Roderick

CurioGOTY2012.

Venezuela was horrendous, K&L1 really took a turn for the worse there. Surprisingly, the mechanics aren't the only thing that they tightened up. It's like IO scaled back everything about the game. Gone is the broad scope of locations and situations: K&L1 had bank heist, prison breaks, diner dashes, executive office rappeling, and then of course the ill-conceived South America bits. And the crazy ambitious but ultimately disappointing dance club level! K&L2 is just running around back alleys and buildings in Shanghai. So too for the gameplay: diversity has been cut in favor of pure shootouts. You have to admire how they made it leaner, there's definitely an artistic vision in play. You know, I would so love a K&L game that plays like Heavy Rain meets Hitman meets Mass Effect. Explore those dudes. Right now there's such a disconnect between the fiction of the game and what happens on screen. The fiction: K&L are dead-beat, washed-up gangsters. Losers who can't get a break and make mistakes all the time. What actually happens: They murder 700+ people (the game keeps track) in China and get away with it. Miffy: K&L1 definitely burns you out on the whole thing by the end. Maybe you should try part 2 again and see how it fits you. It's short enough, just three sessions should see you through, and as added incentive you get to see both naked.

I finished Dog Days. I can't believe how vexingly just, you know, it's not even crappy, but it totally is. GAH! I would absolutely spray-kill a whole street of Chinese cops to get a Kane & Lynch adventure where "spray-kill" wasn't the only damn verb I have to interact with the world. IO built a magnificently, ugly, filthy location for all the shooting to take place in and I was more than once impressed, not so much with the visual splendor, but with the scale of areas. Huge airport hangars that you just run through to get to some other place. I love that. It makes the world seem realistic and big. That's what an airport hangar should feel like! A non-humanly big space! So, that's two for two. Another K&L game that isn't that great, but damn if those dudes aren't fantastic. Gimme an adventure! I want to roleplay like 'em, talk to people, just exist in this world without it immediately devolving into turret sequences and massive shootouts. There's a point, really quickly, where you just get bored with another batch of enemies popping out of a monster closet. The funny thing is, that exasperation is shared by the characters. Near the end, every time a new army stands in your way, Lynch will sigh increasingly louder. "Oh shit, not again... It never ends... Kane! I'm getting so tired of this fucking shit!" You and me both, buddy. So, 9/10, is what I'm saying.

That reminds me, I bought Tingle's Rosy Rupee Land fifty years ago and still need to play it thoroughly. Yasawas: yeah, totally get VLR. The savegame bug is easily avoided once you know of its existence (which is no excuse for it being there ofc, but knowing is half the battle).

The first 20th Century Fox comedy to put the flute version up at the beginning is getting an "A" plus a star on Filmadeus.

I assume he wants to play it on a 3DS instead of a DS? In the latter case there's no problem whatsoever: the DS is region free and there has just been a rerelease of 999 (which you all should play in any case) for a mere 20 US dollars. Import that fucker and gogogo. If he has a 3DS I'm not entirely sure about the region lock... I have a few imported DS games myself that I believe still work fine on the 3DS, so the odds are he'll be good. In both cases, no need for piracy!

Oh! I'm terribly sorry. How's this? GAH! You ruined christmas, not just today, but for the next two years also, with your ill-thought-out, slambang comment!

In the spirit of Christmas I started playing Kane & Lynch 2 today and it's fantastic. Fantastic the way it is exactly as flawed as the first game. Once again there's moderately OK to crappy shooting mechanics, stressful pacing and illegible chaos. Shooting down tons of nondescript dudes and getting shot yourself. It's a comedy, as in, it's pretty funny how I keep playing these bad games because I love the characters so much. Kane & Lynch are still so good to me, though I wouldn't know why. I guess I just like how everything they touch turns to shit. The digital artifacting is pretty neat, though the game is also downright ugly. Blurry, in a way that I don't know was intentional. And then there's suddenly an animation of Lynch gulping down noodles with chopsticks that just nails it. This game is all over the place and I'm already super happy I paid ten euros for it a year and a half ago.

Before I forget, merry merries to you all, my fellow Thumbs!

Concerning the Wah Wah, I thought it was pretty nice when it premiered in New Supes Mario Broes, but haven't encountered it since. So, can't say if it grates. Will say that maybe once I played with the Wii U it'll convince me too! But I haven't yet, so! I'll just keep playing Pushmo and Crashmo on my 3DS! Crashmo has some really crazy hard puzzles, even though the game insists that the difficulty is only three stars. Three plus five, more like.

A little late perhaps, but thanks to Sean for a terrific and touching story about playing Monkey Island. I was in a christmas mood and making a puzzle while listening to the podcast, so the tale was a perfect companion. With puzzle I mean an actual, 1000 piece puzzle of the St. Peter in Rome, with Photoshopped flowers in the foreground and a murderously even blue sky on top.

Does anyone else harbor good feelings towards this relatively old title? Magic & Mayhem (Duel: The Mage Wars in the US) was a fun strategy/rpg-ish game by Julian Gollop with a distinctly Celtic/Greek vibe to it. You play as a wiza(aaaa)rd who summons creatures to fight for him. Before each area you can decide which spells and creatures you want to summon, making for a lot of options. Mana is generated by possessing certain points on the map. It has cool claymation visuals, in contrast to its sequel which went full 3D and as such is much uglier today. M&M is so charming! I feel like playing it again right away. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_%26_Mayhem

Oh yeah, this was a tough game. I think half of the toughness was just controlling the systems, just as much as general difficulty. But it was also so much fun.

That's what it would've sounded like, had that explanation been a forum post. Instead, I heard muffled breathing coming to a climax for a good two minutes before the line was disconnected. Yeah, I kept listening throughout

Damnit, now he's going to telephone me to explain in kind terms why I shouldn't have written that :'(

I played Ghost Trick on the DS (MAN that is a great game, and super memorable), and I don't recall any tedious tutorial? There's the game's setup on the junkyard, but that was already part of the story, so it didn't feel particularly bothersome. But manoman, I love it when games make me go 'how the hell did they design all this?!', and Toblix is so right on the money that the character animations are supersweet.

Someone liked John Carter? But how is that--

Hello? This is Dog Congrats Subbes!

Wow, that would be a massive move to take: actually trying to get him fired or in trouble professionally. That may be shooting off the mark a little, since the main concern is, if I'm not mistaken, protecting a friend from a possible jerk. Of course, if the best and surest way to do that is exposing him to his bosses, then that's a valid, if overly bombastic, move.

Noby Noby Boy and the everlasting held tone when you stretch yourself out.

I can't believe there's so much attention being given to the Maya's and their bloody calendar, either way. It's such a complete non-topic, of obviously no consequence at all. Just like any doomsday theory based on no actual catastrophic event but 'spooky literary/historical coincidence'. My primary emotion after this will be: exasperation as soon as I hear the next date a bunch of cuckoos predict the world will end, having learned exactly nothing from the last bazillion prophecies.

I can't believe Brian Butterfield actually exists. It's... increbidle.

CALL NOW

Regarding the Bvlgari Carillon Tourbillon Doctor 33,000, I don't think I would want gongs in my watch. The sound already irked me in the trailer, regardless of the 6 months of hand crafting it took to make. But look, there's an easier way to know the time than watches.

We're all laughing and having a good time here, but somewhere out there, there's a person masturbating furiously over the spinning gears and UNF the gyroscopic ball bearings orbiting our sun.