The turn of a page and a fresh start...

Hello, internet!  I know that it's been a little while since I've posted something on here.  For that, I apologize!  The reason behind that, aside from work and life in general, is that I have found a new place to post all of my rants and reviews.  The new site is Geeks With Wives.  I met a couple of the awesome guys who write for the site, moderate, and produce a podcast of the same name on Twitter a few months back.  After guesting on the podcast for a few shows, I decided to take them up on an offer to write for the site and become a regular "Geek With Wife."

I have to say that I'm thrilled to be able to share a site with some great guys who share the same passion that I do!  I hope that I can also share the Geeks With Wives name with you in the form of the site and the podcasts.  We will be posting editorials, reviews, and anything else that we want on a fairly regular basis, so check back often!  Also, we record our show on Tuesdays, post the video on YouTube that night, and the podcast is usually on iTunes by that Friday.  Make sure you subscribe and follow us on Twitter!  Tweet your questions and we're likely to answer them on the show.

As a parting gift (and so that you can believe all the stuff that I just said...) I leave you with one final link which will take you to my first piece for the Geeks With Wives site.  I was lucky enough to get a shot at reviewing The Last of Us, so make sure that you get over there and read my thoughts!  If you have any questions or comments, go ahead and post them below the review!  The Geeks With Wives brand is all about discussion, especially with our audience.

Thank you to those of you who have had the patience to read my thoughts every now and again.  Godspeed!

Kenney

Guacamelee-ed

I suppose that I should start out by saying that I have never completed a Metroid game.  Nor have I ever completed a Castlevania game.  Go ahead: laugh.  Discredit me.  Okay, are those guys gone?  Good.

I was really looking forward to Guacamelee.  DrinkBox Studio's first game, Tales From Space: About a Blob, was really enjoyable.  The art design and the gushing amount of character were two things that I absolutely loved about the game.  The gameplay was solid and didn't really ever feel stale throughout the experience.

When I first saw trailers and previews for Guacamelee I knew that I had to get it.  Both titles have a lot of love poured into them, that's obvious from just looking at the games.  A little before it released I decided that I was going to Platinum Guacamelee.  After downloading it and playing it for awhile, I knew that it wasn't going to be difficult for me to focus my attention on it long enough to Platinum.  While I am not a huge brawler-lover or 2D sidescrolling guru, I was having a blast with Guacamelee.  Then I reached the final battle with Carlos Calaca.

Note: there are no real spoilers here.  Guacamelee has a simple story, so there really isn't much to spoil.  I suppose I should say that it might help you to play the game and then read what I have to say.  Hell, if you haven't played the game yet: go download it right now, it's definitely worth your time and money.

I could eventually figure out all of the other confrontations prior to this final battle, but Calaca raked me over the coals countless times before I had to quit in frustration.  I've only ever chucked a controller once or twice in my life, but Calaca had me seriously debating whether I cared if that $50 piece of equipment needed to be replaced.

Psychologists and senators can debate all they want about violent video games making violent people.  I would argue that Guacamelee is not a title being thrown around in that argument.  That being said: I was more violently angry after being stuck in Guacamelee than any time I've ever come off of a 12-hour realistically gory, hyper-violent game stint.  And it's a platformer.

I had to put Guacamelee down and immediately blog about it.  I started writing this before I finally finished the game this weekend.  Then I got more angry with the fact that I was about to post this to my gaming blog. So I stopped writing about it.  Hell, I bought, completed, and Trophy hunted in Tomb Raider (another amazing title this year...) before I cooled down enough to go back and try again.

"Try" was the key word there, because I ended up spending another thirty minutes being destroyed by Calaca before I decided that I would take an alternate approach to this game.  I really had enjoyed my time in Guacamelee before getting to this final battle.  I knew that there were a ton of secrets to be found within its wonderfully coded levels.  So I decided to go back and 100% the various stages that Guacamelee had on-tap.

While time-consuming: hunting for all of the chests and orbs was fun.  A few of the orbs (two in particular...) pushed me harder than any platformer had before Guacamelee.  While I failed time after time, there were safety nets and the promise of those orbs and the ending and Trophy that it would bring pushed me farther and farther.  It was really satisfying.

After all of the levels were at 100%, it was time to go back and face Calaca once more.  Oddly enough...  I obtained victory on my first attempt.  I don't know what it was that I did differently.  Had I grown in patience while staring in the face of constant let-down and failure in the past few hours?  I know that it wasn't due to a more honed dexterity that I was able to overcome him.  Hell, my fingers felt as if they were going to fall off.  Watching that final cut scene, though, I felt an overwhelming sense of pride in my accomplishment.

Guacamelee did something that no game has yet done for me: it pushed me to overcome and complete it.  I know that sentence sounds rather ridiculous coming from someone who claims to play games as much as I do.  However, there have been games (a very small few) that pushed me right to my next title rather than to its conclusion (Dark Souls, anyone?).  The payoff was well worth the frustration.

While it remains to be seen if I will go back and attempt to truly master this game and obtain the Platinum Trophy, I know this: Guacamelee is a special game that does what it does well.  It pushes a player to the brink of madness, but rather than leaving him/her there, it also sees the player through to the end.  That speaks volumes for a $15 downloadable title.

Have you played Guacamelee?  What were your experiences throughout the game?  Let me know in the comments section below!

