PepsimanVsJoe's videogame blog

Talking about games on my The-Nextlevel blog

2011-09-05T00:20:00.003-04:00

If you go to The-Nextlevel you can check out my blog. So far I've given my thoughts on Mindjack and Dante's Inferno. Maybe I'll talk about Uncharted 2 next...who knows?

Yes I know I have a perfectly good blog here. Don't ask why, just do it.

Sometimes I feel like I'm just gonna crash.

2011-07-30T01:49:00.002-04:00

Lately I just don't know what I'm doing anymore.

Writing is really starting to wear down on me.

Trying something new - Youtube?

2011-07-25T04:37:00.003-04:00

I'm working with a local buddy known as Hollowman. If things go well we're going to be doing a number of videos covering all sorts of games.

This is a preview video. I doubt the few people that visit this blog have much of an interest in Call of Duty: Black Ops but it's definitely a start. Before long you'll be able to hear my voice and laugh at its awfulness so look forward to that. We'll be doing dual-commentary vids, looks at Xbox Live Indie Games, forgotten titles, couch-coop games, and generally just trying to have a bit of fun.

Reviews that I have done for The-NextLevel

2011-06-24T00:31:00.003-04:00

The gaming website The-Nextlevel.com is another site that I regularly write for.

Playstation Family

Final Fantasy 4: The Complete Collection
Dynasty Warriors 7
Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 3
Yakuza 4
Wizardry: Labyrinth of Lost Souls

Xbox Home

Deathsmiles 2 2X or IIX
Brink
Divinity 2: The Dragon Knight Saga
Bastion

New Column: XBLIG weekly round-up

2011-06-07T12:43:00.002-04:00

Over at Extraguy I've started the first of hopefully many weekly looks at the latest Xbox Live Indie Game releases.

You can check it out over here if you like. Also I just finished writing up a review for Deathsmiles 2 so expect that very soon.

Reviews that I have written for Pwnem.com

2011-06-02T00:53:00.003-04:00

Just as the title says folks.

Xbox Live Arcade

Bangai-O HD: Missile Fury
Strania
Rush'N Attack: Ex-Patriot
TNT Racers
Stacking
Hard Corps: Uprising
Boulder Dash-XL
HALF MINUTE HERO: Super Mega Neo Climax edition

Xbox Live Indies

Ballistic
Corrupted
Solar Struggle: Survival

Reviews that I have done for Extraguy

2011-05-31T01:56:00.010-04:00

For the sake of convenience here are links to some of the reviews I have written for the indie/downloadable gaming site Extraguy.

Consider following the site because I can't keep track of everything I write for them on my own. Sheesh Loouieesh

Xbox Live Arcade / Xbox Live Indie Games

Raventhorne
Lair of The Evildoer
Adventures of Shuggy
Monsters in Neon Space
Lair of the Evildoer
Battle For Venga Islands
Bumblepig
Rushing Punch
Mr. Gravity
Trouble Witches Neo
Nin2 Jump
Mimi In the Sky
Wizard's Keep
Rotor
Defy Gravity
Bird Assassin
Battle High: San Bruno
Antipole
Cthulhu Saves The World
Sword and Hammer
Ugly Americans

Playstation Network

Moon Diver
Legend of Mana
Ridge Racer Type 4
Vagrant Story
Paper Wars: Cannon Fodder

I'm also running a weekly column for covering XBLIG releases. Check it out:

Week 1, June 2011
Week 2, June 2011
Week 3, June 2011

XBLIG Look - Battle for Venga Islands

2011-05-27T13:58:00.001-04:00

Really little else for me to talk about.
Check out the review over here.

XBLIG Look - Bumblepig

2011-05-25T15:54:00.001-04:00

Another indie game gets reviewed by your favorite reviewer.
This time it's Bumblepig.

Read more about it here.

PSP Look - Final Fantasy 4: Complete Collection

2011-05-25T00:17:00.001-04:00

Hello everybody!
Time for another one of those crazy reviews!
This time around it's FF4 Complete Collection for the PSP. Read what I think over here.

XBLIG Look - RUSHING PUNCH!!!!

2011-05-23T02:32:00.002-04:00

This is incredible!
The ultimate game has now gotten the ultimate review.
Read more about this amazing piece of software over here.

XBLIG Look - Mr. Gravity

2011-05-19T00:01:00.001-04:00

Jeeze Louise does it ever stop?

Here's a review of Mr. Gravity, a maze/puzzle game for the Xbox indie service.

X360 Look - Brink

2011-05-18T00:18:00.002-04:00

Yep I'm back once again with another review.

Read my final word on Brink over here.

XBLA Look - Bangai-O: Missile Fury

2011-05-15T00:43:00.002-04:00

Yep I can't stop reviewing games for some crazy reason.
This time around it's Treasure's latest, Bangai-O: Missile Fury.

Read more about it over here.

I think I'll have to organize all of the reviews I have written for other sites sometime.

XBLA Look - Trouble Witches Neo

2011-05-10T11:08:00.001-04:00

I did another review. This time it's Trouble Witches Neo.

Read more about it over here.

GUARDIAN HEROES

2011-05-06T02:32:00.002-04:00

Guardian Heroes
Guardian Heroes
Guardian Heroes
Guardian Heroes
Guardian Heroes
Guardian Heroes
Guardian Heroes
Guardian Heroes
Guardian Heroes
Guardian Heroes
Guardian Heroes
Guardian Heroes
Guardian Heroes

YES PLEASE!
THANK YOU!

XBLA Look - Nin2 Jump

2011-04-29T15:48:00.001-04:00

Keeping busy with another review.
This time around it's the recently-released platformer by Cave.
Read about it over here.

Lady Sword translation patch has been out for awhile.

2011-04-29T13:51:00.004-04:00

I never keep up with these things it seems.
If you have a taste for the completely surreal and can't get enough grotesque floating heads in your life then consider pursuing this game.

You can read more about the patch over here.

XBLA Look - Strania: The Stella Machina

2011-04-26T10:57:00.002-04:00

Another XBLA game just got reviewed by your favorite reviewer.
Check it out over here.

XBLA / PSN look - Moon Diver

2011-04-21T00:14:00.001-04:00

Another review! This time it's the recent and upcoming action-platformer Moon Diver. Read more about it over here.

X360 Look - Divinity 2: Dragon Knight Saga

2011-04-20T01:20:00.003-04:00

Hello Super friends! Here's my latest review for the recently-released action-RPG Divinity 2: Dragon Knight Saga.

Expect reviews of Strania and Moon Diver hopefully soon.

Want to see a new review? Request it.

2011-04-16T11:43:00.005-04:00

I'll be honest here. I don't have nearly as much time for this blog as I used to. Currently I'm writing reviews for a handful of other websites (my latest can be found right here) and when my blog averages less than five visits a day the incentive to continue writing for it just isn't there. At the moment I'm working on Divinity 2: The Dragon Knight Saga as well as Strania and I'm sure by the time I'm done with those I'll have a couple other games that must be reviewed.

So while it means I have to be "that guy" I have a proposition. The title pretty much explains the gist of it but I'll go into more detail. If there's an interest in a particular game or heck even any interest at all I'll consider putting some effort into playing and reviewing the requested games. It gives me the feeling that I've been assigned a review and I'll put more of an effort into getting around to it. As it stands however if I don't get requests then the only updates this blog will be getting are whenever I finish reviews for other websites. So if you have any requests, comments, or anything else of the sort then shoot an email to PepsimanVsJoe@hotmail.com.

Here are the games that are up for a possible review:

Grandia Extreme
The Red Star
Bujingai: The Forbidden City
Neo Contra
KUON
Drakengard 2
Echo Night Beyond
Megaman 9
Fatal Frame 2
Deathsmiles
Guwange
Muchi Muchi Pork/Pink Sweets doublepack
Dead Rising 2
Risen
Might & Magic 7
Littlebigplanet 2
Metal Gear Ac!d 2
Alpha Protocol
Way of the Samurai 2
Ys 7
Loco Roco 2
Ridge Racer 2 (PSP)
Star Ocean: Second Evolution
Valkyrie Profile
Space Invaders Extreme 2
Grandia 1
Final Fantasy 9
Adventures of Little Ralph
Vanquish
Transformers: War for Cybertron
Majin: The Forsaken Kingdom

Okay...MAYBE I'll be in condition to write reviews again soon.

2011-04-09T00:57:00.003-04:00

Fact of the matter is I've been a mess these past few days.
If you haven't already you should probably check out my review of Dynasty Warriors 7 because as of this writing at least 42 people like it. After that though it has been a slump...a very nasty slump. Currently the only thing holding me together to write this update is a cocktail of every sort of cough remedy I can purchase without a prescription. Obviously none of them work but they have made me a bit loopy which is better than nothing I suppose.

In any case I turn the big three zero in a few days and uh...strike that. Actually I'm turning twenty-nine for the second time in a few days. The big thing now is getting healthy and I want to ditch this cough and maybe work up a nice bod so I can throw on a luchadore mask, pretend I'm El Blaze from Virtua Fighter 5, and go around telling everyone my body is an unstoppable...weapon! Hopefully along the way I'll write some great reviews.

But seriously this cough has been the WORST. It's one thing to have a cough but when you cough every 30 seconds for the entire day you'll hardly be able to put together a coherent thought. This has delayed reviews and made me pretty dang miserable. The last thing I need is to be miserable and unable to hold a thought together for a review.

So wish me the best and I'll see what I can do about getting back on track.

Streets of Rage Remake is out

2011-04-04T03:37:00.001-04:00

It's been a long long time but the final version of Streets of Rage Remake is out. Read more about it here and for crying out loud download it. You will not be disappointed in the slightest I assure you.

PS3 Look - Yakuza 4

2011-03-24T00:54:00.002-04:00

This time around you gotta go to the latest site I write for...
The Next Level.

Lemme know what you think.

PSP Look - Ys: The Oath In Felghana

2011-03-15T00:07:00.004-04:00

The Ys series has seen a little bit of a resurgence as of late thanks to the efforts of Falcom, who saw it fit to release a handful of entries for the PSP, and XSEED a publisher who decided they were worth localizing so they'd see release in the West. Oath in Felghana is a re-imagining of the much-maligned Ys 3 and is considered one of the finest games in the series. Wanna know what I think? Well you can either read the review text or skip ahead to the score.

The Ys series may be a part of the action-rpg genre but for the most part grinding isn't necessary (and oft-times won't do any good). A trademark of this series however is that there's a lot of good stuff held back by story-related nonsense I wish I could just skip through entirely. First off we have Adol. His only notable attribute is that his fiery red hair makes him easy to spot in a crowd. This is also helpful when the crowd happens to be of the enemy variety. He is one of those mute protagonists who can only explain the current situation but never offers anything in the way of insight or commentary. The general conversing duties are left to Adol's best bud Dogi. I hate Dogi, that's all I'm going to say about him. This unlikely duo travels the world seeking new adventures. Adol does all of the fighting while Dogi does his best to make every conversation as awkward as possible.

The Oath in Felghana likely has to do with some promise made between two people really close to each other but if you manage to care one iota about any of the going-ons in this game I don't really know what to say. The characters Adol meets in this journey are grating and forgettable, everything Dogi says makes me want to swallow bile, and otherwise it's the most generic tale of good, evil, and all of the people who get caught in the middle. This was more tolerable in the 80s because games didn't have access to fully-voiced cutscenes and hundreds of dialogue boxes to sit through but thanks to the wonders of technology it feels like a third of this game is spent listening to babbling, dribbling, and...look...I can't take it anymore...I'm moving on.

The real reason the Ys series has been so successful is that they are good action-RPGs. Adol is something akin to a buzz-saw that has been sent on fire. He does not walk up to an enemy and attack, he runs through them, his sword digging through the flesh of his foes with such ferocity they explode into bits and pieces. This makes for some excellent pacing as Adol is so quick and efficient that he can cut through entire dungeons in minutes and bosses can't stand his neigh-unrelenting assault for very long. It also helps that for at least this entry Adol has a handful of neat tools he can work with to make for a pretty swell action game.

Aside from basic maneuverability tools like a double-jump Adol can also equip one of three different bracelets. These bracelets offer some effective spells that serve multiple purposes. The fireballs light torches about as well as they light up distant enemies, the tornado allows Adol to hover as well as get multiple hits on airborne foes, and the charge breaks down weakened walls and serves a more important purpose as a "parry". This is worthy of special mention as Adol can't block so any ability that can allow him to avoid attacks is very important. Aside from upgrades to equipment and some other choice items this is all Adol is going to get for his adventure. Actually strike that his most important ability is his boost maneuver. When a special meter fills up Adol can really do some damage and take half damage in return. As a bonus if a second meter is unlocked and then filled Adol will even regain lost health for the duration of the effect.

Adversity in this game hits almost as hard as Adol. I went with the normal difficulty and it was a decent enough challenge. The bosses in particular tend to be very rough as they can destroy Adol in a few hits. Winning is all about learning patterns and striking when the opportunity presents itself, same as any other game really. It's rather endearing in that unlike more modern action games, Adol doesn't have some complicated move-set and several-dozen abilities to help him kill a boss. In fact even with all of the extra buttons that can be pressed Oath's battles aren't that far removed from the earliest Ys games, which didn't involve much more than making sure that Adol was in the right position to attack without taking damage.

Another thing to keep in mind is that every enemy flashes before they attack. This is very important because the graphic-design for this game isn't good. All of the objects in the game world are rather tiny while the dithering and framerate produce an effect that is nothing close to desirable. It gets to the point sometimes where I figure as long as it moves I can kill it. At least non-killable moving objects like platforms and traps are easily visible, with some of the non-boss monsters I can't tell what they're supposed to be. The dungeons fare much better in this regard and there's a nice bit of variety in all of them. They all tend to lean a bit heavy on the platformer-aspects however so be wary of that.

Despite the presence of optional quests and side-areas Oath in Felghana is a very short game. Less than ten hours to complete the entire game is expected although that isn't factoring time spent beating the game on every difficulty or mastering the time-attack. One handy feature that comes with beating the game is a New Game +. I gotta admit though it's rather questionable that I'm allowed to take my beefy Adol from the last game and have him wreck harder difficulties. Still there is always the Inferno setting, which probably accounts for higher-level Adols.

That's the extent of the game really. It's nothing exceptional, the characters and storyline are absolute drek, and while the rest of the game is good to great it still has its flaws. Give this game a look if you like but don't sweat it if you never get around to playing it.

Game Rating - 3.5 stars out of 5. I did not take off any star for the terrible story.

My Rating - 3 stars out of 5. Okay maybe I took one half-star away from this score due to the story. All of the characters being unlikeable didn't help matters.

EDIT: My gosh I got Aksys and XSEED mixed up. I'm such a dolt.

PS3 Look - Yakuza 3

2011-03-06T22:56:00.004-05:00

With the long-awaited Yakuza 4 mere weeks away I figure it's the best time to give the previous game a look. The Yakuza series is utterly fascinating in how it combines beatemup action, mini-games, Japanese culture, and a slight touch of absurdity. In a way it's the kind of vacation we can only dream of, seeing as how the realities and limitations of life usually prevent us from getting paid to throw bicycles at street punks.

Kazuma Kiryu just might be considered the ultimate Japanese male role-model. He's polite, respectful of others, trusting to a fault, honorable, and he beds more women than James Bond. Kazuma is an ex-Yakuza of the Tojo Clan nick-named "The Dragon of Dojima" and only wants to be left alone to tend to his orphanage and his adopted daughter Haruka. Kazuma probably should have kept up with his literature because if the Godfather taught us anything it is that the past can not be left behind. Daigo Dojima, the sixth chairman of the Tojo clan, and Shigeru Nakahara, the owner of the land the Kazuma's Orphanage rests upon, have both been shot by a mysterious assailant. Kiryu is left with little choice but to return to Kamurocho, essentially a fictional version of Tokyo's red-light district, in the hopes of setting things right.

There's no rush or anything it seems because Kazuma is likely to become distracted by all of the activities he can partake in. It's kind of like Shenmue where Ryo Hazuki is so driven to avenge his father's murder that he sits around playing games at the local arcade for several days straight. Kazuma still plays the occasional arcade game but he also engages in more adult-oriented activities like karaoke, dating, and golf. His specialty however is his ruthless fighting style and that gets put to work constantly. Walking down the street is a surefire way to get into trouble with street punks and even minor Yakuza fellows. They'll make up whatever excuse necessary to pick a fight but since Kazuma wins all the time it's just an easy way to collect money and experience.

There are also about a hundred or so side-missions that Kazuma can accept, which have him doing everything from helping locals with their shopping to beating people up to beating a lot of people up. I figure everyone doesn't look towards Kazuma for help with their taxes but really now it seems like every problem can be solved by punching enough faces. Dating is even worse as it usually works to be a pretty easy ride for Kazuma. I think in the Japanese version all of the women Kazuma can date work at hostess bars. These places are notorious for taking all of the customer's money just for the simple pleasure of talking to a pretty girl, let alone doing anything beyond that. In this version all Kazuma has to do is walk into the local burger shop and he'll meet somebody new. Dating isn't particularly difficult either as it's nearly impossible to screw up something as easy as "take her someplace that she'd enjoy." Kazuma doesn't say much of anything so it's not like there's a bunch of conversation choices the player could mistakes on. To top it all off it takes one or two dates before the woman reveals some life-changing problem that can only be solved by--you guessed it--beating people up. Thankfully unlike recent Bioware offerings we're spared the awkward PG-13 sex-scenes.

The fighting is the main draw of this game as it covers all of the elements of a great beatemup. Kazuma starts off with a pitiful array of moves but through upgrades he attains new methods of handling adversity. There are the simple but effective combos and the ability to pick up objects to use as makeshift weapons. All of these methods are just the lead-up to the dreaded heat actions. When Kazuma's body becomes surrounded by a blueish flame he's one triangle button-press away from ruining somebody's day. This aspect reminds me of Fist of the North Star except Kazuma doesn't share Kenshiro's penchant for making thugs explode with his finger. Surprisingly for a man who has a no-kill policy Kazuma has a nasty streak about him which leads to punks getting their faces smashed, their limbs broken, their body sliced up with a samurai sword, and seriously they even get shot. Kazuma will straight up grab a shotgun and shoot somebody point-blank in the chest. It must take a master of gun-control to do something like that without killing someone. For those gamers out there who don't mind side-quests of questionable usefulness there are tons of materials and other objects that can be used to build weapons. It's a nice idea except the weapons break after so many uses and must be repaired. Besides it flies in the face of the whole honor-shtick Kazuma has going for him. Defeating a bare-handed rival with some gold-plated fiery Masamune feels like the most hollow of victories.

The red-light district is home to all sorts of charming night-spots and it can help Kazuma with working out all of that aggression of his. Honestly I'm not a fan of most of the mini-games in Yakuza 3 because all I seem to accomplish in most of them is getting beaten by whoever I'm dating. I manage to pick up a spare in bowling and my date gets a strike. I can't play a game of pool without whoever I picked up at Super Burger running the table. Thank goodness none of the women show any interest in the batting cages, I can't fathom why completionists bother with mastering this nasty minigame. It's a shame Kazuma can't just beat up the owner of the bar until he gives him a perfect score in darts.

With all of the minigames Yakuza 3 offers I wonder why they never considered an orphanage-raising simulation. The first several hours of the game are going to be spent at or around the orphanage solving little kid problems. While Kiryu has plenty of opportunities to curb-stomp anyone who looks at him funny the main goal is apparently to help one of the kids talk to a girl, or help another kid deal with a bully. Maybe some kid isn't being treated fairly by the other kids, and it gets to a point where I start hating kids. This makes the game start off very slowly and late in the game Kiryu comes back to do even more help around the orphanage. C'mon Sega, spare me the family sitcom nonsense here. I sat through enough episodes of full-house to predict the outcomes of every orphanage related storyline and aside from moments so ridiculous they must be seen to be appreciated it's just boring and a waste of time.

Aside from the orphanage-junk the storyline is really well done. Although I have to say the game takes a number of liberties. For starters there are the cut-scene bullets. The in-game fight scenes are loaded with people getting shot, stabbed, and looking like they should be very much dead. Surprisingly however the only people who actually die are usually those who get shot by the far more powerful cut-scene bullets. Then again even that doesn't guarantee anything so it sort of feels like everyone sticks around until the writer can't find a use for them anymore. I can't help but worry that this will lead to some sort of self-awareness where all of the characters figure out what's going on and it leads to tons of inside jokes and people getting brought back from the dead just for kicks.

By comparison the other aspects of the game feel relatively minor. The storyline has a few moments where things happen that cause certain characters as well as the player to say "What the?!" In one instance in order to save somebody's life Kazuma is given a ride on a jet. As I said earlier time is of the essence and Kazuma can't afford to waste a second in order to rescue this person. Needless to say after arriving at the destination it was the perfect time to play some golf. The player is also liable to see several things that probably can't happen in real life. Really though unless you're some sore-headed fun-hater you shouldn't be bothered about the going-ons of this game.

I look at it like this. The Yakuza games are basically male-power fantasies. This isn't like God of War where male-power is apparently found in blood-bathing and having sex with anything on two legs. It runs quite a bit deeper than that. Everything that Kazuma does he excels at and his reward is that for one brief moment the world becomes his and the game does its best to reflect that. With the special Heat actions Kazuma ignores physics at every opportunity to deliver the most punishing beatdowns, and the camera does its best to capture every moment. When Kazuma delivers an especially great karoake performance the box of a room he's singing in changes into something resembling Broadway. Along the way Kazuma also earns respect not just through his actions but also through his words, which is a far cry from somebody who has to kill every possible living thing to get even a little self-respect. Kazuma also makes mistakes and even gives off the impression that he is human in some way or another. Obviously there are limits to the humanity of a videogame character but Kazuma proves to be one of the better protagonists in the medium.

There's a little of that feeling in all of us. Those moments where the walls of reality crumble ever so slightly to give us that euphoric feeling that we're accomplishing something beyond our means. Yakuza 3 is all about living in these moments and making the most of them. It helps that despite the hackjob the localization received there is still a ton of content for the player to pick away at in-between other games. Still it's just as likely that someone could get the same effect from the upcoming Yakuza 4, as it'll feature all of the same content and action of this game and then some. Still I'd give this game a recommendation as it has the advantage in price and availability.

Game Rating - 3.5 out of 5
My Rating 4 out of 5

PS3 Look - Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2

2011-02-22T21:51:00.003-05:00

Remember the last time I talked about Ninja Gaiden 2? All I can recall of it is infinitely spawning exploding jellyfish. There were also other things like billions of exploding projectiles all over Ryu like chickenpox and some of the worst uses of water ever in an action game. I said everything I could just short of breaking the unwritten rule by cursing up a storm. Now you're reading this and you are all but certain that I am clearly insane. I'm blaming the Internet for this one. I was pretty content never playing Ninja Gaiden 2 ever again but all these people are saying "Sigma 2 is better because it fixes all the stupid stuff but Vanilla 2 is better because it's more challenging and rewarding." Curiosity gets the better of me as it is wont to do and I played through Sigma 2.

The story hasn't changed at all. Ryu has to do some globe-trotting to try and fail to stop a bunch of greater fiends from summoning the greatest fiend. I guess I wasn't trying hard enough because I couldn't skip any of the cut-scenes. Thus I was forced to endure footage of a woman bathing in blood, another woman being a pathetic damsel in distress, and Ryu telling all of the girls to stay in the kitchen where they belong. The only difference in this version is that Rachel, Momoji, and Ayane have their own stages where they kill demons because that is what people like to see in videogames.

Momoji is the young Acolyte who Ryu trains in the DS Ninja Gaiden game. Her outfit is at least somewhat sensible. Ayane is probably more recognizable from her work in Dead or Alive but nevertheless she's here to assist Ryu in matters of Ninja concern. Rachel is from the first Ninja Gaiden and she's still dressed in tight leather because I dunno maybe she just likes the way it feels. Upon completion of their respective side-stories the ladies become playable in the Team-Missions mode.

Team-mission mode is suitably named as the player can team up with another player or the computer to take part in all sorts of missions. The goal is to kill everyone and score a lot of points. Really there isn't anything else to it aside from a unique combination spell and the fact that if one player dies the other has to revive him or her to keep the battle going. It's a really good addition although since the missions take place in various locations in the game it becomes a real pain in larger stages. While it is true that Sigma 2 cuts back on the projectiles that doesn't stop enemies from sniping away at the heroes from miles away if given the opportunity.

It's rather strange how Sigma 2 turned out the way it did. Almost all of the issues I had with the original game have been rectified in some way. Unfortunately this doesn't mean that I love the game now or anything of the sort. When problems get fixed all this usually does is lead to new problems or it gives me the opportunity to look at other aspects of the game that are problematic. Some would argue that this is unfair to game developers but who cares what they think? Eventually they'll get it right in a future game or die off. Sometimes they die off anyway even when it isn't their fault and that truly sucks.

Anyway let's start off with water. Yes it is fantastic that the jellyfish are gone and Ryu isn't picking fights with snake-demons that effortlessly glide on water. So what happens then? Well...at least in the normal setting apparently nothing at all. Venice is one stage I despise due to all of the water-based fighting so Sigma 2 cuts it all out and replaces it with nothing. Suddenly we have a break in the pacing as after some battles with dozens of werewolves Ryu decides to take a leisurely swim through the canals for awhile. It's times like this that I wish the Master Werewolf Volvo or Vulgus or Vargas or whoever was an ice fiend and he turned Venice into a Winter Wonderland. At least we'd probably get some neat ice-based enemies out of the deal. These breaks in the pacing continue in other parts of the game, either featuring a lack of enemies or the enemies are replaced by more ghost-fish. Seriously?

To make up for the jarring changes in pacing all of the puzzle-elements in Sigma 2 are gone. Now when I say puzzle-elements I'm also referring to all those times where Ryu needs to grab a key or hit a switch to continue. This makes the game-world feel rather lifeless. It feels almost like Ryu has already done everything in the past but somehow he got tricked into fighting everyone again so he has to retrace his steps. All the same it's an acceptable solution but I would have preferred more fights. At least there's the team-mission mode and harder difficulties for that sort of thing.

This game throws in a number of new enemies and replaces some fights with new bosses and other fun stuff. Some bosses like the horrendous Water Dragon also saw changes. I guess I should be happy about these changes but they highlight a lack of ambition going on throughout the game. When doing a sequel or a revision it's not enough to merely fix what was wrong but to expand upon and push the game even further. All of the new bosses feel like more of the same while the changes to existing bosses make them slightly less interesting. They are several times more consistent in their design but somehow I get the feeling if the time was spent to make them actually work in the original version they could really be exceptional. Also one of the new bosses is a rampaging Statue of Liberty. It's far less cool than it sounds and the fight feels too much like the Colossus from God of War 2.

Obviously I have to say something about the lack of blood as well. I'm an unapologetic gore-hound so of course I'm peeved about the lack of crimson-action in this game. It really makes the cut-scenes look ridiculous when everything is getting slaughtered but there's not a drop of blood to be seen let alone the decapitations and other fun stuff. Purple mist is a poor substitute since a lot of the time it's hard to tell if something is missing a limb and thus can be finished off. Plus I have to look at it from an artist's point of view. Way back when I was in community college I did a presentation on Paul Verhoeven. You may remember him as the director of Robocop, Total Recall, and Starship Troopers. Needless to say the presentation itself had a lot to do with Paul's usage of violence in film. With blood he can make vivid images that affect the audience in multiple ways. If he wanted to shock the audience he could use a specific amount of gore at just the right moment, or if he wants to do something humorous he goes for comical amounts of spilled blood. Most of all however Paul uses blood to help tell his stories. Without the blood in Ninja Gaiden 2 there are no stories to tell. All the battles tend to leave behind are corpses, that's hardly any proof of evidence that a battle ever happened. Though Ryu has wrought untold levels of destruction upon his foes he is effectively without his paintbrush that would record these deeds for all time.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that while I hate Ninja Gaiden 2 at least I can admit it drives some emotion out of me. All I get from Sigma 2 is...indifference. I played through the game with hardly any issues and while some things could have been handled better I just didn't really care if they mattered or not. There is neither frustration nor satisfaction, just this feeling that if I keep doing what I'm doing eventually it'll end and I can move on.

I don't feel right calling one game better than the other because to do that I'd have to play through them on the hardest settings, master them, and analyze every little detail. My life simply isn't long enough and I enjoy it just a bit too much to shorten it drastically on these games. Still this game can be a lot of fun when things come together and there's not much else out there if you're looking for a cooperative action game. All in all while the game makes me feel empty inside I recommend it.

Game Rating 3.5 out of 5
My Rating 2 out of 5

Muchi Muchi Pork / Pink Sweets Bundle has shipped!

2011-02-22T10:37:00.000-05:00

Now all I can do is wait.

X360 Look - Lost Planet 2

2011-02-13T20:52:00.002-05:00

I have my reasons for not picking up games at launch. Most of the time they're just too freaking expensive and the price drops by half in about a month anyway. The case with Lost Planet 2 was...well, I read some of the early reviews and figured the game wasn't worth the hassle. I liked the idea of a focus on cooperative-play to get through the campaign but it wasn't a $60 like. I also had to take into account that at the time my internet connection was terrible.

So fast forward to just short of now and I gotta say, Lost Planet 2 is really underrated. It is sort of like the culmination of many games Capcom has done in the past. The Lost Planet sequel has a bit of Spawn: In the Demon's Hand, a sprinkle of Powerstone 2, some Monster Hunter, and bits and pieces of every cooperative-based game Capcom has ever put out. It's got everything I could ever want in a game from guns to women in tiny outfits to spending ridiculous amounts of time unlocking junk.

The story is something best left forgotten and ignored. I think the only cutscenes I didn't skip were the funny ones where my character who was obviously a woman had the voice of a man. There are also some QTE cutscenes which I have no idea why they're included. I don't think I ever failed one and if I did I wasn't punished for it. Regardless the campaign is all about blasting humans, mechs, or akrids.

The humans are still jerks as they're always fighting each other over fossil fuels, territory, and technology. A good bit of the campaign involves entering enemy bases and tearing up their stuff. The only real worry about these guys is getting outnumbered and cornered(although snipers are a pain in the keister as well). All too often these soft and fleshy humans find comfort inside a mech. Taking these abominations down involves some powerful weapons or a mech of your own. Although if you happen to have a plasma gun you can just knock the pilot out and steal his ride. The akrid aren't gone just because some pretty-boy and his dorky buds stopped a blizzard. They're still out and looking to protect their planet from all those dirty colonizers. Akrid have also dabbled in evolution and it's expected that some massive beasts will stand between you and uh...well I have no idea what anyone is fighting for.

Oh that's right. Everyone is fighting for career points and money. Like almost every other game made in the present the primary goal in playing any game is the constant pursuit of upgrades and larger numbers. Each of the five human factions are playable so whether you're a Femme Fatale from Florida, a NEVEC Lackey from Quebec, or just some hombre with a stereotypical accent, it's guaranteed that 98 levels of experience stand between you and all those fancy customization options and unique weapons. Weapons, special-abilities, character-actions, and names are also handled by a slot-machine.

In what could be considered one of the worst ideas Capcom ever had, almost all upgrades in Lost Planet 2 are doled out via random chance. More often than not your rewards for saving the world are a bunch of silly names you can give yourself like "Dog Lover" and "Tech Romancer". The animations are at least amusing as you can break into one of those Russian dances at every opportunity. This game is totally not recommended for fans of achievements as it'll likely take hundreds of hours to get all of them.

Oh and competitive-multiplayer fans? I'll be the first to admit you guys are a weird bunch. Spending 10 minutes at a time being shot in the head by gamers worldwide is not my idea of a good time. If you really want to give this game a go competitively do know that 90% of the players have all but mastered the MP and they're either on your team or punching your clock. For me, playing competitively is out of the question as there is so much to unlock and if I end up with more deaths than kills that means I'm getting next to no points. There is still a pretty respectable number of people playing this game but it's still a rough shooter to learn.

There really is nothing better than being jumped by someone and being unable to react as they slowly chew me apart with a machine-gun. Constant grenade-usage is also expected and God help whoever doesn't have some killer weapon like a good mech. Map-control is a major aspect of this game and a lot of the time all it takes is the right tools in the right hands and the opposition has no chance. I won't even bring the non-team elimination mode into this because anyone who bothers playing it is insane. The average elimination match starts with you dying very quickly. It then leads to getting spawn-killed for the rest of the match. The game offers a short period of invulnerability so respawned players can get away but it doesn't mean much when they get cut down shortly afterwards by somebody better equipped and positioned.

Thankfully cooperative mode is where it's at and is pretty much the major reason to get this game. There have been horror stories in the past about a particular mission that takes place on a train but from what I've played it isn't bad at all. This game is best tackled with at least one semi-competent friend. Everyone tends to have their own collection of weapons they use and tactics for completing each chapter of the game. As long as players can handle their own the game is quite entertaining and long nights of constant play are guaranteed. There's at least some depth to the whole affair as while the skill rankings don't mean much of anything it's still a good idea to perform various tasks in each Chapter to raise the "GJ" rating.

