Reviving the blog. And as a first post I'll be reviewing Bioware's RPG Juggernaut Mass Effect 2 (which only recently came out on the PS3).
Intro.
Lately I've been more of a fan of JRPGs, rather than Western ones. It probably has something to do with the switch from PC to console and overall interest in Japan. And lately I've felt that the Western RPG fell into a bit of a decline in the past years...
They’ve all been trying to become more like shooters. Prime example is Fallout 3, which while being very offering in the content department, I stopped playing, came back to it later and stopped playing again.
So in this sense Mass Effect 2 brought me back to a earlier part of my childhood, when RPGs were big, the dialogues were funny an the gameworld seemed a lot more endless than the “sandboxes” of GTA ever can. I was so damn addictive.
Core Design.
Mass Effect 2 is no doubt an RPG, but also a shooter. And it thankfully kicks the D&D system in the balls. For those of you who don't know the D&D (Dungeons and Dragons) system when it comes to games means that when you aim a gun at someone at point-blank then the chance of your shot hitting is determined by whether your stats are high enough and a saving throw of a virtual die. That’s what happened in Bioware’s earlier games like KOTOR, where you could be in the middle of an awesome sword swinging animation at your opponents face, but scoring zero damage due to his virtual die determining that you miss.
Mass Effect 2 dealt away with that and has the shooter approach of “if it hits, you score” deciding the outcome of a fight with the player skills at aiming and memory skills at hacking. So a player with nice reflexes and a tricky mind could walk through the game without needing too many leveling or upgrades.
But this comes with no price to strategy, dialogues and weapon-stats. So in a sense it’s all the best things in an RPG and a TPS.
Also the alignment system. Oh boy they were really awesome on this. In most games it’s a “eat this kitten” or “Please hit me again for I shall bear your pain till your satisfied”. Here both the Paragon and Renegade options are extremely serviceable. And Biowares stroke of genius, the good isn’t a plus on your alignment scale and a the bad isn’t a minus. So if say you do a “good” and immediately a “bad” action, you don’t negate your alignment progress but progress both of them.
And actually the “good” Paragon isn’t as always as good and the “bad” Renegade isn’t a kitten-munch in the long run. So far it’s the only game to nail this topic right.
Controls and Running.
Again the pure fun and ease of a shooter, yet also a hint of “Pause-and-Play”. The PS3 port is nice and not buggy at all (it froze like only once) and I managed to avoid the much-spoken of save-game crippling glitch even when I abused the shit out of autosaves.
Visual Design.
The graphics are beautiful. I saw a few low-res textures in the Firewalker missions, but overall the game looks great. And the time and effort that went into this world is Massive. I daresay it has it’s own look.
Story.
Actually, no really big mind-boiling twists here, even though I was expecting something of a kind. But ME2’s story’s strength lies in it’s meticulously crafted and detailed world backstory (which is found around the world in a quite expansive booklet). And also the characters. Oh man how I have missed characters in games. Most western games usually just have the Marine, the Chick and etc. Japanese games have their own stock characters or maybe 1 or 2 memorable ones ouf of a cast of 10. But Mass Effect 2 is just full of characters with their own stories, funny moments, sad moments, WTF moments and on and on.
Overall: a very solid A, if not an S. An absolute must-buy an franchise to keep watch on. Cause owning only a PS3 I kind of missed out on it. But now anticipating the finale of Mass Effect 3.
Rundown:
Played it for: 55+ hours.
Alignment: Ultra-Paragon with medium Renegade tendencies
Style of Play: Direct assault and occasional sniping.
Fave character: I have rapidly growing appreciation for Tali’Zorah vas Normandy’s tsundereness and dem hips.
воскресенье, 6 февраля 2011 г.
четверг, 16 сентября 2010 г.
Open letter to Ninja Theory and Capcom, concerning DmC.
Dear Ninja Theory and Capcom.
This is an open letter to you regarding the DMC reboot.
Firstly, does the Devil May Cry franchise require a reboot?
It is an almost 10-year franchise which invented and popularized the Stylish Action subgenre, it’s recognizable, carries a large fanbase and has had an influence on many other games and spawned numerous imitations.
Reboots are usually done in hopes of reviving a dead or unpopular franchise or adapting something old to modern stylistic standards while accepting that it’s current state is stylistically and/or technically obsolete. Is Devil May Cry incapable of holding it’s own in the market? Is it’s style out-of-place in 2010/2011?
The lead character Dante became quite iconic and a frequent guest of top 10s. When Marvel vs. Capcom 3 chose Dante to appear in the crossover the fandom rejoiced and Capcom knew that they were bringing in one of their major franchises.
I think that a reboot is of no need for this franchise.
And come to think of it, DMC once had something of a reboot to it. Devil May Cry 2 was a sort of a disappointment to the fans of the series for not holding up to the first game. It still had nice sales though. Nevertheless Capcom decided to renew the series by doing a prequel and changing the gameplay by polishing the old system and expanding with new features. It also saw a slight change in visuals. It brought us a younger version of Dante, which while different was still immediately recognizable and introduced a new charismatic antagonist. The cutscenes became famous and later many games were said to be similar to “the over-the-top cutscenes of DMC3”. It relaunched DMC and is regarded as the best in the series.
But the new reboot done by Ninja Theory?
It is drastically different and even unrecognizable.
The iconic and instantly familiar protagonist was redesigned in a very strange way. In fact the only things he shares with the DMC 1-4 version is his name and the colors of his handguns.
