The Besties - The Besties Podcast XVII

Episode Date: June 29, 2012

In this time and political and Today Show-centric turmoil, it's comforting to know your friends The Besties are constant. Some iOS game you've never heard of? Check. Russ Frushtick doing a terrible European accent. You betcha. Come, bask in our stability. Get the full list of games (and other stuff) discussed at www.besties.fan. Want more episodes? Join us at patreon.com/thebesties for three bonus episodes each month!

Guys, I got a- I got something in the mail. I got a package in the mail. What'd you get? I don't know. I'm gonna open it here live on air. Oh my god, it could be anthrax. It's Thrax. Oh man! It's The Witcher 2! Enhanced edition. I got this on a Gold Box sale. That's right. We game journalists sometimes buy our video games just to remind ourselves of how the little people live.

Oh my, this is so novel i've spent my money for this man i hope there's boobies on the map is this what it's like to be a real this is it yeah you're capturing the experience is like man i hope i like all the love levels yeah in this i i'm so removed from this community i i it's hard for me to say i heard the pixels in that one are pretty good a lot of them man i hope they don't try to screw screw me over with um in-game dlc is that is that how i hope it's not on the disc yeah me too is that if it's on the disc it's worse then it's worse than on the disc when it's on the internet hello everybody my name is justElroy, and I know the best game. Hi, everybody. I'm Griffin McElroy.

My game's so good that I had to interrupt Justin. Hi, everybody. I'm Chris Plant, and I'm the law in this here town. My name is Russ Prustik, and I know the best game of the week. All right. This is the besties, as you've certainly guessed. We, every week on the besties, us four best friends, get together, talk about the new games we've been playing,

argue about which one is best, choose a winner, and then pit that against our current champion. Rush, Freshstick, what's our current champion? I think Gravity Rush is currently winning? Yes, correct. Gravity Rush. Gravity Rush. Didn't that game only get a 7?

Chris Plant, you are our commissioner this week. You're the lawyer, the one charged with upholding our delicate balance. Who should pitch first? We're going in order of price today. So Griffin will be pitching first. My game actually, while an iOS title, is $40. Wow. Oh, snap.

That's big. So are we going low as the highest? I'm just kidding. Is that how the DLC works in that game? I haven't downloaded it yet. I'm just kidding, you guys. It's only a bug. Just Josh. My game this week is an iPad game called Squids Wild West. No, I know.

I was right there with you. Little did I know that it was basically the iOS equivalent of my dream girl. It's got... Here's the pitch. It's the sequel to Squids, which we all know and love. Sure. I've heard of that. Basically what it is is a marbles tactics game.

It's like a tactical RPG version of the playground game marbles. So you have four squids, each of which has different abilities. And the basic gameplay is you fling them into enemies to do damage, or you use their special abilities strategically. So you have like a healer marble that can do damage to enemies, or you can run the healer. It's not a marble, it's a squid. To fling them, you pull their legs back and shoot

them like you would a marble um uh so you have a healer squid this analogy is working as well no no it's like marbles in the sense that you want to run your squids into enemies to do damage or knock them off the battlefield so but you have like a healer squid who you can run into enemies to do damage or into your friendly squids to heal them. You have a shooter squid that can shoot into enemies or can also launch their own projectiles at enemies. And you have like a tank squid that can do an area of effect attack or a scout squid that can shoot really far and fast. And it's sort of Angry Birds-esque in its layout where like combat encounters are split into different levels. But the levels are weaved really nicely into a like a campaign with a really cute storyline. And it's really well written and has a lot of charm. All the sprites look like sort of like

the claymation style sprites of like Golden Sun, the golden sun games which looks really nice the soundtrack is incredible and uh it's the kind of experience that works really well on on a touch device um where in the interactions are really easy to understand and really fluid and um but at the same time there's a lot of depth to how you can customize your squids and unlock new upgrades and level them up. Hats, yeah. But each hat has different statistical bonuses that instead of just equipping a squid with a hat, you transfer the bonuses from that hat to the squid. And then you basically permanently get the upgrades there. It's a really clever upgrade system.

There's a lot of unlockable stuff. There's hidden stuff on each level. It's really accessible. My girlfriend and I have been playing it, and she is not an RPG fan at all. So it's not so dense that it's scary to people who don't like RPGs. But yeah, it's neat. It's got a lot of strategy and role-playing aspects to it, and it's only a buck. I have a few questions. As somebody who played Squids, I don't really remember what happened in Squids. I don't know the specifics,

but I remember it being kind of grim. Like, people die. I think the world is maybe facing like a genocide or something it was dark yeah i mean is that still the case it's not it's not adorable like you're in a you're in this western town that's just been wracked by plague basically um is there a mechanical spider in the western town i don't think think so. Is that a Limbo reference? That's Wild Wild West. Oh, for fuck's sake.

