…it’s not exactly shouting creativity or wild fun.  The cover suggests either “a games for the girls” or a perverted dress-up game.  But I was dead wrong.  What “Feel the Magic: XY/XX” is is a clever, funny, romantic compilation of exciting minigames complete with some the greatest abstract humor, I have ever seen.

You play as a silent protagonist in a bicycle helmet, who sees the girl of his dreams, and with the help of an army of men in Playboy bunny ears known as the “Rub Rabbits,” decides to win her love.  How do you go about getting the girl.  You have to rescue her and impress her in every way – which involves riding unicycles across skyscrapers, fighting bulls, sky diving, forcing a man to vomit fish, drying clothes, and using a laser powered Mohawk.  Every minigame, is fast-paced and a surprising amount of fun, and are perfected by solid stylus controls, which are both simple and easy to learn.  Aside from a few other wonderful games, I have never seen the DS controls used so adeptly.

The first major thing you might notice, picking up “Feel the Magic,” is the art style, which is beautiful.  Fully aware of the NDS’s graphical limitations Sonic Team used very simple character designs, while still keeping them in 3D.  Everyone is a black silhouette, with the the occasional distinguishing article of clothes.  And because this is a stream of minigames instead of a standard, linear game, you’ll get to see these characters do a large number of insane activities which you would never have done in a traditional game.  That’s another place where the art shines, by juxtaposing black silhouetted characters with brightly colored locations and ridiculous situations.

The story is a standard romance, boy sees girl and wants to be with her, which is a sweet story, but I can’t help feeling that the bare bones “Mario-esque” narrative leaves something to be desired.  Essentially, the girl is just a prize, and while I commend the art style, her lack of any genuine features (aside from a hefty bust and blue dress) make it hard to find her appealing as a character.  Fortunately, there’s not a lot of time to think about this while the game is throwing exciting minigames at you left and right, and do to some very cute set pieces you’re heart does warm up to her.

The last items of note are a clothing editor only for the girl and a frankly tasteless “cleaning” gaming, where you rub dirt off of the girl and she makes disturbingly erotic sounds.  These sexploitive tricks seem to belittle the genuine nature of the game, but looking past them isn’t hard to do.  Just ignore the clothing editor, because it’s silly.  And try not to feel to uncomfortable while wiping your loved one off, and don’t leave the sound on while other’s are around.

In the end it’s a funny and cute experience.  It’s a little short, but at this point it’s a two-dollar bargain bin game, so why not get a copy from your local used game’s shop.  It’ll be well worth it.

As arguably one of the best made games of all time, Super Mario Galaxy must have one of the best video game soundtracks I’ve ever had the pleasure to hear. This particular song is a remix of an old school Super Mario 64 track, Bowser Star Reactor just pumps you up for the battle ahead. Tune in, enjoy.

Nintendo – Super Mario Galaxy – Bowser Star Reactor

It is very difficult to find a game these days that is all that it’s cracked up to be.  Expensive marketing campaigns, ludicrous promises to the consumer, and excessive media coverage are all issues that are plaguing the industry and is likely the biggest reason why so many people experience  buyer’s remorse after rushing out to buy the next “big game”.  Games just do not live up to their hype anymore and rely on flashy graphics and high production value to sell themselves.  That said: Mass Effect 2 lives up to every single ounce of hype that it’s ever gotten.  Hands down.

This game is fantastic.  Visuals, sound, gameplay, and story all come together here to make one truly amazing work of art.  I don’t even know where to start.  I guess the best part of this game, if I were forced to choose one, would be the plot.  The story picks up where Mass Effect 1 left off, where a very large laser gets all-too-cozy with The Normandy’s  hull.  The ship is a complete loss, but you are eventually rescued from the vacuum of space by Cerberus, a controversial war machine of the human race, which has dedicated itself to chasing down The Collectors.  The Collectors are a race of malicious aliens seeking to amass a large pile of humans for some nefarious purpose.  Your job is to assemble a crew (on your NEW Normandy) to help you fight The Collectors and stop the invasion and abduction of various human colonies  while also discovering just what they’re doing with them.  I won’t spoil any details, but the story was one of the most dynamic and suspenseful pieces of writing I’ve seen in quite some time.