Even the trademark sword didn’t make an appearance.
The tone of the game, which was always about Heaven and Hell with direct Divine Comedy influence and usually included epic and gothic settings while using the modern world as a rare backdrop is now distinctly urban. The dark epic tone is swapped for a noir faux-realistic feel.
The monsters are perhaps a play on the puppets seen in DMC1 and DMC4 but in fact look like they were lifted from Silent Hill 2 or Resonance of Fate.
And the over-the-top and many times humorous style which Dante showed us before is swapped for “mental institution” and “patient” setting invoking parallels with American McGee’s Alice and the Address Unknown segments in Max Payne 2. Also it should be noted that Dante’s redesign has been called “emo” and brought some people thoughts of Twilight.
All of this while not negative on it’s own, it is very different from the Devil May Cry familiar to the fans of the series. As a matter of fact, the only things connecting DmC to Devil May Cry are it’s name and the protagonist’s name.
I don’t know why the decision of a reboot was made or whether it was done by Capcom or Ninja Theory, but it is viewed very negatively right now by me and many other people.
The only reason I can imagine the reboot was decided is that Ninja Theory, realizing that as an outside studio it cannot deliver something “too similar to the series” due to lack of skill and experience with this particular series. Thus they decided to “do something different” and avoid comparisons to the previous titles.
But the end result is unrecognizable. And the fans instead of wondering how it matches up to the best of the series are enraged by the changes.
Perhaps if there were even major changes to the gameplay system and framework, but the style was retained it could’ve sold “on name and characters only”.
But as it stands, it only distances the fans, who are even threatening to boycott the game.
Also I see a missed opportunity of mutual promotion between DmC and Marvel vs Capcom 3: Fate of the Two Worlds. The Dante seen in MvsC3 will only serve as a reminder of how memorable and lovable the old design was, while the reboot is something nobody knows and many dislike.
So I could only recommend looking at the actions of game developer Sucker Punch who redesigned the protagonist’s look in inFamous 2 but after meeting mixed fan reactions changed it back to it’s old version.
Also it might be a nice piece of history that Devil May Cry itself came out of a Resident Evil 4 prototype that was considered “too different” for the series and instead made into a different one.
So please, Ninja Theory, listen to a humble and harmless request of a DMC fan.
1) Scrap the current look and style of “DmC” and start over.
2) Change the name of the game and develop it as a wholly different franchise, “inspired by DMC”.
I’ll send a similar copy to Capcom…
Best wishes and respect.
This is an open letter to you regarding the DMC reboot.
Firstly, does the Devil May Cry franchise require a reboot?
It is an almost 10-year franchise which invented and popularized the Stylish Action subgenre, it’s recognizable, carries a large fanbase and has had an influence on many other games and spawned numerous imitations.
Reboots are usually done in hopes of reviving a dead or unpopular franchise or adapting something old to modern stylistic standards while accepting that it’s current state is stylistically and/or technically obsolete. Is Devil May Cry incapable of holding it’s own in the market? Is it’s style out-of-place in 2010/2011?
The lead character Dante became quite iconic and a frequent guest of top 10s. When Marvel vs. Capcom 3 chose Dante to appear in the crossover the fandom rejoiced and Capcom knew that they were bringing in one of their major franchises.
I think that a reboot is of no need for this franchise.
And come to think of it, DMC once had something of a reboot to it. Devil May Cry 2 was a sort of a disappointment to the fans of the series for not holding up to the first game. It still had nice sales though. Nevertheless Capcom decided to renew the series by doing a prequel and changing the gameplay by polishing the old system and expanding with new features. It also saw a slight change in visuals. It brought us a younger version of Dante, which while different was still immediately recognizable and introduced a new charismatic antagonist. The cutscenes became famous and later many games were said to be similar to “the over-the-top cutscenes of DMC3”. It relaunched DMC and is regarded as the best in the series.
But the new reboot done by Ninja Theory?
It is drastically different and even unrecognizable.
The iconic and instantly familiar protagonist was redesigned in a very strange way. In fact the only things he shares with the DMC 1-4 version is his name and the colors of his handguns.
Even the trademark sword didn’t make an appearance.
The tone of the game, which was always about Heaven and Hell with direct Divine Comedy influence and usually included epic and gothic settings while using the modern world as a rare backdrop is now distinctly urban. The dark epic tone is swapped for a noir faux-realistic feel.
The monsters are perhaps a play on the puppets seen in DMC1 and DMC4 but in fact look like they were lifted from Silent Hill 2 or Resonance of Fate.
And the over-the-top and many times humorous style which Dante showed us before is swapped for “mental institution” and “patient” setting invoking parallels with American McGee’s Alice and the Address Unknown segments in Max Payne 2. Also it should be noted that Dante’s redesign has been called “emo” and brought some people thoughts of Twilight.
All of this while not negative on it’s own, it is very different from the Devil May Cry familiar to the fans of the series. As a matter of fact, the only things connecting DmC to Devil May Cry are it’s name and the protagonist’s name.
I don’t know why the decision of a reboot was made or whether it was done by Capcom or Ninja Theory, but it is viewed very negatively right now by me and many other people.
The only reason I can imagine the reboot was decided is that Ninja Theory, realizing that as an outside studio it cannot deliver something “too similar to the series” due to lack of skill and experience with this particular series. Thus they decided to “do something different” and avoid comparisons to the previous titles.
But the end result is unrecognizable. And the fans instead of wondering how it matches up to the best of the series are enraged by the changes.
