One year Anniversary
Hey guys! It's the one year anniversary of my blog! Sorry that I haven't been posting lately but I think I may start again soon. When I started this blog, my intention was to chronicle my favorite games and I hope to one day complete my list from 1991 to 2012. So here's to one year and many more years to come! Thanks for reading.
Here's what I've been doing for the past few months:
I haven't been posting much lately, and there's a good reason. I've been learning how to build a computer for the sole purpose of doing let's plays, and last week I finally bought and put together my dream PC. I recorded my first let's play yesterday, so without further ado, here's episode 1 of Let's Play Dead Space 2!
By the way, NSFW because of language and violence. Also, consider my ban on the F word lifted. I use it a few times here. Enjoy:
By the way, NSFW because of language and violence. Also, consider my ban on the F word lifted. I use it a few times here. Enjoy:
My Top 5 Games of 1992: #2 The Legend of the Mystical Ninja (SNES)
Published: Konami
Genre: isometric/side scrolling action platformer
Platform: SNES, Wii Virtual Console
The Legend of the Mystical Ninja, like most of the 1991/1992 games that I've talked about so far, is another of the earliest games I recall playing. I can't for the life of me remember how I got the game. My parents may have just bought if for me on the recommendation of a retail employee. Regardless of who is responsible for it coming to be in my possession, I'd like to thank that person wholeheartedly. If it wasn't for them, I may have never played this absolutely batshit insane game.
In The Legend of the Mystical Ninja, you take control of either Kid Ying or Dr. Yang, who I will refer to by their original and much less racist sounding names, Goemon and Ebisumaru, because as you may know from my Persona 4 article, I love typing out ridiculously long Japanese names just to confuse the reader a little more.
They battle through 9 ridiculously difficult levels full of crazy villagers, evil ninjas, carnival workers, ghosts, thieves, and all kinds of animals. Our heroes start out just trying to rid their village of ghosts, but soon find out that a princess has been kidnapped by ninjas. Being the bad dudes that they are, Goemon and Ebisumaru head out to rescue her.
My Top 5 Games of 1992: #3 Contra III: The Alien Wars
Published: Konami
Genre: side-scrolling run and gun
Platform: SNES (reviewed), Game Boy, Arcade, Game Boy Advance, Wii Virtual Console
Unlike many people around my age, Contra III was the first game in the Contra series that I played. It wasn't until probably years later that I finally played the earlier games, so this was my introduction to Contra and run and gun games in general. It's also probably the most balls out hard game of my childhood. I swear I only beat this game once as a kid, and it wasn't until I was playing the game for this article that I finally beat it on hard. With save states... To be fair, I was playing with an Xbox 360 controller. You try beating this game on hard with one of those.
Anyhow, in Contra III: The Alien Wars, you take control of one of two badasses who must quell an alien invasion on their own. You shoot your way through 6 stages of mayhem, 4 of which are side-scrollers and the other two being top down levels that utilize the SNES's mode 7 technology quite well.
New Dead Space all but confirmed
YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!
You may be aware that I'm a pretty big fan of Dead Space, so this news is pretty exciting for me. Rumors have been flying around for a while now that Dead Space 3 has been in development, and while the exact title hasn't been confirmed, EA told investors today that a new game in the franchise is in fact in development and scheduled for release during EA's current fiscal year, which ends March 2013. I've gotta say that I'm very pleased with EA for NOT turning Dead Space into an annual franchise, allowing each game some time to reach the level of greatness I expect from the series. Please don't change this practice, EA.
E3 cannot come soon enough!
You may be aware that I'm a pretty big fan of Dead Space, so this news is pretty exciting for me. Rumors have been flying around for a while now that Dead Space 3 has been in development, and while the exact title hasn't been confirmed, EA told investors today that a new game in the franchise is in fact in development and scheduled for release during EA's current fiscal year, which ends March 2013. I've gotta say that I'm very pleased with EA for NOT turning Dead Space into an annual franchise, allowing each game some time to reach the level of greatness I expect from the series. Please don't change this practice, EA.
