Paradigm Shift: The Joys and Sorrows of Casual Gaming

Gaming has come a very long way since its original offerings in many different ways including technology, design and social standing. In terms of consumer gaming, it is arguably the youngest industry in the entertainment market and is still trying to establish itself today. Up until perhaps this generation of consoles (beginning with the US release of Microsoft’s Xbox 360 in 2005) gaming was mostly seen as a toy by the mainstream – a plaything usually enjoyed by younger people. To help change this perception, while Microsoft and Sony were fighting for High Definition dominance with the 360 and Playstation 3 to appeal to the mass market, Nintendo decided to opt for standard definition graphics and motion controls. It was upon this reveal that a new market of gamers became ever more prevalent  – casual gamers.

Casual gamers by general definition are people who mostly game either minimally, socially or on-the-go to pass time. Up ‘til now gaming was something of a niche activity; a hobby dominated by a demographic dubbed “hardcore gamers”. With the introduction of motion controls and Nintendo’s push for the attention of non-gamers, the market for video games grew exponentially to being one of, if not the most profitable entertainment industry today. However given the successes of Nintendo with their current target audience, Apple’s iPhone App Store, and the recent release of Sony’s Playstation Move and Microsoft’s Kinect motion controllers, there have been repercussions.

Almost synonymous with the term “casual games” is the word “shovelware”. Shovelware games are often games that have limited funding, development time or development attention that the outcome is a product that usually results in frustrating gameplay, generic level design and low production values. To put it bluntly, they’re bad games made for quick cash. Before casual gaming shovelware was mostly reserved for licensed games – titles based on movies, cartoons or television shows that require a particular license to develop for (which are still around today). Since licensed games are usually aimed to be released alongside the release of its theatrical counterpart, more often than not they are given to smaller development studios with a very limited development schedule. Obviously, the solution to avoiding these games is to not buy them, correct? Unfortunately because the mainstream consumer does not pay close attention to games and/or read critical reviews to differentiate between a good and a bad game, shovelware (especially attached to a licensed name) manages to profit enough to cycle more mundane products.

The image that brought gaming to the mainstream.

Another term that crops up with casual games is “streamlining”. Often this can be worrying for core gamers since streamlining usually affects gameplay. The biggest offender in recent memory is Square Enix’s Final Fantasy XIII. For the longest time the Final Fantasy series was considered one of the most hardcore JRPG (Japanese Role-Playing Game) franchises in the industry. Mostly featuring turn-based battle systems, stat tracking to manage your characters in combat and lenghty storylines JRPGs could be considered quite a daunting experience for non-gamers. Square Enix attempted to rectify this by substantially lowering the micro-management of battles, side quests and freedom of manueverability (no joke, outside of battles and cutscenes for the first twenty hours all you do is walk forward). Though this game wasn’t specifically targeted towards non-gamers, it was made to be more “accessible” for a broader audience.

Some could also argue that New Super Mario Bros Wii’s streamlining negatively affected the gameplay with its additions of Bubble Mode and Super Guide. When playing in multiplayer anyone having problems overcoming a particular point may press A and enter bubble mode, which renders the player invulnerable to damage though removing control. In order for the player to return to action they must shake the Wiimote to draw closer to another player and have that player collide with the bubble to free them. If abused, bubble mode potentially leaves the challenge to just one player while all others are free to float about the stage. Super guide on the other hand can only be accessed once a player fails to complete a stage eight times. Upon this, a green “!” box will appear and when activated shifts control of the player to the computer to complete the stage – the player can jump back into control however by pressing the + button on the Wiimote. Both of these features are completely optional (and the first only being available during multiplayer), but are still often brought up in debates about NSMBW’s difficulty.

Streamlining isn’t always a terrible thing, however. Games like Mass Effect 2 benefitted from this process immensely in terms of inventory and special ability management. Mass Effect had a mostly cumbersome menu and loot system to the point where it eventually became annoying having to manage all the non-usable items and weapons that weren’t compatible with your character’s class or squad mates. Other titles that were streamlined for the better include Super Mario Galaxy 2, Assassin’s Creed II, Halo Wars and World of Warcraft: Cataclysm.

 
Waggle for everything. Waggle in precision. Waggle your body!

A growing trend of trying to attract non-gamers is the use and, a lot of the time, misuse of motion controls. At the unveiling of the Wii Remote concept a lot of gamers were confused as whether this would be a good or bad thing. During Nintendo’s press conference at the 2006 E3 people were amazed at what motion controls could mean for the gaming industry, especially from the first impression of Wii Sports Tennis. Instead of the precise 1:1 control of the Wiimote that was initially speculated, gamers were treated with waggle-filled titles that left our hopes diminished. During the first couple of years after the Wii’s launch there was an abundance of mini-game compilations that were just rehashes of the same ideas. Since then there has been a surge of refining and redefining of motion controls beginning with Nintendo’s Wii Motion Plus peripheral to add precision to the Wii Remote, and the launches of Sony’s Move and Microsoft’s Kinect. Even a huge amount of today’s mobile phones feature some form of motion detection, whether it be gyroscopes or accelerometers.

Another control method popular among casual games is touch-screen controls. Many more games have been praised in their sense of control with touch-screens than motion however in the case of some of today’s smart phones such as the iPhone, systems without button input often lead to some unresponsive or problematic experiences. The Nintendo DS’s launch in 2004 paved the way for touch-screen based gaming with its dual screen layout. With its top screen being a normal LCD monitor and its bottom being touch-sensitive the DS has seen enormous success with puzzle, action, strategy and first-person games. With two screens players were able to enjoy touch-sensitive gameplay mechanics without much screen obstruction since all systems are recommended for the use of a stylus. Apple’s iPhone, however recently seeing enormous success, still often struggles to find un-hindered gaming due to its utilisation of single-screen multi-touch technology sans stylus/button control. In terms of puzzle and racing games, more often than not the iPhone shines in its control since the players’ fingers aren’t constantly covering the screen. However in terms of shooting, fighting and adventure games it is often a nuisance and gains critical feedback. This is also evident in other smartphones that only utilise touch-screen control.

 
The lack of buttons on mobile devices can often prove problematic for gaming.

Though one highly praised feature pioneered by the iPhone is its App Store – an in-built, inexpensive, mobile digital distribution platform for games, utilities and other programs. This completely revolutionised digital distribution in 2008 since it offered ease of distribution for developers with a 70%/30% revenue share (the latter being Apple’s income), iTunes store browsing, and on-the-go purchasing and downloading via your cellular network. Though at first the App Store was more directed to distributing programs for iPhones, it soon broke the device through to being a legitimate handheld gaming contender against the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP.

The video game industry has seen a massive turn-around in the last half-decade. Usually in that time we would just have a change in console hardware, but now we have seen a major shift in audience and control methods. New control methods such as the Wii Remote, Move Controller and Kinect are only the bare bones of motion gaming’s potential. With Nintendo regularly leading the charge in gaming innovation first with D-pad control, 4 player gaming, analogue sticks, motion controls and next year glasses-free 3D gaming with their new handheld, the 3DS, it’ll be interesting to see what they will come up with for their next home console. Let’s just hope they don’t put us hardcore gamers in the backseat this time, yeah?

Online Distribution and How it Does Not Benefit Australian Gamers

It’s no secret that over the last year I have become a huge advocate of importing games. In fact, it’s to the point where I seriously consider importing all electronics I desire. It’s also no secret to Australian gamers (even technophiles in general) that our technology market is so horrendously over-priced, often to the point of paying more than double the amount that people from say the US, UK and Japan are spending. As it stands today the Australian Dollar is doing strongly against the US Dollar, yet this hasn’t hindered the cost of products within our own country in the slightest. Why is this?

It’s argued that Australians pay more for consumer-grade electronics due to the currency conversion, shipping costs and taxes, which a majority of the time would be true. However keeping this in mind, the fact that I can import a legitimate copy of Halo: Reach for $60 from an online UK store with free shipping, as opposed to buying at a local video game retailer for the full retail price of $118, is pretty damn upsetting. It shouldn’t be cheaper for me – often by 75% – to import from half-way across the world than it is to walk to a shopping centre and buy within my own economy. Further, the prices of these titles are usually reduced by a considerable amount within just a few months of release in the UK compared to Australia. And it only gets worse when titles are distributed digitally.

