On the Download: Harley Quinn's Revenge Review

For this edition of On the Download, I want to do something different.  Instead of highlighting the biggest downloads of the week, I am going to review the biggest download of the week as I picked up the Harley Quinn's Revenge DLC for Batman: Arkham City and subsequently beat it.  I thought long and hard about how I would rate DLC as this will be my first review of any DLC whatsoever.  If I would rate it on the number scale or a completely different more simple scale like thumbs up or thumbs down approval rating.  After debating it long and hard, I came to the consensus that I will be reviewing all DLC like I review games on a scale out of 10.   Without any further ado, let us get to my first DLC review.

Harley Quinn’s Revenge serves as an epilogue for Batman:  Arkham City.  It is a standalone adventure that allows players to experience the aftermath of Arkham City’s incredible and controversial climax.  Harley Quinn’s Revenge is an excuse to play more Batman: Arkham City, which is always a good thing, but at the end of this two hour story mission you are left with a little more to be desired.

Set a couple weeks after the events of Batman: Arkham City, Harley Quinn has escaped the psychiatric ward of Arkham and has kidnapped a few Gotham City Policemen as well.  Batman returns to Joker’s steel mill in Arkham City to save the kidnapped policemen only to be trapped by the rather insane Harley Quinn.  Now it is up to Robin to infiltrate Harley’s secret base in order to save Gotham’s Dark Knight from the clutches of Joker’s insane girlfriend.

Harley Quinn’s Revenge features the same incredible gameplay featured in Batman: Arkham City.  The biggest addition comes from being able to play as Robin.  Robin plays a little differently than both Batman and Catwoman.  Robin has a bo staff, which he uses for combat, and other unique gadgets such as the Snap Flash and Shield.  If you did not pick up the Robin Challenge Map DLC, it will take little bit of time to get used to how Robin plays.  After a little time, Robin is just as satisfying to play as Batman and Catwoman are.  You play as Robin for the majority of Harley Quinn’s Revenge, but at two points you will be able to take control of the Dark Knight himself.

The main pull in Harley Quinn’s Revenge is the story.  With great acting and fun moments, there are glimpses of the greatness found in Arkham City’s story, but Harley Quinn’s Revenge ultimately falls a little short.  There are some nice hints at Batman facing some depression and who Batman really carried out of the opera house at the end of Arkham City, but nothing more.  Personally it felt like a missed opportunity as I believed this DLC will be the bridge between Arkham City and Rocksteady’s next Batman game.  Also not being able to freely roam Arkham City as Robin after beating Harley Quinn’s Revenge feels like another missed opportunity that could have added more lasting value to this piece of DLC.

Everything established in Batman: Arkham City such as the excellent environment, atmosphere, puzzles and combat, all carryover to Harley Quinn’s Revenge.  At the end of the day, it does feel like Rocksteady could have done a little more to take Harley Quinn’s Revenge from good to an incredible addition to Arkham City.  For what it is worth, Harley Quinn’s Revenge is good two hour, possibly three if you search for all the hidden balloons, romp back into Arkham City.  There is just enough content here to justify the 10 dollar price.  Harley Quinn’s Revenge is a worthy adventure for those who love Arkham City.

Hump Day Music: Dance of the Holy Man

The Castlevania series is no stranger to Hump Day Music.  Konami's venerable vampire whipping platforming franchise has an incredible amount of amazing and iconic pieces of video game music.  From Bloody Tears, which I highlighted earlier in the year, all the way to Vampire Killer, great music and Castlevania go hand-in-hand.  Today, I would like to highlight a track that first debuted in Super Castlevania IV and serves as the theme to the most recognizable character in the Castlevania series, Simon Belmont.  In honour of Simon appearing in the recently announced Castlevania: Lords of Shadow- Mirror of Fate for the 3DS, today I highlight Dance of the Holy Man.

Dance of the Holy Man is easily recognizable by many as Simon's theme.  Once you hear it, you immediately think of the first Belmont to take up arms against the evil of Dracula.  Dance of the Holy Man is very infectious.  After listening it only once, it gets stuck in your head and you will even start humming it from time to time as I do on a semi-regular basis.  My favourite version of Dance of the Holy Man is the incredible orchestrated version from Castlevania Chronicles for the PS1, but I do enjoy all the other versions of the song that have popped up from time to time in other Castlevania games.  Personally there is a special place in my heart for the original piece from Super Castlevania IV.  Instead of showcasing just one version of the song, I will share the each one in this video I found on Youtube that collects each version of Dance of the Holy Man in one 9 minute video.  Enjoy.

Launch Station: Resistance: Burning Skies

The PlayStation Vita seems to be in a drop spot at the moment.  Since it launched in February, few games have released for the system.  It is a horrible drought of games for a handheld that really needs all the support it can get.  While no game journalist or Sony fan will admit, it is quite possibly worse than the 3DS drought last spring.  Sony hopes to give Vita owners some relief with the newly released Resistance: Burning Skies.

Resistance: Burning Skies takes place in between the events of Resistance: Fall of Man and Resistance 2. The Chimera have just begun their invasion of the US.  You play as New Jersey firefighter, Tom Riley as he fights off the Chimera invaders in order to rescue his family caught in the middle of the invasion.  Resistance: Burning Skies is the first FPS to be released for the PlayStation Vita so this game has a lot to prove as it is the benchmark for all Vita FPS's to come after it.  With the dual analog sticks, Resistance: Burning Skies exactly like the PS3 entires in the Resistance series.  As Burning Skies is made for the Vita, it features touch controls that handle other actions such as throwing a grenade or using a weapons' secondary fire.  Burning Skies also features the return of a series stable, the weapon wheel, which was absent in the last few games in the series.  Along with the single-player campaign, Resistance: Burning Skies has 8-player competitive multi-player, which includes six maps and three modes, Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and Survival.

From what I have seen and read about Resistance: Burning Skies, it looks like a serviceable FPS for the Vita.  It is a must-buy for FPS fanatics and Resistance fans that own Sony's game deprived handheld.  For any other Vita owner, it is easier to save your money for hopefully better Vita games that should be coming later this year.

E3 2012: One Week Away

The Electronic Entertainment Expo, E3 for short, is an annual trade show held by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) as a showcase of the biggest and best of the gaming industry.  E3 is normally held the first week of June at the Los Angeles Convention in Downtown Los Angeles, California.  It is the one week of the year when gamers, game journalists and stockholders all center their attention at one place, one location for the biggest news and most surprising reveals.  It is like Christmas for gamers as their are hundreds of games all being showed off for our attention.  With how E3 has exploded in popularity over the past six years, there is now a lot of ways to find out all the news, watch all the gameplay footage being showed off, even watch all the big press conferences live.  The more I talk about E3, the more excited I get.  It should and will be one incredible week to be a gamer.

