You need blood: Metal Slug 3, Uncharted

(tags game, grotesque, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3)

destroy tokyo gave me more insight to Xbox Live Arcade newly ported game Metal Slug 3, with a micro review (summary: thumbs down). I don't know the Metal Slug franchise other than some tentative forays, though that six-in-one compilation on various platforms looks interesting. (Oh wait, I have some Metal Slug games on my Xbox 1, but not yet sampled, grr)

Okay, I've read that you can get "red blood" sprites if you change your console's Language to Japanese, three times already, as Insert Credit, Joystiq and Kotaku all jump on some guy's post in some Internet forum.

So let me get this straight:

In 1995 Japan, you enjoy red blood in Metal Slug 3.

In 2007 Japan, blood is censored on your Uncharted: Drake's Fortune game. According to some random Internet guy, blood is important (but admittedly not essential) for figuring out what direction the bullets are coming from.

Can I say that Uncharted seems to be the first PS3 game I'm interested in? Naughty Dog devs, right? (Jak!) Well, that and Unreal Tournament 3 and Linux, ha. And what with the latest PS3 firmware upgrade that allows you to play any PS1 games on your PSP, I've been simmering the idea of picking up a 60GB model. Very low heat, back burner, though.

Crackdown breakdown

(tags game, Xbox 360, FPS, grotesque)

Crackdown is a big colorful sandbox. The entire capital, which probably takes 2 minutes to traverse by car, finally fits fully onto my screen.

Just taking a nice southernly swim. I wondered how far the simulation went, but it turns out the game teleports you from the boundary to a few meters back. I was making progress, or so it seems, but the stars never lie.

That dream where I found the last of the agility orbs? Well it didn't look like this. In the dream I was at the top of a majestic skycraper, looking up into the awaiting orb perched on top of an antenna. In reality, this was at the low corner of a forgotten, dingy two story warehouse roof. And I did it without FAQ-support, woopie me.

As far as the Hidden Orbs are on concerned, I've got 3 more left, but I'll leave it to FAQ-support. The less time on the game, the better.

Frustration with the orb hunting made me snap last night (or is it stomp? :-]). Instead of finishing some achievements, I was researching the blood spurting algorithms and Peacekeeper/Bystander AI. o_O It's disturbingly grotesque to throw, stop, and kick lifeless bodies against walls or in front of other people. Still I made time to take this picture, which features a lovely target, cleverly hides the "press b to lift body" dialog and includes indifferent bystanders, so what does that make me?