Sketchy Details

Game Time: Record Tripping

I like rhythm games. The genesis is surely an obsession with Mario Paint's music creation function where I would spend hours writing original songs with dog barks and car horns until my family sent me to my room to get the noise out of their heads. It grew to its peak in the late 90s when I began playing Dance Dance Revolution like it was my job at home and in the arcades. The interest hasn't faded away, even if the time available for Samba de Amigo and Amplitude has.

Record Tripping, a new game from Bell Brothers available at Newgrounds, is a different kind of rhythm game. It is not about the creation of music or playing in rhythm. Instead, the game plays tribute to the lyricism of Alice in Wonderland, combining spoken word with record scratches. You manipulate your scroll wheel like a turntable and your left click as an effect button to control movement in time. Scrolling down moves the recording backwards; up, forward. The goal changes in each of five levels, from navigating a ball through a maze to getting bunny rabbits on a train. There is a time limit and other factors of physics involved to make the game more challenging.

Though it does not take longer than five minutes to play, the clever controls and storybook-styled illustrations make Record Trippinga game with a good amount of replayability. The time based leader board doesn't hurt, either. You can also tweet your score. This may not seem like a big feature but it still amazes me that more online games aren't trying to use this feature as a publicity tool.

If you need a quick break from your work, Record Tripping is a fun diversion through Wonderland.

Game Time: Paradox Embrace

I feel like I was teethed with an NES controller. Some of my earliest and fondest memories of my family involved us all sitting around the living room TV and taking turns playing Super Mario Bros and Duck Hunt. While my brother moved on to extremely difficult games involving stealth and gun play, I stuck to puzzle games, platformers, and bizarre peripherals (I still love my intermittently working Samba de Amigo maracas for the Dreamcast (my favorite console)). That means I've played a lot of puzzle games. When kids at school would invite me to their video arcade birthday parties, I would be quite satisfied to deposit a few of my tokens into a Tetris machine and play until they'd have to drag me away for pizza and laser tag. When I got a GameBoy and (later) a GameGear, I had Disney platformers and every puzzle game I could get my hands on. 

So what does this have to do with another game on Newgrounds? A lot. Paradox Embrace is everything I love about puzzle/platformers. At this point, swapping out costumes for different abilities is nothing new. Neither is the necessity to swap abilities to traverse difficult terrain. The strength of Paradox Embrace is presenting a clean, stylish puzzle/platformer game with a challenging, but not unreasonable, difficulty level.

The story is minimal. You are confronted with a shadow monster who taunts you, claiming he took your treasure but since you don't know what to do with it anyway you haven't learned to miss it yet. You are then thrust into a fantasy platform maze where you can transform from your normal action hero form to a wizard and a scientist to start. You have to collect items, such as beakers for the scientist, to open new paths that only other characters can actually get to. It's almost like an elaborate version of a pen and paper logic puzzle that requires a lot of trial and error to get right. Then you move on to the next stage, and the next, and the next, until you complete the game. The gameplay is not repetitive, a common fault in online puzzle/platformers. There is enough variety in the action and well executed gradation of difficulty to keep you involved.

Best of all is how the game saves itself with each stage completed. I recommend giving it a try. Maybe play the first level or two. Then you'll find yourself coming back later for the third, then the fourth, then the fifth...

12 Days of Sketchies: Day 7: Outstanding Achievement in Gaming

Let's get right to it. As always, I base my awards off of what I experienced. Therefore, games like Left 4 Dead 2 and the like have not been played and are unaccounted for.

Our honorees:

Batman: Arkham Asylum(PS3 and XBOX360): Do I need to say anything else other than it's a Batman game without crippling control issues or massive bugs? How about a focus on the darker aspects of the universe by exploring the mental asylum all the bad guys are in? It's too much fun to play, is what it is.

Shields of Gemland(online):How do you make the old Bubble Bubble game mechanic and make it engaging again? Add a sprawling map and quest for gems to fill mystical shileds, obviously. Shields of Gemland is one of the best free online puzzle games you'll find released this year.

The Beatles: Rock Band(XBOX360, PS3, Wii): I'm a sucker for a good rhythm game. The Beatles: Rock Band takes the intimidation factor away from the expert button mashing factor in other guitar peripheral games and replaces it with beautiful animation and excellent music. The addition of 3 part vocal harmony is more than welcome. I can only hope future Rock Band releases will follow that feature.

Speaking of awesome Rock Band games...

