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• Resident Evil 5 Succeeds Without Building a Better Mousetrap

  March's release of Resident Evil 5 was met by a hail of criticism; while the game tried to capture the same spirit that made Resident Evil 4 so breathtakingly amazing, many thought certain core design elements used by RE5's older brother (no strafing, no running and gunning) were a bit too archaic to rehash without significant revamping. But rehashing is something Capcom does very well, and they took this familiar approach to their famous survival horror series with fantastic results: Resident Evil 5 was last month's best-selling game (thanks to Game|Life for the stats). As much as we like to gripe about the lack of innovation in gaming blockbusters, there's something to be said about the comfort that familiarity brings--a comfort borrowed entirely from Resident Evil 4's goodwill. Read More... Posted Apr 20 2009, 12:05 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: hardcore, resident evil 4, bob mackey, resident evil 5, innovation, sequels

• The Four Greatest Videogame/Drug Combinations of All Time (Speaking From Personal Experience)

  The world’s worst fears are true: you need to take drugs to play Grand Theft Auto. The only way to get the most out of your time in Liberty City is to eat ecstasy, let the chemical take hold, and swim in an ocean of thick joy as you wreak impossible acts of havoc on the digital world’s citizens. I’m sorry I’m stealing your car, I need it right now, but I looooove you, man. Just the way it is, I guess. Bold choice, Rockstar! I kid. It was no doubt an unpleasant surprise for Richard Thornhill, a father of two, to open his recently purchased copy of GTA and find four mysterious pills sitting in the game’s case. I can’t imagine the confusion and fear. My god, what have I touched? Is this poison? There’s nothing more noisome than someone telling you that drugs of any stripe enhance an experience. Oh man, you can’t listen to Dark Side of the Moon if you aren’t stoned, man. Shut up. You’re a moron. I would, however, be a liar if I said that I haven’t had a marvelous time playing videogames while using illicit substances. Yes, like President Obama, I too inhaled during the heady days of my youth. Amongst other things. Let us take a brief stroll down memory lane. I will be your pharmacological guide across the gaming landscape. Read More... Posted Apr 08 2009, 04:00 PM by John Constantine with | with 8 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, xbox 360, resident evil, legend of zelda, nes, ocarina of time, gamecube, grand theft auto, resident evil 4, barack obama, burnout paradise, duck tales

• In Defense of the QTE: Ninja Blade

  Now that the man’s winding down his career, let us honor Yu Suzuki for his most important contribution to game design: the QTE. Hey now. I can hear you rolling your eyes. We might be sick of pressing the X button every single time Crystal Dynamics wants Lara Croft to kick a tiger with style, but the quick time event provides us with some of videogames’ most satisfying thrills. They aren’t inherently bad. They’re just implemented very, very poorly. This week, you’ll be able to walk out into the world and pick up a copy of From Software’s Ninja Blade. Hell, you can go home right now and download a demo of Ninja Blade just to have a taste. One level is all you need to exemplify just how good quick time events can be in a game. Here’s why. Read More... Posted Apr 06 2009, 07:00 PM by John Constantine with | with no comments Filed under: john constantine, microsoft, xbox 360, madworld, sega, resident evil 4, god of war, yu suzuki, tomb raider, indigo prophecy, quantic dream, tomb raider legend, lara croft, yakuza, yakuza 2, yakuza 3, crystal dynamics, ninja blade, from software, leon s kennedy, qte, Fahrenheit

• Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 and the Second Chance

  There’s just something about a re-release. Not a remake mind you, I mean a game being released a second time, possibly ported to another system, with a few ancillary new features thrown in to entice previous owners to cough up more cash. Sometimes they just get me angry. Resident Evil 4 and Metroid Prime on Wii with new controls? Why?! You can buy perfectly good versions of those games for half the price and play ‘em the way they were supposed to be played! Grumble mumble whyioughta. That’s just the idiot inside, the natural born fanboy hungry to defend an allegiance, doesn’t matter to what or who. He’s easy to ignore, but hard to suppress. Most of the time, I love a good re-release. Resident Evil 4 and Metroid Prime on Wii with new controls? Excellent! Those are great games that more people should play, glad they’re getting a new lease on life. It is too much to ask that a game be better than it was the first time around. Read More... Posted Mar 17 2009, 01:00 PM by John Constantine with | with 6 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, playstation 3, persona 3 fes, nintendo, wii, sony, resident evil 4, ninja gaiden, metroid prime, tecmo, ninja gaiden 2, devil may cry 3, ninja gaiden sigma, ninja gaiden sigma 2