E3 cannot come soon enough!
My Top 5 Games of 1992: #4 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time (SNES)
Published:Konami
Genre: beat 'em up
Platform: SNES (reviewed), Arcade, Genesis (partially,) Xbox Live, PSN
As far as I remember, I was a fairly big fan of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise, but only to a certain extent. Sure, the show was great, the first movie was awesome, and the game in question today was absolutely amazing, but I just don't recall being as obsessed with the show and toys as many of my friends were. I dunno. I think I was more into Nicktoons back then.
I'm sure this statement may piss off some of you, but in my opinion, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time was the best thing the franchise ever produced, and it's still one of the best beat 'em ups ever. I had a decent amount of fun replaying all of the older games I've talked about on this blog, but while replaying Turtles in Time, I really had a blast. I can't overstate just how well this game still holds up.
Atlus may change Persona 4 voice actors for Golden and Arena, and I'm not angry about it
If you've read a handful of my articles, you may have noticed that I
make a point of shoehorning in mentions of Persona 4 constantly. It's
one of my only running gags. That, coupled with the fact that my Persona
4 article is still the longest one I've ever written, is probably a
pretty good sign that I'm a pretty big fan of the game. I'll go ahead and spoil now that it isn't number one in my top ten list (which I'll talk about someday,) but it's pretty high up there, sitting in the number 3 spot right after Silent Hill 2, which segues into my point fairly well
A subject that I talk about way too much, video game companies messing around with the voice acting in re-releases of games, has resurfaced in yet another of my favorite games ever. Persona 4 has two follow-ups coming out this year (both of which I somehow forgot to mention in my most anticipated games of 2012 article,) one an enhanced remake of the game for Vita and the other a fighting game sequel by Arc System Works, my favorite fighting game developer.
I almost never watch trailers for any given game unless I'm hopelessly excited about it. Persona 4 Arena (the fighting game) doesn't fall into that category. I'm excited for it, and it looks amazing, but I just don't watch game trailers that often. My Point? Apparently an English trailer for the game has been available for some time which features some changes to the voice cast; a fact that I was blissfully unaware of until today. Based on my articles about Silent Hill HD Collection, you probably expect me to be furious about this, right?
Well I'm not angry at all. You know why? Because Atlus, unlike Konami, has earned the benefit of the doubt in this case. As I've mentioned before, Atlus is my favorite game company right now, and that's because they actually give a shit. I know that they must have tried their absolute God damnedest to get the same voice actors back, and they most likely actually CARE that they'll be letting some fans down. Also at issue here is the fact that Arc System Works fighting games always contain a metric shit ton of voice acting, meaning that maybe some of the voice actors simply don't have the time or desire to return for so much work.
The same thing goes for the Vita remake, Persona 4: The Golden, which is said to contain around twice as much voice acting as the original game. That much talking takes work, folks, so I fully understand if the voice actors don't want to dedicate possibly weeks or months of work (I have no idea how long voice recording takes) for one project. Thankfully, a spokesman for Atlus USA has said that they'll still try to get the original cast back for The Golden, so there's still hope for that one. Everything about this situation just makes perfect sense to me. Call me a delusional fanboy, but Atlus has earned this one.
A subject that I talk about way too much, video game companies messing around with the voice acting in re-releases of games, has resurfaced in yet another of my favorite games ever. Persona 4 has two follow-ups coming out this year (both of which I somehow forgot to mention in my most anticipated games of 2012 article,) one an enhanced remake of the game for Vita and the other a fighting game sequel by Arc System Works, my favorite fighting game developer.