How, you ask? Retail stores will sooner or later (for hit titles, usually later) begin slightly dropping prices to remain competitive, especially during the middle of the year and the holiday season. Usually you may also find certain trade deals or bundles to help keep savings, some stores even featuring a 7-day return policy. Unfortunately in the realm of online distribution it is very unlikely to find any of these – mainstream internet markets such as Steam, Xbox Live, Playstation Store and Nintendo’s Shop Channel make very clear statements in their user agreements that purchases are non-refundable. So tough luck if you buy a game you end up not liking.

There is also the adoption of the cumbersome points system, which Nintendo and Microsoft are the main offenders. Instead of using real money you are forced to buy their money (Xbox Live does indeed require real money to purchase titles from their Games On Demand service, however). This system represents one of the most unbalanced portions of online distribution since 800 Microsoft Points and 1000 Wii Points mean completely different things in every territory. For example 1000 Wii Points is equivalent to:
- $10US
- €10
- ¥1000
- £7
- $15AU

If you run a quick currency conversion of those just listed you will see that most remain only close to the correct number, with Australia paying the biggest difference at almost $5. With these online stores providing immediate service of content, supposedly cutting any “middle man” costs out of the equation, we are still being forced to pay a premium for content that is exact with the rest of the gaming market. If the gaming market steers completely into the direction of online distribution, then that leaves few outlets with the ability to sell content and less opportunity for competitive pricing. With games already being sold exclusively on Xbox Live Arcade, Playstation Store and WiiWare there is very little opportunity for people to pick up games at reduced prices, unless the game sales are slowing thus rendering a price cut. It often gets much worse with full retail games. Take a good look of this graph comparing Australian-American pricing on Xbox Live’s ‘Games on Demand’.

The titles featured in this graph are some of the higher-rated games spanning the life of the Xbox 360 since its launch, the oldest being Oblivion and the most recent being Assassin’s Creed II. There is a considerable price difference for all games with some being relatively reasonable (Batman: Arkham Asylum at $10) and some being absolutely
bat-s#$% insane (Fallout 3 at a whopping $70). Microsoft has every right (unfortunately) to charge whatever they want for this service, since they own it and the console it’s on. And this graph shows they’re well aware of it.

The Playstation Network on the other hand is a mixed basket. Online play is free and the Store charges real money and is often competitive with XBL in prices. However it also shares the blame with over-charging most downloadable games and content ($7 for PSP minis that are only 100MB big and often less than an hour long? Really?). Though as an up-swing to this, Sony offers a subscription to their premium service Playstation Plus for $70 which gets you monthly discounts and “free” content/games for as long as you’re a member. But then another con to the PSS is that it takes far too long for some content to become available – for example, Australia is still waiting for the ability to rent/buy movies and TV series. XBL trumps this with their integrated Zune service for movies, but we still lack Netflix (though this may not be the fault of Microsoft) for television shows.

The only mainstream services that I’ve found to have a much greater balance for consumers is Valve’s PC-centric Steam and Apple’s App Store. Steam uses US currency giving any international consumers the ability to pay by straight conversion rates rather than region rates. However since there is a balance for international customers, it seems that newer full retail games are relatively over-priced in general. As for the App Store, since the service focuses so heavily on mobile gaming therefore rendering smaller gaming experiences, the prices are usually matched accordingly. Where the US pays 99c for the more popular “standard” price point, Australians only pay $1.19. Technically speaking it isn’t that much greater than the other services mentioned, seeing as though in this case the 20c difference = a 20% mark-up, given that the prices are still low makes it much more acceptable.

I implore everyone to take the time to shop around online and offline before making a purchase of a retail game. For PC gamers there are more services out there to compare prices with, but since I am not a PC gamer I can not really make an argument of that market. Also please spread the word to others who may not be informed about this predicament. Remember that these companies work for you – you are paying them with your hard earned cash.

Super Meat Boy

Video games have come a long way since the old-school sidescrolling platform games of yore. Most games these days are developed to be more streamlined, more forgiving towards players. We live comfortably selecting our difficulty setting and knowing that we’ll reach the end of the game. If that’s the kind of game you’re looking for, then it’s doubtful you will find it here. Super Meat Boy is one of the most unforgiving and infuriating games I have played in recent memory. And I love it.

Don’t get me wrong, the game is most certainly playable. In fact the controls are some of the most balanced I’ve found in a platforming game since the original Super Mario Bros. Super Meat Boy harkens back to a time where gaming was reliant on skill, rather than cinematic experiences. It’s a game that tests your reactions to see if you’re worthy of that 65G achievement bounty.

You play as Meat Boy, an anthropomorphic wad of meat whose girlfriend, Bandage Girl, has been kidnapped by the evil Dr Fetus – a newborn inside a monocle-wearing robot suit. Your objective is simple: save Bandage Girl. The execution however, is not. Super Meat Boy features some of the most robust and well thought-out level design I’ve seen in an old-school platformer. The route to the goal is often obvious at first glance, however it will usually be followed by an “Oh crap…”.

 Old-school game, new-school look.

The first thing people will probably notice of the game is its cartoony charm. Despite the humour being gratuitous and often crass (which suits me juuust fine), it shows personality in its style. The vibrance in colour help overlook the grim outcomes of some of Meat Boys failures – of which there will be many. As Meat Boy runs and clings to walls he leaves a trail of blood on the areas he’s touched, and will remain on the environment until the stage has been cleared. Once a stage is cleared a replay of all your Meat Boys’ efforts will be played immediately afterwards – it’s funny seeing 25+ chunks of meat running and failing simultaneously on one screen. Throughout the game you may encounter warp zones which are usually inspired from classic 8 and 16-bit games and feature a graphical style akin to it. Also I found myself literally laughing out loud at the ridiculousness of the cutscenes. Though there’s no voice acting, it definitely delivers more charm and personality than some recent efforts to include them. *coughMetroidcough*

The controls are minimalist; you run and you jump. In addition to this is a plethora of unlockable characters with unique special abilities such as The Kid from I Wanna Be The Guy’s double-jump and Commander Video from the Bit.Trip series’ hover. Other honourable guest mentions go to Ninja from N+, Tim from Braid, Pink Knight from Castle Crashers, Jill from Mighty Jill Off and Alien from Alien Hominid to name some. Each character has their own distinct feel and you’ll often find that some are better to use for certain stages than others. The characters are unlocked by either finding specific amounts of bandages or completing warp zones, both of which are hidden inside certain stages.

The level design in Super Meat Boy is nothing short of intelligent. There is a supposed total of about 350 unique stages, which I believe to be true since I have only completed around 210 and can still see so many more to even start yet. There are five chapters dedicated to the main game and three unlockable chapters, one being a sort of epilogue featuring Bandage Girl. Alongside the five main chapters are its Dark World parallels; a kind of alternate collection of stages that have been dynamically altered compared to their Light World counterparts. The game does well at easing you into a rhythm during the first couple of chapters with various gameplay techniques and challenges. As the the game goes on you’ll notice a considerable amount of change in terms of difficulty by the final chapter, and it only gets harder from there. For the most part you won’t encounter any enemies until the later chapters; you’ll become much more familiar with environmental perils such as spikes, spinning razors and piles of salt. However once you find your mojo with the environments you’ll find yourself breezing through them. The stages were designed to be beaten in under a minute; most have a target time between 15-30 seconds, though attaining those times will depend on your level of skill.

Poor guy just wanted to smooch.

