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Astro Boy for the GBA and my Gamer Roots

Let me start by saying that I have always liked videogames. Ever since I had my first console, an Atari 2600 (really dated myself there), and going through the NES, SNES, Gameboy, Gameboy Advanced, Gamecube and DS, I’ve always played videogames. Lately, however, because of work and the university, I don’t really have time to sit down and spend the amount of time required to play and finish a game. This past week, however, an “old-school” game got me hooked again. Since this game is now a bit old now and not that well-known, I decided to write a mini-review.

Since I am currently on the road for a month or so, I started looking for a game for the Nintendo DS with which to kill some time. I didn’t really want an RPG, since I still don’t have time to invest(waste?) in a long game, so I would probably never finish it. Some time ago I played New Super Mario Bros., so I started looking for a platformer or something along that vein. Given its good ratings and who developed it, I ended up picking up Astroboy: The Omega Factor for the GBA from a bargain bin, thinking that even if I didn’t like it, ~$10 for a couple of hours of entertainment wasn’t that bad. Was it any good? Let’s just say I just started playing the game a third time, now on hard difficulty:

This has to be one of the most addictive games games I’ve played in a long time. I love a good shoot’em up (the Gradius/R-Type-kind, not First Person Shooters), and this game combines shooter mechanics with beat’em up gameplay, plus a little bit of strategy (figuring out the best order for leveling up Astroboy’s different skills) and adventure (backtracking to get clues and talking to characters to open new stages and advance the plot). It is also I think the first game that makes you go through the game again in order to win it, AND you do so happily because of the story and how the game changes to take into account the reasons why you’re going through it again (unlike The Legend of Zelda’s Second Quest or Ghouls’n Ghosts, to cite two well-known examples). And, for us completionists, there’s a bunch of hidden characters you need to find to get all possible upgrades (great for my OCD). And the game is fairly short – takes just a few hours to beat it.

Now, on this third run (or fifth, depending if how you count :D), I have to admit that on hard difficulty, this game really is frackin’ hard. Still, I think I’ll probably end up beating it, even if it takes me a couple of weeks of playing the same level over and over. After all, this comes from someone stubborn enough to beat Ikaruga (on normal difficulty, though) without throwing the Gamecube controller at the TV. Yes, I guess I’m a masochist at times.

Next up I’ll probably pick up another Treasure GBA Game, Gunstar Super Heroes.

Sam & Max are back!

A while back I commented on the news that Sam & Max were making a comeback. Well, the first episode in the new saga is here - you can read the details on the Sam & Max GameTap webpage. The first episode is titled Sam and Max - Culture Shock, and the idea behind these games is to release periodic episodes that advance the story line. From the website:

…The press calls it “gaming’s first sitcom,” we call it the world’s first truly episodic game. Sam & Max: Season 1 is comprised of six self-contained game episodes that are tied together by a larger mystery that will emerge as the season builds to a climax. You can play the episodes in any order you want, but you’ll appreciate the full story more if you start with Episode 1 and solve them in chronological order…

These are PC-only, unfortunately, but I may end up trying them out once I fix my house PC.

Check them out!
You can also catch Slashdot’s review here.

Sam & Max are back! Who knew? More importantly, who cares?

Sam: Percent sign, ampersand, dollar sign.
Max: And colon, semicolon too!
Psychic: What are you [bleep]ing doing?
Sam: Swearing in longhand, asterisk-mouth.

That quote is from Sam & Max Hit the Road, one of the funniest, wittiest games I’ve ever played. It is an old adventure game from LucasArts in the vein of Day of the Tentacle or Grim Fandango. It was released in 1993, and follows the adventures of two detectives: Sam, the dog, and Max, his rabbit-like partner.
The thing about the game is that the interaction and chemistry between Sam and Max is just hilarious. I remember the adventure to be incredibly tough, but you still laughed out loud at the stupid things they say, specially Max’s wit:

Sam: [studying an Animatronic mammoth] I’ve seen hair like this somewhere before.
Max: Your butt?

Today I read the news that Sam & Max Episode 1: Culture Shock will be released in October. This game has been in development for close to FOREVER, so it is great news that they will finally release it. There was going to be a sequel in 1997, but it was canned - they can say whatever they want, but the reason was that it wasn’t a 3D FPS, the only type of game being developed then. When I heard these news I was like Max on the Jungle Inn:

Sam: I have this sudden craving for an umbrella drink.
Evelyn Morrison: Evelyn Morrison’s Jungle Inn has the greatest umbrella drinks in the world, with over two hundred and thirty-seven kinds of rum.
Max: All in just ONE drink? Which way to the bar!
Sam: Take it easy, Max; you don’t even drink.
Max: Oh, yeah. The toucan must’ve put words into my mouth.

BTW, this is the debut of the new Games category. Looks like shortly I’ll have more categories than posts. And yes, the title is also a quote from S&M….