Thing is, I didn’t want to review something I hadn’t played in eight years. Time fogs up your memory and the last I remember of ToS was “Wow this boss is easy” after rushing through it.

Conveniently, a cousin recently reminded me that I had lent the RPG to her eight years ago when I had first finished the game. Sheepishly, I took it back and spent a few days re-familiarizing myself with Lloyd Irving and his band of misfits as they ventured forth and eventually saved two worlds instead of one.

Thank goodness for the synopsis to show where I last left off.

Since I was in no hurry this time around, I could appreciate the story.

It begins 4,000 years ago during a great war that had erupted between two powerful countries. It was supposedly spurred by a dastardly group of half-elves called the Desians and the conflict used up great quantities of mana, the life force of the world. Fed up with it all, a young man named Mithos put an end to it by making a pact with the goddess Martel, sealing away the Desians and sacrificing himself. A church was established and since then angels have come down to the surface to announce the presence of the Chosen One. When the flow of mana ebbs, the Desians rise up and the Chosen One will eventually be called upon to begin the Journey of Regeneration. If successful, the world’s mana will flow freely once again and the Desians will be sealed away. If not, then the world’s mana will continue to deplete.

Fast forward to the present. Sylvarant cannot afford another failed Journey. Desians terrorize humans everywhere, enslaving whomever they want to be put to work in their Human Ranches until their weakened prisoners expire. The world’s only hope is the new Chosen One, Colette, a humble girl who has accepted her mission with a smile. Joining her in this adventure are her good friends Lloyd and Genis, who aren’t willing to let her go with only their teacher and an unknown mercenary. Together this odd group will help Colette to become an angel and bring hope back to Sylvarant.

However, not all is as it seems and the secrets behind Colette’s fake smile are only the beginning of a complex web of lies and deceit, only complicated further by the existence of Tethe’alla, another world.

This is tricky business. Saving one world is hard enough, but two? And not connected to Kingdom Hearts? Lloyd needs some serious help to achieve that goal, and he gets it in the form of eight other companions. Unfortunately, the party cap itself is eight, counting the idiot hero, so someone is going to end up left out of the final line up. You probably won’t know who until near the end of the game, and what’s more you probably won’t realize what decision triggered it since most of them seem inconsequential. Most of the time they just raise or lower hidden relationship values between Lloyd and everyone else for variations on some cutscenes and the ending. (To clarify: there are not multiple endings, just variations on the same one.)

Lloyd’s resulting group of misfits is part of the appeal of ToS. Whenever they’re not serious, their interactions are amusing to watch. This is especially true during some of the many, many side-quests and the skits that often pop up. These skits are little scenes with animated character portraits that play once a skit title appears at the lower left side of the screen and you press ‘Z’. The characters during these aren’t voiced like they usually are, and it’s a shame since it would really make these scenes come to life.

Both side-quests and skits as well as story events can net you nifty titles for your teammates that, when in use, grant level up bonuses or change someone’s outfit. A few even have minor effects such as a 10% discount in stores. Although if you’re looking for some more useful effects you’ll have to turn to EX Skills. These are skills obtained after setting an EX Gem to a character. There are four levels that EX Gems come in, each one with four different EX Skills available. However, only one Skill per set Gem may be put to use. If you want to use two Level 1 Skills then you must set two Level 1 EX Gems. These skills are quite handy and vary in usefulness such as doubling your running speed while in towns or dungeons or randomly increasing someone’s max HP after a battle. The Skills are also split into S (Strike) and T (Technical) types which really only affects what attacks a teammate learns and shouldn’t be worried about.

Now, that entire EX system? It feels like micro-management most of the time. Each character has four slots to insert Gems into, replaced Gems are destroyed, and some Skills together give an extra one. It’s best to set some Skills up then forget about the entire system for the rest of the game. You’ll only remember they’re there when something weird happens, like turning the game on after eight years and wondering why Lloyd is running around at turbo speed.

As for techs, it can drive you crazy if you try to learn every last one. Some are worth getting like Zelos’ Healing Stream, but if you want heavy damage or high combos you may want to spend some time figuring out Compound Special Attacks. These are activated when two characters, such as Lloyd and Colette, use certain abilities during a Unison Attack, like Tiger Blade and Pow Hammer respectively. This results in Lloyd wielding two huge toy hammers as he bashes the targeted foe.

Unison Attacks are executed by first filling up the bar at the bottom of the screen during a fight by attacking. Then either in the main menu or battle menu choose “U. Attack” and assign techniques to whatever button combinations you want. Then just press ‘Z’ when close to an enemy and if it’s not blocked, the barrage begins. You have to be quick when pressing those buttons (A, B, X, and Y) though or the Unison Attack will end prematurely. Best of all, when using one of these coordinated combination attacks no Technical Points (TP; the MP for this series) is used up.

Pulling off one of these Unison Attacks also affects an unseen chart of sorts that tallies up how well you did during the fight. The better you do (blocking, no guard breaks, no KOs, etc.) the more Grade you get at the victory screen. With enough Grade you can transfer stuff, EX Skills, techs, and the like over to a new game. It just takes a tremendous effort if you want every last thing the Grade Shop offers here so it’s healthier to not worry about it.

Now, battles are all done in real time, and though the system has improved over the years in later “Tales of…” games, they can still be a bit of a pain. Unlike in DotNW, there is no free running. Characters and enemies run left and right only. If a hulking monster corners you and you don’t heal, you’re dead. The two ways around this are by targeting other monsters on-screen and dashing after them at an angle, or by using Lloyd’s Tempest attack where he somersaults in an arc over the enemy’s head. Handy thing that Tempest. It can get you out of some really nasty situations.

While we’re still on the subject of DotNW differences, I would like to point out a few things that make ToS more satisfying. For one, cooking is used to heal the party instead of leveling up anybody. It also helps to get some title costumes. Secondly, you probably won’t have to grind very much seeing as endgame enemies who were felled by a group averaging around 65 in ToS went down faster than endgame enemies against the same average level group in DotNW. Thirdly, multiplayer is vastly more enjoyable. Everybody levels up and equipment can be changed. Bring anybody into a fight. They won’t horribly hinder you. Fourth, there is an actual overworld, not a list of destinations. Fifth, you can fly around said overworld on Rheairds. Lastly, the characters are likeable without heaps of lovey dovey goop in the way.

There are other points, but to me these are prominent.

At least one thing the two games have in common, though, follows the saying: “If it ain’t broke, don’t throw a wrench at it.” Or something like that.

Monsters can still be seen in dungeons – and in ToS only, on the overworld as black things – wandering around to encounter you. When touched, the TV screen will “crack” and you chosen party of four will engage a group of monsters. A little better than random encounters, but you still won’t know what you’re completely up against until it’s too late.

Now enough of the comparing and contrasting with the sequel. Back to the very bright and colorful cel-shaded worlds of ToS that hide how horrible everything really is. I wish I was kidding. You wouldn’t believe how bright everything is when not inside some place like Temple of Darkness. Sometimes it’s like glowing toxic waste was dumped on the grass. Play this game in the dark and you won’t need another source of light.

Despite the sometimes painfully bright colors – here’s a tip: never play at two in the morning – ToS is beautiful and, of course, eye-catching. Not to mention the range of expressions that shows on everyone’s faces. Coupled with the excellent voice acting it’s easy to imagine these characters as being real. It’s probably unhealthy if you start to believe that, though.

He wants your soul.

If you start hallucinating as such, you may need to sit down and listen to just the soundtrack. I never noticed before, but it’s pretty cool. There are all sorts of musical genres here, soft and hard, whimsical and serious, that really deserve a listen. I’m sorry I didn’t appreciate it as much back when the game first came out.

Maybe if I’d remembered where ToS was this entire time I would have gone back and played it earlier. It might be the voice acting that compels the urge to waste some time in Sylvarant and Tethe’alla, otherwise I haven’t a clue as to why a second playthrough is beckoning.

This is the sort of game that I would suggest to find a Let’s Play of in order to form a final opinion, especially considering how high the eBay price can get from time to time. Tales of Symphonia is huge, taking up two discs of space and one measly review can’t capture everything about it.

Sample the OST, watch an LP, and decide for yourself if this is a game you would spend 60 – 80 hours on. ToS is not for everyone and you have to either really get into the plot or get attached to the characters for the purchase to be worth it.

Now to calculate how much more Grade I need for that second playthrough…

Obviously neither of those will be happening any time soon. So what was it about HG that could have inspired such crazy ambitions?

To begin with, Fiona Belli. After being knocked out in a car accident, she finds herself in the torture chamber under an old castle. Alone and afraid, she escapes and braves the grounds only to find the sole maid of the place, who is not all there in the head. The situation quickly becomes even more unsettling when Fiona is unknowingly watched by a psychotic pervert (which, yes, is relevant to the overall plot).

With a guest suite to herself, it’s obvious that somebody wants to make her feel at home. This utterly fails especially when the hulking, ill-minded gardener/handyman begins chasing Fiona, calling her “Dolly”. Finding companionship with Hewie, a white German shepherd, she just might make it out of this nightmare alive. If she can outrun her stalkers and avoid all the deadly traps anyhow.

As the game progresses, the circumstances surrounding Fiona’s presence at the castle become increasingly worse. Once you find out exactly why the crazies there (minus the gardener) are so persistent, you will not want the poor girl to be caught. Every stalker has something in mind for Fiona (done off-screen thankfully) once her stamina/HP (something you can only gauge by Fiona’s visual appearance) hits zero, signified by her crying out in pain for about three seconds as she crumples to the floor, not having to worry about clutching her side anymore. Having her bones broken by the first one while “playing” would be preferable compared to what the others intend to do to her. I can’t even hint at them, they’re so disturbing.

