Skate 2 and RE 5.

On Sunday I bought Skate 2. I never played the first one, and I've never played any Tony Hawk, so I don't have any hang-ups as far as the controls are concerned. I'm finding that the right analog stick works great for pulling off tricks, and I'm having a lot more fun than I ever thought I would with a skateboarding game. I don't usually play any sports games besides the occasional racing game, but I watched someone play the first Skate over the weekend and I thought I'd give it a try. I actually noticed something once I started playing -- Pure took a lot from the control scheme used in Skate. It's pretty much the same setup for doing tricks in both games. Right stick, plus a trigger and a face button do all the different moves available. I'm not complaining, since I had a lot of fun with Pure, and the controls felt spot-on. The same goes for Skate 2 so far, and hopefully I can find the time to finish it before the mini-onslaught of games coming out starting next month.


The other thing I've been playing the past two nights is the RE 5 demo. The short of it is that the game is pretty much what I expected. I played through RE 4 four times, so I like to consider myself an expert on its nuances. RE 5, at least from the demo, seems to have improved on several aspects of its predecessor -- namely you have a bit more mobility(more on that in a moment), the inventory screen is much more elegant now, and the addition of co-op(with another person or with just the AI) looks like its going to work really well. As far as movement is concerned, I recognize the game is a bit behind the times. It's sometimes frustrating to have to stop aiming and run away just to get a better shot at someone, instead of simply moving while shooting. I understand this, but at the same time the restrictions imposed on you make it more challenging and tense when you have a lot going on. However, if you find yourself cornered in a small space, it can be really tricky to reposition. The elegance of the inventory system, ironically, looks to be borrowed from Dead Space. That's pretty fucking funny to me, but cribbing from a game that cribbed from yours is something a lot of other developers should do. Too bad they didn't do the same with movement. Anyways, instead of pausing the game to look at it, your slots pop up over the screen while the action continues. You can map different items to the d-pad so you don't always have to scroll through a bunch of crap while a zombie is munching on your face, which is nice. Other than that, it's basically RE 4, but it looks damn good and it has online co-op. Like I said, pretty much what I expected, and also basically what I wanted out of it.


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Oldies but Goodies - Breakdown (Xbox)

If you consider yourself a fan of, or even an expert in the FPS genre, then you've probably played Breakdown. If not, allow me to take you back a few years into the last generation of consoles, when Namco released this little gem on the original Xbox. The thing that makes Breakdown worth looking back on is the pioneering combat it featured -- namely, the hand-to-hand fighting. I may be wrong, but I can't think of anything that had it before this game, and while it probably shows its age in some areas, it should still be praised for trying something new with the genre and leading the way for future games to use and improve on the formula.

I don't remember what the fuck is going on here. Some shit blew up or something.

I haven't played it since it came out around 2003, so I don't really remember the story very well. You play as a guy with latent super powers who wakes up to a sort of jail break, and throughout the game your powers come to you one by one. I know, it doesn't sound very original, but it was so well done that you don't really give a shit. There were guns, of course, but what you really wanted to do was uppercut people in their faces, and the game allowed for plenty of that. Your foes were some kind of super mutant creatures with some of the same abilities you possessed. Again, I forget exactly who or what they were, but they were big bald dudes that kind of resemble Dr. Manhattan, except they were gray instead of blue. Imagine a room full of Dr. Manhattans running towards to trying to stomp your face in, and you have an idea of what it's like to play Breakdown.

Jon loved Laurie and cloning himself. He also dabbled in raping faces.

The first person fighting was suprisingly well done -- you could block attacks with your forearms, and there were a handful of combos to pull off with the right combination of moves. The triggers were your left and right punches, and using them in tandem executed the combos. And when you started getting your super powers, you could do crazy shit like send the evil Manhattanites flying through the air to their doom. There were other powers, but the theme here tonight seems to be my fleeting memory, and as such, I can't remember what they were. The thing I remember most was the feeling of utter baddassery as I beat my way through increasingly tougher and tougher enemies, who were all well-versed in the art of fisticuffs. The final boss was an epic duel of my two leading men, Jack Johnson and Tom O'Leary, versus whatever he called his totally inferior, weak-sauce ham hocs.

You get to give him the business, but not here. The bastard has it coming, though.

If you're ever at your local game shop, check around in the bargain bins, because I can't imagine this game going for anything over 10 bucks at this point. The fighting alone is totally worth the price, and on top of that you get a pretty cool (I think) sci-fi story. Also, you then have the privilege of saying you've played a game that paved the way for things like Riddick and Mirror's Edge. Not bad, sir. Not bad at all. Read more...

Pure - Much Racing to be Had!!

When I think of racing, I think of tip-of-your-seat action. Realistic physics and the such. Pure is one of the types that personifies the genre. It does for dirt bikes what no other game has done since the last dirt bike game. If you slide into mud, the track looks and feels different next time you whimsically whiz by the same spot on terrain. That's something of notice, because a lot of racing games don't do the same thing that Pure does with dirt ground. It changes the way you strategy is lined up, especially if you're second from first place or downward from that. It really diffuses itself from the rest of the oft-malignant dirty racing genre with this feature. I make a lot of it, but it really is that transformationative.


Besides from the aforementionable, the actual racing is superlative as well. Here's the hook, line and sink her: when you do jumps, you get to do tricks in the air. If you hold a certain button, you do a certain trick. If you hold another certain button, you do the likeness of that one as well. The more buttons you hold down, the trickier the trick gets, and believe me it gets very tricky because I tried to do many tricks in a row while holding down lots of buttons for the trick and I ended up with an injury somewhere in the muscle area. But it was worth almost getting the trick to work. Another racing add-on that was added on is the boost mechanic. If you don't do any tricks for what seems like an eternal day, your boost meter eventually fills up to its maximum limit. Then, you get the transmutable option of boosting past the other contestants. You still have to steer, though, so don't let go of the left button stick like I did until last night. It's a nice bonus feature that's integrity is a part of the controls and feel of play.





I almost forgot, another thing to be able to do is make your own racing vehicle and customize it how you want to do it. You can either start with a vehicle that's already made or do it yourself. If you do it yourself, you will find the attitude that you can adjust every part of the vehicle to your ultimate satisfaction. Bumpers, tires, steering bars and whatever else makes up a vehicle is on display for your leisure perusal. When you unlock new gears for it, you can then put it on it whenever you want. More boost, better for handle, or anything else that unlocks when you beat a race either in time or in more tricks, as there are different modes that have you winning fashionably different.


In all said and done, Pure is a fun ride that tightens the grips on the handlebar and blows yourself, backwards until it's done with you. The differentiating environments unlock after some play through, and they will leave you coming back for more. Recommended for those who want a more challenging stand off with yourself, and also for whoever is deciding to buy the game, which you should. Read more...

Grand Theft Auto IV: Cake or Death Edition

The GTA series has been pretty much on auto pilot since GTA III. Make a few upgrades to graphics and physics as new hardware allows and roll out the next one. Which is fine because it’s one of those games that you just want more of. It doesn’t need to be overhauled or redesigned every iteration. All you have to do is come up with a new main character and basic story frame that doesn’t interfere to support some challenging missions. There's no real excuse for any garbage then. It's as formulaic as an episode of the A-Team. The problem is that a lot of the new innovations do interfere with the game play, and I can’t remember back to the previous GTA games but there’s some really basic changes that should have been added in.