The difficulty level tends to be all over the place. There's not too much in the way of challenge although there are times where the player seems ill-equipped to deal with a particular boss or the enemy soldiers are suddenly able to snipe a wing off of a moving fly from fifty miles away. I'm also really not sure just what in the heck the last boss was supposed to be. The last portion of the original Lost Planet didn't have much in the way of fans but at least it was different. In this game I'm not even sure if I'm supposed to care. Then again I guess if I bothered to watch a cutscene or two I'd probably have understood.

Really though what it all comes down to is that I have a game I can rely on for that good feeling I get from levelups. The rest of the stuff is just window-dressing at this point. It feels like we're at the point where the actual game is about getting those numbers raised and everything we do to get there has become the meta-game. Fans of achievements have been there for awhile considering the games they play solely for the gamerscore. As far as myself is concerned I guess I'm just waiting for that perfect game where I can play dress-up, level-up a bunch of stats that may or may not mean anything, and possibly do something vaguely videogame-related like shoot an alien or buy a tunic. So far I'd say Lost Planet 2 has gotten a lot closer than all of the other similar games I've played and that's an admirable feat. If this keeps up I might eventually start to forget the differences between a good and a bad game. Lost Planet 2 is definitely good and could probably be even better if the competitive multiplayer wasn't a bad joke. It has the identity, a better grasp on its concept than its predecessor, and it's just a fun game for shooting the crap with friends.

Still I think I need to focus on some games that aren't going to reward me with garbage just because I play them for a long time.

Game Rating - 3 out of 5
My Rating - 5 out of 5

X360 Look - Resident Evil 5

2011-02-08T00:07:00.004-05:00

For once I'm going to cut back on the pretension and tell it like it is. I don't hold Resident Evil 4 at a level of esteem unreachable by almost all videogames. I enjoyed the game enough to give it two playthroughs on both the Playstation 2 and the Wii but I can't remember much of anything about them. I look at Resident Evil 4 the same way I look at part 5, as just another videogame. Nobody wants to read about that garbage though. Resident Evil 5 exists to be constantly and unfavorably compared to its predecessor until the end of time. Yes aspects of RE5 feel kind of phoned-in and at times an original set-piece or even a sense of humor would have done wonders but otherwise I don't see the point in continuing with this comparison.

In fact let's go a bit further and zip through all of the nonsense that brings Resident Evil 5 down. The story is the kind of absolute pap where the only things the cutscenes can do to keep the player's interest is to make sure something "cool" happens every time or there's a QTE. The bosses tend to be giant targets with a lot of QTE prompts to mash through and absolutely little in the way of inspired design. There are also vehicle sections and you all know how I feel about those. The campaign is essentially a grind where until somebody handed me one of those cheat eggs that can be re-sold an infinite number of times I had to suffer through a lot of mediocre filler.

Breaking it down a bit further we have the campaign which is about as exciting as reading the phone-book. There are never any worries about limited resources and even the toughest-looking foe is weak since its movements have to be adjusted to account for the player-character's lack of mobility. I suspect the only real challenge in the game is going to come from playing the hardest difficulty, where I assume anything can leave the player in critical health with a single hit. It's too bad because it feels like that's all the game really can do to make things harder. It's not good design in the slightest but the campaign really feels like all potential was exhausted early on and everyone just goes through the motions until the credits roll. I won't even mention the story because I skipped all of the cutscenes I could.

Mercenaries mode on the other hand, this is what the entire game should have been. If anything the campaign feels like some overlong tutorial that runs the player through all of the basics and helps them get adjusted to the mechanics of movement and shooting. It's here where all of the good qualities of the game shine. The pacing for combat is exceptionally well-done and the cooperative system works wonderfully when two competent players team-up. In this mode mistakes have more weight to them and handling resources becomes imperative to not only surviving but to also get a great score/rank.

A better version of Resident Evil 5 would have come up with some way of rolling other aspects of the campaign into the mercenaries mode. Take for example the boss-fights. On their own they just aren't any good as they seem more adept to repeating attacks that must be QTE-dodged rather than showing any inspiration. Having a Mercenaries stage where Wesker is stalking the players while they deal with the other enemies could have been pretty awesome. What we got might have sounded good on paper but in the game itself it's overly stiff, not practical, and again just not challenging in the slightest. This could also work with something like the Irving battle. Instead of just sitting on top of a mounted gun waiting for something to happen the players could be assaulted from all sides as Majini storm the ship.

Still with the campaign as it is I can't strongly recommend Resident Evil 5. Where its controls and style may have given the game its identity in the past now it just seems like it's holding everything back. Simply changing the system to account for those who would like to move while shooting most likely wouldn't lead to any improvement. It seems like what's really missing is a better campaign and with enough creativity there are any number of ways to fix that. However thanks to the Mercenaries mode the controls and overall design of the game cease to be an issue and it really makes the game come together. The core of Resident Evil 5 is great but it's wrapped up by a lousy first impression and you can't access mercenaries mode without beating the campaign. Still if you're willing to throw away ten hours or so on something you'll only remember when asked about why you hate the game then give it a go. Just don't bash the game too much without at least giving mercenaries mode a look.

Game rating - 3 out of 5
My rating - 3 out of 5

My love for game purchases is unboundedededed.

2011-02-05T01:46:00.005-05:00

What Namco is doing to Ridge Racer is just absolutely tragic. In order to curb my depression somewhat I went shopping and grabbed a couple games.

Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 - I hated the first Ninja Gaiden 2 didn't I? Hmm..maybe this wasn't the best idea. On the bright side I can use the six-axis controls to shake the female character's breasts around...Lord...this wasn't a good idea at all was it?

Grandia X-treme - Honestly I thought I'd never find a copy of this game, especially for less than $10. From what I hear regarding this game is that everything except the story is totally sweet.

What I've been doing lately.

2011-02-03T02:12:00.002-05:00

Currently I'm doing reviews for two different videogame sites.

Pwnem.com - This site is structured similar to the average videogame forum but the reviews are taken seriously and I've already reviewed a couple games.

Extraguy - Here we have another site that reviews games of all kinds though currently I'm just doing reviews of XBL Indie titles.

There's also my work at XBLAratings though lately it feels like I only seem to review awful games for that site. Still it's fun as the games I usually play are simply too good for me to really rip into them.

I haven't forgotten about this blog of course as I have a handful of games that I plan on looking at in the future.

So uh..that's it really.

More purchases

2011-01-25T19:25:00.002-05:00

Yes I should be playing Littlebigplanet 2 but oh well I'm only human.

Resident Evil 5 - Never played it, liked part 4, heard part 5 wasn't quite as good, why not give it a go?

Lost Planet: Colonies - I bought this before, regretted that I didn't spend more time with the additional singleplayer modes. Maybe I'll get lucky and one person will be playing online.

Dark Messiah of Might & Magic: Elements - Yeesh what a title. Oh well it can't be too bad I imagine. Only $5ish to boot.

Plans for the future

2011-01-20T09:43:00.003-05:00

First off yes I know the ads are back. Nobody said anything one way or the other so I figured what the hey.

The review output is going through some bumps for the next several weeks. I'm planning on putting a stop to downloadable game reviews. It's not like I've stopped playing them or anything but I am conversing with a couple other sites to put my talent to work elsewhere. These plans will also likely have an adverse effect on the time it takes to get reviews for other types of games on this blog.

As I said in the last update I feel that it's time I step up and start working to prove my ability as a reviewer. I've written quite a bit for this blog and yet I'm nowhere close to producing my best work, and I believe even if I do write something of admirable quality it'll get ignored if it's left here. On the bright side I'll still have the freedom to try new styles and ideas with this blog without the worry of a filter. Besides the loss of downloadables will most likely not affect my retail game reviews.

So that's the current situation and I'll update again when plans have been finalized.

Thinking about trying to go Pro...

2011-01-18T16:13:00.002-05:00

In the last week I've signed up for an account at gamespress.com and posted in the forums that I was looking for voluntary work. Somehow over the course of over two years of reviewing I've gotten the idea in my head that maybe I could make it at a professional level.

PepsimanVsJoe? A Pro? The problem with PepsimanVsJoe is that he can't even stop calling himself PepsimanVsJoe. The main reason I've stuck with this name for so long is because there's only one PepsimanVsJoe. Once upon a time I thought Gabriel Jones was a unique name but everyone from comic book characters to photographers to artists use it. On the other hand PepsimanVsJoe has gotten old, nobody cares about Pepsiman and nobody knows who the heck Joe is supposed to be. Still this blog is very young and I've yet to get PvJ established so there's little chance Gabriel Jones will ever work out.

The bigger problem is that if most of the reviews I've read are any indication, going pro would require sacrificing the identity I've attempted to create through my writing. Sure anyone can point to a handful of reviewers who manage to do their own thing and be successful but I think I'll be stifled by having to play it safe every-time I review a game, no matter how thoroughly mediocre it may be. On the other the exposure I'd get would be unparalleled. Fans of being depressed should read my google analytical stats sometime. I'm lucky to get more than 10 views a day. These views aren't even the good kind either usually. It's either bots or people who click just to scroll down to see whatever meaningless score I gave the game. At least by writing for a larger site there's a larger pool to draw from.

More important than all of that however is how it affects me personally. Writing is probably the only real talent I have and I'd hate to see it wasted. I believe that I can reach a point where I could actually get paid to review. Currently however I'm so far away from that point my blog doesn't even have ads. I have received an offer to do some sort of voluntary reviewing for what looks to be a newer site. I haven't really thought about it but it sounds like a nice idea. I think having newer game reviews here takes away from the focus as most of my reviews for this blog are for older games as well as the niche and the arcade stuff. It's possible for me to do both though I'm starting to wonder how much time I actually have. I'm kind of spoiled for free time due to the lack of children but I really want to get a second source of income from somewhere.

Anyway don't mind all this. I'm just thinking aloud and trying to put something together.

For those of you who bothered to get this far I've updated my page on XBLAratings.com with some new reviews. Currently I'm messing around with Dragon Quest 9 and Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 1 though don't expect a review of the former anytime soon.

AA Look - Spider-man: The Videogame

2011-01-15T13:13:00.003-05:00

With the re-release of X-men on XBLA and PSN I figure it'd be kind of nice to look at some other Superhero-themed beatemups. Sega produced this game back in 1991, around the same time as the Genesis Spiderman game Return of the Kingpin. While the Genesis game was a bit different with its emphasis on conserving powers as well as time-management the arcade game is a beatemup. The beatemup has always been a humble genre in that there's really not a whole lot that can be done to change things up.

Spider-man tries to avoid that route somewhat by splitting the game into both standard beatemup action and side-scrolling action-platforming. It's an interesting idea as the side-view sections of the game feature different bosses that are fundamentally different compared to their beatemup brethren. These sections also tend to contain more health power-ups and that sort of thing is necessary because health goes quickly. Aside from taking damage with every attack our heroes also suffer an affliction that causes their health to drain slowly. However as long as you can avoid that one hit you can run around potentially forever with just one point of health.

Spider-man is joined by three of his super-buddies. There's the Black-Cat and her trusty grappling hook, Hawkeye and his mastery of the bow, and Namor who shoots lightning. I never understood Namor, he's probably King of the Oceans but he looks like Aquaman in his underwear, I can't think of anyone less threatening. Since this is a beatemup a rogue's gallery of villains is required. Kingpin, Green Goblin, Venom, The Sandman, and a host of other bad dudes represent the side of evil.

For the most part the bosses are actually really easy. A number of them fall into pretty basic patterns as the heroes can punch them out, knock them down, move just out of the way, and the bosses will walk right into the heroes next punch without fail. Thankfully most of the bosses are backed by henchmen which help keep the fight interesting as the player can't just abuse openings constantly. Still if a friend or three were to join along they could take care of the other enemies while someone pounds the boss into submission. The final boss is especially embarrassing as Dr. Doom doesn't even pull a counter-attack when he gets off the ground. I beat him down with a one hit-point Namor. This is especially sad because Namor makes a "bloop bloop" sound whenever he swings his fists.

Unfortunately punching is really about all the heroes can do. There are a handful of other attacks to choose from but they're mostly useful in their ability to manage crowds. Jump-kicks as well as a more useful flying kick are handy because they knock enemies down and give a brief second of rest but they're too weak to be much use on bosses(and for the most part the Green Goblin can only be hit by jumping attacks). The Heroes have access to their powers but it drains a bit of energy when they're used. These aren't the standard "invincible-attacks to clear space" either as an enemy can come from another direction and hit the player out of it. This really limits the usefulness of such attacks and turns the beatemup side of the game into more of a "regular guy beatemup". In fact it seems kind of ridiculous because I'm starting to picture a handful of normal people dressed like superheroes but with no powers taking the fight to Dr. Doom and his henchmen. At least in the side-view sections the heroes get their powers back so they can hit enemies from a distance but I don't know it seems like a wasted opportunity.

Overall the game is alright. At least it knows when it's starting to get old and game itself takes maybe 20 minutes to complete. In that short time I managed to continue eight times which is actually really pathetic so it's not like I can claim I'm done with the game. Besides it's a four-player beatemup and everything is more fun with others. Still it's a bit lacking in terms of enemy variety and while the mechanics are there this game could have really been something with a nice selection of moves for each character. I guess I shouldn't be expecting so much from a game that predates Streets of Rage 2.

Game Rating - 2.5 out of 5 stars
My Rating - 2.5 out of 5 stars

Oh and here's a funny Spiderman video I saw on the internet.

AA Look - Gunforce 1

2011-01-14T10:16:00.002-05:00

Usually when I review games I try to look at the original first and then the sequels. I've never been one to try very hard though so it's expected that most of the time I'll just review what's currently available to me. I've had both Gunforce games for awhile and yet only the sequel had been reviewed for the longest time. Quite frankly I guess it's because the first game sucks.

Since we're on a downward spiral already let's keep tumbling while I do my explanation of the game's story. There's an enemy army with many fortifications and they are planning to play host to an alien armada, you're some dork who is the only hope for humanity. That just kills it right there for me. The hero looks like Carmine, the running-joke of the Gears of War franchise. He's dolled up in all of this armor yet he can only take one hit. He probably wears the suit to hide his shameful body and the fact that he has not a single hair on his chest.

If the hero can only take one hit then the character-design should have just said whatever and dressed the hero up like the dudes from Contra. Sure the guys from Neo Contra were fully armored but that entire game was a parody of the series(which is confusing because Contra in itself is a bit of a parody). The developers of GunForce 1 apparently didn't understand the meaning of fun so we're left with a couple of nobodies and game that's about as dull as one could imagine.

The structure of the game wants to be Contra with its running and blasting action yet somehow it also wants to be Shinobi with its emphasis on finesse and timing. It's a very disjointed piece of work and becomes frustrating when most of the bosses are just really tight bullet patterns with nothing resembling a satisfying encounter. Sure similar games don't exactly focus on the crazy bullet-patterns but at least one tends to fight something cool like a massive tank with spider legs or whatever. Here it's just cannons, maybe some enemy soldiers, and a door that has to be destroyed, fantastic. The level-designs also tend to be very plain and they show none of the ingenuity found in Irem's other games. There's no fun in climbing ladders and riding moving platforms in this genre. It can be a more entertaining game for those who put forth the effort to beat it without continuing but the same could be said about any arcade title. Why not put forth the effort to play a game that actually wakes up in the morning and goes to work?

Judging by the complete 180 the sequel does I think the developers understood where they went wrong and delivered the perfect lead-in to what they're most well-known today for, the Metal Slug series. Many of the best entries in the Run&Gun genre have one thing in common, a sense of humor. When an entire game is based around one or two soldiers blowing up an entire army it's such an improbable concept that a laugh has to be had every now and then to keep things together. GunForce 1 is such a bland affair that it makes me want to ignore its good qualities and while I can admit it's unfair there's really nothing at all I want to do to change that.

Game Rating - 2 out of 5 stars
My Rating - 1 out of 5 stars

The retail games of 2011

2011-01-12T10:00:00.003-05:00

It looks to be another year filled with games and that's just fantastic. What I'm going to do here is talk about games that I'm interested in. While I can say that I plan on buying all of them I definitely won't say that I'm paying full-price for most. Honestly this is little more than a reference so whatever.

LittleBigPlanet 2 - I love the original so it's a sure bet that this game is getting bought.

Mindjack - Aside from releasing the same day as LBP2 this game is also $60. It's too bad really because I think the concept is interesting and the game looks to have a very Japanese (aka wacky) take on the concept.

Dead Space 2 - I should probably give the first game another attempt before I start getting excited about this one. Still it'll be something nice to consider during the typically slow Summer.

Two Worlds II - The first game was trash but I still played through it which says a lot of unfortunate things about my standards. Apparently this game is much better so that's a bonus. I still never got around to picking up Risen, Divinity 2, and a handful of other similar RPGs though so eh well.

Lord of Arcana - So far it looks like the inferior cousin of Monster Hunter but I'll still give it a shot eventually.

Test Drive Unlimited 2 - The first game was an interesting piece of work that I had a lot of fun with. Still I'm not quite sure if I want to go the full-price route here.

Dragon Quest 6 - Admittedly the only DQ game I've ever actually beaten was the 4th one. I doubt this game will rectify things and considered I've yet to even crack DQ9 I probably should hold off. Still if it's the will of destiny this game will end up on my shelf one day.

Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together - While I have played FFT and for that matter way too many other SRPGs I've never played a Tactics Ogre game. I probably could alleviate this now by grabbing the N64 game off the Virtual Console but it looks more likely that I'll just hold off and grab what looks to be the ultimately stupendous release.

Radiant Historia - As far as DS RPGs go I hear this is one to look out for. I haven't bothered to read up on why exactly that is so chances are low that I'll be picking this up anytime soon.

Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon - I love EDF2 and to a lesser extent EDF 2017. Unfortunately this game isn't being handled by Sandlot(the original devs) and D3 sort of killed the hype by announcing the real EDF4 for sometime in the future. Still I'm willing to take a chance because it's not an impossible concept to figure out. Still I'd much prefer a Sandlot EDF because they have their own unique methods which give the series a lot of identity.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - The original was a tough act to follow and I my idea of fun with the sequel was exploiting the various bugs. Still this is a game I'm excited about if it can carry over what the first game great while improving upon it with good shooting mechanics.

Yakuza 4 - I'm still far from done with the third game but a full-priced purchase of this sequel is guaranteed.

God Eater Burst - If I'm going to buy Lord of Arcana I guess I have to buy this game as well.

Crysis 2 - Since I've never owned a competent PC I've been very curious about Crysis. I'm not sure what to think as far as this sequel is concerned because this time around it's multiplatform and a number of concessions were probably made.

Ratchet & Clank All 4 One - After playing the two PS3 games I can definitely say I'm a fan of the series. The emphasis on cooperative play could turn out to be something really awesome and I'm confident Insomniac can pull it off. I'm really looking forward to this.

Otomedius Excellent - While the Japanese version's release date was just announced a little awhile ago I'm still sort-of confident that Konami will get this out in the US eventually.

Batman: Arkham City - The first game was good, the sequel looks to be better, simple as that.

Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim - I'll be shocked if this game actually makes 2011 and it's all but guaranteed that there will be bugs but I'm sure that this game will eat away hundreds of hours all the same. I can't get enough open-world RPGs no matter their issues and even the disappointing Oblivion was a nearly 200-hour endeavor.

Tomb Raider - While I can't imagine this game is nearly as hardcore in its survival aspects as something like Robinson's Requiem I imagine this style is still going to make for something really fresh and entertaining.

X360 Look - Resonance of Fate

2011-01-11T17:33:00.003-05:00

If my body and mind were anywhere near one to one with each other I would be asleep right now. At one time or another the proverbial strings were yanked and I being a mere puppet to inspiration had no choice but to rise and write something about the game that has been dominating my free-time for quite awhile. Resonance of Fate is a near-impossible game to put down because even if I can drag myself away from the excellent battle-system there are the little things I love about games like watching numbers rise, emptying/filling bars, and for crying out loud there's even the ability to play dress-up.

Beneath all of that however there is something else, some sort of deeper meaning. Resonance of Fate is based in the post-apocalyptic far future but its visual style is like a multi-car pileup of the 20th century. I guess it's just as well seeing as how the world has become some tower where everyone at the bottom digs in mines and salvages for scraps of Earth's history while everyone at the top obsesses with creationism and art. Somewhere along the lines we expect to hear something profound that leaves us questioning our beliefs or heck at least something absurdly pretentious.

This is a Tri-ace RPG though so we are more likely to expect a goofy scene involving the female protagonist in a bath. For a team that has been around since the days of the Super Famicom one would think they could write a story that wasn't completely ridiculous but here we are once again. A better writer may have been able to successfully pull of the storyline but instead we spend a good thirty to forty hours in the dark and merely take in the sights and the game itself until someone feels it necessary to tell us what exactly is going on. In fact even at fifty-five hours and just shy of the end of the game I still can't tell you what the deal is with everyone.

The design of the world is some sort of geometric fantasy. The overworld is handled somewhat like the Shin Megami Tensei games where the player moves a cursor around to various locations. Though rather than showing semblance of a living, breathing world, Tri-ace chose to have every bit of land represented in the shape of a hexagon. Nearly the entire overworld is locked away and the player progresses by finding hexel-pieces which serve as keys. It's a different approach and I like it because many pieces of land happen to have treasure buried along with them. It's not uncommon to find some glasses, maybe some hair-dye, or something really useful like a bezel shard. Through the usage of terminals the player can also add extra effects that may give them the edge like double-fire damage or higher drop-rates. These require colored-hexes to work properly and due to the way the game-world is structured not all of them can be used at once. Still it is unique and that's worth a bit of credit.

The other shape that this game obsesses over is the triangle. The player's party is introduced in the first few minutes and keeping them together is an integral aspect of the battle system. Vashyron is the standard protector of justice, older man, and pervert of the Japanese RPG. Zephyr is the young man with the dark past. Finally there's Leanne who is the young lady of mystery. From the beginning the party has nearly all of the tools that will last them the rest of the game. Nobody is left behind in this game since if one character dies in battle the game immediately ends. Furthermore while their roles can be shifted easily they are all essential to mastering the battle-system.

The first thing anyone should do when starting this game is immediately head to the tutorial arena. The battle-system is a sheer cliff wall compared to many of the RPGs we've been seeing lately and the penalties for even the simplest mistakes can be huge. To start with our three heroes depend on the hero gauge for survival. This meter is featured prominently in the battle-screen and at the start everyone must make do with a mere three bezels. Since our heroes come equipped with guns the obvious idea is to run up to something and shoot it. What's obvious isn't what's effective in this case though since as the player runs enemies will be moving as well and preparing for attack. The player-characters are given only so much room to run with and will be left at the mercy of the enemy if they don't have a plan. Furthermore weapons are several times more effective when the player is close to an enemy so aggressive behavior is encouraged.

Getting aggressive in this game requires an extra surge of energy, something that allows us to perform heroic actions when naturally we should be unable to. That's right it's all about the hero gauge. With the push of a button the player can decide what location they can run to whether its the safety of cover, away from a major attack, or to simply ruin some creature's day. Performing this command costs a bezel but these can be replenished easily by a number of factors. Since the heroes of Fate are effectively extending themselves beyond their boundaries using up all of their bezels reduces them to quivering, weak, and most unfortunately frail chumps who will be killed off unless something miraculous happens.

As expected the enemies aren't going to be content with sitting around waiting for the player to show up. Damage is handled in a different fashion as most damage done by enemies is called "scratch-damage". Scratch damage is sort of like when the player gets shot in a modern first-person-shooter. Health is lost but it can be recovered over time(or in Fate's case, healed with a medkit). However when the party goes into critical mode or someone gets poisoned the scratch damage converts to real damage and that isn't easily recovered. The old adage of picking one's battles has rarely been more important as knowing which enemies to keep from attacking is necessary for survival.

Since everyone is capable of using every tool at their disposal winning battles is all about effective placement, knowing weaknesses, and offering a balanced party-build. Machine-guns are the damage-dealers in this game though like the enemies they can only do scratch-damage. The player can also choose to carry a magazine box that houses all sorts of different ammo-types to work with whether the enemy needs to be frozen, shocked, or blown up just a little bit quicker. Hand-guns make for the perfect follow-up as while they are weak they can finish enemies off and perform a handful of other tasks. Grenades offer a bit of both in that they can do the direct-damage while offering status effects like fire which adds bonus scratch damage or poison. The medkit is the basic catch-all for every possible healing or status-effecting item around. The things to keep in mind here however is that each party-member can only hold two of these tools at any time and only one person can be a grenade-tosser, healer, or magazine-holder. They can also choose to be a dual wielder. Sure someone can't uses a machine-gun and a hand-gun at the same time but they can alternate or just focus on one or the other for more damage or greater versatility. All of the weapons can be leveled up which adds to the player's health, allows them to carry more weight, and gives weapon-specific skills that trigger via charge-time. So rather than just shooting the enemy a bunch of times with weak attacks the player can hero-run by until they build up to an especially powerful attack with a lot of bonus modifiers like extra damage or piercing effects to get through enemies with a lot of armor.

Above-all winning is about team-work. By using the hero gauge effectively the party can build up a little something called Resonance. This is done simply by hero-running in-between two other party-members. Sometimes it takes a bit of work as the battlegrounds tend to be a lot more than just flat-surfaces and Resonance is lost as simply as walking but with at least three charges magic can be made. When Resonance is prepped the party can perform a tri-attack where the three of them move in a triangle and attack at about the same time. This means the heavy machine-gun damage can be capitalized on immediately and over time this can either turn tables or just completely ruin the enemy party. It takes time to master but it gets results.

It's a lot to absorb like any good Tri-ace game the results are always worth it. Special abilities like the bonus-shot allow the player to do huge amounts of damage to helpless foes while smackdown attacks shake up the enemies with lots of extraneous parts. There are also many situations where effective positioning can lead to players taking multiple enemies out of commission with one attack or even going entire battles without so much as a scratch. As a bonus fans of enemy-parts and money will find tons of both through effective playing. This game has perhaps one of the best battle systems real-time or turn-based. There aren't hundreds of skills or dozens of playable characters and there certainly aren't shotguns or rocket launchers but somehow it's just so effective with the basic functions it's consistently satisfying.

Still let's talk about the sort of stuff I like to see in games. Shooting enemies is great and all but when it comes down to it I for whatever reason just love to mess with numbers and junk. All of the guns are fully-customizable and this opens up one of the sillier systems I've seen in an RPG. Each gun has various spots where attachments can be snapped on and there are many parts to find as well as build from scraps. The only real limits are that the pieces fit. There's really nothing stopping the player from tacking five barrels, four scopes, and a few hand-guards on their gun. Some people may question the usefulness of this but eh it adds to the weapon's strength and that is what matters most.

More important to myself however is the dress-up mode. Like I said way back in the in the beginning every one up top is obsessed with art and by extension fashion. With each new chapter the possibility exists that more clothes will be unlocked. For the most part these fall under one of two types of outfits but that's enough for me since I just love color-coordinating and wearing something different every couple hours. This is probably due to my real-life consisting of wearing a pizza-delivery uniform everyday to work so I have to live vicariously through videogames to get my fix of being able to wear different clothes.

Despite being near the end of the game it's still far from over. In the great Tri-ace tradition there is a bonus dungeon and additional difficulties to tackle. Although as with other traditions the harder difficulties just seem to be dramatic stat-boosts for the enemy. This game has also triggered that sort of addiction to a game that's either really good or really terrible. I love this game and everything but there are those nights I try to fall asleep and all I can think about is scratch-damage, wondering why I can't finish off some bad-guys, and so on. In fact I had just recovered from some all-nighter session that is making me question my sensibilities. I should probably quit this game while I'm behind but it's just too darn good and I still have so far to go.

So really I can't guarantee you'll take to this game like I do. It's for the best anyway since you could die or something from playing the game so much instead of sleeping. If I'm going to die in the middle of something it had better be something impressive and worth dying over, not playing some RPG with a nonsensical storyline but an absolutely perfect battle-system. Going further I'd say that this review shouldn't even exist because I should be asleep. There's really nothing else I can say so here's the score and I'm out of here.

Game rating - 4.5 out of 5 stars
My rating - 4.5 out of 5 stars

PS3 Look - Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time

2011-01-06T21:11:00.002-05:00

I'll make this simple for once. If you liked Tools of Destruction you should have already bought this game. If you didn't care for that game or never played it well then you should check this game out anyway because it's that damn good. It's everything anyone could ask for out of a good sequel and for me it's one of the better games on the Playstation 3.

Game Rating - 4.5 out of 5 stars
My Rating - 4.5 out of 5 stars

Unfortunately life as we know it is never about simplicity and I can't seem to write a review under five-hundred words so let's just face the facts and roll right along. Crack in Time follows directly after the events of Tools of Destruction. It seems our robo-backpack buddy Clank is more than just circuitry and an annoying laugh and is actually set to inherit some great destiny. While best friend Ratchet would like nothing more than to find Clank he has problems of his own and they involve one Dr. Nefarious. I missed the PS2 games so I can only assume that Nefarious is a recurring villain who got sent to the scrap heap in the past and revenge is best served by robots. The Nefarious' big plan is to capture the power of time held within the center of the universe. Throw in a mystery Lombax who wishes to use this power as well and one has to wonder if time is up for Ratchet and friends.

The key word in any sequel is improvement. It's not exactly a one to one ratio but usually when more effort is put in, better ideas are thought up, and criticisms are accounted for, a better game is created. Sequels aren't exactly anything new to Ratchet & Clank but somehow even with my limited exposure to the series I think that this entry is the best yet. The storyline is predictable yet well-done, the weapon-selection feels especially balanced, all of the levels are highly entertaining with rarely a hint of wasted space, and the fat has for the most part been trimmed accordingly.

Progression is handled in much the same manner as the previous game. Ratchet explores the cosmos, blows up everything that gets in his way, and finds some clue or plot-device that will carry him to the next phase of the game. Clank is tasked with exploring his luxury palace of time which involves a bit of slowing down time, repairing anomalies in the continuum, and even completing some clever puzzles that involve manipulating multiple versions of himself. Apparently crates are hard to come by so it's easier to just have Clank use time pads so his other selves can hold down switches to open doors. It's quite a bit more clever than it sounds and it is part of what makes the puzzles in this game actually work. For those who are confused by this sort of nonsense the game retains the simple pleasures like destroying robots with rockets and a full-on arena level that rewards unrelenting slaughter with cash and prizes.

Ratchet explores each galaxy via his space-ship and this leads to a very neat method of exploration. Aside from the major planets that progress the story there are also about a dozen minor areas that combine some mix of platforming and shooting to reach precious treasures. The space-sections falter somewhat as they involve a number of enemy-ships that need blasting and yet there's hardly much of anything to differentiate the first wave of attackers with the last wave. Still they're all minor speed-bumps in the end and the encounters tend to be pretty painless.

One of the things I never touched on when I reviewed the last Ratchet & Clank were the boss-battles. They were really mediocre and the final boss in particular was just a big disappointment. This game rights that wrong and then some by delivering some of the well-designed and creative bosses . This is really important because by the end of the last game it felt like all I was doing was running in circles while using up all of the ammo on my strongest weapons. With Crack in Time a real effort is made to get away from that and it shows with some really good boss-battles. There is still a ways to go in this regard I think but admittedly I have been spoiled by what some other developers have been doing in said department. There are other nice additions and changes like customization for some weapons, the hover-boots for getting around quickly, and that awful six-axis junk being relegated to a completely optional weapon that I hardly used.

Due to a number of factors I actually started playing this game first and only moved to Tools of Destruction when I got it at a cheap price. Generally when I played the earlier game all I could think about was how it failed in comparison to Crack in Time. No way am I saying that it's comparable to the differences between Street Fighter 1 and Street Fighter 2 but the improvements that Crack In Time brings are too obvious to ignore. It's just a flat-out more polished and better playing game that avoids the pacing and balance issues that severely hurt Tools of Destruction while adding in other features and making changes that make it truly exceptional. This is a must-play for any PS3 owner I think.

Game Rating - 4.5 out of 5 stars
My Rating - 4.5 out of 5 stars

Yep...it's the same score from the beginning of the review. But hey if you made it this far you have my appreciation.

PS3 Look - Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction

2011-01-04T13:05:00.002-05:00

Here we have another game in a long-running series. I'm really not sure what else to say here as I haven't the faintest idea on how to give this review a proper intro. I mean somebody help me out here. I don't know what the heck Ratchet is even supposed to be. Yes, yes he is a Lombax that much is certain but what's the deal? Is he a cat? A rat? A rat-cat? I'll never understand aliens. Somehow this didn't stop me from playing through a flawed but enjoyable game.