To stay alive, you will have to memorize the layout of each area and where you can find hiding spots, distractions like televisions to keep stalkers from finding Fiona’s location, and any clocks to save your progress. Hiding spots are everywhere, being either easy to miss inside bushes and underneath rubble or in plain sight under beds and inside wardrobes. Ducking down in the shadows or behind a door can also help out in a pinch. Any sort of break restores Fiona’s stamina and if you need a quick breather to continue escaping you’ll take what you can get.

And then a cutscene triggers and you're running again.

Distractions though tend to be rare. In fact I found only 2 TVs to use throughout the entire game and they were for the first stalker (and maybe the second) only. One was gone after a single use very early on and the other was pretty useless for the most part. You’re better off building up a decent relationship with Hewie and having him act as a distraction when needed.

If you are not a dog person or have no intention of taking care of a virtual dog, then you’re out of luck. Hewie is one of your keys to survival and mistreating him is an easy way to leave Fiona defenseless. You could always kick or tackle a stalker, but it won’t give you enough time to escape. There are explosive antimony to throw and magnesia to place on the ground, but those aren’t common enough to rely upon all the time. They only keep stalkers occupied for a couple seconds, too. They are more useful and most effective though when used in conjunction with Hewie’s attacks.

Good attack coordination goes a long way. When pinned in a dead end room, you’ll quickly agree. Though making Hewie so dependable in a desperate situation requires balancing praises with appropriate scolding as well as the occasional treat. This will make him more likely to listen when told to sit, search, come, and attack. As an added bonus, when Fiona is hiding he may follow the stalker when they are close by, barking at them to draw attention away from her.

If you are lucky or skilled at directing Hewie, the stalker may collapse for a little bit. This is your cue to check their still form for an item and then run as far away as possible or complete a puzzle.

Or Fiona can go into panic mode before that and run around blindly. Taken straight out of the Clock Tower series, panic mode initiates when Fiona becomes too freaked out to act rationally anymore. Any number of things can build up the unseen panic meter like: being chased around without rest; being hit by anyone or anything; or seeing something entirely unnatural or horrifying. For example, near the beginning of the game a bloody pillar startles her when examined, marked by the screen blurring. As the fear builds up, Fiona will stumble while running. The beautifully done graphics become hazy and colorless until Fiona screams and starts running around on her own. The subscreen can’t open, bumping into walls makes her fall (sometimes she won’t get up), and any directions to Hewie only succeed in making her cry “Help!” You can only hope to control where Fiona goes long enough for her to return to a normal state. If a stalker hits her while in such terror, it’s game over.

To make things fair, panic reducing and stamina restoration items can be found lying around or created. Convenient!

Making these incredibly helpful items is as easy as pressing X repeatedly. Which is exactly what you do after finding a medallion and locating one of the dark, dank holes in the wall scattered throughout the game. These holes lead to a safe room of alchemy where, although Hewie can’t follow, no stalkers can enter.

In the back is a refining machine that accepts your medallions and starts up a roulette of 10 spheres connected by 22 lines. The spheres spin, revealing a number of colors in gray, white, red, green, blue, and (sometimes) gold. The frequency of these colors depends on the medallion being used. Better medallions (like Viola and Album) show more colors while lesser ones (plain Medallions) are more likely to show gray, which does nothing. Pressing X at the right time will give you a useful color. The more lines connecting like-colored spheres, the better the chances of you getting a decent item. White gives restoration items, red gives offensive items, green grants more medallions and equipment (nothing like panic-reducing earrings!), and blue makes items to give to Hewie. Gold is a wildcard and counts as every color at once. Not every item you receive is helpful though so be careful when using an unknown Carbo or Remedium.

This refining room gets even better. On a first run through it only holds the refining machine, an antimony/magnesia dispenser (works sometimes depending on your stock), and notes on medallions and some alchemy items. On subsequent runs you can also find a machine accepting passwords on plate-keys (typed up elsewhere) and a chest holding alternate costumes for Fiona and Hewie. That’s not even half of the rewards for achieving one of the 4 endings. Hard Mode opens up and you gain access to the “Secret Room”, a little place outside the main game filled with a character gallery, a movie gallery to watch which of the 100-plus cutscenes you’ve unlocked, and so much more.

All of that after surviving each stalker in a new area (or two) while listening to creepy music that is sometimes paranoia-inducing. Hiding in a wardrobe, hearing creaks and barks in the frigging soundtrack is not fun. Particularly when waiting for the music to stop, signaling that a stalker is nearby. Then you step out at long last and the track ends in silence. The subscreen is pulled up, the music starts up again, and it’s such a relief to know the insane stalker isn’t anywhere near you.

The only thing worse than realizing you’re about to be chased again is realizing that something once thought as an obstacle is not working. Like ladders. Ladders can never save you, only buy you time if used right.

That sort of caution and learning experience is normal in HG. It isn’t as action-packed as some of the well-known franchises out there in the survival-horror genre. For that people may call it a watered down version of something like Resident Evil. But HG isn’t trying to be RE or Silent Hill, instead drawing more from Clock Tower and developing from there.

You wouldn’t believe the crud Fiona has to go through to finally walk out of the castle gates. You would have to be either really jaded or detached from the story to not feel relieved when she escapes that crazy hell hole.

Though perhaps, in a way, you might grow with Fiona, overcoming any fears and see the stalkers not as threats, but as nuisances. Such a feeling is invigorating, thus the want for something even more exciting.

If you want some quality survival-horror that’s a lot like Clock Tower only more interesting, you may want to check out Haunting Ground.

Caveat lector.

Once upon a time, the Nintendo kingdom teamed up with a developer called Square to bring great games to the world. Among these titles was Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars. A sequel was planned, but disagreements led to Square leaving the company. With the copyrights to Super Mario RPG belonging to Square, Nintendo was left with an RPG they couldn’t continue. To solve their dilemma, Nintendo decided to create a sort of pseudo-sequel to SMRPG with help from Intelligent Systems and dubbed it Paper Mario.

It was quite unusual for an N64 game, mixing 2D and 3D to create a storybook-like world where just about everyone and everything was as flat as, well, paper. The characters were 2D, yet they had 3D models so that they could turn in place. Buildings and landscapes for the most part were composed of multiple flat planes put together like a world of cardboard, or a stage. They were all very well made, however. The sprites, too, of the heroes, baddies, and non-hostiles had great effort put into them from idle to active animations. It got to the point where it didn’t feel like a storybook at times. It was more of a play.

Taking such an approach was risky as most developers at the time used 3D graphics, leaving the 2-dimensional world behind, to wow and reel in gamers. Such a kiddy concept, no matter how good-looking, couldn’t possibly garner much attention!

Fast forward to over a decade later. It’s gained 2 sequels in the same style with another scheduled to hit the 3DS. The series that kicked off from the original Paper Mario may not have as many entries as something like Mario Party, but it’s still going strong. But what is it about Paper Mario that makes it worthy enough to have multiple sequels?

A lot actually and it just wouldn’t be a Mario game without Bowser hatching some devious plan. Par for the course, he has decided to kidnap Princess Peach, yet again, in style. He makes his way up to Star Haven where the seven honorable Star Spirits watch over the Star Rod, an object capable of making any wish come true. Disregarding the fourth wall, he steals the Star Rod and imprisons the Star Spirits in large (collectible) cards. He then crashes a party being held at Peach’s castle in the most unusual manner.

His Keep magically appears underneath her castle, rising high into the atmosphere. Peach and all of her guests are effectively isolated from any meddling plumbers. At least, if a meddling plumber wasn’t already there attending the party. The two trade blows, but with the Star Rod Bowser is invincible and ridiculously powerful to the point where a breath of fire is enough to knock out Mario from full health. With a zap granted by the Rod, Mario is sent flying out of the castle, careening to the earth.

Unfortunately for Bowser, Mario survives. He receives help from the Star Spirits, projecting themselves from their prisons (somehow) to heal him up a bit, as well as a helping hand – er, foot from a nice family of Goombas. When he’s finally recovered, Mario begins his quest to rescue the Star Spirits from the clutches of Bowser’s most trusted (and flashy) underlings, and ultimately save the princess and trounce King Koopa. Just as soon as he finds a way to make Bowser vulnerable again.

The story that unfolds is divided into 8 chapters, a prologue, and a brief, peaceful epilogue. Throughout this adventure, Mario has to smash, stomp, and do things with a hammer that will leave his enemies quaking where they stand. That’s not to say there will be nonstop combat. Heck, there are measures in place in discourage grinding. Higher levels means less experience – called Star Points here; 100 of them levels you up – from the same enemies you defeated at a lower level.

Instead, combat is mostly optional since you can see the enemies before engaging them. If you bump into one normally, you are taken to the battle screen, which is really a stage complete with curtains and a cardboard background relating to the area you are in. A team of cannon fodder will be on the right side while Mario and company stand on the left. Fights are turn-based with Mario handed the first one. However, if while walking around Mario is hit by an enemy (say, a koopa spinning into Mario) the stage will open with the left-most foe getting a free hit at him using whatever attack the plumber was hit with. Thankfully, the tables can be turned by hammering or jumping on your enemy of choice. Even better: two of the teammates Mario gains can be used to do the same by using down-C. Kooper (a koopa) can have his shell shot forward and Bombette (a bom-omb) can be set down, allowing her to walk forward a few paces then explode. You get these guys early on in the adventure and mastering the art of the First Strike with and without them is essential to surviving the quicker and more powerful foes.

The actual battle gives you several options on what to do. Hammer or jump on an enemy, use an item, switch out your partner, abscond, or do nothing (why would you do that?). Once you rescue a Star Spirit, you’re given the option to use whichever ability they gave you. This ranges from restoring some health to raining stars on everyone for unblockable damage in exchange for Star Power. Focusing in battle or resting at an Inn (for free!) restores SP so it’s not to be wasted.