Being only one week away, the anticipation for the biggest event of the gaming year is incredibly huge.  I personally booked Monday and Tuesday off work in order to watch all the press conferences.  On top of that, a lot of my free time will be spent constantly checking sites like IGN and Screwattack for the latest news and impressions, watching a lot of gameplay footage and trailers and watching the live streams from the show floor. Which leads into my next topic of what will going on next week here on Silver Bit, which goes into E3 mode.  Monday and Tuesday, I will be sharing my impressions on each and every conference from the Microsoft press conference all the way to the Nintendo press conference.  Wednesday and Thursday will be back to the regular schedule of Hump Day Music and On the Download.  Friday I will post Bit by Bit and on Saturday I will post my annual Top 10 Games of E3 list.  So I got a week packed full of content for everybody to enjoy.  Also stay tuned later this week as I will be posting my anticipated games and consoles of E3 2012.  Let the countdown begin.  We are only one week away.

Bit by Bit: May 20-26

It was another busy for yours truly and it will get more busy in the weeks ahead.  Got one Launch Station in Resistance: Burning Skies and a couple of posts to hype up E3, which is the following week, coming to the blog this week.  Before I get too ahead of myself, let us look back at the week that was.

Game of the Week
Seems I find something new to buy each week as I picked up Edge Extended for my iPad and Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword and Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time both for the DS, which cost me a total of 19 dollars in total.  Not bad if I say so myself especially for Partners in Time as it is an incredibly rare and expensive game for the DS.  While all those games are fine and dandy, my Game of the Week goes to Super Crossfire HD for iOS.  This excellent arcade shooter is the perfect mix between Space Invaders and Geometry Wars.  Offering crazy explosions, tons of bullets to dodge, psychedelic music and multiple control schemes (I prefer the Arcade control scheme over the defaults).  The gameplay is incredibly compelling and fun.  An incredible pick-up for your iDevice that will offer hours of quality entertainment.

Most Anticipated Game of the Week
Along with the release of the Arkham City Game of the Year Edition this coming Tuesday, comes the Harley Quinn's Revenge DLC, the epilogue of Arkham City.  Harley Quinn's Revenge is set a few weeks after the events of Arkham City's finale.  Looking into a disturbance in Arkham City, Batman is cornered by Harley and her goons and goes dark.  When Oracle does not hear back from Batman, she sends in Robin to infiltrate Harley's hideout, Batman's last known location, to find Gotham's Dark Knight.   For 10 dollars, Harley Quinn's Revenge will offer player 2 hours of gameplay and the interesting fallout of Arkham City's incredible yet somewhat controversial ending.  Personally I cannot wait to go back to one of my favourite games from last year.  For me more Arkham City is a good thing.

Video of the Week
Last weekend, Screwattack went down after problems popped up while they were updating the website.  So sadly there was no Clip of the Week and other content fro this incredible website.  To make up for that, the team over at Screwattack delivered fans a week packed with content like a new Newsroom, Mario Party 4 After Dark and this incredible Clip of the Week, which I am sharing with you today.  Chad stays late at work and decides to mix drugs and alcohol to supposedly make things go faster.  The result is not what he expects, but is absolutely hilarious to watch.  One of the best Clip of the Weeks in a while.

Off the Newsstand: Game Informer Issue 230

This past month or so I have had a steady of stream of magazines to read.  Whenever I would finish reading one, another would show up in the mail.  It was very nice as I always had something to read and keep me occupied.  Also when I do not have anything in particular to read, I get kind of stir crazy.  While I wait on the newest issues of EGM and Nintendo Power, I read Issue 230 of Game Informer, which I just finished a few days ago.  Without any further ado, here are my thoughts on this issue.

The Elder Scrolls series graces the cover of Game Informer once again as Bethesda and Zenimax Online announce The Elder Scrolls Online in Issue 230 of Game Informer.  While I am not a fan of the Elder Scrolls series and MMOs, this cover story was fairly enjoyable and very informative.  It goes into full detail how Bethesda and Zenimax Online are going to tackle the MMO genre while keeping Elder Scrolls' identify in tack.  I do think how Bethesda and Zenimax are handling the story with the multiple heroes, player choice and the PvP endgame is all very interesting and great hooks.  I still need to see and read more before I am convinced that The Elder Scrolls Online can compete with the likes of World of Warcraft, Star Wars: The Old Republic and the upcoming Guild Wars II.  While not as good the Halo 4 cover story from last issue, The Elder Scrolls Online cover story is an enjoyable read nonetheless.  Honestly, I was more impressed with all the articles in Issue 230's Connect section like the evolution of the ESA, the current state of adventure games, the many different ways game makers are making money in this day and age and interviews with the curator of the Smithsonian's Video Game Exhibit and the filmmakers behind Indie Game: The Movie.  They were all amazing articles that kept me engaged and glued to the page as they dived right into some of the biggest trends and stories in the video game industry today.  Issue 230 is also packed with the brim with previews from big blockbuster games like the Amazing Spider Man and Resident Evil 6 all the way to some great games under the radar of most gamers like Epic Mikey: Power of Illusion and Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch.  The review section this issue is fairly small, but looks at the biggest games from this spring such as Fez, Dragon's Dogma, Prototype 2 and Kinect Star Wars.

As a whole, Issue 230 of Game Informer is a great issue.  While the cover story on The Elder Scrolls Online is a must read for all fans of The Elder Scrolls series, it is still an enjoyable read for the average reader.  The best content is found in the Connect and Preview sections of Issue 230 and make this issue of Game Informer a must-read for all gamers.

On the Download: Because We May Sale

While there are quite a few new downloads released this week, nothing I think is bigger than the Because We May sale that spans many downloadable services such as the Apple App Store, Steam and Google Play.  The Because We May sale is being held by over 100 indie game developers.  This sale is to raise awareness for what these developers consider unfair sales terms on used by some online services.  These developers believe that game developers should have the freedom to price their games how they like.  Starting today until June 1st, the games made by these developers will be deeply discounted on the downloadable services like the App Store and Steam that let developers control the price of their games.  There are an amazing amount of games on sale with more joining the sale by the day as other developers that support this message join the sale.  For all the games apart of this massive sale, go to becausewemay.com and if you use any of these downloadable services, support this sale for the future of downloadable games.

Launch Station: Sorcery

It has been a good two years since Sony showed off Sorcery as one of the big games for their PlayStation Move motion controller.  After that Sorcery nearly fell off the face of the Earth until a few months ago when Sony announced that it was coming this May.  Out today along with Dragon's Dogma and Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, Sorcery might just be the game that gets gamers to pick up their Move in months or be too little too late to save a product that has been dead in the water for over a year now.

Sorcery follows the story of young sorcerer's apprentice by the name of Finn.  The Nightmare Queen has broken an ancient pact with mankind and sends out here foul minions to cover the world in eternal darkness.  Along with Erline, a magical cat, Finn must journey through the dark Faerie Kingdoms and master the arcane arts in order to dispel darkness from his home world.  Sorcery is built from the ground up to use the PlayStation Move to the best of its abilities.  With the Move controller, Sorcery puts Finn's wand in the palm of your hands letting you perform numerous different spells.  As no two people are the same, every action you do with the wand from a flick of the wrist to a unique gesture with the wand adds to your own personalized style. Complete quests, rescue kidnapped children, recover ancient artifacts and aiding the local townsfolk are some of the things you are able to do as you travel across the Faerie Kingdoms.

