Kyerannosaur Crunches Rhythm Thief & The Emperor's Treasure

Tastes like DISPARITY!

Rhythm Thief & The Emperor's Treasure breaks out of the standard rhythm game mold. It seemingly aims to take the rhythm game fun players are so used to and inject it into the frame of a mystery/adventure game. The idea is sound -- like mixing peanut butter and bananas on a croissant -- but creates too conflicting tastes in my mouth.

Kyerannosaur Roars: Credits in Games

Caution: The following post contains minor spoilers for various games, particularly Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance. Continue at your own discretion.

Beating (or completing) a game is a big deal: viewing the ending cinematic, watching the credits, reflecting on the adventure, basking in challenges overcome, gaining achievements. The credits sequence, in most games, is naturally an end goal of the player. Generally, games will feature clips or content from the game, calling forth fond memories for the hours you have sunk into this title. Since the final boss fight is typically a big push of adrenaline, the ending sequence gives the player a chance to sit back and enjoy. In short, this is the closing ceremony, a celebration of the player's accomplishments.

It seems this notion either isn't shared among all developers, or that some forget it entirely. From most recent experience, I will take Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance as Exhibit A.

Kyerannosaur Crunches Gungnir

Tastes like CLUTTER!

Gungnir is a Japanese tactics-RPG, and I like tactics-RPGs, so if I start to sound a little harsh understand that it's not because I disliked the game. Gungnir tasted fine and would make for a great meal. That being said, I came across a series of nitpicks that all point back to one thing: you're trying to tell me too much.

Gungnir has a lot of beautifully rendered art, a detailed story, an intricately designed user interface, and deep, thoughtful mechanics. These are all great things; all these things craft a great game. Yet, I feel Gungnir goes a little overboard with the presentation, like using a bit too much salt on your steak and drowning out the other seasonings. Everything is detailed-oriented, so much so that I could get lost in the details. This is at its worst in the user interface where text is tiny and floods the screen. Options and information are everywhere. This is generally great, particularly for a tactics game, until it becomes too much to handle -- there's too much information here that's not immediately relevant. The screen ends up looking cluttered so it's tough to find the information that you need. There's data noise happening.

Kyerannosaur Crunches Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

Tastes like VANILLA!

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning (hereafter referred to as Amalur, because that name is longer than a seismosaur's neck) is an RPG. It's an RPG player's RPG, and it tries to be a really good one. It tries to stand up and say, "I'm awesome! I've got the most and I do the best!" It's like a giant, juicy, fresh cut steak that was cooked without seasoning. It's bland.

When talking about my play time with a fellow dino, I described Amalur as "RPG of RPG: The Reckoning" because that's what it looks and feels like. I started the game and watched a cinematic about some great evil force that once went to war with a prosperous kingdom and was finally defeated but may be immortal (or something like that; honestly, I didn't catch all the details). It felt like The Lord of the Rings and the struggle against Sauron. Then I created a character, picked a class, and a build, and customized my appearance, because that's what you do in RPGs. Oh, and pick a deity to follow, too, because that'll affect your abilities later.

Kyrannosaur Crunches Child of Eden

Tastes like IMMERSION!

Child of Eden is an arcade game. Fundamentally, that's all it is; mechanically, it's not much more than a rail shooter or sh'mup. And then it's a symphony; it's Euro pop or trance. Then it's a light show synchronized to that symphony. And suddenly you're inside of it, controlling the light show. Only you're not controlling a light show, you're actually saving a beautiful girl trapped inside the Internet!