Let’s start with Niko’s character. The main character is a war veteran who’s been worn down by the violence and just wants a shot at the American dream to live a normal life. That’s all well and fine. In the early part of the story, Niko talks a lot about wanting to live a peaceful life while running some really boring taxi missions. Then his cousin, Roman, is getting pushed around by a local mobster. He’s sleeping around with Roman’s girl and talking down to Niko. Niko gets pissed at him and shortly thereafter he’s dropping bodies while still droning on about his inner angst. His biggest sticking point for the rest of the game? Pay him well, good help doesn’t come cheap. I actually like the development for his character early on, but you can’t set him up as some kind of reborn pacifist when he’d kill his own mother for $500. My favorite set of missions were the killings Niko performs for Brucie. Basically Brucie says he needs somebody taken care of for some vague reason and you go kill them for the obviously steroid-addicted maniac. Later Niko finds out they were just people who cut Brucie off or dented his car or something minute like that and Niko throws a hissy fit. Here’s a thought: If you don’t like killing people for no real reason, you should probably stop being a hit man.

Next up is the network of friends and girlfriends for Niko. On the surface it’s a really great game play feature. You can call them or they can call you and you go hang out or eat or whatever. You get some cool mini games and interesting dialogue between Niko and maybe a dozen or so other characters. Also, when you get your friendship maxed with one of the important characters, they can give you bonuses. Brucie can give you a helicopter lift, Jacob can drive to you and sell you weapons out of his trunk, etc. As your network of friends gets larger and larger however, you begin to get bogged down. Between the lot of them you’re lucky if you can get from one mission to the next without being called by at least a half dozen. You can’t say no to hanging out with them, or they become angry with you. But you can’t just not answer your phone either. Same result. Ignore them too many times and you’ll lose your perks. The management and time required turn this feature from a series of nice subplots to a cumbersome upkeep system.

Cars and missions. It’s a game called Grand Theft Auto. I’d like to have fun stealing cars. I’d also like to have fun driving those cars on missions. Far too many missions in this game require you to ditch whatever ride you brought and use some other P.O.S. Sometimes this makes sense, like when you have to block off the tunnel and ambush a motorcade. But when it’s all said and done, I’d like to go back to my car and go home. Unfortunately anything a little out of your range despawns, which creates other problems I’ll get to later. This means taking your car out for a mission ends up with you losing it more often than not, and since you have no way of knowing what’s going to happen on a mission, why would you ever bring your own vehicle? But then why would you even bother to save a vehicle if you can’t really use it on a mission? Unless all you wanted to do was zoom around from one end of the city to another as a butt buddy for your friends to earn their perks.

Another problem with vehicles is that if you’re driving a certain vehicle, you tend to see a lot more of that vehicle spawning on the streets. So you may go for several hours before you find your first Turismo, but after that if you’re driving it around, you may see one every 30 seconds. Seems a bit broken.

Also, the vehicles you’re often forced into handle much, much worse. All of that is usually bearable, I just chalk that up to making the game play challenging. But the bikes handle like complete ass in the game. I don’t like driving them, I shouldn’t have to, but I do. The most irritating mission for this was the final mission. You go in guns blazing, come out the back and the bad dudes are getting away on a motor boat. So you have to jump on a bike. Not too long after, a car pulls in front of you with a guy driving and another hanging out the window shooting at you. I cleared them out and hopped in the car and caught up to the boat. Then I failed the mission. Why? Because I got too far away from the bike. You know, because it matters what vehicle I was driving when I murder someone.

Sandbox. I can do whatever I want in the ‘world.’ Problem is, there’s no lasting impact for any of my actions. Murder 50 cops in the police station? No problem, just get out of the radar range for 30 seconds or so and it all goes back to normal. Have to leave your car behind for some reason? It won’t be there when you get back. Go back to the police station where you killed 50 cops? No one cares. There’s 50 more ready to bleed coffee and donuts. Mass murdering people is kind of amusing for the shock value of it at first. Like “Hey, I can kill a lot of people! This is awesome!” 5-10 minutes later, and you’ve been doing exactly the same thing for 5-10 minutes. It runs out of steam quickly. I’d personally like some deeper ways to interact with the environment, or some lasting consequences of your decisions.

Linear game play in a sandbox world. If you know how something is going to play out, you aren’t rewarded for your creativity in planning ahead. You can stack all the garbage trucks you want in the alley behind the stripper joint, but when the mobster books it into his car in the back alley, all the garbage trucks have apparently been reclaimed by their dispossessed garbage men. Or how about when you’re really wailing on a car from behind with your SMG, but it won’t take damage because it’s scripted to drive to a certain point? If I can deal with the awkward drive-by shooting mechanics well enough, I should be able to take vehicles out early, or if I'm creative I should be able to finish missions in multiple ways.

And it should ‘save’ cars to you, so that if you ditch a car which you just pulled out of one of your spots and it’s relatively unscathed, you should find it back at that parking spot then next time you visit it. Or something similar to that. I get tired of walking out of a save point and seeing 2 pimp cars sitting in front of me and saying “Well, I don’t want to lose one for this mission, let me grab that minivan.” In the end that leaves you feeling more like Petty Theft Auto.

There are a few pluses, though. The shooting on foot has been improved with the lock on system. You don't have to worry about that whole eating fast food/working out thing anymore. And the core game play is still really well done. I'll be looking forward to V with the hopes that a lot of these design choices will be changed for the better. Read more...

Writing about games takes almost as much time as playing them.

With me having to write for two separate blogs, I haven't been actually playing much of anything over the past few weeks. I've dabbled in Tales of Vesperia and a couple of community games, but that's about it. Before I started the blog, however, I was working my way through a few titles. I'll be picking them back up slowly as the new car smell of writing for this shit wears off. Those games are:


Yakuza 2
Far Cry 2
Prince of Persia
Valkyria Chronicles
Beyond Good & Evil


When I make any significant progress in any of those, I'll write about it. But for now, it's off to hoping my new laptop doesn't spontaneously turn itself off again while I'm ripping a dvd(so I can make trailers/clips...it's my legal copy and I'm not a dirty stinking pirate)........I'd talk about my laptop issues but it's boring and doesn't have to do with games. Bah. Read more...

News: Gamerscore blog team let go by Microsoft.....

.....and it's news like this that really saddens me, because Microsoft says they're all about community. Sure, they have a lot of problems, but what huge company doesn't? But letting go a large part of their direct link with the people who like their products and services doesn't sit well with me. I understand why this happened - the economy sucks, and they had to trim their belt a bit. But it's people like Major Nelson and the Gamerscore blog folks who kept their community alive, so I would think they could find a way to keep those few people under their employ. I don't really have much else to say about it except that, especially since the 1up debacle, I've found it increasingly more important for me to go to the smaller sites and blogs for more in-depth and thoughtful discussions. Gamerscore blog was no doubt part of Microsoft's PR machine, but when you look at how Sony does things, you should be able to appreciate what Microsoft was aiming for with the blog team. This sucks, but at least some other company will eventually pick up some enthusiastic people who actually care about what people like us have to say.