Just so you’re not twiddling your thumbs while everyone takes their turn, the timed hits from SMRPG returns. You have to wait until after the prologue to gain access to it though. When you do, an icon will appear in the upper left-hand corner when someone attacks during battle. By pressing buttons or moving the control stick at the right time, more damage is dealt to the enemy or damage to Mario can be reduced. Want more? Throughout the game you’ll find hammer and boot upgrades that up your attack. There are also badges everywhere – in chests, in stores, out in the open, found during side quests – that grant a wide variety of special effects when equipped. The sound your hammer makes when attacking can change, you can get twice the amount of coins from battles, status conditions can be negated, and attack power can be increased. Among the many, many other badges there are those that can change how Mario attacks. In exchange for some Flower Points, he could gain a boost in his jumping attack or fling his hammer at any enemy on screen.

The catch here is that each badge – save for the sound effect ones – costs badge points. You start out with 3 and have the opportunity to gain 3 more every time Mario levels up. Another catch: you have to give up an increase in HP and FP. It’s a delicate balance at the start when choosing what to favor from the options and a cool badge is sitting in your inventory, just 1 or 2 points away from being worn. If you want some of those more impressive badges, you’ll have to work on reaching that level 27 cap.

Outside of battle, you’re free to roam the Mushroom Kingdom (or rather Toad Town) and the surrounding regions as they become open to you. Side quests open or continue after each chapter, hidden items await discovering as do Star Pieces used to buy very useful badges up at Shooting Star Summit, and the local cook Tayce T. can take one of your items and make a better HP-recovery meal or attack item out of it. If you are looking to waste your time spending some coins, there’s the lil’ oink corral. Just 10 coins and a whack of a hammer gives you a random little pig to look at in a small enclosure. Aside from filling the corral with cute pigs, there’s a good reason to invest in them if you find yourself filthy rich. Whenever there’s too many oinkers or you open the gate to where they are, they will run away. There’s a chance though that they might drop a valuable item, such as Jammin’ Jelly which restores 50 FP. In the event that 2 or more are left on the ground, you will only have time to nab one before they all disappear.

The other way is to find the underground playground where you can gamble in games of chance.

All of these are just pieces of Paper Mario’s charm. At its heart is a good dose of humor that keeps the story light-hearted and enjoyable. It’s mostly provided by Mario’s partners and some of the villains in the form of amusing dialogue. You have Goombario, Mario’s huge fan and first partner, who sometimes breaks the fourth wall – never obliterating it as Super Paper Mario does – Bowser as a ham, and the Koopa Bros. who bring to mind the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles only not as cool. Just to name a few. Minor characters like Kolorado the archeologist-who-would-be-dead-by-now get in on this, too, being over-the-top and completely unforgettable. No one else would brave a dangerous volcano for ancient treasure with such disregard for their health.

Undoubtedly you won’t be forgetting the music either. Classic Super Mario tracks have been remixed and added to a batch of original tracks. Trying to get the music out of your head may prove futile. (Fricking road to Koopa Village.)

Put together, the successful elements of Paper Mario make it difficult to put the game down permanently. Afterwards, little bits of memory come back and before you know it, you’ve found the hammer again, thinking of what you did last time and what you will do differently this time.

Unless you can break free, in which case you may want to step outside.

The big question now is: How well does Paper Mario hold up today?

To answer: Quite well.

Although it wasn’t terribly successful in 2001 what with the PS2 to contend with, Paper Mario gained an audience and the resulting series has yet to die. With plenty of shout-outs, a unique style, fun interactions, and a battle system that never feels stale wrapped up into a casual adventure, the original Paper Mario has aged well. It is a little rough when compared to the smoother textures in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, but still worth checking out if you’re a Mario fan. If you aren’t the type who appreciates 2D gaming, you are missing out.

Most of all, though, I was disappointed.

There have been some great entries in the “Tales of…” series and even the mediocre ones have their perks, but DotNW lacks so much that any potentially redeeming factors are overshadowed by bigger problems.

(Beware: Tales of Symphonia spoilers throughout.)

Let’s take a look at the core problems: story and character development.

It’s been a couple years since the events of ToS. The worlds of Sylvarant and Tethe’alla have been reunited thanks to the effort of Lloyd Irving and his friends. They no longer have to vie for each other’s mana, but the new world is plagued by all sorts of natural disasters now, and the dream of peace is still far off. In all the chaos and hatred, the people of the world have divided into 2 factions to have some semblance of order. The Tethe’allans have put their support in the Church of Martel and “the Great Hero” Lloyd Irving while the Sylvaranti have formed the Vanguard, a rebellious force with violent tendencies.

Veterans of ToS will immediately see something wrong with this picture. Lloyd siding with the Church? It gets even worse in the opening movie as Lloyd is seen massacring the citizens of Palmacosta, mainly the parents of the hero of DotNW, in a Blood Purge of “traitors”. If you’ve never played ToS, you’re going to immediately peg him as a complete monster because how else would you know that he’s acting completely out of character? The answer to this will have to wait until halfway through the game, because the scene shifts to the young, meek Emil, the protagonist of this adventure. He is absolutely despised by his aunt and uncle as well as the rest of the Luin. They seem to think that the increase in monsters seen near the town is his fault even though he’s spineless and wouldn’t lay a hand on anybody.

Emil soon meets the strange traveler Richter whose favorite quote (“Courage is the magic that turns dreams into reality.”) will get on your nerves, as well as the mega Emil fangirl Marta, who thinks Emil saved her back in Palmacosta’s Blood Purge. As it turns out, each of them has a Centurion partner, a kind of being linked to mana. Both of them are also after Centurion Cores, spheres that hold sleeping Centurions, for opposing reasons.Richter’s purpose is unknown at first (sort of like a certain stoic mercenary in ToS), but Marta lays hers out in the open within the first hour or so. She is a former Vanguard Guard member out to keep the Cores from falling into their hands. She left with the Core of Ratatosk, master of Centurions, sticking out of her forehead. But most importantly, she needs to find the Cores so that the Centurions and Ratatosk can wake up from their 4,000 year sleep and regulate the world’s mana via monsters.

So it seems germinating the World Tree at the end of ToS only fixed half the problems, even though Martel should have had no problem distributing mana. Untold problems brought up in a sequel that makes everything more complicated. It’s like Kingdom Hearts all over again. Good to know.

But what’s this? Lloyd also happens to be after these powerful Cores! After that it only takes a little prodding from Marta (and some drama in Luin) to get Emil to join her in searching for them, too.

The fact that he gained great fighting skills and the ability to recruit monsters as a Knight of Ratatosk after making a pact with Marta’s partner, Tenebrae, doesn’t hurt either. The resulting split personality might, however.

It’s worth noting that Centurions were never mentioned or referenced to in ToS. Like most things in DotNW they were stapled on. In fact it’s safe to say that the entire plot of DotNW is like a bad self-insert fan-fiction come to life. You have “the perfect boyfriend” Emil who has a literal “kill ‘em all” side after making a pact with Tenebrae. This side protects Marta and doesn’t bat an eyelash when she swoons over him. Marta on the other hand is clingy and delusional, thinking that she and Emil belong together. She’s downright creepy, imagining how to spend her life with him. This train of thought never derails. Ever. It could only possibly get worse if Emil, hated by everyone else, loved her back. Although, what are the odds of that happening?

Oh, and sweet always-apologizing Colette from ToS supposedly killed Marta’s parents.

Yes, all of that is relevant to the plot.

I'm sorry. Does she look evil to you?

Not so relevant, however, are the old ToS heroes, who are useless this time around. Demoted to extra, it feels like they were shoved into the plot at times, like Regal. He has absolutely no reason to end up in a prison uniform and shackles, again, when his placement in society and history should make him too busy to save the world again. His time is over, let him rest.

If you want to see more lack of logic, the endings won’t disappoint in that department. I won’t spoil the content, but the bad ending makes the most sense (and doesn’t count) while the normal ending is less than satisfying. Then there’s the good ending which completely contradicts itself and unless you like Marta, is a ridiculous mind screw.

Now, unlike ToS there is very little character development in DotNW. The heroes from the last game have already grown, Marta’s crush never fades – you are reminded of it every 10 minutes mostly by the dialogue at the end of battles or in skits that pop up from time to time; press C and hope the conversation doesn’t drift towards love – and some people like Richter grew before you were ever given control of Emil. A few people show their faces, gain some (weak) development, and then are never seen again. Emil and a few others change a bit near or at the end, but that’s it. Any additional development throughout the game is minor and inconsequential.

Our secondary problems all fall under ‘gameplay’. To start with, monster recruitment feels tacked on. There are over 200 monsters to catch, level up, and evolve (only by feeding them) with plenty of branched evolutions. There is a lot of forced grinding and if you reach the end of a branch and feed a monster, it reverts to level 1 and its starting form with boosted beginner stats. Fun.

It feels a lot like Pokémon only a lot more tedious in that the battlefield must have an element in order to catch something. To give or change the battlefield’s element, 3 Artes (abilities) of the same element must be used without interruption of another element. Defeat the monster you want last and hope that the new pact goes through. If the monsters on your team are of the same element as the one you want, the chances of a successful pact go up. Truthfully though, the monsters you need to up your chances seem random. (Example: An Imp, Dark Demon, helps strengthen the ties with a Wolf, Fire Beast.) The tougher the monster, the lower the chance of recruiting it.