Rock Band Unplugged(PSP): One of my favorite PS2 games has to be a rhythm game called Frequency. This is basically a remake of that excellent build-up-the-music-track-by-track game with a more expansive song catalog and no JPop. That's the only downside. It's still a fun game mechanic and the new graphics are slick and not seizure-inducing like the original. It's a winning situation for all involved.

Scribblenauts (DS): Scribblenauts is a nerd's dream. Imagine a video game where practically any solution you can think of for a puzzle is available for you? That's Scribblenauts. You write out what you want to use - bike, plane, dragon - and it comes to life on the screen. The possibilities are seemingly endless for solving the levels, and the mistakes you can make are hilarious.

And now the winner. It was an easy decision for me, though some will find it an insane choice.

Plants Vs. Zombies (PC):Popcap consistently make fun games with a steady learning curve that does not intimidate. When the difficulty amps up about halfway through your first play of Plants Vs. Zombies, you're ready. Then, when you beat the game, there are tons of modes to play. This will be the best $9.95 you spend before 27 Decemberwhen all PopCap games are 50% off. What are you waiting for? Start killing zombies with plants on Christmas Eve. It's totally worth it. I'm not getting any money for tossing this link out there. I just want more people to enjoy this game.

Review: 5 Minutes to Kill (Yourself) Wedding Day

As I learned last night, I'm not the only one who has a love/hate relationship with the Adult Swim website. For example: it's the only place to see the third season of Moral Orel (since no DVD has been released), but they'll only put up a handful of out of sequence episodes at a time. I can watch all The Boondocks clips I want, but only one full episode a week. There are clips of all the shows, but the new video display page is awful. Adult Swim's website also has interesting game concepts, but very buggy execution.

5 Minutes to Kill (Yourself) Wedding Day is the newest game on Adult Swim and is easily one of the best outputs on the site. It is a sequel to the original 5 Minutes to Kill (Yourself), a welcome guilty pleasure with a darkly humorous streak to indulge work rage and despair in a safe environment. The goal, unsurprisingly, was to kill yourself in five minutes or face a horrible, boring meeting. The first sequel was a rehash with new locations and did nothing to address the bugs that plagued the original, like broken buttons and horrible lag on all but the fastest computers.

5 Minutes to Kill (Yourself) Wedding Day is a breath of fresh air for the series. The graphics are larger and cleaner. The violence is presented in funny cut scenes that greatly speed up the game. The screen doesn't jerk along for 15 seconds in real time to have an aerosol can catch fire in less than 2 seconds of game time. While the tools in the game are more limited than in the past, the execution is near flawless.

A welcome (but buggy) inclusion is multiplayer mode. You can play as a bride or groom (same-sex marriage is legal at Adult Swim), trying to off yourself before your betrothed. Once one player has used an interactive element, the other player cannot. It's a race against the clock and your opponent to escape the bondage of a poorly thought out marriage. Unfortunately, like all of their multiplayer games, there is unbelievable lag. Your opponent will not move for two minutes from the altar and then be declared the winner because the game can't handle both players at once. The game tends to freeze when your opponent quits and freeze if your opponent comes in contact with your player. The principle draw of the series is still single player until they resolve these online issues.

If there is a criticism to be levied, it is the limited arsenal of interactive elements. There are points in the game that clearly look like you are supposed to be able to interact with - the obese office worker from the original, a cleric at a desk, rotten children in the rectory - but cannot. Adult Swim has a bad habit of releasing a "sequel" to a game that is actual the original game redone with all the unfinished elements. Like Zombie Hooker Nightmare and Twirl & Hurl before it, 5 Minutes to Kill (Yourself) Wedding Day will probably have a 2 added to it in three weeks and be the same game, just less buggy and more option filled. I'd rather see a completed game on the site than play a shell of what it could be a few weeks early. This was almost certainly rushed through production because a trailer for the game was posted two months ago. If they held off, they probably could have released a more polished game.

5 Minutes to Kill (Yourself) Wedding Day is a welcome distraction game. The novelty may wear off quicker than normal because of the limited arsenal of destructive ends, but it does fine for a brief break from the doldrums of everyday life.

Sketchy Recs: What to Do This Weekend: 13-15 November 2009

Play: Shields of Gemland: I'm a fan of a good online puzzle game. Shields of Gemland is one of the cleanest I've played in a long time. It's your basic gem elimination game: shoot gems at other gems to match up sets of three or more. The novelty is how gently the difficulty ramps up, to the point that you don't even realize the game has become very hard until you're too addicted to stop.

