4PP 324: The Lame Vampire Show

Good show guys, I really enjoyed the passionate Nintendo discussion you had towards the end of the podcast. I really agree with what Nolan was saying about how at this point even the 1st party stuff that has always been a sure-thing and has kept Nintendo afloat for decades is just not gonna cut it anymore...Unless they do something very ambitious like a very interesting new IP or a grand Mario game reminiscent of 64 or taking a classic series and giving it a Metroid Prime scale makeover. Mario Kart, 2D/New Super Mario, Animal Crossing, etc is fun but we are just retreading the same game with a new gimmick thrown in every iteration. It is scary to think that not even a run of the mill Zelda will not redeem them for me at this point. The prospect of the new Zelda always helped tide me over during some of the longer Gamecube and Wii droughts but I just don't think another by he books Zelda is enough anymore. They need to start making some drastic changes...

Also interesting chatter of the week lists, lol. Out of curiosity I checked some of the gamerankings scores for some of titles that sounded like shovelware and was very surprised to see they all ranged from mid to actually high scores. Weird to think a game such as Eragon on the DS is supposedly an ambitious RPG and Alice in Wonderland on the DS received almost straight 8/10's across the board. Strangest one was Kim Possible on the PS2 being a Viewtiful Joe-like sidescroller. Now I am intrigued by what unexpected decent gems out there may be buried under typically horrible licenses.

Great podcast, I never really once considered the idea that Nintendo were confused at what to do till now and honestly its really starting to show because of the god awful decisions that hey have been doing for the past few years.

Glad that Kris got a chance to discuss Bleed. I had a lot of fun watching it up on the feed, though I didn't stick around for the whole playthrough. The checkpointing in that game was something I noticed myself while he was playing.

The general feeling the game had of being a challenging side-scroller with a quick turnaround seemed to be at odds with what could be a FANTASTIC checkpoint system in any number of other games. The structure of the game reminded me a lot of the old Megaman formula, and I found myself wishing it used a checkpointing system more similar to that. It found its way into my Steam library pretty damn quickly after seeing some gameplay on the feed though, and I'm looking forward to enjoying it alongside the collection of 15-and-under indie titles that continue to slowly trickle onto my hard drive.

While the game is a pretty quick trip, discussing it in the same podcast as Nick's return to Hotline Miami brings up a good point. Five dollars for a quick experience is well worth it when those 2-3 hours are so well done. That said, I don't think Bleed compares very well to Hotline Miami, but it can be appreciated for many of the same reasons. It's challenging, fast-paced, and offers just enough throughout the game to make a few extra playthroughs worth your time. Bleed might have done well to take a few hints from Hotline, as the scoring at the end of each level doesn't offer quite as much feedback, and though the combat system doesn't have the depth of Hotline, a few extra numbers on the victory screen would have been a nice reward for each victory.

Suppose that's a lot to say about such a small title, but it was a pleasant surprise, and I was happy to see it up on the feed. Thanks for the cast guys. Now I need to go back and check out Brad's Gunslinger and Hell's Highway vids. Nick's initial playthrough of Gunslinger was great, and Brother's In Arms is one of those series that just doesn't get enough love in my opinion. Looking forward to it.

Wii U discussion deserves to be uploaded to Youtube. Great podcast.