the best review possible for one of the best games ever, and theother half of me wants to make sure it really was one of the best gamesever.
I'll start with my conclusion though: I loved it. It's abeyond excellent game that takes the series and the genre into newterritories. Mass Effect 2 tries something new at every bend andseemingly succeeds at them all. I had built up an incredible amount ofhype for the game, and I can honestly say it surpassed myexpectations. BioWare, my hat goes off to you.
A little moreintroduction though: Mass Effect 2 was released in late January of 2010for the Xbox 360 and Windows. It's the direct sequel to Mass Effectwhich was released in late 2007. The game was published by EA and isits flagship product for its downloadable content scheme. Thefree-with-a-new-purchase Cerberus Network has provided us with plentyof free and paid for DLC since the game was released, and more is onthe way. It's BioWare's second big AAA title in about as many monthswith Dragon Age: Origins coming last November. Everything seems to be going right for them.
So you can tell I enjoyed the game already, but read on to see exactly why. Here's my full review of Mass Effect 2.
