Released: February 9, 2004Played on: 3DS (Virtual Console) We all have our strengths and weaknesses. With effort and work, these weaknesses can be improved upon, and their prominence can be minimized by other factors, such as our overall investment or interest in the task at hand. Of my many weaknesses when it comes to playing video games, the Metroid series has always seemed to be a nexus of the worst of them. Poor ability to keep track of previous locations? Check. Poor ability in combat/platforming requiring tight controls? Check. Solving environmental puzzles requiring lateral thinking? Check. This has kept me Continue Reading
Video Games
Foundation Year: Sonic the Hedgehog
Released: June 23, 1991Played on: 3DS (Sega 3D Classics) As with most video game enjoyers, the holes in my personal Video Game history are defined by the consoles I was fortunate enough to have access to growing up. I have had access to a PC for pretty much my entire recorded memory, but my first console was an N64. We made the switch to an Xbox to get in on Halo, followed by a 360, and then a switch to PS4. I had every Nintendo handheld at one point or another but was mainly a Game Boy kid. Notably, I Continue Reading
Video Games Foundation Year Syllabus
As I have grown older, I have experienced what many of my ilk have also experienced – I listen to more podcasts and read more posts about my hobbies than I actually partake in them. Nowhere is this more the case than with video games, where the siren’s call of yet another Madden or NHL franchise save eats up the majority of the time I actually have to sit down with a controller in my hands, and Pokémon eats most of the rest. I have tried to catalog and organize my backlog, but this does not solve the issue, and Continue Reading
Why Did The Twist in Knights of the Old Republic Work?
or PLEASE DO NOT ADAPT KNIGHTS OF THE OLD REPUBLIC In the post-Rise of Skywalker era of Star Wars, fans frequently call for the return of material from the Expanded Universe (EU) or Legends. Dissatisfaction with where ROS left the story has left fans eager to revisit material from an age when they were happy with Star Wars. This sentiment has only grown with the work of uber-fan Dave Filoni and his Mando-verse, which has reintroduced favorite Legends characters into canon. Recently, for example, Ahsoka brought Grand Admiral Thrawn to live action. As Filoni works through the top of the Continue Reading
Thirty Flights of Loving
Some games have blown my mind with the quality of their storytelling. Braid’s clever use of familiar cliches told us about how perspective changes everything. Red Dead Redemption told us an amazing tale worthy of Leone. Metal Gear Solid 3 made you pull the trigger on Naked Snake’s mentor, the best use of integrating gameplay into storytelling I’ve ever seen. But I’ve never come across anything like Thirty Flights of Loving. To be fair, I’ve never come across anything else labelled a “Video Game Short Story” either, but Thirty Flights of Loving’s storytelling prowess isn’t fundamentally anchored to its gameplay(or lack-thereof) Continue Reading
Mystery
Ever since it became public a few days ago, I cannot stop watching the trailer for Metal Gear Solid V. Every time, I search for the new clue that will unlock what’s going on. Are the super natural beings helping or hunting Big Boss? The first thing we see out of place in the gameplay trailer is someone who looks suspiciously like Psycho Mantis. Are the super natural things, all of which resemble things from Big Boss’ past, merely the result of Psycho Mantis digging into his subconsciousness? My good friend Nick and I have been discussing this trailer at length, Continue Reading
Mass Effect 3(Dialogue Wheel 6)
In case you didn’t guess, Spoilers Ahead: I’m not writing about Mass Effect 3 to complain about the ending. There’s been enough said about the subject that I don’t feel like I have much to add. Except that there is one logic behind the madness: DLC. With Shepard dead, and no Mass Relays left, Bioware can write DLC that fits onto all save games. Characters can refer to the indefinite article “Shepard”, none of the crew will know exactly what happened, and you can have non-Shepard adventures on this convenient jungle world. The only thing bioware has to do to Continue Reading