Super Mario World Review (SNES)

Since receiving my SNES, I have played a great deal of Super Mario World which happens to be the game that was first packaged with the system during its retail years. I have to say, this is a really good Mario game, I expected it to be decent of course. But after playing Dr. Mario on NES and knowing they never made a Mario "4", I would think that Nintendo could never match the godliness of Super Mario 3. Not impossible but I would have been surprised, does Super Mario World live up to the Mario in its name. HELL YES.

First of all, this game greatly took advantage of the SNES to make it better than the original Mario, and it even becomes it's own unique experience of a game. Mario World does employ the pattern system utilized in past Mario's, mostly in the style of the original one during the first or third castle raid. It took the idea of the pattern system to proceed through the level and did it more times than I have ever seen in a Mario game. Mario is mostly trial and error, but Super Mario World makes you stop and consider your options like Mario 3 does.

Super Mario World is clearly newer and graphically superior to the first three Mario games, but the question is whether its a successor to the original Mario Series or a stand alone game? I would have to argue stand alone, because it equals Mario 3 in game play variability but it doesn't exceed it. Super Mario 3 and Super Mario World are equally good games, i'm surprised Super Mario World could even match Mario 3. It does as far as I see, the thing is it overdoes the level progression pattern system to the point that you get stuck from a huge guessing game that would likely not get resolved in the first few hours.

Also, Yoshi is advertised on the cartridge, but he only comes in every now and then. Yoshi has some benefits as an accompanied friend to Mario, but I really didn't enjoy using him and preferred to leave him behind. I remember having a Yoshi-like character in the form of a dinosaur on Crash Bandicoot...2 I think, that was what Mario World SHOULD HAVE DONE FOR YOSHI. Granted be it's an unfair comparison because the Bandicoot wasn't around till the release of the Playstation, but when you give an animal like Yoshi, he has to have a big advantage or a skill NEEDED to go through the level. Yoshi really hasn't done that so far, so I forget about him pretty quickly.

Overall, Super Mario World is a game you will regret not having as soon as you do get a copy. So if you don't have it and want another game, get Super Mario World, you shouldn't need my encouragement.

I give this a 5 out of 5

Geeksquisite Diary: SNES Bundle (unboxing)

GC 09: Just Cause 2

Video Games | Just Cause 2 | GC 09: Trailer

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

This new trailer from GC made me interested in the game, simply because of the possibilities. This one part where the guy hooks the helicopter to the car and carries it before letting it go into a gas station is priceless. All the while, the narrative highlights the beautiful landscapes in the game, and it got me thinking, how can I cause chaos here? haha. I will be checking out this demo, but the amount of chaos and destruction got me more interested in this game than the other trailers did.

The game looks like brainless fun, which I could use, but it depends when in 2010 will it arrive considering the many other games delayed to 2010 are being released.

Batman A. Asylum Demo Impressions

I have been on and off about this game, but I had to play the demo regardless of how many hours it took for Xbox Live to let me download it. It's a hefty download at 1.5 gigs for maybe 20 minutes of gameplay, but it was worth the wait.

Arkham Asylum has never been a heavily defined area in the Batman franchise in the batman films and probably not in the TV series, regardless the story signifies that Arkham has become technologically fortified to the point that even the joker quips over how hard it is to break out. But the Joker also hints in the demo that why would you want to escape such a fortress when you could control it instead, that is established quite a bit in the story.

I have to say, hearing the TV series batman who doesn't have throat cancer like Bale's makes you really enjoy playing batman. Batman looks pretty cool, as well as the art style of the game even though it does a lot of gray and black. There is also a lot of interacting in the game in terms of talking with A.I.'s in the game, and oh man detective mode. I like the idea of detective mode for two reasons, the first is because it lets you see around the corner and see how your enemies and friends are reacting. That is helpful if you are trying to be stealth oriented, it also helps when attacking enemies because the demo only allows the glide kick. Say the detective feature lets you know that one of the enemies is nervous, you'd think its just anecdotal information but no, I attacked someone nervous and I ended up taking damage. The Detective mode helps you be inventive of your surroundings but also allows the psychological element of the game to help you predict enemy behavior. Attacking a nervous guy has him on edge, so when I attacked him he panicked and shot me a bit. The first guy in the room was calm, and when I attacked him it was a silent covert operation and nobody noticed till they found his unconscious body.

Thats all good but, as you could see from earlier walk through videos this is also a beat 'em up game. I had played Turtles in Time reshelled earlier today and stressed how boring and bland the combat was, Batman only had a little bit of straight on combat in the demo. It was satisfying in slow motion finishing movies, it has silent takedown moves and the glide kick as well as your bat-a-rang working good as a cudgel. But the end of the demo, the terribly short demo as far as i'm concerned, hinted that there is much more beat 'em up variety than the demo demonstrates. How do I know this, well first of all the next enemy the joker throws at you knows your there and the Joker is there too. So we know batman isn't going to run and hide after trying to chase down the joker since the beginning of the demo. But at the end of the demo you are shown this guy (or something like him):



YOU KNOW THERES ALOT MORE VARIETY IN THE COMBAT!

