Time for a mea culpa, guys. I was hoping to broadcast this backlog at its regularly scheduled time (“whenever on Friday, I guess”) but unfortunately ran into a snag where I was unable to use my computer. Something to do with driving through planned communities in Wilsonville in the middle of the night; I don’t know, let’s not dredge that episode up. Anyway, the short version is I invented a time-traveling DeLorean and traveled to the past to get the backlog posted on time.

Everything was going just fine — I survived an adventure in the wild west and I made Biff look like a total dweeb — but unfortunately, I ended up getting totally distracted by the same exact scenario and wound up just where I’d started. Except it was now Sunday.

Oh well. I guess I should be grateful; for a while there, I was kinda worried I’d end up creating a time paradox.

There's an inexplicable, potent comfort to be found in always having Plants vs. Zombies within arm's reach.

Doug

I hate to be The Guy Who Brings In Real Life all the time…but this week has been finals week, and all I’ve really had time to do is play a little bit of stress-relief NCAA Football 10 at night once, and then burning my iPhone battery a bit continuing on with Plants vs. Zombies.

I know that it’s always a discussion amongst certain core gamers, but seriously: PopCap makes some great games, period. Not great casual games; not great iPhone games, or baby games, or whatever other pejorative you want to tack on. PvZ, Peggle, and Bejeweled are all some of the best examples of quick-fix gaming available; the steady stream of hits that PopCap has managed makes them one of the developers and publishers with the best track record out there right now, too. It’s rather amazing when you stand back and think about it.

The other part of real life I wanted to throw out there is more related to the site: I’m going to be traveling with my graduate program in Japan, South Korea and China for the next month. If you have any ideas or topics you want me to cover, please send comments or e-mails and I’ll take them under suggestion. I’m going to have a whole week to myself in Tokyo to do some exploring, and I definitely plan on hitting up nerd mecca at least once.

If you're capable of playing a game with this much happening on-screen, I think I owe you a dollar.

Aaron

I’m going to drop some knowledge on you, dear reader. I lost five hours of my day to a haze of space-faring political machinations and plasma-cannon combat.

That’s right: I ordered a used copy of an Xbox 360 launch title that I previously had zero interest in (and zero knowledge of). Why? Well, I was linked to a video from Giant Bomb. This nearly hour-long look at Amped 3′s numerous cutscenes has shown me the brilliance of the game’s insane humor, especially after the 20 minute mark. The video’s claim of Tim and Eric-like influence was at the back of my mind before it was even said. And that, friends, is why I’m excited for Amped 3. I smell a Retrospective in the air.

Broken Sword is clever, intuitive and gorgeous. So naturally, it's the perfect complement to any iPhone.

Nick

I began playing Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars Director’s Cut on my iPhone earlier this week. Without a doubt, it’s the most accessible traditional adventure game I’ve tried for my phone. While The Secret of Monkey Island Special Edition and Beneath a Steel Sky were both good games, their interfaces left a lot to be desired. Broken Sword is built upon the same adaptations that were in Beneath a Steel Sky, but the control scheme is a lot more polished and intuitive this time around. The sound quality, voice acting and visuals are all top-notch, and the experience has been very engrossing. It’s currently available for five bucks on the App Store — why don’t you give it a shot?

Being the fiscally irresponsible person I apparently have become, I picked up Heavy Rain this Tuesday. I have some serious reservations about the game and its creators (other than Guitar Hero 3, I really can’t think of a more disappointing game in recent years than Fahrenheit) but after about four hours immersed in the experience, I’m utterly amazed at what Heavy Rain shaped up to be. I’ve long been a proponent of interactive fiction — involved, intricate stories that mold to your actions — which is a fledgling genre if ever there was one. Most people who go out to buy a game probably expect the gameplay to be the main attraction with the story functioning as window dressing. Heavy Rain delivers just the opposite. It’s a compelling experience with a surprisingly elaborate amount of nuance and variation based on your actions, and while the controls are sometimes frustrating, they’re more than adequate to suck the player in to the experience. If you’re at all interested in how interactive storytelling works, Heavy Rain is perhaps the boldest experiment yet.

