Catching up to 2006...more 1up backup (part 2 of 2)
We <3 Katamari = Crack Cocaine
'Nuff said.
Posted at Mon, 10 Oct 2005 10:26:19 EDT
Can't Stop the Signal
Finally, I saw Serenity on Saturday. My wife and I had planned to see it opening weekend, but our babysitter backed out leaving us yearning. I devised a plan that would allow us both to see it this weekend, but it wound up that only I was able to bask in the cinema magic that is Serenity. Hopefully she'll get the opportunity to see it this coming weekend, but it's possible it won't be showing in any of the theaters near us by then. And that's a real shame.
So, even if you have never heard of the tv show Firefly, and especially if you are a fan of the series, if you haven't seen this movie yet, please do so. It's worth the price of admission - and that's saying something considering the cost to get into a theater these days. While it has its share of wonderful sci-fi space battles and such, the movie is more about the people trying to eke out a living on this little ship on the edge of the system. And while the emotional investment and pay-off is greater for those who have had the privilege of watching the tv show, even those who are unfamiliar should be able to understand the relationships of the characters, and develop attachments quickly.
Yes, you'll always be able to rent it or buy it on dvd - and please do - but it really deserves being seen on the big screen. Especially for the space scenes. Sure, Star Wars Episode 3 had spectacular eye candy, but Serenity...
While I welcome private correspondence discussing the movie (I'm dying to talk with someone about it, actually), as this is a public forum, I request no comments be made that could in any way, shape, or form be construed to reveal any aspect of the film other than the general awesomeness of it. For further reference on this policy, please refer to the Penny Arcade strip below. Thank you for your cooperation.
Please, go see the movie.
Sports
A bad weekend to be this sports fan. Every single team that I care about lost. The Blues lost. Kansas State lost. The Dolphins lost. But all of that could have easily been forgiven except...
The Cardinals lost.
Down 1 - 3 in the NLCS, St. Louis must win all three of the possible remaining games against Houston's pitching staff in order to return to the World Series. This league championship series is a rematch of last year's, where the cardinal's managed to win in seven. In that series, home-field advantage meant everything. This year, Houston won one in St. Louis. All of the games have been close though, one run berths, but the insanity that ensued in last night's game... I understand arguing with an ump to buy time for your pitcher to regain his composure, but getting yourself thrown out of the game in the process...how does that help your team? Yesterday was just weird
So tonight, game 5, St. Louis has to hold itself together and score some runs. I hope this isn't my last baseball post of the season...
Demos
I've received a half-dozen game demos so far this year - four in the last couple of weeks. I've only played Genji and Shadow of the Colossus, my soul having been rolled up in a katamari, so I plan to write more after playing through the others. But, Shadow of the Colossus does look to be a ful experience. More later...
Posted at Mon, 17 Oct 2005 13:25:44 EDT
Hello St. Louis!
How about those Red Birds? Houston was on their feet in expectation of finally making it to the World Series. Up by two runs in the top of the ninth, the Astros were one strike away from winning the league championship. But David Eckstein, who helped the Cardinals take the lead in the third, wouldn't let it end like that. He singled to first. Jim Edmonds strode to the plate, and Lidge, who is normally perfect, was a bit ahead of himself, walks Edmonds. Next up, Albert Pujols. With one swing of his mighty bat, on an 0-1 pitch, Pujols practically ejected the ball from the stadium, it bounced around between the girders and clerestory windows at the far end of the field. A three-run homer, and the Cardinals are back on top. And so it would end, the Cardinals victorious in game 5. With that sort of momentum, just about everything is in St. Louis's favor as they return home to play again in Busch Stadium. Almost everything except for pitching. I'm hoping for a game seven, and then a World Series in St. Louis, but for now, I'm happy for one more game at Busch.
Posted at Tue, 18 Oct 2005 15:35:31 EDT
Shadow of the Colossus: Demo Review - OR - Verbosity Constrained
The demo I received for Shadow of the Colossus came from the PlayStation Underground (ooo, spooky). For the members of the Gamer Advisory Panel, PSU has having a contest where you play the demo, write a 200 - 400 word review, and win a copy of the final game (if you're lucky). As I am quite interested in playing the game but have no money, I quickly played through the demo a second time, and then sat down yesterday during lunch to pen my winning review.
Merrily I typed out my thoughts.
