As per annual tradition, the WingDamage crew will be tackling the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) yet again. Our biggest goal for the site will be to get as much hands-on time with as many unreleased games as our modestly sized team can muster.

If we can manage to acquire a decent internet connection during the trip, we may have some coverage during the con. Otherwise, expect hands-on impressions to pour in as early as Monday.

Either way, we will be updating our twitter feeds all throughout the con. For a complete twitter list of the attending WingDamage staff, head past the break.

Jonah “spambot” Gregory – Editor in Chief
Twitter: @spambot

Jesse “Main Finger” Gregory – Managing Editor, Developer
Twitter: @MainFinger

Dave “shaolinjesus” Corvin – Senior Editor
Twitter: @shaolinjesus

Russ “The Bus” Walsh – Contributing Editor
Twitter: @RussWalsh

I’m of the opinion that kids games shouldn’t be garbage.

Just because a game is licensed or made for kids, this should not be used as an excuse to shove shoddy, unfinished games out the door. More often than not, short development cycles thwart any attempt to make a licensed game good, because much of the sales come from hitting the shelves at the same time as the movie a game is based off of.

That’s why I was happy to see that Toy Story 3 felt like a real game.

You would expect the game to simply follow the story of the movie. While it does to a degree, it is much more clever about it than the usual licensed game. If you’ve seen the Toy Story movies, you are familiar with the “imagination” sequences. Rather than seeing the world as it is (a child playing with his toys), we see what he is imagining is going on.

Several of the levels in the main story mode fall under this. As Woody the cowboy, you make your way along a train to stop an evil pig in his space ship (this is supposed to be a young boy’s imagination, remember). As Buzz Lightyear, you are on a mission to stop the evil Zurg in a level that feels straight out of Ratchet and Clank. These are easily the most visually interesting levels in the story mode.

The “real world” areas keep things interesting with a mechanic reminiscent of The Lost Vikings. You switch between three characters, each with their own special ability that lets you solve the puzzles presented in the level. Buzz has the strength to throw his companions farther (and aim better), Jessie can stand on objects too small for the others, and Woody can use his pull cord to lasso and swing across wide gaps.

Getting through the story is pretty easy, though younger players might need some help on a few of the trickier parts. There is a mechanic built into certain areas where if you fail enough times, something will change to make it easier. The only example I found was in the Buzz level. In a sequence that involved a fairly complex platforming puzzle, a set of easier platforms eventually appeared after failing it a couple of times. I was unable to determine if this type of thing occurred in other sections of the game or not, as this was the only time it came up for me.

Each level is filled will collectibles, which adds to the replay value. The collectibles go towards unlocking characters and items for what feels much more like the main mode of Toy Story 3, Woody’s Roundup.

In Woody’s Roundup mode, you play fully in the imagination world. You choose Buzz, Woody or Jessie, none of which carry over their moves from the story mode. It’s really just down to personal preference at that point.

This mode of Toy Story 3 is a sandbox game. You are given tons of quests from various characters throughout the town, and most can be done in whatever order you choose. Or if you prefer, you can completely ignore all of that and spend your time searching for collectibles, re-painting the town, dressing up townsfolk, or riding around on your trusty horse, Bullseye. This mode even has a drop-in, drop-out split screen so two people can play off of one console simultaneously.

While the difficulty curve is a little steep in a few sections of the story mode, Woody’s Roundup makes up for it with its open gameplay. Most kids will be much more attracted to this mode of play than the rigid structure of the story mode.

There is plenty to do and see, and more collectibles than you’ll know what to do with.

As far as kids games go, this is one of the best ones I’ve played this generation outside of the Lego games. If you have kids, especially ones into the Toy Story films, you should definitely give Toy Story 3 a chance.

This review is based the retail version of Toy Story 3 for the Xbox 360 rented by the reviewer from Gamefly.

On a very special eighty-first episode of “Barrel Roll! A Video Game Podcast”, Jesse has been lost in the wilderness. A sketchy VHS tape may be the only clue as to his whereabouts. That is, if the mysterious creatures lurking in the forests of the Pacific Northwest haven’t already got to him.

In his absence, Jonah has been joined by WingDamage Junior Editor Russ “The Bus” Walsh and Wesley “Blood On the Sand” Johnson. They are here to kick ass and play video games, and they’re all out of video games.

