A little bit of a rehashing of this middle-of-the-road Year for you all today. 2008 was an....interesting year, for lack of a better term. There certainly wasn't as much comedy fodder, although that didn't stop people for looking for it. The privatization of space travel reached new heights with the completion of a British Billionaire's first commercial shuttle, Russia rose again to near super-power heights, globalization cost millions more people to lose their job with no hopes of re-immersion training, and Michael Phelps gave America hope that we could actually do something right in the eyes of the World. We elected our first black President, our Congress stupidly bailed out companies that far from deserved it, a couple of mainstream shows fell far off the quality wagon, and we lost some truly great people while discovering the talents of many more. All in all, the year rings out as being one of progression, not in the liberal sense, but of the directional sense. The year seemed to be indicative of things to come, and sowed the first few steps in that direction.
Personally, this was the year I transferred to a new school, entered heavily into the blogosphere, witnessed a friend get into the deepest personal trouble I've ever seen a single person in (worst part is, he still doesn't know the depth he is at,) the year I got heavily into following gaming, and got further away from following films. I got my most sexual satisfaction out of this year, my cultural knowledge expanded significantly, and my writing talent really developed thanks to writing for the newspaper and for you. So, thanks to all those that read, commented, and helped me better myself. This year didn't really end up on the best note for me, but here's hoping 2009 could at least be as personally fulfilling as this year....maybe with a bit more idiotic news stories to laugh at.
Christmas Musings
The official Holiday Season for the Winter-based celebrations is over, and with that comes worries over New Year's resolutions, sorrow at gained weight, and immediate nostalgia like no other. Like many people in the United States, I spent my secular holiday break of 2 1/2 weeks with family. Aside from the flight troubles (remember them here) and other issues that arose during the Yule festivities (told here), it was a pleasant holiday, and the best way I could think of to round out the year. I would have been literally penniless if I had stayed down in Southern California, but that's a point best not made in the afterglow of Secular Christmas.
I say Secular Christmas because a religious, Judeo-Christian Christmas doesn’t exist anymore. The average family doesn't actually properly celebrate Christmas, most likely because they don't know what Christmas actually is. Like many seasonal celebrations, this Holiest of Christian holidays actually comes from the manipulation of several generations of Pagan traditions. During the Roman, Norman, and Viking occupations of Celtic Scotland and Ireland, one of the main goals was to acclimate the Druidic cultures with Christian control for political dominance of the region, and the easiest to do that would be to assimilate them to Christian dogma. The most efficient way to ease the native Nature-worshippers (or any different cultural mythos, really) was to combine the less 'heathen' aspects of their religion with Christian lore. The mixing of the two cultures occurred across the board, Testaments, and rituals.
Recently in the news, a group of astronomers dictated their findings: that, based on current data and star-charts, the only star to have shone bright enough for anyone to be able to plan a course (as the Three Kings of fable did) during the 1 A.D. period was during the earlier, Spring months. This fits along with earlier Biblical drafts that Jesus of Nazareth was born between March and June, nowhere near his current birthday of December 25th. Why the move? Well, in order to indoctrinate the Celtic tribes, Christian scholars moved their savior's birthday to correspond with the birth of the ‘pagan’ Sun God Mithra of both Ancient Rome and Briton. 'See, we have a sacred day like yours! But ours is more righteous, why don't you drop those silly rituals and come and worship with us?' Funny thing is, the modern Christmas contains less Christian rituals than a visit to a KFC.
For one of many instances, where in the Bible is a Tree of any significance? Sure, there is the burning bush, but specifically tied to the birth of Jesus and the earlier days of the Christian Lord and Savior, where the fuck are all the trees? The many acts of modern Christmas are actually decried in the Bible as the act of heathens, because the Tree is an incredibly strong Celtic symbol encapsulating the breadth of nature within a single organism, acting as a microcosm for their worship. In Rome, it was a metaphor for the everlasting powers of the god Baal-Berith, hence the use of the evergreen, lush fir trees. The god was born from his mother after she was transfigured into a tree. Christians incorporated the symbol, and the decoration thereof, into the celebratory rituals of their holiday in order to ease the religious transition. Kissing under the mistletoe was also a Druidic tradition with origins in Babylon, stemming from the sacred nature of the branch as told in one of their legends (it was the sole object that could kill the nigh-immortal Balder in Scandinavian lore), being known as ‘the tree of pure gold.’ Standing under the tree and kissing was an act of pardon and reconciliation of crimes against man, as those that kiss are beneath a branch so sacred it was believed to be connected to the Gods.
The Roman celebrations of the Yule season, pre-Christianity of course, was a celebration of nearly everything Christianity despises, called Saturnalia. The Winter months brought a less stringent work day and, depending on the City-State, less Senate rituals and days of worship. This free time lead to the creation of a 5 day celebration, spent in the best way possible, pure and unadulterated gluttony. Roman 'Christmas' celebrations were day – sometimes multiple days - long orgies of excess. Literal orgies both hetero and homosexual sex, an overeating of all delicious sweetmeats available (for the upper class anyway), and complete laziness and intoxication for the 'down' periods of the day. One day of feasting and sex covered the majority of the Seven Deadly Sins. I'm not going on any historical backing here, but I'm pretty sure the early Christians bearing witness to this were probably inspired to write the more close-minded portions of the Bible.
Why go through all this? Because celebrations that have those gaps in logic get me to researching. Especially with ancestors in the Celtic regions of the world, I want to know as much as possible as I can about the periods that lead them from 'pagan' Nature worship to conservative Man-God worship. ....ok, maybe I don't really have an overall point, but I do like pointing this little facts out to people for some damned reason I can't really think of.
Holiday Wishlist
It was an extremely light gift season this year, with my main haul being a new MP3 Player (thankfully without a lower case I in front of it) and a couple of PS3 games. Most of my list was composed with the understanding that I would be spending the rest of the money I receive from family abroad in getting my ass a Playstation 3 unit when I return to Southern California. My little brother got himself a copy of Guitar Hero III for the family's 360, so I played a career or two with that before my arm gave out.
Thankfully my step-father took it upon himself to find a damn copy of Fable II to rent, and we succeeded under our combined efforts and I have been plugging away at a playthrough ever since. Perhaps I'll include my thoughts on the IP during the new year after my proposed articles have been put up. Around the same time my aunt and uncle had sent up the clothes I had left up at their house over this past Thanksgiving, and upon opening the box, I had discovered that they had purchased new socks as well, so add that to the pile of swag.
Yesterday was a belated gift day, as my Mum and I went out and did the yearly clothes purchasing on my behalf. It's one of the lone positive side effects of having a mother with entirely too high moral standards, I never measure up with my current clothes, and thus must be given new ones to rise my supposed societal level. Along the way we picked me up a new laptop bag and rolling luggage bag to take home, as - again - the ones I was using did not live up to standards, and for the more logical reason that I needed a non-black bag to stand out in the damn baggage claim at the airport to save time.