West Desperado. Rough Rider. No, you don't want nada. None of this. Six gun of this. River Soldiers. I thought I told you. No, it has none of those things.

Kenneth Branagh plays Steve the squid, though. Not a lot not a lot of people no i mean the story is actually pretty good and the writing is really good i'm not sure where it was developed somewhere not american uh but it's been localized really nicely and um it's it's very it's very entertaining and you can collect all kinds of new squids and each one has like a different there's a calamari jane wow this is sort of a rootin tootin shooter if you will uh i have a second question yeah yeah please i feel like when the first squids launched you kind of needed the dlc to uh get past some of the later levels you could buy hats and stuff. Is that the case still? No, no, no.

I've had more money than I know what to do with. You can get three stars on any level, and each star gives you basically a money bonus that you can use to buy new stuff. You get one for finding a hidden star in the level, and you get one by

ensuring that all your squids survive, and you get one for completing the level in a certain number of turns. And it's that it's those three demands every single level. So you always sort of have a guide for what you're doing. It's a really clever system. Also, you can take a picture of your team of four and the different hats that they're wearing and then tweet it. four in the different hats that they're wearing and then tweet it so it's i'm i don't know how to maybe i'm not pitching it well because it really is it's well i like it's one of the best it's one of the best ios games i think i've ever played probably the best ios game i've played on ipad it's like the best you brought to the besties yeah you bought an ipad a week ago i don't think that really says much uh two weeks ago sir okay i'm just saying that's 14 days downloading at least 10 apps a day that's

140 apps wow the rush kingdom rush and it's okay oh my god what you're it's okay it hasn't gripped me in the way that that squids wild west has yes i was shocked no one brought kingdom rush iphone today that's a cop out yeah it's like the kingdom rush i can play only smaller and clumsier yeah great great right and also no squid marbles so i don't even know what to say about that wow justin are you down are you downloading it i know that's a thing you like to do during the show is when not hitting the show show pitches, pitches you an app, you download the app. Is that some, do I carry that kind of cache?

Keyword here being rough. I, I, I'm going to have to hear from some other people, although I do appreciate what an effusive endorsement you've given. I think that it, I, you know,

it's just, um, the mechanic, the central mechanic just doesn't sound that appealing to me. I mean, all the stuff around it does. I don't know. There's some, the central mechanic just doesn't sound that appealing to me. What? All the stuff around it does. The central mechanic expands in all kinds of really cool ways. Why am I being forced to defend the fact that playing marbles doesn't sound like fun?

You have an energy meter. So basically, if you do two fully powered shots with your squid, his turn is up. Or you can do smaller shots to try and position them to get get them behind the enemy it is yeah it is it's like a turn-based tactics game you should have mentioned that with angry birds meets marvels meets turn-based strategy game they're actually their tag their tagline i think from a review of the original one is final fantasy tactics meets angry birds which i think is pretty apt um yeah it's it's apt go f**k yourself chris play who's next uh next up uh well you know before before we uh we scatter off to what's next i think we should mention for people who like ios games uh cthulhu saves the

world is also on the app store today along with kingdom rush is it really you should go you should go download all three if you have the money all three uh are great games uh is it ipad ipad 2 or just iphone i don't know i think it is ipad i will check that i will check that we'll get back to that later pardon me i'm looking at these graphics who are they trying to fool yeah which This looks like an old, old, old, old game. Squids or Cthulhu? Cthulhu. Looks like an old-ass old game.

You know whose game they just made? Yeah, the Penny Arcade games. Yeah. Does it look old, too? Yeah. Does it look old? Can they just make games that look like new games so I don't get so easily confused? Do you know what game needs to be brought to the iPhone before we move on? Seaman.

No. Charles Barkley Shut Up and Jam Gaiden. Oh, yeah. Charles Barkley Shut Up and Jam Gaiden would be an amazing fit. I'm going to bring that as my bestie next week. You should. I'll bring Just Cause 2 and you can bring that. All right.

Okay. So next up we have Mr. froshtick with dong garter i am no longer russell froshtick i am one count froshtick of skyrim oh nightmare. Why is he always slightly European? Because I am now a count. Hello. Oh, Christ. So, Skyrim just released its first downloadable expansion pack.

