Do you like the weird and twisted? How about the unique and strange? Well Noby Noby Boy is the perfect game for you. The game is a PS3 exclusive available only via the PSN for a low price of $5. It involves a blob-like creature that eats and stretches to great lengths. That’s about the only thing to do in the game but it does get a little more involved.

The game features many different boards or areas that contain things for your Noby Noby Boy to eat and stretch out. The point of stretching is to report your overall game lengths to “Girl” who will reach different planets thus opening up new playing areas. Sadly, you’ll get the same satisfaction of eating and stretching regardless of the board you play. While reporting your stretches to Girl may unlock new planets to go to, it won’t change the game-play one bit. The game does keep a leaderboard of who has reported the longest lengths to Girl and it’s interesting to see where you fall into the mix.

The controls are pretty simple having the 2 analog sticks acting as your movement and stretch buttons. One stick controls the front of Noby Noby Boy while the other stick controls its rear. Press the analog sticks in the opposite directions and you have instant stretching. While the stretching controls are simple, the camera is horrible to maneuver. Sometimes you’ll stretch so long that the camera simply cannot handle all of you and you’ll be stuck with this awkward angle. More often than not, you’ll be trying to fix the camera angle just to see what’s going on. The longer you get, the worse the camera gets.

Overall, I’m not quite what to classify this game under. It’s not a bad game but it’s a good game either. It’s cheap to purchase but there isn’t a point to it. It’s unique and strange in a semi-fun way but there still isn’t a point to it. You get the idea by now. If you don’t mind paying the $5 to play something different, by all means, go for it. But if you don’t, you aren’t missing much.

Kezins GameCast #20 - 6/10/09

Being a pinball fan, I was eager to download and play ZEN Pinball available on the PlayStation network. After spending some time with it, I can honestly say it’s the best pinball game I’ve played on any console (take that Sonic Spinball). What makes it the best? Glad you asked.

The game comes with 4 loaded boards, each different from each other. It doesn’t seem like a lot of content but each stage is loaded up with different paths and places to open up. You can easily spend a few rounds on one stage while forgetting there are 3 other boards to play. Each board layout does a good job maintaining your attention and keeps you playing even when your 3 balls are done. And for you trophies enthusiasts out there, each board has 4 trophies by activating certain tricks.

In additional to the normal solo player game, it also offers some multiplayer fun and a tournament mode. Multiplayer and tournament are just as you would suspect they would be like. Multiplayer offers numerous players to join in on the fun and tournament is all about the high score. One cool aspect with the game is it has an information bar that runs constantly on the main screen letting you know about high scores and game information. The bar’s text is set up to look just like an actual pinball machine’s text; it’s not really needed but adds to the pinball experience.

I would highly recommend this game, especially if you enjoy pinball games. It’s fast pinball fun presented in vibrant, colorful graphics. The content put into this game can keep you occupied for quite some time and I could definitely see them adding more into this game. You will not be disappointed with this purchase.

On a demo interest and cheap sale price, I decided to pick up Mirror’s Edge recently. What can I say about this game that hasn’t already been said? Well, I can say that I hated over half of it and more often than not, I wanted to fling the disc out of the windows. I don’t think that’s been said yet. It’s time to go into detail why I wanted to hold a knife’s edge to the throats of its creators.

A little history about the game: it’s a skinny lady, named Faith, doing parkour tricks and stunts while avoiding guards. There is a story in there somewhere but I could give a rat’s ass about it, I honestly gave it one cut-scene and it instantly lost my interest. The cut-scenes are presented in a cartoon-like format that looks exactly similar to Esurance commercials. The meat of the game is the fast flowing, parkour aspect that does a decent job of making the game somewhat enjoyable. They could have Jason Vorhees chasing Faith the entire game and it wouldn’t have changed the outcome. I did like the speed of the game and even though it’s present in total first person mode, it’s not like a first person shooter or RPG. The game did flow, overall, nicely.

The worst aspect, I’d say, is the gameplay mechanics. Aside from using the analog sticks to look around and maneuver, you’ll be using all the controllers top buttons (triggers, bumpers, L1, R2, etc) to execute your moves. It’s not overly complicated but it takes some time to get used to performing the button combinations. Early on, it’s easy to perform the simple tricks and get where you need to go but later the combination of buttons just get confusing. You’ll get moving pretty fast with some simple jumps and grabs but it goes downhill when you need to look around for your next area. Sometimes the game will throw you a bone and highlight, in a red color, where you should go but that’s not always the case. You’ll need to take a few looks, figure out the combination of buttons to get there, and attempt to continue onward. Did I forget to mention there are guards constantly chasing you? Armed with automatic weapons? Who ready to kill you with a few blasts of bullets? Yeah so figure your areas out quick or be ready to watch the “loading from last checkpoint” screen quite often. Learn your jump – wallrun – turn – jump – wallrun – jump – grab – swing – jump to ledge combinations early on. I would say the combinations are much like quick time events in other games, except you have no idea what buttons to hit.