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Ninja Gaiden 2 : Ninja Harder

Between the blood-curling cries of exuberance from a black spider ninja, stands Ryu Hyabusa and his deadly yet lethal blade, the Dark Dragon blade. In the sequel to 2004's Ninja Gaiden, you are once again tasked with the opposition of many foes, and it's up to you to stand straight and stop a great evil from destroying the world. But story, as tertiary as it often could be in the all-action genre, stays the same here as well, with no vicissitude on the part of the developers. So how is the gameplay? It adds different weapons the first game didn't have, and more moves with the change pace-wise. Slicing your way from enemy to enemy was never as blustery and impetuous as it is here, but it's in the long run that it counts, and this game will definitely still be among the greats in some of the years to come. It's a long game too, so you'll want to buckle down in your favorite couch for hours at a time until you get to the end.


Speaking of the end, there are many boss fights in a row without a save or Muramasa statue, so you'd better be on the tip of your toes to get passed them. As indisposed as I think that kind of design is, in Ninja Gaiden 2 your remonstrance will get the best of you, and eventually you'll finish the game, high-fiving anyone in the room with you and you'll feel a sense of consummation that few other games offer in pure twitch gameplay despite the many offerings other developers try to proposition you with. Something should be said for the viscerality on display, because other games such as Heavenly Sword, try as it might have done, just doesn't equal or surpass the level of intuition in regard to the combat abilities. It's a colloquy to Team Ninja and the (former) head, Tomonobu Itagaki.


The levels on a whole are better, I think, than the first Ninja Gaiden. There are forests with ninjas going furtively from tree to tree, and even though you don't know that until they're on top of you, I still think forests and ninjas coalesce greatly. There are also waterfalls and raindrops of blood that dot the sky if you were to look up, and it's breathtaking to behold. If only I had a cup big enough, I could catch it all and take a sensuous bath in it!! Besides that, you also get to go to New York. I don't think that's really what New York looks like, though. Despite those perceptions against it, all the locations are great, and you'll be waiting persistently for the next one to arrive.


Ninja Gaiden is a game of many pitfalls of circumstance. While not your own, it still makes you ask of it, why is it so hard? I died many the time to a fusillade of blows before I was able to react, and before you say it, I'm good at games. Especially the action genre, so it's not because of skill lacking. I think the game is cheap at times, but when you finally get to the denouement, you'll be the better person of it. Ninja Gaiden is a must-play action game for anyone with proclivity towards as such, and obviously, its rewards will satiate even the most jaundiced of gamers.

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If you honestly liked any of that excellent review I just wrote, then this site will offer a trove of treasures you'll likely never come across again. Fair warning, though, as pretty much all of it is just like the above...... Read more...

Presumptions of a Protagonist

A discussion over at Brainy Gamer got me thinking: just what is it that we look for in a protagonist? Does it depend on the genre? The story? Lets assume, for the sake of argument, that the protagonist in a game functions as our own avatar -- we project at least some part of ourselves onto that character. In doing so, do we also try to instill a set of beliefs to uphold while we play? I'm aware that some people really don't care, and they just play games to have fun. But others do insist on keeping a kind of moral decorum throughout their playtime, and that ties into the central question of identity that I'm trying to explore.


Let's first look at what is necessary for there to be any point in being self-aware while playing a game. First, the game world has to allow you some degree of choice or consequence that forces you to act according to your own standards. Second, the story has to be believable enough that those choices and consequences have meaning to the player. I'll admit it's not the best of examples, but Bioshock is a game where your choices directly affect the outcome of the story. If you choose to harvest the little sisters, at the end of the game Rapture has turned you into a monster. If, on the other hand, you choose to free them, you become a savior to those children and the story adjusts to accommodate your choice. Other than the simple fact of the two different endings existing, what are the motivations for choosing one over the other? In my case, I couldn't find it in myself to add to the already rapidly decaying citizenry of Rapture. The little sisters may have had to adapt to their surroundings in order to survive, but if I could free them from their fate, there was really no question in my mind. The game also presented its main character as a blank slate, with no dialogue or input from his own thoughts, and in doing so, made it easier for me to make decisions based on what I would do if I were in his shoes.


Another, perhaps better example of a game that let me add my own consciousness to the experience was Fable II. A lot of the quests involved me deciding whether I should help the people of Albion, or make their lives miserable by siding with the various criminals scattered throughout the world. I could protect farmers by eliminating the raiding parties trying to make off with their valuables, or I could join in on the looting and get the farmers killed in the process. Each like decision had a direct influence on my character's physical appearance, and my reputation changed accordingly. And as the game drew to a close, it presented a moral dilemma: save the world, save your friends, or save yourself. I chose my friends, and as a result, the world changed to reflect my choice. It was a tougher decision to make than the one Bioshock asked of me, and its consequences were farther-reaching both in concept and execution. When it was all said and done, my judgments made the game what it was. You could argue the significance of my choice at the end of the game, since I don't think it had much of an impact on the physical world I inhabited -- outside of the central characters' roles in that world, everything basically stayed the same. But the narrative didn't, and for better or worse, it was of my own doing.


Both Bioshock and Fable II meet the criteria for being self-aware while playing a game. I'd like to focus now on a game that meets some of, but not all those criteria: Grand Theft Auto IV. The environment that Rockstar crafted is a fully-realized, living, breathing world. People walk the streets while talking on their cell phones, drivers get into car accidents, the weather changes, and you get a strong sense that you are in an actual city where things happen whether you're there or not. Such a world is an ideal place to have the player experience the full potential of the medium. What could happen in the context of the story if, say, you were driving along the streets of Liberty City and you struck and killed a pedestrian? How could the designers factor in such situations to make a more relative experience? It's fascinating to think about, but unfortunately Rockstar didn't entertain the same thoughts. Or if they did, they weren't able to make a polished game out of them. But still, the world they created remains, along with the potential for the brand of immersive storytelling that lets the player become one with his avatar. The designers not being able to tailor their story to the unique characteristics of their world doesn't negate its existence. And as grand as it is, it's only half of what makes a game fully immersive.


The narrative centers on a man who is looking to escape a world of crime, yet always finds himself dragged(without much resistance, I would add) back in. Initially I was drawn to the character -- I sympathized with his plight, and I tried to see and feel what he saw and felt. But as the game went on, I felt more and more disconnected from what was happening. In a scene central to the motivations of my character, I could choose to shoot someone or let them live. I chose the latter, and was told by another person in the game that I did the right thing. Did my character just grow as a person? At this point, I knew better. The main problem is the way the story and game world mix together. After the scene I just described, if I so chose, I could go about murdering hookers, blowing up police cars and helicopters, setting fire to pedestrians, and committing all sorts of other over-the-top violent acts. Which, taken by itself, I have absolutely no problem with. It's actually fun to me. But the disconnect occurs when I've had enough murder and mayhem for the time being, so I get in a car, drive far away and wait a few minutes, then everything resets in the game. It's like nothing ever happened, and I can continue following the narrative -- which is about my reluctance to commit crimes -- while pretending I didn't just burn thirty people alive. I think GTA IV is such an aggregious offender because of how obvious the disconnect between player and avatar really is. Right when a part of the story sucks you in, you then have to play the game, and all emotional investment is immediately lost.


