Not a lot of game-time this weekend; I caught a vicious headcold while in the middle of a double-feature at the movies on Saturday, and so I spent most of Sunday and Monday horizontal, with intermittent breaks for sneezing.
That being said, a few gaming-related items are worth mentioning:
1. Before the movies on Saturday, I was more or less forced into buying an iPhone 5. I tried as long as I could to wait until Apple announced the new model, but I couldn’t – not only were my apps struggling to work, but my 4 was missing calls and texts left and right. (In fact, when my 5 was finally set up with my phone number, a flurry of voicemails appeared that I’d never seen before.) The 5 has been around awhile, so this is probably old news for most of you, but WOW – the difference between the 4 and the 5 is staggering. Apps take almost no time at all to load, and the apps that are optimized for the 5 really show it. On my 4, Temple Run 2 could barely hold a steady frame rate, but on the 5 it runs as smooth as silk and with lush textures and shadows and details that the 4 only hinted at. (As I’m a fan of the endless runner genre, it’s very much appreciated to be able to play and know that any deaths are my own fault and not the fault of the phone.)
2. Picked up The Swapper at some point over the weekend. My cold kinda kept me from playing anything for more than 10 minutes at a time, but that worked out OK for the Swapper – I’d do a few puzzles and then switch it off. It has a beautiful aesthetic – it actually reminds me a little bit of Little Big Planet – and the puzzle mechanics are novel and interesting. Very eager to spend more time with it once my brain is up to the task.
3. Played a few more missions of Call of Juarez Gunslinger. As above, I could only really handle one mission at a time, but since most missions are around 10-20 minutes long, that was fine. I’d stopped paying attention to the story and really just focused on getting through the levels, and that was fun enough. Giant Bomb’s Patrick Klepek had called it a game for people who were sick of shooters, and I agree with that assessment – it mixes up the shooting formula enough to feel fresh and different. I think he also mentioned that it reminded him of Bulletstorm, at least in terms of the scoring mechanic, and that’s absolutely spot-on.
4. I succumbed to the Steam Sale and picked up Devil May Cry for 40% off. I’d already beaten it on the 360 earlier this year, but I’d been finding myself thinking about it lately, and I was curious to see what it looked like on the PC. It looks FANTASTIC on the PC, as it turns out, and it’s still as batshit crazy as I thought it was. I made it to the beginning of the Upside-Down level, which I remember as being one of my favorites.
5. I played about 10 minutes of Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D for the 3DS, and hated it. Controls were floaty and imprecise, the difficulty was surprisingly high, and the graphics were a bit jaggy and ugly. As this was one of the 3DS games I was most looking forward to this year, I’m calling this one a big disappointment.
Shouts From The Couch 