The Horror, The Horror!

Boo,

What makes a game scary? Is it the cheap thrill of a dog through a window as in Resident Evil? The cerebral terror of Silent Hill? The mind tricks and Lovecraftian madness of Eternal Darkness? No I say! While these certainly all play a role, I believe the fundamental characteristic of a horror game is a feeling of helplessness brought on through limited or bad control.

Did you know that the original Devil May Cry started life as Resident Evil 4? As development progressed, the game strayed too much from its roots and ultimately became a new IP, yet many horror elements remain: a dark tone and atmosphere, gothic setting and demonic enemies to name a few. Despite these aspects, no one in their right mind would call it a horror game; the player is simply too powerful. Sure, it is still "scarily" hard, but when you die it is because of your slow reflexes, rather than a failure to plan your moves around your avatar's limitations.

Think back to fixed perspective games like Alone in the Dark or Resident Evil, where characters controlled like a clock: up was always forward and down was always back, regardless of camera angles. Even simple tasks like running away became nerve-wracking experiences because of this unintuitive layout.

Resident Evil 4 redefined the franchise and set a new benchmark for horror games, but even it limited movement. While turning the enemy and ammo count way up, making it more like a third-person shooter, it still prevented players from strafing or even moving while shooting. To have it otherwise would overpower the player and rob the experience of tension.

Sure, stiff, imprecise control is not the only way developers create feelings helplessness. Severely limiting resources like ammo or saves certainly play an important role. However, I believe that making seemingly simple actions more difficult is one of the most effective and widely utilized methods of scaring players.

You're small time,
Saddler

Machina

Konichiwa,

How do you feel when a sequel to a beloved game is announced, but you know that many of the people who worked on the original have nothing to do with the coming iteration? Look at NiGHTS. Yuji Naka isn't even with Sega anymore; can it really recapture the magic of the Saturn release?

The reason I bring this up is Eidos' recently unveiled third Deus Ex. Loyal readers will recall that I am a huge fan of the first game. The lackluster DX: Invisible War was disappointing (especially because my video card was not supported and it would not run on my laptop) but if anything it gives me hope for the future. Project Snowbound, a FPS released a few years back was originally going to be a Deus Ex title until IW failed commercially; the fact that Eidos is willing to resurrect the franchise indicates to me that they have learned from their mistakes and will take the time to make it great. Hopefully. While the publisher could be looking for a quick buck by capitalizing on the franchise, the financial under-performance of the second game makes me think that would not be the wisest business decision.

Despite these positive signs, the excitement is still mixed with trepidation. Warren Spector, the director of the first game, formed his own development group after Ion Storm's dissolution. While one man cannot a make game of this caliber (unless they are Pixel) and complexity, I truly believe it was his effort and vision that brought all the disparate elements together into a cohesive, compelling whole. Will this new Montreal based team be able to create a worthy successor? Time will tell, I suppose. However, I am almost certain my computer will be unable to run the new game when it is released. Oh well.

Bravery is not a function of firepower,
JC Denton

Future?

This was a great article I came by about the future of the next-gen consoles.
Just thought I'd pass it along.

Link

Not good enough to write a clever closer,
Solger 100th Post FTW

Nothing To Do With Nietzsche

Howdy,

Today I want to talk a little bit about Beyond Good and Evil. The game, not the book. Developed by Rayman creator Michel Ancel, BG&E was a fairly high profile, multi-platform title from Ubisoft that performed very poorly commercially, despite critical acclaim. The game is for all intents and purposes a Zelda clone, yet it manages to rise above the heap in a couple of areas.

First, a disclaimer: I never beat the game, for reasons I will later address, so some of my criticisms may have been addressed as the story progressed.

The game's greatest strength seems to lie in its personality. It has a relatively unique art style, implemented through well conceived graphics, to create some truly beautiful moments. The nice water effects deserve particular attention, as the overworld is traversed by boat a la The Wind Waker (don't worry, it is much faster). The first dungeon, completely bathed in an eerie blue light, also stands out. It is a shame then that so much of the later game takes place in generic, grimy industrial settings.

Conspiracy and oppressive government rule are the main story focuses, which is a welcome break from the "impending calamity from dark forces" plots that plague the genre. Unfortunately, at the point I reached these themes had been handled in a somewhat broad and safe manner. If it was aimed at children this would have been fine, but the game does carry a T rating. After Metal Gear Solid and Deus Ex, I was hoping for a few more risks.

Characters are brought to life through competent, if unspectacular, voice acting. Many talk with various accents, the Jamaican mechanics to the Southern sidekick, which is either charming or horribly offensive depending on your point of view.

The game excelled at creating memorable battle sequences, whether it was chasing a giant serpent in a speedboat or saving kidnapped orphans from aliens. Slow motion was used particularly effectively to accentuate the fights. However, there are not as many of these as there could have been, and none last quite long enough to be truly satisfying. As is the norm for the genre, combat is quite easy.

Jade, the main character, is initially a photographer and as such there is a photography system in place. Snapping pictures of wildlife for money is remarkably fun and rewarding, but I wish the world was more open to exploration, which would allow for more photo opportunities and sidequests.

