A Green Mushroom

The year is (almost) at an end.  I know a lot of bloggers are doing top ten lists and predictions for the next year.  I've done that before, but today I feel like reflecting on 2011 in general instead of telling you about games you've already played. The thing is, I realized that AAA $60 games were a huge disappointment for me this year.  I bought a handful, played them, and enjoyed them but looking back on the year I realize that they didn't truly do anything new.  My favorite 3 AAA titles this year were Arkham City , Assassin's Creed Revelations , and Skyrim.  They were all sequels with incremental improvements but none of them were truly groundbreaking. For me the best part of 2011 were all the indie games.  Oh my god, the indie games.  I've seen them grow by leaps and bounds in the last few years.  With the rise of Steam, XBLA, PSN, and downloadable games in general indie games are gaining the attention of the wider gaming community. ...

Happy Holidays everyone.  I hope the holiday season has given you some free time to be with family and (of course) get some gaming in.  I want to talk about an awesome gift I got from my brother, but I'll save that for another post because first I need to tell you about Ready Player One. Last week it was slow at work and I had free time every night.  I fully intended to catch up on my Starcraft II and some of my Steam games but on Monday I happened to pick up a new book.  A friend recommended Ready Player One and said it was a great book for gamers.  That was a huge understatement. Ready Player One is set in the near future and finds the world slowly falling into decay.  The world population now spends all their free time in the virtual world of OASIS.  OASIS is the evolution of modern day MMOs into a virtual universe where anything can exist.  The creator of OASIS was a child in the 1980s and pulled his love of 80s pop culture into OASIS. ...

I'm still playing through Final Fantasy II and enjoying the experience.  While playing, something caught my attention in this old JRPG.  I was grinding.  I was grinding for experience, gear, money, and other loot.  I was grinding the way I grind in MMOs.  But instead of that listless MMO feeling I was having fun.  What's the deal? I think part of the reason is that I'm playing a game with a definitive ending.  I may be grinding, but there's an end in sight.  In MMOs it's way too easy to get stuck on the gear treadmill at "endgame" and keep grinding for better gear so that you can clear the next tier of raid so that you can get better gear etc, etc, etc.  That's how they keep you playing.  But without an ending, without that feeling of conclusion and satisfaction, a videogame loses something. The end is always time for reflection MMOs aren't the only culprit.  I've invested around 60 hours in Skyrim and have "completed" 2 of th...

I picked up Assassin's Creed Revelations for $25 on Black Friday thanks to Amazon lightning deals.  I always keep an eye out for when they do video game lightning deals and in this case it paid off.  The game had only been out for about 2 weeks and I saved $35.  I love Amazon. Anyway, AC Revelations is ok.  I know that's not a rousing endorsement, but it's the truth.  In terms of gameplay there is so little added on top of the last installment that it's hard to be excited. There are a few minor changes.  Desmond gets some intriguing puzzle gameplay while stuck in the Animus, Ezio gets to customize bombs, and Ezio has access to a  badass hookblade that allows the use of ziplines and faster climbing.  None of these is bad, but they don't go far enough.  The puzzle gameplay with Desmond tells an interesting story but the puzzles themselves don't offer much fun.  The bomb customization is worthless outside of specific bomb missions...

Batman: Arkham City is an achiever's delight.  It's a great action/exploration game filled to the brim with hidden Riddler trophies and mysteries to solve.  The whole game appealed to the explorer and achiever in me.  I even went on to do a 100% complete run of the game.  That meant completing over 400 Riddler challenges and I loved every minute. But I'm getting ahead of myself.  Arkham City is the follow up to Arkham Asylum, a game I also loved.  It takes everything from Arkham Asylum and builds on it.  The combat has more diverse options and the controls feel tighter. The exploration is faster and far ranging thanks to the grappling hook, cape glide, and a full city to explore.  The cast of villains has been expanded to the point where some of the lesser known evil doers get their time to shine. Overall, it's a bigger badass Batman game. All together I only had a couple of gripes.  By expanding the cast of villains the game actually e...

I don't normally endorse game sales, but StarCraft 2 is half price from now until Monday.  This is my absolute favorite game from the past 2 years and I recommend it to everyone, even at full price.  I love it so much I've written a whole Newbie Guide about it.  If you are an RTS fan and you don't own SC2 you don't know what you're missing.  If you've ever been intrigued by Starcraft 2 now is the time to pick it up.

