Push Button B

Well, with the finale of LOST done and over, and with most viewers left wanting more, i thought i would point you guys toward The Lost Experience.  TLE was a web/TV/newsprint based tie in to the popular series that gave background information about the Hanso corporation.  It was laid out like a puzzle where you got clues “subliminally” given to you by quick flashes of fake commercials showed on TV during LOST.  I won’t take the time to walk you through it since the LOST wiki does such a good job.  It launched in 2006 and ended the same year I believe, so unfortunately most of the info is no longer at the old websites, but you can still see it all on the wiki.  So for all you fans out there that want more check it out.

Now on to more time wasting.

Yes that is a turtle in a cannon, the game is called Toss the Turtle and you have only one goal, shoot a turtle out of a cannon.  Its pretty much like all the other games were you try and launch something as far as you can, its got upgrades for your tank that launch the turtle farther, rockets to propel him faster, nukes to send him flying and various bonuses lying about the stages.  And since it’s on Kongregate  you have the option to sign in and get achievements and who doesn’t like achievements?  Here’s a fella getting the 3,000,000 feet achievement that i could not, after 4 hours of play, achieve.

All in all its a pretty simple fairly easy waste of time. It has a neat graphic style (goomba in a top hat) and great sound effects with an awe inspiring score.  So go waste some time, and try not to blame me if you lose 4 hours of your life like i did one bored night.

The Lost Experience

Toss the Turtle

I’m just going to start with a not-so-well-composed review for Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom. The Wii generally has games that are made to be easy to pick up and learn. Which if done right, that is a great thing so you can open it up and get to playing quicker. Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom does that. However, they also have more complex controls for more advanced players. You pick two characters for a tag team style play similar to Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 with two fighters instead of three. The first time I played through the arcade I used the Wii Remote and Nunchuk and set the difficulty sort of low, it was quick to get used to the style of play. After that I set the difficulty up a little bit and changed my control style to the Class Controller and then it started to feel more like a traditional fighting game.

The character roster has famous Capcom characters and some unfamiliar ones for those who may have not been playing video games that long. The real excitement comes from the Tatsunoko characters. I have never really watched any of the Tatsunoko anime shows before so all the characters are new to me and that just makes the game more appealing for me.

The characters are interesting with flashy and over-the-top (in good way) signature moves. The controls can be changed to work perfectly with brand new players and for fighting game veterans. Overall, the game is great.

PS. I’m picking up Super Mario 2 Sunday morning and I will write a more thought out review for that next Friday. See you all next week =].

The TRS-80 Color Computer 2 would still function with two pieces of pizza laid across its bare motherboard.

(Photographic proof not available.)

Game: World of Zoo
Purchased from: Target
Price paid: $4.98
Platform: PC

World of Zoo is kind of interesting to me. It’s been out on shelves since October of 2009 and before I found it in the clearance bin I hadn’t heard of it. In fact, I could hardly find any mention of this game on the entire Internet, save for a few previews and screenshots.

So I’m here to help break that silence.

World of Zoo is actually nothing like World of Goo, a game I have actually heard of. It stars animals in various zoo enclosures under your purview, and you as the local zookeeper, have to take care of them. Taking care of them, in this case, involves throwing them toys, grooming them, giving them food, and generally making them as happy as possible. Really, calling this thing a ‘game’ is a bit of a stretch, it’s definitely an activity, though

There’s a lot of stuff to do in this, er, activity, if you define ‘stuff’ as lots of buttons to click on to make stuff happen. Want to give your animals a toy? Click a button. Want to spray them with the hose? Click a button. Want to build a new playset for them to play on? Click on the hammer button and then click on the spot to build it. All to get precious hearts (i.e. sweet, sweet affection) from your critters. Hearts allow you to expand your zoo and take care of more animals.

So, there’s nothing really wrong with this thing, exactly. It’s definitely geared to the younger crowd with its simplistic interface. And, as long as the animals are happy (which seems to be pretty easy to maintain) then they kind of creepily smile at you all the time.

All of this makes it a decent time-waster, and I’d have probably gotten more out of it if I was a pre-teen. But it’s definitely a solid title, which makes its lack of media coverage that much more baffling. This isn’t some quickie shovelware game, and it’s worth every bit of the five-spot I blew on it, and if I was born 20 years or so later, it might even be worth twice that to me.

Everyone find their seats and take out a pencil and notebook. Today you get both a snide review of a free demo from the PSN Store, as well as a complimentary grammar lesson. What culmination of astrological happenings placed you in this fortuitous position? Black Rock Studios presents us with SPLIT/SECOND. For those keeping track, this makes the second consecutive PSN demo on PBB with an unnecessarily loud title (note the lack of any lower-case letters). Let’s begin.

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Well, once again its Monday, booo.  How about some Tiny Castle to get your week started off?!  Tiny Castle, much like every platform game before it, is a save the princess game.   Your mission is to traverse the obstacles of the castle and try to make your way to the princess locked in a cage.

