Infamous 2: Festival of Blood Impressions
Full disclosure: I’m a Halloween baby. That’s right. I was born on the most (purportedly) scariest day of the year — every year, I might add. It might not shock you that I have a thing for darkly themed media. When I first heard about Infamous: Festival of Blood, I was a bit skeptical. I mean, really, Infamous with vampires? Sounds like a quick cash in to me. The thing is, it isn’t. No tricks here: FoB is a treat made with the care gamers have come to expect from Sucker Punch.
The DLC opens with Zeke recounting a story with an attractive woman about Pyre Night, a celebration in New Marais. Cole McGrath investigates a cathedral after hearing a cacophony of screams. After saving some citizens, Cole encounters a female vampire who knocks him out. A group of vampires binds the unconscious Cole and takes him to the corpse of Bloody Mary. They cut Cole and drip his blood on Mary’s corpse, resurrecting her. Mary bites deeply into Cole’s neck and sucks his blood. When Cole awakens, he has lost his trusty amp and uses a stake as a weapon against Mary’s vampires. Also, Bloody Mary can control Cole somewhat, influencing his thoughts and instincts. Our electrified, blood-sucking hero must kill Bloody Mary and her vampire legion before sunrise or else Cole remains a vampire forever.
Infamous was a delight to play; Infamous 2 improved upon the formula; and Festival of Blood adds a twist to Infamous 2. If you completed Infamous 2, you know what to expect in Festival of Blood: a satisfactory story, solid combat and superpowers. Don’t worry, Festival of Blood has these in spades. The experience lasts about as long as expected. The DLC clocks in around three hours if you run right through. But completionists will add about two hours to that length. If anything, this is FoB’s only significant shortcoming. I downloaded the add-on in the early morning, spent two hours playing, went to bed, and finished it up later that evening. I just wish it was longer.
With that said: Festival of Blood has some compelling content…but $10USD might be a bit much for value seekers.
Final Fantasy XIII-2 Trailer: Monsters, Quick Time Events, and Time Portals, Oh My!
A popular series like Final Fantasy always has critics and die-hard supporters. Though Final Fantasy 13 had its critics, Square Enix shipped over six million copies of the game. So it is little wonder that some fans are scratching their heads over the time-based storyline and monsters in Final Fantasy XIII-2 — myself included. Are these additions really needed?
Well, it depends who you ask. Many gamers are skeptical about the need for a sequel to Final Fantasy 13. Its existence seems like a stop-gap for Final Fantasy Versus 13, a quick cash-in on a hit title. For Square Enix, it’s a different matter: the company desperately needs another hit title now. That is, especially after the botched Final Fantasy 14 launch.
Now, I want to hear what you think dear reader. Do you think Square Enix should have forgone Final Fantasy XIII-2 and allocated more resources to Final Fantasy Versus 13? Share your thoughts on the trailer and question in the comments.
Catherine Demo Impressions: A Difficult Allure
Even after playing through Catherine’s demo, I am not quite sure how to categorize the game. Is it an adventure game? A dating simulation? A puzzle game? Who knows? But one thing is definite: Catherine is obscure. Also, it’s surprisingly difficult – an unexpected challenge.
I heard murmurs of Catherine’s crushing difficulty level before. No doubt Atlus made one of the most difficult games I’ve played in recent years. And I’ve played my share of titles. Death’s regular occurrence begins to drag the experience after awhile. Still, the game has a certain allure.
The story has an interesting concept – a man at the crossroads between commitment and freedom, caught up in a love triangle between two women. I suspect story progression marquees as the game’s main draw. Atlus Persona Team succeeded on this front; Catherine would make a well-made anime feature film. But, based on the short demo, I can’t imagine paying sixty dollars only for a well-woven story and pretty graphics and animations. Oh, then Atlus interspersed the story with difficult box climbing sequences. The stuff of Vincent’s nightmares and those of gamers. Catherine assumes you sadistic level difficulty if the reward is great. It doesn’t realize that the reward doesn’t matter if players can’t get to it.
I’m still interested in purchasing Catherine. Not at $60, though, perhaps at the more alluring twenty to thirty dollar range. Now that would make pushing through Catherine less difficult to justify.
