Hey, dudes! Guess what I just got on my iPhone! The Sega Genesis classic RPG Shining Force! It’s perfect timing, too, because I’ve been looking for an RPG game to get all day, and — well, shoot — this game’s been out for the better half of the day, hasn’t it?

Most likely I won’t have this game beat for a while, but I’ll let you know how it is after a few days of playing. I never did play the original game on the Genesis, but I played a lot of Genesis games so I have the experience to review it.

Wish me luck!

We recorded so much, it had to be split into three levels. Stay tuned for Levels Two and Three, coming soon!

In .1 Nicholas, Chris, Jon, and Jay discuss the film of the week, Inception. They cover Christopher Nolan, discuss the ending, and Nicholas gives us the movie as a metaphor for film theory.

In .2 the quartet begin with the film’s chances at an Oscar, and continue on with more on the director and cast. There are a whole bunch of tangents, including video games, and summer films in general.

In .3 is full of deleted scenes. More on Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, summer films, and we — for some reason — talk about M. Night Shyamalan. Mostly unrelated to Inception, you can safely skip this.

Follow each of us on Twitter: a12m | jay | chris | nick | jon

(more…)

We recorded so much, it had to be split into three levels. Stay tuned for Levels Two and Three, coming soon!

In .1 Nikolas, Chris, Jon, and Jay discuss the film of the week, Inception. They cover Christopher Nolan, discuss the ending, and Nikolas gives us the movie as a metaphor for film theory.

In .2 the quartet begin with the film’s chances at an Oscar, and continue on with more on the director and cast. There are a whole bunch of tangents, including video games, and summer films in general.

In .3 is full of deleted scenes. More on Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, summer films, and we — for some reason — talk about M. Night Shyamalan. Mostly unrelated to Inception, you can safely skip this.

Follow each of us on Twitter: about12minutes | jay | chris | nikolas | jon

(more…)

So StarCraft II is finally here. If you didn’t get the Collectors Edition, here is what you missed out on.

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty Poster

The Unopened Box

The Seal Cracked

The Magic Disc

Cinematics and How the Magic Came to Be

The Music

The Tags of a Hero

The StarCraft Funny Pages

Big Bertha's Big Ass Art Book

Limbo, when viewed on the surface, seems like a very simplistic game. After all it is a platformer that is displayed in black and white, contains just three actions the protagonist can perform at the behest of the player and contains virtually no narrative. But if one were to only view Limbo on the surface they would be missing an awful lot.

What they would be missing is a beautiful game that takes players on a journey through a hellish, yet fantastical world that leaves nearly everything open to interpretation. Upon starting the game players are immediately thrust into action forcing the boy to begin his adventure in the unknown and haunting world. The world of Limbo is a dangerous place, filled with enormous spiders, murderous beings and enough demented machinery to make Jigsaw smile in admiration.

The game gives no context for why the boy is in this twisted reality and there is no reason for it as the game does a fantastic job of making you want to see what awaits him next. The goal is not the purpose in Limbo, it is the journey and while that may sound pretentious, its not. Limbo is presented in such a way that it has stripped away the narrative reasoning for the player to be in the world, all that matters is the gameplay.

Of course this artistic approach that Limbo has taken would not succeed if the game did not feature excellent gameplay. Once again by stripping away extraneous details and limiting the player to only movement, jumping and an interaction button, the game is able to refine and focus itself. The platforming is spot on and all the puzzles work and have logical solutions. The game does rely heavily on trial and error but it never stretches into the realm of frustrating because of it. On many levels if plays like a classic. But where it really feels like a gem from a bygone era is in its visual style.

Developer Playdead decided to craft the game in black and white and, much like it is with film, this will be a turn of for some, however the visual style is what carries the emotional weight of the game and Limbo, as simple as it seems on the surface, is a heavy game. The world displayed as it is, is quite ominous. It is a dangerous world portrayed even more so because of the lack of color. Limbo would not be anywhere near as successful at accomplishing what it does if it had been in color.

Accentuating the ominous feel of the game world is the lack of a soundtrack used in the traditional manner. There is no rousing score to accompany the amazing feats performed by the boy instead only the ambient noises of the world, which helps to create a purely creepy atmosphere.

While the look and sound of the game help to immerse the player into the world of Limbo the game presents itself in such a way that it is almost impossible to not be immersed in the gameplay. Limbo presents itself as a continuous experience. The game never takes a break, it is always pushing the player forward by not lending itself to a set stopping point. The approach had me on the edge of my seat.

