I haven’t heard the word nerd used negatively in a long time, but it was the go-to-word while I was playing for anyone who was a higher level (and thus had to much time on their hands) and better at the game then the player who was defeated. It didn’t seem to matter if the complaining player was level 3 prestige and the offending player 4. Anyone who was deemed as playing to much COD was a nerd.

I had honestly hoped we were passed that, after all just look at the name of this website. When I was in high school, it had almost become a term of endearment between friends, who knew they were obsessed with things that others thought were a waste of time. It was also almost cool to be a nerd. It meant you were interested in technology, the stuff that everyone was finally interested in (even cookie-cutter teenage girls with their iPhones). It meant you were ahead of the curve, you knew about the next cool thing when it was first announced, not when someone showed up at school with it. You knew everything there was to know about the next COD game, while everyone else was speculating, you had hard information to spread. You had been using Xbox Live since the original Xbox. You were the originator, you were, for lack of a better phrase, a pre-hipster hipster.

But, now, we seem to be back to square one. We’ve started the destruction of the positivity behind the word nerd, geek, or anything else like it from within. Soon the only people using the word positively will be teenage girls who think they look cute in their “nerdy” clothes, while we’re sitting on the internet using the word to bash each other and make others feel inferior.

The other word (or really a phrase) that came up every 2 minutes was “try hard”. This phrase was used to bash on people who were trying to win in a game of Call of Duty. For example: “Naw, lets not play hardcore mode, it’s full of tryhards” or “F**K THAT TRY HARD”, or “only try hards use that gun.” Simply, it meant that the person was, as the name implies, trying too hard to be good at the game. This really rubbed me the wrong way, isn’t the whole point of these games to have fun, isn’t it fun to do well? Why are you playing a competitive game when you don’t care how well you do? But, I quickly realized that it wasn’t bad players calling others try hards, it was the top players. People who were getting 6.0 kill/deaths ratio’s. The guys who were using the “cheap” combination of weapons for every level. It was almost always only people obsessed with their k/d, not players just playing for fun like myself.

Wait for it…Back in my day, which is honestly just before online console gaming in general, a phrase like try hard wouldn’t have existed. Sure I had friends who were obsessed with doing well in multiplayer games, but never did I show them disrespect for caring. After all, we were all playing these games with each other not only to have fun, but to get better at them, because as we got better and we learned the ins and outs, we were able to all play on the same level. Trying hard was implied in my circle of gaming buddies, people who weren’t trying were often considered to be the annoying ones. On top of everything, the fact that the best players were complaining about other good players, was just sad. You’re already good at the game, you don’t have to pretend like you weren’t even trying’.

In all fairness, it’s a much more constructive way of insulting someone than saying “F**k you”, but the roots of both words are just showing me a coming generation of online players who don’t have respect for the thing they’re spending hours a day doing. Like a constant high school scenario, anyone who has passion for something should be put down. That begs the question, if you don’t have passion in video games, why are you playing them at all?

When you are in the game Shootmania manages to maintain the balance of tension and fun that so many games lack. You will be jetting around the maps looking for good vantage points, weapon pads, and your enemy players. The weapons are varied with access gated by pads you having to be standing on to use a new weapon, the default weapon has a somewhat slow trajectory speed that takes quite awhile to get used to. My favorite weapon would have to be the railgun which has a longer recovery phase but it hits exactly where you click your mouse. I also absolutely love the art design showcased here, most of the levels are set in a relatively realistic looking place, but the characters are all basically different neon colored Tron characters that shoot neon beams.

Where Shootmania can struggle is when you are not playing the game. The user interface in Shootmania is just as confusing as the interface in the beloved Trackmania series, which is to say, very confusing. I couldn’t begin to explain why Nadeo has yet to implement an easy to use UI in any of its games and unfortunately Shootmania is the game that could’ve benefitted the greatest from an intuitive UI. One of Trackmania’s coolest features was the ability to create and upload custom levels to everyone playing. Not that I created anything in Trackmania but I played a ton of great user made tracks. Knowing that I was planning on trying out Shootmania’s level creator but I couldn’t even figure out how to get into the editor, that could be a testament to how advanced the tool is I suppose.

Shootmania is all about balance ala Halo instead of the more popular current day trend of leveling your profile up to unlock new parks and new guns. Which keeps the gameplay always fair, although I do at times miss the pursuit of unlocking new attachments and all that jazz. Shootmania does offer several game modes in the form of Royal, Elite and Battle. They all have a different twist on the standard gameplay that keeps things exciting, though Royal is by and far away my favorite mode with constant free-for-all action with the added bonus of a tornado that closes in on the playing area over the course of the match.

