From the Game: Gradius’ Vic Viper Model
Japan gets cooler video game toys than us. It's just a sad truth of the world. The land of the rising sun is chock full of replicas, trading figures, action figures, and various knick-knacks based on video games. Usually, it's very hard to get these items in the United States unless you import them online. Fortunately, there's a neat little import toy shop in the East Village that carries many of these awesome Japanese video game toys. This is one of them.
This is the Vic Viper from Gradius, one of several trading figures in Yujin's Shooting Game Historica Collection. The collection includes models of the ships from several famous shoot-em-ups, including Gradius, R-Type, Darius, and even Fantasy Zone. They come in blind boxes, meaning it's a crapshoot whenever you pick up a box (unless you get the entire case). I got lucky on my first try, and found the easily recognizable fighter from the very first Gradius.
Will GreenwaldQuick Review: Dragon Quest 9
[Note: This Quick Review is very long. It's a "Quick Review" not for the length of the review, but for the amount of time played. Quick Reviews are reviews of games that the reviewer has not yet finished, but has played enough to get a solid impression of the game. At the time of this writing, I had played Dragon Quest 9 for over 30 hours.]
Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies
Mechanically, this game is Dragon Quest. It's the same as Dragon Quest 3, 4, 5, 8, any game in the main series. Turn-based first-person JRPG combat, paint-by-numbers leveling and stat-building, and a full variety of quirky spells like Zing (Life), Frizz (Fire), Crack (Ice), and Squelch (Antidote). If you've played a Dragon Quest game before, you already know how this goes.
DQ9 distinguishes itself with a few unique features to spice up the game: character classes, wardrobe customization, and the removal of random encounters. Instead of dedicated classes for each character, you can select from six different jobs (expandable to twelve after completing some quests). The progression is very similar to Final Fantasy 3 and 5, where each job has its own level and skill allocation, and while you can carry certain bonuses over between jobs you generally have to start from scratch when you switch. It adds a pleasant bit of variety, and gives you the opportunity to arrange your party and play the game on your terms. If you want nothing but bruisers, you can do that. If you want nothing but magic users, you can do that. If you want a balanced party of fighter, thief, white mage, and black mage, you can do that. It's very freeing in an old-school way.
Will GreenwaldCheap Thrills: Ricochet Kills 2
Cheap Thrills is a column by Chris Gampat reviewing affordable (under $20) or free games for the recession.
If you like solving puzzles, killing shadowy people, and physics, then Ricochet Kills 2 may be just the game for you. With loads of different combinations for murdering the men in suits and with different objects to aid or work against you, the game is highly addicting with a simple gameplay mechanic that will leave your brain confused with how to accomplish your goals.
If you're bored with nothing to do during a lunch break or really want to try a new game to get away from all the FPS's out there, give this simple flash game a try. If you're an Android user, let us know how it works on your phone.
Chris GampatTuesday’s Trope: Collection Sidequest
[Tuesday's Trope is a weekly department highlighting an amusing video game trope from TVTropes. Aggrogate is not affiliated with TVTropes.org in any way. All trope examples come from TVTropes and are shared via the Creative Commons license.]
It's not enough to save the world. You have to collect tons of crap while you do it. Gems, coins, medals, weird shiny things. They're everywhere. It might not be vital to your mission, but if you bring in enough odds and ends you'll probably get a nice reward. This is one of the most common kinds of sidequests in video games: the Collection Sidequest.
There are X number of doodad in the world. The more you collect, the more items you get. When you collect all X, you get a really sweet reward and bragging rights (or sometimes just bragging rights). It's necessary for a 100% run of the game, and it sends you out to the farthest reaches of the world.
Examples of Collection Sidequests include:
Will GreenwaldAlien Swarm: Free, fun, and full of violence
To those involved in the first person shooter “modding” scene, Alien Swarm should sound familiar. Black Cat Games released the first Alien Swarm game, an Unreal Tournament 2004 mod, to a warm reception. Their success translated into jobs at Valve and an opportunity to create a full, “real” game, now on the Source Engine. Enter Alien Swarm, again.