The biggest issue the game runs into are the later dungeons. After the first, the developer drops the Zelda-esque design and opts for a tedious stealth approach that completely negates all the combat skills the player has acquired up to that point. The enemy AI is frustratingly limited, losing interest in the player after only a few moments of alert. Levels are laid out with some spacious gutter near every gaurd encounter; hiding in these basically ensures safety as they will not pursue you and quickly lose interest. This negates all tension and reduces every bit of "stealth" to "wait, shoot, hit, run, repeat". While the design is somewhat consistent with the story, it is so tedious as to actually ruin the game.

Beyond Good and Evil had a lot of potential and while it has many fine qualities I ultimately cannot recommend playing more than the first four hours. It is a shame it performed so poorly commercially though, I would have loved to see if Ubisoft could have fixed these problems in the two planned sequels. Instead, it has been relegated to being a rough gem of the bargain bin.

Der Wille zur Macht,
Jade

Even in a Zelda dungeon F.O.E.!

My brother and I used to rent The Legend of Zelda whenever we could find it in a rental store. Why? Because we only owned Zelda II. We played it regularly before the Genesis, of course. Anyway, my point here is that I was playing Smash last night with some pals, and for some reason my friend wanted to play exclusively on Hyrule Castle (even though it was 1 on 1). While passing through, my mother remarked on how familiar the music was. When my father came home, he said the same thing.
Its probably been fifteen years since they've heard that music.

Also: This is the first time I've played Smash with NO items. It is a very different game. I'm more interested now...

Last thing: Zelda II's mixture of nightmarish difficultly, excellent combat, and ZELDA is super-good. Nintendo really needs to get back on that specific horse.

Assorted Stuff

This is Jimmy,

So, continuing the trend of not-really-E3 stuff, Ubidays!



This is one of the reasons I will purchase a 360 or PS3. Assassin's Creed could be one of the defining games of the next generation, something that just was not possible on older technology. It looks like it could be really great.



Who is that hobo causing a ruckus? Why its none other than Sam Fisher! So, while the game bears little resemblance to any of the previous Splinter Cell titles, it will be interesting to see what Ubisoft is doing with such a radical departure.

Lastly, and completely unrelated, I may have secured a 27-inch TV for the apartment, which would be awesome. Stay tuned for more details.

I alone have the fifth freedom,
Jade Raymond

Little Things

The internet is already freaking out about how the second smashbros.com update reveals "no new information." One of those screenshots has a normal Master Sword, the other has an awesome Master Sword.
Here's the thing: Perhaps the coolest addition to the Zelda series in The Wind Waker was the friggin' awesome glowing Master Sword. For the large part, this was left out of Twilight Princess (except for one dungeon, kind of,but it still wasn't as awesome). These screenshots mean something, my friends.

Haha, At Last

Bitter Rivals,

So, the Super Smash Brothers Brawl site relaunched and while it didn't have any new info on characters, Sakurai did let out a few interesting tidbits. Chief among these was the announcement of the composers working on the soundtrack. In an (as far as I know) unprecedented move in the video game industry, no fewer than 37 musicians will be contributing songs to the game. Included in the list was Yasunori Mitsuda of Chrono Trigger, Yuzo Koshiro of Streets of Rage and Sonic, Kenji Yamamoto of the Metroid series, Motoi Sakuraba of Golden Sun, and the unstoppable Koji Kondo. What does this list mean for the rest of the game? Only time will tell. What Sakurai will do with Brawl is still up in the air but after this I am more excited than I have been since I heard Snake was going to be in it.

Listen to Sakuraba's take on Menu 1, found near the bottom of the page. As embarrassed as I am to admit it, it actually brought a tear of happiness to my eye. Now if only Michiruru Yamane was included....

Show me your moves,
Crazy Hand

Another Starcraft II Post

Something has been bugging me about Starcraft II, and since it hasn't stopped bugging me, I'll bring it up now: The Protoss Mothership.

The demo is all good fun up to the point when the Mothership arrives. The protoss are kicking butt with new weapons that are in their racial character. The sounds are there, the environment is there. Units are designed to counter one another.

Then the Mothership shows up, and it's a hero unit. It doesn't level (as far as we know), so Starcraft two is not "unbuyable" as rmcdougall put it. It does, however, have a unit cap of 1 imposed upon it that is completely divorced from the rest of the game's unit cap/balancing system. It doesn't just cost a lot of minerals and psi and time to build, it has a hard-coded limit of 1. This is the only thing in the demo that didn't look like Starcraft.

Some have told me that the unit is ripped directly from C&C 3, but that isn't what bothers me. I do not forbid designers from borrowing good elements from other games. What does bother me is that buildable hero units in multiplayer are not a Starcraft thing. I've played strategy games based on heroes and enjoyed them; the feeling of an awesomely powerful leader of your army going into battle has merit. What it does not have is any connection to the feeling I have when I'm playing Starcraft. Starcraft games don't depend on special units to make individual battles important. The player is put within a hair of defeat from the beginning, and in the right situation, any marine or mutalisk can turn out to be your hero, saving you in a clutch situation.

