For the last three years or so, Microsoft has had a short-standing tradition of releasing five Xbox Live Arcade titles, one each week, in the middle of summer. It’s a good plan as summer is traditionally bereft of big game releases, since they seem to all either release right before Christmas or, if they missed their ship dates, soon after the New Year. This “Summer of Arcade” usually has games that either spotlight the best independent game developers or capitalize on nostalgia. And there is no nostalgia like gamer nostalgia. The gems this year:
Limbo – Spooky, startling, sparse, superb. Worth the price of admission.
Hydro! Thunder! – It’s Hydro Thunder, what more do you need to know?
There’s a Castlevania game that looks good in theory and I guess it’s fun, but the old sprites hurt my eyes. So I’m taking a pass on that one. But next week, the final game comes out that I’m really looking forward to out of all of these. I’ve never been a huge fan of Tomb Raider games in practice– I usually end up drowning or getting gutted by bears or something– but “Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light ” plays a bit differently. The world can always use more co-op dungeon-crawling puzzle-solving goodness:
Full-fledge reviews of Skate 3 can certainly be had elsewhere but precisely because it is iterative, let’s nitpick, shall we?
Things to like:
Crowd Control: Fewer cars, less annoying pedestrians, and no more guards hassling you. Because there’s enough to worry about when you’re trying to gap a set of thirty stairs.
An Inviting City: The map is overall more inviting a more skate-friendly than ever; breaking the map up into distinct sections also allows the designers to kill the “dead zones” connecting otherwise interesting areas.
Darkslides: Cool mechanic (and a pretty trick) that is suitably difficult to pull off.
Own The Park: A fantastic new mode that’s reminiscent of the two-minute level challenges that were the hallmarks of Ye Old Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1-3.
1-Up: This replaces Skate 2′s “skate” game, but it’s much more forgiving– you don’t have to replicate every flick-it trick, which is a highly welcome change.
Rise And Walk: Off-board controls now with 100% more realistic walking!
For all of this, there are some things yet to bemoan…
“What” Ain’t No Country I’ve Ever Heard Of: I have this nitpick with ATMs, as well. You know it’s me, why do have to ask me what language I want to use every single time? Especially for a game that has relatively little text. Annoying.
And Away We… There Already?: With all of the competitions beat and several other challenges bested, over thirty challenges still remain. Yet, I reached the million-boards sold milestone some time ago. If there’s anything we’ve learned, it’s that people love to unlock shit, so give us more to unlock.
This Park Again?: The Maloof Money Cup was paid DLC for Skate 2. Here it’s part of the core game. It’s a cool park and all, but it smacks of laziness (like reusing the Matrix Plaza from 1 to 2 did).
Paying For A Filmer Pack: Again, EA? Really? This is setting a bad precedent. Edit: As of today, I no longer see the filmer pack listed in the DLC, and all camera options appear to be available. Thank god.
A Wrench In My Pocket: Trucks and wheels make a big difference and given the variety of challenges you encounter, you should be able to change this up more easily, ideally without having to quit your current challenge.
Overall I do love the game, and it’s got vast improvements over Skate 2. Here’s hoping we get a little more depth and user-friendliness in the next iteration.
If you hold down the left trigger and then depress the right trigger twice quickly during “Taxman,” the band will squabble over songwriting credits. George will walk out of the room dejected.
If you press A three times in rapid succession while moving the left stick from left to right, the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi will disillusion all four Beatles.
If you hold down A and B buttons at the same time during any of the White Album tracks, Paul will yell at Ringo to go home for the day and then overdub his drum parts when he leaves.
As revealed in the new Game Informer, the more-or-less complete tracklist for The Beatles: RockBand finally hit. The final verdict? Well, I was 28 for 45 with my initial list, which isn’t too shabby (a D- so maybe a bit shabby). My brother had suggested “Getting Better” in place of “Good Morning Good Morning” on my original list; as it turns out, we get both which is nice. I’m most excited about “Hey Bulldog” and happy with most of the songs I wasn’t expecting (especially “If I Needed Someone” and “Don’t Let Me Down”).
Although inevitably there will be a lot of downloads for this– with Abbey Road, Sgt. Pepper and, I think, Revolver already announced, I’m most disappointed at “Rain” not making the cut, since it doesn’t show up on any proper album, but I’ll hold out for a Past Masters set. “She Loves You” and “Lady Madonna” seem like shoo-ins.
Unfortunately, and I guess inevitably, we’ve got Yellow Submarine, but of the fifteen I’ve gotten nine of them in the original guess list, so that’s a pretty good batting average thus far. I’m a bit baffled at the inclusion of Birthday, but the rest of it’s pretty exciting. With the inclusion of Within You Without You we’ve got some Sitar Hero in this one! Although I can’t help but think that that would work better with the slide-y fretboard on the Guitar Hero World Tour guitar…
