He's making a list, and checking it twice, what kind of bullshit is coming up next, please don't make me vomit next year.
Alright, so the first thing has got to be Dragonball, the live-action movie.
I really have no expectations for the Dragonball movie. Just look at the casting... Justin Chatwin is NOT Goku, no way in hell can I take him seriously.
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.
I was bored so I decided to tell you about my encounter with the game Sudeki.
This is not going to be a long story.
I installed the game the other day 'cause a friend of mine gave it to me, because apparently he thought I might enjoy it. Why he thought so I really couldn't tell.
Castlevania, Contra, Metal Gear, Lone Ranger. You look at Konami, and you think "Oh yeah. Greatness." But did you know that Konami was also a bunch of assholes?
Now before you scream for MY severed head on a stick (http://www.screwattack.com/node/4393), I'll explain this line of thinking:
-----Contra----- Lack of arcade ports when the hardware was available. Granted, the NES games were superb, and still hold to this day. But it took them twenty years to bring the arcade originals to the home consoles? I can understand not doing it with the NES and Super NES with the limited hardware, but the Playstation was more than capable, and maybe even the N64. The previous-gen consoles have enough space to put all of the contra games (Arcade, NES, SNES, and Genesis) onboard, as well as more than enough processing power to handle it. Konami just didn't want to give it to us.
-----Gradius----- We never got the real sequel to the franchise, and instead got a Gradius-hacked version of Salamander called Lifeforce, with the levels re-arranged, and with new boss characters. Gradius 3's Super NES port was simply rushed, and never got rid of the slowdown bug. Obviously they had to chop out some of the content to save space. Plus for some reason, when the Gradius 3&4 collection was released for the PS2, they chose to ONLY release 3&4 on the disc. Were they trying to cut costs with the CD-ROM format? Release the whole goddamned series on a disc! THERE'S MORE THAN ENOUGH SPACE ON THE DISC. Gradius, Gradius 2, Gradius 3, Gradius 4, Salamander, and even Salamander 2. Hell you could even fit the Parodius games on the disc as unlockable extras! Konami just didn't want to give it to us...........wait, it's on the PSP? Oh fuck you, Konami.
-----Metal Gear----- Oh Jesus, this one hurts. You have a butchered NES port, a completely-DIFFERENT sequel that even Kojima despised, and a story that was given the tentacle rape treatment because Ultra Games thought they could do it better. Us Yankee folk were forced to buy the Playstation 1 & 2 games twice because the Japs give themselves additional features after bringing the single game to our shores. Either release the full experience from the start, or suffer the backlash. Take your pick, pricks.
Castlevania series:
-----Haunted Castle----- For those that look for the ultimate Castlevania challenge, the first one is the biggest one. Yes, Haunted Castle was a remake of the first game, and to really screw with you, they only give you one life. Try to take that in. Seriously. One life. It's hard enough to play through the first NES game without continuing at least once, let alone DYING just once. This game deserves to be on XBox Live, if and any just for the achievement points and leaderboards.
-----Rondo of Blood----- I'm very pissed about Konami only releasing this game on the PSP. I'm not buying a PSP for this. Fuck you, Konami. You had a GOLDEN opportunity to please the fans when the Playstation homebrew project was underway.
Believe it or not, much like Final Fantasy 5, a group of developers were working on an unofficial port of Rondo of Blood for the PS1, until Konami shut it down. Despite the fan-interest, there was no official port on the PS1, not even in Japan. Konami just didn't want to give it to us. You notice a pattern here?
===================================== =====Unreleased Arcade Greatness===== ===================================== The Japanese got a Konami Classics collection for the Playstation and Saturn. Us Americans had to wait for the Nintendo DS, Game Boy Advance, and PS2 to get the 1980s arcade games. Here was some arcade greatness of the 80s and 90s that you may not have known about, but kicked serious ass.
-----Ajax----- Konami's Gradius-esque answer to Xevious, but with a special take: Lots of powerups to utilize, and an alternate flying machine of death for between levels. What other game lets you point an F-15 straight down at a battleship and not crash the damn thing? Classic.
Seriously, skip to 3:25 and see for yourself.
-----Crime Fighters----- You can never have too many four-player beat-em-ups, you also can never have too many games where the overall goal was to save twice as many girls as there are limits on the amount of players (Who doesn't want a girl on each arm?). The only complaint I have with this game is that you only have one life, and you gotta keep pumping quarters to keep your strength up.
-----Devil World----- This was a nice attempt to merge Gauntlet with Gradius. You have two characters, an Indiana Jones-esque archeologist and a Barbie-doll reporter who were sucked through a portal into a world of demons. Luckily, there are powerups all over the place that increase your speed, give you shields, flamethrowers, lasers, and even sticks of dynamite. Unfortunately, when the game was brought to the States, the name was changed to Dark Adventure (eh), a third player was introduced (yay!), the players now only have melee combat (hmm), the Gradius powerup system was removed (huh?), the level layout was randomized (the fuck?), and the boss monsters were removed (wait a minute!), making the game unwinnable whereas Devil World had an ending (Oh fuck you!). This hits a little close to home for me, as I used to play Dark Adventure at the local Big Lots......and came to regret it.
