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What’s Up With Vagary #11

By
VTV Staff
– May 6, 2012Posted in: Blogs, Columns, Editorials, Staff Blogs, What's Up

While the Vagary staff is comprised of a large group of like-minded individuals, that group has an eclectic range of tastes. What’s Up With Vagary is a chance for a selection of our staff to fill you in on what is sucking up the majority of their time during the past week.

Chris Coke – Podcast Manager

I’ve been knee deep in A Valley Without Wind this week and I’m likely to continue through the weekend. This is what platformers are about, ladies and gentleman, at least in the post-Minecraft/Terraria world. AVWW is one of those games that is likely to suck you in and keep you playing for weeks at a time — no minor accomplishment for a game that boasts, “[This] is what happens when you try to make a Super Nintendo title today.” It combines procedurally generated environments with expert platforming evocative of Super Metroid and detailed crafting and progression that mixes a little bit of Minecraft with a little bit of Elder Scrolls. Crazy, right? You bet, and bloody fantastic.

Magnus Risebro – Editor

Recently, I decided to break from Fez’s bonkers cryptography and manic note-taking to chill out with some good old Battlefield 3. Upon booting up the game, I noticed the new patch had hit, implementing gameplay tweaks, and far more importantly, the ability to rent EA’s multiplayer servers and set rules yourself. The result? PC-style disorganized fun, available for the first time on a console.

Now, one can barely find official EA servers in the haystack of servers entitled “SMOKE WEED EVERY DAY” and “Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry”, featuring poorly-spelled descriptions with YouTube links and banners covered in barely-covered tits and low-res pictures of the admin’s favorite guns. Frankly, it’s beautiful. The server-renting has also impacted the gameplay, as no-one features unpopular maps and everyone cranks up the amount of jets and helicopters while cranking down their spawn-times. In a time when console games seem to go increasingly in the direction of sterility and controlled multiplayer experience, it’s wonderful to see such a loosening of the leash, in an EA title nonetheless.

Whether The Man soon closes down the party or not, Battlefield 3 has never been better.

Chris Scott – Reviews Editor

Instead of taking this downtime in new game releases to work on clearing up some of my backlog, I instead used the time to watch large amounts of NHL playoff hockey and some international action as well, including the United States overtime win over rival Canada. However, in between games I spent time catching up on both Game of Thrones and The Killing.

After a slow start to the season, The Killing has fully grabbed my attention again. With Detective Linden deciding to stay in Seattle, the investigation into Rosie Larson’s murder can develop at its own pace and so far it has taken some surprising turns. Game of Thrones on the other hand continues to be one of the best shows on television. This season has seen the series take a slightly more liberal adaptation to the novels but so far it has all worked. The more I watch of Game of Thrones, the more I want HBO to adapt Stephen King’s The Dark Tower to the small screen.

  So that is what we have been up to, what about you? Fill us in by dropping us a comment.

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What’s Up With Vagary #10

By
VTV Staff
– April 29, 2012Posted in: Columns, Editorials, Staff Blogs, What's Up

While the Vagary staff is comprised of a large group of like-minded individuals, that group has an eclectic range of tastes. What’s Up With Vagary is a chance for a selection of our staff to fill you in on what is sucking up the majority of their time during the past week.

Kyle Baron – Editor in Chief

 Pinball Arcade is the reason my World Gone Sour review was in late and it’s also why I finally GET pinball after a childhood spent playing Space Cadet Pinball for windows.

The tables in Pinball Arcade are all authentic real-world pinball tables, and the incredibly smart designs attest to this; even the most crowded tables, like the trapdoor and magnet laden Theatre of Magic table, have enough visibility and well placed nooks and pathways so that no lost ball feels cheap.

Simple tables, like the 1980s Black Hole, have so much empty space that you’ll quickly teach yourself why it’s important to use tilt to make sure your ball doesn’t fly straight for the gutter.

Oh, and did I mention that Black Hole is a pinball table with a mini pinball table in it? The four tables included in the console versions (six tables, if you’re using an iPhone or Android), all have really cool features like this that give them character, complete with a written history and a snapshot of the flyers used to advertise them back in the day.

Additional tables are to be released as DLC, though the smart phone versions are already ahead on DLC. The PSN version also includes a free Playstation Vita. Not too shabby.
Pinball Arcade serves as both a history lesson on pinball and an excellent assortment of masterfully designed classics that feel just right.

 Don Parsons – Publisher Relations Liaison and Review Staff

 I’m not a fan of the Planet of the Apes movies; none have interested me, until I saw the preview to Rise of the Planet of the Apes. This prequel sets the stage for the rest of the movies and does it well. Franco, the male lead, did a fantastic job of selling the emotional bond between himself and the catalyst-primate. I won’t spoil the plot too much, though anyone who is even familiar with the series can probably guess the details. I highly recommend it even if you never wanted to see any of them before; I personally loved the movie.

