General gaming

General gaming

The Vita Launch Round-Up: Part Two

Posted: 14 Feb 2012 05:30 PM PST

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The Vita Launch Round-Up: Part Two
 Our quick takes on the rest of the Vita launch lineup.

By 1UP Staff

Yesterday, we posted some reviews and capsule impressions on about half of the PlayStation Vita's launch lineup. As you might have noticed, it was a pretty Sony CEA-centric half. Today, the embargo has lifted for pretty much everything else. Some other reviews and posts will go live as embargos lift, but in the meantime, here are our not-quite-reviews of a lot of third-party Vita games.

Army Corps of Hell
It's not the Pikmin game we want... but maybe it's the Pikmin game we deserve. Army Corps may wear the Square Enix name and make you want to bang your head and make devil horns with your fingers, but make no mistake: This is a game designed very much in the spirit of Nintendo's RTS classics for GameCube (thanks in large part to sharing key creative personnel). Still, despite the similarity of play mechanics -- you're a dude who controls dozens of little minions divided into three different classes with distinct abilities, and you attack foes by chucking your servants at them -- don't go thinking this is just Pikmin with a Satan-colored coat of paint. It's a far more linear kind of experience than its inspiration, more akin to a time attack or boss rush than Pikmin's leisurely exploration was. That doesn't make it bad; merely different. We're still working on our full review of the game, but if you can stomach its rather high price tag it's definitely one of the most notable and entertaining selections of the Vita launch lineup.

Touch My Katamari Review: Not as Clever as It Wants to be

Posted: 14 Feb 2012 09:05 AM PST

"Some say I've been lazy," admits the King of All Cosmos in the opening sequence of Touch My Katamari. "Phoning it in." This is meant to be hilarious -- that crazy King, always so pompous, yet vain enough to be stung by criticism! -- but the wittiness of the whole thing is badly undermined by the fact that Touch My Katamari is lazy. Namco is, in fact, phoning it in.

Of course, the best parody is that which rings of the truth. In that sense, sure, this game is pretty parodic. Damningly so, I'd say. The problem is that I don't think it was meant to be self-satire; certainly it's not an exercise in self-reflection. All this talk of apathy and flabbiness are meant to be loving, tongue-in-cheek pokes at the character, not a frank assessment of the software itself. So, it's either a joke that reflects a jarring lack of self-awareness by the developers, or else it's a snide middle finger to the player: Yeah, this game is warmed-over, recycled content, but we're gonna fix that! By... making you do the exact same things you did in the last five Katamari games. Thanks for the 30 bones, suckers.

Lumines Electronic Symphony Review: Still a Dazzling Mix of Sight And Sound

Posted: 14 Feb 2012 09:05 AM PST

For puzzle game fiends like myself, the original Lumines injected a massive amount of sound-appeal into a pretty standard genre. It's not that catchy music didn't exist in puzzle games before its PSP debut (or have their own brand of audio/visual charm either), but no game in the genre I played before mixed the two together so well. Lumines exists in a delicate framework: one where each piece of the experience complements the other, and where developer Q Entertainment shows its impressive music-bending muscle. Take away the quirky audio samples, funky music, or puzzle mechanics, and the other components just wouldn't hold my interest. It's an example of a game that pulses to a special beat and, similar to any top-notch puzzler, one where the mechanics shine after repeated play.

While the gameplay exists in a careful balance of visuals and sound, Lumines is also one of the few games where I'm resistant to change; and a lot of that has to do with how well the mechanics of the first game worked. So I'm grateful that Lumines: Electronic Symphony doesn't try to complicate its familiar block-matching formula with unnecessary additions. For the uniformed: colored block clusters (consisting of four squares and up to two color tones) drop from the top of the screen and can be rotated left or right. The end goal is for players to match up four squares of the same color and clear away blocks before they pile up to the top of the screen. A scrolling timeline (that passes from left to right) erases matching block clusters, and adds them to your score. A helpful list of colored blocks to the left of the playing field shows the pattern of the next three incoming pieces, so there's plenty of room for strategy as well.

Why We Love Games

Posted: 14 Feb 2012 07:51 AM PST

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Why We Love Games

A celebration of the little things that elevate games from good to great.

By: 1UP Staff February 14, 2012

Valentine's Day is all about love. This year, we figured you've probably seen enough nearly identical "Top 10 Games to Play With Your Girlfriend" pieces across the web (ProTip: Try Bubble Bobble), so we've decided instead to step back and look at a different kind of love altogether -- our love for games. What we realized is that what makes us love this crazy hobby has more to do with specific details, not big experiences. We've put together a tribute to some of the most memorable moments we've ever experienced in games -- not necessarily the big set-pieces that were carefully calculated to make an impression, but rather the little things that have stuck with us through the years. On consoles, PCs, arcade machines, and portables, these are the artful, loving incidentals and twists that have turned us into the fans we are. Some are profound, some are utterly trivial, but each one resonated with us.

Keep in mind, this isn't some comprehensive list of gaming's greatest moments; it's simply a reflection on our personal favorites. Everyone has their own, and everyone's are different -- so please, share yours!

God of War Creator Calls Story-Driven Games a Waste of Time and Money

Posted: 13 Feb 2012 03:59 PM PST

When I first downloaded God of War creator David Jaffe's PSN game, Calling All Cars, I didn't quit playing until my thumbs literally grew too sore to continue. The game borrowed heavily from NBA Jam despite its cops & robbers aesthetic, and like that arcade classic, my friends and I fought down to the wire in every round. Though Jaffe has in the past referred to the game as a "mistake," I would place it above the original God of War as my favorite game of his. I know it seems strange to value a forgotten PSN downloadable title above one of the best PS2 games of all time, but I've come to a point where I prefer experiences that don't aspire to tell a grand story, and I'm thankful that game creators like Jaffe feel the same way.

Jaffe explained his feelings to other game makers in a presentation recorded by Gamespot at last week's DICE summit, "My talk is actually a warning about why we shouldn't tell stories with our video games. I think it's a bad idea. I think it's a waste of resources and time and money and more importantly I think it actually stunts, and has stunted over the last ten years or so, the medium of video games."

Posted by Shri Krishna

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