Alex Vo
I recently finished Psychonauts, and though I had no doubts that I'd enjoy it immensely, it was only based on the fact that it was being done by Tim Schafer, a Lucas Arts alumni graduating from the company's adventure heyday. A platformer by him? Sounded intriguing, though I wondered why he chose that genre, what with its limited narrative capabilities. Movies and cutsscenes seemed a little too typical, though too much talking could slow down the pace of the game.
He took the "a lot of talking" route and miraculously was able to smuggle an adventure game into Psychonauts. Sneaky. I had to appreciate it because who knows how long it'll take for the next adventure game to be released on a console. If there even will be one!
Kind of makes me wonder about the state of adventure games as a whole. Of course, it's impossible to avoid the whole big stink about how it's dead, though if you really look at it, there's quite a few games still being commercially released, though most are fairly obscure and at a low price point. And also, none of them seem to be humor-based anymore. Bone, being worked on by upstarts Tell Tale Games, looks promising. "Bone," the comic, was never really hilarious, but it was quite funny, and it's deft mix of adventure and danger is unparalleled. That the game's also being worked on by a few other former Lucas Arts employees gives me much to anticipate.
Dave Beaudoin
Take a moment to stick your head out the window and take a deep breath. You smell that? It's the winds of change... Like it or not, fall's a comin', and if the previews we've been reading since E3 are any indication, we may just be in for the most vicious and competitive holiday season in recent history.
At this point, both the DS and PSP have their feet firmly planted and are ready to lock horns. Microsoft is readying their powerful new Xbox 360 platform for release just in time for Black Friday. Sony's got sequels to several of their multi-million selling franchises on the way, including Sly Cooper, Jak & Daxter and Ratchet & Clank. And Nintendo are ready to unleash the beast with a hoarde of new releases for their Nintendo DS, and the Legend of Zelda's Gamecube coo-de-grah, The Twilight Princess (Editor's Note: Which we've now learned shortly after the article was published has now been pushed back until 2006. Thanks Nintendo!)
Things are about to get interesting.
But before the leaves begin to fall and the cold winds come rolling in, we've got a good couple of months. And in the spirit of calm before the storm releases is the month of August, which will usher in the fall madness.
For those of you who are unacquainted with my loves, hates and undeniable biases, let me fill you in; I love Nintendo. Moreover, I love my GameCube, GBA SP and Nintendo DS. With every new release that's hit the market for the little dual-screen that could, I've been waiting with open arms. The DS' last big release, Meteos, was no exception. True, the game has been available for close to a month now, but I'm still dragging and igniting meteos like there's no tomorrow. It's just such a fun and ingenious game that it just begs to be played 'til the power LED's last blink. I know some of the haters like to cite the "cheat" you can execute simply by rubbing the screen rapidly all over the place, but I prefer to play with skill, thank you very much. The puzzle-fanatic in me wouldn't have it any other way.
Of course the puzzle-fanatic in me wishes Capcom would revive the Puzzle Fighter franchise with a new online-enabled edition, but that's a topic for another time.
I've also been spending a lot of time playing catch-up and renting some of the 'Cube's older releases. My latest spree has been trying every GameCube incarnation of Mario Party to find which one is worth purchasing. Mainly so my fiance and I have something we can play together that's not too terribly involving; Pick up and play is key. So far, I think our fave has been either 5 or 6, but the next few days will tell all (we're currently renting both).
To a lesser extent, my GBA and PS2 have been seeing some action. I recently played Metal Slug 4 & 5 on the PS2, which rocks. While neither of the games are quite up to par with Metal Slug 3 (which I have on Xbox), it's Metal Slug, and you can't go wrong with what I call "Contra on Steroids". Just the other day I also picked up Dragonball GT: Transformation on the GBA. Because I love Dragonball Z and enjoyed Webfoot Games' last DBZ title, Buu's Fury, I was anxious to experience their take on the DBGT story. All in all, it's a departure from their previous entries, but as different as it is, it feels somewhat the same; And in this case, that's a good thing.
All in all, I think August is poised to give us a handful of reminders why we love games, and to prep us for the incoming storm. Now that G-Phoria has come and gone, we can go back to openly admitting we're gamers (OH, SNAP!) and doing what we do best. And that is playing games.
And by the way, if you haven't preordered Nintendogs yet, you're off my Christmas card list.
