Episode 60 - Pugs Fear Farts

In this weeks episode, [insert description here]

Gamer Basement Podcast #60 - Pugs Fear Farts (right-click to save)

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Hitman Goes Hard

I’ve never really took the time to play a game in the Hitman series. I dipped my feet into Hitman: Blood Money but never went far. However, Hitman: Go for iOS and Android has fit the bill so far, and I highly suggest spending your measly $2-5 on a great puzzle game.

So you’re Agent 47 and your new assignment requires you to mundanely move along a grid to reach the goal to complete the level. Each stage—presented like a board game—is divided up into smaller levels which get increasingly more complex in different ways: new objectives pop up, like “Pick up the briefcase” or “Finish the level in 10 steps or fewer”. Completing these side objectives gives you more points, which in turn unlocks new stages.

You can approach each level differently, which is what I like. Agent 47 can choose to kill his opponents or leave them be—all while trying to remain hidden. It’s nice, but not something I haven’t seen. What I do enjoy is the small but important additions like new types of guards or tools. Each addition becomes an asset to help you beat a stage to 100% completion. You learn how certain opponents move or react, and when to use the tools provided. For example, early on you will find a throwable object used to distract guards. Again, it’s not like I haven’t seen this before, but you really have to make the right moves and take advantage of a throwable object at the right time to complete the harder levels at 100%. In general, the replayability is through the roof because you’ll be hitting the reset button many times for not being smart enough.

Oh, and it doesn’t hurt that this game’s a looker. You get a great, minimalist art style. It’s a very clean look that kind of reminds me of the décor seen in Mad Men or the 60s. I wouldn’t say this is the driving force behind the game, but it fits well with the simple gameplay.

If you’re yearning for a challenging puzzle game, this is it. It’s very interesting, far from mundane, and is worth your hard-earned $2-5.

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Muramasa: Rebirth Is Vanilla Ware

Do you like games that are hollowed out lies and which serve seemingly little purpose but to remind you that your finite life is often wasted on outwardly interesting games? Then perhaps Muramasa: Rebirth is a game I can wholeheartedly recommend to you. Not that the game is bad, necessarily. It’s just such an obviously shallow experience that I find its few achievements to be frustrating reminders of what the game could be. Indeed, Brandon’s piece a few weeks back discussing Dragon’s Crown's many successful qualities only serve to remind me how successful developer Vanillaware can be if they manage to move beyond their insane obsession with graphics.

Muramasa Rebirth is a Vita port of a near-identical Wii version called Muramasa: The Demon Blade. Both versions of this game are an artistic success in every sense of the word. An obscene amount of focus from Vanillaware obviously went into the painstaking detail and beauty found in this game’s character models and environments. But that’s about all this game has in terms of merit, and I find myself at times bored by how lackluster and repetitive the overall package comes across.

At its core, Muramasa is a simple MetroidVania-style action game. The maps the player visits throughout his/her quest are broken up into nearly identical backgrounds where enemies are encountered occasionally, popping into the screen much like random encounters in JRPGs. You fight bosses and forge new swords, which are either heavy or light in nature, and which usually have unique properties. It’s a formula I’ve simply seen too many times to become enthusiastic about. And the problem is that nothing is done terribly well.

Prior to starting Muramasa, I had just come out of a 40-hour commitment with Front Mission 5, which felt like one of those long marriages when you spend your quiet life together quilting shirts and then wearing said shirts while you console one another about the inevitability of death. It was at times warm and gentle, but also harsh and draining. Muramasa was meant to ail this melancholy emptiness I felt once I finished with Front Mission 5.

I think the problem is that Front Mission 5 had too much heart: It was clearly a game developed by a studio whose intention was to create a magnum opus for their fans, many of whom have come to expect a challenging story framed by smart, tactical combat. In contrast, Muramasa feels sort of like a cluster of gameplay ideas from previous Vanillaware games held together feebly by an impenetrably wordy story.

Previous Vanillaware games, such as Odin Sphere and GrimGrimoire, managed to convey real heart in spite of their numerous flaws. For instance, Odin Sphere felt grandiose, with characters playing differently, and a world which felt expansive thanks to a largely coherent story. Muramasa feels tired in comparison: the player is given the choice between two functionally identical characters and are expected to mindlessly engage with a limited grouping of enemy types repeatedly until, thankfully, a boss comes along to wash away much of the monotony which smothers you for the hour or so leading up to it.

The issue with assuming that this is a viable game design is that too much of Muramasa’s core gameplay is flawed. For one, the controls are disgustingly shoddy. Both blocking and attacking are assigned to the same button, which makes last-minute cancels from an attack into a block next to impossible. Dodging is also overly cumbersome, requiring the player to move the control nub down/right or down/left, which I feel is far too impractical during combat.

Combat is also too hectic. I imagine my Vita crying before each random encounter, because of how many objects it needs to render during fights. Between the six ninjas lunging around the screen, the three shrunken they are each throwing at me, along with my HUD and my own character reacting to enemy threats, there is very little on the screen in a given moment that is static. Thankfully, the framerate is smooth and consistent throughout this experience. But it just feels like there is too much happening on screen at once, which makes for an often distracting play-session.

Sadly, Muramasa: Rebirth is an utterly average action experience. Its weak body has been delicately placed into a graphical shell whose outward appearance is so radiant that I was foolishly consumed into purchasing it. Now that it and I have shared time together, I feel cheated.  

