Articles for McKinley Noble

  • The history of Metroid

    Developed by Nintendo R&D1 alongside Kid Icarus, Metroid hit the Nintendo Entertainment System very early in the console's lifecycle, amidst the likes of other born-to-be classics such as Castlevania, The Legend of Zelda, and Mike's Tyson's Punch-Out!! Metroid's story begins with the galaxy in peril.

  • Shank

    Games like Shank don't come around often enough. Sometimes, violence for the pure sake of violence makes a great way to pass an afternoon, and Klei Entertainment's Shank will easily burn a few hours off an idle day. As a pure hack-and-slash experience, this game offers exactly what it promises, and although it suffers from some irritating design flaws, you can't really argue with a game that lets you run a chainsaw through an evil pro wrestler's sternum.

  • Monday Night Combat

    Sure, Monday Night Combat rips a lot of ideas straight out of Team Fortress 2's playbook -- incredibly varied classes, frantic multiplayer action, and addictive team based tactical skirmishes -- but that's not really a problem when the resulting chaos is just so damn fun.

  • Castlevania: Harmony of Despair

    Looking back, I'm not really sure what I expected from Castlevania: Harmony of Despair. Online multiplayer has been uncharted territory for the series so far, especially since the "Metroidvania" gameplay is so well ingrained as a single-player device. However, if there is a magic formula for integrating online play into the classic Konami series, Harmony of Despair isn't it.

  • Hydro Thunder Hurricane

    Hydro Thunder Hurricane is a perfect throwback to the "high production" arcade games of yesteryear: the expensive looking, incredibly noisy machines that cost upwards of a dollar to play. Back then, expensive arcade system boards could produce slick graphics and fast action that could rarely be replicated on home consoles. Sure, these games weren't deep, but they were equal parts roller coaster and sensory overload.

  • Young Thor

    Frima Studio's development experience has revolved around a lot of kid-friendly titles (think Nickelodeon), and Young Thor definitely feels like one.

  • Blacklight: Tango Down

    Some pretty divisive reviews about Blacklight: Tango Down have been posted since its release. Some gaming critics think it's a great effort from Zombie Studios, while others are calling it "frustrating" and "pretty damn miserable." I've been fluctuating between the two extremes during this time, and finally, I've decided which side I'm on: neither. I'm going straight down the middle here: Blacklight isn't as terrible as some critics have said, but it isn't without its faults. Still, I think the game has some merit.

  • LIMBO

    There are a lot of words I can use to describe PlayDead Studios' LIMBO - genius, eerie, and haunting, for instance — but the more I think about this incredibly crafted game, the more I realise that all those words simply don’t do enough to describe the essence and feel of this Independent Games Festival standout. More than anything else, LIMBO struck me as being wonderfully macabre. It seems almost obsessed with the idea of death, not as a punishment for failure, but as a necessary and inevitable tool I needed to inch forward through each difficult task. In one weekend, I’ve seen the nameless child hero of the game electrocuted, dismembered, ripped to shreds, drowned, and beaten to death, which would almost be funny if it weren’t so unsettling.

  • Monkey Island 2 Special Edition: LeChuck's Revenge

    Monkey Island 2 Special Edition is a textbook example of how publishers can pull old titles from their catalogues and make them relevant again. LucasArts has been doing this for a while now, giving Tell Tale Games the creative license to take franchises like Sam & Max to new places and, as is the case here with the Special Edition of Monkey Island 2, giving new life to classics by updating the graphics and features. But the true secret to their revitalisation efforts is that they manage to maintain the same charm and humour that made these titles so successful in the first place.

  • N3II: Ninety-Nine Nights

    For all the genius that's been achieved in the hack-and-slash genre with games like Bayonetta, No More Heroes, and Devil May Cry, I'm always baffled to see games like Ninety-Nine Nights II. While other titles in this increasingly crowded category manage to innovate with unique artwork, memorable characters, or a catchy gameplay gimmick, Ninety-Nine Nights II (or N3II) fails to accomplish the first two, and flops disappointingly on the third. Overall, the result is a mindless game that, to quote The Onion's Chris Dahlen, feels less like extreme combat and more "like mowing the lawn."

  • Puzzle Quest 2

    It's no secret that the first Puzzle Quest was a huge hit amongst iPhone users as well as more traditional gamers, but the overall package was actually a bit of a mess.

  • What Did I Do To Deserve This, My Lord?! 2

    With the exception of its predecessor, there's probably no other video game in the PlayStation Portable's library that's as frustrating as What Did I Do To Deserve This, My Lord?! 2.

  • Samurai Shodown Sen

    I first encountered Samurai Showdown Sen at last year's E3, when the game was still in the hands of Ignition Entertainment (they were also there showing off SNK's The King of Fighters XII and Vanillaware's Muramasa). Although my time with this upcoming game was brief, I walked away surprised by the clunky combat and horribly unpolished graphics; I didn't completely write it off, however, because it carried the Samurai Shodown brand. I chalked up my poor experience to the vagaries of the E3 showfloor and an unimpressive demo that had most likely been rushed for the conference. Perhaps the final product would look and play vastly different once the game hit store shelves, I thought.

  • WarioWare D.I.Y.

    From 8-bit sound effects to the occasional 1980's-era Nintendo reference, it's apparent that the WarioWare titles are lovingly crafted for hardcore fans. But what makes the series so fun are the hilarious mini-games which are accessible and varied enough to grab anyone's attention, even if they've never played a Mario game (if those people actually exist, that is).

  • Nintendo DSi XL

    When it comes to electronics, smaller is usually better. Everything, from refrigerators to hard drives, have gradually shrunk as time went on -- the two main benefits being increased efficiency and reduced cost.

  • Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver

    It's a little insane to think that I've been playing Pokemon for almost half of my life. From the first Red and Blue versions on the classic Game Boy through the Nintendo DS entries, I've invested years of effort into "catching them all." It's a testament to the franchise's addictive nature that, despite a lack of major changes to core experience, I'm always drawn back in with each new instalment.

  • Resonance of Fate

    Resonance of Fate takes place in the far future, where most of Earth has become ravaged by harsh environmental changes that make global warming look like a mild summer heat wave. Fortunately for humanity, they've got their wits together long enough to create Basel: a massive purification tower that cleanses the air around it, making day-to-day life possible for what's left of the human race. Being hundreds of miles high and crafted from machinery that seemingly defies the laws of mass and physics, Basel also serves as the only safe haven for the human race to rebuild, where the upper levels of the structure are reserved for the rich, and the lower regions of the tower are home to the middle class citizens, workers, and a few criminals here and there.

  • Best video game fan remakes

    When fans take video games into their own hands, the results are often unpredictable. Artwork, music, and other types of tributes can range from the gut-wrenchingly awful to the eternally awesome, but only the best projects are worth waiting for. That's why fan-made video game remakes can be one of those things that's worth some patience.

  • Sands of Destruction

    Where most Japanese role-playing games shoehorn you into the role of a naïve teenager on a salvation quest, Sands of Destruction does the polar opposite: it actually tasks you with the job of destroying the world, albeit it in a strangely heroic fashion. Unfortunately, that promising premise quickly becomes generic and it ruins the experience before this adventure ever has a chance to save itself.

  • Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky

    When it comes to video games, spin-offs are almost never as good as the original material. Pokemon, on the other hand, has actually been pretty damn lucky with the polish and high-quality gameplay of titles like Pokemon Snap, Pokemon Puzzle League and the lesser-known Pokemon Trading Card Game for the Game Boy Advance.

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