The Rumble Pack Posts

Proteus is a digital exploration of a randomly generated island consisting of low-fidelity graphics and an ambient soundtrack that is based on your surroundings on the fly. Having been in beta for a while, the game finally released this week to much fanfare and fan-discussion. It’s available on Steam or through the creators’ website (Ed Key and David Kanaga) for roughly $10 or so.

I purchased Proteus on a bit of a whim. I was already adding long time indie-darling Antichamber to my cart when I saw the announcement of Proteus on my Twitter feed and added it as well without much thought. Despite their similarities – simple visual style, indie street cred, ambient soundtracks – the feeling of playing the two games couldn’t be further apart. Antichamber is a mind-bending first person puzzler à la Portal with a non-Euclidean twist. When I finished my first session of that game, my brain was sizzling, I was physically exhausted and I felt like I was done gaming for the night. That exhaustion might be precisely why I enjoyed Proteus more than I aught to have.

This week, the Pack takes on the gamut of gaming issues, from fanatic fan art for a pair of games that haven’t come out yet, to the delicate (or indelicate) issue of video games violence and its possible effects. Throughout the show, the guys share their thoughts on Xenoblade Chronicles, FarCry 3, Dishonored, Frog Fractions and more.

Relevant Links:

Frog Fractions by TwinBeard Studios

Who: Everyone

What: Halo 4 multiplayer

Where: Xbox Life

When: Thursday, January 17th at 9:00 p.m. EST

Why: Because we need to cash in all of our Dew caps.

Our Xbox Live Gamertags can be found here: http://www.therumblepack.com/gamertag/

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RSVP Here

Kaz:

1. Forza Horizons
2. The Walking Dead
3. Fez
4. Journey
5. XCOM: Enemy Unknown

Justin:

1. Journey
2. Xenoblade Chronicles
3. The Walking Dead
4. Kid Icarus: Uprising
5. Fez

Tom:

1. Journey
2. Asura’s Wrath
3. Spelunky
4. The Walking Dead
5. Fez

Tony:

1. FTL
2. XCOM: Enemy Unknown
3. Dishonored
4. Borderlands 2
5. The Walking Dead

Nick:

1. Journey
2. Kid Icarus: Uprising
3. Gravity Rush
4. Asura’s Wrath
5. Street Fighter X Tekken

Plus, we want to give a shout-out to our guest-blogger and friend-of-the-show, Nathan Ortega. Check out his very different (but still cool) top 10 list.

The Rumble Pack’s 2012 Games of the Year are finally here! The guys have “squozen” out all of their favorites, including (in no particular order…yet) Journey, Fez, FTL, Asura’s Wrath, The Walking Dead and many more! Plus, some listener questions, 2013 prognostications, numerical aesthetics and Tom’s groundbreaking iPhone purchase.

Relevant Links:

Bumble Ball Babies

Let’s get the gripe out of the way: Fluidity: Spin Cycle, a puzzle-platformer focused on moving water in all of its states, should be a mess for so many different reasons. First and foremost, any game that asks you to rely solely on the 3DS’s internal gyroscope to move around is just asking for trouble, and Spin Cycle often has you turning the system completely upside down, forcing you to contort your hands that would make Kid Icarus: Uprising fans shudder. This also puts Spin Cycle in the rare category of “portable games that aren’t really portable,” alongside Kirby’s Tilt ‘n’ Tumble and WarioWare Twisted, so don’t plan on playing it on the subway.

The good news is that like those games, Fluidity: Spin Cycle is a game that’s well-worth wrestling with, and may in fact be my favorite eShop-exclusive game of 2012. (It was released on December 27th, cutting it pretty close!) For every minor hiccup when I accidentally hit the “Home” button or finicky controls made moving the ice block a temporary hassle, there were many more where I was just floored by the intricate level design and versatile mechanics. Spin Cycle is a massive game, and yet it almost always feels inventive.*

*Small boo to a recurring boss.

You want the most effective demonstration of the Wii U’s potential? Boot up your PS3, sync up your Vita and go download the LittleBigPlanet 2 Cross-Controller Pack.

Not exactly what you were expecting to hear, right? But if you’ve been clamoring for something more involved than dropping blocks in New Super Mario Bros. U, or you want something that expands upon the ideas found in that promising Rayman Legends demo, look no further. In the six levels included in the pack, you’ll see touch-centric rhythm games, platforms that turn along with the Vita’s tilt and sections that play out across two separate screens simultaneously. There have been other meaningful DLC updates to LittleBigPlanet over the years, but this is the most significant new feature set since the sequel introduced multiple game genres.

And with the tools offered here, in theory, the LittleBigPlanet community can go way beyond what Ubisoft is doing with Rayman Legends co-op. In Rayman, the player with the Wii U GamePad can move around Murphy, a fly (I think) who can pluck items out of the ground and tickle enemies to lower their defenses. It’s certainly much more fun than the typical sidekick modes we saw on the Wii, but all players are always playing in the same virtual space. But with LBP‘s “wormholes,” you can send a player to another world entirely. In one mini-game included in the pack, the Vita player can see the outside of a rocket ship and steer it away from enemies and debris. Players on the television might not be able to see what’s going on outside the ship, but they’ll certainly get rocked back-and-forth as they scurry towards the goal.

Halo 4 and The Walking Dead dominate the discussion this week, but the big AAA games aren’t the only ones Kaz and Justin are playing. Kaz fends for his life in Don’t Starve and learns of Balloon’s life story in Forza Horizon, while Justin sorts Seaman’s baggage in Aero Porter and gets crafty in Paper Mario: Sticker Star. Plus, Scibblenauts Unlimited creations, Crashmo/Pushmo debates and Nintendo’s communication conundrum.

Relevant Games:

Klei Entertainment’s Don’t Starve

Our Best of 2012 Thread

It’s our Thanksgiving gaming spectacular…just a little bit behind schedule. Though our food comas might have knocked this episode into December, all of the guys spent their breaks playing the newly launched Wii U. In the first half, Justin and Kaz talk launch games, the Miiverse and that standout gamepad. In the second half, a Rumble ghost brings the Wii U to Cleveland for a New Super Mario Bros. U showdown. Plus, some quality time knocking around Parappas in PlayStation All-Stars: Battle Royale.