The Antiverse

Crowdfunding Spotlight: Boma Naraka Sura

2015-07-30T10:49:00.000-05:00

Since we here at the Antiverse tend to view ourselves somewhat as champions of the little guys in terms of gaming, I figured, how much "littler" can you get then games turning to crowdfunding for support? So I've decided that about once a month I'll pick a game that I see on a crowdfunding site that I think looks interesting and could use some support. With that said, onwards to the first entry!

I have been waiting seven years – since the release of Order of Ecclasia – for a new true Castlevania game. Apparently that may never happen, but recent Kickstarter campaign for famed creative director Koji Igarashi’s new game Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is pretty much the answer to my prayers. Since its success, it’s been no surprise to see other of these (to steal Bloodstained’s campaign term) “Igavania” styled games crawling out of the wood-work. Perhaps the most interesting is Indonesia-based Anantarupa Studio’s Boma Naraka Sura.

This new game stars a young female heroine, Sveta, who awakens with no memories to find herself in a dark realm filled with demons. One of these creatures is Bomasura, who is usually depicted as a villain in ancient Southeast Asian culture, but in this game will be lending aid to Sveta and helping her survive her journey through the various realms.

The gameplay definitely seems focused on the action/adventure style familiar to fans of Metroid and Castlevania. Much in the way that many enemies in Castlevania are based on various mythological creatures, Boma will continue to draw inspiration from its unique Southeast Asian heritage for the demons and populace of the game. As you travel, you will collect fragments of Sveta’s memory, but also various power ups and items that will add an RPG-like element to powering up your character and weapons and also help you transverse the environments. Like I said, this is familiar ground, but all elements fans of these types of games know and love.

What really sets Boma apart is its look. While many Kickstarter video games from what I can tell tend to be sprite based to either be or have the look of being 8- or 16- bit, Boma Naraka Sura is a beautifully hand painted game with an incredibly unique style and feel.

Quite honestly, I’m a little surprise this game even is on Kickstarter. A game like this seems like it should be getting some pretty big backing and lots of attention. Despite this, with a little under two weeks left in the campaign it still has almost half its initial funding goal left to go. But this has been a very big summer for Kickstarter, having seen Bloodstained, Shenmue III, and Yooka Laylee all break funding records in the video game categories, so people who normally would have thrown money at a game like this might be feeling a little drained right now. Also, so far they’ve only announced plans for a PC version, no console release or even a Mac version! A game like this definitely belongs on console. Maybe with enough success they’ll consider making the effort.

Check out the demo on Boma’s Kickstarter page and consider supporting them.

Why I’m More Excited for Origins 2 than Arkham Knight

2015-03-12T12:07:00.003-05:00

Don’t get me wrong, I’m expecting Knight to be amazing. I see no reason why Rocksteady should fail to deliver after two phenomenal entries in the same series. Yet despite that, I can’t help but be pessimistic regarding some of the news for the game, and that their obsession with giving you the experience to “Be the Bat,” has led them down potentially dangerous roads. So here’s why I’m more excited by the possibility of an Origins 2 (using the Arkham Knight engine) than I am the current reality of Arkham Knight.

The Batmobile: This is my most dreaded new feature in the game. They’ve turned it into some kind of weird tank. Now, I’ll grant you I would definitely not ace a Batman history test, but since when has the Batmobile had guns on it? It had a couple machine guns mounted on it in the campy Tim Burton films, but even those could only fire straight ahead. They weren’t of much use, and definitely didn’t make the Batmobile prepared for inter-vehicular warfare. I think I just made up a word. Then further, the Riddler challenges mean we’re going to be expected to become every bit as proficient with using the Batmobile as we are with any other game mechanic. Which would be fine, except driving mechanics are notoriously horrible in games that aren’t racing games (and even in a few that are). Even if they manage to pull off a strong mechanic, they’ve clearly designed the game to not really be playable without it, so if you don’t love it as much as they do, there’s not going to be much of a game there for you. With an Origins 2, they’ll have the opportunity to trim back the focus on this mechanic if it turns out to be a game killer. And if I’m wrong, and using the Batmobile is the coolest thing since last Tuesday, then no doubt Knight will only leave me wanting more. Origins 2 can provide.

Stealth/Predator: There’s been disturbingly little information regarding how this EXTREMELY IMPORTANT aspect of the gameplay will be in the new game. It was these segments, more than anything else at all, that made me a fan of the series. But I’ve been waiting through three games now for some serious improvements to the system. The ability to use shadows and effect lighting elements would be a relatively subtle change that could make a huge impact on these segments, and moving to next gen consoles and their more powerful engines seems like the perfect time to develop such a system. But seeing as they’ve said next to nothing at this point about these segments, I doubt they’ve done really anything to improve them. And what they have said, mainly speaking of the fear takedowns, seems to be means of eliminating these segments altogether or at least integrating them more with combat. Even if Predator missions are every bit as good as in City, I doubt we’ll see any improvements. Well, maybe in Origins 2.

