Icarus

Princess-icus

Not that Icarus. Actually, I want to talk about two "Icarus"s. Guns of Icarus Online and Pit: Kid Icarus.

Guns of Icarus came out a while ago. It lets you and 3 other people become the crew and pilot of your own steam punk airship. Then you team up with other ships and go toe to toe with other fleets for dominance of the sky. For a small time company, the game looks pretty darn good and plays well, occasional glitches not withstanding. I haven't played it that much, but I will say that this game has amazing highs and depressing lows. When you get a game of friends together and have a good pilot, you feel like freaking daredevils, flying through the sand storms and obliterating enemies. When you get a team of strangers who don't talk and aren't any good, ITS SOOOOO DAMN FRUSTRATING. Nothing goes how you want, you don't seem to be doing any damage and you get blown up at a moments notice. I will say that is one of the problems with the game; there isn't a great sense of feedback when you do damage, unless you land a CRAP ton of damage. But get some friends involved, and this game scratches an itch that can't really be scratched in other games. There is a lot to be said for a unique experience, and this game definitely provides it.

KABOOOOOM!!!!!

Now, Pit is of course the old school NES title. I never would have known about this game were it not for Smash Brothers Brawl, like a lot of people. I emulated it, BUT then I heard that it was released for download on the 3DS. Well, the 3DS version is better. First of all, they gave the game actual backgrounds. No more plain black backgrounds, now we have actual scenery. This was added since they wanted to give the game an actual 3-D effect and its also a lot nicer on the eyes. Also, this version includes a save system so you don't have to input long passwords. Interestingly, the japanese version of Pit had a save system, but they hadn't figured out how to save on the NES in America yet; they didn't get it figured out until Legend of Zelda.

Now, about the actual game. I give any game from that era a lot of points for mixing up its level design. The first three levels play as a vertical platformer. But then you switch to a more metroid style of free roaming dungeon exploration. Its a fairly well designed game. But at the same time, I can tell you exactly why it isn't as well remembered as mario or metroid. This game isn't particularly rewarding. Getting past an obstacle doesn't FEEL good. It just sort of feels impactless. I can see why people like it, but I don't find it nearly as compulsively playable as other games from the other era. But still, I feel that it was definitely worth the handful of dollars I put into it.

I still want this one though.