As I stated before, when you are in the process of playing Shootmania you are usually having a pretty good time. Between all the UI problems and the plethora of completely free first person shooters currently on the market on PC it is hard for me to recommend Shootmania to the general audience at the asking price of $20. If the package you have been looking for is a first and foremost pure skilled based shooter that will sacrifice anything in order to maintain those standards, then Shootmania is absolutely the perfect game for you.

“On Tuesday May 21st, we’ll mark the beginning of a new generation of games, TV and entertainment. On that day, we’ll be holding a special press event on the Xbox campus and we invite you to join us via the live global stream that will be available on Xbox.com, Xbox LIVE and broadcast on Spike TV if you are in the US or Canada.

On that day, we’ll share our vision for Xbox, and give you a real taste of the future. Then, 19-days later at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles, we’ll continue the conversation and showcase our full lineup of blockbuster games.

We are thrilled to pull back the curtain and reveal what we’ve been working on.”

Personally, I’m super excited to see what Microsoft has up their sleeves after the recent reveal of the Playstation 4. Will Microsoft focus on the general crowd, or follow Sony and focus on the gamer? Find out in just under a month!

Nordic games also bought a few other franchises like Red Faction, which can hopefully get a full make over after Armageddon, MX vs. ATV, Destroy All Humans (a guilty pleasure), and Supreme Commander.

Total cost: 4.9 Million

Gearbox Studio’s, behind both the critcally aclaimed Borderlands franchise and the criticaly panned Aliens: Colonial Marines, picked up the Homefront IP. Which by their track record could either be great, or a complete wreck. I enjoyed the first game for what it was, but if a sequel or reboot can do well…only time can tell.

Total cost: 1.35 Million

The last game that got sold off was the Drawn to Life series. 505 studios picked it up for a measly $300,000.

The drawing power of Dragon Fantasy comes from it’s 8 and “12” bit graphics. Although the IOS version only had an 8 bit mode, the Vita/PS3 version comes with an interchangeable 12 bit mode. Although both modes are appealing in their own ways, the choice of which to use is almost 100 percent personal taste. In 8 bit mode, the colors stand out the most. It’s easy to forget how much color was used in NES era RPG’s, but the oranges bring you right back. The character sprites are all well-done pixel art and the overworld, although rather plain, is also beautiful in its simplicity.

The 12 bit enhanced graphics do away with the colors, and replace them with a polished, shaded, true to life colored world. Improvements like adding roofs to houses and redrawing every piece of artwork (even the creatures) help to bring you into the world. Although the 12 bit mode may look all around better, quickly switching between 8 and 12 bit modes show a bit of a blur in the 12 bit in comparison to the crisp 8 bit pixels.

As Book 1 has 3 very separate chapters (and an intermission) that play differently. It’s easiest to split them up into individual chunks for review purposes.

Chapter 1: Ogden’s Adventure
Ogden’s heroing days are far past him. He saved his princess when he was 16 and has since been growing old as her personal guard ever since. But, when The Dark Knight appears and steals away the Queens son, Ogden sets out on a new adventure to bring the prince back and save the kingdom.

Ogden’s chapter is the longest in the game and for good reason. Ogden is an awesome hero who always has a quick quip against anyone who gets in his way. This humor is really what sets Dragon Fantasy apart from other similar games in the retro revolution. It doesn’t take itself, or it’s creatures, seriously at all. The whole journey is filled with silly monster names, with funny attacks, who die in funny ways. For example, Mrs. Rock Monster rolls up looking quite angry, she asks if she looks fat and attacks, when she is defeated she turns into rock dust. You get a game that openly tries to make you laugh, but does it so well so often, that the charm lasts until the end of the final chapter (which is actually the intermission.)

Those silly monsters with silly attacks still need to be slain though. This is where Dragon Fantasy faults a bit, especially in Chapter 1. The first person turn based combat, while very true to its source material, falls flat in this chapter. Chapter 1 sees Ogden usually pressing the “X” button to continuously attack, while every once in a while using some healing magic. I found that in some ways, the game didn’t want you to use your powerful magic attacks. After every battle it was necessary to heal at least once, using up a small amount of MP. If you ran out of MP while adventuring, you would surely die before you could return to town. This wouldn’t be a problem if you could just buy potions and mp potions (called potato juice) but the economy in the game forces you to spend all the money you collect on new equipment to survive the next set of baddies. So, in Chapter 1 Ogden uses his basic attack function a lot, but he’s not very good at it. Attacks seem to have a 50/50 chance of hitting (although this should be fixed in an update soon along with a fix for a freezing issue on the PS3 version that I didn’t encounter). In the end, the press X strategy becomes a bit of a drag. The back and forth X pressing ends and restarts every 20 feet until you reach a creature you haven’t seen before, where you can once again enjoy the witty attacks and descriptions.