At this point, I would like to officially implore Blizzard to abandon the hero unit as an element of Starcraft II. Please, Blizzard, either eliminate the limit of 1 Mothership at a time or get rid of the unit entirely. The game can be balanced without this unstarcraftism.

OH, YOU'RE MY BEST FRIEND

The internet is a strange place. I have been known to frequent a message board full of assholes. Yet they seem to be unified in Pokemon.
People who would tear a well-meaning poster unaware of the social norms of the board to SHREDS will suddenly turn to each other in kindness and offer rare Kanto and Johto starters while asking for nothing in return.
What is it about Pokemon that could turn such cold hearted bastards into kind and caring trainers?

Slight update: I asked them for their thoughts on Froslass, and one response was "on my list of ghosts i want to fuck"
I felt I should share.

A Far Cry

So,

After pumping many hours into long adventures over the past months (Twilight Princess, Final Fantasy XII, Okami) I decided I wanted a good FPS as a change of pace. Any ideas? I was thinking Far Cry until I played the demo.

I'm not sure how much of my experience was due to the fact that my computer is woefully underpowered, but I was disappointed. The framerate was horrible anytime I encountered an enemy, despite running on the lowest settings. Speaking of which, there was no water. None. My boat was floating on nothing. There is no excuse for this, especially when Half-Life 2, released the same year, runs far better. Granted, Far Cry renders massive outside environments, but it was still disappointing.

The enemy AI is wildly inconsistent, sometimes hitting me repeatedly through a crack in a wall and other times running in circles. Some are completely oblivious and others are inhumanely perceptive. They also yell extraordinarily stupid things, while all sounding like Trey Parker's impression of a frat boy.

The physics are questionable; getting out of my boat sent me careening through the air, only to land on the opposite side of the outpost I was attempting to storm.

What really got me was the complete lack of impact. Enemies did not seem to react in the slightest to getting hit until they were dead; it seemed as though nothing was coming out of my gun. The amount of damage they would absorb seemed to vary widely as well.

I really wanted to like Far Cry, and should reserve judgment until I can play it on a competent rig, but I found it wanting. I like the concept of a very open FPS and I love the setting; hopefully Crysis will improve on its predecessor significantly.

Out of ammo!,
Crytek

The X Is For EXTREME

You must penetrate the core precisely,

Nostalgia surrounds Megaman X for me, so take the following with a grain of salt.

The Blue Bomber has starred in upwards of 60 games, but X is one of the best. A true sequel, it developed and extended the gameplay while staying true to its roots. Players are offered eight stages to be completed in any order, each containing a boss whose power you win upon their defeat. However, the addition of the dash and the wall jump allowed for far greater mobility and fast-paced gameplay that really opened up the levels. Capcom took advantage of this, rewarding exploration with health increases and armor enhancements. The graphics have lots of nice effects and animation which still hold up today. The soundtrack is a classic of the series.

A lot of effort and love is evident in X, which is unfortunately lacking in its sequels as Capcom attempted to cash in. Enemies have multiple damage animations if you use the weapon they are weak against. Boss powers are useful outside of the reploid fights. Stages are varied and unique, even changing depending on the order they are completed. The developer even threw in Ryu's fireball as bonus for fans.

Some people complain about the harder, less Astro-Boy inspired look but I don't really mind it; it leaves room for more Star Wars references. The other chief gripe is that the game is too easy and doesn't require the precision platforming of the older games. While this has some merit, no one says games must be difficult to be good. To me, X is time-honored favorite that I can play anytime and still know every trick and secret. Sure I blow through it in 40 minutes, but it is time well spent, reminding me of how far Capcom's mascot has fallen.

Perhaps only the X-Buster on his arm knows for sure,
Keiji Inafune

Blizzard Announcement Has Come!

All over my face, and I like it.

Starcraft II was announced about twelve hours ago. Since then, I've slept and had a chance to see some of the footage from the WWI. The game looks sweet, and sounds sweet, and has sweet units with sweet abilities. There's a Terran unit with jump jets for getting over cliffs and a Protoss unit with long legs for walking over cliffs. But there were plenty of ground units that still honored cliffs, so I'm not worried that they will become meaningless.

Zerglings are even scarier 3D, but the footage I saw didn't have much zerg at all. The demonstration was played as Protoss primarily against Terran, with no mention of a possible new race. I later read that Blizzard has said there will be no fourth race (oh well). The game looks modern AND looks like Starcraft. GG.

On Halo, WoW

Blizzard's World of Warcraft and Bungie's Halo are both tremendously popular games. However, despite their (extreme) commercial success, both have met with some resistance from the more traditional gaming community.

However, I see this as hypocritical. Halo has broadened the consumer base for video games, and should be appluaded for that. Further, the game is fun, playable, and has contributed to the future of gaming design. While we praise Nintendo's Wii for bringing new gamers, how can we simultaneously bemoan the growth created by Halo (and its sequel(s)). Just because Halo brought the annoying high school jocks to gaming, and not your best bud down at the comic shop and not your little 8-year-old cousin and not her middle-aged mother, doesn't mean it's a bad game. Can we just back up from the "it's not as good as its sales numbers suggest" track and admit that it's pretty damn good?

