Let's Talk About Platforming, Baby. Let's Talk About Rayman and Sonic

Salt and Pepa lyrics in the title? Yeah, you know this might be good...or similar to all of my other entries.

God I love the platforming genre, especially two dimensional ones. Nothing against 3D games or 3D platformers, but I've always felt the golden age of the genre is grounded in 2D. The old Mario games, and of course, Sonic the Hedgehog. Sonic Generations is a mix of 2D and 3D and it works pretty well. Blending the old school gameplay and levels of the original Sonic games and the new school gameplay and levels of the more modern games like Sonic Adventure, Generations does a good job bridging the gap between the 2 worlds.

When Sonic: Generations is great, it's really great. Speeding through old levels as Sonic is a nice touch of nostalgia. Sure, the ol' Hedgehog doesn't quite handle the same as he used to, but he's still got some fire burning down below. They made the game more floaty which bugs me a little and when Sonic really gets moving, it doesn't feel as fast as it used to. Not sure if the Xbox can't handle the BLAST PROCESSING or what, but it feels a little tame.

When Sonic Generations is not great, it's not great. Trudging through some of the lamer modern levels is an exercise in frustration and boredom. I understand the point of the title (Generations) was to combine the history of Sonic in one game but you'd think they would skip some of the more uninspired levels in favor of more kickass older levels but I guess it doesn't work that way. It's a game with a pretty smooth downward curve from the beginning to the end. You can really tell when the developers just got lazy and the quality of the games started tapering off, It's a slow decent into bleh.

The two gameplay styles are vastly different. 2D side-scrolling levels are reminiscent of the old days of Sonic, jumping on enemies, revving up a Sonic ball, spinning through loops, smashing through walls looking for secrets, it's all there and still fun as hell. 3D Sonic, which isn't true open 3D, but Sonic on rails, is really fun at times and really frustrating at times. Trying to aim some of the jumps at high speed is a pain in the ass, and the level design is at times horrendous. When you are flying at full speed, smashing through enemies, the 3D stuff is great but when they add platforming and timed jumps into the mix, the 3D starts to feel bogged down and boring, more frustrating than fun.

In the end, Sonic is a solid C+ title. an A+ for parts and an F for others is nestles nicely into an average score. A definite play for Sonic fans like myself, but if you've never been a big supporter of the spiky blue speedster, then Sonic Generations isn't going to do anything to change your mind.

As the other big platformer title to come out this year, Rayman: Origins is pretty much in direct competition with Sonic: Generations for my heart. Rayman's been around a long time, but he's never been anywhere near as iconic as Sonic so it's a good thing the game with his namesake is ridiculously amazing, since he doesn't have that whole fame thing to fall back on.

Rayman: Origins is fantastic, let me say that first. It's the best platformer I've played in a long time and deserves all of the praise I'm going to heap on it in the next couple of paragraphs. Michel Ancel's little limbless hero has reached the peak of his skills here. It's a lovingly crafted masterpiece and everyone should play it.

The graphics are, first of all, phenomenal. Bright, crisp colors blended with a sharp design add up to visual bliss. The levels are all varied and represented (desert, fire, jungle, ice, etc...) but are presented in a unique way so it doesn't just feel like more of been there dont that. Character design is solid, nothing to write home about here, but it's very functional for the game. Rayman still doesn't have limbs, which was originally a result of system limitations, but has since become a part of his charm. The other characters are all cartoony and fun.

The music...oh the music. It's wonderful and whimsical and absolutely perfect and I could expound on it's virtues for an entire paragraph but I won't. Instead I'll just leave this here for you to listen to and fall in love with.



I can sit here and talk about graphics and music all day and it doesn't mean much if the gameplay is garbage. Fortunately, Rayman's gameplay is as amazing as it's aesthetics. The game controls smooth, the level design is aces, the difficulty is basic enough for most players to enjoy, but challenging enough for veterans to get their fill as well. There is a ton of stuff to collect and hidden rooms to find on every level. Bonus levels add a whole new level of difficulty, requiring precise timing and memorization to pass. It's just a fantastic overall package.

There's nothing left to say about Rayman: Origins at this point. It's an amazing game and everyone owes it to themselves to play it unless you are some sort of soulless harpy or other evil, mythical beast.

El Shaddai: Ascension of the What the Hell?

