LotR:C Update, and Game of the Year Analysis

Lord of the Rings: Conquest was released, so reviews should be coming soon.  Check for part two of the Predict the Review soon.  Also, since the year of 2008 is officially over (and has been for some time), “Game of the Year” titles are coming soon.

My prediction is that a majority of them will go to Grand Theft Auto IV, Metal Gear Solid IV, or Fallout 3.  Here’s the problem: there are more deserving games.

GTA IV is fun and all.  It has a great open world with some interesting characters, an amazing story and some impressive graphics.  Critics ate it up like it was free candy and they were sugar-starved diabetics.  Heck, it even got a perfect 10 from Gamespot.  I’ll admit that I had some fun with it, the multiplayer was interesting and I loved just messing around.

However, while the game had a lot to do, most of it was really shallow.  Yeah, you can go hang out with some gangsta’ buddies, but the only perk to doing was getting a singular special skill from them, like a free taxi or some weapons.

Metal Gear Solid IV was praised for it’s graphics, artistic story (complete with 90 minute cutscenes), and great stealth gameplay.  Again, critics took it in like zero calorie cake at a modeling convention.  What the game ultimately lacked was subtlety.  Yeah, the story was nuanced at some points, but it attempted to close off so many loose ends, that in the end the story was more like a shotgun.  It was subtle while flying down the barrel, then became as subtle as a loud bang and a blood splatter against the wall.

In terms of “stealth gameplay,” yeah, it’s there for you to toy around with.  Too bad there’s absolutely no use in it.  You have plenty of ammo, and enemies fall like flies to a few well aimed rounds.  Heck, you don’t even have to shoot them.  In most cases you can literally just sprint by.

Fallout 3 is a great example of how open world gameplay can work and fail all at the same time.  There sure is a lot of space for you to explore, it’s all very detailed, and full of a post-apocalyptic life-equivalent in the form of mutant, well, everything.  Fallout 3 also suffered from post-Oblivion-expectation disorder.

In Oblivion, you talk to any Joe Schmo, and he’ll have 10 quests for you to do.  In Fallout 3, you talk to any Joe Schmo, and he’ll talk about the latest rumors.  There’s simply less content in roughly the same amount of space.  Compounding this the fact that any quest you do get, even simple ones from every day Jane Schmo will send you half way across the map.  The artificial lengthening of the game and its low area-to-content ratio are, in essence, the exact opposite of what Oblivion suffered from; short fetch quests and an abundance of easy, smaller quests.  Fallout gave up its accessibility for its grandiose epic qualities.

That’s not to say these game are bad, but why are we even talking about these almost exclusively for Game of the Year when there were TONS of other amazing games that were released in the between January 1 and December 31.

Where are the nominations for Braid, Tomb Raider: Underworld, World of Goo, Persona 4, Mirror’s Edge, God of War: Chains of Olympus, The World Ends with You, and Professor Layton and the Curious Village?  I’m not saying that any of these would necessarily win, but they were especially amazing games that are being shunned by a few big-name, big-budget heavyweights.

So, before you click “submit” on that Game of the Year poll, just be sure that you actually liked the game you were looking for, and not just the picture painted for you so elegantly by the words of journalists.

In semi-related news, there won’t be a traditional Mdawgigies this year, since it’s not exactly like I’ve been “active” in the journalism sense throughout the year.  So, instead, I’ll post the “Mini-Mdawgigies” sometime soon.

Predict the Review: [Lord of the Rings: Conquest]

Here’s a new special segment I was talking about a few posts ago.

Guide:

* I will take a demo from a game that is not out yet.  I’ll play it, and then look at it as if it were a review.  However, I won’t actually review the game.  Instead, I’ll estimate what the average score on Metacritic will be, as well as the highest and lowest score.

* The scores will receive a 5 point padding zone on either side.  For example: if I estimate a game will get a 75, and it ends up as a 79, it still counts as correct.

* If I get 2 out of the 3 correct, it counts as a win for me.

* You can post your own guesses in comments.  If you win at least two of the three, you will be added to a list/leaderboard.  The person with the highest score at the end of the year will be awarded something that I have yet to figure out.