Perhaps if there were even major changes to the gameplay system and framework, but the style was retained it could’ve sold “on name and characters only”.
But as it stands, it only distances the fans, who are even threatening to boycott the game.
Also I see a missed opportunity of mutual promotion between DmC and Marvel vs Capcom 3: Fate of the Two Worlds. The Dante seen in MvsC3 will only serve as a reminder of how memorable and lovable the old design was, while the reboot is something nobody knows and many dislike.
So I could only recommend looking at the actions of game developer Sucker Punch who redesigned the protagonist’s look in inFamous 2 but after meeting mixed fan reactions changed it back to it’s old version.
Also it might be a nice piece of history that Devil May Cry itself came out of a Resident Evil 4 prototype that was considered “too different” for the series and instead made into a different one.
So please, Ninja Theory, listen to a humble and harmless request of a DMC fan.
1) Scrap the current look and style of “DmC” and start over.
2) Change the name of the game and develop it as a wholly different franchise, “inspired by DMC”.
I’ll send a similar copy to Capcom…
Best wishes and respect.
понедельник, 4 января 2010 г.
003 Bayonetta vs. DMC3.
I haven't really beaten Bayonetta on all difficulties to compare it to DMC3, so I was saying compared anything else.
And DMC3 is the game that got me to buy a PS2, so I might get subjective (not fanboyishly bashing though, cause Bayonetta rocks in it's right!)
But here's what I can compare.
Story:
Actually DMC is th 3rd game in a series, while Bayonetta is the 1st. So DMC has way more backstory. But Bayonetta (NO SPOILERS) left me surprised an unsure about the script and ending. At one point I was "how the hell did that happen?" and "Why?". But the amount of Capcom game references help it be awesome.
I say equal.
Presentation:
This might be IMHO, but I'll go with DMC. It blended epic story telling (Mary's and Arkham's) and cutscene badassery. Dante's cockiness seemed out of place for such an epic journey and that made it even more awesome. In the end he still was just a cocky and cool bastard against a dark world.
Bayonetta. Is a world of EPIC AWESOMENESS. Everything is over-the-top, there's way more humour (which doesn't always work).
And Bayonetta is into posing way more than Dante was in all 4 games combined. It's kind of shallow.
Cutscenes.
They were made by the same guy. But he became famous on DMC3. And many, of so many, scenes of Bayo were almost like reworked from DMC3. Going for examples would be spoilery. And again, DMC had Dante's over-the-top shenanigans and Vergil's slick quiet show-offing, while Bayonetta is over-the-top with everybody.
But still pretty much equal. Except DMC had a little more variety.
Characters.
Dante vs. Vergil, Bayonetta vs. Jeanne. Arkham is Balder, There's a character acting like Jester.
DMC3 has like 4 characters but all are really worked through.
Bayonetta has 7. And out of those a few are awesome and the rest are staples.
Bosses.
DMC3 - had it's share of interesting types. Agni & Rudra are my fave. And they're all actual bosses, who leave you a weapon after yo take them out.
In Bayonetta. I really like Sapientia… But really all 4 Cardinals are more reminiscent of the Colossus fight from GoW2 and the big statue of DMC4. The best bosses in my opinion are of course Jeanne and Golem. Cause they’re more around traditional bosses. Oh and implementing minigames into them was a bad idea IMHO.
And the 4 virtues are… just mean machines. DMC3 bosses were also fun characters, who even spoke sensible words.
But Jeanne saves the show, so I’ll say equal.
Boss characters: DMC3.
Artistic Design.
I can’t really compare.
Bayonetta has way more details and interesting decisions, while DMC3 was little too traditional, but within those constraints it did great.
And design is subjective. I like both, but Bayonetta gets bonus points for details.
Gameplay.
Oh boy. The hard part.
DMC’s combo system relies on timing. You don’t really mix moves in a combo, you mix weapon types.
While Bayonetta is more reminiscent of Ninja Gaiden here.
By the way, DMC had 3 buttons mapped:
1. Ranged, depending on your weapon.
2. Melee, depending on your weapon.
3. Style, depending on the style you chose.
Bayonetta has.
1. Ranged (just guns, no matter what you have equipped)
2. Weapon, equipped on hands.
3. Weapon, equipped on legs.
I never even used the ranged button.
Weapon variety: both are good.
But in DMC you got all the weapons on your first playthrough, and enjoy them to your hearts content, while in Bayonetta I have still to find the ice skates and never had enough money for some. And angel weapons don’t last long enough to actually feel like weapons, and not like DMC3’s stripper pole trick. I find that sad, cause weapons need to be all found.
Also during my 1st playthrough I bought only like 2 accessories. So I haven’t really tapped in they’re abilities, and can’t say whether they changed the game style.
DMC had styles… That really upped the replay value (way to go DMC4 to fuck that up.)
Bayonetta doesn’t, but it has a lot of unorthodox combos and in terms of sheer combo numbers it out-weights DMC.
This one is really subjective on players.
DMC was more about choosing a style and varying weapons.
While Bayonetta has you chose weapons and specific combos and the gameplay style usually goes with the weapons. It’s really like a mix of DMC and NG. But the combos are a lot more difficult to do (cause there are tons of them and some are long). And you can switch between 2 active sets of weapons and still be able to chose anyone from your menu at any time in battle.
Bayonetta has animalities and DMC doesn’t. It’s uses are very interesting, while not as complex as many styles, but all at once really fun. Feels like Okami… Ah, Okami, I love you.