Batgirl: Batgirl is my most requested playable character in the series. Sure, right now she’s trapped in a wheelchair, but in Origins that hadn’t happened yet. If WBM really would like to make a splash, and ensure pulling in the naysayers and purists who made it their goal to hate the first Origins without good reason, then focusing on the Bat-family as opposed to just Batman himself would really be the way to go. I hate Nightwing and Robin about as much as its possible to hate any comic character, but even I had fun playing as them in City, and Robin was the highlight of the Origins multiplayer. And despite the fact that I was appalled that they were putting Catwoman in City, she became my favorite part of the game. As I always say, variety is the spice of life. More characters = more gameplay = better game. Simple math.

Co-op: Rocksteady is focused on the single player experience, and that’s fine ‘cuz they definitely deliver on that front. It also makes sense because they’re focused on delivering a Batman experience. WB Montreal has proven more willing to do multiplayer, though, and so I say it’s time for some co-op, especially if they bring in a focus on the bat family. Designing the game from the ground up could offer multiplayer experiences like Splinter Cell’s co-op modes or Castlevania Harmony of Despair, where players really need to work together in different areas in order to progress through a level. Even just a co-op mode separate from the main story designed like this could work. Failing that, even just allowing co-op on regular predator maps would be awesome.

I love Origins, but in the end it’s nothing more than an enormous expansion pack to City. For what I’ve discussed to happen, WBM would have to be willing to work hard to make a unique game this time, one that could stand on its own in the series. But just a little work could pay off huge, if it focuses on the right areas. Here’s hoping.

by: Ramsey

Episode 56: He's Got a Heart of Cold

2014-05-06T19:16:00.000-05:00

We're back to discuss the new Arkham Origins story DLC "Cold, Cold Heart." Did we like it? Are there fun achievements? How does it stack up in comparison to Harley Quinn's Revenge for Arkham City? Listen to find out! Enjoy.

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Episode 55: Did This Generation Suck?

2013-06-25T00:33:00.002-05:00

Nah, not really. We have to keep the theme going though. We go over a few of our favorite games from this generation, and even touch a little on what we're excited for in the next. Enjoy!

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Antiverse TV #1: Xbox One

2013-06-24T00:09:00.001-05:00

Xbox One Reveal Thoughts

2013-05-22T00:54:00.001-05:00

:sigh: You damn internet commenters and fanboys. Look what you made me do. I haven't posted anything on here in nearly a year, and you "people" make me login, click "new post" and start typing. Well, you asked for it. Now you're going to get it. Here are my thoughts on the Xbox One reveal event, or perhaps I should say "Here are my thoughts on the flood of idiocy currently raging through the internet regarding the Xbox One reveal event."

Ok. First of all, a lot (I mean A LOT) of people are taking issue with the fact that Microsoft focused too little on gaming and too much on other stuff. While this is certainly true, I don't see a problem here. This was, first and foremost, a console event, for a console we already knew would have games. They don't need to actually show me the thing playing games. I sort of assumed it would play games. The purpose of this event was to demonstrate what sets this system apart from its competition, what services Microsoft can offer that Sony and Nintendo can't. Guess what? All of these systems will have games. For the most part, they will all have the same games. We need to know why we should play Madden and Call of Duty on Xbox One as opposed to PlayStation 4. I don't think we need to be playing those games at all, but that's another topic for another day. Let's just pretend for the moment for the sake of argument, ok?

Now, with the direction of the event admittedly being toward non-gaming entertainment, what does that matter anyway? How does the inclusion of things other than games diminish gaming? Isn't there enough room in the universe for games and other things? Most people already use their 360 for Netflix, Xfinity, Hulu, YouTube, and other things that don't involve games. Yet, somehow, they also play games on their 360. How is this possible? Doesn't the presence of entertainment apps on the console make it impossible to play games? Oh, it doesn't? Interesting...

Ok, lastly. You trolls out there have a disgusting habit of latching on to microscopic shreds of information and unsubstantiated rumors and taking them the worst possible extreme. For months now, there's been the rumor of the next Xbox requiring an internet connection at all times in order to function. Oh, how the morons feverishly typed away about how horrible that was, and how that, of course, meant that you couldn't play used games (what?). And that rumor turned out to just be the system's ability to allow games to require internet connections. Like for MMO's for example.

Since the conclusion of today's event, the internet has been overflowing with unfounded speculation of other likely made up restrictions the system will have. For instance, the fact that the Kinect has to be connected at all times. That automatically means that every game requires you to use it. Then, it turned out that wasn't the case. Then there was a rumor that every game would need to be installed and can only be installed one time, and after that, a user would need to pay a fee to install it again. While the second part of that has yet to be confirmed or denied, the first part is just common sense. The PS3 already requires games be installed. It's because of the limitations of the Blu-Ray format. The disc cannot load data while it's being read. So the data has to all be loaded beforehand. Hence, installing the game. But, of course, this automatically means that you can't install it twice. Even though that's not the case on PS3.

Another point relating to the whole installing games thing, people are whining that the 500 GB hard drive is too small if all games have to be installed. The biggest hard drive Sony sells built-in to PS3 is 500 GB, and that's only in one limited edition bundle. And no one has an issue with that. Another hard drive complaint is that the built-in hard drives will not be able to be removed and replaced. Even if that turned out to be true, which I doubt it will, (does anyone honestly think Microsoft will pass on the opportunity to sell separate bigger hard drives?) who cares? With all the cloud functionality they're touting and the ability to use external storage, it doesn't matter how big the pack-in drive is.

