This week was another excellent week for gaming videos. We saw new episodes of existing series and new series just starting. Every sub-genre from Let’s Plays to eSports had something new and exciting to offer. Here are a few of our favorites from last week and a bit about the channels that created them.
kNIGHTWING01 – Retro Mondays: DOUBLE DRAGON (PSX) Review
kNIGHTWING01 seems to be the anchor channel bringing together content from a number of Kwing channels. The channel is very diverse, featuring reviews, gaming news, playthroughs, co-op videos with Kwing’s wife (the aptly named Kwife) and more.
Though plenty of Let’s Players and other gaming video creators have employed multiple channels to focus on varying gaming video types, I’ve never seen it used as prolifically as with Kwing. From a content perspective, his focus is on his Let’s Play channel, kwingsletsplays, which he updates consistently with new content.
In this video, Kwing is reviving one of his review series: Retro Mondays. As with much of Kwing’s content, Retro Mondays has traditionally had its own channel. However, the latest video on that channel was posted on April 15, 2013.
After a nine month absence, Kwing has decided to bring the series back. I, for one, am glad he did. I will admit that I am new to the series, having never seen an episode before this one, but if every episode is as well put together as the header video of this article, I may spend significant time combing through the Retro Monday’s “Video” tab.
In this episode, Kwing reviews Double Dragon for the Playstation. The review is clearly well researched, a testament to Kwing’s attention to detail. The background information is excellent, with clips of the Double Dragon movie and other iterations of the game. It also includes information about the various developers involved in the Double Dragon series over the years, which is an excellent touch.
Kwing does not hold back, giving his honest opinion of the game with all its flaws and successes. Kwing’s delivery is strong, with good pacing and great writing, if perhaps a bit stiff at times. But overall, if all Retro Mondays reviews are as good as this one, the series is definitely worth watching.
Continue? – El Viento (GEN)
Continue? is easily one of the most interesting gaming-related channels on YouTube and honestly could be featured here every week. Continue? is hosted by Paul, Nick, and Josh, and is dedicated to retro games. The games are recommended by fans, and each recommender is mentioned by name at the beginning of the video. The opening is especially interesting–not just for the excellent theme animations, but because each video contains at least a minute or so of the hosts sitting on a couch and riffing on the game, trash talking each other, and generally having an excellent time.
One my favorite quirks of the show is their tendency to not only use pop culture references (often from the 90’s and early 2000’s), but also to throw in some visual or music addition to highlight the reference. I think one of the reasons these little additions work so well is that they are consistently done in such a way that they never seem to interfere with the continuity of the video. Rather, they provide a humorous interlude that plays to overall witty humor of the series. At the end of each video, the guys decide whether each game is worth continuing or not continuing and often the vote is not unanimous.
This video was posted last Wednesday and is of a game called El Viento. Continue’s own description of the game is much better than anything I could come up with:
“The boys travel back to the Depression as a boomerang throwing Ribbon Dancer to fight the mafia and thwart their evil plans to resurrect an ancient demon.”
An already ridiculous game paired with the excellent witty banter of Paul, Nick, and Josh, creates a truly hilarious experience not to be missed. A word of warning: the guys are not afraid to use profanity, so the video is probably not safe for work.
MrBossFTW – GTA 5: Batman Dark Knight Joker Mod – The Joker Plays Grand Theft Auto 5!
Our final video today comes from MrBossFTW, a channel that, for the moment, seems primarily focused on GTA 5, though he does include a few videos of other games here and there.
My favorite thing about MrBossFTW is his well polished commentary, which never sounds scripted, but is always well put together. I would guess that he probably rehearses his comments prior to each video, or uses multiple takes, but the commentary never seems stiff or forced–meaning that this might simply be a matter of natural talent. I would be interested to see him do longer videos or maybe a full Let’s Play, but thus far I haven’t run across anything featuring his commentary for more than a few minutes.
That being said, the reason I included this video this week is because of the subject. There are so many GTA 5 videos on YouTube right now that it is increasingly difficult to find one that provides anything truly interesting. A bit of searching will reveal some pretty creative and humorous mini-games and glitches, such as this game of Frogger, which nearly made this list. But when the Joker shows up on the streets, everyone takes notice. So for all the fans of GTA and The Dark Knight, here is a video highlighting an upcoming mod that will allow you to bring both worlds together.
Those are just a few of GameWisp’s favorite gaming videos of the last week. If you liked the videos, make sure you check out their channels, subscribe, and like everything.
What were some of your favorites from last week? Comment and let us know who you are watching and what videos we need to check out. As always, stay tuned for more great videos of the week coming next Monday.
Published: Jan 27, 2014 03:52 am