Games Rebels Play — April
May has already been here for six days, which means it’s high time we spilled the beans on what we spent our time playing during the month of April. It’s been an ecclectic month, with the 4cr crew playing everything from Sonic 2, Master Blaster and Cave Story to Picross 3D and Borderlands. Read on to find out everything we’ve been playing, and don’t forget to chime in and let us know what games have been keeping you busy, as well!
Greg
Having finished off my MS degree, I suddenly found myself with a little bit of free time this month. Naturally, I’ve been using it to binge on games. I played through, and reviewed, Atlus’ 3D Dot Game Heroes and Trauma Team (go and read the reviews for my thoughts). I also completed the incredible Mass Effect 2 and started Dragon Age: Awakening. Both have that indescribable Bioware effect that just grabs you and pulls you into these stories and worlds. Very few games inspire me to just sit there and play for hours at a time, but somehow, every single Bioware game has had that effect.
I’ve also been playing bits and pieces of Fragile Dreams on the Wii. I’m a little mixed on it right now. The game is stunningly beautiful – the sheer atmosphere and the art direction put the majority of HD games to shame. Unfortunately, the gameplay just hasn’t grabbed me yet. I’ll definitely be giving it more attention soon.
Of course, I’ve been giving my DSi some attention as well. I’ve been building up those watts and training my monsters in Pokemon Soul Silver. I have also kind of been on a puzzle game binge with Picross 3D and Korogashi Puzzle Katamari Damacy (from the Japanese DSiWare store). Picross is simply Picross with a 3rd dimension added, which is to say that it is incredibly addictive. The Katamari puzzler is interesting – your goal isn’t to remove the blocks, but rather to work around them. You’re instead trying to build up a line of the correct number and mix of objects, so that your Katamari can absorb them. It looks like it is a little on the sort side, but it was still worth the 500 points.
Edgar
In April, I finally finished Borderlands on the 360. Now to tackle the DLC. As you probably heard in the 4th podcast, I’ve been playing Shin Megami Tensei. I’m loving the game, being a fan of the dungeon crawler genre, like Etrian Odyssey did so well on the DS, I’m really digging the new mechanics in this game. But if it wasn’t for Greg, I would’ve stopped playing the game after the first hour. The first hour of this game is setting up the story for your adventure, there’s so much text. I usually love a good story in my games, and the story is pretty good, but please let me try the game first and then add the story to it. Like Jody, I’ve been playing Cave Story too, such a great game. Lastly, I have a confession to make…. I started playing Guild Wars again, and I’m loving it. For a 5 year-old game, it has aged really well.
Jody
Spent most of my April playing more of New Super Mario Bros Wii, as well as Suikoden Tierkreis on DS. It’s really not a bad game, it just isn’t much of a Suikoden game. I’ve also been tinkering around with WiiWare, DSiWare, and the Virtual Console. On WiiWare, it’s been all about Cave Story. On DSiWare, I’ve been toying around with a couple of releases (AlphaBounce, Mr. Driller) and on VC I’ve been playing just about anything, but focusing on finally finishing up Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Almost there. Now I just need to find more time to play!
Benny
I’ve got an absolute glut of games to finish. So many that I’m embarrassed to even list them here. My current fling is FFXIII. It’s the first FF I actually care about plot-wise, and I think the revolutions they did to the entire system is refreshing. I love everything about the game – graphics, battle system and story. I may also have a man-crush on Snow (he’s dreamy, OKAY?!?) and a crush crush on Vanille and/or Fang. Those are firsts for me as well and it’s making me question some things…
Otherwise I’m dabbling in Zelda: Spirit Tracks (which I already like more than Phantom Hourglass), God of War III (really pretty but pretty derivative), and I’m battling Ludwig Von Koopa in Cloud World in NSMB Wii. It makes me wonder why they didn’t bring back the Koopa Kids earlier – I love those guys.
And if you’ve got an iPhone… download Sword & Poker. I play that game pretty much everyday – and the endgame is devilishly difficult. Perfect. Phone. Game.
Sean
I spent a lot of time getting married this last month, so I didn’t have a lot of time for gaming. Although, I did spend some time at the reception playing Rock Band 2 and Beatles: Rock Band (not too much: I had to POLKA). But afterward I finally (finally!) got started on Atari’s Ghostbusters game. Oh man, did they ever get this right! Earlier in the month I picked up Ghostbusters for NES (sprung from the same pre-console source as the Sega Master System version), and there’s really just no comparing the two.
Okay, I’ll come clean — I bought a stack of NES games earlier in the month: Bubble Bobble, Ghostbusters, Master Blaster, and Wizards and Warriors III. I had completely forgotten about the top-down portions of Blaster Master, and I think I fell in love with it all over again. (Sorry, honey!) Wizards and Warriors III, though, I was only reminded of why I hate hate HATED it as a kid, but it still has its fantastic Ghosts and Goblins charm. I should just play that instead.
