The premise of this game is that you are a human member of the System Alliance military, and you kinda get to choose your past a little bit, too. You eventually get promoted to an elite soldier in a multi-species group called “specters.” You get to be the “right hand” of a council that governs galactic affairs for a large number of systems in the galaxy. You get to fly around space and take care of problems using any amount of force you deem necessary. This game is just a whole lot of fun, and I recommend it to sci-fi enthusiasts and RPG enthusiasts looking for an interesting new take on the RPG.

Parents, please note that this game is rated “M” by the ESRB, and it does have some rather suggestive themes, a little nudity, some foul language, and some minor gore.

Pros:

• You’re an elite soldier who gets to choose how to handle the criminals.
• This game is pretty open to what order you want to complete missions in. It’s very nice.
• The leveling system is robust and offers you several different ways to configure your character.
• You get your own spaceship, how is that not cool?
• While there is significant load time in this game, it is very tastefully disguised in the form of decontamination sweeps or elevator rides.
• You can save your game ANYWHERE and pick it up right where you left off. This is great for those of us who don’t have a whole lot of time to game in a single sitting.
• Lots of fantastic voice acting with several well-respected voice actors like Seth Green.

Cons:

• This game locks up and crashes infrequently.
• Lots of freezes while saving.
• This game is still pretty linear, and I was a bit disappointed.
• The conversation driving engine is a little limited.
• It’s sometimes difficult to know what your character will say when you choose an option in the dialog.
• You don’t get to explore as many planets as I’d like to.
• No analog control of your spacecraft.
• Your character can only be a human.
• For some reason, the game developers won’t let me explore Earth. I don’t know about you all, but that was something I’d really like to see.

The bottom line on this game is that it is a lot of fun for those of us who’ve been waiting a while to do something different with our gaming. It’s not a traditional shooter, it’s not a traditional RPG, and it’s not a traditional Sci-Fi Thriller. It’s all three of them wrapped in a beautiful little package. The graphics are outstanding and the voice acting is wonderful. I highly recommend this game.

Joystiq’s Article on the Silver DS Lite

Since when did it become the responsibility of Best Buy, Circuit City, GameStop, Game Crazy, and Wal-Mart to supervise your kids? You do know that if you are with your kid when they buy a game, that the clerk won’t sell your kid a game if you tell them not to… don’t you?

The problem with Thompson’s ever-so-clever “sting” operation is that he’s putting the responsibility on the retailer. Little Billy is not the ward or responsibility of Best Buy, Take-Two Interactive, RockStar Games, Microsoft, or anybody else other than his parents and/or guardians. As someone who is about to be a parent, I am growing more and more confused about why someone would expect Best Buy to parent their children. Afterall, the money is just as green (or whatever the color of your local currency is) if a kid hands it to the cashier as when an adult hands it to the cashier.

For those of you who are confused as to why I would say that the game retailers and developers have no responsibility, let me pose a question to you: when was the last time you sat down and played or watched your kid game? Do you know what’s in their collection? Do you know what the content of their favorite games are? In my time as a youth minister, I’ve found that most kids are eager to discuss their gaming with anybody who will sit still long enough to hear it. It’s something they enjoy discussing and they’re tickled to death that somebody will listen to what they have to say.

Participating in your kids gaming also gives you two very important parenting opportunities. First, it allows you to grow in relationship with your kid(s). I remember and cherish the times when my dad sat and gamed with me. One of my most vivid childhood memories was when my dad brought home my first console, the 16-bit Sega Genesis, with a copy of Sonic the Hedgehog. My dad and all five of us kids sat around the tube all night with that game and we laughed and joked and had a fantastic time. I was about 8 years old at that time, and it’s something that continues in my family even as my wife and I are about to have a child. My dad still plays games with myself and my siblings. He recently came over and played Burnout Revenge on the Xbox 360 with me and my brother. This is something that we all enjoyed and I know my dad has fond memories of these times just as much as my siblings and I do.

The second parenting opportunity that participating in your kids’ gaming offers is one of control. You can’t control what content your kids see if you don’t know what content your kids see. If you know your kids’ game collection, and you spot a new addition that you do not approve of, you can confiscate and discipline. This is no different than if you found a movie you didn’t approve of or a magazine you didn’t approve of. You may even be able to get your kids money refunded if you take it back to the store.

As an adult who games and as a man who is about to become a father I am increasingly concerned that irresponsible parents are going to damage both my hobby and my children. I do not want any government regulation dictating what games I can and cannot play, and I do not want irresponsible parents holding retailers responsible for their shortcomings as parents.

To all parents who want to try and argue that it isn’t their fault and that they don’t have the time to supervise or participate with their kids, or that it’s the industry’s responsibility to keep “moral standards,” don’t bother. Make time for your kids, make time for your kids’ gaming, make time to supervise your kids. The influences that this world can have on your children that you won’t approve of are infinite, and most of them don’t really care whether or not you approve. Only with your positive influences and constant reinforcement of things you do approve of will your kids get the message.

If you are a parent who wants to learn how to better control your kids’ gaming experience, I have a suggested reading list for you:

1. ESRB’s Resources for Parents
2. Parental Controls for the Nintendo Wii
3. Xbox 360 Family Controls

Unfortunately, Sony doesn’t seem to have a useful parental control manual for any of their systems on their website, so you’ll have to refer to your user’s manual for more information there.