When I finished my first draft I copied it into Word to see how many of its namesakes I had used. Nine hundred and sixty. Ouch. I didn't just have to pare a few words off here and there, I had to chop it in half and take the lesser piece. I have tons of respect for those who write professionally and are always conscious of word limits. Being able to pick out the most important elements of a subject, and then write meaningfully and succinctly is quite the skill. So, I got out my two-handed flamberge and whacked at my review until it only had 398 words - excluding the title which was submitted as the subject line of the email (I hope that doesn't count against me). What follows, however, is my original draft which, while not as polished perhaps as the final version, more effectively conveys the emotional nature of the game because I was able to elaborate on examples and imagery. For comparison, I'll include the final version afterwards.
Shadow of the Colossus - Stand Alone Demo Review [The Long Version]
Shadow of the Colossus, the spiritual sequel to Ico, places the player in control of a young lad and his horse on a quest to awaken a beautiful girl who lies dormant in a mysterious temple. To that end, he must hunt down sixteen giants wandering the land, and slay them. The demo challenges the player with surmounting the first - and smallest - colossus.
Shadow is a quiet game. From the very beginning of the demo, the game seeks to establish the mood of an isolated land, soft in light and color, but hardened with natural dangers. The opening sequence, which introduces the hero and his steed, pans through several different detailed environments, setting the proper tone with subtle lighting and musical score. Once the player arrives at the temple and is given control, the music ends and the only background sounds are environmental. The game seeks to place the player in its own world, for the player to feel the vast open land all around, and soon, the dwarfing power of the colossus. And this enveloping of the player's emotions is where the game appears to succeed.
The environment is highly detailed and alive. Vegetation and clouds move under the guidance of the whispering wind. Daylight dances lazily across the wide plain through the moving clouds. Far below the cliff at the edge of the plain, the sun can be seen sparkling on the distant rippling water. Character animations are incredibly realistic. Changing direction requires a moment to counter inertia. Falling, climbing, rolling, all executed with a fluid realism that further draws the player into the role of the hero. The movements of the horse, while a bit stiff, are realistic. The horse gets frustrated and fidgety when told to turn in place, but leaps forward in graceful excitement when kicked into a gallop. The animations of the hero astride his horse are that of an inexperienced rider. Perhaps as the game progresses, as the hero and the player alike become more adept at riding, the animations will evolve to that of one more experienced in the saddle.
To further engage the player, the controls are setup to relate to the actions being performed. Riding the horse is not simply a matter of pointing the left stick in the desired direction. Instead, the stick controls how the hero pulls on the reigns, so the player must guide the horse as if riding. This control scheme takes a little time to learn, but seems to work well. When on foot, the hero must climb through various obstacles in the landscape. Unlike many games, the hero will not automatically grab ledges, or ivy covered walls. The player must hold the R1 button to grab. To jump from a ledge, the player must press triangle while holding R1. Initially, performing simple actions with this combination of buttons can be difficult, but is quickly learned, and keeps the player more directly involved in the action.
After climbing some ruins that lead up a cliff, a task that serves as a control tutorial, the player is introduced to the massive, towering colossus. The game does an excellent job conveying the scale, mass, and power of the giant. And alone, on foot, our hero must find a way to take down this beast, armed only with a mystical sword, and a bow with an ever-full quiver of arrows. The puzzle of climbing the colossus and killing it is the core of the gameplay. Guided by vague hints, the player must locate a weak spot on the titan, exploit it to make the colossus pause in its rounds, and then climb to the top of its head without being shaken off. A simple stamina gauge keeps track of how long our hero can maintain his grip and how strong his attacks will be. Once the hero fells the beast, whose eyes contain no malice, the colossus collapses, shattering the ground beneath it, and the player is left to contemplate the nature of this act of murder.
While the game succeeds in creating an immersive environment capable of affecting the player emotionally, the demo is not without its faults - faults, that if not polished away for the full version of the game, threaten to mar the experience and shatter the illusion for the player.
The camera is not perfect. It is a little slow in following the player, especially on horseback, which can make navigation mildly frustrating. The player can, however, move the camera wherever desired. There appears to be a lack of a first-person view which, while not necessary, would be useful and make it easier to look around.
The environments are vast and staggeringly detailed with a long draw distance. This build of the game, however, features a lot of pop-up and tearing. While forgivable considering the ambition of the project, it detracts from the experience. When the experience is obviously so important to the developers, hopefully these graphic issues will be cleaned up in the final release.
The most problematic issue is control. While the philosophy of the control scheme is solid and translates well in engaging the player, the execution is lacking in the demo. Climbing and jumping in combination - the core task in the game - is awkward and often leads to undesired results. As pretty and enjoyable as this game is, if the control isn't corrected, the final product will be unpleasant to play, a hideous scar across what should be a very lovely gaming experience.
In conclusion, Shadow of the Colossus looks to be a fascinating game to experience. Hopefully the development staff will be able to clean up a few loose ends and deliver a must-play product.