Seriously, that is a guy you take head on. So there is some serious head on combat with art in the combat as well as batman's gadgets. And the demo for the little it showed presented so well I was damn near at tears when the demo was over. Well I gotta say, this game is on my list again. Someday I will have it, but try this demo and decide for yourself. As for me, i'm sold on it.

Digital Game Distribution: Should it Happen?

link that sparked this train of thought

In terms of digital distribution, I was a fan of the idea. But to change our buying of games from stores to the internet isn't something I like at all. I actually have digital games from Xbox Live Arcade that I regret buying, and what happens is that I'm stuck with it.

Imagine if the current generation could only buy games online, well that really sucks for all of them except the 360 since you only have so much room. But really, do you want a future where you have stacks of Xbox 360 Hard Drives with all your games on them? I don't. And I want Nintendo Wii and PS3 with their games in the future, I can just imagine if digital distribution becomes the only option and you have a list on ebay of the games on the Nintendo Wii or the PS3. That would mean you could never get every game without doing something as stupid as buying another console.

Sure, all the consoles might have detachable hard drives in the future. But i've overlooked the fact highlighted in the article that digital sales can't be returned. I'd like to free myself of the less than satisfying library of games I won't like, the ebay era with classic games and resale of current games for a bargain. That would change dramatically with digital distribution if it becomes favorable, heck I miss the days of game cartridges.

So as far as i'm concerned, don't invest in digital distribution alot.

Xbox 360 outselling the Atari 2600..So?

the significance of John Lucas's words

I recently came upon this article and really understood the significance of it, but to put it at face value the Xbox outsold or will outsell the Atari 2600 and be the biggest selling American born console.

the Atari 2600 hasn't been made since 1992, and Atari is defunct except as a publisher. So the comparison seems pointless, considering that Atari sold a similar amount of consoles in 4 times the amount of years the Xbox 360 has existed. Many reason that because there are more gamers, and gaming being a mainstream, that is nothing to celebrate about. Indeed, Nintendo has dwarfed Xbox 360 even though it isn't an American born creation, and the Xbox 360 is built in China anyway.

The Atari 2600 is Taiwan made, so what makes the Xbox 360 any less American than say Sony's PS3 is to its loyal fans and roots in Japan? Nothing because Japan sees a loyalty to the PS3 even though its also made in China. We should never consider manufacturing as the roots of a product, merely as an effigy of the designs. I have grown to be insulted by the comment of being a fanboy, and in this I am not really a fanboy as I am a loyal American to buy into the gaming market of Xbox from Microsoft. I won't pretend that the 33 percent failure rate and Red Ring of Death misery to Xbox owners doesn't hurt the console's image, especially considering that Atari 2600's almost never failed to work. But as technology grows, this comparision seems extreme since the current generation is more failure prone than past generations.

This being said, the highest selling American game console is also currently leading the console wars with Sony extremely close behind. It is amazing that a console with bad history in terms of its overheating problems will likely be cemented in history, and is still trying to make history with Natal. Something that may detail its epic presence in the face of its flaws.

Battlefield 1943 Demo Impressions

In the Xbox Live Arcade store, 1200 points is expensive, and the game better be really good to earn that price. There is a very big judgement difference between a game worth 800 points and one worth 1200, Battlefield 1943 is a heavily online multiplayer oriented game. So how does it shape up?

Battlefield is actually pretty damn decent, so decent that the only reason it is not on my hard drive is because I am not fiscally sound at the moment. It is that good, especially considering it turns something as simple as a 3 island area into a fun and chaotic warfare ground.

With the ability to choose what type of soldier you want to be, there are different weapons given to you with different strengths. Your character can drive turret mounted vehicles around the island, and when neither plane, boat or bridge exists you can simply swim across to another island. The planes are especially regarded as fun by most players, so fun that I could not ever get in one in the 30 minute demo I had. Although the plane seems cheap because it has nuclear bombing capability that pretty much covers half the island.

However the game definitely is not your run of the mill shooter either, you cannot just shoot and run. It has a much slower killing rate than other games, and I unlike some actually appreciate the amount of attention you DO need with your health being that resilient. If there was any trouble I had, its the difficulty to keep up with friends if you lose them. The mapping and lack of a good hud to indicate friendlies caught me off-guard at times.

Wii Price Drop?

LINK

"Wii supply has finally exceeded demand, so we expect hardware sales to show year-over-year decreases for the first half of 2009," predicts Pachter, continuing, "In order to hit its full-year Wii shipment forecast, we expect Nintendo to cut the price of the Wii before [the] holiday, likely to $199.99." -Michael Pachter

Smart move in my opinion. But it's too late for me. This year at E3 I learned the differences between the systems, and even though I want a PS3 like I never did before, it's different with Nintendo. Nintendo showed some good games, but i'm starting to notice how when they announced the new Dead Space game I was envious, then realized most games have to be butchered to get on the Wii. And I realize, Nintendo doesn't allow alot of creativity with their 1999 graphics and soon-to-be obsolete motion technology. I'm done with Nintendo, I'm even junking my DS on ebay because of the gameplay being short lived. 

Also, Sony and Microsoft have alot more to offer. Nintendo is really becoming the console for little kids, and as much as I love my NES. They aren't what they used to be.