Unfortunately, making your uncontrollable monsters stronger is essential to staying alive. There is just no way to survive without them. They level up fast, but not fast enough to avoid a lot of grinding. You can find or buy books to teach your new companions offensive, defensive, and supportive Artes but if your monsters are weak, bosses will stomp you into oblivion. Heck, even if you’re strong enough to one-hit kill something you are still in danger of instantly dying. Battles happen in real time and whenever Emil, Marta, or an ally are hit, especially when free running around, they are stunned for a second. There is no invincibility frame so if a few monsters continuously attack one character, they will quickly die.

On the plus side, you don’t have to swing around the Wiimote to attack (unless it’s a shortcut to order allies around). The A button is used for normal attacks which can be chained into 3 consecutive strikes. Artes are assigned to, and issued by, the B button and either leaving the control stick stationary or moving it up, down, and from side-to-side. These abilities can be spells or physical attacks that do more damage to the enemy, but they drain Technical Points (TP) which can only be restored by striking with normal attacks or using an item.

With all the non-verbal emphasis on strength, it seems pretty useless to have the option of putting the ToS heroes in your party. They pop up throughout the journey, but are always under-leveled. Their stats and equipment are fixed, too, so there’s no chance to being a stronger human ally (aside from Marta) into a fight.

Now, not everything about the game is horrible. There are some side quests to take up that shed some light on what Richter is up to (which still won’t make anything make sense), and the Katz Guild offers their own quests to earn items and experience. If you don’t want to go it alone, you can drag 3 friends along for the ride (which is probably why the old ToS cast is available for use in the first place; you can’t play as the monsters). If you want to lure them in without mentioning the plot much, show off the Unison Attack. When the Unison Atack gauge at the bottom is at least half-full, Emil can launch a devastating attack against a foe. Depending on the battlefield’s element, his allies may join in for additional damage. If that doesn’t work, tell them that a protagonist from ToS has gone rogue and you can recruit demons and feral beasts.

Grinding may not be unavoidable, but you can at least choose your battles. Encounters are triggered when you touch a roaming enemy so if a particular monster is a pain to take on, there’s a good chance you can dodge it. If you fight well, though, you can earn grade which can be used to carry over items and abilities into a new game. If you want to play again, anyway.

To be honest, I haven’t played DotNW in some time, but I remember a lot of the tracks from ToS were remixed and put in. It was one of the few things done right besides the graphics. The characters are well-detailed having left the cel-shading of ToS behind in exchange for more updated textures. The black outlines are gone and the original heroes seem to have grown a bit (except for Genis the short stack). They don’t look “real” but the graphics are great for the Wii, even if the backgrounds are kind of dull without the bright colors they used to have.

Unfortunately, when all is said and done, the cons outweigh the pros in DotNW. It will disgust players of the first ToS and new players probably won’t appreciate the mushy love from Marta being shoved in their faces (especially so without being able to fly in Rheairds or traverse a decent overworld).

Save your money and save your time. There are better ways to spend them than on this lovey dovey gooey mess.

Caleb, Aaron, Ryan, and Leo gather round for our 25th episode where we go all in on Mass Effect 3! We spoil everything as we give our complete thoughts on the game and the end to BioWare’s sci-fi trilogy epic!

This is how, after being recommended some NES titles, I was able to take a chance and try out the little known adventure game StarTropics. I went in with lower-than-normal expectations, bracing for a simple yet difficult experience.

That was exactly what I got in the best way possible. 

StarTropics is a pretty straight-forward adventure divided into 8 chapters. It stars Mike Jones, an all-American er, Americola boy who’s been invited to visit his never-before-seen Uncle Steve. The man is an archeologist searching for ruins around an archipeligo and has told Mike to come to C-Island where his laboratory is stationed. But when the kid gets there, he discovers that his uncle has been abducted! With only a yo-yo, Dr. Jones’ C-Submarine, and a cameo from R.O.B. (yes, that R.O.B.), Mike takes up the task of rescuing his uncle. Once again, adults are useless and a minor must risk life and limb to save someone.

Well, maybe not limb, but the ruins Mike explores during his quest become incredibly dangerous and difficult to navigate. Guaranteed you will lose a life sooner or later due to the trial and error gameplay or by running out of specific items – like baseballs – found in the ruins that are used to defeat the boss. There are hidden paths in the walls that you can’t see before the game’s halfway point, dead ends that exist just to kill you, multiple paths, and tough mini-bosses to overcome. Not to mention the rooms full of enemies that will either walk in the same top-down grid as you do or fly diagonally (a direction which Mike can’t move in). All of that in some of the most fiendish dungeon designs I’ve ever seen. You could check every room only to find the way forward where you least expect it then die immediately 3 rooms over. Depending on how far you’ve gotten, Mike will respawn at the start of the ruins or somewhere within it at the default 3 hearts (no matter how long your row of hearts extends) with every collected item gone. Continuing like this is painful with hearts being uncommon to find and any passed up items impossible to obtain again.

Yes, StarTropics can be really cruel. Although autosaving before and after dungeons takes the sting out of it.

When you aren’t bopping mummies, snakes, and bats with a toy, you will be talking to the island people – everyone from Coralcola to Tunacola has something to say – and figuring out some clever puzzles. For example: “Do me so far, do me.” No, it’s not innuendo. It refers to notes on a huge organ. Good luck with that.

One of the more interesting puzzles, much to the frustration of those who rented StarTropics I’d imagine, involves a letter from Uncle Steve that originally came with the game. By dipping it in water, a frequency was revealed so that you could progress. The VC port has the letter available in the operations manual and clicking the bucket of water at the bottom of it gives the needed frequency.

With so much creativity put into challenging the player, you can bet there was no skimping on making this game look and sound good. Even limited by 8-bit tech, it’s still impressive how well the sprites were designed and how varied the dungeon layouts are. Not to mention the piles of bones in bodies of wa – er, I mean the cool overworld’s vivid colors. Yeah, no adventurer remains under there. Nope.

Not much to say about the soundtrack other than it being small and non-irritable.

Despite its age, StarTropics is still a decent game. For 500 points ($5) you get some terrific challenge, a few curses aimed at “those drubbing spikes”, and enough humor and puzzles to make the breaks between ruin explorations slide the tension off your shoulders.

I admit, I may have put StarTropics in a somewhat negative light. Unless you’re put off by really hard games (seen in abundance on the NES), StarTropics comes recommended to all challenge-seeking adventure gamers.

As a parting note: Wow, modern gaming has spoiled us so much. Most people now days want bigger, better, more complex games with multiplayer action, but taking the simpler retro route can be just as good if not better.

Yes, that is a skull sitting on the throne. Yes, that man is laughing. No, this won't end well.

For convenience, a list of differences between the Cave Story versions has been placed below.

PC: Free. Has the fan translation by Aeon Genesis Translations. All other versions have an official translation. Fan mods available.

WiiWare: 1200 Wii Points ($12). Contains original and new music and graphics, Time Attack, Boss Rush, Curly Story, and a hidden sound test.

DSi: $9.99. Original graphics and music. A step above the freeware version.

Steam: $9.99. Known as “Cave Story Plus”. Contains original, new, and remastered music, Achievements, Time Attack, Boss Rush, Curly Story, and a new level called Wind Fortress.

3DS: $39.99. Contains remastered music and graphics, Time Attack, and “Classic Mode”. Added areas and Life Capsules.

Fragile Dreams takes you to the not-so-distant future where humans have almost died out. Their creations and accomplishments have been left to rot and be overtaken by nature. Strange ghostly creatures called Thought Entities roam the decaying ruins as do wild animals and malevolent forces.

In this desolate world, 15-year old Seto is suddenly alone after the passing of his grandfather-figure. Left with a letter telling him to head for a “tall, red tower” and the hope of someone – anyone – waiting there, he sets out for the remains of a dead civilization. The likelihood of finding survivors is slim, but there must be someone out there, right?

It isn’t very long before he comes across a silver-haired girl. Breathing. Warm. Alive. She absconds during their first meeting, but Seto is determined to find her, this very real girl in a lonely, devastated world.

Progress towards the Red Tower takes more than a little bit of combat. This is what will make gamers either stop or keep going. There’s no sugar-coating it: Seto does not fight like a seasoned warrior. That’s not what he is. He’s a humble kid who is fighting Thought Entities for the first time and has skills that reflect this. He swings bamboo swords and golf clubs awkwardly, he nearly drags a hammer and heaves it forward since he doesn’t have much strength, and he swings around a silly butterfly net because that’s what makes sense when using it as a weapon. Thankfully all fighting is done with the A button and with a little strategy (run, dodge, or attack attack attack) you’ll soon forgive this weakness. Waving the Wiimote only controls where Seto’s flashpoints to or where a bow’s crosshairs are aimed at. Seto is inexperienced and unlike most other games with RPG elements, he gains no unique abilities even as he levels up. What he gets instead is more precious.

Seto is not completely alone as he makes the trek to the Red Tower. Over the course of his travels he gains a couple of partners. They give advice on what to do or simply make small talk. When you’re in a dark corridor knowing something invisible is there, you’ll be glad for the company. At least until they stop responding and all you hear is cackling.

As odd as it may sound, sometimes you may feel a little less alone by listening to the voices of those long gone. Scattered throughout the world are Memory Items that hold final thoughts or memories or connected stories. Right where you found one somebody may have been on an adventure, talking to a friend, or idly wondering about a minor thing that suddenly seemed more important. Just for a moment you can forget you’re in a rundown hotel or a maze of cramped hallways and just listen.

Unfortunately, there’s not much to listen to outside of Memory Items. The music is great, wonderful even, but it will only play if you are about to engage an enemy (in real time) or if a cutscene is playing. Otherwise all you hear is Seto’s footfalls, sounds from the environment, and whatever harmless creatures are near. In any other game this would be looked down upon but this post-apocalyptic world where you are meant to feel alone, it fits. The lack of music while exploring makes any unnatural sound from your Wiimote anticipated and possibly feared or hated. The atmosphere is perfect.

