The Electric Frankfurter

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

12 Months, Sixty Dollars and a PS2: June

Prologue
Okay, so my favorite local second hand, MUST HAVE MUSIC AND MORE, has a slew of Playstation 2 games and recently I discovered that a great number of them are being sold for the low, low price of $4.95. For those of you who have been following along at home, this is how I came across Pryzm , Chapter One: The Last Unicorn, that little gem that I alone made famous last year! As I was browsing through the stacks the other day I saw a good number of these $5 games that looked at the very least interesting, if not potential diamonds in the rough. After thinking it over I came to a conclusion: The PS2 has a vast library and very few catch the attention of the popular culture, but lots and lots of games get released. Somewhere in those stacks of discarded, unloved games must be some really great games just looking for someone to play them and at the risk of five dollars a go, I think it’s worth finding just what is out there. The result is this on-going experiment, a journey that you and I are going to take through the unwanted library of the PS2. So strap in, kiddies, we’ve got twelve months, sixty dollars, and a Playstation2 and we’re about to discover what we’ve been missing!

June

Gladius
Lucas Arts

This game just kind of showed up on the shelves at MUST HAVE MUSIC AND MORE over the course of the past couple of months and I considered it for May, but my guy there said it was pretty involved and I knew I would be traveling so I decided to wait. It turned out to be a good decision. For you see my friends, what we have here is a steal. An honest to goodness, steal. Gladius is worth every penny of its original MSRP, and I know in 2004 someone bought it from Blockbuster for $20 I have the receipt (to the right), heh. So the fact that this bad boy can be obtained for a mere Lincoln is truly a crime against high quality video games everywhere. Especially when another local second hand is asking $19.99 for the Wheel of Fortune for the PS2. What the hell?

Well, while Gladius is no Wheel of Fortune, what it turns out to be is one incredibly deep and fun turn-based strategy game. Closer to what the original Dungeons and Dragons role playing game was founded upon (wait, WAIT, come back, I realize that I just made reference to the three most socially awkward words in the English language, but I promise I’m going somewhere good with this, just hang out a second), Gladius makes use of real role-playing elements like customization and character building and blends it with a well crafted, turn-based battle system. The result is a strategy game that requires intelligence and cunning and ends up being a great deal of fun. (see, if I had left out those three difficult words, you’d be thinking about how great this game is and not worried about telling your friends you actually like this game, stick around I promise the game is sweet)

Gladius is a game all about combat, most of which is meted out in various arenas scattered throughout the land. You command a “school” of fighters who travel throughout the region contesting in these arenas to improve their prowess and win fame and glory for their kingdom. When the game begins you may chose to fight for the Kingdom of Imperia (think Romans) or the Kingdom of the Barbarians (think Barbarians or “Fringe Peoples” if you are caught up in post modern political correctness). Whichever you select, you will start with two warriors from that kingdom from which to build your school; ultimately you will be able to support twenty warriors! The remainder of the game is all about battling it out in the various contests across the land, constantly improving your characters abilities and equipment and recruiting more and better warriors to your school. There appears to be some manner of plot that is centered around an evil being and the Kingdom you chose to represent, but honestly, that seems more like the trappings of what is expected from adventure games like this and less like an integral part of the game experience. Oh sure, there is a world map to explore, “random” encounters to engage in , and side quests to help you increase your might, but make no mistake, this game is all about the battling.

Gladius is also all about the time commitment. Don’t expect to pop this game in for a quick ten to fifteen minute play. It’s not going to happen. This game wants most of your Saturday afternoon and all of Tuesday night. It took me about an hour and half to work through the tutorial levels and really get my school off the ground. From there, however, the entire world opens up and you are literally free to explore the land and construct your adventure however you want. The game play is engaging enough to make you want to invest whole chunks of time into it, so don’t worry about the game becoming more like a job.

If you are like me and these kinds of games tend to suck you in (I spent 72 hours straight playing Might and Magic VI back in 1998 when it first came out, but I had a girlfriend at the time and she played it with me, believe it or not), then taking home Gladius for $5 is like finding that rare Oreo that has the double stuffing in the regular pack. But even if you cannot find it for the steal I did, you should still have this game in your PS2 collection. I doubt you’ll have trouble finding it for more than $15, and you are going to get every penny’s worth of fun from it, and more!

(final note: I must tell you that this game also sucked my wife in and she has spent more time than I have playing it! Say that about Dungeons and Dragons! Ha!)

Sunday, May 30, 2010

12 Months, Sixty Dollars and a PS2: May

Before we get too far into all of this, allow me to mention that I have virtually NO knowledge of anime whatsoever. If you have been reading this from the get-go then you know that I am roughly familiar with Robotech and I have seen Akira and maybe two episodes of Dragonball Z (in which Goku ran across clouds for nearly thirty minutes), but that is about it. So when I picked this game up, I had no idea that it was based on yet another widely successful anime program. Furthermore, if I am to understand the game’s interpretation of the show, it’s some kind of Gilligan’s Island gone wrong with tentacled pirates and giant, flesh-eating rabbits and something called Jugons. But I don’t think knowing the content of the program really helps untangle what is going on in this game.

Much like Mario Party, One Piece: Pirates Carnival (OPPC) is a board game that is constructed of a barrage of mini-games, events and other party-game bric-a-brac. Characters vie for control of a gridded game board by taking control of certain squares on the board. Taking control is achieved by battling the other players in various contests and succeeding. Success will not only net you the square up for grabs, but it will also net you other squares in classic Othello fashion. At least that part is simple. Playing the main game makes sense and seems doable. However, to play the main game you must constantly engage in the mini-games. To be fair many of the mini-games are quite playable and fun, however the ones that are not are nearly incomprehensible. It seems that the most playable games are the ones that are rooted in games I already know: Concentration, Seek & Find, and others. One of the better games asks you to take a periscope and hunt through a crowd for someone called “Panda Man.” Good luck, turns out “Panda Man” is a bare-chested man with heart tattoos on his pecs and a panda mask. Another game I enjoyed was Kung-Fu Jugon Battle, in which the object is to “have the fewest jugons at the end of the match.” Hilarious jargon aside, basically you just have to push (fight) all of these strangle little walruses into your opponents part of the playfield while they do the same to you. These parts of the game are very fun and engaging. Heck, even the snowy mountain climb where you have to show your respect to bears by bowing is interesting once you figure out what the point is. (Fail to show proper respect and you’ll get a lecture from the bear, I promise.)

