platformer
I, apparently, am an idiot. That’s the impression I get from this First Opinion on The Cave, Ron Gilbert and Double Fine’s new platformer/adventure game.
Cargo Commander (which I keep accidentally calling Cargo Container) is a unique experience. Since it’s going to take me a little while to formulate a proper review, here’s a First Opinion to tide everyone over.
Awesomenauts was released on the consoles in May but I didn’t get around to playing it then. Now, with its release on Steam, I was able to give this 2D, sidecroller/platformer/MOBA mashup a try. As a casual MOBA fan, I was looking forward to this.
We’re a little late in this review, and I considered not doing it at all. Epic Mickey is a unique title that, for all of it’s ambitions, does little to impress me.
There’s something to be said for the current state of gaming that something like our current subject, Kirby’s Epic Yarn, can elicit such a positive response from the press and gamers alike. It’s not hard, it’s not violent, it’s not dark, and it’s certainly not mature. In fact, it’s easy, friendly, bright, and cute almost to a fault. So why is it that gamers, who we are told are beyond the cute and childish games of yore and want serious, mature themes these days, can still enjoys titles like this one? Because above all, it fills that primal need we started this hobby for – it’s fun.
I loved Super Mario Galaxy. I in fact loved it so much that it received e-AAGH.net’s Game of the Year award in 2007. When a sequel was announced – the first time a console Mario title had a follow up since the NES days – I was excited. As time wore on, though, and we heard next to nothing of it’s development, my excitement wore down. The hype brewed back up prior to release, but when other reviewers were throwing 10/10s at it, I was hopeful and skeptical at the same time. Really? A game that was that good back in 2007 got a sequel and it’s even better? How? I was to find out when I got my hands on it that the hype is for real – even if perfect scores aren’t a perfect fit.
When I reviewed New Super Mario Bros. for the Nintendo DS, I loved it and went lengths to explain how much I liked it. In that light, since this is the evolution of that concept, I’m not going to go in depth about the base concept or Nintendo going back to basics here. Instead, let’s cover what makes this a great game.
I’m a big-time Mario fan. I’ve played every Mario platformer I know of and can talk Mario with anybody. With that in mind, I was excited to play Super Mario Galaxy. I was mildly worried about being stuck on little orbs the whole game, and I wasn’t sure how I’d handle the Wii controls, but now that I’ve put my time in with it, I can say that this is one of the best games I have ever played. Continue reading