Bionic Devil Might Creed Galaxies

I for one am a strong believer in originality and innovation, but after a long hard sit with Devil May Cry 4 I must say, it got screwed. Not in the fact that it does anything wrong but, there are a few things that appear the game that also appearing in games that came out this holiday season. Devil May Cry has been in development for several years and non of these things are its fault, it just makes wonder if the developers were like, "Crap, this game stole our idea".

Exhibit A in the case of DMC vs. industry. Take the opening cinema where Dante storms a church service. All of the monks in attendance are wearing the exactly same monk outfit from Assassin’s Creed. Now this maybe historically accurate and I know its not a concept theft per say, but regardless, Capcom must of been like, "crap...." as Ubisoft took a little bit of wind out of its sail.

Exhibit B is the grapple system that Nero uses to move around in platforming sequences. Robbed again. Nero points at floating orbs and grapples from one to another to elevate himself, exactly like the same mechanic used in Super Mario Galaxy. This grapple had its wind knocked out of its sail with the preview video of Bionic Commando as well... Its pretty much the same thing.

In the end NONE of these things affect DMC4 and they shouldn't but time and time again I could take myself back a few months when these games were on top of the world and here a very quite Capcom whispering "crap", under their breath.

Top 5 Games of 2007: Platinum Gurney Edition

A top five you're not ashamed to show your mother.

#5 Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords



Puzzle Quest is the most surprisingly addicted game I have ever come across. Purchasing it via Xbox Live Aracade basically for scraps (1200 MS points) to pass the time when my Call of Duty 4 was almost a week late, and couldn't believe or understand the time that invested into it. Puzzle Quest is now available for just about every portable and home console, but I would go with the Xbox version since comes out to about half the normal $30 price tag. While the puzzle aspect of the game can best be described as bejeweled its turns out to be much more with quests, levels, spells, skills, mounts, weapons, and every other RPG cliche. Puzzle Quest is the game that you turn on waiting for a friend to come on Xbox Live to play some Halo, but end up playing for six hours racking up those four of kind black skulls only to realize its now 3 AM.

#4 God of War II



The most brutal game that I have ever crossed paths with. Kratos' second adventure is a tale of revenge against Zeus who stripped him of his powers as the god of war. Kratos most battle against hordes of enemies in order to find his way to the sisters that can take him back to the time when Zeus betrayed him. God of War II more than any other action title stands out because of the scale of everything that you're doing. Whether its slaying a colossus, riding a phoenix, wiping horses the size of skyscrapers, or simply fighting the king of Olympus the action almost never stops. There are a few puzzles in the game, but nothing that will require you to bang your head against the wall. God of War II was sadly forgotten by a lot of people because of was released on the PS2 of all things very early on in the year.

#3 Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare



Beating out the most brutal game of the year has to be what is the most intense game of the year. From beginning to end every corner, every alley, ever room is filled with danger. Call of Duty 4 is a game with absolutely perfect pacing. Playing as two soldiers on different missions in different areas of the eastern hemisphere of course is an easy way to keep things fresh. Call of Duty 4 is a game that must be experienced first hand in order to appreciate. With fantastic level design, an explosive climax, and an ending that leaves you satisfied in every way, Call of Duty 4 is hands down the best first person shooter single player of 2007. I would go into the multiplayer as well but I would be writing this all day.

#2 The Orange Box



Yeah I know we've talked about Orange Box as different games during all of our awards, but I'm picking Orange Box because of my love for both Portal and Half Life 2: Episode 2. We've talked about Portal and its humor and wonderful gameplay to death, so I'll use my number two space to talk about Episode 2. As anyone who has been around gaming in the past ten years knows Half Life is the story of Gordon Freeman, and I promise not to fill in all the back story here. Episode 2 does just enough to rejuvenate the Half Life universe. New enemies keep you on your toes, along with more than enough striders to mess your day up. The storyline holds up and leaves us with still plenty of questions, and an ending that is almost second to none. Its not a cliffhanger ending that makes you wonder if your console just died, or if there is another level if you beat it on hard, its an ending that makes you want to play the next one. With that said Episode 3 can't come soon enough.

#1 Super Mario Galaxy



I had a smile on my face the entire time I played Super Mario Galaxy, and saying anything more would only take away from that statement.


I hope you enjoyed our top five lists from 2007, somehow we ended up with fifteen different games without even trying. If you'd like to see how some other games that I played this year stacked up, check out my personal blog.

My Tonsils Are In Texas

It has been quite some time since my last post so I'll just have to make this epic multi game review post. I've been out of commission for a while after catching some flu like symptoms but was left with losing the ability to speak thanks to my tonsils swelling to the size of golf balls. All was not lost, as I was left with nothing to do but play video games. While I am aware that the internet has created a generation like myself that hates endless posts filled with text that just seems to run together, I promise to use pictures as an aid to break up what may seem as a rant to end all rants.



As has been talked about many times in previous episodes, everyone wants a Wii, and now we have Wii. My Christmas day was made with a Wii and reintroducing myself to my old friend Mario. Meanwhile I got my mother a DS and she has taken quite well to it, not quite the Nicole Kidman stage of taking it everywhere, but already it has been received better than expected. Back to Galaxy, where I have been so pleased and cannot help but smile when do those backflips, long jumps, and triple jumps I fell in love with so long ago. The gameplay is as solid as ever, with new moves such as the spin attack with a waggle of the Wii remote, and new suits like bee spring and ice.



It seems that most people that have yet to play Galaxy believe that all you do is jump from sphere to sphere, when that couldn't be farther from the truth. The pacing and variety of the worlds in Galaxy are bigger and better than any previous Mario game. One second you're slinging Mario through a space fortress, flying from flower to flower as a bee, walking on caterpillars as they extend from one apple to another, jumping as a spring on a giant toy robot, to walking on ceilings and walls in the gravity puzzles. In short the spherical worlds that are shown off in the beginning are just to give you a taste of the new gameplay elements you'll need to use in order to collect all the stars in the game.



With the addition to the Wii to my entertainment center I made sure to snag a couple games off of Gamefly. I figured I'd give Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Tresure a try. Zack & Wiki is a point and click puzzle game that has you play as Zack who wants to become the greatest pirate ever known as he is joined by his golden monkey Wiki who he found in his earlier travels. You start each level with the goal of getting to the treasure chest. Its up to you to find the items to interact with like turning a enemy into an totem with Wiki's powers and putting the totem into a crack so you can cross it. Zack & Wiki is more challenging than its cute exterior leads you to believe. You can quite easily get yourself stuck in a spot where an enemy or the level will get to you and cause you to start over. One problem with Zack & Wiki is that you can make it so that you can't possibly solve the puzzle, but the game does nothing to stop you from keep trying. I wouldn't call it broken, just a design choice I don't agree with. Zack & Wiki is a great game to check out if you're looking for something new, its challenging but not to the point where you want to pull your hair out or throw the Wii remote through the TV by any means.



I have yet to play enough of Twilight Princess to really give it a review, especially since Zelda is my most beloved franchise. Yes I'm aware that it came out over a year ago, but I never got around to it, so with the Wii now in my possession I figured now is the perfect time. The beginning to Twilight Princess left me thinking I might end up disappointed with its very slow start, and something about this Link at first just seemed a little off. Now that I have crossed Hyrule Field and about to enter the second temple I am feeling much better about the experience and expect great things by the end.

Up next is Metroid Prime 3, and in less than two weeks Burnout Paradise. After this month of no releases its been nice to catch up on these Wii titles and I can't wait for all the great titles of 2008.