It’s been a busy few weeks. Halloween and Bonfire night are out of the way; Gears 3, Battlefield 3 and Batman: Arkham City have been released; Ready Up attended this year’s much talked about Games Media Awards; we were disappointed to discover that GTA V wasn’t going to be set in Glasgow or London and most of us learnt what happens when you type ‘Do a barrel roll’ into Google. This week will see the release of Modern Warfare 3 and Skyrim (OMG! YES!) and many of us will be saying goodbye to any part of our lives that isn’t absolutely necessary while we quest and shoot and level up and DRAGONS! So while you’ve got a spare moment, grab a coffee, or a double vodka, and take a look at some of the recent reads we’ve picked out from the Character Select network.
GamerDork’s Delb2k has written a very interesting piece on superhero video games and discusses the ways the recent Batman titles got it right when so many others get it very wrong.
“This October two superheroes have specific games being released in their name. One of those is Spiderman in the Beenox-developed Spiderman: Edge of Time the other is Rocksteady’s Batman: Arkham City. One of these has a Metacritic score of 59, is criticized for its blandness, and shares many of the disappointing traits synonymous with attempts to adapt different media into a videogame format. The other sits higher up at a rating of 95, and has been declared as the greatest superhero game of all time by some journalists. As a hint, the good one has wings…”
Console Arcade’s most recent downloadable game review is Playbrain’s 2D platformer Sideway: New York for the PSN, by Keith Murray.
“There’s something incredibly heartening about the re-emergence of the 2D platformer, a genre that seemed doomed to obsolescence with the advent of polygonal 3D. The likes of Super Meat Boy and others have allowed the genre to reassert itself of late and now another fine example of this revival has appeared with PlayBrains’ PlayStation Network title, Sideway: New York.”
After the much hyped GTA V trailer was finally revealed, Thumb Culture’s Paul Collet put together a collection of all the previous games’s reveal trailers. Ahh memories.
“Unless you had been car jacked and left for dead, you’ll all know that today (around 4pm our time) is the day that Rockstar break the internet with their reveal trailer for Grand Theft Auto V. I don’t know about you guys, but I’m a little excited (despite my loathing for the fourth game). With all the rumours abound that the game could be set in Los Angeles again, got me giddy with excitement of revisiting my favorite game of all time (San Andreas) with a nice lick of HD paint.”
And finally, a big warm welcome the newest member of the Character Select Network: Cane and Rinse. Check out the site for reviews, features and podcasts, and while you’re there, be sure to give James Carter’s feature on Japanese games a look!
““Oh, Japan!” is a phrase that I hear far too often around the gaming industry, but it’s also one that I can sympathise with entirely. It wasn’t terribly long ago that Japanese game development and I eyed one-another from afar with an apprehension verging on disdain. 2011 has been a milestone in my relationship with all things Japan and gaming, and it has been a revelation.”
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