I've been seriously slacking in my Game Beard duties (heh heh..duties) so I'm going to start pumping out entries for awhile. Hopefully, this will be the beginning of multiple updates every week!

There are a lot of games I've played recently without talking about...here is a list.

Skyrim
Sonic: Generations
Assassin's Creed: Revelations
Rayman: Origins
X-Men: Destiny
Modern Warfare 3
Battlefield 3
...probably some others

Anyway, I will spend some time on all of those games in due time. For now though, I want to talk about the last game I finished, El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron.

If the first thought that comes to your mind is "What?" don't feel too left out. It was a small release earlier in the year developed by a guy best known for Okami and Devil May Cry. I hadn't really read or heard much about it before Gamefly sent it my way, but I was pretty excited to play it.

My first thought upon playing it was "Holy crap, this game is HELLA Japanese!" Like everything from character design to style to gameplay just screams "JAPAN!" This isn't necessarily a bad thing as a lot of amazing games have been developed by very Japanese men and ladies. However, El Shaddai is definitely not one of them.

It's not a bad game at all. I would recommend anyone who is into the "Games as Art" movement to check it out post-haste. The design is simply beautiful, colors and shapes pop from the screen and every level is a completely different design from its predecessor. Navigating your character through this levels is where things get iffy. The basic fighting mechanic is developed around the concept of three different weapons. A bladed looking thing which is very offensive, a shield looking thing that is very defensive, and a ranged weapon. Enoch(the main character) can only hold one weapon at a time and must get them by stealing them from enemies. The problem this poses is pretty much every enemy fits into three categories based on the weapon they wield. Sure, they look different level to level, but they all fight the same. This isn't Devil May Cry either, there are no crazy combos and massive attacks. Enoch fights pretty boring and most of the combat comes down to button mashing. Sure, there are some guard breaks and such, but most of the time you don't need them. It's avoid attack, avoid attack, avoid attack over and over again.

The story...oh the story. It's interesting to say the least. The basic premise is that seven fallen angels have gone and made some tower and people are worshiping them and you need to bring them back to heaven or kill them or something, and there is a kid, and weird blob guys and darkness that can suck you in, and one of the fallen angels has dreads and dances and one of them is a chubby old lady and and and and I don't know. The story is just out there and convoluted and makes little sense. I basically gave up on it about halfway through because it was just not very interesting to follow. I'm not sure if it is because the story was poor or if it was just presented that way.

El Shaddai is a game of really interesting concepts that is presented in a very boring way. Somehow they manage to make a crazy futuristic motorcycle chase through a massive city boring and that takes effort. I have to commend the developer though for making a beautiful game. It really is a piece of art, and like most art, it is exciting to look at but it doesn't do much else for you. I can definitely recommend El Shaddai to anyone reading this that enjoys artistic games, but if you're looking for action then you need to look elsewhere.

The First Annual Beardy Awards!!

That is right ladies and gentlemen, it is that time of year. Time to think about all of the great games that have come out this year and then assign awards to them. Why? Why the hell not?

The awards are based on the games I've played so bear with me if something you love doesn't win. I may not have played it this year.

So, without further adieu...here are the awards. We'll start with some small ones and build up to the grand daddy of them all...GAME OF THE YEAR!

Best Voice Acting

This was a tough one...as games get closer and closer to movies, voice acting has become an integral part of the experience. Gone are the days when voice acting was a second thought and the quality was usually terrible. It used to be surprising when a game actually took the time to get some decent voice work in. Now though, games are becoming more and more cinematic, and with that comes some amazing voice work. I had to really spend a lot of time thinking about this one but in the end, there was one game that stood out above the rest and it was really the work of one man that gave the edge to this game over any other. That man...is Mark Hamill.

...and the winner is (I kind of gave it away there)

BATMAN: ARKHAM CITY

Mark Hamill as the Joker is probably my favorite performance by any voice actor ever, whether it be game or movie. His portrayal of the Clown Prince of Crime is absolutely perfect. The tone and inflection of his voice chills you to the bone and his laugh is timeless. Now obviously, if the rest of the voice acting was poor, Batman wouldn't have won. However, every voice actor in that game is of the utmost quality. You can tell the care was put forth to make Batman a game of the highest quality and it shows throughout every facet.

