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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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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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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Dishonored Stories Filled With Whale Oil And Clone-Faced Guards

Lastweek I spoke briefly about Mark of Ninja’s impeccable blend of visual aesthetic and stealth. Since then, I’ve put another few hours into the game, which have served to reinforce my initial perceptions of the game. I’ve also begun thinking more and more about Dishonored, a game I played a while back which felt fairly similar.

Of Whale Oil and Clone-Faced Guards

Much like Mark of the Ninja, my time with Dishonored was largely positive. Much of my impression of the game was due to its tone, pace and relatively open maps, which offered the flexibility to approach missions in a large number of ways—similarly to Mark of the Ninja.

More than these qualities though, I felt that much of the story that transpired throughout my time with Dishonored was forgettable: the sociopolitical machinations that served as the subtext for Corvo’s actions throughout the game felt wafer thin in terms of their depth, and belied what could have been a much more captivating tale about whale oil. That’s about the only lasting piece of terminology that has stuck with me about Dishonored.

Fortunately, the general lack of compelling storytelling was offset by the carefully constructed aesthetics surrounding each mission. While the world’s locations, culture and history all felt non-existent or else poorly conveyed to the player, my imagination tended to naturally populate these unknowns, thanks in part to how wonderful the art direction was for the game.

What resulted was a compelling personal narrative which I built over the existing story. My Corvo was a contemplative loner, who chose to keep silent because he felt contempt for the lack of solid writing which went into characterizing him and his world. Killing felt unnatural because all of the guards he had the option of killing looked exactly the same. My Corvo secretly feared that he too looked like these guards under his mask, and so chose to avoid killing anyone altogether.

Of Human Oil and Clone-Faced Guards

Similarly, I fitted a contextual narrative around Mark of the Ninja while playing it. I began as an earnest ninja, silently moving past enemies. Once I completed my first mission, I was presented with a scorecard, detailing all the enemies which I left alive. For not killing anyone, and for not being detected, I was awarded a paltry amount of supplemental points; what amount to the equivalent of killing and hiding six guards was reward for passing through a level in which there was easily three or four times this many guards. Sure they left my ninja cave and went home to study for their finals in looking like clone goons, but I was poorer for it.

As the game progressed, I opted to become an increasingly efficient assassin, and would kill every guard, carefully hiding them afterwards. Now when I escape from castles and derelict buildings, I leave only dogs alive. The rest of the enemies are carefully tucked away in vents and bins. Maybe their bodies eventually smell something fierce, and eventually decompose into what I assume is human oil.

Essentially, I feel that both Dishonored and Mark of the Ninja’s subdued storytelling is to their benefits.  As a result, I am able to make sense of my actions much like I would in a character-creation Western RPG, such as Elders Scrolls or Fallout.  I wondrously await the next half-baked story to bastardize and populate with a wholly inaccurate rendition of the world that the developers intended for the player. Until then, I suppose.  

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#wtv The Grateful Deadpool‏

After so many rumors of a Deadpool movie coming out, as well as a “test” trailer, we finally get confirmation that yes, there will be a Deadpool movie. I’m not crazy about Deadpool as some others may be, but I do enjoy reading about him from time to time.

Despite mixed-to-average reviews, Deadpool (the game) was always on my wishlist. I saw it on Amazonfor about $20 and figured, hey, what do I have to lose?

In case you don’t know, Deadpool is a Third-Person Action/Adventure game, like the tons of others. It doesn’t do much different from the rest of the pack: you get points after getting some kills and use them on weapon/ability unlocks or upgrades.

Many of the boss fights are mundane: evade the attack then hit back. I don’t believe bosses have weak spots or anything, which makes them slightly hard to beat. It’s simple and mindless button-mashing for the most part, but it’s almost expected anyway. Not like I was expecting Uncharted.

What I loved about the game, besides the character, is just that it’s not trying too hard to be the greatest. High Moon definitely could have done better—we’ve seen much better from them—but it’s excusable at this price point. With that in mind, I just had fun with it and ignored The Fault in its Stars. Get it? Because Wade’s got cancer too.

