Borderlands 2

Thanks to a good friend of mine and his stream (which you can find here) I won myself a copy of Gearbox Softwares Borderlands 2 and have finally sunk some time into one of last years best games.

Yes indeed it is one of the best games of last year, and one of the best I have played in some time.

Starting up I made myself a Commando and hopped into the world of Pandora and just like the first one, the cel shaded visual style did not disappoint. This time around though the crispness is even sharper and the creature designs are superb. I have only played through for a number of hours now and know I have barely scratched the surface of the shooting and looting and am excited for more of it. As well I will write more after I play online and couch co-op with my brothers and friends in the near future.

Thus far though Borderlands 2 has been a superb shooter and something that is far more interesting to myself than most of the other fps games out there. If you haven't played this, then pick it up for sure, and if you have what do you think?

Postscript. Fire Emblem for the 3DS comes out this weekend, expect some more talk about that one soon enough.

A Plethora of Nintendo News

This morning Nintendo dropped a new Nintendo Direct and was it ever a stunner. It started off pretty slow with some interesting news regarding the Miiverse and the 30th anniversary of the Famicom (or the NES here in America), though it should be noted that some of the news was interesting indeed. The fact that you will be able to access Miiverse from smartphones and the internet is shocking but good news in regards to the future of Nintendo. I feel that this is a step in the right direction for what Nintendo will be doing should there be a day down the road where consoles are no longer a viable option for companies like Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft. After that news came all of the juicy bits of information that we have been waiting for, the new games for the Wii U.

Probably the best bit of news is that at E3 in a matter of months there will be playable versions of a new 3D Mario, Mario Kart and Smash Bros. That's a pretty big deal. Who knows when they will be actually coming out, if even at all this year but at least we will finally get to see what is on the way. There was also some new footage shown of Wonderful 101 and that game looks brilliant. That was one of the key reasons I wanted to get a Wii U and it looks like it's shaping up nicely. Bayonetta 2, as well from Platinum Games, is still a work in progress but will be a solid exclusive for Nintendo. Speaking of exclusives, there was first footage shown of Monolithsofts new game, which was only titled 'X' but looks to be a stellar sequel to Xenoblade Chronicles, a game that I still need to play if I can get a copy of it. Also for the Wii U is coming a new mash-up, Shin Megami Tensai X Fire Emblem. Not a lot was shown or is known but it will presumably be a dungeon crawling, strategy RPG and that's fine by me.

Lastly was Zelda news. While it was noted that the new Zelda is in the works it is still a ways off from being completely revealed. This is sad news, but the good news is that coming late this summer will be an HD remake of Gamecube's Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. That news my friends is completely insane and the shots that were shown look stunning. The fact that you can play it on the gamepad is also fantastic news, and I look forward to sinking my teeth in to that bad boy.

The Wii U has gotten off to a somewhat rocky start that is for sure, but I think it's a fantastic piece of tech and now that Nintendo is really showing what's in store I am extremely excited to dive into the HD worlds of some of my favorite franchises. How about you guys, what do you think?

Spring 2013

I just wanted to put down that these are the games that I'm looking forward to giving a go over the next few months and will do my best to do write-ups for. I'm mostly excited to be playing some new experiences on my WiiU but there are some other gems coming up that I am excited about for the 3DS and the XBOX. Here we go.

3DS
Fire Emblem: Awakening
Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon
Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate

WiiU
Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate
Lego City Undercover
Pikmin 3
The Wonderful 101
The Cave

XBOX
Darkstalkers Resurrection
Bioshock Infinite
Tomb Raider
Injustice: Gods Among Us
State of Decay

Crimson Shroud Review

If you were to ask me what some of my all time favorite video-games are, Final Fantasy Tactics almost always ranks in the top 3. It is the game that over my life I have spent the most amount of time playing, beating it 8 times and putting an insane amount of hours in every time I have played through it. I love the job system, the story (especially the PSP reissue) and I just can't get enough of it. It's one of those games that I'll never get rid of or tired of. So when I heard that FFT mastermind Yasumi Matsuno was behind a sweet new RPG coming out on the 3DS, made in conjunction with Level-5 and their Guild01 series, I was extremely excited.

This game does not disappoint.

Matsuno has made this as a tribute as it were, to tabletop RPGs like Dungeons & Dragons and the like and it shows. The characters and monsters are all figures with broad bases, no animations involved, and when a monster is slain it tips over revealing a little Level-5 marking on the base; it's very clever. The dungeons that you go through are very detailed and as you progress through the game the narrator, essentially a dungeon master, reveals details about the environments, the characters, and more backstory is revealed via the narrator or through dialogue between Giaque and his crew of adventurers. The characters are charming, the world is especially detailed, and the more you play the more you uncover of the plot of political maneuverings and dastardly dealings that one should expect if you are a fan of Matsuno's work. It should also be noted that the soundtrack is phenomenal and is probably the best music I have heard on the 3DS thus far.

