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My, that’s a polished turd!
Beautiful aesthetics, wonderful music, and just about perfect controls are all you could hope for in a platformer save one very important factor and this eluded me for a while. I couldn’t figure out with so many great things going on in Pid why I hated it so very deeply. Eventually I realized that its well-crafted elements were completely overwhelmed by the boring, mediocre, and at times maddening level design. It’s a shame that the designers primarily focused on the window dressing bits instead of considering all the things you would actually be doing when you play. Pid struggles with knowing what sort of levels it wants to present, switching from puzzles to difficult platforming to stealth to long periods of just waiting around or running in a straight line. Each of these disparate level types (and more) are middling at best on their own and when combined are a complete drag. Pid’s wonderful presentation can’t save it from the tedium packed into every single minute of its tortuous length.
With a bigger budget, 505 could've had a real hit on their hands.
I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to turn in my gamer card for this one, but Funky Barn is a legitimately fun game. I know it sounds like shovelware garbage, and it does seem like it was built on the budget of such a title, but the farm sim is actually competent in its design, complete with an addictive game loop. Unfortunately the game's low budget is painfully obvious – from the low quality art to the long loading times to the hard freezes, Funky Barn has a healthy dose of anti-funk.
Lighting effects in a Mario game are still kind of weird to see.
Being the fourth entry in the series, prepending “New” to the title seems disingenuous. Despite tossing in a new power-up in the form of a flying squirrel suit, New Super Mario Bros. U is more of the same tried-and-true gameplay the series is known for. Don’t get me wrong, this is not a bad thing, but it’s hard not to feel some fatigue with the now familiar art style, level layout, and presentation. Despite this fatigue, there’s little question that New Super Mario Bros. U is the strongest title in the subseries and a fond callback to both Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World.
The crystal began shedding its light silently....
Welcome to the final part of PixlBit’s comprehensive look at the Final Fantasy series. In our last installment, we went through the PlayStation 2 era, which took the series into uncharted territory, for better or worse. This time, we look at the most recent Final Fantasy games, which have gone on to become the most divisive and controversial games in the series so far. Join us as we explore the Seventh Generation years!
This should have been a simple port, but something went awfully wrong along the way.
The Warriors series caters to a very particular type of gamer. It’s the gamer that enjoys the most simple of things when it comes to their hobby. The level of entry needs to highly accessible – mechanics relegated to a few basics that can be picked up with ease, even if mastering them takes some practice. The gamer needs to feel powerful – the ability to take on huge swathes of enemies at a time with little effort. There should be collectables of the low hanging fruit variety, with the larger goal of “completion” nestled at the end, just out of reach, but completely attainable.
The douche bag sim you never knew you wanted.
I never expected to become so enamored with a game where you inhabit the body of the hugest douche bag to ever visit the South Pacific, but it happened. After suffering through a fairly irritating opening sequence, you eventually find that you are free to explore the Rook Islands at whatever pace you desire. In some of my early self-paced explorations, I decided to stealthily capture an enemy outpost. Hiding in the bushes and taking stock of what foes lay within the compound, I heard the loud roar of a tiger that charged into the outpost and slaughtered everyone inside while my knife and gun remained completely unused. I conquered that outpost by letting the game’s systems collide and work in my favor. These types of situations happen continuously in Far Cry 3 and whether they were to my benefit or demise, it’s always a blast to witness. It’s these interacting systems that make Far Cry 3 a special experience that is worth playing, despite the grating narrative.
Final Fantasy gains a voice, and faith in the series begins to waver for the first time.
Welcome to the fourth part of our long look at the Final Fantasy series, in celebration of its 25th anniversary. In our last installment, we talked about how Square stunned the gaming world by leaving their longtime home of Nintendo platforms for the shiny new world of CD technology with Sony's PlayStation. This time, we look at the series in its somewhat shaky transition to voice acting, a controversial but successful transition into the online space, and the first game in the series to have real problems behind the scenes.
Final Fantasy leaves Nintendo and goes 3D
Welcome to the third part of our comprehensive look at the history of the Final Fantasy series, celebrating 25 years of role playing goodness. In the last edition, we cast the spotlight on three of the most highly regarded games in the series. This time we break into the third dimension and watch the franchise move into the mainstream. Join us now as we look at the PlayStation Years!
Go on a visual, and personal journey with JD while he plays through...well, Journey!
In the post-mordem of a really tough semester, I decided to play Journey and reflect on the past few months as well as talk about my thoughts on gaming this year...and of course my opinions on Journey. Hope you enjoy!
