So I have been hard at work on my paper this entire weekend. Actually, I was supposed to be working on this paper all weekend. However, instead of doing actual work I have been procrastinating, well, like it’s my job. So Sunday I turned on my XBOX 360 so I could listen to some music whilst writing, but before I started playing my writing music, I started looking at some of the new arcade games. One game in particular caught my eye, The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai (and also check the developers blog). I decided to check out the demo, and damn I was hooked with a quickness. Although $10 can be a steep price for a broke ass student like myself I didn’t think twice about buying it. This game is amazing and I spent the better part of my Sunday afternoon furiously killing some fools.
The game is about some dude who washes dishes–amazingly I don’t think he is Mexican haha–who dies or something and somehow lives and wants revenge. Someone also kidnaps his sister and he needs to save her. The cut scenes are done as comic strips and the whole style of the game is very comic booky. The game does a very good job of feeling like a comic book come to life. Each level feels like individual frames of a comic book that you are slowly progressing through. Obviously this is all part of the design, but the fact that it comes through so clearly, and works so well, speaks highly of the designer not dropping the ball on his vision. The actual gameplay though is kick ass and the closest approximation for it is Ninja Gaiden. If you like Ninja Gaiden you’re going to like this game. If you like the action of Ninja Gaiden, but your fingers aren’t nimble enough to hit the combos (coughneverbesocialcough), you will most likely enjoy this game. It has all the cool action without the mind-numbing and finger contorting combos of Ninja Gaiden (although if you play for long enough your hands will cramp up like the caretakers). Oh yah by the way did I mention that there are zombie in the game? No? Well there are, so bonus points for the zombie slayage, and you even get a chainsaw in the game to slash those zombies back to hell. Also of note there are sweet executions that you can perform to finish off your enemies. One of my favs is when the Dishwasher grabs the psuedo-FBI agents gun and uses it to splatter said agents brains onto the wall.
Today I dusted off my XBOX 360, and checked out some of the new games and demos. One game that I ended up buying for the arcade was Castle Crashers. So what’s good you say? Well, honestly, pretty much everything from top to bottom. If you can’t tell from the above picture it is an old-school side scroller that is slightly reminiscent of the old TMNT’s arcade game–complete with the retro cell animation look. The plot of the game is pretty simple. You’re a knight (of various colors, but there are a ton of extra characters that you can unlock) who have to go save four princesses who have been kidnapped. You will travel throughout all different kinds of terrains to look for them–volcano, desert, forest, ice et al–and all of the terrains have a distinct look and feel. They really did put a lot of details in all of the different areas–which brings me to the art work.
The art work and character design is completely rad, with characters that look new but also familiar (personally I’d say some Futurama, Simpsons, and Ren & Stimpy influences–and probably even more that I don’t get). The gameplay is furious. It is not quite a straight button mashing game, but there are times where it is close, and after a few hours of playing you will be hard pressed to use your hands for anything but the most pedestrian of tasks. There is also a ton of items that have to be collected and found, which some people don’t like, but I have always like collecting items in games. I’m weird like that. Also there is a ton of humor, and hidden easter eggs throughout the game. Stuff that you might not catch until your secon or third time through.
One of the best parts of the game, however, is that you can play 4-player online co-op. More games need to include this feature, because it adds immense replay value to the game. I’m already looking forward to some long seshs hacking and slashing my way through the game whilst drinking some nice cold Colorado Kool-Aid. Besides the main game–that has 20 levels–there are a couple of mini games that it comes with. One is “All You Can Quaff” which is a game where you have to mash buttons to eat food faster than the other knights–this game absolutely kills the hands. The other game is an Arena fighting game where you have to fight a bunch of enemies. Each round you play they increase in number.
So that’s pretty much it. It’s a great game, and if you have a 360 you should definitely buy it because it is worth it. Castle Crashers is a great addition to you XBLA, and it’s an even cooler throwback to the old side scroller days. Go get it…now.
Many moons ago, late on school nights I could be found sitting at my computer hunched over my keyboard with my joystick in hand (not that joystick buddy) playing Duke Nukem 3D. I spent countless hours playing death match with my friend, and then sleeping through Algebra the next morning. Those days still have great nostalgia for me, and I still love Duke Nukem 3D. Like many people I have been waiting for 3D Realms to come out with a sequel, and it has been about 10 years, and still no sequel. (Supposedly the sequel is close, but I’m not going to hold my breath.) I’m done waiting for the long anticipated sequel, however, and am stoked that next month the original Duke Nukem 3D will be available on XBLA. Duke Nukem is still near the top of my list of top FPS’s and top multi-player experiences. What made it so fun was that the levels were well made, a good set of balanced weapons, and the addition of Halo Duke and a jet pack. Halo Duke was one of the coolest things ever, and I don’t know how many times I’d run into a room and see Duke crouching behind some crates. I’d whip out my rocket launcher and blow him away only to get assassinated from behind, realizing only too late that I had fallen for Halo Duke again. Besides an already great classic shooter 3D Realms has included some super cool achievements and some other neat features:
[Duke Nukem 3D] will come packed with a few unexpected additions, such as the new “rewind” and “saved film” features. “Rewind” will essentially let you reverse the gameplay back in time to relive a particularly fun area or — far more useful — undo mistakes, like death. With saved films You’ll be able to — as the name implies — save clips from multiplayer matches and share them online (though how this will actually work remains to be seen).
I for one will be buying this game as soon as it is available, and will soon be playing Duke Nukem instead of doing homework. I also look forward to tipping some strippers and then blowing them away with my rocket launcher. I’ll update with a review after I play it, and hopefully it matches the level of my nostalgia for the game.