And of course, I’m still tromping through BioShock 2 in my Big Daddy suit. (No, not that suit.) What began as a modest successor to a groundbreaking commentary on games has taken form over the past few hours into something much more substantial: a brilliant game in its own right, and a significant improvement over its forebear. And despite the widespread criticism surrounding the multiplayer component, I’ve been getting my kicks blasting splicers apart for the last couple weeks. I think it’s a pretty inspired take on class-based multiplayer, and it’s sure a lot more interesting than Modern Warfare 2′s modest (at best) improvements over Call of Duty 4′s fiendishly addictive online scene.

While our Top 10 Games of 2009 deserve attention for their overall excellence, we can’t neglect this year’s remaining deluge of fantastic games — titles that just missed the final cut. Be it their charm, gameplay or presentation, our Honorable Mentions were simply hard to forget. We now present part four of a five-part series of Honorable Mentions articles, one from each member of the Silicon Sasquatch staff. Here are Doug’s picks.

Retro Game Challenge

February — Nintendo DS

Retro Game Challenge, which I reviewed for the site back in the spring, is a wonderful, nostalgic trip that brings back old-school furnishings and game design with eight complete games in one package. Want a Japanese RPG featuring the familiar and painful difficulty of the 8-bit classics? You got it. Desire a classic shooter with 64-plus levels? Oh, you can have it — frustrating trappings and all. The title’s presentation stands out with its inclusion of a number of issues from a fictional video game magazine that chronicle the development and releases of the included games, as well as providing cheats and tips (some of which are absolutely essential). It’s pure fan service for hardcore Electronic Gaming Monthly enthusiasts of old.

NCAA Football 10 and Madden NFL 10

July — Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 | August — Xbox 360, PlayStation 3

Left: NCAA Football 10; Right: Madden NFL 10

The EA Sports football twins, Madden NFL 10 and NCAA Football 10, play well, look great and have all the yearly updates that football gaming fans want, including features like the debut of an online franchise for Madden and the incredibly deep Team Builder for NCAA. But that’s about it. While there are game engine improvements to strengthen the on-field action — especially in regards to playbooks — there’s nothing groundbreaking here, folks. However, it’s still my preferred kind of gaming candy.

Peggle and Flight Control

May — iPhone | April — iPhone

Left: Peggle; Right: Flight Control

Peggle and Flight Control for the iPhone have saved me from boredom countless times, and both are brilliant examples of how to do gaming on the iPhone. I look forward to heeding Nick’s (and others’) advice by hunting the App Store for more bite-sized games during the course of 2010.

Brütal Legend

Rocktober — Xbox 360, PlayStation 3

The last of my honorable mentions is a game best described as a beautiful catastrophe. Brütal Legend has probably the best intro video I’ve seen in a game, in addition to one of the best main menus, and the brilliant metal aesthetic keeps delivering throughout the whole experience. With great atmosphere, a well-designed world, a funny script, strong voice acting, an amazing soundtrack and awesome rock-tacular cameos…the game that Tim Schafer built seems to have it all. Unfortunately, Brütal Legend falls on its face when it relies on just one gameplay wrinkle way too much. The on-the-ground gameplay is fine, as are the driving and open-world exploration aspects, but the stage battles try to foster an RTS element that simply doesn’t work well enough as-is. The game is unique and ambitious, but it flew just a little too close to the sun.

Halo 3: ODST has taken its hold on the Silicon Sasquatch staff.

Hoo boy. Time flies when you’re having fu…errr, no…more like time flies when you’ve got real life creeping in. Creeping in just like the clouds do now that it’s officially fall in the Pacific Northwest and the last gasps of summer have gone. Fall also means we’re seeing the beginning of the fall gaming season, and that means a deluge of new titles.

We’ve all been busy this week — and fortunately that’s included time for some gaming. Nick’s been busy with family commitments but has already acquired quite the backlog of games; Aaron’s been playing host for a friend, which entails plenty of rocking out; and Doug has been able to put some time into a few games while staring down the beginning of grad school.

So enough of that waffle; here’s what we’ve been playing.