The world outside Seto’s home is both dangerous and beautiful. Enemies range from wild dogs to glowing legs with the voice of a child to unnatural forces that seek to do nothing but harm. From simple to complex designs, they can pop out at any moment. After they’re slain, you can admire the environs. Fragile Dreams was clearly done with love for the art. You are in the Observatory at the beginning for only 10 minutes or less, and yet everything about it screams “Only two people lived here” if you care to look over the place. In the area right after that you can just walk forward and trigger a cutscene to leave. You can never return to this specific area and yet you can explore a bit off to the side. It’s the details large and small like these that make the world of Fragile Dreams come to life. Granted, halfway through the game you will find yourself mostly underground, taking from the beauty but not the detail.

So at the end of the line will you want to come back? Not immediately, but maybe sometime down the line.

“An experience – or perhaps a lesson – in what binds us.” So perhaps it’s not the perfect explanation, but it’s close enough. Unlike a majority of games out there, Fragile Dreams doesn’t concentrate on heavy gunfire, aliens, zombies, wars, destiny, creating, or anything overly complex. Heck, even the background leading up to the end of mankind is only given a brief summary, focusing the spotlight on the characters. It’s Seto, a flashlight, and the will to keep going; to find survivors.  Add in some humanity and you got a short, beautiful adventure, ending in about 20 – 24 hours. Objectives keep you on a linear track, but there’s so much to check out and find on the way (such as the dozens of signs and Memory Items). If you dive into Fragile Dreams with an open heart and mind, you will not be disappointed.

Join Caleb, Leo and Aaron as we discuss Gamestop ruining Caleb’s life (ME3 preorder), Penumbra: Overture, Mass Effect 2 (renegade playthrough), Halo: CE Anniversary Edition, Soul Calibur V, and the Playstation Vita launch featuring Uncharted: Golden Abyss, Lumines – Electronic Symphony, and Super Stardust Delta and much more!

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You are given control of 6 characters, each of a different species who live together with their families in the quiet Fur Fighter Village. Unbeknownst to them, the evil General Viggo, a great white cat with world domination on his mind, has been lurking in the shadows with his growing army of bears. As revenge for foiling him years before, he has the village filled with knockout gas and all but 5 former nuisances (and the offspring of another) taken captive. When they come to and discover what’s happened via the convenient note left by Viggo, arms are taken up. For one last time the Fur Fighters are formed, ready to save their families (with their somewhat functional Teleporter) and defeat Viggo once and for all.

In their quest to save everyone dear to them and thrash Viggo, the Fur Fighters will travel through city streets, an impressive dam, a space center, and beyond. Coincidentally, the six hubs they need to enter and scour are easily accessible from the Village. The catch is that the boss of each area, a mutated spouse (or mother in one case), must be fought and saved in order to get the key item required for the next area. The levels though are opened by collecting gold tokens, crystallized pieces of slime from Teleporter spheres, and rescuing babies. Gold tokens are lying around everywhere, but the babies either need brawn or some puzzle-solving to reach them. They won’t go with just anyone though so you’ll need to switch out for the right parent (or sibling) at one of the Teleporter globes scattered throughout each level.

The game is pretty straight forward: complete a few levels, save a relative, get a key item for the next hub, repeat. Though by no means does this make the journey boring. Every Fur Fighter has his or her own special skill that range from squeezing into small spaces to swimming. The levels and the cool puzzles found in every one are designed around these skills, and more often than not, shooting things. If you want any additional weapons – aside from your default pistol – they can be found on the ground, earned, or picked up after a defeated enemy to give some variety when blasting the (literal) stuffing out of bears.

What’s bound to keep your attention though is the humor and the scenery. From Fur Fighter Village to the final showdown everything is lovingly detailed. The dated cel-shaded graphics do not hide this. They catch your eye and lead it from the nearby breakable objects to the unreachable background only to hit you with crazy ducks, parodies (Resident Weevil comes to mind), and cartoon antics.

One of the few sections that FF lacks in is musical selection. The tracks are catchy and memorable long after turning the system off, partly because you will be listening to most of them for at least an hour each across several levels. This trend eases up a bit in certain areas where the music will incorporate the theme of the character you are controlling. Six variances on one song encourage switching out characters even if it’s not necessary.

Another thing that FF lacks is replayability, not that it hurts the game much. After Viggo has his butt handed to him there really isn’t anything left to do. You could play some mini-games like a puzzle-slider or Snake around the Village or unlock some cheats, but that’s all. There’s a versus mode, but Fur Fighters wasn’t developed with multiplayer in mind. That doesn’t mean it’s bad, just that it might become boring having a shootout after a while without any of the usual humor or puzzles seen in the main game. 2 – 4 people can go head-to-head with Multitap. Plenty of weapons and unlockable stages are available and Teleporters ensure that you are not restricted to just one character. A couple stages change the clothes that the characters wear to fit the theme (ex. tuxedos for a spy theme) making it neat to switch up who you play as.

In the end, Fur Fighters: Viggo’s Revenge is a short and enjoyable third person shooter that flew under many a gamers’ radar. It’s filled with puzzles, humor, and greatly detailed levels for the time, sprinkled with affectionate parodies. Catchy yet limited music doesn’t hurt the game in the long run.

Admittedly, there are a few noticeable glitches in the game (trapped after jumping to where you’re not supposed to in the Quackenheim Museum for example), but I found nothing that didn’t require a quick restart and a loss of 5 minutes, if that. Controls would also be cited a problem for those unfamiliar to shooters, if it wasn’t for the option to change them in the main menu, something that seems to be overlooked a lot.

Fur Fighters is a fun, decent game unhindered by whatever flaws it has. It’s old, kind of cute, and if you’re one for shooters it’s worth picking up if you can find it. If not, go watch a playthrough of it on youtube.

Not bad for a Dreamcast port.

Berlioz’s adaptation explores some interesting concepts. Among them are “What would Termina be like without Link?” and “What if Kafei found the resolve to keep his promise to Anju instead of holing up in the pawn shop’s backroom?” Berlioz acknowledges that leaving Link absent might anger people and humbly accepts any resulting flames. That will not stop him from continuing this project with a passion.

The bits of orchestrated music that have already been revealed are promising, inspiring emotions from wonder (the Astral Observatory) to unsettlement (Song of Healing with Skull Kid confrontation music). The plot unveiled so far centers around Kafei, who finds it inside himself to keep his promise to Anju and track down Sakon as the world comes to an end.

There are still acts to be written, voices to record from unprofessional yet enthusiastic singers and actors (don’t mind the accents), music to further develop, and a flash artist to find, but the opera is coming along nicely. Slow and interrupted by real life problems, but nicely. He might at a later date need donations to make this opera a reality, but for now word needs to spread about this endeavor.

Right now, samples of how the opera would sound and play out are in progress. There will be 10 in all, the first one to be released soon.

If you are interested in applying for the flash artist position, contact Berlioz at mbulteau (at) gmail (dot) com.

We’ll keep you updated as the opera progresses.

Update: The first demo has been released! A fantastic bit in the mayor’s office as a heated argument shows no signs of compromise. Three voices are going at once, but the subtitles help clarify what’s being said.

The dance battles Ulala struts into follow a Simon Says formula. The opponent says a command (ex. Left, chu, chu, chu, right, chu, chu!) and you have to repeat it back to the catchy beat. It won’t be long though before 3 orders become 12 with tight timing windows keeping you on your toes. Some of these windows are harder to hit in the first game and sometimes it’s difficult in either game to make out if someone said right or left. Good hearing and process of elimination usually helps, but there’s only a span of 1 – 3 seconds to figure that out. This isn’t a problem that destroys the game, by no means. It just makes a few dance-offs kind of annoying until the directions are figured out. Thankfully everyone’s movements are shown off clearly. The quality drops now and then during the first game, but it’s not enough to go “What direction did they point in again?” Although the flailing of a boss or two may still be up to interpretation depending on how attentive you are. (We’re looking at you, Morolina.)

Part 2 kicks up the quality from glove-handed characters to actual fingers. The stages, called Reports, are nicely detailed - particularly the Space Park in the second one – and rescued people are no longer restricted to merely copying Ulala’s moves or a special character’s actions when moving from one dance battle to another. The battles themselves are more diverse, adding such things as a guitar duel, a waltz, and lyrics. Those are just appetizers for what future Reports have in store.

Your space butt-kicking is accompanied by music that’s bound to make your toes tap. It’s surprising how good the tracks sound even with actions being declared most of the time. It’s clear that the music and commands were made to complement each other, making it easier to get the timing down. The voices tend to sound hammy and silly at first but become more serious in Part 2.

When you’ve perfected your skills enough to let the credits roll, you may think it’s all over. If you’re up for more groovy rhythms there’s still more to do. Extra Mode puts you through a harder version of each stage, and there are more people to save than you can shake a controller at. Each one has their own profile with over 100 to collect. Part 2 expands from there to include a 100-Stage Dance Battle, unlockable costumes and microphones, and a 2 player mode. All 2-player mode does is take the X and O buttons and shift them to the second controller. If you don’t have a second controller then share the first and enjoy the havoc of co-op.

For all its silliness, Space Channel 5 and its sequel are hard to put down once past the initial weirdness factor. They definitely put the “fun” in “funky” and before you know it, you will be nodding your head or tapping your foot to the beat while stifling a laugh at dancing robots and the appearance of Space Michael Jackson. Still, the games aren’t long and both can be beaten in one or two sittings. If you’re a fan of action-filled rhythm games, Space Channel 5 and Space Channel 5: Part 2 come highly recommended.

At present, Space Channel 5: Part 2 is available on PS2, PSN, Xbox Live Arcade, and Steam. What are you waiting for? Get jiggy with it and save the world!