So it's with that in mind that I ask: are sandbox games not tailored to the self-awareness in games I want to experience? My answer would be no -- at least for the time being. I assume at some point a game will come along that takes both pieces of the puzzle and arranges them in the correct way. But for now -- I don't know, maybe it's a technological shortcoming -- a more focused experience seems to be a better fit for total immersion. I'm hoping Heavy Rain turns out to be one of those experiences, but there's still a lot about the game I don't know. However, judging from the developers at Quantic Dream, it stands a good chance of succeeding where others have failed. At the very least, it will be an aesthetically pleasing adventure game with superficial choices and a very linear plot progression. I'm sure the story will be great, but if it's to do what I think it can, the game will need to give me choices on a far greater scale than most others use.


Aside from player input, another aspect that influences the level of immersion achieved is the physical appearance of the on-screen avatar. Liking or disliking the presentation goes a long way for measuring how much a game connects with the person playing it, and good character design is paramount to getting the best possible connection. Conversely, poor character design can immediately turn off the player, no matter how well other aspects of the game are implemented. Creating the perfect design can be difficult, and depending on the genre, the definition of "perfect" changes. For instance, Mirror's Edge is a game about free-running. To effectively convey that the character belongs in the game world, their design needs to match their surroundings. As such, DICE chose to use a female character design that was more slender and athletic, and she looks like a person accustomed to sprinting and hurdling obstacles. Faith does speak during cutscenes, but her design, combined with the first-person viewpoint allows the player to be more in-tune with her character. Playing the game feels like an extension of your own body instead of just pressing buttons for a desired effect. Add to that a control scheme that compliments the feeling of self, and you end up with a great, immersive experience.


My next point is rather obvious, but the overall quality of a game also determines how well the player is able to combine identities with that of the game character. Jerky animations, rough or unpolished textures, and poor voice acting are all factors that detract from the desired effect. Budget and time constraints weigh heavily on the quality of a game, but a team with enough talented people and creative freedom should be able to excel in any given framework. Braid is an example of a very small team creating an amazing experience with a small budget. While it might not have even made a million dollars, it only cost about $180,000 to make, or at least that's what Jonathan Blow put up from his own pocket to fund the project. Even if that cost was tripled, based on the amount of people who downloaded Braid in its first week of release alone, it still would have made a profit. On the artistic and technical side, Braid used a nostalgic viewpoint as the gateway to a different kind of experience. It may seem like just a platformer with a creative gameplay mechanic, but there are some subtle(and some not so subtle) bits of storytelling strewn about the game world. Everything looks like it's part of a watercolor painting, and just looking at all the art is half the enjoyment of playing. While I don't feel Braid achieves total immersion, it does represent what can be created with limitations in place if the talent is there.


A game could have the greatest story of the last decade, but if the character models look and move like mannequins, the illusion of them being alive is gone. However, I think this only applies for the current generation of games(Xbox Live Arcade exluded), meaning if a game is from before the current hardware cycle, it should be viewed as such. The games that truly make the generational leap intact won't need explaining or excuses for how they look or play. They're looked upon with the same respect they received initially because something about their design still hits a chord with players.


In closing, I'd like to share my personal feelings on why total immersion is so important. I'm a heavy film buff, and along with games they are my primary source of entertainment and critical thinking. With film, I don't expect to relate to a character in the same way I do with games. The people and places depicted in film have a definite story arch that cannot be altered. I begin watching, experience what the filmmakers want me to, and the experience ends. I'm certainly capable of relating what the characters go through to my own life, but with games, the potential for me to do so is far greater. By dictating what happens in a game with my own ideals and beliefs, I feel a greater sense of ownership and have a deeper emotional investment in what's going on. But that only happens when a game allows it to. Most of what I play doesn't aspire to such heights, and that's fine by me. But when they do, it solidifies my assertion that as a medium, video games are totally unique in regard to any other form of entertainment. I'll continue to play and enjoy games that are solidly built yet flawed, but when those special gems come around with higher aspirations that elevate them above the pack, it makes me proud to call myself a gamer.


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The Shortest Distance Between Two Points.

So I'm playing Tales of Vesperia, and I found myself thinking about the linear nature of its world. While the game is pretty big so far, it urges you forward by only letting you explore small sections of the map at any one time. I don't really mind it; in fact, I might even prefer it this way. When I'm playing a game that lets me roam around a huge expanse, I usually find myself getting sidetracked by various side quests, and sometimes by just running around looking at random shit. That's all well and good, but when a game allows you to do that, it runs the risk of making the story seem almost secondary. Granted, when it's done right it can exponentially increase the experience, but sometimes I really just want a more direct apporach to storytelling.


And with Vesperia, the story is good enough so far that all I want to do is progress through it. There haven't been any meaningless side quests with endless repetition to wrap my brain around, making me forget just what the fuck it is I'm actually trying to accomplish. As much as I like both Oblivion and Fallout 3, I haven't played more than around 35 hours in each game. Those hours have been great, but eventually I just flame out and play other games. It takes so long to do something actually worthwhile, that by the time I finally get to that point, something else comes along and I end up not coming back to either game for months. I still like those games a lot, and I haven't given up on them. It's just going to take me a hell of a lot longer to get around to finishing them. Maybe before this generation is over, even. In the mean-time, I'm having a blast with Tales of Vesperia, and I still have to finish Far Cry 2, Prince of Persia, and Yakuza 2. Holy shit, why am I still yammering in your ear then? I have about 60 more hours to play of Vesperia. Good day to you, then. Read more...

I just got a call from Samuel L. Jackson.

And he said, "Hi, I'm Samuel L. Jackson. Did you know that if you pre-order my new game, Afro Samurai from Namco-Bandai games, from your local Game Crazy store, you'll receive a free ninja-ninja figurine? Take it with you everywhere you go. It'll be like having a little pocket insurance. It'll be there to remind you every time you do something dumb."

That was the greatest wake-up call I've received in recent memory. I'm still waiting on that call from Scarlett Johansson telling me she thinks my Blood - The Last Vampire t-shirt is awesome. I'm a patient man. Read more...

Gaming Flashback: Silent Hill 2 - Welcome to the Sins of Your Life

Let's cut to the chase: Silent Hill 2 may still be the greatest character study in gaming history. It's also still one of the most consistently organic games ever made.

To start off, I must say that if you are reading this, you should expect a lot of spoilers, as this is a retrospective on a game that, if you haven't already played it, you should immediately stop reading and go find a copy of it to play.

Now back to the topic at hand.

In many ways, it is actually inappropriate to look at Silent Hill 2 as any kind of sequel, despite the fact that it shares the location of its predecessor. Realistically, Silent Hill 2 redefined why the town of Silent Hill existed, and more importantly, gave it a valuable purpose.

Gone were the conspiracies and cult conflicts of the first game. Silent Hill 2 didn't even require you to understand the history of the town, and realistically, you were better served without knowing it when playing the game. Instead, the sequel (in name only) created a more intimate portrait of a smaller cast of characters, and gave the town a utility for existence. Silent Hill wasn't just a living, breathing game world. It was a personified character all on it's own, with its own motivations and intentions.

More importantly, Silent Hill 2 was successful in the way that it fused the gameplay experience metaphorically into the inner conflicts of each of its characters. To the little girl, Laura, Silent Hill was simply a normal town that had been deserted. She had no inner demons to cope with, or past sins for which to atone, and as a result, no origin for reconciliation. She was a pitch-perfect portrayal of innocence not yet lost.

