I’ve been playing the just-released Wii Party U this week. It’s home to some objectively-atrocious game design at times, and it features arguably the most obnoxious character in the history of games. Still, Wii Party U can be very fun, when it knows to be a party game first and foremost. READ MORE
Skylanders, the franchise filled with both dungeon-crawling fun and rampant consumerism, is back for a third installment. The second, Giants, suffered from a series of half-steps, from a largely-recycled engine and hastily-put-together levels to mechanical innovation that’s largely limited to “what if you were really big?” It was also fairly short. Thankfully, Vicarious Visions steps in as lead developer for Swap Force, bringing in some fresh concepts as well as a desire to both prove itself and sustain a retail empire that could collapse without proper care. READ MORE
In this episode, we’ve come down with a severe case of Pokemania, and get together to discuss our symptoms. Also: Skylanders Swap Force, Beyond: Two Souls, The Wolf Among Us, next-gen delays and a dip into the unplugged world with Canterbury.
Check out the show here, check us out on iTunes or use the RSS feed in your favorite podcast aggregator. Let us know what you think! Email podcast[at]snackbar-games.com.
Hosts: Chris Ingersoll, Andrew Passafiume, Graham Russell, Henry Skey, Lucas White.
Music: Podcast theme by Tom Casper.
Genre 101 is a series that looks at the past and present of a game genre to find lessons about what defines it. In this installment, guest lecturers Lucas White and Eric Albuen give a seminar on the fighter.
Lucas White: 1984’s Karate Champ is the ostensible beginning of one-on-one fighting in video games. The player operates the game entirely with joysticks, and must simply land a hit to score. Karate Champ set the stage for many genre features: multiple techniques or “moves,” two-player competition and palette-swapped karate gis. READ MORE
Ah, the venerable Slime. The Dragon Quest monster is sometimes a mascot and sometimes a foe, but more often than not it’s something to be trampled and overrun with superior force. It’s rare when the happy little blob gets a position of honor or prestige. When it happens, though? It’s called Rocket Slime, and it’s magical. And in Japan, it’s a franchise.
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