...Runner Up

LA NOIRE

LA Noire is a game that easily could have won for best voice acting. I was really torn for awhile over whether or not to give it the nod over Batman. The scale of the voice acting is truly impressive considering the rather gigantic cast of characters. The biggest issue with LA Noire though is the sometimes spotty interaction between characters. Too many interrogations that jump from yelling and screaming back to calm relaxed chat back to yelling again. It was wonky and awkward and took away from the experience a bit.

...Honorable Mention

BASTION

Not every category will have an honorable mention but I felt like I had to say something about Bastion. When it came down to it, I never considered it for best acting only because it is all the work of one man, and the scope of the other games was much greater. If I were doing an award for best use of voice acting, then Bastion would win hands down. The narrator, with his deep gravelly voice, keeps you in the game. He weaves the tale set out before you. Rather then use cutscenes and flashy visuals to explain the history of Bastion, the narrator seamlessly crafts a story as you progress along.

Best Comeback Franchise

Another difficult decision between two games with very different comeback stories. One franchise had fallen so far from grace that they had to start back from the drawing board and completely re-imagine the franchise as a whole. The other franchise made a massive comeback by going back to what made it so great in the first place. In the end, the winner was the game that made the bigger overall comeback.

...and the winner is

DRIVER: SAN FRANCISCO

Within the first 20 minutes of playing this game I had a thought about it being the biggest comeback I've ever played. The Driver franchise was poop. Just stinky poop from a butt. Along with everyone else, I had written off the franchise and assumed it was dead. The last Driver game was so bad that I don't even remember it. It's like my brain closed off that section of memories to protect me from the horror contained within. Driver: SF completely reinvigorated the franchise, like a defibrillator to the chest of a heart attack victim, it brought it back from the dead. Taking away everything but the meat of the game was step one. The game is called Driver, not Walker, so let's just not ever have to walk. You play a cop in a coma who is dreaming and trying to wake up. In your dreams though, you have the ability to QUANTUM LEAP into anyone driving around the city. This leads to you helping out some Asians in over their head with street racing, get dying people to the hospital, or prevent bad guys from doing bad things. Being able to warp from car to car and send people smashing into bad guys is one of the most fun things I've done all year. Kudos to Driver: San Francisco...you used your necromancy to bring a dead franchise back to life.

...Runner Up

MORTAL KOMBAT

Mortal Kombat almost won this category. It was a very close call. Mortal Kombat is a better game overall than Driver: SF but in the end it didn't win because it wasn't as big of a comeback. While the MK franchise had fallen off quite a bit, it never fell as far as Driver did. I love that Mortal Kombat became awesome again by undoing all of the crap and going back to what made the franchise awesome in the first place...fighting and gratuitous violence. They got rid of all of the fighting styles and weak crappy characters, and just made the game fun again. Then there are the fatalities..oh my, the fatalities. No other game this year made me as uncomfortable as MK did at times. Ripping people in half as Noob Saibot actually made me slightly queasy. Each character has multiple fatalities that are all brutal as hell, and the blood and gore and violence is what made Mortal Kombat great back in the day and it is no different now.

(OK, I'm writing too much about each award and I'm never going to finish so I'm cutting the writing way down so this can be done and I can write about other things.)

BEST DOWNLOADABLE TITLE

A lot of really good downloadable titles this year but one really stood way above the rest.

and the winner is...

BASTION

Really head and shoulders above the rest of the games released this year, Bastion stands out due to it's excellent story telling and gameplay. An old school feel with a twist all being narrated by the smoothest voice you could ask for. A winning combination for sure.

Runner up

Outland

Quietly released with little to no fanfare, Outland is still the most gorgeous XBLA title I've played to date. The gameplay is a mix of sword fighting platforming and color changing bullet hell, and it seamlessly blends to make an excellent game. I think a lot of people missed this one and that is a shame.

