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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Sleeping Dogs - The Ending

I really enjoyed Sleeping Dogs overall; though, it got a tad crazy in the end. But anyway, here's the last few scenes for your viewing pleasure. I can't stop thinking about Steve Buscemi.

Xbox LIVE Rewards Adds Rewards for Earning Achievements

Well, kind of; you get rewards if you've hit cetain gamerscore goals, but I'll get to all the juicy details a little later. Xbox LIVE Rewards has been a decent service that no one, not even Microsoft, really talks about. I’ve earned 3130 MS points over the course of the service’s existence and that’s not too shabby in my book. Now, Xbox LIVE Rewards is offering special rewards for hitting certain achievement goals, with three different tiers: The “Contender,” for those with 3,000-9,999 Gamerscore; the “Champion,” for those with 10,000-24,999 Gamerscore; and the “Legend,” for those with 25,000+ Gamerscore.

It’s nice to see a little kickback for playing a shitload of games, earning countless achievements, building up a still rather meaningless score—I love them, but I would never deny their utter worthlessness—but the rewards don’t seem particularly well thought out. Xbox LIVE Gold members (you must be a Gold member) in all tiers get a “Special Gift” for their birthday, but “Champions” and “Legends” get a small rebate for all Xbox LIVE Marketplace purchases. Better than nothing right? Yes, but there are a few problems.

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Mark of the Ninja - Both Endings + Credits

I loved Mark of the Ninja (check out my review). If you're a smart cookie, you've played Mark of the Ninja already and enjoyed the hell out of it. You may have beaten the game and, when it came time to make a decision, you went left or right and didn't feel like playing the last level again just to see ending #2. No need to worry, I'm here doing the work nobody asked for; that's right, below is a video containing both Mark of the Ninja endings and the credits too, because everyone who had a part in making the game deserves their five minutes in the spotlight.

Double Dragon: Neon - End/Credits/Song

I don't have much to say because the video and song speak for themselves, but boy was the ending a perfect cherry on the top of Double Dragon: Neon's weirdness of sundae. Don't let your potential lack of interest in the game make you pass on watching this video, it's an absolute must-watch.

Mark of the Ninja Review

I'm a fan of stealth games, but no stealth game has ever completely pulled off the act of sneaking in the shadows without problems—like poor AI, excessive trial-and-error, or general wonky mechanics. Mark of the Ninja is one of the closest any game has ever come to successfully pulling off stealth gameplay. Much of the reason belongs to the game's 2D art, which makes knowing whether you're hidden or not simple and straightforward. But Mark of the Ninja is not just a great stealth game, it is a great game, period.

Mark of the Ninja is the newest game from Klei Entertainment—the studio behind Shank and Eets—and, like all of their games, Mark of the Ninja features beautiful 2D art and great cutscenes quite similar in style to Shank. As impressive as the art is visually, it's also important in terms of gameplay. The art is crisp and clean, and it's always easy to see where an enemy is, where a hiding place is—like a vent, a doorway, or a light post—or where light ends and shadow begins. There's no guessing when it comes to whether you'll be seen and the 2D art also allows for on-screen cues—like rings depicting where a sound will be heard—that are much more easily visualized than if the game was in 3D. The game is pretty dark visually and you will probably have to adjust the gamma settings, but a few seconds worth of adjusting left me with perfect visual clarity.

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Rock Band Blitz Review

Rock Band Blitz is hard to review. It is both a game and a collection of DLC for Rock Band 3. As a piece of DLC, Rock Band Blitz is a steal for the price with twenty-five songs from many different genres. If you're invested in Rock Band 3 and already own a good chunk of DLC, there's no reason to avoid Blitz; however, as a game, Blitz isn't as easy to recommend.

Rock Band Blitz harkens back to Frequency and Amplitude—the games Harmonix made before breaking out with Guitar Hero—in many ways, but Blitz is more than just a trip down memory lane. Playing Blitz looks a lot like playing Rock Band; except, in Blitz you use your regular controller and play every track of a song, not just guitar, drums, etc. You hit notes using one of a handful of controller schemes—like hitting notes with the triggers and moving between tracks with the analog sticks or vice versa—and each track contains only two notes: a left note and a right note. It may sound overly simplistic, but Blitz can get hectic real fast despite its simplistic look.

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PAX Prime 2012: Day 1

It's the morning of PAX Prime: day two (who knew?...I did, I knew), so I thought I'd write up a little something about the happenings of day one, you know, just for fun.

First and foremost, PAX can be a little hard to navigate; yes, there are maps here and there, but there aren't enough visible signs. Surprising no one, there are a lot of people -- some bad cosplay, some decent cosplay -- and all the people turned my 3DS into the devil. I was looking forward to the abundance of StreetPasses, but I never thought about the actual time needed to manage them -- it is an absolute nightmare and takes forever. And speaking of the people, it wasn't as smelly as some led me to believe -- though, I've only made it through day one -- and I don't feel like I'm coming down with anything other than sore feet.

Specifics: I checked out a few panels; met some cool people; and got recognized a few times (weird). I spent most of the time checking out the main floor and tabletop area, getting familiar with the layout and building a mental map. The tabletop area was a bit overwhelming with how much was going on; how many different games were being played; and how I have no idea as to what most of the board games are. Anyway, I'll be checking out the indie megabooth a bit more today (day two); sitting in on a few more panels; and, finally, I'll be going through 3DS hell once again.

Oh yeah, I saw my podcasting buddy, Robert "Rose-colored Glasses" Wood, and watched him buy suckers that were far too expensive for my wallet; you know, one could call him the sucker.

I'm hilarious.

Me, PAX, and What You Need to Know

I’ll be heading out to the airport in a few, but I wanted to make sure I post about what may be a quiet time on the site while I’m up in Seattle’s business for PAX and general vacationing. I don’t know if I’ll post much while away because I’m only taking my iPad, but if the iPad proves efficient enough for posting there may be more posts than usual (no promises). Also, there won’t be a normal Free Meat Friday since I’ll be at PAX; however, if you’ll be at PAX too and spot me…well, you just might get something extra special. That’s it and that’s all folks.

Dust: An Elysian Tail - Ending + Credits

I uploaded the end scene(s) (and credits) of Dust: An Elysian Tail earlier this week but didn't want to actively promote it before the game released and people had a chance to play it and beat it themselves; however, I've been enjoying the overall positive vibes found in the comments so I thought I'd post about it just so you (yes, you) might feel inclined to join the conversation if you've finished it like the rest of us. Here's to hoping the game sells well enough to warrant a sequel.