I’m not wearing any pants, film at eleven. In other news, Gamespot puts out a list every year of games that leaves me feeling a bit crestfallen from the realization that I am one of a very, very select number of people to play a true quality game from a true quality developer that will sadly not see a financial return for such a fine effort. I’m guilty of this too, as in the past I have glossed over such titles as Beyond Good and Evil and the first Prince of Persia because they had gotten good reviews from both the press and my friends. I automatically assumed that meant they were selling well. Well, BG&E was dropped to $20 and d-listed in under six months, and PoP didn’t make the numbers it needed for the sequel to not be eroded into an angsty, cliched betrayal to the whimsical and character-driven feast that it started out as. I’ve played PoP even though I still don’t own it, and one of the most remarkable things about it makes a pretty loud statement about the game industry’s over-reliance on using profuse tits and gore to sell games. It’s got visual design that can only be topped by it’s own engaging gameplay. In other words, a perfect game. Of course, one can now own these two awesome games at a fraction of the $50 retail tag, but dammit… I would have been honored to pay the full price, if I could. They were well worth it.
This year’s “Little Game that Couldn’t” is one that I also got on the cheap, when I began noticing that it’s numbers in the local Gamestops seemed to be getting sparse. It’s a little-known boxing title called Wade Hixton’s Counter Punch. It’s not a methodical boxing sim, like either of the titles based upon the Japanese manga franchise Hajime No Ippo, but what Wade Hixton does, he fucking does nicely.
The thing you’ll notice right off the bat are the cartoony visuals, which are completely in tune and cohesive with the play. The animation here is the smoothest you’ll see in any game this side of the Sly Cooper series. As was mentioned, the gameplay isn’t terribly strategic, owing more to arcade classics like Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! than boxing simulators. But inside of the game’s simplicity lies a certain flair for the underhanded, as you can hire goons and girls to distract your opponent for you at times. Also, there’s a bevy of unlockable moves with which to put the bitch-fist on your opposition, so you can customize Wade to your own whup-ass style of preference. Yeah, it’s beguilingly deep stuff and if you can find it nowadays you can score it for about ten bucks. That’s a no-lose proposition.
Except for the fine designers at Inferno Games, who lost in a big way to the overshadowing hype of a deluge of shit. Here’s to you, guys.
