Dark Souls

So, a couple years ago, From Software put out one of the most difficult RPGs I'd ever played. My roommate picked it up and the two of us started playing. At first, the game was as painful as root canal. Constant and unforgiving, we would spend hours playing just to die and lose our progress in 10 minutes or so.  We stuck with it though, in increments, and over a couple months beat it and developed quite an addiction. I've logged countless hours into this game and really think it deserved all the praise it got in 2009. Simply put, this is a great game.

I'm not going to review the game mechanics and all that. (I'll link you to a web page with all that information: http://demonssouls.wikidot.com/) Anyways, the reason I'm bringing this up is a "sequel" was announced!
That is all.

-- Wudd

The Dump Stat

Stumbling around the blogging universe, I ended up at this blog. At first I was a little overwhelmed but I started reading the posts and popping around the links and what not and found I really liked the blog as a whole. It's kind of funny, I've never been much into following blogs, but I liked the way this guy wrote and even popped over to some of the sites he suggested. It's overwhelming at first but definitely worth checking out. Click the link on the sidebar.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------->

Donkey Kong Country Returns

When I first heard of this game a couple months ago, I was stoked. I loved the original Donkey Kong Country games and really felt our favorite gorilla was due for a comeback. I really felt the game did a great job re vitalizing the franchise. Donkey Kong 64 was the last DK game I played and, in my opinion, it was terrible. Unresponsive and a complete venture away from the game we all loved growing up, I was surprised Nintendo continued to stray farther from the proven DK recipe. Donkey Konga and its sequels made use of a peripheral which kept me from ever wanting to play it, and the Mario vs. Donkey Kong series was a solid return to the roots of the original arcade game, Donkey Kong. It took 10 years, but it was well worth the wait.

The game itself makes use of the Wiimote's motion sensor, which is fun at first, but after 45 minutes of repeated controller-induced flailing you start to curse the game for not having a button that lets you roll and what not. I'm always surprised that the side scrolling platformer can still be entertaining.  The level's are challenging enough to be interesting but not too difficult. The true challenge comes from finding puzzle pieces and K-O-N-G in each of the levels. Generally it's pretty easy but there are a couple difficult ones.

Overall, I'd say this is a great game well worth buying for all ages and skill levels. So, go out and buy the game, and enjoy!

 -- Wudd