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The 61FPS Review: Big Bang Mini

Big Bang Mini? More like Big Bang Awesome, you know what I'm sayin'? No? You don't know what I'm sayin'? Ah, well then, let me explain...

Big Bang Mini is a very unique DS arcade shooter from French studio Arkedo and it's the kind of beautifully unique game that screams "I was made by a small team of devoted and creative people!" (Other recent examples, Flower, World of Goo, LOL, Everyday Shooter) While most arcade shooters allow you to fire and move simultaneously via dual analogue control, Big Bang Mini is entirely touch-screen controlled, so you can only do one at a time. Drag your ship around to avoid bullets, let go somewhere safe, flick up towards the top screen to fire on your enemy targets. Oh yeah, and your ammunition is fireworks. BOOM-KRACKLE-shizzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

Posted Feb 18 2009, 12:30 PM by Derrick Sanskrit with | with no comments

Filed under: derrick sanskrit, portal, 61fps review, ds, Retro game challenge, big bang mini, south peak, arkedo

OST: Big Bang Mini

I finally completed Big Bang Mini's "Arcade" mode today. The final boss was somewhat of a lifelong dream come true for me, so that was magical, but the part that really impressed me was the entire world preceeding the final boss, Abyss.

You see, if Big Bang Mini is "about" anything, its shooting off fireworks all around the world, and a major part of the experience of globe-hopping is the complete overhaul of graphics and sound between worlds. The graphics and sound are generally fantastic all around, but it was in Abyss that I would often just stop shooting to sit back and ponder on the sounds surrounding me. Embedded below, the music that accompanies you on your journey underwater:

Posted Feb 05 2009, 03:00 PM by Derrick Sanskrit with | with no comments

Filed under: derrick sanskrit, ost, ds, big bang mini

Whatcha Playing: Cute Is The New Hardcore

My DS Lite has been booked solid lately. Three new releases have been keeping me very busy: Konami's Elebits: The Adventures of Kai and Zero, South Peak's Big Bang Mini, and Atari's The Chase: Felix Meets Felicity. All three are wildly different games, all three have beautiful graphics that will unfortunately be labelled as "cute" and therefore "for the kids", and all three are a lot deeper than they initially look, gameplay-wise.

Elebits is a direct-sequel to the early Wii title, which served as a much more impressive tech demo than Wii Play ever did and maybe even paved the way for the currently anticipated Ghostbusters video game. Kai and Zero plays more like the handheld Zeldas, though, with a top-down view and a lot of environmental puzzle solving. Omega Elebits allow you to burn barriers, create ice bridges, dig holes, see invisible platforms and more. They're essentially Link's weapons in Zelda, only they look like Pokémon.

Posted Feb 03 2009, 04:30 PM by Derrick Sanskrit with | with 2 comment(s)

Filed under: whatcha playing, derrick sanskrit, ds, big bang mini, elebits, the chase: felix meets felicity

Looking Ahead: 6 DS Games that I'm Looking Forward To in 2009.

Yeah, this list didn't quite make it to 10. Maybe if I were more of a virtual pet fan I'd have had an easier time filling this list up. Talk about your over saturated genres, yeesh. I never even picked up Nintendogs. Well, without further ado, here are 6 upcoming DS games that I am interested in.

Posted Dec 18 2008, 10:00 AM by Amber Ahlborn with | with 1 comment(s)

Filed under: fire emblem, amber ahlborn, ds, dragon quest, scribblenauts, top 10, moon, rhythm heaven, big bang mini

about the blogger

John Constantine, our superhero, was raised by birds and then attended Penn State University. He is currently working on a novel about a fictional city that exists only in his mind. John has an astonishingly extensive knowledge of Scientology. Ultimately he would like to learn how to effectively use his brain. He continues to keep Wu-Tang's secret to himself.

Derrick Sanskrit is a self-professed geek in a variety of fields including typography, graphic design, comic books, music and cartoons. As a professional hipster graphic designer, his recent clients have included Nerve, Pitchfork and MoCCA, among others.

Amber Ahlborn - artist, writer, gamer and DigiPen survivor, she maintains a day job as a graphic artist. By night Amber moonlights as a professional Metroid Fanatic and keeps a metal suit in the closet just in case. Has lived in the state of Washington and insists that it really doesn't rain as much as everyone says it does.

Nadia Oxford is a housekeeping robot who was refurbished into a warrior when the world's need for justice was great. Now that the galaxy is at peace (give or take a conflict here or there), she works as a freelance writer for various sites and magazines. Based in Toronto, Nadia prizes the certificate from the Ministry of Health declaring her tick and rabies-free.

Bob Mackey is a grad student, writer, and cyborg, who uses the powerful girl-repelling nanomachines mad science grafted onto his body to allocate time towards interests of the nerd persuasion. He believes that complaining about things on the Internet is akin to the fine art of wine tasting, but with more spitting into buckets.

Joe Keiser has a programming degree from Johns Hopkins University, a tiny apartment in Brooklyn, and a fake toy guitar built in the hollowed-out shell of a real guitar. He writes about games and technology for a variety of outlets. One day he will stop doing this. The day after that, police will find his body under a collapsed pile of (formerly neatly alphabetized) collector's edition tchotchkes.

Cole Stryker is an American freelance writer living in York, England, where he resides with his archeologist wife. He writes for a travel company by day and argues about pop culture on the internet by night. Find him writing regularly here and here.

Peter Smith is like the lead character of Irwin Shaw's The 80-Yard Run, except less athletic. He considers himself very lucky to have this job. But it's a little premature to take "jack-off of all trades" off his resume. Besides writing, travelling, and painting houses, Pete plays guitar in a rock trio called The Aye-Ayes. He calls them a 'power pop' band, but they generally sound more like Motorhead on a drinking binge.