Also Bayonetta has a ton of extra content as concocting (those who played the game know what I mean), costumes, catching crow and the only minigame that didn’t suck – Angel Attack. DMC3 feels cheap compared to that.
What else…
Stylishness.
Funny but DMC3 put a lot more emphasis on that. Weapon and combo variety was the way to go.
Bayonetta has you do more precise dodging into Witch Time and not getting hit. Everything else is mandatory.
OVERALL:
Let’s not deny that Bayonetta is DMC’s gameplay style successor, and exactly DMC3’s style successor. But it added a lot to the main formula making it into something similar, but vastly different at the same time…
I think DMC3 was more polished and the Pure DMC formula, while Bayonetta is more innovative. DMC lacks a little variety compared to Bayonetta and Bayonetta could use more polish, like DMC3.
So my conclusion is… Bayonetta 3: Jeanne’s Awakening is gonna rock your souls.
And DMC3 is the game that got me to buy a PS2, so I might get subjective (not fanboyishly bashing though, cause Bayonetta rocks in it's right!)
But here's what I can compare.
Story:
Actually DMC is th 3rd game in a series, while Bayonetta is the 1st. So DMC has way more backstory. But Bayonetta (NO SPOILERS) left me surprised an unsure about the script and ending. At one point I was "how the hell did that happen?" and "Why?". But the amount of Capcom game references help it be awesome.
I say equal.
Presentation:
This might be IMHO, but I'll go with DMC. It blended epic story telling (Mary's and Arkham's) and cutscene badassery. Dante's cockiness seemed out of place for such an epic journey and that made it even more awesome. In the end he still was just a cocky and cool bastard against a dark world.
Bayonetta. Is a world of EPIC AWESOMENESS. Everything is over-the-top, there's way more humour (which doesn't always work).
And Bayonetta is into posing way more than Dante was in all 4 games combined. It's kind of shallow.
Cutscenes.
They were made by the same guy. But he became famous on DMC3. And many, of so many, scenes of Bayo were almost like reworked from DMC3. Going for examples would be spoilery. And again, DMC had Dante's over-the-top shenanigans and Vergil's slick quiet show-offing, while Bayonetta is over-the-top with everybody.
But still pretty much equal. Except DMC had a little more variety.
Characters.
Dante vs. Vergil, Bayonetta vs. Jeanne. Arkham is Balder, There's a character acting like Jester.
DMC3 has like 4 characters but all are really worked through.
Bayonetta has 7. And out of those a few are awesome and the rest are staples.
Bosses.
DMC3 - had it's share of interesting types. Agni & Rudra are my fave. And they're all actual bosses, who leave you a weapon after yo take them out.
In Bayonetta. I really like Sapientia… But really all 4 Cardinals are more reminiscent of the Colossus fight from GoW2 and the big statue of DMC4. The best bosses in my opinion are of course Jeanne and Golem. Cause they’re more around traditional bosses. Oh and implementing minigames into them was a bad idea IMHO.
And the 4 virtues are… just mean machines. DMC3 bosses were also fun characters, who even spoke sensible words.
But Jeanne saves the show, so I’ll say equal.
Boss characters: DMC3.
Artistic Design.
I can’t really compare.
Bayonetta has way more details and interesting decisions, while DMC3 was little too traditional, but within those constraints it did great.
And design is subjective. I like both, but Bayonetta gets bonus points for details.
Gameplay.
Oh boy. The hard part.
DMC’s combo system relies on timing. You don’t really mix moves in a combo, you mix weapon types.
While Bayonetta is more reminiscent of Ninja Gaiden here.
By the way, DMC had 3 buttons mapped:
1. Ranged, depending on your weapon.
2. Melee, depending on your weapon.
3. Style, depending on the style you chose.
Bayonetta has.
1. Ranged (just guns, no matter what you have equipped)
2. Weapon, equipped on hands.
3. Weapon, equipped on legs.
I never even used the ranged button.
Weapon variety: both are good.
But in DMC you got all the weapons on your first playthrough, and enjoy them to your hearts content, while in Bayonetta I have still to find the ice skates and never had enough money for some. And angel weapons don’t last long enough to actually feel like weapons, and not like DMC3’s stripper pole trick. I find that sad, cause weapons need to be all found.
Also during my 1st playthrough I bought only like 2 accessories. So I haven’t really tapped in they’re abilities, and can’t say whether they changed the game style.
DMC had styles… That really upped the replay value (way to go DMC4 to fuck that up.)
Bayonetta doesn’t, but it has a lot of unorthodox combos and in terms of sheer combo numbers it out-weights DMC.
This one is really subjective on players.
DMC was more about choosing a style and varying weapons.
While Bayonetta has you chose weapons and specific combos and the gameplay style usually goes with the weapons. It’s really like a mix of DMC and NG. But the combos are a lot more difficult to do (cause there are tons of them and some are long). And you can switch between 2 active sets of weapons and still be able to chose anyone from your menu at any time in battle.
Bayonetta has animalities and DMC doesn’t. It’s uses are very interesting, while not as complex as many styles, but all at once really fun. Feels like Okami… Ah, Okami, I love you.
Also Bayonetta has a ton of extra content as concocting (those who played the game know what I mean), costumes, catching crow and the only minigame that didn’t suck – Angel Attack. DMC3 feels cheap compared to that.
What else…
Stylishness.
