"The game is infamous for its large number of dead ends and obtuse puzzles. Late in the game Graham must navigate a frustrating maze where each room is rotated according to the character's perspective rather than being shown with north always at the top of the screen. There are several actions (or in some cases, the lack of an action) the player can take that render the game impossible to finish. These things can make King's Quest V difficult to complete without resorting to hints."
Hey, you know Mike Tyson's Punch-Out? Wouldn't it be a hell of a thing if you could play Punch-Out with those Gamecube bongos; remember those? Man that would just be the business. Of course, it'll never happen OH WAIT OH MY GOODNESS!!
Jeremy Penner improves the world yet again. More info over at Glorious Trainwrecks.
I’ve been playing some videogames lately, and now I’m going to talk about them. You can’t stop me, so don’t even try.
Metal Gear Solid 4
I finished a second run of MGS4 recently, this time as a ghost – so no alerts and no kills. Or at least that was the plan. I made it through without any alerts okay, but somewhere, somehow, I managed to kill six people without realising it. Don’t ask me how that’s possible, because I honestly don’t know. Maybe I used a real gun when I meant to use the tranq pistol? It’s easy to do – happens on wildlife reserves all the time. A ranger goes to tranquilise a rambunctious rhino, mistakes are made, one thing leads to another, and somehow he ends up shooting it with a bazooka. Totally understandable. In any case, I’ve got a late-game save file I can go back to, if I feel like trying again.
And I probably will try again. Hell, I might just start again from scratch, maybe go for one of the many emblems I haven’t received yet. If I’m in a particularly masochistic mood, I might even take a shot at Big Boss: no alerts, no kills, no healing items, hardest difficulty level, complete in under five hours. Mmmyep. Usually, I wouldn’t even think about subjecting myself to such a ridiculous challenge, but I dunno ... I’m beginning to think that maybe it’ll be fun. After all, although MGS4 is a frustrating game, it is rarely unfairly so. There are a few isolated sequences where you can get screwed by random chance, but for the most part it’s simply a matter of effort and concentration. Oh, and having a magic gun that’s powered by the sun helps as well.
Final Fantasy Tactics A2
I picked this up yesterday, and am enjoying it so far. Having played the sometimes mind-numbingly verbose remake of the original Tactics on PSP, I was pleased to discover that this one doesn’t even have a story. It’s just like, you’re this guy who gets sucked into an alternate universe, and then you join a gang and fight monsters. And that’s pretty much the whole premise right there. I mean, obviously things will develop, and I’m sure there will be many INTERESTING CHARACTERS and IMPORTANT EVENTS and such, but for now it’s just game game game with minimal interruption.
And how is said game game game? Well, it’s still early days, but so far I’d say it’s pretty good good good. As most of the reviews have said, it’s very much like the original Tactics Advance, only more so. I know! Who’d have guessed, right? Anyway, I might do a proper review later on, but ... um ... probably not.
OH, ALMOST FORGOT!
After receiving many more entries than I anticipated, I have decided on a winner for my impromptu Win a Copy of Apollo Justice comp. And that winner is...
CODY BOZARTH
One of the very first entries to arrive, Cody’s haiku is a perfect summary of what it’s like to play a Phoenix Wright/Apollo Justice game. It goes like this:
Do you save before
Presenting evidence? Well...
No man is perfect.
Seriously, how clever is that? It’s pretty damn clever. Anyway, Cody, if you could send me an email with your address in, I’ll get the game out to you as soon as possible. Congratulations! And thanks to everyone else who entered too – even those of you who openly admitted that you wanted to sell the game eBay. You didn’t win, but I appreciate your honesty nonetheless.
APOLOGETIC EDIT: I apologise to anyone who might have read this post thinking it would be about Dr. Who. I don't even watch Dr. Who –that headline is just a non-sequitur from a conversation I had earlier today. It has nothing to do with MGS4, Final Fantasy Tactics, or haikus. That doesn't make it any less true, mind you, but still.
I just got an email from Kenichi Nishi (Giftpia, Chibi-Robo, Archime-DS/LOL), letting me know about his new game, and linking me to its website. As you can read for yourself, it’s called Newtonica, it’s coming out on July 11, and it’s for the freakin’ iPhone! Oh, and the publisher is ‘Field System’, whoever they are.
That’s it. I know as much as you do, at this point! But July 11 is not far off, so we will all know more very soon.