One of my most notable pleasantries with the game was the soundtrack. Team Meat has put together a great collection of tunes that are both catchy and not annoying (which is important when you end up having to replay some levels a hundred times… literally). Like the rest of Super Meat Boy the music is a hearty nod towards 8-bit and 16-bit music, usually using the same types of sound bites. Each chapter has its own theme that plays throughout every stage, and the Dark World ones are almost remixes of their parallels. The tunes featured in warp zones inspired by classic games are particularly enjoyable to listen to. Also, the sound effects are crisp and add that extra layer of immersion; at first I found Meat Boy’s bloody pitter-pattering footsteps and wall-clinging squish disturbing but soon warmed up to it.

For a downloadable title there is an incredible amount of content here. The game is currently running at 800 Microsoft Points until the 1st of November, from then on being a fixed price of 1200. The game has replayability coming out with the wazoo with competitive leaderboards for people to try their skill at speed runs in over 350 stages. Then there’s collecting bandages and finding warp zones to attain the hidden characters. The game is well worth its 1200 MS point price, and at 800 it’s an absolute steal. Do yourself a favour and at least try out the demo; this is the best XBox Live Arcade game to come out since Castle Crashers.

Score: 10 out of 10

 

(Super Meat Boy will also be released on WiiWare and PC in the near future, though prices are yet to be announced.)

Metroid: Other M

Other M is the latest installment of one of video games’ most iconic sci-fi adventure series of all time, Metroid. Since its debut in 1986 on the Nintendo Entertainment System, it has spawned numerous sequels across handheld and home consoles in the forms of side-scrolling adventures, first-person shooters and even a pinball game. Team Ninja’s interpretation of the bounty hunter Samus Aran’s saga is a completely new spin (morphball pun intended) on the immensely beloved franchise. Now a 3rd person action-adventure – with first-person and sidescrolling elements – do Team Ninja’s latest efforts pay off?

The game kicks off with a cutscene depicting the end of Super Metroid, where Samus defeats Mother Brain with the aid of a baby Metroid’s self-sacrificial defense. Soon after she awakens in one of the Galactic Federation’s infirmaries and receives a distress beacon from a GF vessel, so naturally she embarks to investigate. Upon arrival she encounters a squad of Federation soldiers who have also come in response to the beacon. She realises the squad consists of her past military comrades before she left to work solo. One of these soldiers is her ex-commanding officer Adam Malkovich, a man she looks up to with great admiration as a sort of father figure. However Adam shows coldness towards her for having left the military years ago, calling her an “outsider” and refraining from allowing his squad mates to reveal what information they have to her. She soon earns their trust however when a giant purple tentacle monster attacks, by destroying it. From there on Samus works alongside this elite group to find out what sent the distress beacon and why.

For the most part I love the game for being so completely different from past entries, however that is also its biggest downfall. The gameplay is much more fast-paced and action oriented which differs from the ambience and adventure of usual Metroid fare. The game controls by holding the Wiimote sideways to emulate a classic game pad, frequently requiring you to point the IR sensor at the TV to enter first-person mode. It’s understandable why the developers added this element to the game – they wanted to hint towards the previous successful efforts of Retro Studios’ work on the Prime trilogy, however constantly having to switch between two different control methods just completely interrupts a lot of the immersion (especially in boss battles). In game pad mode the D-Pad is used for movement, the 1 button is used for firing arm-cannon blasts and the 2 button is used for jumping. To fire a missile you’re required to enter first-person mode which hinders your movement and to look elsewhere from in front of you requires holding down the B trigger. You can see how this would make frantic battles and boss fights much more strenuous since you’re switching between two different control methods and view modes.

3rd person combat on the other hand works for the most part; since actions are practically mapped to only two buttons, to dodge you have to utilise the ‘Sense Move’ mechanic by pressing in a direction when an enemy makes an attack towards you. It takes a little getting used to, but once mastered it feels comfortable and rewarding. Another interesting automatic mechanic is the Lethal Strike/Overblast where if you charge your beam or jump on top of an enemy you can initiate a special close-range attack to either heavily damage or destroy them. A huge diversion (that a lot of people may not realise is such a big thing) from past Metroid experiences, is the inclusion of a regenerative health and missile system instead of item pick ups. If you’re running low on rockets, just pull the Wiimote into an up-right position and hold the A button to make Samus recharge for ammo. This also works for health when you’re on your last tank of energy; just charge up to switch on your reserve tanks.

 
The gameplay in Other M for the most part is fun. Having to fire missiles in first-person though sometimes breaks the immersion.

The level design in Other M is brilliantly crafted with the standard backtracking methods we’re used to seeing in this series. Since the game bounces between third-person and first-person it makes looking for hidden power-ups as challenging as ever. Just like Super Paper Mario you will have to combine these different perspectives to find secrets within certain levels, and it’s often a great feeling of accomplishment when you do. Another thing to mention is that usually when I play a Metroid game there are moments that I get stuck and frustrated for not knowing where to go next/what to do – thankfully not once had that occurred this time around, due to quite straight-forward level design. If you sometimes have this problem like I do, rest easy knowing it’s unlikely to happen. As for audio, the soundtrack is amazingly crafted and full of nostalgic tunes along with new ones. It’s obvious Team Ninja took a lot of care with creating a soundtrack that appeals to the core Metroid fans and newcomers.

Speaking of appealing to fans, the production values in the CG and in-engine cutscenes are nothing short of stunning. Only in the Super Mario Galaxy games have I seen a Wii game come this close to blurring the line between Wii and current-gen graphics (see what I did there?).  Performance-wise the game runs smoothly a majority of the time, only having hiccups in framerate when things get massively intense (such as destroying multiple enemies with a charged Plasma Beam shot). All cutscenes are voiced acted, meaning even Samus herself has been given a voice, which is a first in this series. The in-game scenes feature a lot of motion capture, which helps bring more humanity into these characters. Speaking of characters, the cast of Other M were a breath of fresh air for this game. Despite some… interesting personalities (coughAdamcough) they all bring drama to the story and help develop Samus as a character, giving her stronger purpose as a heroine. Which brings me to the biggest and most important point of the game…

Samus Aran’s character choice really doesn’t depict her to be the Intergalactic Bounty Hunter that we’ve all come to believe in. This is an incredibly strong and independent woman who performed extinction over one of the most feared parasitic life-forms in the universe, the Metroids. So it comes as a huge surprise that instead of losing her abilities and weapons like in previous experiences, Team Ninja instead decided to have her wait for her ex-commanding officer Adam to give her approval of using specific weapons after certain situations. That’s right, instead of being the independent one-woman-army we’ve all become accustomed and appreciative of who does what’s necessary to save lives, she waits for the okay of a man she hasn’t seen in many years to use her powerful arsenal of weapons because she wants to earn his respect. I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t wait for some guy to say “yes” so I can wear my heat-resistant Varia Suit while running around in lava pits. It may seem like such a small thing to pick at since losing gaining your arsenal is a long-running characteristic of the games, but the circumstance it represents is an issue that crops up every time you “earn” a new weapon and it completely changes the vibe of our heroine.

 
The cutscenes are gorgeous and this rendition of Super Metroid’s fight with Mother Brain proves that.

As for the story, it’s quite well written with an interesting plot twist. Despite the Prime series being more about saving the universe, this one was more focused on the characters and situations regarding only what was happening within this Bottle Ship, as it were. Which doesn’t make it any less engaging or unfulfilling. Ridley makes an explosive, seemingly out-of-nowhere, entrance (and exit) to the story during an adrenaline-inducing cutscene and boss battle. Another character named Anthony is brought into the spotlight as one of Samus’ past platoon buddies, who helps to slightly add more to our heroine’s back story (whether that is good or bad is up to you). Though I really liked the story and cutscenes I should mention that in case you’ve never played a Team Ninja game before – such as the recent Ninja Gaiden series – you should know that it is sports some heavy Anime/Japanese story/character/action themes (which unfortunately is what makes me dislike Aran’s portrayal in this game). Thankfully despite many (if not all) of Ninja Gaiden’s female characters being depicted as scantily clad and overly sexualised, it is not so much the case this time; she’s occasionally shown in her tightly-fitted Zero Suit and this is also the most erm… fully figured she has ever been in a video game.