Funny but DMC3 put a lot more emphasis on that. Weapon and combo variety was the way to go.
Bayonetta has you do more precise dodging into Witch Time and not getting hit. Everything else is mandatory.
OVERALL:
Let’s not deny that Bayonetta is DMC’s gameplay style successor, and exactly DMC3’s style successor. But it added a lot to the main formula making it into something similar, but vastly different at the same time…
I think DMC3 was more polished and the Pure DMC formula, while Bayonetta is more innovative. DMC lacks a little variety compared to Bayonetta and Bayonetta could use more polish, like DMC3.
So my conclusion is… Bayonetta 3: Jeanne’s Awakening is gonna rock your souls.
воскресенье, 25 октября 2009 г.
002 Rocktober and Gamelist I
Hello, emptiness of no one, who’d read this. But I’m writing anyway.
It’s October’s rain of releases, and out of all that’s coming out I wanted to get these fellows:
1. Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2
2. Brutal Legend
3. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
4. Demons Souls.
And out of all that I only bought Uncharted 2… No, not cause of money or it’s inept awesomeness. I was actually planning to get it in the end (save the best for last), and besides I had a preorder on NG∑2, so it was first on my list.
But none of the other games made it to EU yet (gonna import DS), and nothing except Uncharted 2 (which was obviously too sweet not to ship) made it to my local stores yet.
I’m probably gonna buy Katamari Forever, to spend the time as I wait…
Oh and BTW, I’m gonna go try and sell my games to a used games store, if I find one. But my brother said it might be a good idea to list all the games I had an rate them, before I get rid of some of them.
Alphabetical order. Rating is S, A, B, C, D. These are my marks for the game’s enjoyment by ME. Total IMHO.
These are the ones I’m planning to sell, so they get priority.
Armored Core For Answer
-the mech-sim of gray uninvertable axis-
Story: C (or rather I never gave a damn, which means it wasn’t gripping)
Gameplay: B (not that bad, but there was no way to invert the axis and the controls felt funny. Also a tad hard, not challenging, just hard)
Design/Art: B+ (I’m a mech fan, but these were a bit average IMHO)
Music: ? (there was music in this game? Totally forgettable)
Overall: C+ (I dropped it, came back to it out of renewed interest, and dropped it again)
Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice
-antiquated 2-D tactics harcore-
Story: ? (never got that far)
Gameplay: ? (Not a fan and the features seemed too complex, and the game not-too-promising to learn them.)
Design/Art: ? (If you’re going for 2-D in this generation, if better be friggin’ Blazblue level)
Music: B (Japanese soundtrack at it’s good days)
Overall: C+ (I have good friends who are genuinely liking this game, so I guess it has it’s audience, but that’s not me.)
Dynasty Warriors: Gundam
-dynasty warriors IN SPACE!-
Story: B (It’s Gundam! But it has no Gundam 00, so that’s a let down)
Gameplay: B (Dynasty Warriors IN SPACE!)
Design/Art: A (it has a power of ultra franchise behind it, what did you expect?)
Music: B (Epic gundamness)
Overall: B (Dynasty Warriors 6 was still kinda better. Not enough Gundam to keep me rolling)
Heavenly Sword
-overhyped and unworthy hell-knows-what-
Story: D (Was aiming for Wuxia-esque epicness, but damn the ass-pulls and randomness)
Gameplay: C+ (Throwing shit with the sixaxis was fun. Combat is bland, not DMC, not even God of War. And why so short?)
Design/Art: B- (had a few nice ideas, but they were too abrupt and unimmersive)
Music: C (I am so tired of
Overall: C- (Don’t buy this, just don’t. It’s a 4 to 5 hours waste of your time.
Prototype
-oh so forgettable and inferior in comparison to Infamous-
Story: D (Friggin’ predictable)
Gameplay: C (needlessly complex combat system and crappy acrobatics, which I miss with all the time)
Design/Art: D (not creative at all. Resident Evil biohazard monsters is all you get.)
Music: C (Usual epic stuff, I’ll be saying that a lot)
Overall: C (Not that bad of a game, but comparing it to infamous kills it for me)
Resistance: Fall of Man
-dark-horse shooter-
Story: C (Space Marines versus Aliens! Well maybe not, but the so lost the alternative WWII theme along the way)
Gameplay: A (Hell yes! for all those fancy weapons… And they were original too)
Design/Art: B- (Not that they’re bad, but not all the original either)
Music: C (unmemorable, but not bad.)
Overall: B (I enjoyed it. And then forgot it. Haven’t bought Resistance 2 either.)
Silent Hill: Homecoming
-western take on the survival horror legend-
Story: A- or B+ (Not silent hill level, really, but still nice enough)
Gameplay: B (Creepy, yet the aiming works)
Design/Art: A- (pretty sick, but that’s what horror needs I guess. The Bosses is where it really shines.)
Music: S (It’s Akira Yamaoka, how can you be wrong? “One more soul to the call” is awesome beyond words)
Overall: B+ (Great game. Not the NEXT great Silent Hill game, but a fresh start for the genre)
Soul Calibur IV
-almost plotless fighting-
Story: C (Story mode is too short and meaningless. Also who the hell thought that Darth Vader was a nice addition?)
Gameplay: B+ (Soul Calibur’s pros and cons are their best)
Design/Art: A (I love Hilde. And everybody else was slightly redesigned for this. They’re flashy and memorable, as fighting characters should be)
Music: B (Usual epic stuff, I’ll be saying that a lot)
Overall: B
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
-wasted plot and nice physics-
Story: D+ (It had the balls to give Vader a secret apprentice and then flushed any good ideas they could have used. Vader had a secret apprentice, and nothing else is really interesting.)