Honestly when Sony showed off Sorcery way back at E3 2010, I was impressed with how the game played.  I have no doubt that Sorcery will be a solid game for the PlayStation Move.  I believe that it is far too late for Sony to catch up to the success of the Wii and even the Kinect due to their lack of actual support and promotion of the product.  While Sorcery will most likely get lost in the shuffle with the bigger releases of Dragon's Dogma and Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, it looks like a great game for the casual PS3 gamer who already owns a PS Move controller.

Launch Station: Dragon's Dogma

For this whole console generation, Capcom has tried its hand at introducing new intellectual properties that they could possibly lead into bigger franchises.  Capcom has seen success with both the Dead Rising and Lost Planet while also experiencing complete failure with Dark Void.  In 2012, we have already seen Capcom try their hand at one new IP with Asura's Wrath back in February.  Today, sees the release of Capcom's other big new IP, Dragon's Dogma.

Dragon's Dogma is an action RPG published and developed by Capcom to compete with the action RPG giant The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.  In the opening few minutes of the game, a dragon raids your home village.  During the raid, the dragon tears out your heart.  Missing your heart, you inevitably die only to be revived as an Arisen.  As an Arisen, you have been chosen as the hero to find and kill the dragon that stole your heart.  From the outset of the game, Dragon's Dogma offers tons of customization options in order to make your own personalized character.  From your appearance to your gender to your class, you are given the freedom to make whatever character you want.  If you do not like the character you made, you can retool them and change classes at any point in the game.  One of the main features in Dragon's Dogma is the pawn system, which governs the AI that controls the player's party.  These party members referred to in Dragon's Dogma as pawns, fight independently, learn skills on their own, actively converse with the player and give helpful information on enemies.  The player is also able to give pawns orders if you need them to do something in particular.  In Dragon's Dogma, you are able to grab onto anything from enemies to objects to even NPCs.  The grab can be used to grab onto to giant enemies like a griffon and scale them much like what you do in Shadow of the Colossus.  It makes the player feel like you are actually fighting a giant monster rather than chopping at their shins like you do most games.

Dragon's Dogma has a lot of stiff competition to compete with.  The comparisons with Skyrim will no doubtfully come up and most likely be used as a negative point against the game all due to Capcom's huge lack of promoting Dragon's Dogma.  While I was never interested in the game, it was very hard to tell how good or bad the game would be from the trailers or previews.  There is the demo, which I have not tried yet due to how busy I have been lately.  The reviews have been all been very positive so it will be interesting to see how well Dragon's Dogma sells.  If there are gamers out there looking for another high fantasy action RPG much in the vein of Skyrim, Dragon's Dogma should satisfy your needs.

Launch Station: Ghost Recon: Future Soldier

The Tom Clancy name has graced many games over the years.  Some have been great successes (see the Splinter Cell and Rainbow 6 series) and some did not really get off the ground (see EndWar and H.A.W.X).  Among the successful Tom Clancy gaming franchises is Ghost Recon, which has lied dormant for sometime now.  After many delays, the long awaited new entry in Ghost Recon: Future Solider finally hits store shelves tomorrow.

Story has not been a key part of the Ghost Recon franchise.  All you need to know is you are a soldier in the special Ghosts unit.  You are tasked with tracking down the source of a nuclear weapon that was used on another Ghost unit.  Ghost Recon: Future Soldier is a third-person cover-based shooter that uses a first-person camera when you switch into scope view.  Unlike some other cover-based shooters, your cover in Future Soldier is complete destructible so you cannot just camp in one spot for an entire firefight.  Being a futuristic war game, Future Soldier has a lot of gadgets and other technology that players can use throughout campaign and multi-player.  You are able to control different drones to could possibly be used to scout out the surrounding area or as portable cover.  One of the most talked about futuristic gadget you can use in the game is the optical camouflage.  Optical camouflage is a form of active camouflage that allows Ghosts to blend in with any environment and become nearly invisible.  As it is only a prototype gadget in the game, the optical camo does not work when the player is moving very fast, firing a weapon or extremely close to an enemy.  The biggest new feature in Future Soldier is improved squad AI so players do not have to micromanage complete idiotic computer controlled partners.  Like in Splinter Cell: Conviction, you can mark foes, which squad mates will focus their fire on or take out if you are sneaking behind them.  Like most shooters, Ghost Recon: Future Soldier has many different multi-player modes, which can be cooperatively and competitively.  There is also a fully co-op campaign along with the Horde-like co-op mode called Guerilla.

Personally I have never been a huge fan of the Ghost Recon series.  I am a much bigger fan of Splinter Cell and highly anticipating Rainbow 6 Patriots than any Ghost Recon.  I will say that Future Soldier looks like a great tactical shooter.  I do not see me picking this game up anytime soon, but gamers looking for a shooter that is more about tactics and skill based gameplay rather than twitch shooting they will most likely enjoy the newest entry in the longest running military shooter series in gaming, Ghost Recon: Future Soldier.

Bit by Bit: May 13-19

It took a little over a week, but I have finally caught up with a solid six blog posts this week, not including today's post.  As things get more busier with work, managing two blogs, preparing to go to university this Fall, the less time I have to spend playing games.  With all the DVD sets I picked up the last two weeks, I have spent a good amount of my free time watching them over playing games as it is pretty hard to balance the two at once.  If you thought last week was busy game release wise, this Tuesday sees the release of Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, Dragon's Dogma and Sorcery so expect another week full of Launch Stations here on Silver Bit.

DVD of the Week
Even though I bought The Witcher 2: Assassin's of Kings Enhanced Edition, Devil May Cry 4 Collector's  Edition both for the Xbox 360 and Super Crossfire HD for my iPad, I sadly did not play a whole lot of video games this past week.  Spent a lot of my time watching Chuck Season 5 on DVD, Caprica Season 1.0 on DVD and my DVD of the Week, WrestleMania 28.  As I said last week, buying WrestleMania on DVD each year has become a tradition for yours truly.  While not the greatest wrestling pay-per view of all-time, WrestleMania 28 was a really good show that well justified the 25 dollars I bought it for.  The top three matches delivered in spades, while the rest of the card was either hit or miss.  Overall, WrestleMania 28 is a fairly entertaining pay-per view that wrestling fans should definitely pick up especially for the great 25 dollar price point at Wal-Mart.