See: Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire: See it now before the backlash against a tiny little film that could is deafening. If you need a reason to see it, try Brian Prisco's review at Pajiba or Nathaniel Roger's review at Towelroad. I know it's been difficult for everyone to reconcile the fact that Mo'Nique will be an Academy Award nominated actress and quite possibly the winner; that's not an excuse not to see Precious.

Read: The Last Man by Mary Shelley: I don't know about the rest of the country, but in my area of NJ, it has been very dark and depressing. The sun doesn't want to come out and the gray skies I normally love are starting to run me down. It's the perfect weekend to stay inside with a warm pot of tea and bask in the glow of a computer monitor reading Mary Shelley's The Last Man. The novel is a apocalyptic science fiction novel about how a plague has devastated humanity. If you get past the "found narrative" technique of the Gothic (Shelley claims to have discovered mysterious writings that foretold this future), it's a pretty interesting narrative with a lot of style.

Have a great weekend, everyone.

 

Epic Mickey

I was raised in a Disney household. I know from photographs and stories that I was taken on my first trip to Disney World before I could speak. I dressed up as Mickey Mouse three times for Halloween and still attempt to see all of Disney's animated films in theaters.

While the announcement of an "Epic Mickey" project initially left me confused and afraid, I quickly began to side with a particular description from the New York Times article on the transformation of Mickey Mouse:

In many ways, it is a return to Mickey at his creation. When the character made its debut in “Steamboat Willie” in 1928, he was the Bart Simpson of his time: an uninhibited rabble-rouser who got into fistfights, played tricks on his friends (pity Clarabelle Cow) and, later, was amorously aggressive with Minnie.

That is the Mickey Mouse I grew to love as a child. "Steamboat Willie" is still one of my favorite animated shorts, as well as "Plane Crazy" - where Mickey can't get Minnie to kiss her so he tosses her out of the plane, saves her life, and earns his kiss - and "Thru the Mirror" - where Mickey reeks havoc on Wonderland. One of his most iconic roles, as The Sorcerer's Apprentice, involves him directly disobeying orders and almost destroying everything by bringing mops to life with no way of stopping them.

Part of the joy of early American animation is this mischievous streak. It was safe to laugh at skeletons coming alive and dancing in a cemetery because the audience knew it wasn't real. Mickey Mouse could get away with putting his friends in harms way for a thrill or a prank because he would always save the day. He was a clown, willing to do anything for a laugh, but also your best friend, always there to lend a hand when you needed it.

If anything, the Disney corporation eventually started to sanitize Mickey Mouse in a misguided attempt to produce a family-friendly iconic figure. Mickey did everything right, laughed, smiled, and showed concern in any situation that might be a little naughty. It was boring. I can distinctly remember falling asleep during Disney's The Prince and the Pauper because there was no conflict and no character growth. Even the Smurfs and Carebears Christmas specials had some darkness.

The only mistake the Disney company is making right now is referring to this new Mickey as "Epic Mickey." The terminology feels a bit dated and is most likely misapplied in this situation. It's Classic Mickey, and that's the way I like him.

Play: Abuba the Alien

Newgrounds.com tends to get a lot of puzzle games with plots. You attempt to figure out what the appropriate course of action is in a given scenario to help your character move on to the next puzzle. The stories aren't usually all that engaging and the characters tend to be pretty annoying. If they aren't hellbent on destroying humanity, they're cloying cute.

Abuba the Alien is very cute. Abuba isn't annoying, either. The principal character tends to disappear into the scene, only essential to move on to the next scene with a simple "Abuba say thank you" in an adorable voice.

Abuba needs to get home, and it's your job to help him. The puzzles are pretty simple, though they are clever in how everything ties together. Some are a bit tricky towards the end, though nothing a little thought can't solve.

Give it a try. You won't regret it.

Sketchy Recs: What to Do This Weekend: 11-13 September 2009

Opening: The September Issue: If you keep up with the Oscar race, it might be a good idea to see The September Issue before it disappears from theater. By all accounts, it's a pretty ordinary documentary, though it is one of the largest releases we'll see for a documentary all year and availability is sometimes all that's needed to be nominated. Don't you want to see if Anna Wintour really is the devil? I do.

Play: The Beatles Rock Band: I know I mentioned last week that my wrists don't work to well with Rock Band and Guitar Hero. However, it's The Beatles. I'll be hanging out with friends all weekend singing along with John, Paul, George, and Ringo while the friends struggle to keep a steady beat and not wind up in the hospital. Three part vocal harmonies, anyone?