As I said earlier, for the most part I do love the game and I did have a lot of fun playing it. However there were just some development choices that I can not help but disagree with, being such a huge Metroid fan and having grown up with the games. Though Metroid fans may be turned off by a change in key aspects that make the games so important, it’s still a great, intense and story-driven adventure that will appeal to fans and newcomers alike. Definitely one of the technological spectacles of the Wii.

Score: 8 out of 10

Number One!

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Released in 1998 for the Nintendo 64, re-released for Wii’s Virtual Console in 2007.

Come on, as if you didn’t see this coming.

It’s a no-brainer. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is regarded by most gamers to be one of, if not, the best games ever created. The Legend of Zelda series is one of Nintendo’s oldest, beloved by the company itself and a huge amount of gamers the world over. The original (titled The Legend of Zelda) was released in 1986 for the Nintendo Entertainment System, or NES for short, and is still considered a pivotal point in gaming for its inclusion of an in-built save system – before this people were required to remember or write down passwords if they were to continue from a particular point. Over time the games were developed for other Nintendo platforms and the scale of the adventures continue to grow.

The premise is usually the same for each home-console release of the Zelda games – Ganon seeks to obtain the power of the Triforce, the balance of all life and law throughout Hyrule. The (unsuspecting) hero Link somehow becomes tasked with the fate of protecting the world from Ganon’s rule by acquiring some sort of aid from the title character, Princess Zelda. Along the way Link discovers new perils, weapons and cultures. It’s a formula that’s present in all major releases of the game, which is both good and bad; good in the sense that it doesn’t risk doing something radically different, and bad in the sense that it doesn’t risk doing something radically different. Most Zelda fans (myself included) are happy with the way the games are, but it is understandable how some people would want some changes – and that’s what the handheld versions have done. The DS iterations of the series are sequels to the controversial Wind Waker title released for GameCube in 2003. The formula remains relatively the same - Link attains new weapons, must find/help Zelda, culminates in bad dude confrontation, however they take place outside of the world of Hyrule (above it to be exact, since the once prosperous civilisation is been underwater for hundreds of years) and the art style features a more cartoonish look.

One of the most important moments in gaming; Link embraces destiny.

However, back on topic, OoT was the first Zelda game developed in a fully realised 3D world and the scope of it, since it was an N64 game, was massive – if you stood in the middle of Hyrule Field and saw something far into the background, you could go there. The game was also the first to feature an automatic jump mechanic – one that was quite unconventional at the time but again is not unusual today. A particularly “memorable” (for the lack of a better word) inclusion was the character Navi, Link’s fairy. Within the universe of this particular game the children of Kokiri Forest were considered to be grown-up only when they obtained the company of a fairy. I mention this because apart from being a character in the game Navi was a sort of hint system – if you were lost you would press C-Up and receive a hint for what currently needs to be done. Though, Navi also proved to be an annoyance for a lot of people spawning various internet memes for its frequent exclamations of “Hey! Listen!”. One of the most notable and appraised features of the game however is the inclusion of a musical instrument; the titular Ocarina of Time. With this players were able to learn and memorise certain button combinations to perform a tune that would alter the gameplay or the environment in some fashion. Another highly revered feature was the ability to time travel between the present and the future. Completing certain quests or objectives in Link’s childhood affected the outcome of some situations or passages in his adulthood. In fact the final dungeon, The Spirit Temple, could only be completed once certain objectives were met between both timelines.

 
First confrontation with Ganon.

Ocarina of Time was the very first Zelda game I had ever laid eyes on upon its release in late ‘98 when one of my uncles bought it. I watched him play the entire game from after the first dungeon, The Great Deku Tree, over a period of perhaps six months – we got stuck in the Water Temple like a lot of people and took a two month break before figuring it out and working towards the finish again. It wasn’t until I finally owned the game in the following year that I realised how much more the game had to offer – the game has many secrets and collectibles it’s almost frustrating, though finally attaining them is greatly rewarding. It was also the first game that made me feel like a hero – the absence of a voice for Link allows for you to imagine your own instead (this is true for every Zelda game; the only vocal sounds Link makes are grunts and screams during action). It was also the biggest game I’d seen at the time; as mentioned before about seeing places in the distance, when you see Death Mountain in the distance then realise you have to eventually scale it and enter it makes you feel apart of something grand. The discoveries of other cultures such as the Gorons, Zoras and Gerudo make you feel like it’s a living world with each culture being so unique yet practical to the game. Also the unique effects of most songs learned for the ocarina are easy to take for granted, such as the ability to quicken time from night to day, summon the rain, call your horse and more.

I could go on and on about what else makes this game great, but I’m sure you’ve already heard other people rave on about its brilliance. And if you haven’t played it yet then get to it!

Number Two!

Pokémon SoulSilver
Released in 2010, Original release titled Pokémon Silver for Game Boy Colour in 2000

The series that absolutely dominated playgrounds and the handheld gaming scene through the turn of the millennium.

I mentioned a few posts back that I was always a social gamer from a young age. Well, as for a lot of kids in the late 90s, the Pokémon games taught me to game socially too. The Pokémon titles are a series of RPGs (Role-Playing Games) aimed for children, wherein the point is to catch every critter and become the ultimate Pokémon master. In the first two of the franchise, Red and Blue (Green was a Japan-only release), players were challenged to defeat eight “type”-specific gym leaders throughout their adventure, culminating in the confrontation of the Elite Four and your rival for the title of Pokémon League Champion. The game didn’t end there though – the real challenge came after the main adventure, where you had 151 pocket monsters to find and capture.

I mentioned earlier the phrase “game socially”. The next hook in the series is that it is impossible to catch every Pokémon in a single game version because each variation omits the ability to find every creature alone. In order to own all 151 you had to meet up with a friend and trade via link cable. This method was fine for the era, however looking back on it people would agree that this was quite arduous. Thankfully over the last decade technology evolved, and now we can connect our gaming devices wirelessly over a local connection or a global one. The games themselves also evolved; from a now-seemingly humble 151 different monsters to catch originally, we’re currently at a whopping 493 – and the roster will soon expand upon the release of versions Black and White next year.

However, of every version out to date, to me the best was SoulSilver for DS released in Australia on March 25th this year. As you could already assume it is a remake of the original Silver version (alongside HeartGold of the Gold version) of 2000, though the game is less of a rehashing and more of a vast improvement. Aside from the updated graphics the game has a completely refined user-interface over the generation before it (Pearl/Diamond/Platinum), an updated Pokédex to account for all 493 creatures, the brand new Safari Zone (located west of Cianwood City), Pokéathlon and more. One stand-out feature though is the Pokéwalker – a pedometre to clip onto your clothes that allows you to capture more Pokémon, find items and gain experience points just by walking in real life. The gadget communicates to the game cartridge via infrared located at the top of each device to exchange the earned data. The Pokéwalker acts much like a Tamagotchi, except you don’t feed your pets and they are unable to die.

HeartGold and SoulSilver also have the ability to let the Pokémon at the top of your party to follow you on foot, a feature only before seen in Pokémon Yellow over ten years ago.

The Silver and Gold generation of Pokémon games were the  most influential of the entire series due to additions like the item-hold mechanic in which Pokémon can hold equipment such as health items to automatically heal during battles and items that boost their stats, a real-time in-game clock system for night and day to adjust accordingly for certain Pokémon encounters and the Pokégear. With the Pokégear players were able to receive phone calls from encountered trainers, listen to the in-game radio stations for contests, music and information on routes for which Pokémon are herding in, and consult a map of the region. The biggest additions however were the expansion of the Pokédex from 151 monsters to 251 and the ability to venture from Johto (the region you start the game in) to Kanto (the region from the first generation of Pokémon games) upon defeating the Elite Four. Essentially this meant the main adventure was twice as big since you go from having to fight eight gym leaders to sixteen, and that you were able catch critters indigenous to each region.

This game was huge – Johto is on the left, Kanto is on the right separated by Victory Road in the middle.

