So yeah, this… thing. It exists. It’s also effectively a con, trying to make an additional few bucks out of gamers. You know those bargain bin films you sometimes see on shelves? The direct to DVD ones with exactly the same cover, but a different title to try and make them look like something different? Behold the video game equivalent.
It’s a bit hard to pin down Gravi in terms of where it stands as a game. Not just due to the style and approach it takes with an inventive mechanics system, but because it feels like it’s trying to be a more forgiving version of many hardcore platformers. Things like Kaizo Mario and, to an extent, I Wanna Be The Guy, the ones which are determined to make your life as absolutely painful as possible an capable of driving grown men to tears. This is because while it retains many of the complex patterns of instant death machines, rows of spikes and player manglers it lacks the frustratingly impossible aspects which force you to rage quit like strict time-limits and vast numbers of invincible enemies.
It seems like it’s trying to keep the best aspects of the frustratingly impossible platformers but limits their cruelty to make it available to a wider audience.
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It’s been said more than once that sometimes a story should know exactly when it needs to end. Not because there’s no more that needs to be shown of the world, often it’s quite the opposite. Instead often due to either sequels not standing up to what came before them or outright contradicting what made them so great in the first place. This often counts for films and novels more than anything else, but a number people seem to think this applies to the Bioshock franchise. Arguments are usually that the first game was enough to explore the themes of its storyline and a sequel set in Rapture ultimately undermined the original’s tale. This seems a very odd stance to take because for all intents and purposes Bioshock 2 improved upon a huge number of points within the first game. Not so much going nuts and trying to outdo everything that came beforehand but going in a different direction while building upon what we’d seen. Especially in terms of its morality, storyline and choices.
As far as reputation goes, Blizzard has a pretty stellar one. People line up out the door for their games and ask for more with a smile on their face. The company starts off 2013 with releasing a much anticipated Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm. An expansion set for one of the most iconic strategy games that brings the Zerg, and their enigmatic and now outcast leader – Kerrigan – to the forefront. Is it worth picking up the fight or should you let this one slide?
This sure have been an interesting few weeks. The PS4 is still fresh in our minds, but some of the shine was almost stolen. The emphasis there is on “almost.” Recently, the Xi3 piston was announced and there came a lot of confusion. Let me weight in.
In another questionable move by a major figurehead within the video game industry, Valve has permitted the return of The War Z to Steam. Having been taken down for outright lying to customers, being obvious unfinished, the developers outright attempting to blackmail those requesting refunds into silence and even a terms of service directly copied and pasted from League of Legends, the game was regarded as a total failure. Its return to Steam after such controversy is a surprising move but it does bring with it a number of changes. Unfortunately many critical problems remain on the page alone.
With the abject failure of Aliens: Colonial Marines, now seemed like the best time to revisit an old classic. While Aliens Infestation for the Gameboy DS is a fun 2D side-scroller and 2010’s Aliens vs. Predator is nowhere near as bad an FPS as many claim, neither are what you’d call fantastic games. To see a truly great example of what can be done with the xenomorph license you’d need to look back to the early 2000s when Monolith Productions were allowed a shot at making a sequel to an already big success with Aliens vs. Predator 2.
However, rather than being a review this is to be a comparison. A step by step detail of each aspect of both games to detail why one is a lauded success fondly remembered by fans and the other is a hated wreck. Both for reasons obvious and otherwise.
