Game Time - January 2014

During the previous Game Time I mentioned how I had gotten a Vita and was playing a ton of games. At this moment I am still playing a ton of games, which is why I decided to forgo the December 2013 edition of Game Time. Christmas happened and now I'm being further drowned in video games. I even bought a few games that I know I won't get a chance to play for a long time. Anyways, there's a good chance that I won't talk about some of the games I'm playing. I will give you a handy list of all the games I've tried out and purchased.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
Shin Megami Tensei IV (Haven't played)
The Wonderful 101 (Haven't played)
Devil Survivor 2 (Haven't Played)
Skylanders Swap Force
Gravity Rush
Soul Sacrifice
Persona 4 Golden
Spelunky
Starbound

Since I completed both A Link Between Worlds on the 3DS and the hot new Skylanders game Swap Force on the PS4 we'll talk about those. To round out this edition I also played a bunch of Soul Sacrifice on the Vita. It's super weird and kind of creepy. You'll probably love hearing about it.

It's a brand new year and it's time for the first edition of game time in 2014! It's going to be an exciting year. I can totally feel it already.


The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds

When Nintendo announced that they were going to make a sequel to Zelda: A Link to the Past I didn't quite believe it. Nintendo has been doing a lot of crazy stuff lately though, so why shouldn't they create a sequel to a beloved SNES game that was released in 1991. This kind of game always gets me worried, because there's almost no way it can live up to the original game.

I played A Link to the Past when I was fairly young. It was before I had gotten super deep into video games, but I remember liking it quite a bit. I still remember playing it for an entire weekend, because I needed to complete it before Video King required me to return the cartridge. So my nostalgia for the original game isn't particularly strong, but I do have it.

It looks oddly similar to the original, but different enough to stand on its own.

The last time I played it was over ten years ago, but the intro to the new game still made me super excited. The title screen is almost exactly the same as the original. When the triforce appeared on screen and the music swelled I knew Nintendo had done something right. It may not be as good as the original, but I think that they did a good enough job of following up a true classic.

As you may have guessed A Link Between Worlds is very similar to its predecessor. You play as Link in a top down isometric world. It's weird, because the world is very similar to what it was before, but just different enough to feel fresh. The music is all excellently remixed, and the sounds of sword hits and enemies are almost the exact same. Normally Nintendo would just cash in on nostalgia, but instead they tried to do some new things as well. The main new feature is that Link can turn himself into a painting to merge with walls. This allows for you to traverse very large gaps and adds a whole lot of new puzzle elements.

I'm not a fan of the way Link looks as a painting.

The other new thing is that Instead of traversing the dungeons in a certain order you can do them in any order you want. A freaky rabbit merchant takes up residence in Link's home. He will rent you all of the equipment you need in order to complete the dungeons. If you die while you're renting the merchants pet bird will swoop down and take your items back, so you need to be careful not to die. The game isn't super difficult. I was able to complete it without dying once. Late in the game you can buy the items and keep them, but it doesn't really matter.

In the end it's still largely like the original game, but it has changed in some key ways. You still travel between the light and dark worlds while defeating bosses in dungeons. In a way though, this entry seems to be a way of testing out new ideas for the franchise. Hopefully they learned something, because the Zelda franchise has been getting a little stale lately.

Skylanders Swap Force

I don't know how it happened, but all of a sudden I found myself deep into Skylanders Swap Force. The desk in front of my television is completely covered in Skylanders. For the original game I only had 8 figures, but now I have 22 Skylanders and it's out of control. I liked the original Skylanders well enough, but I felt like I had my fill of it. I skipped Skylanders Giants, but something pulled me back in. Perhaps it was the fact that I desperately want games to play on the PS4.

Anyways, Swap Force is a great game for what it is. Yes, it's a game built to sell children toys, but that doesn't make it any less cool. I mean come on, you put a toy on the portal of power and then you're playing as that character in the game! It's mind blowing technology. What's even cooler is that it's a halfway decent dungeon crawler. You hack and slash your way through each level gaining experience, skills, and collecting sweet loot. It starts off easy, but actually gets fairly challenging.

I think Grim Creeper may be my new favorite.

The new figures for Swap Force are crazy awesome. Unsurprisingly they're called Swap Force figures. What's special about them is that they split in half. So for example the starter set comes with Washbuckler and Blast Zone. Washbuckler is a squid with two cutlass, and crazy tentacle legs. Blast Zone is a knight who throws bombs with rocket legs. All of the swap force figures get skills specifically for their tops and bottoms and the best part is you can swap them. Put Washbuckler's top on Blast Zone's bottom and you get a squid with sweet metal rocket legs called Wash Zone. I can't even imagine where they're going to go next.

The weird thing to me about the game is that the levels are so ridiculously long. There are around 16 levels and each one is an hour or longer, so you have to really commit if you want to play. So now that I've beaten the game I've been continuing to play. Once you beat it you unlock score attack and time attack for every level, which unlocks more rewards that make each of your Skylanders stronger.

