The handheld gaming market has always been a tricky one to figure out. For the most part, developers have always tried to create brand new games that are not only suitable for the handheld consoles they are released for, but perfect for the handheld system. Because of the obvious limitations a handheld, mobile console possess, it's really hard to develop full on gaming experiences that gamers are used to. Gamers want the big, expansive games they are used to on home consoles, not bite-sized, smaller versions of the franchises they are used to. Because of this, developers try to create new IP's, as they don't want to disappoint established fanbases. New franchises are really hard to manufacture, especially ones that will be around longer than one game, and that itself scares publishers away. Usually, this back and forth debate is what forces studios to fall back on established franchises, and they are dealt with the dubious task of not screwing it up. Usually they do, however, and thus creates the vicious cycle of consumers being weary of handheld games and publishers being afraid to push out games for them. Sure, there have been good handheld games before Metroid Fusion, but never on the same par as the already established Metroid franchise. Metroid Fusion was proof to all developers and publishers that a game franchise that already was spanning multiple console generations could produce a really good handheld game. Fusion wasn't exactly the same size as previous Metroid games as far as scope and overall world exploration size, but there will always be limitations when it comes to handheld games. Instead of the large maps to explore and backtrack and forth multiple times throughout the game, Fusion is actually pretty linear for a Metroid game. And honestly, that's OK. The game is pretty much all platforming and puzzle solving, and for me, that's right up my alley. Sadly, I never got to play Fusion when I was younger. Thanks to the awesome Ambassador program that Nintendo rolled out to all the early 3DS adopters, I got this game for free as one of the twenty free games to make me feel better about buying a new console at its release without any games worthy of being played on it. Playing on the big 3DS XL probably doesn't do the game justice as it looked like on the original GameBoy Advance back in the day, but it's suitable for what it is, and it's still a lot of fun. Really glad I got a chance to experience one of the first awesome console-to-handheld franchise games. Now, about that Ambassador Program. Think Nintendo will roll something out for all of us early Wii U adopters? Here's hoping!
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Metroid was an incredibly revolutionary game for it's time. With that being said, Metroid II took the formula already laid out before it, and added to it, with the inclusion of a save system, finally. In the original game, players couldn't save their game, instead using the infamous NES style of save points: passwords. Typing in passwords before you started the game would take you to specific points in the game, allowing you to actually turn off your system every now and then. Looking back on it, it's remarkable so many of the old NES systems still work, and work well, especially considering how long those consoles were usually left on in the middle of game play sessions, you know, when us kids had to go to school and bed and all that not-so-fun stuff. Sure, I guess those machines weren't running anything very heavy duty or heat-producing parts, but still, electronics are pretty sensitive as a whole. Constant power, spit and saliva blown into the machines and the game cartridges and overall misuse and abuse of them should have destroyed way more of them then actually did. Anyway, so the save system of passwords sucked in Metroid, but was refined in Metroid II to a more normal, sufficiently adequate save system. Of course, this eliminated the possibility of the "JUSTIN BAILEY" code, which I honestly knew nothing about until a couple of months ago, thanks to my buddy Tanner, who apparently thought that every human on the planet knew of the JUSTIN BAILEY code. Despite Metroid II being a nice step up in the franchise, however, I decided to skip it in favor of one of the most highly regarded video games of all time, Super Metroid, on the SNES. The game continued the same Metroid-style of gameplay as before, but with the upgraded visual graphics of the new console, the game felt fresher and more awesome than ever before. Sorry for the "awesome" reference, but I just couldn't think of another word to describe the game and experience as I was typing other than "awesome." There's a little fourth wall, behind the curtain writing for you also. Sure, Super Metroid looked great, and Samus was now donning the suit everyone associates with her (which was established in II, but not fully appreciated until this game), but this game was far more important and interesting than just the graphics. They story itself was fascinating, as it captivated the minds and imaginations of gamers of all ages. The previous stories were suitable, and did a decent job establishing a new character and universe, but Super Metroid went above and beyond to ensure that this character and her story would be around for as long as possible. It cemented its place among the Nintendo franchises as one of the best and most memorable, and for everyone who loves the series, it usually always points back to Super Metroid. Being a bounty hunter is cool, and always has been since Boba