Temple Run [Mobile Mention]

Temple Run is what I'd like to call the perfect toilet seat game. It's fairly quick to load up and a round doesn't last very long, at least starting out. You may even get a few rounds in depending how long it takes to do your business, whatever that may be, both on and off the seat. There isn't a whole lot to the game, but play a few rounds and you'll see how compelling it is to try and do just a little better. It invokes that, "just one more round" mentality.

The premise of the game is simple. You're a treasure hunter stealing a golden idol and you are trying to escape the temple. You are running for your life, all while rabid baboons(?) chase you and deadly obstacles block your way. Controls are simple swipe movements on the screen for turning, jumping and sliding, and tilt controls for moving your character to the sides on the path. Powerups can be collected during your run to help you survive or aid you in collecting coins. The further you get, the more frantically you'll be swiping and wishing for that next powerup to randomly appear.

The game is built around randomization, which can feel unfair at times, because there are times where the placement of hazards or a lack of powerups feels like bullshit, but alas another round is only seconds or minutes away. What drives you to play more is the challenges you can complete to increase your score multiplier. The coins you earn can be used to upgrade the effectiveness of powerups or unlock new character skins.

It's a freemium game, at least on Android, so it doesn't hurt to download it to at least try it out. I didn't see the appeal at first, but then I kept playing and now  I have all the upgrades maxed out. You can pay for coins to unlock things faster, but it's in no way necessary to enjoy the game. Performance and responsiveness of controls may vary depending on what device you play on, but usually after the first run, it runs fairly fluid for me. Give it a shot and let me know if it's a decent timewaster game for you.

Bag It! [Mobile Mention]

Bag It! is a tetris style game with a grocery bag theme. The goal is essentially to take items off the conveyer belt and to arrange them in the grocery bag just right to avoid crushing any of the items. Yes, you play as a grocery store bagger and it's awesome. There is a destruction mode and a puzzle mode that are both quite fun as well, though the puzzle mode can be a bit tricky at times.

The art style is cute and cartoony, and each product has their own personality that really add a whole lot of charm to the game. The interface is simple to navigate and the game controls great, using drag and drop touch and two finger taps to rotate each object. It's easy to get into, and easy to get sucked into as you try to 3-star and unlock each medal.

With about 3 main modes and a few other add'tl challenges, Bag It! is easy to recommend at $1.99 on the android market. If anything, be sure and check out the free Lite version to give it a shot. I'm personally looking forward to some more content in the future!

Remember When Games Were Simple... [Words]

It's party game night, so I decide to load up "You Don't Know Jack" into my 360. I plug in the sensor bar from the "Scene It" series of games I already own on 360, and then turn on one regular controller to sign my profile in for easier dashboard navigation. I then proceed to sign in other "dummy" profiles such as Player 1 or Player 2 using the "big button" controllers and distribute them to my friends.  The game is loaded up and the splash screens start displaying and then it happens...

Another update!? Call of Duty Black Ops!?

Xbox 360 restarts, all profiles are signed out, the process starts over and the comments from the peanut gallery begin. Yeah, I could have hit 'Cancel' and went on my merry way, but then I wouldn't of been able to earn achievements! (bolded for importance). ACHIEVEMENTS, I TELL YOU! Alright, so I don't particularly care about achievements, but I do like game patches, especially the bug fixing ones. Besides, my wife actually does like achievements, so it's ideal to stay online; that way, it properly registers the unlock date and such.  There's nothing wrong with liking the "cheevos", really, because a lot of people really do. And however arbitrary you personally believe achievements or trophies or accomplishments (<.<) to be, I'm sorry to say, they are here to stay. I mean, who doesn't like a little pat on the back for the things that they do, especially when it's doing the things they love.

You love reading this blog post, right!? *High Five!*

Now, i'm a far sight from being considered an "achievement whore", but I'll admittedly go out of my way here and there to unlock one for shits and giggles, because sometimes they make you do some interesting things such as: play the game in a different way, challenge you to do a portion of the game better, or they simply act as a guide to hidden secrets or some potentially unfortunate spoilers.  Maybe achievements themselves don't get your jollies off, but I'm sure you find value out of something similar. Maybe you feel accomplished by your overall playtime, a high score or leaderboards ranking, or hell even just beating the game once, or perhaps multiple times... but, I digress.

An achievement system is just adding another layer of complexity to games, which is the point I'm trying to make. They're becoming less simple. Which, could be argued against, by the fact that a lot of modern games are actually becoming "simplified" and user interfaces are becoming more streamlined. The barrier to entry for playing videogames is far less daunting when they are available everywhere you look, which is why there are so many people playing them this day and age. Those arguments are irrefutable, but remember how it used to be! Please note, that I'm specifically referring to consoles. You insert the cartridge, press the power button, and then press start to begin playing. Simple.

Okay, sometimes you had to blow on that shit, but still... simple! And fun!

Achievements, DLC, matchmaking, social features, micro-transactions, DLC, in-game advertising, auto-patching, etc, are all just additional layers of complexity to the videogames we play today. Games aren't complex for the end-user solely... the game developers have to put a lot more into getting a game released. There is a lot more that goes into getting a game certified for release on next-gen consoles than most gamers even realize. Between making sure achievements are properly integrated and unlock appropriately, to making sure console specific features properly function under hundreds of unique conditions during gameplay. Having been part of a QA team that shipped a game for Xbox 360, I've seen the certification requirements manual and it is intense. Making games is hard work, especially when we expect so much out of them now.