Pros: Innovative grenade combat, easy-to-use multiplayer, accessible controls and gameplay, fun.

Cons: You're forced to interact with the type of people whom your hatred of got you into gaming in the first place. [epic sentence maneuver]

WoW has a similar problem. Players love it, the press loves it, and record numbers of Earthians love it. However, traditional gamers look down on it. They say the game is addictive, perhaps purposefully, and turns normal people into the undead (whether or not they chose that in-game race). I say it's a damn good game that has defined the way every other future MMO will be designed.

Pros: Depth of content, near perfect group combat, variety of play styles, accessibility.

Cons: Too accessible, purposefully labryinth-like depth of content with Vegas-like incentives to keep playing.

I think if you distance yourself from the emotional reaction these two games elicit, it is difficult to argue that they are not very well-designed games, and should be lauded as such.

Or maybe I've just played a lot of both, and I'm just talking emotionally.

Folklore

Okay. So we don't have a budget here at TheNakedGamer, and the mailman keeps stealing all the review copies developers keep sending us. So we don't really get to play all that many brand new games, simply because that would be impractical.

What we do get to do is read about them, and what I'm reading about Game Republic's Folklore is pretty awesome. Apparently, you're some sort of evil Kirby, sucking powers from your defeated foes, except way more awesome than I've made that sound. (Or, more accurately, one of two different power-sucking-heroes, since the game is said to have two playable characters, in the Dante/Virgil tradition (Yes, these guys made DMC)).



This news is coming with Sony's recent Gamer's Day, which I hear has been pretty much the success E3 was always supposed to be. My take on the situation is this: E3 had the potential to be a productive marketing force, but its taste for the show portion of tradeshow overwhelmed its potential for profit. Sony's recent effort gave us more games and less glitz, possibly in response to the God of War 2 European Fiasco, possibly because they didn't need the glitz to get attention because they didn't have to compete with Nintendo, Microsoft, etc. for this week's limelight.

I'm looking forward to more of these smaller events. Not only can they deliver more content when they aren't concerned with trying to top the showmanship of their neighbor's booth, but it also means my calendar isn't quite so E3-centric.

Blizzard Announcement is Coming!!

Tomorrow's the big day: we're going to get an announcement! An announcement that Blizzard will start work on a new product! Aren't we lucky!

I should start this same sort of tradition: announcing that I will announce that I will start work on something.

1up.com has some interesting polls about what gamers want from this new announcement. Apparently, gamers are really really stupid. 23% of respondents want level-gaining heroes in Starcraft 2? WHAT? That's pretty much the one thing they could do to make Starcraft 2 unbuyable. (Of course, I lie: nothing would make Starcraft 2 unbuyable).

23% of respondents in another poll question said that they'd like to see a spinoff of Starcraft that takes a new direction: real-time-strategy. Imagine that! More people want to see an RTS version of Starcraft than an RPG, an FPS, an MMO, or anything else of that sort. Fascinating.

So it's called Medusa, and there are questions of what that means. Kerrigan makes a Medusa-like reference in Starcraft, and Diablo has Medusa references. The Lost Vikings may have Medusa references in the parts of the game that are too difficult to ever get to.

So, let's just say I'm on the edge of my seat, and can't wait to hear what's up in South Korea. World of Lost Vikings, ftw.

Oh, internet!

So many posts on message boards I frequent were requesting a dump of Etrian Odyssey that I felt I should speak out. Etrian Odyssey is the kind of niche game that NEEDS the support of those interested in it if it ever hopes to make a profit or impact. And I let them know that, that if they enjoy it is their duty to BUY it and support it.
I got called a fag.

I hope that says more about people who frequent certain message boards than it does about gamers in general. I mean, obviously the majority of gamers aren't pirates. I'd bet most people wouldn't know how to even begin going about pirating, which is a good thing.
But what does it mean when arguably the most dedicated group of people in gaming refuse to provide monetary support to projects that, arguably, need it most?


I suppose I'm not much better. I wait til a game gets as cheap as possible before I buy it, usually, so it isn't like that really contributes to the sales numbers.

Beta Blues

I need a weapon,

As you may have guessed, I am not the biggest fan of Halo. While a good, well-made game, I believe it gets far too much love from the gaming community. The hype behind the Xbox's flagship franchise is unbelievable, matched only by the voraciousness with which the fans consume it. Plenty of worthy games get tragically ignored due to Microsoft's marketing machine.

The series does deserve some credit. For making grenades accessible and important in combat Bungie will forever have my gratitude. While it did not originate vehicles in shooters, it did popularize them. Halo also greatly furthered the cause of bringing FPSes to consoles, a worthy goal started by Goldeneye.

However, this does not excuse its many faults. The story and setting are generic B-movie sci-fi fluff that fails in every attempt to be taken seriously. The characters are boring and even unlikable, especially Master Chief (generic space marine...IN SPACE!) The single-player level design is terribly repetitive and monotonous, which only serves to artificially extend play time. I would go on, but I did not start this post to complain.

