My RETROspective | Pac-Man

Hi all this is Phil TheIssuesGuy from Phil's Recap and Review part of the ESH family. Although my focus on my site is television and film, gaming is something that's hugely important to me, and a cornerstone of my identity. Video games were so important at such an early age, partially because I was prescribed them by a Doctor when I was young. Let me explain, but first a little history.

The game that got me into gaming was the game that initially got everybody into gaming: Pong. Yes, I'm that old. My RETROspective On Pong I was a junior in high school in 1973 when I first saw that yellow, stand-up

My RETROspective

Each and every person who loves video games had a moment when they were growing up. That moment when something clicked and you realized that you were going to have a lifetime love affair with video games.

What makes for a truly memorable video game? To me, it's a game that you continue playing over and over and always find something new and exciting about it.

The game that made me a gamer is actually not the first game that I ever played. As a kid, I played various games when someone else had a system, but I never really wanted a system of my own. I wasn't someone who was dying to play a game at an arcade. Going to an arcade was cool, but I didn’t seek out certain games on purpose.

When I played my first level of Bloxtivity, I thought of Portal. I don't want to get your hopes up, because this is not the next Portal. Still, it's hard not to think of the Valve classic when you are put into a room you have to puzzle your way out of. That's the story- what little story there is, to Bloxtivity.  In Bloxtivity, you are a cute little robot who has escaped being scrapped, and you've taken a device that will help you to survive. Unfortunately, the story is told in static pictures, if you choose the Story menu option. A cut scene would've been neat.

Bloxtivity has really simple mechanics. In each level, you must position blocks onto their corresponding colors, using the displacement device you've taken. You have the ability to push or pull blocks with a beam of energy. As you progress, the levels become more complex. There are obstacles in your way. There are teleporters. Black blocks cannot be moved. Then there are actual moving enemies. A feature I found very useful as I played was one I ignored early on; the ability to change camera angles. Yes, Bloxtivity is a first/third person/top-down hybrid! The game was tougher when I thought I was just stuck in first person, with no way to survey the land. 55 Revolver, developer of Bloxtivity, saved me a ton of headache with that design choice.

Starting today, ElectricSistaHood is bringing you the first look at the newest video games, anime and comic books. Every Sunday, we'll compile news (and pics) of some of the newest stuff out there and give you a frESHlook at it – and I'll let you know what I think of them too.

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