Fett. Fighting space pirates, especially when the boss of them is a pterodactyl-dragon hybrid creature. Harnessing the power of an alien larva that thinks you are its mom is a little weird, sure. But then you get to the final battle and ending of the game, and suddenly, gaming memories that will last forever happen. You encounter Mother Brain, a biomechanical creature that is, of course, in control of base. It's not called Mother Brain for nothing, you know. Anyway, Mother Brain pushes Samus to the brink of death, only to be attacked by the Metroid you shared a connection with. After destroying almost the entire population of Metroids in the last game, the fact the last of the species that you committed genocide against is helping you was a plot twist like none other. After draining Mother Brain of its energy and transferring it to Samus, Mother Brain recovers just enough to kill the last Metroid. Samus, of course, uses the harnessed energy she was just given to finally destroy Mother Brain, and then narrowly escapes the self destruction of the entire planet. Just sitting there playing and watching this all play out was incredible back then, and even now, is still as powerful as ever. Oh crap, and I forgot to mention something: ******************* SPOILER ALERT!!! ******************* Whoops, sorry about that. But honestly, if you haven't played this game yet and experienced one of the best endings of a video game ever, what is wrong with you? Go find a way to play it now. Even if you already know what happened, it's just one of those gaming moments you will want to keep with you in your memory bank, trust me. If I can be frank here, it should be obvious to everyone that's ever played games that in the video game universe, females don't get near the respect or fair treatment that they deserve. While this has been a hot button debate recently within the video game media circles, I still feel like this topic is one that shouldn't be just passed over quickly. Sure, the resounding sentiment is that misogyny is overly prevalent in the video game culture, even in today's games, despite the efforts of many publishers and developers to end stereotypes and create a more balanced and respectful gaming culture. But just because everyone is of the same opinion, doesn't mean everything is lollipops and rainbows. The fight for equality in gaming is still ongoing. Just because everyone feels the same way, we're still a long way off from those opinions be translated into actual results and a victory for equality. We've had several leading ladies in video games recently, especially this year, but there is one woman we haven't seen in a while, who pretty much started the movement for strong, lead female protagonists in games. Samus Aran, where are you? It all started back in the NES days, with the release of a space platformer/puzzler/shooter game called Metroid. The thing is, back then, everyone assumed that Samus was a male character. With the suit on and any recognizable features hidden in the sprite character model, determining that Samus was female was impossible. Even in the guide book included with the game, Nintendo referred to Samus as "he," thus possibly being the first ones to troll gamers. It wasn't until gamers figured out to finish the game in under five hours did they discover the ending Nintendo intended the world to experience, where it is revealed for the first time that Samus was, in fact, a woman. I don't remember this as a kid, but I can imagine how shocking it was for people to realize they had been playing a female character the entire time. While it shouldn't make a bit of difference whether you play as a male or female in a game, the unexpected shock of realizing that your preconceived ideas of what's supposed to be, isn't always what they seem. Misogyny doesn't always have to be a conscience, intentional thought or feeling, as society embedded roots of the belief in everyone long before they even realized it. This game, and that ending specifically, broke the notion that every game had to be about being the tough guy trying to save his princess from the clutches of evil. Sometimes that princess can fend for herself just fine. Playing this game again, I unfortunately didn't get to the really cool ending that I'm talking about, but I did have a lot of fun running around, and experiencing the game that sprouted an entirely new genre of games unintentionally. Everyone has heard the term "Metroidvania," I'm sure, referring to the style of Metroid and later Castlevania games, of exploration of the map to find upgrades and new abilities that allow you access to previously unreachable paths in the map in order to advance the overall story and main mission of the game. Instead of taking Path A, you would have to travel to Path C in order to get to Path B, which would allow you to go back and continue on Path A. Confused? Try figuring out while playing the game, when every game before it was pretty much a Point A to Point B, extremely linear type of game progression. In hindsight, it was pretty revolutionary, but back then, it was just something different. Something different in more ways than one, thankfully. I know I've talked about it before, but sometimes, I just want to be apart of the conversation, whatever the conversation is regarding video games. I may not have a lot of interest in whatever topic or game is being talked about, but I still like to know the ins and outs, the details and the points/counterpoints of the conversation. I live my life like this on a daily