Most Anticipated Game of Week
This week's most anticipated game goes to the re-release of Pikmin 2 as part of Nintendo's New Play Control series for the Wii.  Coming out on June 10th, which is a few short weeks away, Pikmin 2 for Wii should be a game to fly under most gamers' radars especially considering how Nintendo has not done much to promote it other than the announcement article in the last issue of Nintendo Power.  Considering I was naive enough to skip out on Pikmin 1 & 2 when they originally released for the Gamecube, this re-release is a great opportunity to get ahold of at least one Pikmin game that I been looking for.  Hopefully Nintendo will re-release the New Play Control version of the first Pikmin so this gamer can complete the collection.

Video of the Week
Not many videos stood out to me this week apart from the launch trailer for Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode II.  While it is getting okay reviews from critics, I am still looking forward to picking it sometime.  Hopefully it will come to Wii U when that system launches later this year.  It looks like great Sonic platforming and that is good enough for me.

Launch Station: Mario Tennis Open

Out of all the Mario sports games that have been released over the years, my personal favourite has been Mario Tennis.  I found Mario Tennis to be a very competitive affair with friends and family while also having tournaments to conquer on your own.  To this point, most handheld Mario sports games have stuck with a more RPG single-player story mode than the tournaments found in their console brethren.  With Mario Tennis Open, Nintendo and Camelot look to bring the Mario sports console experience to the 3DS in style.  Mario Tennis Open releases this Sunday, May 20th alongside the new Midnight Purple 3DS.

Again Mario and friends pick their tennis racquets to compete on courts and tournaments across the Mushroom Kingdom.  Mario Tennis Open has 17 characters for you to choose from including your own Mii, which you can personalize with new clothes and equipment.  Mario Tennis Open includes your regular singles and doubles tennis matches along with some special games such as Super Mario Tennis, Ring Shot and Galaxy Rally to play.  Mario Tennis Open offers a few different ways to control the game. There are the standard button combinations and circle pad combination for Mario Tennis veterans.  For those gamers just picking up a Mario Tennis game for the first time, Camelot has added the touch screen controls to execute shots and gyro controls to make Mario Tennis Open more approachable to newcomers than any other game in the series.  The biggest addition to the Mario Tennis series in Mario Tennis Open is the inclusion of local and online multi-player over the Nintendo Network.  Mario Tennis Open also uses StreetPass to exchange Miis with other Mario Tennis Open players, which offers players a steady stream of opponents to face on the tennis court.

The more I write about Mario Tennis Open the more I just want to sit down and play a Mario Tennis game.  Mario Tennis Open should be a solid offering for 3DS owners that are done with Kid Icarus: Uprising.  Personally I am most excited about is the online multi-player.  As much as I enjoy playing a competitive match of Mario Tennis with my brothers, I am excited to challenge new people over the Nintendo Network.  Win or lose, it should be a ton of fun.  While I am not going to pick up Mario Tennis Open right away, I will definitely be buying it the near future.  When I do, I will see you all on the court.

On the Download: May 13-19

Nintendo and Sega round out our big downloadable games for this week.  Funny how things have changed so much since these two companies were at each others' necks during the 16 bit console era.  For 3DS owners, Nintendo has put up their first retail game patch up on the eShop.  The patch is for Mario Kart 7.  You will need to download this patch in order to play Mario Kart 7 online as it fixes the exploits found in a few of the tracks to keep the game balanced and fair.  3DS owners can check out the Rayman Origins demo on the eShop as well.

It has taken a good number of weeks to finally get a new game for the 3DS Virtual Console.  While not Kid Icarus: Of Myth and Monsters, which should have been released on the eShop already, the game released this week is Kirby's Block Ball.  Kirby's Block Ball is a Breakout-style game that sees Kirby roll up into a ball to destroy blocks and enemies that litter the playing field.  Your objective is to keep Kirby in play by bouncing him off the paddles on all four sides of the screen.  Destroying enemies will give you bonus points.  There are also special items that will help in destroying all the blocks in each level.  Once all the blocks in the level are destroyed, Kirby opens up the next level.  In order to open up the final level of the game, you must beat the high score in each level.  Kirby's Block Ball has a couple different modes like boss battle mode and bonus mode.  Kirby enthusiasts or gamers looking for a good 3DS Virtual Console game will most likely pick up Kirby's Block Ball for its incredibly inexpensive price of 3 dollars.

It has been a long time coming, but the second and final episode of Sonic the Hedgehog 4 is here.  Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode II sees the return of Sonic's lovable sidekick Tails and the villainous Metal Sonic as Sonic's adventure takes him to Little Planet, where Sonic CD took place.  Metal Sonic has joined forces with the nefarious Dr. Eggman.  The two evil entities plan to reconstruct the Death Egg, which Sonic and Tails must stop at all costs.  For Episode II, Tails accompanies Sonic in his adventure.  Tails can either be controlled by the computer or a second player through Sonic 4 Episode II's local and online coop play.  There are numerous combination moves that Sonic and Tails can do throughout Sonic 4 Episode II such as Tails lifting Sonic to normally unreachable areas and preforming a huge spin attack together.  For those who did not enjoy Episode I's wonky physics, Sega have created a whole new engine with reworked physics that feel exactly like the Genesis games and stunning HD graphics.  Sonic 4 Episode II features four new zones, special stages based off of those found in Sonic 2, red rings which are hidden in each act and exclusive bonus Episode Metal, which explains what happened to Metal Sonic since we last saw him in Sonic CD, for those who own Episode I on the same platform.  Even though I am a huge Sonic fan, I am not going to be picking up Sonic 4 Episode II until it is announced for Wii U as I bought the first episode for my Wii and want to keep it on the same system to possibly get Episode Metal.  For anybody else, Sonic 4 Episode II is available for PSN, XBLA, iOS, PC and soon Android and Windows Phone 7 with varying prices from 8 dollars on the portable devices and 15 dollars on consoles.

Hump Day Video: Newsroom

If you have been following this blog for a while now, you probably noticed I really like Screwattack.  It is one of my favourite video game site on the World Wide Web and I enjoy everything this group of gamers does.  Yesterday, Screwattack launched a new monthly show by the name of Newsroom.  In Newsroom, Screwattack news editors Jared and Lauren perform a little skit on a big news story in the gaming industry.  The first episode was on the 40 second wait gamers have to "endure" to connect to Blizzard's servers for Diablo III and the disdain of most gamers.  This skit has Jared complaining to Lauren about waiting these supposedly long 40 seconds and Error 37.  After complaining to Lauren for the entire 40 second wait and receiving Error 37, Jared comes to the conclusion of complaining on the Internet.  The result seeing Jared immediately banned from the online forum.  Newsroom lasts under 2 minutes, but provides tons of laughs for any gamer.  We will have to wait until next month to see what news story Jared and Lauren parody next.  While you wait, watch the first episode a few times.

Hump Day Music: Sonic CD Title Screen

In honour of Sega finally bringing many classic Sonic soundtracks to iTunes, I decided to highlight a classic track from the ever amazing Sonic CD.  Sadly these soundtracks are currently available in the US at the moment and not in Canada, so I cannot pick any of them up.  Hopefully they are released in the Canadian iTunes Store very soon, but I digress.