It’s the games that are very hard to understand and thus play that create speed bumps in the enjoyment of the overall game. Some games have baffling objectives, like the one where you have to catch food the opponent characters throw excepting that they rarely do and while you wait everything else in the world is also happening. Other games are simple, but nearly impossible to execute: a certain stilt battle game comes to mind. This means that some mini-games will be competitive and others will be incomprehensible messes and you’re ultimate success will be given partly to chance. I am sure that most of the games can be tackled with enough experience, but games like this need to be instantly accessible to pretty much everyone and not require dense study to master. That is the nature of the party game, particularly if they are going to be played by casual gamers.

The other major stumbling block for OPPC is the story. For whatever reason all of these party games feel the need to clutter up what is otherwise a board game with some manner of asinine story. It’s a board game. The story is: TAKE TURNS, TRY TO WIN THE GAME. THE END. That is all you need. I promise. But no, OPPC makes a half-assed attempt at giving the characters things to say and do before and after every single game event. Every single game event. And they aren’t quick little quips, they are oft lengthy diatribes about being “merman” or cooking or something else irrelevant to anything at all. Compound that with absolutely ridiculous load times for each diatribe and you end up with a game that takes nearly two hours, half of which is “story.”

All in all, I paid $5 for One Piece: Pirate’s Carnival and just playing the game once pretty much means I got my money’s worth. I don’t think I’ll be playing it regularly and if a party breaks out in my living room I’m pretty sure this won’t be what causes it. If you are a big One Piece fan, then you will probably have fun checking this out just by virtue of you know what is going on and who these characters are. If you are not a One Piece fan, just go get Mario Party 50 or whatever and be done with it.

Thursday, April 29, 2010

A Closer Look at the Evolution of the Instruction Manual

Read the Damn Instruction Manual! Used to be, you never had to utter these words. Once upon a time, the instruction manual that came with your brand new video game purchase was at least %50 of the enjoyment of the game, more if you bought games in the Swordquest series… The instruction manual was not only your guide to how to insert your game cartridge into the cartridge slot on the gaming console you have been the owner of for several months as if you just found the thing on the street this morning and thought “what the heck, let’s take this in the house and see what happens.” The instruction manual opened the door to the world of the game (and heck, video games in general) and helped create a mystique about what adventures awaited you inside that little plastic box. It also gave you something to look at while your obnoxious cousin dominated the game even though he said he’d never played it before. The instruction manual used to be an integral part of the gaming experience. Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio?

Often these days, the instruction manual is that piece of colorful filler paper tucked behind that warranty card, that in-house game catalog, and those three postcard-size ads, two for games you already own. Besides, who needs to dig through all of that nonsense anyway? Nowadays the manual is as superfluous as the comparative simile. Thanks to the advent of the in-game tutorial, chances are pretty good it has been a while since you’ve seen an instruction manual. Most games feature an introductory level that in some way introduces you to the basics of the game play, either overtly or in the more well-crafted games, subtly. And now Ubisoft is looking to put the final nail in the Instruction Manual’s coffin as they recently announced that they plan to stop producing manuals altogether! Because technology has allowed us to “jump right in” to our newest purchase, we no longer spend much time with any of the peripherals that come with the game, if they even come at all.

This fact has become more pertinent to me most recently when playing the X-men game for the NES for last month’s Closer Look. I was struggling with the game, as you might imagine or can relate to, and was reaching a frustration point, when I realized, “hey, this game has a manual, maybe there is something in there that will help me out.” It was then I realized that the manual was not obvious to me at the start. After fetching the manual for X-men, I started thinking about the good ol’ days when the manual was an intrinsic part of my video game experience. Thus, this time around, I thought we’d all take a good hard look at the evolution of the video game manual, why it came to be and where it might be going.

For me it all started with the Atari 2600 and something I’m going to call the golden age of video games and their manuals. The early video game manual was as much a part of the video game experience as the game itself. Where else are you going to learn about the world of Mazeon circa Astro Date 3200, its deadly inhabitants the Automazeons and their nefarious commander, the aptly named Evil Otto? How else will you learn about Old Man Graves and his strange connection to a shattered urn? Certainly not by popping Berzerk or Haunted House into your VCS. Nope, back in olden times, video games were all action. If you were looking for story, you would only find it in the instruction manual. And what a story you might find! The tales found in instruction manuals from the golden age are rich and well written and smartly craft the backdrop for the action happening on your TV screen. Take for instance this brief sample of text from the aforementioned Haunted House manual:

“To this day, no one has had the courage to go into the mansion to search for the pieces of the urn. It is common knowledge that the ghost of old man Graves still haunts the mansion. Some of the neighbors claim to have seen lights flickering in the windows. Some say that they have heard eerie sounds, doors slamming, and heavy footsteps. Some even claim to have seen shadows running through the mansion.”
Not too shabby for a video game manual, huh? And that’s just a sample of the whole story!
Oh, the hours I spent reading and rereading those manuals, soaking up all of the words and the excellent art! That’s right, video game manuals used to feature more than text and screenshots! The illustrations from the Atari manuals, while a bit dated, are still masterpieces of video game art!

And this creative effort is not contained solely within the pages of the manual itself. Some games from this era also featured peripherals in addition to the instruction manual to help heighten the experience. Games like Yar’s Revenge and those in the Swordquest series were also accompanied by full color comic books chronicling the adventures that were being lived out in the games. Much like the manuals, these comics were not quick and dirty afterthoughts, they were well-crafted pieces designed to be enjoyed and savored as much as the games. Heck, some games ended up not being half as good as their manuals! (looking back at you Swordquest!)