basis, not just in regards to video games. I'm an information sponge, and want to know all I can about whatever I can. Sure, sometimes I feel like I absorb too much information, but that's just the nature of the beast. I blame my journalistic background, although one could argue that my natural inquisitive thirst for knowledge led me to journalism in the first place. Tomatoes, tomatoes, I say. Anyway, EarthBound is one of those games I have always heard of, but never knew anything about. When playing Smash Bros, I seemed to figure out that Ness (and later Lucas, also) was from the EarthBound series,but that's as far as my knowledge took me. I didn't get the moves, the level based around the game, or anything about anything, really. But I knew of it, and that's all that mattered. Because EarthBound is incredibly hard to find in it's original SNES form these days, and I never had the chance to play it as a kid, my desire to know anything about the game never turned into anything more. Why care about something or invest time into researching something that meant nothing to me? No one was talking about the game, other than hopeful fans clamoring for it's US re-release on a Virtual Console, so without a discussion to be apart of, I had no business worrying about it. That is, until Nintendo shockingly and unexpectedly announced that they would be releasing EarthBound on the Virtual Console for the Wii U. And naturally, the Internet blew up. Finally, after an eternity of waiting, fans would be getting a true version of the game they probably missed out on in the first place. And because the Internet blew up, I had to know exactly what all the commotion was all about. So when the game was released, I downloaded it immediately. It was only ten bucks, but according to the Internet, it was well worth the money for one of the most highly regarded and almost unanimously best RPG games for the Super Nintendo, ever. After I downloaded it, there it say. Because in all honesty, RPGs are not my cup of tea, especially in this crazy year of gaming. My game time is at a premium, and being able to invest serious time into an RPG - despite how good it is - just isn't something I could conceivably do. Especially for such an old game. You know, the new hotness in video games always seems to take precedent in time investment, for me. Well, I finally got around to playing it, mainly because I wanted to make absolutely sure I got it into this year of gaming blog, because of the crazy whirlwind of conversation the release of this game caused. And while I enjoyed what I played, I just didn't get far enough into it to see all the charm that supposedly makes this game amazing. Sure, the writing was great, and how they set up the whole game and storyline was fantastic, but I just didn't sink enough time into EarthBound to fully gauge how much I will eventually like this game. So far, it's okay as it sounds now, and I would like to eventually get through it. I know I've said that many times before over the course of this year, but I really would like to. I want to experience the admiration the Internet seems to have for this game in the same light. Thankfully, now I can. I can finally be apart of the conversation. It's just a matter of doing it of course. Microsoft rolled out Smart Glass a while ago, and despite the hype before hand, it's release didn't quite receive the fanfare they expected. Maybe it had a lot to do with its limited functionality and overall lack of support or connectivity with pretty much everything. However, going into the next generation of consoles with the Xbox One, Microsoft promises to integrate it more into the overall experience of the console for the gamer. Well, consider me completely uninterested. I don't want to have to use my iPhone or iPad while playing games in order to gain additional gaming experiences. I really have no use for that in my life. However, the possibility of integrating mobile devices and applications with games I'm playing on my console could work in some aspects. and oddly enough, Sony seems to have figured it out already. Knack is going to be a launch day title for the upcoming PS4, and is developed by one of Sony's in-house studios. Well, in preparation for the console and game launch, they decided to go ahead and put out a free game/app on iOS that ties in directly with Knack. The game is called Knack's Quest, and if all works as it seems like it should, it will be the perfect bridge between my phone and console gaming, at least in my own humble opinion. It is basically a Bejeweled-type of match three game, playing exactly like you would think. Depending on what level you are playing on, there are different level-specific items on the game board that all do and act differently. As you pass stages and levels, all the points you accumulate from your play time gets dumped into a progress bar that keeps track of your points, as you try to reach the point total goal. Once you do, you unlock an item, which is always a single part/piece of something bigger. All these items and parts of items that you accumulate supposedly will transfer somehow over to your game of Knack, allowing you a head start on all the cool upgrades and items in the actual game. Like I said, I'm not sure how this is going to work, but if it does, how cool will that be? A free bejeweled-style game that unlocks bonus content in the console version of the game? I'll take that any day. For this post, I want to bring you back behind the curtain a little bit. The game I chose to play isn't