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Author's note: I have only played through the first part of Darksiders II so far, so my observations will be limited to the first area of the game.

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Last week, I wrote an article about the Darksiders series' human-incidental apocalypse. Bitmob community writer Ed Grabowski left a great comment on that post, which read, in part, that "The first had awesome art direction, [and] the second went for the generic fantasy look."

I quote Ed not to pick on him, but because I've had some of the same thoughts about developer Vigil Games' latest title. Darksiders II is, in fact, a huge visual change from the first game, abandoning End-Times-ravaged Earth for a high-fantasy aesthetic.

The difference is that I don't mind.

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So there I was, playing the newly downloadable Jet Set Radio -- the classic cell-shaded skatepunk adventure -- on my PlayStation 3 and  absolutely hating it. That's quite an unfamiliar sensation to me. When the original disc-bound version released on the Dreamcast back in 2000, I loved every last morsel of it. The design, the popping colors, the sound, the challenges ... all awesomeness defined.
 
Now? The controls respond like I've submerged in extra-chunky mud. The camera feels deliberately designed to make me hate all life on Earth. A lot of the avatars look like somebody recycled code from an 8-bit version of Boom Blox. And I really want to destroy the guy who thought this thing was ready for prime time, because I've played pre-alpha indie games with zero budgets that handled better than this trash.
 
But here's the thing: Minus some anti-aliasing, it's the exact same game I played 12 years ago.
 
My new experience with Jet Set Radio makes me question my original experience back in 2000. I'm even a bit wary about pulling out other cherished favorites like 2005's surreal and superlative platformer Psychonauts for fear a new reality might crush my fond memories. I have to wonder ... do all those classic video games truly deserve such reverence? Were we wearing rose-tinted glasses for the last few decades? Or have we just grown too much as gamers?

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Torchlight II gets right to the point. It’s not interested in wasting your time with introductory sequences or tutorials or any of that other bullshit. It’s fast-paced, responsive, and ready for you to start smashing skulls within the first seconds of play.

I’m probably going to enjoy Torchlight II since everything from the original is back and then some. With more pets and more character classes and more skills and a seemingly infinite number of swords and armor pieces and necklaces and rings and gems and other, must-have loot, Torchlight II is comfortably familiar. I’m quickly back into my old habits of performing dazzling attacks that pop open nightmarish creatures who suffer from incredibly high blood pressure ... all made easy with a recharging mana bar.

But something happened last year that forever changed my perception of these point-and-click, action role-playing games. Bastion. While also as impressed as others with the slick, procedural level generation and the hauntingly somber voice-over companion, I instead loved a much simpler improvement so much more: the ability to dodge.

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This month’s Bitmob Writing Challenge on game controls is due by Sunday, September 30. You can read the rules here, and now I'm going to share an example piece focusing on Persona 4 Arena. Those who have grown partial to this feature over the years might want to contribute to this particular one -- let’s just say, for me at least, we’ve reached the final save point.

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While I complained about Persona 4 Arena’s long-winded Story Mode in the past, my feelings for the game are very positive. I was a little burned by Arc System Works’s BlazBlue series, which felt like a lesser copycat of the company's previous franchise Guilty Gear, but this brawler based on the popular role-playing game is a nice balance between the developer's unique style and new ideas.

What an overworded first paragraph. Weren’t you the person who told others to work more on their intros last month?

Wait, who are you?

Then again, you've never listened to your own advice.

Oh, I know where this is going. This is the bit in the Persona series where characters meets their Shadow -- everything they don't like about themselves -- and the doppelgangers rile them up to gain more power and kill them. I won’t fall for this.

Shows what you know. I only wanted to know what you thought of the controls for the game.

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Bitmob community member Daniel Castro's article  about developer Rocksteady's Batman titles (which is immediately below this one on our front page feed) provides valuable commentary on how "branded" games need not be awful. But while it's great to talk about games made right, we can also gain a lot of insight from a series of dismal, catastrophic failures.

To that end, I think it would be a good idea to look at another superhero's attempts to cross over into the game world and what they tell us about this hobby we spend so much time writing and talking about.

Let's see what Superman has brought to the table, other than sadness and buyer's remorse.

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Every now and then, I get to talk to my students about video games. They've all played Battlefield and Call of Duty, and the conversations always veer toward the latest Halo, Grand Theft Auto, or whatever big sequel is coming out. But when I bring up Batman: Arkham Asylum or its follow-up, Batman: Arkham City, I always hear the same old thing. "I’ve heard it’s great, but I haven’t tried it yet."

These games aren't great. Developer Rocksteady made something truly awesome here, and you don't have to take my word for it, either. Both have aggregate scores in the low/mid 90s on Metacritic.

Part of the blame probably goes to the multiplayer-obsessed era of gaming we’re in, but mainly, I think a lot of people steer clear of the Caped Crusader specifically because it's both a licensed game and it features a superhero. Either would be a pretty convincing warning sign.

That's a shame, because these games made a great and very influential contribution to this gaming generation. Here's how.

