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Showing posts from June, 2018

The Post-E3 Games Showcase Era, Summer 2024 Highlights: Part I

In the ashes of the Electronic Entertainment Expo, amid the bloat and pretense of the games industry, always must there be a presentation... always must there be game trailers... and always must there be those who commentate. So it is we find ourselves in the aftermath of this year's collected summer showcases, a cavalcade of announcements and information to parse in its wake. For my part, I set forth to once again note the games (and, occasionally, people or moments) that stood out - for good or ill. Today, we tackle that which was displayed at Sony's State of Play, the OTK Games Expo, and the Summer Game Fest... Sony State of Play The High Point: Astro Bot Is it nakedly playing off of lingering nostalgia for various Sony properties, current and forgotten? Yes.  Is it unmistakably taking cues from other more successful platformer series? Absolutely. Nevertheless, the team at Sony seem to have nailed the charm when it comes to their robot mascot, which is half the battle for cr...
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Kurt's E3 2018 Round-up Spectacular! Part 4

Nintendo Rather Interesting - Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Don't care if it's "just" all the old fighters in a new package (which, as the footage made clear, it isn't). Don't care if it's functionally a high-definition port of previously-showcased Smash Bros maps, items and game mechanics. It's the biggest in scale, the largest in roster, and potentially the most ambitious in terms of detail and design. And can we just appreciate for one goddamn second that every fighter in Smash history is coming back for this game! No question, this is awesome. Runner-up - Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu/Let's Go Eevee GAH! Your starter Pokemon follows your player character outside of its Pokeball. You catch wild Pokemon not by battling it, but with luring it and carefully tossing Pokeballs a la Pokemon Go. All of the original 150 Pokemon, rendered as 3D models, in what appears to be a lovely recreation of the Kanto region. Okay, I dig where this is goin...
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Kurt's E3 2018 Round-Up Spectacular! Part 3

PC Gaming Rather Interesting - Maneater You're a shark in this one, you eat people. It's the reversal on Jaws I never expected nor thought I needed in my life, yet cannot imagine a world without. Silly malarkey, but of a breed that I appreciate thoroughly. Runner-up - Sable Drawing upon much more offbeat influences than many in the post-apocalypse genre (Belgian comics and Studio Ghibli films were specifically name-checked), the unorthodox look of Sable's world   makes me positively eager to see more of it in action. Has Potential - Two Point Hospital My biggest hang-up here is not having familiarity with Two Point Hospital 's spiritual predecessor, Theme Hospital . Beyond that, everything I've seen and heard tells me this'll be a quirky and charming hospital sim with a lot of fun scenarios to play through. Runner-up - The Walking Dead: The Final Season Not having followed up with Telltale's run of Walking Dead titles since Season 2 , I fi...
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Kurt's E3 2018 Round-Up Spectacular! Part 2

Square Enix Rather Interesting - Kingdom Hearts III Okay, I'm not so much of a grump that Disney's big, flashy, multi-million dollar exercise in nostalgia pandering - and also some Square Enix role-playing - can't warm my weary heart. Sora and company look swell in their new costumes, the mix of Disney's cartoon fantasy aesthetic and  Final Fantasy 's anime influences positively shine in high-definition, and by god (all the gods) the worlds on display are astounding. Monsters, Inc.! Tangled! Frozen! Wreck-It Ralph!  That third  Pirates of the Caribbean  movie that went on a bit too long, yet still managed to be the last time one of those films was any good! Whatever weird and borderline convoluted turns the game takes, I sense that  Kingdom Hearts III  will pack more than enough charm and splendor in its every seam to keep people hooked. Runner-up - The Keith David narration Spoiler: the Square Enix presentation was bad. Said very little, only s...
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Kurt's E3 2018 Round-Up Spectacular! Part 1

Electronic Arts Rather Interesting - Unravel 2 I'm not personally familiar with the original Unravel, so I can't speak to its quality. But I found myself drawn into the latest plight of the little yarn creature Yarny with surprising ease. The exquisite naturalistic environments shown in Unravel 2's trailer - staggered terrain obscured by plentiful long grass, moss-coated trees that could be clambered using the twin Yarny's connective string - beautifully contrasted with the brighter, simpler style of the red Yarny and his blue companion. That they went a step further and announced it was available for sale the day of the conference  is especially astounding. Okay, y'all have grabbed my attention, well played. Runner-up - Sea of Solitude I want to see more before I draw any further conclusions, but the nervous excitement of the on-stage writer/director (Cornelia Geppert) coupled with the artistry of what footage was shown gives me hope. I can appr...
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Review: LATER ON

Developer/Publisher: Penumbra Games Release Date: January 26, 2018 Version Played: PC Copy purchased for review There’s a definite hole to be filled where once stood classics like Silent Hill, Siren and Alone in the Dark .  Those seminal works of the survival horror genre knew better than most how to toy with audience expectations, using a synthesis of cutting-edge audio-visual technology and compelling writing to scare the living crap out of you.  Everything from the underplayed cosmic horror of Lovecraft to the familiar yet grotesque extremes of Barker was drawn upon for inspiration, and it enriched rather than undermined these vital entries in the genre. Later On doesn’t quite hit that same level of quality or cultural relevance, not by a long shot.  It’s constrained very much by the tools and scope of its construction, and feels like it pulls punches or avoids essential detail where such elements would do the most good.  Yet there’s a hard-to-resist a...
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Review: ALMA

Developer: Turquesa Studios Publisher: Turquesa Studios Release Date: January 17, 2018 Version Played: PC Copy purchased for review Some games break my goddamn heart, that's for sure. I see their potential, I recognize full well that there's genuine effort and care being put into (some aspects of) the production, and I brace for the inevitable realization that this work in question just isn't very good. Alma has wound up being one such game. It drew me in initially with a compelling premise and visual style, before grinding me down to seething contempt with game mechanics as infuriating in practice as they are half-baked in conception. Every time it seemed like something might potentially work - rare as the prospect was - the game ended up pulling out the rug from underneath me. After the first few instances of this, it soon became clear nothing would redeem the failings of Alma . Not. One. Damn. Thing. The setup's not half bad, though. Our heroine of c...
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