In contrast, for James Sunderland, Eddie Dombrowski, and Angela Orosco, Silent Hill was a proving ground for facing inner demons and a place of punishment for the guilty conscience and past transgressions. Those who were unable to cope were destroyed, be it physically or mentally. However, for those strong enough to survive, Silent Hill was also a place of self-redemption.

That determination was left up to the player, and it is also in this function that Silent Hill 2 elevates itself to one of those few masterpieces where gameplay, story, and outcome intertwine into one unified purpose. Choices made by the player, and therefore James, affected whether or not James would find self-redemption, and unlike other games, where player choices can be arbitrary and usually unrelated to the story itself, Silent Hill 2 made them organic.


Examining the suicide knife left on the table by Angela? Then you've made James realize suicide as the means to an end. Do you look at the portrait of your wife and the drawing that Laura left on the window? Then James would realize the error of his ways and disengage himself from Maria, allowing him to leave the town with Laura and have his moment of confession with his wife. Do you ignore all of those, and simply attach yourself to Maria, the double of your wife meant to punish James for his sins? Then you better be prepared for James to leave Silent Hill with Maria and be punished all over again with Maria becoming terminally ill, just as Mary did.

Even the monsters you fought in Silent Hill 2 also existed seamlessly with the town and plot, each being a physical manifestation of the very demons and sins the characters were facing. Angela, who was facing both torment and sin, was forced to face her childhood molestation in the form of a boss shaped like a disfigured bed. Unfortunately, for Angela, she was not able to overcome her torment, nor the sin she had committed when she burned her house down and killed her mother and father. Her fate, then, was left with an eternity of burning, oppressive flames.

As for James, nothing was more perfectly symbolic than facing his sin face-to-face, with a crimson-colored version of his wife, through Maria. Throughout the entire game, every moment of James' interaction with her was a deliberate dance, started by luring James in with seduction and nostalgia, followed by driving against him with persistent guilt, and then ultimately making him watch as she is repeatedly killed in horrifying ways, all while James is helpless to stop it.

It is for all these reasons, and so many more, that Silent Hill 2 remains as one of the most complex and poignant character studies ever attempted in a video game world. By providing a dichotomy of punishment and redemption, the town of Silent Hill creates doubt as to whether or not it truly is evil. For those drowning in their sins and inner struggles, Silent Hill may be their only hope of coping.

Silent Hill is of your own making. Read more...

Under the Radar Vol. 1

Under the Radar will be a weekly article on the games I think aren't getting much press, or there just isn't a lot of buzz about them for whatever reason. I'll feature a single game each week until the well runs dry, and hopefully that won't happen for a long while. This week's game is.......dum dum dummm...........F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin.

The origin and evolution of F.E.A.R.

The first thing I think of when I see the name F.E.A.R. is the combat. The team at Monolith provided me with the sweetest slow-motion shotgun action I could ask for, and A.I. that was pretty much unmatched at the time. Blood gushed profusely from your foes in glorious bullet-time, and the fact that they were more than a match for you made it even more satisfying. Fast forward a few years, and it's easy to see the game's shortcomings. Every level was basically the same office building or warehouse complex, only the layout was slightly different. The story was a little confusing at times, even if you knew all you had to do was track down someone and shoot the shit out of anything that got in your way. But there was a creepy atmosphere(replete with a J-horror ghost girl), a sinister corporation bent on creating clone warriors from a psychic, and the guns felt great. Shooters are a delicate species; the lion's share of them tend not to age so well. The weapon mechanics and player movement have to gel just right, otherwise its other merits and accomplishments are easily forgotten. To make a long story short, F.E.A.R. did for FPS gameplay what Shadow of the Colossus did for story.


Which brings me to the fan subtitled sequel, F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin. There was a bit of a licensing issue between Monolith and ActiBlizzard for a while, and Project Origin was the settled upon name which came out of a contest Monolith held on its website. The situation eventually got resolved, so they rightfully put F.E.A.R. back into the title, and here we are. I think it's important that they were able to do so, because there's probably a lot of people who didn't know Project Origin had anything to do with F.E.A.R., and their sales might have suffered for it. Regardless, everything is now as it should be, and the game's coming out next month.

10 minutes of gameplay from F.E.A.R. 2

The first thing I noticed from watching the above video is how it still looks like F.E.A.R. Seeing is believing, and based on what I just saw, Monolith obeyed the cardinal rule and didn't try to fix what wasn't broken. You might say to me, "But it looks exactly like the last game." While that's true, I think it was done on purpose. That footage was put out a long time ago, and the developers probably wanted to keep the new scenarios close to their chest. John Mulkey, the Lead Designer of F.E.A.R. 2 -- from an interview with IGN -- had this to say about the game's level design. "We had a really limited art palette to work from in the first game, so things ended up looking pretty repetitive. For Project Origin we have really set out to present a greater visual variety of environments and a greater variation in locations you will be visiting over the course of the game." It's too early to take those comments as fact, but Monolith has earned my respect and I simply have faith that they will make good on their promises.

Will manning a full-bodied mech give F.E.A.R. the variety it needs?

One thing I would like to mention very quickly is the health system. Unless Monolith changed their mind since the gameplay trailers were released, they've decided to go with regenerating health. I'm still not sure how I feel about that system in general. Sometimes I miss being able to hoard health packs for that ever-looming, pound-your-ass hard boss fight. Other times I don't really mind it. It's a personal preference, but I just wanted to point out the one glaring difference between this game and the original. As long as the A.I. is programmed with the same loving care and attention it was given last time and the gameplay isn't given a complete face lift, I can see no reason why this game won't surpass its predecessor in every possible way.


[update] It looks like a demo for the game will be released on January 22nd. That's great news; I plan to try it out on both 360 and PC.

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Just a reminder.....

.....that the Fable II DLC is out now, so get on that. There's three new quests/dungeons, six new weapons, more outfits and potions that change your appearance, and now you can customize your weapons with a new augment tool. I liked Fable II a lot, so I can't see any reason not to boot the game back up and download this. Plus, when the game loads I should have like a bagillion dollars. Owning property, well...owns.

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Six degrees of ring-a-ration

I had an amazing conversation with a friend and fellow 360 owner the other day. The amazing part is that he has a launch system that still has not red ringed. Wha...how is that possible? He must have never even turned the fucking thing on. As for everyone else I know..friends and family alike..they all have red ring stories to tell. So what's your story?

I'm willing to bet that each and everyone of us hardcore gamers knows somebody who has a red ring story...or knows somebody else who does. Come on...lets play...it will be just like six degrees of Kevin Bacon....only easier...actually come to think of it.....it's way too easy.

Here is an example

I know George: his 360 red ringed
I know my brother in law:his 360 red ringed
I know Chris: his 360 red ringed

See...it's too easy! All right, we'll change it up a bit...we'll let the person who doesn't have the red ring be like Kevin Bacon...let's try.

I know George: his 360 red ringed
George knows Jeremy
Jeremy still has a working 360!!!

That was a little more challenging!

Game on!!!

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What's the Point? - Reaching the Next Level of Game Design.

I like all types of games. Action, survival horror, adventure -- you name it. I play countless hours of Halo, and enjoy sharing narrow escapes with Lara Croft. I get what those games are trying to do. But my aim here is to figure out what makes a story resonate. With the right combination of characters and events, even the simplest of plots can turn into something so much more. Something that reverses the game back on the player and forces them to think about their own life relative to what the designers are asking of them.