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Show Links:

New Games This Week:

Castle Crashers (PS3)

Horrid Henry (Wii, DS, PC)

Guilty Party (Wii)

Metroid: Other M (Wii)

Ace Combat: Joint Assault (PSP)

Valkyria Chronicles 2 (PSP)

Dead Rising 2: Case Zero (XBL)

Cthulu Saves the World (maybe) (XBL)

News:

New Portal 2 vids broke my brain.

Dragon Age: Origins story concludes in Morrigan-centric DLC.

Premiere trailer for Rockman Universe is provocative… but uninformative.

Telltale teasing at ridiculous crossover game (or is it?).

New details about Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood single player campaign.

Links:

Outro Music – “Fortuna (Star Fox)” by The OneUps

Wild Arms “Into the Wilderness”

As I laid in bed last night thinking of Philly Cheese-steaks and video games, I postulated that there might be a way to bring the 2 together. I sketched out an idea for a quantum computer that would be able to crunch the massive amount of data.

With the aid of a hammer, some duct tape and tin foil, I was able to construct a machine capable of processing the complex equations needed to determine exactly what sandwich correlates best to which game.

Confused?

Let’s take the game Grand Theft Auto 4 as an example. GTA 4 correlates perfectly with a Feast Sandwich from Subway with everything on it. It’s a little unsettling. It might have some stuff you don’t particularly like, but there is so much to it that you can’t help but find something to enjoy.

Still confused?

Let’s take the game Duck Hunt as another example. Duck Hunt correlates almost perfectly with a grill cheese sandwich. Elegant in its perfect simplicity. You might not even know you want one, but once you start it is virtually impossible to not enjoy yourself. Like a grill cheese sandwich, you really can’t go wrong with Duck Hunt.

Super Mario Bros. is a Peanut Butter and Jelly (perfectly captures the innocence and fun of childhood), Street Fighter 2 is a Pastrami on Rye (packed with flavor and a little kick), Super Street Fighter 4 is a Rachel (similar to the original but with enough extra to give it a different flavor), Call of Duty 2 is a Strammer Max (crazy German sandwich with sausage for a crazy game about shooting Germans), and UFC Undisputed is a Beef on Weck (a beefy meaty sandwich with pretzel salt, because in the UFC you have meaty men twisting each other like a Pretzel).

Given the huge amount of games out there, a few sandwiches might work for several games. So you might get a repeat or two. This doesn’t mean that the machine is broken. This simply means that one sandwich is powerful enough to work for multiple games. Also, for the purposes of the Sandwichtabulatron, if it involves two slices of bread with something stuck in between, that makes it a sandwich by definition, so that means Hamburgers and Hot Dogs are in.

Put a game in the comment section below or email shaolinjesus [at] wingdamage.com and the Sandwichtabulatron vers. 1.01 will beep and boop until it spits out the answer. (answers might take up to 48 hours to calculate)

Disagree with the Sandwichtabulatron? Let us know, below.

On a very special eightieth episode of “Barrel Roll! A Video Game Podcast”, Jonah and Jesse come together with only one common goal: To not break the streak of having posted a new Barrel Roll episode every week since the show’s inception.

Crazy stuff has been going down in the real world, so the guys keep things on topic and as concise as possible this time around.

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When I first heard of Monday Night Combat, I awaited its release cautiously. I’m not saying that the game looked bad when it first came to my attention, but I wasn’t sure I could trust the folks at Uber Entertainment to deliver on such a bizarre concept.

As some one who has a difficult time playing a Call of Duty match type any more complicated then “SHOOT ALL THE DUDES”, I approached the supposed “Tower Defense Shooter” with cautious optimism.

Guess what? It’s great. I recommend it specifically to those who, like me, are quickly growing tired of the military shooter as the only source of quality online multiplayer shooters on the console front. It mixes a balanced, third-person shooter with some defensive options for a really high quality experience.

What sets MNC apart from the average online shooter is the spontaneity of its matches. Where your standard game of Halo 3 is going to begin and end with dudes killing each other, the defensive nature of MNC gives each match a push and pull. One team could be dominating the map, only to find themselves facing a force of robot soldiers.