Tumors aside, if you have $20 to spend on mindless fun, you can’t do yourself wrong with Deadpool. It’s funny, a bit broken, but it’s forgivable if you like the guy. Nolan North delivers some quality voiceovers as per usual, and that definitely helps with the slightly broken mechanics and repetitive nature of the game.

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Mark Of The Ninja: A Tattooed Love Letter To Tenchu

I’ve long adored stealth games. Much of this admiration is rooted in my early memories playing Tenchu Stealth Assassins for the PS1.  I recall being young and immensely captivated by the level design and choice of tools, which I felt were inventive and allowed me to approach situations in a wide variety of ways. Many stealth games that I play are held to a standard set by Tenchu.

Klei Entertainment’s Mark of the Ninja (Ninja) comes across as a contemporary Tenchu in many ways. Its levels are well-realized, its choice of tools is vast, and its stealth is straightforward. But Ninja takes its gameplay a step further, incorporating sound and light mechanics, without teetering too far into earlier Splinter Cell territory. It’s handled quite well.

Still, I find myself unfairly comparing my time to Tenchu, which was a marvellously ugly gem. Which I suppose is sort of strange. Beyond its core design being rather similar, much of Ninja is actually quite different from the Tenchu series. For one, Klei’s background in crafting beautiful side-scrolling action games (Shank and Shank 2 come to mind) really shines through. The game’s art direction is pitch-perfect, and blends a complex contemporary cityscape with ninja. Also, the game’s pace is punchy, instead of overly plodding like Tenchu.

Actually, the anachronistic feeling of utilizing stealth and melee to handle armed enemies is slightly reminiscent of Batman Arkham City. Except, the stealth in Ninja is actually good instead being a shallow and ugly mess which makes you wish that Batman didn’t know how to utilize stealth at all in any of his previous incarnations so that Rocksteady didn’t have to feel compelled to make what I feel is the stealth equivalent of water with some of your vomit in it.

I tend to enjoy inventive and challenging stealth games. Or really, anything that isn’t Batman Arkham City: The Stealth Game. Ninja can safely rest its weary head on my soft and gentle compliment. And Klei should pat themselves on the back for developing a stealth game which high-fives smart game design. Perhaps when they make a sequel, they could call it Tenchu.

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My fate Is My Own, Sort Of

As of late, I've found myself truly needing to play within a fantasy world setting. I'm not all too sure whether it's because I miss HBO's Game of Thrones or my affinity with Dota2, but I went and tracked down a copy of a game that's been highly recommend to me. Enter the world of Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, a single-player adventure akin to Skyrimand the forgotten-realms universe. Allow me to unravel the threads of fate that I weaved from my character's experience and simply bring light to a game you probably never heard of.

As you may have guessed it, the game revolves around the idea of fate. After initiating the game with an interesting character creation, you awaken form a pile of corpses that you were once a part of. Ultimately, your fate has been re-written and it is now your task to do as you please in the world and continue to weave those threads.  Super interesting concept and the fact that this tale is written by R.A Salvatore (one of my favorite authors, creator of Drizzt) you would expect it to be absolutely fantastic. The issue is that it's not all that groundbreaking. Within the first 10 hours of the game, I found myself playing the hero and running errands for the entire world and their grand-mothers.  The question is: why? Because I was simply there? They give you the option to attack any denizen of the cities, but again, why? I saw no purpose in exploring any of the options provided because they simply made no sense.

By the same token, the fate concept makes way for one of the best aspects of the game: the class/role system.  Ever want to be a mage who uses swords? Maybe a Knight who uses daggers? Skyrim did all that? Well they never officially named those classes did they? Yeah, it's nothing new but it's a lot of fun to explore and discover. There's only a handful to begin with but, once you start to dump your experience points into it and unlock the higher tiers, it becomes exhilarating. What I really enjoyed about it was how it actually affected your combat. The combat itself is wonderful; nice and smooth but once you tack on giant hammers and spells you've unlocked from the class trees, it too becomes memorable. Something that should be mentioned about the combat is that it's time based. Instead of crippling your fingers with button combinations, you simply tap your attack trigger in a different timely fashion to result in varied ways to dismember your opponents.

