Whew! June flew by in a haze of heat waves and Internet memes, and somewhere in the middle, the happy gamers at Warp Zoned got a lot of gaming done. We spent a lot of time hitting up our backlogs and playing games we should have played and/or finished ages ago, but some of us dove into some new games as well. All in all, it was a pretty productive month… if you can call upping our gamer scores productive. (We do.) Hit the break for the full details on what we’ve been up to!
John Scalzo
Editor-In-Chief
Without a doubt, the one game that took up the majority of my gaming time in the last thirty days was Lollipop Chainsaw. Suda51’s wild new adventure has everything a hack-and-slash fan could want, wrapped up in an uplifting story of family and topped with a healthy dose of pop culture references.
When I wasn’t slaying the undead, a few other titles vied for my gaming time including Yakuza Studio’s Binary Domain. It’s funny, the tiny costumes and heaving teenage breasts of Lollipop Chainsaw’s protagonist were front and center throughout its marketing campaign, but I felt Binary Domain had a much more misogynist streak to its storyline (though, to be fair, I’m not very far into it yet). That said, it’s still the best Terminator/I, Robot/Blade Runner mashup money can buy.
As the month came to a close, I got my hands on Penny Arcade’s On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 3. The 16-bit art style really suits the series and even though I’m only a few minutes into the game, I already don’t miss the modern graphics from the previous two episodes.
And I almost forgot, I fired up a round of Hexic HD on my Xbox 360 last week! Even after all these years, it amazes me how well put together it is. That’ll teach me to underestimate Alexey “The Father of Tetris” Pajitnov.
Nicole Kline
Senior Editor
June has pulled some sort of time travel trick on me, with the weeks being so slow but the month itself going so fast! I did a ton of gaming this month. I was playing a lot of Chrono Trigger on my DS until my copy of Pokemon Conquest arrived. That game has been ruining my life! I’ve gotten so into it that I’ve actually missed my bus stop. Thanks a lot, Eevee! I finally got the Platinum Trophy in Borderlands, and I’ve been slowly slogging through Prototype. I also started up one of the PlayStation freebie games in their post-E3 gamepocalypse, Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One. It’s pretty fun!
On the PC end, I wrapped up Diablo III (which I had some fun with, and I started playing Amnesia: The Dark Descent (thank you, Humble Indie Bundle!). Other than that, the usual table top gaming has been going on – some Cards Against Humanity, Infernal Contraptions, King of Tokyo, and Quarriors have been in the regular rotation, with Carcassonne popping up here and there, and my regular weekly games of Dungeons and Dragons. I’ve just started taking a class this term, though, so we’ll see if I have time to play anything at all in July!
Ryan Littlefield
Podcast Producer
Wait, June is done already? Alright, now I know not to treat these blurbs like I did last month – praising the slow passage of May only to have June rush me by. Anyway, most of June was spent with my face shoved into Gravity Rush. It took a while, but I was able to finish all the challenges with gold medals, and ultimately get the Platinum Trophy. Now just for those DLC packs!
I also spent a fair amount of time playing Disgaea 2: Dark Hero Days on my PSP as well, and a considerable amount of time across several PC games – Diablo III, Psychonauts, Magic 2013, and World of Warcraft to name a few. Buuut it looks like July will be nice, since there aren’t really a ton of games coming out that interest me, and I’ll probably have TONS of time to – wait, no, no! I mean, uh, I bet there will be very little time for gaming. (Yes, that should negate the effects of June.) GAME ON!
Andrew Rainnie
UK Correspondent
After completing Mass Effect 3 (and oh yes, those endings were terrible – way too brief and way too similar), I have been raiding the bargain bins in the UK recently, and managed to pick up a host of games for £10 each: Driver: San Francisco, God of War III, Castlevania: Lord of Shadow, El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron and Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. I played through some of Driver, but quickly got bored and did not hesitate to rip the cellophane from God of War III, immediately picking Titan difficulty, but having to turn it down a notch after spending an hour being hacked to death by Hades.
Unfortunately the rest are still in transit to my house.
While I was waiting for the postman (who officially hates me and my Internet shopping habits), I dug out Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit which I had feared lost. I forgot how awesome a driving game it is, and I’m genuinely excited for the next entry from Criterion.