The six classes in the game are your fairly average third-person fodder: the primary offense character, the assault, the assassin, the defensive support, the tank, the other tank-like character (named the gunner), and your standard sniper. As you kill opponents, your character starts building up funds. You can use this money to power up your characters various skills and powers.

The use of these power ups gives each bout a sense of escalation, which is really uncommon in a multiplayer shooter nowadays. When you start a match of Team Deathmatch in Modern Warfare 2, you’re going to remain the same guy you came into the match as. In MNC, you feel pretty awesome when you start out as a weenie class and build up to an unstoppable, level three supersoldier.

But it runs as a double-edged sword. Where Modern Warfare 2 has an ongoing metagame where prizes are awarded for in-game achievements, MNC remains static from match to match. Money is awarded, but it’s not really used for anything important besides unlocking custom classes, which are essentially the same six except with adjustable DnD style perks. I still think the game is a blast, but some people need that incentive that Modern Warefare 2 and Battlefield: Bad Company 2 have to keep playing an online shooter.

The Skills give each class versatility, and with their proper use they become invaluable. They alter the way you play a match. Say you’re using the gunner. You can upgrade his ability to transform turrets and become a brick wall of gunfire or you can build up your gunner’s grapple attack for a near one-hit KO on a close up enemy. This makes each match a different experience every time you try out new, unique combinations of powers until you eventually grow into the ultimate form of your class.

The actual tower defense is… interesting, but not quite fleshed out as I hoped it would be. Honestly, it’s all pre-planned turret placement, and not much else. Certain turrets are much more helpful when used in the right place at the right time.

I would have liked to have seen the guys at Uber Entertainment really push lots of cool, interesting forms of defense for your base. Maybe it’s the simplification that keeps the game balanced, but I think upgrades like forcefields and heat seeking rockets could have really escalated the insanity when the enemy’s robot drones start invading. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still something totally unique for an online multiplayer game, but it’s very apparent that Uber Entertainment wanted to create a balanced class based multiplayer shooter more than a tower defense game.

Of course, any online game has its fair share of glitches and networking problems. But at the cool fifteen dollar price point, the game is absolutely worth the money. It’s a blast to play with friends, and if properly supported, MNC will hold up much longer then the average XBLA multiplayer game. It’s a sound investment, and I hope this game is successful enough for us to see what the folks at Uber Entertainment think up next.

When I was perusing the intertron tubes I came across a mention of a game that revolved around unlocking achievements. I clicked on the link so fast my quad core processor groaned in protest.

For those of you that don’t know me, I have been in treatment for months now for my Xbox Live achievement addiction. Everyday is a struggle but the key is taking it one day at a time. But when a game comes out that is based entirely around unlocking achievements, it is virtually impossible for me to resist.

Achievement Unlocked 2 is a flash game from Armor Games. You play as a playful pachyderm (an elephant for those of you without access to Google.) Your goal is simple; you are out to unlock achievements. These range from performing such simple tasks as walking east or west and as devilish as impaling yourself on the same set of spikes multiple times.

These achievements will have you frantically trying insane things like murdering yourself over and over to get the 5 corpses achievement or flinging yourself at the wall of spikes so your corpse will fall into a teleporter. Figuring out what to do is half the fun.

You can move left right and jump with either the W, A, S, D keys or the arrows (doing both nets you a couple of cheevos) and you can hit the space bar to poop out some pastries. I have no clue why your elephant poops pastries but I do know that eating a few of them gets you a couple of achievements.

Like most Flash games there really isn’t much to the game. There is really only one level with multiple floors. The controls are kind of terrible and the graphics are as plain as can be, and yet the game is most definitely fun. Any game that gives you an achievement for looking hopeless is alright by me. I’ll take my achievements anyway I can get them.

I haven’t unlocked everything yet and I’ll probably have to go to the walkthrough to get everything (which is also an achievement by the way.) But with 250 achievements to unlock and a pastry pooping pachyderm, you really can’t go wrong slacking off at work to play some Achievement Unlocked 2.

To save you the Google search we’ve got a handy link below. Enjoy.

http://armorgames.com/play/6561/achievement-unlocked-2

"Yeast VII: Cooking Mama XII"

On a very special seventy-ninth episode of “Barrel Roll! A Video Game Podcast”, we all step into the kitchen with Cooking Mama‘s latest JRPG/Cooking Sim/Racing Game, Yeast VII: Cooking Mama XII. There we learn the finer arts of cooking with yeast and yeast-based products.