This is epic, and $5.

Aaron:

What’s happening to me? For the third week in a row I’ve spent a lot of time with Rock Band 2. I blame my most recent affair on the arrival of a dear old friend from Germany. He’s visiting for a month and has gone Rock Band crazy — I’m thinking about taking him to a doctor.

Truly though, it’s been a boring week for diversified gaming choices. I went to a party that included copious amounts of The Beatles: Rock Band. I also tried my hand at Halo 3: ODST‘s Firefight mode, and came away incredibly surprised at how non-Horde mode it felt. Will I buy it? That’s a good question.

However, I do know what I’m one button click away from purchasing: the 2006, Diablo-like PC title Titan Quest and its expansion, Immortal Throne, for the low, low price of $5. Call me crazy (which I undoubtedly am), but I’ve always wanted to give the game a shot, and the entry price is too good to pass up. Thanks, Direct2Drive.

Captain Reynolds would never use a scope.

Nick:

It’s not even Rocktober yet and I’ve already been inundated with a stack of games to play. Sitting on my shelf, in no particular order: Katamari Forever, LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga, Tales of Monkey Island and Too Human – all games I’ve barely scratched the surface on. But I’ve got a good reason for that!

I’ve officially been caught up in that old familiar animal urge to hop online and bash stoned high-schoolers over the head thanks to Halo 3: ODST. The game has received a lot of flack for not being a “full” Halo game, but considering that it features the most exciting and best-paced campaign of any game in the series, coupled with the most exhilarating multiplayer mode the series has ever played host to — Firefight — there’s no doubt in my mind that this game is up to Bungie’s standards of excellence.

Perhaps the most exciting game I’m playing is Rock Band 2. The long-awaited patch finally hit Xbox 360 copies yesterday, including fixes for velocity sensitivity for Ion drum kits, wireless microphone support, the ability to sort your songs by how many stars you’ve earned — or whether you’ve even played the song at all.

Admittedly, these are probably minor fixes to all but the most dedicated. However, the real bonus is that Rock Band Network‘s audition mode went live, meaning songs can be transferred for testing! I’m a member of the current closed beta, and the process behind revising songs is both laborious and fascinating. I can’t wait to start authoring a few of my own.

Get your motor running.

Doug:

Having my Xbox 360 back has been really refreshing. Being without a next-gen system of my own for a month made me feel very, very disconnected from what was happening in the world of gaming; at the least, I’ve been able to sample demos that have come out recently along with some of the titles of late summer.

Along with the obligatory NCAA Football 10 time, I’ve been able to get some time in on the other football video game, Madden NFL 10. Despite being the same sport, small detail changes — more detailed animations and graphics, rule differences between the NFL and college football, and also artificial intelligence programming — mark a big difference between the two games. Madden at once feels slower and more arcade-y; the passing game relies more on pocket presence than NCAA, and the offense in general relies much more on ball control than in NCAA. It’s definitely a different animal; I’ll have more thoughts and details as I put more time into my online dynasty.

Demos are still going strong for me, too. The PES 2010 demo is engrossing, and the Forza Motorsport 3 demo dropped this week as well. As a big real-life auto racing and racing video game fan, I’ve been looking forward to Forza 3…and it delivers.

The graphics are of course prettier than its predecessor, but it’s the gameplay that really matters — and that shines. A problem with Forza 2 was that cars on street tires, tuned or stock, felt way too slippery; in tuning cars for series with a performance index limit, I would take weight reduction and better tires every time over raw horsepower because the stock tires were that bad. The grip level has increased already for Forza 3.

I can’t comment on some of the added features, like auto-braking, because I’m a racing game vet and only use ABS. I can say, though, that the “rewind” feature — which brings you back a couple of seconds to avoid wrecks or silly mistakes, and is available seemingly at all times — is absolutely wonderful. A problem with Forza 2 (and, honestly, many racing sims) is that idiotic opponent AI would cause messes for you in single-player races that would require a restart; this eliminates that problem single-handedly.