I miss posting multiple times per week, but work has been absolutely crazy busy this fall.  It's great for us at work, but I haven't had a whole lot of extra energy to write about gaming. That's not to say I haven't made time to actually play  games.  I'm on vacation now for all of next week so I'm hoping to catch up on posting.  But, I wanted to touch base first and let you know generally what I've been up to. I'm still playing Starcraft 2 at least a few times each week.  It's amazing to me that this game is so fun after a year and a half of playing it.  I don't anticipate it falling out of my gaming rotation any time soon. I'm slowly working my way through Final Fantasy II on the ipod touch.  I'm getting to the point where I just want to finish it, but it can still be fun in small doses. I bought and beat (100%) Batman Arkham City.  I loved the game, so I definitely need to get a post up about it soon. I've been dabbling i...

Yes, they must.   Orcs Must Die is an entertaining hybrid of the tower defense and shooter genres from robot entertainment.  I picked it up when it released last month and couldn't put it down for days.  I had a blast placing traps and trap combinations for the horde of orcs to stumble into while I head-shot them with a crossbow. The overall concept is familiar.  Stop wave after wave of enemies from reaching your exit point.  The difference is in the execution.  In Orcs Must Die you control a single war-mage on the ground who is entirely in charge of placing traps and killing stragglers.  The 3rd person shooter viewpoint made me feel much more immersed in the action compared to the standard high altitude/isometric view found in most tower defense games. As you progress you unlock new spells, traps, and guardians.  Points gained from successful defense can also be used to upgrade existing spells, traps, and guardians.  It's not much...

Everywhere I look, people are writing about Pandas and how Blizzard is mis-stepping with the new WoW expansion.  I looked at the news, shrugged, and moved on.  I guess I really am done with WoW. On the other hand I read everything I could find about the new StarCraft 2 units!  They look awesome.  It's much more exciting news for me because adding new units totally changes the game balance and the flow of battle.  Here's a full list of the new units and changes. Protoss are (finally) getting some more anti-air and an intriguing new unit that can become any other unit in the game.  Unfortunately Carriers are being pulled from multiplayer all together.  Some Zerg units are changing or gaining abilities, like the awesome burrowed charge for Ultralisks.  They're also getting a new siege unit which resembles a burrowed Broodlord.  Terran Hellions will be able to morph into what looks like a giant mechanical firebat.  A Terran pl...

Gears of War 3 has been out for a few weeks  but I put off writing about it until now.  I've been playing it off and on since it's release because I really wanted to like it.  The problem is... I don't. Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad game.  Unfortunately, it's just more of the same.  I liked Gears of War and it's sequel a lot but this third installment isn't doing it for me. The problem is that it plays exactly like Gears of War 2.  Granted, now there's four player co-op, a couple new guns, and some new enemies... but it all feels like it's been done before.  Probably because it has. There are a few other new features.  Horde mode, one of Gear's crowning achievements, has some added base building features.  Beast mode now let's you play as the enemy killing the humans.  Overall, the whole package is tied into a nice online system too. But I have to be honest.  If you didn't absolutely love Gears of War 2 then do not spe...

Recently I’ve been playing two separate games which go by the names of Starcraft 2 and League of Legends. Both games are highly competitive. Both pit players against each other in deadly head to head combat. And, without a doubt, both are ruthlessly brutal to new players. Yet, only one of them frustrates me beyond belief. League of Legends. It’s interesting that two games which are so competitively similar can affect me in two vastly different ways. So why is that? I believe the key lies in how information comes across, or does not come across, to the player. Starcraft 2 is very transparent, while League of Legends is extremely opaque. In Starcraft 2 most information is telegraphed to the player. It’s pretty obvious to anyone that an army with 30 units is better than an army with 15. While unit composition can muddy the water of army size comparisons, most of the time, it still takes a miracle to beat an army twice the size of yours. This transparency also extends to...

I haven't had a lot to post about lately.  I've been mostly just killing time by playing League of Legends and Red Orchestra 2.  League I've already talked about in depth and I'm still not sure what I think about RO2.  It's a WWII game set on the Russia/German front that's a lot more realistic than most first persons shooters.  I'm hoping my brother will do a write up for A Green Mushroom on it soon, since he's had more hands on time with the game than I have. Gears of War 3 is releasing tomorrow, and I'm very excited for it.  I'm not expecting anything new or groundbreaking.  I'm just looking forward to playing a series I love that's been polished to perfection.  All the reviews I've seen have been positive.  It's also a great excuse to get someone to sit down and play couch co-op with me. On the MMO front I'm starting to feel twinges of interest in Guild Wars 2.  That's saying a lot since I still feel burned out ...

