Scarygirl review
Posts Tagged ‘XBLA’
Interview with Nathan Jurevicius on creating Scarygirl
I had a wonderful chat with Nathan Jurevicius, creator of the Scarygirl brand (see the new PSN/XBLA download title). You can read the interview here.
PSN Review: Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light
Lara Croft returns, but this time she’s not raiding any tombs. Paired with a spear-chucking Mayan warrior named Totec, Lara must shoot her way to stopping Xolotl, an embittered god who’s broken free from the legendary mirror of smoke.
Finally, a next generation Croftian adventure that reminds me of why I adored the series to begin with—only Guardian of Light doesn’t bear the Tomb Raider namesake. Available on the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade, this downloadable title keeps the usual mechanics—shoot and jump and solve puzzles—and introduces a few new ones. Think of it as co-operative Tomb Raider on a smaller scale.
Of the fourteen levels, each one masters its creative potential. Gamers will face exciting and relatively glitch-free challenges in every arena and spider pit. Controls are tightly implemented, weapons practically fall into your lap, and enemies never bore, stomping onto the screen in hordes that can easily overpower negligent players. But for the vigilant archeologist, Guardian of Light rarely disappoints. Puzzles range from straightforward to brain-teasing, but unlike most Tomb Raider obstacles, these ones won’t induce a headache upon approach. The game plays fair.
Visually, the game looks amazing, rich in environmental detail and with careful design for bullet patterns and enemy rampages. Content-wise, the game delivers enough for two or three replays: point bonuses award extra weapons and the artifacts and relics that supplement them. Players can collect special red skulls and shiny gems that boost individual scores, but besides the constant friendly competition for points, the interaction between Lara and Totec constitutes most of the enjoyment. Overcoming traps or pitfalls by grappling Totec to safety, throwing spears for Lara to leap across, or tight-roping across the British bombshell’s rope makes excellent use of the moves at the characters’ disposal. Each encounter feels fresh and defined, and the game is packed with much-welcomed surprises.
The single-player campaign eliminates the obligation for Totec to assist, giving Lara everything she needs to complete an area by herself. Troublesome AI, begone. Of course, your partner’s removal also diminishes some otherwise complicated situations, so it’s up to players to choose which game mode will satisfy them more.
The music sticks to the standard Tomb Raider brand, and the story is cheesy fun, with Xolotl retreating at nearly every turn after a melodramatic speech about humans and the end of the world, but the gameplay definitely takes the gold in Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light. Crystal Dynamics, after years of frustration, pulls off a new and improved Tomb Raider property. If ditching the middleman name was the requisite, than bring on the new adventures of Lara Croft. 9/10
DeathSpankin’ in July
What do you get when you toss in the style of Hothead Games (Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness), add Ron Gilbert’s creative thinking (The Secret of Monkey Island), and top it off with a team of ex-Radical Entertainment developers (The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction)?
Why, the humorous, gigantic, rapid questing of the action-RPG title DeathSpank, of course—coming July 13 to PSN ($15) and July 14 (my birthday!) to XBLA (1200 MS points).
To quote designer Chris Mitchell, some of the game’s quests include “gather quests, kill stuff quests, defend things quests, destroy things quests, protect people quests, recover body parts quests, build condominium quests, design golf courses quests, assemble magical body parts quests, cooking for the wretched quests, scientific discovery quests, wholesale destruction of villages quests, unicorn poop quests, leprechaun mobster quests …”
Sounds like my kind of quest.
