2011: A Retrospective, Part 5

And here it is, the end of the end. The last 10 things about 2011 that were awesome.

One of Kirby's many Super Powers that are just gloriously destructive sequences in the game.

Kirby: Return to Dreamland - I love a good 2D Platformer, and Kirby never fails to deliver. Kirby: Return to Dreamland on Wii feels kind of like it would have been better turned into a 3DS game, especially given some of the camera work, but regardless, it's a joyful experience. It might not be as revolutionary as Mass Attack or even Epic Yarn, but it still makes for a relaxing multi-player romp through colorful, exciting locals, just the way Kirby used to always be.

Toki Tori 2 support - As a huge fan of the first Toki Tori, and everything else Two Tribes does, I was excited to see a sequel to puzzle platformer being announced. I was furthermore excited to see the sort of support during Alpha and Beta they were giving the community. They appear to be taking the Minecraft approach, and I'm excited to see what kind of results that has.

The table-top miniature gaming aesthetic isn't really important, it's just awesome.

Hoard - Yet another previously unknown gem to come out of the Steam Sale, Hoard is an interesting little game where you play a dragon that flies around setting the countryside and villages aflame for the sake of gathering gold. It's easy to pick up, but varied strategies makes for some great play, especially in multi-player.

Climb and climb!

Tobe’s Vertical Adventure - So hey, about 2D platformers. If you weren't aware, I realllly like them. Like a lot. This interesting little Indie platformer came out on Steam, and the soundtrack alone was reason enough to purchase it. If you haven't, go out and give it a shot. It has kind of a Donkey Kong '94/tobes-vertical-adventure/61-30780/ vibe to it.

I don't know about you, but I'm already excited.

Sonic CD - Alright, you are correct. This game did not come out last year. But it did come out on downloadable services, and it was the first time I had ever been able to play it, and you can (Sonic) color(s) me impressed. Not only is it just a great sonic game, this version also includes some great features, like swapping the soundtrack between the two different regions. Maybe it's just the weird Sonic fever I caught thanks to Generations, but I can't seem to get enough of these classic games. 

Not a looker, but definitely a player. That doesn't sound right...

99 bullets - DSiWare gets a lot of flack for being chock full of shovelware, and probably for good reason; There's a mountain of crap on there. But a few games are unfortunately being lost in that generalization, and 99 Bullets is one of them. Having no correlation to the comic 100 Bullets, 99 is a unique take on the scrolling shooter. The goal is to manuever your little Geometry Wars shapely dude through a course, avoiding and blasting your way through enemies, as one would expect. But as the name implies, your limited. Each hit you take drops one of your bullets, and you only have 99 of them to fire. So the goal isn't just firing madly, but controlled bursts for maximum combos. It's a great gameplay mechanic that really changes up an otherwise run-of-the-mill genre.

Finger's crossed for a 3DS remake.

Pokemon Black/White - There seems to be this common notion that your first Pokemon is your favorite, and that most people believe anything past Mew is a travesty against God, America, and Sanity everywhere. I don't adhere to either of these. I can definitely understand the whole Nostalgia thing, and losing track of the truckloads of portable monsters, but the simple fact is that this series has improved with every iteration, and while the jump to Black and White might not have been the biggest improvement, it still is, in every way, the best Pokemon game to date. The music is better, the story is more interesting, they mix up a lot of tired out plot elements, the battles are way more dynamic, the camera work is better, and the multi-player interaction is vastly improved. Yes, you still collect and battle critters, you still get 8 badges, and then you beat an Elite 4. It's better, but it's not entirely different. So take your pick on whether or not you are still up with the series, or which one resonates more with you, but remember that these games are getting better every time.

Music Usage - It seems to be that games are getting a lot smarter about how they use Music to interact with the action. It's nothing new; games like Shadow of the Colossus and Twilight Princess have used shifting scores before, but it's trending much more this year. Pokemon Black and White, for example, has shifted from the "annoying beeping to tell you your health is low, in case you can't read and/or are color blind" and turned it into part of the music. The beep is still there, but now it's the baseline for a "you're in trouble" song that takes over when, well, you're in trouble. There's also a triumphant spin on the music when you're in your most important battles (like Gym Leaders, etc.). Skyrim's sudden cut to it's triumphant theme when dueling with Dragons invigorates any player and makes them feel like a damned god while they're winning. In other great uses of music, Sonic Generations allows the player to swap out songs when starting a stage, which helps keeps the audio fresh while allowing you to relive classic tunes like Super Sonic Racing.

Dinosaur Office - While not technically a game, Dinosaur Office has been piped through the Nintendo Video channel on everybody's 3DS and has been the best thing about that service. College Humor's stop-motion story about Dinosaurs who work in an everyday office environment is both a hilarious satire on the workplace, but also a nonsensical world where dinosaurs get stuck in traffic. It's the perfect show. Even if you don't have a 3DS you can check out most episodes on Youtube or on College Humor's website.

Kairosoft - The developers of Game Dev Story have been pumping out game after game of simulation goodness, and while you would expect them to be worst at the rate we're seeing them, they're actually not. Granted, they're not all winners. I wasn't a huge fan of Pocket League Story (the soccer team sim), but that's just me. I'm currently knee-deep in Mega Mall Story; an addiction that may partially be fed by my love of Board Game Top Shop. In any case, the fact that a small developer can keep pumping out these quality titles like this makes me hopeful, and gleeful, that the mobile environment isn't all shitty rip-offs and sub-par experiences.

