Above: This stuff -- good. I meant what I said last week that Metroid: Other M isn't a bad game, and my review of Other M in the Phoenix provides a more balanced perspective than the blog post did. Considered purely on its own merits, this game does some things right, and it wasn't something I had to force myself to play through solely due to professional obligations. When you stack it up against other Metroid games, sure, it falls a little short, but I still think it was better that Nintendo tried this than Metroid Prime 4.
I am also jonesing to play Super Metroid again. Especially thanks to the pre-rendered Mother Brain cutscene at the beginning of Other M. Hachi machi!
Above: Yes, please.I also filed a fall games preview for the paper, with my picks for the games worth watching this season, based on rigorous speculation and exacting wishful thinking.
The big story, unfortunately, is Move and Kinect, and despite some positive early reviews, I am wary of both peripherals. I look at Move and I just see Wii. I look at Kinect and don't understand how it's an improvement on standard game controls for standard games. (Hold a pretend steering wheel? Really? In what universe will this be more precise than an actual steering wheel, or even a thumbstick?)
The other part of filing a fall preview is that, lacking hands-on time with all of the available options, the hype machine tends to force my hand. It's very hard to give a nudge to a sleeper hit. Usually it's all about sequels, reboots, and whatever else the press has been talking about for months. Not that I even get those right. I left Call of Duty 4 out of the preview a few years ago. Durr.
One final note on fall preview: of everything listed there, I think I'm looking forward to Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit the most. I wouldn't have expected that when I started. Rock Band 3 also looks incredible. After that, it's all "wait and see." Nothing wrong with that, of course. But that's my opinion. What are you looking forward to this fall?
Now that I've got a week or two clear in my schedule, I am thinking about giving this Halo: Reach a fair chance. But that's probably a bad idea.
5 comments:
I agree with you almost precisely about Samus' portrayal -- I've played only a few hours, but my first impressions of what they've done with the character are very poor. It's strange that Team NINJA would go that way -- they are used to presenting a strong character in the Gaiden series. We've come to identify so strongly with certain traits in Samus, largely implied through our interactions with her, and they've simply stripped them all away. I blogged about that a bit myself.
That said, I'm enjoying the game play itself, and mostly doing my best to simply ignore the rest of it. Formally speaking, it's very similar to other Metroid games; you explore, you acquire powers that allow you to explore elsewhere, etc. They haven't messed with the formula, they've simply dressed it up in unfortunate clothing. It's like taking Starbuck and dressing her up in a muumuu -- it just doesn't work, it's not her character.
I maintain that Halo is super awesome and that giving it a week (or two, probably two, or heck go for three) is a very good idea!
It is really amazing how video games and its key aspects were being made. They say it is usually done by a team of expert in computer writers, programmers, and some designers.
You should play Halo reach, just for the flight portions. It brought my need for a new X-Wing game back out of a deep hybernation.
Seriously, all I could hear during that mission was the Star Wars theme in my head.
I might check the new Need for Speed, I really hope it's good and that it doesn't ruin my memories of the first two installments, those were classics.
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