Added: 04.06.2015 15:17 | 18 views | 0 comments


The new Wii U & 3DS eShop releases for the week of June 4, 2015 are here, including Adventures of Pip, Pac-Attack, Lord of Magna, Angry Video Game Nerd Adventures, and much more!

Added: 04.06.2015 14:16 | 71 views | 0 comments


Keith Mitchell writes: Adventures of Pip is a 2D side scrolling platformer that puts you into the role of Pip, a single pixel in a world of high resolution characters. When the kingdom he lives in is attacked and the princess is kidnapped by an evil queen, Pip is sent to find a hero to restore the peace. Instead however he stumbles onto the key to becoming a hero and takes it upon himself to save his missing princess. I actually had the pleasure of getting some hands on with the title during PAX East 2015 and felt that this game had the makings of something great. Did I feel the same way after finally playing the finished product? You better believe I did.

Added: 04.06.2015 0:16 | 10 views | 0 comments


EB: In the latest episode of 15 Minutes of Fame I take a look at Adventures of Pip, which is releasing on June 4, 2015 for the PC and Mac platforms (June 11th for Wii U with Xbox One and PS4 on the horizon). Pip is a beautifully crafted platformer that honors the kings of that genre from the 8 and 16-bit eras such as Super Mario Bros., SMB 3, Mega Man and Super Mario World. Its hard not to get super nostalgic if you grew up in the 80s and early 90s playing on the NES, SNES, and Genesis thanks to Pips retro visuals and super tight platforming controls, which instantly transport you back in time to your parents house trying to master the next touchy jump without smashing your controller or biting your arm in frustration.

Added: 03.06.2015 22:21 | 3 views | 0 comments

The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing III is an absurd game in the most literal sense of the word. Between explosive assaults on a circus of demonic clowns and trading Monty Python references with a Minotaur, at times it's hard to say what drives this frenetic adventure. You find the same over-the-top action, pop culture quips, and touches of gothic horror here that you do in the previous games in this series. Thematically, however, the series has grown. Underneath bursts of raucous action and tongue-in-cheek winks to the audience, there's an earnest, albeit haphazard attempt at character drama that works because the rest of the game is so ludicrous.

Until now, the Van Helsing series has played out as something of a comedic parody of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein stapled to the kind of quick-firing comedy that made the had. Here, there's little of substance beyond the base game. Even worse is that all that extra content was originally intended to help support a robust set of online modes, but most of those have been cut down. For example, the Neverending story mode, one of the biggest replayability features, is all but gone. When added to the game's decreased level cap (30, down from 60), the exclusion cuts down on the long-term potential of a game that once thrived on post-campaign play.

These unfortunate oversights hint at the biggest problem with Van Helsing III--in exchange for narrative closure, almost everything else has been copied and pasted from its previous iterations. Potions, a quick pick-me-up staple in almost any action RPG, have been cut, but the user interface still has buttons corresponding to where the potion displays were in the last game. Furthermore, some skills explicitly upgrade the functionality of potions that don't exist. Many textures, enemies, and missions are almost identical as well. Adding to that are some pernicious bugs that can cause all manner of issues, from game crashes to quests that cannot be completed. There's nothing game-breaking, but it's still sad to see. This was a series to which I, and many others, had become quite attached. It was a refreshing take on a modern myth and a rote genre.

The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing III is like visiting your hometown after years of absence. Everything's the same, yet off somehow. As you visit all the same places and exchange words with old friends, you're faced with an uncomfortable duality. On one hand, you get the closure of knowing how it all turned out, but on the other, you wonder what could have been, making you simultaneously satisfied and unsettled by the reality that this is the end.

Added: 03.06.2015 22:21 | 2 views | 0 comments

The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing III is an absurd game in the most literal sense of the word. Between explosive assaults on a circus of demonic clowns and trading Monty Python references with a Minotaur, at times it's hard to say what drives this frenetic adventure. You find the same over-the-top action, pop culture quips, and touches of gothic horror here that you do in the previous games in this series. Thematically, however, the series has grown. Underneath bursts of raucous action and tongue-in-cheek winks to the audience, there's an earnest, albeit haphazard attempt at character drama that works because the rest of the game is so ludicrous.

Until now, the Van Helsing series has played out as something of a comedic parody of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein stapled to the kind of quick-firing comedy that made the had. Here, there's little of substance beyond the base game. Even worse is that all that extra content was originally intended to help support a robust set of online modes, but most of those have been cut down. For example, the Neverending story mode, one of the biggest replayability features, is all but gone. When added to the game's decreased level cap (30, down from 60), the exclusion cuts down on the long-term potential of a game that once thrived on post-campaign play.

These unfortunate oversights hint at the biggest problem with Van Helsing III--in exchange for narrative closure, almost everything else has been copied and pasted from its previous iterations. Potions, a quick pick-me-up staple in almost any action RPG, have been cut, but the user interface still has buttons corresponding to where the potion displays were in the last game. Furthermore, some skills explicitly upgrade the functionality of potions that don't exist. Many textures, enemies, and missions are almost identical as well. Adding to that are some pernicious bugs that can cause all manner of issues, from game crashes to quests that cannot be completed. There's nothing game-breaking, but it's still sad to see. This was a series to which I, and many others, had become quite attached. It was a refreshing take on a modern myth and a rote genre.

The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing III is like visiting your hometown after years of absence. Everything's the same, yet off somehow. As you visit all the same places and exchange words with old friends, you're faced with an uncomfortable duality. On one hand, you get the closure of knowing how it all turned out, but on the other, you wonder what could have been, making you simultaneously satisfied and unsettled by the reality that this is the end.