Michael Tucker
With final projects and porfolio due-dates coming up, I’ve not had too much time for games this past month. I got a little bit of Borderlands in with GK and we finished up the game before deciding that the PC version is so poorly ported that we would not be buying the expansions and uninstalled the game. I’ve also spent a lovely few hours with L4D2‘s new DLC. The Passing campaign is a great series of maps and the mutations game mode has been great so far. I’m entirely excited about all the future mutations that Valve offers for the game.
Other than that, the only pseudo-gaming I managed to do last month was when I tried out engine demo’s of games I found in TIGSource’s Promisingly Good Freeware Games In Development thread. This was actually a ton of fun too, because even though there weren’t too many new titles for me to play, there were a ton of really great concepts with solid engines that I’m eagerly waiting for in the future.
Rumas
This month has been all about Electroplankton for me. I have fallen in love with it all over again. It’s not only one of my favorite games ever — it’s one of my favorite *things* ever. Lumiloop is the perfect way to end any day.
I’ve also been playing Wii Sports Resort, which I’m convinced will never get old for me. And that’s good news.
4cr Staff - May 6th, 2010 - 
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toasterfire on May 6, 2010 at 3:42 pm
One of the nice things about this list is that it shows what real gamers are playing.
We pick up the new games, but we also like to take time to appreciate the old ones as well. We finish some games a little late, and go back and enjoy our favorites.
On other sites, because of the pressure of reviews, it sometimes seems like the main editors have an attention disorder when it comes to games.
Personally, I’ve really gotten into Monster Hunter Tri.
It’s probably the most robust online experience on Wii to date. It’s fun to go online and work cooperatively. I’m enjoying going through this game at the moment, but I’d have major hesitations about picking up a new one if it came along.
Protector one on May 6, 2010 at 3:54 pm
Is that… Andy Bernard??
EdEN on May 6, 2010 at 4:05 pm
April was a good month, but lately I’ve been doing most of my gaming on my DSi. I was waiting for the Games Rebels Play feature to go live, so here’s my list (considering there was no list for march, I’m putting the games from that 2 month period):
DS: Flower, Sun and Rain (Finished) and Rondo of Swords.
DSiware: Glow Artisan, Spotto!, Save the Turtles!, Aura-Aura Climber, Flipper! (Finished), Fieldrunners (Finished), Escapee Go! (Finished), Oregon Trail (Finished), Trajectile, Star Ship Defense (Finished),
Wii: New Super Mario Bros Wii, Mario Party 8, Punch-Out!!, Wii Fit Plus, Guitar Hero 5, Wii Sports Resort, Guitar Hero: Smash Hits.
Wiiware: LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias (Finshed), Eduardo the Samurai Toaster, FF IV: The After Years and Neves Plus.
PS3: G-Force (Platinum), Devil May Cry 4 (Finished), Condemned 2 (Finshed) and Stranglehold.
PSN: Critter Crunch.
9th Sage on May 6, 2010 at 4:45 pm
For me…
Wii: Just finished up Fragile Dreams (like maybe 20 minutes ago). I suppose the gameplay isn’t 100% perfect, but I adore everything else about this game to the degree that it more than makes up for it (I also really liked the ending). Also, Shiren the Wanderer and Cave Story.
I also need to finish Final Fantasy IV: The After Years (have a few more chapters to go), and probably replay Lost Winds so I can buy the sequel.
DS: Mostly Infinite Space at the moment, with some Disgaea DS mixed in.
PC: Beat Hazard and Tidalis (Tidalis, since no one probably knows of it, is a really fun puzzle game that certainly beats things like Bejeweled to bits as far as I’m concerned…it’s currently in Beta, but you can still pay and get in on the Beta…things are added/fixed/whatever constantly). I also am playing Aquaria, which rules.
Gregory Gay on May 6, 2010 at 5:03 pm
@9th Sage: I just finished up Fragile Dreams this morning. I wrote my blurb like a week ago, and I completely fell in love with the game after getting out of the mall.
The gameplay is clunky, but man, this game tugs at your heartstrings. I’m going to try to give it a bigger article soon.
Ki on May 6, 2010 at 7:16 pm
Where’s the love for Monster Hunter Tri? It’s awesome guys and I’d love to go hunting with you lot.