Everything in Limbo comes together to deliver something special. It is a game that pushes the boundaries of games as art and that is the difference between Limbo and other recent game releases. But much like its art style, Limbo is going to be a polarizing game. On one hand the game is going to criticized by many for its short length (three to five hours) and for its price point of 1200 Microsoft Points. For me personally, after having played it, I would gladly have spent $60 on it. However I can see where people would be apprehensive about it because $15 for an independent release in an old school genre is somewhat daunting. For me I can’t recommend the title enough, its one of the best of the year, not just as a downloadable game but as a game in general.

5 out of 5.

Super Mario Galaxy was one of the most critically acclaimed titles to grace the Wii console, it was accepted by the fans having sold over eight million copies worldwide, and has won many awards and accolades since its release, including being called the Nintendo Game of the Decade by Nintendo Power. Following up such a title is an unenviable task but it was the challenge set before Nintendo and they have delivered Super Mario Galaxy 2.

On first glance, Galaxy 2 looks to be a rehash of the original Galaxy. Anyone who has ever played a core Mario title in the past twenty plus years knows the drill. Peach has been kidnapped by Bowser and it is left up to Mario to save the day. In Galaxy 2, Mario is tasked with traversing the heavens chasing after the evil Bowser, collecting stars along the way to help fuel his exploration.

Much like the first game, the premise of traversing the heavens opens up the ability to have a variety of different themed levels. Galaxy 2 takes this premise to the extreme becoming much more than just a simple rehash of the original by offering some of the most diverse and original levels for platforming ever created. In addition to the wondrous levels Galaxy 2 offers up some new features to help the game from feeling too much like its predecessor. Rock Suit Mario and Cloud Suit Mario join the standard suits in helping Mario to traverse the levels and battle his enemies but the biggest addition is the inclusion of Mario’s dinosaur pal, Yoshi.

With Yoshi joining the fray it allows for a whole new approach to the established Galaxy formula. While I never have, and still don’t, enjoy Yoshi all that much his inclusion, while initially jarring, is a welcome pace changer. Yoshi, and any of the abilities actually, is never overused. It is all wonderfully positioned creating a great sense of pace to the game.

The platforming is the best the series has ever seen and while most of this is due to the imaginative level designs some of it can be attributed to the refined control system. The camera, one of the biggest issues with the original game, never feels out of place and as such more precise jumping is capable. But this doesn’t make the game any easier than Galaxy, if anything Galaxy 2 is more challenging. While I only struggled on a handful of levels there is a noticeable sense of difficulty to many of the levels and the final 10 stars needed to challenge Bowser were some of the most frustrating and rewarding moments I have ever had in gaming.

I do take issue with one aspect of the control though and fortunately it is not something that is recurring throughout many of the levels. A couple of the galaxies require the exclusive use of motion controls, be it to fly Mario through a level or drive him on a giant ball, but like many games that utilize motion control on the system, the control ends up being loose and not entirely intuitive. The levels I became frustrated the most with were the ones that required precise motion control and were timed, if it weren’t for these arguable errors in design judgment, Galaxy 2 would be very near a perfect game for me.

One of the biggest complaints leveled at Wii games is that they do not match up graphically to games featured on its high definition competition. Super Mario Galaxy 2 shoves that argument down its detractors throats as it is one of the best looking games of this generation, not just on the Wii but on any system. Galaxy 2 relies heavily on its cartoony art style but it is that art style that enables it to look so good. It truly is like a cartoon come to life. The music is equally phenomenal featuring a stellar mix of new themes and remixed classic ones. The music in Galaxy 2 perfectly compliments the whimsical nature of the title and is some of the best ever produced by Nintendo.

All of these praises though are hinged on technical aspects though and it is true that the game is a technical marvel but its true magnificence comes from its ability to take a simple game and have it accomplish the complex goal of being amazingly fun and appropriate for all ages. It is something more than what is generally offered up by gaming companies now a days, a sequel that does more than just revisit old ideas. Galaxy 2 refines old ideas, offers up plenty of new ones and delivers a magical ride unlike any other this year, or in recent years. Super Mario Galaxy 2 is something special, quite possibly the most special game delivered this generation, and most certainly one of the best games of this year.

5 out of 5

Over the weekend, I turned on my iPhone and pointed it at me, and then watched the trailer for next month’s great thriller Piranha 3D.

