You may have missed “Talk Like a Pirate” Day, but that doesn’t mean you can’t celebrate Wacky Wednesday with the Pack. This week, the guys are already dealing with a fall glut of games. Kaz rips through Gears of War 3, Tom leads a full-on Kirby: Mass Attack and Justin tumbles through MotoHeroz. They also talk about BloodRayne: Betrayal, The Gunstringer, Collapse (!), Resistance 3, Heroes of Neverwinter and more. It’s truly a packed episode that will carry you all the way through Thirsty Thursday and beyond.
The Rumble Pack Posts
Tom: Prologues and openings generally tend to be the most memorable parts of videogames. Most players can easily conjure memories of setting foot in the underwater city of Rapture for the first time, getting their starter Pokémon from Professor Oak, or smashing their first headcrab to bits with Gordon Freeman’s signature crowbar. The best introductions immediately involve the player in the world of the game and teach the gameplay mechanics in a clever or non-obtrusive manner.
It makes sense – first impressions are the most important, after all. It’s generally safe to say that if the first hour with a game is frustrating or unrewarding, the rest will usually follow suit. However, there are always exceptions: games that put a stumbling foot forward and end up rewarding the faithful who soldier on despite confusing tutorials, odd difficulty spikes, or boring prologues.
Justin: One of my greatest frustrations within the Pack is that my self-proclaimed Nintendo fanboyism means that my recommendations of that company’s games are usually dismissed. It doesn’t matter if I say that Donkey Kong Country Returns features amazing platforming set pieces or that Super Mario 3D Land looks to be doing some neat tricks with perspective because Justin has his StreetPass hat pulled over his eyes. Given that insurmountable hurdle, I don’t even know how I’d get my fellow podcasters to check out 2006’s Chibi Robo, a late cult classic for the GameCube that gets one major thing wrong at the outset of the game before getting so many things right.
The game is something of an open-world exploration game, in which you play as a tiny robot programmed to make a family of three happier. Later in the game, that means exploring the expanses of the house, interacting with other toys and uncovering secrets throughout. It’s like playing “Toy Story” through a bizarre Japanese lens. However, before you can get there, you’ll have to deal with stupidly menial tasks in order to level up. It’s been a couple years since I’ve played it, but I think this meant scraping dog crap off the kitchen tile with a toothbrush, if memory served correctly. (You’ll also spend a lot of time just picking up trash.) Of course, there are no physical boundaries keeping you from the more desirable content of the game, but without leveling up your battery – via dirt scrubbin’ – your Chibi Robo is basically stuck in one spot, clinging to electrical sockets for dear life until the game’s brutal time limit sends you back to the living room. As you slowly upgrade, you’ll find that the game has tons to offer, but it certainly takes its time getting there.
You’re very lucky! This weak, the Pack delves into the recent Nintendo press conference and some of the news coming out of the 2012 Tokyo Game Show. The future is still unclear for both the 3DS and Vita, but it’s guaranteed that the handheld “war” will be fascinating to watch. Afterwards, Justin is moved by the latest LittleBigPlanet 2 DLC, Kaz joins the Third Reich (but not really!) in Red Orchestra 2, and Tom’s not such a screw up after all in Star Fox 64 3D. Plus, Bearry White, another assault on the embassy, Monster Hunter 4 anticipation, Kirby Mass Attack, even more Deus Ex cookie whiffs and Nathan Lane.
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The Official Rumble Flyer (Big thanks to Mik of The Fanboys!)
This week’s episode is powered by the flames of burning Cavs jerseys. In this installment, Kaz ponders why Madden 12 seems so similar to last year’s model, Justin drops some elefunk in Rock of Ages and Tom dreams of a Deus Ex without controversy. Plus, the Nintendo embassy, a jump into the pool, Dragon Quest X, Steam hat sharing, Tetris-ing meats and gargling aquarium gravel.
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Though we wish we could have all traveled to PAX Prime 2011, we’re still thrilled that Kaz was able to make the annual pilgrimage to Seattle. In addition to playing tons of games (tune in to episode 205 for more), he was able to talk with Chris Hecker, the creator of Spy Party and Mark Norris, the producer of League of Legends‘ “Dominion” mode. For the full audio for these interviews and others, check out Kaz’s PAX Prime blog post.
Get ready for a pack of rumbles! This week, Kaz takes you on an audio tour of PAX Prime 2011. Tune in for impressions on Skulls of the Shogun, Counter Strike Global Offensive, Rayman Origins, Warp, League of Legends‘ Dominion mode, Trials Evolution and so much more. Afterwards, Tom falls for The Sims Social trap and the guys find multiple paths through their Deus Ex Human Revolution impressions. Plus, favorite franchises (food or otherwise), free-to-play feelings, virtual Walter White, gamers for Jesus and Grandma’s good old cookies.
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I love The Sims, but I just don’t have time to mop my virtual house anymore. While the series has sunk its hooks into me numerous times throughout its run, satisfying my families of Sims had become such a daunting experience in subsequent sequels that I just had to get away. The Sims 3 in particular, with its gigantic town and dozens of challenges cycling in and out, was just too much of a good thing. (I don’t know how EA expanded upon such a stuffed package.) Thus, this overwhelmed gamer decided to place his hopes in a proposed Sims game for Facebook, one that promised more reasonable expectations but the same household adventures I had enjoyed over the years. What we ended up with, The Sims Social, is an entirely different beast.
The Sims Social throws out many of the series’ conventions in order to make it work within a browser. Job trees have been reduced to in-home art projects, the town has been reduced to a single “street” of friends and managing a Sim’s needs is no longer the give-and-take tedium it once was. In order to make the experience more manageable for the casual set, energy limits have been put in place so that you’re only doing menial tasks for 15 minutes at a time – Animal Crossing comparisons aren’t too far off. However, while I’m totally in favor of making the experience more approachable, all of the little tweaks mean that suddenly this take on The Sims has lost its creative spark. Social has been reduced to a game of keeping up with the Joneses.
It’s that time of the year again, when all of nerd-dom meets in Seattle, Washington and tries to cram itself in the smallest amount of space possible. After going to three PAX events in the past, I’m going to attempt to do this one differently. Instead of desperately trying to talk to everyone on the show floor and stressing out running to and from meetings and demos, I’m going to endeavor to enjoy the show and bring back some of the audio of talking with all the developers and interesting people on the show floor.
I’ve taken a lot of requests of things to check out and I’m going to spend all Saturday playing those games and talking to the developers if at all possible and that’s it. It’s far too easy to make your PAX a blur and miss out on enjoying anything in favor of trying to see everything. I’ll make a note of what I see and dump raw audio and photos in this article as fast as I can.
Spy Party: Outside of the heavy hitters, this was one small game that had a consistent crowd gathering to watch and play. The line was split by skill level and creator Chris Hecker was on hand to fix glitches, give out tutorials and squash bugs to get the best possible experience into as many people’s hands as possible. I spoke at length with Chris concerning the game, the process and the feedback he was getting.
Watch out for boneless shards of chicken paste! When Justin steers the podcast everything goes wrong. This week, Tom paws at Fruit Ninja Kinect’s pomegranate while Justin drools over each frame of El Shaddai and begs Kaz and Tony to be his new The Sims Social neighbors. Plus, price drop guilt, bifurcations, wild Nintendo 3DS rumors, sandpaper, pre-PAX excitement and Tom Jones.
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“Wreck-It Ralph”
Game Night: Street Fighter III Online
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