Meanwhile, the game itself offers everything you would expect from titles of this genre. There's tons of loot to be had, mystical creatures to slay and quest givers who's intentions are questioned. However, the world still feels unbelievable. There's something that doesn't allow me to believe that this universe exists. The forgotten realms universe, although vast and broad, is believable and perhaps this game should have been set in it. That being said, I can't figure out why I simply can't care about what fate has for all the citizens and creatures inhabiting the decently sized map. Similarly, the dialogue is rather dull and aggravating. The voice acting itself is fine, it's simply the sequence. The moment you trigger a conversation with an NPC, you enter a weird locked camera mode that tends to blot out the NPC or you. In addition, you have the opinion of speaking with all NPCs about relevant topics such as their town, a specific race or faction, etc. I attempted to hear everyone voice their opinion but it was so tedious and boring. None of it is really important and the fact that your avatar is mute doesn't help.

All in all, with the short amount of time I've invested into the game, I've enjoyed it. Sure, the world is kind of boring but there’s just enough intrigue sprinkled into it that it allows you to persevere. The combat itself should be reason enough to check it out. GIANT HAMMERS, I'm telling you, they’re super sweet.  It's a dorky game with a dorky premise but there's good fun to be had.  Sure the graphics aren't the best and my ps3 has some issues with the sound but it's a good trek. I give the game seven thumbs up out of ten with the potential to go up. I was promised an interesting set of side missions so here I go to weave my fate yet again.......after a couple hours of Disney Infinity 2.0.....yeah.....

GIANT HAMMERS!!!!111!11

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Raising The Dead Tree

We’re back again with more zombie action this week. I’m talking about my most recent zombie acquisition: Dead Rising 3. It’s no secret that I love zombies and the Dead Rising series has been one of my favourites—the wacky weapons and open world have always made these games a ton of fun—and they’ve evolved over time, implementing new ideas well and adapting to changes and issues that arose in the previous iterations.

Dead Rising at its core is one thing: killing a ton of zombies, and there's nothing wrong with that! Over the years they've come up with more and more interesting ways to kill, maim and utterly destroy your zombie foes and the psychopaths that litter the post apocalyptic landscape of the games. In Dead Rising 3 however, they did a lot of cool things that solved a lot of smaller problems I had in the last two games, first of which was allowing you to create combo weapons on the spot. Now if you haven't played any games in the series I’ll elaborate: since Dead Rising 2, the games have allowed you to create more powerful weapons by combining two or more items. These weapons do more damage, give more XP and are more durable making them the better option in the long run. Now in the previous game you could only create them at crafting stations dotted along the map, but in Dead Rising 3 they’ve removed the crafting stations all together allowing you to create these badass weapons anywhere you want. There is a trade off though, you can only create items that you’ve found the blueprints for, which is a huge difference and somewhat limiting because in the last game you didn't need the combo card to create a weapon, it only served to show you a possible combo and make it stronger. This subtle change is surprisingly frustrating when you’re holding two items that you know go together but can’t do anything with because you haven’t found the blueprint that tells you so.

With that being said, this is a small complaint and after a while of collecting you’ll have all the blueprints you could want or need, it’s just a mild frustration when you find a baseball bat and a box of nails and your character has no clue what to do with them.

Another large portion of the gameplay is spent on combo cars which are basically a necessity for getting around the city. Now don’t get me wrong, it’s not that this isn’t an awesome addition to the franchise, I just wish it had been better implemented because a fairly large percentage of the game is spent traveling between the three major city hubs, across these massive bridges and roadways which are absolutely flooded with the previously living, so you are pretty much required to do a lot of driving which becomes tedious pretty quickly. The game really could've used a fast travel mechanic, at least to put you in a spot somewhere in each city, allowing you to hop around a lot quicker but instead they left you with the combo cars as your only real option, which while fun, lose their appeal pretty quickly as you slowly plow through an ungodly amount of zombies on all the roads.

The game itself is fun - don’t get me wrong - there are just small things that I found really slowed down the game and were kind of a take away from the previous version. All in all, the game is still a ton of fun and has a great story, the new weapons and combos are awesome and creative, and the gameplay is tons of fun. There's just a few small kinks that slow down the game. If you're a fan of the series or looking for a new game to play, I’d recommend giving this a try.