The game isn’t horrible, just flawed. It really has a lot of potential to be good but just falls flat (semi-pun intended) on many levels. Its visuals are very good and realistic; I do feel like I’m running through an actual building. As I said earlier, I did enjoy the speed and how fast paced the game is but it doesn’t save anything about it. I didn’t connect to any of the characters, the story was less than mediocre, not much replay value (the speed runs and time trials aren’t worth it) and it was very short. In a nutshell, the game is worth a play but I would suggest renting it or only purchasing at a bargain price.

We end it as best we can with a tepid week of news — guess everyone is holding back ’til E3 — and stay tuned after the credits to hear our thoughts on AIM, how Carlos stays “off the grid,” and why Krownz thinks Google is Skynet.

Kezins GameCast #19 - 5/29/09

Tacos and Movie Tuesday Podcast

Handing over the recording reins to Adrian this week proves that Carlos doesn’t have to sound off like a fish underwater. Join us as we let you know what to watch (and what to avoid) this week in movies. Of special note, we were invited to the premiere of Sam Raimi’s “Drag Me To Hell.” Should you save your cash for “Up” instead?

Featured films:

* “The Ramen Girl”
* “Powder Blue”
* “Passengers”
* “Taken”
* “Star Trek”
* “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian”
* “Drag Me To Hell”

E3 will be happening next week and we’re certainly excited.  One game that really sticks out in our minds this week is Brütal Legend, which will be one of the most talked about games at the event.

Here’s some official information we just received:

Brütal Legend to Rock the Internet During E3 2009

Chat Live with Double Fine’s own Tim Schafer
via Twitter at 7pm PST on Tuesday, June 2nd

With the 2009 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) less than a week away, Brütal Legend is preparing to take its Heavy Metal road show online, unleashing upon the masses http://e3.brutallegend.com.

Featuring an exclusive live chat with Double Fine’s own Tim Schafer via Twitter, the world premiere of a brand new Brütal Legend trailer, and a new installment of “Brütal Thoughts with Jack Black”, entitled “Human Video Game”. And if that wasn’t enough to get your fists in the air, one lucky person will win a real guitar, six strings and all, inspired by none other than Tenacious D!

For your chance to chat exclusively with Tim Schafer immediately following the first day of E3, logon to Twitter at 6pm PST on Tuesday, June 2nd and send your questions about Brütal Legend to @BrutalLegend using the following Twitter hashtag - #E3BL. Then from 7pm to 8pm, Tim Schafer will join us live to answer all your questions about Brütal Legend. Don’t have a Twitter account but got a question for Tim? We got you covered, just head over to http://e3.brutallegend.com and submit your question via the site. The full interview will unfold exclusively on the @BrutalLegend Twitter feed as well as http://e3.brutallegend.com.

For your chance to win the exclusive Brütal Legend/Tenacious D guitar, sign up at http://e3.brutallegend.com , with the lucky winner selected randomly on July 10th, 2009. For complete rules please visit http://e3.brutallegend.com/rules/

Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC)

Developer: Starbreeze Studios/Tigon Studios

Publisher: Atari

Released: April 7, 2009

MSRP: $59.99

We finally got the chance to play the new Riddick game (PS3 version) and can definitely say its worth picking up.  This title has certainly been under-rated by many sites.  For whatever reason, the Microsoft Gods didn’t include Escape From Butcher Bay on their backwards compatibility list, but Assault on Dark Athena gives you another chance to play the game.  It’s basically the same great game with polished graphics and sound.  If you somehow missed this title, you simply need to buy Assault on Dark Athena.  Escape From Butcher Bay was one of my picks for “top 5 Xbox games”…

When you first load up the game, you are asked whether you want to play Escape from Butcher Bay or Dark Athena.  If you somehow missed EFBB on the original Xbox, you definitely need to play this first.  If you played EFBB, it has been long enough that you may want to play it again.  It’s still the same great game, but n HD glory.

In many ways, Butcher Bay is still a better game than Assault on Dark Athena.  It set the bar high for movie-based video games and still does.  Dark Athena is a great addition to the story, but doesn’t quite match up to the original as far as unique gameplay.

