Season's Wii-tings: Super Mario 3D World

Time for a little positive thinking.  (I deserve this after a month of Family Guy posts.  Just let me have this.)

With November 22^nd now past us, the big three have all released their eighth-generation consoles.  Notably, November saw the release of two of those three consoles within a week of one another, and both have reportedly broken the “million units sold” mark.  Which console won the first fight in the latest and greatest war yet?  Which one will go on to claim true victory over all others? 

Frankly, I could care less.  Right now the Wii U’s the winner in my book.

That’s not to say that the PS4 or Xbox One are worthless or useless.  And that’s not to say that the Wii U’s flawless, or that it’ll suddenly overwhelm the competition to become a financial juggernaut (though that’d be totally awesome and I kind of hope it happens).  But when I look at the games for the “real” consoles and see games that are getting browner, grayer, duller, shootier, stabbier, and microtransactionier…well, I hope you’ll forgive me for not exploding with hype.  (Seriously, you know your console’s messed up when new technology makes it HARDER to do colors.)  Comparatively, Nintendo’s first real step into the HD generation has given us colors, aesthetics, imagination, and a level of splendor that almost heals the wounds left by DmC.  Almost.

So you know what?  It’s almost Christmas.  Let’s make it a special one, and gab about Wii U games -- starting with the kinda-sorta fantastic Super Mario 3D World.  Because as it turns out, it’s fantastic in a way you’ll never see coming.

Of Batman and “Predator Games”

(Alternate post title: Bored with Power 2: Electric Boogaloo)

I would just like to say one thing upfront: it is almost hilarious that this post covers the same topic I talked at length about almost a year ago on the dot.  I say “almost”, of course, because the fact that I feel like I HAVE to dredge up this topic again means that by and large I don’t feel like the games industry has learned a single damn thing.  Ergo, it’s less “almost hilarious” and more “completely depressing”.

So.  Not too long ago I did a little post on Batman: Arkham Origins (which I posted on a Monday because I didn’t want the stigma of a Family Guy post taking the top slot and corrupting my blog for too long).  I went in with a bit of cautious “optimism” thanks to the reviews and consensus being less than positive, but I figured it was at least worth a shot to see if the game could win me over.  It didn’t.  I couldn’t bring myself to play past the first hour or so, and with my brother saying that it just goes downhill from there I decided early that even if there WAS a good story in there, it wasn’t worth it.

                                                                            

As always, I want to stress that if you like the game, then that’s great.  I envy you.  But I couldn’t even begin to enjoy it, and I feel like I can’t rest until I explain why.

Short answer?  It’s the gameplay.  Long answer?  Well...hold on to your butts.

A Hunka Hunka Burnin’ Soul

Meh.  Needs more swords.

Sometimes my brother makes bad decisions when it comes to buying games.  Very bad decisions -- like buying every new installment/spinoff of the Dynasty Warriors series in spite of the soft-ban I’ve placed.  Or maybe he’ll go out of his way to buy a fighting game -- one that he’s already traded in -- with the intent of having it replace his addiction hobby of Street Fighter 4 and Marvel vs. Capcom 3…only to play it about three times and let it decay within a CD case.

But there are times when he does well.  And buying Soulcalibur 5 is one of those times.

Red Means Angry

He's a little miffed right now.

So the other day, I tried the Asura's Wrath demo on PS3.  And...well, I'm not sure what to say about it.  When asked by my brother, all I sad was "This guy is very, very angry."  Demos being demos, I didn't want to judge the game based on about twenty minutes of context-less beatdowns.  I'm an equal-opportunity gamer, unless your name has Final Fantasy XIII in it -- in which you can just mosey right on into the lowest circle of Hell.

But I digress.  By default, I want to like -- no, LOVE Asura's Wrath.  For one thing, it's a game made by Capcom and CyberConnect2, companies known for delivering stylish crazy action and ultra-cinematic battles, respectively (with regular overlap).  It's not another brown-tinged military shooter.  You play as a guy with six arms who punches and punches and punches until he turns a finger that could poke a hole through Brazil into molten confetti, along with the moon-sized deity that it belongs to.

So yeah, I'm excited.  At the same time, I'm really worried about this game.  It's a cinematic experience, sure, but -- as I've said in the past -- games and movies are separate for a reason.  Games put the action in the hands of the players, crafting battles and skirmishes as they see fit.  Movies do not.  Movies are all about scripted events, occuring in a predetermined fashion.  But then again, games are featuring more of these scripted events than ever before; logically, that would make a game like Asura's Wrath primed for perfect review scores and acclaim by the public.