I have had my reviews caught up for the past week, so I decided to take the plunge into Mass Effect 2. Yes, Mass Effect 2- not Mass Effect 3. I was interested when it came out, but never got around to playing it. Now that I am 20 hours deep, I am hitting myself for not partaking in this space odyssey sooner! I am constantly amazed at the characters and story-telling Bioware presents. The high points of brilliance are so frequent that it is really hard to moderate my playtime to a just few hours a night. On the flip side, everything is so perfectly paced that I can sit down and play through a mission and stop to do something else that night. I could go on and on and on and on… but I’m sure you’ve all felt the same connection, so I won’t.

Chris Scott – Reviews Editor

This week saw me visit with two of the masters of horror in two different mediums. I first spent some time with Stephen King and his return to the world of The Dark Tower and his latest release, The Wind Through the Keyhole. Considered to be The Dark Tower 4.5 by King, Keyhole reintroduces readers to the Gunslinger Roland and his ka-tet as they journey along the Path of the Beam. After so long away, I worried that maybe I had moved on from the Tower but shortly into the book I was once again fully invested. King’s writing is the best it has been in the last eight years and it has left me hoping he has more tales to tell in Mid-World.

The second master of horror I spent time with was Edgar Allan Poe but it was not with his heralded works of gothic literature that I spent time with but rather John Cusack’s personification of the poet in The Raven. Cusack is solid as Poe but the rest of the movie leaves plenty to be desired. While my review is coming this week, my short take on it is that you should probably read some of Poe’s works, many of which can be obtained for free, instead of spending money on this film.

 So that is what we have been up to, what about you? Fill us in by dropping us a comment.

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What’s Up With Vagary #9

By
VTV Staff
– April 8, 2012Posted in: Blogs, Columns, Editorials, Staff Blogs, What's Up

While the Vagary staff is comprised of a large group of like-minded individuals, that group has an eclectic range of tastes. What’s Up With Vagary is a chance for a selection of our staff to fill you in on what is sucking up the majority of their time during the past week.

Kyle Baron – Editor in Chief

Starcraft 2 is to me what Call of Duty is to others – a deep game that brings me and my friends together. After experiencing Mass Effect 3, which has a good ending, it was time for me to see just how bad I’d gotten at Starcraft 2 since Mass Effect 3 had me in its clutches for two weeks. The “metagame,” also known as the trending techniques of players, had changed enough that my old spellcaster-focused style was ill suited to the 1 v 1 leagues and this lead to a big losing streak before I wised up and adapted.

Team games are fun, charging into seige tank lines isn't

When I wasn’t adjusting to the unforgiving landscape of 1v1 matches, I was playing with friends night after night with Starcraft 2 on one monitor and a Skype or Steam chat window on the other monitor [with an online-ordered pizza underneath the latter]. Unlike a lot of online shooters, playing in team games with friends on Starcraft 2 requires a ton of communication. Each of my teammates specializing in a different one of the three races available in Starcraft 2, we have to make sure that we’re using our racial strengths to complement our teammates. Mike, my Terran buddy, would grab cheap marines so that he could build siege tanks for long range artillery. Dat or Craig, my Protoss buddies, would grab a solid ground army that would allow me, being the quick insect-like Zerg to snag a highly mobile airforce to cripple the enemy’s economy. Because team games depend so much on every teammate working together so cohesively, it makes losses that much more crushing and victories all the more triumphant. I know Diablo 3 is coming out soon, but I really can’t wait for Starcraft 2: Heart of The Swarm

 Don Parsons – Publisher Relations Liaison and Review Staff

 This week has been an odd week for me. There are so many games to play but, I spent most of my time playing the one I liked the least. Hot Shots Golf: World Invitational isn’t a bad game, by any means, quite the opposite actually, but after reviewing Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13, and loving it, it was hard to move to a more casual take on a sport with which I already have a weird relationship. I would continually curse about the sub-par comparisons, yet, I couldn’t put it down. Anytime I turned on my Vita, I was playing Hot Shots, and that was quite often.

Outside of the other PS3 titles I played (Birds of Steel, Ridge Racer: Unbounded, I Am Alive and Battlefield 3), I’ve almost finished my second viewing of season 7 of The Office. It’s been a LONG time since I have found a sitcom that I have fallen in love with but, The Office ranks right up there with (you guessed it) Friends. Jim and Pam are probably the best TV couple I have ever seen. The chemistry between them is unrivaled. I really have no idea what will entertain me after I finish my second round of this show.

