Week: End Game: On 10.29.11

What are our staff (trick or) treating themselves with this weekend?

By Adam Sorice. Posted 10/29/2011 12:00 2 Comments     ShareThis

Every week we ask our staff “What are you playing this weekend?” and every week, they never fail to answer. So let’s get the Halloween round table on the road!


Lewis Hampson

This week, much like last week, and the week before that, I have been playing, almost exclusively, Dark Souls. The feeling of isolation and the atmosphere which spawns from this, is one of a kind. I really enjoy being immersed in a world which offers little help, not even a map, not even a chance to redeem your mistakes, without a very hefty penalty to be paid. These rigid laws make for a game which is unequivocal in its philosophy.
If you mess up, its your fault. Try to run through a level, you die, try to land one extra hit when you know you shouldn’t, you die. The rules which make up the realm of Dark Souls spell out a note of caution. Be careful and the rewards shall be yours. It’s almost a cliche to say this, but the feeling of satisfaction that comes with beating a gargantuan boss are (for me) unparalleled. Seriously, if you have a PS3, or 360, and your into action RPG’s, then get this, get it now.


Katharine Byrne

This weekend it’s all about Zelda. Having been completely bowled over by The Legend of Zelda 25th Anniversary Symphony concert on Tuesday– complete with guest appearances from Eiji Aonuma and Koji Kondo (!!!)– I’m sort of on a bit of a Zelda high at the moment (which is probably the biggest understatement of the year). The concert itself was absolutely amazing, with the symphonic suites from The Wind Waker and Twilight Princess standing out as my particular highlights. Zelda Williams herself played host too, and I can definitely assure you that the CD recording of the concert being packaged with Skyward Sword will be something very special indeed if you didn’t manage to secure a ticket.

So which Zelda games will I be playing? Zelda II: The Adventure of Link is definitely on the list as I’ve already been playing that for a few weeks now (although I was slightly sad that it didn’t get any symphonic love at the concert). I’ve also been meaning to replay both The Minish Cap and Phantom Hourglass for some time now, so this weekend couldn’t have been a better time to crack out those cartridges again.


Andrew Hsieh

Is this even a question? Kirby is still on my mind, and even though Mass Effect Attack looks kind of weird, I think it’s still quite the charmer. Okay, yeah, so I didn’t enjoy the demo quite so much as I wish I had, but considering it seems more up my alley than Pikmin ever was, I’ll give it a try. (Alternate explanation: I’m just a much more talented gamer now than I was back in Pikmin-times.) There’s just something about poking tiny Kirbys and throwing them into enemies that gets me going. Wish I knew what.

I’m probably just sadistic.

Anyway, I expect I’ll have my hands full with Kirby alone, but I haven’t played my Wild World in a while, and I kind of miss K. K. Slider. Something tells me I’ll be heading that way on Saturday. MIDI beeps and bops are pretty much the stuff my dreams are made of. Or rather, the soundtrack to said dreams.


Kevin Knezevic

In preparation for the release of Super Mario 3D Land, I’ve been playing quite a bit of Mario lately. I finally got around to starting my digital copy of Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins, which I enjoyed so much I nearly completed it in one sitting! Of course, the amount of levels (there are only about forty by my estimate, which is still much more than its predecessor’s scant twelve) may have had something to do with that, but it was also so engaging I just couldn’t bring myself to stop. It is, admittedly, a little on the easy side (which I’d argue actually works to its benefit as a portable game), but I’d still recommend it to anyone with a 3DS.

I also went back and played a little of New Super Mario Bros. Wii as well. I had started a designated single-player file after I beat the game with my sister and my girlfriend at the time, but other gaming commitments prevented me from seeing it through to the end. Now that I had a bit of free time, I figured I could finally make some more progress. I must say, I think it’s a fantastic title– being a longtime Mario fan, I think it compares remarkably well to the plumber’s adventures of yore, and it saddens me to see how negatively it is viewed by much of the gaming community. Its levels are very well-designed (which is all the more impressive considering they needed to accomodate anywhere between one and four players), and they can actually get quite challenging toward the end. I’ll probably stick with it a little while longer and clear as much of it as I can before 3D Land comes out– provided, of course, I have the time for it!


Matthew Tidman

After devouring Monster Tale last weekend, I was kind of at a loss as to what to play next. I’ll be all over the place over the next two weeks preparing for my impending wedding. So with that in mind I asked Mr. M Noah Ward for a DS game recommendation. He steered me to Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure.

Brilliant! I’m only through the first world, but the game is fantastic so far, and definitely difficult. I also can’t get enough of the Britishims that the characters all speak in. It makes me want to shout “Good Show” every time I pick up the game to play another level of platforming goodness. The best part? A used copy at GameStop only set me back $5. Yeah, you should get it too. It’s a cracking good adventure, old chaps!


And now it’s your turn, what are you playing this spoooooky weekend? Let us know in the comments!

2 Responses to “Week: End Game: On 10.29.11”

  • 1379 points
    xeacons says...

    Well, I finally managed to secure my copy of Prof. Layton and the Last DS Game! But seriously, I cannot put it down. Those of you familiar with the Layton series know exactly what I’m talking about.

    I also threw $5 on the eShop and picked up the recent release of Pyramids. As it seems the “3DSware” library is slowly but surely expanding. This is, so far, the second original 3D game released on the eShop (not including the 3D classics). It’s fun, although more of a 2D platformer, so 3D’s not much of a spectacular feature here. Solve puzzles to collect treasures and a key, then make it to the exit. Typical, reminiscent of Toki Tori.

  • 276 points
    Nicolas Vestre says...

    Okay, so I completely missed the WEGO boat because I was visiting my cousins, which demanded all my time– but hey, we did play a lot of video games!

    First on the list is LittleBigPlanet 2, which I bring every time now. This is mostly fun because the online levels get the kids laughing (shark attack survival levels= comic gold for kids). Of course, with younger ones, sometimes there can be conflicts if a level’s premise is not immediately realized.

    Then we played some Motorstorm: Pacific Rift (also from my collection), which was good fun (I am never using the ATV ever again). Admittedly, it’s a bit hard to see what’s ahead of you on split screen multiplayer.

    Looking through my cousins’ Wii collection, I happened upon Guilty Party. I’ve heard a little bit about this game and was intrigued, so we started a new game on it. At first I had no clue what was going on because the kids were moving so fast, but I eventually understood what I was doing. We got to the second mystery involving the train, and just as we secured the final clue by solving the minigame, the power goes out. And stays out.

    So for the next day, we played Mario Kart DS (until their only working DS stopped reading the game card) and a bit of Bomberman DS. Then I let them take turns on Yoshi’s Island DS, which they happened to love.

    Oh yeah– my cousins let me keep Pokemon White! Now I never have to give up my precious save file. Dream World, here I come!

    I just received the sixth badge after a rather easy battle, and my team till the endgame is finalized. Tynamo just evolved into Eelektrik after lots of EXP. Share, and Oshawott, Darumaka and Sandile are staying in their current forms until they learn all their moves. I really need to do something about Oshawott– every move he knows is a Water-type! He’s definitely getting Ice Beam when I find it, but I’ll have to do some thinking.

    One last thing– my cousins have a habit (which makes me cringe) of blowing very forcefully into their DS and DS cards to make them work. It seems Pokemon White has not been affected by that, which I am very thankful for.

    Oh, and the power is still out in their New Hampshire town; I think I’m going to go take a nice Maine shower!

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