This is an admission that I am actually looking forward to Halo 3. I am sure a lot of my issues will not be addressed in this last installment, but I would like to give it a shot. From the beta impressions, it seems like the weapons have become more powerful/enemies die more easily, which was one of my gripes with the other games. The control scheme seems to have been revamped to allow easier gun/grenade switching and reloading. Little icons appear whenever you do something cool (post-death grenade kill, melee kill, multiple foe kill, sticking, laser kill etc) which will hopefully be recorded for a more robust ranking/stat tracking system.

So yeah. I'm not won over yet, but I have a feeling there is some Halo in my future.

He never gets me anything,
Cortana

Hydro Dynamo

Singing in the rain

I love water effects. Always have. Sometimes I'll stop playing a game for a few minutes to just watch a river or a waterfall, becoming almost hypnotized by the ripples and reflections. Sometimes I do this in real life too, commenting on the quality of the shaders or refraction, much to the confusion of my companions.



However, games still have a long way to go. While a game like Bioshock may feature stunning water effects, I doubt there will be the inclusion of hydro-dynamic physics; there does not seem to be much manipulation. I am still waiting for a game where I can take a large bucket, go to a lake, scoop up some water, lose some as it sloshes back and forth, throw it down a flight of stairs, watch it realistically flow and pool at the bottom. I have no idea how feasible this would be with today's technology, but we seem to have a pretty good handle on solids and gases. No, Mario Sunshine doesn't count, as the water evaporates too quickly.

Bioshock looks really good,
Warren Spector

The Uncanny Valley

Originally used to describe robotics, the "Uncanny Valley" is a term used to describe the odd behavior of humans and human-like technology. For ages, humans have been creating replicas of themselves (such as dolls, statues, paintings, robots, and video game characters). The degree to which these replicas have actually replicated human form has obviously varied significantly. Logically, the more precise the representation, the more the audience can identify with the replica--to a point.

Fascinating stuff happens when the replica gets to the "not quite human" phase, and essentially, the audience is disgusted by the result.

This happened to me while watching an ad for the PS3's "most realistic baseball sim ever". A real batter faces off against a pitcher from the game, and we're supposed to believe that they don't realize they are in different levels of reality. However, the sight of the pitchers heavily detailed face was just appalling.

Not the same ad (mine had a close up of a pitcher's scowling face):

Am I the only one who finds the Wii Sports pitching motions much more appealing than the PS3 version? The uncanny valley--home of zombies and Frankenstein's monster--seems a perfect home for these characters.

Speaking of controllers

I've always wanted to do this:

http://www.davidnikdel.com/Project_WoW360_Static.htm

The question: if you can emulate it on a PC, why can't you actually do it on a 360?
The answer: because that would be stupid. And, because you can't type with a 360 controller, and although voice-over-IP servers are the norm, you still need to type.


I'd put /dance on A. And probably B too.

Background on me: I'm a retired WoW player. I quit when the expansion came out after a successful career as a Tauren Druid on Emerald Dream. WoW is a very good RPG, a VERY good MMORPG, and definitely a good game. When its greatest negative is that it's too easy to play, gamers shouldn't complain.

The Battle For Freedom

Aye,

So, after a semester and 110+ hours of gameplay, I finally beat Final Fantasy XII. I wasn't sure before, but I think it is probably my favorite RPG. I mean, no other game has compelled me to drop two full days of playtime into sidequests right before the end; I just did not want it to end. Hell, I'm still not done, I have a few more hunts, three more espers, the deep Henne mines, the origin of darkness...yeah. Awesome. I'm considering a full review, but it is a daunting task. There are so many aspects and systems to that game that deserve attention. Suffice to say, you'll either love it or hate it and your opinion should be obvious within the first few hours.

One thing I must highlight now is the soundtrack, which I love. All great RPGs must have great music, it is a rule. The vast majority was composed by Hitoshi Sakimoto, with only one song by Nobuo Uematsu. The score is entirely orchestrated, yet manages to avoid the problem some games (and movies) run into of being completely forgettable. The range and variety is astounding, yet all of the songs manage to retain a certain theme about them. No small task considering there are about 100 different pieces.

But wait! There's more! He has scored other games, including Final Fantasy Tactics (and Advance), Radiant Silvergun, Gradius V, Vagrant Story and Odin Sphere. All are on my "to play" list.

Here is to hoping FFXII: Revenant Wings doesn't suck,
Marquis Ondore

Because You Hate Yourself

That's a big fire stick,

For all the masochists out there, here you go. Link is near the bottom. Yeah yeah, I know I just posted about hacks. I got past the goomba and two fireball chains, but couldn't make the next jump. Contrary to popular beliefs, your lives are limited. You'll also have to have an NES emulator to play it. Good luck, you'll need it. I'll try to keep you updated on my progress. Save states are for sucky players.

This is worse than Ann Coulter,
Luigi

The Real Folk Blues

Crowbars are only for geeky scientists,

Splinter Cell: Conviction is being revealed next Friday and I am interested to see where they take the series. I really enjoyed the original game but feel like the series has lost its way a bit. Disclaimer: I have only played the first and Pandora Tomorrow.