• Sailing the Internet Seas, Historical Preservation, and The Great Rumble Roses vs. Silent Hill vs. Metroid Dance Party Throwdown

  Beware! Sail too far to the east, brave soul, and you will come upon that most dangerous of seas. The sky changes to a sickly fresh bruise color, all angry purple and yellow, and the waves will toss madness and froth against the bow. Even the sturdiest ship, the steadiest mind, will be shaken by the foul humors waiting for them beyond the horizon. Ye have been warned. Beware! Beware the internet! I got lost in an internet vortex this afternoon. It all started innocently enough. Smooth sailing, reading Multiplayer’s interview with Steve Papoustis about Dead Space: Extraction. This led to Matt Hawkins’ Fort 90, and that’s when things started to veer off course. For anyone unfamiliar, Matt’s one of NYC’s great games journalists, but he’s also a madly prolific renaissance man. Fort 90 is a dangerous place, dense with images and text. It’s an easy place to lose your bearings, and that’s what happened to me. Matt linked to the Garry’s Mod work of one MrWhiteFolks. MrWhiteFolks made some spectacular high resolution images of No More Heroes character models stripped of their cel-shading. Very cool stuff. He also made this: Oh there’s more. Much more. Read More... Posted Feb 26 2009, 06:30 PM by John Constantine with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: john constantine, metroid, no more heroes, resident evil, silent hill, gears of war, halo, resident evil 4, dead or alive, dead space, mtv, silent hill 2, dead space extraction, gmod, silent hill 3, rumble roses, fort 90, garry’s mod

• Out Today: Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop

  Hardcore gamers who just happen to own a Wii, take heed; Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop may just give you the fix that you need--if you didn't happen to play the XBox 360 version of the game back in 2006. The superiority of the original game shouldn't come as a shock, what with the vast difference in horsepower between the two systems and the general public reaction to Chop Till You Drop's initial announcement. What I didn't expect to see was a simplification of Dead Rising's original Majora's Mask-esque (though it bears more of a resemblance to Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter) time/saving system that made the original game such an interesting experience. I guess you could say that Capcom is listening to the fans (who bitched incessantly) with this overhaul of the original Dead Rising's core mechanic, but you could easily make this system a little more forgiving instead of removing it altogether. All in all, Chop Till You Drop seems more like a total conversion mod of Resident Evil 4 than the original game, though I'm sure Wii owners who never played the original will find this version to be much more tolerable than 360 zombie warfare veterans. Read More... Posted Feb 25 2009, 06:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: wii, capcom, resident evil 4, dead rising, bob mackey, ports, zombies

• Trailer Review: Dante’s Inferno is Looking Even More… Something

  I just don’t know about you, Dante’s Inferno. You sort of have a God of War thing going on. Even more than you did back in December. That’s a cool scythe with its blade on a chain you get there. Looks like the sorta thing you can have a good action-y time with. That giant monster boss covered with barnacles? I don’t remember any God of War bosses having barnacles. Yours are hell barnacles, too! I don’t want to pry, Dante’s Inferno. You’ve clearly got some things you’re working through. But I wouldn’t be your friend if I didn’t ask what was up with the pink monsters with tube socks full of teeth for heads. Read More... Posted Feb 24 2009, 08:00 PM by John Constantine with | with no comments Filed under: john constantine, ea, trailer review, resident evil 4, god of war, brutal legend, double fine, dante’s inferno, redwood shores