I think that's it for now. If I forgot something, I'll update the blog at some point. At the end of the day, fanboys are fanboys, haters are haters, trolls are trolls, and nothing I can say to them will change that. I just had to type all my thoughts out somewhere. I missed you, Antiverse.

-Chris

UPDATE: Turns out I did forget to mention one thing. Why was anyone surprised by the lack of focus on games in the first place? They've been saying since the event was announced that it would not be game-centric. The guy at the beginning even reminded everyone of that same thing, and made it clear that they'd be showing more games at E3. Which, I think, is a great move. When you're marketing a game console, it's extremely crucial to let momentum and excitement for your product build over time leading up to its launch. How can you do that when you show absolutely everything right off the bat? Sony did this with their PS4 reveal and now they have nothing to build on at E3, an event which will receive exponentially more coverage than this event did. Everyone will feel the same about PS4 after E3 as they do right now, for better or worse. By saving the games for E3, the momentum and excitement for Xbox One has nowhere to go but up. Don't get me wrong, if you already irrationally hate Xbox, nothing anyone says is going to change that. And no, I don't irrationally hate Sony. I used to love Sony unconditionally. They lost me when they announced the PS3 would be $600 and that people should get a second job to more easily afford it. Also, all the games I care about that were PS3 exclusive at one time are now multiplatform (Metal Gear, Devil May Cry, etc), and I just have no interest in any PlayStation brands anymore. It's not because I hate them, it's because I'm just not interested anymore. I'm objectively saying that I don't care about PS4, but I'm interested in seeing what Xbox One has to show at E3 because they didn't already show it.

Like a Ninja

2013-02-02T01:24:00.000-06:00

I've been in love with stealth action games since I first discovered they were a thing. That was back on PS1, when I first played a demo of Tenchu 2. Then I discovered Metal Gear Solid, and since then I've been hooked. Unfortunately, these types of games are few and far between. Outside of Tenchu, there aren't many series that really encompass the genre. Even other ninja games tend to be simply beat-em-ups instead, for some reason. So you have the Thief series, critically acclaimed but hard to find (and there hasn't been a new one in ages); the Tenchu series, not so acclaimed but awesome and fun despite there also not having been one in a long time; the Metal Gear Solid series, which has moved away from being stealth action with the more recent games; Shinobido, which is fairly recent and the PS Vita game Shinobido 2 will be the 3rd game in the series, though only the second to be released in America; the rather brilliant pair of Arkham games, though they are only partially stealth action; and a small smattering of other individual games that should be noted for their effort if nothing else. The recent XBLA game Mark of the Ninja is a particularly notable effort, with its side-scrolling gameplay giving a new and unique take on the genre.

Beyond this, there isn't much to the genre. And when one considers the litany of bad first person shooters, endless stream of RPGs, and ubiquitous regular action games, one starts to feel more than a little bit left out.

It's not that I don't find any games in those genres entertaining. Obviously, at least some must have at least a little appeal or I wouldn't be interested in video games in the first place. It's not that I don't enjoy other types of games, it's that I really love stealth action games, and really want to see more of them. But before another game gets released, they do need to work on a few things.

More use of the environment. Most of these games have you wandering around on the same level as the villains, and by level I mean floor. Often there are no platforms or walkways or anything. Just a big, open room with maybe some walls for you to hide behind until an enemy gets close enough and turns to face the other direction. Which has worked okay so far, but come on. Levels should be designed for you to make maximum efficiency of your ninja-like abilities. And I don't just mean more walls to hide behind. I mean things like vents to crawl through, the ability to cling to walls and ceilings, tables to hide under, the works. For every enemy, there should be multiple ways to reach them, and multiple ways to take them out. That's what makes this fun.

More use of shadows. It's weird being a ninja who's always standing around in the the light. This is something the Tenchu game for the Wii actually sort of got right, in that it let you blow out candles (or take them out from afar with a well thrown shuriken) and use a container of water to spray out torches, creating shadows that allow you to hide. This goes into more use of the environment, really, because the more you can do to add to your stealthiness, the more ways open up to you to reach your objective.

More variety. Tenchu has been fairly good about this, as the games tend to have more than one character with different styles. Still, the difference between the characters tends to be fairly negligible, and in at least one case by the end of the game almost non-existent (once you'd unlocked all the moves for each character and discovered that most of them were the same, just received in a different order). Arkham City was particularly good about this. If you played as all the available characters through their stealth missions, you discovered that they all were fairly unique, and had differing strengths and weaknesses. Never underestimate the strength of this kind of variety.

More balance. That is to say, just because it's a stealth game doesn't mean you shouldn't be able to fight your way out of a jam. Tenchu has been widely smashed for its poor fighting system. It does have that poor fighting system to encourage you to make better use of stealth, which would be fine if they didn't force boss battles on you. Part of the opportunity of having a variety of characters is that one could be really strong stealth-wise and poor at battle, one could be a really good fighter and not so great at stealth, and one that has a good balance.

More upgrading. Actually, stealth action games are pretty good about this, but I think there could be more done. A leveling system could be added that increases base stats, while items and objects and other types of points could be obtained to allow for further customization including upgrading weapons, learning new stealth techniques, and maybe even learning new stealth kill moves.

To further expand these ideas, let's list some game ideas I have.