In what we’ve been playing, the guys discuss the Valkyria Chronicles 2 demo for PSP, the PSN debut of Scott Pilgrim VS The World: The Game, Onechanbara Bikini Samurai Squad, and Final Fight: Double Impact. In our “Let’s Play Together” segment, Jesse and Adam tried the co-op mode in Castlevania: Harmony of Dispair, and in our Friday Old Games segment, Jonah takes a look back at Wolfenstein 3D.

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Show Notes:

New Games This Week:

Harvest Moon: Grand Bazaar (DS)

City of Heroes: Going Rogue (PC)

Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days (PS3, 360, PC)

Ys Seven (PSP)

Everquest 2: Extended (PC)

Top Gun (PS3)

Gold’s Gym Dance Workout (Wii)

Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light (360)

Star Ruler (PC)

News:

Split/Second getting 3 DLC packs of cars (1 will be free) in August and one “Major” DLC in September that will include a new environment http://www.joystiq.com/2010/08/08/split-second-getting-three-dlc-packs-in-august-major-dlc-pack/

Online lobies updated http://www.joystiq.com/2010/08/11/split-second-online-lobbies-updated-black-rock-surveying-for-fu/

Golden Classic Controller Pro confirmed for Golden Eye Wii http://www.gonintendo.com/viewstory.php?id=132901

Bioshock Infinite announced from Irrational Games. It is set in a floating city, still with the old timey aesthetic http://www.whatisicarus.com/trailer.php

New PokeMon deets http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2010/08/13/pokemon_black_white_update/

PAX Schedule Live http://www.paxsite.com/paxprime/schedule.php

Links:

Outro Music – “Fortuna (Star Fox)” by The OneUps

Scott Pilgrim is having a bit of a media explosion at the moment. It’s gone from an independent comic (started in 2004) that I had only heard about in passing, to a franchise that the entire internet seems to be talking about (both positively and negatively) with a movie and a videogame released last week.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game is an old-school brawler through and through. You and up to three local friends (sorry, no online multiplayer) play as either Scott, Ramona, Kim, or Stills and get to punching and kicking your way through each of the game’s stages.

At first, the game feels overly simplistic. Thankfully, as you defeat more and more enemies, you’ll level up. Every time you level up, you gain a new ability. This adds a much needed sense of progression and depth. Throughout the course of the game, you’ll learn counter-attacks, dodge rolls, double jumps, and other classic moveset staples.

Learning new abilities gives you an added incentive to progress, and the game gets better each time you get one. In fact, when starting the game over with a new character (all your leveling is saved on a per character basis), you’ll really miss the abilities you don’t yet have, like kicking enemies while they’re down.

"Each boss battle feels unique."

Strangely enough, leveling doesn’t affect your stats. To increase your character’s attack, defense, speed, and willpower you will need to purchase items in shops. Doors to shops can be found throughout the various levels.

Thankfully, the game makes revisiting shops easy. The levels are spread out on a map screen. Each level also contains a halfway marker, which is often where shops are, that you can go straight to. Once you’re done, you can hit pause and return to the map screen resulting in minimal backtracking to shop.

The shops themselves are a bit strange. You aren’t told what items do until you buy them, resulting in guess work and forcing you to keep this information in memory for later. Sometimes descriptions can help you figure it out, but more often than not they won’t.

This way of increasing stats also comes off as pretty chaotic. At one point, I bought a large number of strength enhancing items because my strength was incredibly low. The next boss I fought went down in only a few hits. He went down so fast that I thought it was a fake-out before the real boss fight. I didn’t have to grind for money to do this. I can’t help but feel that a more guided stat increasing system would’ve made the game more balanced.

"There are tons of classic gaming references around every corner."

The level design, enemies, and boss fights provide a great sense of variety. I never felt that the assets were used ad nauseam. Each stage is a bright, colorful, and unique feeling world that throws new enemies at you regularly. The levels are also of decent length, often greatly changing the scenery within a single stage.

Paul Robertson’s art direction is fantastic. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game is a constant treat to look at. The quality of the sprite-work reminds me of how impressed I was when I first saw Metal Slug. It may be intentionally blocky, but it’s also incredibly detailed, both in the drawings themselves and in how they’re animated.

