Recently in Retro Category
One of my favorite games from that time was a little something from Data East called BurgerTime in which you controlled a tiny chef climbing up and down ladders and running across platforms to create giant hamburgers. All the while you were chased by things like sausages and eggs with only two shakes of a peppershaker to save you. It was like a fast food worker's worst nightmare.
Now it looks like the old classic is going to be resurrected by Monkeypaw Games as an HD title. It even has a retooled version of the original theme and the levels looks like they could be a lot of fun while retaining that 2D-styled movement. Is it also no surprise that Monkeypaw is also doing a promotion with Burger King with DLC featuring the King?
Burgertime HD should be hitting your favorite downloadable source whether its Xbox Live, WiiWare, PSN, or Microsoft Windows sometime in the summer.
Samus Aran isn't supposed to need anyone. Ever since she let her hair down decades ago in one of gaming's watershed moments ("what? Samus is a girl?"), she has been the quiet and revered standard-bearer for strong, female lead characters. She needed no rescuing and wasn't prone to inner monologues about stars, life or making people happy. She didn't wish for love or try to counter her femininity by acting macho.
Basically, she was just damn good in that awesome, alien-killing armor of hers.
At least, that's what I and others want to believe -- some of this imagery, in a way, is our fault. With other female lead characters grunting, bouncing their chests and splattering bits of sex appeal on everyone's screens, many fans who've known Samus since the original Metroid have crafted a mental ideal around her minimalist nature. With her cloudy past, abundance of weapons and gadgets and her reputation as a bonafide ass kicker, she's almost like an intergalactic Batman.
And this is where Metroid: Other M becomes both a satisfying and confusing experience. The gameplay says one thing about this legendary heroine, while the storytelling says something completely different -- and sad. Team Ninja succeeds in taking Samus to new action heights, but I can't shake the feeling that the mystique that made Samus so appealing in the past has been damaged.
For those of you who would like to take a trip back to the golden age of video games there is a snazzy playable version of Asteroids using HTML 5.
I can remember dumping quarters into Asteroids by the pocketful back in '79 hanging out at my local neighborhood Arcade. Check it out here: Arcade Classic Asteroids
Note: Works best with a desktop, laptop and browser setup with physical keyboard. "i" or mobile devices may not work at all :(
Shank is a game you play with beer, chips and a dumb grin on your face, the kind of grin you get when the hero's sole responsibility is leaving a trail of kicked asses in his wake.
Such is the simple, barbaric pleasure in Klei Entertainment's short offering to the beat-em-up genre.
It's an artistic, bloody and whimsical exploration of the art of thug killing, carrying hints of films like "Desperado" or "Kill Bill" and merging them with the essence of side-scrolling attack-a-thons like the 8-bit Ninja Gaiden. It's simple, brutal and joyfully un-epic fun.
By Brittany Vincent
Contributing Writer
Scott Pilgrim did more than meet the girl of his dreams. He met her in them. Ramona Flowers, a delivery girl for Amazon, is beautiful, mysterious, and changes her hair color weekly.
Unfortunately, there are seven major problems standing in the way of their happiness together: Seven evil exes.
These are failed suitors who want to keep Scott from dating her, all of them organized under the greatest ex of all, Gideon Graves. It's up to Scott to finally find the power of love within himself in order to conquer Ramona's jilted partners and nab a "good" ending for the both of them.
In Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game, an adaptation of the comic series and feature film, you'll take up the mantle of Scott, Ramona, or one of the members of fledgling band Sex Bob-omb on a raucous and thoroughly retro-licious journey to take out six evil ex-boyfriends and one evil ex-girlfriend.
Like the comics and movie from where this violent rainbow sugar rush of a side-scrolling beat-em-up came, this release relies on old-school gaming sensibilities and cheeky gaming references to create one of the better and more enjoyable book/movie tie-ins of all time.
Unfortunately, it's not one of the best video games you'll get your hands on. While this 8-bit brawler practically oozes style and classic gaming goodness, it doesn't quite make up for its plentiful problems.
If you grew up in the '80s, there's a pretty good chance you've heard of Optimus Prime. And if you did, you probably thought he was awesome.
Prime is the first name who usually comes to mind when there's talk of the Transformers, the famed "robots in disguise" who transformed into vehicles and captured the imaginations of kids everywhere decades ago, well before movie audiences saw Megan Fox straddling motorcycles and Shia LeBeouf running for his life.
They remain one of the lasting symbols of 1980s pop culture, and were responsible for kitchen floors, dinner tables and living rooms becoming battlefields.
Transformers: War for Cybertron resonates with those kids, who are much older now and have replaced those household surfaces with a 360 or PS3.
For them, High Moon Studios has crafted a fun trek through an intriguing piece of franchise lore, echoing good action shooters of the past while capturing enough of that '80s-child joy to mask some of its flaws. It's not so much a groundbreaking title as it is a dream update of beloved cultural icons.
I'm not someone who goes bonkers over multiplayer features, but it's Transformers. From the looks of it, this finally - finally- could be the Transformers game experience that actually nails the essence of the legend. If Activision makes good on blending the atmosphere of war with all of the goodness that comes with being an Autobot or Decepticon, the results could be scary good. I plan to crank "You've Got the Touch" while online and see how it feels. That's my test. The game comes out June 22.