Alien Swarm plays like a top down Left 4 Dead with aliens instead of zombies. In a similar construct to L4D, four people team up and complete mission requirements before completing a level. Breaking from the L4D mold, Alien Swarm adds the Modern Warfare-like abilities of character leveling, varied classes, and unlockable items. The development team was keen on making new equipment easy to obtain, and it’s a pleasure to see an appreciation for the difference between “leveling” and “grinding”. The formula is pretty simple: beat a mission, gain a level (usually), and get an item.
Leveling up and progressing in the game is fun, but hampered by the scant amount of content. At the current time there is only one “campaign,” consisting of 7 levels. The levels tie together with a thin story: there are aliens, they are bad, kill them. It’s a Michael Bay story, not Christopher Nolan.
Matt GormanCapcom’s newest fighting bombshell: Street Fighter X Tekken
Don't make fun of Ryu's face. You'd freak out too if you found yourself in a fight with Kazuya Mishima. Capcom has announced that it's working on Street Fighter X Tekken, a fighting game that combines the rosters of the Street Fighter and Tekken series (and offers an alternative for people who are "too cool" for the comic book cast of Marvel Vs. Capcom 3).
SFXT will be based on the Street Fighter IV engine, so Nina, Jin, Kazuya, and the rest will be limited to the 2D fighting plane. The game will be tag team-based, and players will be able to fight each other using teams of two fighters. Finally, you'll be able to have your own team of blonde, U.K.-born assassins with a Cammy/Nina tag team. The Tekken fighters will all get their own ultra combos as well, which should be interesting for Jin and Kazuya, whose punches are practically their own super moves.
Namco is apparently working on Tekken X Street Fighter, but details are extremely vague. Whether you consider the two games redundant or a refreshing twist on either series, 2011 will be a very good year for fighting game fans.
Will GreenwaldMarvel Vs. Capcom 3’s Roster: Who’s new, who’s back, and who’s missing
Capcom has been steadily trickling out names in Marvel Vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds, but almost half of the game's 30-strong roster remains a mystery. We learned a few new names, like Ameterasu and Super-Skrull, at Comic-con, but there are still a lot of blanks on that list. Let's look at some of the most interesting new characters, the most important holdovers from previous games, and the very large group of characters who have yet to be announced, but really should be.
Will GreenwaldMacy’s shows off Microsoft Kinect with live demos in the windows
I honestly wasn't expecting to see this as I walked through Herald Square today. A small crowd gathered around the windows in front of Macy's flagship store to watch Kinect in action. They weren't watching some TV screen looping a Kinect promotional video, or a simple display with a mock home theater complete with Xbox 360 and Kinect. They were watching Macy's employees getting their enthusiastic spaz on with Kinect Adventures and Your Shape. My deepest sympathies go out to the people who had to stand in the window at Macy's doing virtual aerobics to show off Your Shape. That's just cruel.
Will GreenwaldLittleBigPlanet 2 CE features plush Sackboy, bookends, and Gonzo
This is how you justify charging extra cash for a collector's edition. Sony has announced that LittleBigPlanet 2 is getting a great-looking version of the game that could end up end up being the must-buy edition for fans. It won't have a making-of DVD, art book, or any of that filler junk we don't care about. Instead, the LittleBigPlanet 2 Collector's Edition
Deals: Gamestop Power Saver Sale
Gamestop is running another "check out all of these games in the bins with bright red price tags" sales. This time they're calling it their "Power Saver Sale," and they're offering pretty big discounts on a ton of games that don't suck. Highlights include Assassin's Creed 2 for $20, Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition for $40, Bayonetta for $30, God of War 3 for $30, 3D Dot Game Heroes for $30, and Monster Hunter Tri for $40.
If double-digit prices are too rich for your blood, the sale is also chopping a bunch of older titles' prices in half, so you can pick up a three- or four-year-old game for pocket change. If you'd prefer to drop a Hamilton or less on a game, you can pick up Assassin's Creed (PS3) or Dark Void for $10 (or Assassin's Creed for $6.50 on the Xbox 360), Mercenaries 2 for $7.50 (Xbox 360) to $9 (PS3), Ninja Gaiden 2 for $8.50, Gears of War for $5, or Rainbow Six: Vegas for $3.
Will Greenwald
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