And with my new-found preciousssss — er, iPhone, I’ve been playing a couple of games on the cheap: FlightControl and Peggle. It’s safe to say that I’m pretty well hooked to Peggle now too, even though I feel like I’m way behind the curve discovering that one. Still fun, though.

We’ve only got a couple games for you this week. But trust me — if you’ve been playing either of them, you’ll understand why there wasn’t time for anything else.

I Can't Believe It's Not Brains!

Nick: Oh man. Plants Vs. Zombies. Plants Vs. Zombies. Plants Vs. Zombies.

It’s common knowledge that I’m guaranteed to fall in love with any game that’s got the PopCap seal of quality on it. But their latest game managed to do the impossible: It took a genre I couldn’t stand — tower defense — and transmogrified it into the most wonderful, purest substance of joy I’ve experienced in a game since…well, Peggle. But Plants Vs. Zombies breaks with PopCap’s precedent by delivering a game that’s not only infinitely addictive and bursting with charm — it’s crammed full of things to do.

After sinking more than 12 hours into the game (including a final three-hour binge that ended with my victory over the Adventure mode at 3:00 a.m.) I’ve still got dozens of challenge and puzzle modes to complete, a Zen Garden to cultivate, and a new and foreboding mode called Survival.

I’m hoping to have a full review up before too long, but trust me when I say this is the best $10 you’ll spend on a game for a very long time. Despite the heavy hitters to come along this year, Plants Vs. Zombies is the best game I’ve encountered in a very, very long time.

Aaron: This week I played one game: Pokemon Pearl.

Seriously.

I took a breather from gaming and instead read some books, caught up on current events, watched Battlestar Galactica for the first time and spent time outside of the house. As far as games I’ll be playing next week? It’s anyone’s guess. But we have to get more reviews done, I suppose.

"Awesome!" indeed

So, we want to extend a ginormous gracias to those of you who read Silicon Sasquatch daily and continue to direct your comrades to our corner of the web. We promise to keep bringing you things of a decidedly awesome and videogame-related nature.

Now, it’s time for the real news: Atari gets cold feet, the telenovela that is Midway’s financial woes gets juicier, we get to know Modern Warfare 2 a bit better and Valve’s Team Fortress 2 team takes a “bow.” (You’ll get the pun in a bit.)

Let's hope Atari backing out of E3 doesn't mean advertising for Ghostbusters: The Video Game or Champions Online will suffer

Despite having a very capable line-up of releases coming out this year, Atari has suddenly decided to skip E3 2009, citing a desire to explore “other selling and marketing initiatives.” Joystiq seems to believe the company’s change of heart is due to a lack of sufficient cash flow to pay the Entertainment Software Association‘s fees. That’s possible, but without up-to-date financial analysis available it’s hard to be certain.

Our cursory research implies that Atari has seen significant increases in business-related performance over the last year in comparison to its stock delisting ordeal last May. Things might not be so bad at the company, but without knowing for sure that’s quite the guess.

Maybe Atari is actually going to pursue alternative methods of marketing its Ghostbusters and Champions Online titles as their announcement said. But with E3 2009 supposedly returning to its old tricks of cacophony and neon light insanity–which always made the event a great place to get a game noticed and hyped–this could be the makings of a huge mistake for Atari.

These financial issues are totally getting in the way of a sequel to Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy

Gamasutra has a fantastic post on the developing story of creditors who are suing Midway Games‘ former big-wig board members for running the company into the ground to allegedly benefit themselves.

Sumner Redstone, quite the controversial name as far as Midway’s current situation goes, is singled-out along with daughter Shari Redstone and former investor Mark Thomas, among others.  Two of the suit’s many claims center on the Redstones intentionally investing $90 million into the struggling company to then recoup it under claims of “debt,” and also using Midway’s $700 million in tax losses to later obtain a beneficial refund.

It’s a great if depressing read, and goes to show once again that money is quite the motivator when it comes to personal gain. No one wants to see any development studio go under thanks to fraudulent actions of insensitive businesspeople. But, yes, I suppose it’s “just business.”