Shadow of the Colossus - Stand Alone Demo Review [The Short Version]
Shadow of the Colossus places the player in control of a young lad and his horse on a quest to awaken a beautiful girl who lies dormant in a mysterious temple. To that end, he must hunt down sixteen giants wandering the land, and slay them. The demo challenges the player with surmounting the first - and smallest - colossus.
From the beginning, the game seeks to establish the mood of being alone in an isolated land. Emotive lightning and environmental background sounds, with only the occasional orchestral cue, help place the player in the game's world, feeling the vast open land all around, and soon, the dwarfing power of the colossus. The environment is highly detailed and alive, and character animations are incredible. Running, falling, climbing are all executed with fluid realism. The movements of the horse, while a bit stiff, are true to life and convey personality.
To further engage the player, the controls are setup to relate to the actions being performed. While riding the horse, the left stick controls how the hero pulls on the reigns. When on foot, the player must hold the R1 button to grab and climb various obstacles in the landscape.
The puzzle of climbing the colossus and killing it is the core of the gameplay. Our hero must find a way to take down the colossus, armed only with a bow and arrows, and a mystical sword. The player must locate a weak spot on the titan, exploit it, then climb to the top of its head without being shaken off. A simple stamina gauge keeps track of how long our hero can maintain his grip and how strong his attacks will be.
While the game succeeds in creating an immersive environment capable of affecting the player emotionally, the demo is not without faults that threaten to mar that experience. The environments are vast and detailed with a long draw distance. The demo, however, features a lot of pop-up and tearing. These graphic errors distract the player and break the illusion.
The most problematic issue is control. While the philosophy of the control scheme is solid, the execution is lacking in the demo. Climbing and jumping in combination is awkward and often leads to undesired results. If the control isn't corrected, the final product will be unpleasant to play, instead of what should be a very lovely gaming experience.
Posted at Wed, 19 Oct 2005 17:40:52 EDT
More Randoms
NaNoWriMo
Have you seen this? This being the National Novel Writing Month. Basically, it is an annual event where you write a 50,000 word novel starting on November 1 and finishing by November 30. That's not too bad...it's only about 1700 words a day. I know a few people who write blog entries longer than that. Anyway, the point is to write quantity versus quality so no need to not participate because you are afraid of writing crap - you will write crap. But, if you pull it off, you can say you've written a novel. Go check it out. I think they want to close registration by the end of today. But maybe not...
Dragon Quest VIII - Demo
I finally got around to playing the demo to DQ8 over the weekend, and I must say, I was impressed. The graphics are great. The vast world is modeled in 3d with a decent amount of detail, rich and varied terrain design, a long draw distance, and a lush color palette. The characters are rendered in a cell-shaded manner, but if I remember correctly, this is the game that the developers were adamant about stating that it isn't cell-shaded, that it is a different technique that produces a similar result, but with a different use of line. It apparently allows them to have more control over the models and add more detail. The voice acting was a mixed bag of talent, but it's possible the sometimes over the top performances are just keeping with the more humorous tone of the game. Which isn't to say that DQ8 is a light-hearted comedy, but it does have lots of cute, smiling slimes. If the barmaids and the decolletage of one of the player characters are any indication, there will be a fair bit of bawdy humor as well. Music was okay. Not a dramatic score, but pleasant and fitting. I guess the best way to describe DQ8 is old-school rpg. It uses a lot of 8-bit midi type sound effects. While it has eliminated the need to open a menu to select whether to open a door, or talk to an NPC, or search something, it still plays like a DQ game. A bit smoother, a little faster paced, but good solid rpg goodness. And, it appears to be challenging. I managed to get myself killed on several occasions. Trips between towns and other points of interest are long. The dungeons appear to be deep. And it doesn't take very long to get the snot pummeled out of you if you aren't careful. It doesn't look like you'll be able to simply run through the game as you would in a more recent Final Fantasy incarnation - it looks like some amount of leveling will be required. Player characters seem to have specific weapon types and ability trees that they can climb, but it's up to the player to determine how to develop the character. Characters, therefore, are specific to their role in the story, but may be customized with a fair amount of freedom within that role. I enjoyed the demo and look forward to someday playing the full version. Oh, and it is worth noting that my wife liked it and is looking forward to my acquisition and subsequent playing of the game.
Which Serenity character are you?
I don't usually post these, but I kind of liked this one:
You scored as Simon Tam. The Doctor. You have a gift for healing that goes beyond education. You took an oath to do no harm, even when your patients have tried to kill you. You are out of place where you are, being used to refined society. However, if you take that stick out of your arse you should be fine.
[I'm not sure about that refined society bit...]