You gotta do this whole episode like this. Dawnguard. It lets you play as one of me a vampire a dracula like me unfortunately it is not good i bet you thought he was enthusiastic for the fact that he learned how to do this amazing accent, but no, he doesn't like it. This is what he had all that time to do. He's so bored he learned how to do it. He has also momentarily forgotten that this is a competition,

but let's move on. Unfortunately, it was the only game I played this week, so I had nothing else to bring. The problem with Dawnguard is that you can become a vampire but being a vampire is not fun okay don't you mean it sucks it sucks no that is racist against our people the people vampires represent fictional fictional norse vampires fictional norse vampires that's it that's an awfully narrow needle to thread can't you be uh werewolves too you can you could be werewolves before this is not new they added a new perk tree to the way you're slipping you're slipping a little bit you're slipping out of your accent a little bit how would the werewolves. You're slipping a little bit. You're slipping out of your accent a little bit. The perk tree. How would the werewolf talk about

the perk tree? Woof. Okay. Okay. Oh, God. Do you want to do this whole thing? Should we do this whole thing? Yeah. Finish it up. I watched Varsity Blues for the first time last night, and your accent right now is reminiscent of James Van Der Beek's

southern country boy accent. I don't want your life. He'll oscillate between that and like full-blown New England. Sorry, go on. The problem with the powers as a vampire is that you are forced to use

the third-person camera, and the third-person camera is terrible. Are you really? Yes. It is the only Are you really? Yes. It is the only way you can be a vampire. I think I clicked that button exactly once during Skyrim. And was like, nope. Went right back.

You don't want to do this? It is tacked on and horrible. Also, when you become a vampire, the game freezes for five seconds for no reason. Also, the only way to use powers as a vampire is to pause the game and select them individually from your favorites menu. Also, none of the

quests are much fun. And all take place in places that look a whole lot like places you've been before. Like that cave from Skyrim. Remember that one? It's back again. It is not good.

But it is $20. Really? Yes. You could buy 20 squids wild west with that. I could not recommend it any less. Would you say the experience is draining? Yes, because of the similarities with that statement and what vampires do to people.

Now, did you come to this episode with all of your arguments pre-prepared or are you just vamping right now? That is the first syllable of what I am. Okay. Oh, man. His mastery of goose is amazing. I know.

Vampire Russ is so much funnier. It's weird. Yeah, like it's not just an accent. It's a whole other splinter persona inside of his mind. Yeah, I kind of want to go to the mall with you, Vampire Russ. Yeah, I think so. I will go to Auntie Annie's Pretzels. Now, Vampire –

Read your review because I think it really has some teeth to it. Oh, Jesus. Okay, come on. Vampires have teeth. You're better. You're better than this. Russuss he's not but you are planning russ uh just i just want to i just want to thank you very much for being here bang thank you yeah and russ i've um a dracula Dracula vampires.

Justin, you're driving me batty with your puns. Yeah. I sure have missed you. I guess I am a vampire. Okay. Sorry. I was coughing. Oh, Jesus Christ.

I hope the end of your review is the score is four one two three four vampire rust real quick you may not be able to speak to this uh area of the dlc with any authenticity but what about the non-vampiric stuff? Can't you join the Dawnguard? You can join the terrible Dawnguard. Why are they so terrible? They fight my people. Okay. But my people are not fun to play as, so maybe you should do that. Okay.

How are the crossbows? They feel nice? The crossbows feel like they are pretty much regular bows that reload slower good that was my main complaint with bows in that game but you can you can fire them without pulling back an arrow wow this sounds really bad so the only difference between because the quest line plays the same whether you are mostly the same whether you are one of my people the vampires or a member of the hated don guard the quest plays mostly the same but you get different rewards for each is it how i mean is it is it not narratively cool is there is there no reason there there is one narrative moment that is sort of interesting

with regards to uh this might be a spoiler should i mention it probably not okay if there's only one thing about this entire bracket it involves elves in some way this is somewhat interesting but the rest of the story. Is pretty much what you would expect. From people fighting vampires. Have you seen Blade 3? Is that the one with Jessica Alba? Jessica Biel. Jessica Biel.

Summer Catch. Okay. Jesus. So it's pretty much Blade 3. Is is it sexy there is a sexy vampire companion that you there we go me yeah but it is not jessica alba or jessica biel or can it be uh can it be like an edward collin type figure no she looks like the dad from Seventh Heaven. Count Frustic, it's been great having you here. If you wouldn't mind disappearing into a plume of bats and bringing

back Russ, we have to get to intermission. Bats! Okay. Hey, guys. Oh, hey. I'm back. I back i got cured oh good thank goodness i was starting to get worried about you mainly i was worried that you'd live forever deal with that permanently uh so what how's everybody's week um i took on a new project this week could be a new hobby could fizzle out within the next few days but we'll see i'm trying to teach myself how to program oh yeah you tweeted about that and

a lot of people were interested yeah like a hundred people appear like i i've always been interested in that kind of stuff but i can't imagine a more intimidating thing to like start learning i didn't know how to start doing it and all i had to do is tweet once like i'm interested in this thing and like 200 people were just like well i do this thing let me tell you how so why are you guys this why are you guys like this clear about it before people ask where do you where do you start where does one even start so i started, what's intimidating to me is the prospect of learning a language only to need to know another language. If I ever did want to.

