No, I meant it. It’s really back. Here’s another ShoNTell, see?  Nothing to keep me from forgetting to actually play games – kind of important for someone writing and podcasting about them – than the nagging guilt a week without a ShoNTell provides.

PLAY
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Burnout Paradise (PS3): After some mild dabbling with it when it first came out, I’ve finally returned to Paradise City. No, not the song, that was released by Guns N’Roses back in 1988; my musical tastes at the time was limited, although I’m told my six-year old self would jive like a master to some Madness. Rock on, mini-me. I’m actually talking about the game that was released twenty years later, Burnout Paradise, although it does feature “Paradise City” as its introductory song, or as its theme song, if you will. And as theme songs go, you can’t do much better than the headbang-ery of “Paradise City”. Sure, it probably cost EA one of its many pretty pennies to feature it, but surely its hard rock melody does an unsung (pun unintended) job of getting players into Burnout Paradise’s party atmosphere right from the off. You couldn’t exactly open the game with the soft jazz of Gran Turismo, could you? Simply put, “Paradise City” makes me want to crash cars into other cars in Paradise City, so well done to all involved.

SBCG4AP #3 (PC): Or to give the game its full name, Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People – Episode 3: Baddest of the Bands. Pause for breath. This is the third of the point-and-click Homestar Runner games that Telltale Games released last year for PC and Wii – and I enjoyed the first two. Despite both featuring puzzles that were too illogical, the writing was on-form, particularly in the first game that featured many laugh-out-loud moments. The writing is usually more important than the quality of the puzzles in a traditional point-and-click adventure game, so it was unfortunate Episode 3 represented a reversal of priorities with its logical puzzles accompanying sub-par writing. This was disappointing, especially given the game’s heavy leaning on musical numbers, one of the cartoon’s best  elements in the form of its variety of wacky songs. Sadly, the songs and the writing in general weren’t that funny in Episode 3 – they weren’t poor, but certainly sub-par.  It’s difficult to know why the writing took a dip. Was it simply misplaced prioritizing, or just isolated, chance cases of a drab storyline and off-form writing? The fourth episode will probably provide the answer.

AND…
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Quick Look Throwback: Crazy Taxi: As most regular readers of this blog are probably aware, yesterday was the Sega Dreamcast’s tenth birthday. I could make some cruel jibe about the console’s disasterous fate, but I’m wary of how that would go down with all the devoted Dreamcast lovers I keep bumping into. Instead, I’ll link to Giant Bomb’s video taking a look back at my favourite Dreamcast game, the one and only Crazy Taxi – a game that Ryan Davis is particularly shocking at. Video @ Giant Bomb

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Time to crash – sho out.