While the combat in Chapter 1 brings down the experience, the 5 hours long campaign is just the right length to make you feel like you’ve become a powerful warrior by the end game, without becoming boring along the way. The moment-to-moment humor makes the combat feel less tedious and almost like it was used as a genre convention to showcase the laughs along the way.

Chapter 2: Anders’ Adventure
Prince Anders wasn’t taken like his brother when The Dark Knight attacked and Ogden went off on his journey. But, that didn’t stop him from going off on his own short adventure for seemingly no reason other than to set up Chapter 3, and beyond.

Anders’ chapter is short, but enjoyable. The main addition to the core gameplay of Chapter 1 is multiple character combat. Over the course of the short quest, the player can gain 3 other companions to help beat the chapter’s single large dungeon. These companions all have unmentioned classes that treat them as either magic users or fighters and allow them to only wear certain equipment.

An added battle tower is included in the Vita/PS3 version that gives out equipment and monster fights to level up the characters quicker. This adds some length to the short chapter, but is also fun to explore in and of itself.

The main draw of this chapter is the fact that it takes place in the same area as the first third of the Chapter 1. Allowing the player to discover some secrets about Book 1 as a whole. Chapter 2 feels like it is a tad tacked on, but at the same time is the perfect connection between Chapter 1 and 3.

Chapter 3: Jerald’s Adventure
Jerald, a well-known thief, and his cousin Ramona are sick of living in the desert. They want to move south toward the stark coldness instead. To do that, they’re going to need to find 20,000 gold in order to get some illegal passports and move on. Jerald and Ramona decide to go to the thieves guild and do some jobs to raise the money.

The combat in Chapter 3 is the best in the game. You always have two characters who quickly gain strong attacks that don’t use mp. Adding these attacks make the combat much more fun while adding complexity to the battle system as a whole. Simultaneously, this chapter adds fights with multiple creatures at once. This makes Ramona’s attacks that poison/hurt all the enemies, mixed with Jerald’s big attacks, a blast to use, while also showing how much better Book 2’s combat can be in the future.

By the end of the story, it’s hard not to be excited for Book 2. It brings all three chapters together and pushes it forward toward an interesting sequel that promises to be bigger and better then the first.

Intermission M: A Minecraft Story
This little story takes place after the rest of the game and is 100% a love letter to Minecraft. Story wise, this is all pretty silly, it’s up to you to get Notch’s hat back so he can get his game/world creating powers back.

The most interesting part of this intermission is the ability to capture Minecraft inspired creatures and then equip and use them in combat. This chapter ends up playing a lot like Chapter 2 after you’ve captured your creatures, with only single monster fights and 4 characters to control and battle with. The Minecraft references were never meant for me (as I’ve never played the game) but, capturing any creature and seeing their attacks really drew me in and I found myself spending more time doing so than I would have imagined. The humor is also still here, and although this intermission felt short. It was a fun ride.

After all the stories are completed, I found that Dragon Fantasy Book 1 is a great collection of different ideas. Even if some of the ideas don’t work out completely, I spent all of my free time for the last 5 days diving into the Dragon Fantasy world. Not because I had to, but because it was funny, entertaining, and all together a package that isn’t worth missing out on.

Your name is Juan, and you’re kind of a bum. You see, you had dreams of being a luchador…and that didn’t work out. But, one day a demon of a man shows up and steals El Presidente’s daughter (your love interest naturally) away in a fiery blaze, taking your life in the process. By harnessing the power of the luchador, you return to the land of the living to save the woman you love and the world (double naturally.) This may sound like a bit of a snooze to some jaded gamers, but if the formula works, don’t fix it. Every moment in Juan’s world feels genuine. The heroes and villains are so well written and fleshed out that even though I knew what the punch line of the coming jokes were, I always found myself giggling at the ridiculous dialogue.  If you’re looking for something completely fresh, this may not be for you, but if you’re looking for great characters with a classic well-done story, look no further.

Although the story was great, the first thing you’ll notice is the games beautiful graphics and art style. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what it is (why not just look right above here?), but it’s something that looks great and never becomes dull or boring. Just as you start to forget the art style in the gameplay, they throw something visually dazzling at you. The colors alone are a solid enough reason to pick up this game. They honestly almost pop out from the screen at times, especially some of the later special moves that seem to partially be there just to add another color you haven’t seen yet. All this plus the great character designs (especially the main cast) still put a grin on my face when I think back. The music wasn’t bad either, and that’s always a plus.