Khristopher Reardon – News & Review Staff

I recently went to the lone remaining local arcade with some friends. It’s been awhile since treading into the arcade for me so there was a lot of new stuff there I hadn’t seen before.

Most remarkably there was this game called Deadstorm Pirates, it’s a sit down cabinet with two tripod style guns and a steering wheel. We originally went into this game because there were three of us, so two of us took the guns and the other one took the steering wheel. We had a blast, we played through the entire game and honestly it’s one of the most enjoyable arcade experiences I’ve ever had. Everything from the team up attacks where both guns are firing on the same target for additional damage, to my girlfriends frantic yelling whenever she had to steer, it was all just awesome and fun.

Another game we played was Pac Man VS. I’m an obsessed Pac Man freak since Championship DX came out, so whenever I spot a Pac Man game now I have to play it. This was a little slower than I thought it was going to be but, it was a lot of fun chasing after friends after eating the power pellets or running away and trying to get all the pellets, etc.

Both of these games were made by Namco. I’m glad Namco is still in the arcade business, they really know how to make good social game experiences for the arcade.

  So that is what we have been up to, what about you? Fill us in by dropping us a comment.

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What’s Up With Vagary #8

By
VTV Staff
– March 25, 2012Posted in: Blogs, Columns, Editorials, Staff Blogs, What's Up

While the Vagary staff is comprised of a large group of like-minded individuals, that group has an eclectic range of tastes. What’s Up With Vagary is a chance for a selection of our staff to fill you in on what is sucking up the majority of their time during the past week.

Magnus Risebro – Editor

Sine Mora is a side-scrolling shoot ‘em up with bullet-hell elements. Beyond that, it’s also a very dark story of time travel, genocide, revenge and worse, all playing out in a steampunk-ish universe of Hungarian-speaking anthropomorphized animals. This fascinating pitch alone compelled me to check the game out despite my inexperience with bullet-hell shooters, and after around 90 minutes of play, Sine Mora has not disappointed.

It is damn challenging, so those 90 minutes were largely retries, but due to tight, arcade-like controls and all-round satisfying feel, I’ve yet to experience significant frustration. Also, the art-design and music, done by Suda51’s Grasshopper Manufacture, is lovely. Review forthcoming.

Tony Odett – Podcaster & Reviews Staff

Let me preface this with: I love Paradox. Europa Universalis is one of my favorite series (and I love the Rome, Hearts of Iron and Crusader Kings spinoffs), and its wide catalogue of strategy games is the best in the business. They lack in console titles, however, and I was really excited for the recent Defenders of Ardania release, hoping mostly it would preface an influx of Paradox titles. Sadly, I have to report that Defenders of Ardania is probably the most boring title I’ve played in a long time. It’s a basic tower defense game with an interest flourish (you attempt to destroy the enemy base at the same time they’re coming after you), but the strategy involved is really rudimentary. The ideas seem solid, but the result is a game that’s just not entertaining.

A game that is entertaining is Mass Effect 3. Specifically, I’ve been putting some quality time into the multiplayer. The game is significantly faster and action packed in the multiplayer, and cover is quite optional (in the single player, it’s required for survival).  The grab bag nature of the equipment annoys me to no end though. My level 17 character has nothing but level I weapons. It’s absurd and frustrating. I wish I could just buy the equipment I wanted at a premium price (like I would in the single player), rather than having to spend hours and hours trying to randomly acquire the ones I wanted.

Also: the Game of Thrones: Season One Blu-Ray is awesome. Buy it.

Chris Scott – Reviews Editor

Games? Hah! Who has time for them when you can take your daughter to a weekend dance competition in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Nothing beats waking up before dawn, lugging around costumes and equipment and then sitting in a crowd of people judging your eight year old on their toe placement. My copy of Kid Icarus: Uprising kept yelling at me to play it but I gladly ignored it as I attempted to avert my eyes from too many young girls wearing inappropriate get ups.. Oh yeah and the cherry on top? Rain and the smell of fresh cow crap.

The things we do for our children….

 So that is what we have been up to, what about you? Fill us in by dropping us a comment.

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What’s Up With Vagary #7

By
VTV Staff
– March 18, 2012Posted in: Columns, Editorials, Staff Blogs, What's Up

While the Vagary staff is comprised of a large group of like-minded individuals, that group has an eclectic range of tastes. What’s Up With Vagary is a chance for a selection of our staff to fill you in on what is sucking up the majority of their time during the past week.

Don Parsons – Publisher Relations Liaison and Review Staff

Vampire Diaries started back up this week. This season has been so back and forth. Parts of this episode were good, but it seemed a little too slow for my taste and some scenes dragged on way too long. I’m sure it’s because it had to set the tone after the break, but that doesn’t change the fact that it was a “meh” episode.