For me, SC is all about being a modern, high-tech, plausible ninja. Unlike Snake, Sam Fisher is a tool of the government and it was fun carrying out clandestine missions for Uncle Sam. You are only privy to a small portion of the games story, forced to piece it together from what little you need to know and the news snippets shown before each mission. The plot wasn't some far fetched, conspiracy driven giant robot tale (I love you, Metal Gear) but a believable story of near-future terrorism. Though it had its problems, there was a lot of potential there to make an awesome, realistic stealth game.

However, Ubisoft seems to have other ideas for the series. I've heard that in Chaos Theory you have to infiltrate the bad guy's underwater hideout. Honestly? This does not fit with the universe I had enjoyed in the first two games.

Double Agent takes this further by making the environments/missions more spectacular, like scuba diving under a glacier or rappelling down a building while fire works explode all around. I argue that this detracts from realistic tone set forth by previous games. It is as though they are trying to turn Sam into a globe-trotting adventurer. Additionally, why did they turn into a mole? He is not an actor, he is a black-ops veteran. These attempts at characterization are completely unnecessary and only serve to distract from the gameplay.

Honestly, my main problem with DA is that from what I have seen, it plays exactly the same as the last generation titles. Enemies are still relatively stupid and unperceptive. The animation has not been improved to look less disjointed and awkward. Sam still wears giant glowing objects that are completely out of place when the main mechanic is hiding in shadows. You can't use enemy weapons. You still absorb more damage than is humanly possible; this is even worse now as your health magically regenerates with time. Thanks, Halo.

Blech, such a sloppy post. Sorry for complaining so much, but I was really hoping that Ubisoft would make Splinter Cell more realistic, not less so.

I alone have the fifth freedom,
Lambert

Final Fantasy Is The New Megaman

Possessions are fleeting,

So, Square Enix seems to be intent on running one of their most beloved franchises into the ground. In the past few months we have had announcements for the PSP remakes of Final Fantasy 1 and 2, the remake FF Tacticts: The Lion War, FF Dissidia, FF Tactics Advance 2, FFXII: Revenant Wings, a DS FF IV remake (they just released IV Advance!), Final Fanasy Fables: Chocobo Tales, a tweaked FFXII with new license boards, and heard that XIII will be a franchise unto itself, spanning the next ten years. Holy crap.

I know it is a company like any other whose bottom line is to make money, but this seems like bad policy. Sure Final Fantasy has rabid fans that will purchase anything branded with it (potion anyone?) but this seems like massive overexposure. As much love as the series gets, it is not impossible for people to get bored with it. I'm glad to see them take risks with new IPs like The Last Remnant, but it is sad to think that for every new venture we have to suffer through five rehashes. Plus, if Remnant is successful, there is no telling how many sequels and spin offs we will see. It is kind of insulting.

Forever Rachel,
A Spoony Bard

I'm Losing Control

Yo,

Am I the only one who likes the Gamecube controller? It gets a lot of hate from gamers, but I feel as though it is undeserved. Maybe it isn't ideal for Capcom vs SNK 2, but it had some really good qualities. Games designed with it in mind control really well. How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

First off, the shape. Maybe my hands are oddly proportioned but I find it to be far more comfortable than just about any other controller I have ever used. The Playstation's is too small and angular while the Xbox's was massive (I haven't tried an S). There is just enough there to hold onto without being overly large.

Differentiating face buttons by more than a symbol is genius. A large, confirming A button, a smaller B button and the auxiliary X and Y can all be identified by touch alone. It also helps game design, as there is generally one button that gets the most attention anyway. All actions can be easily mapped by importance.

Complaints about the Z button are unwarranted. It was never meant to be a full action button, but rather a small activation, like bringing up a map in Sunshine or switching vision modes in Splinter Cell.

L and R never really got the developer attention they deserved, but I suppose if the original Street Fighter taught us anything, we learned that people like to pound buttons. Perhaps pressure sensitivity has no place in gaming controllers. At any rate, they were well shaped and easily pressed. I don't have any problems pushing them quickly, as some people have complained of. They are certainly no stiffer than the Xbox's shoulder buttons.

The control stick is very satisfying. No other controller's analogs click in such a tangible way, which yields a greater sense of impact. The casing also has small indents to prevent it from sliding around, as I find the PS2's wont to do.

Why does everyone hate the C-stick? It has never been a problem for me. Does anyone use it for anything beyond camera control anyway? It is not as though second analog sticks ever do that much; the face buttons always require much more thumb time.

The Gamecube has a very interesting controller that I had hoped developers would take advantage of to make fun new games. Unfortunately this did not happen. Sure, the D-pad was too small and ports had to make do with one less button than other consoles, but I for one will greatly miss it.

Jeans, Otacon?,
Snake

Every Game Blog Must Comment On This Topic

Movie License Games. As far as I can tell, the biggest reason for their typical suckiness is that they are rushed through production to be released at the same time as (or a little before) the movie. Most complaints about such titles are about a lack of polish, too little content, bugs, and the like. Why do these games have to come out at the same time as the movie? Are they worried that the movie will be forgotten by the time the game comes out, so no one will buy it even if it's a good game?

