Warpback: What We Played in February 2014

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We were all over the place in February here at Warp Zoned! We played everything from the very old to the very new, and we had a blast doing it. There was a little overlap, but not much – we were either working our way through a backlog or celebrating video games that have been lauded. Read on to see all of the amazing games the Warp Zoned staff played in February!

John Scalzo
Editor-In-Chief
Owing to the continued dearth of new releases in February, I used the year’s shortest month to catch up on a few indie favorites on my iPod Touch. Threes has seemingly taken over everyone’s free time and I completely understand why. It’s a fantastic puzzler that feels more “complete” as a game than many big-budget AAA titles. I spent a ton of time last month sliding tiles around to create new tiles bearing the titular multiples of three, and I plan to do it again in March. In addition to Threes, thanks to Nicole Kline’s excellent IndieCade East coverage, I tried out Sirtet, a neat reverse-Tetris game. Lastly, to begin preparing myself for this year’s PAX East show, I downloaded Duet, one of the selections from this year’s Indie Showcase. Duet owes a bit of a debt to Terry Cavanaugh’s Super Hexagon, and it’s easy to see why. But instead of navigating a triangle through a maze, players are asked to make two colored balls dodge a series of platforms like some kind of deranged Metroid mineshaft. It’s a tiny game, but it’s epic.

That’s not to say I didn’t play any big games last month. I continued plugging away at Super Mario 3D World and even reached the final castle… only to be turned away because I hadn’t collected the correct number of stars. Diabolical, Mr. Miyamoto. And finally, Earth Defense Force 2025 has finally arrived and I’ve been playing it almost nonstop. With four character classes, five difficulty levels, and more giant bugs than ever before, I think I’ll be playing this one for a long time.

Nicole Kline
Senior Editor
I played a lot of games this month! I went back to Ni No Kuni, which I still haven’t beaten and wish I could say I loved more, but I just find it too boring to play it for very long. I want to finish it, but it’s hard when there are so many better games to play! I also played Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I DON’T KNOW! as well as the third and fourth Headhunter Packs from Borderlands 2 on the PlayStation 3, all of which were disappointing. I had some fun on the PlayStation 4 with Outlast, though! On the 3DS, I’ve been making my way through Yoshi’s Island, after getting through the demo for Bravely Default, which was surprisingly robust. I also played through all of Weapon Shop De Omasse, which I had a blast with. On the PC, I completely destroyed the TitanFall beta, which was utterly amazing. I also played through Papo & Yo for Cipher Prime’s video game club, which was much better than I’d anticipated it being. And, as always, Anthony Amato and I are playing through both Legend of Dungeon and Torchlight II, which couldn’t be more different. Oh, and if you haven’t played it yet, definitely give Cipher Prime’s Intake a try. I can’t put it down once I’ve opened it up!

As John mentioned, I had a blast at IndieCade East, and played so many games – Metrico, Killer Queen, SlashDash, Glorkian Warrior, Earth Knight, Galak-Z, How Do You Do It, Everyday Shooter, Porpentine’s Twine Compilation, Crypt of the Necrodancer (on the DDR pad this time!), Tenya Wanya Teens, Threshold, and Dry Ice, as well as some live-action games. Oh, and I too downloaded Sirtet, which I highly recommend for everyone with an Apple device. It’s super addictive and tons of fun!

Of course, I would remiss if I didn’t mention that I played Johann Sebastian Joust, as well as some of Shawn Pierre’s latest Move controller game. Who knew video games could get so physical?

Andrew Rainnie
UK Correspondent
As February is such a quick month, I’ve nearly forgotten what I played!

Oh yes! I had double-barrel fun with InFamous and its sequel, InFamous 2, in preparation for the launch of InFamous: Second Son, which is the first game that has tempted me to buy a PlayStation 4.

And on the final morning of February, I started Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Blacklist on the Wii U. So far, so good.

Mike Ryan
Staff Writer
I’ve been putting more time into Far Cry 3, and I don’t want it to end. It’s so much fun. Yesterday, I shot a shark in his stupid sharkface and used his skin to make a weapon holster. Good times. I also played a bit more Dr. Mario – always a classic. Time was also spent with Project X Zone. Some may hate me for saying this, but I’m enjoying it a lot more than I did Fire Emblem. Maybe it’s the characters, or the over-the-top gameplay, but I’m having a blast with it.

Finally, I played the PS4’s Outlast. Another great, gorgeous game. It’s disturbing and scary as hell, but it’s a fun ride. As I wrote in my review, it’s highly recommended.

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