For this week’s Games of our Lives, I looked back at an awesome game called Cavelon:
Once upon a time, an evil wizard kidnapped a beautiful princess and
imprisoned her at the top of a scary tower. She cried and cried until a
brave knight entered the castle to battle the wizard and rescue her.Once upon a different time, some video-game designers turned this
story into a pretty cool little game. For reasons that are best left
buried in the mists of Avalon, they didn’t name it "Magic Tower" or "Happy Princess Rescue." They named it "Cavelon," even though it has nothing to do with caves, and there aren’t any lons to speak of.Kids today might not like it because: There’s no Custer’s Revenge-style reward when you finally rescue the girl.
Kids today might like it because: Cavelon has real, undeniable retro-gaming charm. After a few games, they’re just a waffle-cone away from a full-on 1983 flashback.
I also reviewed NHL06:
Worth playing for: The little details. When the home team gets a
penalty, the organ plays "Three Blind Mice" as the player skates into
the box, jawing words that look an awful lot like "vacuum" at the
referee. The closer you get to the end of the period, the more
chopped-up the ice becomes. Between plays, skaters talk to each other,
and during the replays, fans (dressed in the home team’s jerseys, of
course) jump up and down, clap their hands, and cheer.
Final judgment: EA Sports set the standard for sports games a long time ago. NHL 06
meets that standard, but it doesn’t bring much new and exciting to the
party, which isn’t really their fault. There isn’t much more to add to
an already-fantastic series. If you’re a hockey fan, and you haven’t
played any of the EA Sports NHL titles, where the hell have you been?
You’re going to love this game. But if you’re a longtime fan, you may
want to sit this virtual season out.
I’m working on this week’s GOOL right now, which is shaping up to be kinda funny.
In an unrelated bit of news, I really like the simple, clean look of WWdN In Exile. I was going for a much cleaner look with the WWdN redesign already, and I think it’s going to be more like what you see here: two columns, simple navigation, lightweight graphics.