As time rolled on and the level of complexity in games increased, the instruction manual took on an all-new, all-important role: strategy guide. Currently the term “strategy guide” means a separate peripheral that is priced at about half the cost of the game itself and, depending on the publisher, contains anywhere from %50-%100 of the vital information needed to get the full experience from the game. This wasn’t always the case. Long ago in the age of the Nintendo Entertainment Center, “strategy guide” meant the last 5-8 pages of the instruction manual that provided either a walkthrough of the game’s first level, or maps, or just general strategies for playing and succeeding at the game. The instruction manual for The Legend of Zelda (LoZ) is a perfect example of this phenomenon. Not only did the back of the manual provide a step-by-step guide to completing the first labyrinth, but the game came packed in with a second strategy guide/map to help you get even further in the game. All of that at NO EXTRA CHARGE. Get out. No, I’m serious.

The good people at Nintendo were no idiots. They realized that their system was ushering in a new era of games with game play that far surpassed what most previous systems could attempt. Thus, adapting the instruction manual to be both instructional and insightful was the next logical step in the evolution of the booklet. So in addition to containing instructions on basic game play and expositional story, the manual now served as your guide to discovering everything a game had to offer. Even games that didn’t need full strategy guides featured hint sections or advanced strategy sections. These were extensions of pre-existing “helpful hints” sections from the previous era of instruction manuals.

From that point, video game manuals sort of peaked a bit. The era of the SEGA Gensis/Saturn and the Super Nintendo didn’t really see too much innovation in the evolution of the manual. Game complexity increased a bit and manuals got thicker to accommodate a greater density of instructions. Some manuals were simplified as in the case of Castlevania: Bloodlines for the Genesis, while others nearly tripled in size to fully explain the intricacies of the game play, see Jet Grind Radio. But all in all the manual itself was coasting along just fine through the Silver Age of video gaming.

Titles like the epic Final Fantasy VII featured instruction manuals that were a synthesis of the old and the new. The FFVII manual featured a whopping 65 pages that ran the gamut from basic controls to menu screen organization and even a mini-walkthrough of the first section of the game. Like video gaming, the instruction manual was at its height.

As the modern era of gaming was being ushered in, developers didn’t seem to really know what to do with the instruction manual any more. Some developers just stuck with the format, providing guidance on how to play the game and explaining what the different game modes were all about. (see Super Monkey Ball) The advent of the strategy guide at the middle and end of the Silver Age, pretty much meant the demise of those sections of the manual. Why would a developer put such information in the back of a free booklet when they could turn around and sell you another booklet for more money? Likewise, the capability of coding in-game tutorials into the games themselves meant that there was less need for reliance upon the printed manual to fill that role. The story was also being told through the game itself now, so paragraphs or pages of exposition were no longer a necessary feature either. Thus, game developers started getting a little more creative with their manual design.

Take the manual for Shadow of the Colossus, an incredible game. Using screenshots from the game and lots of moody pencil sketches, they manage to take two pages of basic control instruction and turn it into 31 pages of manual. Very cool, but very unnecessary. Particularly since the game features what amounts to an in-game tutorial anyway. To be honest, I think I looked over the manual all of once, maybe twice and that was to see if it made any mention of collecting lizard tails or eating fruit to increase your stamina and power. There is none, despite the fact that these are vital aspects of game play. I guess I should have bought the strategy guide… So with no idea of what to do with the seemingly obligatory manual, the people at Sony decided to get a little artsy. Mixed results.

Looks great, but a whole page for Running?

Now with the modern era in full swing, the instruction manual is even more of a lost soul. Some games have sparse manuals (Cooking Mama Cook Off) that pretty much pay lip service to the elementary purpose of the document, while others keep the tradition alive by still presenting the manual in its full glory (Okami). That said, chances are pretty good you haven’t opened an instruction manual for a modern game, or maybe any game, in a long, long time. And if the people at Ubisoft have anything to say about it, you may never again!

In a move Ubisoft is calling “eco-friendly,” which I think we all know is bullshit, the game developer is stopping altogether the production of printed manuals to be inserted into the game packaging. Instead, Ubisoft games will feature in-game digital manuals that will serve the same function. First of all, in no way shape or form do I buy the notion that Ubisoft’s cessation of printed manuals has anything to do with their concern for the environment. This is an economic move, pure and simple, and I think they insult the intelligence of everyone by saying otherwise. I mean seriously. I will be interested to see if Ubisoft also does away with those paper advertisement inserts as well…
But secondly, and more importantly, are we now seeing the next step in the evolution of the instruction manual? I think we could very well be. If you follow the progression it only makes sense for this to be where the manual’s evolution leads. Initially, the limitations of video game technology demanded that a separate instruction sheet be sold with games so that people would know what to do with this new fangled “video game tape” they just purchased. As video games became entrenched in the culture and increased in complexity, the manual evolved to go beyond basic instruction and became a resource for getting the most out of a game and understanding its depths to the fullest. After a strong lifetime in the Silver Age, the manual’s evolution stagnated. Technology and the growing video game economic market was leaving it behind with the development of strategy guides and in-game tutorials. Thus the instruction manual of the modern age had become irrelevant filler paper that took up good space where ads could go. As we develop newer and better video game technology that can play Blu-Ray movies (for some reason) and browse the internet (as if I don’t have a computer that does that…), the need for a paper instruction manual does seem to evaporate away.

So I guess we are looking at the next generation of instruction manuals: the digital age. It may make sense and it may be the natural progression of things, but that doesn’t mean that I’m not going to miss my outdated paper instruction booklets. It makes me sound old, but I wonder if the kids of this and coming generations will ever really appreciate the glory that was to be found between those magic pages. Printed instruction manuals may be transitioning into the annals of video game history, but they are an integral part of its origin and I think there is certainly something about them that old schoolers like myself will also always remember fondly.
So if you have the means and the opportunity, for the love of all that is good in the universe, one last time maybe, READ THE DAMN MANUAL!!! While you can….

