OOOooo

Ethan shared a little something that turned out to be, like, one of the coolest things of all month. An experience that trumps many others. Do look!

Samus Croft

I was reading another article from Kotaku that expressed concerns about the upcoming Metroid, and it reminded me of a long-held sadness regarding the Tomb Raider series. When Tomb Raider and Mario 64 were introducing us to the world of 3D platformers, their approaches were very different. Mario 64 excelled in that Nintendo, breezy-and-addictive way, but Tomb Raider was an experience that immersed and affected me deeply.

It was the loneliness and silence that made Tomb Raider so great. These qualities made me feel like I was exploring untouched parts of the world deep within the earth, and only had my own wits and skill to get out of a situation. And Lara was a vulnerable character, that despite having confidence with guns, still got mauled by bears or wolves, and occasionally misread a jump only to fall horribly to her death, her body twisted at strange angles with no one in the world to see it. The net result made moments like the appearance of the Tyrannosaur or the pounding of your heartbeat in the alien ship that much more unnerving.

But then Tomb Raider 2 came out, and it seemed whichever hand most influenced the title was convinced that it was successful because Lara Croft was a dual-wielding sex bomb that murdered mercenaries by the thousands. The Tomb Raider experience was gone, and I'm not sure it ever came back. Hopefully, the new Metroid avoids this.

Confirmation Bias

On Kotaku, one of their writers wrote up their Starcraft II single-player impressions, and it reminded me enough of my comments yesterday to make a "see?" post. I still look forward to the game, but another friend mentioned to me today that a big part of their interest in the game was the cinematics. I'm not calling out the game; I'm only curious how many others feel the same way I do. Diablo III, however, gets me stupid excited.

R-T-Esses

I wish I was as excited about StarCraft 2 as the rest of the planet. It's been a long time since I've gotten excited about an RTS. Something about how important build order is, and how long it takes to resolve an inevitable conclusion, whether it be success or failure. I mentioned SF yesterday, and I suppose multiplayer shooters are in a similar boat, in that both feature rapid results based on my skill level as a player. StarCraft takes skill, but I hate the long, drawn-out nature of matches, even "fast" ones.

But it's been a long time, and I look forward to checking it out, particularly the single-player campaign. Oh, and the cinematics. Drool.

So...

Does anyone else play Street Fighter, or just me? I luv it.

P-Day?

I just realized that no update went up on Friday. Here in Utah, the locals celebrate Pioneer Day, and because Jen had the day off, I was in a similar mindset. Anyway, happy P-Day, even if you have no investment innit.

Mario?

I'm not sure why I mentioned reviewing Mario Galaxy 2. Other than an interesting opener that eases you from 2D to 3D gameplay, it's Mario Galaxy with a couple more abilities and a slightly improved (less wandering) hub-world. The first playthrough is fun, and it has varied and interesting level design that benefits from its kitchen sink approach to theme. And if you have few game options and want something that lasts, this one provides via objects the level designers are hiding from you in a second playthrough of the game; not my thing, but yeah. If you've already played a lot of 3D Mario games, it feels awesome-slash-boring.