Sonic CD has many great pieces of video game music from both soundtracks (the North American soundtrack and the Japanese/European soundtrack).  My two favourites can both be found on the title screen.  While I would love to be talking about Sonic Boom, I will save that track for another edition of Hump Day Music.  I want to highlight a track that few North American Sonic fans have actually heard before the re-release of Sonic CD late last year.  It is Sonic CD's title screen theme from the Japanese/European soundtrack.  Quite possibly my favourite title screen theme of all-time, it is incredibly upbeat and infectious.  I cannot help but smile whenever I hear it.  This music really brightens up your day and gets you bouncing around to the beat.  I could easily listen to it for hours on loop as it serves as great background music while I am working.  The Sonic CD Title Screen music is an underrated piece of video game music that should be listened to.  Give it a chance, I guarantee you will crack a smile.

Launch Station: Max Payne 3

Diablo III is not the only big game to release today.  The long delayed Max Payne 3 from Rockstar Games has finally hit store shelves after a few years of anticipation.  While Max Payne 3 is at a big disadvantage of being overlooked by most gamers due to the huge game it has to go up against, the Rockstar name and the legacy of the first two games will keep it from getting completely destroyed by Diablo III.

The years have not been kind to former NYPD turned vigilante, Max Payne.  His life is in the dumps and seems to have no where left to go.  Then Max gets called up by an old friend for a job working as private security for the wealthy Rodrigo Bronco in Sao Paulo, Brazil.  Max takes the job in hope of escaping his troubled life in New York City.  Sadly trouble seems to find Max wherever he goes as he gets pulled into a conspiracy involving the warring Sao Paulo street gangs.   Max Payne 3 features some improvements to the series' core run-and-gun gameplay.  The new over the shoulder zoom and cover mechanics help Max Payne 3 compete with current third-person shooters.  Max Payne 3's main selling point is the return of Bullet Time, which allows you to slow down time in order to dodge incoming bullets and return fire to foes.  If Max has one painkiller on him when wounded, you can activate Last Man Standing.  In Last Man Standing, if you are able to kill the enemy that delivered the wounding shot, you will recover enough health to keep on going.  Max Payne 3 features a new version of Rockstar's Euphoria physics engine, which makes shooting and killing enemies more realistic than in any other Rockstar game.  Another new feature found in Max Payne 3 is the cinematic action movements, interactive cutscenes that seamlessly transition into continuing gameplay.  New to the Max Payne series is a full-on multi-player mode that offers maps the dynamically change during the match, rewards, ranking, clan support and Rockstar social club integration.

Have never got a chance to play any of the previous entries in the Max Payne series, so I am not that interested in Max Payne 3.  Honestly, I am a little more interested in Max Payne 3 than Diablo III only because I like Rockstar a little more than Blizzard.  Other than that I could care less for Max Payne 3 as I am not going to pick it up anytime soon.  If anybody is looking for a good third-person shooter, Max Payne 3 will definitely fill that void.

Launch Station: Diablo III

There has no game that I can possibly think of that has been as highly anticipated as Diablo III.  Starcraft II comes to mind, but I personally believe Diablo III's anticipation trumps that of Blizzard's other franchises, Starcarft and Warcraft.  Some gamers have waited 12 long years for this one game that May 15th will be a significant date in their gaming lives.  It is not hard to imagine stores crowded and servers pushed to capacity as millions of gamers looking to play Diablo III.

Two decades after the events of Diablo II, a fiery harbinger of doom strikes the very ground where Diablo once entered the world of Sanctuary.  This fiery harbinger from the sky reawakens the ancient evils of the Prime Evils.  As a hero of the Sanctuary, you are called upon to defend humanity against the army of the Burning Hells once again.  At the beginning of the game, you are able to create your hero from five different classes.  These classes that you can choose from are witch doctor, barbarian, wizard, monk and demon hunter.  At Diablo's core, it is a dungeon crawler in the truest forms.  You accept quests, complete randomly generated levels, battle monsters and collect tons of loot.  With 12 years since Diablo II, Blizzard has had a lot of time to add new features to Diablo in its' third entry.  Some of these new features are destructible environments, in-game damage effects, the ability to pick up gold and loot by just touching it, replacing the potion bar with a skill bar, having enemies drop health orbs to replenish your health and skill runes.   There are two big new features in Diablo III that might possibly rub certain gamers the wrong way.  First is that Diablo III requires players to be constantly connected to the internet in order to play, even in single-player.  The second feature is the Auction House, which allows players to auction in-game items for real money.  Also Diablo III features co-op play and player vs. player battles with up to six players.

I can see why gamers love Diablo.  Blizzard created a game in which gamers could lose themselves in for thousands of hours, finding new encounters with enemies or new pieces of loot around every corner.  It is engaging, extremely gratifying and has an incredible amount of polish.  Personally I have never cared for anything Blizzard has developed.  I tried Starcraft, Starcraft II and Warcraft III.  After playing them, I found that Blizzard games just don't interest me or even appeal to me as a gamer.  Other than a few games here and there, I have never really been that big into PC gaming.  Sure, there are certain games like Dragon Age that I will only play on the PC, but I am not what you call a hardcore PC gamer.  Never been into upgrading my computer every couple of months.  While I might not care for Diablo III, there are certainly millions of gamers out there than do and have already bought the game and have been playing for the past day.  For those on the edge, give Diablo II a try or wait until Blizzard releases a demo for the game or see some reviews of the game.

Bit by Bit: May 6-12

Man, it has been one busy weekend.  Good thing I posted Off the Newsstand before I worked on Friday because I have not had time to sit down and write since then.  In my busy schedule, I got a chance to play a few games this past week.  It should be another busy week ahead both at work and here at Silver Bit.  Tuesday will see Diablo III, Max Payne 3 and Game of Thrones all release and next Sunday Mario Tennis Open comes out so expect a lot of Launch Stations this coming week.

Game of the Week
Finally got a chance to pick up Xenoblade Chronicles again this week.  It was great to get back to working my way through this humongous game.  I want to beat it before The Last Story comes out so I can dedicate my free time to that big RPG.  While I did play some Xenoblade Chronicles this week, it is not my Game of the Week.  My Game of the Week goes to Rhythm Heaven for the DS, which I picked up for 10 dollars at Best Buy.  I have never been really interested in the Rhythm Heaven series, but when I saw it for 10 dollars I decided to give it a try.  It was well worth those 10 dollars.  It is a pretty fun collection of rhythm-based mini-games.  It is incredibly difficult, but with a little perseverance you will eventually get enough of the rhythm to pass the mini-game.  So far my favourite mini-game has to Built to Scale where you fling a pin to connect two square pieces.  It is fun game that you can play on the go and definitely worth picking up if you can find it for 10 dollars like I did.