When you frequent a forum for a specific series and the forumites enjoy a completely different game so much that the admin creates a separate board for it, of course you’re going to get curious. At one forum I used to visit that different game was Phantasy Star Online. I knew nothing about the series itself except that it took place in space, had online play, and was about $5 at GameStop. The last sci-fi game I played was Star Ocean: Till the End of Time. It left a good impression and I decided that it wouldn’t hurt to get a taste of what was so popular.

I would have been better off getting a pretzel at the food court.

I popped in PSU fully prepared to immerse myself in another world, another galaxy. I didn’t know how long I would be under until I surfaced. The opening cinematic began and slowly but surely a weight dropped into my stomach. Maybe it was the bland background, maybe it was Ethan Webar’s green and white ensemble, or maybe it was the bad voice acting. Something about the whole intro made me ill, a sign that I should have shut off the game and gone back to GameStop. One thing kept me from doing just that: I wanted to give PSU a chance. Who knew? Perhaps I could stop worrying and learn to appreciate Ethan’s fashion sense and the poor voice acting. This could get better, right?

Not really. To keep my sanity, I will try to be as professional as possible with this review. No guarantees though.

The story, or lack thereof, over the course of 12 chapters each with the same intro and outro – save for the last few chapters – like a TV series, complete with previews for the following chapter. This takes all the suspense out of it by partially answering “What will happen next?” The story itself focuses on Ethan Webar, a hot-headed young man who lives on a space station, supporting himself and his younger sister. He loathes the GUARDIANS, a sort of galactic mercenary force with morals, blaming them for the death of his father who died while on duty. This causes a problem when the space station is invaded by aliens and the GUARDIANS are ushering people to safety. Ethan decides he knows better and his actions get his sister trapped between walls of debris. In the span of 20 – 30 minutes, Ethan saved his sister using GUARDIAN equipment, has a change of heart, and decides to walk in his father’s footsteps as a GUARDIAN, too. The rest of the game follows Ethan in his career path as he fights off the alien life forms, dubbed the SEED. If this sounds boring, that’s because it is. Some chapters are dedicated to side characters and background information, but it’s mostly Ethan and company fighting off waves of aliens.

The characters are unlikeable, taking up stereotypical roles (hard-headed protagonist who’s a lousy fighter, unbelievably naïve little sister, a partner who tries to woo girls – sister included, etc.) with little development given to them if at all. The pacing for that development isn’t done well and whatever differences seen aren’t enough to make them any better. During play, the only way I could bring myself to like just one of them was to think of that character as someone else. For example, to actually care about an ally named Hyuga, I had to think of him as a combination of Neji Hyuuga (Naruto) and Vaati (The Legend of Zelda). It’s a pretty bad sign when the characters are so disliked that one has to be one is reduced to thinking about characters from other series. This could perhaps be overlooked if the gameplay was any better.

Ethan starts out with a sword and gun. As the game progresses more weapons are unlocked, but there’s a problem with this. For starters, each weapon has a specific attack combo that doesn’t change. While this is a common sight in any hack and slash game, the difference here is that each weapon gets only one special ability, a TECHNIC, which you must buy. On top of that, the type and number of weapons you can use depend on which class you are. This can be changed at any time before the chapter’s main mission, for a fee, if you want to try out different weapons (and their TECHNICs). This makes perfect sense, but paying to change classes seems strange.

Now add in a limited number of slots for weapons to quickly switch to during battle – which can sometimes get buggy and cause a delay in the weapon appearing. In real time. There’s also a limit on how many TECHNICs can be known at once. Chances are you will experiment a little early on and choose a specific set of weapons to rely upon by three-quarters into the game. This makes late game weapons next to useless.. I have never played an MMORPG before, but this seems really inconvenient to the player. I say “MMO” because minus the NPCs, that’s what it feels like. This, of course, includes being unable to pause at all at any time. This becomes incredibly maddening during a mission, especially the timed ones, when real life needs attention. You leave for one minute and come back to the game over screen. In my time playing PSU, my allies never healed me. They can die and come back repeatedly, but the moment Ethan bites it, that’s it.

The inability to heal is minor compared to the other problems the AIs have. More than once I found myself fighting alone. A quick look around found my allies either standing around or stuck near an incline, unable to turn around and go up the hill or ramp. PSU is an old game but that knowledge does nothing to relieve the irritation when a boss is thrashing Ethan while his teammates stare into space halfway across the field. The saving grace was during the two missions where multiple SEED pods had to be destroyed. First you put on special goggles to see the invisible pod’s roots. Once they’re visible you (try to) point and shoot a special gun at them. The problem is, trying to aim is difficult and time consuming. It was easier to let the allies do it.

Now for the missions themselves. They make up roughly 80% of each chapter with the other 20% divided between cutscenes and whatever you want to do before the missions begin. Free time usually consists of restocking or synthesizing something. There isn’t much to say about synthesizing. Just buy a board (the pattern) and get the right materials, then shove them into your robo-pal lounging around Ethan’s room.

When preparations are Done, you will find a consistent pattern with every mission that boils down to “get from point A to point B while killing just about every alien/mutated creature in sight”. As you can imagine, this combined with limited combos and incompetent allies for 40 hours can get pretty boring.

Time to cover the visuals you’ll be graced with while saving the galaxy. The graphics are well-done for a PS2 game, but sometimes it’s easy to become lost in a mission’s environment. Every cave and corridor looks the same and the only way to successfully navigate your way from point A to point B is to continually use the mini-map. The problem is that nothing jumps out enough to be considered a landmark. Without that a lot of mission area are confusing, especially the ones with multiple paths.

The characters are a little more pleasing to look at. Movements seem to switch between shaky and fluid, the latter shown off mostly during action-packed cutscenes.

Music varies between being ‘interesting’ and ‘okay’, but always winds up at ‘repetitive’. The intro to all 12 chapters seems like it would belong to an anime series, but would probably be better off if heard only once or twice. The same goes for the outros. During missions, the same tracks seem to always play during similar scenarios (rescue, racing to find someone, etc.). The first time these tracks are heard is enjoyable. Half an hour or so of hearing the same exciting music is not when you’re concentrating more on not dying. Unless you like a particular track, this tends to be annoying.

With all of the mahor aspects taken care of, you may be asking yourself “Is there any reason to keep playing?” If you find the missions enjoyable, then yes. After each chapter is done, the missions you just completed become available to play again. They become “free missions” and are accessible planetside and on the space station. If playing as Ethan happens to get old, you can switch to the unlockable Extra Mode. It allows you to customize the PC choosing race, hair and eye color, clothing, and much more. However, it’s exactly the same as Story Mode and the only missions to do are the free missions from the main game. The last choice is going online which is currently only available to Xbox 360 owners. As far as I know, everything is the same as Story Mode except there are next to no NPCs, you can join up with up to 5 other people in search of loot, and there probably aren’t 12 chapters to go through.

Whew. I may have gone brain dead somewhere in there.

To the point: PSU was not a pleasant experience. By the time the final chapter ended, it felt like I could breathe clean air. The total time it took to reach the credits was a little over 40 hours. 40 hours of tasting a series that left a smoldering pile of ash in my stomach. There are people out there who enjoy PSU, probably using its online mode to fight off enemies with friends and gather treasure.

I am not one of them.

I did not have access to the online world, but the single player mode didn’t encourage me to try.

“Let’s go on the Network!”

Let’s not.

The stream starts 6 PM Central, December 16th and runs until the 19th. Please check them out! http://www.thespeedgamers.com/

Watch live video from TheSpeedGamers on www.twitch.tv

Caleb, Leo, Ryan and Aaron cover the winners of Bethesda’s ‘Dovahkiin’ contest, Shigeru Miyamoto’s ‘retirement’ among other things, and give our impressions of Uncharted 3, Mario Kart 7, Sonic Generations, Skyrim, and Caleb’s PoV about Gears of War 3 (legnthy/loud/argumentative), AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! for the Awesome, and last but not least, his thoughts on The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.

A good ol’ podcast featuring just Caleb and Aaron as they talk about Vivendi selling their stock in Activision-Blizzard and a bit about Skyrim’s release. For game impressions this episode, we cover my inability to stop playing Dark Souls, Braid, Gears of War 3, Borderlands, and Plants vs. Zombies. Also. PAX Prime 2012! We’ll be there!

This episode, Caleb, Ryan and Aaron cover news from BlizzCon, including info about Heart of the Swarm, the 1st expansion to StarCraft II, and updates to WoW. Then we go over impressions of Dark Souls, Orcs Must Die, Baldur’s Gate, and Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Enjoy!

PS. as a side result of this podcast, we swear never to talk about StarCraft II ever again. It ‘s like beating a dead horse, accomplishing nothing.

It is the fourth week of my time in Lordran.

The Bells of Awakening were rung. The Lordvessel has been claimed. The Four Kings of New Londo are no more. Gravelord Nito is but a memory. 2 of the Lord Souls have been acquired. I need only journey to The Duke’s Archives and Lost Izalith to claim the Lord Souls of Seath the Scaleless and The Witch of Izalith respectively.

Along the way, I have aided many a fellow Undead in their quest. Many who are afraid of venturing through the Depths and of the Basilisks that inflict curse. I have been a comrade to those seeking to defeat Dragonslayer Ornstein and Executioner Smough who block the way to the Lordvessel. I have journeyed far and wide, honing my skills to a sharp edge. I have acquired all manners of weaponry and armor, rare and common. I have harvested all sorts of ores and materials to make the tools which I employ that much more lethal. I have mastered magicks of all all types: Pyromancies, Sorceries, and Miracles.

I have journeyed far. Yet the journey is not yet over. Gwyn, Lord of Cinder still beckons my arrival.