Want to play as a skunk with rocket legs? You can totally do that!

Yes, I'm 23 years old, and yes, I play Skylanders on a regular basis. I'm not ashamed of it! It's an awesome series with a cool concept. A lot of the figures are cool looking and I like things that let you level up and purchase skills. Plus it's fun to play co-op with friends. I bet if you have children it would be super fun to play it with them. Sadly I do not have any kids, so I guess I'll just have to settle for playing it on my own, or with my friends who I can force into it.

Soul Sacrifice

One night recently I needed a game to play with a friend, and it just so happened that they own a Vita. We decided to give Soul Sacrifice a shot, because it was free on PlayStation Plus a few months ago. I had heard about the game, but I had never seen any gameplay. It's a super weird game. It's kind of like Monster Hunter and God Eater had a baby. It just turns out that the baby is into creepy monsters, blood, and talking books. Also, the creator of Mega Man Keiji Inafune was involved...

You start Soul Sacrifice in a prison cell waiting to be killed by the great sorcerer Magusar. I guess the world has ended and now Magusaur rules over everything. You see a prisoner next to you get taken and realize that you have very little time left. That's when a talking journal begs you to read it. He claims that it will give you insight into Magusaur and give you strength in order to defeat him. Each chapter in the book acts as a battleground where you'll need to defeat enemies as fast as possible. The monster designs are all super disturbing. They're normal animals that have been mutated by evil.

Yeah, just wipe away the book's tears. It's not creepy at all!

You're a sorcerer, which isn't the same in Soul Sacrifice as it is in other works of fiction. The are allowed to carry six spells with you and they all have a limited number of uses. For example I use an ice sword a lot. It lasts for about a minute and has five uses. If you use the spell the maximum amount of times it will break and you'll need to repair it after the battle. There's a wide variety of things from spectral weapons to healing herbs that you can use as spells. You're not totally screwed on spell uses during battles though, because you can sacrifice souls. You know, the name of the game.

For some reason sorcerers have crazy arms in the Soul Sacrifice universe. When you kill an enemy you can either save its soul or sacrifice it. If you sacrifice an enemy you'll gain evil experience and get back some of your spell uses. If you save a soul then you'll get good experience and regain some lost health. When you get enough experience with either alignment the arm will go up a level. Dark levels give you attack, while good levels give you defense and health. You can choose to keep both levels close to each other and have a neutral arm, but if you have one much higher than the other you can gain extra bonuses. If you have either a dark arm or a good arm you can carve special sigils into the arm to give you bonuses.

Will you have a creepy mutilated hand, or a glowing blue one?

The game is just really weird. There's a lot of blood all over the place and blood curdling screams can often be heard when selecting things on the menus. Also you can talk to the talking book and wipe tears off of its face, which can be used as a special currency to repair spells... I'm having fun with it, but it's just kind of creepy and a little off-putting. It's like a fast paced Monster Hunter.

Hard Games

I've started playing a fair bit of Spelunky recently. I've gotten okay at it, but I'm still not very good. I try to play at least once a day so I can get some practice. Perhaps someday I'll actually be able to make it to the end, but for right now I'm just having fun discovering strategies and ways to survive for longer. I've even been watching a weird amount of Spelunky get played on the internet so I can find out new stuff.

I used to think Spelunky was impenetrable, much like Monster Hunter. Now that I know it's not I've gotten it in my head that I want to have a go at Dark Souls. I've borrowed it from a friend and am thinking about starting it. Since the second one comes out soon I might just play that instead, but I just don't know. If I start it I'm going to have to finish it, which could become an issue. Bravely Default comes out for the 3DS in February and I think I might end up getting lost in that.

Either way February will be an interesting month. Like I said back at the beginning I think that 2014 is going to be pretty sweet in terms of video games, so we all need to get ready for it.

    -Manny

Top Ten Games of 2013

2013 is over and done with, which means that it's time for yet another top ten list. I have made a sweet list of what I believe to be the top ten games released in 2013. Every game on this list was released this year and I played and beat each one to completion. Keep in mind that this is just my opinion, so we may disagree. A lot of great games came out this year and I had to make some hard cuts, but that seems to happen every year.

As always we'll be starting with number ten and working our way up to the prestigious number one spot. If you want to read my more in depth thoughts on each of these games just click on their names (Except Fire Emblem). See you at the top.

10. Grand Theft Auto V

Grand Theft Auto V may not have been the greatest story ever told, but it sure was ambitious. The new Los Santos Rockstar created is one of the most elaborate open worlds ever seen in a game. It doesn't have quite enough to do in that open world, but it sure is detailed. On top of that you play as not one, but three characters. Each of which is very memorable in their own right.

I don't really know where open world games can go from here, but I hope that Rockstar keeps trying to take them to the next level.


