First impressions are important in art, but they're certainly not everything. I really despised my first few hours of pain in Dark Souls. I couldn't imagine why anyone would put themselves through such an arduous gauntlet of pain and suffering. Of course, I now know that my ignorance of FromSoft's language was at the heart of this misinformed opinion, and upon learning Souls' inherent lexicon, it became one of my favorite games of 2011. But for every game that builds like Dark Souls, there's an analogue that makes a fantastic first impression, only to show its cards far too early. So it goes with Black Knight Sword, the newest downloadable title from Grasshopper and Suda51.
For better or worse, you kind of know what you're getting into when you enter a game with Suda's name on it. With this in mind, Black Knight Sword starts with a fantastic opening that exudes the uniquely strange style and vision that we've come to associate with the eccentric creator. You begin this dark fairy tale where most childhood stories start -- at the business end of a noose. Upon wiggling your corpse off of its not-so-final resting place, your titular knight stumbles upon a cursed blade, and thus begins a three-hour tour through a hellish nightmare. It's a great first few minutes, but the game sadly heads in a downward direction after that.
I honestly have no idea how I continually missed out on Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath over the past decade. Despite recommendations from friends and colleagues, I never managed to sit down and give it my full attention. Being a huge fan of all manner of westerns, I was promised that I'd love it. I was aware of the oft-cited twist that it held, but knew nothing of the specifics. Lucky for me, having Stranger's Wrath HD (yes, technically it's not really HD) ported to the Vita right before I embarked on a two week vacation provided the fortuitous series of events necessary for me to finally discover just who this Stranger was, and why he was so damn wrathful. After barreling through the adventure in a manner of days, I'm glad to report that this trip into Oddworld ages quite well, save for one huge design flaw courtesy of the Vita's most unnecessary functionality.
You play as The Stranger, a bounty hunter who roams the world collecting blood money in order to pay for an unknown operation. The basic structure plays out in a similar vein as GTA III, in which you visit larger towns, accept a mission, then venture forth to find and capture your bounty. While there's nothing new about this general structure, it's in Oddworld's action where its originality shines. With a tap the Vita's front screen, you'll transition your view from 3rd-person exploration to 1st-person combat. Your weapon throughout the adventure is always a crossbow, but it's your ammunition that makes all of the difference. The world is quite literally crawling with a variety of living creatures that you hunt, collect, and eventually fire at your enemies -- spiders lasso your unsuspecting victims, while a barrage of bees turn you into a gatling gun-wielding Stranger With No Name.
1UP COVER STORY | WEEK OF JANUARY 7 | ODDS 'N ENDS
The New Ice Age: A Lost Planet 3 Interview
Cover Story: The creative leads of Capcom's next ice planet adventure talk design, combat, and Dead Space.
B
ack at San Diego Comic-Con, I sat down with the team behind the promising third chapter of the Lost Planet series, director Matt Sophos and producer Andrew Szymanski, to discuss my observations about the game with them. We'd intended to use our interview as part of a larger feature that never happened. Fortunately, the interview stands nicely on its own, providing substantial thoughts and insights into the design of Lost Planet 3.
1UP: I'd like to start by asking not about Lost Planet 3 so much as the Visceral-shaped elephant in the room, which is that... When I first played Lost Planet 3, the demo, I thought, "These enclosed spaces kind of remind me of Dead Space." Then a month later I saw Dead Space 3, and I'm like, "This ice planet kind of reminds me of Lost Planet." So... I don't know. From your perspective, how do you look at that and the similarity between these two games?
1UP COVER STORY | WEEK OF JANUARY 7 | ODDS 'N ENDS
The Deceptive Beauty of Atari Box Art
Cover Story: How a bit of creative marketing goes a long way.
T
he importance of box art seems to dwindle with each passing generation of consoles. As the average gamer nowadays is much more knowledgeable about games, very few of us wander into a store completely oblivious of what type of experience hides behind the art of a specific title. But back in the '80s, that digital tree of knowledge that we call the internet wasn't there to whet our gaming appetites, so consumers had to rely on the milk of human kindness, aka, video game box art. It turns out that sometimes that milk was a bit sour, and the art would take some rather creative liberties in its interpretation of the actual game it was promoting.
1UP COVER STORY | WEEK OF JANUARY 7 | ODDS 'N ENDS
Cover Story: Odds 'N Ends
This week, 1UP takes you to the island of forgotten stories.
Life has a tendency to sneak up on you. Nearly one year ago, we were discussing the ideas of cover stories and the Essential 100. Suddenly in the blink of an eye, 2012 was over, and it was time to start preparing for 2013. Over 30 cover stories are under our belt, and we've counted down the 100 games that define our medium. Seriously, where the hell did the last year go? Well, this week is all about trying to answer that question by picking through the relics of the past 52 weeks.
Here's the biggest non-secret you'll read all day -- things rarely go as planned. No matter how diligent a schedule you create, road blocks pop up without so any sign of an apology. Review copies arrive hours before an embargo lifts, new games are announced without any warning, and interview plans fall through. Like any job, working at 1UP requires us to always be on our toes and fluidly adapt to the changing tides of the industry. But while this means that some stories are left behind, they're certainly not forgotten. This week is all about revisiting those ideas that we wanted to write in 2012, but for one reason or another, just couldn't.
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