The Good

• Unique gameplay with both titles, although gameplay is still better in EFBB.
• Melee & stealth action you will not find in other games!
• You are getting two really good games for the price of one.
• Voice acting is superb!
• Lighting effects in Dark Athena are up there with the best games.
• Two solid games for the price of one make this one of the best deals in gaming.
• Both games are challenging which is something lacking in most titles these days.

The Neutral

• Multiplayer mode is OK.  They have introduced some interesting modes, but it wasn’t enough to grab my full attention.

The Bad

• I expected Assault on Dark Athena to be a little more innovative.  The original game was one of the most innovative titles of 2004.
• Assault on Dark Athena lacked the level of character interaction you find with EFBB.

What’s New

Those of you who played Escape From Butcher Bay on the Xbox and loved it may be wondering if Assault on Dark Athena has anything new to offer.  In my personal opinion, Dark Athena is a little easier, but more intricate with some controls.  There are far more melee options this time around.  There’s still plenty of moments where you need to use your head and choose between sneaking and pulling off direct assaults.  The AI has improved with Dark Athena.  Even though I say it’s an easier game, it’s still not an easy game.  The visuals have been massively upgraded, but gameplay felt like it was lacking.  Dark Athena is more of a trial-and-error game, which becomes extremely frustrating at points.

In The End

For the price of one game, you are getting two really good ones.  Both titles have some pretty big flaws, but I was somehow able to enjoy my experience despite the flaws.  Both games do so many things well that it becomes easy to overlook the deficiencies.

Had this game been released without EFBB, I would have given it an 8/10…

Our Score

9/10

This is currently one of the best deals in gaming and the best game I have picked up in some time.  We will also be giving away a copy of Assault on Dark Athena, so stay tuned for information on that!  Also stay tuned for a more in-depth analysis of the game (particularly multiplayer) from Aaron Mazza.  For this review, we played the PS3 version of the game (compliments of RocketXL).

Screens

What Others Are Saying:

Test Freaks 6.8/10

GameSpot 7/10

IGN 7.4/10

This week on the podcast, we don’t neglect any holiday (that we know of) and bring you talk of Mirror’s Edge, Rag Doll Kung-Fu, Zen Pinball, Peggle iPhone, Metroid Prime 3, and the latest news from the gaming world.

Kezins GameCast #18 - 5/20/09

I recently downloaded Rag Doll Kung Fu: Fists of Plastic via a free PSN promotion a few days ago. After spending some time with it, I can say this game is severely flawed. Controls, gameplay, story - wrong, wrong, wrong. While not completely horrid, there’s so much that could have been perfected. Let’s take a closer look and see why these fists of plastic need to be recycled.

We’ll start with the gameplay. There isn’t much going on here. You can only play with/against others locally which is a major set back at this point in today’s gaming. Online multiplayer is a major contributor to a game’s replayability and sales and this game does not have it. It’s sad because some of the modes could be fun online. Speaking of the modes, there’s only some local multiplayer games and a challenge course to play around with, neither keep your attention for very long. I’ve only had this game a few days and it’s forgettable already what challenge I left off attempting to complete.

The controls are horrible. It utilizes the SIXASIS aspect of the PS3 controller but in an awkward way that frustrates more than succeeds. Suppose you want to shoot a fireball, well you need to hold a button down, aim your direction, and shake the shit out of the controller like an angry father pulling a teenage boy off his daughter. And maybe, just maybe you’ll hit your target. I also dislike the jump feature which uses the “X” button on the controller. This game looks and plays like Nintendo’s Smash Brothers series with side scrolling action on different elevated levels but “up” doesn’t jump, “X” does. Perhaps I’m too used to up direction for jumping but it really throws me off. The up direction is used as a direction for your fireballs or some attacks. A serious controller reconfigurement is desperately needed.

And now for the story…the story, wait, there isn’t one. Granted it is classified as a ”fighting” game but atleast throw in some type of enemy tower system a la Mortal Kombat or Street Fighter. The only options you have are the local multiplayer games or completing the solo challenges, that’s about it. The local multiplayer games get old quick and the challenges can be finished in less than one hour, unless you’re a trophy completionist.

Over all, the game isn’t worth the $10 price tag it came with but the free promotion makes it better. It’s doubtful that anyone who has this will be playing it a month down the road. There is barely a handful of features that make this game semi fun (such as using the right analog stick for weapons) and there are definitely more flaws than positive notes. In short, you’re is better off spent else where.