Axiom Verge

I wanted to write something up about a sweet lookin' game that's slated to be coming out in 2013. Planned for release for the PC and XBox 360 as a downloadable title, Axiom Verge appears to be...fucking...amazing...*drool*

See for yourself!

Official trailer from the Axiom Verge website.

With a sweet retro graphical style and awesome-sounding music, this game seems to be hitting all the right notes with me and I may have peed a little when I first saw this video. The action looks tight and intense, and the atmosphere and setting appear to be absolutely unsettling and brooding in the best retro sci-fi way possible. The official site even states the following:

"Axiom Verge takes its inspiration from greats such as Blaster Master, Contra, Bionic Commando, Rygar, Cave Story, and, of course, Metroid."

Wow...so basically elements from six awesome games are all packed into this sweet little gem! Sign me up, cause I'm keeping an eye on this one, and you damn well should be, too...trust me. Once this game is safely in my hands, you can expect a thorough review of it. Of course, that won't be for a while since the release is a bit far off...but I'm already looking forward to writing it.

Experience Points: More Xenoblade, Illusion of Gaia, Lollipop Chainsaw, and various new NES games!

You'd think after all these Experience Points I'd have leveled up by now. HAW HAW HAW...lame. Allow me to get on with the show!

E3 ROUNDUP!!!!!

This year's Electronics Entertainment Expo has come and gone, and with it came an initial peak of intense hype at first...followed by what seems to be a generally agreed-upon "Meh" afterwards. I was absolutely pumped for this year's E3. For starters, Nintendo was going to give us specifics on their new console, the Wii U, as well as a lineup of games that were on the slate for it. This alone was enough to get me riled up...just the thought of seeing what would come out of their conference, but of course there were other potential points of interest as well. Conferences were on the way from Microsoft, Sony, EA, and Ubisoft...and within all of those presentations, there had to be some amazing things!

A Fixer-Upper

A couple of days ago, I swung by a local video game store to check out their selection. Since I just moved to a new town/apartment, I've been trying to at least get out and explore and see what the heck is around me...video game outlets included. I had checked this particular store out the week prior and saw that they had NES games, but their selection was limited at the time. This Friday however, I went back and had another look (since I wanted to pre-order a game and also look for my own copy of Shadows of the Damned) and to my happiness, I found two games that I was really interested in grabbing: Double Dragon and A Boy and His Blob.

Experience Points: Xenoblade Chronicles

I have been busy lately, but not only with Real Life (TM) stuff. A majority of my free time has been consumed, digested, and processed completely by a game called Xenoblade Chronicles for the Nintendo Wii. My very life and soul has been taken into its body and used for nutrients to sustain it as it slowly creeps throughout the world, assimilating all into its being and converting them into something higher...inhuman.

In Defense: La-Mulana

FINALLY! I have returned from the depths of the Earth so that I can tell you about a game ABOUT entering the depths of the Earth...La-Mulana!

I had heard about La-Mulana a long while ago...maybe a couple of years, but had never had the ability to play it. For some reason my computers just wouldn't run it correctly and the graphics and everything looked all messed up, rendering it unplayable (get it? RENDERING? GRAPHICS? Ah whatever...). This drove me fucking insane, because from what I had heard, La-Mulana was one of the longest open world sidescrollers (MetroidVania style) to come out recently. I'd heard it was tough, with some very complex puzzle solving and confusion about where to go next, and to top it all off the entire game is created in the image of an 8-bit MSX game. Pretty awesome but alas, it was not to be. I got screwed out of it time and time again and just couldn't get it working...but FINALLY as of about 3 months ago, I found a way to play it and I did not come away disappointed.

Profound Sadness: Mistakes and Consequences

Just recently, I acquired a copy of Dr. Mario for the NES. Actually, that's incorrect...I RE-acquired a copy of Dr. Mario for the NES from a local vendor. My own copy was lost to me years ago due to an unfortunate occurrence that I am still trying to rectify to this day.

Games list updated!

I have updated the list of games that I've played with 19 new ones I've checked out. You can observe this disgusting tally of sadness here!

This brings my total up to 910 now, and I've probably forgotten a couple. Either way, pretty gross!

In Defense: Sine Mora

*cracks knuckles*

Alright, this is my first time writing up a blog post in a while so...if I'm a little bit outta practice then don't be surprised!

Sine Mora is latin for "without delay", which is basically a good estimate of how quickly you should invest in this sweet, sweet game. Just recently released as a downloadable title on the XBox Live Arcade, Sine Mora is a side-scrolling pseudo-bullet hell shooter with some cool elements to it, an amazing art style, and some of the most satisfying gameplay I've experienced in the genre for a long time. Sit down, and I shall tell you a tale...of vulgar Hungarian-speaking anthropomorphic animals that travel through time *majestic arm wave*.

"Been a long time...comrade."

This is my guilty post. I haven't posted anything on this site since January as things have been pretty damn busy and there's been a lot of rushing around and I just haven't had the time to post anything lately. I tried to write up a La-Mulana review for you all a while ago, but decided to scrap it and start over because it just wasn't sounding too good. So you'll have to wait for that!

However, some news to report!

1) Over the course of the last month or so, this blog reached 10,000 pageviews! 12 grand now, to be exact. Sorta cool I guess...I don't reckon that's really too much in the grand scheme of things but it seems like a benchmark to me so I'm posting about it!

2) Just the other day, a local game vendor had a sweet sale on classic video games and I managed to pick up some gold. Specifically:

Dr. Mario (NES) - I had this originally...and then one of my friends lost it when we were kids, so it's good to have it back!
Shadowgate (NES) - A very cool first-person adventure/puzzle game that I always loved to rent when I was younger.
The Illusion of Gaia (SNES) - Well-made Zelda-ish game with a cool little storyline. Sort of an indirect sequel to Soul Blazer, and the precursor to Terranigma.
Alien 3 (SNES) - Technically I picked this up for one of my friends...but this is a sweet game. One of those prime examples of how games based on a movie or license actually used to be good.
Blackthorne (SNES) - A sidescroller by Blizzard (YEP, THOSE GUYS!) and Interplay which is sort of like if the Prince of Persia ran around with a shotgun and explosives and blew orcs away in a Warhammer-style universe.
Bnajo-Kazooie (N64) - FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUCK YEAH!

So I have some really good classic material to keep myself busy for a while, which is nice. I've already started playing Blackthorne and Shadowgate through, and man they're awesome games.

3) Sine Mora came out...last week? Or 2 weeks ago maybe? I have lost track of time, which is ironic since this is a game with a time manipulation mechanic. I will absolutely be writing up a review of this game...it's amazing!

4) I've also downloaded a freeware game called Doom Roguelike. It's simple as all hell but so addictive...I can't seem to stop playing it whenever I get a chance, getting a game in here or there and clearing a level or two. Check it out if you're into Roguelike games and haven't played DoomRL yet.

That's all for now, but rest assured I AM alive! As much as it seems like it, I have not given up on this blog just yet, and I look forward to putting out some content soon. Sine Mora will come next, and then I'll finally write up a review of La-Mulana. At this rate, the damn remake of it for WiiWare will be out before I write about the original one!

Take it easy, and keep gaming! Check back soon for updates!