A few month’s ago, I featured this game’s predecessor, which could only be described as darkly humorous, delightfully tasteless, and disturbingly addictive. It attracted its share of controversy, and the fact hasn’t been lost on developer Running with Scissors. In 2003, they created this sequel, and there are a number of substantial changed to the formula. Although its content these days is pretty tame compared to the Grand Theft Autos and Manhunts, it can still get a bit extreme at times. In fact, its content is so extreme that it has been banned in both Australia and New Zealand. It gained further negative publicity a few years back after the Dawson College shooting rampage in Montreal when the gunman listed Postal 2 among his favorite video games. This is the type of game that, while it clearly doesn’t appeal to everyone, still maintains a healthy cult following.
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At one time, Square’s Romancing Saga franchise was as big as Final Fantasy. Romancing Saga’s key difference from most other RPGs was its non-linearity. The plot changed dependent on which character you selected as well as what choices were made in certain dialogue situations. However, for the longest time, the series was only released in Japan, necessitating various fan translations. The most the U.S would ever see of the series were the Game Boy Romancing Saga titles, which were released under the name Final Fantasy Legend. Saga Frontier for the Playstation 1 marks the first time that the series has hit North American shores on a console. While the game is a bit on the simplistic side compared to its predecessors, it’s free scenario system made the game enjoyable.
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Lets turn the clock back to 2006. It was one year into the Xbox 360’s life cycle, and consumers were either stabbing and shooting each other in order to get their hands on the newly released PS3, or lining up for hours to get their hands on a Wii. Meanwhile, Xbox 360 gamers were still waiting the proverbial ‘killer app’ for the system. While games like Oblivion, Fight Night Round 3, and Saints Row did a good job or keeping players tied over, many of them were just higher resolution versions of games on the original Xbox. What gamers really wanted was Halo 3. Meanwhile, Epic had something brand new up its sleeve. Making use of the brand new Unreal 3 graphics engine, a lifelike alternate world, and unique gameplay features, Gears of War was unleashed on the scene, and it redefined the rules of the shooter genre.
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When this arcade shooter from Konami was released in 2001, it was way ahead of its time. The arcade cabinet was lined with infrared sensors that tracked your every movement, so you could duck and dodge and take cover. Years before the Wii, Police 911 got players in the game like no other game could do so. Playing as either a Japanese police detective or an American police officer, your job was to stop a Japanese crime syndicate. You made your way through several stages, shooting enemies while avoiding fellow officers and civilians. There is a timer not unlike Time Crisis, so it’s best not to dawdle in an area for too long. You can increase your rank and earn bonuses by completing the levels without killing civilians. A sequel was released, featuring more characters and levels. This game would be a perfect fit on the Nintendo Wii, as the Wiimote and the balance board make a perfect substitute for the arcade cabinet’s infrared sensors.

One thing you gotta love about Goichi Suda is that he doesn’t care how well his games are received by critics. He doesn’t care how well reviewers score his product, how well his games sell, or weather or not he gets a game of the year award. In fact, he doesn’t care about gaining any kind of mainstream recognition whatsoever, as anyone who has played Killer 7 knows. He works in this same spirit as many independent game programmers, and simply wants to share his demented thoughts with the world. No More Heroes is his latest creation. Weather you love or hate the game, it will be sure to have you scratching your head in a way that few games can.
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Gyruss is a shooter from Konami. Although Gyruss was originally an arcade game, but like other NES ports of arcade games, players would be more fond of its NES counterpart. Gyruss’s gameplay can best be described as ‘Galaga in a funnel’. You’re assaulted by waves of enemies, and you roll around the screen in a circle blasting at them. You travel throughout the solar system, eventually making your way toward Earth from Neptune. The NES version of the game adds new soundtrack tunes (including a remixed version of J. S. Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor that’s pretty catchy), a more detailed plot, new power ups, boss battles, an ending, and extra stages (including the former planet Pluto and the Sun). Like other games of its type, Gyruss has little setting apart from the rest of the pack (beside the cool music and 3d effects), but you’ll enjoy it while it lasts.

Wanna have some fun with your mp3 collection? Go to Steam and download Audiosurf. This game is basically a fusion of Guitar Hero, Wipeout, and Columnus. You take control of one of many characters, each grouped by difficulty and having their own special abilities. You make your way down a racetrack, picking up colored blocks. You use these colored blocks to create clusters, which score you points. The colored blocks are synced your chosen song. The game contains additional game modes, and there is 2-player co-op play available. This is an incredibly addictive game, and it has won many awards on the independent gaming scene. Pedro Macedo Camacho, who composed the game’s original soundtrack, has won an “Excellence in Audio” award at the 2008 Independent Games Festival. Currently the game is only available on Valve’s Steam distribution network. It’s available for less than $10, so check it out and support the independent gaming scene.

Since the alphabet is the building block of our language, the Powet Alphabet is the building block of what makes us geeks.

Now we all love video games. At least most of you do. I can’t imagine that the majority of our visitors would be here if they didn’t, let alone reading this article. However, many of us can’t afford to run out and buy the latest new game when it is released, especially in this recession. Most of us have to deal with tuition/student loan payments, rent/mortgage payments, food, utilities, and in some cases, even extra mouths to feed. However, just because you’re swamped with bills doesn’t mean you have to keep playing the same games over and over again, simply because you can’t afford new ones. In this addition of the powet alphabet, I’m going to show you 10 selections straight from our weekly $20 Game of the Week feature, a.k.a the gamer stimulus package, designed to stimulate your collection and bail you out from the monotony of replaying the same titles again. I tried to cover every system here, and there is a good selection of genre offerings, so there is something for everyone. As luck would have it, this is also the 4 year anniversary of the column. All of these titles can be found for under 20 dollars anywhere you buy games from.

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