Secret of Mana Musings

Secret of Mana is a classic game in every sense of the word. Originally debuting on the Super Nintendo, this action/RPG hybrid was one of the first of it's kind to appear on the gaming landscape. It had great everything- story, gameplay, graphics -you name it SoM had it to spare.

Now Square/Enix has brought this much loved title to the iPhone for a new generation of players to fawn all over- but will they? And how does the touchscreen work with the action oriented SoM?

Braveheart Musings

Braveheart for the iPhone/iPod Touch and iPad (in HD flavor) comes from developer Gaijin (makers of FPS Modern Combat) and is a medieval flavored action romp with sprinklings of RTS, RPG, and tower defense... does that make any sense? Probably not but that's how I felt as I played through the game on my iPad.

Though mainly touted as an action affair, there are a lot of other elements to the tale of Sir Richard and his quest for the Holy Grail that can't really be contained in the one genre. Although there is a lot of it... action, I mean.

'Scarlett and the Spark of Life' Musings

Do you like old school adventure games? You know, you move the cursor around the screen till you hit on some hot spots and then you click 'em. You pick up (sometimes nonsensical) items and use them to solve puzzles... If you played PC games 'back in the day', then you more than likely know exactly what I'm talking about. And you more than likely have more than a few fond memories of those old games.

I'm digressing too much here, but memories of Space Quest, Day of the Tentacle, Full Throttle- and going back even further -King's Quest, just kept popping into my mind as I played through Scarlett's first adventure on the iPhone.


Scarlett and the Spark of Life is the first part in a new ongoing series of adventure games on the iPhone. It has many of the standard play mechanics of the now classic genre- just converted over from point and click to point and tap. But capturing the feel of those old PC games can be a tricky beast, does Scarlett pull it off?

Call of Duty: Black Ops Musings

Call of Duty: Black Ops had the unenviable task of following up the biggest CoD ever- Modern Warfare 2. This was a game that is still played by millions religiously and was basically the swan-song for fan favorite CoD developer, Infinity Ward (which has since fallen out with publisher Activision and whose current state is up in the air). Development for this new Call was done by Treyarch, a house who has been maligned and put down by the series faithful. Their CoD games are just flat out not as good as IW's.

At least that was the conventional thought, but does it still hold true?

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II Musings

The Force Unleashed II is a fun romp. I had a lot of fun with this game- the storytelling remains very good, the graphics are excellent in places and well done overall and of course, the voice acting is once again *mostly* a treat.

And by the way, Starkiller- or Galen Marek -is an awesome hero. What a great character, I think the last  Star Wars gaming character that was this well put together has to have been Kyle Katarn of Dark Forces fame.

If this sounds like an awful lot of praise, it is- but there's one thing that holds TFU2 back from greatness.

Musings: Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions

Spider-Man has had a far better history than most superheroes in the realm of gaming. Just a brief mental stroll down memory lane brings up thoughts of the original Playstation Spider-Man (you don't just play it... you live it!) and it's sequel-  excellent games both. Go a little further back and you'll want to remember the fun but shallow SNES titles and the amazing (wink) Genesis/Sega CD game.

Sure the X-Men have had some good ones too and Batman had the sublime Arkham Asylum just last year, but Spidey stands out from all of them. Even with the recently meh Web of Shadows, his VG resume bests most other heroes. And now we get Shattered Dimensions.

I really liked this game.