The game starts off from an emergency message from one Captain Quark. He's one of those Super Zero types who tends to be all talk but every now and then he comes through and does something heroic. Anyway it turns out the city is getting pretty well wrecked by some little jerk named Tachyon who despite being puny and just all around terrible he managed to put together a vast army to take over and/or destroy the universe. It's up to Ratchet and his robo-backpack Clank to figure out what he's after and then shoot him with a bunch of guns.

One of the selling points of this game is the animation and characters. It's like Insomniac was inspired by the works of Pixar and wanted to do something in a similar vein. For the most part it works because even when the jokes are unoriginal the delivery is great and the characters tend to be really well-designed. Quark for example is perhaps my favorite character, dunno why he isn't playable. It probably wouldn't be the same if he was just a reskin or something and didn't have any of his own lines. Although with Ratchet I guess I should have played some of the PS2 games because this game seems to play it like I'm already a fan of his and don't need much of anything in terms of background to gain any sort of attachment to him. Maybe he's just supposed to play straight-man or furball to all of the weirdness going on in this universe.

The game itself is an interesting blend of shooter & platformer. There's lots of the jumping around and using special tools to traverse stages and then there is the finding and buying of many weapons that are used to kill things in many different ways. For the most part it's a solid blend though I think more of an effort could have been made to create encounters that mix the shooting & platforming aspects. Most of the time when it comes to fights they're in these open arena-like areas and while it's still fun it feels like more could have been done to create something really memorable.

Weapons and armor are required for Lombax survival and Insomniac did a heck of job providing them. There are many weapons to collect and they all offer different methods of attack and level-up with use. It's a really good system as it gives incentive for players to try everything. As a bonus there are special skill-points that are unlocked by getting kills in different ways and these can unlock bonuses. Where the weapons falter however is that they all have their own damage output and as the game progresses this number can climb quite high. This is unfortunate because late-game weapons are essentially the only ones that are viable as the early weapons are just far too weak to do much of anything. As far as the armor is concerned it's nice to have and all but I question if it actually works. This game uses some sort of scaling/rank system as Ratchet takes more damage over time but if he dies the damage lessens a bit. Unfortunately it gets to a point where towards the end of the game even with the best armor I could still die in maybe three or four hits. This is especially odd considering there's an experience system that raises maximum hit-points.

The pacing is broken up pretty poorly by a number of mini-games and repeated sections that lose their appeal before long. For example hacking gets incredibly old after awhile as it's all about using the sixaxis-support to lead a ball around that connects circuits and unlock a door or something. There are also these pirate-doors which require doing a little jig to open. It's cute the first time but it really feels like they had nowhere to go with it so it's just a waste of time. And then there are these parts of the game where Ratchet free-falls while dodging rockets. This is the sort of thing that's great in the first level but it's used maybe every few levels and again it's just tiring. All in all it's content that feels padded and just doesn't work out.

In fact just about every section where Ratchet isn't shooting or jumping on something didn't gel with me. Some areas involve Clank going solo and they involve finding these strange creatures called Zoni and having them move objects around to progress. I'd say these stages were more puzzle-oriented if there was anything in terms of actual puzzles. Instead it's more leading these guys around, occasionally punching a creature, and using way too much of a slow-time mechanic to get past obstacles. There are some sections that I really enjoyed as they all involve flying a ship and blasting enemies. It's similar to the likes of Starfox and Panzer Dragoon and I really enjoy them. Unfortunately there are only a few of them and I guess that's because they required the most effort to design.

Thankfully these flaws aren't too detrimental to the game. I guess it's because in the end it's still a fun title that doesn't take itself too seriously or pushes things so much that the flaws have a very negative effect on my enjoyment. Still there is room for improvement and the direct sequel Crack in Time does just about everything better.

Game Rating - 2.5 out of 5
My Rating - 3.5 out of 5

PS3 Look - Just Cause 2

2011-01-03T07:48:00.003-05:00

Thankfully the spirit of classic brain-melting action games has not quite died. I think it was at the start of this generation I assumed that with the rise of franchises like Call of Duty and the like that games where the entire goal is to shoot people and/or blow them up would lead to some sort of intelligence revolution with lots of discussion about the nature of war, philosophy, and other...errh...smarty-thingies. Gaming is not about excuses, apologies, or even reason and Just Cause 2 is just the sort of the game we need to keep our brains thoroughly liquefied and smiles permanently etched on our faces like somebody took a bowie knife to them.

The plot to this game is...oh my God. I'm usually pretty successful at not taking these story-lines seriously but somehow I goofed up here. The game takes place in the fictional nation of Panau, which most closely resembled Southeast Asia. The "hero" of the first game is a one-man war machine by the name of Rico Rodriguez who is backed by the good old US of A to take down a corrupt government, establish somebody a bit more US friendly, and maybe grab a hold of the world's largest supply of oil. Not all of this guaranteed but who cares? The story-mode takes maybe two hours to complete and it goes down about as quickly as a rotten burrito. A handful of things to keep in mind however: Ninjas are involved at one point, there's a nuclear submarine out of nowhere, and characters are introduced just to be killed off in spectacular fashion.

The entire point of this game is Chaos. It's kind of like a simulation or one of these boring statistics programs that you ignore when you buy your next gaming PC. If for some sick reason you want to progress the storyline you have to invest in chaos. Chaos is gained from the destruction of enemy property, such as fuel lines, gas-stations, radars, and well anything that could potentially explode. There are well over three hundred locations to visit in this game and they all have their fair share of objects that must be destroyed or collected. Fans of bar-filling and emptying will find a lot to like here as most anything of importance tends to have a health meter shown when a gun is pointed at it. It's sort of like investing as you trade bullets for chaos and in some roundabout way fun is achieved as objects blow up, enemy corpses soar through the air, and our man Rico takes off in his parachute for the next location.

Next to the explosion, the grappling hook is the biggest star of this game. The idea behind it is that it's not just some tool for getting around as with a bit of creativity the player can annoy the enemy with it, tether objects to vehicles to create a wrecking ball, and yank those pitiful bad-guys off of ledges to a horrible death. The getting around stuff is cool too though as Rico can do something as banal as make a quick getaway or they can hitch a ride on a passing jet-fighter. The sky is most likely the limit here and even after the beating the game I haven't really tested all of the ways the grappling hook can work. Rico also has an infinite supply of parachutes which is pretty important as extensive use of the hook tends to leave him hundreds of feet in the air.

Fans of vehicles have access to everything on land, sea, and in the air. As with the last game players are free to do their best action-movie impressions and hop out of vehicles at the last possible moment to cause glorious explosions. Military vehicles also tend to come with weaponry so it's quite easy to snatch a piece from the enemy and turn things around. The handling is about what anyone should expect from an open-world action game. There is a bit of a curve to handling some vehicles (especially planes) but it's nothing like Gran Turismo meets Microsoft Flight Simulator or something similarly dull. Besides you gotta be able to do things like attach a bus to a helicopter and we don't need some realistic handling system mucking up the fun for us.

The biggest concern for me is money. Sure chaos is the real currency of this game but a lot of the paper tends to end up in the player's pockets as they progress. The problem is aside from some serious emergency like when something absolutely has to be blown up there's nothing to spend money on. Sure weapons and vehicles are readily available through an airborne supplier but they're basically one-time uses and there's nothing in the way of permanent upgrades or abilities that can be bought. There are other ways of upgrading at least though it involves a lot of scouring around for parts. I guess some kind of home-base that could be upgraded through use of money would have been nice. There are a number of strongholds that are unlocked throughout the game and maybe having access to any purchased vehicles and weapons through them would have been nice. On the other hand this is the kind of game where the player really has little reason to return to a place after it's been completed. The idea is to keep moving until everything is sufficiently destroyed and maybe start again on a new difficulty setting.

Since I was spoiled by the likes of Red Faction: Guerrilla I'm also a bit miffed by the lack of destructible buildings. It just doesn't feel complete to me when I raid an enemy encampment because I bet their barracks are still standing, some bunkers are left, and generally there's probably an untold number of survivors waiting for me to get bored and go away. I would love nothing more than to nuke them all and bathe in shrapnel but I guess the engine isn't quite ready for that sort of thing. It would have been a lot worse if for example any buildings I destroyed somehow magically re-appeared if I turned my back or walked away for awhile. Sure the chances of coming back are slim but what if I wanted to grab a plane and just admire my handiwork from above? I guess I shouldn't be disappointed about things I can only imagine.

The missions also tend to be pretty bland. The climatic moments in the story tend to involve guys with a lot of health who eat bullets like corn-flakes and most other situations boil down to blowing something up, getting away with valuable or intel, or even *ugh* protection services. There are a lot of missions to this game and they can't all be clever or unique but the story-mode could have at least gotten a few points that make it worthwhile to bother with. Unless you're an achievement/trophy hunter there is absolutely no appeal in shooting through the story and since everything worthwhile can still be unlocked through exploring the island there's hardly a reason to bother with finding out why the heck everyone cares about Panau. It's just as well that I gave away the plot of the game in the second paragraph of this review.

In all fairness however my complaints about the mission-design is just nitpicking. Sure something like that would be an imperative aspect to most other games but here it's just another something that can be done. What makes this game work is the freedom to do any number of things to cause destruction or simply goof around. If some soldier gives you lip about swiping their jeep feel free to hang them from a low-ceiling and power-slide into them like a piñata. Uncle Sam really doesn't care if you happen to drive a tank into a peaceful neighborhood and do what comes naturally. If all else fails you can always grab a plane, fly as far into the air as possible, jump out, and then land directly on your head. I really hate to say this but sometimes you gotta play a game just 'cause.

Game Rating - 4 out of 5
My Rating - 5 out of 5

New Years youtube recommendation

2011-01-01T03:27:00.002-05:00

ReplayBurners are all about beating games without dying(or nomiss as it's known in the arcades).

I highly recommend giving it a look if you're in need of strats or just want to see some good game playing. They even have a video of Arabian Fight for some godforsaken reason.

2010 Game of the year Awards

2010-12-27T23:18:00.006-05:00

Everyone else does these silly awards so I figure I better join in.

Best Soundtrack for the Worst Game - Scott Pilgrim Vs The World

The soundtrack is fantastic but it is wasted on a miserable pile of drek. I understand the game has fans and everything but it's most likely because of the great music that improves anything it accompanies.

Least-talked about Game of the Year - Protect Me Knight

This absolutely brilliant game is going almost entirely ignored and honestly it kind of bugs me. Well I'm done talking about it so whatever.

Favorite character - Francis York Morgan

The star of Deadly Premonition makes the game work via his quirky behavior and excellent characterization.

Worst story - Metroid: Other M

It'd be one thing if the storyline to this game was merely terrible. However what we have here is a story that completely destroys Samus Aran's credibility. This excellent article deserves a read.

Most pain-inducing game - Final Fantasy XIII

It hurts to play this game. Everything from the story to the characters just makes me wonder why I even bother with videogames.

Least-played Game of the Year - Dead Rising 2

Since the original Dead Rising is one of the best games I've ever played I figure a sequel that improves upon it in every way should be at least a GOTY contender. Problem is I've yet to beat the game, heck I've put less than ten hours into it so far. How depressing.

Honorable mention - Super Mario Galaxy 2

How else can I put this...oops?

Most over-played Game of the Year - Phantasy Star Portable 2

All that time I could have spent playing real GOTY-contenders was instead spent getting phatter loot and raising levels in this masterpiece by Sega. The new features and abilities are amazing additions and all but wow...who cares? I should be talking about Red Dead Redemption, Starcraft 2, or some other game I have no interest at all in.

Lifetime Achievement Award - Cavia

I love these guys. It's such a shame that they're no more.

Best game of 2010(or at least current best because I'm playing it right now and it's a lot of fun) - Just Cause 2

Oh man! This game is so much fun. I just love zipping around on a grappling hook and soaring away on a parachute to get out of danger. Plus there's like a constant stream of objects to blow up and rewards to collect and that's always cool.

AA Look - Konami's other games

2010-12-24T10:43:00.003-05:00

Missing in Action
Sending a single Green Beret or two into the heart of Enemy Territory isn't enough. You gotta send that man out there with just a knife and he has to be the type where if an enemy so much as breathes on him he collapses and dies. The mission? To rescue five POWs. If this kind of bravery isn't worth a salute I'm not sure what is. Missing In Action is the follow-up to Rush'n Attack and it's all about rushing forward, stabbing everyone that gets close, and occasionally picking up some weapons to even the odds just a tad.

The mechanics are definitely one-sided in this game. If the player runs into an enemy the player dies, and even if the player steps on an enemy's skull the player dies. There's a certain appeal to it I guess as it forces the player to be extra cautious. It's difficult to be cautious considering the player is repeatedly assaulted by enemies from both sides. Oh well whatever it's still a fun game.

Whoa...I've been sick.

2010-12-23T22:29:00.002-05:00

This is my latest excuse for the lack of updates lately. It's been a rough weekend and it takes me forever to get up to speed after getting hit with the flu.

Anyway I think I purchased a few games...uh huh here we go.

Just Cause 2 - This is a lot of fun.
Lara Croft & The Guardian of Light - Also really good.
Super Meat Boy - Would probably be great as well except I can't get it working on my PC. Oh well maybe when I get a new computer.

The plan for next year is...well I dunno exactly. I have quite the library to work with for awhile and my two major purchases for January and February are Littlebigplanet 2 and the Pink Sweets / Muchi Muchi Pork double-pack. I guess I'll just play it by ear and see where it goes. I'd also like to look into a little self-promotion...y'know...help get my name out there so this blog can get more readers. I don't know the first thing about any of that stuff though so *sigh* oh well.

Franchises

2010-12-17T11:28:00.002-05:00

Here is every game I've looked at that is part of a long-running series.

Castlevania

Castlevania 1
Castlevania 3: Dracula's Curse
Super Castlevania 4
Castlevania: Bloodlines

Final Fantasy

Final Fantasy 7
Final Fantasy 12

Megaman

Megaman 1
Megaman 2
Megaman 3
Megaman 4
Megaman 5
Megaman 6
Megaman 7

AA Look - GunForce 2

2010-12-16T23:27:00.002-05:00

These days it seems like everybody is trying to put the "hell freaking yeah!" in a videogame. Go on the Xboxlive Indies service and seemingly every day there's some game that promises explosions, stuff blowing up, and death. One day developers are going to figure out how to make games where the hero dual-wields an M-40 and a hot blonde. In the movie Predator, Dillon gets one of his arms chopped off by the dread-locked hunter so he has to reach for the big-ass gun strapped around his other arm. That's the kind of macho-action I'm just not seeing games. At the rate videogame technology advances the way it should be is even if the main character is little more than a head covered in scars he's going to be oozing so much testosterone that he'll be pulling the trigger with his tongue and suplexing aliens with his eyebrows.

Yeah it all sounds ridiculous but that's the point. Sometimes the manliest games are the ones that are able to poke fun at themselves. Japan has always been a bit ahead of the curve in this regard because after all they created Contra. You can't really question the masculinity of Rambo and Dutch teaming up to take on an entire alien armada by themselves. Gun Force 2 (or Geo Storm) is a game in a similar vein. The big difference here is that the two main characters carry guns in each hand. At first I thought it was a fair fight but it's clear that the mutant cyborg aliens have no chance at all.

The story goes something like this: There's a big hole where a city used to be. I think that's really all that needs to be said. It's like punching somebody back because they gave you a black eye. No wait it's more like punching that person so hard that their head explodes. Gun Force 2 is all about taking it to absurdity. Both of the main characters will shoot in every direction, put bullet-holes into every possible object, and rescue nothing but hotties in skimpy clothes. They also collect medals and are then rewarded at the end of each stage for their effectiveness at getting riches and slaying baddies.

The first stage starts of with the good guys hopping on the back of a train from their armored truck. The truck basically explodes for no reason and makes one of those ridiculous effects where the explosion goes all over the entire screen. The truck doesn't explode from crashing into the train, no it explodes when the main character lands on the train. It's like getting out of bed with such intensity that the bed disintegrates. This more than anything sets up exactly what you're getting into when you start this game. Since real men(and women) don't get shot at all the heroes of Gunforce 2 die in a single hit. Sure it's rough but hey that's what run & guns are all about.

The entire game goes along this same course. It's like the guys at Irem went stir-crazy and just started cramming in anything explosive they could imagine. Somehow though they let the odd gag slip by like the beginning of stage 2 starts with a fence being climbed over instead of being blown up like it was a fence made out of combustible barrels. Half the time I'm not even sure why everything is being obliterated but it's all fun stuff and my brain is free to leave town for the next 30 minutes.

Most anyone could enjoy this game even if they ran face-first into every bullet. It may not be the best way to play any game but for some that sort of thing doesn't even matter. Still it's easier than similar games in the genre and those games don't seem to throw in heaping bundles of kaboom every few seconds. Though the pacing never really seems to move past "kill a bunch of stuff, move forward, then kill a bunch of stuff" it always feels different somehow, like the enemies are new, maybe there are vehicles involved, and so on. Fans of high-scores will have to keep an eye out for hidden hostages but other than there is little if any complexity to this game. Furthermore this seems to be one of those games that could probably loop forever if the player is really serious about their score.

Really I have nothing else to say about this game. Check it out, blow stuff up until you're bored, and maybe give it a serious play by trying to stay alive the next time around. It's about as deep as the average Metal Slug and it certainly won't require you to understand calculus like some shooters but eh who cares? Maybe all you really want is to see everything blown to pieces.

Game rating - 3.5 out of 5
My rating - 4 out of 5

AA look - Detana!! Twinbee

2010-12-16T21:36:00.002-05:00

One of Konami's popular 2D shooter franchises was the Twinbee series. They're charming games that focus on bright colors and smiles while providing that hot shooting action we all crave in the genre. This particular entry won an award for best shooting game in the Japanese magazine Gamest. Yeah it's totally impressive stuff, even though Metal Black was robbed. Can you believe that? A ground-breaking and intelligent shooter that is an artistic achievement and one of the most brilliant games the genre has ever seen, and it was beaten by some happy-go-lucky kids and their bell-collecting adventure.

I...I...I don't think I can continue this review right now. I'm clenching my teeth so hard the enamel is starting to peel off. I bet even Sonic the Hedgehog won an award over Metal Black. At least Metal Black didn't defile whatever legacy it had by having a sequel called Metal Black 2006. That would be a wonderful sequel. It could feature a Black Fly, a Silver Fly, and a Blue Fly. The Silver Fly could have telekinetic powers and the entire game would be an unplayable mess.

Anyway Detana Twinbee...oh...Detana!! Twinbee (sheesh) is also known as Bells and Whistles over on this side of the pond. The plot involves rescuing a queen from an alien invasion and that's about it. The hero Light pilots the Twinbee while the heroine Pastel controls the Winbee. There's also a Gwinbee who helps out provided a power-up is snagged. This is also one of those shooters where it's probably best to play with a friend since through the power of friendship players can stick together and gain more attack power. There's also a charged shot for crowd-clearing and the ability to hit the ground targets with bombs. This aspect is similar to Xevious though there's auto-targeting which makes it more convenient.

The most unique quality of this game revolves around the bells. Fans of Parodius understand the importance of these bells as they bestow goodies depending on their color. In this game the goodies include power-ups like improved weapons, shields, and points. There's a medal...uh...bell-chaining system in place where the point-gifting golden bells can be continually collected for up to 10,000 a pop. This is obviously something to look out for as any lost bell drops the value back down to 500 and that isn't any good. The bells fall from clouds and will disappear off-screen unless they are juggled by the player's fire. This also causes the bells to cycle through their various colors.

With a system like this death can become extra punishing as it requires recovering all of these different power-ups while at the same time doing the best one can with a lousy pea-shooter. There's seemingly no rhyme or reason as to what the colors of bells will be so like a lot of early Konami shooters the solution is to simply not die at all. At least this game isn't particularly hard outside of some trouble-spots and even then the patterns are pretty obvious so on the next go 'round players should have a handle on it.

For a game where the enemy-designs are both cute and nonsensical I was pretty well thrown off when the final boss turned out to be some freaky alien-brain. This guy is pretty dang sick but he dies very quickly. Unfortunately his appearance sets the pace for the rest of the game. Detana!! Twinbee is one of those second-loop kind of shooters and Konami decided not to mess around at all. There are double the enemy aircraft, double the enemy fire-power, and heck they even release more bullets when you kill them. Veterans of this game probably get pretty bored when they have to spend nearly half an hour of playing to get to the real challenge. This also serves to further embarrass me as currently I've yet to see past stage 3. The second boss with his spinning oars keeps nailing me. The really sad part is I know that if I can get past him and hold onto my cool weapons I could sail through the next few stages with no trouble.

Despite it all it's very easy to see why this Detana!! Twinbee is an award-winner. This game is very approachable for all fans of the shooter genre and the scoring system is absolutely awesome. There's enough of a challenge in the first loop to keep anyone occupied for days as the combination of air & ground targets as well as the bell managing strikes a perfect balance and is very rewarding. I really like the music and to a lesser extent the art. I guess the only thing that really bothers me is that I have no idea what the regular enemies are supposed to be half the time. They're like some strange combination of evil food and vague threatening-shapes. Oh and I'm still slightly bitter about the raw deal Metal Black got.

Note - I went with the X360 Game Room version of this game. While it doesn't support TATE the video options are still decent enough plus there are other features like replay saving, dynamic leaderboards (like Geometry Wars 2), and even an instant-rewind so I can figure out why I died and how I could have avoided it. It's really not bad at all for $3.

Game Rating - 4 out of 5 stars
My Rating - 4.5 out of 5 stars

AA Look - X-men

2010-12-14T13:44:00.005-05:00

Today marks the release of Konami's arcade classic X-men on the PSN service. Tomorrow X360 fans will get their chance to team up with friends to take on Magneto and his Minions. Over the course of nearly twenty years gamers have developed an opinion about the game. What made this game remarkable is usually attributed to nostalgia these days. I'd wax poetic about the glory days of blowing my school lunch money on games such as these but I know nobody wants to read about it. As it stands X-men is an important release because while flawed and a bit dated it is still a remarkable game and its release gives us hope that future titles such as Aliens Vs Predator will see a competent re-release.

First off let's talk the PSN/XBLA release. It was handled by Backbone and uh...ugh...it certainly shows. The new art is pretty tacky (which says a lot considering the X-men's look at the time) and while a smoothing option is nice there's not enough in the way of good video options. The real kicker is that the online-play suffers from input lag. Sure players that host won't notice but unless the ping is below expect 50 expect to notice a slight delay with every move. This will put off the more serious players who actually put forth the effort to use less continues and not just button-mash everything. At least the PSN version offers six-player local coop. The trophies are very easy aside from one requiring a completion time of under 25 minutes and I have no idea why scoreboards are included because X-men is probably the easiest arcade game to exploit for points.

Anyway let's talk the game itself. X-men arcade is seven stages of action where the six heroes punch and claw their way through legions of Sentinels and face off with a handful of different villains. On the surface it's pretty standard fare with its large number of enemies and an emphasis on moving around and positioning oneself correctly to take them out. Each of the six characters have mostly the same attacks though they can have slight differences in range, power, angle (for jumping attacks), and so on. Each of the X-men also have their own unique power that is better for particular situations. These cost mutant power orbs and they can be collected by defeating pink-armored sentinels. By the way power-ups are exclusive to the Japanese version of X-men which is included with this release, personally I'd never play the US/World version. With the JP version there are more opportunities to restore health and mutant power, which helps in the pacing of the game and adds to the fun.

Where X-men really works is in the multiplayer. Sure beatemups are always better with a friend but with X-men it becomes something more. There's a certain organization to everything and usually the best players pick their roles and carry them out effectively. Sometimes it's all about protecting a certain side of the screen or being the main force behind attacking a boss, with the rest of the team providing back-up. Furthermore thrown enemies can actually damage other players so disorganized players have plenty of opportunities to beat themselves up. This is not something anyone will see in 99% of the X-men games played online but it's rather brilliant if everything comes together. Beating the game without continues is still a distant dream for the most part but smart and efficient players can get through quite a bit of the game with minimal losses. However without that kind of team-work it just becomes messy as players chew through their mutant powers and waste all of their energy doing very little damage.

Those who go solo will miss out on this particular dynamic but the game is still solidly put together. The bosses could stand to be a bit more creative with their arsenal and there are quite a few cheap hits but in the end it's about as decent as anything Konami has put out in the early 90s. Still if you're waiting for that really great beatemup you may as well keep waiting. There's enough of a challenge to this game but some may prefer a bit more style and finesse. Still if you decide to pick it up give it a serious effort and work towards becoming good at the game. It's a more fun and rewarding way to play, even for a port like this one that relies so heavily on nostalgia to get sales.

Game Rating - 3 out of 5
My Rating - 4 out of 5
Port Rating - 2 out of 5 (Online-play needs work. In fact if online-play is the reason you want this port you may want to skip it unless local is an option)

AA Look - Blade Master

2010-12-13T13:39:00.002-05:00

Blade Master is one of those arcade games where you actually have to complete it before it tells you the story. A fair maiden who also happens to have the powers to seal/release a King of Darkness was captured by an Evil Army to do their bidding. The heroes Roy and Arnold must save the day by fighting through these Phantom Soldiers. Roy and Arnold? From the looks of this game it takes place in ancient realm completely unlike anything in this world, so why the generic names? Arnold is a big dude so I figure he takes after Arnold Schwarzenegger. Roy is a smaller guy so he must be uh...Roy Scheider? Look just forget I said anything.

This game belongs to the hack & slash genre. It uses the conventional setup of a beatemup with its belt-scroll style of level-design and masses of foes and bosses to put down. Where the genre differentiates is in its usage of weapons and different style of mechanics to create something similar but quite unique. The Blade Masters specialize in close-quarters fighting and though the player is free to swing wildly at anything that approaches there is a level of depth to this game that makes it interesting. When a player's attack collides with an enemy's their weapons will meet in a clash. From here the the player can stab at the enemy they blocked for good damage, attack an enemy approaching from behind, or even devastate the stunned enemy with a jumping attack. It's a neat system since it promotes an aggressive style not seen in the genre, which is more about maneuvering so that the enemies are properly "herded" for easier disposal.

The really useful aspect of this technique is that it works on bosses, making them something more than just a very large target with a lot of hit-points. However this can also make bosses too easy since a large number of them can't so much as get a hit in when the player can safely deflect their blows. So to keep things challenging Blade Master plays the numbers game. That is the player will be frequently outnumbered in each encounter. A friend can and probably should join in to even the odds as towards the end everyone attacks in pairs, even the final boss. Still this can be an extra layer of challenge for those going in solo and if they can manage to defeat the final bosses with little trouble that's a very respectable achievement.

The most unfortunate aspect to this game is that it gets repetitive. Yes I know this is the kind of complaint that gets thrown at the genre as a whole but with Blade Master it has more to do with the level-design and bosses. This game doesn't wear itself down with ridiculously long stages but there's usually not enough to differentiate stage 6 from stage 1 or 2. This has less to do with the enemies and more with the stage layouts, which do little in the way of traps or other factors that keep things moving. There's the occasional pit and even a section with what looks to be a staircase but it's not enough. The bosses also repeat and just because there are more of them doesn't quite excuse the fact that they're the same guys with the same attacks. Still the game moves very quickly so this complaint never really occurred to me until after I completed the game.

In the end the appeal of Blade Master depends on the player's affinity for the genre. It's easy to write this and similar games off as shallow button-mashers that exist solely to eat quarters and even fans of similar games like TMNT: the arcade game and Capcom's King of Dragons might just ignore this one anyway because it's too obscure. Personally I find it to be a solid title deserving of recognition as it captures all of the aspects that make the genre fun while adding a bit of technique to keep things fresh. Definitely give this a look if you have the time.

Game Rating - 3.5 out of 5
My Rating - 3.5 out of 5

AA Look - Undercover Cops

2010-12-12T23:44:00.002-05:00

In the year 2000-something criminals think they can just do whatever they want in a post-apocalyptic world. Obviously that sort of thing can't fly in the face of justice and a trio of Undercover Cops are brought in to restore order. There's the karate-dude Zan, the football-player Matt, and the hot blonde Rosa who for whatever reason does a flying butt attack in lieu of a jump-kick.

This traditional cast of vengeance-seeking heroes has to face off with a rather untraditional cast of freaks, villains, and some things that are just plain sick. It's all good though because rarely has it been so satisfying to clobber the ugly out of these jerks. Each of the three characters has a handful of combos, grabs, and even some super-special health-draining attacks to get things done. Furthermore instead of swinging around some lame bats or pipes the heroes swing girders, stone pillars, and even toss some cars and motorcycles around.

There is not much in the way of fancy tricks and while a finesse rating rewards players who perform lots of moves there's nothing in the way of unique combos. To keep things fresh over the course of the game a number of different themes are introduced over the course of each stage. Things such as pitfalls and unique enemy types keep stages moving but at the same time their inclusion can also throw off the player. Without a real strategy or knowledge of how to defeat certain enemies the player can get stuck on encounters as their attacks are knocked away and they chew through lives just to get a hit in. When it comes to design beatemups tend to favor either aggressive or defensive tactics.

I'd like to say Undercover Cops is for the aggressive but the enemy tends to get priority on most attacks due to longer reach and number-advantage. Grabs are probably the most useful technique as they can be used on nearly anyone but getting close requires an understanding of what an enemy will do in a given situation. It becomes frustrating as enemies will go into an attack depending on their location and without a dodge-roll or block, the player either has to stop the attack before it happens or have predicted it to the point where they're safely out of the way. To some extent defeating enemies may require a bit of baiting so that they perform these attacks that'll give the player room to breathe.

Though the game has only five bosses the difficulty curve is very sharp. The first boss is absolutely pathetic but the final boss is practically impossible. Everyone in-between may be susceptible to grabs but they can also slap a good 1/3 of the player's life away in one hit over the slightest mistake. It's a bit of a raw deal as the bosses are easily the least fun part of the game. It's also the kind of game that favors playing along with friends. Scores may suffer but at least sanity won't have to.

Still this is a beatemup you want to play. When everything comes together this game stands up to some of the best in the genre and overcoming the different style of play is rewarding in itself as it isn't too hard to go long-stretches without a death as the enemies pile up. This game is especially fond of its high enemy counts and any time a fist makes contact with more than one person in a single punch is a thrill that hasn't gotten old for close to thirty years. Undercover Cops delivers in its own way with a unique style and a level of brutality that isn't seen enough in the genre.

Game rating - 4 out of 5 stars
My rating - 4 out of 5 stars

AA Look - Irem's other games

2010-12-11T12:32:00.007-05:00

Battle Chopper Mr. Heli - Even Irem's "cute-em-ups" are a kick in the nards. "The Muddy" is out to take over and or destroy an earth-like planet and it is up to some cutesy copter to stop him. The goal of this game is to collect crystals, buy power-ups, and blaze a trail through seven levels. This is a bit of an interesting twist on the standard side-scrolling as some sections allow the player freedom to move forward and at other times scrolling is forced like any other shooter.

The main problem I have with this game is the challenge level is a bit on the rough side. I expect a challenge sure but Mr. Heli's doesn't seem quite right. Frequently enemies will fire without so much as a warning and health is drained far too quickly. Furthermore it hurts especially bad when I die because not only do I lose all my weapons I also lose all my money so I can't buy new ones when they become available.

As for the rest of the game. Well I'm not sure what to think. It's a neat twist and all but things like being unable to drop bombs unless sitting on the ground is very frustrating(enemies love to come from below) and way too much time is spent digging in the ground for money. On the other hand maybe I'm not playing the right version of the game. One of the most frustrating aspects of arcade games involves region-differences. I mentioned this way back when I reviewed XEXEX by Konami. While the Japanese version is a great game but the US release is unplayable. I doubt it's quite the same situation with this game but all it takes is a few slight changes to make something either far more enjoyable or not fun at all.

Cosmic Cop - The original name for this game is something to the effect of Armored Police Unit Gallop. What we have here is a combination of the methodical style of R-Type with the fast-pacing and nards-out style of...well..whatever the opposite of R-Type is called. It's a jarring combination to say the least.

The concept is interesting since depending on where the ship is on-screen the level moves by slower or faster. Speed is imperative to a high-score and the level-designs are good enough for that sort of play. The weapons are similar in that there's a high-powered forward cannon and a weaker but area-clearing laser available at all times. Power-ups are available as well but they can be lost if the player bumps into walls.

As the game progresses however the memorization aspect starts to become more pronounced and while the ship's hitbox is smaller than the ship itself it's little comfort when the ship itself is freaking huge. There are those that can get around this and clear the game with little trouble but uh...I dunno, I just can't get into it at all.