SO, why is it my second favourite game of all time? Well, there’s two reasons – the first is the amount of additions to the mechanics of the game and the scope of it. It wasn’t only an improvement over Red and Blue, but it helped redefine the genre. It was the second game to completely engulf me in its world; when I wasn’t playing it, I was thinking about it. I even used to write notes to myself of which Pokémon were cross-bed from others and how to attain certain evolutions such as the whole Espeon/Umbreon thing. Also, it was the very first game to make me have a “holy crap” moment upon realising the adventure was only half-way through after beating the Elite Four. The second reason is that Lugia (featured on the game cover) is my favourite Pokémon.

Number Three!

Conker’s Bad Fur Day
Released for Nintendo 64 in 2001, re-released for Xbox in 2005

“Laughing all the way to the bank!”

Anyone who knows me knows that I have a pretty sick and twisted sense of humour. Some of that due to watching South Park since the age of 9, and some of that is thanks to this fine game by Rare. The game was originally called Twelve Tales: Conker 64 and was set to be aimed for children considering the Red Squirrel had already starred in Diddy Kong Racing for the N64 and Conker’s Pocket Tales for the Game Boy Colour. After its announcement and gameplay footage was released at E3 1998, Rare was stigmatised by fans as being another kid-friendly developer. Soon after this Rare scrapped the entire game and took their character into the complete opposite direction – instead of being geared towards young’uns it was now aimed at the mature audience. And by “mature”, I mean “immature”.

Conker begins his journey after a hard night of heavy drinking with some buddies who are off to fight in a war the following day. Hungover and completely lost Conker tries to make his way home, however it’s not as simple as it seems. He must venture passed irate Scottish dung-beetles, a giant pile of singing poo, savage cavemen, vampire bats, the Evil Panther King, an army of evil Tediz and Death himself, just to name a few things. What makes this game more appealing however is its mostly crude sense of humour – within the first couple of minutes of the introduction Conker drunkenly stumbles out of The Cock and Plucker pub only to end up vomiting all over a Lizard Monk reading a scriptured tablet. I knew after that moment that I was going to enjoy this game.

Conker was set to be a radically different game.

There still isn’t anything quite like this game out there, except of course for the Xbox remake. Apart from the hilarious antics and storyline, the game also played and performed incredibly well. Since the game was developed very late in the 64’s lifetime, Rare managed to utlilise the complete power of Nintendo’s third-generation home console. Due the beautifully rendered graphics of the time, the game did however suffer a few hiccups in terms of framerate. As for sound, the game is still renowned as a technical achievement having fully-voiced dialogue on such a constrained medium. Also, the soundtrack is fantastic and catchy.

Last up is the multiplayer. CBFD features some more humourous concepts in terms of multiplayer scenarios. For example the mode Beach has the Frenchies (refugees) trying to penetrate the boarders of a country without getting killed by Tediz (boarder patrol), and the mode Raptor features cavemen trying to steal raptor eggs for breakfast whereas the velociraptors are trying to catch the cavemen to feed to their babies.

Conker’s Bad Fur Day was Rare’s second-to-last Nintendo game, next to Starfox Adventures for the GameCube. Despite being released late into the 64’s lifespan and having taken a complete U-turn during development, Conker has amassed a large cult following across the world for its technical achievements, crude humour and memorable story. I’m excited to place it as my third favourite game of all time.

Number Four!

Donkey Kong
Released in 1994 for Game Boy

“Help! Help!”

Everyone knows that Mario’s arch nemesis is Bowser, King of the Koopas. However a lot of people fail to realise that Mario and Donkey Kong aren’t quite the best of buds either. Mario’s (at the time called Jump Man) very first appearance was in the original 1981 Donkey Kong arcade game, where the titular character kidnaps the Italian plumber’s then-love interest Pauline – not Peach or Daisy. The arcade version only had four levels; Girders, Conveyor Belts, Elevators and Rivets. Jump Man had to overcome various obstacles such as rolling barrels, balls of flame and platform gaps to reach Donkey Kong at the top of the stage, who would then grab the damsel in distress and run off to the next area.

In 1994 the arcade classic was re-imagined for the Game Boy and featured a mind-blowing ninety-seven extra stages spread across nine worlds. The original four stages were featured at the beginning of the game, however instead of Mario and Pauline falling into each other’s embrace after DK’s downfall at the end of the fourth stage, the ape awakes to make off with Pauline yet again. The game soon evolves from simple running and jumping to platform puzzles. To progress through the stages Mario must find the key and bring it back to the correct door Donkey Kong passed through to proceed. The catch however, is that after a short time the key is left idle after pick up, it returns to its resting place.

The adventure starts out easy, but soon toughens up.

Of course, there’s also the boss fights. Every fourth stage is a boss battle in which the player must best vigorous traps and platforming techniques to reach the damsel in distress. However at the end of every world is a major confrontation with DK, in which the player must dodge barrels thrown by the ape and hurl them back three times to win.

I remember spending a solid three or four months playing pretty much only this game when I was in first-grade. It then took me a good four years (of in-frequent play) to finish it, which was such a huge achievement to me since it was the first Game Boy game to have completed. I still return to it every couple of years and beat it within a week just to keep my skills sharp because this game features some of the most challenging and satisfying level design I’ve seen in a side-scroller. Also, the music is incredibly catchy.

This game has gone on to spawn the popular Mario vs Donkey Kong on GBA and Mario vs Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis for DS titles. I hope that someday Nintendo will release a handheld version of the Virtual Console for DSi Ware and add this to the catalogue.

Number Five!

Alex Kidd In Miracle World
Released in 1986 for the Sega Master System, re-released for Wii’s Virtual Console in 2008

 
Simple yet challenging. As were most platform games of the 80s and 90s.

The first game in this feature is none other than Sega’s answer to Super Mario, Alex Kidd in Miracle World. Incidentally this great little piece of history was also the first game I had ever played, back in 1991 on my little Sega Master System II. It took me seventeen years to finish this game, and even then it required the use of an emulator and save states, but every time I play this game I feel three years old again. As mentioned earlier, Miracle World was only one of Sega’s attempts at competing against the immense popularity of the Super Mario franchise during the Nintendo vs Sega days of old. Alex Kidd went on to inspire various sequels throughout the Master System’s lifetime and eventually onto the Sega MegaDrive/Genesis.

Those freakin’ dragons used to scare the hell out of me.

Though the levels were never particularly long, they became increasingly challenging. Add to this the lack of a save system – which was the norm for platformers up until perhaps the mid-90s – and you have yourself a means to play games with immense precision. See before save systems were incorporated to games gamers had to play using this thing called “skills”. Mind you, it took me a few years to finally develop these as I could never seem to pass the third or fourth level. And even then when it came to the rock-paper-scissors (or “janken” in Japanese) boss battles I would usually have to get one of my uncles or parents to figure it out for me since it was way above my comprehension.

Despite this though, I always loved returning to Miracle World knowing full-well I will eventually get a game over and start again. Either the level design was immensely compelling and the art made the game look great, or I was just a weird kid who lived a life of repetition. Hmm.

In all seriousness though, Alex Kidd in Miracle World is a fantastic little platform game and is highly regarded as one of the best titles for the system. The graphics were great, the gameplay was simple yet challenging, and the sound/music is memorable. Fun fact: For Aussies who watch Hey Hey! It’s Saturday! on Channel 9, the “fail sound” from their celebrity trivia/game segments is the death chime from this game.

Alcohol + Video Games = One of the Best Atmospheres Ever

I recently got a heads up from a friend about a little-known event called Ultracade hosted in Adelaide’s La Boheme Bar. It’s a frequent event presented by local chiptune enthusiast and all around gamer DJ TR!P who, I should add, has a brilliant taste in 8-bit music. Every Ultracade event is themed whether it be 2D Fighting Games night to Golden Era of Gaming night – this particular evening was the Sega Special Edition.