Gaming wise I have been busy. I had a few days of playing Plants vs. Zombies on Vita before Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations showed up unannounced. The review will be coming soon so I won’t spoil that, but it is far better than my initial impression (which wasn’t good). Armored Core V also showed up early, but I can’t say much about that until the embargo lifts on Tuesday. It is fast-paced though, when you are actually playing. I tend to spend just as much time customizing my mech as I do fighting, though. It is also really geared towards co-op and competitive multiplayer though, which I haven’t gotten to play any of yet.

William Milby – Podcast Host

If I had to pick a phrase to describe this week, it would be spoiler minefield. You no doubt are aware of Mass Effect 3 and its ensuing controversy. Well, I have been doing my absolute best to avoid information on the game. In fact, I will have to continue to do so for at least another month. To make a long story short, I lost my saves and character for all the Mass Effect games. After going back and forth about whether to just play 3 anyway, I decided that simply would not feel right. So I have started the Mass Effect series over again.

As of this writing I am around 6 hours in, and I could not be happier with my choice. Instead of going back to the 360, I decided to play on my gaming rig PC this go around. I am extraordinarily impressed at how good the game is, I know people dislike the inventory, but besides that, I see no downside. I even like the Mako missions! Expect updates as I replay the series. I also beat Alice: Madness Returns this week, but I’ll save that for another post.

Kyle Baron – Editor in Chief

Warp, a puzzle action game with a cutesy alien creature wouldn’t have done it for me after playing the stellar Journey during a break from Twisted Metal and Starcraft 2. Thankfully, Warp works beyond the “isn’t he cute” trope with a very well handled look at all of the terrible and gruesome things going on in the facility he is captured in. You gain your first and most instrumental power of being able to warp through walls and into objects in the game world, and with all of the terrible crimes they’ve committed, there’s a very primal need for revenge. Revenge happens by way of teleporting into the bodies of your assailants and giving them a very gruesome death involved with and around the often brutally difficult puzzles of Warp. I’ll leave the rest of my assessment for the full review, but feel free to check out the demo on PSN and XBLA until then.

So that is what we have been up to, what about you? Fill us in by dropping us a comment.

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What’s Up With Vagary #6

By
VTV Staff
– March 11, 2012Posted in: Columns, Editorials, Staff Blogs, What's Up

While the Vagary staff is comprised of a large group of like-minded individuals, that group has an eclectic range of tastes. What’s Up With Vagary is a chance for a selection of our staff to fill you in on what is sucking up the majority of their time during the past week.

Tony Odett – Reviews Team

The flavor of this week is the conclusion to the Mass Effect trilogy. I adored the first two entries in the series, and am excited to take my Shepard to the conclusion of his story (whatever that may be). I think the thing that strikes me, immediately, is the quality of the shooting. I remarked to Don Parsons that it’s better than Uncharted 3. He said the comparison was unfair, to which I agreed. Uncharted 3′s a shooter, and should have infinitely better shooting. The gun battles are fast and furious, and Shepard moves through the environment better than ever before. I’m really enjoying this one, and look forward to playing more.

I also broke out MLB 12: The Show. My return to the baseball series has so far proven pretty frustrating. The biggest problem is that the hitting is so realistic. Facing a 90 MPH fastball in a year is a difficult prospect, my timing is off, and I strike out a lot. I am a huge fan of baseball RPG (i.e. Road to the Show mode) and for the first time in a while, I’m playing as a field position player. It’s a nice change from my normal spot (at pitcher), but also much more difficult. Not having the AI’s “unique fielding abilities” affecting my stats is a nice change, but being a constant strike out victim is an unfortunate side effect.

I also finally have Season One of Game of Thrones on Blu-ray. That should be this weekend. I adored the books, but I have yet to see the show. EXCITEMENT.

Jason Ericson – Podcaster

I had spring break this week, which for me became The Week of Games. First, I finally cracked open Deus Ex: Human Revolution and gave it a whirl. I wasn’t expecting much, but it surprised me. I mean sure, the story sucks and the characters suck and the writing sucks and the acting sucks and the animation sucks and pretty much everything except the gameplay itself sucks, BUT the gameplay is good enough that it makes up for everything. It really takes the idea of “play however you want” and runs with it. There are so many ways to complete each mission that once I got into the groove of it, I found myself able to tailor the game exactly to my liking (using stealth and conversations to get me through things, but killing when necessary). We’ll see how the rest of it pans out.