The Good:

• Fun online battles
• Includes a tutorial
• Acceptable graphics
• Epic score

The Bad:

• Novelty wears off
• Occasionally chunky animations
• Online battles can quickly become one sided
• Only 4 classes and some hero characters

Prediction:

Average: 74

High: 90

Low: 40

Chrono Trigger DS Review

Chrono Trigger was a game originally released on the SNES way back in 1995.  It was re-released as part of Final Fantasy Chronicles, with Final Fantasy IV.  The re-release featured several new endings, but suffered greatly from enormous load times.  Now, it has been re-re-released on the DS, but is this re-retread worth your $40?

The Good:

• The same amazing game
• New ending
• Two new dungeons

The Bad:

• Occasionally frustrating
• New arena is worthless
• Backtracking

Let’s just get this out of the way before this review starts: Chrono Trigger is one of the best games ever created.  That being said, it has a few minor irks (some less “minor” than others).

The story is as expertly written as can be.  It literally takes place across millions of years, as you travel back and forth through time to hopefully change the future and save the world.  The pacing is absolutely excellent all of the dialog sounds natural and flows well (thanks to a new, revised translation).  However, no matter how expertly written the story is, it can’t avoid the paradoxes created by traveling through time.  If they see that the world is going to end, then stop it, wouldn’t they have never seen it in the first place since it technically never happens?  All those semantics aside, the story is the definition of top-notch.

The graphical department is a mixed bag.  In terms of what is there, you have some crisp, bright 2 dimensional graphics that really pop on the DS.  All of the animations are great (even if they are repeated ad nauseam) and the environments are appropriately (and proportionally) realistic and whimsical.  On the other side, they are still 2D.  Square themselves proved that a fully 3 dimensional RPG could work on the DS when they released the Final Fantasy III remake.  Even though the 2D graphics are great fan service, there’s absolutely no reason they couldn’t have attempted to update them, whether it be a full 3D overhaul or redrawn the areas and sprites.

Sprinkled throughout the game are various anime cutscenes from the Playstation version.  These are very well animated and look very high quality on the DS screen.  My only complaint about these is their lack of voice acting.  If they ever had an opportunity to add some voice acting without greatly sacrificing valuable memory, these cutscenes where them.  What you have instead is some music and occasionally a generic laugh or grunt.

The score still stands the test of time.  All of the music is well orchestrated and appropriate for the locations and events they are presented in.  The sound effects are acceptable (if not immensely repetitive), seeing as you’ll hear them every single battle for the entire game.

The battle system works similarly to other Square RPGs of the decades.  It’s a basic active time battle system, but instead of just waiting for a bar to fill up, your attacks actually have areas of effect and damage enemies based on their location on the battle field.  Enemy encounters are not random, rather they are caused by running into an enemy in the field.  This allows you to chose which battles you want to undertake.

The main problem with this is that some battles simply are not avoidable.  Early on in the game in order to warp between different time periods you have to go to predetermined locations and use “Gates”.  Along the path to a few of these are unavoidable enemy encounters which simply cause you to waste your time fighting easy enemies in unnecessary battles.  After a dozen times through trying to find out what to do, it can get annoying.

That brings up the largest problem with the game.  Occasionally, you will get an objective that you have no idea how to accomplish.  While the story sequences generally tell you where to go, getting there can require multiple travels through various other areas before even getting to the area you are looking for.  Thus, you have no idea where to start looking.  Another problem is being given an objective, such as “get me this” and just being left to find it with little or no help.  While these issues are quite few and far between, they really drag down the experience until you check a walkthrough or get a clue as to what to do.

The game’s time system is utterly left out in the cold, other than as a device of the story.  Instead of using it as creatively as it is capable of being used, you simply see some geographic changes and a change in color palette.  Where are the cool uses, like planting a tree to use to climb, or even using the geographic changes to place items where you need them in the future?

Another slight problem is the near-absence of side quests.  Sure there are a few in the game (less than 10), but they are relatively short and don’t advance, explain, or flesh out the story in any meaningful way.  They usually involve somebody wanting something that “they heard about in a story from their [insert old relative]“, so you go back, conveniently find it, and return it.