Digital war has never been so cover-worthy, until now

Infinity Ward‘s Modern Warfare 2 is getting a blowout piece in the next issue of Game Informer, and multiple websites have posted some of the initial details. What’s known so far sounds both promising and unfortunate at the same time. Taking place years after the last game, “Soap” MacTavish–the main character throughout the British SAS missions in Call of Duty 4–is now a captain who will serve as the new character’s mentor as did Captain Price the last time around. It’ll be interesting to see a former protagonist in a different context.

Unfortunately, Infinity Ward won’t be including a cooperative campaign option, although Treyarch managed to include the feature in Call of Duty: World at War in a very polished manner. Also, MW2 sounds like it might be shorter than CoD4′s already short campaign.

Knowing Infinity Ward’s track record, the title will likely turn out to be superb. It’s just a shame to see the team once again won’t add co-op, an ironically modern gameplay feature, into the so-called Modern Warfare 2.

While this picture isn't related to the Sniper update, I think we can appreciate an engineer in mid-burn

And because they’re just so sweet to their fans, Valve has teased its impending Team Fortress 2 Sniper update with details on one of the new unlockable weapons: The Huntsman–it’s a bow and arrow!

The extremely old school weapon will actually pin its victims to surfaces upon a killing shot; even if the target lives through a direct hit, they’ll still have an arrow protruding from their bodies. Groovy.

Valve has consistently supported Team Fortress 2 with new maps, unlockables and achievements since its 2007 release, all for free, and it’s a real testament to the company’s belief in PC gaming.

Now we eagerly await the inevitable Zelda mod using the new bow and arrow’s physics. Get to work!

Sure, you might’ve played a couple rounds here and there of Peggle, PopCap‘s fun little peg-shooting puzzler, but it’s easy to shrug it off and get back to being a productive member of society.

But sooner or later, it’s inevitable: You’ve got some free time! You glance around, shrug your shoulders, and decide to pay the Peggle Institute another visit. “What’s the harm in a few more levels?” you ask yourself.

What’s the harm, indeed.

The symptoms appear swiftly and without mercy. Whenever you close your eyes, you see balls launched with beautiful angles and perfect trajectory, knocking out those few remaining orange pegs and winning the round. You make up voices for the ridiculous menagerie that comprises the Peggle Institute, from Bjorn the unicorn to Jimmy Lightning, the obese, skateboarding beaver. And Beethoven’s Ode to Joy echoes in your head on loop, forever and ever, sunrise to sunset.

Sound terrible? Think again. Peggle addiction is one of the greatest joys that can be experienced in one’s life — or, at the very least, it’s the most fun you’ll probably ever have for under five bucks.

Colorful pegs come in all shapes and sizes. Green ones activate a Peggle Master's powers, while purple pegs act as score multipliers.

Like all great casual games, Peggle’s got a simple premise. Your mission is to clear each peg-filled screen of all its orange pegs. You’re given ten balls, a launcher, and a few tricks up your sleeve in the form of each Peggle Master’s magic powers. These range from the practical — more precise aiming, multiple balls — to the truly bizarre — pinball flippers and a “spooky ball” that comes back from the dead to drop down the screen a second time.

The game’s adventure mode introduces you to each of the ten Peggle Masters and lets you take their individual powers for a whirl. But the final five levels are a true challenge, requiring you to choose the master’s power you feel is best suited to the puzzle at hand. It’s a prelude to the game’s Challenge mode, which is unlocked after finishing the main adventure. Packed with all sorts of tricky levels and demanding requirements, it’ll test the prowess (and patience) of even the most seasoned Peggle player.

PopCap has an admirable reputation for making accessibility a top priority, and Peggle delivers with options to assist lefties and the colorblind.

Fortunately, the iPhone version features a few welcome tweaks to the original formula. You can aim anywhere on the screen by tapping, and fine-tuning is easy thanks to the new wheel located on the side of the screen. And although the iPhone’s 480×320 resolution is much smaller than that of the original PC version of Peggle, double-tapping anywhere on the screen zooms in to display a segment of the board in crisp detail — perfect for fine-tuning those particularly ludicrous shots.