While there is great depth in the story there is a bit of a falter by way of the combat in the game. You will get into plenty of battles and while there are some techniques of note that stand out, for the most part it is quite a bit of a grind. This is especially because you never actually gain a level, not in the least. Your characters stay at a base set of stats and as you acquire more items and weapons you can meld these together to make more powerful swords, bows, armor, helmets and such. An interesting thing you can do is if you get a magic scroll you can use them in battle if needed, or you can meld those to a characters equipment to give them that skill. There is also a lot of dice rolling involved, to see if you can successfully attack large monsters, sneak past others, charm a monster, etc. This is actually pretty fun and it's fun to use the touch screen to "toss" the virtual dice. As well, there is a chain system kind of similar to that in Vagrant Story, where each ability or attack is tied to a different element and if you continually use different ones and create a chain, you will get bonus dice to add as modifiers to attacks and spells and such. All in all it is a pretty interesting system, but it still feels a bit lacking. Perhaps this comes from decades playing RPGs and the basic need to level up, or the lack of animations in the battling or the grind of fighting rooms of goblins over and over again. Whatever the case, it still feels a bit off compared to the rest of the game but hasn't kept me from sinking tons of time into the game.

Overall this is a fantastic game, and if you have a 3DS and love RPGs this is a fine way to spend 8 dollars. That's right, 8 dollars and you get a phenomenal experience that is far better than the bulk of what I have played lately. Bottom line is get this game, you won't be disappointed.

Score A-

Games of the Year

There's been a lot of talk about what should be the game of the year and I figured I would weigh in on my picks from what I've played this year. A lot of people have been picking Telltale's The Walking Dead as their game of year, and with good reason. While essentially an updated point and click adventure game, this game has more heart than a lot of things that came out this year. Rivetting story and characters, and of course zombies, it's added alot to Robert Kirkman's world and experience. For me though I'm a fan first and foremost of Mass Effect 3 and that for me is the pick of the year. The culmination of Commander Shephard's adventures into the fight to save the Earth from the Reapers, for me this game did not disappoint. All of the characters I loved were back to fight the good fight, there were some clever twists, and of course the choices made even back in the first game popped up in this one. People complained about the ending, and while it did leave some things open, I was happy with my ending. The Reapers were stopped, Earth was saved, Shephard made the ultimate sacrifice and would live on in the memories of the survivors. Done and done. I was more than happy with that, and although I want a new Mass Effect, I want it to focus on some other period or peoples. Also, the multiplayer on that game was amazing, I hate online multiplayer usually, but loved it on ME3. Fantastic game.

I also played more and more XBLA games and games on the WII U and 3DS eshops and loved so many of them. Mark of the Ninja was phenomenal and made me miss Tenchu that much more. I have also started my addiction with Crashmo and Nano Assault Neo, both super addictive pick up and play games that I recommend.

I will come up with a proper top ten list of games for the year, but here's just a little smattering of my favorites and ones you should check out.

Too Long, Too Long

It's been a while since I write anything but I figured it was time to start again. Life is crazy with work, school and a new baby but I get some gaming on here and there. I'll probably talk about portable and mobile games but I did get a Wii U so expect thoughts on that. I'm currently playing Angry Birds Star Wars and Super Mario RPG on my phone, Advance Wars DS on my 3DS, and Mario Bros U for the Wii U. Loving all of them right now. I'll write more soon but this is only the beginning.

Z

3DS Shocker

Today Nintendo made a huge announcement that set the games world ablaze, and that was they were cutting the price of the 3DS by 30 percent, from 249 to 169. Keep in mind that it's only been six months since the handheld came out. Nintendo has also stated that they are in a slump and sales are down quite a bit year on year. Is this that shocking though? No, I don't really think so, and I think it's a move Nintendo needed to make, although maybe a bit sooner than they had wanted.

Most people know that the console hasn't been doing the numbers that Nintendo had wanted it to, and some may say that's the rather high price point, and others may say it's the lack of games available for the system, or you could say that it's both of those things. The console is a cool innovation to say the least, and there's room to do some cool things for it, but there's not much going for it. Now though, I'd say that things are looking up for Nintendo. There's some things that still need to be worked on, and Nintendo is facing still the upcoming threat of the PS Vita, as well as the wide availability of Apple's touch devices, but this early price drop, and the games coming out for it this fall, I feel will actually start to put the 3DS in peoples pockets.

Now, at 169, with StarFox 3D, Kid Icarus, Mario Kart 7, Super Mario 3D Land amongst others coming out, I think the catalogue is starting to look pretty solid for the little handheld.

Not to mention the promise of GameBoy Advance games on the eShop.

As well though it is important to note that for those who already have 3DS's they will get 20 free games to download to their 3DS; 10 NES games, and 10 GBA games, including the original Legend of Zelda and Metroid Fusion amongst other great games. For those who already have one and are suffering the lack of games that's definitely a bonus.

I'm personally excited. I think the move was a bit early, and earlier than I expected but it's the right move for Nintendo to make to start moving units, and start putting games out there. Nintendo isn't really hurting but they needed to make a big and bold move, and I'm glad to see that they have definitely stepped up.

Now let's see how they do with the Wii U.