TMNT. As I've mention before, I would love to see a stealth action Ninja Turtles game. A game that actually remembers they're ninja? Crazy! The 4 characters with their very unique personalities lends for a great opportunity to really let the differences between playable characters shine, with Leo being steady and stealthy, Raph not being so stealthy but great for battle, Don making use of lots of weird gizmos, and Mikey maybe not being particularly good at anything but perhaps the only character who uses objects in the environment to take out his opponents. Then think of the potential for unlockable characters: a slow moving but very skilled in all areas Splinter, a fast, lethal Shredder, a reckless Casey Jones...I could go on for hours.

X-Force. I feel the game should be based on the Kyle, Yost, and Crain run from 2008, but include good ol' throwbacks in unlockable characters such as Cable, Domino, and Shatterstar, etc. If nothing else, the addition of guns could lead to a very different style of stealth action game from what is normally dealt with.

Tenchu. It's the classic, and still my favorite. But it's time for it to perform a major overhaul, do some serious rebuilding and adding to the series, take some of these ideas and implement them. It'd be nice to get a new Tenchu, a real Tenchu. It's been a very long time.

Episode 54: LameStation No-Stars

2012-08-19T02:06:00.003-05:00

Well, we missed our anti-versary again, but we make up for it with another classic episode. We go over what we've been up to, some recent events, and we share our thoughts and hopes for PlayStation All-Stars: Battle Royale. Enjoy.

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E3 2012: Sony and Nintendo Thoughts

2012-06-09T00:49:00.000-05:00

So I'm not going to do my more extensive breakdown on these like I did on the others. Here's just a quick rundown:

Neither of these companies really showed me anything to get me interested in what they have lined up for the coming year. However, actual GAMEPLAY of The Last of Us was finally shown, so now I can understand people being excited about it. Even though, it looks EXACTLY THE SAME as Uncharted. I seriously thought this was some Uncharted demo when it started because they didn't say what game it was. The dude looks like Nathan Drake, the art style is almost identical, and the animations (while admittedly excellent) move in the exact same way. That being said, I'm still willing to check this game out. The premise seems cool, and it is Naughty Dog, after all. I gave Uncharted a chance and I think I've expressed why I don't like it enough times on the podcast. But just in case you don't know, basically I feel that the platforming in the game is awesome, but the shooting parts are way too long and occur way too often. On another note: Wonderbook? What in the unholy ballsack of Satan was that? What is this? 2010? This stupid Move/AR/retarded thing just kept going on and on and on. Until I saw this, I had forgotten the Move even existed AND I OWN A MOVE CONTROLLER. PSOne classics on Vita? Really? That wasn't a thing already? WHO CARES.

On to Nintendo. Let's see what I can recall from the portions I didn't sleep through. Jeez guys, way to not tell us anything about the system you're releasing in 5 months. Except, cf course "Look at this TOUCHSCREEN. YEAAAAAH!!" And now it supports TWO controllers?? WOW! My NES from 1985 sure couldn't do that! OH RIGHT IT COULD. Wake me up when there's a Zelda game for it. And no, a 3D or HD re-release DOESN'T COUNT.

Peace.

-Chris

Episode 53: Robin Sucks

2012-06-05T00:36:00.002-05:00

But his DLC doesn't. We're talking Harley Quinn's Revenge, as well as a plethora of other comics-related items on this episode. Such things as upcoming films, recent gaming news, as well our ideas for some hypotetical games in the future. Enjoy!

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E3 2012: EA and Ubisoft Thoughts

2012-06-04T18:54:00.003-05:00

So this is an amalgamation of my thoughts on both the EA and Ubisoft conferences. It's not exactly 3 items from each, but meh.

1. SimCity
Hell yes. Let me stress here that I am not talking about SimCity Social, the Facebook game. I'm talking about the full-on PC return of the classic series. I played the old games, mostly SimCity 2000, so freaking much as a kid and I'm definitely excited to check this new one out.

2. Crysis 3
I never played the first game, but I did like the demo for Crysis 2, and that's all I played of that one. This one I'm mostly intrigued by the setting. It's essentially a combination of the settings of the first 2 games; a jungle and a city. It takes place in a city that's been jungle-ized by aliens or something somehow. Looks kinda neat. Kinda.

3. Assassin's Creed III
Again, here's another series where I never played the first game. I enjoyed the second one a lot, though not as much as some people. This game is set during the American Revolutionary War, and the atmosphere and set pieces of this game just seem so fun to me. Plus, hacking up redcoats is always a good time.

4. Watch Dogs
So, I, along with most of the rest of the world, found out this game existed about 30 minutes ago. Normally, that means you have no information except for a teaser trailer that barely even shows the game's logo. Not the case here. This demo was actually almost completely gameplay. It's very surprising to see a game be so far along before there's any information out about it. It seems like most media outlets would have started hyping the holy hell out of this game about a year ago. It looks like a mixture of Grand Theft Auto and The Matrix.

THINGS I DON'T CARE ABOUT

Battlefield 3 and Star Wars: The Old Republic expansions, Medal of Honor: Warfighter, FIFA 13, UFC, Need for Speed: Most Wanted, Just Dance 4, ZombiU, Rayman Legends, Far Cry 3

GRAY AREAS

Ok so there were a couple of things that I can't say I don't care about at all, but also can't say that I'm all that interested.