Most Anticipated DVD of the Week
As many you probably already know, I am a huge wrestling fan.  Each and every year since 2007, I have picked up WrestleMania on DVD the day it came out in stores.  It has become a tradition of mine.  Also not watching the big show back in April has me extra excited to pick it up this year.  I am so excited I have watched one highlight video of WrestleMania 28 at least a good 20 times this last week in anticipation.  So if I have no Game of the Week next edition of Bit by Bit, WrestleMania 28 will be the reason why.

Video of the Week
Not much in the way of videos to pick from this week, so one video does stand tall above the rest.  That video being the first gameplay footage of Assassin's Creed III.  This trailer has got a lot of people excited for Assassin's Creed III.  Personally I would like to see a little more, but what Ubisoft showed in this trailer was great.  One of my biggest complaints about Assassin's Creed is that the combat feels too slow paced and too reliant on countering and blocking.  From the content of this trailer, it looks like Ubisoft has addressed that issue and has made Assassin's Creed much faster and more fluid like Rocksteady's Batman games.  It is not the greatest trailer in the world, but it is really good.

Off the Newsstand: Game Informer Issue 229

With this rather slow two months for video games, it has allowed me to keep up Off the Newsstand with my reading.  Averaging reading a whole magazine each week.  As long as my subscriptions come at a steady pace, I will be able to post Off the Newsstand every week or two.  Earlier this week, I finished the May issue of Game Informer.  Here are my thoughts.

Not much has been said about Halo 4 since Microsoft revealed the game at last year's E3.  There were a few tidbits of what the game was shaping up to be through various videos made by 343 Industries showing the behind the scenes on Halo 4, but nothing as substantial as this cover story.  Game Informer's cover story is split into two parts.  The first part takes a look at the opening few hours of the main campaign and has the developers at 343 discussing some of the plot points of Halo 4 such as Cortana slowly dying, exploring Master Chief as a character rather than an all-powerful superhero and the mystery of the Forerunners.  The second part takes a look at Halo 4's multi-player now called Infinity.  Infinity has a story of its own as you train a Spartan IV aboard the UNSC Infinity.  Spartan IVs train on the Infinity's combat deck, which like Star Trek's holodeck or the Danger Room in X-Men can replicate any known environment for the Spartans to train on, in red vs. blue matches.  There is a new co-op mode called Spartan Ops, which allows players to complete unique missions and challenges with other Spartan IVs.  Spartan Ops will be updated every week with new missions, new challenges and a new movie sequence to advance the co-ops' story.  The multi-player story even converges with the main campaign as Master Chief will run into the UNSC Infinity and its' crew at some point in his campaign.  At first I thought this story on Halo 4 would not interest me much like last issue's Assassin's Creed III cover story, after reading it I am genuinely excited for Halo 4 especially the Spartan Ops, which I think it an excellent way of keeping gamers engaged with Halo 4 for weeks, months even years after completing the game.  Also packed into this Issue 229 of Game Informer was an in-depth playthrough of Guild Wars 2, some articles on the Game Developer's Conference (GDC for short) like a look at Quantic Dream's new engine for the PS3, a look at the winners of this year's Independent Game Festival and Indie Game Challenge and an interview with Epic's Mike Capps, a look at the controversy surrounding Mass Effect 3's ending and much more. 

Issue 229 is the best issue of Game Informer since February's Issue 226.  The cover story delivers, there are insightful articles on GDC and current issues in the video game industry, previews of the biggest games of 2012 and reviews of the biggest games of the first quarter of 2012 like Mass Effect 3, Xenoblade Chronicles and The Witcher 2.  Issue 229 is definitely worth the 6 dollars to buy it at your local EB Games or Chapters.

On the Download: May 6-12

With nothing extraordinary released on the PSN or Nintendo eShop, this week's edition of On the Download highlights some iOS offerings and one big XBLA release.  For Steam users who have not picked up Valve's excellent puzzle game Portal 2, it is on sale for only 7 dollars this weekend.  A phenomenal deal if I say so myself.

Gameloft has made a name for themselves by making carbon copies of the most influential and popular games in recent memory such as Call of Duty, Legend of Zelda and Starcraft.  Gameloft's tactics have also acted as a double-edged sword of sorts.  While Gameloft may trick the casual gamers by creating extremely similar games for iOS and other downloadable services, many core gamers such as yours truly do not hold the developer in high regard.  More or less Gameloft has become the poster boy of plagiarism in video games and the punchline to many jokes.  Gameloft's third entry in their complete ripoff of Halo, N.O.V.A. 3, has just launched for iOS.  N.O.V.A. 3 (short for Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance) follows hero Kal Wardin as he returns to Earth to stop the evil Volterite Protectorate.  The main campaign spans 10 missions that take players from a war-torn Earth to the frozen Volterite City.  N.O.V.A. 3 also includes a red vs. blue style multi-player modes with up to 12 players across 6 different maps.  If you are dying to have Halo on the go with you, N.O.V.A. 3 will cost you 7 dollars.  For those who have standards, it is much easier and more fun just to play Halo.

At the end of 2011, Frontier Developments brought a great WiiWare game in LostWinds to iOS.  Now about four months later, Frontier has brought LostWinds 2: Winter of the Melodias, another great WiiWare game, to iOS.  In Winter of Melodias, Toku and the Wind Spirit Enril must save Toku's mother, Magdi, from the clutches of Balasar.  Toku must harness the power of Sonte, the Spirit of Seasons, to instantly change Mistralis between the Summer and Winter.  This new power allows Toku to solve puzzles and interact with the environment unlike anything he has done before.  The first LostWinds worked really well on iOS so I do expect LostWinds 2 to be the same in quality or even better.  For 4 dollars, LostWinds 2 is another game to download for your iDevice.

The gaming phenomenon known as Minecraft has finally reached consoles with Minecraft's exclusive release on XBLA.  If you do not know what Minecraft is by now, where have you been for the past year?  Mojang's open-world sandbox game has captured the hearts of millions to the point there is a whole convention dedicated to this game.  The XBLA version of Minecraft was developed by 4J Studios.  Minecraft for 360 supports Kinect and cross platform play with anybody who owns the game on the PC.  In the PC version, players have the freedom to create however huge a world that they want.  In the 360 version, they are limited 1024 x 1024 blocks, but this limit will most likely be expanded in future updates.  Also the 360 version of Minecraft is quite a few versions behind the PC version due to how easy updating a game is on the PC compared to updating a game on the 360.  Do not worry as all the features found in the current version of Minecraft for the PC will make its way to the 360 eventually.  To make up for the shortcomings, Minecraft for the 360 has a good amount of content exclusive to this version of the game such as a newly designed crafting system and control interface.  For those who skipped out on the PC version of the game to pick Minecraft up for the 360, it will cost you 1600 Microsoft Points.

Hump Day Music: Duck Tales

For anybody who watched it on Disney Afternoons or saw reruns on Family Channel, Duck Tales was one of the best cartoons of the late 1980s early 1990s.  Duck Tales was soo good that it even got a game made by Capcom, which is just as acclaimed.  While I personally have never played Duck Tales for the NES, I have heard many good things about Scrooge McDuck's adventure into games.  If Duck Tales ever released for the Wii or 3DS Virtual Console, I would buy it immediately as I have wanted to play it for a long while.  I along with many other gamers would accept a sequel made by Warren Spector and his team at Junction Point in place of releasing Duck Tales for NES.

