E E E 20 10
It's that time of year again.
The 3DS is both less complex and more impressive than I imagined. I feel vindicated now for having stuck with my DS phat all these years instead of buying the Lite or the DSi or any of the other variants.
Skyward Sword's appearance looks like a happy medium between Celda and GRIMDARK ZELDA and that's enough of a success in itself. The footage I saw of the reveal made me think of the Twilight Princess reveal, ironically, for how completely different they were. Skyward Sword got a brief round of applause for being a Zelda and then stony silence when the new Link appeared while Twilight Princess practically caused a riot.
The new trailer for Metroid: Other M gave me chills. Nothing to do with the footage, it was all the music. It was that BGM. Metroid fans will know.
Unlike Metroid I never liked Donkey Kong Country, what little I got to play of it, but I owe Retro Studios enough to try DKC Returns. I expect it'll be good but I don't think it will match Jungle Beat.
New Kid Icarus is more badass than I assumed the series was ever capable of being. Pit's design is reused straight from Brawl but that's appropriate since he wouldn't have earned this game without his reappearance there.
Kirby's Epic Yarn is just pure D'AWWWWWW. Knowing the series it'll probably be finishable in about four hours but D'AWWWWWW.
Sonic Colo(u)rs brings the Hedgehog Engine to Wii and looks barely worse than it did on the PS360. It gives me something from the series to look forward to more than the backward-looking (but still potentially OK) Sonic 4.
The PS3 is getting a Sly Cooper collection. I didn't enjoy the second game as much as the first for some reason, even though all the reviews said it was better, and never played the third. Maybe the promise of doing the first game again will motivate me to complete the trilogy this time.
I had a feeling from the start that MGS Rising might appeal to me in a way the rest of the series doesn't and seeing it in action supported that. I'm willing to give Rising a try since it seems to lack the things I dislike most about Metal Gear (stealth and Solid Snake).
Castlevania: Harmony of Despair is the most recycletastic Metroidvania yet but is also trying to do something new. As usual I was sold at "it's a Metroidvania".
Mortal Kombat is getting a new game that reboots the story back to the era of MK1-3. The nostalgia attracts me more than the promise of the goriest fatalities ever. I'm still not sure why I have this much nostalgia for a series I never owned/played that much of.
MvC3 was apparently playable at the show but videos of the game in action were put online just before it. It already looks excellent, and seeing the returning characters using all their old moves in 3D was a treat in itself, but to me the real stars of these videos were the backgrounds. The city stage is a carnival of cameos while the Kattelox Island stage is a beautiful tribute to everything Mega Man Legends. Also you better get used to Deadpool since everyone is going to be using him.
I can't think of anything clever to say about Portal 2. Whenever I try I can only think of that Turret getting fried by a laser beam and happily chirping "ow, ow, it burns" before exploding. It was somehow sad and hilarious at the same time. For science. You monster.
The most bizarre news of all wasn't a game but gaming-relevant; a new Pacman cartoon that looks about the best result you could get from the concept of "yellow mouth eats pills and ghosts in a neon maze". Pacman was always successful as an icon but his lack of recognisable humanoid traits made it hard for people to see him as a character. This more character-driven approach looks like it's trying to introduce the series to a new generation of children and get more of a fanbase there.
The 3DS is both less complex and more impressive than I imagined. I feel vindicated now for having stuck with my DS phat all these years instead of buying the Lite or the DSi or any of the other variants.
Skyward Sword's appearance looks like a happy medium between Celda and GRIMDARK ZELDA and that's enough of a success in itself. The footage I saw of the reveal made me think of the Twilight Princess reveal, ironically, for how completely different they were. Skyward Sword got a brief round of applause for being a Zelda and then stony silence when the new Link appeared while Twilight Princess practically caused a riot.
The new trailer for Metroid: Other M gave me chills. Nothing to do with the footage, it was all the music. It was that BGM. Metroid fans will know.
Unlike Metroid I never liked Donkey Kong Country, what little I got to play of it, but I owe Retro Studios enough to try DKC Returns. I expect it'll be good but I don't think it will match Jungle Beat.
New Kid Icarus is more badass than I assumed the series was ever capable of being. Pit's design is reused straight from Brawl but that's appropriate since he wouldn't have earned this game without his reappearance there.
Kirby's Epic Yarn is just pure D'AWWWWWW. Knowing the series it'll probably be finishable in about four hours but D'AWWWWWW.
Sonic Colo(u)rs brings the Hedgehog Engine to Wii and looks barely worse than it did on the PS360. It gives me something from the series to look forward to more than the backward-looking (but still potentially OK) Sonic 4.
The PS3 is getting a Sly Cooper collection. I didn't enjoy the second game as much as the first for some reason, even though all the reviews said it was better, and never played the third. Maybe the promise of doing the first game again will motivate me to complete the trilogy this time.
I had a feeling from the start that MGS Rising might appeal to me in a way the rest of the series doesn't and seeing it in action supported that. I'm willing to give Rising a try since it seems to lack the things I dislike most about Metal Gear (stealth and Solid Snake).
Castlevania: Harmony of Despair is the most recycletastic Metroidvania yet but is also trying to do something new. As usual I was sold at "it's a Metroidvania".
Mortal Kombat is getting a new game that reboots the story back to the era of MK1-3. The nostalgia attracts me more than the promise of the goriest fatalities ever. I'm still not sure why I have this much nostalgia for a series I never owned/played that much of.
MvC3 was apparently playable at the show but videos of the game in action were put online just before it. It already looks excellent, and seeing the returning characters using all their old moves in 3D was a treat in itself, but to me the real stars of these videos were the backgrounds. The city stage is a carnival of cameos while the Kattelox Island stage is a beautiful tribute to everything Mega Man Legends. Also you better get used to Deadpool since everyone is going to be using him.
I can't think of anything clever to say about Portal 2. Whenever I try I can only think of that Turret getting fried by a laser beam and happily chirping "ow, ow, it burns" before exploding. It was somehow sad and hilarious at the same time. For science. You monster.
The most bizarre news of all wasn't a game but gaming-relevant; a new Pacman cartoon that looks about the best result you could get from the concept of "yellow mouth eats pills and ghosts in a neon maze". Pacman was always successful as an icon but his lack of recognisable humanoid traits made it hard for people to see him as a character. This more character-driven approach looks like it's trying to introduce the series to a new generation of children and get more of a fanbase there.