What has changed?

Not much honestly. I would say that Dark Souls is still the flawed game it is that I mentioned in my previous Dark Souls post. The bugs (input lag?), the glitches (Great Magic Shield invulnerability cheapness? Iron Flesh? Ring of Fog cheapness? elemental weapon insane stats? TWoP?) , the freezing (did crash once), and yet Dark Souls keeps me glued to the game, my TV, and unable to start playing the numerous other games that have released since Dark Souls. By all means, I should be done the game with the over 100 hours I’ve invested, but I’m not. I’m enjoying the journey, however flawed it may be.

Maybe that’s one of the most redeeming aspects of Dark Souls. The game IS a messy pile in many cases. Frame rates, input lag, just to name some of the issues can be utterly horrendous and irritating. Yet, despite all the game’s flaws. I just can’t put it down.

Is it the game’s lore? Maybe. I do so enjoy reading as much as I can in game, all the item descriptions and all the story I can muster from it.

Is it the game’s systems? Likely. Few other games can do combat systems as well as the Souls games have. I can’t bear to watch any sort of fighting video from Skyrim, but I can watch Dark Souls PvP videos all day long.

Is it the game’s plot? Heck no. It’s there. It’s sorta interesting. It’s never really shoved in your face. It also doesn’t really matter to me.

Then what could it be?

Maybe, it’s a little bit of everything. Maybe, just maybe. Every little aspect of the game contributes to making it a fun experience. Have I died a lot? You bet. Has it been a blast? Every second of it and counting.

You can visit our channel using the convenient link provided on the top menu, or you can click on the even more convenient link embedded right here! Or if you are super unsure of what you’re going to find, you can watch the videos embedded below and then check out YouTube for additional highlights! Also if you could subscribe to us as well, that would be fantastic. Thanks.

Caleb, Leo, and Aaron go over how nice it is having a job… I mean, we’re back to podcasting after a REALLY LONG HIATUS. This episode, we cover Blur, Gears of War 3, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and White Knight Chronicles 2: International Edition! Hope you enjoy it!

I’m not really feeling it.

That’s about the best way to summarize my start into Dark Souls. About 2 hours in, I’ve killed the first boss, died to Dragon Fire blasts a few too many times, and yes, the game is harder than Demon’s Souls. Is the game actually BETTER than Demon’s Souls though? So far, I can’t say definitively.

The more open world aspect of the game where all the regions of the realm are linked together, minimizing loading times is great conceptually… but then you suffer from a LOT of running back and forth that wasn’t previously necessary in Demon’s Souls. I’m not spoiling it for myself whether a quick travel system gets introduced eventually… and if it does, I’d assume it be from Bonfire to Bonfire, but in doing so… what was the point of making the entire world of Dark Souls interconnected? Why NOT have a Nexus? If there is no quick travel system, I can foresee the future of Dark Souls being way too much walking back and forth along with quite a few deaths being attributed to the dulling of senses from the long walks to and fro.

Add in the Bonfire respawning. Yes, definitely an interesting mechanic and choice, causing the player to have to weight in the choices of healing up versus undoing the slaying of enemies. It’s a great way to simplify the accumulation of souls that many Demon’s Souls players use world 4-2 for, but at the same time, isn’t the game just being made far too grind-y? In Demon’s Souls, enemies respawned if you died, basically as a punishment for dying, or the game’s way of telling you that you could have done better. In Dark Souls, it’s far more like… being punished for taking a single point of damage or wanting to repair your broken weapons/armor.

Then there’s the camera… I just don’t know. That thing does not like me. I think I need to crank the sensitivity down even further, but then I fear my camera won’t keep up with the fast paced of some boss battles… it just feels strange.

Moving on… glitchy movement. Oh man. It was a bit bad in Demon’s Souls how some walkways had little invisible notches that sorta blocked your character… but Dark Souls is FULL OF IT. That little stretch between the cemetery and Firelink Shrine? The worst, ever. I have gotten stuck on little tiny stone parts of the WALKING PATH too many times to count as I attempted to run from pursuing skeletons.

…Oh… and a tip for the newbies. Don’t block Dragonbreath with your shield. You are literally better off taking a blast of fire to your back and getting knocked over. Way to go FromSoft, you broke it now. Back in Demon’s Souls, if you didn’t block the fire, you probably died. In Dark Souls, not blocking causes you to only take some HP damage, but get knocked flat on the ground, but you’ll be invincible while knocked down. If you choose to block it, you actually get hit/stun locked as the flames multi-hit you through your shield, taking out all your HP and Stamina in one go until you die, no invincibility time or anything, and it cost me a humanity point. It’s ridiculous and illogical. Though… it’s starting to seem that a lot of things about Dark Souls are completely illogical.

Oh yea. For that first boss you’ll likely face, the Tauros Demon, or whatever. Take off your armor. Mobility > Defense. That was mostly true back in Demon’s Souls, but it is even more so now.

Oh, and be careful you don’t badly time button presses. That’s also the worst. Dark Souls seems to catch every button input you make. So while in Demon’s Souls, when you got hit by a boss before you rolled, your animation just got interrupted and the command doesn’t go through, Dark Souls knows you pressed dodge. So guess what you’re doing right after you recover from being knocked down? Rolling. Attacking. Somewhere. Not always where you want to go.

Dark Souls… I am somewhat disappoint. The game looks and… maybe feels a bit better than Demon’s Souls… but it seems to have come at a great cost. The tightness of character control/movement/combat and other technical aspects seem to have suffered and I can’t say I’m looking forward to the next 80+ hours. At all.

So. I’ve spend about an hour playing the new Battlefield 3 Beta on my PS3, and sad to say (though maybe expected?), I’m disappointed.

Basically, I’m going to summarize what I’m about to say in this one line: Stick with Battlefield: Bad Company 2 until EA and DICE decide to churn out Bad Company 3.

Am I jumping the gun on my conclusions? Heck yes. Why? Well, the BF3 Beta should be a demo or a preview into the game, it’s engine, features, etc… and from what I previewed, it caused me to lose sufficient interest into buying the game. Now I have no doubts that BF3 will probably feature some supremely well-made single player campaign. From the footage I’ve seen, it does look great and fun, but generally, I’m not going to buy a shooter first day for a great single player campaign (unless it’s a more story-telling focused game, such as Uncharted or something.), I’m buying these things early because I want to hop onto multiplayer and enjoy some games with friends and what not. Battlefield 3′s multiplayer in the beta was utterly disappointing. I’m not even talking about the lack of vehicles and whatever they promised will be there, that I expect them to keep their word on. What killed the experience for me was much deeper, at least code wise.

A total lack of Environment Destruction.

In the single player campaign, we can see the Frostbite 2 engine being put to good use. There’s a repeatedly previewed scene where the player fires an RPG/Rocket into a building, taking nearly the whole structure out. The explosions and the visuals of the structure collapsing are spectacular as show in the video. On the contrary, the multiplayer is rather devoid of, well… features. Never mind the fragfest that the game feels like CoD more than previous Battlefield games, nor the lack of vehicles present among other things. Battlefield 3 really feels like it’s suffering from a lack of making the most of the game’s newest engine.

Yea, sure, you can still blow out walls in a building, but that still leaves the entire ‘indestructible’ building frame. Gone is the ability to collapse a structure in Rush mode to take out opposition holed up inside, or to claim objectives, removing a great deal of the strategy and depth that I came to appreciate from the Battlefield series.

There have been reports however that the beta released to the public is TOTALLY different from the buggy and crappy mess that was released. That the beta we are playing is a real beta from a long time ago in development. However, it begs the question… why are we gamers beta testing an ancient, completely poor, and dated beta if the development teams have already progressed so far past this point? What good does that actually serve the development team? About the only relevant data they could extract from such a beta test would be multiplayer server loads, and that’s a relatively simple fix. Why wouldn’t players have been given this sort of a beta 6 months ago instead, when DICE was probably actually in this phase of development, giving them a lot more valuable data and feedback.

Further food for thought, why would EA choose to use such a flawed beta as a preview/advertisement for one of their biggest games to date? I mean… all the beta seems to have done for me is kill my interest in purchasing the game day one, as I’ve no assurance that the game surpasses Bad Company 2′s multiplayer.

It seems to me that EA had best review its own policy for using betas as playable demos and previews of what’s to come. If the beta’s so radically different from the actual game, why not release a beta/demo much closer to the final product if you’re planning on using it as advertising. Otherwise, if you’re going to release a flawed as crap beta, actually release it in your actual beta development phase so you can get a lot of good feedback from many willing gamer participants.

No brainer? Yea. Boo urns on you EA. I’ll be waiting for reviews or… maybe just Bad Company 3.

Sue me, I stopped trying to come up with witty review lines. I promise though I will once I get back into the groove of reviewing games. That said, there isn’t really much to say about Gears of War 3. It’s been a long time coming since the original came out near the end of 2006, and the series has continually improved with each iteration since. So now, here we stand at the conclusion of the trilogy, as we bid farewell to another franchise that has stood as a pillar for Microsoft’s XBox 360.

War has changed… back then, it was easy… just fill those Locust scum with bullets or saw right through their innards.

But noooo… now, with the increasingly dire Lambent situation growing worse and worse by the day it’s not so simple to unload bullets or saw through Lambent monstrosities when they always explode into pools of Imulsion all over the place, we find our heroes since Gears 2 aboard a massive cargo ship they now call home.

Never fear though. If anyone’s going to win this damn war and kick everything’s ass in the process, it will be none other than Marcus Fenix and his Delta team bros (Though I guess… Anya and Sam are on the team now… but then they also have Jace and Carmine… so… is there more testosterone or less that makes up Delta?).