Dragon Breed - Oh joy another checkpoint-based shooter by Irem. Imagine how different everything videogames would be without the checkpoint? Just think next time you die in some FPS you don't end up redoing the entire section as you'll respawn instantly. This is how I feel a lot of the time when I play games such as these. Yes I'm well aware that dying showcases my lack of skills and I haven't memorized the level enough but come on. I'll do better next time so just let me move forward!

With that rant over with let's look at the game itself. You're a wimpy little dude with a crossbow who gets to ride on a large invincible dragon. It's a pretty sweet deal until you realize that draggy can be effective at nullifying bullets he only offers to join in the killing with power-ups. A simple fireball would have sufficed because the hero's pea-shooter is sad, sad, SAD. At certain points the hero is free to jump down from the dragon to battle on-foot. I'm not sure why this is included but the hero gets a pretty sweet three-way shot when on the ground and that's just not fair. Also when the dragon gets the yellow power-up it can wrap itself around the hero and do a different attack occasionally. This is really useful but apparently it only works with the yellow weapon, thanks a lot.

The checkpoints are also badly done. I die at the boss so obviously my weakness is the boss. Logically the checkpoint kicks me back to about the last 1/3 of the stage. While I guess I'm supposed to be grateful to get the chance to grab some power-ups these checkpoints feel like they were added after the game was completed. A better idea would have been to throw out some power-ups just before the boss and have the checkpoint sitting there too but man that's just too generous. Irem may as well give out unlimited lives while they're at it.

Dragon Breed was also unique in that it had a sit-down cabinet. Maybe I'm just imagining things again but it was pretty neat and the sound-system was loud. Every time the player died the noise would blow out one's eardrums. It was pretty awesome.

AA Look - Air Duel

2010-12-10T13:32:00.003-05:00

In the year 2004 a mad mother computer known as "Enemy Chief" gained control of an army vast enough to destroy the world. It was in these dark times that two heroes arrived to save the day. Though their rickety ships were frail and their limited arsenal was pathetic they had courage and skill which is more than enough to cover for any weakness. This is just one of many entries Irem has made in the 2D shooter genre.

Every 2D shooter needs a hook or a gimmick to draw the player in. It could be anything from the concept to some unique power-up and sometimes it doesn't have to mean anything at all. It was a sign of the times back then since arcades were filled with so many similar games all looking to attract quarters from somebody. Air Duel allows the player to use a regular ship that fires peas in a straightforward fashion or a helicopter that can turn slightly to fire peas at an angle. That's the extent of it really. Sometimes one ship is more effective than the other and at other times more power in the firepower is better than more firepower. It's an interesting relationship and the player can swap vehicles at the beginning of each stage if they feel the need.

Yes these peas are not of the literal sense but that's probably because actual peas would be more effective. All that pea juice could seep into the engines of enemy aircraft and cause them to explode. Instead I am referring to the "pea-shooter" trope. These days everyone plays those crazy games by Cave where the default weapon is hyper-mega-beam so the pea-shooter has long been forgotten. Air Duel makes the pea-shooter into something of an artform by essentially making it the only weapon the player can rely on. Sure there are bombs and while they're great for damage and clearing enemy-fire they're also limited. Fact of the matter is in order to survive Air Duel the player has to deal with their firepower having pitiful range. As a bonus a single-death will send the player's weapon levels back to 0 which just makes everything harder.

Some of us got out of the old-school for a reason and Air Duel is a clear example. It's the kind of rough & nasty game where the insurmountable odds just aren't enough and an extra layer of pain is necessary to get the maximum effect. There's no fancy tricks that'll summon fairies who hand out gold coins and bullets travel at a speed that actually makes sense. You play a shooter like this because you're tired of fighting huge battleships that for whatever reason were built to do nothing but fire thousands of pink bullets that don't go anywhere. You're also probably sick of little girls yelling "POWAH UPPOOO" and that's completely understandable. Sometimes I like to play a game where I don't start yelling "NO! My medal-chain!" and the screen doesn't look like Willy Wonka threw up on it. Air Duel is basic, bland, and would probably win an award so nondescript nobody has any idea what it's for. But y'know that can be pretty alright sometimes.

Game Rating - 3 out of 5 stars
My Rating - 2.5 out of 5 stars

Irem Arcade Hits is out and about

2010-12-09T21:16:00.002-05:00

I guess I should get out more seeing as how a compilation of Irem Arcade games flew right under my nose.

Irem Arcade Hits is a pack of 18 great to terrible games for the PC. Yes I know I say arcade and PC and everyone says "well I'll just stick with MAME then" in response. Still while the set has some kinks that need working out it's a pretty swell deal for $10 and some patches are in the works. I figure I'll give it a go and post some impressions in the near future. At least this is a serviceable explanation as to why there's been a whole lot of nothing about Irem re-releasing their library of classics.

Read more about the compilation over here.

A shmups forum thread where somebody has already purchased it and posted their impressions.

PS3 Look - inFAMOUS

2010-12-07T15:12:00.003-05:00

In the world of game balance you have to make sacrifices in order to keep the game playable. Sometimes you go in with all these ideas about enemies, level-designs, and powers but when it's all over you're left with a small fraction of what you started with. Sometimes you just have to let it go and move on and other times you feel you have to make up for this drop in content in other ways. Say you wanted to make a planet with mountains, deserts, forests, and oceans. When the cuts(time, budget, etc) come around you lose the forests and the oceans. So in response you make two planets, one with mountains and one with deserts. This is what it feels like to me when I play Infamous, a content-light game that goes for just too long.

What you've just read is for the most part an assumption. I did not complete Infamous and I have no intention of doing so. I'm just one of those guys who didn't follow the development process of this game and merely bought it at a whim for $10 because I liked the demo. Furthermore since this review has already started on a negative note you may as well stop reading as what follows is a bunch of fluff and then finally a low score.

The story involves a man named Cole surviving some horrific attack and gaining super-powers as a result. There's a bunch of stuff involving a corrupt-government and a lot of nonsense about karma and doing what's right or wrong but really it all works out to be rather dull. The whole karma aspect really bugs me because in this game it's the most black and white decision imaginable half the time. In the first instance Cole is given the choice between allowing starving people to eat or killing starving people so he can eat. It probably would have made at least some kind of sense if in the game the player had to eat to stay alive. Therefore the only reason to even choose one way or the other is for the power-ups available. Good guys have access to slightly different abilities than bad guys.

Given the choice I should have went with being a bad guy because doing good is more of a nuisance than anything. The cities this game takes place in are about as bad off as one can imagine. Just to give an idea there's no food, apparently the water makes everyone sick, thousands of people are just lying on the street dead or dying, and there are gangs everywhere shooting helpless civilians indiscriminately. Cole isn't really affected by all that because as long as there's electricity he can just fly around, zap people, and just ignore the plight of the city until he gets bored. If anything Cole's dealings with the people really have no effect on himself. He just does bad because he wants to be a jerk. Karma is meaningless so what it all comes down to is whether the game should reward or punish me when my errant bolt of electricity blows up an old lady. Oh sure further down the line Cole's friends may dump him and the city will be even worse off but how would I know or care when I didn't bother to finish the game?

The reason why I didn't beat this game is simple. I saw what was coming for once. Way back when I reviewed Viking: Battle for Asgard on the 360 I noted that it was essentially the same thing a few times over. I arrive at a new country, complete a bunch of tasks and upgrading my powers as I see fit, take back territory from the enemy, and then engage in a climatic battle with the enemy army to restore peace. If I had played infamous first I likely would have beaten it and not finished Viking. The problem with Infamous is that they made it far too obvious so I knew exactly what was coming so I got out and saved myself a lot of time. I completed the first third of the game which involved much of the same stuff as I retook a bunch of territory, did some repetitive missions, and had a completely mediocre boss-battle to cap things off. Both games even share a similar overworld structure in that the player will be overwhelmed if they attempt to go deep into enemy territory. The areas that Cole shouldn't access yet have no power so he is weakened severely while the enemy territories in Viking are heavily patrolled and far out-number the player.

Infamous can be considered a well-made game as the powers are developed properly and enemy encounters have a solid and functional design to them but it's all so stiff and boring. There's never enough in terms of chaotic action and at the same time not enough reason for me to go back in case I feel like I gypped myself for quitting. Just as soon as I arrived on the second part of the game I felt like I was back at square one, like I was replaying the entire game but at a slightly higher difficulty and with most of my powers unlocked. The same could be said about Viking but that got a pass because it was my first-time dealing with such a setup in terms of game progression.

When my best comparison is a C-level game nobody remembers there's really no reason at all for me to continue going on about this game. It's a fine piece of software that won't throw garbage in your face but at the same time it keeps itself just a bit too clean and too structured to be any fun. All I can say is better luck with the sequel.

Game rating - 2.5 out of 5

My rating - 1 out of 5

360 Look - Prototype

2010-12-06T23:22:00.003-05:00

Every now and then we gotta have a game where we can just let loose with tons of ridiculous powers and kill friend and foe alike until we turn blue and fall down a flight of stairs. For those of us whose only real concern is how many people we can gib in a single attack there's Prototype. From at least one of the guys behind Hulk: Ultimate Destruction comes an adrenaline-soaked Super Anti-hero story about some guy who gets a couple hundred super-powers and decides to kill until New York floats away in a river of blood.

I'm the kind of guy who can appreciate Michael Bay movies so Prototype's brainless plot is right up my alley. Alex Mercer is a man on the run who discovers that he has incredible powers. Without the incredible responsibility to balance things out however he's no better than Elizabeth Greene. This woman suffered the most horrible haircut ever and in response she plans to infect an entire city with some virus that mutates everyone in hulking beasts. The government does what they do best and sends the Marines to solve this mess. The solution shared by all three parties is to kill until one stands alone. This isn't the entire story as some room has to be left for the twists and turns that are commonplace but for the most part players never have to worry about thinking.

Mercer's said incredible powers read like the sort of things I would have come up with back in elementary school. Aside from insane speed, strength, and agility, Mercer is considered a shape-shifter. He can alter his appearance, consume people to gain access to all of their thoughts, turn his arms into several different weapons, and generally do things with his body that...well...there's a reason why I never went around telling classmates about all these ideas I might have had. Given enough time Alex can learn to hurl cars over a mile, power-bomb civilians from thousands of feet in the air, elbow-drop tanks, and latch onto helicopters to steal a ride.

For whatever reason this just wasn't enough as Alex can also snag military vehicles, use guns, change his skin into armor, and even perform a cannon-ball dive that'll explode anything he makes contact with. It's not always imaginative but it's pretty clear that the developers took the time to come up with all kinds of neat ways for Alex to get the job done. While the player can get away with completing the game using only a fraction of them that's all the more reason to keep coming back and trying out different moves to get through the same situations in other ways.

The first five minutes of Prototype basically gives away all of the opposition Alex will be facing. The military is your bog-standard guys with guns, tanks, and helicopters while the infected are the hunters, zombies, and other beastly guys who just like to clobber everything. Dealing with these foes is easy enough at first since early on Alex is practically invincible. Over time however both sides start employing tougher resistance and higher numbers, forcing Mercer to get creative with his encounters and evolve his technique. Since Mercer is the only hope of straightening out the mess in Manhattan he will also have to work with and against both sides. This adds a very interesting dynamic as while exploring the player is bound to see military and infected forces squaring off against one another while the unfortunate civilians get caught in the middle.

This game is all about its fast pacing and its ferocity. As the intensity ramps up the player will have to contend with multiple attacks coming from all possible angles. This means moving quickly, changing directions, managing forces, and being able to do so in only a short amount of time. Health is recovered fairly easily by consuming or destroying but it can also be lost very easily thanks to the multitude of tough enemies such as higher-level hunters and a plethora of rocket-launcher soldiers and their fancy Mercer-killing equipment.

It's a rough game in all meanings of the word as a lot of the time it looks like things just aren't going to work out for the player. The missions can become very frustrating as they'll involve everyone's favorites such as escort and protect as well as an infinite and constant barrage of enemies while trying to focus on important matters like bosses or even just getting some breathing space. The bosses are absolute drek as while the concept can work most of these guys just stack on some absurd additions like countless enemy troops or just completely ignoring most of the player's attacks. When so much of the game is spent in control these times that require patience can really tear it all down.

The mission design leans towards the really bad later on as optional missions become all but impossible with everything going on. Infiltrating an enemy-base is cake early on but towards the end there's simply no way for the player to get in without setting off several alarms at once. After taking out a dozen choppers, ten tanks, and over a thousand troops the player will come back and find the base no worse for wear. Early on it may have been too easy to be sneaky as everyone is apparently blind to a guy running up walls and throwing cars everywhere but towards the end Mercer can't even cough without an entire nation of soldiers discovering him.

It's too bad really because when this game is good it's damn good. The good aspects align and connect to create a constant source of exhilaration and excitement but all it takes is the slightest slip and I feel like I'm playing Ninja Gaiden 2 again. I just feel like some impotent chump flailing about while a constant stream of rockets kicks me around town. Losing momentum can happen in seconds and Prototype isn't really designed well enough for the blame to lay squarely on the player when things don't work out.

Take the "War" line of missions for example. The goal is to kill a certain number of enemy troops while protecting the troops the player is working with. So for example if I'm working with the infected that means I have to deal with tanks and the like. My only real option at times is to steal a tank and go from there, as destroying tanks through other means tends to take too long and lead to too many casualties. Problem is Whenever I fire a shell at a tank there always seems to be several of my guys nearby, thus costing me dearly. Yeah restraint in these situations is important but with the odds the way they are I don't have a choice. If I do things any other way I either run out of time, leave myself open for other enemy tanks, or my allies just get killed off anyway. It's just one set of side-missions but issues such as these tend to come up whenever the game really tries to push itself beyond just "invincible dude killing things for fun".

The controls are another issue since while for a number of other action games they'd probably be okay but for everything that goes on in this game the player just doesn't have the options. An evasive roll is always handy but in this game there's no invincibility period tied to it. Getting out of the way of danger is a constant but the most effective means tends to be predicting what will happen and going from there. Even a block would have been helpful since it'd give the player a last minute opportunity to minimize damage. Sure the armor and shield abilities have their uses but what it comes down to is that the player can't counterattack when they're pinned down. They can probably escape without too much trouble but getting just out of range and creating an opening tends to be sloppy and ineffective.

Prototype can be a really fun game when everything comes together but it doesn't have the right design, the proper usage of mechanics, and even a handful of hidden variables to really work on multiple levels. Sure I've done a lot worse with $10 but if you're looking for something more than an excuse to kill innocent people you may as well look elsewhere.

Game rating - 1.5 out of 5

My rating - 2.5 out of 5

PS3 Look - Littlebigplanet

2010-11-30T14:59:00.002-05:00

It's really difficult to point out exactly what makes Littlebigplanet such a special game. For one there is the "whole is greater than the sum of its parts" aspect. Yes I'm well aware that this is a very trite and overused way to describe a game but all the same it fits. In fact I would go as far to say I would not recommend this game if all someone is going to do on it is play the story-mode. Thankfully that's not really the point of Littlebigplanet as it is a community-driven game where nearly all of its truly great qualities are due to average folk like you and I.

This is not of those games that can merely be reviewed. I can't just put up a checklist and explain the controls, talk about the story, maybe discuss the point of the game. Littlebigplanet is both too simple and too complicated for that sort of nonsense. The fact of the matter is that the player is at the mercy of the world and must abide by its rules. There is a demo available that gives enough of a taste but in all honesty it doesn't sell the game at all.

The story-mode is in many ways a tutorial, a proving ground for one's mind. It may sound like pseudo-babble but trust me when I say that the story-mode serves its purpose well in preparing the player for what the game actually has to offer. Through the story the player will find all sorts of trinkets and gadgets, decorations for the worlds they want to create and the sackboy they control, and an understanding of what makes the Planet work. Like any other game there are rules to follow and breaking them will either lead to sackboy's destruction or worse they will render a level unplayable. As far as the story-mode is concerned, platformer-veterans may find it to be a bit too traditional but for the most part it's pretty solid.

All told it really isn't enough. The campaign offers just enough to get the player started but when it's all over they'll feel left out and disappointed as the game has ended before it has even begun. Thankfully it doesn't end there because the player still has access to over three million levels. These levels are all designed by others who have played through the story-mode and have a basic grasp of the mechanics and ideas this game has to offer.

Obviously with such a large number there isn't the slightest guarantee that even the smallest percentage of those millions of levels are truly great. In fact the results vary so wildly that it's actually rather charming. I've played stages that are quite brilliant and showcase a really talent for level-design. Then I play some stages that just feel a big mess of stuff to play around with and that is appealing as well. The worst stages tend to be the ones where the designer offers some scant reward for hearts. Hearts are basically the currency of LPB. Make a good level and you're bound to get some. Unfortunately hearts are also tied to trophies so players not interested in putting forth the effort think they can just buy them.

This sort of randomness is all due to the "quick-play" function. From the title-screen the player can be thrown into any one of the millions of levels. The surprise aspect of it all makes this function far more addictive than it has any right to be. There's a perfectly done search function as well for those who would rather seek out good levels but for me at least I just like going places and seeing what they have to offer.

The multiplayer is perhaps the most entertaining aspect of this game. Since most players don't have a mic communication is limited to sackboy's various facial expressions and animations as well as a text-message system that is handy but only useful if the player has the time to stand still for awhile. This actually works in favor of the game since many players will just follow along or decide to go their own way on a whim. Since the content of the levels is apparently well-regulated it's highly doubtful that anyone will end up seeing something they didn't want to. I was especially shocked because in all my time playing I've yet to see any penis-shaped objects in levels. Usually that's the first thing somebody makes when they get a game with create-able content but I guess they can only do that on their own.

What's especially fun about playing with others is that while some go through the motions and play respectfully with others there are always those moments where things go downhill. Players can drag or slap each other into pits, some get over-zealous with the paintball-gun and blast everyone nearby off a cliff. While there is a bit of a competitive aspect to the game there's really no reason to do anything to harm another player and thus when it actually does happen it adds a fun little challenge to the level. So while the player jumps around and avoids traps they also have to contend with other players trying to mess things up. It never turns creepy either since a simple command can shut down anyone who attempts to follow somebody.

More than anything however Littlebigplanet believes itself to be something of a vacation. It doesn't demand much of anything from the player except for a willingness to have fun and there's so many ways to customize the experience to the player's liking that while they can't change the rules they can still play along in their own way. The level-creator is a fantastic piece of work as it perfectly adapts to both sides of the player. Some just want to tinker with all of the different objects and experiment while others are looking to build that perfect stage. Since friends are free to join in they can either work together on this stage or they can put their imagination towards something that doesn't make any sense but it's fun all the same.

While Littlebigplanet does not have the finesse and flawless design of a favorite platformer it manages to be something very special in all other aspects. I'll go as far to say that this is a required play for all gamers.

Game Rating - 5 out of 5

My Rating - 5 out of 5

PS3 Look - Sengoku Basara 3 : Samurai Heroes

2010-11-28T23:10:00.003-05:00

The Musou genre is a tough sell these days. Back then titles like Dynasty Warriors 2 on the PS2 were seen as a big deal because they showed off the power of the system. Problem is after a few hundred sequels, several spin-offs, and no shortage of clones it's fair to say that a few people are suffering from burnout. So when a Musou game is announced everyone says "oh good another one of those games where you just hit the X button until you win." and then the reviewers say "don't bother with this. 4/10" and the sales...well they don't say much of anything apparently because these games still keep getting released.

Last generation when the genre was just a bit more fresh, Capcom created the Sengoku Basara series. It's essentially based on Japan's "Warring States" period and features the likes of Nobunaga Oda, Ieyasu Tokugawa, Mitsuhide Akechi, and so on. If those names are familiar to you you've probably either been brushing up on Japan's history or played Samurai Warriors. Though both games have their similarities -- such as being part of the Musou genre -- Sengoku Basara puts more of an emphasis on the fantastical.

To start things off Nobunaga Oda wears a cape that appears to have a mind of its own, destroys his enemies with a shotgun, and laughs himself into hysterical fits at every opportunity. The typical battle consists of just this warlord making short work of an entire army before the climatic battle with whoever pissed him off that day. The grunts that oppose him are peons of the lowest order whose only purpose is to provide amusement. What it usually comes down to is when an army approaches their only purpose is to be juggled endlessly by a constant barrage of attacks. Apparently wicked outfits and crazy special attacks just aren't "Basara". One has to clobber dozens of enemies at once and fling their lifeless corpses around like they're the unluckiest balls in a ping-pong convention.

Then you throw in some trivial commentary about honor, loyalty, and the chaos of war and that is the entirety of the game. Everything about Sengoku Basara is just one notch below total absurdity and that's perfect. The third game takes place during the intense battle between Mitsunari Ishida and Ieyasu Tokugawa. The goal is the unification of Japan and potentially the end to the constant warfare that has claimed so many lives. Since things have a habit of never being easy, many other factions have their own goals in mind.

The colorful cast of characters have been designed around achieving that highest level of basara. Masamune Date is notable for wielding six swords like they were claws, Yukimura Saneda is all about being hot-blooded and carrying two spears, Magoichi Saica carries enough guns on her person to perform a one woman's World War 2, and with any of the other thirteen characters you can bet they're about as extreme as one can imagine. They all have their own techniques for the acquiring of "hits". Sure punching a guy once may count as a hit but in this game the only hits that get the player respect are those that get into the tens of thousands.

Getting these hits may come overnight if the player is diligent enough but for the most part it's a long road to the top. Each character starts off at level 1 and has access to only a couple special attacks. There's the command string of basic attacks, jumping, dodging, and parrying/blocking to help round them out. Over time as the player progresses their characters will gain levels and unlock newer and stronger special attacks. There are also special arts which offer all sorts of nifty uses and through a combination of all of the above a massive number of hits can be attained.

The long road is not a straight path either as each of the sixteen characters have their own story modes. These tales tend to offer multiple paths and even alternate routes that play out events not entirely in tune with history. Each path is broken up into multiple stages where the player goes through an enemy army, takes on some notable generals, and then faces off with the boss. Along the way everything from stats to weapons to money to accessories can be bought, built-up, and in other words upgraded. Fans of carrots and that constant feeling of progress will fall in love with this game.

The stages themselves are very straightforward. The boss is always waiting at the end of the line and along the way there are bases to acquire and sub-missions to engage in. In one stage a heavy mist will roll in where the player will be constantly attacked by tigers. Doing away with this obstacle requires the capturing of enemy bases. Another stage might involve avoiding an exceptionally strong adversary, still others involve racing someone on horseback. Not all of these sub-missions work well as some are just a nuisance and can be more frustrating than fun. Still in the long run they serve their purpose in offering materials, hidden fugitives, and end-of-mission rewards that will eventually lead to hits.

The hit-talk gets annoying I bet but that's what really makes the game fun. Building a character up to the point where they are enveloping their foes in a whirlwind of pure destructive force is just absolute joy. Plus there's a certain skill in finding the right opportunities to trigger abilities like hero-time and the basara attack to keep the combo going. The many accessories that can be crafted or found offer all sorts of different functions that change the way the game is played. While it can get repetitive there are just enough factors that can be changed with every playthrough that the game never feels too much like a grind.

Still the grind is acknowledged as it takes a bit of persistence in the later stages of the game as permanent stat-gains are usually in the hands of fugitives. These jerks love to hide in the corners of the map and while a handful of stages are good for farming them it's still a lot of work for minor upgrade. They're not all that necessary but they make the hardest setting a bit easier. Still unless the player is a trophy-hunter none of this stuff is really necessary. Besides it'll take probably 200 or more hours to complete everything.

Perhaps the best thing about this game is if even with 200 hours the content stays relatively fresh throughout. This isn't Way of the Samurai 3 or some other game that doles out stuff like "more creative name +1" in the 100th hour. A fair number of the late-game accessories make some fairly dramatic changes in the battles and there's all sorts of perfectly acceptable methods of getting that particular level of challenge out of the game. The alternate story routes are entertaining and the characters have enough depth to them that just one of them could take dozens of hours to master. Still all of the best parts of the game tend to involve being showered in gold and enemy bodies as your hero is dishing out hundreds if not thousands of hits a second.

If you haven't been turned off entirely by the Musou genre I highly recommend this game. If you have well that's fine too, but I'd still give the demo a shot.

Game Rating - 4 stars out of 5

Like I said earlier some of the sub-missions don't quite work and the worst of them tend to involve things that don't require hitting bad guys. I mean seriously who thought a horse-race was a good idea? Maybe Capcom should throw in a stealth mission while they're at it. The trophies are also all kinds of ridiculous. Yes they are completely optional but when the average mission can involve the deaths of 500 to over a thousand people, completing a story campaign killing less than 100 people total is just stupid and boring.

My Rating - 4 stars out of 5

A number of characters that were playable in prior Sengoku Basara games for one reason or another didn't make the cut here. I guess it would have been too much effort to develop a story-mode for them but that doesn't mean they should have been dumped out entirely. Speaking of modes this game also cuts back on them. Sengoku Basara 2 had a Survival mode as well as a special campaign where everyone fought each other and rewards were determined by how much of the land the opposing characters controlled. Here it's just story and free-battle which is fine for the game but I think it's lacking. At least there's always room for a sequel/update.

Black Friday Shopping

2010-11-26T11:51:00.005-05:00

Don't even try to deny it because you knew it was gonna happen. Oh yeah a couple updates ago I was all "yeah yeah I'm done buying games for awhile" but it's Black Friday bay-bee and you know what that means.

Prototype - Look it was $10..just don't bother me. Plus for some reason I felt compelled to get it along with...

inFamous - Two open-world "superhero" games that came around the same time as one another. I like this sort of stuff so eh why not?

Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction - I'm really liking Crack in Time so I got the prequel.

Sin & Punishment 2 - I probably should have bought this game back when it was full-price because y'know I gotta support the smaller developer. But eh getting the game off of newegg for $16 is more beneficial to me.

Dragon Quest IX - I think I've put at least several hours into every game in the series thus far. Oh and yeah the price was right ($17!) so it was done.

Final Fantasy XIII - I'm going in expecting to dislike or even hate this game. Still I can't let a main-line FF go unplayed.

Crash-Time - Look I really don't know what to make of this one. I got it for a song and from the description it sounds like I just drive around knocking people off the road. If that isn't worth something I dunno what else to say.

Warhawk - I needed a multiplayer game and Warhawk is cheap and apparently still fairly popular.

Recettetear and four other games - There's a great GREAT deal on Steam going on right now featuring this much-praised doujin and a handful of other games that are from what I hear decent to good. It's a really good haul for only $5 so yep yep I made it mine.

VVVVVV, World of Goo, and three other games - Damn Steam! Another great indie bundle for only $5. I just had to buy it.

Torchlight - Wow it's just like Diablo...and it's $5. My PC barely runs it because I don't have a 3D card but oh well it gets bought anyway. *sigh*

Resonance of Fate - The Tri-Ace RPG that hit around the same time as FF13. Features uhhh..absurd gun customization and is likely really good oh and cheap price too. Gosh darn it I can't take it anymore.

I'm done for real this time...I'm serious.

PS2 Look - Sega Classics Collection

2010-11-23T22:08:00.002-05:00

Not much else to say really.
You can read what I think over here.

PSP Look - Half Minute Hero

2010-11-23T15:24:00.002-05:00

The concept behind Half-Minute Hero reminds me of the days spent playing RPGs on an emulator. The greatest appeal of playing console RPGs on an emulator is because of the various speed settings. So what would have been hours of grinding exp can be done in minutes and the average dungeon could be completed in seconds if I knew what I was doing. All the while the party power-walks through every encounter at the speed of light.

So with all that in mind we take the core concept, balance it out a bit, and build a storyline entirely around saving the world thirty seconds at a time. The goal of Half-Minute Hero is to travel to various lands, gain exp, find/purchase equipment, and save the day from the evil boss...in thirty second increments. This is all accomplished through the hero's blazing speed and very limited skills. Basically he charges forward and if he's stronger than the monster he wins and moves on. Success in this game does not involve tactics but in choice of equipment, split-second decisions, and refining movement so not a single second is wasted.

Each stage starts off with the basics. A bad-guy has gotten their hands on a world-destruction spell that takes thirty seconds to cast. Half the time these guys aren't even evil but maybe they just had a bad day or somebody insulted them so obviously the best response has to be the most irrational. The Goddess of Time (who happens to be a real jerk) will point out what has to be done (kill the bad-guy) and maybe the hero will get some pointers about what to do next. Sometimes this will involve fixing a bridge, rescuing various townspeople, finding some great weapon, and will eventually involve every console RPG trope.

Since everything takes seconds the pacing is of course pretty excellent. Retrying stages is never an issue since the loss of progress is negligible and it'll be easier the next time around as the player knows what to do. The battles are flawlessly implemented and provide the right amount of feedback to keep the player up to date on what the next move is. This is just an absolutely perfect game for very quick gaming sessions.

Still though the concept does get old after awhile. There's only so many variations for each stage and while there's a constant stream of new bad-guys to conquer and new equipment to snag it all becomes pretty dull after awhile. Rarely are things really changed up so I feel like I'm going through the motions with each new stage. There are additional goals and all sorts of secrets to add extra replay value to the stages but there's no real incentive to go after them. However it's not all bad as the game seems to retain its freshness quite well in five minute spurts.

Outside of the main campaign there are a handful of additional game-modes that use the half-minute concept. It's a nice extra but really they're not fun at all. The half-minute RPG actually pushes the genre a bit by upping the ante and challenge-level properly. These other half-minute games just sort of lull about and don't accomplish much of anything. On the bright side it'll only take less than a minute of playing before you can decide if you like them or not.

The greatest part of this game is the writing which tends to be pretty clever and never takes itself seriously at all. Of course this is also dependent on the player's stomach for dozens of jokes being shoe-horned into every stage at every potential moment. While all of this can be skipped through it does lead to the feeling that something is missing. Sure the story is trivial and irrelevant but the writing adds the necessary flavor to the game that really brings it all together. It does have an effect on the pacing though when there's more text to read than game to play.

All in all I'm not quite sure what I want to say here. Half-Minute Hero is a fresh concept but it may not be for everyone. Part of what I like about RPGs is that they aren't fast-paced and they tend to favor tactics and understanding of various mechanics and design-philosophies in the battle system, things that this game has none of. Sure equipment can be decided on before the stage starts but its all a little simplistic (expecting a lot of bugs? bring a bug-swatter). Still it is different and that's worth checking out on its own.

Game Rating - 3 stars out of 5
The biggest weakness here is the lack of compelling modes outside of the main campaign. That's not to say having no modes at all would be any better. The way I see it extra modes are a good idea as they can offer a nice break from the campaign. Unfortunately these just aren't any fun. The writing is consistently charming at least.

My Rating - 3 stars out of 5
This isn't my strongest recommendation but this game yields some good things. It's not like it takes some massive amount of effort to get into. At least if it turns out you don't like the game you're only out a few minutes and $20. By the way the sequel sounds pretty good, though its unlikely we'll see it in the U.S.

Car problems...

2010-11-18T09:11:00.003-05:00

Good news everyone!
It looks like thanks to some car repairs I'm going to have to stop buying games for awhile. I gotta get my priorities in order and all that since I need my car for my real job and since this job doesn't pay I don't need new games.

So consider this the last of the purchase updates for the near-future. No worries though as this means I get to take a crack at the backlog that's been hounding me ever since I started this blog.

Little Big Planet (PS3)- The PSP version is not bad but...well...it's the PSP version. I figured I'd better just go with the real deal instead. Really loving the game I gotta say. While I can understand the complaints about the controls I think they don't really effect the game. Of course I'm still in that period where I'm just overwhelmed by everything. From tinkering with the level-creation tools to wandering random levels to see all sorts of oddities the community has cooked up. I'm sure I'll be on this game for quite awhile.

Oh and just a reminder: Pacman CE DX is excellent.

XBLA Look - Pacman CE DX

2010-11-17T10:43:00.003-05:00

The original Pacman CE was and still is one of the best games to see release on the Xbox Live Arcade service. Anyone who is anyone has played it and to be honest considering how often the game has been given away through various promotions and bundles there's really no excuse for anyone to miss out on it. So what if it is based off of some game that came out over thirty years ago. Like any good update Pacman CE turned everything around with a dynamic maze setup, huge potential for chaining ghosts, and most importantly it made a game that can be completely satisfying in as little as five minutes. There are some that enjoy sitting in front of the same game of Pacman for several hours to get a high-score, I'm not one of them.

Has it really been thirty years? I can't help but get a little poetic here, like I should say something significant about one of the most important games of all time. Unfortunately in front of the computer I just never have the right words to say. It's sort of like how I'll be in my car and I'll come up with some brilliant thought but then the words are lost before I can even so much as write them down. Playing Pacman CE DX gives me that similar feeling. I want to properly explain what makes this such a brilliant sequel and yet I can't quite get it together.

