by Alex Pasco
Hi everyone. Sorry I haven't been blogging for a while. It was off my radar while we finished the new version of aperionaudio.com. But here we go with some quick reviews of what I've been playing for the last few months.
Crackdown - Xbox 360
First, a bit of background. Crackdown was developed by Real Time Worlds, headed by David Jones. David was originally at the helm of DMA Design, the company who made Lemmings and a little game called Grand Theft Auto. Sometime after making the PS2 version of Grand Theft Auto III, The Game that Changed Everything, David and a hand-picked team of guys from DMA left to form Real Time Worlds.
At first glance, Crackdown is another Grand Theft Auto clone. A huge living city that you roam through doing various things to further your objectives in the game. A deeper look reveals something a lot more unique, though. Crackdown casts you as genetically engineered superhero, tasked by a generic group of dudes known as The Peacekeepers. Your objective is to Clean Up This Town. The odd thing about this particular GTA clone (can it really be a clone if it was created by the people who created the original?) is that it doesn't have any missions. You're just dumped into this city full of gangs and crimelords, and you need to wipe 'em all out. At first glance, this seems kind of boring - and by all accounts it should be. But the developers figured out a very interesting character building quirk to the game that elevates it to something much more. Every action you you in Crackdown has positive or negative significance to your character. Shoot an enemy with a gun, your firearm skill grows. Kick them, your strength grows. Eventually your character evolves to much more than what you started with. With a stronger body, you can pick up and throw cars, trucks or enormous dumpsters. Using them as weapons upgrades your strength further. Inversely, killing civilians makes your skills decrease as a penalty - so there's a pretty strong down-side to just rip-roaring your way all around town running over everything that moves.
Also, they implemented a city-wide hide and seek system where you find "orbs" that are filled with skills. Agility orbs are the most common, they are typically placed high atop buildings and add to your jumping and running abilities when you find them. The hidden ones increase all of your skills equally, but are much more difficult to find. because, well, they're hidden.
Crackdown also allows you to join a friend's game (or for them to join you) at any point in your game. This is actually the most fun thing about Crackdown, since you and a friend can run around and pretty much just play with the game engine - effectively designing your own game to play. It's basically the electronic version of just screwing around with your friends in a park. If only you could give in-game noogies.
Seriously great times to be had in Crackdown, highly recommended -- especially if you like playing around with game physics engines "just to see what you can do."
Worms - Xbox 360
At last, my most awaited Xbox Live Arcade game! As a younger lad, I spent hours upon hours holed up with a friend of mine, both fiercely engaged in who held the mantle of Worms Champion of the World. Team17 has finally delivered a new version of their classic 2-d strategy game, in beautiful glorious HD, on XBL Arcade. It's a bit pared down from the later revisions of Worms - less weapons, more streamlined play - which I assume is a proactive shot across the bow of all the Worms Ninjas who would just steamroll all of the new players with their finely honed Worms skills. What results is a version of Worms that is very true to its roots, with a nice graphic overhaul. Plus, thanks to Xbox Live, my friend and I can still wrestle the mantle of Worms Champion of the World between Portland and San Francisco. (It's currently a draw.)
For those who aren't familiar, Worms is a 2-D strategy game where you have a team of worms on a randomly generated landscape. You have a palette of weapons at your disposal, and you take turns shooting/lobbing/punching/pushing your opponents worms. The object is to either whittle their health down to nothing or hit them so hard they fly into the water and drown. It's all presented in a very cartoony, fun wrapper and is an absolute blast to play.
Phoenix Wright: And Justice for All - Nintendo DS
Hooray! Another ridiculous law game! Ahhh, it's no secret that I love me some Phoenix Wright, and now there's a new one! Hooray! Just like the previous title, (Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney) you play as Phoenix Wright - kind of a combination lawyer and detective - solving the most bizarre cases to ever see their day in court. It's a fantastic game in the adventure genre, and an absolute must-play for anyone who likes games filled with oddball puzzles, great 2-D art and really, really over the top characters. The puzzles range from fairly simple to honestly quite difficult, and this time you have the ability to use character profiles as evidence in court - which adds to the general complexity of deciding which piece of evidence contradicts the statement of the witness. The first one took me nearly a year playing it off and on to complete, and this one looks to be much the same way. They definitely give you your money's worth.
If any of you ever get the hankering to chat with the Aperion gamers about video games, we have a permanent space set up in the Aperion Forum that's just for games. Drop by sometime!
by Alex Pasco
Yep, I managed to track down a Nintendo Wii kiosk while I was up in Seattle for the weekend. After a fairly confusing process where I had to trade my identification to get my paws on the remote, I sat down for a little one-on-one with Excite Truck.
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