I’ve always known that house parties that involve sensible amounts of alcohol and a gaming console such as, let’s say the Wii, will always result in good times. However I wasn’t expecting anything quite like what I experienced at La Boheme tonight; the moment I walked in there was a Sega Master System, Sega MegaDrive, Sega Saturn and Dreamcast all set up in a for play, with a projector displaying Daytona USA and really up-beat chiptunes blaring in the background. I’d never felt so comfortable and happy to be in a venue full of fellow geeks and gamers – I mostly dislike contests and conventions due to the fact they attract testosterone-fueled (ha ha) obnoxious gamers all adamantly trying to out-do each other for no real reason. Some how this was completely different and made me absolutely love it!

Earlier this year Aussie game industry personalities Guy Blomberg, Shay Leighton, Pras Moorthy and Ben Croshaw collaborated to create Australia’s premier video game-centric pub The Mana Bar, allowing patrons to enjoy a couple of drinks and play the latest games on the latest consoles. Upon its opening night on March 20th 2010, it has seen enormous success receiving positive responses from the public and even some media outlets. The bar is open seven days a week and also hosts special events such as tournament nights, themes and pre-launch events. It’s also important to note that despite being a venue primarily dedicated to serving alcohol, it has not incurred a single act of violence from a customer yet.

 

 

It makes me wonder why there isn’t already at least one of these types of bars in every city that has a high number of gamers. Places like these would make huge amounts of bank catering to such a passionate and socially active audience. It’s also a great way to get gamers offline and meet other gamers face-to-face and embrace their passion in a social atmosphere. According to The Mana Bar’s Twitter feed, the proprietors are looking to franchise their business and open shop in Melbourne, Sydney and possibly over-seas. I saw screw that – bring one over to Adelaide, and let’s not forget our Western comrades in Perth!

My Top Five Games of All Time

Starting next Monday (ACST) I will be posting five consecutive entries over the week featuring my five most favourite games of all time. For each game I’m aiming to give around four hundred words containing a short review and what that game meant to me.

A bit of backstory:
I grew up as a Sega kid with my first console being the Sega Master System II (with in-built Alex Kidd: In Miracle World) in 1991. As such, I was very rarely able to play a Nintendo home console until April of 1997 when I received a Nintendo 64. Since then I’ve owned every major home console bar the original Playstation. As for handhelds, my collection started with the original GameBoy in Christmas of 1994 along with Metroid II: Return of Samus. Not very long after this I also had a Sega GameGear, however my time with it was short-lived since we sold it after around six months. Since the GameBoy Colour I’ve owned every major handheld gaming device.

Video games have been such a huge part of my life since the age of three. As a matter of fact, seeing my Dad come home with the Master System II is actually my second memory – the first being when I was standing in a pair of nappies at age two receiving a bottle of milk from my grandma. Most of my important childhood memories are associated with games in some way such as going over to friends’ houses to play all day, or having a whole bunch come to mine; playing my GameBoy while driving to visit family; watching the Super Mario Brothers Super Show or Captain N cartoons in the mornings before school; staying up late with my uncles (who were teenagers at the time) trying to beat various bosses; and of course trading/battling Pokémon with friends.

It gives me great pleasure to take all these games and work out which were the most important to me and had the biggest impact on my life. I hope you will enjoy it too!

The Electronics Entertainment Expo (E3) 2010 [UNFINISHED]

Or as I like to think of it, Christmas for gamers. This is my absolute favourite week of the year – yes, even more than Christ’s birthday (sorry bro). It’s a week filled with games, surprises and media mayhem. This year was particularly great because all three console juggernauts Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony showed off their new hardware. I'll start off by giving my thoughts on each company's press conferences, starting with..

.
Microsoft: Okay, so apart from Metal Gear Solid: Rising (which I don't doubt will get some sort of censorship in Australia), Halo: Reach and the relatively humble display of space dogfighting, Your Shape: Fitness Evolved and Dance Central, the show was rather bland. Most of the other items presented were ones already announced at an earlier time or just had little impact at all. Well, except for the 360 Slim reveal and announcement that everyone in the audience gets a free bribe - err - I mean unit. Kinect Sports, Kinectimals, Kinect-other-stuff just looked like knock offs of other efforts (or lack of) already done on the Wii.

And I know what most people are probably thinking - "Uhh, Call of Duty: Black Ops?". Come on, it's more Call of Duty. The only impressive thing about that preview was that it looked like an Infinity Ward game rather than a Treyarch game. With the abundance of high-octane military shooters already released and the ones still on the horizon, is there really reason to keep being so excited about these games? No, no there isn't.

As for my thoughts on Kinect itself... Well... There's a lot of potential there. But then again, there's always a lot of potential with new hardware, it's just a matter of developers thinking more with their heads and less with their wallets - and in most cases that's too much of an ask. Harmonix's Dance Central looks like a great new dance game that you actually dance to. I enjoy going out with friends and dancing every now and again, but hopefully this game'll help me learn some new grooves to bust out for the chicas.

Nintendo: If you've read my rant on Nintendo from last year, then you'll know that I've grown to become really disappointed with them over the last few years. I honestly didn't know what to expect out of their upcoming conference, so judging by their efforts over the last three years I decided to go with low spirits. Passed the first twenty minutes of an incredibly awkward demo of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword by Miyamoto (God that was hard to watch...), the briefing really picked itself up and worked to be the best conference of the show. So many great announcements were made such as Donkey Kong Country Returns, Goldeneye, Kirby's Epic Yarn and Golden Sun: Dark Dawn. Then there was the 3DS reveal and the myriad of announcements (on and off-stage) for that console as well - Kid Icarus: Rising, Nintendogs + Cats, Metal Gear, Lylat Wars, Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Resident Evil, Super Street Fighter IV, Animal Crossing, DJ Hero, Kingdom Hearts, Pilotwings, Mario Kart and Paper Mario just to name a few. There were also quite a few new features mentioned by Ninty such as 3D photos thanks to the front-loaded stereoscopic cameras, a “tag mode” not unlike bark mode in 2005’s Nintendogs, improved processing power that’s comparable, if not more powerful, than the Wii and an analogue nub. With so many titles already announced – a lot of them supposedly aiming for the launch of the handheld – the 3DS has the most potential out of the upcoming hardware list to be the best piece of gaming hardware yet.

All of my nerdgasming aside, it’s a safe bet that Nintendo “won” E3 this year. However, with such huge announcements this year, there is very little for Nintendo to expose next year other than a successor to the Wii – hopefully catching up to current-gen specs in HD performance – and franchises like Pikmin, F-Zero (please Ninty, pleeeaaase), Fire Emblem or possibly even a stand-alone Yoshi title. I’m extremely happy that they’ve decided to shine the spotlight the hardcore crowd, it’s just that I’m afraid they may have put all of their eggs into one basket.

Sony: Hoo boy, if you thought Nintendo had a lot of stuff going on during their show, Sony’s was a huge mash of content. The presentation went for over two hours and most of it was already stuff the public knew, however there were some great moments – like Kevin Butler’s “impromptu” speech.

 

[This blog-post is unfinished due the increasing lack of interest in writing it. I started it a couple of weeks after E3 had finished and at that point the news had already spread all over the interwebs so there was really no point in giving my views on it. Sorry peeps.]

A recount of the first half of 2010 – May and June

May: Super Street Fighter IV, Dead Space, Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, de Blob, Perfect Dark.

Okay, so the next two months were pretty busy for me gaming-wise – which probably wasn’t such a great decision considering I had exams in June but whatevs. First up was Super Street Fighter IV. I’ll start this off by admitting that when I was younger I was a Mortal Kombat kid, since those were the only fighting games my uncles had (a lot of my childhood gaming sessions were spent with those guys). The first time I really started giving the former a crack was late last year with Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, and I’ve been a little hooked since. That aside, SSFIV is a great update to the original Street Fighter IV since it features extra characters (both new and old), extra online modes, new ultra moves and the inclusion of rival battles. Along with the addition of rival battles are animated introductions in arcade mode for each individual character (which I personally believe are rather lackluster and don’t really have any point). Other than that the game is practically the same to its prequel, which isn’t a bad thing at all – both games sport a beautiful art-style that make them look like water-painted anime. One of the only problems I have with the game(s) is that though the animations look great and transition seamlessly, the characters’ movements and controls are considerably slower than the original 2D arcade games which threw me off a bit after having just come from SSF2THDR. Perhaps “problem” was too strong of a word for it, but it’s definitely something to remember when adjusting between the two series. Regardless, this game is an absolute blast and I highly recommend it to any fighting fan.