I’ll see you back here next month when I jump back into the games and show you what I just picked up off the WiiWare…

12 Months, Sixty Dollars and a PS2: April

Now, tell me what kind of game this is going to be and just wager a guess as to what some of the themes the story might be rooted in. If you said, “Stan, this is going to be an action game, perhaps top down perspective ala X-men Legends and I think it might be based on a team of Charlie’s Angels types taking down a hostile robot force,” not only would you be completely wrong, but I would laugh at you. For you see, I made the same mistake. And honestly, how could we not. Nothing about this game’s packaging even remotely hints at the game inside. So with that in mind, ladies and gentlemen, I bring you Mobile Light Force 2 (which suggests there was a Mobile Light Force 1 at some point)

Now perhaps you were the crafty sort and instead answered the above question, “Stan, this is going to be a vertical scrolling shooter with anime themes and fast-paced action,” you would have been dead-on. That’s right, MLF2 is a vertical scrolling shooter in which you take the role of one of six generic (and yet strangely specific) Japanese anime characters hell bent on blasting their way to the solution of a mysterious serial murder case. But don’t worry too much about the resolution of the story, MLF2 is all about shooting. Non-stop shooting.

Mobile Light Force 2 is traditional vertical scrolling shooter that allows you to select from six different characters with unique abilities that fly over various landscapes blasting away at numerous kinds of enemies. There isn’t really too much new to see in this game. The graphics are decent, but nowhere near what the PS2 is capable of. Not that amazing graphics are required for a game like this, but at the very least the game could utilize the entirety of the screen, instead of the middle third. The level of challenge is also fairly low, and most decent players will make it to the third or even final level in their first attempt. This is partly due to the hefty allotment of continues you are given and partly due to the simple level design. The only real challenge comes from some unique and bizarre bosses and the choice of character you play with. The bosses range from a giant butterfly with a baby’s face to a Bahamut-like dragon to some kind of dude that taunts you by making old Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids jokes (I am not even remotely kidding you. First time I heard this I nearly pissed myself). Some of these bosses are standard and go down with plenty of shooting, but others require more careful tactics. For instance, one of the bosses from level 3 surrounds you in a barrier of energy then flies around the screen launching various attacks while you remain trapped within the barrier. As the fight progresses, the shape of the barrier changes and you have to adjust your attack strategy accordingly. Character selection also adds a dimension of difficulty to the game. Some characters attack with curved shots or have secondary attacks that send fireballs across the entire screen. Each character has its own strengths and weaknesses and it is fun to play through with each to see how far you can get. But overall the game isn’t terribly hard.

I must say, Mobile Light Force 2 took me completely by surprise in a lot of ways. From its lackluster packaging, (see the “special features” on the back of the case to the right) I expected a really cheaply made futuristic dungeon crawler with meager features and extremely rough game play. Instead I got a moderately fun, if incredibly short, fast-paced shooter. I‘ll say that I probably got my five dollars worth, but not a penny more. If you are a fan of shooters and just want a new one to play, I can see going in five on this, otherwise, I think your life will be complete without it. Personally, I don’t think it is a bad addition to my collection, but had I paid full price (whatever that might have been) I would be sorely disappointed. If you see Mobile Light Force 2, and you just really need to spend $5, you could do a lot worse, of course you could do a lot better. Either way, I certainly didn’t get what I expected with this one…

UPDATE: Apparently, there IS a Mobile Light Force 1 (just called Mobile Light Force, ‘natch!) for the PSX. The kicker? It has the exact same cover art for the CD case! What. The. Hell.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

12 Months, Sixty Dollars and a PS2: March

Ladies and Gentlemen, I am going to tell you right away that we have a winner! Red Ninja is great and soon I’ll tell you why, but first an admission: this game was not priced at $5. But fear not, our sacred bond remains unbroken, despite the sub-title of this month’s game, I retain my honor. You see, I was browsing the stacks at MUST HAVE MUSIC AND MORE, and I commented on this game as I inspected its jacket art (and the buxom young Japanese lady spilling out all over it), “too bad this isn’t $5,” I remarked and put the game back on the shelf. After about ten minutes of hemming and hawing, really more hawing than anything not big on the hemming, I selected Corvette: 50th Anniversary and headed to the counter. “Looks like this month it’s going to be Corvette,” I said to my guy behind the counter. “I can’t let you do that,” says he. “That game is miserable. Don’t do it. What was that game you put back that wasn’t five dollars?” “Red Ninja, it was $6.95.” “I’ll let you have it for five, you do a lot of business here, I don’t mind giving you a break if it saves you from Corvette.” And so you see, my friends, because of the good nature of my guy at the second hand, I was able to bring you the following review of a game that can be found for $5, even if you have to work a deal every now and then. I’ll probably still go get that Corvette game at some point; you people don’t get off that easy…
But before you think this column is some kind of “Day in the Life of Stan” soap opera, let’s talk about killing people with stealth and lots and lots of blood!

As I said before, Red Ninja is a sure winner and I have no idea why this game isn’t a heralded classic alongside its contemporaries like God of War. If you are not familiar with this title, imagine Lara Croft as a petite, badass Japanese girl who can, and will, kill with a whisper. Yeah, I know. Red Ninja is a platforming game that requires an inordinate amount of stealth and cunning as well as problem solving and fighting prowess. As a matter of fact, if you conduct yourself properly you won’t do much fighting at all. This game is all about using your vast ninja skills to infiltrate the deadly Black Lizard Clan and seek out those who left you for dead. During the course of your missions, you’ll encounter deadly assassins, savage betrayals and a mystery that runs as deep as the blood you’re going to spill.