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| Teddie is apparently a Nazi officer of some sort now. I really have no clue what's going on with this art. |
Well I'm not angry at all. You know why? Because Atlus, unlike Konami, has earned the benefit of the doubt in this case. As I've mentioned before, Atlus is my favorite game company right now, and that's because they actually give a shit. I know that they must have tried their absolute God damnedest to get the same voice actors back, and they most likely actually CARE that they'll be letting some fans down. Also at issue here is the fact that Arc System Works fighting games always contain a metric shit ton of voice acting, meaning that maybe some of the voice actors simply don't have the time or desire to return for so much work.
The same thing goes for the Vita remake, Persona 4: The Golden, which is said to contain around twice as much voice acting as the original game. That much talking takes work, folks, so I fully understand if the voice actors don't want to dedicate possibly weeks or months of work (I have no idea how long voice recording takes) for one project. Thankfully, a spokesman for Atlus USA has said that they'll still try to get the original cast back for The Golden, so there's still hope for that one. Everything about this situation just makes perfect sense to me. Call me a delusional fanboy, but Atlus has earned this one.
My Top 5 Games of 1992: #5 Street Fighter II: The World Warrior (SNES)
Published: Capcom
Genre: 2D Fighting
Platform: SNES (Reviewed), Arcade, Genesis, at least 15 other platforms
When it comes to genre defining games, few are as indisputable as Street Fighter II. Prior to its release, all the fighting game genre really had were clunky games like the first SF and Yie Ar Kung-Fu. Then SFII came along, gave every fighter a unique, well defined move set, and smoothed out the gameplay greatly. I can't really think of a better way to put that. Older fighting games just feel like their characters are locked to a grid or something.
Anyway, like many, many kids of the early 90s, Street Fighter II was the first fighting game I every played and was probably among the first few games I owned on the SNES. My friends and I sunk countless hours into it, trying to figure out every nuance and taking turns trying to beat the game on its hardest difficulty, only to be constantly thwarted by that cheating asshole, M. Bison. It goes without saying, but Street Fighter II had some of the most ridiculously fun multiplayer I've ever experienced. When you have a few friends all about the same skill level, the game is an absolute blast.
Before I start, let me make it clear exactly what version of the game I'm talking about here. Street Fighter II: The World Warrior was the first version of the game released on the SNES. It was the only version that I owned and the one I played the most, by far. I'll talk a bit about its many re-releases too, but lets focus on just the original home release for now. I also realize that the arcade version came out in 1991, but I only played that a handful of times; much less than the home port.
My Game of the Year 2011: Dead Space 2 (360)
Published: Electronic Arts
Genre: 3rd-person action-horror
Platform: 360 (reviewed), PS3, PC
If you've read my older articles, you'll probably know that I'm a pretty big fan of the first Dead Space. I always longed for a worthy follow-up to Resident Evil 4 and the folks at Visceral Games apparently shared the sentiment. Dead Space took what was great about RE4 and refined it so well that it made Resident Evil 5 feel a bit disappointing by comparison.
When a sequel was announced, I quickly pre-ordered it; the first time I did that since 2004 when I pre-ordered Metal Gear Solid 3. My expectations for Dead Space 2 were about as high as they could be, so did it live up to them? Yep. As I said in my Top 15 Games of 2011 article, my biggest complaint about this game is that the cutscenes aren't skipable. Other than that, it's near perfect.
Dead Space 2 continues the story of space engineer Isaac Clarke, who was thrown into an insane asylum located in a giant space station built into the remnants of Titan, Saturn's largest moon. He's awakened suddenly one day and finds himself in the middle of another outbreak of necromorphs, humans who have been mutated into undead killing machines by the enigmatic "marker." Also, he's stuck in a straitjacket.
Oh boy.
As always: SPOILER ALERT
Game Music Appreciation: Battle Arena Toshinden - Eiji's Theme
In game music appreciation, I take a look at a song from a game that I
probably wont be writing about in any other fashion. I always feature
one or two of my favorite songs from each game in my top 5 articles, but
not every game gets an article. To put it bluntly: this is where I put
good songs from games that I either dislike or am apathetic about.
