Ninja Gaiden’s always intimidated me but NG3 hardly sounds worth it despite being more ‘accessible’

I’ve have to admit that I’ve never played a ME game, but I’m looking forward to this.

I’ll probably pick it up eventually, I’m still working through Arkham Asylum – I haven’t had a lot of time for games recently.

I’m seeing The Avengers on the weekend, I can’t wait.

I did recently take time to play the latest Ninja Gaiden… I rented it, actually just to see if I wanted to buy it first as the press on it was really bad.

It was… cinematic? The fighting action was okay, but
there was ZERO exploration required and no matter how you approached an area the same cutscene was played when you were (SURPRISE!) attacked and you had to mash certain buttons to get out of a hold or avoid a blow.

So, while in previous NG games you would do a slow walk around areas to (in some cases) take out enemies from a distance, in NG3 you could just run from location to location because there was no point in taking your time.

There were also no orbs, or idols, or gems or XBox icons to find, so there was no point in hunting around for secrets. Which is just a shame because the graphics really didn’t suck at all, it’s a good looking game and adding something to hunt for would have made better use of these assets.

Which took all the anticipation and hesitation out of
unless I missed something in the manual (as there was no manual with the rental) the game lacked any sort of training mode for the advanced moves… which is weird because the game awards achievements performing advanced moves…

Also strange was the lack of ‘cinema’ function which would let you view the in-game cutscenes from the menu. The only way to view these was to record whole levels of gameplay.

To revisit the fighting for a moment… the fighting was actually pretty good… there was nothing ‘nearly insurmountable’ (like the Two Tanks at the railroad level in NG2), but instead the hardest boss rose to the level of ‘surmountable-after-several-deaths’.

(Some people complained about the lack of dismemberment and decapitation, however there was red-a-plenty on the screen and I stopped caring about that sort of thing after the Mortal Kombat ‘white blood’ controversy on the SNES.) [Yes, I'm *that* fucking old]

The end-boss was cake, but that seems to be a NG tradition.

One interesting design choice is that very few portions of the map were ever re-used. In previous NG games you’d spend a lot of time walking through the same areas and activating the same enemies over and over. This was never the case in NG3. I call it interesting because in the past I’d curse this ‘overly-efficient’ use of assets but in NG3 I found I missed it.

Finally, the story…. the subtext of the story is supposedly about how a ninja has to tread the line between mass-murderer and hero (hard to type that with a straight face) and is confronted with the blood on his hands by a curse that makes him feel the pain of his collective victims. But there is no conclusion, no great philosophical change Ryu’s world-view… although I will say that I liked the way the curse was incorporated into game play.. and story transitions… the overall theme was never properly dealt with.

Just as well, because I don’t think even I would pick up “Pacifist Gaiden”.

I quite liked Sapphire and Steel. But I stil love Blake’s 7 (am watching the DVD’s again right now). I would kill many many people for a good remade version (Sherlock, quality of course) but I’m sure it would be too radically different.

I don’t really get the ME3 hate since you don’t have to play ‘gay’ if you don’t want to. It’s an option. Some people are just not that secure with themselves. something something kids today something something.

Games industry isn’t all bad. It’s just going through a REALLY bad patch after a boom. When you’re in it and making games and not worried about your job, it’s utterly fantastic. Either that or I have selective memory.

I appreciated the THQ scoop, I was mystified as to why there was so little news on the issue after I read the sad tweets about it last week.

In general the development studio gossip was very interesting. There’s no way in hell I’d get into game development — going for job interviews every six months is no way to live.

We’ve been having fun at the Frostback household, my son is into Sonic games so we’ve been alternating between Sonic Colors (on the Wii), Sonic Adventure and Sonic Generations (both on Xbox 360) trying to get past hard stages on all three. When that becomes too frustrating we switch over to Kirby’s Return to Dreamland.

Surprisingly my son is having a lot of fun collecting Sonic soundtracks in Generations and can relate them to levels in previous Sonic games just by hearing them. I’m not sure where he picked up his ear for music but an interest in videogame soundtracks and gaming can lead nowhere good.

In general the Sonic gameplay mechanic of being invulnerable so long as he’s holding a ring is extremely clever and makes for a challenging but not overwhelmingly frustrating experience.

Kirby RtD is a good-ish game, not as clever as Epic Yarn, but fun and attractive. Some people complain about the Wii not having HD graphics but there are ways to design around this and I think the various Kirby and Mario games have always looked great.

Kinect is getting a bit old. My son and I have fun shouting “XBOX!” at the console dashboard, trying to get it to listen to us, until he eventually gives up and presses the required button on the controller. Somehow I don’t think this is what Microsoft had in mind when they said Kinect made for great family fun.

But hey, you take your fun where you find it.

Seriously though, Child of Eden with Kinect is an awesome experience and if you have a Kinect you owe it to yourself to try it out.

(Some might say that you’ve proven the opposite, but ignore the nay-sayers!)

For Christmas, my six-year-old gamer is getting Kinect (w/gunslinger and fruit ninja bundled in) and Sonic Generations for Christmas. He’s a huge Sonic fan and has been devouring the old tv series on Youtube.

I was debating the Spyro Skylanders set, but that came to my attention after already buying the Kinect set.

If his friends get Skylanders and the little figures become a big deal at school I might pick it up for him in the new year.

Good stuff, George!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all and may your gaming be angry!

Wow, I can only imagine how an open world Call of Duty would work. A whole Middle Eastern city mixed up in tribal or proxy warfare, with missions, vehicles, and secret stuff to find. It might play kind of like Far Cry 2. Whether you think that’s good or not is up to you.

That problem about player tricks in Battlefield 3 is one of the main reasons that I hate competitive online multiplayer in video games. Truly, once the community of children and full-time gamers get a grip on the maps, there’s really no chance for lightweights.

Whew…I’m glad I’m not the only one who feels underwhelmed about Skyward Sword. I was very excited about it when I first read about it, but I don’t feel especially excited anymore now that I’ve tried it. Piloting the flying beetle with the Wiimote sucks. Trying to make Link jab with the sword works about 10% of the time. The few reviews that I’ve read that actually mention these problems have drawn the rage and ire of the League of Hardcore Zelda Fans (a.k.a. “mindless cocksuckers”), so I think that most sites are just playing it safe and gushing. Fight for the truth!

Having grown up with cartoons in the 70s I love anime and I like JRPGs but they’re kind of embarrasing to buy .. I think the last one I was interested was packaged with a mousepad with breasts and I sure as hell wasn’t going to be seen buying it.

It’s amazing how companies will spend hundreds of thousands on art and development.. then spend almost nothing on the writing. That and sound, eh George?