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It's incredibly easy to forget that most games start as any other product -- with a sales pitch. Sure, people sometimes make these wonderful things because they love the craft, but they also want to profit from them.

Heck, even the seemingly humble Tim Schafer (Brütal Legend) jokes about never quite striking oil with most of his projects and makes tongue-in-cheek statements about the success of his Kickstarter campaign.

One money centric aspect of the industry that has stood out to me: Publishers, marketers, financers (whatever you want to call them) seem to pull more of the production strings than most like to acknowledge. Not only can this negatively affect the development process, but it sometimes actively dictates it. Many artists would agree that this is not ideal.

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An amateur animator going by Enquaynay on YouTube created an awesome, hand-drawn version of a cutscene from Portal 2. Even cooler, they reimagined the game by turning robotic characters Wheatley and GLaDOS human. As a fan of traditional animation, I find it incredibly impressive for one person to do this much quality work.

You can watch the video below. You can also check out some rougher Wheatley stuff here.

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If you’re playing Resident Evil 6, BioShock, or any Modern Warfare title, stop and pause the game for a second.

Do you feel someone holding your hand? Does it seem like that person is pushing you toward your goal?

Hit start and return to the game. Take a look around as you battle your way to your objective.

You see it? That big arrow? That target?

Yeah, it’s that reoccurring and seemingly in-demand destination pointer.

I’ve seen them in in the Call of Duty franchise. And that was OK. I didn’t mind being told where the goal was. The games presented straightforward campaigns.

BioShock featured something similar. The arrow, working like a compass, helped me figure out where to go next, but at the same time, it didn’t help me get past the threats that plagued me along the way.

Recently, I took a stab at the Resident Evil 6 public demo. And once again, this GPS thingy was lurking around in Capcom’s latest survival-horror adventure.

Why is it needed?

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The Community Spotlight features some of the best unedited articles that didn't quite make the front page. This week, we look at the future of The Secret World, admire the beauty of accidental narratives, give a shout-out to turtling, and more. Join us!

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The Secret World could be free-to-play
By Alexander Kraus

You already know how I feel about conspiracy-driven MMO The Secret World; I don't think going free-to-play would change my mind about the game, but Alexander's analysis is astute. Good point about Age of Conan, too.

Why turtling is awesome
By Trevor Hinkle

Turtling, in case you don't know, is the art of playing defensively in a strategy game and waiting for the right time to strike. I'm horrible at it. (I'm horrible at most strategy games.) But Trevor extols the tactic's virtues here. "There’s a certain gratification found in surviving a seemingly endless onslaught of enemies and be rescued by an evacuation shuttle or a friendly ship, and it never gets old," he writes.

The beauty of unintended stories
By Maciej Peterson

I enjoy a good linear narrative, but sometimes, the best stories are the ones you make yourself. Maciej supports this in his description of his adventures in Skyrim. "This is a simple story, but what makes it special is that it's unlikely that Bethesda intended for it to exis," he says.

Upgrading the upgrades genre
By Alexander Kraus

Alexander's second contribution this week describes a type of casual game I hadn't heard of, which he calls the "upgrades genre." He writes: "I like RPGs for the purpose of developing a character through time, so upgrade genres appeal to me. However, the game designer part of me thinks that this genre is more tedious work than engaging gameplay found in other grind-heavy games like Torchlight." Interesting.

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Like many of you, I'm playing Borderlands 2 right now (and hey, look, I'm writing about it! You should, too!). And while the action's great and the loot is addictive, what I really love about the game is its space-Western vibe.

The first Borderlands title was the same way. Despite all the high-tech trappings and ridiculous guns, Borderlands retains a certain grounding in the real world. And its country-style characters and music are big reasons for that.

The Western genre is underused in games, both thematically and musically, but those who choose to focus on it often come up with some unique, memorable experiences. Here are five musical examples I've chosen in that vein; feel free to add yours in the comments. 

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Last Thursday morning, many gamers and game journalists (myself included) rushed to their computers to watch Nintendo’s Wii U livestream in which it would finally reveal the system’s North American launch date and price, as well as shed light on the next-gen console’s features and upcoming games. 

Of course, we were all happy to learn of the November 18 launch date for both Wii U models, and it was nice to catch a closer look at titles like New Super Mario Bros. U, Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, The Wonderful 101, and Zombi U. Nintendo also announced a feature called TVii that brings more multimedia options to the system. I know TVii wasn’t received very well by some people, but Nintendo does have to compete with Microsoft and Sony’s established features, and the tech behind it is pretty spiffy.

That was the way thing were going until bullets flew, swords clanged, high-heels clicked, and the moon shined bright in the announcement trailer for Bayonetta 2. A sequel that fans have been waiting years for had finally crawled its way out of development hell and was confirmed for a major console release.  

Unfortunately, once the gun smoke of the teaser cleared, Nintendo was named as the game’s publisher ... making it a Wii U exclusive. Actually, that’s not the unfortunate part (at least from my perspective), it’s the Pandora’s Box of “popular opinion” it managed to open.

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