Archive for the ‘Games’ Category
1
Jan
Posted by vagrantesque in Best of 2013, Games, Movies, MUBC. Tagged: 14, 2013, Best, blast, cast, countdown, episode, fourteen, mega, MUBC, of, podcast, ultra. Leave a comment
Happy new year to all! Episode 14 of the Mega Ultra Blast Cast hands out some totally significant awards to farewell 2013! We smash through our normal programming in less than an hour before devoting half an hour to giving out a handful of MUBC awards to various games and movies that impressed us in 2013. Listen to hear Delaney questioning expressions about lightning in bottles, talking up his dancing skills and comparing Disney films to cricket scores, Shane meowing and making puns a bunch of times and all of us discussing the merit of seeing Frozen more than once. We also answer a question submitted by a listener to close out the year in style! The awards start at 55:15 if you’re only interested in that.
If you feel so inclined, go for a run, take a scenic drive or just curl up on the couch and play some games while you listen to the opinions of three Sydneysiders who really just want to play Samurai Gunn.
You can play the whole thing right off this page if that interests you:
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Or you can go to the Soundcloud site/app and listen from there:
https://soundcloud.com/mega-ultra-blast-cast/mubc-14-best-of-2013s
(Follow the link and then click the download tab)
As always if you enjoy what you hear please share the cast with your friends – Cheers!
31
Dec
Posted by vagrantesque in Best of 2013, Games, Lists. Tagged: 10, 2013, Best, Game, ten, top, Videogame, Year. Leave a comment
Man, this list was difficult to put together.
I played a lot of games in 2013 and dare I say finished a higher percentage of them than I ever have in a single year. In fact, unlike last year’s list, I have completed all ten of the games I finally decided on as my top ten. To be eligible for the list and/or the unavoidably lengthy honorable mentions section, however, I needed to have played a game for at least five hours, unless a) the game in question takes less time than that to finish and I finished it, or b) the game can’t really be “finished” because it’s actually neverending and/or is multiplayer-only. With that said, 2013 was an absolutely killer year for games. Excitement is back in the industry thanks to new consoles, thriving blockbuster releases and better indie titles than ever. Without further ado, I present my second-last list of the year, with the platform on which I played each game presented in parentheses:
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VR BEST OF 2013 DISCLAIMER
This list represents my opinion only. I am not asserting any kind of superiority or self-importance by presenting it as I have. My opinion is not fact. If you actually agree with me 100%, that’s scary. Respectful disagreement is welcome.
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10. Monaco: What’s Yours is Mine (360)
2013 actually turned out to be a pretty good year for local multiplayer games, particularly co-operative experiences. I was even able to write a post entirely focusing on the juicy co-op offerings in August alone. But the best of the bunch came along a little earlier in the year – Monaco: What’s Yours is Mine. The colourful stealth game – wait, I mean panic game absolutely deserves to be played with four players. Picking the perfect combination of abilities and heading into a new top-down sneaking challenge stays consistently exciting, because you know what’s going to happen – someone is going to mess up and raise an alarm and things will get hectic very quickly, but come hell or high water, you WILL get through to the end by any means necessary.
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28
Dec
Posted by vagrantesque in Best of 2013, Games, Lists. Tagged: 10, 2013, Best, Game, ten, top, Videogame, Year. Leave a comment
2013 gave gamers the world over a host of memorable moments to celebrate, lament and ponder over, whether with narrative twists, epic set pieces or tight gameplay sections. Yet as always, some videogame-related moments are entirely of the player’s making. A memorable gaming moment is made up of many elements and factors, from game design itself to who the player experiences it with, what frame of mind he or she is in, prior experience and so on and so forth. They can come from something as universally discussable as a shocking ending, or as seemingly innocuous as overcoming a tiny challenge tucked away within a game. With these personal factors in mind, here are my top ten most memorable gaming moments of 2013. SPOILERS DEFINITELY FOLLOW, so read at your own risk.
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VR BEST OF 2013 DISCLAIMER
This list represents my opinion only. I am not asserting any kind of superiority or self-importance by presenting it as I have. My opinion is not fact. If you actually agree with me 100%, that’s scary. Respectful disagreement is welcome.
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10. Gloo Gloo – Rayman Legends
Of all Rayman Legends’ many amazing ideas and level mechanics, the all-too-few music stages surely have to rank among the best. They certainly are the highlight of the game for me, as they mix traditional twitch reflex platforming with an almost Guitar Hero or Rock Band-esque reliance on rhythm and timing. Each music level is a zany tribute to a well-known piece of music (with the exception of a wonderful original orchestral piece) drawing inspiration from sources as varied as Anthrax, Survivor and Ram Jam. But my favourite has to be Gloo Gloo, a delightfully silly interpretation of Woohoo by the 5.6.7.8’s. It’s hectic, tense and above all tons of fun, much like the game in general. You can watch the whole level on YouTube here.
