Thursday, May 30, 2013

BeefJack: Leisure Suit Larry Reloaded Preview

Despite being a big Point and Click fan, I never really got Leisure Suit Larry. Sure as a teenager it was something to giggle at, and play off your over-active hormones. It always fell into the same category as Lula, except the Germans would go way further than Sierra ever would. So how did it come to be regarded as one of the Point and Click big franchises? Either way, it managed its Kickstarter funding, and I got to preview it.

Leisure Suit Larry Reloaded Preview

Writing this as a preview was a bit odd. I was given a full copy of the game, though admittedly with a few bugs still running around. That said, looking at the Kickstarter, creator Al Lowe was ready to release this version, but others decided to squish those bugs first. None of them really got in the way, there were some weird graphical glitches here and there, but only one was really distracting. Either way, we're told Preview, so this is a preview, even if I really approached it as a review.

Monday, May 20, 2013

BeefJack: Resident Evil Revelations review

This was a bit of a quick turn around for a review. I got the game last last week, and the embargo was first thing this morning, so a draft had to be in last night. Unfortunately that's resulted in some last minute edits without my say so. Some work, some don't so much. But that's the nature of a quick turn around.

Either way though, Resident Evil Revelations seriously impressed me. I was a bit hesitant about about Capcom saying the sales of this would dictate the future of the franchise - I mean how much can a port of a 3DS game really do? Turns out quite a lot.

Resident Evil Revelations review

If you want Resi to return to something more like 4 and those that came before it, I urge you to give Revelations a try. You won't be disappointed.

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Star Trek Into Darkness - Out of Lens Flare

It's hardly a secret that since Christmas I've dived back into Star Trek, mostly the 24th Century adventures of The Next Generation, New Frontier and Voyager. But like a lot of lapsed fans my return to this franchise was mostly down to JJ Abrams and his reboot in 2009. Now his sequel is out.

Like many a Star Trek before me, and no doubt countless afterwards, I'll say that Into Darkness is a great science fiction action film that just happens to be Star Trek. From this point forward Spoilers Ahoy!

Sunday, May 12, 2013

Mark of the Ninja

I've been meaning to play a Klei Entertainment game for a while. I played the demo of the original Shank and was blown away by the animation and art, and the side scrolling beat-em up was pretty damn fun. But I revisited it to show a friend how awesome it was a few days later and was incredibly disappointed by how little fun had retained for a second playthrough.

Every time the Shanks came up for sale on XBLA I've thought about slapping down the Points for them, but just never enough to actually get them. Then Mark of the Ninja came along. I'll admit I didn't even realise it was Klei for a very long time, well after release. It intrigued me, especially with its art style (which the fact I didn't realise it was Klei makes me look even more stupid). But it was BeefJack's own Anthony Shelton that really got me to pay attention.

While the rest of us were harping on about how good The Walking Dead and XCOM: Enemy Unknown were, Ant declared Mark of the Ninja his 2012 Game of the Year, and he's not far off the mark.

Saturday, May 04, 2013

Supernatural - Life after Death

Supernatural should have finished at the end of its fifth season. It end with a hell of a lot of finality, and wrapped up everything that had happened, hinted at or ever talked about. You can't get much bigger than the end of the world. Not just your every day thermo-nuclear war apocalypse either, but End of Days, Heaven vs. Hell. Judgement Day without Arnie.

But Supernatural's ratings were too good, so CW commission a sixth season. But the show's creator, Eric Kripke was done, his five year story was told. So we got a new showrunner and everyone said Supernatural should have finished at the end of its fifth season. Until now that is.