Battle Arena Toshinden was one of the first games I can remember playing on the PS1. I recall playing it at a friend's house once for like 10 minutes, then we never played it again. So I don't remember much about the game, and for the past decade and a half I haven't thought about the series very much if at all. Then Brett Elston, formerly of GamesRadar, now working at Capcom of America, started a great podcast about video game music called VGMpire.
One of the first episodes was about PS1 launch games and the surprisingly consistent quality of their music. The first game they talked about was Battle Arena Toshinden and I was freaking blown away by how amazing the music they played sounded. I don't believe he played the song that I'm talking about today, but after I sought the game's soundtrack out, Eiji's Theme quickly became one of my favorite songs on my iPhone.
I did a little research about who composed the first Toshinden to see if I could find anything else by them, but all I could find was one or two of the game's sequels. Regardless, Eiji's theme is one of the most rockin', energetic songs that I ever heard in a fighting game, and as they point out in the PS1 launch episode of VGMpire, the songs in Toshinden are all like 3 minutes long but considering how short fighting game matches often are, you may never hear the whole song while playing. Anyway, without any further rambling, here's Eiji's Theme, courtesy of YouTube user Okuplok90:
Battle Arena Toshinden was one of the first games I can remember playing on the PS1. I recall playing it at a friend's house once for like 10 minutes, then we never played it again. So I don't remember much about the game, and for the past decade and a half I haven't thought about the series very much if at all. Then Brett Elston, formerly of GamesRadar, now working at Capcom of America, started a great podcast about video game music called VGMpire.
One of the first episodes was about PS1 launch games and the surprisingly consistent quality of their music. The first game they talked about was Battle Arena Toshinden and I was freaking blown away by how amazing the music they played sounded. I don't believe he played the song that I'm talking about today, but after I sought the game's soundtrack out, Eiji's Theme quickly became one of my favorite songs on my iPhone.
I did a little research about who composed the first Toshinden to see if I could find anything else by them, but all I could find was one or two of the game's sequels. Regardless, Eiji's theme is one of the most rockin', energetic songs that I ever heard in a fighting game, and as they point out in the PS1 launch episode of VGMpire, the songs in Toshinden are all like 3 minutes long but considering how short fighting game matches often are, you may never hear the whole song while playing. Anyway, without any further rambling, here's Eiji's Theme, courtesy of YouTube user Okuplok90:
Why I haven't been posting as much lately:
My Top 5 Games of 2011: #2 Batman: Arkham City (360)
Published: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
Genre: 3rd-person stealth-action, beat 'em up
Platform: 360 (reviewed), PS3, PC
Like Portal, I thought that Batman: Arkham Asylum was a game that was impossible to improve upon. For the first time since Sunsoft's NES Batman game, I felt like I was really playing as Batman. Of course, Arkham Asylum was quite the upgrade from Sunsoft's game by including just about every element of what makes Batman so awesome. If featured well done stealth segments, a simple but challenging combat system where you could fight room fulls of enemies at once, and gadgets. Lots and lots of gadgets.
Then Arkham City came out and made Asylum look like an early beta. Arkham City takes all the elements of Arkham Asylum and increases the playable area to cover an entire section of Gotham City. There were more gadgets, more ablities, and best of all, more villains.
In Batman: Arkham City, a section of Gotham City is evacuated of civilians, walled off, and every criminal and super villain is rounded up and thrown in. Bruce Wayne is also somehow arrested and finds himself tied to a chair with Hugo Strange staring him in the face. Strange tells him that he knows he is Batman and leaves him in the dark room. This is where the gameplay starts.
More evidence of Silent Hill HD Collection's awfulness: Even the original games' art director thinks it looks bad!
Credit for this must got to Destructoid reviews editor Jim Sterling. Thanks for always sticking up for the fans, Jim!
Freeman34 on YouTube AKA @Levit0 on Twitter posted a great video and link dump detailing some of the problems in Silent Hill HD Collection:
Go to the video's page and like/favorite it so more people can know about this. Konami needs to know that gamers have higher standards than to accept crappy ports of two of the best games ever made.
