Brace yourself for the Reaper invasion. This week, Kaz and Justin are shoring up their Krogans in Mass Effect 3. There’s still much to do before they can take back Earth, but there’s plenty to dissect in the opening hours. Meanwhile, Tom calls in long enough to fall on some trophies, while Tony catches up on The Witcher 2 and DOTA 2. Plus, a cavalcade of Vita stars, a brokenhearted Seal, Phil Fish making an ass of himself, a reboot bonanza, bales of hay, PAX East plans, Journey‘s shimmering sands and the iPad 3.
The Vita has been released, and no listener is safe from Justin’s hyperbolic praise. Expect launch game coverage, hardware impressions and puzzled grunts in regards to Near. But even if you’re not buying what Sony’s selling, the guys have lots to offer this week. Leading off, the Pack fields voicemails concerning the Smithsonian American Art Museum video games exhibit and ridiculously high Mass Effect 3 expectations. Then, Kaz wanders through Dear Esther and installs the new Windows 8 consumer preview, while Tom does his best to dodge trees on the slopes. Plus, wishing for a Pokémon MMO, French Canadian cruelty, the March of the Justins and perennial favorite SkiFree.
Though Sony’s marketing team may feel otherwise, I hope that the Playstation Vita’s legacy is not defined by games like Uncharted and Wipeout. Those games absolutely turn heads and look stunning on that OLED screen, but those are ultimately experiences you can find on the Playstation 3. No, what I hope will come to define the platform are games like Escape Plan, Sound Shapes and Gravity Rush. These games look every bit as gorgeous, but they’re designed from the ground up to take advantage of this system’s unique capabilities and portable nature. And much to my surprise, Tales From Space: Mutant Blobs Attack fits in very nicely with that group. This stylish platformer holds the distinction of being my favorite launch game by a wide margin, which seems particularly impressive because I hadn’t even heard of it until a week prior to launch.
For those of you who haven’t had a chance to play MBA‘s predecessor, About a Blob, your goal here is to simultaneously escape from various labs and cities while gobbling up everything in your path. The blob can wall jump, ground pound, manipulate magnetic fields and occasionally propel itself like a rocket through some of the levels’ more labyrinthine segments. Where MBA excels is its excellent level design. Though your move set may seem limited — no double jump, for instance — there are so many different types of obstacles to pass that I never found myself bored during the lengthy quest. From spiked metal conveyor belts that you must hover between to ominous lasers laying waste to everything behind you, developer DrinkBox Studios has done a great job of keeping the action varied and exciting.
Few people understand how powerful nostalgia can be as well as I do. I grew up dressing as Luigi (with a fake mustache), drawing new/impossible levels for Mega Man and humming the Fever music from Dr. Mario throughout the entire first half of my life. The 8-bit era left an indelible impression on me, and I can understand why so many young developers would want go back to that well. But to reiterate something I said on the podcast a couple week’s back, the minds behind high-profile throwbacks like Abobo’s Big Adventure and Super Mario Bros. Crossover 2.0 need to take a step back and ask themselves whether or not these old-school mash-ups have anything new to say. This isn’t a popular stance, and I don’t want to sound like I’m picking on these smaller passion projects, but I think we can look at this constructively and figure out a fitting tribute that isn’t just sprite dumping.
Podcast listeners know that my tastes don’t always align with those of the rest of the Pack, but the divide was particularly pronounced with Abobo’s Big Adventure. This game was designed to cram every childhood memory into an ambitious Flash game, with several different genres represented and the most packed roster of characters this side of Super Smash Bros. To that end, mission accomplished. Playing even just the first world, you’d spot more cameos from older games than your eight-year-old self could have ever imagined. But where I take issue is that none of these elements fit together. Each step is accompanied with non-sequiturs disguised as old school sprites, but very rarely does Team Abobo let its own style shine through. And it’s a shame, too, as I love the premise.
Giant pizzas, singing luchadores and rising stars await in this week’s episode. The guys ponder just how much joy can be pressed to a disc in Rhythm Heaven Fever, the only game with high-fiving monkeys and double-dating weasels (that we know of). Justin serves up some Pizza vs. Skeletons, Kaz continues celebrating exclusive Windows Phone 7 releases and Tom stirs up some belated mayhem in Mad World. At the end of the show, Justin also offers some very early impressions of his new Playstation Vita. Plus, the gaming food groups, a fanboy in training, Mass Effect 3 trailer skepticism, Deus Ex DLC and excessive probing, I suppose.
The Pack was so swept off their feet by Dustforce that they brought on HitBox Team to talk about the game. Programmer Lexie Dostal and sound designer Terrence Lee tell the guys about the level designing process, speed-run tips, the upcoming level editor and more. Afterwards, Justin disapproves of the Resident Evil Revelationslocalization, Tony sets up shop in Recettear and Kaz loves lugging stuff around in Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. Plus, a keyboard and mouse question, Kickstarter-related happiness, posies for Nemesis, Rhythm Heaven Fever and Time Warner’s cruelest joke.
Welcome to the latest installment of inspired idiocy. This week, Jeff Agala, Klei Entertainment’s creative director, returns to the podcast to talk about Shank 2. Tune in to find why this sequel makes Justin so happy. After the interview, Kaz embarks on endless side quests in Kingdoms of Necrid…er…Amalur, Tom fights with Baby WaSophitia in Soul Calibur V, Justin finds a pocket big enough for his Circle Pad Pro and a special ghost travels through time in Final Fantasy XIII-2. Plus, the Ivy League, Sir Hootington, Afro Thunder, Abobo’s Big Adventure, Zack Snyder’s latest barf on the screen, Shadows of the Damned‘s extended dick joke, Sakura Samurai and Vita anticipation.
It’s time for Alan Wake’s moment in the spotlight. This week, the guys chat with Oskari Häkkinen, Remedy’s head of franchise development, about Alan Wake’s American Nightmare. They discuss the XBLA title’s scope, new enemies, soundtracks and more. Afterwards, Justin fights off the Mutant Mudds, Kaz digs the European jank of The Witcher 2 and Tom curses Skyward Sword‘s tedious robot assistant. Plus, the enduring work of Jay Johnston, buckling off this mortal coil, the addiction of Isaac, loud feet, Soul Calibur 5‘s limited single player surprises, favorite Justin memories and Virtual Boy pseud0-love.
At the risk of losing all credibility in a single blog post, let it be known that I had fun with my Virtual Boy years ago. The eye-searing red display and neck-cramping visor design ensured that the fun never lasted too long, but for all of Nintendo’s colossal missteps, it at least got one thing right: Virtual Boy Wario Land. As an un-numbered entry on a forgotten system, there’s a good chance that you never were able to play it, and that is a true tragedy. VB Wario Land featured the same clever level design and antihero charm as the GameBoy entries. More importantly though, the game was the most successful (and possibly the first) to ask the player to jump back and forth between the foreground and background. This innovation gave a sense of depth that many “2.5D” platformers only dream of, and until Mutant Mudds launched on the 3DS last week, VB Wario Land remained unmatched.
Sure, there have been some developers that toyed with the idea along the way. The Paper Mario series often features pipes that bring you to hidden items in the background, and Donkey Kong Country Returns features some dynamic set pieces that make frequent use of the temples and trees in the distance. Last year’s Shantae sequel for the DSi and iOS also springs to mind, though the layered levels are too confusing for their own good. I’m sure that you, the reader, can rattle off a few examples as well. However, to see Mutant Mudds in motion is a thing of beauty, and that’s largely because of the way it uses the 3D display and alternating planes.