If the movie is so forgetable, then the problem is crappy source material. Goldeneye 007 proved that if you use a good movie, the game can come out much later. This brings up the question: did Goldeneye 007 get any boost from the movie license or was it successful purely on being an awesome game? I think it did benefit from putting players into the suit of the legendary secret agent on a mission to save the world. But even if it did, that was a good movie. Can a good game be made out of a crappy movie? I can't think of an example of such a case. I assume that mediocre films might need their games to come out on the heels of their own advertising campaigns in order to be successful. In any case, such a game is already hindered by the uninspired schlock for character and story; the tight schedule isn't going to help.

As for games based on movies with something worth buying the license for(characters, environments, storylines, phenomena, etc.), I'd like to see some better connections to the film. For instance, when I was watching Hot Fuzz, especially toward the end, I was thinking about what kind of video game could be made out of it. A proper use of the license would be a very silly shooter in which you select your weapons and your goofy Brittish target. This is followed by a fast-paced cinematic with close-ups of said weapons being loaded. Then there is the driving and horseback riding which blends directly into the main fighting: a tactical shooter with the challenge of finding things to shoot so that they fall onto your enemies. You can call on allies such as the hooded schoolchildren or another police officer. The whole time, your character delivers lines inspired by cheesy shoot-'em-ups.

The second most important thing for a movie license game is that good source material is integrated into the experience. The most important thing is that the game is good.

Haha! At last! (maybe)

The internets are abuzz with rumors that Starcraft 2, the most antincipated unannounced sequel of all time, will be annouced on May 19 at a Blizzard gaming/media event in Seoul, South Korea. Blizzard has confirmed that they will be announcing a new product that day, and there is even an alleged leak confirming that the new title is indeed a sequel to the 1998 classic RTS.

Fans of Starcraft are going nuts in a few ways. There is a lot of excitment, obviously, but also a lot of concern. Blizzard has a history of quality games that deliver what's promised, but Starcraft 2 is arguably the toughest challenge any game developer could unertake. Late additions to beloved series can fail by lacking what made the original great (*cough* The Phantom Menace *cough*). Another difficulty comes from the fact that Starcraft is widely considered the pinacle of its precise genre, and any change would be, at best, a lateral shift to something equally good that was not Starcraft (but more likely something not as good). Take some examples of opinions I will not attribute to anyone:

If you can't rush with basic units, it isn't SC.
If it has any race other than Terran, Zerg, and Protoss, it isn't SC.
If it has more units than are in Brood War, it isn't SC.
If it is 3D, it isn't SC.
If it has an easy user interface, it isn't SC.

That said, here is what I think makes something Starcraft:

1. Starcraft universe faithfully represented. This means those races and their struggles and personality. Environments that remind us of the original game.
2. Nerve-fraying, fast-paced RTS action.
3. Different feasible strategies based on partial and absolute weaknessness and strengths. Some guys just can't deal a single point of damage against flying units, you need detection (OK, or gosu use of splash) to get cloaked units, etc.
4. Good-looking art in the style of the original. Don't count pixels or polygons at me. The orinal Starcraft looks better than some games with more modern graphics. It's all about the art.
5. Best sound effects ever.
6. Very diverse, balanced races. I'll give them an extention on balance since the first one needed some patching. Also, they get an extension on making many strategies feasible because that took patching as well.
7. Some sort of resource management based on taking control of certain areas of the map. I'm willing to let macromanagement be very different if this minimum is met.


If 1-7, then win.

On another note, rmcdougall has mentioned that he hopes Solid Snake is in Starcraft 2. I'm just hoping it's coming out in the next couple years and totally rocks.

The Arcade Fire

He is risen,

I have been meaning to write a post about Metroid Prime for a while now, but unfortunately this isn't it. Every time I sit down to try, the words just won't come, which is rather disconcerting. It is a top contender for best game of the last console generation, but all attempts to explain why end in failure. Maybe I'll replay it...

I recently returned from an arcade, somewhere I have not been in far too long. I basked in the glory of light-guns, beat'em ups, fighters and racing games. A couple of friends and I beat Turtles in Time with a couple of friends and got to Inferno in Soul Calibur II. I had heard that there was a #Reload machine there, but no such luck. Most of our money was spent on Time Crisis 3 and 4, which was entertaining but short. I also did remarkably well at Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection, despite having almost no experience with the series; Virtua Fighter's influence was evident, but it felt stiff and somewhat sloppy. I have to give it props for not having a block button though.

So, yeah, arcades. It is a shame that they have mostly died out here in America; it is a completely different atmosphere from home console gaming. There are a million distractions and you can't hear anything, but this forces you to focus on nothing but your own performance. Not to mention the fact that there is more and better competition than you will ever find outside of a convention.

Still, they are rather expensive. Whatever happened to "quarter-munchers"? Most modern games run a dollar a credit, which is a bit steep for my tastes, especially given the necessarily high difficulty of arcade titles. I know I would gladly spend the same amount of money that I did if I was given more credits; hell, I might even pay for more of them if they were cheaper. "Just one more continue...." is a lot more tempting when I only have to invest sums measured in cents.