So, back to Stranglehold… I don’t know if any of you have tried the demo, but the demo is the reason I pre-ordered Stranglehold. The first five minutes of Stranglehold has you killing more than 22 baddies (I lost count around 22, sorry). That’s an insane action game. Not only that but your character is a middle-aged smarty-pants detective who doesn’t know how to take “no” for an answer. It’s like a Bruce Willis movie without the male-pattern-baldness and cheesy come-backs.

Then there’s the accuracy shot… so to the developers of Stranglehold, how did you know I was gonna pop a cap in that guy’s junk? Was the nut-shot that easy to anticipate? Either way it’s beautiful. There is nothing like shooting a baddie in the family jewels and seeing him grab himself in pain as he goes down. In addition to shooting folks in the junk–which is not always possible because of how the baddie is standing–you can shoot him in pretty much any part of his face or neck to get a very satisfying response.

So I haven’t gotten very far in this game, and I hope it’s saving at every checkpoint because I just don’t have the time to get to savepoints if checkpoints are them, but I’ll let you all know what I think as I progress through the game.

I’ve also got BioShock, but I’m thinking I’ll wait until my brother gets back from Arkansas to play any more of that. That game is just too beautiful to play by yourself.

If you’re not familiar with Katamari, while the story lines seem to be strange, I mostly ignore them. Instead, I just focus on the gameplay… which is awesome. You roll this little ball around–a Katamari ball–and stuff sticks to it… and then stuff sticks to the stuff that stuck to the ball, and then stuff sticks to that stuff, and so on. Eventually you’re sticking people and houses, and who knows what else to your ball which is now becoming quite large (measured in meters). When you’re done, the King of All Cosmos tells you what your ball comprises of, and scores your ball.

After I’ve put some more play time into Me & My Katamari I’ll give you all a full review. Until then, I strongly recommend that you give it a look-see.

Since picking the game back up, I’ve unlocked another 19 achievements for a total of 380 gamer points. I’ve also built a mine, unlocked several variants of several piñata, and had an awful lot of fun in the process. This game is doing a fantastic game of recapturing my attention and helping bridge the gap until the next great game.

My previous review of this game can be found here.

If you are playing this game and would like some tips, I encourage you to check out http://www.pinataisland.info for some tips and information about the game.

SPOILER ALERT: Contrary to my normal position on not posting spoilers, in order to make my point with this game I must post some degree of a spoiler. If you don’t want to read the spoiler, PLEASE STOP NOW.

Right in the beginning of this game, you’re a victim in a plane crash–though I suspect your character may have had something to do with the crash–and you’re in a large body of water, presumably the ocean, near a lighthouse. Once you enter the lighthouse you enter a strange sort of elevator that takes you under water quite a ways. Then you get shown a video telling you about this underwater city of “Rapture”. The moment the elevator stops, you see a man being killed by a very strange looking creature, and it’s kinda scary. Then the creature comes after you, clawing at your elevator roof. You’re told to get out of the elevator and then you go and find a weapon yadda yadda yadda. Then you find a syringe, and like any good game player assume that it is a good idea to inject the contents of the syringe into your character. Your character’s body kinda freaks out you you get the creepiest cut-scene ever.

A very pale-looking little girl–you don’t get to see all of her–talks to a gigantic monster in a dive suit with a drill on its arm like its her little pet. She says that she thinks you’re an angel, but then reconsiders when she sees you breathing. But she assures her “pet” that you will be an angel soon.

Conclusion: This game is not a shooter. As I said, this game does have shooting, and that’s all find and dandy, but this is so much more than a shooter. In shooters you don’t have story lines this disturbingly creepy or suspenseful. I actually got a kick of adrenaline playing the demo, similar to when you watch films like Silence of the Lambs or Halloween. This game is really pioneering a new type of game, which actually seems to be just as much about the story–which seems incredible–as well as the graphics and gameplay–which also seem quite nice.

I seriously recommend that folks try the demo for themselves and see what they think. It just blew me away.

Please see the “pwn with us” page for more details.

Today Nintendo released the Metriod Prime 3: Corruption preview on WiiShop. When I saw this I was ecstatic because I thought that Nintendo had finally wised up and decided to start putting playable demos in the WiiShop. Imagine my surprise when I fired that bad boy up and all I get is a video.

This video is fantastic, and the game looks great to be sure… which is why I wanted a freakin’ playable demo. PS3 fans and Xbox 360 fans have been enjoying playable demos for a while. PS2 and Xbox fans have even been able to obtain playable demos via the official magazines for a long time, too. This is the sort of thing that Nintendo fans have really missed out on, and it’s the kind of marketing that Nintendo has ignored at their own peril.

Nintendo, just in case you missed my point, your fans want playable demos via WiiShop or some other Nintendo WiFi Connection application. We are tired of seeing every other system give us fantastic game previews when all you give us are web sites–pretty as though they may be–and videos.

Pros:

• The Wii controls are actually quite elegant here

Cons:

• The graphics and music are the same as the GameCube version of this game
• The GamePlay is the same as the GameCube version of this game
• This game is very limited when compared to the PC version of this game
• This game, due to it’s limited capacity, gets very old very fast

The bottom line is that if you’ve ever played the PC version of this game, you will never enjoy a console port of it. Ever. My wife is a huge fan of this series, and when we stopped having Windows-based PCs in our house (we’re 100% Kubuntu GNU/Linux baby!) the only thing she missed was The Sims 2. These console versions have done nothing but tease and disappoint her.