Complete Christmas / Birthday Haul
- 'Solo' leather messenger / laptop bag (black)
- 'Palm Springs: Ricardo' rolling luggage bag (burnt orange)
- 'Fallout 3' for Playstation 3
- 'Eternal Sonata' for Playstation 3
- Phillips 'GoGear' Portable MP3 Player (4gb)
- Box of Hershey Premium Chocolates
- Tin of Hershey Kisses
- approx. 15 pairs of socks (ankle-high and tube)
- pair of Jeans, three pairs of shirts
- Lazer Pointer
- various swag
Those We Lost
For those that have followed my writing, the biggest public loss for me this year was the death of one of my idols, George Carlin. Like many of his fans, he spoke on a deeper level than most comedians, a deeper level than most people. His routines were mostly grain of salt musings and wicked syntax, but the man operated on a whole other level between the lines, for all of his rantings and bitchings, he actually had a foundational desire to see the world in better times. He was universally respected in the field of stand up, but his death really did hit people as hard as it did me. Sure, HBO blew up their schedules with documentaries about the man's life and work, but for me it was a wound that cut deep. I had grown up with this man's style and humor, from the 'Hippy Dippy Weather Man' of my youth the 'Uncle Dan' speech of his last tour. Perhaps its because I had missed the window of getting a ticket to see him in my former hometown, minutes away from where I used to live. My friend Ben got to go, and I sighed and told myself I'd catch him next time. I'll never get the chance now, and it was a missed opportunity that would have been a lifetime in the making. He missed his goal of living to his nineties, and the world of comedy and commentary will never be the same again.
Another fantastic person we lost this year was the more publicized death of Heath Ledger. Personally, with no fault assigned to the man, a lot of people are inflating his career due to his death, and assigning much higher praise to roles formerly garnering middling criticism. Its a common practice in Hollywood, but when his work in 'Four Feathers,' a film that made no critic's best of anything list, now being hailed, there is something curious going on. All post-mortem praise aside, I had fallen in love with this man's skill when I saw him in a lame teen remake of Taming of the Shrew, aka 'Ten Things I Hate About You.' He was so genuine, a word assigned to him often, and so relaxed within his character that enjoying him was as natural as keeping your eyes open. Like many of the film going public, I took little notice of his career moves, but certain roles caught my eye at times. His role in 'Brokeback Mountain,' now surely entertained in the annals of history, is a dissapointing turn for me. He was astounding of course, but the film as a whole faltered, and for him to remembered from such a bad movie is kind of a sour aftertaste. I'd much rather see the public and film historians remember him as the Joker, a role so deep and complex that he controlled the very time and energy of any room where the movie is shown. His portrayal of simple insanity is one for the ages, but I'm sure it will get the public recognition it deserves in time. For me, I'll always remember him as Patrick Verona, a loveable man completely intoxicating in his simplicity.
Election of the 44th President of the United States
If this past Presidential Election proved anything to me, it’s how pathetic the field of political debate has devolved in the States. Reading Matt Taibi of Rolling Stone, one of my favorite magazine reporters, really drew a clear picture for me on how the media's focus on particular aspects of a candidacy has changed over the years. Whether it’s because we are getting more shallow and asinine by the day, or for some deeper reason, the most discussed and debated topics surrounding a possible President have gone from his ideals and his potential policy ideas to rumors and character attacks. Breaking down the candidacies leaves us with soundbites and mudflinging advertisements. McCain the 'Maverick,' Obama talking about 'change' more often than an alley way full of beggars. Obama is 'Hope,' McCain 'reaches across the aisles.' Obama might be a Muslim, McCain's old. In retrospect, I'm comfortable proclaiming that Obama's team didn't really have that strong of a focus on mudslinging, but what comes from the individual candidate teams isn't really the issue here. In the ever-constant quest for ratings, media networks leech off any possible tidbit of juice to milk for the shock value and viewership. Never mind were you stand on the existence of 'liberal media,' there is a constant influx of 'idiot media' that needs to be stopped.
Yeah, it’s annoying, and most people shake it off as lame deterrents that don't amount to much. But my issue with this media blitzkrieg is that it makes it more and more difficult to find out the necessary information to make educated voting decisions. I could honestly give a shit if Obama is a Socialist Muslim, what I need to know is his voting record and his plans for his administration, and when all MSNBC can provide me with is two hours of human interest reporting about his campaign stops, its incredibly frustrating. The placidity with this barrage of intellectual fluff coming out of the news rooms is one of the most aggravating flaws I find with the American public, and it makes me recite the infamous 'I'm as Mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore!' speech from 'Network' in my head.
In terms of the campaign itself, I went into a lot of detail about my thoughts about it in my Blue November, but in summary it was a fairly predictable outcome to a humorously polarizing trail. With the economy sharply turning downward in the worst way in recent memory, it killed McCain's - who hold partial responsibility for it - hopes for any amount of victory. Although, I lost faith in the man when I saw what he had become. It would have been a much harder decision for me in 2000 (theoretically, as I was too young to vote then) if it was a match between Gore and McCain. I still would have chosen Gore, but McCain's left leanings on many of the social issues I cared about, and his strong fiscal conservativism would have made it a choice that would have taken serious musing. His 2008 campaign, however, was almost difficult to look at some times. First of all, he never held a stance for longer than a few months, which called to mind the much harder backlash John Kerry suffered for doing a lesser version of the same thing in 2004, and his voting record over the past 8 years really sealed the deal in terms of my vote. However, in this world of sound bites and video clips, I think it was the selection of Sarah Palin as his Vice President that nailed him in the coffin. Did anyone take that seriously? The party must have known they stood no chance for them to sign off on that deal. It was mind boggling to hear people arguing over her political stances, when I was wondering if the bitch could properly tie her shoes.
But, the election came and the proper outcome was achieved, so we can release a slight bit of tension and look forward to the next four years with optimism. Or we can learn from our mistakes this past 2 terms and stand next door to the Oval Office with all the necessary paperwork for Impeachment standing by.
Gaming
Everything's going multi-platform!!! Square and Microsoft's big announcement started off E3 this year with a huge hit against Sony, and the convention never got close to equalling that reveal. But 'Final Fantasy XIII' leaping ship to the Xbox 360 is just one of many hardcore franchises ditching exclusivity with the Playstation brand, some even shipping themselves off solely to the Wii/DS without hopes of a release on any other platform. I'm sure you got a list already in your head, but for me the two biggest ones were the aforementioned Final Fantasy and 'Tekken 6.' It might not be the largest or most popular fighter on the market, but the series has always had a special place in my heart ever since I played the first one in the arcades. On the practical side, one might say that this means more people can enjoy it, and in that case, they are absolutely right. But that's not the whole deal. The universal concern is that a project formerly developed for a single system must now curtail its development time and money to build up a new version of the game, at least one version of the IP suffering due to the new constraints. But that's not the whole issue.