Followers of Kenichi’s blog will know that he is a Mac devotee, so his choice of platform is not a big surprise, but as someone who doesn’t own an iPhone and likely never will, I’m inclined to do a little pouty face. But maybe Newtonica will follow the same path as, for example, Lumines, and eventually make its way to as many systems as possible. I hope so!
Speaking of Lumines, I wonder if Newtonica will be some sort of music game. Kenichi told me in person, with some passion, that he wants to make a music game one day – maybe this is it? Then again, he has a lot of ideas...
Anyway! News! How about that; we’re a proper website after all.
SUDDEN EDIT: I just realised! The name Archime-DS was a pun on 'Archimedes', and now we have 'Newton' in Newtonica. Will Route 24's next game be called Einstein-something? STAY FUCKING TUNED!
ANOTHER EDIT: Maybe I guessed right about it being a music game! In his blog entry announcing Newtonica, Kenichi describes it with the phrase "visual & sound", and I think he also calls it addictive. Actually, I think he says something like, "Please get addicted to..." but honestly my Japanese is just awful so take all this with a grain of salt.
HOORAY EDIT:Designated Friend of Eegra Rebecca Clements kindly provides this rough translation of the blog entry mentioned above:
New Game Announcement!
The title is ‘newtonica’. A big little title with the participation of that person. [I don't know what he means here. – Rebecca]
Please imagine a game with minimalist concept visuals and sound.
By the way, I came up with the original concept, and also did the planning and directing.
Details will be officially released bit by bit on the newtonica website so make sure to check there.
There are banners available too, so feel free to help us advertise!
For details and so on, contact us [here].
Yours truly.
Make of that what you will. Personally, the phrase ‘minimalist concept visuals and sound’ makes me think of the ‘bit Generations’ series. Also, Rebecca is perplexed by the phrase literally translated as “with the participation of that person”, but we think the intended meaning might – might – be something like, “This is a title for everybody.”
I’m back in Sydney’s Inner West at the moment, and on Saturday, on my way to Newtown station, I passed through the markets on the other side of the road. And you know how people make Mario and stuff by sticking little plastic beads together? Well I saw a bit of that! Check it out, homedogs:
I reckon brooches made from an old keyboard is a great idea:
All of this was done by two people who call themselves ‘SkullMonkey’:
They have a MySpace page, if you do the MySpace thing. Probably there is a way to contact them, and/or order their doodads? I’m not sure! I am an old man and find MySpace loud and confusing. But they were friendly and polite in person! Hi guys!
First off, here is a funny comic from forum regular Valdez_Leel. It is about movies and videogames and AIDS:
Attentive readers will no doubt recognise Mr. Leel as the author of this excellent God of War II review. He is a pretty cool dude! (If you want to tell him as much, go here.)
Also, here is a funny comic from me, about my laptop:
I lied: that is neither funny, nor a comic. It is true, though.
And now, an aghast puppy:
TOMORROW: A proper update, but only if my laptop starts working again. Otherwise, disgusted kittens.
If you thought Nintendo games were just mushrooms and princesses, think again! I've been playing their new game, Animal Crossing, and wow, it's pretty 'out there'! Only the Japanese could have made something this wacky!
Here's a new review.
I wrote it just for you.
I know it's late,
And out of date,
But it'll have to do.
(Actually, the whole thing turned more like an opinion column than anything else, but WHATEVER. I put it in the reviews section because I JUST DON'T GIVE A SHIT, MAN.)
"The game is infamous for its large number of dead ends and obtuse puzzles. Late in the game Graham must navigate a frustrating maze where each room is rotated according to the character's perspective rather than being shown with north always at the top of the screen. There are several actions (or in some cases, the lack of an action) the player can take that render the game impossible to finish. These things can make King's Quest V difficult to complete without resorting to hints."
I picked this up yesterday, and am enjoying it so far. Having played the sometimes mind-numbingly verbose remake of the original Tactics on PSP, I was pleased to discover that this one doesn’t even have a story. It’s just like, you’re this guy who gets sucked into an alternate universe, and then you join a gang and fight monsters. And that’s pretty much the whole premise right there. I mean, obviously things will develop, and I’m sure there will be many INTERESTING CHARACTERS and IMPORTANT EVENTS and such, but for now it’s just game game game with minimal interruption.
If you thought Nintendo games were just mushrooms and princesses, think again! I've been playing their new game, Animal Crossing, and wow, it's pretty 'out there'! Only the Japanese could have made something this wacky!
Here's a new review.
We went to Supanova and promoted the website and met people and saw things with our eyes. Here is a feature all about that -- and more?