just a one-day game, but instead, the start of a project within the project of my year long adventure in gaming. Yes, I decided to play Wii Fit U, for the Wii U, but by doing so, I am beginning a daily exercise regiment using video games as motivation. I'm going to play and utilize the game and all the great exercises and activities for a month, playing it every day if possible, to see what kind of results I can get from it. My initial goal is five pounds lost in the first two weeks, and hopefully I can work my way to the goal. After a month, and hopefully two goals met, I'm truly hoping that I can see clear results, and will want to continue the program for as long as possible. For now, though, let's give it a month. And I'll report back in ever week or so to give you updates on how it's going, in case you are curious at all. Granted, it is the holiday season, which is the absolute worst time to try and lose some weight, but hey, let's see what happens The full retail game itself isn't available to buy just yet, but if you still have your old balance board - covered in dust and all - you can download the free 31 day trial and check out the game yourself. In December, they are releasing the full game, and also the balance board to go along with it, for those who didn't jump on the Wii Fit U train many years ago when everyone, especially their mothers, thought the Wii, Wii Fit and the balance board peripheral was the bees' knees. Here's the catch. For the Wii Fit U game, they are adding a second accessory to the mix, this time in the form of a pedometer, which they are calling the Nintendo Fit Meter. It functions just like any other pedometer for the most part, keep track of the steps you take, calories you burn and other essential information regarding your movement throughout the day. So why is this a big deal, or even necessary, you ask? Well, because it syncs up with your Wii U GamePad when you tell it to, instantly transferring your daily data through the GamePad and right in to the game itself, adding another layer of your fitness progress stat keeping. Instead of just tracking your exercises you do every time you play, you now get to add your daily activity to your daily report. The thing is, if you buy this Fit Meter for twenty bucks, and sync it up with your trial version of Wii Fit U by early next year (I think it was January 31), then you automatically unlock the entire, full version of the game - FOR FREE! That's right. For twenty bucks, if you have the balance board already, you essentially get the entire package. Not a bad deal for storing that board under your entertainment center or coffee table for all these years, right? Anyway, of course that's what I did. And I made a commitment to wearing the Fit Meter at all times. So far, so good. Just clips right on to my belt, so I hardly even notice it's there. Also, the games, exercises and routines in the Wii Fit U game are pretty much what you would remember from the original Wii Fit and Wii Fit Plus games, just in "HD" for the new system, of course. There are some new activities sprinkled in as well, but they didn't try to reinvent the wheel here. They were happy with the fitness mini-games they created the first time around, and saw no reason to change it up, just add to it. I will confess, however, that the whole time I was working out and saw the Trainer, all I could think about was that character being in the upcoming Super Smash Bros. game, and how badly I want to play it. Like, I would stop this blog right now if I could get my hands on that game right now. I'm that excited. So yeah, there you have it. In a week, I'll put up a little something detailing my progress just for those interested in how it's going. Either way, I'm doing this for me, and that's the key. I'm just nice enough to let your voyeurs peep behind the curtains a bit. I don't think I have done this yet on the blog this year, although I have wanted to for quite some time now. It's a shame that it took this long to give it a shot, because if it's something that you, the readers, seem to enjoy, I would have loved to do it more often. I didn't play just one game for the blog, but instead two, as a way to get a couple different perspectives on a franchise for two really different games, both of which I enjoy playing for different reasons. I don't want to do a comparison and try to determine which game is better or more fun to play, as I did with the two baseball games that came out this year, but just hold both games up and put them under their own spotlights. I just want to do it in a one-day span, to drive home the point I am making about both of them. This all came about because I finally sat down and planned out the rest of the year for this blog. That's right, you heard me correctly. I actually decided to put some planning in to this stupid thing and stop winging it like I have done for the better portion of ten months now. With the end of the year approaching quickly, and two new game systems coming out in a mere weeks, I wanted to make a battle plan for how I could finish off this year of gaming strong. I didn't want to limp to the finish line, as good as that sounds, but really drive home the fact that I am less than two months away from this once seemingly impossible goal. Because of my planning and scheduling, I realized that I have way more games to write about than I do days left in the year. This isn't a bad problem to have, as I once worried about finding enough to fill the year. However, since I am not ready to reveal what