The best part of this is that he asked Masahiro Ito, art director of the first 3 Silent Hill games, what he thought about a few comparison shots and here was his reaction (images also courtesy of @Levit0):
Here's the screens he linked Ito (click for full size):
I try to keep the nerd rage and fanboyism at a minimum on this blog but when it comes to my second favorite game of all time, or any game in my top 10 really, I just can't help but get outraged when a substandard port is released.
I promise that this is the last story I'll post bitching about Silent Hill HD Collection. Unless something really crazy comes up...
Freeman34 on YouTube AKA @Levit0 on Twitter posted a great video and link dump detailing some of the problems in Silent Hill HD Collection:
The best part of this is that he asked Masahiro Ito, art director of the first 3 Silent Hill games, what he thought about a few comparison shots and here was his reaction (images also courtesy of @Levit0):
I try to keep the nerd rage and fanboyism at a minimum on this blog but when it comes to my second favorite game of all time, or any game in my top 10 really, I just can't help but get outraged when a substandard port is released.
I promise that this is the last story I'll post bitching about Silent Hill HD Collection. Unless something really crazy comes up...
Big surprise: Silent Hill HD Collection is a buggy piece of shit
I'll say right now that I have yet to play this game for
myself, but all that would really tell me that I don't know right now is
whether or not the gameplay was changed at all. All I'm talking about here is sound and graphics.
I've been warning you guys about Silent Hill HD Collection for a while now and what do you know, it turns out I was right. Being delayed from the end of last year all the way to this week was already a bad sign, but I had hopes that they might be able to iron out any problems by now. Unfortunately, according to numerous reports, there is a boatload of audio and visual issues with both games with Silent Hill 3 being hit especially hard.
My Top 5 Games of 2011: #3 The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (360)
Published: Bethesda Softworks
Genre: Action RPG
Platform: 360 (reviewed), PS3, PC
I've been a pretty big fan of the Elder Scrolls series for a few years now. I remember seeing a review of Morrowind on Cartoon Network's Toonami block back in 2002 and I knew I had to play it for myself. I picked it up soon after that and I was hooked. Everything was just so in depth. Everything you did improved your character slightly which made it feel a bit more like I was playing in a living world where "practice makes perfect" really meant something. Its sequel, Oblivion, changed things up quite a bit; Combat was more action focused, skills were easier to raise, and the world was more traditional fantasy than the world of giant mushrooms and slit striders in Morrowind.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim streamlines things even further by removing traditional character classes from the game entirely and allowing you to play the way you want to. Rather than choosing which skills you plan on using for the rest of the game, Skyrim lets you use whatever skills you want and still be able to advance your character just as in previous games.
Normally, I would put a plot summary here, but the Elder Scrolls series is one where you do whatever you want and includes a number of plot lines that you can explore at your leisure. The overall story that drives Skyrim however, is that the long extinct dragons are somehow coming back and it's up to you as a dovahkiin, or dragonborn, to stop their rampage. Along the way, you'll find yourself in the middle of an armed uprising of the native Nords against their Imperial occupiers.
Game Music Showcase: Badass Castle Music
I feel like I should make a small change to one of my features, Top 5 Game Songs. Whenever I do one, I always struggle to narrow it down to 5 songs, and in many cases the songs aren't in any particular order, so I'm changing the name of this feature to Game Music Showcase. This will also clear up any confusion anyone might have between Top 5 Game Songs and my main Top 5 feature. The feature is still the same otherwise, I just didn't wanna have to worry about choosing exactly 5 songs every time.
In Game Music Showcase, I take a look at a few songs from a particular category, like battle themes or title screen songs. The songs are listed in no particular order, except for the last one which is my personal favorite of the bunch. I love video game music more than any other genre and with this feature, along with game music appreciation, I hope to help you understand why.
So why bother with having two music features? Game Music Appreciation is more in depth while Game Music Showcase is more of a microcosm of one category of video game songs.
