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Effortless beauty, meaningless confusion.
Exhilarating yet tedious, beautiful in a construction paper sort of way, and most of all both ingenious and boring, Secrets of Raetikon is a perfect example of the general state of indie games – inspired, but poorly crafted. I went into this work with no expectations, and no clue what it was, and for the most part, I was impressed and thrilled with what I played. But it’s a far from perfect game, with a pretty crappy ending, and play that can be both really fun and totally infuriating.
Finally, something worth playing on the Wii U!
Five years ago, in a small room at E3, Miyamoto let slip that Nintendo was developing another Pikmin title. The excitement he expressed in doing so was tangible and the reveal was seemingly unplanned, but it was clear that producing the game was something special for the father of modern gaming. The final product is beautiful, well-designed, and immensely entertaining – a true testament to Miyamoto's love for the series. However, it also shows clear signs of being rushed to market despite its extended development cycle, which is an unfortunate mark against such a fantastic game.
Grinded Gears
It’s safe to say that the Gears of War franchise has safely secured its place in people’s minds as one of this generation’s most important franchises. Since the beginning, they’ve been innovating and refining the 3rd person shooter genre, introducing things like the modern cover mechanic, and the extremely popular horde mode. 2011’s Gears of War 3 was the ending to the trilogy, and I felt like it ended the series properly. I finished the game satisfied with the story as well as the multiplayer, and I didn’t feel the need for another game. It’s not that I didn’t want the series to continue, but I expected a decent wait before the next iteration. It was hard for me to get excited for Gears of War: Judgment, a prequel starring the wise-cracking Baird. What could be done to improve upon Gears of War 3 less than two years later? Unfortunately, aside from a few changes in the overall formula, it’s apparent right away that developers People Can Fly couldn’t even answer that question.
No matter your political stance, you would think that a president that flew around and shot missiles would be awesome. Turns out it’s boring.
I thought we had moved past the era of silly touch-screen controls early in the lifespan of the DS, but apparently it still has its proponents. Grasshopper Manufacture and Level 5 have teamed up to make sure that the dying art of crappy stylus futzing stays around a little longer with their joint downloadable venture, Liberation Maiden. Maybe the controls themselves wouldn’t be so objectionable if there was some other entertainment value in the package, but as it is, Liberation Maiden is just a boring series of stylus rubbings in an anime wrapper.
The only thing that could be better than Wii U™ Panorama View (working title) would be Wii U™ Panorama View (working title): Game of the Year Edition.
Every year, about the time the massive Electronic Entertainment Expo occurs, there are the rumblings of an ancient prophecy. Myths and rumors are whispered about a truly revolutionary video game, one that will change the world and the way humanity sees it. A few games have bubbled up in this century and the last that have shown some potential, but as time passed, it was clear they were only precursors to the video game messiah.
Another coup for Wii owners in the EU.
It’s been a long time since anyone has heard from the Fatal Frame series. The game debuted on the PlayStation 2 in 2001, and the series became a cult hit amongst horror fans. The fourth game was developed exclusively for the Wii by Grasshopper Manufacture in 2008, but was never translated from Japanese. A remake of the second game, Crimson Butterfly, is in the works for the Wii, but until now there had been no word of the game seeing a release outside of its native country.