Those issues are minor compared to the large gameplay problem that is nearly constant throughout the game.  It is way to easy.  Not once did I even feel mildly challenged.  I only died once because I forgot I was playing and kept pounding “A” while watching a very interesting episode of “House.”  Compounding this is the fact that you get ridiculously overpowered weapons, armor, and permanent stat boosts from the new DS-specific endgame dungeons.

As for the DS specific items, in addition to the two aforementioned dungeons is a new monster training arena.  While the idea is novel, a combination of Dragon Quest Monsters and Pokémon, it is an utterly useless waste of time that only provides a money sink and a waste of time.  It has no meaningful purpose and even the multi-cart battles with other CT DS owners can’t save the boring waste of time.

The new dungeons are a mixed bag.  The first one accessible starts out fun, allowing you to take quests from individuals, occasionally making you to switch back and forth between time to pick up an item or two.

However, near the end, it almost becomes ridiculous.  You will get a quest, pick up an item from this time period, travel through time, pick up another item, use them in the first time period and repeat until you are literally switching back and forth through time every three minutes.  This means you have to leave the area, go back through the village, get in your ship, change time periods, and get what you need, and repeat.  The amount of backtracking required literally outranks any game I have had the (mis)fortune of playing thus far.  One mission near the end requires you to climb a mountain a dozen times before it’s conclusion!

The other dungeons (only accessible after beating the game once) recycle a couple of old dungeon screens, causing you to trudge through those again, then continue through a more fun new dungeon before taking on a clone of a character, after the battle, that character gets a permanent stat boost.  Compound this with the phenomenally overpowered equipment you get from the first dungeon, and by the time you are done with both of the dungeon sets, you have characters that can literally beat the final boss with less than a dozen or so hits.  Heck, even the new “mega-boss” in the DS version was ridiculously easy after I had completed the dungeons (which are necessary to unlock him).

Also included is some absolutely amazing fan service.  You can watch the anime cutscenes after unlocking them, view concept art, listen to the music, and look at the techs from in-game.  There’s also a comprehensive bestiary, item encyclopedia, an ending log for the endings you have unlocked, and a “treasure atlas,” which allows you to look at every map in the game and see where the treasures are.

The length on my first playthrough, after all side quests, beating the game’s normal ending, then going back and playing through the endgame dungeons and beating the new end boss was about 22 hours.  Yours would probably be slightly higher, since I used a walkthrough for the last half of the first new dungeon (I had no clue what to do).  The price tag is $40, as opposed to most games’ $30, but it is more than worth it.

So it all comes down to this:  if you are an RPG fan, even if you have played the game before an another system, pick this game up and do yourself a great service.  It’s absolutely amazing and more than worth the money.  The new features are at least worth a look for those who have played or completed a game on other systems.  If you are a little precarious, rent it or borrow it from a friend, but don’t skip over this game or you may regret it forever when it’s going for $90 on eBay.

Graphics:       22

Sound:            13

Story:              18

Gameplay:     33

Total:  86

Solid Snake Award

New Review Soon and More

I’m currently finishing a game ripe for reviewing, so expect that either tomorrow or Tuesday.  Also coming soon (probably Wednesday or Thursday), is a little something different, so stay tuned for that.

Qore Episode 7… Free? And… Miranda Cosgrove? (or how Rock Band epic failed)

Sony has decided to release an episode of Qore, it’s “interactive gaming lifestyle program” (it’s an interactive magazine) for free!  It’s pretty interesting, with some content on Skate 2, Bionic Commando, Flock!, and Damnation, as well as a little documentary/plug for Sony in New Orleans and a minigame named “Blast Qore” that’s a combination between Asteroids and Super Stardust HD.  It also includes a free Killzone 2 theme.

It’s pretty interesting, and the price couldn’t be better.  Qore subscribers also get access to a demo of the upcoming PSN title “Flock!”.

Now while that may make many people happy, there is one thing that made me very, very angry.

Nickelodeon has invaded Rock Band.  Not only did they release a Miranda Cosgrove song for free, they actually expect people to want to pay for *gag* Naked Brothers Band songs! *cringes*  I, of course, will not actually waste my money on the latter, I did download the former (hey, it’s free, and another GS).