Simon Tam - 75%
The Operative - 69%
Hoban 'Wash' Washburne - 69%
Shepherd Derrial Book - 63%
River Tam - 63%
Zoe Alleyne Washburne - 56%
Capt. Mal Reynolds - 50%
Inara Serra - 44%
Jayne Cobb - 19%
Posted at Tue, 25 Oct 2005 13:08:21 EDT
Happy Halloween!!
It's time, once again, to break out your Silent Hill soundtracks, deface some pumpkins, and give cosplay a try. ...er, something like that anyway. I hope everyone has a fun and safe Halloween and scores big in the treat department.
NaNoWriMo
This probably marks my last substantive post for a month (that's making a grand presumption that I post anything that's substantive). Tomorrow, I embark on what will hopefully be a fun and rewarding [insane] quest to pen (type, actually) a 50,000 word novel in thirty days. Needless to say, my rose counter won't be getting any higher for awhile... I'll probably post periodic updates to let you know how fragile my grip on sanity has become, but unfortunately, won't be able to read your blogs for awhile. I know, we are all saddened by our collective loss.
Anyway, I bring this up here also because my novel relates to gaming. When RPG Maker 2 came out, I sketched out an idea for a game. I worked on it for the better part of last year, but wound up tabling the project due to Ace Combat. Then there was the whole pregnancy issue and the need to play some of the hot titles that came out before I'd never get to game again... Well, while I sketched out most of the game mechanics, and had a very rough outline of how I wanted the story to evolve, I never got around to writing out the story. Instead, I worked on maps and side quests trying to get a good grasp on how RPGM2 worked. So I'm going to take this month of November to actually write the story for my game. Hopefully I'll be able to take that momentum and focus it on programming the game after the story is completed - you know, in between bouts of parenting. By the way, the name of the game, and novel, is Ambition.
Laptops
I was pretty worried about this whole novel writing thing because of Thanksgiving. We are going to Kansas to see our families and friends for a whole week this year. Unfortunately, the display on my laptop no longer works, as I keened about in a blog entry earlier this year. However, my wife's birthday is Saturday. That, taken in conjunction with Christmas next month, and my birthday the following month, creates the opportunity for a present cross-over that results in a brand new G4 iBook! Happy Joy Joy!! Maybe I'll finally get to play Myth...
Gretzky Hockey '06 (or whatever the hell it's called)
This game is the last of my recent demos. Actually, I think it was the first I received, but the last to be played. Basically, it's a hockey game. It seems pretty solid, with decent graphics, a good pace to the action, lots of stats, various camera angles, several modes of play, and Panger doing commentary. While you can play normal regulation games and seasons, the gimmick for this game is "99-time." Basically, play good hockey and a meter goes up. Fill the meter and you can call in the Great Gretzky and go on an ego-powered power play. *shrug* I guess I had fun playing the demo, but it didn't really excite me. I didn't spend too much time learning the controls, but I wasn't very happy with the defense controls. Usually I just let the computer do its thing and I blocked shots with the goalie. Depending on which camera you used you might have problems seeing teammates up-ice. Replays are cool and penalties didn't seem to be called too often. But with all of the other options out there for hockey games, I'm not sure you need to spend your money on this one, other than as maybe a weekend renter.
A question for all of you hockey fans out there: What's the best hockey video game out there before this year's season? I have been wanting a good hockey game for awhile, but kept waiting for the "best" one to come out. Which is it? And it needs to have team lineups from before the lock-out. Thanks.
Posted at Mon, 31 Oct 2005 17:53:13 EST
So. Far. Behind.
Well, I expected to be off-target during the week, but I had hoped to catch up on the weekends. Guess I'll be busy this weekend...
Posted at Tue, 08 Nov 2005 14:16:58 EST
Not gaining ground
So, yesterday was the 15th of November. At midnight, I was to have written 25,000 words - half of my NaNo novel. Sadly, that was not to be. Once again, I was not nearly productive enough over the weekend. I did, however, hit my daily targets three days in a row, but came nowhere close to my goals that would have moved me beyond the 20k threshold. So, while I am almost five days behind, it is worth noting that I wrote more than twice as many words in Week 2 than I did in Week 1. Will I be able to continue to improve my output during Week 3? I'm not holding my breath. Saturday we leave for Kansas, and I'm not sure whether travel will have a positive or negative affect on my output. The grandparents will want to be in possession of the baby. I won't be at work. But the traveling, and visits with friends and family, and maybe some quality time with my wife... I've invested too much now to fail. Damn the quality! Full speed ahead!