1. Dead Space 3
The first game was all right, and I never played the second one. The thing that turns me off about this game is the co-op. Didn't we learn anything from Resident Evil 5? Co-op does not belong in survival horror. It sort of takes the sense of trying to survive and being horrified out of it. Also, what's with all the swearing in this game? I mean, shit.

2. Madden NFL 13
These days I'm definitely more of an NCAA Football fan.

GET READY FOR SONY!

-Chris

E3 2012: Microsoft Thoughts

2012-06-04T14:20:00.001-05:00

Let me start out by saying we are STILL the anti-hype gaming podcast and blog, meaning that we aren't here to hype up or promote anything, or even really be a news source at all. We are simply here to voice our opinions and thoughts on games and gaming news that we feel often times conflicts with mainstream gaming media. That being said, I'll be sharing my thoughts on most, if not all, the E3 press conferences. Why? Well, I have nothing better to do. I'll be picking 3 things from each show that I'm personally excited about, as well as pointing out what I couldn't care less about. Again, these are things I'm excited about, not things I necessarily think you are excited about, nor things I want to get you excited about. Just wanted to restress the Antiverse credo here. I may not touch on absolutely every item from each conference, just mainly the things I want to say which side of the fence I land on. So let's get this rolling with my take on the Microsoft showing.

1. WatchESPN
FINALLY! I've been wanting this feature in the Xbox ESPN app since it launched. Yes, I'm actually a bit of a sports junky. It's a secret shame of mine. Mostly I'm excited about this because I don't have cable, nor do I have any plans or desires to get it. Now I can watch the actual channel live and not just on demand cricket tournaments from Liechtenstein. All right Microsoft, let's get cracking on that Food Network app next.

2. SmartGlass
First off, I love the name. It sounds like "smart ass". Right up our alley. In case you missed it, this is a neat concept that basically lets you control your Xbox from your smartphone or tablet. Essentially, it's taking the Wii U tablet idea and blowing it out of the water, mainly since you don't have to buy a proprietary tablet device. This app let's you control all your media and work the web browser all remotely. It also let's you stream movies from the Xbox to your device, and it also seemingly can be used, similarly to the Wii U tablet, for controlling and interacting with games. The thing I appreciate with the Xbox is that all this stuff is optional and not an integral component of the console like it is with Wii and Wii U.

3. Halo 4
Now, I'm definitely not the biggest Halo fan out there. But I do enjoy the games to a good extent. I've said before on the podcast how I have more of an appreciation for it than any kind of love or anything. I simply enjoy the fact that it's a shooter that doesn't give me motion sickness. Nearly every other one does. So I'm always at least interested in a new addition to the series. I'm not too worried about it being in the hands of a new developer. It still has the same director, after all.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

1. Gears of War: Judgment
I still haven't played Gears of War 3, but I do somewhat like the games. This is apparently some sort of prequel, so we'll see what comes of it.

2. Splinter Cell: Blacklist
I liked the first game, and that's really the only one so far. I know there's a lot of Chaos Theory fanboys out there, but I never got into that one. This one seems somewhat intriguing, but that's what I thought about Double Agent and Conviction initially, and those turned out to be pretty boring. But, for some reason, I continue to be willing to give this series a chance.

3. Tomb Raider
Lara's hot. I'm always down for whatever she might be up to.

THINGS I DON'T CARE ABOUT

These parts of my posts will simply be lists. It's hard to explain why you don't care about something.

Dance Central 3, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, and, of course, anything Kinect related. Did I miss anything? I probably don't care about it either.

PS: Oops! I forgot about the South Park game. That looks pretty fun, I guess. Not really sure what kind of game it is, but I like South Park.

PPS: Double Oops! Forgot about Resident Evil 6. I definitely want to check that game out. RE4 is one of my favorite games of all time, but RE5 was incredibly boring, so we'll see.

-Chris

Episode 52: Back From the Dead

2012-03-26T01:07:00.002-05:00

Brother! It's been too long! In light of our EIGHT MONTH hiatus, we go over some things that have gone down since last we podcasted. We tell you what we've been playing, as well as discuss such things as GameCube, Vita, Mass Effect 3, and Ninja Turtles. Enjoy!

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Defending the Mass Effect 3 Ending

2012-03-18T16:21:00.003-05:00

Wow, it's been a while, but I just want to throw my two cents out there about the widely hated Mass Effect 3 ending. As you all know, we here at the Antiverse don't care about spoilers, so consider yourself warned:

What was anyone really expecting for the ending? You can't tell me that a "good beats evil, everyone lives happily ever after, no brainer" ending would be satisfying after 3 games and 5 years of playing them. On the other hand, you can't tell me a "reapers win, thanks for playing but you were screwed all along" ending would make sense either. I think they did a perfectly satisfactory job of playing it right down the middle, giving us something we didn't expect. The reapers are defeated, but we had to sacrifice so much to achieve that.

Also, there are several different endings. Everything gets blown up no matter what, but to me, the "real" ending will be where Shepard chooses to destroy the Citadel, and after the cutscene where the Normandy crash lands on that planet and everyone ends up being ok, it goes back to the Citadel wreckage and Shepard wakes up. To me, that's the most satisfying ending. A lot of people die, a lot of stuff is destroyed, civilization pretty much returns to square one (which happens no matter what), but all the people we care about survive.

