What to Play this Weekend: Child of Light, Super TIME Force, and Nazi Zombies
Stumped on what to play this weekend? Here are a few ideas for you.
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"What to Play This Weekend" is a weekly feature in which USgamer editors take a look at the newest (and sometimes oldest) games around and offer their recommendations . Check back every Friday for new thoughts on what to play during your precious time off!
Child of Light: Something Old, Something New, Kat Bailey
I've already expressed my appreciation for Child of Light elsewhere, but I feel this is a good place to reiterate that I really like Child of Light.
The premise alone is interesting enough—Aurora, a girl from 19th-century Austria, falls into a coma and seemingly awakens in a peculiar dreamscape in which everyone seems to speak as if they are living in a poem. It's weirdly similar to Eternal Sonata, the Chopin-inspired RPG that sported some beautiful cel-shading, but was otherwise dreadfully boring. Child of Light could even be categorized as a "JRPG" of sorts. The difference is that Child of Light takes everything that was boring about Eternal Sonata—the plodding pace, the middling story, the serviceable but otherwise uninspired combat—and elevates it to create a game that's almost hypnotically beautiful.
There have been a few other instances of western developers attempting to seize on tried-and-true JRPG mechanics—remember that terrible Lord of the Rings RPG for the Xbox and PS2?—but Child of Light makes them sing. Using a modified variant of the Grandia battle engine and Valkyrie Profile-like platforming, it does much to separate itself from the usual RPG milieu with its hypnotizing exploration and surprisingly deep battle system. And that art! Who can hate that art?
I don't have a lot of personal time for gaming at the moment; but whenever I can steal a free moment, I like to grab my headphones and spend a half hour or so with Child of Light. The lovely classical-inspired soundtrack is often enough to lull me almost into a trance as I play; until I run into a wolf or a hawk or something else that wants to kill me, at least. But even then, it's a little like wandering into a fairy tale and getting lost. It's really a pleasure to play.
Every year, someone new seems to come and give me a new perspective on RPGs. For what it's worth, I've enjoyed both Lightning Returns and Dark Souls II this year, and Bravely Default seems like a nice throwback. But Child of Light does a wonderful job of bringing a new perspective to old ideas, all while being exceptionally lovely to look at. I can't recommend it enough.
Hitman GO: What I'm Thinking About Playing Instead of Mario Kart 8, Jaz Rignall
Mario Kart 8 is rightfully the game everyone is talking about right now; but I imagine anyone who has a Wii U will buy it when it comes out at the end of the month, and since the game isn’t a system seller, it’s irrelevant to everyone else.
So instead, I’ll talk about a game I only recently downloaded, even though it’s a few weeks old - and that’s Hitman GO on iOS. It weighs in at a massive $4.99 - a veritable king’s riches for an iOS game - but for what would be a budget price on any other platform, you get a really, really cool-looking, highly entertaining puzzle game. It somehow captures the spirit of Hitman, yet looks like a kind of dynamic board game. When I first saw it, I really wasn’t quite convinced, but after being harangued for not playing it by a couple of people I trust, I dutifully shelled out five of my hard-earned dollars - and I’m glad I did. This thing’s as much a winner as anything else I’ve played this month.
Oh, and it’s fiendishly tricky - but in that clever way that keeps you coming back for more. Awesome stuff, and the perfect mobile game - as much fun in short bursts as it is sitting on the sofa for a few hours.
Super TIME Force: Traveling Back to the Old School, Mike Williams
Perhaps you’re planning to spend your entire weekend alone, reliving the failures in your life that have brought you to this point. If only you had the chance to return to the halcyon days of your past. To correct your mistakes and return to the present a superstar, a CEO, or perhaps Prince. I'd like to be Prince.
Well, you can’t do that, but if you want to play a game this weekend instead of moping around, there’s Super TIME Force. It just came out on Xbox One and Xbox 360 - sorry PlayStation, PC, and Wii fans - for a cool $15. Just skip five lattes, 15 McDonald’s Double Cheeseburgers, or one month of World of Warcraft and it’s yours.
Super TIME Force starts with that Gunstar Heroes swagger and adds a time-bending mechanic to complete the package. Die? Rewind time and save yourself. Not enough firepower? Rewind a few times and now you’re an army. It’s not entirely a shooter; while you’re playing it, Super TIME Force is more like a puzzle games requiring reflexes, almost like Valve’s Portal series. There’s something really comfortable about the entire 2D aesthetic behind Super TIME Force. It’s not rare anymore, but when it’s done well - like it is in STF - it’s almost relaxing. From the sprites to the old-school MIDI style music, it feels like you’re playing a Sega Genesis or Super Nintendo title.
Plus Super TIME Force is wrapped in this weird, dark humor. Seriously, some of the folks over at Capybara are twisted. Just take a look at the game’s two animated trailers for game. I mean, in-game, you’re a special force that dies repeatedly and travels to different periods in history to bend time to their will. There’s something screwed up about the idea.
If you have to play one game this weekend and you have a hankering for some old-school action with a new twist, pick up Super TIME Force. That what I’ll be playing, unless I have to review or preview some other title I don’t know about. Which I probably do.
This Week's Retro Pick: Wolfeinstein 3D
Before zombie, Nazis were the enemy du jour in video games. Wolfenstein 3D even had the foresight to create the ultimate enemy mash-up—zombie nazis.
In all seriousness, Wolfensteins 3D was revolutionary for its time, and it's still surprisingly playable to this day. It'll bring you back to the days when people still played shooters using just the arrows keys and the space bar, because who needed a mouse? It wasn't like you could actually look up or down, after all.
Wolfenstein 3D was ultimately overshadows by DOOM—a substantially more attractive game with much better guns—but it still conjures fond memories among gamers who remember fighting Mecha Hitler on their 486 (with 8 megs of RAM!). Its influence is felt even now with Wolfenstein: The New Order, yet another attempt to reboot the series that gave us first-person shooters as we know them.
Even if you're not planning on picking up The New Order, go play a round or two on Wolfenstein 3D on Bethesda's website. We promise that you'll find Castle Wolfenstein just as you left it—crawling with nazi zombies.