Unfortunately, there's no existing video of Dark Adventure, so here's Devil World:
-----G.I.Joe----- This game reeks of awesomeness. What other G.I.Joe game out there was simply about a small squad of Joes rushing the most fortified of Cobra's fortresses, and blasting the shit out of EVERYTHING? This was worth every wasted quarter, and the time spent blowing up the weapons factory. This is what G.I.Joe was about, plain and simple.
Duke, Scarlett, Roadblock, and Snake Eyes, the original wrecking crew(tm).
-----Guitar Freaks----- Make no mistake, Guitar Hero and Rock Band are great games, but don't kid yourself: They are knockoffs. Konami started the movement with Guitar Freaks, along with Drum Freaks, Beatmania, Keyboardmania, and Dance Dance Revolution. Will the originator please stand up and claim the throne?
November Update: I know that Konami decided to go the same route as Guitar Hero and Rock Band with their own version, but it's just too late.
-----Iron Horse----- Nothing like a train robbery to make for a good game plot. Yes, for the first time in gaming, you get to be the evil cowboy train robber. Just simple fun.
-----Jail Break----- Same graphical style as Iron Horse and Green Beret, only now you're one of the present-day city's finest, aiming to stop the outbreak of escaped prisoners from a maximum security prison, and save a few hostages while at it.
-----Lightning Fighters----- The video speaks for itself:
-----M-I-A----- For those who played Rush'n'Attack or Green Beret, this is the sequel to both games, and it shows. The same mechanics, but now there's hidden areas, and new dangers to avoid. Veterans of the original games are in for a surprise with this one.
-----MX5000----- This is an interesting vertical shooter. Much like Xevious, this also has a bomb-launching button, but in this game, it crawls along the ground, a-la Gradius, and explodes on contact with an enemy. The boss battles have an interesting take that hasn't seen seen again until Star Fox 64: All-range mode. During boss battles, you're not limited to facing and firing upwards. You can face and fire in eight directions.
-----Simpsons----- Not much needs else to be said. It's the TMNT game with upgraded mechanics and replaced with a different trademarked license. But awesome nonetheless.
-----Solar Assault----- Gradius meets Star Fox. I only got to play this in the arcades once at the local Wal-Mart, and was blown away by how fast and smooth the controls were.
-----X-Men----- The only time Konami got to make use of the X-Men license, and they made it memorable. It was the first time I had ever seen a game with two screens, and six players. Unfortunately, I only ever saw the 6-player cabinet at places like Cedar Point in Ohio.
But hold on: Konami was not always flawless with their arcade titles.......
Arcade Exceptions:
-----Monster Maulers----- Dear god. Just......no. The gaming concept makes for a refreshing take on the classic 2D-Fighter, but most likely, the chick will be the most-chosen character to play as. Anyone who chooses either of the dudes will have their sexuality SEVERELY-questioned. No doubt about it.
Konami, what the fuck?!
-----Mr. Goemon----- The origin of the Goemon/Mystical Ninja series, not much can really be said about it. The Super NES game was neat, but I just can't get into the series in general. That's just me, though.
-----Violent Storm----- Typical beat-em-up plot: Girlfriend gets kidnapped, and you bring your friends along to help rescue her. The only problem I have with this game is: Which game are they trying to be a ripoff to?!
* Large characters: Final Fight. * Crudely-detailed characters: Streets of Rage. * Special moves: Street Fighter 2.
This one has 'em all!
In conclusion: I know Konami has made some great games over the years, but much like Nintendo, they chose to screw us over by letting some of their games rot than allow us to play them on a home console. Fuck the handhelds, these deserve to be played on a TV. Until Konami gets the message, I'm whipping out my Xbox version of MAME, and flipping them the finger.
Don't let tall buildings tell you what you can and cannot play, and on what.
A special double-shot of the Shoot. I know, it's been awhile. And clearly the fans have been waiting for new blogs, given the comments I've been getting.
If you haven't relized that I'm being sarcastic, then i guess YOU'VE actually been waiting on new blogs. Either way...
Horror and Videogames may have a healthy relationship nowadays, but in the first 20 years, attempts to make scary video games were...shaky at best. Attempts to bring horror classics like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre to the Atari 2600 and Friday the 13th to the NES received largely negative receptions. And while games like Castlevania and Splatterhouse would borrow thematic elements from horror movies and novels, the games themselves were pretty standard affairs, lacking any real frights.
The first game that could legitimately claim to be frightening was Infogrames Alone in the Dark, released for PC in 1992. Its use of movie style camera angles, oppressive atmosphere, and surprise attacks made it a critical and commercial success, and it would birth a new genre: survival horror. Unfortunately, the two lackluster sequels that followed meant that this new genre would have to wait a few years to really shine. In 1996, that time would finally come.
Uhhh...Chris? Buddy? I think you need to lay off the 'roids for a while...
This is a video list of 12 things that piss us off about Newgrounds. Why 12? Because I like to go one step beyond ThatGuyWithTheGlasses and that annoying 11 standard he created! *satire*. Anyway you should probably watch this only if you know what Newgrounds is. This is FIFTH in a series of 12 Fuck You Video Rants.