Look people, this is just the way it is. Begging EA and Bioware to change the ending is just stupid. It's the ending, deal with it.

-Chris

Welcome to Arkham City

2012-01-25T10:30:00.002-06:00

by Ramsey

Arkham City is kind of already old news by this point. But it almost feels as though someone from Rocksteady might even read this blog. After all, it seems like many of the changes that occur between Arkham City and it's predecessor seem to address specific problems I described here on this blog. Also, even further, I've read rumors that the next game from the developers will be a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game, which is interesting considering my very last post stated that the next Turtles game ideally should be something along the lines of Arkham Asylum. What are the odds? But I'm not here to talk about that. I'm here to give my thoughts on this specific game.

Arkham Asylum completely managed to defy my expectations, turning itself around from a game I partly dreaded to a game I absolutely adored. But as I said in my post about it, it was a game that also faced more than its fair share of problems, problems which I addressed in my previous post about that specific game. To my surprise, as I played through Arkham City I found time after time that it seemed like they addressed almost all of my complaints. I complained about some of the dialogue and writing, they bring in Bruce Timm of all people to write the game. While by no means the greatest writer of all time, it certainly helped tighten up a lot of the side stuff, make it feel a little less broken. I complained about the problems with the otherwise interesting fighting system, they develop new aspects for the fighting system that deal with the specific problems as well as further expand on it so as to give even more depth to the whole thing. I complained about the riddles, and they spend some time developing puzzles for gathering the trophies instead of just hiding them in grates each time. I complained about the stealth aspects and...well, actually, that didn't really change. Well, can't have everything I guess.

Yet even though they managed to do so much good, fixing so many of the problems I had, they find themselves with a whole new set of problems. For one thing, much of the game, particularly at the beginning, feels more like an expansion pack than a new game. It's really not until you've finished most of the game and gone through most of the side missions that the game truly feels like its come into its own.

For another thing, there's the open world aspect. I don't think I exactly care for it. It causes the storyline and the side missions to really clash. The main story is very linear, and seriously time-oriented. There is a sense of needing to hurry from one part of the story to the next, the dramatic pull of needing to get this done, now, before something bad happens. But instead I'll spend most of my time flying around randomly, beating up bad guys, solving riddles, chasing psycho killers, breaking cameras, popping balloons (no, really)... the list goes on. In Arkham Asylum, the game was clearly made for the main story. It was mostly linear, but I didn't feel that was a bad thing. It really allowed for you to feel like Batman because it allowed them to think about how you were going to be getting around. So you found yourself sneaking around from area to area, able to travel the air ducts and maintenance tunnels, sneaking around the enemies and attacking them from behind. It really lent toward the feeling of being Batman. With the more open world of this game, there was less opportunity to develop this, so most of the game is rushing in head first, through front doors straight into large groups of enemies. It just never felt right to me the whole way through the game.

By the end of playing it, I realized what I enjoyed the most about the game was the side missions. The main story was just this thing that got in the way of me doing what I wanted to be spending my time doing. So it is not that the open world was more of a problem and the more linear world of the first game was better, it's that they're going to have to choose one or the other. Either you have an open world with little to maybe even no main story, or you have a very linear world with a very strong main story. If they do a third game, I think I would actually like there to not be a main story. I think I would like to see everything basically be like the side missions from this game, with maybe some of the missions being significantly bigger than others, leading to confrontations with major villains, and maybe even requiring you to complete certain of these missions to unlock further bigger missions later on, but without there really being a specific main story leading from one point to the next. I think that would be better, especially if, following the current evolution of the series, the next game takes place in Gotham City proper. It would allow you to feel more like a super hero, dealing with random events as they occur while out on patrol through the city you call home, rather than being forced to sidestep on the way to the next immediate threat for just a moment. It would also give them the chance to develop each individual mission as a much bigger deal. They could have things like requiring you to find a way to sneak into a bank that's being robbed by Two Face and his gang, letting you move between floors that you have to sneak up to and take out predator style, and floors you have to break into and fight big groups of enemies.

For the most part my reaction to this game was much the same as the last one, surprise and some disappointment. Just as with the last time, I found myself thinking about what I would like better pretty much the entire time as I played through the game. It's not that the game isn't fun, because it is, it's just the problems tend to be prevalent enough that it keeps me wanting more. Which I guess, really isn't a bad thing. I'd rather want more than feel I'd wasted time. And yes, Rocksteady, that is a request for more DLC.

Episode 51: Console Names Suck

2011-06-29T20:13:00.002-05:00

We give our thoughts on Wii-U, PS-Vita, L.A. Noire, and Duke Nukem Forever. Enjoy!

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Wii U - More Like Wii Meh, Amirite?

2011-06-08T21:29:00.003-05:00

Prior to the announcement of the Wii U I was considering writing a post jabbing at Nintendo for reusing technology and acting like it's totally new (i.e. motion control and the Power Glove, 3D and the Virtual Boy). I was going to speculate about what they might reuse next. There was going to be a joke about ROB.

But now they've made their announcement, and I lost my chance. The idea, though, turned out to be fairly prescient. The big thing about the Wii U is that there's a second screen. And what's more, it's a touch screen! No one, and certainly not Nintendo, has ever released a game system that has had that feature before.