Oddly, once the anger washes away and time has its way with my memories, I feel that I am most likely to remember perhaps the most incidental detail in Muramasa: that the intricate detailing of food in this game is stupefying. I find myself constantly hungry; constantly wanting more of the game that offers me such a painstaking rendition of maki and yet offers so little in terms of gameplay diversity. I guess I really want more sweater-quilting memories with my games than I think I do.

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Tony Hawk's Bro Skater Too‏

I’m pretty sure people still remember the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater series, as it was such a big hit back in the day. I had an N64, so due to the size limitations of the N64 cartridge, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 was gimped: songs were cut short,  it ran better with the ram expansion and required a memory card to save (neither of which I owned). Buying the two things isn’t expensive these days, but I found the PS1 version on eBay for $4 shipped. What a steal.

Going back to this game brings back mostly fond memories: It’s super arcadey skateboarding with crazy special tricks that even these pro skaters would have a tough time pulling off. I played Single Player to death, and what’s great is it’s easy to play a couple of minutes here and there, since each skateboarding run you do is 2 minutes. I love how I can fit in 10 minutes for this game, yet still make progress.

Graphics are still great in my opinion. The game doesn’t feel like it’s aged poorly because it still plays very smoothly, including the animations. It might be filled with jaggies, but it’s ignorable due to all other aspects of how the game runs.

You get a multitude of different levels, and all of them feel different. Out of all, my favorite is probably Venice Beach since it’s fairly big and has a good amount of everything, from ramps to roofs. School II is also great fun, but brought some annoyances, even to this day. For example, in School II you have a goal that requires you to Wall Ride over school bells. Seems simple, right? Nope, some of these bells are just annoyingly hard to Wall Ride.

Lastly, the tracklist is great. I think it’s one of my favourite and most memorable tracklists in a game. The N64 version however, only had 6 tracks, compared to the PS1’s 15. Seeing as I never played the PS1 version until now, this tracklist has only become better. I can’t believe I was in love with 6 tracks while PS1 owners had much more to love! Some of my favorite tracks are “Bring the Noise” , “Guerilla Radio” and a new favorite is “B-Boy Document” because it’s got Mos Def!

It was fun going back to Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2. If you’ve never played it, get ready for some simple, but great fun. There’s also an HD remake which features levels from the first and second games in the Tony Hawk series, but I heard it’s not that great. Stick to the OG Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2.

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PvP: A Love / Hate Relationship

You know me: I love competition. I like getting into the thick of it, on the frontlines, so to speak. I love me some good old fashioned competitive multiplayer and, with the added luxury of online modes in practically every single game, there is always somebody to play against. Under certain circumstance, you can make the argument that developers tacking on a multiplayer mode is a bad thing—it could be a distraction after all in the development process, having to spilt resources—but I think that coupling a decent multiplayer experience with an engaging single player will keep a gamer on you product longer, and in general may get you more sales in the long run.

Getting schooled is never fun though haha; and while it happens less often, it does still happen, sort of putting a damper on a player’s mood.

The Game

I've still been playing a fair amount of Destiny, the majority of my time being spent in the multiplayer arena called: The Crucible. Sadly, I've noticed that there is a significant lack of sub-machine guns—being my weapon of choice in most shooters—in Destiny. And since I'm not the biggest fan of the assault rifle, I've been forced to adapt my strategy, instead opting for the single shot scout rifle. Coupling that with a fusion rifle for those close range bouts, I'm pretty set.

The rush you get when playing PvP can't be beat, at least not when you are winning. Nothing tops getting sucker punched by some asshat and still having the skill or the know-how to come out on top—all while screaming profanities at the schmuck who tried to attack you from the back like a coward.

The problem is that online FPS multiplayer isn't about your guns...I mean, it is about your guns but it's more about your map awareness. Investing time into a game might help your aim; might help you to familiarize yourself with a particular type of weapon you like. But overall, it really just helps you learn the maps and that's where games are won and lost. Learning the ins and outs of a certain map, how best to attack a point or the best escape route.

The Pain

You always hear over the internet about people always being pissed off by some pre-pubescent boy mercing them. Having to hear their stupid voice over the mic (thank god we don't have that problem in Destiny). The real thing you're angry about is how much free time this child has to spend on a game you enjoy and how you resent them for it. That's all it is.

Another member of this blog has informed me that the new Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare is actually very enjoyable. I haven't delved into a CoD game since the second Modern Warfare and I would be lying if I said the sci-fi setting didn't intrigue the fuck out of me... Maybe I'll try to sucker some of my friends into buying it with me.

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Magic And Whimsy With A Bunny

Very rarely do games get released with an air of enchantment and charm. However, sometimes one will simply cross your path and transport you to a world you'll never wish to escape. Brace yourselves for a spectacular adventure that will seduce you with wit, simplicity and a fantasy realm that may as well rival Lewis Caroll's imagination. I courteously ask you to follow along as we hop through the looking glass that is The Night of the Rabbit.

I am overjoyed to get a chance to write even a slither about The Night of the Rabbit. This point and click adventure is a first for me. Never have I ever found myself enticed by the genre as much as I was with this game. Upon viewing several screenshots, you may find yourself swept away by the colorful and creative artwork used in this 2D realm. The colors alone will leap out from your screen and bind you to your seat, unable to gaze away. Simply put, the game is a work of art.

