Okami

All of it.

Seriously. I’m seven hours in, and it’s just magical. Not just the vellum-drawn graphics – which are sumptuous – but the whole thing. Charming, challenging, well-paced, epic-but-never-overfacing, it’s the best Zelda Nintendo never wrote.

It barely dented the charts, but it’s one of the finest games the PS2 will see. Hell, it’s better than most next-gen titles right now. Criminally, Clover Studios, who only release Okami, God Hand, and Killer7, have now been closed. In their memory, and in the sake of all that is good and true, shun Little Britain: the Game (number two in the charts last week, for goodness’ sake!), and buy this. It’s stunning.

There’s nothing else to say, really.

Didn’t notice this when it happened (because it didn’t necessarily appear on the frontpage) but… my review of David Black’s Ruby for Rails has now gone live over at Vitamin.

My first piece of technical writing. It’s a good book, too – clarified an awful lot about the hierachy of classes within the language, and explained the nuances of Ruby dynamism very well; strongly recommended to anyone coming to Ruby (through Rails) afresh, whether you’re an experienced programmer or not. I hope I conveyed that in the review.

Guitar Hero

17 April 2006

So I’ve been playing a lot of Guitar Hero recently. It’s good. It’s very, very good. I wrote a review for Pixelsurgeon, which you can read here. Do read it – it’s one of my favourite bits of writing about games I’ve done, and one of my favourite games I’ve ever played. It’s remarkable; it’s all about music, all about tactile control, and it leaves you with the biggest buzz. If you own a PS2 and even vaguely like music, it’s absoutely worth your time and money.

And if you’re still not sure about that… you could always, as I said, read the review. It’s a review that is mainly about music and love, and has relatively little to do with the mechanics of gaming. I enjoyed writing it hugely.

Black review

02 April 2006

In which I review Black. Another games review, up over at Pixelsurgeon. I didn’t like it much. Technically wonderful, entirely soulless. And I really tried hard to like it, too. Ah well. I traded it for Advance Wars DS before the California trip. Now that was a good idea.

Revolver

21 March 2006

Uh, well everything manifests itself in processes of three. Proton, neutron, electron. Sun, earth, moon. Masculine, feminine… child.” The Channel 4 website reviews the DVD of Revolver by listening to the commentary. Funny.

“Seven years. That’s how long it’s been since Tony Hawk Pro Skater first rolled onto the PlayStation. Like it or not, Hawk is now a part of the gaming canon, committed to rolling out yearly updates. Indeed, Activision has exclusive rights to the Hawk brand until 2015 – we’re not even halfway through the series’ life.”

A new game review up over at Pixelsurgeon, this time of Tony Hawk’s American Sk8land on the Nintendo DS. Very impressed with this – an amazingly good online implementation, which, in terms of how it links up with the internet almost puts Mario Kart to shame; lovely cel-shaded visuals; none of the nonsense that the Underground games brought in. As the review says, it’s essentially Pro Skater 5.

Read the full review.

A system of the world

19 December 2005

“It’s a hard life, being a games reviewer. You’d think it would all be peaches and cream – playing games for ages and then being allowed to write about them (and if you’re really lucky, being paid for the privilege).

But it’s a lot harder than that.”

Another game review up on Pixelsurgeon. This time, a review of the Xbox port of Half-Life 2. It’s possibly a bit too “heavy” (you’ll see what I mean when you read it), but it was fun to break away from convention for a while. There’s a horrific typo/crap sentence based around a pun that doesn’t quite work and I’m a bit embarassed about that. Other than that, though, one of the better things I’ve written in a while.

Read the full review.

Burnout: Revenge review

27 November 2005

Another game review from yours truly over at Pixelsurgeon: Burnout Revenge.

“… it’s worth forgiving for the stories you’ll take away from it: tales of near-misses, spectacular crashes, and the time you did a power-slide between two oncoming buses, and as was so excited as a result that you crashed into a wall. Give it a chance, and you’ll be rewarded with some of the best arcade racing in a while. It’s good stuff, but it’s not quite – DINGDINGDING – awesome, gold, or perfect.”

The quote will make sense if you’ve played the game – or read the review.

Castlevania: DoS review

27 October 2005

Self-promotion again: over at Pixelsurgeon, a review of the latest Castlevania game, Dawn of Sorrow. This time round, the series moves onto the Nintendo DS. It comes with a huge recommendation for me – the review will explain more, but basically, it’s invariably fun to play, has lots of longevity (and some killer bonuses I didn’t have space to write about), and harks back to a slightly bygone era. Fun to write, too. I’m really looking forward to having the chance to write more about games. Up until now, I’ve mainly been biting people’s ears off about them, so this new outlet will no doubt please those unfortunate enough to have listened to me droning on.