December was a pretty sweet month for gaming here at Warp Zoned! We attacked our backlogs ferociously, and even spent some time sucked into mobile games. I know, who would have thought it? Read on to find out how we spent our holidays. Spoiler alert: we had to recharge our handheld devices a lot!
John Scalzo
Editor-In-Chief
A new iPod Touch was waiting for me under the Christmas tree, so I spent the seven days between Christmas and the new year by playing a bunch of old favorites (Breakout Boost, Scramble With Friends) and a few undiscovered gems (8 Bit Rally is like Rad Racer for your iPod and Super Hexagon is insanely difficult but addicting).
A Wii U was not waiting under my tree, because I bought one in early December. Like everyone else who bought Nintendo’s newest console, I picked up New Super Mario Bros. U and I’m having a side-scrolling blast. It doesn’t stand up to SMB3 or Mario World, but it’s still a pretty good Mario game. The latest Mario game split time throughout the rest of the month with Dishonored, a well-deserved selection as one of our favorite games of the year. The stealth gameplay is fantastic and I can’t wait to see what else Bethesda does with the franchise.
Nicole Kline
Senior Editor
I gamed a ludicrous amount in December. It started off with me finally finishing up Pokemon Black 2, which I reviewed. My boyfriend and I reached level 50 in Borderlands 2 and then started over with the only two characters we haven’t played yet, Axton and Maya. We also played Dead Nation from start to finish, and started Tales from Space: Mutant Blobs Attack on the Vita.
I played a ton of Aero Porter and Crimson Shroud on my 3DS, started Outland on the PS3, and played the incredibly frustrating (yet incredibly satisfying) Super Hexagon on my iPad. Speaking of the iPad, I also started and finished 10000000, which is utterly amazing, and played all five episodes of The Walking Dead as well. Like I said, it was a really great month of gaming for me! I’m looking forward to what January has in store.
Andrew Rainnie
UK Correspondent
December was an odd month for gaming, much of it spent ogling the black case of the coveted Wii U. I also spent some time trying some of the demos at the nearest HMV, which only impressed on me the need to buy one as soon as it is affordable. However, I could not wait to play Darksiders II, and so picked it up very cheap on the PS3. I am enjoying it as much as the original, and I am glad to see they have added more RPG elements that made this series stand out from the hack ‘n’ slash genre, developing the lore of the Horsemen. That said, some of the bosses are frustratingly hard and have had me swearing bloody murder at my television. It makes it all the sadder though, given the recent announcement of THQ’s bankrupcy, that we will never see a third chapter, although Jason Rubin’s message regarding the events gave me hope we may yet see the other two horsemen, Strife and Fury, in their own game, perhaps together in a third game. That would be awesome!
I don’t often mention the mobile games I play; they usually only keep my interest for a week and then I forget them. But Zoo Keeper Battle (Android version) from developer Kiteretsu is addictive as it is cute. It’s like someone has taken Tetris, combined it with Harvest Moon and chucked a bit of Street Fighter in.
Mike Ryan
Contributor
December was mostly spent catching up on my backlog. I played some more Resident Evil Revelations, and really enjoyed how much the game brings back memories of old Resident Evil games. It took me about five tries to beat a boss, and genuinely instilled a feeling of dread every time I restarted. That’s what Resident Evil is supposed to feel like! I also played Black Knight Sword (review forthcoming), and man, is it strange. Although by Suda51 standards, strange is normal. Aside from more quality Minecraft time with my son, that was pretty much it. Happy New Year!
