Figuring out Brutal Legend

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Brutal Legend is out this week, and already the praise and reviews are rolling in. That’s great, considering Tim Schafer’s Doublefine Studios has been around for ages with no apparent source of significant revenue, but I am not going to lie – I have no intention of playing it in 2009, and no idea when I might get to it in 2010. To be honest, I am not entirely sure what I am supposed to be getting excited for.

Is it because it is such an awesome parody of Metal? Between the works of Tenacious D, the show Metalocalypse, and even some of the jokes and jabs from Guitar Hero/Rock Band, I feel like this ground has been covered extensively in recent years. Hell, even Homestar Runner has taken a stab at it.  I have seen the arguments that this is something new and fresh, but that is only true if we limit ourselves to just games, which is hard to do when the aforementioned examples are often catered towards the same people who play games. →  It’s dangerous to read alone, take this.

Review – Another Code: R A Journey Into Lost Memories

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Another Code:R A Journey Into Lost Memories (herein abbreviated to AC:RAJILM) is from the same developer behind the rather excellent Hotel Dusk. So I was somewhat excited when AC:RAJILM was announced for the Wii.

After an extensive playthrough, it seems that this excitement was altogether misplaced. This is not necessarily to say that the game is bad, or that this review will be negative, but just don’t expect to ever get excited in AC:RAJILM.

It seems that CING, when mixing up AC:RAJILM in the laboratory, accidentally got some of the quantities of the point ‘n’ click ingredients wrong. They have definitely made an adventure with pointing and clicking but some of the elements aren’t optimally balanced.

So, for example, a staple technique used in these kinds of games is to give players lots of things to investigate, the payoff for throroughness being hidden items, secret bonuses, hints or extra flavour.

Unfortunately, in AC:RAJILM, there are far too many dud things to investigate and so clicking on all 50 items in every new room becomes a chore, but this is further compounded by Ashley’s in-depth description of each object. →  All you need is read.

Quick Take – Persona

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The PSP remake of Persona 1 is out and about, and as expected both Chris and I are playing it. Since Chris will most likely review it before I even finish (I have yet to finish an SMT game), I wanted to share some quick observations.

I knew that P1 would be different in many ways to its PS2 sequels, which were my first experiences with anything Megaten related. This didn’t really bother me; while I have few hardcore, 1st person dungeon based RPGs under my belt, I am at the point in my gaming life where I can cope with most foreign genre conventions without feeling confused or overwhelmed.

Sure enough, P1 is a bit confusing at first. There are many parameters involved in any given battle, and the game does little to hold your hand along the way. For example, by the time you finish the Police Station early on a lot of other areas will open up, yet the game will never tell you. →  Arc the Post: Twilight of the Spirits

IGN Hits A New Low

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IGN recently launched a new site called Music Hub. Great idea, music games are popular so why not make a site dedicated to them? Let’s see what games they cover: Guitar Hero 5, Guitar Hero World Tour, Guitar Hero 3, Guitar Hero 2, Guitar Hero, Guitar Hero Aerosmith, Guitar Hero Metallica, Guitar Hero Van Halen, GH Encore: Rocks the 80s, Guitar Hero Smash Hits, Guitar Hero On Tour, GH On Tour: Decades, GH On Tour: Modern Hits, Guitar Hero Mobile Games, DJ Hero, Band Hero, and… and… that seems to be it. That sure is a lot of games, the guys at IGN were very diligent in ensuring that every relevant game is included. Nothing seems to be missing that I can see, nope.

Yes, I’m joking. The “Music Hub” is a joke. It’s an advertisement for Activation’s games masquerading as just another section of IGN. It does everything it can to shove Guitar Hero down your throat while avoiding at all costs directly saying that it’s a marketing tool. →  Can you read me now?

Review – Digital Devil Saga 2

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I have heard it said that the second Digital Devil Saga was rushed. The four hour long final dungeon might be evidence of this, given that the whole game is still only about 25 hours long total. This makes DDS2 only a bit longer than the first one. While DDS2 maintains the solid Press combat system of the first game, in terms of scope and story, it is leaps and bounds more engrossing.

In Digital Devil Saga 1, the player would often find himself wondering what in the blazes could be going on. Each new answer brought with it two or three new questions, making for a veritable hydra of a storyline. While DDS was interesting enough on its own, DDS2 actually does answer all of these questions. It adds a few more at the end, but they are the usual questions one might expect of the genre – “What is the nature of mankind?”, “Where is society headed?”, and “Why did they wait 35 hours to reveal the cat’s name, which was a bad pun/reference anyways?”. →  Sly 3: Honor Among Reads

Review – Muramasa: The Demon Blade

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“An ancient pond. A frog jumps in. The splash of water. Hmm… Not a bad haiku.” -Old Man living in Sagami

Muramasa is like a haiku. It’s simple and concise. It comes from an ancient era where a direction pad and a button or two were all anyone needed to escape into virtual reality. Its three metric phrases are its combat, its art and music, and its role playing. Games like this are rare these days in the retail world, having been mostly contained into digital distribution and indie divisions. I don’t know how this one managed to make it onto store shelves, but I commend whoever was responsible.