Posted at Wed, 16 Nov 2005 12:11:42 EST
NaNoWriMo Climax
Okay, so I've already given away the ending, but for all those keeping score, here are the Week 3 stats I was unable to post over Thanksgiving. (btw, I hope everyone had a great holiday. I had a wonderful time with friends and family. I'm sorry I wasn't able see everyone, though.)
Not too bad, looks like progress was being made. Well, the next five days would be consumed by me consuming turkey and other tasty yum yums and not spent writing. Which fit perfectly with my original estimate of needing to finish based on a 25 day schedule, which is 2000 words per day. Too bad I was behind by four days already based on the 30 day rate. When I started writing on Sunday, the 27th, I was 14,704 words behind. Needless to say, I'm pretty tired. I'll post with more comments about my first NaNo experience later, but for now I just want to thank all of you who were cheering me on through November. I wouldn't have finished without your support. =)
Posted at Thu, 01 Dec 2005 13:22:15 EST
NaNoWriMo Denouement
In general, I tend not to be much for falling action. But then I usually only write short stories, where I'm focusing on one slice of time and trying to explore the emotions within. It makes sense, in such a context, to leave the reader at the climax, left with a surge of emotion. Often my endings are sudden, leaving the actual resolution slightly unknown, allowing the reader to explore those possibilities on their own. With a novel, however, I'm not sure that such an ending works as well. Unfortunately, that's how my NaNoWriMo work ended. But at least it has an ending. I made a point to wrap things up enough that it could be construed as a complete work, albeit part one of a series. I had originally planned to rewrite the ending when I continued working on the story, but I think it works well for a chapter ending.
Anyway, November was interesting. It's quite an experience to write 50,000 words in such a short period of time, while also trying to live a normal life. I found at the beginning of the month I was only able to write about ten words per minute because I was spending a lot of time with word choice. Even when I thought I was letting creation flow freely, I would stop to reevaluate and plan the next few lines. I have a long commute, three hours a day, and I would spend a good chunk of that composing in my head what would happen next. In theory that should have helped me to write faster, but in reality I found that it slowed me down because I was trying to remember the exact wording I had developed while driving. At 11pm after a long day at work, I found that I am not very good at such recall exercises.
I tried dictating to my wife a few nights. She's a better typist and was pretty curious about my project. It also gave her the opportunity to both support me in my endeavor and spend time with me. Having me hole myself up to write made her not like NaNo, which in turn made it difficult for her to cheer me on. So that was pretty neat, but again, it being late and me struggling with word choice, our sessions were not as productive as they should have been.
Finally, during the last week, desperate to finish and 14,000 words behind, I realized that I would be able to edit as much as necessary starting in December. Somewhere early in the month I decided that I would try to minimize the amount of editing I would have to do later, because of the size of the project. Yeah, naive. Once I got over that hang-up I was able to double my production. It was still difficult to write much more than twenty words per minute, as sustaining that type of output for three or four hours and still maintaining a cohesive work is difficult, but the increase was enough. That, and I devoted a lot more time to writing. It's easier to ignore one's responsibilities for four days and devote one's attention to a project than trying to do the same for a whole month. It was easier for my wife to tolerate anyway.
So now I have most of what will be considered the first part of the story for my game/novel. I'm currently envisioning four parts or books, which is how I had outlined the game. I hope that I'm able to continue working on this throughout the year, because it would be a shame to let it collect dust now, after so much has been invested to get it started. Maybe someday I'll actually have something worth reading.
Thanks again for all who were cheering me on. =) Until next year...?
Daily Total
Daily Word Count
Posted at Tue, 06 Dec 2005 14:08:09 EST
What are these "video games" of which you speak?
After being ignored for more than a month, I switched on the power to my PS2 over the weekend and played some games. I'd played a few levels of Myth and messed around on the first level of Marathon: Infinity a bit during Thansgiving, but I didn't play any console games while working on my novel last month. That's how dedicated I was... So, I rolled up a few more roses, and popped in the Sony Holiday 2005 Demo Disc. Susan wrote a bit about Demo Disk Disappointment not too long ago, and while I wasn't quite as let down as she seems to be in her entry, I can't say I was exceptionally impressed by the disk I played.
This year Sony packed ten demos onto the disk, which is quite nice. In previous years there have been fewer playable demos and usually an equal number of movies. Unfortunatly, a movie of Eyetoy: Play 2 might have been nice, as the demo isn't worth much without an Eyetoy. (As I write this I realize that there might have been a demo movie - I never selected the demo because it said "Requires Eyetoy". Oh well.) There was one other game that I didn't play, but not because I was lacking hardware, just interest. I don't know anything about Conflict Global Terror, but I just couldn't bring myself to load the demo. Maybe I'm missing out. Maybe...