Beyond that, I played…it. THE game. Mass Effect 3, the long-awaited conclusion to the Mass Effect trilogy, and it exceeded my expectations in nearly every single way…until the last 5 minutes. It’s hard to overstate what a shock to the system that ending was. I had just poured 30 hours of my life into what I consider a near-perfect game, on top of the 60 or so hours I had already invested in the story, characters, and world beforehand. I loved seeing the characters again, watching the relationships pan out, seeing the far-reaching consequences of my decisions, mesmerized at the sheer volume of amazing content Bioware managed to pump into this game. I knew it would be hard to see it go, but I was ready to see that epic, satisfying conclusion. And without spoiling anything…I did not get that. Not even close. In a word, it sucked. I’ve seen a lot of backlash from fans already; I’ll be interested to see if that dissent grows as more people finish the game.

Royel Edwards – News & Reviews Team

This week has been really hectic but I managed to get a few hours of gaming done (finally). The two games I’ve been playing this week are Mass Effect 3 and Journey. So far, those games are really amazing and are definitely worth checking out!

I need to squeeze a few more playthroughs with Journey but I’ll go more in detail for my review. As for Mass Effect 3, I am totally enjoying the game. It’s my first time playing the series and I feel like I’m missing a lot so I will definitely have to go back to play the first and second games even though Kyle (EIC) already let me borrow Mass Effect 2.

In the meantime, I hope to get my hands on Street Fighter X Tekken on Monday so I can play with the lovely Poison!

So that is what we have been up to, what about you? Fill us in by dropping us a comment.

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What’s Up With Vagary #5

By
VTV Staff
– March 4, 2012Posted in: Columns, Editorials, Staff Blogs, What's Up

While the Vagary staff is comprised of a large group of like-minded individuals, that group has an eclectic range of tastes. What’s Up With Vagary is a chance for a selection of our staff to fill you in on what is sucking up the majority of their time during the past week.

Khristopher Reardon – News & Reviews Team

I saw The Woman in Black against my will. It isn’t because these movies scare me; it’s because horror movies that see wide release tend to rehash the same themes and load it full of jump scares rather than real horror. I never even saw a trailer for the thing but my girlfriend wanted to see it so I gave it a whirl. I had no expectations for this movie and somehow it still left me disappointed.

The movie is about a lawyer, played by Daniel “Harry Potter” Radcliffe going to a small village to get this woman’s papers in order after she had passed away. The house is apparently haunted by a womanly apparition dressed entirely in black, clichés ensue. The movie is filled with cheap jump scares and the bulk of the ‘characters’ feel interchangeable and are ultimately forgettable. This movie feels long, padded, boring and empty; the lady in black and the movie isn’t scary.

On a more chipper note, I finally went back to an old JRPG I never finished, Xenogears, a Squaresoft game released back in 1998 for the original Playstation. I caught it on the download off of PSN.  It’s a fantasy meets cyberpunk kind of setting, with sparse populations, small towns, kingdoms and giant mechs. I haven’t gotten back to where I was in the game 10 years ago but I’m having fun with it.

Tony Odett – Reviews Team

In high school, my friends and I used to ninja rope and bazooka my friends to death in the original classic Worms. This week, I got to hop online and play the newest version of the game, Worms: Ultimate Mayhem.  This is a 3-D re-imagining, and manages to capture the alternating feelings of joy and dismay that you got in its predecessors. I was initially concerned about the effect the 3-D environments would have on the game, but with a mix of top down, third person, and first person viewpoints, the game uses it in a stellar manner.  I also got to blast Don Parson’s worms into oblivion, which was a treat (DIE DON’S WORMS! DIE).  The single player, not so great, but the multiplayer (both local and online) is a ton of fun.

I also finished Kingdoms of Amalur (review available on Vagary as we speak).  Fantastic game. Go buy it, play it, and tell your friends about it. It’s nice to see a real solid effort in the action RPG genre. It has a massive world, with tons to do, and is really fun to play.  There’s a ton of loot, and the combat/magic/abilities are really well designed.  I wouldn’t try to pronounce any of the names out loud though. People will think that you’ve sneezed. TUATHA. See?

Chris Scott – Review Editor

Games? Yeah, I played a lot of them this week. Grand Slam Tennis 2, Lumines: Electronic Symphony, Syndicate, SSX and Uncharted: Golden Abyss all got major play time as I work on getting the reviews out for them. But none of them held a candle to seeing Guns N’ Roses live on Monday night. Sure, at this point, the band is just Axl Rose and a gaggle of hired guitar players but I’ll be damned if they did not put on one hell of a rock concert. They played nearly everything you would want to hear over the course of their three hour long set and Axl looked and sounded great.

Seeing this show in a small venue was a really special treat. It forced the band, which has long relied on outlandish stage spectacles, to rely on the reason everyone was there, the music. And the crowd ate it up, singing along and partying to nearly every song. Axl may be long past his prime but late on a Monday night, for three short hours, inside a warehouse bar in Philly, time rolled back and Guns N’ Roses was once again the biggest band in the world.