Gameplay: B (It was original, but flawed. Not nearly as deep as it could’ve been)
Design/Art: B (Star wars, not much to say, except that the Apprentice is bland)
Music: C (Star Wars music can be fun only so many times)
Overall: C (overhyped, not that good really. The story really killed it for me.
Street Fighter IV
-let’s get fugly!-
Story: C (What story? I barely understood anything.)
Gameplay: B+ (Pretty awesome, but a tad too difficult for me. But it’s my fault I’m not skilled)
Design/Art: A (Trendy ink is awesome!)
Character Design: D- (Why are they so ugly and dumb? That was intentional!)
Music: B (Jpop is nice, but overall not memorable)
Overall: B (Too fugly to look at and too difficult to master straight away)
It’s October’s rain of releases, and out of all that’s coming out I wanted to get these fellows:
1. Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2
2. Brutal Legend
3. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
4. Demons Souls.
And out of all that I only bought Uncharted 2… No, not cause of money or it’s inept awesomeness. I was actually planning to get it in the end (save the best for last), and besides I had a preorder on NG∑2, so it was first on my list.
But none of the other games made it to EU yet (gonna import DS), and nothing except Uncharted 2 (which was obviously too sweet not to ship) made it to my local stores yet.
I’m probably gonna buy Katamari Forever, to spend the time as I wait…
Oh and BTW, I’m gonna go try and sell my games to a used games store, if I find one. But my brother said it might be a good idea to list all the games I had an rate them, before I get rid of some of them.
Alphabetical order. Rating is S, A, B, C, D. These are my marks for the game’s enjoyment by ME. Total IMHO.
These are the ones I’m planning to sell, so they get priority.
Armored Core For Answer
-the mech-sim of gray uninvertable axis-
Story: C (or rather I never gave a damn, which means it wasn’t gripping)
Gameplay: B (not that bad, but there was no way to invert the axis and the controls felt funny. Also a tad hard, not challenging, just hard)
Design/Art: B+ (I’m a mech fan, but these were a bit average IMHO)
Music: ? (there was music in this game? Totally forgettable)
Overall: C+ (I dropped it, came back to it out of renewed interest, and dropped it again)
Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice
-antiquated 2-D tactics harcore-
Story: ? (never got that far)
Gameplay: ? (Not a fan and the features seemed too complex, and the game not-too-promising to learn them.)
Design/Art: ? (If you’re going for 2-D in this generation, if better be friggin’ Blazblue level)
Music: B (Japanese soundtrack at it’s good days)
Overall: C+ (I have good friends who are genuinely liking this game, so I guess it has it’s audience, but that’s not me.)
Dynasty Warriors: Gundam
-dynasty warriors IN SPACE!-
Story: B (It’s Gundam! But it has no Gundam 00, so that’s a let down)
Gameplay: B (Dynasty Warriors IN SPACE!)
Design/Art: A (it has a power of ultra franchise behind it, what did you expect?)
Music: B (Epic gundamness)
Overall: B (Dynasty Warriors 6 was still kinda better. Not enough Gundam to keep me rolling)
Heavenly Sword
-overhyped and unworthy hell-knows-what-
Story: D (Was aiming for Wuxia-esque epicness, but damn the ass-pulls and randomness)
Gameplay: C+ (Throwing shit with the sixaxis was fun. Combat is bland, not DMC, not even God of War. And why so short?)
Design/Art: B- (had a few nice ideas, but they were too abrupt and unimmersive)
Music: C (I am so tired of
Overall: C- (Don’t buy this, just don’t. It’s a 4 to 5 hours waste of your time.
Prototype
-oh so forgettable and inferior in comparison to Infamous-
Story: D (Friggin’ predictable)
Gameplay: C (needlessly complex combat system and crappy acrobatics, which I miss with all the time)
Design/Art: D (not creative at all. Resident Evil biohazard monsters is all you get.)
Music: C (Usual epic stuff, I’ll be saying that a lot)
Overall: C (Not that bad of a game, but comparing it to infamous kills it for me)
Resistance: Fall of Man
-dark-horse shooter-
Story: C (Space Marines versus Aliens! Well maybe not, but the so lost the alternative WWII theme along the way)
Gameplay: A (Hell yes! for all those fancy weapons… And they were original too)
Design/Art: B- (Not that they’re bad, but not all the original either)
Music: C (unmemorable, but not bad.)
Overall: B (I enjoyed it. And then forgot it. Haven’t bought Resistance 2 either.)
Silent Hill: Homecoming
-western take on the survival horror legend-
Story: A- or B+ (Not silent hill level, really, but still nice enough)
Gameplay: B (Creepy, yet the aiming works)
Design/Art: A- (pretty sick, but that’s what horror needs I guess. The Bosses is where it really shines.)
Music: S (It’s Akira Yamaoka, how can you be wrong? “One more soul to the call” is awesome beyond words)
Overall: B+ (Great game. Not the NEXT great Silent Hill game, but a fresh start for the genre)
Soul Calibur IV
-almost plotless fighting-
Story: C (Story mode is too short and meaningless. Also who the hell thought that Darth Vader was a nice addition?)
