Hey guys, its been awhile since I’ve updated my blog. I have a few things to cover so bear with me for a bit.
First off, do you guys remember Broken Thumb Apps? They held a contest on 99designs and my logo design was chosen by them. Anyway, they approached me to do some illustrations for a game that they were developing. The end result is pretty cool and I never thought that my illustrations would be featured in a game. The game is due out anytime now. Oh, it’s called “Snaked” by the way. Unfortunately, I only did a few assets for the game. Here’s the title screen:
Also, the anniversary of when Hurricane Katrina hit the gulf coast has come and gone. I don’t have a lot to say about it other than we were fortunate enough to survive the ordeal and it was also fortunate that the neighborhood wasn’t badly damaged.
“9.9.09″ was this week and two of my most anticipated things were released…
That’s right! The Beatles: Rock Band and the Dreamcast 2! Sadly, I’m just kidding. I wish there was a Dreamcast 2 but here’s to ten years of my most favorite game console to date: the SEGA Dreamcast. You died an early death but you will always have a place in my gaming heart.
Aside from that, I DID get The Beatles: Rock Band (for the XBOX 360). I can go on and on about this game but I’ll keep it short:
- It’s The Beatles! If you don’t like The Beatles, well, you probably won’t like this game.
- However! If you’re a fan a music, you should give this game a try. It’s not some quick cash-in, Rock Band game. A lot of care and work was put into this game and it shows.
- Unlike other band specific rhythm games, this is purely all Beatles music. No fillers from other bands.
- As a graphic designer, I love the art direction. The color combinations, motion graphics in between story chapters, the intro and outro cinematics, and even the quick transitions between menus, it just screams awesome. The only complaint I really have is when I was playing on drums and I activated “Beatlemania” (equivalent to Rock Band’s “Overdrive”), the patterns on the note lanes made it hard to see some of the notes. This lead to some missed notes. Otherwise, kudos to the art team over at Harmonix. As if I don’t give them enough praise already.
- Please do not buy this game looking for a challenge. There are a few challenging songs in the game but please buy it for the music.
Some last thoughts: I was never a HUGE Beatles fan but after playing this game, it made me more appreciative of their music. I’m definitely picking up the boxed CD collection in the future. A surprising thing was there were a few “Hey, they’re the ones that did that song??” moments. The game is also an emotional ride as you get to the end. In the beginning, you’ll see them all smiles, performing poppy, bright music. By the time you get to the end, the music takes a serious tone (with the addition to more hair). It’s pretty interesting to see their music shift like that. There’s more that I would like to mention but I’ll end it here and say buy the game if you’re open about music and/or a Beatles fan.
Looking back at the posts in my blog, I’m surprised that I haven’t mentioned The Apocalypse Tribe Podcast. I’m part of the show and do the recording. We’re mainly a gaming podcast but we also talk about various subjects. Be sure to check us out and leave us a comment on iTunes. Or you can sign up on our forums at http://apocalypse-tribe.com. You can download the episodes here.