General gaming

General gaming

Akai Katana Review: A Bleedin' All Right Time

Posted: 17 May 2012 06:26 AM PDT

Everyone's favorite purveyor of exceedingly niche shoot-em-ups, Cave, is back again with Akai Katana, a welcome -- and rare -- appearance of one of their console games localized for the West. Not only that, it's a boxed retail game, and crazier yet, it's another horizontal bullet-hell shooter, just like their last Western retail release, Deathsmiles. And if Deathsmiles' gothic lolita stylings sent you running in the opposite direction, Akai Katana is a much more palatable action game, set in a world where young rebels use their warplanes and the power of the mystical Blood Swords to combat the endless hordes of imperial forces. Yeah, no one really plays these for the plots.

As in every shooter, you fly around the screen destroying enemies that appear from the other side of the screen, using regular speedy fire or more powerful, focused fire that slows your movement. The wrinkle in Akai Katana is that killing enemies earns energy orbs that will let you summon your "phantom." With enough energy you can switch to phantom form, where you become your humanoid spirit partner, who is invincible as long as you don't use the stronger fire. As enemy bullets bounce off the phantom, you can move left and right to bat the bullets around and turn them into point value tokens, though they don't last forever and neither does the phantom energy meter, so you'll have to know when to switch forms and collect them for your big scores.

Game of Thrones Review: An Example of Mediocre Interactive Fanfiction

Posted: 16 May 2012 03:51 PM PDT

Consider the following scenario from the Game of Thrones RPG: you get tasked with infiltrating a secure location, and beforehand you assemble a proper uniform -- gauntlets, boots, cape, and helmet -- to gain access. This sequence conjures up the same sort of tension as watching Tywin Lannister and Littlefinger's conversation at Harrenhal in the current season of the show, or reading the duel between The Red Viper and The Mountain That Rides from A Storm of Swords. There's a lot at stake, and one mistake could turn the whole affair catastrophic; but this time, you're in control of this tense situation. You walk up to a guard at a checkpoint, and he asks if he knows you because you seem familiar to him; to this, you reply that you have a very common face that elicits such a question often. Except, as noted earlier, not only are you in disguise, but as part of that disguise, you had put on a full helmet that completely envelops and obscures your face.

That kind of moment embodies playing Game of Thrones, where the occasional moments of intrigue and interest get stymied by bizarre little gaffes, mistakes, and janks. Why is there a conversation about the look of my face when I have a helmet on? It's not an instance of randomized NPC chatter that delightfully skips over the detail of whether the player is wearing a helmet or not -- it's a specific and scripted moment in a mandatory story quest that somehow got past the game's writers and testing.

A Tale of Two Television Games

Posted: 16 May 2012 02:27 PM PDT

It's certainly not easy to make a game based off a hit television series; one has to only look back at properties like Buffy, The X-Files, and The Sopranos to find examples of fantastic shows that transitioned into video games via bland and uninspired adaptations. And the less said about the Home Improvement SNES game featuring dinosaurs, the better. Observing this sad trend makes it all the more surprising that Telltale was able to create a fantastic opening to their downloadable series based on The Walking Dead. Sadly the success that they had with the AMC hit caused an old wound to open in the form of us thinking about the potential behind 2008's Lost: Via Domus, and how it failed in every aspect that The Walking Dead succeeds.

Ubisoft Montreal released their adaptation of the ambitious ABC series at the very end of Lost's third season. As the season finale dramatically widened the scope of the series, Lost: Via Domus attempted to retread over the first 60 episodes by placing fans in the shoes of a brand new character. What followed was a bland, uninspired trod through the jungle without any focus whatsoever. Characters from the show would randomly pop-up for the sole purpose of having fans recognize them, and strange gameplay mechanics were shoehorned for no apparent reason. In short, the game was a bit of a mess. So why is it that Telltale was able to succeed with The Walking Dead where Ubisoft failed with Lost?

walking dead

Understanding the Source Material

Square's Theatrhythm Goes Back to Midgar on Nintendo's 3DS

Posted: 16 May 2012 02:21 PM PDT

Ever since Square unveiled the Final Fantasy VII tech demo back in E3 of 2005, fans have been demanding the company bring their 1997 RPG classic to the era of HD consoles. Instead of delivering on the goods, however, Square decided to instead release port after port of their 2D Final Fantasies, along with the 13th (and unfortunately 14th) iteration of the series. With Final Fantasy XIII receiving mixed reviews and Final Fantasy XIV tainting the brand, it seems fans just want a reminder of why they loved the series in the first place. Instead of something new and different, Final Fantasy enthusiasts ultimately crave a prettier version of VII.
Posted by Shri Krishna

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