will happen to TheNoyse.com after December 31st, 2013, I don't want to just allude to the possibility of something, if anything, continuing after this year is over. And because of that, I want to try and get all the games in that I want to write about, if possible, while still keeping to my schedule that I have planned out as of now. Again, if you know me or anything about this blog, you will know that I'm quite likely to change things on a whim, go against the master plan and throw you all curve balls when I feel necessary. So with that, I present to a double feature, as I write about both X-Men Arcade, and X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse. First up is X-Men Arcade, which I played on the PSN for this blog, but am far more familiar with it as being an actual arcade game. I picked up the game on sale from the PSN store several months back, for a couple of bucks, hoping to recapture the nostalgic feeling and fond memories of button mashing next to strangers and friends alike in the arcade, all huddled around this game. Thankfully, the digital version didn't disappoint on the good feelings aspect, as they didn't really change anything about the game. They didn't add new enemies or stages or characters, they just left it alone for all the fans to enjoy. Sure, they put some poilish on it, but not enough to ever confuse you into thinking you were playing an updated or remastered version of the game. Everything you remember loving about the game is still fully in effect on this version. For me, playing this game in arcades was an absolute must. If the arcade I was in had it, I would be playing it, whether that meant waiting in line with friends or jumping in to an already started game with complete strangers, I was playing it. As you know, I'm usually not a multiplayer type of gamer, but once you step foot into an arcade, all gaming habits you may have fall to the wayside, as you just get lost in the musty smell, the sounds of machines racking up high scores and quarter machines spitting out change, and the sights of people just like you, all there for the same reason. To play games and have fun. This game is meant to be just played and enjoyed. It's the truest form of button mashing imaginable, and because strategy takes a back seat to simplistic game play, you don't have to know, or even get along with, the people you are playing with to conquer the game. The X-Men characters to choose from offer a nice variety of choices to a broad range of fans, so everyone fighting for one character isn't common, as most people are just happy to play, regardless of who they are controlling. There is a video game arcade and bar that I have been to a few times, and wrote about a time or two on this very blog, and every time I am there, the crowd around the X-Men Arcade machine is one of the biggest in the building. It's even comparable to the line at the bar and the restrooms, which says a lot. I always try to get in on a game when I go, and never hesitate about joining in on someone else's game. Playing X-Men Arcade on the PS3 was fun, but lonely, It made me want to run down to the arcade and drop in a few quarters. I guess it's nice to have on hand whenever I feel like beating a game in about a half of an hour, but for the most part, it's just an awesome reminder of how far video games have come in society. We used to game with friends by our side, now we do it across the ocean via the Internet. It isn't a bad thing, it's just a thing. I also played X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse for this X-Men double header. I chose this game because playing Arcade made me think of how well single-player X-Men games can be. Honestly, I don't know how critically acclaimed Mutant Apocalypse is or was, but for me, it's always the first or second game I think of when talking about the X-Men franchise. So I hooked up my Super Nintendo and fired up this game, taking me back to a different part of my life as a gamer. As a kid, I didn't have many friends. Sure, I had lots of buddies at school and people I referred to as friends then, but looking back, they were more acquaintances than anything. I had a couple of good friends though, but unfortunately, circumstances pushed them both out of my life. Before all that happened though, I mainly hung out wiht my cousins and their friends when I felt like being around people. When I was craving me time, I would bunker down in my room and game. One of the games I dumped several hours into was X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse. It was a great single player game, as you would pick from one of five characters, play their level, and then go on to the next character and stage. Eventually you'd beat the game, playing all the different characters and mastering all of their abilities and play styles. It felt like teamwork, playing all of them individually, but without all the social awkwardness of my childhood. Sure, Wolverine was by far the best character, as it was so fun to just run through and slash your way past everyone. But personally, my favorite was Gambit, with his staff for melee combat, kinetic energy and card throwing capabilities. He just seemed like the outcast in the group, resembling how I felt a lot of my childhood. It was because of his appearance in this game that I decided he was one of my favorite X-Men characters, if not my overall favorite. Unfortunately, Marvel hasn't done much with the character as far as mainstream media is concerned, but I'mm holding out hope that one day he will step