Let’s Play No More Heroes: Heroes Paradise September 9, 2011

No More Heroes is my favorite game for the Nintendo Wii.  Based on the recommendation of my friend Twitch, I picked the game up just after I bought a Wii (when it was just making it into the bargain bin).  The game itself was a fun romp with good use of the wiimote controller, good art direction and gameplay, and an interesting adult story.

The game did not do well initially.  The last thing I mentioned in the last paragraph was “an interesting adult story,” and many critics believe that the wii’s audience just does not accept games directed towards core adult gamers, and the audience the game was seeking for would own either a PS3 or Xbox 360.

The game follows an Otaku who meets a bombshell one night at a bar and offers him the chance to join a league of assassins.  Armed with his beam katana (which is basically a lightsaber), he and the player sets out to be the best assassin and make it to the top.

With the release of the Playstation Move controller, a controller very similar in control scheme to the wiimote, Konami has brought an HD version No More Heroes to the PS3 in the States with full Move support, called No More Heroes: Heroes Paradise.

The demo is out on Playstation Network, so Maniac dusts off his Move Wand (which hasn’t gotten use since Dead Space Extraction was released) and gives a go at the demo, which covers the very first ranking battle.  Like with all my previous lets plays, I take a look at it in glorious HD and see just how it plays in comparison to the original Wii version, as well as talk about my history with the series, and some series tidbits.

Let’s Play God of War Origins Collection Demo September 7, 2011

My first God of War memory falls five years ago, when I saw the demo for the first God of War game on a Playstation 2 demo unit in my local CompUSA. For years, I’d make a trek to that store for cases of Bawls and cheap software, and it would remain the only game included in that demo unit. I thought the game looked fantastic for a PS2 game, but knew nothing about it, its origins, or it’s eccentric creator.

Not too long later, my friend Twitch, who I recently got an SNES working with, told me he had this brand new console game for his Playstation 2, and since I didn’t have one myself, I just had to see it for myself. What Twitch showed me blew me out of my chair. The game looked phenominal. The opening hydra battle was one of the most exciting gameplay sequences I had seen of the previous console generation, and Twitch really knew how to sell it to me by showing it on his new HDTV with his surround receiver. It was loud, fast paced, intuitive, and exciting. I had to have this game.

Later that year I bought a Playstation 2 for my birthday. For Christmas 2005, I got the very first God of War game as a gift. I played it the entire holiday and enjoyed it tremendously.

Two full sequels have been released for the game. One for the PS2 in 2007, which was the final first party Sony game for that platform, and one for the Playstation 3 in 2010, which has become one of the highest rated games for that platform. Two side stories were also released for the Playstation Portable. God of War: Chains of Olympus, which was released after God of War 2 and took place before the events of God of War. The other was God of War: Ghost of Sparta which released after God of War 3 and took place between the events of God of War and God of War 2.

God of War fans have wanted these portable games on the major console platform since Chains of Olympus was released, and now they’re finally coming. This week, the demo for the game has been released to all Playstation Network users, and I take some time off from my Metroid Prime run to play it.

God of War: Origins Collection is coming September 13th, 2011 exclusive to the Playstation 3. Howver, you can still buy God of War: Chains of Olympus and God of War: Ghost of Sparta for the Playstation Portable.

Lets Play Catherine Demo July 20, 2011

I’m the least likely person that you’d want to have talking about a game which at it’s heart seems to be about having a complex relationship with someone else.  But that’s not going to stop me from doing this Let’s Play of the Catherine Demo!

Catherine is a quirky game which is kind of a mix between a social status game and an addictive puzzle game.  The demo, which released for the Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3 last week, gives a good taste of what’s in store, and makes some promises about what we get to see in the final version of the game, although we don’t get to see the consequences of our choices in the demo itself, which was my only complaint.

Apologies in advance for the low audio during certain dialog scenes (that’s why I kept in the subtitles), for some reason when the game switched over to 5.1 audio during in-game dialog sequences, the audio level dropped from the 2D animated segments, and there was no option in game to alter the volume levels.

Catherine is coming July 26th, 2011 for the Xbox 360 and the PS3.  There’s also going to be a Collector’s Edition for either platform, called the “Love is Over” Edition.  Preorders of the game at participating retailers will get you an artbook and soundtrack bundle seperatly, or bundled inside the “Love is Over” CE.