PixlBit

 I was wondering if there are games that have been released recently that you've completed or are looking forward to that you feel deserve more coverage. On a side note I've been binge playing a bunch of Indie games and I think they are kind of great!  I would like more recommendations for Indie games from this community. 

A short list of really good games:

It pains me to say that I had to quit on a new game this year that I was actually enjoying. I ran into a wierd bug where the game just gets locked into a menu screen. On top of that, this game has no checkpoints. The only way to save in this game is through standard save points and you can't F5 or menu save whenever you want either.

The Evil Within Complete: Crazy Clown Time!

I’ll just get to the point. I love this game! If you’ve read any of my blog posts in the past then this shouldn’t come as a surprise. I really love survival/horror games. In particular I love Resident Evil, old skool survival/horror and I like spooky atmospheres and hostile environments and this game delivers—almost as if custom made for me, albeit diabolically, albeit imperfectly. Although this is the game I was wishing for, it falls a bit short, but otherwise still great!

It's hard for me to discuss this game without giving up some spoilers in case you were planning on waiting for a sale next year and are a fan and want to be surprised. You should avoid this blog altogether. 

Be Warned!


Keep in mind that I'm only a couple of hours in, and I'm not sure how long the game is supposed to be. I only played a bit of the first two games but felt like it was really meant for co-op and I found the game tedious as a single player game. So I'm not tired of the franchise as most people are because I haven't played enough to get tired of it.

This game takes place on the moon. A moon? Some moon? So there is little gravity in the environment and it is apart of the gameplay. There is also little oxygen so you have to run from pocket of air to pocket of air (like those air bubbles in those water levels in Sonic the Hedgehog games).  The jumps are also very floaty. I haven't played Borderlands in a while but I don't remember if there are floaty space jumps or oxygen limitations in previous games. Even when you get and oxygen tank, it depletes when you explore the landscape or when you double jump and hover for a while.

In short, I'm liking the game so far. It's early on, but unlike the previous games, this has more of a sci-fi space element like Halo or Metroid than the Western type theme of previous games. I think part of is that because you are on the moon, there is not atmosphere and the sky is dark and the environment has a weird neon glow to it. It feels more like Tron or Metroid. The soundtrack is really awesome. It has more of an electronic Techno feel and it fits the game perfectly. I think that's part of the reason that I'm enjoying it. This is a stylistically different take on the game and it kind of stands out.
 

Guys! Let me just admit something right now. I fucking hate portable gaming. I don't mean 3DS or Vita. I mean iPhone an iPad. I tried KOTOR on iPad and hated it. I never want to play a full console game on there ever again. Give me a controller any day. The only games I am able to honestly enjoy are card deck building games. I can't explain it.  It just works really well, and I don't play card games. My brain just all of a sudden started enjoying games on iPad more than PC or console for some reason. I can also do this while watching sports or TV shows on the couch without really focusing too much on the game. I think this is the formula. Gaming on iPad is great for when you are distracted with things like commercial breaks on TV or Sports games.

My fav games so far...

1. Pokemon Trading Card Game
Honestly. I've never really been entirely into Pokemon games at all. I've played a few but didn't collect'em all and I got bored of the combat very quickly. This game however is the digital version of the table top game you play with card packs you can actually buy. It's a bit complicated and intense and I am addicted to it. It's not as glorious as Hearthstone, but it has animations that do the trick. I can't stop playing. I'm currently just playing offline in Trainer mode but it's pretty good. I like this game better than the handheld game. I think it's really great. It's also available for PC via flash browser.  It's also FREE!

For some reason I have a save file for Alan Wake on my 360, but I couldn't find the game box any where and I know I've never played it. I'm assuming it was a demo at some point, and that's what my save file is for. Any how, I have the game on PC and I'm playing it for the first time. I only got throught the first part but so far the introduction has me hooked in-- in short I love what I'm seeing. 

I should tread back a bit and remind everybody that I was planning on playing shooter/horror games for fall, and I chose this game since I've never played it before as a selection. I can't say much about it except I like the story, characters, location and mystery behind the game. I'm a bit weird about the combat mechanics, but the atmosphere is enough to keep me going.

I went back and watched all of "Twin Peaks" series, David Lynch films and this game gives me those vibes, which is a good thing. It's kind of like Deadly Premonition, which I'm also playing at the moment.

I always thought FF games were completely seperate from each other except for direct sequels and spin-offs, but I never even considered that 7 & 10 were related, with the time travel and all (actually there is a bit of time travel in both). Has anyone else heard of this? This is the first time I hear about it and I'm actually quite blown away by it. Even if it isn't true, the evidence is pretty strong. I'd like to think they are connected. Interesting... interesting. 

From Reddit:
Shinra from FFX is an ancestor of the people who found Shinra Inc. in FF7. Shinra in FFX researches ways to use the power of the planet to use them as energy (you find this out in an optional cut-scene which otherwise has absolutely nothing to do with the game/world of FFX itself). This is exactly what FF7 Shinra is doing, harvesting the planets energy. I forgot the name of the energy in FFX, it's the farplane or something? Everytime you kill monsters in FFX they die and you see those green "fireflies" returning to the farplane. Tidus is made of it (and Auron). In FF7 this exact thing is called Mako and the farplane is the lifestream. Spheres in FFX and Materia in FF7 are both made from lifestream/farplane energy. The evidence is there, there's tons of it. Just play both games over again and keep the basic principles of how the energy of the planet works in mind. Start with FFX.

A highlight from the Tokyo Game Show this week. The internet is buzzing over this. I for one am just relieved that I'm finally going to get to play this game and complete the Fabula Nova Crystallis saga or whatever. Also, Type-0 has a set launch date for March '15 and a demo of this game is said to be included. The bad, or good depending on how you feel about him, Nomura is off this project and is instead beind finished by the dude that made Crisis Core and 3rd Birthday. Nomura is working on Kingdom Hearts 3 though.