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Cheerleader Meets Chainsaw: Match Made In Heaven

What do you get when you hand a chainsaw to a zombie-hunting cheerleader? A pretty radical time called Lollipop Chainsaw. What can I say, Jessica Nigri fanboys swearing that this game is the best thing to have happened to the universe piqued my interest. Cosplay models and virgins aside, this game is incredibly hype. A dash of comedy, a twist of zombies, sprinkle in an amazing soundtrack and you'll be grooving to this game. Let's get to it!

To begin with, you are introduced to your protagonist Juliet Starling and her zombie-hunting family. She's a quirky and silly gal who'll charm you quickly enough that you won't hate the fact that you're playing a cheerleader. Incidentally, the entire game takes place on Juliet's birthday and has you make Swiss cheese out of a zombie invasion. Alongside the countless number of enemies, you'll get to meet Nick, Juliet's decapitated boyfriend and a series of boss zombies including Jimmy Urine from Mindless Self Indulgence. It's an interesting cast of characters with some great voice acting. Juliet's sisters are particularly funny and it's simply an enjoyable world to immerse yourself in for a few hours.

Admittedly, the gameplay gave me a hard time at first, nor did the difficulty help. In essence, there are three attack buttons and one hop/dodge button. You get a quick pom-pom attack that can be combo-ed on its own, a heavy and slow chainsaw attack and a low chainsaw attack. As you progress, you'll learn new skills that allow you to combo the three attacks for significantly more powerful zombie-killing moves. That's all to be expected but I found myself using very few of them and stuck with my favorite two skills. The zombies are pretty aggressive as well. I didn't die too often but I found myself constantly with low health. Once you get used to the pace of the game and the controls, you'll be eviscerating zombies with glee. Pro tip: decapitate their heads for sparkle hunting mode. It's visually pleasing, all pink and shiny and stuff. It's a very manly endeavor.

Earlier, I mentioned the soundtrack of the game was pretty great. I really need to emphasize how phenomenal it actually is. Rivalling the soundtrack found in Guardians of the Galaxy, you'll have the chance to space out to tunes by Atari Teenage Riot, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, etc. Of course, you'll hear Lollipop by the Chordettes more often than you'd ever think you would and guiltily love it. When licensed music isn't playing, you'll be treated to some great metal rifts. All around, it was simply a joy to listen to the soundtrack throughout the entirety of the game. My absolute favorite was the bit where you get to mow down zombie with a tractor while listening to You Spin Me Round by Dead or Alive, it was absolutely genius!

Lastly, there's a decent amount of replay-ability for those who seek it. I played through just the one time, however, you'll unlock more difficulties and costumes the more you play it over. There's quite a grind to get everything and I didn't even find myself buying all the upgrades purely due the game not giving me enough coins to purchase them. In other words, it beckons you to keep at it until you get that last skill or that one fan service costume you dreamt of. That being said, it's an amusing adventure that'll keep you hooked even after you've beaten it.

Essentially, just do yourself a favor and pick this game up if you spot it for a decent price. It's insanely fun and time will breeze by as you lay waste to the undead and answer your portable phone located in your chainsaw. Silly plot, enjoyable characters and wicked tunes earn this game two pom-poms up. Now, go fall in love with the pixilated cheerleader, I'll allow it this one time.

"Lollipop Lollipop, oh lolly lolly lolly, lollipop lollipop, oh lolly lolly lolly, POP!"

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TBT- God Hand: Thumbs Up For A Game That Nails Action

God Hand is in many ways what I want from action games. It’s a game filled with generic environments, lacklustre character models and an overwhelming sense that it took the game’s writers all of twenty minutes to hash out whatever semblance of a plot there is that made its way into the final product. By sacrificing development time on components however, Clover Studio and director Shinji Mikami have managed to craft a deft action game whose combat system is unmatched in its ability to generate unadulterated fun.

Much of God Hand equates with the player spending time customizing and experimenting with a choice of about 100 unique attacks, each of which are unlocked progressively as s/he makes his/her way through the game. Many of the attacks possess unique properties, such as being able to break an enemy’s guard, being able to knock an enemy off their feet, or being able to hit multiple enemies at once. These unique qualities are then given a damage value, which the player can see before equipping said attack, and an often elaborate attack animation.