Dead Space is another one of those I-hated-at-first-but-later-fell-in-love-with games. The first time I played it was in November of 2008 when I was house-sitting, so it was played on a 50-inch rear-projection flat screen TV and was displayed in standard-def widescreen. Playing on that kind of kit makes the game look butt-ugly and with the tank controls (which I’ll come back to soon) it was a real deal-breaker for me. However when I saw the game going for around $30 at my local EB, I figured it was worth another shot especially since I’m back at home and now have an HD set with surround sound. And holy crap I loved it this time! The game is incredibly ambient, the atmosphere is tense and the visuals are breathtaking. Contrary to my statement earlier about controls, I somehow managed to enjoy them this time also, however it’s disappointing that horror games seem to disregard the ability to run and shoot at the same time. If I were in situations like the protagonists in these games, I sure as hell wouldn’t be moving so slow or stopping to aim and I don’t see why they should either. That aside this is only the second horror game I’ve found myself being completely involved in, this first being Silicon Knights’ Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem for the GameCube. And it’s practically for the same reason – the setting(s), the atmosphere, the cinematic sequences and the story. Absolutely can not wait for Dead Space 2! (look to my upcoming E3 thoughts for more on that)

Ah Oblivion… I want to like you, but I just find you way too boring. Don’t get me wrong, I respect Bethesda’s work very much (I really enjoyed Fallout 3) but I can just never engulf myself in open-world fantasy adventures (like World of Warcraft). There’s just something about these kinds of games that give me no real purpose to pursue the story/quests. Perhaps it’s the overwhelming nature of open-world fantasy games – pick your race, then your class, attributes, and now you’re off to explore this incredibly vast world at your leisure. If there’s no real urgency to continue playing, then why does it matter what I do or who I help? Oh the world is doomed? Okay, let me just sort through twenty fetch quests of finding peoples’ belongings so I can finally come across one that has to do with saving the world. See I think what I liked about Fallout 3 over Oblivion is that for the most part I wasn’t trying to save civilisation – it was slowly getting by without me – I was just trying to find my father. It gives me a much clearer purpose for helping others because most of them were more desperate than I was. Going from that it makes the Fallout story much more personal and makes me care more about the world because I am slowly shaping the way it’s being rebuilt, without really noticing it. In Oblivion the world is established, therefore the kingdom already has its share of civilians and warriors to look after themselves – why do they need me? I don’t know, this argument makes sense in my head but probably isn’t coming out very well so instead we’ll move on to…

de Blob. Aussie developer Blue Tongue Entertainment really did a top-notch job of creating a fun, vibrant platformer out of this title. The game takes place in Chroma City – a town that celebrates its colourful lifestyle and jazz/fusion/funk music. However the INKT Corporation ends up invading the city and removing any and all forms of colour, leaving shades of black and white. Working against this hostile take-over is a small team of blob-like creatures who operate as a band of vigilantes, calling themselves the “Colour Underground”. Blob (the titular protagonist) arrives on the scene to save them from being captured and put into sort of concentration camps, then works to restore colour to this once vibrant town.
What I love about this game is how its three main elements – music, colour and story – all work to complement each other. Painting the now-dreary buildings progresses the background music to more lively and upbeat tunes, to the point that when you’ve painted most of the area you’re in including its central park and rescued the citizens (called Raydians), they hold they’re own little concert to celebrate as you continue to restore life to the setting. There’s also a lot of nice little challenges to complete as you go along to keep the game not-so repetitive, such as collecting a certain amount of paint to colour a particularly important structure for points or to timed challenges remove INKT propaganda from billboards and replace it with art. It’s an interesting mix of child and adult themes; in terms of children they get to restore colour to a now monotonous looking city, and for adults the story involves pushing back at an invading dictatorship and sort-of slavery (much like what has happened in certain countries/cities around the world). It’s a fun little game that’ll have you grooving along to some really funky tunes.

Aaaaand then there was Perfect Dark for Xbox Live Arcade. It’s basically just a port of the original Nintendo 64 game by Rare with improved graphics and now it finally works without the framerate dipping to something like ten frames per second when more than two enemies are in the room. Why it took them ten years to release an improvement is beyond me, but hey it’s finally out.

 

June: Mirror’s Edge, ModNation Racers, Red Dead Redemption.

Remember how earlier I said there are a lot of games that I hated then eventually loved? Well, Mirror’s Edge was the complete opposite. Since playing the demo almost two years ago I was always interested in giving the full game a try. I’d read reviews that placed the game between “good” and “okay”, but in my honest opinion, good lord this is one hell of a frustrating piece of work. I luckily managed to pick it up for a mere $10 at a Dick Smith store, and rightfully so – the idea is good, the art style is great but the level design and controls show almost no mercy. The first few levels hook you in with very open and obvious paths to follow, which is how most games should start off, however by the end you feel as though you’ve lost any sort of freedom whatsoever. I’ll give you an example; at the beginning of the game Mercury (or Merc for short, he’s the voice in your ear giving you objectives and information) gives you a warning along the lines of if you come across enemies, don’t engage them; run away. Well… In the second half of the game, the developers decided to make that practically impossible, especially in the last couple of levels where you’re constantly fighting off soldiers. Also, since it’s a first-person platformer, you can’t really see or judge yourself in relation to the game’s environment. As in, you will try to hide behind cover but get shot and die a lot; you will fall off a building/platform and die a lot; or you will try jumping to a ledge but miss and die a lot. The game sports a bunch of great ideas, however the execution just gets worse and worse. Like I stated once on either Facebook or Twitter, Mirror’s Edge is like a post-1994 Sonic the Hedgehog game – you think the game is all about running and jumping, but instead it’s just full of obstructions and awkward platform design.

It’s no secret that I’m a kart racer fan (I grew up with Mario Kart 64, and DS is my favourite racer) so it was a no-brainer for me to pick up ModNation Racers. United Games Front did a fantastic job of crafting the same amount of fun Nintendo does, and adding an easy-to-use level and character (called Mods) editor. ModNation is just pure kart-racing hysteria, allowing players to race at incredible speeds through some ridiculously detailed courses. Very rarely have I come across framerate slumps or screen-tearing, which is quite the feat considering the amount of craziness often occurring all at once. I only have two problems with the gameplay – the overly sensitive default steering controls and the often cheap AI rubber-banding. In quite a lot of circumstances I found myself happily maintaining 1st or 2nd place until towards the end of a race when out of nowhere I am barraged with missiles or other weapons leaving me to finish 5th or 6th. I’m all for challenge, but to have it all of a sudden near the end of a race is just too cheap. However as annoying as that can be, I still find myself enjoying the races despite having to restart. Also, since the game is geared toward community involvement under the Play Create Share motto, you can bet that there is an astronomical amount of content that has been been by many players around the world. Already I’ve downloaded a few re-created levels from various Mario Kart games and they all look almost identical to the originals. As with the amount of Mods, there are many characters spanning a host of different games, movies, television shows and cartoons/anime. So if you’re like me and lack imagination when it comes to level design, don’t feel discouraged about not taking advantage of the track editor since there are thousands of other people out there who have you covered. Plus the cut-scenes add a nice layer of story and humour – especially the banter between the two television hosts of the racing tournament. An absolute must-have for any kart racing fan!