This consistent abandonment of exclusivity has stripped a lot of the Playstation 3's bargaining power, providing more and more reason to buy elsewhere for hardcore console needs. Although 2008 saw a lot of 3rd party power coming to the Playstation 3, these former exclusives going multiplatform speak of a lack of confidence in the system. The install base of the console is currently the worst of this generation, which forces publishers to develop alternate versions to cover their finances. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem. You and I know that. Exclusive DLC seems to be the future of inter-console battles for superiority, leading consumers to select the machine with the specs and support more to their preference. But we currently live in an era of an expanding marketplace bloated with casual gamers (thanks Wii) who hold a near majority of the sales chart in their ignorant wallets. Their first console was the Wii, and now they are looking for a second, deeper experience. Do they research into DLC support or a system's tech guts? No, they fall back on the logic of a bygone generation, which console has the most exclusives that I personally care about. And in that case, Playstation is getting stabbed in the back. Before the branding of 'Playslave' or 'Sony Fanboy' are grilled to my flesh, allow me to just say that I want to see consoles get a fair shake, as long as they aren't the Wii. In this new consumer base, both Microsoft and Sony are scrambling to please an audience more temporary than snowfall in Vegas, and it leads to a lot of ill business practices. The worst part of this is that I don't have a solution, short of instituting a national education policy about the nature of video games (and starting a service were all the mistaken Wii purchases are bought and taken off the sales charts.)
2008, like many years before it, suffered from a severe case of sequel-itis. Although somewhat redeeming itself with the most original content to be available for years, the heavy hitters this year were as predictable as the sales tax that came with them. 'Gears of War 2,' 'Resistance 2,' 'Metal Gear Solid 4,' and the latest from the Need for Speed, Burnout, and many other franchises. While not as bad as 2007 in terms of franchise-milk, 2008 continued to prove that the tired true staple of brand loyalty can still push millions of units in the marketplace. The horizon looks to be a lot fresher content-wise, but unless consumer tides change drastically, we can assume anything with a number beside it will sell.
The Playstation 2 has still been kicking ass, which just makes me giddy as all hell. Sure, it takes a bit of know-how into video game releases to know of anything good, but its still selling, which astounds me. It actually had a lot of releases relevant to me, and taking into account the porportional lack of disappointments found on the newer consoles across the board, the case can be argued that the Playstation 2 had one of the best lineups of the year. Sure, it’s dated IPs shipped from Japan, 3-D remakes, and sequels that should have made the console leap, but damnit, its great that the old timer is still ticking, especially after the immediate defeat of the Gamecube and Xbox. Especially now that the idea of players being unable to play their PS2 games on its shiny younger brother, units are being picked up for their bargain price (although a drop to 99 bucks couldn't hurt) and players are basking in the glow of one of the best back catalogs in gaming.
Another issue prevalent to this year is the sheer amount of franchises being 'toned down' for a broader appeal, the entertainment value for each series suffering as a consequence. This is most apparent in Nintendo's franchises, like 'Super Smash Brothers Brawl' and 'Mario Kart Wii,' but IPs across the board have willingly cut off their nose to spite their face. Handling the parkour elements in 'Prince of Persia' felt like your hand was being held the entire time, combat in 'Fable II,' while being easier to use, lacked any amount of complexity in comparison to its prequel. Its happened everywhere this year, developers somehow got the idea that simplier gameplay means higher sales, and so far, the gaming public has put up with it. While attempting to broaden a fiscal range is not that bad of an ambition, we can hope that developers instead later opt for an overall difficulty decrease, so the hardcore players can just get used to playing on 'Hard,' rather than feel that the game itself is beneath their abilities.
I originally had an entirely too long piece here about the Wii's year and my rant against it in nearly all of its forms. But, on insight, I have spared you the grief of reading it until I dedicate a full entry to it, and possibly the other consoles as well.
'Fro Design - Mass Effect 2
The ending of Mass Effect was exactly like a major action film. Not because it was emblematic of a rousing cinematic conclusion, but because it was the strongest setup for a sequel I have seen in a video game for a long time. The IP was planned to expand into a trilogy earlier on, but these plans ran a lot deeper into the first game's development than I thought. Although pre-production for the title has surely already begun, methinks we can take a look at how a Mass Effect sequel could turn out for the better, just for fun. I'll attempt to cover as many bases as I can, but I'm not a codex, so some references may go over the heads of those that have not played it, I have included hyperlinks to Wikipedia articles, so hopefully that will provide the information necessary to understand my point. Also, as I will be discussing the ending of the first game in some detail, spoilers will run rampant throughout this piece. I'll try to keep them soft and not to harmful to a first playthough, but be warned nonetheless.
The ending of the original Mass Effect was considered with Commander Sheppard personally dedicated her/himself to finding and eliminating the entirety of the Reaper threat after defeating the mind-controlled Saren and his controller, Sovereign. The Reapers are an ancient race of AI constructs so advanced, that their existence and purpose is inconceivable by any other race. They exist in dark space, the far reaches of the universe un-patrolled by the Council (the organized governmental organization of the game's galactic community), biding their time and saving energy as new races evolve and rise to power, only to be absorbed by the Reapers at their apex. Mass Effect ended with Sheppard walking away from the Council, who just entered the first human into their ranks, vowing to begin the search immediately for the regions of the universe where the Reapers reside. It’s safe to assume that the sequel can follow immediately or shortly after this ending, titled simply 'Mass Effect 2,' or with a subtitle such as 'Mass Effect: Dark Space.'
In continuing the storyline, we must assume that the proposed trilogy is the main plan for the series, so the tale of this middle game should not resolve all loose ends. Needless to say the main quest will concern the tracking of the Reapers, taking the player to new and old locations throughout the galaxy. I’d be nice to see the political side of 'Mass Effect' also explored in more depth in the main quest, possibly with the mission objective of getting representatives of each alien race on your side to organize a joint force against the Reaper threat, forcing the player to play through all of the discontent and inner-workings of each species. Its also to be noted that the entry of the first Human into the ranks of the Council after only 26 years of space exploration would make talking with some races (that have waited upwards of thousands of years for the same privilege) more difficult than others. Side missions would most likely include the same 'Save the Missing Survey Team from the Insect Threat' structure, with various versions of either saving or destroying people on arrival. Other extremely short side missions could revolve how many of the collected gases/rock material the player collected in the first game. Mini-games like opening a locker or decrypting a computer were simple enough to not be canned the second time through, but it would be nice to add a bit of variety to mini-games, like an unlocking doors mechanic similar to the one found in ‘Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.’