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26
Dec
Posted by vagrantesque in Best of 2013, Console, Games, Lists. Tagged: 10, 2013, 5, Best, consoles, five, Gaming, top, Videogame, Year. Leave a comment
Merry Christmas everyone! Here’s a new kind of list that I can see myself coming back to next year. It’s a smaller list to counteract the length of the last one.
There were many videogame platforms vying for the attention of consumers in 2013, which was overall a pretty spectacular year for memorable gaming experiences. Some of these consoles struggled on the sales charts more than others, but most of them enjoyed at least a few worthwhile game releases. So what if someone were to rank them with sales factors out of the equation, based on user experience and, above all, the quality of their game releases throughout the year? An answer to that question, albeit a subjective one, is coming at you right now.
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VR BEST OF 2013 DISCLAIMER
This list represents my opinion only. I am not asserting any kind of superiority or self-importance by presenting it as I have. My opinion is not fact. If you actually agree with me 100%, that’s scary. Respectful disagreement is welcome.
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5. Xbox One
Of the two exciting “next-gen” consoles released worldwide at the end of the year, the Xbox One probably had the slight edge in terms of early game library. The excellent visual showcase Ryse impressed many right from day one, despite its repetitive combat mechanics, while Dead Rising 3 by all accounts fixed many of the problems the series has suffered from since its inception and Forza 5 leveraged the power of the console to great effect with its hyper-realistic car models and innovative “Drivatar” AI augmenting system. Peggle 2 followed soon after launch and received great critical acclaim, with Plants vs Zombies Garden Warfare and Titanfall to follow early next year. Its current position is remarkable given the hate thrown its way in the middle of the year, when it was looking like quite a different beast.
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23
Dec
Posted by vagrantesque in Best of 2013, Games, Lists. Tagged: 2013, Best, Box, Case, Cover, Game, ten, top, Videogame, Year. Leave a comment
That’s right, it’s time for another round of aesthetic appreciation of the plastic and cardboard kind. 2013 saw the release of plenty of great games and some stellar box art to boot. This list counts down my ten favourite physical game cases of the year, decided based on factors such as uniqueness, originality and, as always, colour! While there were certainly a whole heap of download-exclusive games to get excited about in 2013 and there will continue to be, the future of the physical game case appears perhaps a little more secure in the short term than some naysayers would have you believe, predominantly due to factors like the obscene sales success of GTA V and the ridiculous download sizes of PS4 and Xbox One games. This makes me rather happy, because I love the art of game case presentation perhaps a little too much.
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VR BEST OF 2013 DISCLAIMER
This list represents my opinion only. I am not asserting any kind of superiority or self-importance by presenting it as I have. My opinion is not fact. If you actually agree with me 100%, that’s scary. Respectful disagreement is welcome.
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10. FIFA 14 (“next-gen”)
EA Sports has a reputation of iterating on its annual releases, like FIFA, year after year, changing only a little each time. Even though this is only true of the mega-hit football series if you don’t actually play it yourself, few could have expected that the general experience of playing (and watching) FIFA 14 would improve so much in the transition from PS3 and Xbox 360 to PS4 / Xbox One. To get the message across that the next-gen equivalent of the game might be worth playing even if you already bought the last-gen version, the company made the smart marketing decision to abandon the predominantly white and red design of the last half-dozen years in favour of a darker colour palette, a player close-up rather than an action shot and a new yellow logo. The Madden and NBA Live series followed suit to give the feel of a clean, fresh virtual sporting experience. I’m a big fan of the change.
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17
Dec
Posted by vagrantesque in Console, Games, Wii U. Tagged: christmas, Console, holiday, one, option, PlayStation, ps4, Wii U, xbox. 1 comment
Over the last week or so I have been working feverishly towards getting ten Best of 2013 countdowns up on the site, but before I start I just have to say something…
So the Xbox One and the PS4 are both on Australian shelves now (well, the Xbox One at least – God help you if you’re trying to find a PS4 that isn’t on preorder at the moment). That means they will be on Christmas wishlists and dare I say part of plans for the spending of excess Christmas casual earnings / Christmas gift money. They deserve to be there. They are both very impressive pieces of tech. I like both of them and have thoroughly enjoyed my time with them thus far. I eagerly await the exciting future ahead for both consoles. Games like Titanfall, Infamous: Second Son, Destiny, Watch_Dogs, The Order: 1886 and Final Fantasy XV make me feel lucky to be able to own a next-gen (now current-gen, technically) console right now, with an entertaining future secured. If you are genuinely excited for either console, all power to you – go ahead and jump in. I feel like, if I wanted to, I could leave it at that.
But I would be betraying who I was, where I’ve come from and, heck, where I am now as a gamer, if I neglected to give another mention to the Wii U, Nintendo’s now one-year-old home console. I have been playing just as much of my Wii U of late as I have my PS4/Xbox One, so I feel obliged to point out that yes, there is a third option for you this holiday season if you feel like it’s time for a new console. Here’s why you might find it a decent choice:
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7
Dec
Posted by vagrantesque in Console, Games, PS4, Xbox One. Tagged: aus, comparison, Gaming, gen, generation, impressions, Microsoft, next, one, PlayStation, ps4, xbox. Leave a comment
Yes, I’m that guy – I had to have both.
