Hiatus...

To whoever reads this blog, 

I'll be going on hiatus for a while, so unfortunately, Walking Dead Month will be postponed. I'll probably be back in a month or two, so stay tuned!

Walking Dead Month!

From http://www.twdenthusiasts.com/2013/02/february-giveaway-the-walking-dead-game-steam-telltale-games/

In celebration of The Walking Dead: Season 2 coming out, I've decided to spend the entire month releasing Walking Dead blog posts, starting with a review of the entirety of Season 1! So, we'll have a double-feature this week to make up for last week, and then one post every week after. See you soon!

P.S. This is totally not an excuse to gush over Season 1. It was so good...er, no gushing.

The Walking Dead: Season 1 Review

From http://8-bitgirl.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-walking-dead-game-review.html

[WARNING: Spoilers to follow about The Walking Dead: Season 1)

I’m done. I’m done, man.

Holy crap. That ending.

The Walking Dead was amazing. Regardless of the any issues that the game had at times (which were frustrating at times), the story was fantastic, and that was the driving force of the entire game. 

I’ll be reviewing the game primarily on the story, mostly because I’ve covered the other qualities that the game has in the first episode, and it stays mostly consistent the whole way through (the issues, too, though I noticed they aren’t as bad in the final episode, at least for me).

The story of The Walking Dead: Season 1 moves along at a pretty fast pace, though it won’t seem like it as you go through the episodes.  It’s interesting that the season doesn’t just focus on one big tale per episode over a big, long 5-episode arc like, say Sam & Max. At least, not entirely. No, it’s a story that moves from event to event, understandable given the setting and the circumstances. The zombies are a major danger – the characters have to keep moving in order to survive. People join the group, people are lost….it happens a lot throughout the game. Like other works like Frankenstein, Night of the Living Dead, or 28 Days Later, it sometimes makes us ask who the real danger is, who the real monsters are – is it really the zombies? Or is it us?

Episode 1, being the beginning, gets you used to things and how the game will go. You are introduced to the setting, the apocalyptic world that you’re put in. You get used to bonding with people that you think might be with you through the whole season, but they won’t. At least, most of them won’t. You get to start bonding with Clementine, and you learn more about yourself and the others. The game also introduces you to the choice system, which can change your relationships with other people. You’ll have to choose to save the lives of certain characters, like Doug and Carley.  Though it only happens twice in this episode, it’s only a taste of what’s to come. This was only the beginning. Most importantly, the choice system defines who you are and what you’d do, if you choose honestly.  Overall, the first episode is a great set-up to what will feel like a long journey.

Episode 2 moves forward to three months later, where it ups the ante, and forces you to take sides. You can only be in the middle for so long, because there will be a point in the game where things come to a head, and you have to pick one person’s side over the other. And that is the one of the defining moments in the game. It’s great, honestly, though there is one new character – Mark – that I wish we got to know better. He’s introduced so suddenly, and is taken away just as suddenly, which kind of makes it feel like he was just there to die so that the others could live instead in the whole carnivore plot at the dairy farm. The impact of his loss, while strong, could have been stronger if we had just gotten to know him longer. Plus, we learn about this whole military base side-plot that we were never a part of, which is slightly disappointing. 

Episode 3 maintains, or even heightens the tension from the previous episode as things get really bad at the motor inn, the main “safe” haven of the group. It questions our trust of people who we’ve gotten to know, and things, like before, come to another head. While the episode is more of a transitional point to the next episode, but it still comes out pretty well. People come and go, sadly, as they often do in this game. And the train gets moving...

(P.S. I liked the references they made to the dumb radio puzzle back in the first episode)

Episode 4 puts Lee and the group in a new place- Savannah, Georgia. There, a lot of the story is devoted to finding a way out of Savannah. Trust again becomes an issue in this episode, but between Lee and Clementine, due to the sudden appearance of this seriously creepy stranger. Finally, as they accomplish their task in getting a boat that they discover in working condition, another problem occurs – Clem’s gone. The end of the episode is a prelude to the final episode, and Lee gets bit.