The 3DS is bombing.  Sales numbers are way lower than projected and Nintendo has already done a massive price cut in the hopes of increasing holiday sales and hype.  Executives are taking pay cuts and apologizing to investors.  The rumors are circulating that Nintendo is considering a hardware redesign already.  They have rewarded early adopters with free games , but that doesn't fix the main problem, that people aren't buying their system. I can't speak for everyone, but I can tell you why I don't own a 3DS.  In a nutshell, I've been spoiled by the price of mobile games.  I play games on my ipod touch almost every day and the most I paid for one was around the $8 mark but even that is the exception.  95% of my games were in the 1 to 2 dollar range.  I get hours upon hours of play out of the games I purchase and for $1 it's a steal. When I'm getting so much playtime for a few bucks on my mobile device how can I justify paying $3...

Despite the title, I like Final Fantasy II.  I'll get to the face hitting part in a moment.  Overall, Final Fantasy II is very similar to FFI and, really, any other classic JRPG out there.  All the genre staples are present; armor, weapons, gaining power, new abilities, a heroic quest.  The 2D sprites are classic, but nothing to write home about.  It's obvious that when Squaresoft was making FFII they wanted to keep it close to the first game. Don't count out those game designers at Square completely, there are differences in FFII.  Whether they're good or not is another question. The leveling system has been completely redesigned.  Each individual skill levels up with use instead of leveling up as an entire character.  In theory it sounds interesting, and it's been used to great success in some modern games, but the problem is with the execution.  For example, if a character ends a battle with much less health than they started it wit...

I can't find a new game to hold my attention.  I want something that I've never played before that grabs me and keeps me interested... but I've had no luck. Thankfully, I have a few fallback games that keep me happy.  Team Fortress 2, League of Legends , and Starcraft 2 are all amazing games that I love to play.  I started wondering why I keep coming back for more. After giving it some thought, I've come up with a few reasons these games stay enjoyable. PvP Done Right No matter how well an AI is programmed there is still nothing like matching wit and skill with another human.  All 3 of these games are based around multiplayer and have systems in place to keep things fair while competing against other humans.  TF2 scrambles the teams whenever it detects a big imbalance in skill.  SC2 and League both have awesome ranking systems in place to match players with others of a similar skill level.  This way, no matter how good or bad you are, you'll h...

From the moment The Kid awakens he's vocally followed by an aloof narrator.  That, above all else, makes Bastion stand apart from a stagnant game market.  The narrator's ever-present dulcet tones hounded and haunted me as I played but they simultaneously drove me onward.   Super Giant Games has implemented a storytelling device in a unique way that must be experienced to be appreciated fully. I should have written about Bastion when it first released on XBLA but I was far too busy playing the game.  I beat my first playthrough of Bastion within three days of it's release.  I honestly can't tell you the last time I was so drawn into a game. Mechanically, Bastion is a hack and slash, but putting it like that doesn't do it justice.  Every weapon has it's own individual feel, something often overlooked and no easy feat to accomplish.  Choosing and customizing the weapons that accompanied me were fun decisions because they actually mattered.  The...

Trenched is the most interesting take on tower defense that I've played in awhile.  This game came out of nowhere, it wasn't even on my radar, but when I tried the demo on XBLA and I was hooked. The second I got into a "mobile trench" I knew this game was something different.  The World War I/II mech setting somehow works and really drew me in as I played.  I did the first couple of missions solo while I felt out the mixture of laying down defensive turrets and charging with guns blazing. Then I discovered the best part of the game, multiplayer!  All of the missions can be played with friends or with a random set of allies online.  Once I played a map with allies I didn't even consider going back to solo.  Not only is four more fun than one but getting to see each player's customized Trench is a treat. There's all the customization I've come to expect from a mech game.  Various chassis (basically classes) with different strengths and weakne...