 So that is what we have been up to, what about you? Fill us in by dropping us a comment.

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What’s Up With Vagary #4

By
VTV Staff
– February 26, 2012Posted in: Columns, Editorials, Staff Blogs, What's Up

While the Vagary staff is comprised of a large group of like-minded individuals, that group has an eclectic range of tastes. What’s Up With Vagary is a chance for a selection of our staff to fill you in on what is sucking up the majority of their time during the past week.

Kyle Baron – Editor in Chief

I haven’t seen a cartoon show about what it’s like to finish going to school for something you loved only to face an uncertain future of soul-crushing underemployment and rejected job applications. Mission Hill, the late ’90s cartoon by Simpsons veterans Josh Weinstein and Bill Oakley, is a mirror for my life and a sort of cathartic comedy all at once.

I picked up the complete series of Mission Hill for $20 CDN on Amazon after last week’s Twisted Metal reminded me of how great the ’90s were. The 13 episode show uses its light comedy sitcom formula to touch on a lot of the issues in the small worlds that twenty-something’s inhabit, and this is thanks to its cadre of characters: Andy French, the main character, is a 24 year old cartoonist stuck selling waterbeds to make ends meet while he drowns his crushed dreams with bitter remarks and weekends of drinking. Kevin, his academic 17 year old brother, moves in with Andy and starts going through the process of matching his parent-driven do-gooder philosophy against the harsh and strange real world he’s confronted with. Jim, Andy’s lifelong friend, has struck lucky and has a life working in a high class Ad Agency where he gets paid for doing very little work at all. Posey is their eccentric twenty something roommate who is perfectly content to live downtown and drift through an urban hippy existence of holistic medicine and selling organic vegetables.

The writing is clever, though the comedy doesn’t hit the same ingenious notes as other ’90s TV series such as Daria. The show hits the right anecdotes that still remain relevant. Whether you have ever envied the post-academic success of a friend or if you’ve been tempted to advance in a career you never wanted, Mission Hill is worth watching. Just don’t expect to laugh as often as you identify with the series.

Ryan Kenward – Owner Vagary.TV

This week I took another stab at the Diablo 3 Beta.  When I first played the beta several months back, I had mixed feelings on it.  On one hand, I felt that it remained true to the franchise and would be fun, on the other I was left with more to desire in the way of the game’s appearance.  However, going back and taking a second look, I began to notice some of the subtle beauties of the game. I also found myself much more interested in the story this time. Prior to this second play through, I would have guessed Diablo 3 would be getting scored a 4 out of 5 on Vagary, now I am leaning closer to a 5 out of 5.  I’m very excited to play the full version of the game now!  Other than that, I will be making a cross country move this coming week so I will be “out of the office” for the next week or so. Happy gaming everyone!

Don Parsons – Publisher Relations Liaison and Review Staff

Per last week, I mentioned renting WWE 12 from the video store (after taking Kingdoms of Amalur back) and I didn’t get a chance to play it much for last week’s feature. I haven’t followed wrestling in years, though for some weird reason I consider myself a fan still. I played the story mode and not knowing what in the world was going on, found it confusing and un-entertaining. But one of the great things about wrestling games is the create-a-wrestler feature. So I spent a few hours in there, and then tackled the “WWE Universe” mode. This is essentially a season that you can insert your character into and take them to the top of the rankings.

I won the Royal Rumble, won the World Heavyweight Championship, and defended it for four months. I’m not going to lie, I had a lot of fun. I haven’t played online, as I have no interest in it, and I haven’t gotten back into the “Story”. Sadly, I have to take it back soon. After playing it for a week, this may be a game I pick up for $30 in the next month or two. It was fun to play a few matches while the kids were winding down for bed, then hop into my attention-consuming multiplayer games.

The SSX demo also caught my attention, and wow was I impressed. I initially went into it thinking, “Meh, it is going to be Tony Hawk on snow” but I was sorely mistaken. After I finished the first event and saw I beat my wife’s best-friends score, I nodded in approval, and decided to tackle the course again. Needless to say, after beating my own score, my wife’s friend had trumped my score! I texted her and cussed her out (jokingly, of course). The leaderboard implementation alone makes me want to buy the game.

Lastly, I finished True Blood season four. WOW what an ending. As the season started, I was losing interest, but boy oh boy did they pick things back up, and I can say I am finally a fan- four seasons later.

 So that is what we have been up to, what about you? Fill us in by dropping us a comment.

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What’s Up With Vagary #3

By
VTV Staff
– February 19, 2012Posted in: Columns, Editorials, Staff Blogs, Vagary.TV, What's Up

While the Vagary staff is comprised of a large group of like-minded individuals, that group has an eclectic range of tastes. What’s Up With Vagary is a chance for a selection of our staff to fill you in on what is sucking up the majority of their time during the past week.

