I miss big beat techno. My friend Todd misses big beat techno. I know we're not the only two nerds out there that miss hooky drum breaks over squealing synth lines. Back in the day (the late 90's in this case) big beat was popping up in various areas, VW commercials (Fluke's Atom Bomb), and video games soundtracks.
The game soundtrack that really caught my ear a the time was Wipeout XL. It had TONS of acts that I love, The Future Sound of London, The Chemical Brothers, Photek, the previously mentioned Fluke, and the list goes on.
Typically, when you think of the direction of purchase, you buy the video game first and if you like the music, you pick up the soundtrack. With Wipeout, it was the other way for me; I LOVED the soundtrack, and that lead me to the game. I ended up not getting too involved in the game, I liked it, but I wouldn't put it on a top 10 list or anything. Unless it was a top 10 list of games with badass soundtracks. Or a top 10 list of games that rhyme with "shmipeout".
Cut to 2010, Sony announces Playstation Plus (PS+), and with it, you get Wipeout HD, among other things. I hadn't yet purchased the game; honestly, I was kind of waiting for it to go on sale, because 15 dollars seems a bit too much to pay for something that is more interesting to me musically than as a game. Looking back though, I'm glad I picked it up with the subscription to PS+.
I played it a few times this week on my lunch break (ah, working from home, can you be more awesome?) and really started getting into it.
The first thing that I thought was that it seems like it's finally on a hardware platform that it deserves to be on. Wipeout was always one of the more graphically impressive titles on the PS1, and they've all looked good, but now it looks GOOOOOD. To go further, the menu presentation and design of the game is amazing. It has such a great visual style that really puts you in the game's world. It's really nice to see that extra work put in the menus, title screens, trophy icons, etc.
As for actually playing the game (what? I have to play it?) it took me more races than I'd like to admit (at the novice level, no less) to get to the point where I felt like I knew the controls and how the game needed me to respond on the track. Once I was in the Wipeout bucket though, I really started catching on. I set the difficulty to the non-shameful mode of "Skilled" (not "Expert", what are you nuts?) and started winning races.
To the music end, Wipeout has shifted this soundtrack to more drum and bass, and (please don't punch me for saying this) illbient sound. Yeah, that's a techno nerd for you. It's good, but, I miss the punch of big beat.
All in all, it's a really solid game with a level of depth that I didn't expect. It's been out for almost 2 years now, and I can't believe I've overlooked it for so long.
Showing posts with label PS3. Show all posts
Showing posts with label PS3. Show all posts
JOE DANGER CAPITAL LETTERS
I have a cold. My head and various other areas hurt. I've already watched the last bit of season 2 of The Mighty Boosh, and Top Gear doesn't come back on until June 27th. What video game can make me feel better? Joe-Friggin-Danger!
Who doesn't love Excitebike? Morons and people with tapioca for thumbs, that's who. Not to mention that Motocross Maniacs 1 and 2 are two of my favorite Game Boy and Game Boy Color games ever. If you do anything questionably legal today, download a GB/GBA emulator and find yourself a Motocross Maniacs 2 ROM.
Anyway, Joe Danger, from Hello Games (CUTEST LOGO EVER) sure made me feel a bit better in my cold medicine-induced haze.
You play a washed-up stunt man, looking to redeem yourself, probably to pay off a bookie or something, but they don't really get into that. You steez your way through races, collecting stars, punching opponents, and being a all-around badass.
Basically, if you have a PS3 go get this game. If you need additional motivation to go get it, some of the developers are former Criterion folks, and I love them. Burnout Paradise. That says it.
Who doesn't love Excitebike? Morons and people with tapioca for thumbs, that's who. Not to mention that Motocross Maniacs 1 and 2 are two of my favorite Game Boy and Game Boy Color games ever. If you do anything questionably legal today, download a GB/GBA emulator and find yourself a Motocross Maniacs 2 ROM.
Anyway, Joe Danger, from Hello Games (CUTEST LOGO EVER) sure made me feel a bit better in my cold medicine-induced haze.
You play a washed-up stunt man, looking to redeem yourself, probably to pay off a bookie or something, but they don't really get into that. You steez your way through races, collecting stars, punching opponents, and being a all-around badass.
Basically, if you have a PS3 go get this game. If you need additional motivation to go get it, some of the developers are former Criterion folks, and I love them. Burnout Paradise. That says it.
ModNation Racers
I picked up ModNation Racers for the PS3 (beware of lame auto-play music). It's kind of hard to resist a racing game that looks like two of my other favorite racing games, Mario Kart and TrackMania, bumped uglies and had a freaky lovechild.