The plot delivers with a hint of nostalgia when games aimed to be simple and yet peppers itself with quite a few layers. At first glance, The Night of the Rabbit seems too simple be about a young boy named Jeremy Hazelnut who strikes out into the world in hopes of being a magician. He then comes across Marquis De Hoto, an anthropomorphic white rabbit who just so happens to be a magician. Your whimsical tale then begins as you shrink down and complete chores for the woodland villagers of Mousewood. It proves to be a pretty straightforward trek into the woods. However, it is quickly revealed that there are some seriously dark undertones that seep through your fantastic journey. Mysterious masked figures begin to appear in and around Mousewood. These unveiled shadows preach some encroaching darkness. They're not pleasant at the very least and will send a shiver down your spine filled with nothing but distrust. The fairytale world that has enveloped you with a carefree sense of playfulness has suddenly beckoned your aid in defending it from would-be antagonists. It's a wonderful sense of purpose that is jolted within you and truly drives you to continue through the narrative.

Additionally, the voice acting compliments the artistic style superbly. All the natives of the vast (yet actually mouse sized) world deliver their lines with top-notch quality and an appropriate array of emotions. The creepy folk sound deluded and sinister, while the happier denizens have you reminisce of the days you watched Arthur on PBS. The selling point is the characterization of the cast. Jeremy is a curious young lad and charming enough that you won't mind playing a twelve year-old. The star however is Marquis De Hoto. He is an excellent character, be it because of aesthetic design, voice casting or his role as a mentor. I find myself anxiously awaiting my next encounter with him when I had just finished the previous one. Kudos to the designer(s) of this beautifully realized character.

The game is solid gold in terms of appearance and the gameplay is what you would expect from a member of the point and click genre. I must say that some of the puzzles are pretty taxing. Perhaps it's the fact that this is my first venture into a game of this nature but I definitely had to pull out a walkthrough here and there. There's a plethora of items in the game to find and combine and some of these combinations are far from obvious. This all adds to the enjoyment of course. There's nothing that will truly impede your journey as you become the greatest magician that ever lived.

The only statement I could possibly add is that you should simply spend the couple bucks to get The Night of the Rabbit and allow yourself to get lost in its lore. It's a beautiful, enchanting experience that will take your breath away at times and, have you seek the layers of dark secrets at any other given moment. This game was brought to my attention by a dear friend and now I pass that gift on to you. Do not miss out on this wonderful little gem.

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Evil Resides Within

In the last few years, I’ve kind of had this tradition with a buddy of mine: if we ever find a survival horror game that interests us, we set aside a weekend or two and we play cooperatively, switching every chapter or if one of us hits a roadblock. We’ve done this for Amnesiaand Outlast, and they were both really fun experiences: There’s something about sharing the horror that makes it all the more fun. So when The Evil Within came out it was a no brainer for us. The game had that freaky aesthetic and for once they gave us weapons, which was definitely a leg up over Outlast and Amnesia where all we could do was run and hide.

The game itself is both fun and terrifying. The controls are a little difficult to pick up, as well as a few of the in-game mechanics. Once you get a handle on everything though the game flows a lot better and starts to feel less clunky. The Evil Within shares a lot of similarities with the Resident Evil franchise which makes sense as Shinji Mikami is the creator of Resident Evil and is now the director for The Evil Within. The game shines through mostly in the combat. It’s practically the same except for one major improvement: You can move while aiming, which is leaps and bounds better than its Resident Evil counterpart.

The Evil Within also follows a similar formula to the Resident Evil style of survival horror. They introduce the main antagonist early on and then subsequently introduce bosses that chase you around and terrify you until you happen upon the perfect environment to kill them. Now this same trope is apparent in a lot of survival horror games. The way they approach it differently in The Evil Within is that the whole time you play, you're questioning your own characters sanity because the more you play, the more surreal and strange the locales become. You find yourself teleporting all over the place and you keep warping through mirrors to this weird upgrade hub, which at time feels familiar but also unnerving. They do a great job of never letting a place feel too comfortable for too long which can be a problem in the genre; if you stay somewhere too long, you start to recognize it for what it is. The areas become less creepy and more mundane, so forcing you to adapt to new areas randomly allows you to never really settle into that comfort zone because you’re always being thrown into new locals.

Now I’d like to talk about the upgrade hub. Every so often you find these doors that lead to rooms containing a cracked mirror, you can then warp into the mirror to enter the upgrade hub (as I'm calling it). Now the hub is one floor of a sanitarium, but it’s never quite the same as when you left it and it’s actually one of the most interesting parts of the game. In most games this zone would feel safe and familiar but in fact it’s the opposite. They constantly throw all these weird and scary events at you when you're in there and it’s not jump scares, it’s just these different combinations of unnerving scenery and music making the one place you might call home in the game far from it. It forces you to always be on edge because you have no idea what’s going to be there when you show up.

I haven't beaten The Evil Within yet, so I can't give you my full opinion but from what I've played so far the game has been really good. I won't say it's the scariest game out there but it's worth looking into and I'd recommend it if you're a fan of the genre. If not though, I'd say hold off and wait for a price drop or try another of the multitude of survival horror games out there.

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Fright Night

Like I had mentioned last week, my experience with the horror genre in general is pretty limited. I've played a few of the Resident Evil games, most notably the 4th one—clocked in around 20 hours if memory serves. I've played, or was at least in the room watching, Fatal Frame back in the day. Silent Hill 2 comes to mind also, Sean and I played it together for a little while, trying to stave off the fear of it all by laughing at the ineptness the enemies displayed. I never beat any of these games and aside from Outlast, the only other horror game I've beaten was the first Dead Space.