In terms of starting the game, players should have the option to either continue with the character specs they created in the first game, or create a new Commander Sheppard at the start of this one. A similiar option would probably be presented in the third game as well. Loading a Commander Sheppard from the first game will not only take their personality and stats into question, but the decisions the player made over the course of gameplay as well. For instance, if during the first game Sheppard set free the Rachni Queen, the second game will find the after effects of said rescue, whether it be a race of peaceful insect creatures making moral political choices, or whether it was a mistake to free her and the player must now exterminate the threat once more. In terms of the ultimate threat of the trilogy, it shouldn't really be revealed in full until the end of the second game - if that. But for a tangible bad guy, to be disposed of (or not) by the end of the second game, Bioware could take several routes.
They could use a character known from the first game and increase her/his power, or introduce a new character for the same purpose. Here's my idea: a Krogan Battlemaster, fed up with the failure of the galactic community to find a cure for his species' genetic disease, leads an assault against the Council Races in retribution, taking along other species fed up with the political unfairness their race has received, like a group of Volus, Hanar, or Batarians. The threat posed by the Krogan is not taken seriously until the Consort comes under his control, spewing propaganda for his mission and becoming deathly ill. Sheppard is commissioned for the project when the Krogan soldier reveals his intent: to offer the Council Races as sacrifices to the Reapers in order to gain their favor and avoid extinction. On the way to stop the Krogan the true baddie is revealed, and more is learned about the power of Prothean technology, the game ending with the entry into the final onslaught against the Reapers with Allied-Race Military. Hell, they could even discover a secret to fight against the Reapers if they explore the Necropolis of the Zeioph.There are many possible ways Bioware can either incorporate the previous game or shoot for a plot of completely new adventures, this was just one possible thought that occurred to me.
In regards of larger side missions, the ones that take hours and contain cut-scenes, the one thing I hope will be explored in the sequels is the identity and power of the Shadow Broker, an elite mysterious being (or beings) that have control over all of the most secret information across the galaxy, offering it for the highest bidder. If a player selected to get a favor from the Shadow Broker rather than payment - in the first game - that decision could come into play as well. Depending on which of the characters from the player's squad are left alive at the end of the first game, they could offer side missions to complete, and the game could fill out nicely with old and new NPCs that need stuff to be done.
Keeping the player connected with the character of Commander Sheppard offers one bad side: you can only play as human. It would be absolutely amazing to select a race for your character from any of the ones available in the game, save for the non-combat capable ones. I would love to play a male Turian. Each race could have a set of pluses and minuses to their stats, similar to how Dungeons and Dragons divides different species' abilities. Unfortunately, if the player was to start out with an entirely new character, it would mean Bioware would have to develop multiple campaigns, with dozens of explanations on possible character backgrounds and various dialogue interactions with other races. It’s not impossible, but it would take a lot of time away from the main development. Although it would be cool to have played a male Sheppard in the first game and play as a female Sheppard in the next...wonder if Sex Change operations offer stat bonuses?
In terms of combat, the squad-based shooter controls of the first game were pretty solid. Bioware could probably add an augment system for the weapons to increase the RPG element to most battles, but in terms of aiming, movement, and firing, the game was spot on. Perhaps more in-depth control over your squad, with basic orders to give to them at different times, could broaden the appeal of the combat. Bioware might have to tweak the sprint toggle to make it easier to control during combat, but nothing too drastic would have to be changed in that respect. A short-range weapon would definitely switch up the gameplay and keep it from becoming monotonous, although I'm unsure how you can make a bladed/bludgeoning weapon using futuristic sci-fi technology without the inevitable comparisons to a light saber. Perhaps create a wrist device that contains a holographic shield that can be retracted? Or a futuristic gauntlet that has a high frequency lazer across the knuckles (lazer knuckles?)
The biggest change in terms of combat mechanics would probably come in the form of biotics, the game's 'spells.' The controls for each ability were fine, but the result in using them was too much time and effects we have all seen before. Levitate an enemy, push one back, lift one up, etc. Perhaps an expansion of the abilities, or a substitution with more varied results, could benefit the combat structure and make it more rewarding to play. I'd love to have my hand glow purple and see an enemy shake violently before their head explodes. In terms of actual biotics they could implement, maybe one that turns an enemy against his own kind? Maybe one that cuts off an enemy’s oxygen temporarily, enough to make him drop his/her weapon and gasp? There are tons of ideas out there; it just seems that Bioware didn't tap into them as much as they could. Although the Singularity ability was pretty bad ass.
One of the best things Bioware did with 'Mass Effect' was the way the dialogue helped shape and build relationships with other characters. It was the first game I can remember to truly dedicate good chunks of its story to creating strong romantic subplots without gratuitous sexual innuendo or over-developed character design. If they can further expand this mechanic to make it so every character one can talk to will have the option to later become a best friend, a rival, or a sexual partner, it would really go a step further into creating a living, breathing universe that Bioware already dipped their toe in with the first game. Don't know why, but playing a female Paragon (good) character and talking with Garrus made it seem that there was a lot of sexual chemistry between them; I kinda wanted to explore that.
Another big change Bioware could add to the sequel of 'Mass Effect' would be to make the Mako upgradeable. It was a damn good all-around vehicle in the original, but there were times when the map required me to drive vertically on a mountaintop that I had wished I had points to spend in 'traction' or something. Points could be won by battle victories and exploration of all of a planet's specific points of interest, and divided into such things as 'armor,' 'traction,' 'speed,' and 'weapons.' It doesn't need to be nearly as deep as the character experience spending, but it would be nice. In terms of main character points and reputation, there were times in the game that it felt like there was only a dichotomy of personalities that you could adhere to: good or bad. If the classifications of your heroine/hero could go beyond Paragon or Renegade, perhaps to reflect your loyalty to a specific racial or military cause, it would really serve to increase the personalization effect each choice in the game has on Sheppard.
Mass Effect may not be my favorite game of all time, but it did scrape my Top Ten RPGs. With the ending begging for a sequel, I thought it would be discussion-provoking if we went into some possible details on how the universe and plot could expand into a solid and profitable trilogy with new elements and revamped old ones. Regardless of how the sequels turn out, as long as they are true to the origins of the saga in the original game, it will be a quality experience for all that enjoys strong narrative and rewarding gameplay. It's just fun to play the Idea Guy once in awhile.
This was the first entry I've ever made for any site that took longer than a day's effort to complete, and I hope it was a worthy read to finish 2008 on. I hope all of you had at least a memorable year, and are looking forward to what 2009 could bring. It's been an oddly satisfying ride, starting out posting around here and seeing the comments of those that read, it really helped hammer out a decision of what I want to do with my life and how I can achieve it. I wish each and every one of you a future year of accomplishments and victories, hopefully with minimal depressions. I'll see you guys on the other side.
You just got a new article from me for the first time in a few weeks due to the Crashing issue, and yet I haven't amassed more than that since my article before that. Why? Read on.