There are more ghosts, more ghosts than originally thought possible. These ghosts are still of the edible sort provided Pacman grabbed a power-pellet but things are different now. The ghosts are usually sleeping, waiting for Pac-man to awaken them. Some of these ghosts even carry power-pellets with them. They are no longer the threat they were thirty years ago. It's like they have given themselves up for a greater cause. They do what they must to make the game fun.

Then there is the maze. As with Pacman CE the player must eat all of the dots and then the fruit to unlock a new half of the maze. Sure it sounds clumsy but as we all know it turned out to be an excellent idea. Obviously this update continues the concept but now with each new section of the maze comes the sleeping ghosts. They along with the lines are arranged in such a way that it is easy to collect all of them in a second or less...for the most part.

The goal is to create a chain of ghosts. Pac-man has ascended to a higher plane of existence just so he can shepherd these lost souls. As the mazes progress he will continue to lead these ghosts until the opportunity arises. There will be times when a maze will appear just filled with ghosts. The addition of power-pellets in these particular spots makes everything obvious. The ghosts then fall by the tens and possibly hundreds as Pac-man cashes in. I believe I've eaten more ghosts in a single game of Pacman CE DX than in twenty-five years of playing the other games in the series. The simple act of eating ghosts has never gotten old in all those years so without a doubt devouring a score of them in seconds triggers feelings I probably shouldn't be having about a videogame.

That's not all there is to it of course. In order to get the most out of a five minute time-limit it is up to the player's maneuverability and quick-thinking. There always tends to be a spare ghost or four floating around attempting to throw the player off and every second off of the track set by the game is wasted time. To keep things moving the game offers a couple new additions. When Pac-man is dangerously close to a ghost the game slows down dramatically. It's a handy tool but only useful in near-death situations, there's nothing slowing Pacman down from wandering off the path of optimal scoring. For those who have really goofed up there are bombs. These are limited in number and put a bit of a damper on the player's score but it does kick the ghost-chain back to their hideout along with any nearby sleeping ghosts. It's useful sure but when the entire purpose of the game is the high-score what's the point? Real men and women jump straight to the select button on the X360 pad, which restarts the game within seconds.

The game itself is split up into multiple map modes. These maps each have their own theme such as highway with its many straight passages or spiral and its all constant turning. From here the player can play the traditional five-minute game, a longer ten-minute one, or take on other challenges such as going for the highest ghost combo or doing time trials. One such map known as Half is entirely time trials as only one half of the screen is used to gather sleeping ghosts to create a safe route for Pac-man to get to the dots. It is a great mode on its own but more importantly it reinforces the concepts of the game and provides excellent practice for the other maps. The original Pacman CE is also playable and includes the bombing as well as death-avoidance systems. Interestingly enough neither of these functions helped me get a better score than in my runs with non-DXified Pacman CE.

Sure anyone can skip one episode of their favorite sitcom to get all of the achievements in this game but it certainly won't end there. There are a ton of leaderboards for friends and strangers alike to compete on and while the interface isn't quite as good as something like Geometry Wars 2 it is still solid and efficient. Obviously that still leaves out the gamers who don't care about scoring but that's their problem.

Even in the process of writing this review I still can't come up with the words to express how this game makes me feel. It's a good feeling but it seems like I can only describe properly it when in the middle of a game. It's probably something that can't be put into words because it would likely lessen the impact, or maybe the meaning isn't interpreted properly. Maybe I'll figure it out one day or maybe I was better off not trying to think about it at all. I mean let's consider what I said earlier. Y'know the part where I said "I believe I've eaten more ghosts in a single game of Pacman CE DX than in twenty-five years of playing the other games in the series". It gets kind of scary when I think about it. Just think, nearly an entire life gone by in as little as five minutes. The only time I really get to reflect on this is the couple seconds of time that elapse as Pac-man engorges on a particularly long ghost-train.

Everything from the faded memories of playing Pac-man on the Atari 2600 to the days spent playing in the local bar are in that one train of ghosts. Those days spent in laundromats playing Ms. Pacman and the early days of the Internet talking about how much Pac-man sucks...all of them are gone with the chain. Then there is all the time spent playing the countless sequels, remakes, updates, and spin-off. Everything up to even the time spent with Pacman CE is just a miniscule portion in the average game of DX. Every game of DX I play is spent trying to recapture these moments and the events that surrounded them. If I beat my high-score well that's wonderful too but more than anything this game gives me precious moments to recall. It's probably all just the same as nostalgia but I guess I want to say "Thank You". As in "Thank you Namco for giving me this opportunity". Aside from producing an excellent game Namco was able to trigger all of these thoughts and emotions despite the game itself having nothing in the way of a storyline. It's probably all just history and nostalgia but I don't care. I've said it and I will stand by it for as long as I myself am standing.

Game rating - 5 out of 5 stars
My rating - 5 out of 5 stars

PS2 Look - Gradius V

2010-11-15T12:13:00.002-05:00

Everyone knows Gradius and everyone knows Treasure. Put them together and blammo! a Gradius game by Treasure. Five is a dramatic departure for the series and while it's oft-seen as a quality title there's still been many discussion as to how this game holds up to the rest. I try not to look at Gradius V compared to other Gradius games, but how the game compares to other 2D shooters. Still I have my reservations and I'd like to air them out. If you just want a short answer...well I highly recommend checking the game out, no doubt about that.

Criticism is never easy. It used to be something was either awesome or crap and that was the end of it. Nowadays that junk doesn't fly so I try to put forth the effort to explain why things don't work the way I think they should. Gradius V is a good game in practically every respect so I can't just start going off about whatever since it wouldn't make any sense and admittedly I'd lose a bit of self-respect.

The goal of the game is the same as any other Gradius. As the Vic Viper and/or Lord British the player(s) must navigate 7 and 1/3rd stages filled with hostile life-forms, diabolical traps, and fearsome bosses. Fans of the genre will slip comfortably into this game as all of the additions are seamlessly integrated into the core of it all, making even the more complicated aspects like multiple-manipulation seamless and entertaining.

Multiple-manipulation, Option-handling, whatever phrase fits best for you that's the most important element of this Gradius. Power-ups and thus options are very easy to come by which means the stages have every excuse to test the player's control over their ship as well as the options that help to protect it. It's a very fresh approach to the series since for the most part options were pretty limited in how they could be used. All four option-settings in Gradius V offer different configurations for differing play-styles and skill-levels. Freeze is handy as it locks whatever positions the options are in, leading to some great setups that take advantage of particular locations and enemy weak-points. Rotate is an effective choice for novices as the multiples encircle the ship for solid protection. Spacing is a rather unique setup in that it has many viable methods yet they're not always obvious. Finally direction is perhaps the most difficult and most rewarding to master as it allows constant control over where the multiples are aimed.

Despite all of the multiple-setups there is only one path through the game. This means that situations that might favor one setup will have to be trudged through using another one, and there's no getting around that. Furthermore exceptional players might also opt for no multiples at all, which leads to some creative methods of surviving. Throw in a host of difficulty settings, multiple loops that further increase the level of challenge, and a bunch of extra weapons...and this becomes a game that will take awhile to master.

It's rather strange how Gradius V is setup. Each level revolves around a particular gimmick. This is nothing new for the series but in this game the gimmicks are taken to the extreme. Whereas one Gradius game might have asteroids flying about, this Gradius Game will throw around thousands of asteroids, toss in some different-shaped ones for flavor, and have an entire boss-fight revolving around the importance of the asteroids (as they're pretty handy for stopping enemy-bullets). For the most part this game is all about using whatever option setup that works best to get through situations that continue to ramp up the level of intensity. It's a pretty fresh take on the series and though it lacks some key stalwarts (like a level based around Moai-heads) it is as I've said a quality title.

Now then this leaves me with the job of criticism. The way I see it is that Gradius V is simply too long. It's too long for the series, too long for the genre, and just plain overly long. That sort of thing might be a boon for some but we're talking about a 2D shooter. This is a genre where a single mistake decreases the chances of the player beating the game by as much as a third. Sometimes this mistake is one of those truly awful ones where it takes the player entirely out of "the zone", destroys their rhythm, and before-long they've lost whatever momentum they had and crumble to pieces. This works wonderfully in a game that is about thirty minutes in length...not so much when a game clocks in at over an hour.

This is the part where it gets complicated. Making Gradius V reach an acceptable length means that sections of the game have to be cut out entirely. Treasure put a lot of effort into showing off some very creative and memorable sections into the game. What can be taken out of Gradius V so that the game is leaner, more focused, and better but at the same time none of the best moments from the game will suffer for it? To further complicate things one must also understand that the key to good level design is proper pacing and a steady build-up of intensity. Cutting out a chunk from one section could see the player hitting a massive brick-wall, the sort of thing they'd never expect given what they saw earlier. It doesn't help matters that Treasure is especially fond of "slow-burning" the gimmicks in this game. Condensing things may also ruin the pacing as particular sections would be too close to one another, leading to a confusing and disorganized game.

So again we must turn to the magic of youtube and I'll point out whatever fat that can be trimmed.

Stage 1

For the most part it's pretty standard for the series. The thing is though is that the gimmick really doesn't come into player for over a minute in. It's also a rather boring gimmick as it's been done before in other games, though slightly differently. Unfortunately without a sufficient replacement this level is probably best left as it is. Still at least a minute could be shaved off and it would not affect the game in the slightest. On higher difficulties/loops things become more interesting but it's really not enough to consider leaving things as they are.

Stage 2

From the outset one thing is very noticeable: This stage is apparently over ten minutes length. Is that really at all necessary? Especially considering the fact that about a third or so of this stage must be re-done at the end of the game. Sure it's a very cool twist on the standard "destroy the great evil" at the end of the average Gradius but again it's a pretty slow-burn. The first few minutes are very necessary as they begin to show off the situations the Vic Viper is capable of getting into. Stages will move in all different directions and enemies tend to be placed in hard-to-reach areas. It's a good stage as it introduces elements at a good pace and does not waste anything.

The boss-rush takes nearly as long as the entire stage yet it's an even harder section to cut from. I'd probably drop the second mini-boss. It's a rather unnecessary battle. The more drastic measure would be to lose the boss-rush entirely. Gradius games really only need one of them but on the other hand three pretty good fights would be lost. I can only choose to lose the weakest of the three.

Stage 3

Here we have another stage that ignores the straight-forward nature Gradius is known for. While some of the sections look easy on harder settings they're a bit more complicated. Again changing them would probably ruin the difficulty curve in one way or another. In fact I'd go as far to say that there isn't a single thing I'd change about this stage. It's kind of difficult to accept since the stage is around eight minutes but there's hardly an element out of place.

Stage 4

This level is the standard "bio-themed" stage that tends to crop up in Gradius games. One thing that I should have mentioned early is that these stages are based off of the easier difficulties. On normal and above there are all these creatures that crawl out of the various holes in the stage, making for some serious problems. It's a brilliant stage in my opinion as it effectively uses four different gimmicks. There's the uh...whatever those things are with the arms that attach to the walls, the shifting walls and the crawling guys that accompany them, a giant worm, and regenerating walls. Some of this could have been pared down but stage 4 is so important because it represents an up-tick in challenge.

Stage 5

Here we have my favorite part of the game. When it comes to 2D shooters I like to dodge stuff and blow stuff up and there's an overload of both going on here. There's an absolutely amazing showcase of mechanics going on here as the asteroids are constantly shifting in motion depending on the circumstances. This leads to an almost endless supply of close-calls and situations that cause the sort of rush I can only get from a 2D shooter. This all leads to one of the best boss-fights in Treasure's history, making this an absolutely perfect stage.

Stage 6: part 1

With this one I really get the feeling that it's bloated. Nearly the entire stage revolves around this endless supply of dangerous green goop and the player must carve a path while the stage itself makes all sorts of twists and turns. Treasure really outdid themselves with this one and it's such a creative gimmick that the slow-burn process really works here. The slightest changes in how the level is structured lead to some dramatic effects. It's a great level for at least the first-half.

Stage 6: part 2

The second part starts off with a backwards-section which leaves a number of multiple-configurations and the ship itself practically defenseless. Still it's not impossible as the ship can actually slide in-between the space where the ships and walls connect. It's a clever little piece but ultimately it really has no place in the stage and possibly in the game. The jump to the boss-rush could have been made immediately after the last of the green goop and nothing would have changed. On the other hand the third mini-boss undoes my theory a bit because he can attack the Vic Viper from behind, which means the backwards-section early isn't really a waste. Anyway it's a long rush but the end-boss goes quickly if the player is willing to play risky.

Stage 7: part 1

The final stage like all Gradius titles relies a particular set of gimmicks. This is the part where I get really biased because I hate Gradius last stages. First there's the speed section. I'm always terrible at these and for whatever reason there always has to be this sharp-angled turn towards the end. Earlier Gradius games were less-forgiving when it came to speed-powerups so death was guaranteed if the ship wasn't set at the right level.

Stage 7: part 2

Just watching this video makes me ill. I'm pretty sure I'm claustrophobic and this part of the stage is all about tight spaces filled with enemies. As a bonus another last-stage stalwart in the form of moving walls makes an appearance. I think a lot of this doesn't really need to be there as the only purpose it serves is to remind everyone that this is a Gradius game. The mini-boss here is an exceptionally challenging one and it's pretty much game-over if the player never bothered to figure out how to get past the section with the laser-blocking movable orbs.

Stage 7: part 3

Second only to the completely pathetic final boss is the invincible or nearly invincible mid-boss. These guys attempt to crush the Vic Viper with their legs while various smaller enemies do everything to either kill the player outright or distract them so they get killed. Thankfully this version can be destroyed but depending on how quickly it dies the rest of the time until the final door is spent sitting around waiting for something to happen.

Stage 8 or Stage 2: Alternate

Gradius games are known for their loops but whoa a time loop? That's pretty crazy. Honestly it kind of bothers me because as with past videos the player uses the single-stage mode instead of doing a playthrough of the entire game. So the second Vic-Viper doesn't even appear...what the heck? Anyway this is the final portion of the game and while it is really creative the whole time-traveling aspect is probably the most unnecessary edition to the game. However if that gets taken out stage 2 is going to be a complete mess and it'll probably lead to this paradox that destroys the universe and...well I give up.

So despite everything the most I could actually see getting cut from this game is minimal. Treasure put together a really tight game with excellent presentation, flawless mechanics, and some of the best level and boss designs seen in the genre. The only real argument that can be made (its length) would require drastic changes to the entire game. It really isn't worth the trouble and considering the game had to be balanced for over 250 levels of difficulty I can't really argue much more than that. Although in all fairness around 95% of those extra difficulty settings amount to things such as more bullets. In any case Gradius V is a spectacular game.

Game rating - 5 stars out of 5

Believe me when I say I actually tried to put forth an argument that Gradius V wasn't flawless. Considering the issues are negligible and my arguments amounted to little more than nitpicking there's really nothing that stands out as problematic.

My rating - 4 stars out 5

I really like the game but I still hate stage 7 and stage 1 gets really dull after repeat play-throughs. It is great for picking up and challenging certain stages with differing weapon setups however. In the end this game stands next to Gradius Gaiden as the best the series has to offer.

Whoa where are the reviews?

2010-11-12T01:54:00.002-05:00

Yeah I've been away for awhile. I have been writing reviews at least but you gotta go to the Gaming Age Forums(Neogaf) to read them.

You can read about:
Space Invaders: Infinity Gene - here
Lufia: Rise of the Sinistrals - here
Light Crusader - here

I'll have some more updates for this blog later on. I've been playing a lot of Sengoku Basara 3 so there's that to look forward to...hopefully.

PS1 look - Final Fantasy 7

2010-11-05T11:09:00.002-04:00

Whoo boy where do I even begin with this one? Aside from being critically acclaimed, arguably one of the most important reasons behind the success of the Playstation, and the jump-starter for a Golden-age in regards to Japanese RPGs, Final Fantasy 7 is still a highly sought-after remake and it's still #1 in the Playstation 1 message-boards at gamefaqs. Huh? Hold on a second. What in the world are people still doing talking about this game? Are they running polls for who would win in a fight between Tifa Lockheart and Cynthia Rothrock? I could have sworn every piece of Cloud/Sephiroth fanart was drawn from epic battles to loving embraces to things that would make any sensible person give up on humanity.

Why exactly is that? The game is a relic and I'm saying that in the nicest way possible. Its storyline has become legendary for its usage of tropes we take for granted in every RPG, most of the characters are laughable and useless, its sitting on enough retcons and side-games that should have tarnished its legacy beyond recognition years ago, and everyone on the internet will be the first to tell you if they dislike it. The legend of how FF7 sucks is almost as big as the legend of FF7 itself.

The only way this piece is going to achieve any sense of normalcy is if I ignore all talk not related to the game itself and that's just what I'm going to do. Final Fantasy 7 is still a game and surprisingly despite everything it has held up rather well, since in the end it is an entry in the Final Fantasy series. These games are notable for the many different ways they can be played through. Back in Final Fantasy 1 there was beating the game with all white mages, using no espers in part six, and seven is no different with no materia runs, no item runs, runs where the player beats the game with Aeris (isn't she supposed to die?), and so on and so forth.

The story is something that I've kind of grown to appreciate. Sure it revolves around tired standards such as amnesiac heroes and ancient civilizations but I can't really fault it because after all this was before that sort of nonsense became really commonplace. I think the main thing to take away from the story of this game is that it never really takes itself too seriously. One of the villains has some hatred for Tifa that is never really explained and at one point she attempts to have her publicly executed. This feud is settled with an epic bout where the two of them reach the point of showdown and proceed to slap each other silly. It's ridiculous sure but I find it to be charming and coupled with the exaggerated animations and little touches like Cloud being able to do stunts while parachuting into Midgar and it's all pretty amusing.

Even when the actual plot and story doesn't hold up I find that the themes it explores are nicely done and despite lacking in subtlety the point comes across well. The ending for example is really interesting as it depicts a rather interesting scenario. If the planet is capable of being saved should humanity be saved as well? They may have been the driving force behind nearly destroying the planet and even the protagonists carry their fair share of flaws but maybe they're deserving of a second chance. I'm not very good at explaining these sorts of thoughts but the way I saw it Aeris' death was less the death of a person and more the death of innocence itself. It sounds cheesy and all but if all hopes of the future rest on the innocent, who spends their lives seeking peace and fall at first sight of the wicked, then how are they able to save the world? It's obviously not the kind of issue that can be solved by some ultimate white magic. Cloud was able to resume the fight because of the memories he shares with others but more importantly it's the hope he shares with everyone including Aeris'. This hope takes the form of the White Materia Holy, the counter to the Black Materia Meteor, and humanity's place in the middle is up to the decision of a higher power (which in the case of FF7 at least would be the planet). But that's just the way I see it, and I'd go further but I'm sure everyone got tired of reading stuff like this over a decade ago.

The game itself is as I said a relic. It represents a time that even Square-enix let alone any other RPG-developer will never revisit. Each location aside from the world-map is designed using pre-rendered art. Sometimes it can look good and even striking but in the context of the game it doesn't really work. There are a lot of locations where it takes a long time for the character to move from one end to the other. This can lead to quite a few boring dungeons as they'll consist of over-long straight lines just to run from one end to the other. Due to all of the pre-rendered assets there are also times where it isn't exactly where the player is supposed to go. Square rectifies this by making most treasures easily visible and offers a toggle setting that slaps red and green indicators on the screen which dictate exits and objects that can be interacted with. Still nothing can really be done about the long walks it takes to reach certain places.

The battle-system is nothing entirely new to Final Fantasy fans but the materia system is very clever. It offers a ton of customization and for those willing to put in the time it can lead to making characters practically invincible or even so incompetent that the game becomes more difficult to beat. It's a very good system as it can even be completely optional for the extra-challenge. Sure this limits the identities of the party-members down to their base-stats and limit-breaks but I can see why it was done. Giving everyone unique abilities would most likely lead to Final Fantasy 6 all over again which means nearly double the number of playable characters. As far as this play-through is concerned though all I really focused on was limit-breaks and enemy-skills and I didn't see a party member die until towards the end (thanks to an instant-death attack). Yeah part seven is definitely one of the easier games in the series but that just leads to more possibilities for a greater challenge.

As far as pacing is concerned the game really didn't pick up for me until the materia started pouring in. That says more about me than anything as I've said it many times before I like numbers and bars. Numbers that get higher and bars that fill up are the strangest addiction to me so quite a bit of the early game wasn't really interesting. Since the very end of the game consists of nothing but top-level materia that are relatively easy to level thanks to a handful of monsters I could very well still be playing it right now but eh I have other things to do. The one section that really threatens the pacing involves a bunch of fetch-quests throughout disc 2. These tend to involve mini-games and I tend to hate them in RPGs. In fact I'd say part seven would definitely have been a better game if there weren't so many forced mini-games. Actually I'd probably do away with chocobo raising/racing if I was given the chance. I've still never forgiven the yellow-feathered bastards for the years they took off of my life in the Final Fantasy 10 mini-game.

Still aside from some glitch that causes the game to crash every time I access Barret's armor menu I've enjoyed this recent playthough of Final Fantasy 7. It's still a pretty class title even if time has numbed its presentation quite a lot. The customization and multiple ways of playing through the game represent the highs, while the dungeon design and pacing represent the lows. I'll also never understand Sephiroth's appeal but whatever.

Game Rating - 3.5 out of 5

It's a good-to-great entry in the series, what more do I really have to say? Yeah there are a few issues that need worked out but considering the time and everything that's been said I expected something much worse when I decided to revisit Final Fantasy 7 after a decade or so.

My Rating - 3.5 out of 5

Again it was a pretty decent ride and I've managed to gain a bit of an appreciation for this game that I didn't have in the past. I'll refrain from comparing it to other Final Fantasy games because for one that's just not my preferred method of discussion and for two it's been so long since I've played through most of these games I can't possibly consider my opinion on any of them to be valid.

So whatever the case if you have a Playstation 3, ten dollars to burn, about thirty to forty hours, and a memory of FF7 almost as bad as Cloud's, you may want to give a revisit some consideration. I guess any other Playstation would work just as well but I wouldn't pay whatever ebay sellers are expecting for this game.

Genesis look - Castlevania: Bloodlines

2010-11-03T05:28:00.002-04:00

My initial plan for talking about this game was to discuss everything that makes it different from other Castlevanias. Thing is though is that none of it actually matters. It's just as much a Castlevania as any other title in the classic series so the main point should be what makes this entry special. One of the nice things about this franchise is that even the early games made an effort to stray from would-be conventions at every opportunity. Back in March I suffered some serious burn-out playing through the Megaman games as they're so similar to one another.

Bloodlines follows the tale of John Morris and his good buddy Eric Lecarde. It seems some crazy woman decided to resurrect Dracula and it's up to our heroes to put her and the good Count to rest for awhile (though not for too long as Jonathon Morris takes up the whip in Portrait of Ruin). Rather than the game taking place in Drac's Castle and immediate surroundings there's a bit of country-trotting with each stage taking place in a different part of Europe. It's a nice twist as it gives the developer an excuse to come up with some unique level-designs.

The entire game is a rather cool mix of ultra-traditional Castlevania 1/Chronicles level-design and Super Castlevania 4's gimmick setups for the heck of it. Each section of the game tends to have something unique about it and is bolstered by the enemy placement and proper usage of fiends such as medusa-heads to keep things challenging. It's a great balance and the controls center more around early Vania but with some nice touches like being able to jump on and off of staircases. It's kind of hard to describe but in the game you'll see thing scenarios like a room where all the sections of the screen are out of place and the player has to dodge flying heads while doing some platforming. At times it's pretty creative and since the levels are broken into many of these small sections things stay fresh if a little disjointed.

The disjointedness comes from the variable difficulty each stage seems to have. This means the curve is kind of all over the place with areas being harder or easier than others. It's probably nitpicking since not every game needs some difficulty curve as graceful as a swan's neck but it's still notable as the other games tend to be pretty methodical in their approach to difficulty. This also extends to the boss-fights and other enemy encounters as sometimes foes make an appearance just because they're expected to be there. Again it's nothing major and it serves as more fodder for Konami to throw around a bunch of different ideas.

One aspect of Bloodlines that I think is particularly interesting as to do with Eric. He has a super-jump he can perform that while it can only go straight up he can use it to find all sorts of neat minor shortcuts. While this might not be the sort of thing that is good for the Castlevania series it seemed like something that could have been a really good addition if implemented to a greater extent. Sure a lot of games are designed around this sort of thing but not relatively straight-forward action games like Castlevania. Part 3 had a number of these aspects but it also had a non-linear nature and the abilities Grant and Alucard were capable of only saw real use in the manner of making certain sections easier. The implementation in Bloodlines feels just a bit more subtle and it recalls times during the Metroid games where there would be this power-up for reaching some areas but creative uses for it were to discovered that led to other areas being reached more quickly or by using different routes. It's that sort of game-design where tools are handed to the player with the vaguest of directions that really make for some fascinating games.

I guess it's all for naught at this point as the Castlevania series split into two different directions but eh for what its worth Bloodlines offers a good time and certainly more than enough differences from whatever traditions the series has to make it worthwhile even today.

Game Rating - 4 out of 5
Like I said the game's difficulty balance is a bit off as it can work with or against the player as they progress. The game is still fairly difficult regardless and settings such as Expert add enough to make this game just as solid as any other Vania. I gotta say though that the limited continues was just a dumb idea. Sometimes certain difficult spots have to be tried over and over again and having to ration lives is just annoying. I also don't understand the attempts at developing a scoring model when there's a very easy section in stage 5 where one can rack up some infinite number of points (especially since unlike most early games this one has no time-limit).

My Rating - 4.5 out of 5
I'm quite fond of the game and favor the variable difficulty as it means I see more of the game on a relatively casual play-through. Otherwise I enjoy the slightly more visceral feel this game seems to have over other entries. Attacks carry a little bit more punch and destroying enemies is ever so slightly more satisfying. I still don't understand why Konami never put this game on the Virtual Console. It's such a tremendous waste.

Yeesh what the heck happened?

2010-11-02T08:39:00.003-04:00

I'm finally getting some decent internet access within the next couple days(hopefully in time for Guwange XBLA) so hopefully I'll be able to start rolling out the updates with some consistency.

Oh yeah more games bought:

Urban Chaos: Riot Response - An FPS from the guys behind Batman: Arkham Asylum? Sure why not.

Metal Gear Ac!d 2 - I thought I'd give one of these a whirl eventually. It basically plays like an MGS game except turn-based and you choose your next move via a deck of cards. I've never been much for card-games so it'll take awhile for me to get into this one.

Etrian Odyssey 3 - I wasn't the biggest fan of the second one but when has that ever stopped me from buying any other game? Oh and I'm a few hours in and already getting whipped multiple times over.

Singstar: ABBA - I was wandering around Gamestop and boom a set of Singstar mics for $10. I immediately snagged this for another $10 because I love ABBA. It's uh kind of punishing I gotta admit. I have a bit of a problem with my pitch when I sing so my ratings have been terribad on every song (though I got a "hopeful" rating for Does Your Mother Know..hmm.

X360 Look - Fallout: New Vegas

2010-10-31T02:36:00.002-04:00

One of the great tragedies of being human is that prospering is never enough. Rather than settle for mere survival the seeking of power defines far too many of our kind, bringing ourselves to extend beyond our means. Eventually we go to war, many of us die, and the remnants re-align their borders, draw up charts, and prepare for war again. Somehow through this bitter cycle we continue to survive. The Fallout series tells the tales of how even the end of the world doesn’t change our way of life. In New Vegas the player find themselves at one of these critical points, where their decisions will ultimately decide the balance of power…for at least awhile.

In this game the player is known as The Courier, a man (or woman) who was put in the grave over an innocuous platinum chip. From the simple town of Goodsprings the player finds their way back to New Vegas for answers, though there are more than enough ways to get side-tracked, as there are over a hundred locations to visit and many quests to take on. Most of these quests can also be influenced by the player’s karma as well as the faction they wish to gain favor with. This time it isn’t enough to do good deeds or satisfy selfish desires, now the player can also do quests for a number of factions located throughout New Vegas.

The New California Republic is the sole military presence in New Vegas, with their main goal in protecting the Hoover Dam and surrounding lands from the Legion. The Legion enjoys reveling in Greco-Roman pretention, slavery, and pretty much everything that is generally considered evil. There are a number of minor factions that still carry some influence as well. The Brotherhood of Steel is in hiding but still tech-hungry and ran by knob-heads. The Boomers are a threat provided they never run out of ammo. There are also the Great Khans who like to sell drugs and live in trailers. The player has something to gain from assisting these and other factions but it doesn’t seem to work out the way it should.

While I would have preferred not to discuss this unfortunate aspect it is something that can not be ignored. This game is a bit of a mess. In the past I thought I could get all of that talk out of my system as every other reviewer discussed it at length. New Vegas has so many brilliantly inept glitches that I really have to say something about it or I can’t say I wrote a complete review. Take the faction system for example. At many points I had just met a new faction when they decided to idolize me. My sole contribution to their society may have been knocking the head off one of their leaders with a giant hammer but whatever I guess that’s not really important. I’ve also had frequent issues just trying to maintain some sort of presence in other factions despite doing tons of missions for them.

Moving on for someone who poured over a hundred hours into Fallout 3 this game feels much too familiar. Aside from the aforementioned faction system there are other new elements like additional ammo types which are all tend to be superfluous, a hardcore mode that turns eating, drinking, and sleeping into a chore, and many revamps in terms of skill and level progression. This part of the game is something that annoys me the most. Obsidian really didn’t put any thought into developing clever or even really useful perks. Sure it’s balanced far better than Fallout 3’s “get practically unlimited points in VATS” but most of the time the useful bonuses end up being stuff like an extra 10% of damage or something along those lines. I’d rather see those rewards being doled out for completing quests as well as getting some really neat perks through leveling that really change how I play the game. At the very least someone could have dumped those terribly useless perks that let me access locks I may have jammed or computer terminals I goofed up on.

Furthermore for all of the work Obsidian did to balance the skill system they forgot to extend that same effort towards encounters. Being able to fight more enemies at a time makes things a bit more entertaining but when the fights themselves involve creatures like Cazadors, Death-claws, or anyone that is heavily-armored and using some high-powered melee weapon it all becomes very one-dimensional. Basically the solution in these fights is to use a high-powered sniper rifle as it’s the only way to effectively punch through armor. Using most anything else may as well be suicide as the player will be surrounded and slaughtered. These battles represent the most numerous when wandering around as well as some of the most critical. Considering the options available in a post-apocalyptic environment I’d like to think being bum-rushed by half a dozen guys with advanced fisting-technology is not in anyway clever.

The partners have been revamped for this installment as they’re easier to work with and don’t die when they lose all their health (instead they fall asleep for the remainder of the fight). It’s a shame that on hardcore they actually do get killed but eh that just saves me the trouble of spending any real time on that mode. In the end all that means is more time spent sitting in front of a loading screen. It’d be somewhat different if the partners didn’t crumble like crackers whenever they got punched. These companions tend to come with their own quests if you annoy them enough but the rewards don’t seem to help all that much. At one point my partner got upgraded weapons but after awhile it decided to stop shooting things altogether. That was probably another bug though so oh well.

Still there is satisfaction in killing as the fleshier foes tend to go down easily. However the mechanics still aren’t very sound as many weapons still lack the punch that they deserve. At times a head will fly off not because I blasted it with a riot shotgun but because it got tired of the body it was stuck to. Then again maybe it’s just inconsistent as my favorite weapon is a sledgehammer that goes by the name of “Oh Baby!” This fine weapon has a habit of sending things flying very far. Couple this with a perk where a Vegas Dancer randomly appears to inexplicably throw people farther than any rifle could send them and well who cares if it makes sense I love it. Towards the end of my play-through I got sick of performing fetch-quests and merely smashed everyone’s heads in until my superiors got sick of it and shoved me off to complete the final tasks.

The writing is a fair bit better than the previous Fallout game. At times it can also be as clever as the likes of Fallout 2. Still I think that game knew how to pace itself as New Vegas just tends to be far too talkative. It seems that more often than not I find myself trudging back and forth dealing with objectives that border on the inane. If the reward was something besides experience and money it would potentially at least be worthwhile but usually what it comes down to is that I should just feel satisfied knowing that I got the “full story”. Yeah I may not be one to talk but all I see is a story about a bunch of people that are full of themselves. Still somewhere in the hundred or so locations and the approximately same number of quests there are a few nuggets of gold as far as the writing is concerned and almost every cave no matter how meaningless-sounding might just hold a unique weapon that’s totally worth the trouble. The main story could stand at least some condensing. Essentially the last few quests involve dealing with neighboring factions in any number of ways and that’s about when I went with the hammer-smacking. Sure I may have missed out on some great bit of wisdom or some funny joke but eh it’s just not worth the trouble.

