split/screen co-op

Heavenly Nariko by SInnY-Halo

Heavenly Sword is one of the best games ever made. It has a competent story (by fantasy fiction standards; by game standards its story kicks ultimate ass). It has incredible voice work and, thanks to motion-capture, it actually has acting by a top-notch cast. It’s story-telling techniques are unique, or at least they were, when the game released: it was in the pre-Uncharted 2 era. Probably the only thing you could hold against the game is the somewhat repetitive action, although even that was in no way broken, just not outstanding.

Why this game is so underrated is beyond me.

Yet even I, massive fan that I am, will not go as far as to call this game art.

Why? Hit the jump to find out.

Colossus by emillampe

This seems so eerily real that I get goosebumps on my arms.

Shadow of the Colossus is one of the best games I have ever played and completely deserves all the praise that’s been heaped on it. I thought it was not as emotionally charged as ICO, but that may have been just my personal impression.

Hit the jump for some speculation on which of the colossi this one is.

• The Escapist : Video Galleries : Extra Credits : No Redeeming Value
  This week, we discuss the God of War trilogy’s triumphs and failings as a narrative.

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Kratos sculpt by Mark Newman

The Extra Credits bunch over at The Escapist have a fantastic new episode about the narrative successes and shortcomings of the God of War trilogy, entitled No Redeeming Value. Their conclusion: the games are a blast to play, the characterisation is outstanding but the story as a whole has no redeeming value. As always, their case is solid and enlightening and, as a big fan of story myself, I cannot help but nod along. With one exception.

I take issue with the claim that Kratos “is one of the most fully realised characters in gaming today”. I don’t think that is true and I don’t even think Kratos is any good as a character. To me, the characterisation of Kratos is the biggest failing of the God of War trilogy.

There will be spoilers from here on, so hit the jump at your own peril.

guilty by punchyninja

Hit the jump for some text and stuff.

Highlights include the Diablo II character classes, the StarCraft Firebat, Lara Croft vs T-Rex, Gordon Freeman, the characters from Gears of War and, of course, Link.

Also check out Dunechaser‘s other LEGO creations on Flickr and lots more LEGO goodness on his blog The Brothers Brick.

• Hungry Like The Wolf: Seventh Sense | Rock, Paper, Shotgun
  If you’re of a certain age, you’ll probably be aware of the Lone Wolf books. Basically, the best of the wave of D&D-derived choose-your-own-adventure books which emerged in the wake of Jackson/Livingstone’s Fighting Fantasy. In fact, for my money, the best of the genre. Dever and his collaborators gave Project Aon a licence for the books to be downloaded, so have been able to be played online for a while, in a manual text form. A Project-Aon-er has gone one better. Seventh Sense is a dedicated client (PC/Mac/Linux) for playing the Lone Wolf books, and is up to the first book of the Magnakai series.

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I never managed to progress further than the seventh dungeon in The Legend of Zelda, so I don’t even know how that whole Gannon-defeating business panned out, but here is what brave Link apparently did after that. Or before, for we all know that time is strange in Hyrule.

The Legend of Zelda: The Misadventures of Link on Zelda informer

• Consoleation: Used games, the gloves are off | GameCritics.com
  Some things are better left unsaid.
  For example, most gaming consumers know that the industry doesn't care about them. The disconnect between the industry and the consumer has never been more evident than it's been during this console generation, as I've mentioned more than a few times before. We've known that the industry treats used game purchasers as second-class citizens—or worse—and this well-publicized "war on used games" has devolved into taking basic gameplay modes away from those looking to not pay $60 apiece for games that may or may not be worth their asking prices.
• UPDATED: Modern Warfare 2 Player Attempting To Reach Rank 70 Without Killing Anyone – News – GameInformer.com
  This feat may sound impossible, but for Game Informer reader and hardcore Modern Warfare 2 player Glen McCracken, it's only a matter of time. In two hours of playing, Glen has reached rank 5 without taking a life. Using pacifist means to earn points, Glen estimates it will take him roughly two months to be the first player to reach rank 70 with zero kills.

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Not a week goes by without someone poking the old ‘are games art’ sore. This week I wanted to have a go. I wanted to write about how that was the wrong question, because — just like not all films, books, paintings and songs are art — games cannot be all lumped together like that.

Taking cue from the revelations in Leigh Alexander’s In-Depth: No Female Heroes At Activision? about decision-making at Activision Blizzard, I wanted to write about how works of what is traditionally thought of as art are often actually just consumer products.

Well, she beat me to it, asking Are Video Games Just Soap?

Hit the jump to see my answer.