You’ll find tons of references to classic gaming. From Scott’s hurricane kick to Kim floating away on a star at the end of the level, you won’t go a minute playing this game without seeing a barrage of playful nods to gaming’s past. If you are a classic gamer, there’s a lot to appreciate here.

"Shops allow you to purchase stat boosting items."

The soundtrack definitely deserves mentioning. The entire score is done by Anamanaguchi, a band with a unique hybrid style of punk rock and 8bit sounds. It fits with the game perfectly and mirrors the game’s entire feeling of “old, yet new” with great success.

There are a few unfortunate quirks. Unlike the arcade games that inspired it, players can’t drop in and out, meaning if a buddy shows up and wants to play, they have to wait till you’re starting a level. It’s not too big of a deal, but as I mentioned, the levels can be quite long.

I’ve also ran into an occasional glitch where, despite defeating all enemies, the level does not progress. It only happened once or twice, but given that I’ve heard multiple other people talk about the same problem, I feel it is worth mentioning.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game is a very competent brawler with charm oozing out of every orifice. It may not be as deep in certain regards as a brawler like Castle Crashers, but there’s definitely enough there to keep the game from getting stale. And like all brawlers, it’s exponentially more fun with friends. If you do have people to play local co-op with, Scott Pilgrim manages to be a very memorable experience in a genre whose games normally blur together in my mind.

“Friday Old Games” is a series of articles in which we review a game from the older generations of consoles, share why we picked it, and whether or not it holds up with time.

Back in 1992, id Software set the world (of PC gaming nerds) on fire by making the first in a new genre called “First Person Shooters”. The best part: Wolfenstein 3D was shareware, so it was not only legal, but encouraged that you give the first episode of the game to your friends.

In its heyday, Shareware was an awesome way to try out new PC games. If you were lucky enough to have internet access back then, you could dial in to a BBS and download the files, which I’m sure took days. If you were like me, it was a matter of going to the local mall where there was a brick and mortar store dedicated to the sale of Shareware floppy discs. You could then purchase the full game from the appropriate software company directly via snail mail.You kids these days have it great with your Steams and your Direct 2 Drives.

The Shareware disc of Wolfenstein 3D contained the first episode, which consisted of ten levels. Escape From Castle Wolfenstein, being the first episode and therefor the free one, is the best known amongst gamers. You start as a captured Ally spy, William “B.J.” Blazkowicz, who has just taken out his cell guard and stolen his Walther P38. You are searching through the maze-like Castle Wolfenstein for Operation Eisenfaust and overthrow the Nazi Regime.

With the full game, you would then head on to episode 2, Operation: Eisenfaust. You’d then battle through Castle Hollehammer in an attempt to stop the Nazi’s from unleashing an army of undead mutants. And in the final episode, Die, Führer, Die!, you fight your way to Hitler himself for a final showdown.

Why did I pick this game?

This weekend is Quakecon 2010, and I wanted to give the id Software guys the appropriate shout out. I have also been reading the excellent book Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture and have been wanting to go back and play some of their games from years past.

I only played Wolfenstein 3D in short bursts when I was kid. It was the kind of game that, had my parents caught me playing it, they would have likely grounded me from gaming on the computer in general.

Nowadays, you can play it on pretty much any device that plays games. I have been enjoying the iPhone version immensely. The touchscreen works much better than I would have expected for movement, shooting, and even changing weapons. You can even use tilt controls if that is more your thing. They also added a map that shows where you have already explored in a level, which is super handy for me. I normally have a heck of a time keeping track of where I am in these older FPS’s.

Screenshot from the iPod Version

How does it hold up with time?

By today’s standards, Wolfenstein 3D is incredibly simple. There are only four weapons (more were added in various ports), there is no aiming up and down (the ceilings and floors don’t even have textures because of technological limitations of the time), and enemies move along pre-prescribed patterns (much like in 2D games). However, the levels are well designed, the combat is fun and very fast-paced, and every level is packed to the gills with secret rooms. Like any good classic game, its comparative simplicity is a benefit, not a detriment.

Also, you don’t just get to fight and kill Hitler, you get to fight and kill Mecha-Hitler.