In many ways, it is God Hand’s purity which I find to be its most endearing quality. Being able to create a combo out of whatever attacks you wish, knowing pre-emptively which attacks do how much damage, and being able to see how long it’ll take before it can be pulled off is refreshing. Other actions games such as Devil May Cry 3, Bayonetta and Ninja Gaiden offer style and challenge, but their pre-defined combos and the often obscurity as to how much each individual attacks do frustrates me. In other words, many other games since have failed to create this degree of transparency and God Hand is better for it.

Like this opinion piece then, God Hand offers a lean and singular experience by emphasizing stylish, challenging combat, with very little fat to speak off regarding plot and characterization. It is a game which should be played by anyone who knows anything about action games. 

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Bastion: An immediately fun, compact experience

I recently purchased a new Asus laptop, and have since found myself suddenly capable of playing PC games, which both excites and scares me. As a personal anecdote, I take no pleasure in hoarding video games, and a strong, negative pit wells up in my stomach whenever I add to it. That said, certain games are either only available on PC, or have been graciously given to me for free by friends during one of their Steam sale spending sprees.

Bastionis one such title, having been given to me several months back. Now in a capable Asus carapace, Bastion's software soul can bring with it a certain giddy feeling of finally being able to play something which had only previously been a pipe dream.

An Isometric Kid

A dynamic narrator recounts to us what the player performs, while the Kid does so on-screen. This active narrative style, layered over an equally impressive score by Darren Korb, rolls around in my head as I smash and roll through the game’s shaping environment.

Bastion is decidedly simple, though it’s also immediately fun. While playing through the game’s opening hour, I couldn’t help but think back to SaGa Frontier 2, whose convoluted game design provides a nice contrast to Bastion.

Calamity in Caelondia

The game’s story, at least in its opening hour, feels largely inconsequential. As I explore the game’s intimate surroundings, I find myself coming across petrified townsfolk and charms of various sorts, each hinting at there being some important meaning to the calamity which has affected the Kid’s world and home.

Most of my time so far has been spent collecting new weapons, exploring their merits against various ghoulish enemies, and rolling through fragile fences, piles of stone and dragon-like statues. The entire experience is all very ho-hum. Yet to the game’s credit, I feel its designers intelligently put just enough game into this game to make it feel compact, straightforward and focused. And in the end, I feel Bastion is better for it.

The End

My thoughts surrounding Bastion at this point in time seem to focus near exclusively on how well understood the game is as, well, a game. DeveloperSupergiant Games have managed to hook me with a vibrant art direction, an impressive score, a dynamic narrator; but they managed to infuse these ancillary qualities with hellishly addictive combat. It is its gameplay that I feel is the true merit of Bastion.

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A Crown Fit for a Dragon‏

Free this month on both PS3 and Vita is Dragon’s Crown, and boy have I wanted to play this one. This game was on my waiting list but considering the low-low price of $0, I was happy to splurge. But enough about my cheap Indian ass. This game does so much right, and you should definitely fork over your hard-earned $0 for this game.

The story is told by a narrator, who plays no role in the game besides telling you the story and dialogue, like a Dungeon Master in Dungeons & Dragons. He’s got a fairly charming British accent which keeps me listening, despite the story taking a backseat to the presentation and gameplay. For $1.99, you can change the narrator to one of the 6 playable characters. Let me just say that whoever voice-acted the Dwarf is a genius.

Gameplay feels old school since it’s a 2D Action/RPG that favors grinding, but keeps things interesting with a varied cast of playable characters. Each character plays differently, so if you’re bored or frustrated with one, it’s easy to switch to another. I myself chose the Fighter, who is slow but can dish out a few hits. Currently, I’m still playing with the Fighter, but I did take some time to play as the Amazon and Sorceress. The Amazon is supposedly easier to play with, and I quickly saw that since she dishes out quick but effective hits, which is very satisfying and would help gamers who aren’t accustomed to other characters. The Sorceress blew me away though, not because she’s stacked, but rather because she has a great set of close and ranged magic attacks. The only problem is that she cannot defend, so you still have to time your attacks right.