• Once More Into the Breach: A Final Peek at Resident Evil 5

  Sitting down for one last taste of Resident Evil 5 before the game finally comes out on March 13th, I received the saddest possible news: the shopkeeper from Resident Evil 4 is gone. That’s right. No more buying it at a high price. No more good things on sale, stranger. No more gunning down the purple-bandana-wearing-sumbitch when he won’t sell you any more first-aid sprays. In RE5, you do your buying and selling from a cold, faceless menu. Maybe it’s for the best. Like the original demo, now available to all on Xbox Live and PSN, Chapter 3-3 of RE5 makes it clear that there isn’t a whole lot of down time to be had in Kijuju. Chances are if you stopped to hang with your old pal Shopkeeper, a zombie would bury an axe in your shoulder. Then your co-op partner would swear at you for window shopping so long. It would be bad. Read More... Posted Feb 05 2009, 05:00 PM by John Constantine with | with no comments Filed under: john constantine, resident evil, capcom, resident evil 4, resident evil 5, chris redfield, sheva Alomar, t virus

• Resident Evil Arguments that Need to Die

  With the recent release of the Resident Evil 5 demo, I've been subjected to something far more stomach-turning than hordes of the undead running amok in an African village. Of course, I speak of the Resident Evil fanboyism I assumed had ended long after the release of Resident Evil 4; you see, with the newest RE being made in the model of the series' previous game, purists are still upset that many of the things they've come to cherish about Resident Evil have been left to rot nearly 5 years ago. If you're a sane and functioning member of society, then you've probably realized that the Resident Evil 4 renovation was the best possible thing to happen to the series--and I commend you for your common sense. However, it's entirely possible that the drastic shift in the franchise still burns the living hell out of your beans; if this is the case, I bear you no personal grudge. I simply wish to ridicule your wrong opinions out of existence. And now, friends, I present the Resident Evil arguments that need to die. Read More... Posted Feb 02 2009, 10:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: resident evil, capcom, resident evil 4, bob mackey, demo, resident evil 5, survival horror

• Gamers Without Borders

  If you have nothing useful taking up your brain space, you might recall Bilbo Baggins' defeatist attitude throughout the rougher bits of The Hobbit. “Even if we escape getting eaten by goblins/trolls/spiders on this journey, there's still the dragon at the end of it all,” he often mourned. Air travel is an experience that puts me in a mood like the hobbit's. Even if I survive the cramped quarters, the screaming babies, the gum-snappers and stomach-dropping turbulence, I still have to get through Customs. Customs officers do not appreciate your humour. They do not think you're funny. An attempt at wit can potentially land you a date with a rubber glove. So it is with great self-worth that I talk about my latest experience with Customs: I got the Officer to chat with me about video games at a peak travel period. “What are you bringing into Canada?” “Uh...some games.” (Millisecond pause as the inner boy struggles with the robot shell) “...Which games?” Read More... Posted Jan 02 2009, 11:48 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: nintendo, nintendo ds, wii, resident evil 4, nadia oxford, nintendogs, customs

• The Ten Most Adventurous Sequels in Gaming History, Part 3

  Jak II As Amber recently mentioned, Jak's personality changed between Jak & Daxter and Jak II. This wasn't an, "Oh look, he's got a new hat!" sort of change either. Jak went from being an unassuming, Pixar-styled young-and-plucky hero to a gun-toting, tortured prisoner of war in the span of two credits sequences. But Naughty Dog's decision to frame the sequel around a loss of innocence isn't what's adventurous about Jak II. In Jak & Daxter, Jak is mute, but following his fall from grace at the beginning of II, he chats up a storm. As significant as the shift from a silent vessel for the player to inhabit to a defined personality driving story are the changes made to Naughty Dog's original play design. Jak & Daxter was a hub-based platformer in the vein of Super Mario 64 (albeit more linear) that featured basic melee combat. Jak II has more in common with Grand Theft Auto than Spyro the Dragon, eschewing platforming arenas and challenges for a mission based structure and vehicle play with more gun combat than melee. Naughty Dog have established themselves as one of gaming's most reliable developers, but few of their titles have the sheer balls of Jak II. — JC   Read More... Posted Jun 05 2008, 08:32 PM by Peter Smith with | with no comments Filed under: john constantine, peter smith, super mario bros 3, top ten, list, jak and daxter, the ten most adventurous sequels in gaming history, super mario 64, star fox 2, grand theft auto, naughty dog, spyro the dragon, super mario world 2, jak ii, resident evil 4, star fox command, donkey kong country, yoshi's island, command & conquer, star fox 64, super mario world