Archive for October, 2009
The Backlog: Cruisin’ Pandora in an Audi R8 edition
Oct 30th
Get it? Because the only two games that the three of us played were Borderlands and Forza Motorsport 3? And the Audi R8 is the cover model for Forza?
Oh, whatever. You try using Photoshop on an old laptop without a mouse, you jerk.
The Backlog: We’ve Reached the Border; What a Nice-Looking Land edition
Oct 24th
Mmm, Backlog-y
What legends of game-playing intrigue do we, the stewards of Silicon Sasquatch, bring you this week?
There’s more of the same (Titan Quest) with a nice lime twist of newness (Borderlands); there’s the late-to-the-party-but-enjoying-it-anyway epic (Brütal Legend); and then there’s the dreaded blackness of managing grad school responsibilities (Portland State University — rated “M” for mature). Read the rest of this entry »
Review: Red Faction: Guerilla: Demons of the Badlands (Xbox 360)
Oct 19th
It’s hard to review Demons of the Badlands without addressing its parent game, Red Faction: Guerilla. Although Silicon Sasquatch hasn’t published a review, the general consensus is that it delivered an unabashedly fun orgy of destruction in both single player and multiplayer, even if both modes had their limits.
Guerilla launched in early June of this year, and Demons of the Badlands followed in mid-August. Promising new weapons, a new protagonist and a whole new landscape to demolish, it was devised as an encore to a relatively one-of-a-kind experience. In developer Volition’s defense, Demons of the Badlands delivers on exactly what was promised: The add-on feels just as polished and exhilarating as the rest of the game, and the new weapons add a much-needed dash of variety to keep the experience from feeling stale. However, for a ten-dollar add-on, Demons of the Badlands is woefully short, comprising three story missions and eleven side missions that can be completed in a mere two hours.
The Backlog: Rocktober Begins edition
Oct 16th
Let there be rock.
Oh, snap.
Another week, another flood of good games — some of the biggest, most anticipated titles of the fall have hit store shelves, and the Silicon Sasquatch crew are digging in. Brütal Legend, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, Champions Online, and more are taking over our attention this week, and though it might seem overwhelming, it’s not necessarily a “bad” overwhelming.
Review: Canabalt (iPhone)
Oct 14th
How can a story be told in a game?
I’ve heard the question come up more often in the last few months than I have in the previous decade. This year in particular has seen more narrative-driven blockbusters with a sophisticated approach to storytelling than ever before. Batman: Arkham Asylum and Uncharted 2: Among Thieves have both been lauded for their intricate (and wildly different) approaches to developing a narrative in tandem with a long-term experience.
The debate even manifested recently in the comments section of Doug Bonham’s recent editorial on storytelling in games. Does a story always improve a game? Does it ever improve a game?
I think the question is best answered by asking how we define storytelling. Is it the preliminary text explaining the player’s motivations and mission? Is it the thousands of lines of melodrama that fill each installment in the Metal Gear Solid saga to the brim? Is it as insignificant as being told the president has been kidnapped by ninjas, followed with a simple query: Are you a bad enough dude to rescue the president?
I sought to find a good example of how even the most minimal amount of overt storytelling can have a profound effect on how a player experiences a game. And I found it in Canabalt.
About an Adult Swim Flash Game: Meowcenaries
Oct 12th
Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim is one of those rare media brands that absolutely understands its demographic.
From the nightly bump cards to the merchandise and the numerous concert series and beyond, Adult Swim has succeeded in making money by airing deranged programming to a young population of insomniacs who were tired of the same old talk shows and infomercials after midnight.
While I’ve been a devotee of the late-night programming block for years, I’ve never played one of Adult Swim’s growing cadre of free Flash titles. The games portal opened on the official website a few years ago, and each title generally boils down to an example of extremely violent behavior under the guise of sick humor — well-tuned to the network’s signature style.
After watching Metalocalypse, Superjail! or Aqua Teen Hunger Force, is it that shocking to stumble upon a game where cats wearing bandannas fire at each other with Uzis and rocket launchers? Read the rest of this entry »
The Backlog: In the Eye of the Storm
Oct 9th
How’s everybody? Are we all still here?
There’s no way around it: We’re all a little light in the pocketbooks, and October’s only just arrived. None of us were prepared for some of the year’s biggest hits to hit us in a deluge throughout August and September, but with games like Batman: Arkham Asylum, The Beatles: Rock Band and Halo 3: ODST hitting shelves before the fourth quarter of the year, it’s hard to hold fast with one’s spending — even with surefire hits like Uncharted 2: Among Thieves and Brütal Legend arriving just next week.
To prepare for the next volley of big-name releases, the Silicon Sasquatch team has been busy wrapping up some recent blockbusters.
The advancement of the art of storytelling in video games
Oct 7th
Shadow of the Colossus' simple, spare storyline has been repeatedly acclaimed as a high-water mark in video game storytelling.
Even before Mario trekked through the Mushroom Kingdom to rescue the Princess and Pac-Man was pursued by a quartet of ghosts, video games have been a storytelling medium. As games matured from simple sprites to a multi-billion dollar industry, so the scope of video games increased —in terms of graphical fidelity, size and scope of game worlds, and the potential for storytelling.
The problem, though, is that only two of those three aspects have seen real growth to this point. While our favored medium is still maturing, it’s encountered some growing pains in finding the right way to tell a story — and the right kind of stories to tell.
Warning: Spoilers for Grand Theft Auto IV, Bioshock, Metal Gear Solid, Fallout 3, Fable II, and Shadow of the Colossus follow.
Regarding Too Human
Oct 5th
When I originally set out to tackle Too Human, I figured I’d discuss the game within the framework of a traditional review. But it didn’t take long before I realized there wasn’t a whole lot that could be said in Too Human’s defense; instead, I ended up with a litany of grievances that painted the game as a catastrophe.
But that’s not how I think of Too Human. After all, would a game so ostensibly terrible be fun enough to warrant a subsequent replay immediately after I reached the end?
So I began to piece together what it was that made the game so compelling to me. Was it the frantic combat? The uninspired weapon customization and almost fetishistic loot-acquiring? The broken, haphazard script with half-baked characters? No. Everything Too Human tried to accomplish had been done much better by many games before it.
But I couldn’t ignore the fact that I loved suspending my disbelief way up in the rafters, pretending I was some fugly man-god and mowing down thousands of enemies in a display of raw destruction. That simplistic joy shines through the mess to make Too Human an essential case study in gaming and — somewhat ironically — a perfect example of why games have value as a medium.
It’s stunning proof that, even when absolutely nothing comes together right, games can still be a joy to experience.
The Backlog: The Decapitating Kanji of the Dead edition
Oct 2nd
My gCal for this week: The green arrow represents the days without posts on Silicon Sasquatch. Everyone likes an effective graphic!
Unfortunately for you, dear reader, our goal of posting fresh, thirst-quenching content at least once a day didn’t occur this week. We apologize for that; It’s a busy season for those of us in graduate school and those of us looking for jobs. But you’re not here for excuses! You’re here to about read what videogames we’ve been playing — the most important segment of our daily lives, of course.
Nick’s been hoarding mad “lewt”, I’ve been rekindling my passion for zombie killing and Doug’s been using his DS to hone his prowess with the Japanese language.
Wait…is that even a game?