I saw
this article in the paper on my way to work the other day, and I chuckled. Let's see if you can figure out why. Here's a hint:
This game took place primarliy in New Orleans ;)
Unlocking the remaining secrets in Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles has become awfully frustrating, and Echochrome (while still wonderfully interesting) has failed to really hold my attention, so I've moved on to Wipeout Pure and N+, which are both solid, fast-paced, and lots of fun.
Castle Crashers is also great. Totally lives up to my expectations of a highly stylised, old school arcade brawler.
I don't think I mentioned this before, but I found a copy of Virtua Fighter 5 Online for around $20, so I picked that up too.
Metroid Prime is still amazing. I have only one complaint thus far: A save point on the way to pick up the power bomb would be swell... I know, it's not an impossible section, but it's more challenging and feels a lot longer than a lot of the previous sections, and having to replay it (for the third time, later this evening) just doesn't seem to fit in with the rest of the game so far. The experience isn't ruined for me, but what was a nearly perfect experience suddenly feels as though it has a balance issue. Yeah, so I'm wihining about a scuff on an otherwise flawless product... I'm a jerk :)
As for that Dark Sector write-up I talked about not too long ago, here goes: I liked Dark Sector a lot. The fact that I got it for $15 only made the whole thing that much sweeter, but I would've gladly paid up to $40 or so. There were some dissappointing aspects, such as occasional "skating" enemies (is there any excuse for poor walking animations these days?) and questionable hit detection (which just about ruined melee combat, made opening certain doors unreliable, and made breaking small item boxes on the floor needlessly cumbersome), but they didn't ruin the game. What came very close to ruining the game, however, was the poorly-told story. I remember reading early treatments of Dark Sector and being intrigued, and even though the final product was markedly different from those early descriptions, it was still brimming with potential. Unfortunately, all of the immersive plot points were either briefly glossed over or ignored altogether. Important characters appear out of nowhere with minimal backstory, chapter five is just plain perplexing (arbitraily releasing monsters, inexplicably unseen explosions), and the two main plot points hinge on the main character's history, of which we're only given a fragmented executive summary! By the time it's all over, with some note-taking and suspension of disbelief, there's a vaguely interesting narrative to be pieced together, but it's just not worth the effort... Play the game for the gameplay, the pretty graphics, and the score. Try not to think about the story, what it could've been, and how it would've taken this game to a whole new level; it'll just make you sad.
I was about to rant about why I'd never buy a 3D0 (noting how lot of big 3D0 titles, such as Alone In The Dark, Creature Shock, D, The Daedalus Encounter, Gex, The Horde, Killing Time, Need For Speed, Off-World Interceptor, PO'ed, Quarantine, Return Fire, Road Rash, Space Hulk, Star Control II, Super Street Fighter II Turbo, Super Wing Commander, and Wolfenstein 3D were either already available on other platforms, or were ported to the likes of the Saturn and PlayStation and improved shortly after their 3D0 release), but then I bought a 3D0. A
Goldtsar 3D0, to be exact. It's was an even $40 at a flea market and included Shockwave, so I couldn't say no...
P.S. You can play Psychonauts for free on GameTap. You don't even need to make an account. If you haven't tried Psychonauts yet, please do.
