This week in the Speculator, we wonder if Sony’s future is partly cloudy, ponder San Andreas’ skies in the Miiverse and watch out for ominous storms around Luigi.
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October 2012
Every now and again, we come across certain games that offer players a large toolset, allowing them to progress through situations as they see fit. These games are few and far between, but allow those who wish to experiment and try new things to do so. Dishonored is the kind of game that is as much about the end goal as it is how you reach that goal, offering plenty of opportunities to go about it however the player chooses. As a result, it is an experience as rewarding as it is unpredictable. READ MORE
Brian Provinciano’s Retro City Rampage was in development long enough that it could make a retro-inspired reference to itself. The wait’s likely been most excruciating to Provinciano himself, but thankfully it’s now over and we can give the game a try for ourselves. It’s certainly as packed with references to ’80s culture as we expected, but references are the sugar-coated candy of game experiences. Does the game have a more lasting enjoyment buried underneath the super-sweet exterior? READ MORE
XCOM: Enemy Unknown, more than anything else, is a game about choice. There are no light side-dark side choices like in Knights of the Old Republic. The choices made in XCOM affect your play from mission to mission, while you drive toward the singular goal of pushing back and eventually defeating an alien invasion. Do you spend credits on satellite coverage to make things more manageable in the long haul, or do you put those credits toward upgrading from ballistic weapons to laser weapons which makes your squad more likely to survive in the short term? Do you research interceptor technology to make shooting down UFOs easier, or do you prioritize capturing aliens alive for the weapons and ammo research bonuses? You’ll never have enough credits and resources to cover everybody to the extent that you’d like to, and being forced to make those choices instead of just leveling up for a while make XCOM: Enemy Unknown one of the most replayable games in my library. READ MORE
The first two Lost Planet games, despite not finding much critical success, were enjoyed by many, and the series keeps going along, albeit with a new dev team. The new installment makes some efforts to change things up, though we can’t be sure they’re the right ones. READ MORE
