Indie developers 2D Boy revealed figures last week that indicate that the piracy rate for their puzzle game World of Goo may be as high as 90%. This statistic is based on the number of sales versus the number of IP addresses that submitted high scores. The game was released without DRM, software specifically designed to hinder pirates. However, developer Ron Carmel notes that Reflexive Entertainment’s Ricochet featured in-house DRM and was pirated at a similar rate (92%).
November 2008
Today Guitar Hero: World Tour gets a DLC update. A three-pack from Jimi Hendrix is available featuring tracks “If 6 was 9,” “Little Wing,” and a live version of “Fire.” The Jimi Hendrix three-pack is available for the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of GH:WT only.
In addition, new R.E.M. songs will also be available for the PS3 and Wii only. The new tracks from their latest album, Accelerate, include “Horse to Water,” Man-Sized Wreath,” and “Supernatural Superserious.” The three-pack can be downloaded together or as singles on the PS3 and as singles only on the Wii.
Rock Band DLC for 11/18/2008
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Next week’s DLC lineup is monstrous to say the least. Harmonix and MTV Games have announced they will be bringing ten new tracks from four artists to the Rock Band Music Store. The lineup includes three-packs from artists Dead Kennedys, Mission of Burma, and Lacuna Coil. Additionally, a hit single from Crooked X will also be available.
The Dead Kennedys’ three-pack includes tracks “California Uber Alles,” “Holiday in Cambodia,” and “Police Truck.” The Mission of Burma three-pack will include “Mica,” “That’s How I Escaped My Certain Fate,” and “That’s When I Reach for My Revolover.” Last but certainly not least is Lacuna Coil’s three-pack which will feature “Closer,” “Swamped,” and “Forever.” Crooked X is the lone wolf in this release with their single “Gone” to join “Nightmare” and “Rock-n-Roll Dream” in the Rock Band Music Store. READ MORE
The Legend of Kage is an ’80s ninja hack-and-slash platformer that few remember. The Legend of Kage 2, inspired by the modern retro movement, will likely meet the same fate.
This edition is similar, but not entirely identical: you are still a high-flying ninja, running and jumping non-stop while hacking through hordes of lesser ninjas with ease. But there are a couple modern little frills thrown in. For starters, you can play as either Kage or Chihiro, which gives you two sets of move to go by. There are cutscenes between levels (though these are hardly affected by which character you pick), and you have the option to experiment with colored orbs you collect, organizing them into different combinations so that you can discover and select different special moves.
Still, it’s a budget title, and for good reason. The gameplay is as simple as it ever was, and the style of challenge is so worn and pasty that the action wears out its welcome by the halfway mark–and the game is short. There are letter grades assigned upon level completion and you can go back and replay any of the levels to be able to earn the right to look at 40 pieces of concept art, but that’s hardly motivation.
Kage and Chihiro have numerous moves, but it means little when the enemies are so easy. Many levels can be cleared simply by holding down the right button and pressing the attack button non-stop. The only exceptions are mini-bosses and levels that require jumps and a sense of direction, as a few walls can’t be climbed but must be conquered through multiple jumps onto multiple platforms. This is the only mechanic which makes you think, and it’s a frustrating one because the immensity of the level combined with using both screens can leave the player simply lost. It does the game no favors when it’s not compatible with normal human perception. Fortunately, there are infinite continues, so you can retry bosses as often as you wish without having to replay the levels.
Speaking of bosses, The Legend of Kage 2’s bosses don’t all fully succumb to Mega Man-style pattern memorization the way the levels do; some of them have elements of randomization to them, requiring full engagement. Boss attacks are obviously influenced by 2D conventions, but many are unique enough to require different approaches that other platformers have never required.
Despite these charms, though, The Legend of Kage 2 is a bit of a yawn. Those desperate for some retro or platforming action on the DS may not mind frittering away a few hours, but for everyone else, it will be flavorless compared to other DS platform exercises.
ESRB: E for ninjas hitting each other with swords. No blood, very cartoony.
Plays like: The Legend of Kage; a watery Shinobi
Pros: solid mechanics, some interesting boss fights, save function
Cons: levels are either boring or stupidly difficult to navigate or both, only bosses are interesting
Battle of Giants: Dinosaurs is one of those few DS games that feels like it should be available as part of a Flash site to market a show on Animal Planet, yet it costs thirty (not even twenty) dollars. Clueless grandparents and extended relatives will look at this game and a few might think, “Boys love dinosaurs, don’t they?” Unfortunately, the child who receives this game as a gift will bemoan his fate. You get a boy this game, you may as well be getting him dinosaur underwear.
The single player adventure mode requires you to move a dinosaur around a map to collect fossils and eggs so that you can unlock other skins and upgrade your dinosaur. You get the fossils by visiting points around the map and the eggs mostly from fighting other dinosaurs. There are dinosaurs that do not drop eggs, and do not reward you for anything. There is a fossil on each level that has an enemy attached to it, such as a phone booth or a tractor. The only reason I can think of for putting modern objects as opponents in a dinosaur game that has only six dinosaur skins and three scenery skins is that the developers must have known what a joke Battle of Giants would be. Impressively, the door of the booth and the hood of the tractor had some smooth animation as they thwapped my triceratops across and upside the face (respectively). They were, of course, no match for the horns, which tore them to shreds. Okay, okay, it just made them unconscious whilst stars swirled in a clockwise halo.
The other modes are versus modes; “quick match”, where you can face another dinosaur in a best of 1-5 rounds, is basically a testing scenario. One interesting feature Battle of Giants boasts is “6-player action.” Wow! All six of you can get together and…have a tournament, where everyone plays each other in a one-on-one scenario.
Battle of Giants features dinosaur fights that use rock-paper-scissors, rock-paper-scissors, and tracing an outline as the gameplay mechanics. Battles are influenced by dino stats and picking which moves the dinosaur will do for a moment, and then it’s a battle of skill as you trace the outline of part of a dinosaur. Difficulty is based on how many and which kinds of moves you use. The triceratops face is an easier one, but the dinosaur foot, complete with little U’s for toes, can be beastly. You then watch some somewhat impressive animations as you watch the dinosaurs fight like insects you threw in a jar.
So adventure mode is just for leveling up your dinosaur and versus mode is for throwing your dinosaur in a jar. Both involve stylus-tracing. There is a lot of leeway given so that it’s easy to beat the computer, but the tracing on some of the figures for the little children are difficult. Even on the easy ones, it’s impossible to get a 100%, and even if you were, I’m still persuaded that the fire-station alarm that sets off at the end of every trace as time runs out would not shut up.
It’s quite an achievement: it takes literally one minute of playing this game without reading anything about it to figure out what the entire game will play like. The attempts to keep it appealing and easy enough for kids in the midst of taking away their candy is noble, but Battle of Giants remains one-hundredth the game of any edition of Pokemon it imitates.
ESRB: E for dinosaurs hitting each other
Plays like: A really bad Pokemon-imitator with races to trace influencing the results of moves
Pros: Some highly professional animation and sound
Cons: Too many to list. Seriously, the game is a mini self-evident game-design doc on how not to imitate a game and sell it to kids