I was always hearing from my friends that Dead Space was sick: Filled with cool weapons, having a creepy as hell atmosphere and being a ton of fun. And can I tell you that damn, was it ever! The only reason I actually sat down and played it though was because of my job. At the time I was working at EA and they were in a transition period so there wasn't much to do. The studio was on the verge of collaborating on Dead Space 2, so to get into the game I read a ton of design documents about the lore and I played the entirety of the original Dead Space.

From what I remember of the game—I did play it over 5 years ago after all—it was really fun. I don't remember it being ridiculously scary mind you; but the atmosphere they created in the game was insane. The thing with space is that it’s quiet: There's nothing outside the ship but emptiness. You hear the ship expanding and contracting and the echoes of the enemies just carry on forever throughout the ship. It's the kind of atmosphere I expect to see in that new Alien's games Alien Isolation.

As you may know I'm a huge sci-fi fan and while I'm not big on horror, the alien series did catch my eye after a while. So I got all the movies and watched them... Well at least the first 2, I could never really sit through the 3rd one and never bothered with resurrection. Alien Isolation is supposed to really hit home with the first movie in terms of atmosphere and overall terror the xenomorph is supposed to instill. Depending on how you approach the game, i.e. being slow and methodical or going fast and loose, Alien Isolation is supposed to take about 15 hours to beat, and boy does it look terrifying.

I'll probably pick it up one day, maybe not. I've heard it's more of a stealth game than it is horror, so that definitely bodes well for me, but do I really want to risk shitting bricks? Who knows! The self-loathing is strong in me some days.

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The Beauty of Turn-Based Combat Done Right, Pt. 2

It’s only fitting to be critical of things you hold dear. At least that’s my thinly veiled rationale for why I consider myself to be a horribly demanding JRPG enthusiast. I torture myself by playing almost any JRPG I can get my hands on, but often label my experiences as resoundingly mediocre.

Sadly, combat is generally worse. Turn-based RPGs (among my favourites in the genre) are particularly notorious for their static or inorganic presentation of visual information and feedback, with one side waiting to be assaulted before being able to strike back. Thankfully, I’ve come across hidden gems whose dormant depth is elevated by thoughtful cinematography and fluid animations. In part 2 of this 2-part series, I continue to outline what makes some of the genre’s best combat systems so great. This week I move into the obscure, and delve into some great oldies.

Legend of Legaia

Legend of Legaia has aged quite poorly. The game’s once cutting edge graphics are now crude 3D sprites that do Minecraft justice. Thankfully, the game’s combat is wonderful, even today. In order to attack enemies, the player chooses between high, low, weapon and magic attacks, which can be strung together similarly to certain fighting games. Interestingly, certain combination strings create special attacks.

The genius of this system is that it forces a player to impulsively chart out various combinations, in the hopes that stabbing a bee three times and then kicking it will also trigger a twirling fire uppercut.  Also noteworthy is how diverse these special attacks are, which goes a long way to alleviating the monotony of fighting the same common enemies over and over again.

Shadow Hearts: Covenant

Shadow Hearts: Covenant introduced a combat mechanic known as the Judgement Ring, which requires players to time a number of button-presses along a ring prior to attacking and negotiating price deals when shopping. Interestingly, some of the Shadow Hearts team were involved with the development of Lost Odyssey, which had a similar, if simplified, ring system present in their combat as well. I imagine that this ring is analogous to the torrent of emotions that flow through our minds prior to making a decision or engaging in some activity requiring a degree of our dexterity. It helps me to sleep when I over-intellectualize good game design.

Xenosaga Episode II

Ah the black sheep. Her burly wool is filled with sharp and pointed opinions that common enemy encounters should walk the line between obscene difficulty and carefully rendered attack strings that enable you to fell a series of enemies in several well thought-out combat attacks. It’s a dogmatic combat system which refuses to allow players to approach encounters any other way other than the single way required to defeat each enemy. What’s more, each character’s attack combos are imbued with particular properties, forcing players to constantly shift their party often during each combat scenario.

Needless to say, many people did not enjoy poor Xenosaga Episode II, and especially despised its combat. I am not one of these people. I felt that the game’s rigid system was refreshing. Combat encounters were more about trying to identify enemy weaknesses, and then exploiting them. In this way, first time encounters with new enemies lent themselves to a tense feeling of anxiety, similar to how I felt while playing Demons’ Souls. Also, the choreography used to telegraph attacks was splendid.

Final Thoughts

I’ve just covered six RPGs whose combat systems remain shining examples of turn-based combat done right. Each is refreshing in its uniqueness, as well as outwardly dynamic. My advice: in order to get the most of each, I urge you play them all at once. 

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Walking Dead: Season 1

Since Halloween is around the corner, I’d like to say that if you haven’t played The Walking Dead: Season 1, you should stop what you’re doing now and play it immediately. Seriously, don’t read past this sentence.

I never played said game until last week since it just got released on PS4. And boy do I feel like an idiot for waiting this long. Regardless, I’m nearly done Episode 4 and I can safely say that the game gets better and better the more you play through it.

The driving force is the dialogue, and I treat The Walking Dead: Season 1 more like an interactive graphic novel than a game. It’s basically a point and click adventure game. Besides this, you’re also forced to answer questions with limited time, and this affects other characters’ responses. I believe the end result in the story is the same, but the dialogue itself makes the journey with the cast worth it.

