Good Game Get! Costume Quest

Here it is, another October, and once again I found myself counting the days to another Double Fine release. It’s been a year since Brutal Legend rocked our consoles with its crazy fantastic world, only to then befuddled us by becoming a strange RTS halfway through (I never did get the hang of that part). But this year we get something a little more modest. This year the good folks at DF are heading in a new direction with a series of smaller games.

The first in this series, set in the pumpkin glow of Halloween, is Costume Quest, a “candy-gathering sim” from the creative heart of DF’s Tasha Harris. Well, actually, it would have been great if it was a “candy-gathering sim” but an evil witch and her army of monsters just had to ruin the evening by stealing all the candy, so our simple sim morphs into a modest RPG following the adventures of a costume obsessed trick-or-treater on a “quest” to save their sibling from the candy-thieving monsters.

It’s not a very hard game and I found I enjoyed Costume Quest more the faster I played it. The first costume you earn, actually the costume you start the game with, provides the best special ability as its “sneaker skates” allow you to zoom around double-time encouraging fast play. The limited difficulty makes it a wonderful game for kids, especially as an introduction to RPG’s. I was a little turned off by the combat, but that’s because I’m not the biggest fan of quick time events. The timing is pretty loose, though, and never frustrating. Eventually there is enough variety amongst the monsters, costumes and special attacks to keep it interesting enough.

But it’s very much a Double Fine game, and the developer’s humor and wicked charm shine through from beginning to end offering up a big enough bag of candy to keep you munching for a few hours. If you can get past the game’s simplicity and quick-timey combat, Costume Quest is definitely a “treat” (I know, groan, but I just had to say it) because it’s the sticky-sweet joy of the holiday this game gets right. If you love Halloween, or Double Fine’s quirkiness, you’ll love this game too.

- Andy

Costume Quest on PSN, XboxLive Oct. 20

Just spotted that Game Informer reported the release date of Double Fine’s next project, Costume Quest. I’m really excited about this game… I mean, the spookiness of Halloween, the charm of Double Fine and a sprinkle of Schafer magic? Can we just wrap this sucker up and put a big red “awesome” stamp on the package?

-Andy

Good Game Get! Scott Pilgrim VS. The World: The Game

I am the first person to admit that I know nothing about “the business of games”, so when two side-scrolling brawlers were released together on the XBLA last week I was puzzled.  Why put two similar games, Shank and Scott Pilgrim vs The World, head-to-head on the same platform on the same day?  Not being a big brawler fan, neither game would have normally registered on my radar, but having just seen the Scott Pilgrim film I was curious, and downloaded both demos. I bought Scott Pilgrim before reaching the first evil ex-boyfriend.

This recommendation comes with one caveat. Unless you are a fan of the comic or the old games which it celebrates, you will want to pass on this if you plan to play alone. For the single player it feels unrewarding, and becomes both repetitive and frustrating quickly.  Although a fan will find all the hidden references worth the struggle, there are plenty of better brawler options for single play. But with that out of the way, Scott Pilgrim vs The World: The Video Game rocks! There’s no doubt this game was designed for good old-fashioned couch co-op, and at that the game excels. 

Inspired by and providing homage to many old 8- and 16-bit games (and generously borrowing from River City Ransom) Scott Pilgrim vs The World: The Video Game (also available on the PSN) just screams “come over to my house and help me bash dudes!” On top of that is the level of fan service provided to players who have read the comics. Let there be no mistake, this is a comic tie-in, not a movie tie-in. Spotting all the extra comic-centric details is a big part of the fun and the Bryan Lee O’Malley inspired art is fantastic.

One of the biggest complaints about the game is the lack of online multiplayer and I agree that would expand the player base.  But when I played through it for the first time with family bouncing up and down on the couch beside me, it really hit home that this game captures the fun I used to have playing video games with friends when I was a kid. There are a lot of very polished multiplayer and co-op experiences out there, but, for me, this new Scott Pilgrim game captures the pure fun.  Sure, it does this by cribbing great ideas from older games.  But honestly, who cares?  Would you rather be playing a boring polygonal walking tour of the movie?

BTW, Scott Pilgrim is very different from Shank, the other brawler released last week. Shank suits single play to a tee, is gorgeously drawn and defines the concept of ultra-violent gameplay.  Where Scott Pilgrim is a beat ‘em up that I believe any gamer can enjoy, Shank will only interest a specific type of gamer.  The soundtracks for both games are also available.  Shank’s is free and can be found here.  The amazing Scott Pilgrim soundtrack by Anamanaguchi can be found on many music services and streamed for free at AOL Music.

Scott Pilgrim Could be The Best Graphic Novel Gone Movie, Gone Video Game Ever. Seriously.

I am blown away by how cool the first real trailer for Scott Pilgrim is.

The PSN/LIVE Arcade game is soundtracked by Anamanguchi and is visually perfect and sonically awesome.



Now to just play it!

- Kyle

via Tiny Cartridge

Trine

Before I wrote this post, I decided to do something I hadn’t done yet with Trine - which is to go check out it’s Meta Critic score and surprisingly it did great and at the time of writing this has an 82 with generally favorable reviews.

Fellow gamer, let me tell you, do not pay twenty dollars for Trine. Save your Playstation Network money in your wallet for something else.

In case you’re wondering what Trine is, let me explain. It was meant to be this beautiful medieval platforming game where you co-operatively played with one or two other players. You all have different powers and use them to help each other manipulate the level and pass through it. It’s quite cool, and the gameplay videos I watched before purchasing the game sealed the deal with me.

However, my girlfriend and I have been playing the game and it is so buggy, so unplayable at times, and so absolutely frustrating that it’s the first game I’d consider attempting to get at least a partial refund from Sony for. That is, of course, impossible, and I’m stuck with the purchase. Why can’t you return games if they’re shit by the way? You can return almost anything else if something is wrong with it, and I’m positive that something is wrong with Trine.

Now, what if all those fancy pants Meta Critic reviewers are right and Trine is awesome and I’m really terrible at video games. Sometimes I do wonder.

We have seen boxes fall through solid floors, enemies jump on our heads and send us flying into a bottomless pit, a stupid ass fucking Knight that can’t swim, and a game that doesn’t regenerate objects that may have been destroyed or lost if you die and respawn, and even worse, a game that actually has a menu that fucking freezes up and requires multiple button presses to escape form. It is the worst game I’ve played in some time.

The platforming and combat components are terrible and EXP is given out with fucking phials of green potion instead of automatically assigned to whoever made the kill, and the only enemies in the game are skeletons, big skeletons, fat skeletons, and un-balanced swarms of bats which will ruin you especially if you’re the wizard and have no physical attack whatsoever.

Jumping in the game is awful, and I assure you that the platforming of the ancient Mario Bros. is substantially tighter than this train wreck of a game.

Such potential Nobilis, what the fuck were you thinking? Did you play your own game, and also what copy did you send to the press, and what copy did Sony release on the PSN?

- Kyle