You can also choose your party (or go in all alone) which brings some strategy to Dragon’s Crown and allows you to control some level of its difficulty. You gain party members by finding their bones and speaking to the local priest to resurrect them. You and your party will depend on grinding, not only to level up, but for better loot (or “spoils” as they call them in-game). What I don’t enjoy is appraising your spoils (i.e. paying money) before you are able to use them. Usually, games will tell you the minimum level to use a weapon, but in Dragon’s Crown, you also have to dish out some coin. No big deal, but an annoyance.

If you haven’t read any of my other posts, I’ll tell you right now: I’m a sucker for great presentation, and Dragon’s Crown is no slump in that category. Developer Vanillaware has learned from Odin Sphere and Murumasa and have made, yet again, a gorgeous sidescroller. The amount of detail put into every character and level is a feast for the eyes. It’s clear that the art direction was what Vanillaware decided to concentrate on.

I loved Vanillaware for Odin Sphere, and now for Dragon’s Crown. I just don’t understand why they release their games so late in a product’s life cycle. Either way, it’s free right now, so if you own a PS3 or Vita, you have no reason not to play it.

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InFamous: I've Seen the Light‏

I’ve generally avoided DLC since it always felt like a cash grab by companies, or as if the developer deliberately excluded a portion of their game to get more money from fans; I’m looking at you Street Fighter costumes and Call of Duty map packs.

Add-ons like the ones I’ve mentioned above really don’t do much to the core experience and truly serve as cash grabs. Even worse are avatars and wallpapers on PS3/PS4. When was the last time anyone paid for wallpapers on their computer? Why should I pay for something that is free on any computer anyway? But I digress.

I’m getting hyped up for InFamous: First Light. This is a great example of DLC done right. Like other great DLC of the past (Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare, etc.), it’s its own story, so you’re getting something new from the developer. It expands on the universe of InFamous with a character I’ve been curious about, Fetch. She was basically an accomplice/love interest to the main protagonist, Delsin. While we touch base with her in Second Son, First Light will focus on her instead. I like how Sucker Punch is using InFamous to expand on the franchise similar to how comic book publishers expand with new characters. I feel as though InFamous already has a heavy influence from comic books/graphic novels anyway, so this would be a great way for Sucker Punch to progress this generation.

What’s also great is how it doesn’t require you to own Second Son. Seeing as how I only borrowed the game, I still have the option to buy First Light. No need to really explain how great Sucker Punch is for this. Here’s to hoping they make more games based on different characters in the same universe.

Side Note

Here’s a video on IGN that sparked this post:

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Asura's Wrath: A Toe To Toe Bromance

As I previously discussed, I think Asura’s Wrath is a great game. Developers CyberConnect2 and publisher Capcom carefully crafted a largely uncompromising brawler with a strong emphasis on story-telling and quick time events.

That said, I also felt as though co-protagonists Asura and Yasha shared a very strong, and at times distractingly silly, bromance with one another. And that got me thinking about how a bromance can be used to effectively illustrate an otherwise serious story through the lens of two men engaging in non-romantic affectional intimacy with one another.

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”

I’m currently playing through Asura’s Wrath’s fourth and final chapter right now. It is purchasable DLC named Nirvana, and it, like the three chapters which preceded it, is great fun. However, I found myself wondering increasingly why Yasha and Asura constantly find themselves with enough time on their hands to fight one another. Just to provide story context, both of these protagonists are currently friends and allies, and are working together to stop a looming threat which is attempting to erase human existence.

I suspect that whoever was responsible for writing the game’s script determined that the best way for Asura and Yasha to express themselves was through violence inflicted onto one another. Both characters represent two stoic emotional extremes, with Yasha being contemplative and depressed and Asura being superficial and angry. Neither is ever all that clear in stating that they respect the other, except for when they get into heated fights. 

In providing the player with a chance to control Asura and to fight Yasha, we are able to peek into the minds of each of these protagonists as they battle one another. We can view the differences in each demigod’s fighting style as rooted in their psychological makeup; and their inability to open up to one another is a nice contrast to how evenly-matched and on-point they are when fighting one another.

Or maybe Asura and Yasha fight each other because it makes for fun entertainment. Either way, the bromance between both characters is striking in how commonly it occurs, and distracting in its silliness.   

Final Thoughts

I’m curious to hear what others think about bromances in video games: do you feel that they can be an effective way for certain character archetypes to express themselves to one another, or do you see them as nothing more than distracting plot developments?

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