After playing the Pixeljunk: Eden demo, I was hooked. I was looking foreward to playing the full game for the week after that, and yesterday, I bought it without hesitation. I have not been dissapointed 24 hours later.
It's just insanely fun, swinging and hopping from plant to plant like a little jumping spider, taking advantage of momentum, gravity, and centripedal force to collect as many items as possible. With the trophy support, I'd say the 360's counterparts have lost one of their hooks in me.
It's defintely challenging though. The collision is very precise, and it's possible to miss a jump, or misjudge the speed of a moving grassblade, and end up falling all the way to the bottom, while you're time is running low. I'm at the seventh garden of ten, and I'm being totally ****ed up by the gravity switching. Gardens 5 and 6 introduced interesting challenges like the pollen carriers that break your swinging silk line, and the teleporters, but 7 is on a whole other level. What could possibly be in garden 8, 9, and 10?
Overall, it's fun, addictive, has catchy music and a very pleasing art sty/e. I think I'd give it an 8.5.
There I was, doing an all stealth playthrough of MGS4 (no Alerts allowed), carefully making my way through the jungles of South America. In trying to get the Octopus emblem award, I had no mercy on whoever was in my way. This is The Boss Extreme, and the enemies don't fool around. I knew I was going to end up with a high kill-count, what with all the sniping I did with my suppressed rifles.
As I made my way into the palace grounds, about to make my way around to the back window, so I can inflitrate and get to the underground passage, I snipe several more PMCs on mounted guns. As I finish off one more, I get a flashback voiceover playing in my head, just like all the ones in Act 4. Liquid's statement to Snake from MGS1 (in the blog title), complete with neat echo effects.
As I run and take cover behind a truck immediately after, Snake stop in his tracks and vomits right there, clearly from the unpleasent memory, from the unpleasent truth.
There I was, the player, neck deep in this battle, immersed in the violence, and that memory happens, making me remember when Liquid said it himself in MGS1, and making me think about Snake as a character, doing these things. I'm not going analyze it deeply. No need to. I just think it made for a nice surreal, 4th wall-breaking moment. Just a really nice touch.
(EDIT) The intro has to be the new best video game intro around. It beats out MGS2 and Bioshock. An amazing presentation, that delivered in a tense yet cinematic experience. (END EDIT)
Holy crap, MGS4 has an iPod and I was listening to one of the songs from Metal Gear Acid 2 while sneaking around. The self-referential podcast on the ipod made my brain explode, because the guys were talking about how this was recored 106 days before and how I must be listening to it right this very moment while playing the game. And it even uses the analog stick radially to select songs!
I think the controls are great. We still get pressure-sensitive actions, like choking enemies!
I shot down a chopper with an RPG. It was beautiful.
I want to play more, but I need to take a break. Take in all that happened in the hotel.
Playthrough of chapter 1 on Naked Normal difficulty: 3 hours, 50 minutes, and 46 seconds
Finished Solid Sun chapter on Naked Normal difficulty. Total play time: 7 hours, 28 minutes, and 22 seconds.
Finished Third Sun chapter. Total time: 10 hours, 12 minutes, and 59 seconds.