One of my personal favourite parts of the Duck Tales cartoon is the theme song.  Instantly iconic and easy to sing along with, the Duck Tales theme song is quite possibly the best cartoon theme song of all-time.  When Duck Tales was turned into a game for the NES, that meant Capcom had to alter the theme song to work on the musically limited NES.  So Capcom stripped away the lyrics and made an 8-bit version of the Duck Tales that is just as recognizable and just as good.  It might not have the lyrics, but you will be definitely be dancing to the infectious beat and possibly singing the lyrics yourself.  No matter if you watched it back on Disney Afternoons, caught reruns during the late 90s or have just been introduced to Duck Tales just now in 2012, it is a cartoon that has stood the test of time.  Just like Duck Tales' theme has stood the test of time in it's many forms.

Hump Day Video: Death Battle

"It's time for a DEATH BATTLE!"  Analyzing combatants weapons, armour and skills, Death Battle masterminds, Wiz and Boomstick determine who would win a battle between two or more characters from any form of media, mostly video games though.  Structured much alike Spike TV's Deadliest Warriors, Death Battle starts off with Wiz and Boomstick listing each combatants' weaponry, armour and special skills.  Once they are down looking at each combat, the battle begins as all combatants fight until the death and an iconic KO.  Death Battle is a creation of Screwattack that has been going on for I believe two years now.  There has been 21 episodes in total with two Q & A episodes with Wiz and Boomstick.  In 21 episodes, Death Battle has covered heated rivalries such as Mario vs. Sonic and Goomba vs. Koopa, dream matches like Mike Haggar vs. Zangief and Dr. Wily vs. Dr. Robotnik and even a showdown between two pop stars in Justin Beiber vs. Rebecca Black.  Filled with a lot of humour and amazing sprite-based fights, no Death Battle has been disappointing in any way.  If you are a fan of video games, comic books and any form of sci-fi, you will definitely enjoy Death Battle.  If you would like a sample, just check out the most recent episode provided below.  It is Thor vs. Raiden.

 

Launch Station: Starhawk

While April has been a rather slow month for new video game releases, May is packed with a Triple-A title each week starting tomorrow.  It all starts off with Sony's Starhawk, the spiritual successor to the multi-player only Warhawk.  While Warhawk was a 20 dollar multi-player only game when it released in 2007, Starhawk is a fully-featured 60 dollar release with the features to justify the price point.

While Starhawk's gameplay is very similar to Warhawk, LightBox Interactive has added some new features to separate Starhawk from its predecessor.  First and foremost, Starhawk actually includes a full-fledged single-player story mode for players to experience.  The story follows Emmett Graves, a rift energy miner on the distant colony of Frontier.  Emmett gets caught in a conflict between humans and rift energy mutants known as Outcasts.  During the conflict, Emmett and his brother are both partially inflected with rift energy.  While still able to hang on to some humanity, Emmett's brother joins the other Outcasts in their fight against the humans.  As the only one who can stop his brother, Emmett sets out to bring justice to his brother and end this conflict once and for all.  Other than the story mode, Starhawk's biggest feature is the Build n' Battle system.  The Build n' Battle system allows players to build structures, vehicles and other weapons anytime during battle.  This system keeps the game flowing at an incredible pace while adding a deep layer of strategy to this third-person shooter experience.  Much like Warhawk, there is a huge emphasis on Starhawk's multi-player.  You can play online with up to 31 other people.  Also you can play both online or offline co-op with up to three other people.

While I am not personally excited for Starhawk, I have heard a lot of good things about it from those who played the beta.  The beta must have been really good because it got my little brother to pre-order the game just like that.  If you enjoyed the multi-player action of Warhawk, but felt the game needed a little more strategy, Starhawk is right up your alley.

Bit by Bit: April 29-May 5

I am so sorry for not putting up a post yesterday.  It seems my extreme busyness has finally caught up to my blog.  I am not going to scramble together a rushed post in order to fill the void.  Maybe I will do another edition of Hump Day Video to accompany Wednesday's Hump Day Music post this coming week.  We will have to see, but I ensure that I will find a way to make-up for not posting anything yesterday.  Without further ado, let us look at the best of the week.

Game of the Week
It was another busy week.  In turn that sadly meant that I did not play a whole lot of video games.  I finally got my chance to play Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit after having to deal with EA Customer Service in order to get my PSN ID associated with the correct Origin account.  Honestly how EA links your 360 Gamertag and PSN ID is extremely convoluted and makes changing it if it accidentally gets linked to another Origin incredibly annoying.  If EA allowed gamers to handle linking their accounts to Origin instead of automatically linking them once you play an EA game online, it would save so much time and money.  Enough of my little tangent.  All the annoyance was well worth the reward as Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit is a whole lot of fun.  It does take a few races to get the handles of Criterion's take on Need for Speed's high speed racing.  It does have some similarities to Criterion's amazing Burnout series, but Hot Pursuit feels more like a simulation racer than an arcady racer like Burnout.  Racing at high speeds and taking out other cars is a whole lot of fun.  At the moment, I find how you take turns and drifting to be a little on the stiff side.  The only thing I do not like about the game is the Interceptor event type.  They are a lot like Burnout's Burning Lap as you have to get the end of the track before a certain time, but you cannot touch the side of the track or any car because more time is added to the clock if you do.  For people just starting out with this game like myself, this event type is extremely frustrating because you have to be absolutely perfect to get the best rank.  Other than that one event type, I have really enjoyed my time with Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit and cannot wait to play more.  At 20 dollars, Hot Pursuit is a must buy for any racing enthusiast that is my Game of the Week.

Most Anticipated DVD of the Week
No games this week caught my eye.  The big announcements were Black Ops II (the trailer was so stupid, I laughed the whole time I was watching it) and The Elder Scrolls Online (the Elder Scrolls game which is more in line with a generic MMORPG than an actual Elder Scrolls game).  Both did absolutely nothing to excite this gamer.  More than any game, this week I am excited to get my hand on the DVD release of Chuck Season 5.  I was also excited for WWE WrestleMania 28, but I just found out that the Canadian release is delayed until next week, which is extremely annoying and depressing.  At least final season of Chuck will be available this Tuesday and tide me over until WrestleMania 28 releases on DVD the following week.

Video of the Week
The biggest movie this weekend is definitely The Avengers.  While I cannot wait to see it, I will be waiting a few weeks as I am pretty busy with work and such.  With The Avengers finally here, the crew at Screwattack decided to make their own parody for this week's Clip of the Week.

