A Wolf Among Us

 

I have spoken before about my love of Telltale Games.  Their point and click creations are as intriguing as some of the best books I've read.  A Wolf Among Us is one of their typical five episode games that came to the Xbox 360 back in 2013.  It's based on the comic book series Fables, the stories of classic fable characters like Snow White, Ichabod Crane, trolls, ogre, princes, etc who have chosen to live in the non-magical world.

I am not much of a fan of fairy tales or children's stories.  I personally much prefer a dark, adult plot with lots of realistic characters.  But the Fable comics and the Wolf Among Us game made we want to dive deeper into these old, classic stories.  Any game that makes me want to watch a Disney movie is pretty amazing.

The game follows Bigby Wolf (Big Bad Wolf) as he attends to the residence of Fabletown, a small community in the Bronx full of creatures glamored to look like regular humans.  What made this game/story so interesting is that there is murder, romance, prostitution, magic, cut throat politics, and even a bit of fetishism.  I don't want to go into too much detail because it's really hard to not give things away.

I just wanted to take this opportunity to express my love for this bizarre, complex game.  I encourage you to play it if you haven't already.  You will be pleasantly surprised.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds

Putting my prejudice for nostalgia behind me, I sucked it up and played The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds.  This game hit all the right notes for me.  It reminded me of all the things I loved from the original game without cramming them down my throat.  The music, enemies, surroundings, everything was just right and kept me aware that I was playing a classic Zelda game.

Additionally, the developers made sure to advance the game forward, making it relevant today.  The graphics were hugely improved.  The learning curve and difficulty were much more balanced that previous titles.  There were more quests and collectibles which helped to make the game as short or long as you wanted it to be.

All too often, our generation clings to their childhood so hard that we all end up stuck with sub-par products.  I know people want to play a classic 8-bit game with terrible music and no save files, but some players want to see developers stretch the current technology and blow minds.  While A Link Between Worlds didn't break the mold as far as game design goes, it shows how easy it can be to make a game that serves to both old school and new school players.

Se-gaaaaaa

Now I make no qualms about the fact that I love a sale.  It is the highlight of my Tuesday to check out the new Gold Deal of the Week on Xbox.  In May or June, there was a huge deal on Sega games, and I excitedly bought up Sonic 1, 2 and 3 for like, 160 MSP each.  Dude.  All that nostalgic fun for under $5!?  Heck Yes.

And playing them has led me to the conclusion I always make when I go back and play old games.  How the heck did gaming get popular??  These games are so difficult it makes me want to chuck my controller out the window.  I am seriously struggling to get past the first world in Sonic 1.  And I got all the way to the end and the airship defeated me and all of my continues on Sonic 2.  I have barely even tapped in to Sonic 3.

I have also had a few other observations.  I was just playing and really wished I had the patience to live tweet the level, because I felt exceedingly clever at the time.  Let's see what I can remember.

First of all: Sonic is a game made to be played fast.  Like, unbelievably fast.  Sometimes Sonic isn't even on your screen because the little dude is zipping all over the place.  That said, the game is designed so that if you play it that fast, you will die. All. Of. The. Time.  Because there are like a billion bad guys and they are all strategically placed so that when you come off of that ring, you will hit him. When you bounce off of that wall that you didn't expect, you will be shot backwards directly into a crab.  Oh yeah - and everything shoots random bullets, and all of them kill you too.  And they will ride across multiple screens with you, or get to your screen before you've even see the bad guy.  Awesome.

Sonic has a serious case of bitchy resting face.

And the little sign at the end?  When you spin it around Sonic gives you the peace sign.  He might as well just be flipping you off.  Dude is a grouchy little guy.  He's got that crabby face all the time, and heaven forbid you stop moving the controller for a second.  He's immediately impatiently toe tapping.  Alright, man, if you're so ready to get flung into the next pit of lava, let's go.

Also, what kind of lesson is it teaching us that if you have money, you can't die?  But the second you're broke, you're toast.  Nice one, Sonic.  The original gold digger.

Finally, and most fun, playing a game that I haven't played in years reminds me of awesome game memory.  These classics imprint themselves on your mind and never leave.  I still remember which trees hide coin blocks.  Where to jump to get to the secret high locations full of rings.  And, of course, which bad guys will get you. Every. Single. Time.  Those I remember best.  I wish I could go back in time and make sure that you guys all got to take advantage of the sale and play these great games again, for super cheap.  But regularly priced they are still a steal.  Go pick at least one up, and relive your youthful frustration.