Well, now that Blockbuster is slowly kicking the bucket, it looks like I'm going to have to rely mainly on my Gamefly.com account for video games. The problem is that getting new games can be almost impossible because there's always a waiting list. Compare this to my local Blockbuster (R.I.P.), where I could show up on any given Tuesday and more often than not get my first pick of the new releases.
Bummer! Well, maybe there's a way through this. How about someone start up a video game store? Huh? Why not? Ugh.
LEGO Star Wars 3
6.5 out of 10
Lego Star Wars is a staple at this point: you either love it (because you loved playing with LEGO toys) or you just don't get it. But it's hard to deny that playing as LEGO characters can be a lot of fun, provided the quality is good ...
That means control, visuals, music, and story. And where the first two LEGO Star Wars games really excelled was the story. They combined classic Star Wars storytelling with a LEGO spin, creating some hilarious situations and cut scenes, to say nothing of the events that happen in the game. On top of that, controlling the characters was easy and fun, and the designs of each level were incredibly creative.
The same is mostly true of this outing, which takes place during the Clone Wars of the Star Wars saga. Sometimes, you get to fly ships. Sometimes, you'll find yourself trying to solve a particularly complicated puzzle. Sometimes, you'll chuckle.
But ultimately, what you have is another entry in the LEGO Star Wars franchise. You're not going to be surprised by anything here, and you're still going to be collecting the LEGO coins. You're still going to be able to destroy things in creative sorts of ways. Same old, same old.
Limbo
9.0 out of 10
Now this is a downloadable game. It's been out a while, but I never had an opportunity to actually play it until recently while waiting for my next game to arrive via Gamefly.
This game is all about mood. Your character, a young boy, wakes up in a creepy black-and-white world where everything around you seems to want to kill you (including the other children you find). It's clear you need to escape, but doing so is a lot more difficult that you may think. You'll solve puzzles, you'll fight creepy creatures, and through it all you'll die a lot. And that's OK, because part of the fun of this game is seeing the different ways this creepy black-and-white world will come at you.
I strongly recommend this, not just because it's a great game, but because it's an independent game and it deserves an audience to encourage the creative developers to keep putting this great stuff online.