QUICKY GENRE AWARDS

Best Fighting - Mortal Kombat

Honorable Mention - Marvel Vs. Capcom 3

Best RPG - Skyrim

Honorable Mention - Dragon Age 2

Best Sports - Fight Night: Champion

Honorable Mention - Madden 2012

Best Shooter - Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

Honorable Mention - Gears of War 3

Best Horror - Dead Space 2

Honorable Mention - Resident Evil 4 (XBLA Release)

Best Platforming - Rayman: Origins

Honorable Mention - Sonic: Generations

and now for the final award...GAME OF THE YEAR

When I decided to do these awards, game of the year was obviously my first though. A lot of games passed through my mind, but no matter what they all fell short when compared with the winner. In the end, it was never really close because one game just flew miles above every other in terms of overall quality. Nothing against the games that didn't win, there were some amazing games this year, but only one can be the 2011 BEARDY AWARD WINNER FOR GAME OF THE YEAR.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

I know, I know, nothing surprising here. Just about every publication named Skyrim game of the year. It is for good reason though. The quality and craftsmanship of Skyrim is above and beyond just about anything ever seen in a game before. Story, graphics, music, everything is top notch. The exploration in the game is nothing short of amazing with literally a million things to find. I've been playing on and off since day 1 and will probably not be done for another year. It's the kind of game that will be entertaining for a long time and in this day and age, that is a great accomplishment. Even if Skyrim represents a genre you are not interested in, you have to respect the sheer scope of the game. Hats off to you, Skyrim. Today you're a winner.

Honorable Mention: Batman: Arkham City

Definitely the second best game of the year, and really the only other game I considered giving the award to. In the end, Arkham City doesn't lose by anything it did wrong, it loses because the competition was too much. Any other year and Arkham City is a clear winner. Kudos to you, Batman!

I Am Batman

The title of this post is really the most simple way to explain Batman: Arkham City. You are Batman. No other game captures the spirit of being Batman quite like Arkham City. Arkham Asylum came close but in hindsight it was more like a simulator training you to be Batman. Arkham City completely unlocks what being Batman is all about. Swinging through the city at night, solving mysteries, fighting crime, all while engaging in an overall story arc involving super villains. Batman, Batman, Batman.

Combat has been mostly unchanged from the original game. There are some new moves and gadgets, but it flows exactly the same way. It was pretty much perfect in Arkham Asylum so not changing a whole lot makes perfect sense. What they did though, was hone it to near perfection. Boiled down to it's basics it is still punch, punch, punch, counter, counter, punch and you can win just about every fight like that. It's when you mix in Batman's utility belt of gadgets that it really gets spiced up. Leaving small amounts of explosive gel on the ground while flipping then blowing it up and stunning a group of enemies, or whipping a bad guy in the face with a batarang in the middle of a combo, or tossing an ice grenade at someone and freezing them, or whatever your imagination desires...it's all possible and it's all awesome. This is how Batman fights, with his wits as much as with his brawn and skill. Racking up a wicked high combo feels awesome(so I've been told, I max out around 25 hits or so).

The biggest change from Asylum to City has to be the actual map. Arkham Asylum was a small map located on an island outside of Gotham. There were a handful of buildings, some caves and tunnels, and that was it. You ended up revisiting the same areas a lot and the variety wasn't all that great. Arkham City on the other hand, is a living, breathing piece of metropolis. It's gritty and dark and beautiful. Everything is perfectly detailed, there is no wasted space at all. I'm not sure how much bigger the map is then in Asylum but it is at least 3 times as big, and swinging and gliding around all of it is breathtaking to say the least. There are now goons everywhere to fight, sidequests to solve around every corner, hidden riddler trophies are all over the place(and a lot more cleverly hidden), and enough other side content to keep you busy for weeks.

I'm not going to say the game is perfect so that means I have to complain about something. Some of the boss fights are a little uninspired or just don't plain happen like you think they will. There a few situations where you are expecting a kick ass fight aaaaannnnnnd...nothing happens. It's a little disappointing. Also, there is a game mechanic in particular that I found annoying. There are multiple parts where you have to make a little ice shelf to stand on and then pull yourself around with the grappling hook. It's tedious and they use it quite a bit. These are really minor complaints and I normally wouldn't even mention them, but I feel obligated to say something negative if I'm going to say a game isn't flawless so there you go.