It’s hard to talk about Guacamelee in detail without spoiling the player’s experience. Because the story is so simple, a lot of the complexity is in the little changes that happen throughout the game, allowing the player more freedom to explore and brawl. Speaking of which, brawling (or meleeing?) is where Guacamelle really shows it’s hand. DrinkBox has developed something between a button masher, beat um up, figher and rpg that really doesn’t have any other direct comparison.  You start off with two moves, a basic combo attack and throws. Once you’ve done enough damage with basic attacks, you get the chance to grab your enemies and throw them in any direction you choose hitting other enemies and adding to a type of juggle combo system. This system of play, especially early on, makes for a fast and fun throwback to the old school, while cementing itself as a completely new entity all together.

This is all dandy until about half way through the game when your rate of receiving new attacks and abilities (especially the ability to move between the land of the dead and the living) increases, almost making the game irritating at times. In one fight you may have to worry about enemies with shields that can only be broken with certain moves, having to switch between two dimensions where enemies from each can attack you at the same time, and a relentless assault making it hard to keep up with all the hectic movement on the screen. This may be a fault with the length of the game rather then the difficulty of it however. Because of it’s short length for the genre (somewhere between 4-6 hours, my playthrough being 4:23), Guacamelee constantly barrages you with new attacks and abilities that you don’t have time to fully understand in battle, before moving onto the next. This left me and my second player often struggling, feeling like we were receiving cheap deaths from enemies using distance attacks in the dead dimension when we were in the living dimension. This frustration often caused us to simply put all our efforts into beating one dimensions monsters before moving onto the next rather then switching back and forth throughout the battle taking a lot of the combo filled fun out of the fights, and thus turning them into a bit of a boring romp through the last third of the game.

Luckily between the so-so brawling there was plenty of room to puzzle and explore. Like many games recently, Guacamelee has a focus on exploration, and it does it well. Back tracking through the beautiful world never seemed like a chore because of the rewards waiting for you at the other end. Whether it was just the simple act of getting to break those colored blocks you saw earlier, getting tons of upgrades, or solving the complex platforming puzzles. The puzzles in this game usually amount to ‘get across the room and break a chest’, but how you do that is always a fun experiment in timing and using the correct abilities. Also, if timing just isn’t your strong suit, the game almost never requires you to complete these areas and are only really necessary for completionists like myself. Yet, they add so much to the base game that it’s hard to ignore their allure for too long.

In the end, Guacamelee is a great game bogged down by a few annoyances (including some iffy platforming sections) and a combat system that simply becomes too complex. But, the whole package is so strong, it was easy to overlook it’s imperfections. Guacamelee sounds like a fun game, because it is, and it deserves your attention (and your money).

Legend of Zelda: “A Link to the Past 2″

Looks like a sequel for the SNES classic A Link to the Past is coming to the 3DS. Some old school top down adventuring makes a return and I’m crazy hyped. Looking at a holiday 2013 relase for this one.

Also, Oracles of Ages/Seasons are heading for the eshop on May 30th, which is just dandy.

New Yoshi’s Island

Another 3DS game here. Classic sidescrolling action. The visual style looks amazing and I can’t wait to see more of it. Good stuff!

Earthbound

Earthbound is finally getting a digital release. But, sadly, only on the Wii-U virtual console. Seems like a bit of a push by Nintendo to get some Wii-U only games. After all I’m sure the game would fit better on the 3DS, and there shouldn’t be any technology barrier. Oh well. Expect this out by years end.

Animal Crossing 3DS XL

Lookls like this is gettting a US release witha pre-loaded copy of Animal Crossing: New Leaf. Although Animal Crossing: New Leaf looks to be a perfect fit for digital game, the 3DS XL itself is (in my hosnest opinion) pretty bland. Completely a matter of taste though. (I’ll just keep my Pickachu edition firmly in my pocket.) The bundle is going to run gamers $220 MSRP.

Other Shiny New Release Dates

• Mario and Donkey Kong: Minis on the Move (3DS) May 9th
• Game and Wario (Wii-U) June 23rd
• Shin Megami Tensei 4 (3DS) July 16th
• Pikmin 3 (Wii-U) August 4th
• Mario and Luigi: Dream Team (3DS) August 11th
• Also, surprise surprise, Professor Layton and the Arzan Legacy is coming sometime this year!