When you enter high school, no matter where you go, there is a list of books that are required reading if you are to graduate and move on with your life. Catcher in the Rye, Lord of the Flies, Fahrenheit 451(not to be confused with Fahrenheit 911), to name a few. These books aren't chosen at random; rather, they've each displayed the ability to stand the test of time. Their narratives have been deemed worthy of being passed on from generation to generation. It's not hard to see where I'm going with this -- we, as gamers, still don't have our Masterpiece. A tale so poignant that it is mandatory we know it before we are allowed to call ourselves thinking people. There are games that have tried, and valiantly failed, to transcend the medium and reach the hearts and minds of those who seek to better themselves.


Is it too lofty a goal to attain? Does the industry's by and large reliance on metacritic scores and age brackets halt any progress that might be made? I don't know the answers to those questions, but they're worth asking just the same. As we get older, our tastes change. We mature and start to see the world in a different light. That applies to everything we consume -- be it games, movies, books, politics, or anything else we focus our attention on. And with maturity comes the realization that we are part of something bigger than ourselves. We all have a place in this world, and it's up to us to figure out where we want to put ourselves in relation to it. That simple revelation can lead to a deeper reflection, and that's exactly where I want to see games evolve.


I mentioned we have yet to find our Masterpiece; our shining example of what games can aspire to be. After thinking on it some more, only one game came to mind that could possibly define itself in such a way. That game is Shadow of the Colossus. Underneath its simple story and minimalist design, it poses the question, "How far would you go for your selfish needs?" The answer doesn't come easy, nor does the question itself. The game doesn't force itself on you; it merely exists. The point of the game seems obvious -- save the girl, then save the day. In the hands of lesser craftsmen, I'd agree. But Fumito Ueda and everyone working at Team ICO went far beyond the narrative confines where other developers don't dare go. From the moment you kill your first colossus, blackness engulfs you and you wonder if what you're doing is right. Are the consequences worth the risk, or are you throwing out reason to do what your heart desires?


Every aspect of Shadow of the Colossus compliments itself and mirrors its themes of love, redemption, fear and loneliness. Since there are no other enemies other than colossi, the game allows you to think about the events that are transpiring in a much broader sense than what you initially realize. And as you see your character slowly degrade to the point of near death, you finally understand at least part of the price you've paid for reaching your goal at any cost. Would a more noble person just accept the cards they've been dealt, rather than risk even more cataclysmic consequences? Possibly, but the point isn't to reach a definite conclusion. Sometimes simply posing the question yields more thought than could otherwise be reached by putting forth a certain point of view. For all its accomplishments, Shadow of the Colossus still has to stand up to time's rigorous testing. My hope is that ten years from now, people can go back to this game and see a moment in gaming history, still as giant as ever, and know that its high praise wasn't a product of the times.


Shadow of the Colossus is a perfect example of a game's story seamlessly co-existing with its gameplay. That's not to say games can't be great without doing so, but the disconnect felt when those elements don't mesh can't go unnoticed. Grand Theft Auto IV, for example, tries to tell a story of reflection and possibly redemption. But at its core, the game is morally ambiguous. Metal Gear Solid 4, on the other hand, eschewed its gameplay by rushing you through cutscene after cutscene of heavy-handed melodrama and forced perspective. Taken seperately, they can be satisfying, and even great. But to fully elevate itself to the template by which every other game should aspire to, these experiences need to be one and the same.


With everything said, I understand how hard it is to accomplish what I'm asking for. It takes the right combination of time, money, and above all, talent. Without capable minds, no strides will ever be made toward reaching a greater base level of expression. It's with this in mind that I look at what the future might hold for the games industry -- what its aspirations are, the kind of people it reaches out to, and how the rest of the world views it. Right now, I believe Ken Levine and 2K Boston are the people most able to see that future, and it's in their work I hope to find the template I so desire.


Bioshock, for all its depth and intelligence, took me by surprise. I was expecting a fantastic shooter with a competent story and a suitable world to explore. What I found was far more engrossing, and the game's financial success only makes me that much more excited for what's still in store. As is the trend with developers, there will be Bioshock clones. But I think it's reasonable to hope that whoever decides to immitate the emotions Rapture evoked, they will do so with the understanding of just what made that game so great. The way it led you by the nose the whole way without you knowing it, while all around you laid the destroyed vision of man's arrogance and ambition was near flawless. If there was any game I'd want to see mimicked, it would be this one. I don't expect an equal to rise up from such flattery, but I'll certainly appreciate the sentiment.


I'm a patient person, and it's with a positive outlook that I wait and watch where we go from here. The games industry is still in its infancy, so it's logical to expect the most profound growth is still to come. In the mean time, I'll be perfectly happy grinding away in Ninja Gaiden and Tomb Raider.


My kids just won't be reading about them in high school.

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And you shall know My name is Jehovah!

I played Call of Juarez back when it released, and I remember looking forward to it for quite some time. And while it didn't meet my expectations, it did manage to provide some great firefights. The duel six-shooters were pretty bad ass, actually. Even though overall I think they missed the mark, at least the combat really made me feel like I was in a western.


I remember liking the preacher a lot -- you could sneak up to an enemy and recite lines from the bible to him, and when he stopped to listen, shoot him in the face.




I swear to God I almost converted religions.


The developers must have thought half a good game is the same as a full one, because that's how long you were able to play as the preacher. The other half was a clogged toilet of shit stealth missions with a borderline retarded kid who really needed to have the bible read to him. I say secondary, because for me it was all about the preacher. I'd never played a character like that before, nor have I since. If they would have just stuck with him and lengthened his part of the story, I probably wouldn't have traded the game in after I finished it.


But alas, they did, and so did I, and here we are. Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood was just announced today, and I don't know what to think. Part of me wants to believe they'll make something more out of it; but on the other hand, they're a relatively small developer who's already working on another game. I'm pretty sure it will never be what I want it to be, though. I would love to have a western-themed, first person RPG -- maybe something along the lines of an Oblivion or Fallout, but with a world more like Deadwood's. That is my dream, and I cannot die until it is realized. In the meantime, I'll probably be looking forward to more of this:




Fucking hell, this was the most retarded shit ever. There was a door right behind me.



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First Impressions: Tales of Vesperia (Xbox 360)

For the most part, I'm a firm believer that if a game doesn't grab you in the first few hours, it's time to collect your ass and move on. More than once I've waded through the beginnings of heralded j-rpg's, just to find myself saying, "Well, that was just stupid." Girl with bunny ears? "Stupid." Twelve year-old moron yearning for self discovery? "Fucking stupid." Whatever I might think of the genre, it is populated with the above examples to a disappointing degree. The closest I've come to actually enjoying myself was with last year's Lost Odyssey, but eventually the turn-based combat drilled a hole in my face and I could no longer continue playing due to massive blood loss. It's too bad, really, because I thought the story had promise. I'm not a big fan of amnesia (if you don't know who you are, you can fuck off), but Mistwalker seemed to be creating something that wasn't going to tank itself halfway through.