The story is solid, there are some nice twists and surprises (FUCK YOU KOTAKU) and it is paced well. The side missions pop up during play so if you do them as you go it can easily take 20+ hours to finish the game. If you go searching for every riddler trophy, you're looking at around 40 probably. I was into the story quite a bit so I skipped a lot of the side stuff along the way and I finished it in probably 10...maybe 12. It never gets boring, though if you install the Catwoman stuff it gets interspersed into the gameplay. You play as her first, then another mission soon after, then you get nothing but Batman until near the end and BAM! they throw another Catwoman part at you. I hated how they mixed it in at the end, I was into being Batman and they completely interrupted me. Playing as Catwoman is interesting. She is a hell of a lot faster than Batman and can cling to chain link ceilings and her cleavage is always out and she does sexy slides that don't seem to be the most functional but overall her parts feel unnecessary. I kind of wish they hadn't bothered mixing it in, or at least given her a bigger role and fleshed (OH HO HO) her out a little more.

What can I say, it's Batman. They did manage what I thought was impossible and made a game that met or exceeded everyone's expectations. It's the closes thing most of us (present company excluded) will ever get to being Batman. Now that it's done, I'm left frothing at the mouth for more like a rabid, starved wolverine in a butcher shop full of delicious smoked meats. I've still got a fair amount of game left to play too. It will be a while before I'm done with the sheer joy of just plain being THE BATMAN.

Gears of War 3: San Francisco Jam!

There aren't too many releases that get the blood flowing quite like a new Gears game. The latest one, which came out this week, is the third and supposedly final game in the Gears series...I doubt that. The game sells way too well for them to just stop making them. Something tells me we'll see a Ge4rs of War before too long.

If you've ever played Gears of War or the sequel then you basically already know what to expect from the single player campaign. Visceral cover based combat against relentless enemies, huge boss fights set in a post apocalyptic world, guns and bullets and blood and guts and boomers. Aside from new locales, new enemies, and new weapons, there is little changed about Gears of War 3. It plays basically exactly the same as the first two games and that's alright with me. If it ain't broke...don't fix it.

The story is excellent and has quite a few BIG moments to it. I'm not going to talk about it because I don't like taking the chance of spoiling anything for anyone, but they big moments are quite BIG. All I'll say is at the end it does wrap up in a way that makes it look like the trilogy is over, but I just won't believe it until I see it. The franchise is far too valuable to just stop making games with the Gears name. The game is pretty short, about the same length as previous games which means it can easily be beat on normal difficulty within the first or second day. However, there is a ton of online content, and I'll be talking about that some more...next Game Beard. I haven't played enough of it to talk about it here.

Next is my surprise game of the year. Crawling from the depths of franchise hell comes a shocker of a good game...Driver: San Francisco. I, like many others, assumed the Driver franchise was done. After some mediocre to bad games, I figured they were done with it. When I heard about this game, I was surprised, but my expectations were extremely low based on the previous entries. However, I am very happy to say, Driver: San Francisco shattered my expectations and pulled this dead and bloated franchise out of the murky water and back into the hearts of gamers everywhere...or at least back into my heart.

The game is good...very good. They took the formula, distilled out all the extra crap, and just left the meat of what makes a good driving game...driving. There is nothing on foot, the only time you aren't in a car is when you're floating above the city deciding which driver to possess next...wait, what? Driver handles the out of car stuff very simply. You're character is in a coma, so he can enter a ghost mode at any time and switch cars. This extends beyond just picking a car for a challenge. If the challenge is to take down a runaway thief, you can possess the cars ahead of them and drive them directly into their path to take them down with vicious ferocity. The story is out there a bit, but honestly, I didn't care. I was having too much fun possessing drivers and racing cars.

The story is a bit bleh, but I barely noticed. Honestly, there really could have been no story and just a series of challenges and I still would have loved the game. The driving is a nice arcade style that requires skill, but also can be handled by gaming novices. Some of the late challenges get downright brutal and only the most seasoned player will get through them. There are a ton of different licensed vehicles, from super cars to pickup trucks to DeLoreans, the latter of which has a special bonus if you go over 88mph.

Finally I'm going to talk about a game that's been out for awhile but I only just recently played. The new and improved NBA JAM! I waited a long time to get it because frankly, I didn't feel it was worth full retail price. I finally found a price I could swallow and purchased it. I was definitely right in waiting, it's a really good game, but there is very little meat to it.

It's the exact same formula as the original NBA Jam, 2 on 2 basketball with 3 players per team being available. You push and shove opponents while dunking from the free throw line with great ferocity. Hit 3 shots in a row without your opponent scoring and you go ON FIRE! This doesn't seem to have the same impact it used to. I remember in the old SNES game when you were ON FIRE! pretty much every shot went in. In the new version the difference seems to be negligible other then your dunks getting bigger and better. I can't say a whole lot more about it...it's NBA Jam. It's basically the exact game they made in the past with some shinier graphics. This isn't a bad thing, per se, but I was hoping for a little more. Worth the $15 I paid for it, but not much more.