Episode 5, aptly titled “No Time Left”, is Lee’s final mission to save Clementine from the hands of the stranger. You go through a lot of trials, and there are several indicators that remind you that the clock’s ticking. Lee, and in turn, you, don’t have much time left before turning into a walker. When you finally get to your destination after a visceral sequence that shows just how far Lee’s willing to go to save her, you finally meet the man who has Clementine. The stranger questions the choices that you’ve made thus far, criticizing them, and you have to answer for them. Why did you do the things that you did? Was it justified? Was it alright? And you find out that you may have helped to ruin this guy’s life, directly or indirectly. It’s a heavy sequence, yeah, but not as hard as what comes afterward.

The ending, man. Geez, that ending. It’s heartbreaking. Just…heartbreaking. I can’t, man.

It’s tragic, but genius. It’s painful and tear-jerking in all the right ways, if that makes any sense. It’s amazing. There was no better way to end the tale, and from the outset, you know that this story won’t end well.

And it doesn’t.

Just a quick note about the choice system: I’ve seen some complaints saying that the choices you make in the game don’t really matter. But they kinda do. Though Telltale Games wants to tell its own story, it manages to tell one that adapts to your choices. Like I mentioned before, you do affect your relationships with others, with Clementine, and save or kill others in the process.  You change the way people look at you by what you say or do. Sure, the choices aren’t meteoric, and the main tale is still told, things do change from player to player. As a result, each player’s experience of The Walking Dead won’t be exactly the same. It’s the little touches that make your own experience of the game so special.

The gameplay mainly consists of puzzle-solving, QTE, and decision-making, which is fine, considering that this is more of an adventure game than a puzzle game. The puzzles are there to both help in the development of your own character, Lee, at times, and to progress in the story (obviously). The QTEs are often done during action sequences, which do heighten the tension a little bit, and aren’t totally overdone. The decision-making is, like I mentioned before, the crux of the game due to it's story-bending ways, and it’s quite good, letting you personalize both Lee and your own journey by doing the things I mentioned before with the choice system.

I’ve also mentioned this before, but on my playthrough of the game on the PS3, I experienced some bad lags, screen-tearing, points where the game wouldn’t load for me, some glitches – one that’s really bad, too, where I couldn’t even move Lee in Episode 3. It’s a shame, since I really wanted to keep playing. However, they aren’t too much harm to the game. They don’t happen constantly, but they can be very deterring.

I’m glad I didn’t play the game the way it was originally released last year – episodes released every couple of months. By experiencing the whole ride in a short amount of time, I got the experience the full impact that the game provides – no long stops in-between to forget anything important, no cliffhangers (well…), none of that. I have to admit, however, that it’s a lot to take in by not doing so. I don’t know if I want to start playing The Walking Dead: Season 2 so immediately (since it apparently comes out this month! Awesome!), and have to wait so long just to continue to the next episode.

This game shows why video games can be so incredible. Because it is incredible.

9.5/10 - Incredible 

The Walking Dead: Season One - Episode 1 ("A New Day") Review

From http://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/telltale-games-ceo-dan-connors-on-the-walking-dead-fables-and-building-a-television-studio-model-for-games/

So, in celebration of the announcement for The Walking Dead: Season Two by the awesome Telltale Games (I loved the Sam & Max series!), I’ve decided to visit Season One of The Walking Dead on PS3. Here we go!

Episode One: “A New Day”

Gameplay:

Things start off peacefully, for the most part. You play as criminal Lee Everett, sitting in a police car, speaking with the officer that’s driving you. It’s then that you get to explore the dialogue/choice tree system that the game offers. This is the crux of the game, because what you pick to do or say decides how the narrative will go, and what characters survive. And you never know which choice is the “right” one, because it questions your own values and morals.

