posts by christian
christian

More SNK VC ponderings

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I think it’s official that when SNK finally brings the Neo Geo goodness to the Wii Virtual Console, they have no excuse if some of their prime games don’t come out early. In an absolute explosion of Neo goodness, Gametap has a killer list of games coming down the pipleline, thanks to whatever massive effort they’re undertaking with the service. As of today you can play Metal Slug 1 and King of Fighters 94, but after that they’ll also be getting every Metal Slug up to 5, and every KOF up to 2003. In addition, they’ll be hosting the first two Art of Fightings, the first two Samurai Showdowns, the original Fatal Fury, and The Last Blade.

These are some of the best fighters on the system, and I’m absolutely stoked for them. →  All I want for Christmas is my PSP.

Soul Calibur Adventure

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News today of a new action-adventure Soul Calibur game on the Wii. Very few details on it of course, but this pleases me nevertheless. I was devastated to see how messed up Soul Calibur 3 became because of the silly story segments and tactical-adventure nonsense they tried to cram down our throats. I would have loved to play with a sweet custom character, but not if it meant wading through ten hours of castle sieges, or losing twenty rounds in Tales of Souls so I could unlock twelve different capes in the shop (why the game unlocks things for losing, I do not know).

Of course, this new game doesn’t mean that an eventual Soul Calibur 4 won’t behave like 3, but I’m willing to guess that Namco realized they were trying to do two separate things in one game, and that this spinoff series will allow them to keep the adventure and story separate from the pure fighting.

The Real Gaming Challenge ™

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You might be able to tell from a lot my recent articles, but I enjoy challenging myself when gaming. Over the years I’ve managed to become better at a lot of genres and titles that used to kick my ass, but one genre in its entirety has eluded me; racing games.

Yes, aside from perhaps Mario Kart, I am possibly the worst racing gamer you’d ever have the displeasure of competing against. I’m not sure what it is; am I handling corners wrong? Shifting improperly? Maybe I don’t understand the true performance of the car. All I know is that I can’t play these games for the life of me.

That is going to change now. I’ve decided to turn my past efforts up 200% and try my absolute hardest to conquer racing games. →  Games are the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions.

Sequels to classic games

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Let’s talk about game sequels, specifically two sequels to two high profile games. The first is Fallout 3, which has been the subject of quite a few official announcements as of late to go along with all of the speculation. The second is the possible, but not confirmed Starcraft sequel, which may be an MMORPG. These two franchises have a lot in common: they’re both considered the pinnacle of their genres on the PC, they both get played constantly despite their increasing age, and they both have diehard fans that know exactly what they want in a sequel and will kill you if their demands aren’t met.

On one hand, Starcraft and Fallout fans can be a little more than annoying. →  It’s dangerous to read alone, take this.

Turning up the difficulty

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In my last column I talked about mindless games and whether such a concept actually makes sense. Today, we talk about something else that stems from this debate. Usually when I read a review of a “mindless” game that I myself have played, the first thing to come to me is not “they’re kind of right” or “they’re kind of wrong”. The question on my mind is “did they play it on hard?”

When I was a kid I didn’t play games on any sort of difficulty – few NES games actually had a difficulty setting; you played against whatever they threw at you. When difficulties did start popping up, it was always Easy mode for me. This was because I only got two, maybe three new games a year, so there was no concept of being stuck and putting it away. →  When one person suffers from a delusion, it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called a game.

Review – Sam & Max Episode 6: Bright Side of The Moon

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Here it is, the final episode in the only episodic series that’s actually managed to do something with itself. Six games in as many months is something that Telltale Games should be proud of, but they get another pat on the back for doing such a good job. Season 1 was very much a learning experience, both for themselves and for the fans. Throughout the journey, Telltale has shown definite signs of listening to their audience and learning from their mistakes. Bright Side of the Moon fixes a lot of problems from past episodes, and is all-around the most solid effort of the six games. Funny, lengthy and fun to play, I was sad to see this one come to an end. →  Europa Universalis IV: Articles of War

No KOF from SNK on the VC ASAP – WTF?

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As you can probably guess, I’m damn psyched to see some Neo Geo games on the Virtual Console. What I’m not so excited about is news like thisthat tells me that some of the premier Neo Geo games won’t be the first ones released. The reasoning is that you can find most of the King of Fighters games easily enough, and they’ve just released the Metal Slug Anthology on two consoles. Normally I would understand the logic, especially if it means the first games to hit the VC is stuff like World Heroes or Baseball Stars. Yet the more I thought about it, the less it makes sense. Here’s why.

– Technically it is possible to own of the KoF’s from 98-2003 via the PS2 and Dreamcast. →  SaGa 3: Shadow or Write

Halo Prime 3

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No link for this blog post, but let’s just say that there are some videos of Halo 3 beta lurking around the internet, and a certain writer has seen the clips. This isn’t a discussion of my impressions, but instead a remark on one noticeable change I observed. The HUD has been changed to resemble Halo’s biggest “competitor” that’s not really its competitor: Metroid Prime.
Chief is running away from Samus.

This isn’t going to be the rant of a Nintendo fanboy complaining that Bungie ripped Retro Studios off. Quite frankly the best parts of both Halos came from previous games. What bothers me about it is that the HUD actually looks worse than before. It’s far too cluttered; what used to occupy three corners of the screen now fills up four corners and the top center. →  Get lame or get out.

Mindlessness in games

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I read a good article recently on the heavy use of the word “gameplay” in games journalism. Agree with it or not, the author makes a good point; there is no equivalent word in any other industry jargon. Most sentences that use the word gameplay can be rewritten in some form to create something more descriptive and authoritative. It got me thinking about another mainstay of the lingo that has been bothering me as of late – “mindless”.

The word is used all too often, so much so that I can’t even generalize about whether it is usually in a pejorative or positive sense. According to my scouring of IGN, reviewers and gamers find the following games to be “mindless”:

Tomb Raider Legend
Rainbow Six Vegas
Sonic Riders
Resident Evil 4
Trigger Man
Ninety Nine Nights
Both Half Lifes
Painkiller
Call of Duty 3
Tekken Tag Tournament

For the sake of discussion, let’s just say this (very partial) list is a mix of terrible, average, and a few Game of the Year winners. →  I’m gonna take you for a read.

Review – Soul Calibur 3

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Soul Calibur 3’s is like a reunion tour, featuring every character in the franchise, as well as classic stages and songs. It also boasts a huge level of customization, right down to the ability to create your own character. It seems to be everything you could ask for, but in order to experience it, you’re going to have to play by the game’s rules, very strict rules that state that if you want to enjoy some of it, you’ll have to slave through all of it.

Soul Calibur 3 is the Square-Enix of fighting games, so proud of its accomplishments that it doesn’t give you a choice about whether you want to see it all, so ashamed of its old school roots that it hides them far away from the player, as if to scold them for ever wanting to dig them up. →  Sounds mildly entertaining, I guess.