Like Latin. It is. Well, it's not like Latin. It's like Latin one, two, three, and four. And then it's like you learn Latin one. But if you want to make this one thing, you need to know Latin four. Like that prospect to me put me off so much. But I wasn't thinking about the fact that you have to start somewhere and there's a lot of commonalities between the different programming languages so um i started with javascript just

learning basic javascript so i don't understand like are you just like starting like what is the first line of code you're writing there is a website called codeacademy.com which has the uh console and everything like built into the website are they paying us money am i gonna get a check from code academy no no no i'm sharing it because i think it's like a like the best way imaginable to can they start paying us the language barrier yeah i'll ask them for money yeah um but yeah it's there's just a console on the page and your assignment's on the left and it tells you what to do

and then you program it in the console. Like make a word in italics? Yeah. Well, it's not like that. It's like if then sequences and... With blinky dots? Oh, that's a cool looking website. Yeah, it's really super neat.

You have like a profile and you get achievements for completing like super hard lessons. And like, I am coming from a base of zero. I made a, actually I made a text-based version of Final Fantasy Mystic Quest in QBasic when I was six years old. That's basically the level of experience

I'm coming at this with. And so, yeah, it starts you from scratch. Yeah, so I'm hoping to like finish the javascript course and then have just like a super basic understanding and then maybe move on to something like python and then uh there's some itunes u courses that teach you like there's one that's just like the basics of programming but there's also one that's a little bit more advanced that is like specifically about ios games how to make ios games so your so your end goal is to like put out a make a game yeah i think my angle like started when uh i got really angry that there wasn't the kind of

ios games i wanted to play on the app store um and also i was playing a lot of little big planet which is basically like oh yeah you love little yeah, you love LittleBigPlanet. Yeah, I love making stuff in games like that. So this is what I've been thinking of recently. Do you think that programming, like, I don't know. I feel like I saw the demo for the Unreal Engine 4, and it seemed like so much of it was, like, not requiring, like, code. It was almost like all, like, buttons buttons and stuff it's never going to be completely without code i don't know what they are doing is they are making their scripting

engine entirely visual so that artists can use it which i think is going to be the single best thing to happen to the video game development scene in the past two decades because it's going to cut down on the cost of making games and it's also going to like close the gap between the artistic side of making games and the technical side of making games um so yeah like that's from from what little i understand about it that's incredibly exciting um but but i think it's good to have like at least a fundamental understanding of how programming works. Yeah, no, I would love to. Just so I can crush them.

So if you want to be Code Academy buddies with me, I don't know how that would work. But I made a dice game yesterday that was pretty cool. Is it basically like Phoenix University? Like pretty much the same thing? I don't know. I went to like a real school. I went to Kaplan. Is that online? okay i went to all those online schools and if you put all the diplomas together it makes a map yeah i want leading to a real

college where you can get a really real degree i really want to uh griffin i want you to learn how so you can like be the brains of our game design crew. It seems like that's... I'm showing my hand a little bit too much of how little I understand of what goes on behind the curtain at game developers. But it seems like nobody wants to be a programmer and everybody wants to be a designer or director. Well, it's the flashier answer right is the oh yeah i want to be a design you know designer or an artist or something like that because obviously your end i don't even think i don't even think artist is as appealing as i there's i think there's an inherent frustration and i think it's the cause of a lot of the gaming

industry's general vitriol is the fact that i will have an idea for a game, and I will just have to wait for somebody else to realize it. I have no tools at my disposal to make that thing come to fruition outside of RPG Maker or LittleBigPlanet, which structurally is like wanting to write a novel and instead going out and buying a coloring book. Yeah. Right. wanting to write a novel and instead going out and buying a coloring book yeah right and i feel dumb whenever i speak to like i was doing the sponky feature that went up a couple days ago but when i was doing the interview with the programmer i was like i don't have any ability to like relate to him and what he's doing apart from like you make jumps feel good yeah even like even like 10 hours into this super beginner's programming course,

I still have no f***ing idea how this turns into a game. Still no idea what the connection is between this and physical game assets. But I'm excited. I'm excited to learn. You can become rich, though? That's all I care about. I think so. I mean, I know about what makes games good i feel

like so if i can like if i can do that then it's just like money in the bank i think and then we can use our own website to cover my game yes yes i love it instant money i'm gonna be i want to be the guy who's like more dlc here yeah i i want that job where i'm like you can be that much fresh can you draw can can oh my god I'm such a good drawer And he's got to do all the voices And I can do all the gaffer work Chris Plant do you like I'm thinking community manager