You can create your own kart, player, and track, and share all of these with others. When I was online last night, someone had already uploaded a FLAWLESS Mario character, and a the A-Team van! It's only a matter of time before someone makes Laguna Seca or the Suzuka Circuit.
I built a track in about 5 minutes, just to see how everything worked, and it was great! It lets you get as granular as you would like for placing everything from scenery to boost strips, and also has a really sweet auto-fill feature that populates everything for you on a barebones track.
Oh and if you haven't played TrackMania Nations Forever, go get it right fucking now. It's here, on the right-hand side of the page. It's FREE, awesome, and easily one of the best PC racers out there. We used to play this after everyone was tired of getting destroyed in Quake 3 at after-office-hours LAN parties. How 1995 to 2005 is that? LAN party. Now we play with strangers on the internet and get called names. Anyway, TrackMania, great for adults, kids, you can play it with a controller, but it's great with the keyboard too.
Seriously, someone who is more talented and has more free time, needs to make Laguna. Now.
You can create your own kart, player, and track, and share all of these with others. When I was online last night, someone had already uploaded a FLAWLESS Mario character, and a the A-Team van! It's only a matter of time before someone makes Laguna Seca or the Suzuka Circuit.
I built a track in about 5 minutes, just to see how everything worked, and it was great! It lets you get as granular as you would like for placing everything from scenery to boost strips, and also has a really sweet auto-fill feature that populates everything for you on a barebones track.
Oh and if you haven't played TrackMania Nations Forever, go get it right fucking now. It's here, on the right-hand side of the page. It's FREE, awesome, and easily one of the best PC racers out there. We used to play this after everyone was tired of getting destroyed in Quake 3 at after-office-hours LAN parties. How 1995 to 2005 is that? LAN party. Now we play with strangers on the internet and get called names. Anyway, TrackMania, great for adults, kids, you can play it with a controller, but it's great with the keyboard too.
Seriously, someone who is more talented and has more free time, needs to make Laguna. Now.
Ginger Games of the Decade - Part 1 - Portal
Hello! As an introduction, I'll post up something I started writing at the turn of the year. I put together a list of my favorite games that were released from 2000 through the end of 2009, mailed it to a couple friends of mine, and asked for their lists back. I'll put my list up over a few posts to get things rolling. The platforms I list are the ones that I played the game on.
I present to you, the Ginger Games of the Decade (GGOTD)!
Portal - 2007 - PS3 and PC
I fell in love with this game in a matter of seconds; once I heard GLadDOS's glitched out voice I was in. The first time I played it was on a PC. I spent about 4 hours getting to the beginning of level 19, then went to bed. That night, I dreamt about the game, and in the morning I woke up and finished it. I could not stop thinking about how great this game was. In the next few weeks, I casually played through it again. The emotional connection was the same, the visceral hooked-in feeling was just as great as the first time through, and it's been that way each time after that.
A first-person shooter and puzzle game. Peanut butter and ham jelly. It's a simple combination but it is packaged and executed so well, that you can't help but to fall for it.
I love this game so much that I play through it at least once a year. I'm that annoying guy that tells anyone with thumbs that they NEED to play it. It's that good. I still have a hard time when people tell me that they haven't played this game; it doesn't compute in my little ginger mind. I guess it's kind of like the gaming equivelent of Guided By Voices; if you like it, you fucking love it, and if not, then it's just not on your radar.
If you haven't played it, give it a try. Anything that spawns this kind of rabid fan following and general craftiness can't be bad.
Oh, almost forgot, the cake is a lie.
I present to you, the Ginger Games of the Decade (GGOTD)!
Portal - 2007 - PS3 and PC
I fell in love with this game in a matter of seconds; once I heard GLadDOS's glitched out voice I was in. The first time I played it was on a PC. I spent about 4 hours getting to the beginning of level 19, then went to bed. That night, I dreamt about the game, and in the morning I woke up and finished it. I could not stop thinking about how great this game was. In the next few weeks, I casually played through it again. The emotional connection was the same, the visceral hooked-in feeling was just as great as the first time through, and it's been that way each time after that.
A first-person shooter and puzzle game. Peanut butter and ham jelly. It's a simple combination but it is packaged and executed so well, that you can't help but to fall for it.
I love this game so much that I play through it at least once a year. I'm that annoying guy that tells anyone with thumbs that they NEED to play it. It's that good. I still have a hard time when people tell me that they haven't played this game; it doesn't compute in my little ginger mind. I guess it's kind of like the gaming equivelent of Guided By Voices; if you like it, you fucking love it, and if not, then it's just not on your radar.
If you haven't played it, give it a try. Anything that spawns this kind of rabid fan following and general craftiness can't be bad.
Oh, almost forgot, the cake is a lie.
