AM2R: Return of Samus (PC) Review

In 2002, Nintendo was riding the successful tide of two major releases in their often ignored Metroid franchise: Metroid Prime and Metroid Fusion. Both games came out to high acclaim and popularity. In fact, this may have been the best time for the franchise in it’s entire life. Knowing they had struck gold and wanting more, they began working on other games… the result in the 3D Metroid series was Metroid Prime 2, but a “new” 2D game was missing. Instead, Nintendo chose to remake the original title for their then current portable console as Metroid: Zero Mission.

Anyone who played this game (myself included) adored it, recognizing it as a proper game fore the series and the upgrade to the NES classic that it was. But that very idea got ideas buzzing. After all, if Nintendo was willing to do this for the original game, what about it’s sequel? After all, the NES version of Metroid was (and is) still very enjoyable as it has aged rather well. Sadly we can not say the same for the sequel which was limited right away by what the Gameboy could do, but Nintendo to date has not moved on this opening.

Then a few months ago, something wonderful happened and a project to do what Nintendo has yet to released in time for the 30th anniversary of the franchise. After a decade of work by one dedicated fan, AM2R was in the wild! And then Nintendo wasted no time pooping on the party by giving the project a DMCA.

Now I’m not blaming them for that action. After all, Metroid 2 is their game and this is a remake of the original, not a “spin-off” fan game. However, that does not mean I had any intention of missing this amazing title. And now as we come to the end of the 100 Days of Gaming for Extra Life, I put down my controller, happy to have the chance to complete what is arguably the best Metroid game we have seen since Metroid Prime 3 rolled around.

Little Inferno (PC) Review

Back in the day when the Wii was at it’s height of popularity, I had gotten one mainly for the third Metroid Prime game that was due to launch for it. But that was not the only game I got for it, starting with games like Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess or Conduit. However, at the time, a little download exclusive did catch my eye called World of Goo. This game was a physics building game which was bright, colorful, and actually fun. The developer impressed me, especially with how meta they brought the whole package at the end.

So when I found this game was launching, I was interested enough to check it out… and was greeted with a cartoon of kids celebrating how they were burning their toys and memories in a fire place, ultimately burning the place down to a catchy little tune you might expect in a toy-commercial on TV back in the 80s. I laughed, probably a lot more then should have, and showed it to everyone I could. As soon as it was on sale, I picked up a copy, and it got lost in the backlog.

Now as we come to the end of the #100daysofgaming for Extra Life, the game showed up in my selection and I could not resist. I am glad I did not.

Buyer Beware: The Case of Smash + Grab

Well this was sudden. Last weekend United Front Games was posting a free weekend for their early access game “Smash + Grab,” a game that looks to be a MOBA based on rioting. This is not my cup of tea so in all honesty, had things gone as everyone expected, I would not have noticed anything.

But this morning, I was greeted by a tweet about how people will have to question if they can get refunds for something. Looking into it for curiosity, I came apon this story… before the free weekend was officially supposed to end (which included a discount on the game if you wanted to play longer), the studio was closed and Steam ceased selling early access copies of the game. People who just bought the game this morning, could well be shit out of luck.