In the wake of Mass Effect 3, I’ve been struggling to find anything that can hold my attention that well. I’ve played a few games here and there, so I figure it’s about time to write about them.
Not featuring Steven Segal
First up on the chopping block, Under Siege. A phenomenally boring RTS, US brings you all the “fun” of a Real Time Strategy game with none of the depth. Somehow the designers managed to take something that could have been fun, then much like Tommy Boy holding a model car, they crushed any hope it had of actually being enjoyable. From hokey controls to slow trudging game play, the true task is not just shutting it off before it gets rolling. Another source of my rage, was while playing the tutorial, I got to enjoy no less than 30 seconds of the controls locking up due to me randomly pressing buttons trying to move my units. This nearly doubled the fun. Unless you are a die hard RTS player, just wait for the next arcade iteration to come around.
Another WWII era flight sim?! Oh boy!
While I do enjoy aerial combat to some degree, having enjoyed classics such as the Ace Combat series as well as Crimson Skies, you can only do so much before you just put down the controller and walk away. The first part you’re going to suffer when attempting to fly is going to be the load times, which is then followed by stop and go game play during the tutorial, which then throws itself at you when you get into the missions. Take off, remote camera, new objective, remote camera….I mean really? This is 2012. Just let me play the damn game already. Toss in low res ground textures, bland building construction (not even remotely on par with Ace Combat) and so-so airplane models, giving Birds of Steel absolutely no reason to play!
One of my favorite features of the PSNetwork, is the fact that I am able to enjoy full games for free, albeit within one hour of game play. This allows for a much better preview of the game. I had been curious about Alice 2 for a while now, but I didn’t really want to pay the $40 price tag. Thanks to my time spent, I still don’t but that is not for lack of a decent game. Alice 2 offers decent platformer game play and an interesting set of weapons, such as my pepper grinder machine gun. And even though the graphics are reminiscent of a Hottopic Goth’s wet dream, you can still manage to derive enjoyment from this title. Just make sure you keep an open mind, and maybe wait for the price to drop a little bit more or grab it used.
Complete with movie soundtrack!
Few officially licensed games can illicit the feeling of happiness and excitement while playing one of your favorite movies, because most of them are done poorly. From the minute you start this game, you will be greeted with the over the top soundtrack, which blares Kenny Loggin’s Danger Zone (remix version) as soon as you jump into the cockpit! Top Gun offers decent controls, as well as a risk/reward sort of game prompt system. When you engage in the “hard lock”, you will be prompted to perform a series of aerial maneuvers to take down enemy aircraft. Completing these tasks allows for your missile lock time to be decreased allowing you to more accurately target opponents. Over all, I think if you are a fan of arcade flight sims, or grew up in the 80′s you will like Hard Lock.
A whole lot of darkness!
Last up, this go, is a little arcade game called Closure. It features a lot of black screen, with a little spider person thing? as the main protagonist. As I am playing it while writing this, I am noticing it seems to enjoy the use of darkness to portray complete absence. Meaning, while my character may be carrying his light source, the level exists only where you have actual light. IE DON’T DROP THE LIGHT OR WANDER IN DARKNESS! I’ve already met my death a couple times thanks to not realizing this premise, but it doesn’t take away from the over all feel of it. In fact, quite the opposite. I really like when a game introduces new aspects and mechanics into the genre. So, why don’t you do yourself a favor: Hop on the PSN when maintenance is over and grab the demo and give it a whirl!
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