I’ve heard a lot of complains about any game lately, not just because I’m browsing 4chan, but because it seems like modern customers can’t see both sides of a coin. You may have noticed that I tend to line up against complains. It’s not that I’m a contrarian. I just like to make people think twice, so let’s go step-by-step.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii

Can a game be  marked as shit because Peach isn’t playable and the graphic style is rehashed or has the same name of another game? I doubt it. We played countless platformers and enjoyed them so what could ever prevent us from enjoying this one too? It’s noticeably harder and it has got his gimmicks and special moves. It’s worth playing just because it’s the same gameplay that kept you busy for hours when you still were underage. You may have gotten older but some things never do.

Left 4 Dead 2

One of the most boycotted games is also one of the most pre-ordered. Funny but true. People expected great things from it and weren’t disappointed. The problem is that all these “great things” haven’t been properly tuned. Rushers make their way with axes and get kicked for that and some player can’t hear hunters because the muted the game due to Rochelle’s voice. Why so serious? L4D2 is a fun game and that’s how it should be played as. Starting with the first campaign and also in the new multiplayer mode it’s obvious that L4D2 is a zombie-maiming fragfest. Kicking the infection’s ass is priority opposed to surviving. My suggestion? If you want to have some laughs play L4D2, while if you need serious shooting stick with L4D.

Call of Duty 6: Modern Warfare 2

Here’s another FAIL of a Boycott. First the players complain about the lack of dedicated servers and proper networking, then they all buy the game on release making it sell 5 million units in the first week. Seriously, who are the average COD players? Some sort of 12 years old  posers with the knack for war games? I guess they are as smart as MW2’s publisher, Activision, who asked Valve to ban players who legally bought game keys from G2Play. No comment. Looks like I’m wasting bytes on my database writing this.

Borderlands

They say that’s like WoW with guns or Diablo. I really can’t count these as complains. It may be boring or unoriginal but in multiplayer it’s intriguing. You can also roam alone if you feel confident, hoping for first hand loot. What are you waiting for? Invite some friends!

On a side-note, If you played L4D2’s campaign Dark Carnival you may have noted the small posters of the Midnight Riders, as well as their awesome performance stage, complete with fireworks. Well, looks that the band is not dead as it’s currently posting videos on YouTube. Here’s their first single.

Assassin’s Creed II is also out. I probably won’t play it but a lot of people seems interested in this so comic is inbound, as well as for Shattered Horizon. I’ve heard that it’s the new Counter-Strike, it’s well supported and I’d like to try it out if someone can send me one of the famous guest passes (you can get me on Steam from Gamers Inn’s Steam group, guess who’s the admin).

Shattered Horizon

I finally managed to try it out with a guest pass I got on 4chan (thanks Choco). Believe me, there’s more than porn and hentai there. In the end I found the game really interesting for its environments and controls but the content was really not enough. People like to customize their players and use different weapons and you can’t do any of them, at the moment. A DLC has already been announced but that’ll just add 4 more maps and no real variety to the fight.

The good thing is that there’s just one gameplay fault so far. It’s good to have a radar, we’ve got that in Halo too, but a wall hack? C’mon, what’s the point in navigating in backlight when your opponent can see a big red mark where he has to shoot?

In my opinion, it’s not worth the 20 €/$ on Steam yet but if a weekend deal happens…

New Super Mario Bros Wii

I’ve almost finished New Super Mario Bros. Wii by the way. It’s really challenging and I’ve found myself playing some levels over and over just to figure out where the last star coin is hidden (you need then even more attempts to get it) or because I’m too hasty and I fall to my death after being caught off guard by the umpteenth mechanism. In level 7-1 I actually shouted “Holy shit! Can’t everything stay still for at least 20 seconds?”. If you wanted something harder and You loved Super Mario World and Super Mario Bros. 3 this remix is for you.

Lastly, If you are wondering why your Mario doesn’t have his hat on it’s just because you have 99 lives. I spent 5 worlds trying to figure that out. Oh, and the audio recording is pretty good. I think I’ll have to change my mobile theme.

Legend of Zelda:  4 Swords Adventures

The last thing I’m playing lately is Legend of Zelda: 4 Swords Adventures. I couldn’t play it back in 2005 so I’m playing it now.  Basically, I find it enjoyable due to the retro/modern feel and the easy-going gameplay. You don’t really have to travel all the way back and forth to get the items needed for the main quest. It’s as simple as entering a dungeon, solving the puzzles and slaying the boss. It’s also hilarious having 4 youngsters shouting at the same time when falling off a cliff lemmings-style.

I miss having 3 friends near me and 4 GBAs. It’s one of those games that really makes fun of the players’ lack of coordination. Why do L4D2 is online and Zelda 4 Swords, who came first, is not?

Literally, in italian it means spare time. It’s a funny expression and I don’t mind if you want to use it in english too. I’m writing this because I’m sorry. I’ve been a little absent in the last month due to the fact that I’m working on multiple projects for my exams and I didn’t have time to write a couple of news.

Probably the most important news from the last week is that Steam finally came to Mac. Oblviously the game library isn’t the same of the pc. Mac games are mainly indie games with only Portal and Civilisation IV from large companies. I’m really wondering if there’s marked for such a thing, considering that in the environment I work in 99% of the people use a Mac but none of them use it for gaming, except facebook and flash games in general.

Anyway, to celebrate and promote this step into steam integration with a new userbase Valve is giving away Portal for free until May 24th for both PC and Mac users. Team Fortress 2 will come later, probably after the Engineer update, to avoid fixing something on a platform and breaking something else on the other. Don’t look at me like that. We know how it goes everytime.

Almost siltently, TF2 got a lot of tweaks and updates recently. Adding four medals staing how far back in time your first frag (or death) goes, new community weapons and some important changes to the pyro. The flamethrower is now less effective in burning and more irritaing in airblasting enemies in the air and the Sledgehammer (it’s the Homewrecker’s filename and I like it better) guarantees the pyro a babysitter job for sentries. I’ll stick with the backburner like I always did, thanks. Now the Heavy is also faster when spinning the minigun and moving, the Sniper can nock the arrows while in the air and the bonk doesn’t slow down the Scout.Other unlockables are the Crit-a-Cola drink for scouts and the

Another free DLC comes from Futuremark Games as Shattered Horizon got the Firepower Pack, adding 4 new primary weapons, 2 secondary weapons, 3 grenades and a mining pick. The game now is way more various and unpredictable as some weapons also change the speed and aim of the players. The new grenades, again, can’t damage enemies but they can blind them, or fool with their radars. The only downside is that it greatly affected the performance on low-specs PCs but it has been mostly fixed.

The last freebie I’m giving you today is Mechwarrior 4, which got a completely free release two weeks ago from the Mektek servers along with the mektek 3.1 pack with extra mechs and weapons. Since Mechwarrior (MW5, it’s a reboot) is on hold this is the best we can have at the moment and trust me, this is really the best.

Super Street Fighter IV has been released a couple of weeks ago but I won’t be able to try it unless it comes to PC. Blame Capcom with me. I have a comic in my mind though.