The game play is phenomenal. Levels are complex and require a variety of tasks to reach completion. There are small puzzles to solve, enemies to evade or dispatch, and tricky jumps and maneuvers that all work together to create an interesting and engaging game. Each level is capped off by a boss fight that is generally a blend of ninja strategy and carefully executing fighting. The boss fight at the end of level two is an amazing blend of cunning tactics and straightforward blood-letting. To succeed in your mission, you will have to execute a series of serious ninja moves. From ripping bad guys in half with your line, to dangling upside down from trees to slit the throat of unsuspecting passers-by, to running up the side of buildings, and even using your feminine wiles to seduce horn-dog guards, you will run the gamut of very cool ninja skills during your quest.
Graphically, Red Ninja is gorgeous. Lush backgrounds and highly interactive environments frame this epic adventure. The cast of characters are nicely rendered with fine detail and minimal polygonal dithering. Not to reveal my supreme dorkiness, but this game is about an extremely hot Japanese girl in very little clothing. You do the math. But be warned, there is a lot of blood. The game is aptly named, not just for the kimono that Kuranei, your character, wears, but for the copious amounts of blood that is spilled in combat. Sometimes this game makes Mortal Kombat look like a Disney title
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If Red Ninja has one flaw, it lies in the inconsistent camera angles. Most of the time the camera is fine and when it is not, you can readjust, but occasionally the camera will get stuck in a bad position and there isn’t much you can do about. Couple that with the fact that, depending on where you are standing, you sometimes have an incredibly limited view of your surroundings, even if it would seem logical that you should be capable of a better view, and frustration can quickly mount. Another minor quibble comes from the difficulty of executing some of the more advanced ninja skills. In level 3 you gain the ability to tie enemies up with the Fundo. Part of this ability enables you to string bad guys up and literally hang them noose-style or by their feet for a good throat slashing. Sounds like fun, huh? Well, despite hours of practice I have been unable to successfully execute this maneuver (pun unavoidable). I have no doubt it can be done, but some of the moves are not as intuitive as they could be.

Despite those minor criticisms, I have to say that Red Ninja is easily one of the coolest PS2 games I have played and certainly one of the best action-platformers I have played for a modern system. Being a big fan of Tomb Raider, this game certainly strikes a chord with me, but I think there is something here for anyone who likes this genre. The gruesome nature of this game may give it an adult rating, but the game play is straight up fun and the graphic nature is incidental not gratuitous, well, not entirely…
Anyway, if you can find a copy of Red Ninja, I highly advise you add it to your collection! Next month, I have my eyes on a game that cannot be very good, but who knows what I’ll find when I wander into the shop…

Monday, March 15, 2010

A Closer Look at Uncanny X-men for the NES

A Closer Look at Uncanny X-men for the NES

Yes, so here we are again, in a place I never expected to be, much less twice. Coming to the defense of an LJN game isn’t easy, but once again my eyes have been opened to a game that at first blush appears to be a steaming pile, but upon closer inspection turns out not to suck as much as I thought. Heck, with the game in question, I’d even be so bold as to now admit that I like the game a lot. The previous sentences are ones I would have never expected to write about X-men for the NES, but here we are.It all started over on NintendoAge, a fellow website devoted to all things Nintendo, where we are discussing “impossible” to beat NES games and I threw out X-men as a candidate. My previous experience with the game indicated that it was pretty much unplayable. Another poster replied that not only was X-men beatable, but there were people out there who could do it in short order and that once you learned the intricacies of the game, it was actually quite playable. Certain that I had missed something, and being a big Marvel Comics fan who was sorely disappointed by this title back in the 80’s, I set out to find if this poster was indeed correct.

Step One: Read the freaking Instruction Manual. This should be a disclaimer for all video games made before the PSX. It should be second nature to old schoolers like me, but I’ve been spoiled by the in-game tutorial that is a staple of modern games. That doesn’t dismiss the fact that I obviously played this as a kid without reading the manual, but it was probably a rental and those never had a manuals, so leave me alone! Anyway, read the damn manual if you want a shot at playing this game and understanding what is going on.

Step Two: Play cautiously, learn the game. The biggest mistake I made was thinking that this game was a standard dungeon crawler like Gauntlet and ran in guns a-blazing. That will not work with X-men. You have to play carefully, at least until you are familiar with the game play and level design. Take your time.
If you follow those two steps you just might be able to salvage your opinion of this game. And if you are really crazy, like me, you just might find you actually like it, a lot. What the hell.

So how do you go from completely dismissing a game to playing it for hours on end? Sheer will power. If someone else had possessed the wherewithal to actually beat this game, then there must be something to it. I’ve never let a game best me and I wasn’t about to let X-men be the first! So I started playing and kept playing and playing. Here is what I discovered. In all honesty, X-men feels like a sloppily made dungeon crawler that was pretty much already programmed when someone from LJN got a hold of the X-men license and started shopping around what they could do for an X-men themed game. Somebody pulled out this program and said they could change the sprites to look like the heroes from the comic and minutes later this game appeared on toy store shelves across America. I kid you not. The game is only loosely based on the comic books, despite the aforementioned, very well themed Instruction Manual.

The Unstoppable Shooting Juggernaut!

Take the bosses for example: Sabretooth, White Queen, Juggernaut and Boomerang. Boomerang? Since when is he an X-men villain? Dude fights the Hulk and Spider-man and maybe like Daredevil. He has no beef with mutants that I am aware of. Why is he in here instead of Blob or Pyro? Also, Juggernaut, the character known for being “unstoppable” has decided to forgo his usual MO of ramming people into pulp in favor of shooting some kind of electric beams at you. And while we’re at it, the White Queen acts more like Mystique since she takes your form and attacks you as you. Heck the sprite even looks like Mystique! Oh and Sabretooth jumps a lot. Now you tell me this game was designed with a working knowledge of the X-men and their rogues’ gallery…

Anyway, if we look past the half-heartedly applied theming, what we are left with is an average or below average dungeon crawler that is tricky to learn, but once it has been learned, it proves to be simple and even fun. For an added kick, once you learn the game, you can reapply the theming and ignore some obvious mistakes and enjoy the game at its fullest. By no means am I suggesting that X-men is a classic, but it may not suck as much as you or I originally thought. The key is to be patient and learn its ins and outs. The remainder of this article is designed as a guide to getting some enjoyment out of this game and to redeem what is otherwise a dismal, comic-based video game. Having finally beaten X-men, I can say with some authority that X-men for the NES isn’t as bad as its reputation, but isn’t as good as it should have been.

But enough defending LJN games, next month I’ll take a Closer Look at something that we have unknowingly allowed to happen over the past 30 years, and we are worse for it…

TIPS AND TRICKS

Ranged vs. Melee Heroes. Your team is split into two types of characters: ranged and melee. My first instinct was that ranged was the way to go, but I soon discovered the advantage of the melee type. Ranged characters are great because they can attack from a distance and hit multiple enemies at once. Where they come up short is defense. A few good hits means curtains for them and if an enemy spawns under them, it’s goodnight Gracie (George Burns, look it up). Melee characters have to get up close and personal to take down bad guys, but they have more HP and defense to make up for this fact. I prefer the melee guys for this very reason. If you are going to use ranged heroes, pick up every, and I mean every, Energy and Invincibility power-up you see. This is a good strategy in general (see below), but for ranged characters this is not optional. Iceman can have full health one minute and be seconds from death the next. Do not risk it.