Gameplay: B+ (Soul Calibur’s pros and cons are their best)
Design/Art: A (I love Hilde. And everybody else was slightly redesigned for this. They’re flashy and memorable, as fighting characters should be)
Music: B (Usual epic stuff, I’ll be saying that a lot)
Overall: B
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
-wasted plot and nice physics-
Story: D+ (It had the balls to give Vader a secret apprentice and then flushed any good ideas they could have used. Vader had a secret apprentice, and nothing else is really interesting.)
Gameplay: B (It was original, but flawed. Not nearly as deep as it could’ve been)
Design/Art: B (Star wars, not much to say, except that the Apprentice is bland)
Music: C (Star Wars music can be fun only so many times)
Overall: C (overhyped, not that good really. The story really killed it for me.
Street Fighter IV
-let’s get fugly!-
Story: C (What story? I barely understood anything.)
Gameplay: B+ (Pretty awesome, but a tad too difficult for me. But it’s my fault I’m not skilled)
Design/Art: A (Trendy ink is awesome!)
Character Design: D- (Why are they so ugly and dumb? That was intentional!)
Music: B (Jpop is nice, but overall not memorable)
Overall: B (Too fugly to look at and too difficult to master straight away)
пятница, 19 июня 2009 г.
001 Ninja dogs have PRIDE! but I'm not one of them.
Hey.
I passed all the exams at the University and am FREE!
Well I’m still wasting time with stuff…
First of I started playing Ninja Gaiden ∑
Oh boy. I read it was hard, but I figured, what the heck, I passed DMC on Dante Must Die, so I’ll manage…
And I fell through the trap door in the first level 9 times…
And the bosses. Hell even simple mounted enemies are H-A-R-D.
The combos can’t be interrupted. The enemies gang up on you. And what the f is up with Ryu’s jump? And I bet you don’t want to hear about the camera either…
On the 2nd level – the airship (how does Ryu stow away when he’s a highly visible shiny black latex ninja?) I found a killzone, with tons of enemies I figured there’s something of value there and tried killing off all of them. And I couldn’t.
After dying a lot I saw the “Do you wish to abandon the way of the ninja?”. I thought it was a different variable continue screen. But it’s not…
Oh so it’s a difficulty-down screen? Like in Onimusha, when ya die 3 times you get the offer to switch to easy. But I just said
“I’m hardcore. That just how I roll…” © SpoonyOne
And ignored it.
But after dying 6 or more times I decided to try it…
I got a “Are you sure?” screen – why not, my ninja ass hit the floor only so many times.
“Are you really sure?” – screen – oh come on I already swallowed my pride…
Then Ayane (or generic Hayabusa-village girl) shows up and taunts you for being “overestimated” and changes the difficulty from NORMAL to NINJA DOG. Ninja dog? That’s kinda offensive, but hey, it’s your fault you suck…
And on the “easy” dog setting – I still get my ass handed to me!
Damnit Ryu…
So I figured, if they kick me around either way – might as well have them kick me around on NORMAL… And just switched back to the “Ninja way”
Surprisingly after 9 more deaths I actually got the hang of it and beat them on NORMAL. Whoo.
It’s true when they say that, Ninja Gaiden is hard, but it feels really, REALLY, rewarding when you get to it…
Hooray for me and those 2 katanas…
I’ll do a ‘Stylistics’ review of Ninja Gaiden ∑, when I beat it.
Oh and I started taking my drawing skills back to work condition. I still suck, but hey “Good artists are crappy artists who never gave up”
Till later...
I passed all the exams at the University and am FREE!
Well I’m still wasting time with stuff…
First of I started playing Ninja Gaiden ∑
Oh boy. I read it was hard, but I figured, what the heck, I passed DMC on Dante Must Die, so I’ll manage…
And I fell through the trap door in the first level 9 times…
And the bosses. Hell even simple mounted enemies are H-A-R-D.
The combos can’t be interrupted. The enemies gang up on you. And what the f is up with Ryu’s jump? And I bet you don’t want to hear about the camera either…
On the 2nd level – the airship (how does Ryu stow away when he’s a highly visible shiny black latex ninja?) I found a killzone, with tons of enemies I figured there’s something of value there and tried killing off all of them. And I couldn’t.
After dying a lot I saw the “Do you wish to abandon the way of the ninja?”. I thought it was a different variable continue screen. But it’s not…
Oh so it’s a difficulty-down screen? Like in Onimusha, when ya die 3 times you get the offer to switch to easy. But I just said
“I’m hardcore. That just how I roll…” © SpoonyOne
And ignored it.
But after dying 6 or more times I decided to try it…
I got a “Are you sure?” screen – why not, my ninja ass hit the floor only so many times.
“Are you really sure?” – screen – oh come on I already swallowed my pride…
Then Ayane (or generic Hayabusa-village girl) shows up and taunts you for being “overestimated” and changes the difficulty from NORMAL to NINJA DOG. Ninja dog? That’s kinda offensive, but hey, it’s your fault you suck…
And on the “easy” dog setting – I still get my ass handed to me!
Damnit Ryu…
So I figured, if they kick me around either way – might as well have them kick me around on NORMAL… And just switched back to the “Ninja way”
Surprisingly after 9 more deaths I actually got the hang of it and beat them on NORMAL. Whoo.
It’s true when they say that, Ninja Gaiden is hard, but it feels really, REALLY, rewarding when you get to it…
Hooray for me and those 2 katanas…
I’ll do a ‘Stylistics’ review of Ninja Gaiden ∑, when I beat it.
