/dev/games 18 Feb 2008 01:34 am
The Taxman Cannot Prevent My Success
So I’m getting hit pretty hard by The Taxman’s stronger hand, but that hasn’t stopped me from checking out some recent releases! Let’s see:
Devil May Cry 4
Rented this one for PS3 (they were out of 360 copies, but that’s cool because I liked the controls in the PS3 version better anyway). It’s probably the most approachable Devil May Cry game, but it kind of sucks that the humor of 3 has been mostly toned down (at least up to where I left off, Mission 14). Still, an extremely well-balanced high-speed combo-em-up that feels about as right as you could want. If you’re on a budget or aren’t sure that Devil May Cry is your thing, pick up the Special Edition of 3 and a copy of God Hand (you’ll have to track it down, sadly), both of which are better games than Devil May Cry 4. It’s really a pretty good game, though!
Audiosurf
Bought this on Steam for the low-low price of $8.95. It’s a weird combination of F-Zero, Amplitude, and Puyo Puyo. I like that I can feed it any music that I have sitting around, but I’ve found that the levels don’t match up as much as I would like (especially for music where beat detection is rather difficult). Still, it’s an OK game that has leaderboards for every song that you play, and I’ll probably boot it up from time to time at work while I’m waiting for a build or whatever.
Professor Layton and The Curious Village
Picked this one up for Jess and from what I’ve seen it’s a pretty good riddle game. Definitely the kind of game I want my kids to play! It’s smart and endearing and not insulting. It’s also good exercise!
Lost Odyssey
I rented this game mostly to prevent myself from being foolish and buying it, wholly expecting it to be kind of a not-good money-waste-em-up. Well, it turns out I really, really like it! It’s an extra-traditional RPG with a pretty good story and the best music the genre’s heard in years. I’m currently 7 hours in and so far, it’s made me want to keep playing. Also, the bossfights are megafuck hard, which is really welcome to be honest! You also cannot grind to become more powerful, which means that you have to employ new strategy and tactics in order to win every single bossfight! Also, the game makes you sit down and read short stories from time to time, which while uncomfortable, is a ballsy move that makes me respect the Gooch more than I thought I would given his ancient ways. Still, This and Blue Dragon have shown me that I really want Mistwalker to just destroy Square and merge with Enix already.
Burnout Paradise
I finally played one race in this game and then tore it from my 360, cursing its name, and the names of its children, and its children’s children’s children. Seriously. Way to completely miss the point, guys.
Other than that I’ve been playing Super Robot Wars W on my DS and maybe a little Mutant League Football on my Genesis or PSP maybe maybe. Maybe?
on 18 Feb 2008 at 3:06 am 1.Colin C. said …
Why can’t you grind to make the bosses easier? What kind of system is in place to remove that ability?
on 18 Feb 2008 at 9:47 am 2.bburbank said …
This is what I can tell:
Your stats (other than HP) only go up by a very small amount when you level up. Also, according to people who are trying to grind, your level gets capped depending on where you are in the game.
on 18 Feb 2008 at 1:24 pm 3.Julius said …
Burnout is awesome. Have you tried all the different modes? Isn’t the racing what you least liked about the past ones anyways?
on 18 Feb 2008 at 2:29 pm 4.Alex said …
Yeah, I’m totally happy with Burnout, too. And I HATED the last one with a passion. It took me a while to figure out stunt mode in this one (as in, how to do stunts), but even outside of that it’s a great game.
I love the fact that there is no front-end/in-game to load in or out of. The game is just THERE, all the time.
on 18 Feb 2008 at 2:32 pm 5.Alex said …
Also: the races in Burnout are really gay (as in SUPER HARD unless you know ALL THE SHORT CUTS or HAVE A MEGA AWESOME CAR). Try the road rage or survival modes. It’s not fair to judge this game from the race mode alone.
on 18 Feb 2008 at 5:57 pm 6.bburbank said …
It’s more like: When I get a new Burnout it’s because I want a racing game
I guess I’ll try the road rages since those were always pretty fun, but I miss all the fun stuff that was in the last game, and they haven’t done a good job of showing me the new fun stuff from this game in either the demo or my first 30 minutes playing the final release.
on 21 Feb 2008 at 7:45 am 7.mike! said …
How’s Lost Odyssey holding up? I’m on the verge of gathering my quarters together to pick it up.
on 21 Feb 2008 at 11:16 pm 8.ben said …
It’s actually been pretty incredible. I mean, I’m treating it like this: this game feels like an alternate dimension Final Fantasy VIII. The writing is holding up really well and the characters have finally grown on me. I feel like this is an RPG I could play through, and the menus are nice and fast so the battles feel more responsive than Blue Dragon. There are load times, sure, but you’re usually listening to the WONDERFUL MUSIC (seriously good music) (some of it is really good).