A Green Mushroom

Usually I think gameplay is more important than the quality of graphics in a game.  Solid gameplay will hold up over time but the graphical envelope is constantly being pushed forward.  Good gameplay lays the groundwork for a game with long lasting appeal.  Great gameplay can be fun years down the line even when the graphics are totally outdated. With that said, properly implemented graphics can make a game entirely unique.  I'm not talking about a higher polygon count or making a game that looks photo-realistic, I'm talking about style .  Graphical style can completely define a game. Take the recently release Limbo as an example.  The game creates a haunting atmosphere by being entirely black and white.  The hand drawn style lends itself to a foreboding landscape with an oppressive feel.  The sense of isolation is palpable while playing. The whole feel of the game is achieved through its graphics.  If Limbo had been created with bri...

  Poor Little Lost Viking I'm having a lot of fun with the StarCraft 2 main campaign as I make my way through it and as you already know I love the multiplayer enough to actually write a guide for it.  I'm saving up my impressions until I completely finish the main campaign but I wanted to mention one of the fun little touches that Blizzard added to the campaign, a game within a game. It's called Lost Viking, which is a play on words since Blizzard once made a game called The Lost Vikings .  Lost Viking is an arcade cabinet included in the bar area of the hub world in the single player campaign.  The player takes control of a single Viking aircraft in a shoot 'em up style arcade game (which is nothing like The Lost Vikings of yesteryear).   Blizzard's Puzzle-Platformer I like that Blizzard included this game within a game because it gives me a nice break from the main campaign whenever I want it while also displaying the power of their StarCraft 2 map e...

  Awesome Image Via Joystiq If you haven't heard yet, StarCraft 2 is coming out at midnight on the 27th!  I'm really excited and I hope you are too.  I'm hoping that more people will stumble on my site while searching for a StarCraft 2 newbie guide so I've been hard at work updating my Newbie Guide posts. I want to provide the best information that I can for budding StarCraft 2 players and I've learned a lot since I started playing the first phase of beta, which is why I went back and updated my posts on being aggressive , learning your units , and studying replays to learn more about the game.  I've also updated the links within the guide to reflect changing over to my own domain. The aggressiveness guide has some good battle tips and general mental attitudes that help win games.  Learning units covers the basics of unit dynamics and has full tech trees for each of the races.  The post on studying replays points out great places to start if you ...

I've been writing a lot of mini reviews lately because I've been playing a ton of games but have found most of them wanting.  I can shoot off a quick paragraph and give you an acurate assessment of the sub-par game and then move on to more interesting topics.  While digging through all of the flash games and gamefly rentals I found a surprising diamond in the rough, Super Mario Galaxy 2. I wasn't expecting much when I put Super Mario Galaxy 2 into the disc drive.  I've played almost every Mario game that's been released since I was 5 years old.  That's 20ish years of Mario experience.  Since Mario games are traditionally geared towards a younger audience their level of difficulty is fairly low.  This helps inexperienced gamers get into video games, which is a great thing, but it bores people like me who need a tougher challenge to stay interested. I went into this game with my normal expectations for a Mario platformer but I was surprised - and thri...

Have 30 seconds to spare?  Want an intense but easily understood indie game to play?  It's a good thing I've prepared something that meets your needs.  Go play Canabalt , it takes almost no time at all to experience what it has to offer.

If you had any doubt about the story of StarCraft 2 being epic, this video should lay it to rest.  Thanks to Klelith at Lost in Neurons for linking to this.  Maybe a trailer like this could even convince Spinks to give StarCraft 2 a try. Also, for a geek like me, it's really nice to see them building off of the world the StarCraft novels have created.  The novels have set a great scene for another epic game and I'm glad to see it isn't going to waste.

I'm so excited for StarCraft 2!  I can't remember the last time I was this pumped up for a game release.  But Spinks isn't impressed.  She wrote on her experience trying out the StarCraft 2 beta and the reasons she wasn't impressed.  Her points are completely valid.  The beta was entirely multiplayer focused and she says that she lost every game.  I can understand how that would be extremely frustrating.  Because of her post I've decided to talk about some of the other features in StarCraft 2 that might appeal to those who haven't been impressed so far. The single player campaign is made by Blizzard.  I haven't played it yet (no one has) but Blizzard has a great pedigree for story in their real time strategy games.  They have a long history of polishing their games until they shine.  The single player campaign also has a variety of difficulty settings so that everyone can enjoy it, even RTS newbies.  It won't be brutal the way ...