The most disappointing aspect is how there’s hardly any new toys to play around with. I’m talking things such as weapons and armor. There are a few more clothing options and I’m especially fond of the prostitute outfit with the pasties but in terms of stuff that helps me kill there’s not much of anything new. Okay maybe there’s some new rifles and some new types of armor but even the poster-boy armor (y’know that guy on the cover of the game?) is so rare that I didn’t get a set until the very last moment of the game. I hear other players had better luck but come on. The weapons are even more disappointing as I’m still messing around with stuff like the Sniper Rifle, the Gauss Rifle, and they’re all just boring. Even the newer additions are merely weapons from Fallout 2 which really lessens the impact of finding them.

How can I ever forget about the bugs either? Sure there are enough of those in the form of mantises and cazadors but throughout the entire game I feel that I am under the constant eye of millions of bugs. They sit there in-between the seams of the game, waiting for the right moment to strike and cost me un-told seconds of game-time. Yeah sorry I’m not the type willing to put myself at risk by not saving every few minutes. I’ve done all sorts of fun things like fall inside of rocks, become unable to jump off of cliffs no matter their height, and enjoy the countless moments of Havok doing what it does best, spazzing out. This is all minor stuff as I’m sure there have been other bugs that have kept me from getting whatever truly wonderful rewards that came from being idolized by a faction. At times I wished that I had actually gotten hit with the save-corruption bug as at least then I could quit the game. Sure Obsidian has been rolling out the patches but seriously, this is the sort of stuff that should have been squashed before the game even shipped.

Still what it all comes down to is that I like the game. No really at times I can overlook the wealth of issues and waste the days away in the Wasteland. I haven’t quite pinned down what that says about me and my interests but since I’ve always been a fan of level-ups and finding neat stuff I guess it’s natural. There are also those moments where it feels like the writers aren’t trying too hard and it leads to some surprising and wonderful discoveries. These are few and far between but they serve the purpose of keeping me interested in those times where I’m sure I could play other games for my leveling and looting fix. It’s still a waste of money in its current state. My recommendation is that anyone interested in this game should just wait for the Game of The Year edition. I’m not quite sure how New Vegas will achieve that with the reviews it has been getting but eh I’m sure it’ll work out somehow.

Game Rating – 1 out of 5

Originally the plan was to give this game a zero which stands for “not even a game” but New Vegas is at least competent in just enough areas to slide on over. Still it’s all buried under a surplus of issues and I avoid pushing the game whenever possible as I feel it’ll just fall over and break.

My Rating – 3 out of 5

No matter how broken a game is it’s all rendered irrelevant depending on my enjoyment of it. Aside from the obvious stuff like hitting people over the head and raising hell whenever possible I have a fondness for dressing in strange outfits and dumping corpses into swimming pools. Sometimes I get drunk and stuff a plasma grenade in the face of anyone who mouths off of me. Then I limp off with two broken legs, take a nap on bit of cardboard, and resume my antics as fresh as a spring breeze. I’m not sure what this all has to do about the unchanging of War and survival but maybe I’ll just ask the opinion of the headless corpse I’ve been wandering around the Mojave with for the past several weeks.

Fallout: New Vegas....sigh...

2010-10-23T01:21:00.003-04:00

I'm still working on my review for this game but at this moment I want to air a bit of dirty laundry out. I'm pissed because I felt like I just wasted $60. I want to address some things now because if I don't my review is probably going to be full of stupid comments like "This game is a system-seller! It'll make you sell your system after playing it." As of this writing Obsidian has already started rolling out patches for both the PC and console versions which is sorely needed. In fact until things start getting straightened out I can't even call New Vegas a game.

"Not even a game" is about the worst thing I'll ever say about...well...a game. The writing is good and the general atmosphere runs anywhere from decent to great but all it really is right now is an interactive experience that I'm almost afraid to push. I've had my game freeze around four or five times so far, I've missed out on entire quest-lines because I accidentally triggered some flag or bumped into the wrong person at the wrong time. There are also all of these moments where something is stuck in a wall or generally just in a place it shouldn't be. At every turn there's a chance that the business that is game design will be completely exposed.

In its current state New Vegas is an experiment. There's a lot of ideas going on here and most of them are really good but most of them are barely fleshed out to the point of actually working. This game adds a faction system where doing quests for certain groups of people will improve relations. Apparently due to my nasty habit of gunning people down after letting them go I've somehow reset standings with certain factions multiple times. It's to the point where at some moments it's like I never even heard of the guys even though I just blew away some former members or got rid of somebody hassling them. It seems to me that the only way I'll successfully complete some missions is if I go about them in the most arbitrary manner possible and constantly save/reload if something falls remotely out of place.

Why am I always saving and loading anyway? It's actually believable that I have spent 1/4th of my time in New Vegas staring at a loading screen. It's probably because I'm so afraid that something is going to go wrong that I can't go without making sure all of my saves are in order. I'm rolling with a couple of partners at the moment and them being unable to die on the regular difficulties is a godsend. There is one partner who just hangs back and shoots anything that he can see. He's fantastic, probably too fantastic really. Compared to say this woman I have who rushes into everything and gets knocked out in seconds. This makes the hardcore mode a serious turn-off because all it really leads to is more loading screens.

Sure the whole constant save/load deal is pretty understandable as I've been doing it in PC-RPGs for as long as I can remember but New Vegas really takes it to absurd levels. There are never any real consequences, there isn't any challenge, and there just isn't any reason to do it any other way. I could save in-between every single battle in Baldur's Gate 2 but I'd still feel challenged coming up with different tactics to take down whatever I'm fighting. In New Vegas if I die it's mostly because I turned a corner and ran into a big group of killer flies. From there my option is to just find another corner to turn.

Which leads to the combat. It's funny really because for all I knocked Fallout 3 for its dumbed-down combat New Vegas is even worse in this regard. This is partially because the AI is a quite a bit worse as they will frequently find themselves doing things besides attempting to kill me. The game also throws in all of these new features like different types of ammo, weapon-mods, and well nevermind that stuff isn't actually new is it? It doesn't matter anyway because it's just unnecessary fluff. Besides if I mod the wrong weapon I might screw the game up somehow. Anyway it's nothing to worry about. There are more enemies in battle and some even hit a bit harder but they're about as durable as tissue paper. Besides I'm teamed up with a guy who blows people's heads off for just being in the same time-zone as him, there's really nothing to worry about.

The worst part is I'm still not done yet. The dungeons in this game tend to be overly convoluted and unnecessarily cluttered. I was hoping this new game would get away from the narrow enemy-filled hallways in Fallout 3 but nope it's more of the same. Sometimes instead of enemy-filled hallways there are enemy-filled encampments. These are more entertaining at least because I get to be outside. What's even more entertaining is when my partner kills baddies without me having to do a thing. That way I can focus on the important stuff like gathering experience and organizing my inventory.

Honestly New Vegas would have been better off without all of that icky combat nonsense. I could just wander the Wastes, look at all the cool sights, solve all of my quests through diplomacy, and maybe find some neat clothes to wear. As it stands however the combat is mostly boring and rarely intolerable. That all depends on whether or not I'm fighting Deathclaws and Giant death-flies or anything else.

Still I am enjoying the game. It sort of reminds me of Shenmue 2 where there are these huge buildings with like thirty floors and hundreds of rooms inside. Every little room I go into has something different about it. Yes, sadly enough my little bizarre interest is about all this game has going for it. Well at least I'm not following Daddy around trying to save the world.

And well here's just some junk I thought up. I'll think up some more while playing New Vegas. There's still some things I want to do before I get back to really finishing the review.

-How the heck do you fast-travel when you have two broken legs?
-While I'm at it: I shot a crippled guy in the leg, crippled his leg with a critical hit, and he ran away.
-Whenever an object falls through the ground and disappears that's the Earth's magnetic core at work. Post-Apocalyptia is strange like that.
-Stealing from robbers, rapists, and murderers makes you a bad person. Don't ever forget that.
-Leading an old lady to get her head blown off by a sniper makes you a good person. Definitely don't ever forget that.
-Sometimes items you're supposed to take are marked as stolen anyway. Well..it's not like karma was ever important.
-Digging up somebody's grave and taking their stuff is not evil in any way. It might have been evil before but times are more desperate than ever I suppose.
-If you betray someone or think you may have betrayed someone, don't worry about it, New Vegas will probably forget the whole thing.
-If all else fails replace substance with pretension. Most people can't tell the difference and if they do feel free to tell them they don't understand.
-The person who designed Fort McCracken should be drawn, quartered, shot, shot out of a cannon, shot into a cannon, and then flayed alive.
-The guy who designed Hoover Dam deserves even worse.

Fallout: New Vegas is mine

2010-10-19T15:36:00.001-04:00

Yeah I have it and am too busy playing it to talk about it...much

-It's tough..definitely tougher than Fallout 3.
-Looks the same. It looks a bit better but still..looks the same.
-Haven't hit any bugs yet. Okay I've hit a lot of bugs but those are of the mutant variety. I did see a radscorpion stuck in the ground which counts I guess.
-There's all this new stuff about differing factions and multiple grades of ammo. I'm not sure if all this is necessary but once I stop getting pounded by giant scorpions I'll delve into it.
-Hey a hardcore mode. I was whining about the un-hardcoreness of Fallout 3 and look what Obsidian does. Now I actually gotta eat, drink, and get plenty of sleep? By God they made poor Jenna into a human. I'm not messing with that mode just yet howevs.

Oh and I also bought Etrian Odyssey 3 because I am easily wooed by the combination of store credit and used games. I'll get to that one eventually.

PS1 Look - Castlevania Chronicles

2010-10-19T11:05:00.000-04:00

Once again Konami saw it fit to revisit that fateful day when a guy named Simon decided to do something about a guy named Dracula. While Super Castlevania IV may have been a re-imagining this Castlevania is more of an actual remake. The stage-designs are several times more familiar, a handful of boss-fights from the first game make their return(with changes of course), and thanks to some changes in mechanics the bosses are also no longer suckers for holy water. Originally this game was available on a PC nobody owned but we got a port in the form of Castlevania Chronicles. The original version is included along with a remake where Simon has gotten a sort of glam-rock makeover and the addition of difficulty settings.

The original game is hard not simply because of the enemies and traps but Konami really took that extra step towards being total jerks. To start with those days of chicken and pot roast buffets from Castlevania 4 are over. The meat locations are very few and far between and as a bonus the wall that contained the very first pot roast you can find – in stage 1-2 just before meeting the Mermen – is now filled with an infinite supply of fleamen. This sort of treatment continues as starting about half-way through the game Simon can be wiped out in as little as four hits. Still it’s not all bad since if you’re really lucky you’ll stumble upon herbs that can be used as a subweapon. For a measly 10 hearts it just might save your life, provided you don’t get dumped in a pit by the next creature you run into it and lose everything.

It doesn’t stop there as the enemies are always placed in spots where they are a threat. A bat can be waiting after almost every jump, medusa-heads are abundant in just the wrong places, bone-tossing skeletons are always seemingly out of reach, and a handful of monsters exclusive to this edition really have it out for the Vampire Killer. One particularly nasty section involves a vertical shaft filled with tiny evil clowns, frustrating flying dolls, and chests that contain deadly bats and balloons (!?). This section also gives the player the finger for attempting to grab a much-needed pot-roast as more than likely they’ll just fall to the bottom as the food disappears. This is important because enemies also respawn off-screen.

With this entry it’s pretty clear that Konami has done all they want to do with the original game. Part 4 was different and that’s all good in itself but with this version it’s all about returning to the challenge that was missing. Still this is likely to be too much for even the Castlevania fans so the remake added difficulty settings. These are rather clever as while they cover the basic stuff like enemies doing less damage, they also allow for Simon to not go flying backwards every-time he takes a hit. The reasoning here is obvious as instead of sailing into pits Simon will just sail straight up for a bit before making a safe-landing. The fact that Simon can take less damage suddenly makes this game quite a bit more manageable. It’s still rough even on the easy setting however or at least it is for me because I still sort of suck at these games.

It’s all good though and certainly more than worth the measly $6 it goes for on the Playstation Network. There’s really nothing bad I can say about this game as it is about as good as the original Castlevania can get.

Game Rating – 5 stars out of 5

Really I’m not sure what I can say here. The controls are flawless, the presentation is great, the level design is both fresh and familiar, and it’ll keep any Castlevania playing for quite awhile.

My Rating – 4 stars out of 5

Whoa now that doesn’t mean I have to absolutely love it either. I think it’s great and all but throw me a bone here (ok strike that, I’ve seen enough flying bones in a life-time). I was not really a fan of the original and this version doesn’t do quite enough to differentiate itself. Plus the sub-weapons feel kind of useless (since they aren’t abusable on bosses). It could just be I’m getting tired of the formula which is to be expected since I’m playing a bunch of games that are similar to one another but uhh… whatever it’s just a score dammit.

PS1 Look - Gunners Heaven

2010-10-18T20:48:00.001-04:00

If you’ve ever wondered why it can take so long for me to write a review I can sum it all up in one word: Inspiration. Whenever I wake up to start a new day I spend the first fifteen minutes or so looking for this inspiration. If I don’t find it I don’t write reviews that day. Since you’re reading a review right now I guess I’ll tell you what inspired me to write it. This review was brought to you today by my own two eyes.

At one point or another within the first fifteen minutes of my day I’ll sit and stare at a mirror for about a minute or two. Aside from lamenting the effects of a life-time of sleep deprivation and videogames when I look into my eyes I start believing that one is slightly larger than the other. Sure humans aren’t required to be perfectly symmetrical but this is still cause for concern to me. It must be something that either only I can see or not only can I see it but everyone else I’ve ever met can see it as well. Do I go around asking them if one of my eyes is bigger than the other? I guess I could but it’s possible their response will merely be something that I want to hear, as in “yes one of your eyes is bigger than the other” or “no your eyes are equal in size”. I think the only way I’d get an answer I believe is if they stared into my eyes for at least one minute of every day.

Gunners Heaven if you can believe it is a lot like my predicament. This run & gun shooter is permanently trapped under the shadow of its inspiration Gunstar Heroes. While preparing for this review I started seeing both of these games as my eyes. There is definitely something off about one of them and things are already looking bad for Gunners Heaven when I’m already comparing it to another title.

A good game should always stand on its own merits and on the surface Gunners Heaven seems to do just that. It is six stages of shooting, exploding, and many boss-fights for only 600 yen off of the Japanese Playstation Network. It’s a good value and could last anywhere from forty-five minutes to however long it takes to completely master the game. The controls are solid, the graphics are serviceable, and all in all it is perfectly functional. Unfortunately I think of it as my “off” eye. This is the one that’s either smaller or larger and in comparison to the other eye is also remarkably inferior.

To start with for a game that takes itself after Gunstar Heroes, Gunners Heaven makes little effort in terms of creativity. While Heroes was not a flawless game it had different ideas for its many boss encounters that made all of them unique and interesting, even if they’re not always challenging or even fun. Heaven on the other hand does none of these things and puts out uninspired and bland boss battles that take too long to destroy, offer no sense of accomplishment, and don’t even have interesting attacks or movement patterns to set them apart.

The sections that are in-between bosses aren’t any better as whatever good idea the developers had ends up getting repeated several times. This means if there’s a particular enemy that seems in anyway different than the one that came before it’ll be seen again and again without so much as a change in frequency or other factor that might make them more difficult. This style of level-design goes far beyond repetitive and becomes mind-numbing. The appeal of holding right and holding the fire-button down loses its appeal before the first boss of the first stage and this game’s attempts at providing variety only bring the game down further.

Both playable characters offer their own set of selectable weapons and have the ability to jump, slide, and even use a grappling hook. The grappling hook is one of those gimmicks that gets used for a few fights but is otherwise irrelevant. The slide is sort of in the same boat but at least every now and again some enemy feels the need to throw out an attack that can only slid under. I guess I lost the coin-toss or the game is trying to say something but the character I chose is weak. Usually women in videogames are known to wear tiny outfits and kick ass but somehow I got stuck with someone who would be better off getting captured or offering to bake Mario a cake. All of her weapons offer no punch and have that plink-plink effect as they slowly whittle away the boss’s life. There is some strategy in using the right weapons for the right situation but there’s nothing to alleviate the fact that the heroine absolutely sucks. I guess I should start again with the hero but…why?

Opinion of the matter here is that I don’t think the game is fun at all. Maybe I’ll kill bosses more quickly if I use the other character but it won’t make them fun to fight. I could also probably pay less attention to what I’m doing as I run forward and hold the button down but there’s no point. This is all because the game is just too strict. It’s this Dragon’s Lair style of game design where to get past every obstacle the player must either have the reflexes to find the one spot that is safe or already know what’s going to happen. In a way a 2D shooter like R-Type has a similar style but it has many effective ways of preparing the player for situations that will occur. This game does nothing of the sort as despite having a fairly lengthy health meter I find myself repeating sections solely because there was no way I’d know I was supposed to stand there at that moment for an attack that wasn’t quite clear of.

Worst of all there is something that feels “off” about this game. This is one of those admittedly nebulous details that points out whether or not the developer has got “it”. It’s clear from what I see that Media-Vision does not have it and that’s why they went on to do RPGs. The placement of enemies in various stages is such that if they were shifted slightly to the left, a little in the other direction, and maybe a little downward as well, they’d be just a bit more entertaining to destroy. Gunners Heaven is most likely just a series of adjustments away from being a good yet uninspired game yet as it is there’s really nothing that makes it worth playing.

Even the comparison to Gunstar Heroes seems a bit unfair. I’ve been playing Gunstar Heroes for over fifteen years and Gunners Heaven for less than six months. Obviously that time spent isn’t in literal terms, which makes it all the more inexplicable. It could just be that I’m giving Heroes the nostalgia-pass while Heaven despite coming out only a few years later gets stuck. Then again if you the reader feel that I have slighted Heaven unfairly than please let me know. However would you just tell me what I want to hear or would you have come to this conclusion through many hours of playing both titles back-to-back?

Really I should have avoided this direct-comparison entirely. It may just be that since I started staring at my eyes so recently that I have already picked one of them as inferior. It’s also possible that I could have compared my eyes to those of others but that would have been a fruitless affair. In fact if it wasn’t for all this I would have simply written Gunners Heaven off and given it some throwaway write-up in the back of this blog.

Game Rating – 1.5 out of 5 stars

This game gets a star and a half for competency but there’s really nothing else worth talking about.

My Rating – 1 out of 5 stars

Despite all of my complaints and my completely dislike of the game it is still important as it serves its place in my eyes. I really can’t do without it even though I most likely would have been better off not knowing of its existence. Maybe it’s just me as I can’t even tell which eye is supposed to be the inferior one.

VC Look - Castlevania 3

2010-10-15T15:52:00.000-04:00

To me fear isn't the expectation of death. What I fear are the things that make me wish for death, like possibly some debilitating illness, maybe a horrific car-crash where I lose the use of multiple limbs, college, or even just being trapped in something that I have no hope of ever escaping. So if the situation is that bad where I question my own sense of self-preservation, well that's something worth being scared of. I'm also deathly afraid of heights.

While it's unfortunate that such a morbid topic is how I introduce Castlevania 3 there's really no other way around it. Since its release this has been one of the few games that I actually fear because I feel trapped in some sort of nebulous space between death and more death that I know I'll never escape. In a way it's become like Demon's Souls, another game where I gain an acceptance for death yet still feel hopeless. I figure if I persevere I will eventually win and everything will work out. Still no matter how many hopes and dreams I throw at Castlevania 3 every play-through ends the same way, I end up getting stuck somewhere dying constantly with no hope of success.

This time around Trevor Belmont and a handful of allies are tasked with the job of slaying Dracula “once and for all”. This makes for a slightly more strategic game as thanks to multiple paths the player can eventually pick from one of three characters to fight alongside Trevor. Grant specializes in agilty as he can jump higher, run faster, and even control his jumps while in mid-air. He’s also handy with a knife and can climb walls and ceilings, provided you’re careful with the d-pad so he doesn’t lose his grip. Syfa (Sylpha) is loaded with strong spells but his (or her) failing is that she bruises easily and his staff is a terrible weapon to rely on. Alucard is rather lacking as he is missing all of his weapons, the ability to equip shields, and his repertoire of spells but he can still turn into a bat and fly around.

Multiple paths are the other big new feature of Castlevania 3. There is no correct path to Drac’s Castle but they vary in difficulty so the player may eventually find the way that suits them best. It really doesn’t matter to me though because all the paths affect is how long it’ll take me before I get completely stuck and give up. Some stages are very lengthy and throw around nasty extras like mid-bosses and multiple end-bosses in a row. The bosses aren’t too much of a problem usually as there are a lot of repeats and most fall very easily to holy water. To balance things out the likelihood of me holding onto holy water for an entire stage is very low. Even if I’m playing as somebody besides Trevor everyone gets kicked back to square one upon death.

Fact of the matter is while I have played through challenging action games this game continues to elude. Way back I remember trading this game in for Startropics and since I didn’t have a receipt I had to lie and say the game was defective (well I am unable to complete the game after all). Apparently all those years playing games like Ninja Gaiden Black, Bayonetta, and the Devil May Cry’s did absolutely nothing for me. I’m still getting knocked into pits by freaking birds, medusa-heads are still a headache, and I still can’t beat a simple Doppelganger boss without the holy water. I’ve beaten arcade 2D shooters without continuing and still, STILL I can’t beat this game with unlimited continues times the number of lives I start each of them with (ten of course because I need the help).

I guess it’s partly because the levels are designed around everything actively trying to kill me. One thing I never really discussed about Castlevania 4 is that the enemy placement was designed more to hurt the player rather than kill them outright. There are points where if an enemy was placed down there instead of up there they’d instantly go from non-threatening to might take a life or two to figure out. This game is all of that and then some as enemies are always placed where they can be the most effective at killing. Towards the end it’s rare to see a platforming section that didn’t involve something like a medusa-head or a crow to make things difficult and bone-pillars are properly placed just out of the player’s reach. Still while this game never seems to get as hard as certain points in the first Castlevania there tends to be more situations that can be a hassle.

If I were to somehow beat this game legitimately I would be welcomed with a second quest. Apparently not being able to beat this game isn’t enough as the second go-round features new enemy-types, tougher enemies earlier on, and Trevor’s crew takes more damage from the start. It’s a brilliant addition and maybe one day I’ll utilize it. On the other hand this game is just one of those titles where I start thinking that I might be getting old, or should probably turn my gamer card in out of shame.

Game rating – 4.5 stars out of 5

While it’s not on the level of Castlevania for the X68000, Belmont’s Revenge is still one of the most difficult entries in the series. It is also one of the best with its great replay value, excellent level-design, and the mechanics are flawless as far as the series is concerned. Some level designs are repeated at different sections of the game however and a few of the stages can be too long, especially when there’s not a whole lot going on in parts of them.

My rating – 4.5 stars out of 5

The newer entries have spoiled me I’ll admit. Being able to control jumps, jump off of stairs, and generally be able to move without considering my options carefully is a luxury I’ll never be able to do without. I’m also not a huge fan of repeating particular sections over and over again until I get them right. This is something that I’ll have to look at more in the future.

More game purchases

2010-10-12T18:38:00.002-04:00

First off let me point out that my lack of updates has been due to my wacky Internet connection. It's at the point now where I have maybe 30 seconds of time to check out sites and do whatever before I have to reconnect. That is a lame excuse isn't it though? It's not like I can't just write all of my reviews and then quickly post them when I'm online.

Actually I uh..have to blame Final Fantasy 7. Gosh isn't everyone tired of that game by now? It's still #1 in the Playstation 1 Gamefaqs board for crying out loud. What else is there to talk about? Whatever the case I've been playing the crap out of this game and enjoying it.

Oh and yes those game purchases. Can't get enough of those huh? This time around I have gotten:

Drakengard 2 - In-between Drakengard 1 and Nier Cavia released this little title that isn't going to be as memorable or as well-regarded as its older brother and younger sister (or would that be distant cousin? I suck at analogies) but what the hell there's something worth talking about buried away in this sequel.

Lufia: Curse of the Sinistrals - Alright a Lufia 2 remake!...oh. In a move that will leave some fans perplexed, Neverland opted to make this entry an action-rpg re-imagining of the best game in the Lufia series. I'm playing this right now and it's fun..kind of reminds me of Ys 7 but with better dungeons and not quite as good combat.

Sengoku Basara 3 - This game won't be out until tomorrow but I've all but made it my destiny to buy it.

Alundra - If I ever get my internet problems straightened out this will get bought without question. Not finishing Alundra may be one of thousands of reasons why I have insomnia so the extra .1% chance of sleeping better at night would be worth my while.

Oh and I will have another update real soon. There are after all still tons of Castlevania games to talk about.

XBL Indies look - Explosionade

2010-10-07T23:16:00.001-04:00

I played a game called Explosionade, I loved it, so I wrote a review.
Review is here.

Spooky Youtube Recommendation

2010-10-06T23:48:00.006-04:00

Louis Chou is a big fan of Survival Horror games and enjoys completing them on the hardest settings while collecting everything. This gamer also dabbles in other titles to showcase his exceptional talent at gaming.

You'll find nothing but excellent videos at his page but be forewarned as the videos like to show *everything* so steer clear if you're afraid of spoilers.

VC Look - Super Castlevania 4

2010-10-05T23:59:00.001-04:00

One thing that always bugged me about the Castlevania series is that apparently all Dracula has to do is enter the land of the living, set up his huge castle, and then local vampire-hunters want to see him put to rest. The way I see it he seems pretty content chilling in his house while his minions stalk the hallways. Maybe a nearby village gets razed and a bunch of people get sacrificed but eh that’s their problem. If some huge Castle appears out of nowhere and it’s all spooky and starts changing forms so there’s a second castle or maybe multiple castles from other dimensions attached to it, I would probably bug the heck out and never look back.

Okay maybe it isn’t that simple and I should probably cut out the lame jokes but that’s not really important. Dracula coming back again and again is as good an excuse as any for Konami to keep pumping out Castlevania games. This time around I’m looking at Super Castlevania 4. Apparently just calling it Super Castlevania or Castlevania 4 wasn’t enough. It’s all rather strange since this game isn’t considered a sequel. It’s actually a re-imagining, sort of like Jet Set Radio Future. Castlevania 4 re-tells the epic story of Simon’s quest to defeat Dracula and the game just happens to have about twice as many stages, a bunch of new enemies and bosses, and a pretty serious makeover in terms of level-design and controls. Don’t call it a sequel though because somebody will cut you.

For not being a sequel this game definitely must have been the extended edition that was held back for the Blu-ray release. All of the stages are very lengthy and offer everything from spiked floors, to a rotating room, to a bunch of excuses for showing off Mode 7 tech, and well any idea that Konami thought would look good in a Castlevania title. At times it’s like wandering the halls of a real house of horrors as some stages trade the difficulty curve for something like portrait-ladies ineffectively grabbing at Simon and whatever else that sounds cool. It’s nothing that really affects the game and even today we’ll remember silly nonsensical sections like jumping across giant chandeliers. The bosses are a bit more creative and trade their hard-hitting attacks for moves that look cool and offer variety. Back then Dracula would just shoot you with a fireball that took a quarter of your life away. Now he’s got several attacks that do maybe 1 to 3 points at the most. Still Konami keeps forgetting to tell their programmers to figure out a way to keep Simon from merely spamming his sub-weapons to lock most of the bosses down and make them trivial encounters.

Simon is still wielding the Vampire Killer and aside from looking spiffy with his fine leather and theme song he’s got some new tricks. For reasons unknown he got the bright idea to swing his whip in multiple directions. I’m not quite sure if it’s really necessary but it is appreciated as he can now cover just about any angle his foes are likely to come from. By holding down the button Simon can also flail his whip around and uh..admire the effect…yeah this technique isn’t all that useful. The Vampire Killer can also control his jump while in mid-air. This is really big news as it makes him more maneuverable and offers a bit of protection so if for whatever reason it looks like he’s about to jump into danger he might be able to save himself. Somehow if this wasn’t enough he can also swing on magic-floating-thingies to traverse pits his jump just can’t cover. There’s also the crouch-walking cause sometimes you have to duck, walk, and whip. Oh and before I forget Simon can also jump onto and down from stairs. Wow! Suddenly he’s not a sitting duck while climbing stairs.

At this point Konami might as well have made Simon invincible. He’s barely the same man we remember. However I’m not quite finished. The precious pot-roasts of the original Castlevania could only be found hidden inside a handful of secret walls. Now there are candles that hold freshly-cooked chicken legs which will restore a portion of Simon’s vitality. I mean that’s just great. Now there’s a good chance I’ll go into any boss-fight with full-health because there’s some meat lying around nearby.

Yes yes I’m well aware of the consequences and implications that all these changes bring to the game but you know what? I’m cool with it. Sure you’d all like to think that I’m all “grumble grumble Konami ruined Castlevania oh God my life is over” but nope things don’t work out that easily. I for one can appreciate what Konami tries to do with the series. And aside from that if nothing else all of these additions and changes are OPTIONAL. That’s right if I don’t want to whip in multiple directions I don’t have to. Suddenly the game becomes slightly harder. What about all of that extra meat? Well I prefer my meat coming straight out of the wall thanks. If I jump somewhere and realize I’m going to land in spikes well oh well maybe I better stop being dumb. This goes for nearly every new feature to the game which leaves me with plenty of options to make the trek as easy or as hard as I want.

I can allow the game to go easy on me so I can focus on the excellent atmosphere and one of the better soundtracks Konami has produced, or I can purposefully weaken myself so when I replay the game I’m forced to be a little more careful or perhaps even a bit more creative to get through situations I may have glossed over in the past. This method of variable difficulty is well-implemented and Konami deserves high-praise for such a thoughtful idea. Still it can be argued that it just isn’t enough for those seeking a real and “pure” Castlevania challenge. To be fair there’s truth in that as some sections are definitely lacking in the “hey this would go great with some medusa-heads” or “if they moved the axe-armor down here instead of up there it would be a serious threat” kind-of challenge. Konami throws a bone in the form of a second quest that offers up more enemies but those looking for a serious controller-throwing challenge will probably have to be some rom-hacker to copy-paste up some spikes or other random enemies to make everything complicated.

Like I said way back though, Super Castlevania 4 is a re-imagining. It’s like complaining that Jet Set Radio Future wasn’t a better Jet Set Radio. Sometimes it’s about making something different instead of making something better. What makes this game great is that it focuses on things besides situations that take multiple retries to solve and goes for something that works properly with the pacing it goes for. I’m really not sure I’d be able to stand the game if it was super-hard and I was re-doing entire stages multiple times over. Sure that might have been viable for a 15 minute-long game like the original CV1 but at near an hour CV4 is not a wall I want to bang my head against.

So forget everything I might have said in the past because this game is one of my favorites in the series and it’s a pretty class affair that everyone should play through once, twice, a million, or okay maybe just several times…that’d be enough I think.

Game Rating – 4.5 out of 5 stars
The only thing that really hurts the game is the ineffective bosses. I guess I could go without the sub-weapon abuse but even then these guys tend to be stunned for just a bit too long with each hit. Maybe they could have done just a little bit more damage but its possible Konami was shooting for a slightly more epic feel. I can’t really blame them for that because the only thing epic about hitting a guy 20 times when he only has to hit you once to win is that it is an epic kick to the rosaries. I gotta say though why does Konami keep bothering to put effort into the scoring system when there’s no high-score table or anything? It’s hard to focus too much on score anyway since the game just loops around. I guess if you play it enough without continuing you’ll eventually have the highest score of all time...hurray?

My Rating – 5 out of 5 stars
It’s already one of my favorite Castlevania games what else do I have to say here? Well I like the music, the art-direction is pretty fab, I replay it at least once to four times a year. Simon’s theme is great and I can play through it without the more fragile objects in my house feeling threatened. So yeah awesome stuff and I love it.

Old stuff

2010-10-05T23:40:00.003-04:00

Hey all I just remembered that I wrote a couple reviews for a site called world-of-videogames.com. I really wouldn't visit that place today because they make you fill out surveys just to access the site. So I just yoinked both reviews I wrote for that dump and all three of my lucky readers can see them right now.

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Game #1 - Super Castlevania 4

This is one game that can be considered a real classic. Castlevania 4 is definitely one of the greatest super Nintendo games of all time. It combines incredible level design, great graphics, a good challenge, and some of the best music ever. Even after all these years and countless other games. (Including Symphony of the Night), I still keep coming back to this one.

Graphics 10 out of 10

The Graphics are very well done, grom the amount of detail in even the simplest enemy. To the exceptional use of Mode 7, especially in Stage 4. The graphics are just one of this games many strong points. The backgrounds are good too, and they include some really cool animations. The bosses are also well done, each one is very different in look and how they are animated. This game shows a lot of diversityin each level. from the Gardens of the level 1 to the caverns and water filled ruins of level 3. No two levels ever have the same look to them.