For you I wouldn't waste your time Freshstick I don't think Gaff's going to like it Delayed joke Well I didn't want to step on anybody it wasn't that it wasn't yeah it was worth it can i talk about my game yet uh i didn't say i'm like okay can we come up with a name for our studio that we just invented yeah okay uh bias media bias top productions the fiber supplements how about money hat money money but how about zinga.com

three g's buzzing zinger game zinger game zinger games that's got it that's got it somebody get that euro somebody get that euro for me so that's the first thing i learned in programming school is that it's actually called a url not a URL like we have been calling it. Oh, okay. Justin, tell us about your game. Thank you, Griffin. My game is The Amazing Spider-Man. Is that the Star Trek theme?

Spider-Man. No, that's the theme from the hit animated series Spider-Man. No, that's the theme from the hit animated series, Spider-Man. So, I have played a few Spider-Man games in my time, and this is the newest one. It's made by Beenox, the third Spider-Man game by Beenox. I really wanted your review to stop there. I have played many Spider-Man games, and this is the newest one. Beenox has made three Spider-Man games.

The first one is the pretty decent Spider-Man Shattered Dimensions. The second one is the abysmal, abysmal Spider-Man Edge of Time, which is just brutally terrible. Which one is that? It was awful. That was the lab one. That was the lab one. That was the lab one. That was the most recent one. Where you didn't leave the lab the whole game.

Oh, really? Yeah. I don't think I ever played that one. But because Spider-Man, usually he does really well, like, indoors. I've always said that, like, Spider-Man really shines when he's not outside with buildings to swing on. Yeah, if you're in, like, a tight office environment, that environment that's like where he's a viking really yeah that's exactly where you want if he's not in his costume he doesn't have his mask on he just looks like a

normal guy going to work yeah i really like um i like realism in my submarine he's also really good in a submarine when he can he's great in a submarine when he can just jump as high as a normal man jumps i i can really get into it i so like that's um that's the the brief history amazing spider-man is of course based on the upcoming film come out that's out what is it next next week uh directed by mark webb it's a relaunch of the Sam Raimi franchise. In this game, it is set directly after the events of the film. So that's the first thing I should point out is, like, if you don't want anything in the film spoiled for you, then, you know, you shouldn't play this game until you've watched the movie.

Are there movie spoilers in the game? Yeah, absolutely. That seems odd given that the game came out before the movie. There's game spoilers in the movie if you think about it. There aren't actually. True. No, that doesn't make any sense. Here's my question.

So it's a sequel to Spider-Man the movie. Correct. And it's a prequel to 500 Days of Summer. No, there is actually no related story. Question? Question. Yes, Griffin. Question.

Yes, Griffin. Why don't they call him Spider-Boy in the movie? He's just a little guy. Question? Sure. Yes, Griffin. Second question. Follow-up.

Yeah. Uh-huh. Is this social network, the video game? No, it's not social networks, video game. Spider-Man amazing.

Spider-Man is, is an open world games. The first one since Spider-Man three to be open world. It is in Manhattan. It's not really very accurate to Manhattan. It kind of looks basically in the similar shape to manhattan and there's definitely like central park is there but um it doesn't it is a it is a shoddy simulcrum of of of manhattan am i in there uh i did not go to your apartment but i think you would be

pretty disconcerted by how different this manhattan is from the one you've come to know and love. In Spider-Man 2, I could fairly competently get a map and go to a specific place. And it wouldn't be exact, but it's like you could find the Ground Zero. You could find the Empire State Building. You could find the Statue of Liberty, that kind of thing. That is not the case. There is the least inspiring uh time square ever though it's like three billboards time square i don't even have a naked cowboy um so so that that part is kind of underwhelming um

the combat is lifted basically from uh it's it's very similar to what you saw in the arkham games uh sort of flowing combat system trying to keep your combo up uh you get a visual indicator when you need to dodge um and there's also some stealth so you if you get in a tight spot you can press a button and zip out automatically to go back to the ceiling and if they're if you're above an enemy unawares that you can zip down and stick them to the ceiling um the main problem with the game is it's twofold first off it relies too much on um on quick time events a lot of the boss encounters basically just boil down to getting in the right spot and then hammering on the x button or the b button or whatever um and that that is not as big of a problem when you're just doing that in a boss fight because you're won over by