Sure the Wii U can do things the DS can't, even beyond the higher visual quality. I won't even try to deny that. All I'm saying is that it's not totally super new. It's a refinement and expansion of something they've already done before. That is not inherently bad, and isn't really anything different than what the entire video game industry has been doing for 30 some-odd years.

Some developers will probably do some really neat stuff with it. But honestly, I don't expect that to be the norm. Once what novelty there is wears off, it'll just be another console. And that's okay. It's just not revolutionary.

I was going to add a sidenote questioning how expensive additional controllers would have to be, given that the thing has a 6-inch (presumably) HD touchscreen, a camera and a bunch of other crap packed into it. Then I found this awesome tidbit. You can't get a second controller. I assume they'll eventually sell them separately in some capacity if just to replace old/broken/lost ones, but that's beside the point. Whatever new gameplay is offered by the controller cannot be used in multiplayer scenarios. The demos Nintendo's showing have multiplayer stuff happening, but really all they do with the new controller is eliminate screen watching for one person. Exciting.

One last thing: though it looks a bit ungainly, this might actually be the most playable controller Nintendo's designed since the SNES. But that's more commentary on how much I dislike the Wii, GameCube and N64 controllers than praise for the Wii U.

- Brian

Episode 50: E3 Sucks

2011-06-08T18:07:00.003-05:00

Wow. We made it to fifty episodes. This time, we're all together again. We discuss some recent gaming news developments, as well as our thoughts on E3. Mostly, though, we ramble on about nothing. Here's to another fifty! Enjoy!

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Episode 49: Open Worlds Suck

2011-05-29T20:18:00.001-05:00

On the heels of L.A. Noire's release, we discuss the past, present, and future of open-world/ sandbox games. In true Antiverse fashion, we also go on several tangents. Hilarity ensues. Not really. Enjoy!

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Speculation Station: TMNT

2011-05-28T21:53:00.001-05:00

by: Ramsey

The most recent Ninja Turtles cartoon has come to an end, and a new one is set to begin soon on Nickelodeon. There's little information about it, but considering the normal programming that comes on Nickelodeon, I'd say that is NOT AT ALL a move in the right direction. Whatever problems the first couple of season of this past show might have had, I felt it did some things rather well. It took itself much more seriously, but still allowed for plenty of moments of humor. It also remembered one important thing that the original show tended to forget: the "Ninja" portion of the title. They struck from the shadows, fought hard, and disappeared back into the night. Like any ninja should.

Whatever my complaints about the original cartoon, also, I still definitely enjoyed it. And it certainly led to great video games. The video games were perfect for it: they showed the turtles pushing straight through lines of enemies without a thought as they approached the hiding, not particularly frightening, "big baddies." Not so dissimilar from what you'd see on the show.

Strange then, that they would choose to do pretty much the exact same thing for the new show. Not that I really disliked those PS2-era games. I only played the first one, but I actually did enjoy it a lot, and would have been happy to play the others. But it was much more fitting for the original show than this one. Seems strange that it would be this way.

When looking through a very old issue of Nintendo power, I saw an article about the (then) forthcoming first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game. You know, the top-down game with the occasional really poor side-scrolling portions. I was somewhat surprised to learn that the game engine being used for the game was the one from the original Metal Gear. That's actually very interesting, considering what Metal Gear would become later, and considering what TMNT could become.

Maybe instead of another generic beat-em-up for the Ninja Turtles, we could see a game where they have to sneak around, climb over objects, dive under obstacles, and generally ninja their way around instead of just fighting straight through. Or, all things considered, probably they could make it so you can choose whether to fight your way through or sneak around, with only a handful of levels requiring one or the other option. I suppose I'm suggesting a game much more along the lines of Arkham Asylum, with less emphasis on gadgets. Maybe not even that. Too make each turtle different, you could have Donatello using a lot of gadgets, Raphael plowing right through, with Leonardo somewhere in the middle of those two. And I don't really know what to do with Mikey. I can't think of everything.

In fact, the more I think about it, the more I'm surprised this game doesn't already exist. I mean, a ninja game, about a group of ninja? Seems obvious, really. But I guess game companies felt that relying on convention was a lot easier than trying to break some ground. Maybe that's all beginning to change?

Speculation Station: Sonic

2011-05-13T15:55:00.000-05:00

by: Ramsey

Okay so updating every Friday burned me out, as I feared it would. Let's see if every other Friday works better.

Sonic the Hedgehog has undergone many changes throughout the years. In the interim he's been joined by numerous other anthropomorphic speedy animals, changed villains, and added an extra dimension of space. By now, we can pretty much all agree that whether we like them or not, the 3D Sonic games have just not held the power of earlier 2D Sonic games. Apparently somewhat willing to admit this, Sega has continued a stream of 2D outings, from the particularly enjoyable Sonic Advance games, to the recent Sonic "4," and even the 2D/3D mixes available on the Nintendo DS in the form of Sonic Rush or Sonic Colors. Now we have Sonic: Generations coming out, that from the early looks, will have both 3D levels and 2D levels, utilizing "different" Sonics in the different levels.

It feels early for the Antiverse to be talking about this game, but I've already seen some speculation, and I'm worried that people will draw poor conclusions based on misinformation or ignorance.