out of the shadows as being a secondary, often forgot about character and actually develop a wider fan base. A lonely kid could hope, right? Anyway, playing this game again drummed up some unexpected memories and feelings from my childhood, but there was a silver lining. It made me realize that just because I choose not game very often online with other people, doesn't make me less of a gamer. I'm just a different kind of gamer. One who appreciates the solitude and quietness of enjoying games solo, and getting lost in them, sometimes even escaping from whatever ales me in this world and enjoying the world I'm playing in, where I've been given the ability to be who I want. When it comes to mainstream, popular opinions when it comes to video games and the industry the make up, I more often than not fall on the side of the minority way of thinking. I don't do this intentionally, as a way to be different or unique, or try to rise up against the system like a hipster of video games. For some reason, I just don't always agree with what everyone else thinks, but I always have reasoning for my not-so-popular opinions. By in large, I find that the video game media grabs hold of an idea or an opinion, and runs with it hard and directly to the consumers, essentially forcing their own opinions onto the masses. When enough people with authoritative voices in the industry keep saying the same thing, all while dismissing any counter-arguments from other sources or outlets, it's easy for the masses to be heavily influenced. The hype for The Last of Us was unreal before it was released. It was touted for months before it was on store shelves as the Game of the Year front runner, and was promised to be a game of the generation. Everything about it people were excited for, as it was going to be the gold standard for how video games are made going forward. And yes, I bought in to the hype myself, and couldn't wait to experience the game first hand. Everything I heard about it before hand only validated all the hype. It was receiving perfect scores left and right, and every prediction about it before it was released was being confirmed. Every single person in the video game media agreed, it seemed, that this game was a masterpiece from top to bottom, and when game developers in future generations would make games, they could turn to The Last of Us as a guide or an example of how to make a game. Long story short, everyone unanimously agreed this game was an all-time classic. Well, hate to break it to you, dear readers, but I can't share that same sentiment. Yes, the game is absolutely beautiful. It is one of the most gorgeous games I have ever played or seen, but in a dilapidated, apocalyptic kind of way, of course. The characters are phenomenal and the story telling is excellent. Even in the first 15 minutes of the game, it's hard not to find at least one tear running down your cheek. The world that Naughty Dog created is bleak, depressing, quiet and lonesome. It's emotional and powerful, scary and intense. Everything about it on paper proves why it is worthy of the "masterpiece" label. Unfortunately, it all seems like the perfect game until you actually play the game. The game play of this game sucks. I'm sorry to anyone who thinks differently, but I found the game constantly frustrating and irritating. The combat system is below average, and it feels like they made the game, especially the violent encounters with the monsters and the humans, hard for the sake of being hard. Even when dropping the game down to easy, I still found the combat unfairly difficult, and the actual "rules" of the world impossible to live by. They expect you to play a certain way, but constantly force you to play in ways you aren't ready for, expecting or prepared for in-game. I understand this world is supposed to be unforgiving and relentless, and they did a great job of recreating that feeling. But this is also a video game, and I should be able to actually enjoy playing the game. In fact, the best parts about the game were the parts where I was just watching, or even when I was in control but merely walking around peacefully and without fear, sightseeing the crumbling world around me. When I had to stop enjoying the world and actually participate in it, all I wanted to do was just go back to what I was doing before. The way I look at it, a perfect game is one that makes me want to keep playing, makes me enjoy holding the controller even if it is emotionally draining. The fact that I would rather watch the cut-scenes of The Last of Us on YouTube to experience the story as opposed to playing it out myself, makes me wonder just how good of a game it is. Trust me, I see all the great things this game has to offer, but I think it's a disservice to not acknowledge the flaws of it. Praising a game for it's accomplishments is wonderful, but dismissing the shortcomings, especially when it comes to how the actual game is played, isn't fair to all other games that get it right. I have been holding off writing about this game for a long time now, because I wanted to beat it first. Well, I am still stuck in an area that because of an autosave mishap, I can't seem to get past. I'm about 50% through the game, as I have been for a while now. I want to beat this game, but I don't know if I can table my frustrations long enough to push through the remaining hours of this game. It's exhausting just thinking about it, and while I gave it a shot this time around, I didn't get anything encouraging accomplished. I want to know how