Fret Nice endeavors to repurpose your guitar peripherals to a task outside the rhythm niche. Not all endeavors succeed. Some fail miserably, and Fret Nice is among that less illustrious set. It’s simple, you won’t want to play this game as the developer intended.
I play catch up with the slow season in full effect, and break down our latest reviews including Mass Effect 2, Emberwind and Tatsunoko vs. Capcom.
My buddy Will (a.k.a. UNCyrus, of Trophy excess) is going to be on the PlayStation Reality show, The Tester. In case you haven’t heard, it has the fantastic premise of pitting gamers against one another all vying for the grueling job of game tester.
Will isn’t featured strongly in the trailer, which is good. That means he didn’t cause enough drama, meaning there’s still hope I’ll speak to him after the series airs. Maybe, Will. Maybe.
This week I return after a long winter’s nap with the latest video review wrap-up including recently released games such as Bayonetta, Darksiders and Sky Crawlers.
You would think Christmas would afford me oodles of time to catch up on games, when in fact I tend to spend the time hanging with the family and generally undergoing some mandatory tech-detox. Once I’ve had my fill of that, I promptly get sick with whatever the niece and nephews currently have, and spend the remainder of any semblance of vacation trying to keep up with N4G from the comfort of my bathroom floor.
That’s over now, and despite the lack of consoles or reliable internet connection two games did steal their way into my heart since Santa came to town. Osmos arrived first, an early Christmas gift from Hemisphere tailor-made for Mac. Previously reported on by our ZTGD PC editor, I was anticipating the sheer addictive yet pleasantly bite-sized quality of gameplay. What I was not prepared for was the awesome soundtrack and beauty of the aesthetic.
I figured Osmos was a safe game to play while killing time at the kitchen table, waiting for the grown-up types to get the kiddos bundled for the great outdoors. Within moments of launching the game, however, all my notions about ambient gaming’s lack of appeal to the under 6 crowd were dashed: my 2 year old nephew had found his way lap-ward and was mesmerized. Not only mesmerized, he was clicking away. Next thing I knew he and his sister (4) were trading off, generally a bit kamikaze in their approach to levels but delighting in the colors, variable scale and speed. My mind was more officially blown when my six year old nephew, Theo (more PC savvy than the other two having navigated PBS Kids in his downtime), took the reins and successfully completed two levels after only the most basic instruction. The future is bright.
Where Osmos is compelling in subtle and easily portioned bits, games that rhyme with Wagon Cage are not. I’m putting you on alert while I can still bear it: I am addicted to Dragon Age: Origins. I’m barely 20 hours in and it’s clear that me and my rogue Dalish elf are in trouble. Forget the fact that I’m encouraging a doomed romance with the possible future King of Fereldon, I think I’m looking down the dark tunnel that is unemployment, wretched eating habits and negligible hygiene. Assuming I come out of this whole, I appreciate the glimpse into the darker side of gaming.
Just over half a decade has passed since its original release, but Call of Duty has been relegated to the retro pile. The past six years haven’t been particularly kind, and even with some admirable upscaling COD looks and feels dated. Still, it’s remarkable and occasionally amusing to experience how little the series has changed since the first go round on the PC. Swapping between Modern Warfare 2 and COD Classic, some lines got a little blurry, some things drove me crazy, and it all made it that much more apparent why the game was such a rollicking success in its day. (more…)
Over on ZTGD: Cat breaks down all of the must-own games for the holiday season as well as some stocking stuffers and accessories for Sony’s all-in-one machine.
This week I deliver a holiday shopping guide of gaming reviews including Torchlight, MX vs. ATV Reflex and the final chapter of Tales of Monkey Island.
A marriage of twin stick shooter and tower defense, Comet Crash melds the two popular downloadable genres with mixed results. Following their recent update, we took the defense with a touch of offense for a spin. (more…)
This week I break down the latest holiday reviews including Assassin’s Creed II, Crystal Alliance and a pair of PSP Minis games that are definitely ones to look out for.
Check it out on ZTGD.
The Wrap-Up returns after the long holiday to breakdown the latest reviews including two expensive pieces of hardware and of course the latest games including LittleBigPlanet, Way of the Samurai 3 and of course Modern Warfare 2.
This week I break down the latest collection of holiday madness including Ratchet and Clank, Dragon Age: Origins, Dark Nebula and of course Wii shovelware.
This week I make up for lost time with coverage of two GTA games, Tekken 6, DJ Hero, Borderlands and a ton of other games as fall rush continues to dominate.
There are few things better than an indie game, and I delight in forays into the unexpected, yet here I am loving every inch of Ratchet and Clank which is, well, expected. Ratchet and Clank adheres to certain rules like a wacky universe, goofy monsters, and weapons that are equal parts doom harbinger and harlequin. A Crack in Time effectively does everything Ratchet fans demand from an action platformer, and more, with a dash of open world and whole lot of revolutionary notions of “sidekick”. That’s what A Crack in Time is about really, challenging your perceptions of Clank, and what that means for “Ratchet and Clank”. (more…)
This week I break down the latest reviews on ZTGD including Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias, A Witch’s Tale and so, so much more.
I’m Community Manager and Admin for the N4G Network and write for ZTGD.
CatPlaysGames is a blog in its design infancy and under construction. Pardon my mess.