Monthly Archives: May 2009

link love 05-18-09

Remember local readers, CineVegas is June 10-15! Wanna stalk me? Here’s my viewing schedule.

Zenonia

Here’s a peak at Zenonia, an RPG heading towards the iPhone anytime now. Really looking forward to playing a game on the platform with some meat on it.

From Crispy Gamer (good stuff lately, guys!), Press Pass: Blogging by the Numbers.

Oh, and my first post on the Jet Set Games blog went up last week: Living in Las Vegas. Come work with us!

Finished: Mirror’s Edge

I really really wanted to love Mirror’s Edge.

I was sold by the original announcement — the pounding footprint EA logo, Lisa Miskovsky’s beautiful Still Alive, the bright colors and parkour-inspired gameplay… Here it was, EA’s big moment of redemption, part of their let’s make something new campaign, an opportunity to show that they could add to the art of video games, that, alongside Dead Space, they weren’t just sitting creatively idle, churning out sequel after sequel.

Unfortunately, the game is a mess.

Mirror's Edge

There’s a core of greatness buried in Mirror’s Edge, and for that alone it’s worth exploring, but the brief moments of awe are surrounded by tedium and frustration. The setting is fantastic — an urban romp through a colorful dystopian landscape — but the joy of exploration falls apart in the level design itself. I’ll accept the forced trial and error gameplay, but when combined with an imperfect contextual control scheme and widely scattered save points, the results were brutal. Many times I’d find myself elated to have crossed some difficult hurdle, only to screw up down the road and be thrown back to well before the tough bits, destroying the pleasure of progress and ratchetting up the aggravation meter. While some of the level layouts simply felt half-baked, thoughtful checkpoint placement might have lessened some of the duress. Yeah, the price would be a reduction in the overall challenge (and already short game length), but for a title that shines brightest when the player is in the flow, leaping over obstacles and along rooftops, it would’ve been a welcome tradeoff.

As I played through the game, I was hoping that the story, penned by Rhianna Pratchett, would be gripping enough to lure me through points of struggle, but the plot was ultimately another mundane enclosure for gameplay requirements, lacking the characterization, unpredictability, and oomph that a well-crafted tale displays.

Particularly mood-breaking were the cutscenes. With such a lush and beautiful in-game environment, why on earth did DICE resort to using a series of Flash-based segments? I’m guessing a lack of cinematic tools or a time crunch led to the decision, but man, was it a bad one.

Mirror's Edge cutscene

Anyway, after all this bitching, would it be wrong of me to say that I’m looking forward to the sequel?

Plus/Minus:
+ Overall, a beautiful sense of style & art direction.
+ Novel, sometimes elegant control scheme.
+ Ooh, another great soundtrack.

Lousy save point distribution leads to seriously frustrating repeats.
The cut scenes… why?
Argh, I haven’t played a more frustrating game in years.
Solidly mediocre story. I was expecting more.

Final grade: C-

link love 05-01-09

Swine flu swine flu, whatcha gonna do…

SC3 party

Collector Steve Hertz hosts the semi-annual SC3 arcade parties at his house in Claremont, California, where attendees get to try their hands at retro consoles, play rare arcade cabinets, and meet other gaming enthusiasts. Here’s his recap of last weekend’s party. Also see COIN-OP TV’s coverage.

Bubbling back up due to the XBLA release, read all about the History of Virtual-On. Downloaded the demo last night, looking forward to some quality time with the game this weekend.

Oh, and to toot our own horn for a moment, Jet Set App’s first app, BottomLine, just went live on the iTunes Store. Games soon, we promise.