EdEN on May 6, 2010 at 7:29 pm
Guess Fragile will stay on my end of the year list then…
Greg in PA on May 6, 2010 at 8:43 pm
march wasnt a month i got to spend much of my time gaming but when i did it was mostly splintercell conviction
Kenofthedead on May 6, 2010 at 8:48 pm
Picross 3D. I love it but I can’t tell what anything is going to be until I finsh it. my imagination sucks. Good thing other people’s don’t and let me download their custom puzzles!
yanipheonu on May 6, 2010 at 8:52 pm
Final Fantasy XIII. Just at the final boss. Will probably go for all the trophies after. SO GOOD, my 2nd favourite FF game, losing only to FF6. Best battle system FF has ever had.
Been playing some Bioshock 2 multiplayer and Blazblue as well. A bit of SSFIV when the guys are over as well.
whataboutki on May 6, 2010 at 10:54 pm
@yanipheonu I’ve been playing FF 13 but I have found it incredibly boring. The fighting mainly consists of pressing X X X X X X and then there is a huge cut scene ever 5 minutes of play. I have given it up completely for monster hunter.
Also been playing a little Pikmin 2 which I haven’t played before. First game was great. This is looking great too. Can’t wait for the third.
ALH on May 7, 2010 at 6:14 am
PERFECT DARK !
KAMEO!
POKEMON DIAMOND!
I’ve been hammering the Rare this month, which isnt really that unusual for me, I’ve slowly been engulfed by the flames of unashamed fan-ness. Am surprised at how much I’m loving Perfect Dark, considering I didnt have an N64 and only really started to play FPS post-Halo. It gives me waves of nostalgia despite me being fresh to it, and I’ve never laughed so much playing online, great stuff :).
Also, Kameo, which I wasnt really interested in until my hand was guided into picking it up. Cant beleive noone told me to check it out before now, because Im loving every minute of it. Wonderful little game, right up my street in terms of fun. I could pinball around as Major Ruin all day if I had nothing better to do, and goddamn those PARTICLES!
Finally, Pkmn Diamond. Everyone I know has been picking up HeartGold/SoulSilver lately, but I’ve not had the cash to join in. I didnt finish off everything I could in Diamond the last time I played anyhow, and barely had a team worth competing with, so I’ve been grinding here and there and catching those last few stragglers. Got myself employment after 2 years of hunting now, and used my rainy day cash to buy SoulSilver in celebration..and to keep me busy on my forthcoming lonnng move/journey…
Delawaregamer on May 7, 2010 at 7:50 am
Ok, let’s see….off of Wiiware in April I played Tales of Monkey Island: Lair of the Leviathon and Mega Man 10. I rocked through Red Steel 2, and even one level on the free copy of Red Steel I got. I picked up and played NSMBW, but I am not particularly impressed with it, it’s just not that fun for me. Anyway, I ended the month picking up a copy of Warioland Shake It and have been playing that the past two weeks.
A.D.Two on May 7, 2010 at 7:57 am
“Fragile” was the main thing I played in April. I played a bit more in March (“No More Heroes: Desperate Struggle” & “Cave Story”). Now, I’m waiting for a few WiiWare & DSiWare games later this month.
EdEN on May 7, 2010 at 12:00 pm
My to do list at the moment is huge but it’s definitely waiting for the summer so I can really get into “gaming mode”. Reporting July here should be fun.
Gold Panda on May 7, 2010 at 12:35 pm
Lets see. On my Wii its all about Muramasa, on my PS3 Im playing Braid and LB (sooo fun online). On my DS Im grinding through Chrono Trigger!
Nick on May 7, 2010 at 1:53 pm
Ohh, I still need to pick up Muramasa.
EdEN on May 7, 2010 at 2:12 pm
@Nick: It’s $29.99 at Gamestop. Some stores even have the wall scroll in the back room. Ask for it.
yanipheonu on May 7, 2010 at 2:12 pm
@whataboutki: Honestly, if you couldn’t handle that, that game is not for you. Most battle systems take a few hours come into their own, most FFs will boil down to pressing attack over and over at least in their first stages. Once you get the Paradigm Shift, the game gets a lot better. Because of the ATB, fast-paced nature, they have to be slower in introducing new elements.
Gold Panda on May 7, 2010 at 2:51 pm
@ Nick
Muramasa is great. Love the art style and all the swords you can have. Its a old school button masher, but its sooo beautiful. You need to play it!
i_am_error on May 10, 2010 at 10:54 am
Wario Ware DIY – this will end up being one of my GOTY for sure. It’s so much fun and accessible. Making your own minigame (not based on any other videogames) is a fun creative challenge.
Again – a nice but not great murder mystery… more Unsolved Mystery than CSI, and that’s probably a good thing… at least for me.
Red Steel 2 – a bit short and it might not have enough variety, but you feel like a badass (and probably look like a douche) playing it.
Metroid Prime – for the xx time but at 100% for the first time.
… and that’s pretty much April for me.