Awww, look at them just co-existing harmoniously…
The next generation of gaming is now well and truly here, with the Playstation 4 and the Xbox One joining the 3DS, PS Vita and Wii U in one big dysfunctional gaming family. At the time of writing I have had just over a week with the Playstation 4 and a fortnight with the Xbox One, meaning I am just about ready to talk about what has and hasn’t impressed me about the brand new consoles. I’ve divided things into sub-headings for easy reference. Note that most of these photos were taken very late at night with a combination of caffeine, minimal sleep and of course excitement, so they are a little on the awful side if you look at them too closely.
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30
Oct
Posted by vagrantesque in 3DS, Games. Tagged: 2ds, 3DS, nintendo, Pokemon, Review, version, x, xerneas, y, yveltal. Leave a comment
Over the last couple of weeks, every time I thought I was ready to write and complete this review someone online would discover some other new thing within Pokemon X. But now I can finally say I’m ready to post the review having experienced enough of the whole game to make a good fist of everything. This will be a long one. Enjoy.
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Platform: 3DS
Developer: Game Freak
Rating: PG
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Not “X Version”, for some reason. Just “X”.
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Simply X-cellent.
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Pokemon X and its near-identical counterpart Pokemon Y represent several ambitious steps forward for one of Nintendo’s flagship videogame series. The first three-dimensional Pokemon adventure is a stunning audio-visual achievement that makes the 3DS sing and draws smartly from the nostalgia wells of an entire generation. But perhaps most excitingly, the game is the first in the series to admit that Pokemon has transformed beyond its creators’ wildest dreams into an endlessly deep competitive juggernaut over the last decade. The game works very clearly with this in mind, resulting in a wonderful social experience that is also more balanced than the series ever has been. It’s a must-have for most any 3DS owner.
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10
Oct
Posted by vagrantesque in Games, Lists. Tagged: diamond, Game, generation, moments, Pokemon, ruby, silver, white, yellow. Leave a comment
We are now mere hours away from the long-awaited (there’s an understatement) first ever 3D entries in the main Pokemon video game series, Pokemon X and Pokemon Y. To celebrate and, quite honestly, to kill some time while enduring the wait, I decided to have a look back at some of my favourite memories the series has given me in-game. I use the term “in-game” to mean anything taking place during the game’s story (that is, anything before and possibly immediately after the Elite Four), as opposed to, say, any awesome competitive battles I have had the pleasure of participating in using EV trained, IV bred fighting machines.
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10. Patrat, the Purpose-Built Annoyer – Pokemon White
Nearly every Pokemon release has been an inherently multiplayer experience for me, because in my book that’s the way it was designed to be played. There is a tradition among my close friends and family who play Pokemon that whenever a new game comes out, we try to get together and play the first few hours alongside one another, battling after the first gym and sometimes after the second as well. As a result I try to catch and train Pokemon that my fellow players aren’t likely to pay attention to, just to make the battles more interesting. Never has this been more true than at the start of the fifth generation of Pokemon, when I caught a super-common Patrat and trained it to the mid-teens solely because its movepool seemed deliberately stacked with the most annoying moves possible. Detect, Sand-Attack, Bite, Hypnosis… I mean, really, how could I not? In our first battle Patrat was my highest-level Pokemon and I used its full irritating potential against my brother, only to dump it in a box forever afterwards. If not for that tradition, I wouldn’t have looked twice at the caffeinated chipmunk for my in-game team.
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9
Oct
Posted by vagrantesque in Games, MUBC. Tagged: 2ds, 7, affleck, bale, batman, ben, blast, cast, episode, mega, MUBC, podcast, seven, ultra. Leave a comment
Missed the chance to go to the EB Expo on the weekend? Maybe you did go but are keen to hear someone else’s impressions? Fear not – the Mega Ultra Blast Cast breaks down the whole show with opinions and arguments and such, just for your benefit. Shane is our sounding board as Delaney and I discuss our favourite games of the show, the things that surprised us, the best cosplays we saw and the most in-depth Titanfall demo breakdown you’ve ever heard. At 2:20 it’s the longest podcast we’ve done since our first one, but you can read the description on Soundcloud and click the timestamps to go to the section you are interested in. If you feel so inclined, go for a run, take a scenic drive or just curl up on the couch and listen to the opinions of two excited Sydneysiders and one jealous guy.
You can play the whole thing right off this page if you wish:
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Or you can go to the Soundcloud site/app and listen from there:
https://soundcloud.com/mega-ultra-blast-cast/mubc-10-eb-expo
(Follow the link and then click the download tab)
As always if you enjoy what you hear please share the cast with your friends and like our Facebook page. Cheers!