Colossus is the best character in the game. Why? Durability. He has the most HP and he packs the biggest punch. I believe you can beat the game with him alone if you have to. Sure he’s slow, but so what? That really only comes into play in the Robot Factory and even then you can work around his speed.
Storm and Nightcrawler are useless. Useless. Both have the resilience of a paper hat in the rain. They will die instantly upon contact with an enemy and their attack power is not sufficient to make up for their lack of fortitude. These two are expendable. Do not use either as your main character unless you just really want a challenge.
Wolverine, Cyclops and Iceman are all good middle of the road characters. Wolverine is a lot like Colossus, but with a little less durability. He can go a long way, but sometimes needs some help. Cyclops and Iceman are the best ranged attackers, but they can’t take too many hits, so use carefully. Other than the fact that Iceman can fly (?) they are virtually identical.

MINI-WALKTHROUGH

My strategy is to start with Colossus and Storm in the Underground Sewers level. Storm will fold like a chair at the civic center pretty much as soon as the level starts, so get that out of the way. Colossus is best to fight Sabretooth since Toothy tends to jump a lot and Colossus can just stand there and wail on him. Plus Sabretooth tends to work in an “L” shaped pattern so he will just keep running into Colossus’ fists. Next I take Cyclops and Nightcrawler to the Future City Street Fight. Once again, Nightcrawler lasts about as long as a bag of cookies at my overweight aunt’s house, so he’ll be out quick. Cyclops is pretty fast and has powerful optic blasts so he can mow through bad guys pretty easily. Iceman is equally reliable, and if Cyclops goes down, Bobby is my back-up. Next I take Cyclops (or Iceman) to the Robot Factory along with Wolverine; sorry Logan you’re not going to make it. Again, Cyclops is great against Juggernaut because he can wail on him from a distance (see below about Bosses that Shoot). Finally, I take Cyclops and Iceman, one of them must die sadly, to the Living Alien Ship and run amok in there. The White Queen is an easy kill. Then I load everybody back up into the station wagon and head for Magneto’s house, where we all get soundly trounced and I get to try it all over again… (see below about Getting to Magneto) You may find it strange that despite my previous adoration for Colossus, I only used him once in this mini-walkthrough. That is because he is my go-to. If everyone else gets slaughtered in a mission for some reason, I know with reasonable certainty that I can put Colossus in there and get us through the mission. Thus, I never put him on the front line unless I have to (like in the Sewers).

Laser gates are instant death. I don’t care if Colossus has full health; he cannot make it through a laser gate without dying should the gate close on him. Oh sure, you might make it once, but I promise you the odds are against you. What’s worse, there is no real rhyme or reason to when they open or close. It appears to be totally at random. The only way I have found to get through these gates is to kill baddies until one drops an invincibility power-up. Grab the power-up and run like hell through the gate. It may take a minute for one to drop, but I promise the alternative is 99% certain death.

Power-ups: There are two power-ups you should ALWAYS pick up: Invincibility and Energy. Dying in this game is easy, very easy. Stupid very easy. To stave off the grave, pick up these two power-ups every, and I mean every, time they appear. The Invincibility is great for obvious reasons and the Energy will refill your entire HP every time. Picking these up every time is a no-brainer. Avoid the Magnet Mines like they were the plague. If you are playing with a weaker character, these are instant death anyway, and they can be just as fatal for good characters. The Time Stop and All Kill are good, but I wouldn’t risk anything going for them. Use as you see fit.

Defeating Bosses that Shoot: For some reason Boomerang is a boss in this game and he throws boomerangs at you (shoots). Also the Juggernaut shoots at you, despite that being contrary to his very nature. When dealing with bosses that shoot, for any reason, your best bet is to avoid being on the same level (line) as they are. When you share a level (line) with them, their shots can hit you, otherwise they cannot. Position yourself just below their level or just to the side if working vertically, and then wail on them with melee attacks or blast them with range attacks. If they move to your level, adjust and repeat. They will continuously try to walk to your level so if you are careful and time it right, you can often bounce them back and forth into your attack until they are vanquished.

Look before you leap. Until you know the levels inside and out, walk carefully. The levels are littered with poisonous floors, traps, spike pits and other pitfalls that look nothing like those kinds of things. If you are walking and you hear the noise that indicates you are taking damage, check where you are, chances are good you are standing on a trap or other floor hazard. Get off of there quick. Weaker characters will be pretty much instantly killed by these, so mark them well and avoid.

Violence is NOT the answer. Most of the time, the bad guys in this game are not really out to get you as much as they are just meandering about. Thus, for several of the levels, you can clear entire areas with little to no violence at all. Just run past everything. Why is this a good idea? Killing an enemy causes it to respawn and sometimes that happens right under where you are standing resulting in a quick death if you are not careful. If killing them causes this, why do it? Plus if you don’t stop to kill everything that shows up, you cannot get surrounded and blitzed from all sides. Play around and see which levels/areas you can clear with a minimum of conflict. It may save you in the long run!

A note about escaping the Robot Factory. On your way out of the boss room, you are going to pass through an area where the walls close off part of the room. RUN. Fast. If you get stuck between these walls all you can do is sit and wait for the bomb to go off and kill you. It is in your best interest to learn this room and its three closing walls well. At the start, grab an Invincibility power-up if you can and then make a run for it. If you get closed off before passing the first wall, you can always go back out the teleporter pad and come back in and the wall will be open again. I have actually gotten stuck in the wall before as it closed on me, however I was able to wiggle free by repeatedly pressing the A and B button and pausing and unpausing the game. Not sure if this will work every time, but it got me out once. Also, occasionally picking up the Time Stop power-up will give you a speed boost, not sure what governs when and if this happens. You can also use this to increase your speed and escape the closing walls. If you are playing as Colossus, this strategy is a must.