Another brilliant installment of The Game Beard will be coming your way soon. Next time I'll be talking about Resident Evil 4HD, maybe some about upcoming games I'm interested in like Batman, Skyrim, and Uncharted 3. Also, look for a new top ten list coming your way hopefully sooner rather then later.

Captain America and the NFL. I've Got Patriotism Running Through My Veins

Been too long since I last got my blog on. Been playing a fair amount of games lately and I'm going to do a few updates over the course of the next week or so to catch up. This update will be dedicated to two things every blue blooded American patriot should love. Captain America and NFL Football.

So I'll start with Madden 2012. Before I talk about it, let me just say that Madden and I have a history. I've been buying and playing Madden football since 1994, the first year it was on the SNES. I still remember the infamous error where the New York Giants and New York Jets had their entire rosters switched. I was there for the switch from pixels to polygons, when the hit stick was added, hot routes, blah blah blah. All of the changes. I've watched the game take big steps forward and then take big steps backward. I've bought the new version and been immediately disappointed by the lack of change some years.

Now that all of that is out of the way and I've been confirmed as a "Madden expert" let's talk about 2012(not the mediocre John Cusack film).

The game looks good. Not a huge graphical overhaul from 2011 but it's noticeable. There hasn't really been a leap forward in terms of graphics for some time. It's alright though, the game looks good as is and doesn't really need to be tweaked right now.

There are substantial gameplay changes. For the first time the blocking and tackling in this year's Madden is not magnetic. Meaning that in the old versions when a tackler or blocker got close, the players would be magnetically drawn in to the tackle or blocking animations. It makes for a much more realistic game. Running the ball is fantastic with the new blocking. You can watch which direction players will be forced and wait for holes to open up in the line. It's the most realistic running game Madden has ever offered.

The passing game hasn't changed much, but the passing defense has. You really need to read the defense and know football on the harder difficulties or you will throw a lot of interceptions. The middle linebacker is freaking Superman though. He will knock down a ton of passes over the middle and make impossible reads. It's not very realistic in that regard. It's awesome though to make the correct read and fire an accurate pass into the hands of your receiver as he cuts in front of the defender for a split second. It's realistic and tough and fulfilling.

The biggest leap this season are the changes to franchise mode. You can finally trade future draft picks (though only one year ahead), free agent signing have become more like a race. As soon as a player is offered a deal, a clock starts ticking. When it runs to zero whichever team has put up the best offer gets the player. It isn't necessarily realistic, but it works well for a video game and it is an improvement over the old system. Scouting rookies has been improved as well. You can scout a number of players ahead of time and get an idea of how good they are before the draft. Again, not perfect, but better. Rosters are handled better, allowing 75 players when preseason starts. Cut downs are made weekly until brought back to the regular season roster size. It allows you to keep rookies and free agents that you are unsure of. You'll be given a question marked rating (which is often way off) with the actual rating being shown after you decide whether to keep them or not. Once yet again, not perfect, but better.

And that's the theme of Madden 2012...not perfect, but better. A step in the right direction with some solid bulding blocks for the future.

Now to discuss everyone's favorite super soldier, Captain America. I rented the game based on very little but it looked good enough, and I'm a pretty big fan of the Captain. My first impression of the game was "Batman: Arkham Asylum Lite" The gameplay borrows heavily from Arkham Asylum but is never quite as good. You fight with basic combos, when an enemy attacks, he glows and you can press a button to dodge or counter then continue your combat. It's never as flowing as Arkham Asylum but it still works pretty well. Hell, Captain America even has a sort of "Detective Mode" where you can make ledges and pipes glow, showing you possible pathways you can take.

I haven't seen the movie so I don't know if it follows the plot line but the plot in the game is pretty basic. Captain America thwarting some nazi plans with his fists and vibranium shield. There is some stuff about a giant robot and whatever, I didn't really pay attention. It wasn't honestly that interesting.