Don't get me wrong. There are some modern-day features I love having in my games and if done right, I greatly appreciate the value they add. In this fast-paced digital world though, sometimes you just long for something a bit more simple, if even only for a moment.

Forgetting Key Game Mechanics [Words]

I've become a bit of a game hopper as of late. What I mean is that I jump from game to game playing a little bit here and a little bit there as time allows. Some games are just good to tackle in short bursts, so it's my way of diving into the backlog and fishing for some gaming gems that I might be missing out on. There are some games that I don't come back to for a good while, where entire months may pass before I get around to it again. I try not to do this with heavy narrative-focused games, but rather ones where I feel like I can pick it up at anytime. It's not ideal to have to try and remember key plot points, retrace steps to remember where I've explored, or just in general try figure out what the hell I was doing before I stopped.

Uh, what was I doing before I stopped? Oh god, why is he naked!?

When I pick up a game again, I usually mash all the buttons or press all the hotkeys to try and get a feel for the game again. What I should really do is look at the controller settings to refresh my brain, but that would be too easy eh? Though, sometimes you just forget a mechanic exists, like when I played Deathspank on XBLA. It wasn't until the last hour or so of gameplay that I remembered there was a map... Oh man, would that have saved me some frustration. Maps are handy, especially when they show you the location of a quest giver, so you don't run around the world aimlessly, trying to find out where the hell the person was, who sent you on this or that trivial quest in the first place!

Where's the Thogolith Researcher!? Here's a thought, look at the map!

The most recent game where I forgot a pretty important mechanic was in Shatter. It's a pretty great little indie breakout style game with some fantastic music. The later levels get pretty intense, with the blocks collapsing and flying towards you and pretty much all hell breaking lose.  Then there are the boss fights, where sometimes where it's just impossible to avoid getting hit, since you are trying to keep the "ball" in play, in order to prevent a lost life and reset your score multiplier. So, what did I forget that would've saved me so much frustration and stress... the frakking shield mechanic!

Yup, now's a good time to use that shield.

Destroyed blocks spawn shards that you can collect to fill up an energy bar for a badass power shot that slows time and blasts the blocks to oblivion. Well, you can also use the meter for activating a shield to absorb hits to avoid the .5-1 second or something knockout effect, which means that ball you were trying to keep in play goes out of bounds as you are hit by the block floating right next to it. It didn't help that I already suck at breakout style games, but forgetting the shield until I completed the main mode, that gave me some frowny face.

Pew pew pew!

If there's a bright side to this whole story, it's that I got to pew pew more since I never wasted any energy on shielding. So, I might've been no good at shielding, but boy could I suck, blow, and pew pew with the best of them. IF YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN!? /winkyface. PS: Play the game to know what i mean.  It's good!

Are there any important mechanics you've forgotten in any game? I can't be the only one that sucks at videogames. =(

Skyrim! Late to the Party Edition! [Experience]

I finally had a nice sit down with Skyrim for an actual decent length of time last night... a solid 2-3 hours, in one sitting! I realize that's pretty sad and you Skyrim veterans are likely scoffing at that, but I'm pretty happy about it. I hope to get a nice marathon session in one of these days to truly immerse myself in it much like I did back in the Oblivion days.

I still invested 100+ hours into Oblivion even in spite of these gates crippling my PC to below 10 FPS.

It probably helps that I'm finally playing it the way I want to, allowing my wanderlust to consume me. Some articles and a recommendation my wife gave me was to grind up and save for a house early on and follow the main storyline for a bit. It was very helpful advice and it's much appreciated, especially since I have a reliable place to store the endless amount of loot I collect. The early grind was sort of cramping my style though, and I was growing a bit weary of the constant back and forth of looting and selling of the Whiterun citizens' tableware, booze, and food items to save up the money I needed.  Anyways, now I can truly wander, loot, and burninate the world to my heart's content.

Fiiiiiirrrreeee!

Speaking of looting... I sure do that a lot. I've started to establish a bit of a stricter consideration regarding the value/weight ratio of objects that I will loot, but that doesn't stop me from checking every nook and cranny of every dungeon. And lockpicking... I will lockpick the ever living shit out of anything, everything, and everyone if that's even a thing. Expert level, psh... Master level... cake mix. I will expend my entire inventory of lockpicks or constantly save and load until I get that bad boy open, even to the point of frustration. I'm currently at 1 lockpick left in the current dungeon I'm in and I have to save and reload before every chest or door that is locked, because that's just how I roll! Note to self: go finally buy some more lockpicks.

There better be some Nuka-Cola Quantum in this chest!

I find my obsessive lockpicking preferable to the alternative of that nagging feeling of having left some loot behind, or trying to remember where it was if I decide to backtrack later... and I despise backtracking if it can be avoided. I like to do it all in one trip if possible, the same way I try to grab every single grocery bag from the car to the point of it being awkward or painfully heavy. It comes down to a time issue. When I struggle to find the time to sit down with a game, I want to be sure I'm getting every bit of fresh experience I can out of it, instead of repeating content. There was a point in my life where I felt like I had all the time in the world, but that time is long past. I'm not going to let that stop me from making the time though. Besides that level up music is fracking glorious to hear in 5.1 surround sound and that alone may just keep me coming back. Note to self: download a Skyrim soundboard app for my phone.