Normally, the controls would be point-and-click, as usual adventure games on the PC go. But as this is the console version, you’re allowed to move using the left analog stick on the PS3 controller, and examine/do things by moving a mouse-like target with the right stick. You can make decisions/actions using the PS3 buttons.

During the action-filled moments, it can get quite quick-timey. However, these moments are fleeting, and as a result, don’t really hinder the game. In fact, they sort of help to add to the tension during these sequences, and the tension can get even higher when the choice system gets involved.  

There are puzzles (as there often are in Telltale games) that you need to solve in order to progress the story. For the most part, these puzzles worked, and worked well; for example, there is one puzzle sequence where you try to defeat all the zombies. You strategically take out the zombies one-by-one, and it’s great. There is only one puzzle that completely falls flat during the game, that really hurts one the intelligence of one the characters. They don’t know how to work a radio, and it’s up to us to fix it. It’s honestly a stupid puzzle.

Story:

I don’t want to spoil anything, but in just one episode, a lot happens. We get introduced to the character of Lee Everett, even find out about his own background, and meet many interesting characters, each with their own motivations and personality. The bond between Lee and Clementine, a young girl who appears early in the beginning, is often touching and a bit emotional. Overall the story goes along great, hitting exciting or sad beats with ease. There are no truly middling or uninteresting moments, and the tale moves at a relatively quick pace.  The episode ends on a cliffhanger and shows you a preview for Episode Two, making you excited for what the next episode will bring.

Graphics:

It looks good. It has its own almost comic book-like style to it (which is really cool), and can be very expressive in showing each character’s emotions and feelings. The only issue that I really had was that the game could lag really, really badly at points, and the animations could be stiff and sudden, which is a bit jarring.

Audio:

The voice-acting is very well done, expressing the emotion and personality that players need to believe that these characters are real. The music keeps the tension going, and helps the story move along, as there are quiet moments, adrenaline-filled moments, creepy/scary moments, etc., and the sounds/sound effects all support those beats.

Lasting Appeal:

Really, the episode only takes a couple of hours to complete. If I didn’t have other things to do, this would have taken 1-2 sittings at the most.  You might want to replay this game to explore different choices that you could’ve made, but I would recommend doing so only after you’ve completed all 5 episodes, so that way you can see how your decisions affect the story up ‘til the end.  

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Overall, I was pretty satisfied with my playthrough of the game. It wasn’t perfect, but it was pretty darn good, and very fun to play.

8.5/10 - Great

Magic Moments: Vs. Red

[NOTE: SPOILERS regarding post-game content for Pokemon Gold, Silver, and Crystal, and that includes the remakes)

The 2^nd generation Pokemon games – Gold, Silver, and Crystal – were brilliant. The games refined, added, and improved upon what made Pokemon Red and Blue (or Green, if you played the Japanese version) so good. More moves, more Pokemon, new types, Pokemon breeding, better sprites, holding items, the Pokegear, in-game clocks that changed day into night and vice versa, specialized Pokeballs, berries, the list goes on and on.

One of the coolest ever features to come out of the 2^nd generation of games was the ability to travel to a different region – in this case, a previous region, Kanto. It’s awesome that you’re not only given the opportunity to travel to a new land, but one where you can fight more gym leaders and prove yourself to be the champion of both regions! It was a stunning idea; one that, unfortunately, hasn’t continued on in later generations, (aside from HeartGold and SoulSilver, which are just remakes of Gold and Silver, albeit great remakes).

To return to Kanto in particular was a great move by the developers. It affected two different kinds of gamers – the players who had played Pokemon Red and Blue (or the remakes FireRed and LeafGreen), and those that did not.  The players who had never played Red and Blue before were allowed to travel to an entirely new region filled with new places to visit and new trainers to battle, which is really impressive. For the players who had played the previous generation of Pokemon games, by going to Kanto, they received a fantastic nostalgia trip through memory lane, as they went against past trainers that they previously fought and saw familiar locations and people. They could also see what’s changed in the time since they visited Kanto through Red and Blue. It was a win-win situation for both kinds, really.