Two words.  This sucks.  Not only does the song have literally a copy-and-pasted drum beat from beginning to end, the song is literally PAINFUL to my ears.  And it’s easy.  How easy?  Gold star, full combo, first try, sound all the way down.  I started with the sound up, but then my ears bled after about ten seconds, and I turned it down and restarted.

So, yes, it may be free, but no, it’s is NOT worth the 28 MB of hard drive space.  Not by a long shot.

Fear and the Top 5 Games that Induce It

Scary games.  You know you have at least played one, and they are hella fun.  Nothing’s like hearing your radio scream in Silent Hill, being jumped by a zombie in Resident Evil, or flipping up your camera to find a ghost right there in Fatal Frame.  Games like this make the long, sleepless nights spent after playing them totally worth it.

5. Bioshock

 There’s nothing quite like heading on your merry way, then hearing the cackling of a splicer as he taunts you.  This in addition to the eerie Great-American-Songbook-esque setting and music creates the illusion of normality covered with insanity.  The splicers are never quite in the same spot two times through, so each and every playthrough will yield a new, different, and scary experience.

 

4. Resident Evil 4

 Resident Evil 4 isn’t scary for the first four hours or so.  For about four to five hours, it’s just another third person shooter combined with an escort quest.  However, as you get through the village area and enter the castle and military base areas, the utter claustrophobia and knowledge that an enemy could pop out from behind any corner really begin to combine to create a tension that never really lifts.  Even the boss battles create an atmosphere that includes pervasive fear.

 

3. Silent Hill 3

 Silent Hill 3 is the combination of everything Konami had learned to that point about what scares people.  Crackling radio?  Check.  Blood-stained, grungy, dark environments?  Double check.  Disgusting, elusive, scary enemies?  Check, check, check.  The fear behind Silent Hill three comes not only from the claustrophobia that the previous pair of Silent Hill games perfected, it also includes something that the previous two Silent Hills attempted, but ultimately failed at: personality.  The characters from the first two games were about as interesting as a cereal box.  Silent Hill 3’s characters all have interesting personalities, and the environments really feel like dilapidated, down-trodden real world environments with a perverse twist.

 

2. Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly

 The Fatal Frame series has always penned itself on its environmental fears stemming from the fact that you can only damage the enemies using the special Camera Obscura.  Ghosts are plentiful, and film can be a little on the short side.  Enough simply cannot be said for the creepy environments, fear induced by sometimes-invisible enemies who can sneak up on you at any moment, and the sheer vulnerability felt by being almost entirely defenseless against an onslaught of less-than amicable ghosts.

 

1. Silent Hill 2

 While there is something to be said for Silent Hill 3’s relatability, Silent Hill 2 is simply more disturbing on every level of human fear.  The characters, while less interesting, are a dozen-fold more disturbing than any cast of any other game on the market.  The environments, while less believable, are more gruesome, dark and literally emanate fear and hopelessness.  The coup de grace, however is the section where you are literally followed around a maze by Pyramid Head, the game’s giant butcher knife wielding fear machines.  There’s nothing like running along, only to hear the scratching of that ever-ominous knife along the ground, then running into a wall and realizing you are at a dead end.

 

So there you have it.  The games that define interactive fear.  Some may be controversial, others industry standard.  Tell me what you think, what games should have made the list and what games on the list you played through in the dark with the sound up without batting an eyelash; heck, even give your own list.

Review: Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness: Episode 1

Version: Playstation 3

Penny Arcade Adventures is a new game for the PC, XBox  360, and PS3 based on the wildly popular web comic of the  same name.  It features the comic’s two protagonists Gabe    and Tycho in a 20’s-style detective spoof.

 

 

 

 The Good:

• Comic-style graphics really pop
• Some genuinely funny moments
• Priced right
• Combat system

 The Bad:

• Music is endlessly looped
• Difficulty is uneven
• No voice acting at all
• Unclear objectives at times
• The humor can be an acquired taste

 

The first thing you will notice when you power up the game is the game’s utter dedication to paying homage to the comic that birthed it.  From the utterly vulgar comedy to the comic-style graphics, the game seems ripped right out of Penny Arcade lore.  The main problem with this ideal, however, is that it is an utter turn-off to people unfamiliar with the comic or for those who don’t find it funny or interesting.