I have a huge craving for a single player console game.  I want something that I can have fun with while blasting through mindlessly, but I can't find a good one I haven't played!  Ugh.  But that's what happens in the summer slump. Anyway, since I'm in the mood for a console game but have been doing a lot of PC gaming lately I started to think about why  I want to play a console title.  The main reason is the sitting back experience. My oh-so-comfy couch When I'm playing PC games I'm always sitting forward (or at least sitting straight in my chair) while I'm engaged with the game.  When I'm gaming on a console I'm usually slouched back in my comfy couch.  They make for two very different styles of play. One isn't necessarily better than the other, but some days I just want to slouch in my comfy couch and chill out.  I haven't been able to do that as much as I'd like to lately.  I guess I'm still stuck holding out until fall.

When people shop for games, they want to know if what they're going to buy is worth the price they're paying. This is just like any product you'd buy, but it's arguably much harder with video games. Video games are a subjective thing at their heart. How much enjoyment a person has with a game can be drastically different between individuals. Different game genres, art styles, levels of quality, and even developers can make or break a game for some, while others could care less. So, people do their best to work with the tools available and try to turn a decision that's subjective into as objective a decision as possible. They read reviews written by an author they don't know with scores that are heavily skewed toward the high end of the scale. They watch video footage of gameplay and look at screenshots. Maybe they try a demo. And if they're lucky, they talk to their friends who own the game. But why don't people share and look at time pla...

Lost in Neurons is an analysis blog written solely by Klelith that I've been reading since it started. I would be generous if I said its posting schedule was average. However, when a post does come around, it tends to swoop in out of nowhere with deep analysis on a vast number of subjects from gaming and technology, to fiction stories and funny videos.  He'll drop it off in the middle of the night with little warning and vanish before you realize he was ever there.  This level of writing is beyond mine to say the least, so I have always forgiven Klelith for the sporadic   posting schedule.  I've had the pleasure of knowing this writer for several years, seeing that he is in fact, my brother. I have been asking for ages for him to do a guest post about gaming for A Green Mushroom to no avail.   I had all but given up when he offered to do all of his game analysis posts on this blog. Imagine my surprise! All of his other thoughts on things like...

We're so connected all the time.  Between work and leisure time I'm constantly looking at screens.  Technology is amazing but it's invaded our lives.  It's not always a bad thing, but I find I need to disengage to recharge my mind.  I consume so much content in any given day that my brain needs time off.  I need to give myself time to think original thoughts. Part of my problem is that not only work but also my hobbies revolve around technology.  I'm finding more and more that I'm a happier person overall if I take some time each day to be quiet.  Sometimes I just sit and think, but even more fun is playing with my daughter on the floor, talking to my wife, or taking a walk outside.  I love being around my family, but I love interacting with them even more! And it's the perfect season to step away from technology.  I try to remind myself to enjoy the summer!  Minnesota winter is always lurking around the corner and it sneak...

I was thinking about the summer slump today so I browsed ahead to the fall launch lineup and holy shit.  There are so many AAA titles coming out between September and November.  Let me run down a quick list of the ones I know I want.  Gears of War 3, Assassin's Creed Revelations, Batman Arkham City, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Modern Warfare 3, Halo Combat Evolved Anniversary.  Not to mention a bunch of others that I want to check out before I buy. Many of these games are releasing within a week of one another.  It's crazy.  I know why they do it.  They want the holiday hype to drive sales from Thanksgiving until Christmas.  The logic makes sense, but I don't know if it's still the best idea when all of these other games are releasing at the same time. The crazy thing is, if one of those games released right now it would have all the press attention it wanted until September.  Think about how much Starcraft 2 dominated the gaming news la...

This time you get three games in one post.  How exciting for you.  This is what happens when real life gets busy and I try to play catch up with my posts.  Let's get to it. Mortal Kombat Platform: Xbox 360 Total Play Time: 2.5 hours Mortal Kombat hasn't changed much over the years.  It's still full of over the top gore.  Overall, it's a fighting game on a 2D plane with decent controls.  I still prefer the Street Fighter series, but it's nice to see MK go back to it's roots with this game.  After a few hours of playing around with Fatalities I had seen all I cared to.  This is not a game that I could sink days into.  I have to admit that the fatalities appealed to my inner 13 year old, but besides that I wasn't overly impressed. Ms. Splosion Man Platform: Xbox 360 (XBLA) Total Play Time: 3.5 hours Ms. Splosion man is a satisfactory follow up to XBLA hit Splosion Man.  If you're a platforming fan and haven't played the original Splo...

