One of Super Meat Boy’s most delightful flourishes is the way it ushers in each new batch of levels with the music from Dramatic Look. Why this allusion exists is anybody’s guess, but it epitomizes how Super Meat Boy, at times, wants to be about anything but itself. And for the most part, that’s okay.
MINECRAFT REVIEW, BLACK OPS TIPS - You might say that Minecraft hit the big time today. Featured in a Penny Arcade comic — amusing even if you haven’t played the game — developer Mojang Specifications will surely reap thousands of new sales, despite the game’s alpha status and $9 price tag.
I’m fortunate enough to have been in on the joke — I use that term intentionally, and I’ll explain later — for a couple months now. I’ve dabbled in mashing mountains, cutting down trees and slaughtering a variety of fauna, all in service of building man-made structures in an otherwise pristine natural environment.
The recurring theme in reviews of God of War III, released today for the Playstation 3, is “epic,” a word that’s often tossed around when a game’s scale is too large for more descriptive words. Normally, I’d expect more caution with this sort of thing, but it appears that God of War III has left several reviewers gasping for adjectives, only able to communicate in cliché how good the game is.
Destructoid’s Nick Chester notes that “epic” is an overused word, but then says God of War III “truly redefines ‘epic’ in shocking and unexpected ways you may not have thought were possible.”
In fact, from start to finish, the game never really lets up. It’s full of more “holy crap” and “seriously, did that just happen?” moments than any game in recent memory, pushing the boundaries of both violence (yes, Kratos is at his most brutal here) and presentation.
If the headline isn’t an indication, this Heavy Rain review is full of spoilers. The decisions you make in the game, and their consequences, deserve an open discussion. For a consumer report, go to Metacritic or Gamespot, or take my spoiler-free endorsement: Heavy Rain, despite its numerous flaws, gets into your head, if you let it. Players who look for cracks in the structure or plot will be disappointed with the finished product, while those who suspend their disbelief and invest themselves in their characters will be rewarded in ways that make most games seem childish and pointless. Spoilers begin in the next paragraph. You’ve been warned.
There’s no question that Final Fantasy XIII is a beautiful, dramatic affair, but according to reviews of the game, released outside of Japan today for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, it’s also a departure for the series. The verdicts aren’t much different than we heard in December, when Final Fantasy XIII was released in Japan: Open worlds, mini-games and exploration are hacked away in favor of eye-popping cutscenes and fast-moving narrative. Whether that appeals to you depends on personal preference.
Forget a straightforward Battlefield: Bad Company 2 review; you’re probably wondering if the game’s better than Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. The game was released today for Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and Windows, so let’s give in to temptation in this review roundup and get right to what the critics thought.
1UP’s Thierry Nguyen believes that developer DICE flaunts both its similarities and differences with Modern Warfare 2:
The daring comes from a mix of sly dialogue moments (disparaging remarks get made about snowmobiles and rifles-with-heartbeat-monitors), to copy-and-paste jobs of COD situations (using air support while cornering a villain in a safehouse, a vicious firefight aboard an airplane, providing support as either a sniper or a helicopter gunner). Though, for the latter, it seems to be … a “we’re not copying, we’re doing it better” moment.
You’re going to love Aliens vs. Predator, or you’re going to hate it, say a handful of conflicting reviews of the game, released today for Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC. Aliens vs. Predator puts you in the role of both the eponymous creatures, plus an unfortunate human caught in the middle of their interstellar war. The result is a shooter that could cure your nostalgia for the original Alien and Predator films, but it could bore and frustrate you. PC Zone calls the game “deliciously gory, unwaveringly confident and spectacular fun,” and a “brilliantly authentic and cinematic experience.” But GameSpot says “three mediocre games are jammed into a single package,” and “the result is still mediocre.”
Bioshock 2, released today for Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC, is getting good-to-great reviews. I’ve kept the game at arm’s length because I have this thing about video game endings where I just want them to end, already, and Bioshock’s conclusion was poetic enough that it could’ve been a great send-off for the literary-minded first-person shooter. But once my current plate is cleared, Bioshock 2 seems worth a second look, still with a grain of skepticism. Here’s a change of heart from GamesRadar:
First, a confession. We thought BioShock 2 was a mistake. … While we desperately wished to revisit the haunting underwater dystopia of Rapture, we suspected that doing so would ruin, or at least diminish, the thematic significance of the initial trip. To us, BioShock was one-of-a-kind, not one-of-a-franchise.
Well, you know what? We were wrong. Somehow, with less than three years of development time and without the direct involvement of creator Ken Levine, the BioShock team has pulled off another masterpiece.
Mass Effect 2 is out today, and if the reviews are spot-on, Xbox 360 owners and PC gamers would be doing themselves a disservice by not picking it up. We’re not even through January, and some critics reckon they’ve got a game of the year on their hands. “So, Mass Effect 2 is easily my favorite game on 360, probably my game of the year, and in my top 5. Yep. In January,” Mitch Dyer, who writes for GamePro and Official Xbox Magazine, wrote on Twitter. My buddy Eddie Inzauto, director of GamerNode, has been raving about the game for days. Formal reviews are just as bubbly.
