Mario Kart 8 – Livin’ That 200cc Life

Mario Kart 8‘s been out for a year now and it’s by far my most played Wii U game. Over 500 hours of swearing, exploding, green shell betrayal, banana intimacy, and blue shell disappointment. It’s been fantastic. I’m here to talk about the new 200cc mode, which has completely changed the online scene and revitalised the racing, almost more than the amazing new tracks. It’s a challenge when you’re first exposed to the speed, but that’s definitely not a bad thing in a competitive racing game. I’m gonna break down in 5 points, Mario Kart TV infomercial style, why it’s worth making the lifestyle change to 200cc.

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Metroid Fusion – Review Authorised

I’ve just finished a playthrough of Metroid Fusion on Wii U and there’s a lot I want to say about it. I remember it fondly as my first Metroid game in 2002. The dark unstable black hole that is the classic GBA screen, a perfect window to the man-made prison that is Metroid Fusion’s research station. Gazing into that screen with a burning lamp on my ear made me feel like I was out in space, in hostile territory. Fast forward to 2015 and I still love this game, it’s aged very well graphically and is fantastic to play on Wii U. Unfortunately, a lot of the design choices don’t fly with me anymore after experiencing the good stuff. Super Metroid, Metroid Prime 1, 2 and Zero Mission are what I would consider perfect games, and happen to highlight a lot of Fusion’s flaws just by existing and being their own beautiful selves. The biggest flaw being a slap in the face right at the start of the game.

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Bioshock – Late to the Rapture

I’ve had this game for a couple of years and never thought about playing it. The box is bland, it’s an FPS, and muddy brown shooters do not excite me; almost all Xbox 360 shooters I’ve played have been terrible. Nothing personal against the game, but that’s how my shallow mind worked for the last few years. It was one of those “one day” games that really means “never” because I only play what excites me. What finally piqued my interest was a friend talking about this game as if it was more than a shooter. Could it be, a fun game on the shelf right in front of me? Lo and Behold, it’s fucking amazing. Bioshock is an extremely well crafted game with a heavy, purposeful atmosphere that actually makes the Unreal Engine seem legitimately titled. I beat the game a few days ago and I’m still thinking about it, it’s one of those games that sticks with you. While my head is still putting itself back together in the depths of Rapture, allow me to drag you down with me and capture the essence of Bioshock like a true artist.

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Speedrunning: An Amateur Perspective

Awesome Games Done Quick 2014 was my first exposure to the speedrunning community. I saw the hashtag trending on Twitter and wondered what all the fuss was about. Twitch? Streaming? Glitches? Kill The Animals? It was all a bit disturbing and alien. One night I decided to blindly tune in to the livestream, I can’t remember why but a game I was familiar with must have been trending. It’s quite a plunge sometimes to look into something you don’t understand, but I opened the stream and almost instantly I got it. A group of gamers in a room together doing what they do best, playing! I could hear that warm love for gaming in the commentary, I could see it in the intense gameplay, and I could feel it as the room got hyped for a good run. These are people who are only there because they play so much, and truly respect videogames to the point of dedicating their lives to them.

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Gamers, stop being shit and buy a Wii U

It’s been a while since I’ve done a rant, which means a lot of rage has built up. I’m going to deliver it to you right now in the form of a reality check on the state of the gaming industry. It’s gotten to such a bad state in the past few years I’ve just avoided talking or thinking about it and happily played my games. Iwata was right in 2000-2004 about graphics not being important. In 2015 he’s still right. He’s been right every time he’s opened his mouth and prophetised games declining in value (aka the end of the world) which IS NOW UPON US.

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Metroid: Zero Mission – The Last 2D Metroid Is In Captivity

I’ve been on a massive Metroid binge lately, playing through the Trilogy again on Wii U with glorious Wiimote controls, then revisiting Super Metroid which I have already written a piece on. Metroid: Zero Mission is a game I’ve had my eye on for a while because it’s the only Metroid I hadn’t played. It came out on the Japanese Virtual Console over a year ago so I thought surely, it can’t be far way. How hard is it to translate a Metroid game? Months passed, and sarcastic tweets were muttered into oblivious PR accounts, as Nintendo missed so many chances to release this game. The game had passed the Australian ratings system gauntlet which is usually the hardest step, but there was just no sign of Nintendo caring about it. Eventually I gave up, and this was the game that made me stop looking at eShop updates. I decided life was too short to live by a release schedule and in retrospect I have to thank Zero Mission for liberating me.

Anyway, the game finally came out and was it worth the wait? Fuck no, but it’s an absolutely fantastic game.

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Retro Review: Star Fox Adventures 2: Krystal In Action (GCN)

I had blocked this game from my mind completely, but ZapR2k has written a wonderful review for Star Fox Adventures 2: Krystal In Action and all the memories have come flooding back. We’re honoured to present this guest review for such an overlooked game, please enjoy.

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The original SFA was perfect for the GameCube crowd. It had everything Nintendo gamers had always cared for in Nintendo games: great graphics, endless collecting, poor-man’s-Zelda combat controls, annoying talking animals, tacked-on Star Fox branding, and more. It made perfect sense to pop a sequel out in 2004 while the world was moving on to the twin snakes of sales juggernauts that were Metroid Prime 2 and Pikmin 2. Never doubt, my friends, that Nintendo knows what it’s doing.

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You need to see this World of Subways 4 trailer

Holy shit do you think you could ever prepare yourself for World of Subways Vol. 4? The thrilling game where you accelerate and decelerate trains as they travel under the ground!

If you haven’t wet your pants in excitement yet then check out this trailer for World of Subways Volume 4 which makes it clear that even train conductors are taking part in an exciting zombie murder mysteries against time. Don’t worry if you haven’t played volumes 1-3, I’m sure the story will make sense.

Achievement Unlocked – Tropical Freedom

Recently it has been discovered that Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze has an achievement system buried inside the game, something that was never implemented in the final release. The Cutting Room Floor dived into the game’s coding and retrieved this list of achievements from a file relating to the Miiverse. As someone who has played this game to death I found this very interesting, and I’ve done pretty much all of those on my own. However, I’m writing this article to emphasise how glad I am they were removed. I’ve spent 120 hours on this masterpiece so far and I never expected that coming in, but the game continually impresses and engages me with new layers of depth. Would I have embraced the game’s design so much if there was an anti-fun tracker hovering over the screen? Probably not.

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PieHaus Digest – Pro Daisy 2002

Forget all the modern gaming crap for a moment and let me offer a slice of my life leading up to the Casual Gamer I am today.

Let’s go back, umm 13 years, when times were simpler, and gaming was getting interesting and taking a turn for the worst at the same time (bloating budgets, wannabe movies, dumb-downed gameplay, with a corrupt and/or unskilled gaming press shoving it all down your throat; you saw what happened). OK, off-topic, I mean… just trying to say this is an informal snapshot of life surrounding that hobby; a new feature about old stuff. Continue reading “PieHaus Digest – Pro Daisy 2002” →

New 3DS – New Review

After my descriptive hands on at the EB Expo, you want more? Well alright. I got a New 3DS for myself at the end of last year, so I’m in a slightly better position to talk about it now. Living in Australia, I had the privilege of picking a regular sized New 3DS model on a regular Monday in 2014, in a regular Target store. XL was an option, but it’s just a personal choice for me to not have a gigantic screen on a handheld. This is my second 3DS since my launch model in 2011 so the upgrade was a big deal. Since I’ve had it for about a month now I feel I can give a fair assessment on how it handles and how my gaming experience has changed. Let’s start with the very first moments, as I invite you into my New 3DS journey.

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