I'm back from vacation and ready to write.  In other big news I just landed my first full-time salaried job!  I had a good couple of weeks. I told myself once I got a full-time job one of my rewards would be a new gaming console, so now I have to make a decision.  Should I get a PS3 or a 3DS?  I really can't make up my mind. The 3DS has a few awesome 3D remakes of some of my favorite games.  Namely, Star Fox 64 and Ocarina of Time.  I'm sure down the line they'll release some new Mario platformers, which I'll eat up.  Nintendo has also announced a new Smash Bros game for the 3DS and I don't want to pass that up, although it may be years away. The PS3, on the other hand has a HUGE  backlog of games already.  It's been out about the same amount of time as the Xbox 360 and has fallen in price many times.  The built in Blu-Ray player would be a cool added bonus.  I've wanted to check out the Uncharted series, Little Big Planet, ...

Platform: Nintendo DS Total Play Time: 45 minutes Super Scribblenauts is an advancement from the original Scribblenauts, there's no faulting that.  The control issues have been taken care of and there are more words and modifiers than in the first game.  The overall premise, summoning anything you want out of thin air, remains the same. I have to admit that I laughed when I accidentally put a zombie on a dinosaur and he commanded the dinosaur to kill me.  But besides that chuckle I was mostly bored.  While I love the idea of Super Scribblenauts I just couldn't get into the gameplay.  I saw how it was meant to be fun and how others could find the game fun, but it just didn't click with me.  I was hoping all the improvements would really wow me, but the game hasn't made a giant leap from where it started.  It's probably more of a problem with me than with the game. I will say there's a ton of potential in this game for you if yo...

Platform: PC Total Play Time: 20 minutes Inside a Star-filled Sky is full of interesting design decisions.  The core gameplay idea is that while fighting your way through a Shump  you are able to dive into enemies, power-ups, and yourself to change inherent characteristics.  Not only are you diving into all these things but while not inside of objects you're trying to ascend to higher planes of existence.  Needless to say, there's a lot going on here. Unfortunately, these interesting concepts are marred by generic and flawed gameplay.  The twin stick shooter concept works well enough, but it's been done to death by now.  The main problem with this game in particular lies in corridors.  A twin stick shooter needs a decent amount of open space and lots of enemies to be fun.  Inside a Star-filled Sky has few enemies and lots of narrow corridors.  This results in all kinds of cheap deaths and impassible sections because there'...

I haven't done a link dump post in a while and this week I read a bunch of really interesting posts.  Here they are for your perusal. Kill Ten Rats : Time outweighs the price of entertainment. Elder Game : Fun loops and gameplay loops. Systemic Babble : Complex vs elaborate games. Killed in a Smiling Accident : MMO combat is based too much around the UI. Killed in a Smiling Accident : Concern for the MMO blogging scene. Support the Indie Game documentary by checking out their Kickstarter page and donating!

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A remastered 3D Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time was released yesterday and there's been a lot of press coverage since it's widely considered the best Zelda game.  Now I have Zelda on the brain.  By the way, if you're interested in doing a community playthrough of Ocarina of Time, along with forum posts and discussions, you should definitely check out The Brainy Gamer  as he's organizing one this very moment. After reading a  round-table discussion about the creation of OoT (seriously, go read this now if you're a Zelda fan) I have an itch to play a Zelda game.  Since I don't own a 3DS and don't feel like buying one just yet that means I'll have to play something besides the new release. Ocarina of Time is considered the definitive Zelda and most people say A Link to the Past is a close second.  Personally, I found Wind Waker, with it's cel-shaded graphics, to be one of my favorite's and I'm extremely tempted to go back and replay it. ...

Platform: Nintendo DS Total Play Time: 40 minutes My first thought on booting up the game, "These graphics are ick."  I would rather have beautiful high-res 2D graphics than these blurry/muddy 3D graphics.  What a bad first impression. After that initial letdown I realized the stylus was bugging me.  It created a feeling of disconnection from the game.  I'm so used to touching a screen with my finger on my ipod touch that the DS stylus feels awkward,  especially after just completing FFI entirely on the ipod touch. There is absolutely no tutorial in Four Heroes of Light and I immediately felt lost.  I got to the first cave, at which point they told me I had to go back to town to buy a torch, but I got back to town and had no money so I wasn't able to buy a torch.  I figured it out eventually but it still would have been nice for some straight up explanation of what was going on. The playthrough wasn't going well and then I decid...