The picture may make it look easy….and it is, but its not that easy.  Tiny Castle’s landscape changes every time you complete a new part of the game taking the princess further away from your grasp.  The puzzles are fairly straight forward, smash this thing, unlock that door, kill that thing, but they all seemed pretty well thought out and I felt like I was playing something pretty solid.

The game isn’t very long and it isn’t very difficult, but it is a lot of fun.  The controls are simple, arrow keys to move and space to use your sword.  The puzzles and classic side scrolling chop-em-up action never got tiring and i enjoyed it all the way through its big boss level.

You can play it here at Nitrome or just hit the link above.

That is an acronym for Video Game Attention Deficit Disorder. I have to say that I do have ADHD, which is the same thing as ADD but with the inclusion of hyperactivity. I do have medicine to control it, though. There is one problem that still persists though. I never find myself completely playing through a game anymore!

I am starting to believe that it is not even linked with my mental illness. I think it is something deeper than that. There are those of us who don’t have this problem. However, those that do not have the problem are those that only play a few select games because they have more self control and do not have to go out and buy every single game that looks fun to them. I have the problem of broad taste. I’ve always had broad taste in everything: music, movies, TV, and now video games.  We can not know for sure if broad taste is the only cause for this problem however.

NOOOO! Stop making games until I beat all of the ones I have please!!!!

I have a feeling that one of the big causes is the fact that the video game market is like a pen full of bunnies. A new game comes out so often nowadays. This is causing some gamers to experience VGADD. I know I’m not the only one out there. I have talked to some friends about it who share the same problem. I have even searched the web for others with the problem and found “Game Boy” a member of gaygamer.net (yes, it is a real site, and for the record I am not gay, but I am not prejudice towards people who are) posting an opinion discussing his problem with not being able to beat games. He stated, “As much as I like a lot of games today, I sometimes get bored playing some of them, especially towards the end. Gameplay might get too repetitive, a spike in difficulty may exceed my patience, or, as it happens too often, something new comes out that steals my attention.”

I think there is only one cure for those of us who have this problem. We must learn some self-control and start keeping our video game playing to a stable amount of games and not go overboard with how many games we get. Thanks for reading, everybody!

Earthbound, I swear to you that one of these days I will beat you even though I always get sidetracked from some other game.

Game: Aegis Wing
Purchased from: XBox Live Marketplace
Price paid: 0 MS Points (Free!)
Platform: XBox 360

I was pleasantly surprised to see that there was one game on Xbox Live that didn’t cost anything, it’s almost like Microsoft is giving you the opportunity to see what downloading a game is like so that you’ll be more willing to download more games in the future, and if the game’s not half-bad, then so much the better!

Aegis Wing is a rail-shooter, and all that really means is that you fly along a set path shooting the waves upon waves of enemies that are bigger, faster, more maneuverable, and better armed than you. Your goal is to use your wits and superior piloting skills to blow them all up.

Really, most of the game is pretty bog-standard. If you’ve played a shooter before, you pretty much already know what to expect. The ‘hook’, though, comes into play when you get more people involved.

Get two to four people playing this game and you can link your ships together for increased firepower with the tradeoff that your ship becomes a much larger target.

There’s actually not too much that’s difficult about this game. I was able to round up three friends and we went through the game in about an hour without too much trouble, so finishing it is certainly an achievable goal.

And the cost is just right, at 0 Microsoft Points, there’s really no reason to not pick it up… unless you hate having fun or feel like you have to spend money on something to make it worth your while. And if that’s the case, what are you doing reading this site?

I want to point out that this headline is intentionally written in all caps because the title of the game itself is screaming at you. The official website displays it as such, so who am I to tone down their obvious fervor? A quick Google search leads to several sites who dared to deflate UFC UNDISPUTED 2010′s intensity. I expect to see those websites sporting casts, crutches, and many bruises before long.

That being said, I’m not going to spend much time talking about this week’s PSN freebie demo. It’s an Ultimate Fighting Championship video game – you probably know what to expect. I loaded it up, picked a random fighter from the 6-7 man roster, then mashed buttons. I’m sure that the truly hardcore UFC fans will get more out of this demo and game (which releases May 25, 2010) than I did, and I’m happy for them. I feel like I played a boxing game instead of a mixed martial arts game, but again, I’m sure this is largely due to my ignorance in the ways of the UFC and its caged, octagonal bloodsport.

The demo touted UNDISPUTED 2010′s new tournament modes, career building, and online capabilities. Graphically, it looked like a fighting game should look in  2010: the character models were lifelike in that they sweat profusely, bled appropriately (unlike some games), and noticeably wore down as the match went on. The mechanics of the game, admittedly lost on me, were at least responsive. Seriously, by now, you know if you’re going to pick up a game starts out with the letters UFC. If so, then you’re likely going to enjoy UNDISPUTED 2010. If not, take comfort in the fact that you’re not playing a UFC game.