So, on with the show. In brief, here are my reactions to the eight remaining demos:
Shadow of the Colossus - This is the same E3 demo I'd reviewed earlier for the PlayStation Underground. If you missed my thoughts on it, you may find them here.
Castlevania: Curse of Darkness - *heavy sigh* If you knew me at all, you would know that I am a huge Castlevania fan. I fell in love with the first NES game, and followed the series to the SNES, PS1, and PS2. I wasn't as disappointed with Lament of Innocense as some were because I thought the whip combat was done very well and I really enjoyed the story. My only real negative criticism was that I didn't think that IGA was capable of thinking in three dimensions. Section or plan, but not space. That was my explanation for the crappy level design and lack of any real platforming. Based on what I played of CoD, I don't think IGA has done anything to prove me wrong. Now the "rooms" are bigger and more interesting, but the game still feels really flat. Sure, you need large open spaces in order to have enough room for the hordes of baddies, but plenty of other combat platformers have proven the setting doesn't need to suffer. Actually, I wasn't impressed with much by this demo. The graphics weren't very good, though the art design seemed nice. Combat was sluggish and not very interesting. The Innocent Devils, which are familiars similar to Symphony of the Night, were okay. I liked that their abilities need to be used to solve puzzles. I also liked the boss in the demo who has his own ID (probably not Innocent) which reminded me of the summon duels in FFX. But the camera was mostly crap, sound mediocre, etc. etc. I have read that it supposedly has one of the best stories in the series. So maybe it's worth a rental. Based on the demo though, this won't be getting added to my collection. So much potential, but IGA just doesn't seem to know how to get it done. Konami! Don't let this series be butchered!
Pac-Man World 3 - Honestly, the last Pac-Man game I played was Ms. Pac-Man. Maybe I've been missing out, but it always seemed to me that Namco was relying on name recognition to make a quick buck by furthering the franchise. PMW3 is basically a 3D combat platformer similar to Jak and Daxter except not as pretty, interesting, or fun. It appears to have linear mission objectives, leading from one area to another. You can punch and butt-bounce, and there are random power-ups that grant special powers. But basically you run around avoiding or beating up enemies, chomping pellets and the occasional energizer, trying to get to the next room. The gimick for this game appears to be that you can activate Clyde, and play as a ghost momentarily, who has the ability to get really big and beat the crap out of various obsticles, clearing the way for Pac-Man. *shrug* I didn't get to finish the whole demo because I had to tend to the baby, but I wouldn't recomend it for more than a rent. It seemed like it could be fun...
Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks - Believe it or not, I think I enjoyed this demo the most. MK:SM allows you to control either Liu Kang or Kung Lao as you journey into the Otherworld after the first Mortal Kombat tournament to hunt down Shang Tsung who is plotting to defy the rules of Mortal kombat and take the Earthworld by force. Basically the game plays as a brawler with all of the fun and fatalities of a Kombat game. It also throws in several one-on-one boss fights, such as the fight in the demo with Baraka. There's a 2-player Ko-op mode, that plays like Double Dragon, which I understand is the prefered/recommended way to play. Another neat feature is that enemies often need to be used to solve environmental puzzles. In order to unlock a door, you may need to throw a few baddies into a grinder, etc. Bloody fun for everyone! (Sadly, all of the fatality scenes were blacked out for the demo.) While it's possible the actual game gets repetitive, the demo was actually quite fun. Definitely a rental, and maybe even worth a used acquisition. While you only get to play as the two monks starting out, I imagine you get to unlock other characters, as there are secrets to be found in every level.
Soul Calibur III - I don't think I've ever actually played a Soul Calibur game. I have, however, played demos for all of them. From what I can tell, it seems like a fighting series that I would enjoy. The characters have weapons, the fighting engine appears to reward timing and distance over button mashing, and it seems to have pretty deep move lists for all of the characters. I can at least attest to the whole button mashing thing, as that was all I was really able to do, and it got me killed pretty quickly. Ring outs were my friend. ;) I see a lot of potential in this title, and based on the demo, I'm very interested in playing more of this game. Definitely a rental, and possibly even worth purchasing outright. It has a standard one-player story campaign. It also has two-player and I believe is network capable. It also has an interesting looking strategy game mode. It seems like it operates like Battle Chess, where when your characters engage each other it takes you to a fighting screen and you get to fight for dominance. (Okay, Battle Chess just animated the pieces offing each other, you couldn't control them. That was Archon...) The draw to this game, however, is the custom mode, where you can build your own character. You can choose male or female, a job class, and then change just about everything about them. Different faces, hair, underwear, clothes, armor, accessories, colors... It's very addicting just looking at all of the possible combinations. The weapon and initial move set are supposedly determined by your class and how you have your character equipped. As you play the game you earn money and unlock other equipment and weapons. Potentially endless replay value - unless the move sets aren't varied and the game modes that you can use your custom character are limited. Again, this appears to be a very solid fighting title.
Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves - I haven't had the fortune to play any of the Sly Cooper titles. This demo was actually my first experience with the series. (I did enter a character design contest for the second game. I didn't win, but I might not have gotten my entry in on time. It was a pretty good character too, I thought...) Unfortunately, I didn't find the demo very engaging. Actually, I had a better impression of the game watching the back story movie and the intro than after playing the demo. It's very pretty, and appears to have a good story and voice acting. It may have fun and varied game play, but the levels on the demo aren't exciting. The first mission is a bar brawl, introducing the three main characters. More challenging than one might expect, but not too much more than a button masher until the boss. The second mission was a stealth mission where you control this cool shaman guy. The camera wasn't very kind, I thought, making it hard to tell where you were trying to go. Again, the game looks great, it just didn't feel like it played very well. The last single player mission was the exciting bi-plane combat mission that is shown briefly in the intro movie. Not very fun. It seemed difficult, but in a frustrating way. You have to shoot down 30 bad guys without getting shot down yourself. The controls are simple, you just fly around shooting. In the process, however, you get shot by their rear-facing guns, and inevitably, you go down before you get your 30. Then you start over. If I spent more time with it I'd probably figure out the proper technique and would be able to fly through the level without being hit once - but the game didn't compel me to want to stick with it. The other mission on the demo is a two player competition level. One player controls Sly as he runs around the city trying to nab loot. The other player controls the female cop trying to take him down. For me, I'd have to say this game is a renter, though I'd want to rent/play the other games first.
Jak X - I have played the three preceding Jak/Daxter games. It looks as good as the last Jak game, has the same (mostly) cast of voices, seems to have a good story mixed in with the racing. Oh wait, I forgot to mention that Jak X is a combat racing game, but I bet you already knew that. Jak X is all of the racing in the previous games - minus the Flut-Flut and probably the dreaded ring challenges. The demo allows for single player and two-player split screen and has four mission types set on two (I think) different courses/environments. The first mode is simply a race to the finish. Except you get to pick up various weapons along the way to take down your competition. I was reminded of Rock 'N Roll Racing, perhaps the best combat racing game ever. That was fun enough - the course was long, control good, weapons entertaining. Another mode, more reminiscent of missions in Jak 3, was a scavenger race. A handful of precursor artifacts appear in random locations on the map (wide open arena type map, not a linear course) and you race to see who can collect the most. Similarly there was a battle mode where you simply race around trying to frag each other. The last mode on the demo was a death race, where you raced around a track unopposed trying to blow up as many drones on the course as possible. Lots of fun. If you at all enjoyed the driving elements in the previous games, and are looking for a fun arcade style, combat racer, this might be worth picking up. If you hated the driving elements in the other games, well, you might want to just stick with Daxter on the PSP. Which, by the way, apparently unlocks some content in Jak X. Jak X Daxter. Hmmm...
Ratchet: Deadlock - I played this demo last because you have to reset the disk if you want to exit. I've only played the first Ratchet and Clank, so maybe some of the differences in control and camera appeared in the later games. In general, it plays just like R&C: you run around and gleefully blow the crap out of stuff with various entertaining guns or your club-like wrench. However, this time around, perhaps because of the multiplayer aspect, you actually have to aim your projectile weapons manually, which takes a wee bit getting used to. It really slows the pace of the frenetic action when you have to basically stop while you try to track a floating baddie so you can pop him with dual wielding fury. I didn't get to play too much of this demo, and while I liked what I saw, I didn't really get into it enough to be hyped about it. I think the real attraction is the 16-player networked combat play. I'm sure that it's hysterical carnage maximus. But if you aren't going to be doing the whole network thing, I'm not sure that there's a whole lot here for you. Better to just play the other three games. Unless you've done that already...
So there you go, my take on the ten demos on this year's demo disk. In review: Shadow of the Colossus is a must. Jak X and Ratchet: Deadlock both appear to be solid, but cater to a specific audience. Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks looks to be bloody fun entertainment, definitely worth a rent. Soul Calibur III has the potential to be a great fighter, the custom mode alone is worth giving it a rent. Sly 3 might be good. Castlevania: Curse of Darkness looks to be a huge, mind-numbing, heart-wrenching disappointment for fans and not worth buying. But because we're fans we'll play it anyway. And all the rest (except maybe Eyetoy: Play 2) should probably be avoided.