For some reason, video game castles always seem to have really bitchin' background music. Ever since Super Mario Bros, it seems like composers have always tried to convey the hugeness, luxury, and, sometimes, creepiness of a palatial abode. I give you my favorite video game castle songs:
In Game Music Showcase, I take a look at a few songs from a particular category, like battle themes or title screen songs. The songs are listed in no particular order, except for the last one which is my personal favorite of the bunch. I love video game music more than any other genre and with this feature, along with game music appreciation, I hope to help you understand why.
So why bother with having two music features? Game Music Appreciation is more in depth while Game Music Showcase is more of a microcosm of one category of video game songs.
For some reason, video game castles always seem to have really bitchin' background music. Ever since Super Mario Bros, it seems like composers have always tried to convey the hugeness, luxury, and, sometimes, creepiness of a palatial abode. I give you my favorite video game castle songs:
My Top 5 Games of 2011: #4 Portal 2 (PC)
Published: Valve
Genre: First-Person Puzzle Game
Platform: 360, PS3, PC (reviewed), Mac
Like I said in a previous article, Portal was a game that I thought was impossible to make a sequel to. Valve decided to accept that challenge and proceeded to blow my freakin' mind. Portal 2 surpasses its predecessor in just about every way, including in story, the one area I didn't think was possible to improve upon. That's not to say that the first Portal is a bad game by any measure. I just want to make it clear how impressed I was with its sequel.
Portal 2 follows the continuing misfortune of Chell, who managed to escape her confinement in Aperture Laboratories, as well as destroy the malevolent artificial intelligence controlling the facility, GLaDOS, but was unfortunately recaptured soon after the conclusion of the first game and put into suspended animation for an undetermined amount of time. Beware: SPOILERS for both Portal games ahead.
My Most Anticipated Games of the rest of 2012
I guess it's a bit late for this article with two months of 2012 already behind us but better late than never I suppose. As I've said about 20 times already, 2011 was an amazing year for gaming; one of the best in recent memory. The gaming industry will be hard pressed to make 2012 as good and I think it just might happen. Here are the games that I am most excited about in 2012.
NOTE: it probably goes without saying, but all of these games aren't guaranteed to come out this year but they are all scheduled to. The list is in chronological order for games that have relatively solid release dates, then alphabetical for games that are listed as TBA 2012.
NOTE: it probably goes without saying, but all of these games aren't guaranteed to come out this year but they are all scheduled to. The list is in chronological order for games that have relatively solid release dates, then alphabetical for games that are listed as TBA 2012.
HOLY CRAP!!! Diablo III beta!
I owe a big thanks to GamesRadar who is currently running the contest I won the beta key from. They're giving away 50 keys every day so you still have a chance to enter too! And of course, thank you Blizzard for the opportunity to test out my most anticipated game of the year!
My Top 5 Games of 2011: #5 Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine (360)
Published: THQ
Genre: Third-Person Action
Platform: 360 (reviewed), PS3, PC
In my honorable mentions of 2011 article, I had a list at the end of games that I had yet to play but am interested in and Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine was among them. Soon after I posted that, I saw it for $20 new on Glyde so I picked it up. After beating it a number of times, I just knew it had to be in my top 5 of 2011, so my list has changed a bit since my previous articles about games from 2011.
My knowledge of the Warhammer Fantasy and Warhammer 40k universes is pretty limited. I've never played the tabletop games or read any of the books, but I have played two previous video games based on 40k: Space Hulk, back when I was still a kid, and more recently, Fire Warrior, which I didn't really enjoy that much. My point is, this article is coming from the point of view of someone who is an outsider to the Warhammer 40k universe, so I apologize in advance for any inaccuracies in this article. Just wanted to get that out of the way before the article proper.
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine follows the exploits of Ultramarine Captain Titus and his squad mates, Sidonus and Leandros as they fight to take back an industrial planet from an army of invading Orks.
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