Good Game Get! X-Scape
X-Scape is the definitive DSiWare title and let’s face facts, DSiWare really hasn’t been all that great and most of the time browsing for games in the store isn’t enjoyable, and with a lack of demos and the frustrating points system it gets downright ugly. Add all of that in with the simple fact that none of your games are tied to any sort of account but rather a system that doesn’t allow you to transfer games to a new system - well it becomes incredibly stupid and is always a deterrent when it comes to downloading DSiWare or WiiWare games for me.
Nintendo obviously still makes great games, but almost all of their online gaming decisions up until this point have been awful, archaic, and worst of all have been fueled by a ridiculous paranoia that hasn’t came true for Microsoft, Sony, or Apple. They’ve all managed to create robust and enjoyable store/digital distribution combinations that really don’t have issues with sexual predators trying to bait children.
Back to X-Scape though, because it rules, and I will tell you right now, despite all of the bashing I did of DSiWare and Nintendo’s model, the $10 you’ll spend downloading 1,000 points just to get X-Scape will be oh so worth the 800 points you’ll spend on the title.
The gameplay itself is fairly typical and in fact isn’t all that special besides being extremely well polished, quick, occasionally challenging, and always fun. In fact the gameplay in some respects can be quite retro especially when discussing movement of your ship versus some contemporary ways of flying and shooting in games. The ship movement is very basic, and in fact most of the time the only control you have over your aiming reticule is via moving left and right and back and forth. You really will rarely ever have the chance to fully manipulate your AIM in the 2D through 3D space that most games have. Not that it matters, and that doesn’t cripple you as the game was designed around this and thus certain handicaps are put into place such as enemy patterns and of course a nice auto-aim system.
Basically it’s as if you were playing a first person shooter with only one digital stick instead of two and if the digital stick was translated to a stylus on a touch-screen. That is really the best way to describe it.
It works though, and despite its large (at least with me) learning curve, it becomes quite intuitive and you begin to understand the control scheme and why it’s been implemented.
Partially I believe the control system exists to give the game even more of minimalist retro feel which it already accomplished with it’s incredible museum worthy, modern and incredibly abstract Tron-esque visuals. I only say Tron-esque because of the primitive 3D and limited but endearing color palettes that the games used. To be completely honest though, at times I’ve felt the Tron comparison is more than skin deep as I swear one of the earlier enemies sounded eerily like a light-cycle when zooming around.
The real magic of the game lies visually in one of the coolest graphics aesthetics I’ve seen. The game does not know what realism is and never once tries to achieve anything through it’s art that closely resembles real things. I mean - don’t let me fib you, the game has trees - it does. However, these aren’t really trees, they’re merely inspired by our trees, as you’ve never seen trees like this.
The game’s visuals continually go against the grain the entire time and occasionally can be so stark because the designers not only said “fuck traditional graphics design”, they also said “fuck color theory.”
Which is pretty punk rock of them.
The narrative the game follows is just as abstract and engaging as the art it is place upon, while a little cut and dry at times the ability to hack and investigate the history and uses of certain planets is so un-needed but so absolutely cool that it becomes just as addicting to explore and discover the tiny planets and it’s especially important to note that I usually find sci-fi shit to be contrived. X-Scape’s script happens to rock really hard and I have found myself geeking out to all of of the cool fictional planetary facts.
X-Scape is not going to sell well - but I’m telling you - solidly, hands down, X-Scape is the absolute best DSi exclusive game I have played. I didn’t get a DSi (actually was a gift from my girl) for any reason in particular, but had X-Scape been out prior to my receiving, the want would’ve been heavily influenced by this title.
X-Scape is simply awesome, and is a contender for game of the year with me. It’s that good.
I’m not fucking around, you need to play this game.
- Kyle
Good Game Get! Kometen
Kometen’s real charm lies not in in its beautiful water colored visuals, nor its superbly crafted and catchy background music. While both are charming in their own right, they’re really not the defining points when it comes to the iPhone game’s magic.
Kometen rules because it engages us in such a simple way with non-linear goals that promote the joy of flying through space, attaching our comet to the planetary pulls of Issac Newton’s famous law, and engaging with nothing but inanimate objects and isolation.
We naturally find it exhilarating to fly through space (the notion at least), collect things, and discover new places. All of this is possible in Kometen and no one is telling you what to do, how long you have to do it, and the consequences for not doing anything but fly around aimlessly so are non-existent.
Kometen confirms why we play games.
To escape.
Good Game Get! Photo Dojo
It’s free until June 10th and 200 points afterwards. It is the absolute most I have laughed with a game all year.
Photo Dojo is a simple fighting game and it’s not even that good of a fighting game.
The magic comes when you create yourself and your friends into fighters.
You take photos and record audio of yourself taunting, shooting fireballs, punching, and so on.
Done in elegant and awkward Nintendo fashion, it is one of the most absurd games I’ve ever played, but in it’s simplicity you will find such hilarity and such coolness at seeing yourself as an animated fighter complete with your own voice acting.
Photo Dojo is a prime example of the magic that we could be seeing with DSiWare, and its execution is perfectly humorous and fun.
Alex Okafor and Adam Stewart of One Man Left have only made one commercial game to date, but it’s hella fun, witty, and polished. Their debut game Tilt To Live isn’t some ridiculous poppycock art game, it’s an arcade inspired tilt shooter inspired by our desire to move our hands and shoot shit.
Shit being shot at also known as red dots.
You are the white ball and arrow and you move around via the magic of the accelerometer and your goal is to a.) survive, b.) aim and shoot by picking up various items, and c.) score chase.
If only real life was that simple.
The game gets hectic, hard, frustrating, and you still will not put it down. It’s so simple, yet genius, a casual game with a hardcore twist. I’m using might floaty and shallow words here to describe the magic of Tilt To Live, but it’s awesomeness is pretty indescribable unless you want me to be boring.
I could totally talk about how the game facilitates desire and power receptor reactions in our brains to form a temporal addiction, but again, that is boring.
Tilt To Live is not.
Good Game Get! Run Jesus Run
I don’t really know if Paolo Pedercini is a Christian or not, but his sense of humor and game design is holy. Run Jesus Run is a short Flash game that chronicles the life of our Lord and Savior in just ten seconds, which is a lot faster than reading all of that red text in the King James Bible.
Basically you move left and right with the arrow keys and as Paolo says it; “do Jesus things” with the space bar. The game literally does last ten seconds, but you’ll have to have a few playthroughs before you get it just right, and earn all of his apostles and of course a surprise* ending.
Run Jesus Run is a testament to great game design and it’s just in time for Easter.
*Just kidding. You know what happens.