Don Parsons – Publisher Relations Liaison and Review Staff

I played three hours of Kingdoms of Amalur: The Reckoning. I don’t know if my expectations were too high, or what, but I was bored and unamused the whole time I played. I ended up taking it back to the rental store for half credit, and picked up WWE ’12. I guess I expected Sacred 3. While Amalur runs smoother than Sacred 2 on console, I was very let down by the loot system. This is why I play games like this; the loot. And other games have just done it better.

A lot of time was also put into Gotham City Imposters as I set out to finish up that review. That game is so fun and addicting, and I can’t wait until the DLC comes out next month. On the complete opposite end of “fun”, is Far Cry 2. This was recently a freebie for Playstation Plus members, so I couldn’t resist. But that game does not age well and was quickly deleted to give me back my precious hard drive space.

TV-wise, Glee was much better this week, though I still don’t buy the whole Sam and Mercedes relationship. True Blood (in Season 4) is getting more interesting. I was originally losing interest as I thought the show was getting WAY out there at the end of Season 3. But the whole witch plot is getting more amusing as it goes along.

Tony Odett – Review Staff

Following a long battle getting my pre-ordered copy from Toy ‘R Us (totally got screwed by the way), I finally received my copy of Kingdoms of Amalur: The Reckoning a week after release.  Let me tell you: it was worth the wait.  I love the weighty combat (hitting an enemy with a warhammer feels awesome). The RPG has stellar upgrade system which, through use of fate weavers, allows you to rebuild your entire character if you wish to play differently. But I think the most impressive thing about the game is the way the theme of fate is woven into every element of the game. The core of the narrative is based on your character being severed from his fated destiny. The entire game, the narrative structure, the sidequests, the upgrade system- it all stems from this reality. Game mechanics and narrative are so often designed separately. Kingdoms of Amalur is an excellent example of proper game design.

Also, put a few hours into both Modern Warfare 3 and Battlefield 3. They are both so much fun. Also, I suck. (Editor’s Note: Join Tony, Chris and Fozzy on Tuesday Night Battlefield every Tuesday at 10PM on Xbox 360 for multiplayer madness)

Khristopher Reardon – News & Reviews Team

This week I decided to pick up the new Epic Quest DLC for Zen Pinball. This new table features RPG elements letting you shoot to level up, defeat enemies and find loot to equip to your persistent character. I actually think Zen Studios did some great work on this table. I was kind of expecting it to be more video game and less pinball, like Mario Pinball Land for the GBA but it turned out to be just a genuinely good pinball game with looting elements and character progression. It strikes a really good balance and felt well worth the money I paid for the table, which is saying something because this is the first DLC table I’ve actually decided to buy for Zen Pinball.

Other than that I’ve been playing the Back to the Future video game by Telltale on my PS3. I’m a kid of the 80s and I loved the Back to the Future movies. Point and click adventures can be very pedestrian mechanically and the game does little to throw me off that track but the story is absolutely solid. I like it so far, though some hiccups have caused frame rate drops, but I’m still having a good time with it.

Kyle Baron – Editor in Chief

It’s hard to care about not having the freedom of movement one is used to with first person shooters; I realized this when I hopped a car off of a building, spun a 360 upon landing, and unloaded hood-mounted mini-guns and rockets into the windshield of another driver while I was driving in reverse in front of him – this happened in the span of a couple of seconds while heavy metal music crunched in the background. That’s what Twisted Metal feels like after you get the hang of it.

Developer Eat Sleep Play has created a multiplayer car combat game with so much depth and complexity that makes it hard not to be overwhelmed by all of the weapons, vehicles, crazy controls, huge arenas, and various on-screen gauges, meters, and jim jams. After several hours of split screen and online play, it becomes clear why that hot rod has a flame thrower and not a chain gun, and why you would need to flick the right stick to suddenly boost in reverse.

Twisted Metal may have all of the complex ambiguous workings and cheesy attitude of ’90s video games, but the potential for player skill development amidst the chaos in each game arena is fantastic. Mechanics aside, I haven’t even discussed how cathartic it is to drag a clown behind a motorcycle before throwing them into a meat grinder in order to launch a nuke at the other team’s statue while White Zombie music blares. “Dragging what into a what-now?” Don’t worry about it, lots of people still don’t understand the ’90s.

So that is what we have been up to, what about you? Fill us in by dropping us a comment.

3

What’s Up With Vagary #2

By
VTV Staff
– February 12, 2012Posted in: Blogs, Columns, Editorials, Staff Blogs, What's Up

While the Vagary staff is comprised of a large group of like-minded individuals, that group has an eclectic range of tastes. What’s Up With Vagary is a chance for a selection of our staff to fill you in on what is sucking up the majority of their time during the past week.