I didn’t really want to bring this to you, but Chris mentions it in the second layer of this weekend’s episode, and I thought maybe it’s worth watching.

Watch the trailer for yourself!

The new charity event deciding the fate of Clayton Carmine being run by Epic Games has the look and feel of an event from the dark past of DC Comics. In 1988 the home of Batman put to the fate of the current boy wonder, Jason Todd, in the hands of their readers by holding a telephone poll to determine if Todd would die at the hands of the Joker or not and as anybody who has read comics knows, Todd was killed off. History often repeats itself and I fully expect Clayton to join his brothers Benjamin and Anthony as fertilizer but if you had it in your mind that maybe you should vote to save Clayton I have some points you might want to take into consideration before you get yourself filled with false heroic pride for saving an tertiary character in a video game.

Point One. The Carmines are the public service announcements of the Gears universe. With so much of the infrastructure having been destroyed between the hammer blasts that left Jacinto as the only major human settlement left on the Sera to destruction of that settlement, things need to be spelled out through action in this world, it is the only way to learn. Everyone has a purpose and Benjamin and Anthony served theirs. Clayton needs to reiterate why Gears should not wear helmets. If he lives it undermines the lessons taught by Benjamin and Anthony and taints their legacy.

Point Two. The Carmines are tertiary characters. They are throw away characters that have a purpose and live only to serve it. Like Ensign Ricky in Star Trek, the Carmines fate is to die in some horrible fashion. They don’t have a purpose other than that. They will never actually belong in Delta and just get in the way. Without death their lives are meaningless. If Carmine lives through the events of Gears of War he will be lost, most likely become a Stranded and survive by eating malnourished cats. Ask yourself, would you rather go out serving your purpose in life or die a lesion riddled middle aged man who has survived on cats that eat poop?

Point Three. Gears is Marcus and Dom’s story and by relation Cole, Baird, Hoffman and Anya’s. While Gears has never been a plot heavy game, there are a lot of answers that need to be revealed. Throwing Clayton out there as some sort of Saving Private Ryan character is wrong in two manners. For starters such a premise would require everyone giving the writers of Gears more credit than they deserve. Secondly what are we saving Clayton from? His family is dead. Marcus has the love of the only woman left in the Gears universe worth pro-creating with and so Clayton has nothing to live for anyway. If he doesn’t die in Gears 3, he may very well just off himself anyway and why go to the trouble of “saving” him if he is only going to turn around and rain on your parade anyway. Save yourself the trouble and help him on his way.

Point Four. The Carmine brothers are an emotional lightning rod. Their deaths help to give Marcus purpose. Marcus needs the Carmine’s to die because it is the fuel that pushes him onwards. He takes their deaths, tosses them onto his back (running like a slouch because of it) and trundles on towards the inevitable defeat of all that is wrong with Sera. But why the Carmine’s you ask? Why do these boys deserve to suffer after suffering so much already? Benjamin Carmine was a professional bowler before taking up the helmet and becoming a martyr. Anthony Carmine was a flamenco dancer before taking up the helmet and fulfilling his destiny. Clayton Carmine once dreamed of breeding chocobos but that will never come to pass because Sera can no longer support chocobos. No matter how much Clayton dreams of breeding the golden chocobo it will never happen but if he dies as his astrological signs have foretold, maybe one day a little boy with no malice in his heart will be able to bring the chocobo population back to Sera. But without Clayton dying to give Marcus the fuel he needs, Sera will never be safe.

Point Five. Its always fun to do something evil but generally you have to live with the guilt of having done that evil thing. Epic is making it very easy for you to help Clayton to the afterlife by saying, “Go Ahead. Kill Him. You’ve already made a donation to a good cause anyway so go one have your fun.”

I don’t know Clayton Carmine. I’m sure he is a nice guy but his time on the planet of Sera has come to an end. To keep the world on its proper axis, to stop the world from spinning horribly out of control, to stop the locust and/or the lambent for taking over, Clayton Carmine needs to die. I trust you to make the right decision and vote for his death.

The World Cup has finished, Spain has declared supremacy for the next four years and if you are anything like me you are going through some serious international soccer withdrawal. Fortunately there is a cure for the twitches and it is in the form of EA Sports’ 2010 FIFA World Cup: South Africa.

Offering nearly everything that FIFA 10 did but instead of focusing on club soccer and the world’s best leagues, World Cup: South Africa shifts to the international qualification process and the grand tournament itself. This is the best soccer game available at the moment for those looking to play with their favorite international side.