FINDING MAGNETO
Ok are you sitting down? Are you ready for this? There is absolutely nothing in the game that tells you how to access the final level against Magneto. There is nothing in the instruction manual that tells you how to access the final level against Magneto. The only thing that even hints at how to do this is printed in extremely small print at toward the bottom of the label on the game cartridge itself. Not only that, but the hint that they give you on that label is WRONG. You heard me. If you beat all four regular levels, the game appears to be over, as you can only access the PRACTICE level. However, once you have completed the four main levels, on the stage select screen, you press UP + B+ SELECT + START and it will take you to the character select screen where you pick the two heroes you want to take on Magneto and then it will whisk you off to the final level. How totally messed up is that crap?

Now, before you race off to fight the bastard, spend at least one round in the PRACTICE level. Why? Doing so grants you access to all of your heroes again, even the dead ones – creepy, huh?– for use in the final level. So killing off Iceman on the last level isn’t so bad after all. And trust me, you are going to need them, Magneto’s lair is way tougher than the previous four levels! Actually, you can do this after successful completion of any level, and that might be good for you as you practice, but don’t rely on it as a crutch, play the game!
Be careful! Magneto’s lair is bigger than any of the previous levels and is a perilous maze. Many of the passages lead to dead ends and the floors are riddled with traps. The enemies move faster, spawn quicker and hit for more damage. Once you get to Magento, he’ll act a lot like a Boss that Can Shoot, so use those strategies. The only real difference is that the battle area is smaller, so watch your step. Also, if he hits you with his magnetic beam, your controls will be temporarily reversed. That is not good. Your best bet is to try and trap him in the upper right corner of the screen and give him what for!

Hopefully, the above tips and strategies will help you get more out of this game than you did the first time you made a go at playing it. Heck, if you are stupid like me, you might even like the game, but I’m not making any promises!

Saturday, February 27, 2010

Twelve Months, Sixty Dollars, and a Playstation 2: February

When I was a kid, ROBOTECH was that super awesome cartoon that was unlike anything else I had seen because it was like a regular action cartoon, but the story kept going from episode to episode and the characters actually developed over the course of the series. This was revolutionary in a world of GI JOE, He-man and Transformers. So naturally, I developed a fascination with ROBOTECH and all things related.
The point being, when I was wandering through my local second hand last month and I saw ROBOTECH: Battlecry on the shelf I was drawn to it. A chance to take command of the Veritech forces was too good to pass up, and for $5 no less!

Fortunately, the game does not disappoint. You take command of a Veritech fighter in numerous battles that more or less span the storylines from the cartoon. During each battle you can switch between Fighter, Guardian, and Battloid modes as the mission parameters or personal preferences dictate. Missions range from space dogfights to search-and-destroy ground missions and everything in-between. The action is fast-paced and the missions are diverse enough to maintain your interest throughout the various chapters of the game.

Graphically, the game is beautiful. The cell-shading is used to great advantage translating the feel of the cartoon into an interactive environment. The cut scenes are cartoon stills that appear to be created specifically for the game. As mentioned above, the story roughly follows the storyline of the cartoons and features characters from the same. However, to knit everything together, some of the cut scenes are surprisingly long.

ROBOTECH: Battlecry is a lot of fun to play. The quick and responsive controls are simple to learn and get you right into the action. The playfields are expansive and although not infinite, the borders are seamless and do not feel like matte paintings framing a playable area. But be forewarned, the game is hard, at least for me. Perhaps it demands more strategy than I have time to devote to it right now, or perhaps it assumes intuitions I do not possess, but the game is rather challenging. It took me several tries just to complete the first chapter of the game, particularly due to a tough boss fight at the end of the third level. At this point I am into the second chapter and am stuck on a level that wants you to protect a civilian structure that is under attack. Needless to say, the bad guys are getting there and pounding the crap out of the building before I can fend them off. More than anything, I’d say the game takes practice and wants you to master its idiosyncratic skills in order to succeed. Not a challenge that I am incapable of, but one that is currently demanding more time and attention than I can really give the game. The game has enough appeal, however, for me to take a longer look at it in the future.

So is ROBOTECH: Battlecry worth $5? Most definitely, particularly for fans of the series. How this game ends up with a $5 price tag is really a mystery to me. It should at least be fetching upwards of $12 on a regular basis. Perhaps its age (2002 release) is partly to blame, perhaps it was extremely popular in its day, but for whatever reason this game is now available for the more than reasonable sum of five American dollars. Whatever the case, it would appear that I have once again found a possible classic among the discards of the PS2 library! If you happen across it and don’t have it, pick it up!

What’s coming next month? I really have no idea, I haven’t had a chance to make it over to the second hand. Maybe this week…

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

A Closer Look at Downloadble Content: Is it Really Good for Gaming?

A Closer Look at Downloadable Content: Is it Really Good for Gaming?

Oh sure it’s all the rage, from WiiWare, to Madden NFL roster updates on your 360, downloadable content is the new vogue in modern gaming. But caveat emptor, my friend, downloadable content is seductive and chic, but it might leave you high and dry in the morning and it will never, ever call you the next day. Don’t be fooled.

For me, it all started back in the heyday of the original Playstation. Final Fantasy IX came out and it was awesome! I scrambled to get it. After playing the peerless FFVII and the so-so FFVIII, I knew I had to have the latest installment of the Final Fantasy franchise. Also, thanks to my knowledge of the previous games, I knew a good strategy guide would ensure that I would be able to ferret out every last secret from a game known for having some of the best kept hidden treasures in the gaming universe. So, like a good consumer I rushed right out and picked up the Brady Games Official Strategy Guide to Final Fantasy IX. I had bought both guides for FFVII and they were exceptional, so of course I expected the same from this publication. Boy was I in for a surprise! Much to my chagrin the guide contained no actual tips, secrets or, get ready, strategies. No, if you wanted that kind of in depth information you would have to go online, following the links provided in the “guide,” to PlayOnline.com. Sounds fair. I paid twenty dollars for a book to tell me to go online for free and get the information I am seeking. Never mind the fact that this is back in the days of dial-up and my internet access was the equivalent of shouting across a canyon to a deaf-mute.