Billy Milby – Podcast Host & Staff Contributor

In terms of absolutely fresh games that I’m playing there really isn’t much that I have to offer. The game I’m playing through currently is actually Uncharted 3. Despite all the divisive comments I had heard about it before hand, I am really enjoying it, though I will hold my judgment for when I finish it. I have also been playing some of the hot new demos, notably Resident Evil: Revelations. As you might have found out if you have a 3DS, it is an absolutely beautiful game, and from what I played, it is a nice return to a creepy demeanor. So, I will definitely be looking forward to the full release.

Some other great things I’ve checked out this week have been “The Artist” and the brand new restoration of the long lost hand colored version of the hundred years old, Georges Méliès’ film, Le Voyage dans de Lune; and the accompanying score/extended album by one of my favorite bands, Air. The Artist was so good my wife and I are dying to go back and see it again. My wife’s words after the film summed it up best; she said that she “had not connected with a film and characters that intensely in years”. That, I think, says a lot. As for the Air album and film, I purchased the CD/DVD Limited Edition that came with the movie as well. And while the album is obviously meant to go along with the film, it completely stands on its own. Air was actually approached by the restorers to create the soundtrack with only one month to complete it in order to make it in time for the Cannes Film Festival. Even though the album could stand to be longer (clocking in at just over 30 minutes), it is still twice as long as the film that inspired it! I’m just glad a film that is well over a hundred years olds can still be enjoyed.

Khristopher Reardon – News & Reviews Team

This week I decided to pick up Gotham City Impostors and I’ve been playing it pretty much every night. The game puts you in the high tops of a spunky Batman/Joker wannabe. I’m not a first person shooter fan and I shudder whenever someone mentions online multiplayer but I’ve been finding this title a lot of fun. I think it’s a combination of the game’s surreal character design, sense of humor and fast as hell gameplay that’s really grabbed me. The tweaks that Monolith instituted after the beta helped to maintain the balance that the game is looking for between its various weapons and gadgets. So far the game has been a blast.

I also saw the movie Chronicle. It is a movie about some teens who get telekinetic powers, all of it is shot in point of view (POV) from the camera like the Blair Witch Project or Cloverfield. I really felt a connection with the characters on screen, as there was a genuine nature to them that reeled me in. Maybe it is because they felt like people I’d expect to meet and befriend in real life. That kind of realism really made the drama that erupts between them during the movie more personal.

Additionally, the special effects were really good. The movie had a very steady camera for POV because one of the characters used his telekinesis to control it allowing for better shots and camera work. I got the effect of POV without the nausea. The action scenes were also quite intense. This is the first movie I think that has ever made me feel the action on screen. The last 10-20 minutes of the movie are especially intense and shook me in my seat a couple of times.

Chris Scott – Executive Editor Reviews

The past week has been a weird one for me, I’ve been playing Final Fantasy XIII-2 and NeverDead for site content, which you will be able to read this week, but my personal time, has been spent primarily running through a new playthrough of Mass Effect, sampling Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning and getting my handheld scares on with Resident Evil: Revelations. It takes a special game to get me to return to it after I’ve completed it and an even more special game for me to return to it four years later and hold my interest, Mass Effect fits that bill. Playing through it again, and spending time in The Old Republic, has made me realize that no matter how hard I try to play a roguish scoundrel, I always end up choosing the “good” thing to do. I can’t wait to take my Fem-Shep into Mass Effect 2.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is a nice chaser to my adventures in space. Due to the pedigree the game has, comparisons to Skyrim are going to happen but Reckoning is not really that game. It is brighter, more cheery than Skyrim, and has a far more satisfying combat system. On the flip side it feels more confined and far less open than Skyrim. The closest comparison I can personally draw is to Microsoft’s Fable series, and Reckoning seems to be a far better game than any of the Fables, at least from the short amount of time I’ve spent with it. I can say this, I am glad I am not reviewing it.

Resident Evil is a series I have a long history with, dating back to the original big box Playstation release, before the introduction of the Dual Shock controller. I’ve soured on the series in recent years, starting around the release of RE4, a game most people praise to the highest, and nearly falling completely off the wagon with RE5. Revelations on the 3DS has the precarious responsibility of either driving me away from the series forever or drawing me back in. Currently, it is drawing me back. It is still a little too much of shooter and too little of a survival horror game for my tastes but at the very least the game gets the vibe of the classic Resident Evil games down. Setting the game on drifting cruise ship was an inspired choice and the narrow hallways deliver a true sense of terror that has been missing from the series for a long time. It also doesn’t hurt that the game looks absolutely phenomenal on the handheld.

So that is what we have been up to, what about you? Fill us in by dropping us a comment.

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