The Average Gamer » Platforms

Super Mario Galaxy 2 Review (Wii)

TheFluffyFist — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 06:50:46 +0000

It’s me, Mario! Yep, it’s time to play that friendly, Princess saving, astronautic plumber again in the sequel to the fantastic Super Mario Galaxy. But this time Mario is joined by Yoshi too. See, I like Yoshi. I find him a lot more interesting and useful than Luigi. In Super Mario Galaxy 2 Yoshi has loads of really great skills and assets, like his massive tongue and insatiable appetite. Yoshi can simply eat and poo (coins) his way through ~~levels~~ planets. He also sulks and runs off when Mario gets knocked off him, which looks very cute! Luigi, to be honest, is a less fat, green Mario with few skills. He certainly can’t poo stars for start. Boring. Yoshi for the win.

Nintendo has also pulled out all the stops by making Super Mario Galaxy 2 a real feast for the eyes, for a Wii game at least. I just love the whole concept of planets as levels. Especially the really tiny ones that you can scoot round really quickly. And just like the first game there are some really cool ways of using them. For instance, during one boss battle you have to drill through a small planet to hit the boss’s weak spot. Working out when to start drilling is the tricky part whilst being chased by a marauding boss, but fun all the same.

Nintendo has also improved the 2-player game which, to be honest, was poorly implemented in Super Mario Galaxy. The second player couldn’t really do anything, apart from watch and waste some star bits. Brilliant. But in Super Mario Galaxy 2 player 2 can attack, defend and activate items/bits of planets/be generally useful. Oh, yeah and still waste star bits. See, much more to do! Joking aside, when I was playing co-op with Weefz the game was a lot easier to play, especially the boss fights as we worked really well together.

Longevity wise the game is pretty big. So you are looking at 10+ hours game time for the basic plot (defeat Bowser, save Princess Peach). Obviously, you’ll be playing for quite a bit longer if you want to collect all the stars, some of which are a little bit tricky to find.

As you can tell by this review, I love this game. There are a few niggles though. Occasionally the planets, can be bloody annoying and very unforgiving, with some ninja reactions required. Secondly, it’s on the Wii. I know its a Wii game, but I do wish Nintendo would make a more powerful console as the mind boggles about how pretty Super Mario Galaxy 2 would be like on either the PS3 or the Xbox 360. As I’ve mentioned before, Super Mario Galaxy 2 does look good but it’s not anywhere near as stunning as say Uncharted 2: Among Thieves or Gears of War 2.

In summary, this is a great game. Go buy it!

Screenshots:

Robot Unicorn ATTACK! Gameplay vid

Debbie "Weefz" Timmins — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 19:22:34 +0000

A few of my friends have recently become obsessed with the iPhone version of Robot Unicorn Attack, so I’ve have “Always” stuck in my head for days. I’m abusing the power of my blog to get it stuck in yours too ;)

The games looks easy – there are only two buttons after all, but it’s ridiculously intense if you want to do well. Make your dreams come true with Robot Unicorn Attack! at Adult Swim (free) or get the iPhone version (£1.79!).

Have you played both versions? When I played it on an iPad it seemed much faster than the web version. Was I just moving slow that day?

The NHS Goes Gaming – Checkurself!

Debbie "Weefz" Timmins — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 16:25:42 +0000

Looks like our beloved National Health Service has come over all hip and down wid da cool kidz. Or they’re trying to anyway. The NHS has teamed up with MochiMedia and launched an online flash game to promote STD awareness by shooting chlamydia-carrying rabbits as they shag their way around the mean back streets of the inner city. Fo’ shizzle.

No, seriously. Look at it!

That poor little white bunny on top of the pink one? If you don’t shoot the pink one, he’ll turn pink too and go hopping away to infect another rabbit. BAD unprotected bunnies!

I suppose at 60+ years old, it is time for the NHS to start acknowledging the internet. Both NHS London and Healthcare for London have been on Twitter for some time now. Hell, the wonderfully catchy NHS Commissioning Support for London has a Facebook page. We’ll see how long this strategy lasts with the Coalition, hey? (HfL on Twitter, NHS London on Twitter)

Do you have a burning desire to shoot rabbits with doxycycline? Get over to check urself to cure the hapless rabbits and learn a little something about disease vectors!

For the record, some form of chlamydia can actually cause respiratory problems in rabbits though I have no data on whether or not it’s transmissible to humans. Given that the identifying characteristic of STDs is that they’re not airborne, I’m not sure I want to think about how…

What do you think? Is it good to see the NHS engaging in Facebook, Twitter and gaming or should they GTFO and stick to treating sick people?