9. BioShock Infinite

Bioshock Infinite seems to have lost a lot of support since its initial release, but I for one will not abandon this great game. Yes, the combat wasn't the greatest, but it certainly wasn't the worst. In fact it improved upon the combat of the original in some very meaningful ways. Plus jumping around on the sky rails is pretty freaking sweet.

I came to Bioshock Infinite expecting an interesting story and that's exactly what I got. If you think about it too much everything completely unravels, but that's the case with almost any science fiction. The ending of Infinite continues to blow my mind months after having completed the game. If you haven't you should really check it out.

8. Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle Royale

This was the first game I have ever imported and I couldn't be more happy about that. The cel shaded graphics make everything look ripped straight from the manga. Cyber Connect 2 put so much care into every single aspect of this game's animations in order to keep them true to the source material. This is a must own game for fans of the Jojo series and in my case made me a fan.

The fights are fun, but not super deep. It may not have a long life on the tournament scene, but Jojo's ASB is still one of my favorite fighting games of all time. If you're not crazy enough to import it you can just wait for the US version to come out later this year. I will definitely be buying it again.

7. Super Mario 3D World

Super Mario 3D World is the best looking game I have played this year. Mario has made an amazing transition into HD and I couldn't be happier. This game is actually innovative in a way that many Nintendo games just aren't anymore. I don't really know why Mario and friends can don a cat suit, but it's certainly an excellent addition to the Mario suit repertoire.

Super Mario 3D World is just plain fun, which is something I can't say about a lot of games these days. If you're one of the three people who have a Wii-U this is something you have to buy.

6. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Dual Destinies

Phoenix Wright has returned to the court room once again and I couldn't be happier about it. This is coming from someone who actually really liked Apollo Justice. The game is largely the same as it was before, but with snazzy new 3D models and fully voiced anime cutscenes. I could do without the voice acting, but other than that everything is streamlined for the player's convenience.

I loved to hang out with Phoenix and Apollo again. It seems like Capcom is already hard at work on the 6th entry in the series. Hopefully this one sold well enough in the US to make them keep bringing these over here. I love this series and it seems to only be getting better.

5. Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate

I didn't understand the Monster Hunter craze before I played this game. Somehow it sucked me in and I got lost in my hopeless Monster Hunter addiction for hundreds of hours. I have finally escaped, but I still get that sweet craving sometimes.

There's something magical about hunting a fearsome beast with your friends. Even though the game is very unforgiving to new players if you take the time to figure the game out it's a whole lot of fun. You just have to know what you're getting into. Perhaps someday you too will be one of those crazy people who understands the seductive power that is Monster Hunter.

4. The Last of Us

I will never forget the ending of this game. Naughty Dog created some of the most memorable characters ever seen in a video game. Joel and Ellie feel like real people. Their voice acting is impeccable and their facial expressions and movements are very lifelike.

The survival gameplay is serviceable and really makes you feel like you're living in a post-apocalyptic zombie mushroom world. It's a horrifying place, which is backed up by brutal depictions of violence. If you haven't played this game you need to. I wasn't into it at first, but once you start to see the relationship between Joel and Ellie unfold you'll be hooked.

3. Pokemon X/Y

Everyone always complains that Nintendo never changes anything, but this time they have. The world of Pokemon on a handheld has been brought to the third dimension. Battles look great, because each Pokemon has their very own detailed 3D model.

It might not seem like a big deal, but the introduction of fairy Pokemon completely changes the way Pokemon's battle system works. On top of that some Pokemon can even mega evolve now to become super powerful. This iteration changed so much. Hell, you can move diagonally for god's sake! Nintendo has finally changed Pokemon in some very meaningful ways and I can't wait to see where they go next.

2. Fire Emblem: Awakening

I really like strategy RPGs. One of the things that always bug me about them is that you get so many characters and never really get to know any of them. That's not the case with Fire Emblem Awakening. The excellent translation paired with the social system makes each character feel like they have an identity.

Awakening takes all of the best elements from each Fire Emblem and mashes them all into one game. You can get certain characters married and then use their children in battle. The children inherit skills and have increased stat gain, so they tend to be super beastly. It's a really cool feature. Fire Emblem Awakening is a truly deep game with a whole lot of content. I fully recommend it to anyone who owns a 3DS.

1. Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch

The days of the 50-80 hours RPG are almost dead and gone. Ni No Kuni however allowed me to revisit the days of old when RPG worlds felt magical and full of whimsy. Everything about Ni No Kuni is very charming and it does an incredible job building its fantasy world. The Wizard's Compendium is a literal book inside the game that's chock full of information about the world.

Ni No Kuni is one of those games with a ridiculous amount of side activities to do and secrets to find and I did almost everything. The monster collecting aspect had me hooked immediately and the lively battles kept me interested. At first glance it seems like a game for little kids, but the combat gets to be quite challenging.

Ni No Kuni is a special game to me, because it made me feel like a kid again. It made me feel like there's still hope that the type of grand RPG adventures I used to have as a kid will keep coming out. I loved Ni No Kuni and I hope that you'll check it out as well.

     -Manny