Update on the Fro
The Fro is cold, mostly because he no longer has a fro; explanation slowly to follow. Since my last upload, I had encountered a severe blog crash issue on another of my hosting sites that rather left a bad taste in my mouth for the effort of it all. You don’t realize how much effort you put into your articles until you can’t upload them for an internal server error. I used my friend connection with the administrators to get into a somewhat one-on-one discussion with personnel on how to fix this, and unfortunately it wouldn’t be for another 9 days or so.
But that is not my excuse for not updating regularly despite the errors against me. On the 13th I made my yearly trek two states up to visit my parents for the holidays. They live in Redmond, Washington, a suburb of Seattle and the hometown of the Microsoft offices. I had gotten a ride to the airport via a roommate and made it in plenty of time to be delayed until two hours later. According to the speaker announcements made in 15 minute increments inside our gate, engineers couldn’t tell if the plane was suffering from a severe oil leak or an engine problem. Seems like a simple distinction to my layman ass, but apparently this discrepancy caused the flight to be canceled and us to be called up to be re-booked based on our seating arrangements (Alaska Airlines assigns seat numbers, making me feel like a Highschooler again.) Being in coach I feared I would not be able to leave the OC that day, but I was offered a choice to wait at John Wayne Airport (not a joke, that’s its actual name) with a food voucher or try to get taxied to LAX half an hour away for a sooner flight. Needless to say the action movie hero part of my brain took over and I chose the time-crunching taxi ride.
Alaska paid for the taxi ride (thankfully, as the final tab was 107 bucks) and I arrived in plenty of time to go through my second security checkpoint of the day and wait for my flight. Luckily LAX engineers can tell the difference in major Boeing 737 Airliner issues, because I didn’t encounter any issue until I arrived at Sea-Tac (Seattle-Tacoma) Airport and had to figure out whether my bags arrived on the flight I took from LAX or my original OC flight.
Since my annoying air-mishap days have been easy-going and family-centric, taking up most of the daytime this past week or so. The reason I am shaven is to appease my mother, who just loathes the idea of me in curly hair. They gave me food, clothes, presents, and shelter for two weeks, so I guess shaving off the beloved Fro (only for it to grow back two months later) is a small consolation. We catch each other up: me, my Step-father, my Mother, and my little brother, and just hang out whenever we run out of things to say. My brother is still an impetus ball of energy at his most positive, a whiny little snot at his worst, but whenever I spend enough time in a room with him, I somehow devolve back to my 14 year old and it’s difficult to tell the most immature one apart. Both my little brother and my step-father are gamers, sadly mostly of the World of Warcraft type, but it helps to have at least a semblance of conversation centered around my hobbies for once.
The weather up north has been incredible, especially paired against the ever-constant Sunny crap that festers in Southern California. It snowed my first day up here (the earliest in a while for the area) and has kept a coat of white on the ground ever since (the most in a while for the area.) Last night was a bit of an anxious one, as the wind rose up to around 40 MPH at our elevation (approx. 600 ft.) and was predicted to cause power outages in the area. So close to Christmas, that would just plain suck. Luckily we awoke to beeping lights and hums, so we are once again content.
My days are occupied with family, so why hasn’t the night been a time for me to write. The simple answer is my first constant access to an Xbox 360 and a copy of Mass Effect. I just recently ran through a solid playthrough (99% of the game’s side missions complete) after a week or so of dedicated playing, and have fallen in love with the universe Bioware has created. The 30 hours or so I spent in their Galaxy was quite intoxicating, with tons of detail into the alien species you encounter and the various worlds you explore.
Short to say I won’t bother with a personal review, as a look around the net over the past year would have given you all I could have said. Perhaps, if I gauge enough interest from you folks, I can give an impressions article later on. It was looking like I was going to spring for the 400 Microsoft points for the expansion pack, but the more I look at its details, I’m not sure I want to spend 5 bucks for what amounts to 90 minutes more content.
The near-future plan was to rent Fable II tomorrow in time for the expansion pack (definitely worth it, knowing Lionhead’s resume) but with it being delayed to mid-January I won’t have access to the 360 anymore. I will still give it a go, but its disappointing not to have the largest possible experience available. Oh well, I am confident the inevitable PC release will contain the expansion when it comes out – I predict – in early/mid Q2. As it seems I will have plenty to do over the last week or so of my break (I return on the 2nd), as a copy of Assassin’s Creed is available if boredom strikes hard enough.
That’s pretty much all I have to report at this point in time, rest assured I will return you to the lull of my third-person narration text of my usual articles soon. In terms of expectations of my future, I’ll have one last ‘Fro Recommends out before year’s end, possibly that impressions article, and a personal take on Game of the Year Awards come early ’09 (because I actually like to wait before the year in question ends before saying anything.)
If I don’t read ya till then, have a happy Yule Holiday and a wonderful New Year’s!
Till Next Time, ‘Hawke
News
- My Birthday is Tomorrow!! ^_^ I am turning the hardcore number 21 this year. The achievement is somewhat dampened by the fact that I have been partaking of all the legal benefits of a 21-year old for some time now, but I won’t let little fact keep me from celebrating.
- I’m attempting to be accepted for the Sony Playstation Visa Card, which will allot me a $150 dollar discount on a PS3 purchased online. My idea is to net me a 160GB beast as soon as I get acceptance confirmation, as most of my Christmas wishlist is software for the system
- I have successfully infiltrated the ranks of the Staff Writers at my University Newspaper! Thanks to all that offered textual support, I am quite proud of myself, and hope to really challenge myself creatively through my work with them.
- My quarter was completed on the 12th, and my grades were released a couple of days ago. My GPA for this quarter was a damn fine 3.575; an A in my Film and Media Studies class on the Western (expected), an A in my English class on Love and Magic in Renaissance Literature (expected), a B in my Film and Media Studies course on the basics of Film Study (had to retake due to differing campus requirements, a bit lower than expected), and a B in my Philosophy of Psychology class (much higher than expected.)
Plugs
- As always, check out my best friend for-longer-than-forever, Strayer's, pad on GT, or be checking out his funny stuff on Youtube or at his contributing position here, as ‘The Sage’
- Wanna see how hardcore my most anticipated game of 2009 is? Look here
Sometime’s it takes a video game a full soundtrack to set the mood, tone, and atmosphere needed to evoke a certain feeling in the player. Other times, by luck or talent, composers need only a single song to capture the entire essence of a game and its characters. It could be three minutes or fifteen seconds, a repeating melody or a lyrical track played over the end credits. Attached to a single character, they can add layers to the psyche that would take hours of cut scenes to put to words. In the background of a level, the tune can remain etched in the player’s memories, keeping the feeling of what it was like to play it long after the console is off. Each generation of games had its masterpieces, narrowing it all down was almost impossible. Needless to say you’ll disagree with us, but we love that, inspiring response and forcing people to explain why we’re wrong and they’re right gets them thinking of the songs they choose, and on video game motifs themselves. Quiet in the audience, the orchestra is warming up. These are The Top Ten Video Game Themes in all of Video Game History.