the story plays out, but I just don't want to play the game in order to get there. Does this sound like a masterpiece of a game to you? Everyone else thinks so. I guess I'm just crazy, right? I've wanted to write about this game for a while, but honestly, with the seemingly endless pile of games to play, both new releases and ones I've stashed away to play for this blog, it was hard to actually be inspired to play this game. Because as much as I adore this game, and would easily have it in the top ten of my list for Wii games, the game is totally not made for me, the serious gamer. Even though my love for all things Nintendo runs deep, this game wasn't developed for me to play as much as it was for me to simply enjoy. It was developed for kids, and for parents to enjoy with them as they play. Sure, it is a legit game with actual gameplay, story and all the other elements that make a video game, a video game. But while the game itself is phenomenal, and there is some challenge in it for those who are collectors/perfectionists, the game is easy. Like, really easy. In fact, it's so easy, you can't die. Ever. There is restarts or continues. There is no punishment for failing or being bad at the game, or even for not having a clue what you are doing. The game continues to be charming and endearing, cute and whimsical, despite how well you do at the game. And that's why it was perfect for my five year old daughter to play, and perfect for me to watch her and enjoy the father/daughter time. She has played games before. We actually play Disney Infinity every time she comes over, and she has a couple of pages of games she likes to play on my iPad, so gaming isn't a completely foreign concept to her. But just because she plays games, doesn't necessarily mean she is good at them. She tries, and she is much better at tablet gaming then she is at console-based gaming with controllers. She knows the basics, but remembering which buttons do which, how to maneuver with joysticks is challenging for her, naturally. So watching her play this game was fun, as she didn't know what she was doing, but because it is so forgiving, she never got frustrated with it. She just kept at it, moving along at her own pace, without worry or fear of failure. This is the type of game every kid deserves to play. This is the type of game that will encourage joy and enthusiasm with gaming for young kids, not discourage them and fault them for their failures and learning curves. This is the type of game that kids will have fun playing, enjoying their experience and just having fun. And as a father, as much fun as I have with games, and as much fun as I had playing this game, just experiencing it with my daughter was far more rewarding than any achievement or trophy would ever be. When I first got this game delivered to my doorstep, thanks to the every increasingly impressive Amazon Prime, the very first thing I did when I opened it up was take out the box art cover, flip it around and put it back in. While I have nothing against The Rock and all of his awesomeness that he has brought to the wrestling universe over the years, let's face it. Daniel Bryan is one of the best things to happen to the WWE in a very long time, along with CM Punk of course. Apparently, there was some sort of contest to decide the alternate cover athlete, and Bryan Daniel won I'm guessing, so there you have it. Good for him, I say. Not familiar with wrestlers and the universe they reside in? Don't worry, you don't need background knowledge to keep up with this blog post. While WWE 2K14 is the newest addition to the wrestling game genre, and also the first WWE game made by the 2K Sports team, it doesn't bank on gamers being avid watchers or even followers of the current storylines. Sure, the game is more enjoyable if you are at least familiar with the wrestlers, especially all the current day ones, but it's not a breaking point for the game. You see, if you have any sort of history with watching wrestling in your lifetime, chances are there is something for you to enjoy in 2K14, especially if you are feeling particularly nostalgic and want to take a trip down memory lane. In the last WWE game (which I wrote about, as you should recall), they introduced a new mode that revisited the Attitude Era of the WWE, recreating all the biggest matches and events from that important piece of the wrestling timeline, allowing you to participate and attempt to duplicate them as best as possible. I wrote then that it was absolutely the best part of that game, and if that mode was the only thing in the game, I would still feel satisfied. Well, the new development team took that idea and ran with it. Just because it wasn't their original idea doesn't mean it wasn't a good idea or one they couldn't use. They saw the bigger picture of the mode, and what it could entail. So instead of pinpointing a specific era, they decided to pay homage to the grandest stage of them all, WrestleMania, and the thirty years it encompasses. Going back all the way to the first WrestleMania, you can play as all the wrestlers you may remember from back in the day, in the biggest and most well-known matches of all time, trying to recreate all the important moments of each match. Long story short, going back and and visiting so many vivid wrestling memories was amazing. The game looks great, and it's safe to say that the franchise is in good hands. YES! YES! YES! |
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February 2014
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