Alien Swarm – Free game from Valve

TheFluffyFist — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 13:34:00 +0000

On Monday 19th July 2010, Valve Software releases its latest game. No, it’s not Portal 2 or Half Life: Episode 3, instead it’s a great looking top down shooter called Alien Swarm. If you take a look at the Alien Swarm screenshots it looks a lot like the brilliant Alien Breed on the Amiga (with better graphics obviously) and the more recent Alien Breed Evolution.

Oh, and this game is free. Yep, totally free.

Alien Swarm features 4 player co-op, 40 different weapons and equipment, tile-based map editing tool and the complete game code and mod tools! Since the people who made this game were hired by Valve from the mod community (they made the Alien Swarm mod on Unreal Tournament 2004), it is nice to see that you will be able to build your own Alien Swarm mods. Hey, you never know, Valve might notice and hire you!

Screenshots:

Update 19th July 2010: Alien Swarm is available now. It’s just under 2gb in size.

Stellar Dawn – Sci-fi MMORPG

TheFluffyFist — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 06:30:08 +0000

Jagex games studios – makers of the hugely popular RuneScape – have just announced that they are working on a MMO set in a sci-fi universe for release next year. Jagex say that a large amount of the game will be free to play. Currently you can sign-up for the closed beta, participate in the forums and view some of the nice looking concept art on the Stellar Dawn website.

All Hail Mighty Deathspank!

Debbie "Weefz" Timmins — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 11:32:26 +0000

New official website launched for XBLA action game Deathspank. Also see @Deathspank, @Eubrick_Retired and @LordVonProng

WRC Release Date and Screenies

Debbie "Weefz" Timmins — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 10:35:59 +0000

The official World Rally Championship is returning to games consoles for the first time in 5 years, and it looks very, very nice. Cars, drivers and co-drivers are all licenced from the current season and support classes: P-WRC, S-WRC, J-WRC. Not being a rally fan, I have no idea what those classes mean but I’m sure they’re important to those of you who loved Dirt and Sega Rally.

Here are the stats:

78 rally stages
558 km of varied road conditions
13 countries to race in
50 trophies to compete over

WRC will be released in the UK on October 8th, PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. Track news on the official WRC game website or follow the Milestone’s developer blog.

Screenshots:

Crackdown 2 – Out Friday

Debbie "Weefz" Timmins — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 12:38:00 +0000

Crackdown 2 is coming out this week. If, like me, you dismissed the original 2007 game as GTA-goes-’hood, well maybe it’s time to revisit. I’ve just watched this trailer and it looks very, very nice.

Press blurb:

After the events in the first “Crackdown,” a dangerous virus was released and those who were infected – the Freaks – began ravaging the city. A civilian resistance, called the Cell, also formed to take the fight into their own hands by mounting offences against the Agency. Players return as Agents in “Crackdown 2” to once again bring peace to Pacific City – by any means possible.

As usual “by any means possible” is a euphemism for “blow shit up”.

They’ve taken away System Link but given us extra online co-op – you can now play co-op teams of 4 people online, and up to 16 in PvP. I’m not bothered – who actually uses System Link and doesn’t have a place likely to be featured in MTV Cribs?

There’s still time to pre-order Crackdown 2 if you want a purty grey, yellow, red or blue armour suit. Err, I mean “Gold, Brushed, Red and Blue Metal”.

For more info, check out the Crackdown 2 review round-up on CVG. I’m off to play the demo.

Recommendations – Demon’s Souls and DarkStar One – Broken Alliance

TheFluffyFist — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 18:04:53 +0000

As well as all the cool games coming out in July covered by Weefz there are 2 games that are available now that I recommend you play.

Demon’s Souls – Black Phantom Edition (PS3) is an awesome RPG game. It’s bloody tough with tons of dungeon exploring, battles, spells and online co-op. The black phantom edition includes a soundtrack CD, an artbook and a very handy strategy guide. Make no mistake this is one tough game! For me it’s the best Dungeon Master type game so far.

Darkstar One – Broken Alliance (Xbox 360) is pretty much the closest we have to Elite or Frontier: Elite II on the Xbox 360 (or indeed any other console!). What more of a recommendation do you need! Go try it out.

Games Releases in July 2010

Debbie "Weefz" Timmins — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 09:45:55 +0000

It’s an exciting month in July with Crackdown 2 coming out on the 9th, the new Xbox 360 Slim on the 16th and StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty on the 27th. Here’s what else is on the way: