10/20/2010

Schafer leaves me wanting a whole lot more...

Tim Schafer is a creative genius. Psychonauts, Maniac Mansion, Monkey Island. Even blunders like Brutal Legend had interesting characters and a fun story. So with that in mind we come to Double Fine's first digital release, Costume Quest, a charming funny halloween-themed rpg reminscent of classics like Earthbound that I enjoyed quite a bit. For the roughly FIVE hours it took to beat it. Seriously. And one go-through netted me nearly all the trophies, so the replay value is pretty low. Granted, I wouldn't be so annoyed if it wasn't $15, which qualifies it as an upper-tier downloadable title. And I'm not expecting an epic 20+ hour quest, 10-12 (which is about how long the Penny Arcade RPGS were) would've been perfectly acceptable. Ultimately a few really awesome hours is obviously better than stretched out mediocre ones, but these over-priced bite-sized experiences keep me from venturing into the waters of DLC more than once in a blue moon.

The biggest retail release this week may be the most non-apologetic full-priced expansion ever, Fallout: New Vegas. While many sequels could certainly be qualified as mere expansion packs, offering little new yet still charging full-price, few in recent history seem as blatant as this. Sure, it's a whole new land to explore, but pretty much everything else seems the exact same, it's more like just throwing a Vegas-style paint job over the original wasteland. I have been able to grab a rental copy and if it's a different enough experience, I'll talk about it more in my next post, but given the reviews, I doubt it.

All right, that's really all I have for today, I should be back with a post on Friday. Until then, here's your TRAILER OF THE WEEK: The Warrior's Way

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