The Top Ten Video Game Themes
#10: Contra - Jungle Theme
In the olden days of cheat codes and coin-operated gaming systems, an arcade measured its worth by how loudly and how often you heard this little ditty. It was not only the theme of one of the most challenging arcade experiences, but it also stood for the entire second generation of arcade gaming, of blistered thumbs and the fervent searches for that one quarter deep in your pocket as the Continue? timer ran down. But beyond the metaphysical nostalgia, it’s just a damn rocking tune, fit for the millions of covers done with electric guitars over the years since. You knew as the first level loaded and your commando fell onto the jungle terrain that you were in for the undeniable fun of spread shots and huge bosses. The rest of the soundtrack packed the same punch, but its this first track that takes us back to laser-sighting our focus and cracking our fingers above the trigger button in readiness for the first wave of enemies.
#9: Duke Nukem – Megadeth Theme
This little ditty is badass in the way that Black Sabbath’s opening riff to “Iron Man” made the trailer for the superhero movie badass. Within the first few opening notes, you know shit is about to go down, a prologue of epic manliness. Toss in the Duke spitting one of his famous sound bites, “Come Get Some!” and there is no way someone could mistake the game to count for anything other than violence in glorious gratuity. With the 3D interation of this franchise being reborn on Xbox Live, a whole new generation of Halo-ites and Gear(s)Heads can return to a time of media-driven rebellion, back when First Person Shooters were good. When the Duke ruled alongside “Doom” and “Castle Wolfenstein”; a generation of gamers that found solace in gore after the world around them just didn’t understand the bloodlust. Maybe I’m reading too much into this, maybe its just badass. Ya know what? That works too.
#8: Guilty Gear XX #Reload - Megatona Furioso
Kicking someone’s ass has always been an activity made better by kickass tunes. It just makes the impact of fists and groans of defeat that more ego-stroking. Never is this more apparent than in Guilty Gear games, Megatona being the most lauded example. Hard hitting riffs complemented the sheer machismo that oh so often comes with the supreme combo execution. It was the character Potemkin’s theme, but the hardcore track soon became synonymous with the series itself, giving it a reputation for a wicked anime aesthetic that permeated from its character animations to its menu screens. It may not have the sales of “Soul Caliber” or the sophistication of “Tekken”, but no one can deny Guilty Gear its rocking style. Naysayers are called to look up Furioso as exhibit A.
#7: Mass Effect – M4 Part II
The completion of any role-playing game, even without side quests and ultimate weapons, bears a sense of accomplishment, especially at Mass Effect’s length. These feelings of elation at one’s ability are made even better with a triumphant ending theme, something that puts a cap on your contentment. Mass Effect's opens with a guitar riff halfway between the latest alternative rock single and the victory theme from Top Gun, acting as a modern take on the “epilogue montage” moment that often accompanies the main credits, with a little bit of a electronic ambiance thrown in to prevent it from descending too much into Kenny Loggins-levels of cheese. This piece makes it on the list for the moment when we first hear it, in addition the song's own merit. More so than any other credit music, this primped, Emo-esque ballad caters to the feeling of finality and accomplishment felt at the end of an adventure only a role-playing game could provide. It doesn’t hurt that Part II follows one of the best games of last year, either.
#6: Silent Hill 2 - Theme of Laura
The Silent Hill series is unrivaled in atmosphere. The game’s uncanny ability to maintain a state of constant tension and unease was always aided with a claustrophobic level design and, more importantly, Akira Yamaoka’s score. His predilection towards sounds both weird and alluring was never more beautifully demented than in this tune. Despite the soothing melody, there is something unnerving crawling beneath this tune's surface. This theme epitomized the series’ motto of “simultaneous attraction and repulsion;” a perfect medley of an electric and acoustic guitar, with a haunting undercurrent of echoed strings and computerized sound effects, not to mention the famous mandolin of the series's opening. Not quite gothic, not quite horror, the song bleeds atmosphere and haunting beauty; everything that makes Silent Hill the ultimate series of survival horror.
#5: Chrono Cross - Time Scar
It was buried under its popular brother, Chrono Trigger, but not for lack of quality. In fact, many fans’ cite the sequel’s soundtrack as just one of the ways this RPG is superior to Trigger, offering up Time Scar as evidence. It’s not difficult to see why this one song could be held up to such a standard, being one of the most self-contained musical pieces in the genre. It begins as a light and airy piece, a relaxing Celtic melody, useful for gameplay in towns and inns. Without hesitation, it slips into a string-heavy, fast-paced drumbeat set, exceptional for combat and exploration gameplay. It’s the game itself set to melody, a poetically paced narrative coupled with a deep and rewarding combat system. If Square's smart, gamers that made the mistake of passing this one up will be playing Time Scar re-made for this generation.
#4: Legend of Zelda - Overworld Theme
If ever there was a tune that embodied the word, “classic,” here it be. For most of us, this song is synonymous with our first fun video game experience, and it hasn’t gotten any less powerful with time. It’s an upbeat and jaunty tune that makes all who hear it want to go out on their own adventure, sword and shield in hand. It symbolized the pure fun one had when playing the game, whether it was in the first few minutes or the last hour. Link has been forever tied to the song since, and developers have carried the mantle with pride, reinventing it each generation with new orchestration. But its the classical tune that will ever be immortal, embedded in minds and hearts of any gamers that long to quest.
#3: Final Fantasy VI - Terra's Theme
“I don’t think I have what it takes to make a good action game. I think I’m better at telling a story.” This was Hironobo Sakaguchi’s response to what type of game would be made with the last of - then-failing - Square’s money. The first Final Fantasy was published under that credo, and each one after it pays respect to Sakaguchi-san’s original vision. For many fans, nowhere is Hironobo’s idea embodied more perfectly than in Terra’s Theme in Final Fantasy VI. This is the perfect song to complement the words “once upon a time.” It’s a sense of weighted whimsy; a folkloric lightness coupled with a dramatic foundation. It’s the first six games of the series brought into a single tune, a reflection on where the series has been with an acknowledgement to what it hoped to accomplish in the future. It’s modern Shakespeare, the perfect prologue to an adventure of Team Fantasy’s standards.
#2: Tetris - Main Theme
Think about how much of your life has been spent playing Tetris. On the Gameboy, the PC, your cell phone, the NES and all of its other incarnations. Think of how long you spent on each playthru, how long it took to beat each level. Add that up over your lifetime, and for many people the total runtime is longer than what it takes to beat all of the Final Fantasies put together. You may have hated it, loved it, or never gave enough notice to it as you watched the blocks drop. But however you thought of the song, one thing is for sure, it didn’t stop playing once the power button was turned off. It was lodged in your head for at least a few days, coming out as humming or whistling or just having it play over and over in your mind as you go about your day. That alone gives it a spot. It’s one of the most remix-able songs in history, it’s a repeatable tune that doesn’t have that snag at the end when the track starts over, and its one of the first tunes we as a generation remember in terms of gaming. It. Will. Never. Leave.