In the end, you make choices and I often found myself thinking if I truly made the right choice. I don’t think I can name another game that had me stop and think about my actions. Maybe BioShock? Even then, BioShock gave more of a “Good vs. Evil” vibe; The Walking Dead on the other hand isn’t as black and white. You often think you made the right choice, but the reactions from other characters aren’t what you expect. Some characters like getting sort of lied to, while others like a direct or brash approach.

In the end, you learn how to speak to these characters. I know many gamers that feel like they made mistakes with their decisions and restart at the previous checkpoint. I’ve been very tempted to do the same several times already, but so far I’ve avoided second guessing myself. What’s great is talking to other gamers about their decisions and their logic behind it.

If you haven’t played The Walking Dead: Season 1, I urge you to spend the couple of dollars for a truly great experience. It’s more than a game and that’s for sure.

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Disney Infinity 2.0: Toy Box Madness

In this week's installment of "Charlie loves Disney Infinity", we will cover the one aspect of the game that should be reason alone for your purchase: the toy box. Last week, I gave a fair review to the Avengers playset. It wasn't great but it wasn't bad either. The toy box is a whole new ball game my compatriots. Tag along as I implore you to discover the magical features of this game mode.

Firstly, it is in no way comparable to the original toy box from vanilla Disney Infinity. Everything was altered in the game mode, even the controls.  It takes some getting used to if you've been playing the original up until the release of the second. That being said, every change was carefully thought of and perfectly executed. Everything I had wanted in the original has made an appearance.

The new toy box allows you to port over all your previous items and unlockables in a genius manner. By simply placing your figures and playsets, the game automatically ports them over with whatever data you left them with. In other words, if your Cpt. Barbossa was level 15, he'll retain his level and you'll get all his unlocks too. It's a wonderful system that allows you to feel that all those hours spent with your characters weren't wasted. Hypothetically, this will also allow people a chance to unlock items without having to track down playsets you don't own. Say if your friend has the Cars playset, you should be able to just borrow it and place it onto your base to get all the items unlocked for the toy box. Genius; did I say that already? Well it is. Alternatively, using the in-game currency, you may also just purchase the items you need for characters through a new option that allows for the vanilla items to be in game stock.

Secondly, there is indeed a plethora of new items that will accompany your Marvel heroes quite nicely. You get fantastic new structures like the Avenger's tower and some new vehicles to boot. Disney original items have returned alongside some brilliant new ones. The first unlocks was King louie's throne. It's a beautiful piece to drop just about anywhere in your created world. The biggest surprise was the addition of the dragon's den, an item that was an exclusive to Disney theme parks. Not having to spend the crazy amount of dough to get it in-game is a well appreciated bonus. Something entirely new however, is the concept of pre-built games to customize your unique world. They offer pre-built templates for different games that you may have played at one time or another within the playsets. Some of these include gathering, destroying or combat. It adds another layer of fun and playability to your universe. Let's face it: sometimes the construction of your world was more enjoyable than running around within it. That's never the case here. Another option that they added was the builders. You may now place builder units to randomize and create specific structures for you. For example, you may place city builders to build you a city rather than manually placing buildings until you get something you deemed a city.

In addition, they added an interior design mode. In essence, you get to build the interiors of buildings you place in the world. You can place couches, lamps, change the wallpapers and tinker with a vast amount of other editable aspects. As if you thought you spent enough time building a world, these interiors will take hours as you perfect your very own house. Similarly, the power disks make a return with brand new time wasters. I spent a solid hour running around as Drax with the Ghost Rider's Whip disk. I whipped me a mess of baddies. It's mindless, but it's fun. Something different with the power disks is that they have two new classes of disks. You have the costume change disks that if coupled with the right character, they'll change their appearance, e.g. Iron man's third movie costume. They also added team-up disks. This allows you to summon an ally to come to your aid. It requires you to fill a meter but shortly after, you can unleash Yondu or Winter Soldier to wreck havoc.

All in all, the Toy box left me with no regrets. This was clearly the focus for Disney infinity 2.0, as it should be. It's a whole lot of fun and can even be outrageous at times. Try stacking multiple layers in your world and toss in some baddies to see what happens. Maybe you just want to fly around an obstacle course or re-envision the Grand Canyon. It's all here. All the tools you could possibly need are given to you. Now go get the game and create whatever your wee heart desires!

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A Rebuttal For eSports

Recently there was an article that went up titled My problem with eSports and after reading it, I noticed that I felt about the same way towards real sports as he did about eSports. Throughout my life, I've loved playing football. My dad is a coach and I played it during my formative years, from Atom all the way to Midget. I couldn’t get enough of it but the actual act of watching it never really caught my attention. And this goes for most sports: I just never really found it very fun.

This changed slightly when I started watching professional League of Legends, like Adam said in his article. I first started off watching streams to get better. I had heard a lot of streamers studied VoD’s (Video on Demand) of their games to see mistakes and strategies used by their opponents, similar to the way other sports teams might do it. So I figured why not learn from the “best” and see what I can pick up. Overtime I grew to like and enjoy the streamers.