Read: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith: It's very good. The zombie action is entertaining and stays true to the tone set by Austen. If anything, PPZ could be a gateway drug for people to become Janeophiles as Austen's brilliant wit would probably make more sense to someone who has no idea what to expect. The zombies make it quite clear that the novel is supposed to be funny. I know I plan on rereading Pride and Prejudice in the original form after this. I'd say you can expect a full review of PPZ next week.

Have a great weekend, everybody.

Sketchy Recs: What to Do This Weekend: 4 - 7 September 2009

Uploading all that media to show every major release was an absolute pain. This will be the new way I approach the weekend box office every week. Basically, I offer you, my dear reader, suggestions on what media might be worth spending some time on this weekend.

Opening in Theaters: Extract: If there's one thing I know about Mike Judge films, you will not be bored seeing Extract this weekend. This is the man who created Office Space, Idiocracy, and King of the Hill. He has a voice and it happens to be a strongly satirical one. His films and television work gain appreciation over time because he layers so much into his projects it's difficult to discern what is or is not important in his overall vision. Extract has a strong cast, gives some consistent character actors at least a few moments to shine (judging by the trailer), and is actually opening wide this weekend.

Rent: The Bad Seed: It's back to school time and that can only mean one thing: it's the perfect time to revisit or discover the granddaddy of all evil children films, The Bad Seed. For my fellow employees of the education system, this is the perfect way to realize that, yes, one student smashing another student's head into a vending machine until there's blood everywhere is bad, but few children will ever reach the level of evil exibited by our happy little murderess Rhoda. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards in spite of being a horror/thriller and having an ending neutered by the morality code of Hollywood.

Read: Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury: I am not the biggest fan of this novel, though many people really appreciate this heartfelt and disturbing look at two boys coming of age in the face of unthinkable evil by way of a carnival. There are some beautiful moments of character development, a nice flow, and a creepy atmosphere that could not be captured in the feature film. It's a quick and easy read, perfect for killing time before your Labor Day excursions. Bonus: it's a transitional book in age and season, capturing the end of summer feeling and the inevitability of change and growing up.

Play: Rock Band Unplugged (PSP): Here's what I know about Rock Band: I love rhythm games. I think pushing the game as a party toy is the smartest marketing decision of any game in recent memory. And I think my wrists are so damaged from years of playing heavy wind instruments that I'm physically incapable of actually using a guitar controller without feeling immense pain. So why the PSP version? Simple. MTV Games stole the play mechanism of forgotten PS2 classic Frequency and used it to make Rock Band work as a fun and challenging solo game. You have four button tracks for vocal, bass, guitar, and drum, and have to build each song up instrument by instrument for maximum points. You then have to keep jumping tracks to keep the groove going. It's addictive, is what it is.

Video Game Review: Plants vs. Zombies (PC/Mac)

Plants vs. Zombies (PC/Mac) is a new tower defense-modeled game available from Pop Cap Games. The premise is very simple: you own a home. Zombies are invading. Your only line of defense is an ever-expanding array of plants that can stop the zombies from reaching your home. Ward off each wave of zombies by collecting sunlight, essential for growing plants, and earn money to expand your arsenal.

What makes Plants vs Zombies an engaging game is the variety of enemies and plants available. New zombies are added with unique traits almost every stage that require a certain combination of plants to eliminate. For example, one zombie started carrying around a screen door, requiring a plant that can spray a mist of poison through the screen. Another rides on a balloon, requiring a plant that acts as a fan to blow him off the playing field.

The game is comprised of levels with slight variations in play: level one is a sunny day with a full yard of plant-able space, while level two shifts to the night and requires an entirely different series of plants. A swimming pool is added in level three, and level five jumps to the rooftop. The size of the field widens or shrinks to add even more difficulty and gameplay variety. An extra row to attack from is one thing, but having fog cover half the field so your playing blind is quite another.

Plants vs. Zombies is not a scary game. It's more in line with the goofy humor of Zombies Ate My Neighbors, with zombies riding dolphins or zombie football players. Before the final stage of each level, you receive a note from the zombies that tends to be pretty funny. The animation is cute and the sound design appropriate. It's rare to find a budget title with a good soundtrack and Plants vs. Zombies is one of them.

The game comes as a download from PopCap Games for $20, with the option to order a back-up disc for an extra $8. As always, PopCap offers an hour long demo version of the game to play. Unfortunately, my favorite glitch of PopCap, wherein you could play the game straight through and not be asked to pay for it until you logged out, no longer applies. The game is well worth the full price.