Sonic being 3D is not inherently bad. The problem isn't Sonic being in 3D, the problem is that Sega attempted to extend game length by incorporating extensive sections of random crap. Sonic is at its best, though, when it's a high octane rush through uniquely designed landscapes of loop-d-loops, ramps, and pitfalls. This is what people play Sonic games for, and this is what they want to see. Strange puzzles and awkward platforming sections that require careful movements just detract from an otherwise enjoyable experience. Even the boss fights can slow the game to an annoying halt, but removing them might just be odd. I'd like to repeat the face that the game being 3D does not mean it is bad. If done right, the 3D games can be every bit as enjoyable as the 2D ones, maybe even more so. They just haven't been done right. Maybe this game will bring change?

In the same vein, I've seen people pining for the game only consisting of Sonic, none of his friends. Again, I have to point out that the other characters are not bad in and of themselves. It's the way they have been handled. In Sonic Adventure 1 and 2, the other characters played through the same levels as Sonic, and thus the game for each character consisted of the same high speed runs no matter which character you were playing as. But each character had some unique ability that made the gameplay just slightly a different experience, and so you were able to choose just which set of abilities you preferred and stick with that character.

This is something I think they should consider for Sonic: Generations. Maybe only having one storyline - requiring only one trip through each level ever (though you can return to find secrets maybe) - but having a vast list of playable characters including ALL of Sonic's varied friends. Each might have some unique ability to make playing them different, just as long as you are not required to go through the levels as each of them. Maybe even require to complete a level as Sonic before you can play as one of his friends. Also, in the vein of having different Sonics for the different 2D or 3D levels, they could have different side characters for the different dimensions, with certain characters having abilities that might specifically work only in that dimension (i.e. Tails only being available in 2D so his flying abilities don't break the game, and Knuckles being only available in 3D so his gliding ability can help you deal with the occasional miss-jump).

At this point, almost nothing about this game can be anything more than speculation. Personally, I remain hopeful, but trying to praise or tear down the game at this point is pointless. Feel free to speculate, just remember not to form an opinion based on anyone's speculations.

Episode 48: Highlander Sucks

2011-04-22T01:22:00.001-05:00

There can be only one. One for each console. We pick the one game we would choose if we had to pick only one for each system starting with the NES. Enjoy!

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Bi-Weekly Wednesday #2

2011-04-13T22:53:00.002-05:00

The FuncoLand Employee Training Video

No introduction necessary. I'll let this infamous gem speak for itself.

PART ONE:

PART TWO:

Episode 47: Do You Care?

2011-04-07T00:33:00.001-05:00

We talk about a couple of recent news items, as well as go down a huge list of upcoming games and tell you whether or not we care about each one. Enjoy!

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Bosses Part 4: Skill and Style

2011-04-02T15:51:00.002-05:00

by Ramsey

I broke my hand earlier this week, so I can't type very well right now. Consequently, I'll be keeping this short (for me). We're late on the podcast but we should have plenty to discuss come Wednesday.

I've been giving more thought to what I've been saying about bosses. So far I have suggested that bosses should make use of already existing gameplay, should not be too hard to defeat and should stand out as a pretty significant part of the game. Not all these will always fit a good boss fight though - such as the fight with Topo I mentioned last time - and even bosses that basically meet these criteria - such as the bosses in Dead Rising - don't necessarily mean good boss fights. I think that instead of just saying thee boss should work within the system developed throughout the game I should say that boss fights should be tests of skill: if you are good at the game system, you should be able to get good at making short work of the bosses. If you are bad, the bosses should be more difficult. This doesn't mean all boss fights must use the game mechanics in place. New mechanics can be introduced - so long as the means of defeating the boss are clear. What's important is that the fight can be mastered, that the player can become skilled at dispatching this foe, that the fight is not merely chipping away slowly at health in between long moments of not being able to attack the opponent due to range or invincibility frames.

I'll try to give an example to help clarify what I mean. In Dead Rising, your opponents can be expected to have health bars to rival your own. That's fair. But what's annoying is that their attacks can knock you down, but few (and I believe sometimes even none) of your attacks will have the same effect. Frequently only certain weapons can do that job. To make matters worse, the majority of their attacks will involve extended frames of invincibility that tend to last longer than the attack itself. This means you're on very uneven ground. You're basically in a game of cat and mouse where you are the mouse. You have to run away, take a chance during an opening to inflict a small amount of damage, then run away again. You repeat this process for several minutes, then again each time you come across a boss. There's no test of your skill here, and the only way to "get better" at the fight is to choose a better weapon to bring with you next time so that the number of times you "inflict small amount of damage" is reduced. Instead of attempting to make use of the various skills and abilities Chuck is capable of and can learn by the end of the game, you just run in circles and hope you don't get hit.

Now, I'd have been okay with it if maybe only a few boss fights were like this. If they had actually taken the time to make each "psycho" psychotic in a different way, or at least done a few different types of psychos (so that part of the boss battle could maybe even have been figuring out which type of psycho you were dealing with), then having this type of boss fight pop up could have given the game some feeling of variety and made the boss fights less tiresome. But this brings me back to what I've been complaining about all along: most boss fights are just put in games to be a difficult obstacle to prevent you from continuing for a time, not to be interesting or unique game experiences of their own.

And that, my friends, is why I do not like boss fights. Maybe that won't always be true.