the the scale and spectacle of the boss fights but when you're in a situation like uh in the open world uh you get into a car chase right so you got to chase down the enemy car and web up its windshield and then flip it into a giant web that you made, which sounds cool and is cool. And to do this, you have to zip to the top of the enemy car. You hammer on B to spray webs all over the windshield. And then when you get the visual indicator, you press Y to dodge the shotgun shells, and then you go back to webbing. That's fine, except you do that in

every single mission in the exact same way every single time no variation even the cars look exactly the same um and there's little things like that to where they don't it just betrays like the basic rules of game design right like? Like you can, there are infected citizens. The story revolves around a mutation, basically, that is turning, is mixing up animal and human DNA, which gives a pretty plausible excuse for why you see enemies like Rhino or Scorpion or what have you. But you can pick up, you find citizens that are infected

by this virus and you got to take them to a hospital so like if you find a citizen you press you know why to pick them up then you swing to the hospital and then you drop them off and there's no timer on it there's no like penalty for jostling them too much there's no i mean there's nothing it's the only way once you pick them up, the only way that situation is going to resolve is in success, is with you successfully training them. Unless you throw them into the river, right? No, can't drop them.

No, doesn't work like that. Can't drop them, can't do anything. What if you jump into the river? You swing them to the... You hop right back out with them on your back. You swing them to the hospital, you drop them off, that's it. It sounds like pocket planes to me. Yeah i mean it basically some of those open world things are like pocket

if spider-man was a was an airplane holy binox are you listening um so so the open world stuff they kind of fell down on it it honestly reminds me a lot of Spider-Man 2, where, yeah, you nailed the feeling of it, and I'll save you guys my diversion on the evolution of web swinging, but it feels pretty good. They didn't build a great game around that. Well, you could fail. You could fail. I failed so many balloon-catching missions,

more than I could ever count. Oh, my God. They I failed so many balloon-catching missions, more than I could ever count. Oh, my God. They don't have any balloon-catching satellites. You would say the game is not very good. The experience is very good. How much of the game takes place in the open world? The horrible open world that you just described. It's not a horrible open world.

It sounds like a nightmare. And all the missions, every mission in the game takes place indoors. So there's not – it's not a situation where the open world would bother you one way or the other. And the missions – many of the missions are actually quite good. There's a – well, I don't want to spoil it. Is there one in a submarine? In a submarine? No, sadly. That would be be pretty cool there's some of the sewers surprise some prison is there one where the where spider-man gets hit by a symbiotic suit and he turns into an airplane no that would be

sweet though there is one thing that i didn't have room for my review that i want to talk about that kind of bothered me um the in the very first mission you're breaking um a character out from a mental institution and because of a guard trying to taser you all the mental patients are released uh and spider-man already like wails on a few of them in the asylum which is kind of jacked but then they're spread out all over town so the rest of time you're playing um they're spread out all over town. So the rest of the time you're playing, you're finding these escaped mental patients, and they're always doing something like humping a tree or something terrible like that. And then they say these horrible things like,

I just made a boom boom in my pants and things like that. Did Ronald Reagan write this game? It's horrifically offensive to the mentally impaired community. I don't really know what they're thinking with that. But anyway, I'm hating Spider-Man. It shows a lot of really good promise. It's just a shame that, I mean, at a certain level with licensed games, like at a certain level,

games are a business, right? And at a certain point, you get diminishing returns from trying to perfect the game experience versus how many people are just going to buy it because it's Spider-Man, there's a movie out, and they want the game of the movie.

That's kind of a shame. That's a really cynical way, yeah. It's a cynical way to have to look at it. I know it's spider-man there's a movie out they want the game of the movie that's a really cynical yeah it's a cynical way to have to look at it i know it's cynical but it's also pretty pragmatic right i mean at some point it's like why did you guys work so hard on making so many good things in this game when that that i mean but you know you see it disproved right with with a game like arkham asylum they've got a cottage industry that's completely divorced from films or comics or anything which they built just by working on these really good games i wish that but the fact that it's a licensed game isn't isn't necessarily what makes it a good or bad game like they had this they had more time to work on this one than any other spider-man game they've done right b-, it had the longest development time, and also their third stab at it.