Oh and I started taking my drawing skills back to work condition. I still suck, but hey “Good artists are crappy artists who never gave up”
Till later...
воскресенье, 7 июня 2009 г.
Sylistics: Titles.
OK. Welcome once again to 3-6-9, and today we’ll dive into Stylistics.
Today I’ll talk about titles in videogames. And I don’t mean titles as in franchises, but as in their names and their style.
Now I won’t go into this really deep and all this is just an observation and not an serious science study.
But how did titles look in the 80s and 90s? They were big and artsy, always trying to invent some new font and be all individual.
Examples?
Take a look at this.
And FFII was
It carried on into the 2000s with things many thing, like Halo for example.
What are those? I’ll illustrate with Metal Gear Solid series. Cause Kojima always knew and followed style.
MGS1.
The first logo was on all the rules of it’s time. Those lines and the “M” and “R” stretching downward to the “solid”.
But as times changed the logo became…
The ultimate principle that’s ‘Less is more’. It became more popular and subsequent MGS games all used it in one way or another.
The cause for this is also probably oversatisfaction and saturation with previous styles.
And this trend touched lots of other franchises.
Of course FF.
DMC3’s oldshool griny text.
Now let’s get to MGS4.
It had… this.
The old text, but with some added tricks. And it’s also pretty common. Again you can dilute plain fonts with symbols or artwork, like the FF began to…
Also there’s a tendency to make your plain text either beat up and falling apart
But that’s the artwork of MGS4 cover, in game the title was different, and sadly I don’t have a pic of it. But here are the same pics of the same font.
It’s painted in ink, Japanese style.
That was possibly started or spearheaded by Okami (at least in videogames).
I guess it’s main characteristics would be flowing, blur, gritty and ext. (gone pretty far from Okami). The main idea is, that the title is not that easy to read. It’ a bit obscured by some style decision…
It’s influence in titles right now is minor, but I predict that it’ll go far.
It’s not limited to Japanese brush black ink (example Muramasa)
But also to just sloppy, hard to define or blurred text. I also put fragmented text here.
And there’s also a mix of both. Plain text with some minor obscurity.
As in
And this isn’t only limited to games.
Plain text.
So I see “Simplicity” and “Obscurity” as the the biggest trend in visual style nowadays. And I think there’ll be more obscurity…
See you later.
Signing off, Sieg.
Today I’ll talk about titles in videogames. And I don’t mean titles as in franchises, but as in their names and their style.
Now I won’t go into this really deep and all this is just an observation and not an serious science study.
But how did titles look in the 80s and 90s? They were big and artsy, always trying to invent some new font and be all individual.
Examples?
Take a look at this.
And FFII was
It carried on into the 2000s with things many thing, like Halo for example.
What are those? I’ll illustrate with Metal Gear Solid series. Cause Kojima always knew and followed style.
MGS1.
The first logo was on all the rules of it’s time. Those lines and the “M” and “R” stretching downward to the “solid”.
But as times changed the logo became…
The ultimate principle that’s ‘Less is more’. It became more popular and subsequent MGS games all used it in one way or another.
The cause for this is also probably oversatisfaction and saturation with previous styles.
And this trend touched lots of other franchises.
Of course FF.
DMC3’s oldshool griny text.
Now let’s get to MGS4.
It had… this.
The old text, but with some added tricks. And it’s also pretty common. Again you can dilute plain fonts with symbols or artwork, like the FF began to…
Also there’s a tendency to make your plain text either beat up and falling apart
But that’s the artwork of MGS4 cover, in game the title was different, and sadly I don’t have a pic of it. But here are the same pics of the same font.
It’s painted in ink, Japanese style.
That was possibly started or spearheaded by Okami (at least in videogames).
I guess it’s main characteristics would be flowing, blur, gritty and ext. (gone pretty far from Okami). The main idea is, that the title is not that easy to read. It’ a bit obscured by some style decision…
It’s influence in titles right now is minor, but I predict that it’ll go far.
It’s not limited to Japanese brush black ink (example Muramasa)
But also to just sloppy, hard to define or blurred text. I also put fragmented text here.
And there’s also a mix of both. Plain text with some minor obscurity.
As in
And this isn’t only limited to games.
Plain text.
So I see “Simplicity” and “Obscurity” as the the biggest trend in visual style nowadays. And I think there’ll be more obscurity…
See you later.
Signing off, Sieg.
среда, 3 июня 2009 г.
3-6-9
Couldn't let this day go by without a post for 2 reasons.
1) It’s 03.06.09, which mirrors the name of the blog
2) It just happens to be my birthday. ;)
So maybe you were wondering why the blog is called 3-6-9.
Well it’s cause I like abnormal names for things and cause those 3 numbers are kind of present in many-many things I do. For starters as I mentioned my birthday, which is 03.06.1989.
Many of the registration numbers I receive have them in one way or another.
I don’t believe in numerology, but I do believe that with persistence, you can find it anywhere.
And I just like abnormal names for things.
See you next time, when I rant about something else…
1) It’s 03.06.09, which mirrors the name of the blog
2) It just happens to be my birthday. ;)
So maybe you were wondering why the blog is called 3-6-9.
Well it’s cause I like abnormal names for things and cause those 3 numbers are kind of present in many-many things I do. For starters as I mentioned my birthday, which is 03.06.1989.
Many of the registration numbers I receive have them in one way or another.
I don’t believe in numerology, but I do believe that with persistence, you can find it anywhere.
And I just like abnormal names for things.
See you next time, when I rant about something else…
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