Music and Sound 10 out of 10

Well obviously this is Castlevania music. Easily some of the best music I have ever heard. The boss music is really good. The first stage music is also exceptional. They have even redone music from Castlevania 1 and 2. The sound effects are also well done. But most of the time I was just listening to the music although the sound effects do their part fine enough.

Game Challenge 9 out of 10

Well the difficulty is there. Some levels are really tough but once you understand it you will master them in no time. Which brings to this games one minor failing. which is a lack of challenge. Once you beat the game. (All the way through.) There is not much else after that. Castlevania 4 is still a good challenge in itself. You get unlimited continues and passwords, so It can not be that hard.

Game Play-Fun 10 out of 10

The control is a lot better than the older Castlevanias, that's for sure. You can swing the whip in any direction, plus if you hold the button down, you can flail it everywhere. Hitting anything around you although this move is also weaker. The response time for each move is good, plus the game is really fun. Each level is diverse and has a lot to offer. You can also swing from objects that resemble bats holding a ring in the air. The level design is arguably the best part of the game next to the music every level is something new, and it just shows how much of classic this game is.

Frustration

I doubt you can get frustrated with this game. You get passwords and unlimited continues, and although the levels are sometimes tricky. They can be beaten after some amount of time. So don't throw the controller out the window over some simple problem in any level. Although they may be tricky at first.

Replayability 9 out of 10

Well...this game is replayable. Mostly for the level design and music, but the difficulty could be a bit harder, but the game is a lot of fun while it lasts and well worth time spent on it. If this game was harder and maybe a few stages longer or even if it used the multiple path system of Castlevania 3. that would add a lot to the replay value.

Game Value 9 out of 10

Hmm... well, this is a really good game, and it is well worth any amount of money you pay for it, except for over $50. which would be a little much.

Overall 10 out of 10

Overall, This is the one of the best Castlevania games around. Either by rental or paid for. This game is one classic that should not be forgotten. Don't pass up the chance to play the game. You will not be disappointed.

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Game #2 - Actraiser

Actraiser is a very unique game. One of the Older games for the Super Nintendo, I became very involved in this game after I rented it. Actraiser combines good graphics, excellent music, good gameplay, It is quite lacking in replayability but it is still an excellent game.

Graphics 9 out of 10

The game is split into 2 parts, a regular action mode with really good detail, and huge and well animated characters. The other mode is a kind of Simulation where you take the role of a angel looking guy who flies around helping the town grow and shooting enemies with arrows. The action side, has very good graphics, while the simulation is kind of drab and unappealing but still all right. The bosses in this game are some of the best.

Music and Sound 9 out of 10

The Music in Actraiser is awesome to say the least. The Music draws you in and while nice peaceful music accompanies the simulation, yet in the action area, the Music gets intense and is really involving. The sound effects are effective, well done sword swings, the screams of dying monsters, and other cool FX.

Game Challenge 9 out of 10

The simulation mode is not that tough, but the enemies can give you headaches though, since they are always flying around and taking your townspeople away. The Real Challenge comes from the action areas, The Levels contain many traps and tough enemies, The Bosses will give you nightmares, You can get level ups in the game to increase your health but that only happens in Simulation mode when you get enough townspeople. Plus after you beat the game you can access an even harder Mode.

Game Play-Fun 9 out of 10

The Control is well done, The menus are intuitive and simple, Its real easy to get into the game even without a manual. Plus the controls are simple enough, most of the time you press one button to attack, one to jump. Movement can be a little sluggish at times, but that is not too much to complain about. The game is a lot of fun, the 2 modes keep the game fresh and replayable.

Frustration

I was Frustrated at the beginning because you have a real short health meter when you first start, but once you start getting some level ups the game becomes a lot easier to handle, the aggressive enemies in the simulation mode might get on your nerves too, but it is still more challenge than frustration and it will stay entertaining to the end.

Replayability 6 out of 10

The Game is Replayable because of the extra hard difficulty, yet if you have gone through the game once, then you have seen everything, The probably would have stayed fresher if there were more levels, and multiple paths and secret areas to make them more interesting. Most of the levels in the game are too straightforward.

Game Value 8 out of 10

The Game is a great value you can usually find it used for under 30 dollars, it will surely be hours of fun, So it is worth the price.

Overall 8 out of 10

Actraiser is a good game, diminished only by its low Replay Value, after you beat the game on both difficulties then its all over, the game could have used better level design and a longer game overall, I was able to beat this game in around two days, but it was extremely fun and well done game.

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Glad that's over huh? I'd like to think I have gotten better at reviewing games since then. I'm not sure when exactly I wrote these but at the time I was rocking the AOL account so it had to have been over ten years ago. Actually wait where in time would one have to pay $30 for Actraiser? I better just quit trying to make sense of this before I make myself sick.

Castlevania 1

2010-10-05T11:05:00.003-04:00

With a new Castlevania game just around the corner I think it's time I look back at the humble beginnings of one of the longest running action game franchises around. For this piece we're going to use a youtube video.

While there have been occasional twists the story typically goes that Dracula is alive and well and it's up to a Vampire Hunter to slay him...or at least force him to go away for a hundred or so years. The goal is simple enough but each game offers its own challenges as well as unique directions that have helped the series remain fresh over countless sequels and spin-offs. The original game is still regarded as a classic and it offers enough difficulty that even though it's quite short it demands an exorbitant amount of patience and tenacity just to complete.

For the early games the oft-overused quote "look before you leap" may as well be Castlevania's subtitle. While Simon and his descendants have health meters they don't stand up to very much punishment and worse-still they're sent flying with the slightest touch...and more than likely that leads to falling into the nearest pit. Furthermore Simon can't change direction in mid-air, jump off a ladder if an emergency comes up, and there's a bit of a delay before his whip strikes whatever target he's aiming for. This is one of those games where slight mistakes can easily lead to death. Health restoration is very rare and enemies actually do more damage as the player progresses...even if it is the same enemies from earlier stages.

Still Castlevania is by no means an impossible game and for this video we can see somebody beating the game without dying. I'll do my best to provide commentary for everything notable about the game.

0:09 - In what has become a series tradition the game starts off with a straight-forward enemy-free section where the player can grab a few power-ups as well as get accustomed to the controls. Here we're introduced to the basics like whip upgrades(for longer-reach and greater damage), hearts (which serve as ammo for sub-weapons), and so on. Note that the player sometimes attacks while coming down from a jump. This handy tactic saves a little bit of time and makes Simon a bit more mobile. The player skips some of the torches since they contain a power-up they have no need of. It's important to memorize candles that drop useful power-ups as part of the challenge in the game is having the right sub-weapon to get past the next obstacle.

0:26 - At times it's probably best to simply avoid the enemy entirely. The earliest Castlevania games are fond of respawning enemies and many times it's actually to the player's advantage to keep moving as stopping to whip everything in sight could eventually lead to being overwhelmed. Note the well-crafted hit-box when Simon dodges the panthers. There's no such thing as unfair damage.

0:56 - Another trademark of many Castlevania entries is that the main character will fall straight down very quickly if they walk off of a platform. This can be useful at times and I've seen the design decision come up in quite a few other games like Capcom's Black Tiger. It's also at this point that the player takes advantage of Simon's frailty to get a boost. It's rather clever on Konami's part since if they didn't want players skipping that section they would have built a wall.

1:28 - When dealing with multiple hit enemies the whip can stun them but often-times the whipping speed isn't enough to keep the enemy from attacking. There are some situations however like with the axe. The boss is unable to do much of anything since well-timed axes hit the boss twice and thanks to the double-shot power-up a second axe is always close behind.

2:18 - Medusa-heads. Nobody likes them and yet Konami keeps thinking them in every Castlevania. The pattern these creatures move in is simple to understand but their very presence can make any situation more complicated.

2:42 - Once again the player takes damage to attain a shortcut. It's hard to discuss how much of a threat the medusa-heads are when the player is having no trouble at all.

3:32 - The player switched to the holy water for this boss as it works her over completely. In another clever move Konami has both the double and triple-shot available for the player in the short time from collecting the holy water to encountering the boss. What's also notable is that the bone-pillars flash before firing. When dealing with games that offer limited animation visual cues are very necessary.

4:05 - Urghh..fleamen. The player wastes no time in getting rid of them. They have erratic jumping patterns and follow the player everywhere. It's a nasty combination especially since the whip works on a delay. Crows are also not at all fun to deal with. It's a bit of a shame that in the newer games these guys aren't half as threatening as they used to be...mostly because there's no bottom-less pits for them to knock the player into.

4:45 - Again with Medusa-heads it's usually best to ignore them completely. Here the player gets by them and a bone-tossing skeleton as if they didn't even exist. In some ways Castlevania uses trial & error design to assist players in finding the best route through each section. Since Simon has a health meter a few mistakes can be made without too much worrying provided the damage is made up for by surviving more dangerous areas. As the game progresses however that starts to go out the window.

5:01 - There's actually a bonus-point system in place. By destroying multiple hostile "objects" (enemies as well as their fireballs) with a single sub-weapon the player gets a large cache of bonus-points. It's a very cool touch even though in practice it would probably kill the pacing if the player stopped to milk every possible bonus-point section they found.

Castlevania requires a lot of emphasis on timing. The options are limited to jumping in one of three directions, walking in two directions, crouching, or attacking. A number of other action games can have several times as many ways to avoid death(mostly because they offer things like control in mid-air). Also out of these options typically only a couple of them result in survival.

5:27 - At this point Simon has to play double-dutch with a couple of bone-pillars. In a rather unique display of mechanics he dodges a fireball by leaping over it while going the same direction. Since the fireball is slightly faster it just misses Simon. Even for a game that's so direct it can take a little outside-thinking to get through a bad situation. Also the player must have attempted this part numerous times in their attempts to get a perfect run. Later in this same section we see more of medusa-heads working in conjunction with other enemies.

5:54 - Once again the bosses didn't have a chance. It's a given that Konami will balance future games out so these kinds of things don't happen again. Unfortunately that's not always guaranteed but at least it gives creative players a reason to continue looking for new strategies to beat bosses as quickly and painlessly as possible.

6:40 - Compared to other titles the original Castlevania is fairly light in terms of level-design. Mostly it's just a lot of straightforward paths that use a combination of enemies and holes in order to kill the player. A moving platform is probably about as different as we're going to get in this game. Also since the player skipped the section at the beginning of the game now we're being introduced to fish-men. While the game only works with a small pool of enemies Konami is smart enough to work with what they have to keep things fresh and challenging. Also there's one of those now classic "duck so that a rock outcropping doesn't push you off a moving platform" sections. I'm not sure if this game was responsible for this idea but I wouldn't be surprised. It might have been also that since fish-men are jumping out of the water some sort of way of keeping them from landing on the player's head while they're completely helpless would be imperative. Building a platform way above the player would be too obvious I guess so instead we have fish-men walking through walls...well whatevs.

7:21 - Fleamen and eagles...eeuurgghh. These foes are just plain awful and as usual the best advice is to just run away. Here the player uses the holy water to cover their tracks and prevent fleamen from following. The player picked up a sweet bonus along the way at least.

Now let's move along to Part 2

0:02 - The boss here gave me so much trouble when I was younger. It turns out that if I just held onto a triple holy water I could keep Frankenstein from moving and by effect keep Igor from jumping off of his shoulder. I usually ended up using the dagger to beat them and that mean dodging Igor and his fireballs...which usually never went well with me.

0:41 - This is where the game hits a real difficulty spike. Clever enemy placement is everything in Castlevania and having a bone-tossing Skeleton just out of reach makes anything complicated. The enemies also do more damage. The shortcut cost the player four blocks where toward the beginning it may have only been two.

1:31 - Another shortcut and here we have the axe-armors. Like the other denizens of Drac's Castle, these guys work best when teaming with others. However just as easily as the holy water tears through bosses it makes the armors out to be a whole lot of nothing.

2:37 - This particular section is legendary as it's one of the hardest in the game. Once again holy water saves the day and with just two sprinkles it's all over. Still timing is important here as knowing when to jump and when the throw really can change the results. The Grim Reaper is supposed to be a hard boss but once again...uh..well oh well. Maybe I should have used a video where the player clearly isn't dominating everything.

4:00 - Oops the player messes up on a shortcut attempt and nearly loses his life. The skeletons are really tossing those bones now. What follows is another difficult section involving the eagles. There's a fairly set pattern for when and where they spawn so it's just a matter of moving up the stairs in a way so that the player doesn't bump into them.

4:51 - Dracula's first form is all timing. Clearing those fireballs as well as getting a hit in should be mentally ingrained by this point since so much of the game was spent timing jumps and attacks. The second-form is well..using the holy water again. Although this time at least it can be argued that it's necessary. The second-form takes a ton of damage and its jumping pattern isn't really predictable as it can do a much shorter jump that doesn't give the player enough room to walk under.

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While the original Castlevania was far from perfect it laid the groundwork for the action-platformer as we know it. The multiple enemy-types would in some form or another find their way into future action games and in some cases we have a series like Ninja Gaiden, which all but apes Castlevania but creates a different style of play. As far as Konami is concerned however they would continue to work on the series making improvements, changing directions, and essentially doing their best to keep the series fresh for many years despite adhering to the core concepts set in the original game.

Oops I almost forgot...

Game Rating - 2.5 stars out of 5
This game works better for what it was rather than what it is. The difficulty is pretty uneven, the weapon balance is whacked, and a lot of times all it takes is being in the right spot with the right tool and suddenly Death himself can be destroyed without a sweat.

My Rating - 1 star out of 5
I'd give this game five stars for influence if I could but these days...I'd rather play a newer Castlevania. Can you really blame me though? Castlevania 3 is a better game in every way so I may as well stick with that one.

AA look - Wardner

2010-10-04T13:02:00.003-04:00

For my next fiendish look it's about time I talk about Wardner(aka Pyros). It is a neat little game that is unfortunately saddled with some flaws that turn it from "pedestrian yet charming" to "pedestrian and needlessly frustrating". The story starts off as a demon-wizard spins a yarn about Fantasia and offers to lead a young couple to it. Obviously things go very south and the woman gets captured leaving the young man to play the hero. By evading traps, gathering loot, and burning the soul-less denizens of hell away with magic the hero just might win.

The controls are very responsive in this game. The player can turn and jump on a dime as there's nothing in the way of momentum. That means that even if you're at the peak of your jump and notice you're about to land on a trap you can turn around to safety with no trouble. It's definitely helpful and in some cases necessary for certain situations. The power-ups are all pretty handy as they include crystals for leveling up abilities, money to buy goods, and other odds and ends that might be useful.

The shop isn't exactly all that useful. The main point of importance is to buy the Solar Sword weapon because without it chances of beating the game are pretty close to impossible. Although buying the Solar Sword puts the player in another very difficult spot so yeah no idea what to do here. In the last stage the player must get past a rock-monster that summons numerous rock-allies. Basically the Solar Sword is the best chance of the player getting past the creatures due to its impressive strength. However the Solar Sword is limited since only one shot can be fired at a time and at one point in the stage ghosts attack from both sides. The shops also sell items that allow the player to take more than one hit before death but since there's no shop before the final leg of the game (where the difficulty gets a massive bump) it's kind-of pointless.

Without the final stage the game would be too easy. The first four stages show a pretty gradual difficulty curve but the monsters, traps, and even bosses are simple to avoid and defeat. For example the first boss does nothing more than move up and down. The only chance of dying is by either running out of time or running in to the boss. By the time the player reaches the final stage they're probably better off ignoring the ending and just building up their score via the rock-monsters. 1ups are doled out fairly often via score so the player could very well run the machine dying and re-doing the rock-monster section. Then again the game could also kick them ahead a bit as the checkpoint system is rather unique in that it tends to put players ahead of obstacles they died at (except for bosses).

On its own I can't really give Wardner a recommendation. I have some fond memories of it as it used to be an arcade machine in a drug-store back when I lived in downtown Kissimmee. In a surprising twist however the Genesis version is actually the superior version.

There are obvious downgrades in terms of colors and the mechanics have changed ever so slightly(the player falls forward slightly instead of straight down when they walk off a ledge) but the Genesis version is basically arcade-perfect except with a handful of changes. The difficulty has received a noticeable bump where it needs it most (all of the early bosses) and the rather over-long fourth stage is broken into two-pieces with a much-needed visit to the shop so the player has another chance to upgrade to Solar Sword. There are actually a couple of new bosses (some spider-fiend and a giant worm) and they're certainly an improvement over the green dragon that learns how to breath fire over the course of three stages. The game still isn't quite there however as the final stage runs far too long and the player is likely to run out of time, which puts them in a bad situation when dealing with the final boss.

Still at least the Genesis version gets Wardner to about as good as it is going to get. It's well-designed around its limitations and adding more stages or perhaps harder settings with additional traps and monsters would probably just make the game worse. It's rather strange how it all works out but eh whatevs.

Game Rating - 1 out of 5 stars for arcade version and 2 out of 5 stars for genesis version.

There's really not much to this game. There are a handful of secrets but otherwise this game just doesn't offer the long-lasting appeal that would make one continue to play it over and over. At sometime in the past it may have been an appealing way to kill time before a movie starts but those days are long-gone. The genesis version improves on it in some ways but falters in others. Still even with the changes it doesn't make the game anything great.

My Rating - 3 out of 5 stars

Still the lack of difficulty makes this game rather pleasant in a way. Plus there's nostalgia and uh...yeah. Look it's my rating I can do whatever I want with it so oh darn well.

AA Look - Night Slashers

2010-10-03T23:43:00.002-04:00

Since it's October I'm feeling a little creepy and decided to haunt all of my ghoulish readers with horrifying looks at nightmarish games. To start off I'm going to look at Night Slashers. It's a beatemup by those guys over at Data East and it features a European vampire hunter, an American dude with cybernetic arms, and a Chinese woman who is a martial arts master. This crew is the only chance humanity has at surviving a joint-attack by both mutants AND zombies.

Since this is a beatemup the player must win by punching evil multiple times until they fall over and splatter their guts around the environment. Strangely enough the zombies and mutants respond in kind as they use all manner of melee attacks to take down the heroes. Joining the fight against humanity is a handful of popular monsters like the enigmatic Dracula, a bevy of Wolf-men, Death himself, and even a big nasty robot. There are even a handful of bosses who were apparently pro-wrestlers back when they weren't undead. It's strange how this works but picture a Zombie-Pharaoh performing suplexes.

The main appeal of this game is..well..the gore. Yeah I know I don't want to be that guy but Data East put a frightening amount of work into making all kinds of gruesome death animations for the bad-guys. Splitting a zombie in twain with a kick rarely gets old and for some reason many enemies are fond of melting in a completely disgusting manner whenever they die..again. It actually adds a bit to the fun as there's a bit of satisfaction in knowing that a zombie or mutant is truly dead as their intestines flop out like jelly worms.

As far as the game itself is concerned it's seven stages with the usual combination of regular enemies, mid & end-bosses, and a handful of power-ups that either give food, points, or something relatively useless like a weapon to throw. The level design is nothing spectacular but the pacing is solid and there's just enough variety in the regular encounters to keep things moving steadily.

Still the frustration will set in eventually because this game is very hard. I know what to expect considering this is an arcade beatemup but c'mon now. It's just unfair when enemies frequently gang up on the player and repeat moves that they have no hope of escaping. A number of foes are especially fond of sliding attacks and with no viable means of counterattack the player is stuck waiting for an opening. Even then enemies can drain the player's health very quickly and with only two lives that means a lot of continues are being used up. The bosses are usually pretty easy as they fall for the same tactics in most other beatemups. This means a lot of approaching from the sides to get easy combos/throws. Of course after awhile this is poorly balanced by the bosses spamming whatever attack that gives them invincibility. At least a friend can be taken along and it's most definitely recommended as that makes the enemies easier to manage. Plus you can do some silly combinations like irish whip mutants towards your friend so they can clothesline them.

Unfortunately a lot of the appeal in this game is in seeing a strange cast of characters throw down against a variety of monsters in a post-apocalyptic world. The engine is fine but lacking in finesse and getting good can be a real struggle as the player is faced with nothing but disadvantages. If the characters were a bit more maneuverable like having access to dodge-rolls or even a slightly better move-set, then maybe the game would have turned out really good. Otherwise it's the kind of thing you'll play through once to see everything and then move on. Still I won't say this game is a total waste. It can be a fun ride and at worse you're out less than thirty minutes.

Game Rating - 1.5 out of 5 stars
Arcade beatemups are a tough genre to review because a lot of things that might seem too hard and would count against the game tend to be alleviated through practice and memorization of what happens next. For this game however I just don't see it as the player just takes too much damage and there's really nothing in terms of balance. Otherwise it's built well enough as far as the genre is concerned.

My Rating - 3 out of 5 stars
Again it's worth a look just to take in the wonder of it all. The artwork is great as it has a lot of detail and the ability to perform maneuvers like DDTs and the like on the monsters adds a unique appeal that can't be found anywhere else in the genre. There are much better beatemups out there but none of them are quite the same as Night Slashers.

PSP Look - God of War: Chains of Olympus

2010-09-29T00:42:00.002-04:00

Our wacky anti-hero Kratos is at it again as his insatiable appetite for vengeance and bloodlust is unlikely to ever be satisfied. It seems trouble is afoot in the world of Olympus as darkness threatens to envelop everything. It's a tale that has all the trimmings of a side-story and the game itself serves as a decent little stop-gap for those who can't get enough of the Ghost of Sparta.

Knowing my thoughts on the series I had no intention of buying this game, however since it came with the PSP I figured I'll do a good turn and give it a run-through. Clocking in at a hefty five hours even 30+ year old gamers with wives, children, and full-time jobs should be able to find the time for this adventure. The pacing is really solid with only some minor back-tracking and while many instances could be due to the hardware limitations of the PSP it's appreciated all the same. There's quite a bit less wandering, the puzzles aren't nearly as time-consuming, and tedium is kept to a minimum.

The controls are expectantly the most difficult aspect of Chains of Olympus. The analog nub just isn't all that great for QTEs that require moving in circles and dodging is done by holding both triggers and moving the nub. Still it's not saying much when like the previous games, CoO is very accessible. The QTEs in general however simply have to go. Most of them are tied to finishing off the various denizens of the underworld and most of them aren't even required. They're a bit of annoyance however as the button-prompts can be fumbled pretty easily if the player accidentally hits another button just after initiating the QTE. It's nitpicking probably but considering the length of the game even little things can account for something.

The framerate in particular is the worst thing about the combat in this game. It can vary anywhere from 60 to 10 fps and even with the generous timing for performing certain commands like parries it can make things a bit troublesome. This might also be the reason why Olympus is a fair bit easier than the first two games. The enemies are very one-dimensional in this installment has several can fall for repeat grab-attacks while others can be shut-down easily by a parry. There are a few bosses to contend with but these guys actually fare the worst due to the simplistic combat as they repeat the same few moves and get hammered as a result. As with the other God of Wars there are multiple difficulty settings though I figure it just means Kratos takes more damage from everything.

The highlight of the combat is the Gauntlet of Zeus. It seems like every time this game is talked about this weapon is brought up. There's a good reason for that as the Gauntlet is really fun weapon to use. It basically consists of punches and charging attacks but the impact feels really solid and it's fun just knocking enemies around. Only problem is that it's awarded with maybe 30-40 minutes left in the game. At least it can be taken along on subsequent playthroughs.

One odd thing that I noticed about combat is that the enemies will cease their attacks for a few seconds when one of their own has just been finished off with a grab-move. I'm not quite sure if it's a bad thing as it is kind of nice getting free time to wail on enemies, especially more annoying ones such as archers as they will simply stand around in shock and horror upon seeing their comrade get their intestines ripped out. It is a strange thing though, I guess maybe it was a workaround so that enemies didn't attack to interrupt QTE finishes and such.

As far as the puzzles are concerned the only one I actually got stuck on -- and I'm embarrassed to admit this -- was in one section where I had to pull out some stepping stones and then run behind an alcove that was revealed. It turns out I was simply going in the wrong direction. Other than that though the most convoluted puzzle just involves some basic light-source reflecting and it's more tedious than anything as it involves shuffling four statues around. I'm actually kind of glad there's a whopping one section that requires being underwater in the entire game. It's good that even when games are in the same series different ideas are thrown about in regards to emphasizing particular ideas and sections.

For being a game I might have never given a look otherwise Chains of Olympus turned out pretty alright. If nothing else it got me interested in considering God of War 3 and the new PSP game for a future purchase. I'm not sure how much I can recommend the game otherwise but hey if it falls in your lap somehow or another you may as well give it a go.

Game Rating 3.5 out of 5 stars
Comparing this game to other entries in the series is a bit unfair I think. It's a solid entry for what it sets out to do and while its lacking in extras and other aspects that would give it a lot of replay value it's a serviceable game for the five or so hours it takes to complete. Still I guess while it has some good ideas in regards to pacing and such it doesn't do all that much to differentiate itself from the other games. Not that this is a really bad thing as more of a good thing can't be hurt but somehow I think it would have benefited from some different direction or maybe some fresh ideas.

My Rating 3 out of 5 stars
Still there's nothing I can suggest myself. As much as I'd like to believe that I'm a fountain of creativity it feels like every good idea I've thought of has already been used in or was taken from an existing videogame. Like the other God of Wars I may find myself bored attempting another playthrough of this edition and yet I'm at a loss to think of things Ready at Dawn could have done differently. Still for what it is it serves its purpose well and I guess that counts for something.

I gotta say though I could have done without Kratos whining like a spoiled brat when he doesn't get his way. I think at one point he crossed his arms and scowled like mommy just took his Nintendo away. Yeah his life sucks and all but he's supposed to be living the dream of the alpha-male. All the women want him, all the men fear him, and he pretty much gets a free pass to kill and sex whatever he likes. The attempts to give him some sort of depth, character, emotion, or well anything of that sort tends to fall flat. Now I'm curious as to how he acts in God of War 3.

October is Castlevania month?

2010-09-28T03:32:00.002-04:00

Hey it sounds like an idea to me. There are certainly enough of those games floating around now that perhaps some interesting talk can be gleamed from them. Aside from that there's Lords of Shadow arriving next week and a pretty swank trailer was put out fairly recently. I'm still not sure what to think about the game but eh I think I'll do some trade-ins and give it a go. So yeah the plan is to talk about as many CV games as I can get my hands on..which is surprisingly pretty numerous because Konami has done a fine job of making quite a few of them available through various distribution services.

On the other hand I'm still way behind on reviews of other games. I'll try to pump the output up a bit cause the content has been a bit anemic lately. I guess we'll just have to see how it goes.

Genesis Look - Rocket Knight Adventures

2010-09-27T16:05:00.002-04:00

During the 16-bit days there was the tumultuous sea of mascot-driven platformers that could have very well killed off the genre. Like the stories of so many Japanese games the platformer genre suffers an endless cycle of death and rebirth as while at its best it produces genius Mario games and the occasional brilliant obscurity more often than not it leads to "me-too" affairs that are almost comical in their lack of shame and talented game design. Even today there are still things one can learn from one of the classics of the genre. In this case it's Konami's Rocket Knight Adventures on the Genesis.

Opossums never amount to much more than road-kill in real life and the only other game that I can remember that ever starred one was the not-at-all Awesome Possum. Aside from being able to hang from trees with their tail what exactly can possums do for videogames? Konami answered this rhetorical question by dressing a possum up in steam-punk armor and giving them a sword and a jetpack. It's a concept that is about as outlandish as giving super-speed shoes to a Hedgehog. In any case Sparkster was born and the first of four games came out to little fanfare.

For whatever reason an evil cyborg-pig dictator has beef with possum hierarchy and does the first thing that comes to mind, sack the kingdom and snatch the princess. Sparkster has to go through seven stages of action-platforming to make things right. It's a simple tale but it works as the game does a remarkable job of building up to each new encounter and makes everything just a bit more intense and epic than what came before. The pacing is brisk and smart and game begins and ends perfectly in about thirty minutes.

Sparkster can jump, run (well it looks more like power-walking or maybe a knightly strut), and swing a sword. The controls are a bit loose and offer a lot of mid-air maneuverability. Also unlike some other Konami game on the Genesis the mechanics of jumping are handled properly. The sword is a handy piece of work as it throws a blade a short distance that does weak damage and the sword itself has limited reach but great damage. The most important tool of course is the jet-pack. This sets Sparkster apart from any other armored-chump as it lets him soar into the air or in whatever direction that works best for him. Charging of the pack can be done at any time and while flying the Spark is invincible (provided he doesn't fly into a pit). Thing is there are still more than enough openings for Sparkster to take damage and a mis-timed boost into an enemy nest is bad news all around. Despite the invincibility benefits there's not much reward to out-weigh the risk of the jet-pack. In fact a sizable portion of the game doesn't really require the pack at all. I'm sure if Konami felt like it they could just throw out some springs for Sparky to bounce off of to reach the next section of the game.

But that wouldn't be interesting at all would it? RKA is a good-enough platformer on its own but the potential that the jet-pack offers adds so much. There are many situations that while running and jumping works just fine rocketing through is several times faster and more stylish. Since charging takes a couple of seconds there's more than enough reason to use and abuse the pack to try all kinds of ways of getting past each obstacle. RKA might be completely linear but no two playthroughs will be the same depending on the ways and frequency the jet-pack is used.

The way I see it more platformers could benefit from giving their protagonist abilities that actually make them feel like they have a real advantage. Sure in the average game one can expect to gain access to double-jumps, hovering, super-speed, and so on but most of the time all of that stuff is required just to complete the stage. I understand it becomes a question of balance but if done properly it gives the player more incentive to replay the game as they'll have new ways of traversing obstacles or they'll try things a bit differently coupling what they already know about the stage layout with abilities they never really used before or thought they would work in that situation.

One of the smaller touches in this game that really adds a lot is the locations of certain 1ups. RKA is a fairly-challenging game, at least in comparison to similar titles so it's good that when certain trouble-spots appear there tends to be 1up close by(and unlike some titles collected 1ups re-appear when the player dies and retries a section of the stage). This is especially helpful later in the game where Sparkster faces off with his rival in a game of "Rock'em Sock'em" robots. This battle relies a lot on positioning and timing and Sparkster has none of his abilities accessible to him. Being able to retry that section as many times as Sparkster is able to collect the 1up is pretty necessary.

RKA probably isn't the kind of game everyone will enjoy. Every stage is broken up into sections that feel more like situations than anything. As in what would Sparkster do if he was riding on a mine-cart? What would he do while swimming through spike-filled caverns? What would he do about avoiding invincible robots that aim to crush him? No two sections of the game are actually like one another and there's none of the build-up of "same encounters and ideas but more difficult". This is also a style of game-design that not too many developers properly implement. Regardless RKA performs fantastically and every play-through is pure joy.

Still it would have been nice if the difficulty settings really made creative changes. None of the bosses exhibit extra attacks, there are no additional areas or new traps to deal with, and basically it all boils down to Sparkster becoming a heck of a lot easier to kill. Still I guess it's cool if someone wants to attempt to beat the game without taking a single hit. In this case most of the real challenge must be from finding new and different ways to apply the jet-pack in even the most limited of situations.

The weakest part of the game is that the magic that flows through the first playthrough will probably not be there in successive plays. In fact this game probably works best when its given a playthrough maybe once to a few times a year. Still for what it was in 1993 and what it is today it's a remarkable achievement and one of the best titles on the Genesis.

Game Rating - 5 out of 5 stars
A game that holds up for this long is worthy of merit. RKA's greatest strength is that it can still be fresh and entertaining even though it's been around for over fifteen years.

My Rating - 5 out of 5 stars
I really wish I could be more critical about this game but honestly I love it. It's a shining example of what can make an action-platformer great but it also pursues an identity that no game can hope to match. I am not denying the existence of better platformers but RKA is really unique and a very special game that will not be forgotten.

PSP Look - Phantasy Star Portable 2...part 2

2010-09-27T15:23:00.002-04:00

Since my left thumb is in no condition to play PSP2 at the moment all I can do is talk about it. Now that I'm hitting the higher levels (level 80 and beyond) the rate of levelups has slowed down considerably and given me more time to focus on the class and battle system. While the class system is familiar to fans of the series as far back as the original Phantasy Star Online this edition makes a number of changes.

There are four classes available all with their own strengths and weaknesses. The hunter is best for close-range fighting, performing photon arts(aka finishers), and generally works by staying in every monster's face. The ranger is obviously a master of ranged combat and does the job of building up chains and generally providing support. The Force is all about the various techs that range from healing to buffs to attacks. The Vanguard is a bit of a mixed bag as it shares strengths with the other three classes.

The only aspect of character-creation that is actually set in stone is gender and race. Gender doesn't affect anything unless you're like me and must absolutely without fail have to look at a woman all the time even when playing games. Race on the other hand has some affect on stats and a handful of special attacks(known as bursts). CASTs are basically robots and work best as rangers, Newmans are essentially elves and thus force is their forte, Beasts have all the makings of a good hunter, and humans fit vanguard's "jack-of-all-trades" appeal. All that said it isn't too big a deal which race the player goes with because skill in the game can make up for any deficiency in the class/race.