Muramasa is set in mythological Japan, where mortal life rides upon the outcome of conflicts between the gods and demons, and human civilization sprawls across the countryside. Some hamlets have sprouted within the forests and the fields and are filled with good natured country folk who love the company of traveling strangers. →  The review for ‘Shark Sandwich’ was merely a two word review which simply read ‘Read Sandwich.’

We didn’t go to the Tokyo Games Show

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Despite a great deal of pleading, Jay would not finance a single trip to TGS this year. This is because Jay is a big fat racist. So because we didn’t go we can’t present you with what we saw there. However, because we’ve got nothing else to do besides F5ing the internet we felt like we did go*. We felt like we were there and so here’s the high quality games journalism coverage you would have got, had we been there. Don’t say we don’t give you anything for free vl reader. There’s no point vocalising what we all know.

Videolamers TGS Coverage Issue:

Check out the 4500 photos that Christian took whilst dicking around in Japan. Japanese buildings, Japanese people in the street, signs in Japan in English, Japanese HMVs etc. etc.

Check out the 1200 photos that Jay took of Japanese people doing Cosplay including 978 photos of various Chun-Lis, 100 photos of the S.T.A.R.S team and over one hundred photos of characters from games that never made it out of Japan but in which, Camel Toe or side boob is visible. →  The Adventures of Cookie and Read

Leveling up the Experience System

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Over the past twenty-five years of the “modern” RPG era in gaming, we’ve seen the genre advance tremendously. Rendered graphics, advanced skill systems, voice acting and ever more colors of chocobos are in the vanguard of innovation. But one thing we have not seen advance in any particularly cogent fashion is the experience system.

On the surface, the experience system is relatively straight forward. You kill monsters, you get stronger. This can take a variety of formats: from the basic experience system that leads to levels which grant automatic stat and ability increases, to systems where experience or a similar credit system are spent on customizable skills, to hybrid systems which do both. Gaining levels serves to complement the plot at a tactical level: as the story progresses, inevitably the farmer-turned-hero, imaginary-underwater-volleyball-player-turned-hero, or emo-sixteen-year-old-turned-hero will grow more powerful from a plot context. Therefore it is only logical your options go from basic attacks to complex spells, special moves, or the ability to dual wield double dildos. →  Knock knock. Who’s there? This article.

ODST(ough shit)

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Halo is as popular a game series as there is, yet I have always felt like it has suffered from a case of identity crisis.  First everyone derided the series as being a dumbed down FPS for jocks and kids.  Then a wave of revisionism swept through the land, and now even the snobbiest folks may consider the series a favorite of theirs.

With this week’s launch of Halo 3: ODST, the cycle may start anew.  The scores are pretty solid all around, but folks have found new ways to bring on the hate.  Among critics, there is far from universal love for ODST’s storytelling, both in regards to the hub world/flashback concept, or the Audio/Video logs scattered throughout.  From what I can tell, ODST is the closest Halo has gotten to the old Marathon style of narrative, but for some reviewers that has apparently become a bad thing, as it gets in the way of shooting things.

Among fans, there is dissent over the game’s price.  →  SaGa 3: Shadow or Write

Are you HARDCORE ENOUGH?

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Writing about the hardcore/casual games divide was the new “Are Games Art” but now “There’s No Such Thing as Hardcore/Casual” is the new “There is a Hardcore/Casual Games and Gamers Divide”. This is a lie told to you by casual gamers. Casual gamers are limp-wristed liberals. HARDCORE gamers get chicks and drive huge cars and WILL FIGHT YOU TO THE DEATH defending the console that their Mom bought them.

But are you HARDCORE? Or are you a casual? Do you have armour piercing spermatozoa/ova or are you firing blanks? This is where the HARDCORE test comes in. If the answer to any of these questions is yes, you are NOT HARDCORE AT ALL. You are a casual homo. Don’t take this test if you don’t want the truth.

Remember, any Yeses, even one and you are disgusting. No yeses and you ARE A TRUE LEGEND!

Let the test begin, Schrodinger’s Gay:

Do you play games that have a HUD?
Have you played any of the following gay games: Army of Two, Gears of War, Civ III? →  Read more? No, I’ll read it all.