Tis the season...for Angelo to make Julian bust his ass on editing.
Welcome to the final standard format episode of Nerds Without Pants of the year! Angelo has the Stage Select, and Julian forgot to write show notes, so let's just get into it!
A game that involves some serious fowl play.
Duck Hunt is an interesting relic of times past and one that I have conflicting feelings about. While it was my earliest NES memory and no doubt fun from what I can remember, it also hasn't aged quite as well as I would have hoped. But sometimes, that's just how it goes with the games we played as children. I suppose the biggest letdown is realizing that the game simply isn't as stimulating to me as it once was, mostly due to its limited nature. At its core, you're just shooting the same objects round after round until you fail to reach the required quota. Be that as it may, Duck Hunt's importance in Nintendo's history cannot be overlooked.
Full disclosure, there are no electricity puns within this game review.
I would call Azure Striker Gunvolt two things; one would be the perfect replacement for a lack of a new Mega Man X/Zero title, and the other being a very meaty 3DS eShop release with high production values. With easy to understand gameplay, a fantastic graphical style and a slew of abilities and optional gear to collect, Azure Striker Gunvolt is a great call back to the 16-bit era of action games and an all around great game despite some design flaws. It even comes with the free game as well!
Crush my brain with an anvil.
It’s hard to believe that a quaint game concept where you play the part of an apprentice arms dealer in an RPG could lead me to a dark place, but it happened. Weapon Shop de Omasse, with its cute exterior, forces you to spend time between intended-to-be-comical character interactions pounding away at the most laborious, repetitive, and malformed rhythm game ever created.
Let’s all put aside our preconceived notions and take a critical look at Suda51’s latest effort.
Misogyny. It’s a word that’s been thrown around in tandem with Killer is Dead since the fated Gigolo Mode was first revealed. However, creator Grasshopper Manufacture has gotten a raw deal. This tongue-in-cheek mode (that only features two unique encounters) has thrown the stars completely out of alignment for the studio and the game at large. The fact of the matter is, Killer is Dead is quite similar to Suda51’s past works. Combining the frantic action of No More Heroes with the third person shooting from Shadows of the Damned and the darker atmosphere offered by Killer7, Killer is Dead is a fantastic fusion of some of Suda51’s oeuvre. The cryptic narrative that undercuts the experience further accentuates the charm of this excellent action game.
Oh poor Mallo, how gravity befalls the blocks you push and pull…
Pushmo was a wonderful surprise back when it was released in 2011; the Intelligent Systems developed puzzle/platforming game took a simple premise and made it a fantastic in-depth game with a nice custom-builder. Much to my surprise and delight, Nintendo and Intelligent Systems made a sequel! Crashmo, like its predecessor, has Mallo pushing and pulling blocks. However, the effects of gravity now play a bigger part in the game, because now the blocks crash to the ground.
No matter your political stance, you would think that a president that flew around and shot missiles would be awesome. Turns out it’s boring.
I thought we had moved past the era of silly touch-screen controls early in the lifespan of the DS, but apparently it still has its proponents. Grasshopper Manufacture and Level 5 have teamed up to make sure that the dying art of crappy stylus futzing stays around a little longer with their joint downloadable venture, Liberation Maiden. Maybe the controls themselves wouldn’t be so objectionable if there was some other entertainment value in the package, but as it is, Liberation Maiden is just a boring series of stylus rubbings in an anime wrapper.
A unique user interface that stood the test of time and provided some fresh ideas about content on a game console.
Now that we’re just waiting around for our Wii U pre-orders to be fulfilled, we’ve started thinking back on our Wii experience. There were great games and there were stupid, gimmicky games. There was the much maligned 480p output and the long wait for external storage. There were also the channels.