This version of Peggle also features a pass-the-phone Duel mode and a trophy room that visualizes your accomplishments. There’s also the option to save a replay of any game, so you can immortalize your best and brightest moments (and brag to your friends.)

The only thing lacking is the original game’s in-level music, but frankly, you won’t miss it. It was highly repetitive (a common problem among PopCap games) and besides: You’re playing Peggle on an iPod! Surely you’ve got some music of your own that will better fit your needs until you hit that last peg and blast into a Beethoven-fueled Extreme Fever.

Give it a little while. You'll be lusting after those Extreme Fevers and humming Beethoven's Ninth in no time.

For $4.99, this is the least expensive version of Peggle available on any platform. Although it would have been nice for PopCap to include the Peggle Nights features, the next major iPhone firmware update will enable in-game downloadable content. Whether you’re a newcomer or a seasoned veteran of the Peggle Institute, this latest rendition of the modern classic is easy to recommend.

Peggle is currently available for iPhone and iPod Touch for $4.99 through the App Store. Windows, Mac OS X, Fifth-generation iPod (with video), mobile phone, Xbox Live Arcade, and Nintendo DS versions of the game are also available. Peggle is legion; resistance is futile.

Recommended for:

• Casual and hardcore puzzle gamers alike: It’s blissfully easy to pick up, but diabolical to master
• Peggle fans looking for a faithful, complete version of the original game while on the go

Not Recommended for:

• Puzzle fanatics with poor impulse control (for example: I played through Peggle and wrote this review just a few hours after it was released on the App Store)
• Peggle fans expecting a comprehensive Peggle package; for now, it’s just the original game, but new content is a distinct possibility down the road

Read our policy on reviews here.

Yep. Even the loading screen's progress bar is charming.

Mr. Bubbles would be proud

Considering today’s wealth of BioShock 2 information pouring out from every single videogame-related webpage on the internet, The Silicon Sasquatch is officially renaming April 23 “BioShock Press Day.”

I think we can all expect that future sequels of the franchise will continue to be unveiled on April 23, from now until the end of time — or until BioShock: Big Daddy’s Beach Volleyball Blast 3 comes out and we give up gaming forever.

More news after the break.

Holding a gun that way doesn't seem comfortable, at all

For once, PS3 owners don’t get the short end of the exclusivity stick, as Eidos has announced that the Joker is a PS3-exclusive playable character in the upcoming Batman: Arkham Asylum title. Shacknews reports that a PlayStation Home advertisement accidentally broke the surprise a little earlier than expected, and as such Eidos and Warner Bros. had to scramble and confirm the story. Though the Clown Prince of Crime is only usable in the challenge room segment of the game, judging from preview videos released last month, those challenges look quite fun.

I, for one, welcome more PS3-only content, and I don’t even own the system. While I’m glad Microsoft’s hogging of developers’ content provides some excellent gaming opportunities, there’s no reason why Sony can’t extend the same courtesy for its loyal fans. It’s anyone’s guess whether Sony paid Eidos and/or Warner Bros. for the Joker content, or maybe Eidos simply did it because they wanted to. Either way, it’s the Xbots’ turns to be jealous, no?

World of Pegglecaft

Eventually, every game will be playable inside of World of Warcraft. Today PopCap Games released a version of their addictive game Peggle, for free, to play inside the World of Warcraft client. They did this with Bejeweled last September, which was during an age when I still had an active account and played, a lot. I love how PopCap admits to their collective corporate WoW addiction, and instead of just claiming their fandom they do something about it and put effort into neat add-ons like these. Any WoW player can tell you that Bejeweled, and now Peggle, helps to pass the tedium during flight path waits, battleground waits and, well, any period of  downtime where you’re not yelling at the enemy faction for “pwning” you.

By the way, Nick has an active WoW account right now. Bug him!

And for the pièce de résistance: Becoming Spider-Man is, and I’m totally jumping to conclusions, scientifically possible–or at least his webbing is. This has nothing to do with gaming, of course, but it’s nerdy enough to count, right? Though, assuredly, the result of the average Joe/Jane trying to replicate Spidey’s acrobatics would end up with this result.

My apologies to your sensibilities.