Man. Last year was pretty awesome, wasn't it? Here's to 2012!

-Make it a Good One.

2011: A Retrospective, Part 3

And I'm back from feeling like junk. Here's the third part of my five-part series.

There's an almost Yoshi's Island quality to the art style. Also, there's a disco ball buried under ground.

Raskulls - I noticed when this game came out that there was a lot of dislike of it, but I happened to have an absolute blast with it. Half-Brick is quickly becoming one of my favorite studios for their charming art styles, witty banter, and clever-yet-simple game mechanics. The whole point of Half Prick is a 2D Platform racer where you, an adorable skull headed figure in one of many adorable costumes, are pit against up to 3 other characters for a race to the finish. The interesting thing is the pseudo color-matching puzzle built in. The most common obstacle you'll find is a series of block stopping you, but you can zap them out of the way with a little wand object. It'll clear out all of the bricks of a matching color connected to that one, so with a little quick thinking, you can try and hedge out a superior path. The game also takes this simple premise and devises a series of unique gameplay options and puzzle-modes through it's single-player campaign, and it's amazing how much variety they squeeze out of it. It was an absolute gem of a game that I would love to see more of (especially on a portable system).

The kid took aim and drew his string back. He found the destructible environments to be conducive to stress relief.

Bastion - I almost feel like I don't need to talk about this game. If this one screenshot doesn't convince you to immerse yourself in a world of fantastic hand-painted visuals, perhaps this sample of the soundtrack will. No? How about if I told you that it there's an full arsenal of varied weapons that can be mixed and matched, and spec'd in different ways for a huge spectrum of variety? Maybe one of the most well-told stories, the kind that is done in a way that can only be realized in video games, and shows why this is the superior medium for storytelling? Alright, if this can't convince you, you're probably just dead inside.

There's a lot going on in this screenshot, and I think it blocks out the fact that this board is Yoshi's Island.

Fortune Street - So. I'm not going to sit here and tell you that you're going to like this game. I'm not going to try and convince you that this Monopoly with a hint of Mario Party, skinned with a ton of Mario and Dragon Quest nostalgia is really for you. I am going to tell you that this is the best version of Board Game Top Shop I've played since Board Game Top Shop. If you don't even know what that means, I could try and convince you that this is Culdcept Saga without the Magic: the Gathering mechanic, but that might not do anything for you either. I'm just going to tell you that I love it, and that many a friend has and will be subjected to it. Also this.

You can have her!

Devil Survivor: Overclocked - Yes, it's a remake of the original Devil Survivor on the DS. Yes, there's little to no use of 3D, and they ignore the better, cleaner, bigger screen up top during the main action and dialogue. Yes, this game has a few problems. But it also has one of the best stories, some of the best strategy gameplay, and oh yeah, Jack mo'effin' Frost.

Ilo Milo - I love puzzle platformers, I love a good art style, and I love a good soundtrack. This game is like a puzzle-platforming Mario Galaxy and it's positively oozing with delightful tones. It's quite the package, and I highly recommend you investigate it shortly.

Eye sees what you did there.

Terreria - 2D Minecraft with a heavier RPG influence. That's about it, and that's about all there needs to be.

If I had an "Item of the Year" Category, Racoon Tail gets it by a mile.

Mario Kart 7 - It could be easy to write off Mario Kart 7 as a total rehash, or the 'necessary once every console' type game, but that would be greatly understating that it just might be the best Mario Kart ever. Some people say that your favorite Mario Kart is your first, but I disagree. Mario Kart DS was my favorite, and I've been in this series since the beginning. But this one takes the cake. It looks crisp and clean, the car customization adds some fun and let's me race the way I like to with the characters I want (Lakitu). The new tracks are great, and I love when they can implement the new Glider feature into the old ones. (The underwater thing is take-it-or-leave-it, to be honest.) About the only way they could improve on this series, I think, is to turn it into "Smash Kart" and start throwing in more Nintendo Characters and themed courses, rather than adding (*sigh*) Queen Bee and Metal Mario. Imagine Samus riding in a kart shaped like her ship, or Link riding a motorcycle designed after Epona. This is where I want to see this series go. Until then? This one is pretty damn good.

Andriasang - It seems like everybody this day and age is quoting Andriasang for their news straight out of Japan. They seem to do pretty good work breaking a lot of interesting stories, and providing an awesome look into the gaming landscape of our Eastern counterpart. I just wanted to give them props for the hard work they've been doing this last year.

Did I mention this game is kind of fucked up? Because it's REALLY fucked up.

Binding of Isaac - The gaming equivalent to enjoying being tied up in a dungeon and having hot candle wax poured onto one's backside, The Binding of Isaac is a simple game with a remoresless difficulty. You play as Isaac, a little boy escaping his mother (who believes God has comanded her to kill her son) by running into their basement. What ensues is essentially a randomly generated Zelda dungeon crawler. There's tons of power-ups, enemies, and bosses that keep this game feeling fresh, and also to keep you from ever actually beating it. It's not for the feint of heart (or the controller-throwing prone), but it's a pretty awesome little title.

The future is Orange.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Deus Ex may not have asked to be on this list, and I almost didn't put it on here. For as much a the game does, I feel like there's a lot of things it does wrong. But in the end, I'm enamored with the cyber-punk story and visual aesthetics. It may not be perfect, but it's pretty damn cool, none the less.

Part: The Third, down. Two more to go. How do you like them selections, folks?

-Make it a good one.