Almost Game of the Year: Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

I never really paid much attention to Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning during development; I only knew it as that one game by that old baseball player with the bloody sock, but never anything more than that. But then I played the demo, and that immediately made me interested in Reckoning. The game looked beautiful, full of color and with a style that made me think, "So this is what Fable was always trying to look like." And above all else, the combat was incredibly fun and I didn't want to stop playing when the time limit ended. Reckoning went from a game I barely knew existed to one of the games I was looking forward to most in 2012.

The full game did not disappoint, for the most part, and I lost dozens and dozens and dozens of hours in the world of Reckoning. The world created was beautiful--teeming with varied wildlife, bad guys in need of killing and a plethora of side quests--and every area felt different, unlike Dragon Age II--which had the player going back and forth between a small collection of places over and over again. I loved exploring the world of Amalur--finding treasures and all that jazz--and the only thing disappointing about the world was that eventually ended.

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Marvel Pinball: Civil War Review

Marvel Pinball: Civil War is the latest pinball table from Zen Studios. If you're not a comic reader, the Civil War event was one of the biggest comic events in recent memory, pitting heroes against other heroes, pro-registration against anti-registration, as events led to the passing of the Super-human Registration Act, requiring the registration of all super-powered U.S. residents. There's more to the story than just that, but my memory is a bit fuzzy and if that little tidbit interests you, I'd recommend picking up the comics and reading them for yourself.

Anyway, the new Marvel table is themed around the Civil War event and the way the table starts is more interesting than anything else. Unlike other tables, Civil War starts with a multiball, which is meant to illustrate the tragedy at Stamford, CT, which inspired the SHRA. The points earned during the multiball will always be added to your regular score and your highest score is saved, so you can skip the multiball if you believe you can't get a higher score. It's a fun, different way to start a game of pinball and really fleshes out the story.

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Fruitiny Review

Take classic memory cards gameplay, add vibrant, colorful pixel art and intuitive controls, and then you have Fruitiny, a fun new game for iPhone that you can snag for free in its first twenty-four hours after release (that's right now!). Fruitiny comes from the mind of Briano Casotto, a former Ubisoft developer and the sole person behind Totano Corp. Fruitiny is his first game as a one-man band and it's a pretty damn good start.

I find it hard to believe there are many people out there who haven't played a memory card game, but if you haven't, the basic gameplay consists of a certain number of cards placed face down—more cards equals more difficulty—and then you flip cards over for a few seconds before they return face down, where you then attempt to match cards using, wait for it, your memory. That's the basic hook of Fruitiny; however, Fruitiny makes great use of the touch screen by allowing players to swipe across all the cards to flip them over, leaving a second or two to remember card locations, then tap on cards to match two of the same fruit; you can tap on cards to flip them over too, but swiping is much more efficient. As you progress further, more fruits are added, as well as little green monsters that cause penalties if tapped (matching two different fruits causes a penalty too).

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Grand Theft Auto V: Official Trailer #2

What else needs to be said? Just watch the damn video below and get pumped!

Pixelated Radio Not 43: We've Been Robbed

This week's show is not normal. Rob, my lovely co-host, was too sick to podcast and I really don't like leaving the listeners dry for so long (a month without a show is a tad excessive), so I rambled on and on to myself for about twenty-five minutes. All I can say is, I hope you don't grow sick of me after this little show; I simply wanted to give y'all at least a little something and hopefully the statement, "Something is better than nothing," holds true right here.

This is where I talk about the stupid things we do on the show, but since it was only me, there's nothing to report because I am perfect (obviously); though, I did say "In a sense," way too many times. Anyway, I do hope you enjoy the show and, won't you do us a kindness and be our favorite neighbor by rating us on iTunes? (Please do.) And if you're feeling extra generous, donate a little money or subscribe to show your support for the site and show(s), it's not free to host the site, the show; to make and record videos, and everything in between. Thanks regardless. Below is everything we would have talked about if the show happened as planned. (I do touch upon everything, even if only for a second.)

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Darksiders - Ending

Today is an ending kind of day apparently. I've uploaded three new videos for three old games, and I'm posting them here so they searchable on the site and because I damn well feel like it. Anyway, this here game, Darksiders, was my most pleasant surprise of 2010 and, in addition to being a great game overall, I loved the ending--it satisfied me and made me want more at the same time.

BlackSite: Area 51 - Ending

I bet you completely forgot BlackSite: Area 51 existed, right? Remember, it was made by that once famous studio called Midway. Yeah, those were the days. Well, below rests the end to BlackSite: Area 51, a game I didn't hate as much as everyone else; though, I must say the ending is rather abrupt and anticlimactic, ending with far too little excitement for a game about Area 51.

Catherine - Katherine True Ending

Is Catherine old news by now? Of course it is, but I'm in the process of re-recording endings in HD to upload to the ol' Pixelated Sausage YouTube channel, and Catherine just so happens to be one of the first "older" games I've decided to post. If you don't already know, Catherine is a game with multiple endings, so more videos are on the way and this is just one of the half-dozen or so endings. Anyway, behold the ending you've probably already seen: the Katherine True Ending.

XCOM: Enemy Unknown - Good Ending

Behold, the normal, good ending to XCOM: Enemy Unknown, where I don't completely screw up and end up sending my brother to save the world with his made psyhic skills. Watch the ending below as I go about screwing everything up so I can give you the terrible ending, a.k.a., the more likely ending if this was going down in real life.

Dungeon Story Review

Give me a game with match-3 stlyle gameplay and RPG mechanics—like leveling up and upgrading skills—and I’m pretty easy to satisfy; Puzzle Quest, The Dungeon Saga, and Jewel Fighter are just a few examples of games that pull off the mashup of genres well. Dungeon Story, however, is a new iOS game that doesn’t pull it off thanks to poor controls and a lack of polish.

Dungeon Story’s matching system is similar to games like The Dungeon Saga and Dungeon Raid, where you drag your finger across similar items to earn money, attack monsters, or heal yourself. It’s a simple mechanic, but its implementation is unresponsive and not satisfying. The game did not register where I dragged my finger often enough to become frustrating; I would have to go back and drag from where I stared because the game lost where my finger was on the screen about 20% of the time. Adding to the spotty controls, there’s a lack of animation upon completing a match; new items show up on-screen after a match sans any visual transition, taking away all satisfaction that comes from matching items.

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