The strength of PSP2's class system is in its versatility. As the player completes missions they are rewarded with points that go towards raising their class level. With each new class level comes a new ability like bonus stats, improved tech-usage, and so on. These abilities are limited as there's not nearly enough room to apply them all. However all classes can share abilities and since these aspects can be changed in-between every mission there's really no reason for the player to ever go in unprepared.

Combat in this entry revolves around the chain system. By stringing together regular attacks and low-strength techs an ever-increasing chain is built up. By performing a photon art the player finishes the chain with a devastating attack whose strength is proportioned to size of the chain itself. For example performing a photon art by itself does mediocre damage but with a mere three hits on the chain the PA more than doubles in strength. Larger chains lead to even more damage and will last for a longer period of time so characters can perform stronger PAs and even more than one. This is an essential tactic to learn as the game progresses because enemies tend to have a ton of HP. It's really one of the best additions to the combat system as it requires full cooperation from the entire party to get the best effect and it changes the dynamic of battle completely. By comparison the last Phantasy Star entry feels one-dimensional since most of the all time all it boiled down to was spamming PAs until things fell over.

Playing as a Vanguard reminds me of another aspect essential to Portable 2, positioning. Enemies can frequently come from multiple directions and even make attempts to surround and blindside the player. This is very important to consider because getting hit from behind negates the player's evasion stat and can lead to a critical hit more often than not. I didn't pay enough attention to this before but as a Vanguard I'm pretty well destroyed if I get hit from behind. There are ways to avoid this by maneuvering properly and working together with the party.

Still if all else fails I figure if I play a mission enough times I'll simply memorize every aspect about it. Phantasy Star Portable 2 offers a lot of missions to take on and the rewards are different depending on luck, rank(difficulty), and class. Since there are so many aspects of the character that can be upgraded there's always something to look forward to with each new mission. Still at times it can become a serious grind in regards to class points. Still it's not all bad as at least online or through ad-hoc multiplayer there's the chance of urgent missions popping up. These can be pretty rewarding though also pretty rare.

In the next update I'll discuss the multiplayer modes. I have no idea when I'll get around to that one though.

PSP Look - Phantasy Star Portable 2...part 1

2010-09-21T11:04:00.003-04:00

First off this is the game that sold me a PSP in the first place so the chances of me giving this game a bad review are pretty low. Second of all in less than a week I've already put over forty hours into this game...something I'm sort-of ashamed to admit. It's a good thing I don't have children I guess. Anyway PS:P2 is an action-rpg centered around the gathering of phat loot and the hacking of foes. It's my favorite as well as most-played genre and for now I'd like to discuss the single-player portion of the game.

It's understandable for most gamers to not even bother with the singleplayer portion. After all Sega has included an infrastructure mode this time around so everyone can get online and team up. Still single-player can be good for practice and there's the story mode as well...yeah..the story mode. Sega did a pretty fine job of giving incentives for PS:P2 fans to try every mode as there are differing rewards depending on the kinds of missions completed. Furthermore there's the return of the title system which essentially works as achievements. The player performs specific goals and gets rewarded with items. The rewards aren't nearly as cool as in PS:P1 but they're still better than nothing.

But before we get into all of that let's look at what's different about the game. PS:P2's biggest changes are in the actual design of the game. To start with the player can now perform evasive rolls as well as block. Furthermore instead of each weapon having its own pool of tech points that slowly refill there's just one pool of points that covers everything but refills rapidly. The enemies are also several times more aggressive, move faster, hit much harder, and all in all makes for a much more challenging and dynamic game than any of the prior online Phantasy Star titles. To add more spice to everything there's the addition of the Perfect Block. By defending at just the right time it functions somewhat like a parry as it negates all damage. This is great fun to perform as it can be used effectively for practically any attack.

The challenge is not to be understated. Enemies can frequently take anywhere from 1/8 to 2/3 of the player's health in a single hit. Sure it's possible to level up so much that the damage is lessened severely but a lot of the time the player will be challenging foes that are around the same level or even much higher. What keeps this balance in check is that since the tech pool has been changed so much anyone with a healing spell can survive provided they can get away from danger long enough to recover. In a way it feels similar to many shooters released these days where the player heals up if they can find a safe spot for a few seconds. For those stuck in the thick of it healing items are readily available but they're also pretty limited. Then again considering how quickly one can die it's still not recommended to jump into any situation that looks bad.

Story mode features a storyline that may as well have been in any other of the prior Phantasy Star Universe games. It's completely disposable and for most players will probably just skip through it. I uh..kind of liked it but that's because I'm a sucker for happy endings. More importantly story-mode introduces the player to all of the basics of the game and is set up so that enemies always stay at about the same level as the player. This puts the emphasis on learning how the system works instead of merely grinding a ton to survive. The player isn't alone at least as they're frequently joined by various characters from the story. Thankfully they're not nearly as inept as they were in prior PSU games as they'll actually seek out and attack enemies, heal properly, and even accept basic commands like "follow me" and "spread out". Still like the last game the biggest problem with the AI team-mates is that eventually they're just too weak to make much of a difference in the higher levels.

So far the level design tends to revolve around the type of mode being played. Story mode stages usually have some objective to account for and that can mean anything from finding a number of objects to protection missions. It's kind of a nice touch I guess though it's not something I have any interest in coming back to. Open Missions are pretty standard as the goal is merely to kill all of the foes and then the boss. They're very linear and short and there's more of a focus on finding cool new stuff to swing around. All of the open-missions have a difficulty ranking from C to S. Each bump in difficulty raises the enemies levels as well as makes them faster and more aggressive. I've yet to see the S ranking myself but even A can be quite rough when I'm not paying attention. It's very easy to get taken out even at this point but the game is still properly balanced so that enemies don't take too much punishment to put down.

Next time around I'm going to hopefully get around to discussing the multiplayer modes. I would have started on those already but my wireless connection is incredibly fickle. I've also barely touched on the real specifics of the combat in this game and most of my time was spent on the Hunter class. When I jump into multiplayer I'll probably end up rolling with a Ranger so I can better understand how ranged combat can work. Still at this point I absolutely love the game. I love it a bit too much at the moment however so I'm taking a break so I can get through some other titles as well.

XBLA Look - Sonic Adventure

2010-09-16T08:35:00.003-04:00

Wow this is just..disgusting.
I know it's been awhile since I played this game but I couldn't even make it past the first stage just now. Every little thing I did more often than not led to me flying off a cliff and into the ocean of death. Unplayable is probably the best word that describes this game. As a bonus the game has no screen-size settings so everything looks scrunched up and never mind I don't want to talk about it anymore.

It's really the saddest thing since Terms of Endearment.
Zero stars

TGS so far.

2010-09-16T00:21:00.002-04:00

There's a lot of neat stuff being announced already. I'll go over the stuff that interests me thus far.

Radiant Silvergun XBLA - I'll get this out of the way. I'm not a fan of this game and in fact I think it's pretty dang messy. Still it has its appeal and being able to buy this game for less than a million dollars is really nice.

Phantasy Star Online 2 - First off Portable 2 is just fantastic so I'm very hopeful that this edition turns out well. Still something tells me this is going to be a very different game from all of the prior entries. Somebody needs to get on Sega of America's case about their treatment of the Phantasy Star games though. I'm getting tired of the ridiculously long localization times and cut/missing content.

Ryu Ga Gotoku (Yakuza) The End - From what I've played of the games they're semi-realistic portrayals of the Yakuza. This game is set to blow all of that out the window with Zombies, Tanks, Space-battles, and well who cares it all sounds awesome.

Fire Pro Wrestling XBLA - Yeah uh..Avatars? They're kidding right? I mean yeah it's a wrestling game franchise that offers so much depth in the customization that eventually somebody would have to drop the copyright hammer. Avatars just don't sit well with me..seems like the impact would be lost whenever big moves are performed. Still I trust Spike to pull something off.

Lots of Kinect announcements - Microsoft should take note because the stuff being announced lately is way more interesting than generic sportathons. The one to watch in my opinion will be Steel Battalion. The original game was one of the most hardcore mech-sims around as it featured a huge fully-featured controller. How From/Capcom expect to translate all that into a complete lack of a controller will certainly be a sight to see.

ICO/Shadow of the Colossus HD - Not a surprise in the least but confirmation is always nice. Plus it saves me the trouble of attempting to play through SOTC again on my crap-box TV.

That's about it for the moment I think. Looking forward to all kinds of great announcements in the next couple days(like more info on the new Earth Defense Force).

I'm cutting myself off.

2010-09-14T17:14:00.001-04:00

Yeah this is...the last of the game purchases I'll be making for probably the rest of the year. I just bought a new set of tires so I'm pretty well out of it and with all of the games I have now maybe I should beat(and review) a few of them.

Phantasy Star Portable 2 - Obviously this was getting bought. I liked the first one and this sequel is quite the improvement. It's surprisingly tough so far.

DJ Max Fever - A beatmania-esque game for the PSP. It was cheap and maybe one day I'll develop the skills necessary to actually play this game competently.

Oh wait Ys 3: Oath of Felghana hits in November doesn't it? Dang.

AA Look - ESP Galuda 2

2010-09-13T15:44:00.002-04:00

With some games it feels like the less you know about them the better off you are. I've tried to familiarize myself with the finer points of this game by learning its scoring mechanics, its different modes, and even its story. Still none of this has had made me any better at the game and it may have in fact made me a bit worse at it. ESP Galuda 2 is one of the deepest and most difficult 2D shooters Cave has ever put out and whatever context I may have gained came at the expense of the possible enjoyment I can get out of it.

In the future there are wars between two factions that nearly destroyed the world...okay actually it's just a place called Soma. Apparently the best plan of action was to set up a test-tube baby facility so children could have freakin' sweet mechanical wings. I gotta say that I kind of dig the art-direction in this game. It's completely all over the place as most everyone seems to be part-human, part-mecha, part-angel(?), and well hell let's just say part-everything. I mean who can say no to things that explode and bleed at the same time. In the first game millions of Somaons watched in horror as some little kid flew around blowing them all away and turned their bullets into gold. Oh and as a bonus all of this was happening in slow-motion. How does this happen? Through an amazing ability called Kakusei (or Awakening so you don't scare your friends with random Japanese words) the player slows down everything in the vicinity to either escape a bad situation or capitalize and cash-in. After a certain point the player tends to forget that they're fighting for a better future and all they really want is a more impressive high-score.

In the end that's what it's all about really. ESP Galuda is an arcade game in its purest form. It has depth, accessibility, strong mechanics, and it is pure-fun. Unfortunately it's a representative for one difficult genre to get into. 2D Shooters, STGs, shmups(ugh), and whatever else people like to call them have just never gotten the appeal they deserve...well at least not anymore. Sure 1 in 5 gamers may be able to recall days spent on Gradius and they have at least heard of Ikaruga but beyond that? Not much. It certainly doesn't help that shooters typical cater to the high-end market. If you want to explore the best the genre has to offer you have to buy older consoles, spend a ton of money on import games, and if you have a 360 you're definitely going to need an arcade stick. Even then the chances of gamers getting the most out of the genre are nil no matter how much money they invest into it.

Fact of the matter is in order to get the most out of the shooter one has to spend time on it. Sure it may take less than thirty minutes to complete the average shooter but one can expect to spend somewhere between five and potentially unlimited hours just trying to beat let alone master the game. There is a difference between beat and complete in this case by the by. Beating a 2D shooter means no continues, completing it is what the average videogame critic does before they write their review saying "this game is too easy". Still while dedication is required it is not without merit. Being able to beat games where the player is so hopelessly out-matched is the most thrilling experience around for me. 2D shooters at their best tend to reduce me to a quivering mess but I'll never let them go as so few games deliver that same experience.

But enough about all that let's talk about the sequel itself. Things are about to go south again and the mecha-winged just can't catch a break. That's alright though cause the returning heroes from the first game have decided to step it up a bit. Okay maybe there isn't any increased firepower and the playable characters still die in one hit but now they can be more stylish and achieve even higher scores. While the last game featured the ability to turn bullets into gold (provided one has enough gems...which are gained from fresh enemy corpses), this game adds the ability to create bullets out of thin air and then turn those into gold. Frankly I'm not sure where these bullets are coming from. Are they the same bullets that passed the bottom of the screen several stages ago? Did they come from some 2D shooter in another dimension? Why aren't these kids creating world peace instead? It's best not to wrap one's head around context because everything about this game defies it.

For one quite a few of the bosses are kids. Sure they're apparently royalty, possibly evil, and they're definitely test-tube mecha-abominations but c'mon Japan throw me a bone here. At least slap another six years on these brats so I don't feel so bad when I slap them with a beam so powerful they are consumed by horrific explosions and collide into the ocean with such force that millions of mecha-angel-parts couldn't fix them up. I never should have bothered to look this stuff up on wikipedia. Still I tend to forget about all this when I actually play the game. It's one of those titles I get completely lost in and the music and setting set the perfect flow for the action going on.

Galuda 2 is some sort of melodrama that revels in its own absurdity. The music is about as riveting as techno + piano is going to get and the composer knows exactly when to pull the sound back to capture those perfect moments like the arrival of a mid-boss or a particularly intense section. After awhile I lose track of everything and I'm left wondering if the people my character is killing were once relatives or friends but the music and constant thrill of missing death by pixels in the pursuit of treasure makes me forget about all of the the unimportant junk.

The greatest asset to this game is its challenge. Sure the 2D shooter genre is never lacking in that regard but here it feels like real effort is required to get what makes this game work. There are spots that if the player knows what they are doing they can get a massive amount of points but knowing about them and even seeing them on a superplay video does not mean the player will earn them. Setting up these points where enemy bullets constantly respawn and provide huge 500x bonuses means nothing when the player runs into a bullet and it all falls apart. There's tons of risk/reward to account for here and all newcomers would do well to stick with avoiding that "create bullets out of thin-air" ability for quite awhile. This is one of those games where even if things are too hard for the player they'll still feel compelled to push the game further rather than play it safe. For some players all of that can be too daunting or more likely a bit tiring. For those players there's the ability to just use up all of the gems so that whenever the player triggers Awakening instead of everything slowing down everything will speed up. This is probably something to be avoided if you're still having trouble with bullets going normal-motion and especially slow-motion.

As far as content goes Cave put together quite a package for this game. There's the Arcade mode, Black Label, Arrange, and Omake. There are even tutorials and Novice modes cause anyone attempting this game needs all the help they can get. Each of the other modes have their own additions and changes to the core game and in short they're all pretty awesome. Personally I favor Black Label as it has an added mechanic where bullets that get dangerously close to the player suddenly slow-down to the point of practically stopping. This is good for those last-ditch escapes though it's not something that can be abused. Still it's good for me and my attraction to accidental 2D shooter death (something that has cost me way too many games). Arrange is also really good though it takes a slightly different approach in that the player must use the two differing shot-types to turn bullets into gems (instead of just turning the bullets into gold outright). It's a cool feature though again effort is required to keep the player from screwing themselves over. One feature that I'm especially fond of is that by pressing the select in most game modes the player can opt to restart their current stage, with whatever points and lives retained from the last stage they completed. It's great for practice since most of the stages are a few minutes long it's good to go over the sections I'm the weakest at.

There is a bit of a disconnect for me when it comes to this game however. The bosses just lack the dynamic spark that makes the stages they reside in so amazing. Over the course of each stage the bullet patterns are great, the Kakusei system offers so many different opportunities, and everything is balanced to the point of neigh-bliss. Then the boss hits and it's pretty much the same affair as most other shooters. There are some great boss-fights in the game (I'm especially fond of the fourth) but most of them go on for too long and there's not much to do aside from dodge bullet patterns more dense than the last. It's a weakness shared with ESP Galuda 1 but the last game was also easier so that it felt like the bosses didn't take so long. The final boss just plain sucks as well. The music is lousy, there are too many forms, and the last form is one of those "Screw-you! You'll never beat this game!" forms that I simply can't stand. My suggestion would have been to make the bosses a bit easier but offer up some other ways to build up some excellent Kakusei-based scores (like additional regular enemies). Hopefully the effect would be that the game would be a bit easier to beat but more difficult to master. Still this is very minor stuff and I should just play the game more instead of wasting time with complaints.

In any case if you're a 2D shooter fan you've already bought this game and if not well maybe you can find something cheaper to start off with. Whatever the case I hope that eventually all fans of the genre come around to checking out this masterpiece as it just about captures everything that makes 2D shooters worth playing.

Game Rating 5 out of 5
It's simple really. Cave delivered a crazy-deep game that is loaded with features and very tight design.

My Rating 5 out of 5
I still have a long way to go before I produce anything resembling acceptable progress in this game but every time I pick it up it's fantastic and engrossing. Sometimes I'm not even sure what I should be doing but all the same I'm having fun and slowly getting better.

Hilarious Super Mario Bros. 2 videos

2010-09-10T11:52:00.003-04:00

In the Something Awful forums a guy by the name of Dominic R did a series of videos for a Let's Play! entitled "Let's Suck at Super Mario Bros. 2".

Just Watch it.

For awhile I was actually thinking about starting a website

2010-09-09T09:22:00.002-04:00

No, seriously. I was actually tossing around ideas for dumping this blog in favor of a full-fledged website with all the bells and trimmings. I think what eventually set me straight was the Giantbomb debacle. Thing is the main reason I even considered a website was because I thought I could make some money. Yes, yes I know I'm so very ignorant about this sort of thing because nobody wants to pay money to read about games. Going from a blog with zero ads to an ad-filled site would not be a graceful jump either I'm afraid.

Another highlight of this website problem is content. What exactly has the content been for this blog? There are reviews but they come more sparingly than they should and occasionally the rare feature. Oh and yes there's all those posts where I bring up all of the games I just bought. Clearly I'm the type of person who could easily start putting together videos, host podcasts, and do all that other fun stuff. I'll have to step my game up something fierce if I ever plan on moving beyond a mere blog.

Maybe if I had a website I could convince myself of some vague notion of legitimacy. Look at me everybody, I'm no longer just some bum pizza-guy with an over-inflated opinion of himself, I'm actually a legit game-critic. It'd be so great. Publishers would send me games and I'd give them negative reviews and then...well that'd be the end of that. Sorry if I can't buy into the notion that there isn't a publisher looking over my shoulder every time I sit down to write a review. Over the years I think I've done more in dissuading gamers from buying games (at least at full-price) than anything.

The biggest issue is time of course. The way I see it I put about 40 hours a week at my job, 10 hours a week into playing videogames, and maybe 2 hours into this blog. I bet if I didn't have to sleep I could totally set aside more time for running a site but I'm not about to sacrifice work over it. I could sacrifice the time I spend playing videogames but ehh..no I'm not seeing that. Playing videogames is really the only hobby I have and I'd like to be able to enjoy it.

Really that's all I have to say on the subject. It was something I was mulling over for awhile but it just doesn't seem like a worthwhile effort. I won't let that stop me from becoming a better reviewer though as I enjoy the challenge.

More pick-ups

2010-09-09T00:50:00.003-04:00

Ys 7 - I knew I was going to buy it eventually. I even splurged and got the special edition with all of the extras.

Blade Dancer: Lineage of Light - Look it was cheap okay? Besides one can never have enough turned-base RPGs right? Right.

Star Ocean: The Second Evolution - I loved Star Ocean 2 on the psx. I think the entire purpose of it was to simply take in the awful storyline and ridiculous characters and just break it however you like. I put about a hundred hours into that game and yet I never actually beat it. I did beat Star Ocean 3 & 4 though so hmm..gotta fix that.

Other than that there's not much going on. I've been playing a bunch of games but not completing any of them. It's a bit of a messy affair at the moment so here's a progress report:

Yakuza 3 - Still great
Ratchet & Clank: Crack in Time - Real good
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow - Good
Harmony of Dissonance - Okay
Circle of the Moon - Bleah
Ys 3 - Yikes
Rocket Knight Adventures - Still Class
River City Ransom EX - It's uh...huh
Spelunky - So good but oh look I died AGAIN.
Final Fantasy 1 & 2 & 4 (Advance) - Comfortable & haven't started & Well okay there it is.
Style Savvy - I can't put it down.

I also played a couple demos. Sengoku Basara 3 looks like a fine improvement on the second game though the voice-acting is absolutely horrendous. Usually I can ignore that sort of thing but nobody shuts up. Everyone has something to say about everything and it's hard to focus on my insane combos when some guy is reciting the Gettysburg Address during battle.

There's also Quantum Theory and uh...Wow? That's all I can really say.

I should probably give the Vanquish demo another look. I didn't quite get into it last time and I should probably do something about it.

X360 Look - Batman: Arkham Asylum

2010-09-06T05:46:00.002-04:00

*Note: This look includes spoilers. If you're at all worried about this sort of thing it's probably best to not read this at all. Sorry!

While I've never read any of the comics I consider myself a pretty huge fan of Batman. I grew up watching the live-action series with all of its BAM! and ZONK!, own all three DVD sets of the original animated series, and obviously I've played quite a few of the games. I guess what has always made me a fan is that ignoring the cool gadgets, the ninja-abilities, and the bat-mobile, there's always been this balance of sorts. There always seems to be that point where Batman's will and pursuit of justice could be broken and he could end up just like the villains he continually locks away in Arkham. It's a dangerous but necessary relationship because to me it's his dealings with the likes of The Joker, Two-Face, and so on that keep him sane.

Arkham Asylum is where all Batman villains go to rest and recuperate before they come up with their next plan to get revenge on someone, take over the city, or just steal a bunch of money. This is pretty much the last place Bats would ever want to find himself trapped in and sure enough the plot of this game involves this very same concept. The Joker is once again up to no good as he's gotten his hands on tons of an experimental drug that gives super human strength at the cost of everything else. He's got an island filled with in-mates and even some transients which is far more than necessary to take control of Gotham. As a bonus The Scarecrow, The Croc, and Poison Ivy feel that they should get involved as well. Somehow Batman must straighten this mess out.

But you already knew all that didn't you? Arkham Asylum did get quite a few well-deserved accolades when it released last year and many critics have called it the best Batman game ever. It's pretty much a required play for Batman fans and worthwhile to practically anyone else. As far as myself is concerned I found it...lacking. The game I think is still really good but for let's put that aside for now and focus on the qualities that make this game.

The main campaign is split into four different styles of play. Exploration is necessary to get one from one place to the next and since Arkham is such a massive Asylum there's no shortage of secrets, alternate paths, and surprises to look for. One of the key tools to exploration is the Detective mode. The response to this ability has been mixed and for good reason. The team at Rocksteady put a lot of work into creating the perfect look for the Asylum and a lot of gets wasted when the player is running a filter constantly to look for clues. My take is that it in the end it is optional for the most part and it might be worthwhile to give the game another playthrough without relying on detective mode so much. Still it couldn't hurt for this ability to not be so invasive. The best aspect of exploration is the tools. This aspect is similar to games like Metroid and so on in that Batman will get new means of traversing the island at specific points. This also leads to more secret areas which lead to unlockables, achievements, and all of my other favorite carrots.

The atmosphere in general is easily the strongest aspect of this game. A large part of this is attributed to the Joker. Since he's in charge of Arkham that gives him every opportunity to berate both Batman and the in-mates he controls. He's always one step ahead of The Bat, or one step behind, or doing the two-step and in any case he's the perfect fit for this game. Still the game could have done without having so many unnamed guard corpses lying around. It reminds me of Fallout 3 in a way with its dead body on every bed. A lot of the shock value is lost here.

The aforementioned in-mates aren't actively hunting Batman down and for good reason. Batman is a master of hand-to-hand combat and stealth. The only way most of these low-lifes will ever have a chance at taking down the Dark Knight is through numerical superiority. It's not uncommon to reach a new area or revisit an old one and find a fresh batch of meat waiting to get their faces punched, their arms broken, and I guess anything just short of death. The melee combat is exceptionally good in this game because it showcases Batman's ability as one man who has no problem taking out potentially a dozen ruthless and armed thugs without a sweat. By properly timing blows and countering at the right moments the free-flowing combat feels effortless and rewarding as the combos rack up. I once read somewhere that somebody would have preferred a fighting system similar to Bayonetta's. Well Bayonetta wasn't out yet and eww? I'd rather have a combat system that feels unique to the game. Sure Bayonetta is great at what it does but it wouldn't fit a Batman game at all.

In certain locations a number of thugs get the bright idea to carry some guns with them and hang out together. This is bad news because even one guy with a gun can be too much for Batman. This game doesn't mess around when it comes to guns so Batman must employ stealth to take out all of the goons and survive. For the versatile and inventive however this aspect of the game can be all the more reason to really show off. There's a pretty simple take-down that can be performed by sneaking up on somebody and thugs can also be strung up on gargoyles, knocked out with explosives/debris, or simply be pushed to the edge as Batman methodically takes them down one by one. Each room is slightly different from the last thanks to a number of factors like level design, number of guards, and a few other nasty tricks. The behavior of each thug can change as well depending on the situation. Some guys will team up and cover each other's backs, and some will even frantically fire away at nothing at all. Detective Mode can also be used for seeing bad guys through walls and locating weak structures. This might take away from the challenge for some but the way I see it players who master these stealth battles will have already memorized the locations and movement patterns of every thug in the room anyway. I think these parts of the game are excellent.

After the exploration and combat we have...everything else in the campaign. As with any other story mode in a game there are elements that don't work in the context of a challenge and one must experience the entirety of the campaign to get the most out of everything. It's here the game is lacking because everything leads to disappointment. Rather than spoil the best bits of the game I'm going to spoil some of the worst. Earlier I mentioned that Joker got his hands on some experimental drug that gives superhuman strength. Basically this stuff can make even the most nameless of thugs become somebody on the level of Bane. It's interesting really because the player will actually face off with Bane early on in the story. Problem is pretty soon guys on Bane's level become an almost regular occurrence. Bane works on his own because he has to be taken on in a way that Batman can't defeat most villains by. It's part of what makes the Rogue Gallery work. Unfortunately however we end up with a bunch of guys that fight just like Bane and gets repetitive very quickly. What really gets me is that there's this excellent build-up between Batman and The Scarecrow but it all gets thrown away. This segue-ways into an encounter with The Croc that's more of an annoyance than anything. When the worst thing I can say about some guy who is more than 10 feet tall and weighs about a ton is that he's annoying and non-threatening it really highlights a failure on the part of the developers.

Still all of this pales in comparison to the complete throw-away of a finale. I'll accept part of the blame for this because I had all kinds of ideas for what the final battle with the Joker would be like. The earlier Batman games that I'm such a fan of aren't really Batman games either. Sure they star Batman and tend to be based on his movies or television series but the entire concept and style of game are rooted in the genre.

For example the original Batman on the NES is a favorite of mine. While it was based off of the first movie the game itself looked like Sunsoft was in the middle of making a completely different game and just switched a few things around. Batman looks like he picked a fight with an army of mutant cyborgs led by The Joker. The finale adds to the surreal as the Joker is able to summon lightning. Batman on the Genesis was also good and this time it didn't involve a robot army or whatever(though in one stage he shoots down apparently a battalion of helicopters). I wouldn't even know where to begin with a title like Batman & Robin for the Genesis as it's a run&gun styled shooter which means tons of huge bosses.

The point is all of these games were imaginative in how they handled certain encounters. The final battle with the Joker in Arkham Asylum fails due to a number of factors. For one it has The Joker use the Venom to become uh..Super Joker? Worse still most of the time he doesn't even fight except to attempt to scratch Bats a couple times. Most of the battle is just beating up thugs and waiting for an opportunity to punch Super Joker a couple times. I understand the game is limited by its need for context and sensibility. I'm not expecting the Joker to hop in a giant robot or suddenly grow multiple heads like a Hydra. I do however expect something that lives up to the all of the hype that was thrown around throughout the game. I'd be here all day if I just sat around coming up with alternate final battles so never mind all that. I'd be happy if they just gave The Joker a rocket launcher.

At least with the story-mode completed that leaves more time for me to focus on the great aspects of the game in the battle and stealth modes. Still I find it difficult to accept that the ball could be dropped so hard. I can't help but be a bit worried about the upcoming sequel Arkham City due to this. The stakes are even higher in this game and if the final boss turns out to be Super Two-Face I'm going to be throwing a game system out a window.

Game Rating 4 out of 5

As I've said before. Most of the elements that make up this game are really good. Some more varied fights would have done wonders though and detective mode tends to do a little too much hand-holding at times. Still I can see way this game is so beloved.

My Rating 4 out of 5

Although the story mode disappointed me to the point that I never want to play it again it was still quite good and Rocksteady did an amazing job with the presentation. I still have a long way to go towards completing the Challenge Mode so there's always that to come back to as well.

Style Savvy arrived today.

2010-09-03T12:55:00.002-04:00

There's unfortunately little else for me to say at the moment. As a straight male I'm not sure what compelled me to pick up a game centered around designing and selling fashionable clothes. It must be a combination of things:

Style Savvy aka "Wagamama Fashion: Girls Mode" was developed by Syn Sophia. Originally these guys were known as Aki Corporation and had their hands in developing a number of the best wrestling videogames on the market. Yeah I really have no idea how they landed this gig.

Girls Mode was a pretty big seller in Japan for quite awhile. So the assumption is that it must be one of the best games at what it does. So if I must play at least one fashion-design game in the world it should be a good one.

When I play games that offer customizable aspects (like fighting games) I tend to spend more time playing "dress-up" than anything else.

The intro starts off with the player receiving a phone call from the clothing store they just got a job at. It's their first day so they have to get everything in order(Name, age, that sort of thing). I'm kind-of not sure where to go from here because judging from the interior of the main character's bedroom it looks like I'm supposed to be a young woman. Usually this isn't a big deal for me because for most games when given the choice I always go with a female playable character. It's a bit off-putting here because no such choice exists.

Oh well I guess I'll just roll with it and see what happens. I really wish I could have thought of a better name than "Jenna" though. It seems like I always go with that name when the option comes up.

So far it's fun. It's all about reading the customer and determining what would be the best look for them. I'm still in what looks to be the tutorial though so I have quite a ways to go.

A bunch of random stuff

2010-08-31T02:31:00.002-04:00

First off I'm going to start by saying thanks a freaking lot Microsoft. I really couldn't care less about paying for online play because 99% of the games that support it don't really interest me anymore. But to raise the price of a Gold subscription? That just reeks of arrogance. Honestly I'm kind of embarrassed to be supporting the system right now but XBLA and the XBL Indie games service are too good for me to ignore, same goes for the handful of exclusives that tend to target niche genres(like 2D shooters). Still it's pretty disgusting and just one of the many reasons why I'm not looking forward to the next generation of consoles.

I made a new game purchase. This time it's Ratchet & Clank: Crack in Time. I saw it for a good price and I've heard many a thing about how it's one of if not the best title in the series. I'll give it a go as my PS3 is going to get some much-needed attention.

Continuing on that note I've been playing some Yakuza 3. I really dig it. It's like one of those male power fantasies I've seen a lot of games described as. Basically I'm a middle-aged former Yakuza chairman whose mere presence can solve many problems and when that doesn't work out it's all up to pure brutality and some weapons to get things done. While the story generally keeps it pretty serious the game applies a bit of a fantastical element to it all. While the fighting isn't anything stylish it shows a certain dramatic flair and even a mundane date at the local karaoke joint becomes something special when the woman you're with is suddenly singing on stage and it's all somewhat corny but also really endearing. I was sort of indifferent to the cuts Sega of America made for this game but from the ten hours I've put in so far I'm already mega-disappointed there isn't more. Sure I apparently have 50+ more hours of stuff to do but ah hell I don't know, it still feels like I'm really missing out.

On the Nintendo DS front I just made one of my last purchases for the console. This time it's Style Savvy. Yep that's right Style Savvy. Boy I could just do that all day couldn't I? I bet it'd annoy the heck out of everyone. In real life I'm a pretty dull guy who dresses in plain clothes and spends more time in a work uniform than anything else. So obviously I must live out my dreams of fashion through various outlets. Style Savvy is considered one of the best games for this sort of thing and I'm sure I'll just have tons of fun owning my own clothing store and playing around with all of the hottest fashions. Oh and yes I'm being completely serious here. No guys it's not like that, I haven't given up the hardcore games, the beatemups, the shmups, or any of that other stuff. I just uh..happen to have some different interests.

I've been thinking about the whole retro thing lately and I figure the best way to talk up the finer points of those games is to...talk about the classics. To start with this blog is long overdue for a look at the older Castlevania games. Granted the relevancy of these games is questionable today and they use control schemes and level-designs that simply aren't being attempted anymore but all the same its influence is still there in even the most modern of modern action games. I guess I'm getting a little ahead of myself here but whatevs...I'll work it out somehow. I'll probably start off with the first or third Castlevania game and go from there.

And that's about it for now I believe.