The game presents itself as a pseudo-RPG from the get-go.  While the game has a battle system that involves waiting for meters to fill, selecting an attack, and selecting a target, it involves a great deal of skill not seen in many RPGs.  Each character comes with a special attack that triggers a five- to ten- second minigame that power up their attacks.  You can also counter enemy attacks by pressing R2 at the “correct” moment.  However, the timing is suspect at best and usually involves guessing when the game thinks point of impact will be, rather than where it actually is.

The graphics, for the most part, are pretty good.  The graphics have a cel shaded look that fits well with the light, jaunty mood of the game.  The animations are generally good, with just a few standing out as especially sub-par.  However, you will see  the same animations a lot.  The game has an utter lack of enemy types, with each area containing about three unique enemy types and a boss character.  After ten or fifteen battles in the area, you will basically be countering every move with little or no effort.

That brings up yet another issue with the game, it’s utter lack of any pacing.  The game moves you quickly through some of the more interesting areas, then makes you slog through through endless drudgery of overly-long conversation trees and battles that just last too long.  Compounding this fact is the difficulty, which has unexpected mountains and valleys at the most seemingly obscure times.  You will be doing perfectly well in an area, only to encounter a new enemy type and be utterly destroyed by over-powered and impossible to block attacks.

The sound is below average as games today go.  From the incessantly looping background music to the utter lack of any voice overs at all, the game seems half-finished in the sound department.  The only thing that makes this acceptable is support of custom soundtracking, allowing you to play good music while the game only plays the sound effects and drops the music out of the mix.

The story starts with your house being smashed by a giant robot, triggering a cavalcade of events including playing music for a fortune-telling machine and fighting Cthulhu dressed in mime garb.  The story is well written, but the pacing issues mentioned above really destroy any sort of interest that the story could have compounded throughout the game.

Another issue found increasingly as the game progresses is the generally unclear mission structure.  You will get a hint telling you the general area to look it, but as for who to talk to to start the actual case you are often left high and dry, talking to every character and trying every dialog option until something clicks.

The game includes support for trophies, making it among the first to do so.  The trophies are appropriate and well thought out, providing incentives to do things you otherwise might not have the drive to do.  The only problem here is the lack of a platinum trophy for completing all of the other trophies, which themselves are occasionally too difficult.

The game is around 8 hours long on the first playthrough, reaching up to 12 if you try to get everything without a guide.  For $15, it’s a pretty good deal.  Replay value is incredibly reliant on whether or not you enjoy the humor of Penny Arcade, as there’s a fair bit of humor hidden throughout that you might not pick up on the first time through.

Overall, the game provides an interesting diversion for a weekend.  If you have 15 bucks burning a hole in your pocket, go ahead and pick it up, but approach it with a little skepticism and be ready to look past its minor flaws to see the rough diamond underneath.

Graphics:       19

Sound:             6

Story:              14

Gameplay:     30

Total:  69

Awards and Reviews

THE REVIEWS

• Graphics: How the game looks.  Animations, textures, and character models all fall under this category.  25 points.
• Sound:  How the game sounds.  Voice overs, music, and sound effects all fall under this category.  15 points.
• Story: The plot and character development of the game.  Plot holes or inconsistencies will subtract from this category.  20 points.
• Gameplay: How the game handles.  Controls, responsiveness, difficulty, glitches, bugs, level design, and most of all fun will play into this score.  40 points.

THE AWARDS

There are two types of awards: review awards and the Mdawgigies.

Review Awards: Awards will be given to games based on their total review score.

• 100:  Mario award.  Given to games that are perfect in every way.
• 90-99: Link award.  Given to games that are amazing, but not perfect.
• 80-89: Solid Snake award.  Given to games that are great, but not quite ground breaking.
• 0-19: Pile o’ Turds award.  Given to games that deserved to be burned.

Mdawgigies: The awards for the best of the year.  The equivolent of the Oscars.  Please note that awards are NOT given entirely based on review scores.  Categories include:

• Game of the Year: Given to games that are the best of the year.
• Best Action/Adventure Game: Given to action adventure games that truely stand out of a crowd.

And others.