The first streamer I ever started to watch outside of attempting to better myself was Dyrus. Now Dyrus has been around for a long time in the competitive scene and it’s weird to say but I’ve seen him develop over time and become a better player, eventually establishing himself as a dominant force in the League community. The weird part is this is exactly like following the career of a college football player. You see there are a lot of similarities between eSports and real sports, aside from the physicality. There's really not that much different and I think that's why so many people gravitate towards eSports. If you ask a sports fan there’s something innately fun about watching a good game even if you're not invested in the teams; if it’s a good back and forth it’s fun to watch. The same goes for League of Legends: you can watch two teams of unskilled nobodies go at it and if they know what they're doing, the games are incredible to watch. Streaming has made this extremely accessible for the fanbase. At any given moment you can go onto Twitch and see actual competitive League of Legend play, which isn’t as easy with all sports.

The biggest factors though for me are the teams and the players. Professional League of Legends is broken up into five major divisions. There's the North American division (NA LCS), the Europeans (EU LCS), the Korean Championship League (OGN), the Chinese League (LPL) and lastly, the south-east Asian group Garena Premier League (GPL). These divisions each have their own stable of teams all playing against one another during the regular season fighting for the top spots to go to worlds, while at the same time there's also the Challenger division.

When you think about Challenger, consider it the minors to the majors and it’s built up of several teams all jockeying for a spot in the majors. The top twenty teams that climb the ladder in-game are pitted against each other weekly and accumulate wins and losses. After the regular season finishes, the top three teams go up against the bottom three teams in an attempt to knock them out of the LCS (League Championship Series) and take their places. This is honestly one of my favourite aspects of the competitive scene as it allows you to see teams come and go, and it keeps the game from becoming stale. If a team is on a massive losing streak there’s consequences; it forces the players to recognize their position and strive to better themselves or get relegated and have to fight their way back.

The last thing—which I think is the most important—is the viewer to pro interactions that go on in eSports. In eSports there’s not even remotely as much money as in traditional sports, which makes sense, but it forces the players to look for alternative sources of income, which basically means computer equipment sponsorships and streaming. The latter portion leads a lot of players to have great relationships with the community because you're never gonna see a professional hockey player practicing and simultaneously interacting and entertaining a crowd, which is what these guys do on a daily basis.

You see, professional League is a job. Professional players have to play eight to twelve hours a day just to stay relevant in the scene. And I’m not trying to say that they lead the hardest life out there, far from it, but it builds camaraderie and friendship between the players and the people who watch them. All of this culminates into these rabid fan bases you see for these teams because the community feels a personal investment in these players. They want to see them succeed because they know that they can do awesome things. I’ve been a fan of Team SoloMid (TSM) since I started watching the LCS and they have these insane fans—and they really are insane. They're the most diehard group of people out there and they constantly just chant TSM over and over again at live competitions. This affects the players: they’ve come out of so many do or die situations as the winners. It's insane to watch and the feeling you get as a fan watching this is the same as watching any other team you like succeed. eSports may not be considered a “real” or a “traditional” sport but like the wrestling fans of my childhood used to say, "It’s real to me damn-it."

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The Beauty Of Turn-Based Combat Done Right, Pt. 1

It’s only fitting to be critical of things you hold dear. At least, that’s my thinly veiled excuse for why I consider myself to be a horribly demanding JRPG enthusiast. I torture myself by playing almost any JRPG I can get my hands on, but often label my experiences as resoundingly mediocre.  What’s that you say? The world is on the brink of social and economic collapse and only my group of 13-year old amnesiacs can save it? And the best way to accomplish this feat is by inexplicably approaching and engaging in conversations with strangers, and accruing riches by ransacking village homes and talking to their dogs? The genre is silly and bloated by so many tropes that a part of me dies every time I see one spring to life in yet another pre-industrial world whose basis for religion, art and culture has flourished from one of four crystals.

Sadly, combat is generally worse. Turn-based and tactical RPGs (among my favourites in the genre) are particularly notorious for their static or inorganic presentation of visual information and feedback, with one side waiting to be assaulted before being able to strike back. Thankfully, I’ve come across hidden gems whose dormant depth is elevated by thoughtful cinematography and fluid animations. In part 1 of a 2-part series, I detail what makes some of the genre’s best combat systems so great.

Front Mission 5

The Front Mission series is generally distinguished from its contemporaries for leaning quite heavily on its tactical bend, at the expense of its light RPG mechanics. In fact, Front Mission is not traditionally even considered an RPG; though I’m somewhat lenient using the term myself, and thus include it within the genre.

Your party consists of Wanzers, predominantly bipedal mecha that can be completely customized, similar to the Armored Core series. Whenever a party member attacks or is attacked by a foe, the camera pans in to a scene of the two Wanzers attacking one another. Front Mission 5, one of the most recent entries in the series, takes things a step forward by introducing links, a system which enables allies and enemies within range of the selected attacker to participate in combat too. Combat skirmishes feel busy and dynamic, but are grounded in a turn-based design. It’s brilliant, frankly.

Resonance of Fate

I assert that Nolan North’s singular purpose in life was to play as Vashyron, a blond devil may care mercenary who’s day-to-day involves attacking mutants and dressing like Ryo Hazuki from Shenmue. Also, the combat in Resonance of Fate  is stunning. Each of your three party members takes turns moving along a single line while building up an attack metre, enabling them to shoot at enemies. Each party member can equip handguns, machine guns, or grenades, with each serving a very specific role in combat. It’s a droll explanation for arguably the most stylish combat system in the genre:

Valkyrie Profile

There’s a poetic beauty to how Valkyrie Profile’s combat plays out: the player attacks enemies by using four party members, each of which is assigned to one of the PS1/PSP’s four face buttons. Its simplicity and innovative approach to combat both hold up really well, even today. Much of the system’s depth lies in its ability to allow players to time their attacks, cascading one party member’s animations into another’s so as to maximize damage:

Tune in next week, where I’ll discuss three other JRPGs whose turn-based combat systems are marvellously entertaining. Or don’t, and live the rest of your meaningless and dynamic life in ignorance. 