All of those things aside, this was not the most egregious part of the deal. Oh no, that would come years later, when I decide to play through FFIX again, this time armed with a high speed internet connection. Finally I could eke out a little satisfaction from that horrid “strategy guide” I paid for all those years ago. So I go to PlayOnline.com and what do I see, absolutely nothing about FFIX. Everything was all up FFXII’s butt, and it was as if FFIX never existed. After some digging I discovered that when the newer games came out, all online support for FFIX was discarded. So not only did I waste twenty dollars all those years ago, but my waste was compounded by insult when the company that initially ripped me off, ripped me off all over again by removing support for a product they had produced. Little did I realize that this annoying incident would lay the foundation for something that would change the face of video gaming and collecting and not necessarily for the better. Downloadable content was coming on fast, and it wasn’t all good news.

Now, let me jump ahead a bit and tell you that I absolutely love Mega Man 9, Castlevania Adventure Rebirth, and I am extremely excited about the new Blaster Master game that is available via WiiWare. That’s right, I am guilty of partaking in the very thing I am about to rail against. However, I am partaking with full knowledge of what I am doing and the implications thereof. I wonder if my fellow consumers are doing the same. If not, then it is the purpose of this missive to enlighten and warn the modern gamer/ collector that downloadable content may be the hottest new craze, but it is fraught with potential peril! Brace yourselves, you’re probably not going to like or agree with where this is about to go…

Mega Man 9 goes in this empty spot

Downloadable content has caught on like wildfire and is only getting hotter. Whether it is something small like unlockable online content, massive online multiplayer experiences, or something huge like an entire game obtained solely via download, this latest gaming fix is absolutely wonderful for gamers, but absolutely disastrous for collectors. Take me for example. As previously stated, I love the new Mega Man 9. I have played it for hours and hours and hours. It is great. But guess what, it is also temporary. Don’t get me wrong, I bought it, I downloaded it, I even saved it on an SD card (or at least that is what the wife tells me happened), but I have no real anything to prove that I have it. I have nothing to put on a shelf, I have no documentation, instruction manual, warranty, or anything to prove that I own this game or that it exists. Maybe I am old school, but there is something comforting about the shelves of NES, VCS, PS2, and so on, games that I have stacked up in my game room. They ain’t goin’ nowhere. But all of this new downloadable content? I’m not so sure about it.

Sure I’m a gamer. I love playing video games, so this new downloadable content is great, it comes right to my house and I don’t have to do much to obtain it. The games are fun and appealing and they seem to know exactly what to release to get me in a buying mood. But I’m also a collector. I like having stockpiles of games on my shelves that I can pull out and play anytime I want. I like inventorying them and basking in their nerdy glory. I like the fact that I can go to my favorite second hand and pick up a SNES game I missed out on twenty years ago and experience like it was new. I like that I can add it to my collection and sell it later or trade it or whatever. So as I move into the 21st century, I wonder how Mega Man 9 fits into that aspect of my gaming life. What would happen if I didn’t download Mega Man 9 right away? What happens if it came out, I never managed to get it downloaded and then it is gone? Am I going to miss out on a great game forever? And what happens to my Mega Man 9 if something horrible happens to my Wii 15 years from now and I lose that data, or the SD thing gets corrupted (like all of those old 3.5 floppy disks that now sit in my filing cabinet mocking me) and the game is lost? I know that bit rot and all of that can still happen to my Atari 2600 games (my Burgertime has been acting a bit scooters…), but if that should happen I can always find another copy at a flea market or something. I’m not convinced that the same will be true for all of this new downloadable stuff.

And I know I have cause to worry. If the FFIX strategy guide wasn’t historical proof enough, just last month Micro$oft announced that: “on April 15, 2010 Microsoft will discontinue Xbox LIVE service for original Xbox consoles and games, including Xbox games playable on Xbox 360. Our first step in this process will be to turn off auto-renewals for those members who only use Xbox LIVE on a v1 Xbox. While I can’t comment on the specifics, this change will allow us to continue evolving the LIVE service with new features and experiences that fully harness the power of Xbox 360 and the Xbox LIVE community. We did not make this decision lightly, but after careful consideration and review we realize that this decision will allow us unprecedented flexibility for future features.” (source). With so many games nowadays have HUGE online game play appeal an announcement like this is shocking and disturbing. Particularly for those who cannot afford an XBOX360 and still enjoy their original XBOX. What will be the quality and value of these largely online content based games once their support has run out? Will HALO be as fun when there is no way to play it online? HALO has been heralded as a modern classic and a triumph in gaming, but will those accolades hold true fifteen years from now when the support is gone and only the base game remains?

The lesson here is obvious: the video game gods can giveth, and they can certainly taketh away. Quickly. This is what worries me as a gamer/collector heading into the future. With so much downloadable content pouring forth from companies, how much of it can we really expect to hold on to as the years roll on? The great thing about classic gaming is that it is a material commodity. Not only do we get to play the games, we get to keep them and keep playing them for years. Will this same thing be applicable to modern downloadable games 25 years into the future? Will Mega Man 9 be lost forever to the annals of time and memory because someone failed to download it in 2009? How am I supposed to go to a video game convention in 10 years and pick up a copy of Mega Man 9 if I missed it? These are my concerns. Are we so enamored with the ready availability of downloadable content that we fail to see the pitfalls and longer reaching implications? Or am I just being overly dramatic and downloadable content is a fad that we should just embrace and damn the consequences? Is downloadable content the future of gaming? And if so does this mean the demise of the collector?

GameCon 2025: Not a Mega Man 9 to be found!

I think all of these things are definite concerns that the gaming community faces as we rush headlong into the latest, greatest offerings in the world of video gaming. The gamer part of me is loving it, right now, in the moment, but the collector part of me is nervous. Therefore, I cannot full condemn downloadable content as I would like to, but I can be wary of it. Downloadable content is a lot like the girl you love to date but can never marry. As we move forward and consume more and more downloadable content and spend countless dollars, maybe it is also time to ponder some of these implications. You can be sure I’ll be thinking about and lamenting that empty space on my NES shelf…

Join me next month when I’ll come to the defense of yet another LJN game and show you how I took a game that I deemed unplayable and turned it into one of my favorites!