#1: Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty – Theme
Harry Gregson-Williams, of the Hans Zimmer filmmaking studio, was tapped by Kojima for the score of Sons of Liberty. Although he produced an intense and cinematic soundtrack for the project, it is this main theme of the game that has become instantly identifiable with both the series and its creator. The orchestral piece has an intense emotional arch, beginning in a traditional covert military style with computerized sound effects and a strong bass, but with a steady speed: strings are added, with their ascending crescendo. A sense of strength and power are built, only to be crushed seconds later as the entire song falls into a silence. Then, from the ashes of the first set comes the slow rise of the familiar tune, the sense of power replaced with a more somber tone as they play out their stanza. The strings are slowly added, also at a slower pace, with triumphant vocals sewing the orchestration together. The sense of strength found in the first set replaced with one of hurt pride; what was loud and chest-thumping returns at a humbled, poetic pace, only to finish with the highest point in the theme, an ultimate triumph after sobering defeat. Intense, emotional, inspirational and patriotic, it acts as a perfect abbreviation of the series, a microcosm of Kojima’s fiction and storytelling capabilities, and a summary of Snake’s philosophical journeys. If ever you find yourself trapped in life, a situation seemingly too difficult to complete, play this tune, just once, and regain back your strength. Remember what’s it like to be moved, to be empowered, to be human. Its a remarkable achievement to capture such essence and depth within just a few moments of music, but Gregson-Williams resounding success, and the powerful feelings across the world that its caused, makes its placement easy to bestow. This is the greatest theme in the history of video games.
Wow! It's been awhile since I've had time to post something. A combination of school, work, and having nothing to talk about! (Can't play games if I'm busy with school or work) But One thing I always have time for is Rock Band, my absolute favorite game of recent. How does Rock Band 2 match up?
More than likely, you already have a preconception of whether or not you are going to get this game, so most of what I say will make no difference. But I will go ahead and write. What to start with? Unlike everyone else, I'll start with the game, I've been able to play it with both the old hardware and the new hardware so I will get to that part later. And unlike my previous reviews, this will be split into ratings for each item, then a final rating for the overall set. So lets go!
The Game: Rock Band 2, whats different? Not much. You could think of this game as more of an expansion pack to Rock Band 1, but I would think of RB1 as an expansion of RB2. Why? Because if you have RB1 (or can borrow it from a friend) you can transfer most of the songs to the harddrive so you can play in RB2 (provided that you have the internet connection so you can pay the $5 fee.) But what is really different? With gameplay, absolutely nothing. If you played before, you know how to play now. There are tweaks here and there, the biggest difference is how you unlock songs. Since there is no longer a solo career mode, the best way to unlock songs is to create a band and do the Marathon setlists in the Challenges mode. These are 6 songs each but you can stop and save after a song if you can't finish all six songs at once. World Tour mode is back, and you can do it by yourself or with friends, even if they live across the country as you can play online in World Tour now.
Much less of a sequel than the name suggests, the game is set 500 years after the events of its predecessor, still within the same mystic world of Albion. For the first time in the series guns are part of the inventory, and towns have been replaced with larger cities, each watched over by a large castle. Not much to say about the overall narrative arch of the IP, save to say that the world of Albion and all of its side-quests and story missions will be open to the player, who begins as she/he did in the original Fable, a child that eventually grows to old age during his lifetime of adventuring. There is a general story to follow (which amounts to around 12 hours of content if the player rushes through it, according to developers), but will all of the branching quests and mini-games available, designers have hinted at 100 hours of gameplay.
A highly marketed change to the Fable universe is the inclusion of a dog sidekick, which will follow the player around and aid him in battle and finding objects in cities and along the road. The player will have many options to control the dog as a third party (i.e. pet the pooch and make him happy), but will maintain no direct control over the canine.
The World of Fable
The character aging dynamic has been drastically enhanced from the last installment, with the use of skills, magic, and moral choices morphing the characters financial status, morality, weight, and age either positively or negatively depending on the situation. The player has the option of a female or male protagonist, another new addition, with the ability to have the female become impregnated during the game and birth a child. A questionable inclusion in the world of Albion is that side-quests and battles no longer yield money. In order to afford houses for your family and new armor, the player will either take up odd jobs about town (assassin, royal bodyguard, blacksmith, etc.) or gamble in one of the aforementioned mini-games in the taverns. If the character dies at any point in the game, a certain amount of experience will be lost, in exchange for the [heroic struggle], a sudden burst of energy that could cause the hero to either run away from harm or kill the last remaining enemies before dying.
Like in the original, the player has the option of getting married, including same-sex marriages as in the first title. New to the series is the ability to chose safe/unsafe sex, with the latter having a percentage chance of yielding a child. Also in Fable II is the unfortunate side effect of losing half of your assets to your wife if she divorces you (lead designer Peter Molyneux admits that killing her would be a lot easier in this situation.) If the player does spawn an offspring, the child will grow and mature in real-time, and will reaction to the player's accomplishments and attention (or lack thereof). This means that the child will follow the player's example in terms of their alignment and looks.
The world of Fable will transform according to the player's role in various missions and decisions, for instance if the character burns down a caravan delivering essential goods to a town, that town may fall into poverty later in the game because of it. Albion has weather effects and seasonal changes for all parts of the year. Each leave on a tree is individually animated, and each person has their own animations as well. In addition, the invisible wall restrictions of fences and bridges have been lifted, giving the player full access to all parts of the world.
Gameplay
Like many current games, Fable II aims to keep the player involved by dropping most of the Heads Up Display (HUD) that usually features commodities like the character's health, mana, and a mini-map. In the place of the latter is something called [the bread crumb trail], a glowing yellow line on the ground that the player can follow to reach the next story point. In place of a mana bar, Fable II features a small charge bar on the screen, that some spells require to fill up before being spent. Cutscenes in Fable II will be both interactive and non-interactive. Cutscenes where the player cannot interact with the environment will never take over 5 minutes, and interactive cutscenes can end with the player running away from the person talking, and use her/his action buttons during the conversation to dance/laugh/react and effect the outcome of that cutscene.
The engine used for Fable II's graphics was completely designed in-house, but the Havok engine is used for in-game physics and some AI for the game is controlled by the Kynapse engine. 3D models, art, and files are tracked by Alienbrain 8 middleware. Every piece of land and property is up for sale in Fable II, with every piece of furniture in the house up for auction at any time, as well as the purchased house. When enough property has been collected, the player will ascend in politic rank, from Mayor of a specific town, King of a specific region, or even Emperor of Albion. If a property is rented or a seller of goods, the player will receive gold every five minutes real time, including when the console's off. Owning property also unlocks other quests, missions, and mini-games.
