Week: End Game: On 06.16.2012

Find out what the staff are playing this weekend.

By Katharine Byrne. Posted 06/16/2012 12:00 1 Comment     ShareThis

Now that E3 is well and truly over, so begins the long wait until Wii U’s release and all those other exciting new launch titles. With just a few big games on the horizon to tide us over, the staff prepare to clear their backlogs and revisit old classics to pass the time. Which games have caught their eye this weekend? Read on and find out!


Mel Turnquist

Summer has unofficially hit on Friday with the last day of school for the school children around here. Since I live in a town that is mostly used by other towns and cities as their summer stomping grounds (living in a beach town can suck sometimes) and I’m also working tomorrow and Sunday, it will be highly likely that my video gaming will probably end up being rather limited.

However that doesn’t mean that I will not be gaming. It’ll mostly be limited to Mario Tennis Open. I’ve been working like a mad woman to get all the characters as starred and figuring out how the hell to get through the Galaxy Rally. I’ll also do a touch of Colors 3D, drawing up the most random of random that I can think of. I also have decided that every week this summer, I will pick one game to replay through. I think this weekend is a good starting point. I think I’ll play through some Kirby Super Star Ultra


Michael Contino

I am the type of person who will end up spending hours upon hours browsing the web and watching TV, not playing the dusty games on my stand. What I can tell you is Alan Wake will be played this weekend. I am enjoying it and there is just so much content with DLC and an arcade game waiting for me. I would love to get back in the swing of things on Wii, so maybe I will get some playtime in on New Super Mario Bros. Wii. After E3, I find myself thinking about New Super Mario Bros. 2’s gold rush and New Super Mario Bros. U’s HD eye candy.

I have not touched Team Fortress 2 in weeks, which is shocking. If anyone has not tried TF2, it is not hard to get into and you can even use a controller on PC or Mac. Nintendo should partner with Valve to bring the game over with all its updates to Wii U, the competition having vanilla versions in 2007’s The Orange Box. Lastly, I may use my Club Nintendo coins to get Kirby Super Star. Let me just say, my life has never had nearly enough Kirby in it.


Nicolas Vestre

Last week I completed the entirety of Mutant Mudds, and I have to say that I was very impressed. Even though enemy selection was rather scant (and there are no boss battles), the way they were used in conjunction with level layout was extremely engaging. Some levels took a ton of tries, but I never felt cheated into death. The implementation of 3D worked surprisingly well, even though I had trouble seeing it when I was quite tired (my glasses were broken at the time, so no help there). Secret Game Boy/Virtual Boy-inspired levels were especially trying, while at the same time visually awesome. If you like platformers or anything in the Mega Man vein at all and are willing to die a lot before succeeding, definitely consider Mutant Mudds; every second of it was great for me.

After all that action-platforming, I finally found every puzzle piece in Braid on Xbox 360. Solving every problem in the game without help is truly satisfying, if not sometimes (very) frustrating. Each world had a new mechanic that left you completely alone as you bumbled around, trying to figure out what amazing things you could now accomplish. I probably paused and left the game dozens of times, letting the solution to a dastardly tricky puzzle arrive in my brain suddenly, while checking the gaming news of the day. Even though the story went right over my head (even after researching it on GameFAQs) and sometimes it just felt so depressing, I had a ton of fun solving those puzzles, and that’s what really mattered in the end.

Now I’ve been playing Astro Boy: Omega Factor for GBA, which I recently ordered on eBay. It’s been well over seven years since this gem graced my Game Boy Advance, and I figured it was time for a replay. Astro’s moves are extremely well-executed, the bosses are fantastic, and the story is good enough to make you want to see what happens next. I haven’t been able to put it down.

Lastly, there’s Mario Kart 7. Every time I play, I try a course in Time Trials until I get really comfortable with it and end up with a decent time. Then I excitedly play Astro Boy. However, my Wii might get a nice session of Super Mario 64 if I play my cards right…


Katharine Byrne

Much like Mel, I’ve got quite a bit of work to do this weekend, so I fear my gaming time will be fairly minimal. I’ve got so many games that are just waiting to be played, but I think if I’m going to be playing anything this weekend it will probably be a couple of Raid Mode missions in Resident Evil: Revelations. I’ve StreetPassed quite a few people recently with extra Resident Evil missions, so I need to clear the backlog a bit, but it’s also quite fun just playing through a level at a time when I need a quick break from writing. They’re only about twenty minutes, sometimes even less than that, so they’re the perfect way to refresh the old brain cells. I really want to start Radiant Historia or Muramasa: The Demon Blade too, but I think they’ll probably have to wait until next weekend at this rate…


Joseph Nelson

This week has been rather unusual. Whereas usually, due to an overload of university work or other various commitments, I don’t get to play anything as much as I would like, this week has just been full of video game joy; showing I’m well and truly getting into Summer Mode (if only the weather would do the same). I’ve been doing the usual level grinding in Pokémon White and downloaded that cheeky wee Darkrai while I was at it. I also downloaded the Nintendo 3DS demo of Heroes of Ruin. I’m still trying to figure out if it was only as easy to beat because it was an early level of the finished game, or because it was a demo version, or simply because the actual game is easy. It’s pretty fun, but despite being told I have to go destroy x Runes and gather y pieces of mystical wood before I could face the boss, the boss was still accessible, and easy to beat, which was disappointing.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl Artwork

Then there’s Super Smash Bros. Brawl (sort of cheating, I played it last week), which again due to being miles from home, I haven’t played in about two years. I thought I’d be a little rusty, but as soon as I heard that wonderful orchestral score, I realised I was still quite the brawler. After successfully thrashing my friends as Ganondorf, I thought I’d show off and change character every battle, blatantly just rubbing it in their faces that I could beat them with any fighter. They then imposed a ‘Random Fighter’ rule…but yeah I still won. I suspect they won’t be playing it with me any time soon, which is a shame, I need another fix.

Today, I am horrifically hungover, and have resigned myself to cradling my dignity and aching body while wrapped in my hangover blanket (doesn’t everyone have one of those?) while playing Star Wars: Battlefront II. It’s my flatmate’s game, and I’ve never played it prior to yesterday, but I have grown to love the obnoxious voiceovers during battle that repeatedly announce when an allied base has fallen to the opposition, or vice versa. Conquering the galaxy is one of the best hangover activities!


So that’s what we’re playing this weekend, but what about you? Which game will be taking pride of place in your gaming schedule this weekend? Let us know in the comments below!

One Response to “Week: End Game: On 06.16.2012”

  • 201 points
    NintendoDad says...

    Xenoblade Chronicles: I just passed the 80 hour mark. I’m enjoying the exploring and leveling up the towns people’s affection for one another, I’m not even working on the main quest. I recently just completed my 200th side quest. Between this and rebuilding Colony 6, I foresee many, many more hours spend with this game. It’s like a game perfectly built for my tastes.

    Mario Tennis Open: I feel I’m coming to the close of this game. I’ve taken 3 characters through all 8 cups. I would be obsessed with getting all of the clothes/items but I hate that you can only gain coins by playing the 4 mini-games which get monotonous after awhile. I mostly just play online which hasn’t gotten much better recently with matching you up to people of your skill level.

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