Gameplay is also wonderful.  The cover system is straight out of Gears of War, and it’s done very well.  Combat is heavy and well balanced.  I did find that my crew members would occasionally wander off out in the open, but I never had to revive them more times than was allotted to me (you get 3 res’s per mission).  Battles don’t just feel like battles, there is a clearly defined goal in each one and the arenas are so diverse that I rarely found myself getting bored.  The decision making that you do throughout the game makes even more of an effect on your overall outcome.  During the last mission (no spoilers ahead, I promise) you actually select your team leaders and assign roles to each person.  Who you select to do what determines how the mission comes out at the end.  Assigning the hulking Krogan to sneak around will likely result in your mission’s monumental failure, whilst assigning the stealth specialist to do so will end in success.  I wish this dynamic was presented more than once in the game but this is a small gripe.

Production value here is second to none.  This. Game. Is. Beautiful.  BioWare selected the Unreal III graphics engine to power this game, and by god does it look stunning.  It is quite possibly one of the prettiest things I’ve ever seen rendered real-time.  Voice acting is quite nice, although the issue with proper mouth movements is still present from the first game and can take away from the experience for some.  For me, this wasn’t a big issue and didn’t annoy me in the slightest. The pinnacle of production value for this game was likely when I landed on Ilian for the first time.  You arise out of the docks to see a living, breathing futuristic city straight out of a Sci-Fi novel.  My jaw could do nothing but drop to the floor.

Honestly, I could go on and on about just how FUCKING AWESOME this game is but you’ll never understand until you just go out there and grab it.  It is clear that BioWare learned from mistakes made in Mass Effect 1 and applied those lessons to the squeakquel.  It it, thus far, the best game I’ve played this year and is worth every SINGLE penny of the cost.  If you buy anything out of this last wave of games, get this. MassEffect2 2010-02-03 10-18-12-02 MassEffect2 2010-02-04 01-28-55-79 MassEffect2 2010-02-04 00-55-04-47 MassEffect2 2010-02-04 13-31-34-54 MassEffect2 2010-02-04 14-22-18-16 MassEffect2 2010-02-04 14-23-43-45 MassEffect2 2010-02-04 14-25-11-13 MassEffect2 2010-02-04 14-28-13-41

“Vanitas” is the iPhone game developed by controversial games developer Tale of Tales.  By “controversial” I mean that you will either love their games, or hate them.  And since I buy each of their games when it comes out…I must be in the former category.  That said, I’m not one to praise without qualification, and I believe that their games often provide intriguing perspectives and rarely seen gameplay, which is outside of convention.  So the question is does “Vanitas” live up to their previous works?

The premise of “Vanitas” is this: “the best way to spend time is to waste it.”  And this sums up the game pretty well.  While you plan “Vanitas” your iPod is temporarily changed from a normal music player into a box with sliding lid (not literally, of course).  When you slide it open with the touch screen three random objects will be inside.  You can play around with them, see how their physics interact with each other, but there’s nothing you can really do with the items.  Then you can close the lid and open it up again for three new items.  The game works in stages, every five times you open the box a new stage begins and a few items change appearance.  Every three stages new items are added to the ones you find within, and there are a total of twelve stages.  Every time you open the box there’s a chance the items will be three of the same, and then you get a star on the box.

“Vanitas” is actually pretty appealing in it’s own way.  As I play it, I’m always just curious enough to see just what will be in the box next to put it down.  Yes, I’m well aware that the items don’t really do anything (unless I toy with them rolling them around and such), but there’s something addicting and often (dare I say) fun about playing with the toys and seeing their interaction.  I also have yet to receive a star, and for some odd video game-related reason, want one.