I didn't forget the title of this post; I just think that in order for me to explain what I love about games, I also have to explain what I hate. And, if you're Lost Odyssey, what could have been good, if not for the painfully old-school combat. So, these are my two criteria for playing and enjoying an RPG:


1 ) No annoying crap characters that I would rather use their skin for lamp shades than listen to them blather on about blah-de-blah; fuck off.

2 ) Updated combat. I understand there are a lot of people who enjoy turn-based combat. I'm just not one of them. That's the end of that story.


So, Tales of Vesperia. I got burned before with Eternal Sonata, so I wasn't initially looking forward to this. I've never played any of the Tales games, and in a strictly aestethic sense, it looked like another Sonata.

Well, I was wrong.

The first thing that impressed me was how clean and crisp everything looked. It's one of those art styles that will still have girls blushing ten years from now. Very sexy. After my initial fawning period was over and I started learning what the story entailed, I discovered something previously thought of as myth: I'm not playing as some douche who couldn't tell his ass from a hole in the ground. It's an adult story about adults, doing things adults would do in an adult world. I hate kids, by the way. At least the ones who think they're mages or warriors. There is a kid in Vesperia who could easily have been annoying as shit, but thankfully, he's toned down enough to where he doesn't bother me. It's too bad there's no option for Japanese dialogue, but the English cast does a decent job. I like the conversations the two main characters(so far) have with each other, and nothing feels forced or badly translated. Plus your dog smokes a pipe. That's called Instant Awesome.




The combat is equally as promising as the story. Gone is the watch-me-as-I-do-this-totally-magical-attack-to-your-face-while-you-stand-there-like-an-idiot style. No, here you'll have to move around in real-time while your enemies do the same. And unlike Eternal Sonata, there's no action meter, so you can move about for as long as you want. There are a few attack buttons that do different things, as well as a block and jump button. Depending on the weapon you're using, you can learn new abilities and skills as you go along. I haven't dug too deep into the combat system yet, so that's pretty much the height of my knowledge at this point. Regardless, it's fun and satisfying to get a ten-hit combo going and finish a battle in under five seconds (which, yes, I Have Done).


I'm only about six hours in as of last night, but I'll make more posts about my progress as I go along. I kind of wish I'd played some of the Tales games before, but at least now I can go back and see what I missed out on. If they're anything like Vesperia, I'll gladly pick up some used copies.


( I'll put up some media later, probably once I'm set up to capture video. ) Read more...

Nearly four years into this console generation, the greatest game remains in Oblivion...

I challenge you to find a more believable game world than this.

There are so many reasons why people play games. To have fun. To escape from reality for a short time (or long time). To imagine and/or live in another world. To see a great story. To have a ton of fun fighting and kicking ass. To marvel at amazing graphics. The list goes on and on.

As we approach November of this New Year, we will also be approaching the four year anniversary of this generation of consoles. Yes, hard to believe, but it's almost already been four years since the debut of the Xbox 360.

Countless great titles have released of all different genres imaginable. Yet three years after it's debut, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion still remains the single most outstanding, definitive, and complete game of this generation.

I know it may seem curious as to why I would be writing a blog about a game that's three years old. Perhaps it is because while most of the gaming world saw 2008 as one of the greatest gaming years in a long time, I found it to be rather disappointing. All the major titles that released with huge hype ended up falling well short of expectations. GTA4 had clear story and gameplay inconsistencies, along with blatantly broken sandbox mechanics when it came to missions disabling you from completing the mission your own way. Metal Gear Solid 4 was an example of how to take a great build up of grand story ideas and then run them through a meat grinder and see if people can still make any sense of it (that, and the game wasn't really a game). Fallout 3 took everything that made the Elder Scrolls series great, and shaved off all the icing and toppings, leaving only the dry bread of the cake for us to have trouble swallowing.

Which brings me to Oblivion. Simply put, Oblivion still remains the greatest game of this generation because it fulfills all the reasons anyone would want to play a game (see list in first paragraph). Somehow, through it's blend of fantasy RPG/Action/Sandbox gameplay, Oblivion succeeds wildly in giving any gamer, regardless of taste or purpose, a reason to love it.



I think it goes without contention that Oblivion achieves a true otherworldly sense of place and time that is more convincing than any other game has to date. Cyrodil wasn't a game world, it was simply a real world. Sprawled out with diversity, locations, mystery, people, stories, and ideas, Cyrodil was a living, breathing character all on its own. And it wasn't just that it gave you so much to do, as many MMORPG's have done. It was that it gave you things to do that were actually intriguing, intricate, complex, and extremely detailed. Every side quest was brooding with conflict, and a real sense of character and purpose.

No, Oblivion wasn't perfect. The combat system definitely let me down at times, particularly in huge battles when it became very difficult to attack an enemy while making sure not to hit friendlies. And the facial animations definitely left a bit to be desired.

But to this day, I continue to find myself sinking back into Oblivion's game world, devoting hours and hours to exploring a world and game that never ceases to penetrate to that core of us that can't help but admire the amazing beauty and solitude of a great landscape, or symphony, or story.

Oblivion gives us everything at once.


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Why we Wii

I would definately classify myself as a hardcore gamer....however..in recent years..and due to the popularity of the Wii with the soccer mom type crowd..I find myself enjoying the types of casual games that nintendo is offering on the Gamecube2.0. Whenever my family has a holiday get together...it is usually inevitable that we will turn on my nephews Wii and have a Rock Band session...or get lost in all of the silly mini games that Warioware Wii offers...and I admit...we have a lot of fun doing it. I own a Wii and it is usually not my console of choice. For every original title like No More Heros..there is a thousand crappy titles to wade through like Cooking Cake Dog Turd Tortoise party or something else quickly produced with only dollar signs in mind and no care of innovation. In the end...the Wii is simply another flavor on the menu...I can always eat pizza as my favorite junk food...but sometimes...I want tacos instead..and thats OK because there is room in the video game world for all kinds of different tastes!

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The only Conan game you ever need to play!!

I'm a huge fan of the early 80's classic Conan the Barbarian. So it's a shame that over the years no developer has ever given Ahnold his just video game treatment....or have they?!

Dust off the Ps2 and travel with me back to 2002..with Sony's The Mark of Kri. This under appreciated classic gem fires on all the right sadistic cylinders and will show you a bloody...and I mean bloody...good time!

OK..so the main character is named Rau and not Conan.., but you can tell that the designers clearly had a hard-on for Arnie's sword and sandal epic. Everything from the Mako-esque opening narration to the unlockable black war paint (like the Schwarz sported when he assaulted Thulsa Doom's all night orgy paradise people soup party) SCREAMS Conan!! Believe me when I tell you this is not a bad thing!

The game is rightly focused on it's clever (even by today's standards) melee combat system which allows you to target and take on wave after wave of A.I. controlled meat sacks. A quick sweep of the right analog stick will place icons over your enemies heads and you're in business. The opponents are idiots to be sure...but the vicious combo system will simply delight you as you dole out punishment to these low I.Q. video game special edders. Human tent pole with a spear...check...decapitations...check... You will become the whirling dirvish of doom as Rau chops and impales his way through the story.

I personally take sick pleasure in the graphical style which looks like a 90's era Disney cartoon gone bad. The key plot points are told through great hand drawn style cut scenes and the music is intense at all the right times.

At a time when money is tight....a game like the Mark of Kri is just begging for you to put it out it's bargain bin misery...so what are you waiting for...seek out Rau and make him a welcome dismember to your Ps2 family!!