THANKS Nostalgia Critic and staff for featuring me :)
Halloween. A time of witches, bats, vampires, and (if you're anything like me) ceremonies meant to summon the Old Ones so that they may come forth and drive the world to madness. (That which is dead can eternal yaddayaddayadda)
And since videogames are chock full of scary beasts and and frightful terrors, I figured it was only appropriate to count down the scariest monsters in gaming. They may not have the clout of final bosses and villains, but these are the guys that terrify us and make us fill our pants with excrement.
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?
In the late 90's, horror gaming was ruled by two franchises, Capcom's Resident Evil, and Konami's Silent Hill, both of which were exclusives for the Sony Playstation, although the N64 would receive a port of Resident Evil 2 in the last legs of its life. Eager to try and capitalize and expand on this genre, Nintendo partnered with Silicon Knights to create their own survival horror game. Though it was originally planned for the Nintendo 64, the project was eventually pushed back to appear on the Gamecube.
Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem was released early in the Gamecube's life on June 24, 2002. The main plot concerned Alexandria Roivas, an art student who is called to the mansion of her grandfather Edward, a clinical psychologist, to look into the cause of his mysterious and violent death. Frustrated by the incompetence of the Rhode Island police force (no offense meant to actual Rhode Islanders), Alex begins to investigate for herself, and eventually discovers her grandfather's secret study, and the Tome of Eternal Darkness. Reading the Tome placed players into the sandals of Pious Augustus, a Roman centurion in 26 bc. While leading his troops in battle, Pious is summoned to an ancient Persian temple, where he is forced to battle the undead monsters within. This served as the games tutorial level, as well as the prologue for the greater story. In the last room of the temple, Pious came across the three Essences of the Ancients, Chattur'gha, Ulyaoth, and Xel'lotath. Choosing one of these essences transformed Pious into an undead mage, who was bound to service of the chosen god. It was this choice that would determine which Ancient the player would ultimately face.
'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.
- Tricia Heifer, the voice of the Black Cat, is famous for her role in Battlestar Galactica
Outro
This section will updated with reviews and other prevalent information when it becomes available.
This game is more than just a buy for Marvel fans, it's combat should draw all gamers in for its interesting take on aerial controls. If the story is as strong as it seems, it could also lead to more of the Marvel universe getting stand-alone titles with their morality-lined tales. Anyone that's a fan of kicking ass in spandex has no excuse not to have this game. That, and you can just pretend the symbiotes are zombies.
As the gap between video games, novels, and movies grows ever smaller, games gain more and more ability to provoke emotions and reactions from those who play them. Be it happiness, sadness, or even abject terror. And then there are some games that make us wonder "what drugs were they on when they made this?" These are the moments that send shivers down our spine, and make us question the sanity of those who produced the games. These are the top 10 creepiest moments in gaming.
10. The Fight with Psycho Mantis. (Metal Gear Solid)
Greetings, and welcome back, to Part 2 of our countdown of the Top 11 consoles that, for some reason or another, just weren't big names. If you missed it, go read Part 1, where we count down the 5 consoles that could have made it into the big leagues, if they had just been handled a little better.
This time around, we're counting down the 5 consoles that just plain sucked. Either because they were poorly designed, or because the company who made it screwed the pooch so hard there was nothing for it but to put a bullet in the pooch's head. We also cap our list off with one console that was such an oddity, that you could really go either way with it. Once again, as he was in Part 1, Chip joins me to add his knowledge to my own. Say hello to our readers, Chip.
Greetings. This is my first time blogging here so what better way to begin a blog than to start with a subject of this calibur. Here we are once again enjoying the events that come to pass during the changing of the seasons. I am not sure about the rest of you but I've missed the smells of wood stoves burning and the rustle of leaves as they make their way down to the ground. And during this time of year we once again turn to the more primal aspects of our humanity and try to do our best to enjoy a good scare every now and then. Usually at this time of year I'm a bit "spookier" than usual and I'm sure we can all relate in preparing for our usual October night's activities. And once again like much of the rest of the entertainmint industry, they are hegding their bets to cash in on the event that gives us an excuse to dress up: Halloween.
And once again I've gone thru the bargin bins and my personal tastes/library to not only find the finest in hallowen inspired gaming, but to also enlighten thee in some games that might've fallen by the wayside and sadly were not given their moment in the spotlight. I'm still sticking to my usual style of a list: Only one game per franchise, two games per system and one wild card game for good measure. But why go to 11 again? Well, not only in honor to the online talents that are thatguywiththeglasses and thatdudeinthesuede, but to also pay my respects for the late great game publisher/localizer Working Designs: Because their games go to 11! (RIP) So with that said, lettuce begin!
games
This time around, we're counting down the 5 consoles that just plain sucked. Either because they were poorly designed, or because the company who made it screwed the pooch so hard there was nothing for it but to put a bullet in the pooch's head. We also cap our list off with one console that was such an oddity, that you could really go either way with it. Once again, as he was in Part 1, Chip joins me to add his knowledge to my own. Say hello to our readers, Chip.