On the Download: April 29-May 5

Another week, another round-up of downloadable games here in On the Download.  While there are a couple games I want to highlight this week.  I want to mention that there are a lot of great sales going on Steam this week.  While the sale on Bastion and Dust Force ended earlier in the day, there are sales on Batman: Arkham City, Sanctum, Elder Scrolls III and IV, Transformers: War for Cybertron and a whole bunch of indie games published by EA.  If you use Steam for downloading PC games, take a look at these amazing deals.  If you do not have Steam, maybe you should think about downloading Valve's incredible PC client.  Without further delay, let us jump into the biggest downloadable games of the week.

Lionhead Studios takes the Fable in an unnecessary direction yet again.  In order to hype up the Fable franchises' first romp on the Kinect in Fable: The Journey, Lionhead Studios has created Fable Heroes for download on XBLA.  Fable Heroes is a action-packed beat-em up set in the Fable universe.  To seperate Fable Heroes from the more mature core Fable games, Lionhead went with an incredibly cute art style.  Up to four players can work together to complete levels and defeat enemies while competing for gold, experience and unlockable items both online and offline.  Also in a way to tie Fable Heroes into Fable: The Journey, you can save the gold you earn in Fable Heroes for use in Fable: The Journey.  While I have never been high on the Fable series, Fable Heroes looks to be a 800 Microsoft Points worth spending only for hardcore Fable fans out there.

"Awesome!  Awesome!  Awesomenauts!  Awesome!  Awesome!  Awesomenauts!"  Once I first heard the amazing 80s cartoon inspired theme, Awesomenauts was one downloadable game I knew I needed to keep an eye on.  While the game is multi-player only, it still looks like one amazing concept that should definitely be checked out by all gamers.  In the long distant future, conflict has engulfed the stars as robot armies are locked in a stalemate.  A powerful group of mercenaries known as the Awesomenauts are called upon to bring an end to the stalemate.  Awesomenauts is a multi-player online arena (MOBA for short) game with elements of 2D platform games.  You can play 3-on-3 matches online.  If you do not mind sharing a screen, you can team up with two friends locally to play other teams online.  At launch, you can play as the six unique members of the Awesomenauts with more characters scheduled to be added to roster in later updates.  At 800 Microsoft Points on XBLA or 10 dollars on PSN, Awesomenauts is a great download for anybody really into multi-player games like Team Fortress 2 or DOTA.  Need more incentive to buy this game, just listen to its theme music.

Off the Newsstand: Nintendo Power Issue 278

It has been a busy month of gaming and reading for yours truly.  I honestly plow through video game magazines like nobodies business.  Maybe it is just years of reading them cover-to-cover or that magazines are very easy reads because I have never thought of myself as a fast reader in any way.  Now here is my quick look at the newest issue of Nintendo Power, which I finished reading a few days ago.

Many people were surprised to hear last month that Nobunaga X Pokemon was coming to North America as Pokemon Conquest for the DS this coming June.  With the game just announced, it is a cool coincidence (or maybe was it planned?) that the cover story for Issue 278 of Nintendo Power be on Pokemon Conquest.  Even though it was not my personal favourite cover story in recent memory, the cover story on Pokemon Conquest was a solid preview nonetheless.  The cover story look at Pokemon Conquest's story, the basics on Pokemon Conquest's tactical gameplay, how to recruit new party members and Pokemon and how preparing for battle is just as important and maybe even more important than the actual battles themselves.  Having never played a tactical RPG in the vein of Pokemon Conquest, which looks to share a lot of similarities with the Final Fantasy Tactics series, it all seems pretty daunting, but I am looking forward to this game as it is actually a spinoff to the Pokemon series that looks to be worth playing.  My favourite article from this issue goes to the preview of The Last Story, a new type of RPG created by Hironobu Sakaguchi's Mistwalker studios.  Much like Xenoblade Chronicles, The Last Story looks to advance the Japanese RPG in new innovative directions that revitalize a genre that has not really resonated in the past few years.  Nintendo Power's preview takes a look at The Last Story's real-time battle and cover system, the story which avoids all the JRPG and anime story tropes and a quick asides on The Last Story's multi-player modes.  The article also includes on great two-page interview with great Hironobu Sakaguchi, the creator of the iconic Final Fantasy series and one of the forefathers of the JRPG genre.  Issue 278 also includes ranking of all 14 Super Mario games from the less favourable to the best in the series of excellent platformers, an interesting preview of Theatrhythm Final Fantasy, a music game in the vein of Elite Beat Agents where you can play through all the excellent music found in the Final Fantasy series, and an interview with Ben Bateman, a Localization Editor for Aksys Games.  The only disappointing part of Issue 278 of Nintendo Power was the lack of reviews.  There were only two reviews in this entire issue, one for Mario Tennis Open and one for Roller Coaster Tycoon 3D both for the 3DS.  In all my years of reading Nintendo Power, I cannot remember a review section this small.  It was very surprising to say the least.

I always have a lot to talk about after reading an issue of Nintendo Power as you can see above.  While I did enjoy this issue of Nintendo Power, I do not think it is a must read for the average Nintendo fan.  If you are a huge Pokemon fan, Issue 278 is a must read.  For everybody else, it would be easier to check it out at your local library.

Hump Day Music: Departure

Among Sonic the Hedgehog and Mario, there was one other gaming mascot that I loved when a was much younger.  Capcom's resident Blue Bomber Mega Man.  From the moment I got Mega Man II as my first game for my Game Boy Pocket, Mega Man is one of my favourite franchises of all-time and one of the reasons why my favourite video game genre is the platformer.  Throughout the years there have been many different incarnations of Mega Man such as Mega Man X, Mega Man Battle Network and most recently Mega Man ZX.  While I do have a soft spot for all the Mega Man platformers, my favourite incarnation of Mega Man is Mega Man Zero.  Taking place approximately a century after the conclusion of the Mega Man X series, Mega Man Zero follows the exploits of the Reploid named Zero, who is reawakened to save Neo Arcadia from the evils of a fake X, the Dark Elf and Dr. Weil.  Along with great action, the Mega Man Zero series has some of my favourite pieces of video game music I have listened to.  Who knew that those dainty speakers on the Game Boy Advance can pump out such great music.

My favourite piece of music from the Mega Man Zero series comes from Mega Man Zero 2, my favourite game of the series.  The piece is called Departure and it is the theme Mega Man Zero 2's opening stage.  After a year of being hunted by the Neo Arcadian forces, Zero is wandering through a sandstorm.  Once the sandstorm clears, Zero notices the Neo Arcadian soldiers chasing him.  With no where else to go, the injured Zero rips off his cloak and decides to make one final stand.  Right in that iconic moment, Departure starts and it's music never lets you go.  This epic music keeps pushing forward, defeating enemy after enemy, giant robot after giant robot on the way to giant scorpion boss.  Departure makes what would be an average opening stage that much better and memorable to the point that I consider it one of my favourite video game openings of all-time.  If you love great music and platforming, the four Mega Man Zero games for the Game Boy Advance should not be missed.  Considering in this day these Game Boy Advance games are hard to find, it is much easier to find the Mega Man Zero Collection for the Nintendo DS.