Combat in the game is context specific, meaning that the same button will throw a person into a nearby river in one battle and another will push an enemy against a wall in another. Combat is controlled via a single button, and will vary based on character position, tactical advantage (i.e. being atop a bridge with the enemy below), and the weapon held. Ranged weapons (guns are replacing long bows, but short bows have been confirmed as being in-game) will target using a cross-hair that will appear when the button is pressed. Holding the combat button down will cause the character to block. The character will level stats based on progress in combat.
Co-op Play
The game will not ship with online co-op capabilities intact, but it has been confirmed that a patch for the problem will be available for download on launch day. Players can invite other characters into their game be finding their [albion orbs], representative floating orbs that appear in-game wherever the character in question is within their own gameplay, and clicking on them to automatically teleport them to their world. Unless the player has activated the safety feature, the invited character's actions carry permanent weight in the world (i.e. an NPC killed by a visitor stays dead.) Players will be able to exchange items, armor, and weapons, but dogs of the visiting character will not accompany them into another player's game. The main player also has the option of setting up rules of reward distribution and friendly fire for all online co-op sessions.
Offline co-op consists of the second player acting as a henchman to the main player's character. If the second player has his own Xbox Live account, his character will remain the same as in his own game. If the second player does not have his own account or has not created a character, gameplay will be interrupted for a brief creation screen for the visiting player to quickly create a henchman character for the gameplay. Any items, gold, and experience can be ported over to another account via an Xbox 360 memory card if desired.
- Famous actors such as Stephen Fry, Helena Bonham Carter, and Bill Nighy provide various voices in the game.
- Originally death came with permanent scars and disfigurement for the character. But, based on poor reactions during play testing, the mechanic was changed.
Outro
This section will be updated with reviews and any other prevalent information.
This game represents the pinnacle of Western RPGs. Yeah, Molyneux has promised more than he could chew in the past, but he has stated in interviews that he has made an effort to not be so forthright and let his love for his work overstate the game's capabilities this time. From what we've seen in trailers and gameplay videos, this may be right. Hell, even when we were disappointed that Fable and Fable: the Lost Chapters didn't reach expectations, it was still a damn good game, right? The world is deep and beautiful, the story seems solid, and you can knock a broad up, what more could you want?
'Fro Recommends: Spider-Man: Web of Shadows (2008)
Name:Spider-Man: Web of Shadows
Genre:Action-Adventure
Developer:Treyach/Shaba Games (PS3, 360, PC, Wii) Amaze Entertainment (PSP, PS2) Kriptonite Games (DS)
Publisher:Activision
Rating:T for Teen
Release Date:October 21st, 2008
Platforms:Playstation 3, Xbox 360, PC, Wii, Playstation 2, Playstation Portable, DS
Plot
Fans of the comic will be hard pressed to correlate this one with any of Marvel's timelines for the webslinger. The story takes place after Venom comes to the deadly realization that he can clone himself, in all his symbiotic glory, and thus begins a mass invasion of symbiotic lifeforms in Manhattan. Normal citizens are infected with the alien lifeform and transform into zombie-like creatures out for Spidey's spandex-wearing ass. S.H.I.E.L.D., the Marvel universe's international police force, puts New York under quarantine, and sends in multiple cross-over heroes into the fray to aid Spider-Man. Making matters worse is, at some point, all of them too succumb to viral symbiote, forcing Peter Parker into some presumably awesome boss battles against demonic versions of Wolverine and the Black Cat.
The emotional draw of the tale comes from Parker trying to combat the alien menace without falling into darkness himself. He regains his black spider-suit at the beginning of the events, and everytime he is forced to use it he is drawn further into the same dreaded state as the rest of the NY populace. The plot is usual Marvel fare, fantastically outrageous narrative arch with a central morality ploy, in this case the fight against evil leading to the confrontation of the evil in one's self.
Free-Roaming Goodness
These are the same peeps that doled out Spider-Man 2 and Ultimate Spider-Man, both games with amazing free-roaming capabilities for their generation. We can hope that they continue their streak with Web of Shadows, and by the looks we've gotten from trailers, we can at least expect some open-ending web-slinging. Treyach has confirmed that the player will have the choice on which villains to fight throughout the storyline, hopefully making the game have a chose-your-own-adventure feel as opposed to a half-of-the-storyline feel. The supposed multiple endings should help with that.
Gameplay
Nitpickers will be happy to know that Spider-Man can finally swim when he over-anticipates a jump and lands in the Hudson, instead of automatic death or a cutscene of him climbing out onto land. Most of the updates on Treyach's resume isn't all aesthetic though, players will have the ability to shift between both the Red/Blue and the Black Spidey-suit at will, each having their own combat style and combo mechanics. Spider-Man's black suit often leads to darker moral decisions being easier for the player to do, in addition to giving the player the ability to call in villains from the Spider-Man universe as help in combat as opposed to Marvel heroes. When serving up a steaming plate of pain in the Symbiote Spidey-Suit, expect a more grounded, destructive combat; while the traditional Spidey-attire is a much faster and agile beast. Agility will come into play dramatically when aerial combat is involved, the game's much toted original take on fights in the sky being one of the title's biggest drawing points.
As opposed to relying on webslinging momentum to kick/punch your opponent to death, players can change multiple attacks together, sending Spidey flipping about his enemies, using each moment of contact as a leaping off point, without ever needing to shoot a web. The result is, according to the developers, a sense of feeling like the actual super-hero while playing. If it's pulled off, Action games could see a definitive change in the way fighting is approached in general.
Versions
The majority of this article, as well as the game's press, has been towards the main versions of this game, the one developed by Treyach itself for the Playstation 3, Xbox 360, PC, and Wii versions. The Playstation and PSP version takes off half a dimension and shifts from an action-adventure free-roaming to a side-scroller with a bit of action-adventure mechanics thrown in. The DS version will be strictly 2-D, another side-scrolling adventure, this time focusing on brawler and platforming. According to the publisher, we can expect the same basic story from all versions of the game, but other details haven't been released as to all the differences between versions.
The main version of the game will have Black Cat and Wolverine exclusively, while the DS claims both the Green Goblin and X-Men's Nightcrawler to themselves. All versions feature the Black Widow, Electro, Kingpin, Luke Cage, Mary Jane Watson, Moon Knight, Rhino, Venom, and Vulture as NPC encounters.
- In an interview with Metromix New York, Chris Scholz, Studio Head of Shaba Games confirmed that the game exist[s] somewhere in-between the comic book world and the movie world, but doesn’t follow either storyline.
- John Carpenter's film, They Live was said to be a huge inspiration in the game's creation.
- Mike Vaughn, the voice of Spider-Man, has done work for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
Xbox 360