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Dear Destiny

Dear Destiny,

I first saw you in the flesh at Adam’s house; and after the brief moment I had with you, I knew I wanted you. So bad. Without hesitation, I woke up next morning to find you at Best Buy and had to pick you up. I drove home with you by my side and we had hours of fun on our first one-on-one.

It’s been almost a month since we’ve first met, and I still have the same feelings for you as I did when I first met you. We’ve been through quite a bit so far, so much so that I’ve been counting the hours. 72 hours and counting. It’s just that I’m crazy for you and every moment without you feels like forever.

At this point, all I’m doing is grinding. I’m not going to complain about it, grinding has been tons of fun, but I expected more. You told me your story, and I’ve heard it again and again. It wasn’t anything special but you still made me smile when it got down to the action.

All this is great, however I’m left feeling worried. Worried because I’ve been seeing you on a daily basis and that the past few weeks have been nothing but grinding. I think I wanted to keep you for the long haul, you know, build a long-term relationship with you, as you had mentioned. However, being with you so much is taking a toll on me, and I would like to have some space.

Please allow for both of us to have a few days off. We can talk about it later.

Yours truly,

A complete loser.

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Play Outlast This Halloween

Campeau had it right last weekwhen we talked about Killing Floor: It is Halloween week pretty much. All the stores are filled with candy and decorations that will all go on sale November 1st, so why not talk about something scary? Before we started this blog, the PS4 had come out and I had gotten into a habit of streaming pretty much anything I played. I didn't have a huge following, but it was growing. One of the games that helped me the most in this cause was Outlast; for some reason, people like to laugh at people shitting their pants on a live stream.

When I was a kid I couldn't handle anything scary; not movies, nor TV shows, and especially not games. I would avoid that stuff at all costs. Nowadays I'm not so bad. Inherently I'm a fairly jumpy person with this sort of thing, so jump scares are the bane of my existence, but I can get through a scary movie or game no problem.

I still do have reservations with scary games over movies though. Games are just so much worse, with the entire ambiance the developers put in. You're usually more scared when nothing is happening then when some crazy naked asylum freaks are hunting you down. That part is scary too, but only for so long.

Outlast was a fun game and it was pretty scary too. It's not overly long (you can beat it within 2-4 hours if you know what you are doing) but the first time I beat it, it probably took around 6-8 hours. It has a problem with repetition after a while though. Basically you explore, get a bit of story and then get stuck in an area. The only way continue is by finding 3-4 objects around the area (usually filled with crazed lunatics) and then using these objects to fix or move whatever is blocking your progression. Rinse and repeat. It doesn't take too much away from the game since the formula does work, but a little variety never hurt anyone if you know what I mean.

The thing with scary games is that they aren't really scary forever. Sure the jump scares might get you every time, but after a while (normally after you die at least a few times) you start just getting used to it, because there just isn't a severe penalty for dying. You run and run and run away from an enemy with no way to defend yourself, get stuck in a corner and die...then you just reappear at the check point and try it again, while making sure you don't get stuck in the same corner this time. After that happens a few times, all the anxiety and fear the game has instilled in you at this point starts to dissipate.

I'm not exactly sure what the fix would be. Outlast has a mode in it where if you die, you have to restart from the very beginning. If you were to play this mode on your first play through, I'm sure the anxiety would stay with you the entire time, but it wouldn't be the right kind of anxiety. I feel as though you would be more frustrated than scared if you kept dying and having to restart. The mode is cool, but only if you've beaten the game before and know what you are doing.

In any case, if you are looking for something to play over Halloween, look no further than Outlast. It is a fun, scary-ass game that will get you to jump out of your seat no problem. I beat it three times but have yet to try the expansion. I hear good things though. Also it's from a Canadian developer, so win for the Canucks!

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Crucible Is My Destiny

The long awaited Bungie adoption has arrived, with a loadout that will flood your Halo nostalgia with warm fuzziness. I, for one, played upwards of 12 hours of Destiny on the first day and haven't been this addicted to a game since Halo 3. This unique re-creation of the 'Halo ideal' steers clear of 343 industries' botched COD-style Halo and offers the meat and potatoes of any true franchise fan. This is clearly a Bungie game. For those of like-mind and the individuals that believed Halo 2 and 3 were the height of console gaming, you will truly appreciate the single-player to multiplayer transition. The seamlessness that Bungie/Activision created is a genuinely innovative and revolutionary idea. The concept of bringing in-game single-player 'loot' to a multiplayer setting has yet to be achieved so successfully. Yes, you heard correctly: single-player RPG 'loot' into an arena style FPS PvP.

The most beautiful aspects of this game are the most simple. The idea of summoning a pocket rocket bike in 1.5 seconds changes the entire speed of play, and the wonderfully nostalgic Halo-esque music that begins to drum away in PvE firefights, for instance. It feels like Unreal Tournament mixed with Borderlands and Halo to create some freakishly different, exotic game. To the Halo fans that love the moon boots, they're back. Everyone gets jetpacks (unlike in Reach) so the ninja moves are real and fun as hell. The beauty of this MMORPGFPS is it's ability to diversify multiplayer settings incredibly quickly.