That’s it ladies and gentlemen. Look for more info on all these awesome games soon here on Nerd4Sure.

It’s been 12 years since our tall green plumber took the dive into ghostbusting. In that time we’ve seen a console generation and a half pass, a total shift in what gamers seem to be looking for, and a recent history of hit and miss Mario games. Yet, the year looks to be bright for the 3DS with proven hits like Fire Emblem and big names on the horizon like Pokemon X and Y, Monster Hunter 4 and Animal Crossing: New Leaf. But, is Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon another positive first step toward the future of the handheld? Read on fellow nerds!

The story is pretty simple. The Dark Moon has been shattered and scattered by King Boo and all the ghosts are going crazy. It’s up to Professor E. Gadd and Luigi to use their 4^th wall breaking and ghost sucking powers to find all the pieces and restore the ghosts to their friendly selves. Although the story slowly builds up to a climax, it shouldn’t be the reason anyone should be coming into this game. The characters are compelling (Luigi especially who made me crack up laughing multiple times) and you will want to play until the end to see what happens, but where this game really shines is in its gameplay, graphics and structure.

Unlike the original, Dark Moon goes beyond taking place in a single mansion and gives the player 5 different buildings to explore, although in smaller mission segments. To some this might be a negative, after all the sense of exploring a full castle in Luigi’s Mansion on the Gamecube was one of the biggest lures (along with being one of the few launch titles.) But, if Nintendo knows one thing, it’s how to craft good pocket gaming. Each building you explore is split into multiple semi-linear paths that have you complete a task in order to move onto the next. After each one is completed, you receive a rating showing how well you completed the course based on time, damage taken, and amount of money/collectables collected. This structure of gaming works seamlessly with an on the go lifestyle, making picking up a 3DS and completing a level of Dark Moon on the bus one of the most satisfying experiences in recent memory.

The visuals created for Dark Moon are beautiful to say the least. Although the characters become slightly pixilated when seen up-close, you will spend most of your time at a fixed length from Luigi roaming a mansion (or other building) that is built from the ground up to keep the player visually interested. Whether you’re exploring a bathroom or a laboratory, there is always something new to gaze upon. The visuals are created to make the 3D features of the 3DS work perfectly. A mixture of the camera’s angle and the use of objects in Luigi’s environment bring something that most 3DS games can’t hope to be, a 3D experience that actually adds to the game as a whole rather then feeling like a gimmick.

Like every gamer knows, gameplay is of the utmost priority, and Dark Moon does everything in its power to make sure the player is having fun. The combat while simple is always engaging. Luigi charges up a flashlight to stun ghosts using the A button and then sucks them up with his Poltergust 5000, holding down R and pulling away from the direction of the ghost. This is the go-to way to defeat enemies, but the fun comes from finding out how to defeat the enemies with a limited tool set. A lot like in The Legend of Zelda series, every enemy has a special way of being defeated. These combat puzzles always keep the simple act of sucking up ghosts fun and brain teasing. Some of the battles, especially boss battles, can get a little annoying. But, once you realize the key to defeating them, it comes with a great sense of accomplishment

The largest relief in Dark Moon is that it knows what its audience wants, exploration. Every room you enter feels like you’re a child walking into a candy shop, you know there will be treasures to find, and you have the tools to find them. All you have to do is take it. Whether you’re using the flashlight to force ghosts out of hiding, sucking up everything in your sight with the Poltergust, or using the Dark Light Torch (supplied a little later in the game) to find invisible and hidden entrances and objects, you feel like you’re getting lost in the world. Similarly to the combat, puzzles that are solved along the way are never too difficult to figure out, but are always rewarding due to the nature of having limited tools. Allowing for every turn, every nook and cranny, every inch of the game feels like a playground built just for you.

The multiplayer components in Dark Moon are an interesting departure from the single player, but not much else. In them you will play 3 main modes with 3 other player online or locally. One in which you hunt down ghost puppies, another where you hunt down and fight ghosts, and another where you just try to find a way out of the level you are on. They all take place in a tower where your goal is to reach the top, moving up one floor at a time. After about an hour of doing this, I was ready to retreat back to the polished single player. Although there was fun to be found, it became repetitive quickly and a pain due to the obnoxious time limits.

The long story short is that if you have a 3DS, you should buy this game. If you have a love of exploration, you should buy this game. If you like Luigi, you should buy this game. If you’re looking for a reason to justify the 3D in your 3DS, you should buy this game. If you’re just looking for another game to entice you into buying a 3DS, add this one to the list. Because, Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon isn’t only a good game, there’s also nothing else like it in modern gaming…and that’s something special.