The last few years have been very successful for EA Sports as they have transformed the FIFA series from a good soccer game into a great one. The primary reason for this is because of the realistic physics of the ball. In past FIFA games the ball always felt a little off but they really nailed the feel of the pitch with FIFA 10 and by relation World Cup: South Africa. Whereas in past titles the ball kind of felt like a fast moving rock, through balls have a zip to them, touch passes have actual touch to them and shots can be fine tuned to either float or drive towards the net.

With the ball being as good as it is the rest of the game flows right in line. Making runs is as easy as finding a lane and putting the ball where you want it. Of course actually doing so against the improved AI is another matter entirely. With nearly 200 international sides to play as or against there is a wealth of strategies that can be employed both by the player or against the player. Depending upon which country is chosen to be played the game can be ultra fast or deliberately paced. It will certainly keep players on their toes.

The primary game mode is the World Cup and players can jump right in guiding their side of choice to international glory or failure either through a rigorous qualifying process or jumping directly into the tournament itself. It is a deep mode that offers plenty of gameplay but for those looking for a more personalized take, the Captain Your Country mode offers up the chance to start as an entry level player on your international squad and guide him through the qualifying process to the World Cup.

Captain Your Country is a fantastically realized mode that offers a lengthy “career” for the created player. As great as it is though the seemingly arbitrary grading process seems mildly broken and in my experience rewarded AI players more generously for their efforts and graded my player far more harshly despite my player doing more both offensively and defensively. It also over-accentuates offensive contributions and playing as a midfielder or defender is somewhat less rewarding despite those positions being very vital to the framework of a match.

The game also has the requisite online modes and while it offers a quick play option for matches there is a fully realized online World Cup mode where opponents are determined by the online matchmaking system but standings are held locally on the users machine. This system eliminates the need to organize elaborate setups to hold a tournament and there is never a fear of having to make a match at a certain time because there is no schedule to uphold. The game also has the requisite penalty shot mode, which takes a little getting used to control wise but can offer some great fun once players get the hang of it.

Graphically World Cup: South Africa looks excellent and while a lot assets from the game are re-purposed from FIFA 10, there are just enough fresh touches, including all 10 South African soccer stadiums, that make this the best looking FIFA title to date. If there were to be a complaint about the presentation of the title though it would have to fall on the announcers and overall sound design. The team of Clive Tilsley and Andy Townsend are serviceable but like many sports games suffer from the same issues that every television style commentary system in a sports game runs into, that being they eventually get tiresome with their canned responses and horrid attempts at humor. The match itself sounds fine, with crowd noise appropriately filling the background but being as it was such a stalwart of the tournament, the angry swarm of bees sounding vuvuzela is noticeably absent or at least underused in the game. But as a criticism, that is truly picking at nits.

Yes, World Cup: South Africa came out before the tournament began but for those looking to stay in the World Cup mood a little longer and to impatient to wait until FIFA 11, now is the perfect time to jump in and play. On release the game retailed for the standard $60 but now that the tournament is over many retail outlets are discounting the game and it can be easily had for $40 or less at this point. Its a great sports title that will keep fans of the sport entertained for quite some time.

4 out of 5.

I know. I said I’d tell you about it months ago. Well, I still haven’t beaten it, and I removed it from my old phone pending receipt of the iPhone 4. The farthest I got on the old phone was a barber shop quartet of bears that sang you to death.

Anyway, now that I have it on the iPhone 4 the game is about ten times better! Crisp, clear animation, heart-pounding gameplay, and I STILL DONT’ KNOW WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!

All I know is, in the beginning Oliver (above) is riding a wagon pulled by unicorns, but then the wheel snaps, the unicorns panick, the wagon flips, the unicorns SOMEHOW DECAPITATE THEMSELVES, and this bear is left to fend for himself as hordes of furry pink teddy bears rush at him to seal his fate.

The controls are so easy to figure out.  You put your finger on the cross-hair, you drag it around to aim, and while dragging it around, your other finger taps elsewhere on the screen to fire. Knock heads off, RAINBOWS POUR OUT OF THE ORAFICE.

FUCKING. RAINBOWS.

This game is too awesome for words.

The game is 99¢ in the App Store, and at the moment, so is its prequel, Battle Bears -1. Get both of these games and your day is basically gone.

Trailers, so you know what you’re getting yourself into:

Battle Bears -1 | Battle Bears: Zombies