Like, it should be super on point by this point. Yeah, you'd think. For whatever it's worth, and again, this isn't like a defense because all this makes very little difference when you're the one shelling out your 60 bucks, but this team is actually completely separate from the Edge of of time team that's fine that means they had even more time to work on it and more people to work on it because they

weren't being side sidelined by edge of time they had double the time to work on it yeah i mean it and it is largely pretty good it's just i don't understand why these developers feel like they have to reinvent the wheel like if you went back and played what Shabba Games did in Web of Shadows, or hell, even what Treyarch did in Spider-Man 2, it's like, okay, we got a really good start here. Let's just build from this. I don't know why everybody has to reinvent the wheel. Because they start themselves at such a detriment

by having to figure out all these mechanics again. They've already been done really well. Like, I don't know. Okay, so we're going to get to deciding the winner, not that it's going to be much of a decision. But before we do that, I'm going to talk about what I am bringing to the table. Because last week, Justin, you talked about what was so bad that you couldn't bring and i think it's good that we uh have a little bit of time to talk about a game that's

either horrible even though we've already done that twice um or talking about something that maybe is just outside the periphery of our rules uh call of duty uh Warfare 3 DLC. I finally went and downloaded, what, how many pieces of it is there? Fifteen. Fresh like 15. Fifteen new maps? Seriously? Well, it's not all new maps. It's like some of it's Spec Ops maps.

Yeah, but still. It's a staggering amount of content. Yeah, and this is halfway. We're at about, what, I guess maybe two-thirds of the way through Elite for the year. I think it's done, actually. Is it done? I don't know how many more they're doing yeah i i don't know i should i'm gonna do some research while you're talking um but what was crazy is you can get that now if you want both the two content packs on xbox it is the same price uh as the close quarters dlc for battlefield 3 which is that's that's bananas yeah it boggles the mind you 15 i mean it is a ton this is if you are not an elite because if

you're an elite subscriber no no if this is if you're not elite if you're elite you've already got it uh if you're not an elite subscriber you can buy the two pieces for the price of close quarters. And it is good. And what I like about the DLC for Call of Duty games is, for better or worse, for some people, they bring in other developers to do them. I know Raven is involved, and I'm sure there might be another studio or two who's lending a helping hand in completing these. And because of that, the maps feel different in a lot of ways than what is available on the disc.

So you're not just getting more of what is available, you're kind of getting something that is different and kind of feels like it belongs to whichever studio made it. There's one map that is connected. It's like, I don't know if it's Croatia. It's somewhere in Europe, and it's like a medieval town, if it's croatia it's somewhere uh in europe uh and it's like a medieval town and it has two bridges that go across it no it's it's a it's a um like a monk sanctuary i don't know how you got croatia it's basically like a like on top of a mountain yeah

and what's so awesome about that is you'll have these firefights and there actually becomes points where you'll get caught in the middle of this and you can try to escape and you'll have these firefights, and there actually becomes points where you'll get caught in the middle of this, and you can try to escape, and you'll just jump to your death. The layouts are just really bizarre like that. They do a lot of really interesting things that I didn't really get from Modern Warfare 3. Now, tell me this, because I love Call of Duty games. I will get super into them for the first month after they come out i have found them nearly impossible to get back into after i take some time off because that

community develops almost as a singular organism where all of them are all getting so good together that if you get out of the stream if you will yeah there's there's absolutely no way to get back in i had the same fear as long as you're not worried about your kill death ratio i don't give a about that i just want to be able to get like fun like i just want to be able to get one kill without being just massacred by the people who hang on are like the hardcore so like they're not only going to be much better than i am they're also going to be terrible terrible human beings i took a i took a um probably a three month break and was able to jump in but i'm already really boss at call of duty so maybe that was it um what i will say

about the community is that yeah i can't stand listening to people talk so i just set my xbox settings to block any voice chat with people that aren't friends of me mine and that sort of solves the problem and in terms of like them being too good at it which i think is your concern that's not the case the the matchmaking is so good that i almost wonder if i mean there are so many people playing this game that new people are downloading those maps every day and i i wouldn't be surprised if matchmaking is just putting you at people who are new to the maps i have never even ground i would never characterize my experience with call of duty matchmaking as as fair and balanced especially as time goes on whenever i try to get into like a match of you know black ops or modern warfare 2 like yeah everyone would be quadruple prestige like murder machines and i would still be you know level 50 my first time through oh yeah i don't really think that's

a good indication though i think yeah i think i think maybe the matchmaking has just been fixed i think elite with all the stat tracking probably makes it easier for them to have better match making maybe not they have that data did you have did you do you have have better matchmaking. Nah, maybe not. They had that data before. Do you have trouble with matchmaking, Ross? No, because I'm only playing the best people because I'm the best. Oh my god, well I'm not the best, and I still have fun. Okay, I'll give you some tips.

I want to know whose game is the best. Wait one second, let me just say you were asking about elite content, so there's actually 15 pieces of content that have already been released. 22 were planned in total. Oh, my gosh. So we are two-thirds of the way through.

Yeah, it's pretty crazy. Also, I checked, and Cthulhu is on iPad. So that's available for you. There's your updates. Guys, do you want to know who the winner is? Because I just decided. Actually, you know what? Let's debate.