With my Gamefly subscription in full swing I've decided to start a series of Snap Judgement posts.  I'm going to be trying out games and treating them almost like a demo, but I'll give them a little extra time and effort. My only rule is that I'll give a game a minimum of 15 minutes.  If a game can't hold my attention in the first 15 minutes then I'm done with it.  With every game I drop, I  will  let you know how long I played that game before setting it aside.  But, if I like a game, I may very well end up playing it to completion. Expect to see a handful of these posts over the summer.

We've all done it.  We start a game with dreams in our heart only to find it lackluster as we play.  One day we just stop playing and then never really find our way back to it.  I know it's happened to me and I know it's happened to you. For some reason at some point you have abandoned a game without getting your money's worth. This year I dropped Red Dead Redemption and Dragon Age II without completing them.  I try to be good about only buying games that I'm going to play to completion, but it's not always possible to know in advance how much I'm going to like a game.  That's one of the reasons I save up my "maybe" games throughout the year and then try them out with my Gamefly subscription in the summer.  I really don't want to invest $60 in a game that I won't get the most out of. I don't feel as bad when I buy a cheaper game and stop playing them part way through.  That's probably why I'm trending towards downloa...

After months of chipping away at it, I've completed Final Fantasy I.  It had it's ups and downs but I must say it has provided me with hours of entertainment.  You have to admit, months of entertainment for $9 is a steal.  My completion time was right around 18 hours, but it was broken up into chunks of 5-10 minutes which is why it lasted so long.  I think the longest play session I did was around 30 minutes and that only happened once.  As always, my initial impressions still stand but I had a few other thoughts along the way too. The main thing I liked about this game was the chance to look back at the foundation of modern RPGs.  Final Fantasy basically defined the shape of the JRPG genre and many of the conventions set forth in this game can still be seen in RPGs today. The whole game was fun back-to-back dungeon romps.  If you're in the mood for that type of gameplay then Final Fantasy I still measures up. Where it ...

I just finished the Clash of Heroes single player campaign and thought I'd reiterate how much fun it was.  A tactical RPG puzzle game isn't something you come across every day and this one held me captive most nights for the past few weeks. On top of what I mentioned in my initial impressions  there were also a ton of battles with interesting win conditions.  If I ever felt like I was close to getting bored, one of these odd battles would pop up and re-engage me.  Switching between 5 main characters helped keep things fresh too. In the end, Clash of Heroes took me 30 hours to beat and provided me with weeks of entertainment for only 15 dollars.  And there's still a whole multiplayer aspect that I haven't touch yet. I liked this game a lot and now it's put me in the mood for something else tactical.  I want something slow-paced.  Maybe a turn based battle system of some kind.  I'm in the mood for more thoughtful decisions and less twitch ac...

With the summer slump setting back in for the gaming world I've done my yearly re-subscribe to Gamefly .I reactivated my account and started adding games to my queue. I sorted through all the games released in the past year for every console I own (Xbox 360, Wii, Nintendo DS) adding everything that I didn't own but wanted to try.  Most summers my queue is full of somewhere between 50 and 75 games.  Imagine my surprise when I clicked on the queue button, after hours of dissecting this year's releases, to find that I only had 13 games there! I started to wonder what happened over the past year to cause such a huge discrepancy.  After looking through my game collection and thinking back over the past 12 months I realized that I barely played any traditional console games at all.  Most of my gaming time has been spent on the PC or with downloadable titles on Xbox Live Arcade or on my ipod touch . I only bought 3 full priced ($60) conso...

During my latest exploration of the XBLA offerings I not only picked up Clash of Heroes but also stumbled upon a gem called Outland.  Outland is a platformer that any metroidvania fan would feel right at home with.  Throughout the course of the game the player slowly gains more abilities which in turn open up more sections of the map. The real fun starts when polarity is introduced.  Obviously drawing inspiration from Ikaruga , the hero can be in one of two states, Blue or Red.  Or, in the mythos of the game, "good" or "evil."  The important part is that projectile attacks don't hurt the player if they are the same color as the hero and only enemies of the opposite color can be hurt.  This leads to a continuous on-the-fly adjustment of polarity between colors. This is one of the few games lately where I've lost myself in the flow of the gameplay.  Figuring out and executing complex patterns of polarity switching while running, jumpin...