I may talk about arcades again soon, that is all for now.

Bring the noise,
Hot Fuzz

Doki Doki Majo Saiban

insertcredit.com reports that this is the #1 best seller on Amazon.com's Japanese site.
That means a certain number of things.
1. Japan is CRAZY
2. SNK is going to make some money
3. The character designer for TSS: La Petite Princess is getting work
4. LETS GET SOME TSS PS2 IN THE USA YOU JACKASSES.

I just hope SNK's new niche doesn't pull t hem away from KoF and Samurai Shodown, though.

Wenom

I is tired,

In a stunning first for TNG, the following is a brief, spoiler-free review of the movie Spiderman 3.

Unfocused is the first word that springs to my mind. With three villains and and a huge array of secondary characters the whole affair was woefully underdeveloped, despite its two and a half hour running time. After a slow start the movie does pick up and provides some thoroughly entertaining moments. However, the entire plot is built on an series of escalating contrivances and any attempts at taking it seriously are doomed to failure. Most of the "emotional" moments were met by audience laughter and the rest felt ridiculously forced. Despite these complaints, I found it to be a mostly fun waste of 150 minutes.

Alright, midnight showings make me sleepy. Perhaps more on this later, but don't count on it.

I am Iron Man,
Sandman

He Stole That Guy's Pizza

Here we go again,

In honor of Spiderman 3's imminent release, I thought I would talk a bit about Spiderman 2. The game, not the movie.

SM2 has basically one thing going for it: mobility. It is a ton of fun to swing around the recreation of Manhattan, jumping between buildings and taking flying leaps off of skyscrapers. The sense of aerial freedom is unmatched in anything I have ever played. Figuring out how to work around Spidey's limits and playing around is almost worth the price of admission alone. Unfortunately, this range of movement is not integrated into the rest of the experience very well. It is almost as if there are two different games, one really entertaining and the other aggressively mediocre.

Combat is mostly limited to canned combos, without any room for interesting variation. There is some air juggling and some countering, but it all feels pretty half-hearted. A couple of moves, like stringing an enemy up by a lamppost, are fun, but they get old after a while. You can only throw a thug off the top of a building so many times, especially without a satisfying sense of impact. Oh T ratings...

Spiderman 2 loads the entire city environment at once, which does its part to create a seamless experience. The downside comes in the form of some pretty bad graphics. Climb to the top of the tallest building and look down; all you will see is rectangles. While a necessary tradeoff, it is nonetheless disappointing. Also disappointing: New York doesn't feel alive. There aren't enough pedestrians, cars, pedestrian models, or car models to make it believable.

I have no recollection of the soundtrack....

Why does every Spiderman game have to have indoor environments? It serves no point other than to confine the player and remove the hero's greatest strength. It could be interesting if done well, but it never is.

If you have seen the movie, you know the story, except to make things interesting (read: extend play time) the developer threw in a bunch more villains for Spidey to tangle with. This feels pretty tacked on and is largely forgettable, especially since none of the boss fights are that noteworthy. It is worth mentioning that the voice actors from the film reprise their roles, which is nice.

The story progresses at your leisure. Going to various locations in the city will start story objectives and once you have completed these you are free to explore the city until you want to continue. While ripped straight out of Grand Theft Auto III, this structure fits the game well for the most part.

While swinging around between missions you will encounter random people in need of assistance. Helping them will earn you Hero Points which can be used to upgrade skills and moves, which is a cool concept. However, there are about nine different scenarios, some of which are very similar, and they happen all the time. It grows tiresome almost immediately, quickly turning you into the Apathetic Neighborhood Spiderman.

Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy Spiderman 2, I just think it was a bit ahead of the technology and shipped without much polish. Hopefully all these complaints will be addressed in the third game, but as it is being rushed to release with the movie, I'm not getting my hopes up.

Does whatever a spider can,
Doc Ock

Bastardization

So, A) I'm not Dan B) huge misuse of this blog and C) it'll get deleted, so shut your whining.

http://ase.tufts.edu/reslife/res_halls/floorplans/hillsideB_fourth.htm


Things we need for our room:
TVs
Projector and its screen (and a new bulb, probably)
Carpeting
Seating
Lighting
Musical Sets Upsez
Wall Decor
Vacuuming
Blender (REAL fruit smoothies)
MORE game systems
Shelving or storage for games
Fridge / microwave / toaster
Large collection of pornography
Media (i.e. DVDs and games)
Subscription to a gaming magazine
Phone
Awesome swirly vortex
The Masamune
Controllers
Plants
Coffee Maker
Food
Actual seating / cushions
Cleaning supplies

Topics

Topics I'd like to cover:

• Crates as a staple of action games
• Reputation systems a la Deus Ex: Invisible War and Splinter Cell: Double Agent
• Movie License Games (Every game blog must comment on this topic)
• Thoughts on Camera Control
• Thoughts on Difficulty Control
• Addiction to MMO's
• How much I want to play as the bad guy