The biggest issue I had with the game is the mass of collectibles. Virginal statuettes, cowl and gloves, Prussian helmets, blah blah blah. So many things to collect. CERAMIC EGGS. 50 ceramic eggs, hidden throughout the battlefield for Captain America to find and store...in his magic pouch I guess. I think more impressive then Captain America single handedly fighting and defeating an army of nazis is his ability to carry 50 ceramic eggs unbroken while doing it. The military should be proud. None of the collectibles are particularly hard to find and they all show up on the map, but it takes you out of the game and you have to walk to every nook and cranny while nazis are advancing their plans around you.

For a movie licensed game, Captain America is a solid effort. Better than most of them, that's for sure. The graphics aren't going to impress anyone, and the frame rate often drops making the action choppy at time, but the overall package is worth the time. It's not a long game, I had it done with 1000 gamerscore in less then 10 hours, but it's long enough. Any longer and it would have been too long though. It's not a good enough game to compel you to play it for any longer then you have to.

That's it for this edition. Hopefully another will be along soon. I've still got Driver: San Francisco, Deus Ex, NBA Jam, Lego: Pirates of the Caribbean, Brink, The Maw, Test Drive Unlimited 2, The Saboteur, and other games to talk about. Not to mention Gears of War 3 and Resident Evil 4 HD coming on Tuesday. I'll be bearding a lot about these games so look forward to a lot of updates in the future.

Simple Title: Bastion

It's been too long since I've last Gamebearded about anything so it's time to fix that. Today's gamebeard is brought to you by Bastion and all of it's awesomeness.

It's no secret I'm a big fan of Xbox Live Arcade games. I own something like 70 of them and spend close to as much time playing them as I do actual $60 disc games. They are cheaper then full price titles and oftentimes just as good if not better. Bastion is one of the best I've ever played. A while back I did a top 10 XBLA games list and I've been trying to decide where it should fit on that list. Right now, I'm thinking #1.

It's such a harkening to old school games that I was immediately turned on to it. Isometric adventure games immediately make me think of Link to the Past and that is perfect for me considering it is one of my favorites. I watched a few trailers for Bastion and my passion for gaming got fired up. It looked like everything I wanted. When it was released I bought it immediately...then had to wait 2 days to play it. I was concerned the wait would lead to disappointment if the game didn't live up to my now quite lofty expectations. However, I was pleasantly surprised. It really was all I wanted and more.

When you strip away all of the fanciness, Bastion is a pretty standard action/adventure game. You use various weapons and powers to fight through enemies, collecting little colored bits that you use to level weapons, all while trying to save the world. The gameplay isn't going to surprise anyone. It's the fanciness that sets Bastion apart from other similar games. The glossy delicious details. The most noticeable of these is the narrator. He is given a name later but initially he is known as the stranger. He kind of acts like a play by play announcer, generally talking about the area you are in, making comments about your actions, and basically filling in the entire story for you. His voice is that of a chain smoking jazz musician and it is perfect for the task at hand. I'm not going to say anything at all about the story because it is so good I would hate to ruin even the slightest detail. Just know that The Stranger tells the entire tale in his awesomely smooth voice.

The graphics in Bastion are excellent. A colorful world full of strange creatures, and lush and varied environments await you. The stages range from overgrown tropical forests, to burnt out industrial warrens. Each level expands as you walk on it, the ground rising up from the abyss below to fill in where you are going. It's a cool effect and it happens throughout the entire game. It is possible to fall off of the level but you merely take some damage and fall back in from the top of the screen, causing damage to enemies if you land on them. The enemy variety is pretty decent. Bastion isn't a terribly long game, so there wasn't a need for 100 different enemy types. There may not be a lot, but each enemy is well crafted and bring something different to the table. It never gets boring or repetitive.

Bastion is the perfect example of an arcade game done completely right. It's nearly perfect. In fact, the only major flaw I can come up with is that when it was over, I wanted more. Not that the game seemed short, I don't know if I could have ever had enough. The New Game + feature is nice as it allows a second playthrough with levels and weapons in tact, but I wanted more original game. I guess being so good that I wanted more game isn't technically a flaw, but it's the best I could come up with.

I feel like there is a lot more to be said about Bastion but I'd have to go into the story and I don't want to do that even a tiny bit. The game opens without the player having any clue what is going on and that is how it should be. I'd hate to think there is a chance at all that I could ruin the experience for someone so I'm keeping my mouth shut about it.