BioShock Infinite: The New Gold Standard (Review)

BioShock Infinite has been out for almost a week now.  The hype train has rolled smoothly into the station and the steam is settling.  The question is: just how much of that hype is accurate and how much is hot air?

Bioshock Infinite Review Roundup (UPDATE)

BioShock Infinite releases tomorrow, March 26th, and at many locations at midnight tonight!  The day is upon us and so are the reviews!

IGN's Ryan MCaffrey reviewed BioShock Infinite and was the first to be allowed to spread the word on its goodness.  He calls Infinite "a brilliant shooter that nudges the entire genre forward... in both storytelling and gameplay."  He goes on to praise the title's "luscious art direction" and its "myriad combat options."  His one fault with the game was that it felt "a bit padded in the middle."  You can check out Ryan's review by clicking here.

Next up is Joe Juba's review for Game Informer.  Joe starts off by saying that BioShock Infinite "is... among the best games [he's] played."  He praises the title's "fantastic soundtrack", "unforgettable" story, and the "upgradeable weapons and abilities" that "give players plenty of space to develop their own style of play."  Here is the link to Joe's review.

The Escapist's Mike Wehner also had a ton of praise that he heaped-upon Infinite.  Mike calls it "an instant Game Of The Year contender".  He goes on to say that "there's practically no reason to pass this one up."  I see no reason why you should pass up reading Mike's review here.

Following the very obvious trend in praise was Jim Sterling's review for Destructoid.  Giving the game a perfect 10/10 score, he states that "BioShock Infinite is damn near perfect."  Jim cites "a perfect beginning, an engaging middle, and a perfect end," the dynamic combat, and few other reasons for his rating.  If you care to find out more detail about what Jim thought, you can check out his review here.

Xav De Matos reviewed Infinite for Joystiq and gave the game five out of five stars.  He claims that the game "is a love story" that is "easy to fall in love with".  De Matos also says that the "engagements are typically a fun dance between mixing weapons and abilities."  He further goes on to say that "the ending is marvelous" and "handily disposes of any minor gripes."  You can read his review on Joystiq's website, here.

Arthur Gies, from Polygon, wrote that he's "still thinking about BioShock Infinite now, days after finishing."  He goes on to say that it "lives up to the promise of its legacy" while " it looks poised to establish a new one."  Gies gave the game a 10/10, you can read why in his review here.

As of writing this, the Metascore (on Metacritic) for the PC version of BioShock Infinite is at a comfortable 95 out of 100.  While there are several 100s, the lowest review score that I could find was an 80 from NowGamer and VideoGamer.  Steve Burns, in his review for VideoGamer, explains his 8 out of 10 score by praising the game for its visuals and story, while criticizing it for its "underused" Tear mechanic and "tiresome" combat.

Even with those last two scores there seems to be one trending theme: BioShock Infinite is well worth your money, your time, and your love.  I know that at midnight tonight, I'll count myself as one of the lucky people waiting to grab my copy, rush home, and throw it in my system.  It's going to be a long night.

Are you looking forward to BioShock Infinite?  Have these reviews swayed you one way or another?  Please let us know in the comments section below!

My Trophy-less Adventure In Monster Hunter Tri

On Friday, I posted an update in which I claimed to be a trophy whore.  I had been looking through various other ruminations concerning whether or not Trophies have crippled the fun-factor of video games, transforming them into another monster altogether different from prior generations of games.  I ended up sharing that while Trophies have pushed me to feel like I was "working" rather than enjoying myself, the overall reason that I play games is for fun.  Then something struck me: I couldn't remember the last time that I played a title that didn't have Trophies or Achievements.  Since I ended that post stating my belief that the majority of gamers (myself included) played for the sake of fun rather than some call to the collecting of intangible and relatively worthless digital items, I had to put that theory to the test.

PAX East Musings #1

I couldn't help but really enjoy Randy Pitchford's talk at PAX East earlier today.

In particular, I found his examination of choice to be interesting.  I would be remiss not to mention his entertaining card trick segue, during which he allowed an individual to make a perceived choice as to which deck of cards he would use to demonstrate with.  He asked an audience member to chose the red deck or the blue deck.  The member of the audience chose the blue deck, which he was tossed.  (It was a little later that we were told had he picked the red deck, Randy would have used his choice to mean he wanted the trick to be performed with the red deck.  Either way, the audience member was led to believe that he was in control, when in reality the opposite was true).

The details of the card trick are not the importance here, as he was using it to show how choice, whether perceived or real, was an influencing factor on how we appreciate things.  He observed that "fanboyism" really derives from the choices that we make.  The fact that our choices impact our opinions of things really goes to show you just how insecure we can be at times.  Fanboyism is how we justify the decisions that we make from the trivial day-to-day decisions all the way to our more weighty life-altering choices.

To tie this in to something that I posted earlier: I would make the argument that Trophies are better than Achievements.  I have the ability to earn both, since I own a 360 as well as a PS3.  However, there was a time when I chose to pick up a PS3 instead of the 360.  Therefore, Trophies are something that I indirectly chose.  Since I am more familiar with them, I suppose that my affinity for them over Achievements would stem from a choice that I made.

I'm really looking forward to hearing more from all of the amazing individuals from within the industry.  As I listen, I'll make sure to throw some more thoughts and rants up on the blog.  Until then, if anyone is reading this, let me know what you think in the comments below!