Welcome to my official return to the CBlogs after a 2 month or so vacation. Don’t worry, as the IRCartel can verify, I wasn’t very far away.

Today I’ve got a 3 part blog for you. I’m going to tell you about 2 games that you may not have ever played and will probably not get a chance to. However I’m going to tell you how you can get a hold of these games (as well as quite a few others you may not have known about)

PART 1 : Dark Mist for PSN



Dark Mist is an action-adventure shooter of sorts. In the original download game, you play as the warrior of light, Artemis who is the guardian of a shrine that has now been run over by evil. The game is divided into different levels. The goal of each level is to make it from start to end while elimination the enemy captains on each stage, locating keys, and powering up your special attacks. The game is made by Game Republic, the makers of Folklore. And it’s a pretty damn good game you may not get a chance to play.



Let me explain it for you in an easier way. Think Geometry Wars meets the original Legend of Zelda (or Smash TV). The game is played from an overhead view and each level is actually a dungeon. In the lower right you’ll get a map that allows you to see where you are and where you’ve been., hence the Zelda feel to it. The reason for the Geometry Wars reference is due to multiple control schemes, but the easiest and most intuitive is the twin stick shooter with bombs being mapped to one button and special attacks mapped to R1.

You start with three stars, or life. Each time you’re hit you lose one. Some enemies drop hearts. You can also find them in certain rooms usually before the bosses. Diamonds up your score, because at heart this game is also for getting on the leaderboards, specifically the highest score in the shortest time. Keys will allow you to go through the gates that block your way. And finally moons that enemies drop when defeated act as EXP for each of your three special weapons.

Here's a video of the opening tutorial level (you can see the Dark Mist in action here)


So using the twin stick style you run and gun your way through the rooms. You can use your special attack at any time, but you then have to wait for it to recharge. By getting EXP you can actually up the number of times you can do it before having to wait to recharge. Bombs don’t refill however til the next stage, so you want to keep a close eye on those.

Also of note is the SIXAXIS usage. If enemies cling to you (the first ones you fight love to do this) they slow you down which makes you target practice for the enemies that do shoot back. Shaking the controller will shake them off of you allowing you to move at full speed again.

Shaking the controller has one more use. The title of the game is Dark Mist, and well that comes into play. In the rooms a dark purple mist is clouding the screen. Enemies can easily hide in there and shoot at you. It can also cover pits in the ground which you can fall into. By shaking the controller, Artemis will spin and blow away some of the mist. If you walk into the mist, you don’t get hurt but rather the entire screen becomes slightly darkened so that you have a harder time seeing what you are doing. Don’t let the mist take over the whole screen or I guarantee you won’t get out of the room without getting hurt.

Graphically the game is beautiful. The levels look like a beautiful shrine which has been infested by evil. The mist effects are done very well and each special attack animates in a different way. The music is quite catchy as well. Bosses are pretty impressive, taking up most of the screen in some encounters. Sadly I couldn't find any videos of boss fights.

So the game is pretty simplistic, and the levels can go by quickly. Things get harder after the first boss as they introduce enemies who shoot back, pitfalls, and more rooms clouded in mist. But that isn’t all.

They’ve released an expansion to the game already titled “Depths of Darkness” which doubles the amount of levels in the game, adds 3 new characters to choose from each with their own special attacks, adds online and offline battle mode play for four people and a few other modes.

So now that I’ve given you the basis of the game, wouldn’t you like to play it as well? Japan and Europe have already gotten the game, and there is a full English version of it already. So it’s just a matter of time until the game comes to the US PSN store right?

Wrong. It seems that SCEA doesn’t want to bring it over even with a full English version already done. Europe got the game on May 15th, and in the official Playstation Blog that day after being asked when the US would get it, the answer was posted in comment #6:

“I’m Ro and I manage the PS Store schedule for SCEA. At this time, there are no plans to release this title on our store.”

So there you go. No chance in hell more than likely. So guess what? Later today I’m going to show you that you can get a hold of this game very easily for about $11 (that includes the expansion!) as well as quite a few others. Be back soon.