The best part of this re-visitation was the chance to battle the ultimate trainer – Red, previous Champion of Kanto, and your avatar back in Red and Blue, and its remakes.

You’ve probably noticed by now that this moment is more important to those who had played Red and Blue (or FireRed and, in my case, LeafGreen) than those who hadn’t. I mean, those who never got to be Red in the original games won’t get the full impact of fighting him, but it will still be a great, fun challenge. But to the veterans, it just meant so much more.

It blew my mind when I realized I was fighting Red back in the day, and I still think it’s such a cool idea that we got to. In the original games and the remakes, we were Red. We experienced everything as him and with him. We had caught and raised Pokemon together. We had overcome many challenges together. We fought a multitude of skilled trainers – the gym leaders, the Elite 4, even the Champ, together. And together with Red, we became Champions ourselves. We developed a bond with him because he was both our guide and our partner. He helped us become involved and immersed in the world of Pokemon, and we were with him from the beginning to the end of the journey.

And so, fighting him was an incredible experience. From a different perspective, through the eyes of another up-and-coming Pokemon trainer, we got to see what Red became after we left – an amazing opponent, and a fantastic trainer. The very best, like no one ever was. And we got to battle him. In a way, we were also fighting ourselves. And we got the chance to prove that we were better than ever before.

And that's a magic moment. 

Reminiscing: The Original Spyro Trilogy

[Reminiscing is a series I’d like to start doing as a way to remember all the games I’ve played over the years. These aren’t reviews, but remembrances - memories of my experiences. A long time has passed since I’ve played some of these games, so I don’t think I can be as detailed or perhaps as accurate as I would like, but I hope this turns out well.]

It’s been a long time since I last played the original Spyro games. Like, 2-3 years or so? I loved playing the games, and I even got to 100% completion on all of them! The games had a certain magic that just couldn’t be compared to, say, Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back (the only Crash game I’ve played in the original PS1 trilogy). Not to say that Crash Bandicoot 2 or the Crash Bandicoot series in general isn’t good, but it just didn’t hook me or affect me as much as the original Spyro trilogy did.

My love for the series as it is now is interesting in that in the beginning, I didn’t like what I played. Spyro the Dragon was the first game I played in the series when I was around 10 years old, and at the time, I remember not understanding what was going on all that much and being a bit confused as to what was going on. Chasing after dragon eggs didn’t really appeal to the me who was used to adventure games like The Legend of Zelda or roleplaying games like Final Fantasy IX (my favorite Final Fantasy of all time, by the way) and Pokemon. I think I was too young to really get and appreciate what was there at the time – a good beginning to a great trilogy.

It would be a couple years later, when I was 13-15 years-old, when I would decide to try Spyro 2: Ripto’s Rage! on PSN. This was the game that got truly me hooked to the Spyro series.  From the exciting worlds you could explore, the abilities you could unlock, the great boss battles you had, and the excellent humor and charm, it was just good times. The final battle with Ripto was slightly less awesome than I would’ve liked it to be, though, because…

[SPOILER WARNING] though it was exciting and fun, the issue with the fight was that it relied less on Spyro’s own abilities and more from the energy balls or whatever that you could pick up and use on Ripto. [END SPOILER WARNING]

Otherwise, Spyro 2 came off to me as a really amazing game. I had to play more.

I picked up Spyro: Year of the Dragon (basically Spyro 3) afterward on PSN. I was excited, and I went in with high expectations. If Spyro 2 could be so good, Spyro 3 had to be amazing, right? Listening to some of the music pumped me up, too. It sounded FANTASTIC! I was so hyped.

In the end, I left mostly satisfied. It was a great game! The worlds were great, the characters were funny and interesting, the different missions were fun, skateboarding was awesome, and the gameplay of most of the new characters were entertaining. However, there were 2 frustrations I had with the game and one disappointment.

