CO-OP 0302 -- The Animated Series -- Demon's Souls, Eufloria, Canabalt, Geared, Mr. Bounce
matt chandronaitYes, this is the premiere of CO-OP: The Animated Series! Except it isn’t. Well, it sort of is … you’ll see. More after the show:
Ray Barnholt from 1UP.com reviewed Demon’s Souls for that site and gave it an “A.” Kat Bailey, an industry freelance writer also thinks of the game as one of her “best purchases this year.” Ryan and I hate it. We attempt to clear up some of the mystery as to why this game appeals greatly to some and causes others to toss it aside after repeated fits of rage. Which side are you on? Does the antiquated game design frustrate the hell out of you? Enough to rage-quit like me? Or are you a masochist who enjoys floundering through bad game design out of some misguided sense of “accomplishment?” Yeah, okay, I’m totally biased and that last sentence is completely unfair, but that’s why we made sure to bring in people that are as much in love with this game as I am bothered by it. Demon’s Souls is the game most-requested by our fans in the history of CO-OP so we had to deliver!
Formerly known as Dyson, the indie darling Eufloria was given some quality play-time by me and it definitely lives up to the hype. The simplified RTS mechanics go a long way to making the graphical gem a playable wonder and were it not for the lack of multiplayer could easily be a must-have for any fan of the genre, even in such a crowded holiday season.
It’s been a while since we got a chance to cover gaming on the iPhone and we figured it would serve you better if we could offer up more than just a single title for your consideration. Within: the simplistic but addictive Canabalt, the groovy and though-provoking puzzler Geared, and a new take on a classic gaming form with Mr. Bounce. Bon appetit!
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Reader Comments (53)
@Adrian Sek
I'm not sure you can call Ryan's criticism even remotely valid. By his own admission, he didn't even really play the game. How can he have a valid criticism of something he didn't experience? Matt, I'm not arguing the validity of his criticism, only the accuracy and substance of his undeserved rage.
@Jeremy Janzen
There's nothing that's hard to accept there. You and Matt flat out aren't good at the game, hence why you die so consistently. Look, I'm not going to sit here and profess to be amazing at video games, and in fact, am the butt of many of my friends' jokes about how I suck at them, but there's a massive difference between having a real issue with a game's quality, and hating it because you aren't good at it. I doubt you can point out any notable criticism Matt had for the game beyond it's difficulty, because all he did the entire review was seethe with rage and hate it because it hated him.
If I came out with a review about, say, Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee, or better yet, Abe's Exodus, and all I did was hate on the game for it's massive difficulty level (especially if you want to play the good guy and rescue those goddamn Mudokons), and preceded to spend ten minutes bashing it for that, while entirely skipping over the massively original world and storyline, and excellent platform/adventure gameplay the series is known-for, I think many people would take issue with that. That's precisely what Matt did. He never mentioned how the game's sprawling dungeons just weren't immersive to him, or how the action based combat didn't play to his favor, or how he found the class and leveling system inane or outright bad, or how the graphics are pretty sub par for the PS3 and the story was both bad and straight up useless (both of these criticisms I might have agreed with). Instead, all he could muster out was that the game was hard, and somehow stretch that out across an entire review.
Those criticisms are all entirely subjective, and I can accept someone's opinion in that case, whether or not I disagree with it. I might debate them on it, but surely their opinion of those aspects of the game is just as valid as my own. On the other hand, if they can do nothing but berate the game for it's difficulty, then I simply can't take them seriously. They're ignoring an entire game, an entire system and world. That's where my problem lies. They can hate the game all they want, so long as they actually hate it for it, and not because, like I said earlier, they presume that it hates them.
I might also even put for that Matt was playing the game wrong. Now, don't misunderstand me here - I'll usually be the first person to admit, especially in more sandbox-style games, that there should be no wrong way to play, and if there is, then there's an issue with the game's design. However, when, like Matt claimed, all you do for two hours is enter and exit the same world grinding one enemy, you're very simply doing it wrong. Not only do you NEVER need to grind in Demon's Souls, and not only are there other enemies accessible from the very beginning that are more easily and quickly grindable, but to whine about something YOU did, that the game never intended for you to do, is outright silly. World 4 was designed to be entered, beaten, and conquered as a world.. Not entered over and over and only have the first hundred yards of real estate beaten over and over.
@Jeremy- I am confused by your comment. You actually think they put in 12 hours or more into the game. I highly doubt that.
@Adrian- Maybe because of comments like yours? My comment was my frustration with people not giving the game a chance and no they had no valid reasons to dismiss the game. They skipped over a lot about what made the game great. You even say its hard. Did YOU actually play the game? If you upgrade your weapon up than the game isn't hard at all. You die because YOU missed up. THere is no cheated deaths. Whats her name who talked about the game was dead on the subject. These guys have a lot of time on their hands to review games. Its hard for me to imagine them putting the necessary time in to understand the game. Oh and I beated major demons with NO hit damage!
THat is all from me. Sorry I am beating this subject down. I am just very passionate about this game and really agree with most all your opinions. Its understandable we have a hit and miss every once in awhile. Keep up the good work.
wah wah wah I'm a baby no more iphone gamez wah