As for Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption… I don’t know. I appreciate the idea of a sandbox Western and have had fun with a lot of the missions thus far but (please excuse the obviousness of this statement) it’s just so barren. It’s something that I didn’t take into consideration when anticipating this game. In GTA IV Liberty City felt alive, pulsating with things that always caught your eye no matter what you were doing or where you were going. But since RDR is set in a desert there’s just nothing to really look at or even really feel like you were anywhere until you reach the next town – which could be anything between a one to eight minute (probably even longer if you die on the way) horse ride. Speaking of horse riding, I also found the horse mechanics to be slightly off-putting especially when riding off-road and you come to slight mounds or ditches to then have your horse stop entirely. I just don’t remember having those types of problems in something like Zelda: Twilight Princess for example, but perhaps there just weren’t any of those types of obstacles in the way – I don’t really remember. Also, you can’t swim. Walking into water on either on foot or horse will result in death rather than achieving buoyancy. The story seems interesting (despite being the cliché guy-tries-to-make-new-life-for-himself-but-gets-caught-up-in-more-turmoil template) and the graphics and locales - though barren - are stunning. I’m not hugely far into this game (just a handful of missions into Mexico) so perhaps things will get better and I’ll come to appreciate it more. At least I hope so.

 

So that’s covered most of my gaming experiences over the last six months. Next entry: E3!

A recount of the first half of 2010 – March and April

March: Plants vs Zombies, Beat it!, Pokémon: Soul Silver.

This month was mostly spent playing portable games. Plants vs Zombies is yet another great game from developer PopCap Games (the same folks who made Peggle). I bought the iPhone version since I don’t really play PC games anymore, and it’s just so much fun. The idea is simple; protect your home with defensive plants to fend of waves of zombies. It’s another simplistic tower defense game, but the humour and surprisingly vast amount of defensive options are enough to make this game feel completely fresh. It’s also surprisingly long, making the $3.99AU charge well worth the price.

Beat It! by Glu is an absolutely fantastic new take on music/rhythm games, and is my personal favourite in the genre thus far. It features the two things I love about video game music culture – 8-bit art and electronic tunes. The point of the game is completely different to most music games; instead of pushing buttons in time with some sort of on-screen representation to allow the song to progress, you listen to the tune and try to transcribe an exact copy including all of its instrumentation. Having studied music in school and university, I can tell you that this is a thousand times more preferable than sitting in an aural class (which I hated, by the way). If it’s not enough to just play through the game’s single-player mode, you can opt to write your own tracks using the in-game editor. And if that’s not enough, you can share your beats with or download new ones from others through Facebook via share mode. The game is equipped with a great amount of content plus a community to strengthen its replayability. The app was worth the price when I bought it for $4.99AU, but now it’s available for a mere $1.19. If you’re a musician and/or you love music games in general, do yourself a great favour and nab this one.

Then there was Pokémon: Soul Silver. Everyone knows when the next installments of the Pokémon universe get released, everyone pays attention. Pokémon Silver from 2000 was my most favourite in the franchise, since it introduced me to my favourite Pokémon Totodile and Lugia (fun fact: I named one of my cats Lugia), however this is not the only reason. I remember my mind being absolutely blown upon collecting all eight Johto gym badges, and then being sent back to freakin’ Kanto to collect the original eight badges again with an entirely new storyline! For those who for some reason never played a Pokémon game before, this was huge considering in Red/Blue/Yellow the journey was long enough to sustain about thirty to thirty-five hours of just completing one region. I’d been anticipating SS since buying Pearl back in Christmas of ‘07 when I was getting back into the Pocket Monster universe, and this re-make definitely does not disappoint. If I was to list every new feature of Soul Silver this blog entry would last forever, so if you do want to know I suggest running a Google search for a real review and have a good read. However, I will talk about the inclusion of the Pokéwalker, which is basically a Pokémon pedometre. You can upload a captured monster to the device via infrared on the top of the game cartridge to level it up by walking/exercising. I love this feature since I used to walk to the train station everyday (a good 1.5 kilometres), and not only does it help to gain experience but you can also find items and catch more critters. As I mentioned earlier, Silver was my favourite entry in the Pokémon franchise; but Soul Silver easily takes the cake now.

 

April: Final Fantasy XIII, Heavy Rain, God of War Collection.

Okay, so let me start this off by saying that even though I have begun, but never finished, many Final Fantasy games before I still had a lot of respect for the franchise and for Square Enix. That’s right – had. Final Fantasy XIII is one of the most boring and ridiculously repetitive games I have ever played. I don’t care what any FF loyalist says – to play through twenty to twenty-five hours of absolute linear garbage just to get the “good bit” where the world finally opens up is just plain ludicrous. The reason why I’d never managed to complete a previous game was because I eventually no longer found myself engaged in the story/characters/gameplay after perhaps 80% of the journey. In FFIV I gave up because I took a break for a few weeks and found myself no longer connected to what’s happened; in FFVII I hadn’t leveled up my party quite enough to defeat a boss (don’t remember which one anymore); and in FFX I actually reached the final boss Sin, but by this point was completely drained of effort to even bother trying to finish. And despite all this I was still fond of the experiences and stories of all of these games for some reason. Perhaps the gamer inside of me just wanted to like these games because everyone else did. I don’t know where I’m going with all of this, so I’ll bring it back to the case in point – FFXIII had me bored since the first hour of gameplay, and I’ve managed to pull myself through nineteen hours into the excruciatingly dull and non-sensical adventure (just finished attaining Sazh’s Eidolon). Also, for those of you who might flame me for calling it non-sensical, here’s a short list of things that have not made any sense to me so far, with me filling in some blanks using the power of assumption:

- Why is Lightning such a bitch? [‘coz she was born a bitch]
- Why is Hope such a pussy? [‘coz his Dad is rich]
- Who the hell is Snow? [some douchey surfy guy in a trench coat who leads some resistance against some faction for some reason]
- Who the hell is Sazh? [a black guy with two guns. He also lets a bird live in his afro]
- Who the hell is Fang? [some chick with an Aussie accent]
- Who the hell is Vanille? [jailbait with an Aussie accent]

These are things that should have been cleared up within an hour or two of introducing each character. If there’s supposed to be some sort of plot-twist in relation to the backgrounds of each character that’s fine, but I would at least like to know their agendas for either their personality or role in the game, and why the hell I should even care about them for that matter. Also, battles have been re-designed to control badly. An RPG should utilise a fair amount of strategy to overcome your opponents – this game hardly does that. I can tell you now this’ll probably be my final Fantasy hurrrrr.

On a total up-swing on the topic of character development, understanding, caring and interaction, Quantic Dream’s Heavy Rain is a great thriller based around emotional engagement and intense action. What surprised me the most about this title is the use of quicktime events felt incredibly fluid and natural. Having followed this game for quite a while leading up to its release and watching various videos of gameplay, merely observing the action packed moments are enough to make you feel almost intimidated to play it due to the quicktime controls. However if you played this game for perhaps just an hour you no longer find yourself even thinking about having to push and hold a combination of buttons – you find yourself just doing it instinctively. Also the amount of choices, mistakes and possibilities of killing off certain characters is quite daunting considering the impact it has on the story and endings you’ll create. One of my complaints about the game is that controlling your characters’ movements make you feel like a tank almost like the Resident Evil games. Though unlike the RE games you’re not forced to run-away from hordes of undead so the movements can be overlooked. This game was great while it lasted.

Lastly this brings us to the God of War Collection. The collection consists of the first two GoW titles for the PS2 with the inclusion of trophies (up to a Platinum for each game) and high definition up-scaling. Despite having some of those “ugh” moments that most action-adventure titles (I’m talking more about the puzzles and the spiked spinning columns in Hades in GoW 1) the game makes up for it in gorgeously vast locales that still look great even by today’s standards. Also even though the combat is quite shallow (face it, it’s mostly just button-mashing) it’s still satisfying taking down the larger foes like Minotaurs, Cyclopes and Medusa demons. And then there’s boss-battles… Good God (no pun intended). These fights are incredibly epic, especially the moments you engage in quicktime events to ultimately smite them. I personally found the storylines to be well thought-out and entertaining, however the same can’t be said about the protagonist Kratos. Sure he’s been ultimately betrayed by the Gods of Olympus and sure he’s seeking revenge against them, but after all he is human. There just isn’t enough to show it. Though with a game that’s all about kicking ass and doing it in epic fashion, the fact Kratos sounds like a disgruntled case of testosterone (oh wait…) is a small downer compared to an ultimately fun series of games.

 

Next update: May, June and my thoughts on E3.