I would love to see some people try to argue in the case of their games here. How about Russ? How about you go first? I am back to talk about why Dawnguard should be picked. It should not be picked. But I do have a question for Griffin. Griffin, is Slowpoke in your game? Can we ban him from the podcast for like a week?

Like he's going to keep doing like this unless we find some sort of punitive measure. And it should be like a quarter jar where every time he does a dumb voice, we have to get a quarter. This should be like a quarter jar, where every time he does a dumb voice, we have to get a quarter. The only thing I can think that he would find punishing is to have his method of distributing his special brand of dumb to the world. I will just do it to people on the street. Okay. I know you will. That's why you're my favorite.

No, Slowpoke's not my game. It's not a Pokemon game okay okay justin go ahead um spider-man is uh it looks amazing and it really can give you the feel of being a a superhero uh and it's fun to swing around the town and spider-man is back baby come take a swing go ahead griffin this is all yours victory trot squids wild west is the best ipad game i've i've ever played in my long and illustrious history of talking about ipad games these past two weeks and uh it's got it's got gameplay that's perfect for a touchscreen platform but the depth of a of a true rpg and the tactics of a strategy game and the squids of the ocean well good enough for me even even with that very blank victory trot you uh you win griffin

victory trot you uh you win griffin squids wild west is out yeah and what's my first one since worst uh group of games no i think on on besties i haven't been this excited about a game as i am about squids wild west and in quite some time you guys play it guys play it, and I want you all to come back next week because it's not going to beat Gravity Rush this week because y'all are my haters, but my haters are my motivators. So I want all three of y'all to play it and then come back, and then we'll reconvene this congressional session. Speaking of reconvening, I played the act, and it's great. We talked about it last week.

It was our winner last week, actually. actually just didn't beat out gravity rush gravity rush but uh the act is great if you haven't played it i'm really enjoying it recap remix so anyway that's been the besties are we are we agreed that no no no no no excuse me excuse me excuse me we have to decide if this is better if squid time is better than gravity rush um i i am in love with gravity rush no one's gonna convince me that a game about squids is better yeah you haven't played squids though no i and your your estilo is usually to to hate on a game and then go play it and come back the next week and then talk about how it gave you multiple powerful orgasms yeah that's usually my estilo i don't know what that word means but i'm just gonna go with it i'm using it correctly i think it's portuguese for style um it's good it's it's a good it's deep it's good it's satisfying it's rewarding multiple

powerful wait did you play gravity rush griffin uh anybody played both i played the demo okay It's deep. It's good. It's satisfying. It's rewarding. Multiple powerful orgasms. Did you play Gravity Rush, Griffin? I played the demo. Flying around is fun, but you know what else is fun? Marbles. Wait, I have an issue. One second. I was just looking up Squids Wild West, and I'm seeing that the squids are riding seahorses.

Yep. No, that does not happen in nature. You can shoot the squids onto seahorses, and then you can get extra shots. That is not nature. I watched Planet Earth, and there was never a moment where a squid rode a seahorse. I've walked on the face of the Earth my entire life, and I've never flown around in the air free of gravity's rain. Yeah, but that doesn't take place in Earth's ocean.

Also, you could ride those planes those vomit comet planes and you get to float around so realistic okay squids hold on squids like to run into each other like my f**k it i got nothing did you write that down yeah gravity rush reign supreme. Reign Supreme. So this has been our show, The Besties, where the best friends pick the best games. We hope you join us again next Friday to discuss our games. Are you drunk?

I'm having a stroke. We hope you'll join us again next week on Friday when we'll talk about a whole new crop of games. Does anybody have any idea what they're going to be bringing? Next week, oh man. You guys are going to get crushed. What's coming next week? I'm probably going to try to bring the next Walking Dead episode. Oh, no, next week is going to be good.

What's next week? Spelunky. Oh, yeah. Yeah, get ready for them beat down. All right, great. Well, make sure you join us for that because you won't want to miss it. You know what my game of next week is going to be? The game I build.

The game I make for myself. My game is Color Swap, where you click a gray box and it turns pink. My game is dice. Click it again, nothing happens. My name is dice. My game is dice. You roll it and it will be one, two, six. You make that joke and you just brought marbles.

And it will be one, two, six. You make that joke and you just brought marbles. I brought a deep tactical marbles tactical RPG experience with squids. Thank you for joining us this week. Oh, Christ. Goodbye. Make sure you join us at theverge.com forward slash gaming to read all of our stuff. It's much better than this.

And subscribe to the Besties on iTunes and write a review there. A nice one, i know we don't deserve it but anyway that's our show and we hope you loved it make sure to join us again for the best because shouldn't the world's best friends choose the world's best games besties