BeefJack: How other superhero games can replicate Arkham City’s success

or What can other Superheroes learn Arkham City and Rise above the Dark Knight?

Yeah that was my title, I love it but it was way too long.

But here it is. The feature I may have been born to write.

Bonus blog paragraph. It was cut because it was really the same argument as the bit about Superman but from a slightly different angle.

Another example is Green Lantern who is only limited by his imagination, which works brilliantly in comics or in movies (his powers, not the movie itself you understand, that was tripe). In a game that is next to impossible to pull off though, he's limited to the objects the developers give him. In a team up game that is going be massively limited, but give a studio the time and resources to create a variety of animations and context sensitive creations and you're getting close to a cool sound Green Lantern game.

Back to the Singularity

I always meant to play Singularity. I remember seeing the trailer at one E3 and thinking “Yes! I want to play that!” Especially with it being Raven Software being behind it. I loved their early FPS but had forgotten about them in the deluge of X-Men games they did post Jedi Academy. Somehow though I lost track of it. It came out and I just never got round to it. When GAME had its financial woes near the start of the year I finally managed to get hold of a copy.

Singularity is one of those first person shooters that wears its Half-Life 2 and BioShock influences clearly on its sleeve. It even has a crazy device that takes inspiration from the gravity gun and bits of the story slowly unfolding by sound recordings scattered about the island. There's even a twist just like the “Would you kindly” that doesn't quite work as well. It wasn't helped that I'd guessed it already either.

Gemini Rue

Well I said I was going to, and having finished Gemini Rue, it was everything years of anticipation had built up Beneath a Steel Sky to be. It's sci-fi noir at it's finest. There's a grizzled cop, a shit ton of rain and criminals running the show. The only thing missing is the femme fatale.

I'm can't be bothered going into a full blown review, but it is a truly amazing adventure game, and noir as hell.  It was great to see a point and click adventure not relying on humour. I highly recommend you try it, but I'm going to the pub.

Whiskey, straight. And leave the bottle.

Beneath a Steel Sky

Beneath a Steel Sky was one of those games that I've meant to play since I was a kid. From the age of twelve or something. This past weekend I was in a bit of a retro gaming mood and GOG.com have it available for free, seemed like a perfect time to address that nearly twenty year old hole. Especially after finding out that Dave Gibbons worked on it and that he'll soon teaming up with Revolution for a new game.

Despite my urge to play Beneath a Steel Sky, I didn't actually know much about it. Just that it's an adventure game set in a dystopian future, quite a bit cyberpunk, you're on the run and the main character is a guy in a black trenchcoat, of course. All true, but that little knowledge and the title formed a succinct image in my head. I dreamed of a gritty, noir, almost Blade Runner-like adventure. Well that couldn't have been more wrong.

BeefJack: Penny Arcade 3 Review

My latest review is up at BeefJack. Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness Episode 3. Apart from the ridiculously long title what is there to say? Well that's what the review's for.

The blog only behind the scenes gumf for this one was that I actually played the game so much over the weekend I forgot half what I had to write. Luckily Mr Pickard hadn't published it when I picked it up again yesterday and reminded myself of them. I popped back in and review was improved no end.