Posted at Fri, 09 Dec 2005 22:11:30 EST
Let's go out to the movies...
This week Peter Jackson's King Kong is being released. Do I need to say any more? Well I will anyway. Who would have thought that the man responsible for the C movie extravaganza Bad Taste would become a god among Kiwis, be worth billions of dollars, and be expected to possibly break the record set by the Titanic for highest grossing movie with a remake of King Kong? (Peter Jackson is looking great too, now that he's given up burgers for yogurt. And he's supposedly the executive producer for the Halo movie.) I'm very excited about this movie. I just hope I get a chance to see it on the big screen. Keep in mind this bit of wisdom from Penny Arcade.
X-Men III
Have you seen the trailer yet? If not, you night want to watch it before reading on. I have been a bit concerned about the quality of this movie since learning that Director Bryan Singer would not be working on this project, instead favoring a certain caped DC superhero (more on that later). But after watching the announcement trailer, it looks like it might be good. However, I'm worried that they may be trying to bite off more than they can handle in one feature length film. Having multiple bad guys means less time for development and the movie simply becomes an FX bonanza. That's not what the X-Men are about.
Okay, my synopsis is this: Magneto appears to be building his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Pyro has joined ranks, and it looks like Magneto is trying to take the cast-off Morlocks under his wing. A veritable army of mutants. Callisto will be introduced, which could mean plot developments with Storm, as she bested Callisto for leadership of the Morlocks back when Storm lost her powers. Which could lead to the introduction of Forge, but that's probably not going to happen here. Beast will be joining the X-Men, as will Angel. That rounds out the original X-Men lineup. Kitty Pride is also going to be a more prominent character in this movie, though it doesn't look like Nightcrawler will be bamfing along. So, will the Rogue/Wolverine relationship be transitioned to Kitty Pride/Wolverine? A paternal love triangle? Who knows, but sadly Colossus doesn't appear to be involved in this film. One other new major character is introduced on the movie web site: Juggernaut. Excellent, except the trailer doesn't seem to indicate how he fits into the movie at all. What the trailer does show, however, is that Jean Grey will be back, and it appears they will be starting in on the Dark Phoenix story arc. Okay, so how the hell does that all fit into one movie that's less than three hours long? Magneto is doing his thing, Juggernaut is somehow involved, and the Dark Phoenix is on the prowl. Perhaps one of those arcs will be setup at the end of the film as a cliff hanger for the next? Oh, and one more little detail. Xavier, in his voice over of the trailer, mentions something about the battle between the Dark Angel and the Light Angel in all of us. *sigh* Okay, this is probably thrown in just to whip up the frenzy and speculation of the fans (like this), but that can only be interpreted by anyone who has read the comics as an allusion, and hopefully an inference, to the transformation of Angel into Archangel, the Horseman of Death!! Which would mean Apocalypse would have to get involved, which could lead to the Inferno story line, or the Savage Land, or Genosha... Too much, I say! Too much! I hope and pray that this doesn't become a Batman and Robin type of movie...
Superman Returns
I think everyone who watched the last couple of Superman movies is looking forward to this new, quality film. (BTW, in honor of the recently deceased Richard Pryor, go rent Superman III.) The trailer doesn't really show very much, though Superman looks pretty cool - the pictures on the website don't look quite as cool, maybe it's the cape or the shorts... But this is the project Bryan Singer is working on in lieu of the X-Men. I suppose one couldn't turn down such an opportunity. But we'll all just have to wait and see if it was the better choice to make.
Silent Hill: The Movie
Heh. There isn't much to see at this point, just a flash teaser trailer, but the official web site is up, and it looks good and creepy. Based on the cast of characters, it appears to be a retelling of the story from the first game, just with a gender-reversal for the main character. Because a female protagonist is more vulnerable and therefore creates a more thrilling movie. I just hope the whole movie is as good as the trailer. The Silent Hill games have always had really creepy trailers, even though the games haven't always lived up to that same level. *fingers crossed*
I guess that's all I have. On a more happy and cheerful note, I will leave you with this wonderful gem.
Posted at Mon, 12 Dec 2005 14:18:10 EST
Merry Christmas!
I shall spare you a small diatribe regarding cannibalism in video games, and instead shall just wrap up the year with a simple wish of happiness and good fortune for you and yours. As I bragged earlier on Susan's blog, I will have all of next week off from work, and plan to sit around the whole week with my wife and daughter in our footie pajamas playing video games and eating homemade cookies. It is possible that I won't be playing Dragon Quest 8, but rather Guitar Hero. I'll just have to wait and see what Santa brings... Anyway, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all! Stay warm and well fed. =)
Posted at Thu, 22 Dec 2005 14:00:59 EST