Nonetheless, Destiny has a few daunting features: a soft level cap of 20 leaves it open to quick and shallow criticism. The multiplayer's Titan smash is arguably too powerful and some vehicles need to be nerfed but otherwise the game is well balanced. The AI is moderately intelligent but overall quite predictable yet, it is extremely entertaining to kill nonetheless. The 'worlds' are large but not overwhelmingly awe-inspiring. Nor do they have a sense of endlessness that you would expect from a sandbox title. Regardless, there is a lot to explore with winding sub-level 'dungeons' to keep anyone entertained for extended periods of time.

If Destiny is carried properly onto the competitive platform, it has endless potential. The armour variants offered add countless complexities to multiplayer gameplay. The minute stat boosts offered through a wide variety of armour tweaks individualize play styles tremendously. Every player needs to understand their play style intimately to maximize their gear's efficiency. Destiny has the precision and fluidity of the Halo series but the gear complexities of great RPG. It re-introduced the beautifully simple, yet perfect concept of 'weapons on map': The brilliant idea whereby teams need to fight for control of key areas that spawn 'power weapon ammo'. While this game has the potential to be too far reaching to the point of self-harm, it is by no means a Molyneaux game (Fable 2-3). As long as the publishers release competitive outlets for its more genuine gamer audience, it has a lot of potential. That is, after all, the Halo way.

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The Killing Floor

The zombies are back only this time they're not zombies, they're more like creepy lab experiments with zombie-like tendencies. Lately I’ve been playing a lot of Killing Floor which I picked up last year during the steam sale and hadn’t really gotten into playing it until lately. A friend of mine and I were looking for a co-op shooter to play and the horror theme of Killing Floor seemed right up our alley.

The game has an interesting story but it’s not at the forefront; it’s more hidden through dialogue in the objective gametype maps. From what I understand, you and your friends play as the military dropped into hostile areas around England and its countryside, with the sole task of cleaning up failed military cloning experiments, and you can't leave until they’ve all been dealt with.

There’s a ton of maps to play on—either in-game or community created—and they're all fairly open allowing you to adapt to situations and waves differently. For example: bottlenecking weak enemies that can swarm you at a choke point or using large open areas to more easily kite and kill the larger and stronger “Zeds” safely.

When you start the game it comes off as being a lot harder than it really is and it’s because the game has a slight learning curve. Most times when you play a horde-mode game they're slightly more forgiving with the early waves and Killing Floor is no different. But for a new player you won't realize how much damage and how easily the zeds can kill you. Add in the fact that their attacks slow you down, so getting caught in a crowd of even the weakest enemies can mean a quick death. Once you get a hang of the game and its controls, you learn how to kite and kill your enemies while at least attempting to keep them at arm's reach.

Killing Floor also has a class system with perks. They all have their own strengths and weapons, but that doesn't mean if you were playing as a commando you couldn't use a weapon that's good for a demolitionist. The only sideeffect to doing so is that it would just deal less damage because class perks increase damage and capacity while reducing overall weapon costs. Speaking of costs, the game rewards you for kills with cash and a bounty at the end of each round, which you then spend on better weapons, ammo, and body armor, all of which are pretty much necessary if you want to survive till the end.

Now the game has a wide variety of enemies. There’s clots, which are basically cannon fodder and only dangerous if there's a whole lot of them. Then there's gorefast which are a little bigger and angrier than a clot, and also weild a massive sword for an arm. There's also bloats which are massive bloated corpses that puke acid on you; stalkers which are invisible naked women; crawler's,a man spider hybrid that’s straight out of my nightmares; and husks, giant men with a rocket launchers for a hand. There's also sirens which are horrifying women in straitjackets who do a giant AOE scream attack; scrakes which are psychotic men who run at you with a chainsaw and lastly the two toughest enemies: Fleshpounds and Patriarchs.

Now Fleshpounds are these walking behemoths with metal fused to their bodies and giant spiked clubs at the end of each arm. They also have these massive glowing lights in their chest which lets you know there mood. Yellow means all good and red means I am to murder you and everything you love. Once the light turns red, they get increased movement and attack speed and if you don't kill them quick enough they can easily kill a group. Last but definitely not least is the Patriarch. Now the patriarch is the final boss who you fight in a bonus wave after you’ve been to each level. He’s definitely nothing to laugh at; you have to work as a team if you want even a hope of taking him down. He has a massive health bar and invisibility. He's also equipped with a chain gun and a rocket launcher that can kill you in one shot. He’s also the smartest of the enemies. Once you’ve weakened him he'll run away and hide to regain his health and come after you again, so you have to actively hunt him down or else he is nearly impossible to kill. He’ll pick you off one by one making it even harder to kill him in the end.

Killing Floor has seen a lot of love from the community over the years and has a cult following. I was surprised when I logged into it to see how many servers and active players there were. I’ve never started a game and had it just be me and my friend till the end, which surprised me considering the game is fairly old. Another cool note is that they do holiday updates, like for example: as of Yesterday (October 16th, 2014) and on until the 3rd of November, there’s a Halloween event where they reskin the enemies in festive and horrifying outfits. The same goes for Christmas and honestly it’s worth checking out around the holidays because nothing says Christmas cheer like blowing Santa's head clean off. If you’re looking for a shooter to play with a bunch of friends and battle back hordes of mutated freaks, look no further than Killing Floor! It’s on sale on steam now all the way to the 30th of October. There’s also a sequel on the way but there isn’t much info on it just yet, just a couple screen shots and some teaser footage.

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