I digress though. As you can probably already tell, the story of Gears 3, though it picks up 2 years after Gears 2 (read the books if you want to find out what happened in between), is still rather clichéd with a pretty standard story that’s par for the course. Let’s face it though, even if you were seriously interested in the Gears story, that’s not really the reason why you want to play it.

You’re here for the adrenaline rush. Darting in and out of cover, laying waste to the monstrosities bent on wiping out humanity.

That sweet, sickly sound as you saw your way through the Locust and fill the Lambent hordes full of lead, and curbstomping some grubs who just happened to be at the wrong place at the right time.

Did I mention, they added a bayonet charge?

Mmm… mmm… gooooood.

Don’t forget them Silverbacks, those mobile turrets of devastation.

Gears 3 brings back all your old favorites and adds in a whole slew of new weapons and methods to wreak havoc upon your foes. With new weapons comes new enemies to deal with, constantly varying combat situations, and newer ways to tackle every combat scenario differently. That’s what you’re here for. It’s why you play Gears, and Gears 3 is no exception. Gorier and more violent that ever, ohhhh yea.

Have there been graphical improvements since GoW2? Yea. Is the soundtrack/sound design better? Yea. Does it really, really matter to you? Maybe. Should it affect your decision to buy/play Gears? Probably not.

One of the things that really shines in Gears 3 is the new shiny multiplayer, and first up is the fully revamped Horde mode. Enjoyed how Gears 2 brought forth a great new cooperative multiplayer mode? Horde 2.0 is the future and it has landed. One of the biggest additions to Horde mode is the ability to purchase and upgrade fortifications to block off or slow down the incoming hordes, adding yet another level of depth and complexity to the beloved multiplayer frag fest while also allowing the developers to push the limits of complexity, difficulty, and variety available for Horde mode.

Or maybe, you were one of those types who actually felt bad for the countless grubs you slew back in Gears 2. Don’t worry, Epic’s got you covered there too with the all new Beast mode. More like a class-based multiplayer game, in Beast mode, you play as the Locust Horde, besieging Stranded and COG alike. You start out with basic Locust types like Tickers or Wretches, and as you slaughter the wimpy human defenders, you can earn ‘cash’ to build up to eventually playing those dreaded Berserkers you probably hated fighting back from Gears 1.

All in all, Gears of War 3 represents a spectacular conclusion to widely respected series of third-person shooters and I for one most certainly am looking forward to spending countless hours with my friends grinding out the new Horde and Beast modes, which will likely also involve grinding out some guts and vital organs, human and monster alike.

It’s been a while since my last review, but it’s a quiet night and this game seriously deserves mention, so here goes. I’d just like to put a mention in that I actually have not played the previous Deus Ex games, so I was a bit worried that I might be a bit detached from the world of Deus Ex. Fortunately, that wasn’t the case.

Frankly, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect going into this game. I had heard from many sources and friends that the previous Deux Ex games were simply amazing and timeless games and that I should take the time to go and try them. Unfortunately, I feel as though the voice work and graphics of the previous games may be a bit too dated for me to go back and play (the same reason I have trouble ever playing Half-Life 1. ), so when I heard Deus Ex: Human Revolution was coming out, my interest was piqued, and I began following news about the game since E3 2010. From the limited amount of news out at the time, and from my preferred source of news, 4 Player Podcast, they had mentioned that the ‘alpha’ version that was demo’ed looked incredibly linear, and generally… unimpressive. A big reason for that being that when the original Deus Ex games had come out, they were ground breaking in the amount of freedom and choice given to the player at any given time for a FPS. Players would be able to tackle combat, dialogue, and story progression in the manner of their choosing. Jumping forward to 2011, and dialogue trees and optional combat are almost standard fare for any game classified as an RPG, so a big question became whether or not Deus Ex: Human Revolution would be able to live up to the bar set by previous iterations.

Fast forward now to a few weeks after the game’s release, and I can safely say that I am verily impressed. Since the previous Deus Ex games, there have been games like Mass Effect which have raised the bar for in-game dialogue trees to an all-time high, where Deus Ex succeeds is getting the player invested into that world and its characters. While the story is ultimately that of the protagonist’s, Adam Jensen, he still functions as much as the player’s avatar in that world giving them full flexibility in how they want their version of Jensen to develop in terms of abilities and how he would handle various types of situations.

Gameplay

Are you a bonafide ‘this is an FPS, so I’m going to blast everything in sight’ kind of gamer?

Big guns? We got you covered.

Check.

Prefer some quick and dirty, in their faces, brutal melee?

Mmmm… twin arim blades.

Check.

Maybe not so… lethal?

This ISN’T supposed to kill you?!

Check… I guess?

Or maybe, you just want to talk down every dude you see. Even nasty Asian gangsters.

The name’s Adam Jensen, and you WILL listen to me. Biatch.

Check.

Or maybe… you just want to crack every safe, and break into every door you see.

Thank God real hacking ain’t this easy, but I guess, you’re not Adam B.A.M.F. Jensen, are you?

Yea. Deus Ex: Human Revolution’s got it all.

For an FPS, the shooting in game is pretty good. Big guns generally feel powerful, and smaller guns generally weaker, and shooting is fairly precise whether in first person mode (normal) or in third person (cover). While the transition between first and third person and back can be a bit jarring when done repeatedly in combat, overall, both combat systems are well made enough that it doesn’t present an issue. Melee takedowns are also un-interruptible, allowing the player to enjoy each and every moment of hand-to-hand brutality. The weapons in game are generally balanced, with one exception.

The Pistol.

The same thing is true in Alpha Protocol (oddly enough… a game with a very similar feel…). The pistol in this game is the most OVERPOWERED piece of weaponry you will ever use. Spending time and resources to upgrade the pistol in the game will allow the player to pretty much obliterate every single combat situation the game presents. Unrealistic? Who’s to say. It’s the future. Maybe then, handguns can do the work of demolishing armies that a plasma rifle cannot.

Perhaps one of the combat system’s letdowns is actually the boss fights that the game forces you to fight through. Melee takedowns don’t work at all in these situations, nor do they even allow you to do melee damage to bosses, so leveling melee won’t save you here, FYI. In fact, the player isn’t even able to talk their way out of the boss fights, which I believe was possible in the original Deus Ex games.

Becoming the android you always wanted to be.

A bit of a letdown here as it basically forces the player to have some investment into weapons and weapons skills to help manage the forced boss battles preventing players from committing to a dialogue only or stealth only skill tree development. It’s unfortunate that all the boss battles are essentially only able to be resolved through combat, as I feel that Deus Ex: Human Revolution would have been better by allowing players to never enter a situation where they have to fire a weapon.

That said, that is the game’s only flaw.

Whether it be a side quest or the main story, DE:HR makes it simple for the player to be invested into the game world. Even NPCs roaming the streets will divulge interesting facts that can be overheard as you run by without the need to stop and talk to every single person you see, though, you can do that as well. Often times, you’ll make in-game decisions that have real consequences in the game’s world without being prompted that you had a choice to begin with. Who you choose to shoot and kill or incapacitate can have very real effects on the the plot’s development and changes how the game world gives feedback to the player.

To be honest, there is only one section I cannot truly justify reviewing of the game, and that would be the soundtrack. In some respects, I felt that the soundtrack did the game justice, as I can remember some tense moments to which the soundtrack contributed to near the end of the game. That said, most of the time I spent playing the game, I didn’t truly notice the background music playing in any specific scenario… so it can be said that it either integrated so well into the experience that I took it for granted, or that it wasn’t especially memorable. Either way, I feel the soundtrack is hard to gauge, the sound design and voice acting on the other hand are two aspects handled spectacularly, as they both succeeded in bringing out and amplifying the most important factor of DE:HR, being the story.

Ultimately, DE:HR is a story-driven game. It is true that the player has a great deal of control over the aspects and direction the story takes, but regardless, the story being told is still that of Adam Jensen. A man who works as the head of security for one of the leading human augmentation research and development companies in the world of Deus Ex. Whether the player chooses to play as an overly aggressive, kick everything’s ass Jensen, or the kind that smooth talks his way out of every situation (short of boss fights!), every story falls into the personality that is Adam Jensen. Perhaps the most impressive feat in the game is that regardless of the paths you choose, decisions you make, or lives you took or spared, everything feels ‘correct’, in the sense that the actions you choose never feel like something Adam Jensen wouldn’t do.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution is a game that met, exceeded, and completely surpassed every expectation (…short of more energy weapons. energy arm blades anyone?)  I had going into the game. Looking forward, I’m hoping Eidos Montreal will get the chance to develop further Deus Ex projects as they’ve truly impressed me with this one.

I realize I am EXTREMELY late with this post, but real life demanded my attention. Regardless. I am now employed, have an income, and thus, time to focus on the blog and writing articles again!

That said, this is the worst way I could have made my return to writing. As I dreaded last year when this project was announced, Capcom has gone ahead, and axed the Megaman Legends 3 project before the prototype version demo that was supposed to gauge game interest was even released. So Capcom crushes all my hopes and dreams, and breaks all their promises, in addition to only loving bad, money-making, ultra-grindy Monster Hunter.

Capcom has indeed left the Devroom open for the fans to use, but really… the clubhouse might as well be as depicted. Gone.

I am disappointed by this turn of events and really… all Capcom succeeded in doing was PREVENTING me from giving them money. Face facts, I would likely have bought Megaman Legends 3 day 1, at full price, or even high for a premium version with like some bonus swag or some crap like that, but I guess they just don’t care about recouping any sort of financial losses for the money and manpower spent developing 30% of the game (or so the devroom says), and would rather just axe it for the next Monster Hunter iteration.

*sigh* Well, at least I will start broadcasting again and putting up some reviews.

Cheers. For what it’s worth anyways.