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Xbox 360 Community Games, Vol. 1

Holy shit, has anyone even gone to the Community Games section of the 360? While I found my first visit there to be pretty awesome, I can't say it's a treasure trove of indie games you've never heard of -- not yet, at least. I've only played one game so far, and it's called Weapon of Choice. It's a duel stick shooter, but instead of manning a spacecraft flying through bullet hell, you're running through levels on foot. It's similar to Contra, but you have a lot more control over your movements and weapons.






You run around with the left stick and shoot with the right. The left trigger is your jump, and believe me, it takes some getting used to. I tried jumping with the A button or some such nonsense a few times and paid for it with my life. Other than the odd choice of jumping control, it plays quite nicely. You can modify your weapons with the right trigger, and with the default character, it can make you hover in the air for a few seconds or give off a more powerful blast. But one of the coolest things about the gameplay is the way you navigate the levels. Whenever you want to climb up a ridge or jump to a higher area, little robotic arm-thingies come out of your body and pull you along the terrain. It's just a nifty little visual that adds a lot to both the aesthetics and general movement allowances.


Along the way, you'll encounter downed allies that you'll need to rescue by simply standing over them. They'll then attach to you like a backpack, and the idea is that you should carry them to safety. The tricky part is that everything is a one hit kill. The developers did see fit to help you out a bit in that regard by adding a slow-motion mechanic that automatically kicks in when you're about to get your ass handed to you. It basically gives you just a few moments to jump out of harms way, but if you get cornered, you're pretty much screwed.


Once you complete a level, the downed ally you rescue will be unlocked and available to play through the rest of the game. Three characters are already available when you start the game, but I'm not sure just yet how many will eventually become unlocked. As I mentioned, you die in one hit. But when you die, you can instantly choose another character to finish the level with. Once you've died using everyone available to you, it's game over. It's pretty hardcore, and getting through a level without losing a comrade is damn satisfying.


There's not much else I can say, other than the entire game was made by 8 people(very commendable), and you can find it in the Community Games section of the games marketplace. If nothing else, it's definitely worth a look at the demo. It costs you nothing, so just go do it already.


Oh, and Wilford Brimley looks to be your commanding officer.




And here's a pretty kick-ass trailer:





Hopefully this will be a continuing feature where I'll highlight some of the community games that are worth checking out. But that will depend on the quality of the rest of the catalog, and since I've only played Weapon of Choice, that remains to be seen. But one can hope. Read more...

Lets Talk Nintendo.

Apparently, Nintendo has boarded the crazy train, and Shigeru Miyamoto is the conductor. I won't re-hash descriptions of it since you can find those elsewhere, but he filed a patent last year that would basically turn games into movies. Forget about the technical aspects of what that patent entails. I want to talk about the idea itself. I agree with Jonathan Blow when he said, "The defining characteristic of a game is that you play it." No shit. If you don't play a game, then what the hell are you doing? What's the point of paying hundreds of dollars on a console just so you can watch events unfold like a movie? A dvd is 10 bucks, and it doesn't take a dozen hours to watch.


We all know Nintendo isn't really about hardcore gamers anymore. This notion of just skipping around and watching a game is paramount to my argument that they've abandoned their roots. Yes, I'm aware that by encouraging non-gamers to pick up a console, they're allowing the industry far more growth than would otherwise be possible. And by "the industry", I mean Nintendo. Just look at their system. With so much of that growth already in place, what have you played on the Wii lately? Why do you own one?


I want you to know that question is not condescending. I'm genuine in my curiosity as to why anyone would want a Wii. What do you get out of it? Is buying the system worth the couple hours or so you'd get a loved one to play Wii Sports with you? Why not just watch a movie or play a board game with them?


I've heard people say that having a non-gamer participate in a hobby they love is worth the price of admission. The problem is, they're not joining in your hobby, and they still can't relate to the gaming lifestyle. That's not the growth I want or care enough to participate in.


You either love games or you don't, simple as that. And no dvd player masquerading as a gaming console will change that fact. The more Nintendo pushes me away, the less I care about what they have to contribute to the medium I love so much. If you own a Wii and are interested in what they're doing, tell me why. Maybe you can change my mind about all this, but I won't hold my breath.

Nintendo, Clint is talking to you.

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Darwin loves Doritos.......

.....because T-Rex's chasing dudes driving Doritos delivery trucks makes the most logical sense. This, from the Xbox.com description of Dash of Destruction, the new Doritos branded Xbox Live Arcade game:

"Doritos' Dash of Destruction is a fun and fast-paced racing game. Blast your way through cities as a hungry Tyrannosaurus Rex, as you chase a speeding Delivery Truck full of tasty Doritos. Or, try zooming in and out of the T-Rex's path of destruction as the speedy Delivery Truck in search of your Doritos drop-off points. For even more racing madness, Chaos mode lets you and three friends charge through cities eating Trucks or trying not to be eaten. In Zen mode, eat the Truck to become the Truck!"

Hey, Doritos! In MY Zen mode, you get to eat my Shit to become a worthless product placement that isn't worth the nothing I have to pay to play it!


At least this "game" is free. And you get 200 points for "completing" it. It doesn't seem fair that I've put 50 hours into Devil May Cry 4, and I'm sitting at 210 points right now. Man....all I had to do was download Dash of Destruction and I would have saved myself months of fun frustration. I wonder if there's a cameo by The King?

I'll possibly download the demo just so I can say with first hand knowledge how much it infuriates me. Or not. Read more...

Crystal Dynamics staff cut by 30 members; makes interesting companion piece...

...to my previous post. If you were to look at these two posts, the stories wouldn't correlate. The Crystal Dynamics news is pretty much the exact opposite of everything I just said. I still hold fast to my opinion that the safer the product, the more sales you'll see, but this bit of news makes me wonder -- with a very sad panda face -- just what the hell is wrong with people?


I mean, seriously. What the fuck is wrong with people? Tomb Raider did exactly what conservative people would have you believe was the smart thing to do; they made the same game, with some added improvements. Now let me just say that I love the revamped Tomb Raider series, blemishes and all. It's some of the best platforming you could ask for, and a story you could definitely ask better of. Who really gives a shit what's going on in a Tomb Raider game? Surely, not I. I know she's usually looking for some artifact that has to do with her mum, daddy, Amanda or that crazy winged bitch. Yea, whatever. That next jump looks pretty tough, so I gotta go.


My main concern here, however, is that the game underperformed. Is it because the story is finally getting old with this franchise? Are they not innovating enough within the platforming genre? Is the world not believable enough in these scrutinizing modern times? Or are you bastards just looking a gift horse in the mouth? I think the answer is a little bit of everything.


Using Uncharted as a reference point, the story and characters of Tomb Raider are utter shit. I don't think anyone would argue that point, however heart breaking it might be. Nathan Drake is a much more believable character; he seems like an actual human being, not some super hero who can do back flips on motorcycles using nigh but their sexy yet well built calf muscles. At the same time, I don't mind the stupidity of Tomb Raider. Call me a hypocrite, an idiot, or a boob-starer if you must, but I can't help it. Yes, everything about Uncharted(except the platforming) is technically better than Tomb Raider, but I can't quit the old girl just yet. Now, you people need to get on board with me. Pretty please? Read more...