This is probably where “Vanitas” gets a little bit meta.  What the game sets up is a random chance that I will be rewarded (literally) with a gold star.  It is a well noted fact that gamers do nothing but work for stars as the famous statement goes: “It is always stars.”  This seems like a fairly effective commentary of goal based games and achievement hunting.  The other thing I discovered was that “Vanitas” is easy to compare to games like “Flight Control.”  Both are about repetition and pointless joy, rewarding you slightly (but not really) for coming back again and again.  It seems to be commentary on aspects of the medium which waste a lot of time, but provide no real rewards for the player’s mind.

The art style in “Vanitas” is lovely as one would expect.  It’s dark, but strangely beautiful.  The more the game is played the more objects change, often becoming ruined or darker.  Cherries will rot, you’ll find torn papers, and glass cracks.  There are a couple things I won’t mention though, as they can be a bit surprising or interesting when you find them on your own. Like most their games before, everything seems to have a kind of symbolism – most likely it is of wasted time.

All this aside, there is a complaint to make with the game.  The actual mechanics are somewhat unresponsive.  When moving the objects around they seem to be sluggish, and thin items are virtually impossible to pick up sometimes.  Some will mesh together and flop around, going through each other on occasion.  This never ruins the game, but it can sometimes make it unintentionally frustrating.  I assume this problem will be addressed with updates, but it’s very important to note.

“Vanitas” is a game definitely worth playing, and for 99 cents, there’s no reason not to get it.

You can find a link to the Tale of Tales site HERE.

And here’s a link to the Art History of Games website, for which “Vanitas” was commissioned.

Fun fact about “Sonic 4″: It will be episodic for the PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii.  The first episode will be this Summer.  So check out the article at Gamespot.

“Cosmosa” is a 3D shooter by Andrew Brohpy.  I’ll be perfectly honest, I barely knew this genre of gaming existed until “Cosmosa,” (which you can quite clearly tell from our latest podcast) but now I do…so that makes it hard to judge from my standpoint.  However, I did enjoy this game, and if there’s definitely no better introduction to 3D shooters then a freeware game.  So give “Cosmosa” a try, and I hope you enjoy it.

The latest trailer for The Behemoth’s third game has come out, and this is their first “official trailer.”  A summary for the game, BattleBlock Theater, was also posted with the trailer:

“Having shipwrecked on a mysterious island you find yourself both betrayed by your best friend Hatty and captured by the locals. All of this is happening while being forced into deadly performances. This however, is just the start of your problems.”

Knowing the company’s other titles (Alien Hominid and Castle Crashers), this game is sure to be pure gold, baby!

“depict1″ is a freeware title made by Alec Holowka and Kyle Pulver for the Global Game Jam, and it does pretty much what every game does (keep reading).  It’s a platformer which starts you off by having a(n essentially) disembodied voice instructing you by simply telling you the basic mechanics of the game (arrow keys are for movement, hit space to jump, etc).  Which sounds very standard until you actually play the game.  The game is best described as a “total mindfuck.”  And I’m trying really hard not to give it away, but it is brilliant.  Aside from the “total mindfuck” the massive depth of the game’s abstract story will made me replay it, five seconds afterwords in order to re-experience everything it did right, which was EVERYTHING!  I’m having a very hard time describing the game without giving away any amazing, so I’ll just finish by saying that only a moron wouldn’t love “depict1,” and you should all play it. Go-!
LINK HERE

That’s right! We are officially back with our reunion episode! 72PC Podcast is officially back on the air. We’ll try the best we can to bring you the best video game reviews, opinions, news, and general banter on a semi-regular basis. Stay tuned to the website for all the great stuff. We’re working on a better way to bring you live podcasts, but for now, we’re going to focus on bringing you quality pre-recorded content. If you have any ideas, suggestions, or would like to see a certain topic, throw an email to fanmail@seventytwopinconnector.com.

Seventy Two Pin Connector Podcast – Episode 043 – Skibbity Fuck Poop Video Games

Go ahead and click for the show notes…

Feel The Magic Official Trailer:

Heavy Rain Trailer:

Wu Controller:

Poets of the Fall – Late Goodbye (Max Payne 2 Ending Song)

Big Daddy Daycare: