Even before the dreaded September - Christmas AAA Video Game Rush, my gaming has picked up to a steady clip. Here’s where I’m at:

In:

Snatcher (Sega CD) - Big Tip of The Hat to Chris at The Artful Gamer for steering me towards this one. In this post-apocalyptic adventure game, you’re an investigator trying to root out Snatchers — a group of robots, origin unknown, who murder people and take over their host bodies. Added Bonus: early indications of Hideo Kojima as an auteur, in a game that isn’t Metal Gear. I’ll have more on this later.

Contra 4 (Nintendo DS) - My girlfriend recently bought me a Nintendo DS for my birthday (which fell in January), and I’ve been making decent use of it. Contra 4 is unashamedly derivative, right down to near zen-like timing and patience required to surmount even the first level. That the instruction manual and menu play up and celebrate the retro, balls-to-the-wall action, apparently in service of Contra’s 20-year anniversary, only adds to the giddy fun of slaughtering wave after wave of aliens.

Out:

Cave Story (PC, free download) - It’s been called a “work of art” by Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood, but really it’s just a solid, fun platform game delicately woven into a nice plot. There’s no advancing of the medium here, just a faithful take on a time-honored genre, truly pleasurable from start to finish.

Ninja Gaiden II (Xbox 360) - I may add some more complete thoughts now that I’ve (finally) felled the final boss, but for now I’m just happy it’s over. Life is hard on the lonely island of “20-Hour Games Are Too Damn Long.”

On The Way:

Two empty slots on my Gamefly account and three games in my queue. Tempting the fates with Eternal Sonata, Elebits and Dead Rising. Which lucky ones will arrive in my mailbox? We report, you decide. Rock the Vote. Save the Whales. See you tomorrow.

Gamefly, Games as Art, Playlists, Free games | No Comments »

My visitor records on Google Analytics went defunct when I changed themes a few months back, so I have no idea how many people are checking out this blog, but I do know that comments are few and far between. If you’re out there, though, I’m asking you to put your reservations aside for a minute and help me out.

I’d really like to try a game that’s different, something outside my normal realm of video game experiences. Browsing the selection on Gamefly, all I can ferret out on my own is the usual stuff: Ninja Gaiden 2, Zelda: Phantom Hourglass and Dead Rising, because I’ve been meaning to play them, but I know all those games will be familiar to me, and somewhat less exciting as a result. I’m asking you to take me out of that comfort zone.

I’ll try a JRPG, a Sim, a strategy game, an educational title for grade-school children (if it’s interesting enough). I usually play shooters, jumpers, platformers, adventures, so I’d rather avoid that unless I really missed something. For now, let’s avoid sports titles.

Thanks! I hope to hear something besides the chirping of crickets.

Newman, Gamefly | 1 Comment »

First, a wag of the finger to Kotaku for forgetting their roots in a post on the upcoming Contra 4 for Nintendo DS. Any Contra nerd worth their salt would know that Mad Dog and Scorpion are not “new merc characters,” nor are they simply “names of really bad alcoholic beverages.” In fact, they are nicknames for the original game’s heroes, Bill and Lance, who are entirely seperate characters in the coming sequel. Shame on you Kotaku, for not drawing attention to this discrepancy. Also, I can’t post about Contra without mentioning that I have beaten both the NES and Arcade Contras with no extra lives code and no continues. I believe a w00t is in order.

This next bit is more pressing. I did not realize that Nintendo and Sony do not license games that have an Adults Only rating. I learned this when reading about the ESRB’s decision to rate Manhunt 2 AO.

I’m all for keeping games like Manhunt 2 out of the hands of minors, but that doesn’t mean those games shouldn’t be available at all. If it means putting games up on some high covered shelf out of kids’ eyesight or distributing online only, so be it — at least it’s in the publishers’ hands whether they want to clean up a game for a Mature rating. For all the arguments the games industry puts forth about the need to defend their creative expression, I’m shocked that it’s the game companies themselves doing the censoring.

Finally, I’ve hit a rut with GameFly — a sort of spin on the classic lament of people with day jobs who have too many games to play and not enough time. I’m maybe a third of the way through Super Paper Mario, and Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2 just arrived. In addition, there’s the two games I kept after renting them, Oblivion and Trauma Center. I want to play the games I’m renting so I can ship them back out and feel I’m getting my money’s worth, but the last thing I want is to make gaming a chore. I suppose I’ll go back to my old strategy of digging up classic games, finding interesting PC experiments and flicking at my rentals with an occasional prolonged console binge.

Perhaps I’ll start with a Contra speed run.

Wii, Gamefly, Politics, Media, Rants | No Comments »

Sam Fisher is getting old.

Sure, he’s been trying some new things lately. Like posing as a terrorist and juggling “trust” between his government and the enemy. Like sneaking around without his famous ninja suit. Like venturing into co-operative multiplayer with a partner. Those are nice additions in Splinter Cell: Double Agent, but the problem is he kind of forgot what he was doing in the first place.

Sam’s not as sharp as he used to be. He used to be able to walk up to an object and spell out all the things he could do with it, with a compact, easy to read list. Now he has to scroll through a bunch of indecipherable pictures. He also has trouble with lighting; a meter once told him exactly how much a shadow was concealing his figure, now he just has to guess. I suppose it’s more realistic, but it comes at the cost of trial and error — something the game always relied on too much to begin with.

Sam’s also lost his moves, like the one where he straddled a narrow wall, clinging near the ceiling before crashing down on an unsuspecting foe. I guess the maneuver always seemed contrived or forced, so Sam no longer remembers how to do it at all. And while other games like Gears of War have made it easy to cling to walls and bounce between cover, Sam feels clumsy around every corner he touches. For a government ninja, he can feel pretty awkward. It’s sad.

All the window dressings applied over the years (multiplayer! co-op multiplayer! he’s playing as a _bad guy_!) can’t hide the fact that Sam Fisher’s mind and body are in decay. Sometimes his objectives aren’t clear. Sometimes the way to the objective is too obscure, too specific. You wander around each level wondering what to do, bumping into enemies and clicking the retry button. It feels too much like a game, not enough like snooping.

For these reasons, I’ve sent Sam packing (recall: GameFly subscription). And I do so with the disclaimer that I only played through 2.5 missions of Double Agent. It may not be enough to fully evaluate a game, but it’s enough to know I wasn’t having fun. I don’t think Sam was enjoying it either.

Theory, Gamefly, Xbox 360 | No Comments »

To my delight, both Trauma Center and Splinter Cell arrived on Saturday, April 7. That’s pretty good considering they shipped on the 5th — I certainly wasn’t expecting to play new games this weekend.

I should note that I live in New York, and for some reason shipping always is expedient here. When my Sunrocket VOIP router broke a couple weeks ago, I called to get it replaced under warranty, and they told me 5-10 business days. It showed up in three.

Anyway, I haven’t had a chance to play much, but early impressions are that Trauma Center is really cool off the bat. It may get old, or it may be more conducive to short bursts of play. Either way, it’s the most innovative use of the Wii I’ve seen, even if it’s just a DS port.

In the two minutes I spent with Splinter Cell before my girlfriend scolded me, I felt a distinct lack of feeling, as if all the excitement and freshness was gone from the series. But since I didn’t actually do anything but swim around, I shouldn’t really comment any further. Pandora Tomorrow was the last game I played in the series, so I did lament not hearing Dennis Haysbert (we also know him as President Palmer from 24) as the operations coordinator.

More to come.

Gamefly | No Comments »

I see a potential problem with Gamefly. I put three items in my cue last night: Trauma Center, Splinter Cell: Double Agent and Tiger Woods for Wii. The latter was my highest priority item, but there was a “short wait” to get it. It’s the game I most want to try, so I was willing to wait.

Today I was notified that Trauma Center and Splinter Cell are in the mail. This poses a dilemma.

You see, I wasn’t given the option of holding off on either of those two games in favor of waiting for Tiger Woods. Now, I have to wait to receive them, then decide if I want to immediately send one back. Even then, I can’t add any more games to my cue because who knows if they’ll get shipped out before Tiger Woods is back in stock, thus forcing me to repeat the cycle.

Just to make sure I didn’t screw up, I read about their cue system, which verifies that they send you the first two available games, not the first two you want. Then they have the nerve to say this:

“Caution: Your GameQ can be addictive. It’s like a wish list – but better. … (Q-addiction symptoms include shuffling your GameQ for hours and debating Q strategy with friends. Don’t say you haven’t been warned!)”

Fuck you. Shuffling the list accomplishes nothing if you aren’t actually able to send me the games I want in the order I want. No more games are being added to the queue (Caution: Q is just a letter) until Tiger Woods is in the mail. I’m out!

Gamefly | 1 Comment »

I just signed up for Gamefly, 2 games out at a time.

My logic is I’d like to be trying more games so I may write about them here. Plus you get some good deals on purchasing the games you like, including 5 bucks credit every month after your first three months. First in the cue are Splinter Cell: Double Agent and Tiger Woods Wii, and I’m told there’s a short wait on the latter. That’s the case for quite a few 360 and Wii games. Let’s hope it doesn’t become a nuisance.

We’ll see how it goes!

Gamefly | No Comments »