This first frustration I had with the game was purely my own fault. Remember when I said that I managed to get to 100% completion on all of the Spyro games? Well, while I was trying to get 100% completion on Year of the Dragon I was constantly frustrated by my inability to complete certain missions. It drove me crazy! I just wanted to completely finish the game, you know? I really thought I could reach that 100%, and eventually I did, but trying to complete it all the way almost ruined the game for me.

The second frustration I had was with the gameplay of one of the characters: Agent 9. I’ll be honest, I was frustrated by some of the shooting segments featured in Agent 9’s levels (though the music was so rad). I absolutely grew to hate these sections. They would have barrages of enemies coming at you, and I would be completely overwhelmed at times, which meant I had to play that section over and over and over again. It just wasn’t that fun.

Lastly, if there is any disappointment of the game I remember having, it is regarding the endgame boss fight with The Sorceress. In the last battle, the song from the very first hub world, Sunrise Spring, plays, and if you don’t know what that sounds like, it’s like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XisEmbOZo_Q (posted by yearofthe)

This is completely inappropriate for a final boss battle! The feeling of challenge, of danger, of excitement, of tension is completely lost with this song. And it ruined the boss fight for me. What made it worse is that the actual song for this battle sounds like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmHScpFsD_0 (posted by CrystalFissure)

That is glorious. And depressing that it didn’t play in my version of the game (it only plays on the Greatest Hits version of Year of the Dragon, while the PAL version features the song “Spike’s Arena”, which is also heavy with tension and more appropriate than frickin’ “Sunrise Spring”). The extra boss fight after endgame is great, but it just couldn’t make up for the terrible mistake that final boss battle had.

I went back to the game that started it all and picked up the original Spyro off PSN too, since I had lost the original PS1 disc while moving to a new neighborhood. It wasn’t as annoying or confusing as I had originally remembered it to be. It was a really fun experience, and it was quite a charming game, but it lacked some improvements or worlds that made its sequel so special to me. The bonus world was great fun, though.

In the end, I’m left with a very good trilogy of games with a few flaws, but what game is perfect? Insomniac did fantastic work, and I left the trilogy feeling impressed and mostly satisfied with the comedy, the fun action and platforming, the awesome levels/worlds, the addictive music, and the good times that were had.

My Experience with: Yakuza 3 - Chapter 3

Chapter 3 is where the game really starts to open up. There were no barriers blocking me from exploring Downtown Ryukyu this time, and there were many things to see and encounter. Being more expansive, Chapter 3 took me 3-4 hours to get through.

The theme of family is again present throughout this chapter, from the main stories featured in the chapter, to the sub-stories that I experienced while exploring the city. It’s great, really – it can definitely get very emotional at times. There are scenes between the kids where I just had to go “Awwwww” again. The feels, man. The feels.

I took fishing for the second time, equipped with 3 worms to use as bait. I managed to catch 2 things, this time – a coral branch and a porcupine fish. Success! I managed to adjust to the fishing system – which is pretty natural; it’s similar to what you’d do in real life, I would think (don’t let the line slack too hard, but don’t let it get too tense, either), and the music that plays when you catch something on your fishing hook definitely pumps up the action.

I also got to play virtual golf, which is actually part of the main plot in this chapter. I would probably describe the gameplay of golf to be a more sophisticated version of the golf game from Wii Sports, in that there are bars to measure how much power you put into your shots, different golf clubs to use depending on the distance, etc. I like the fact that there’s no music while playing. The ambience felt very nice and somewhat calming, but it would be frustrating when I kept hitting out-of-bounds. I wasn’t too good at playing golf – I would often have to redo my shots, which you’re allowed to do. Maybe it was because I wasn’t that good at it, but I just felt like the golf game was okay. Not amazing, just decent.

Like I said before, I had access to most of, if not all of Downtown Ryukyu, and took a lot of time exploring the stores and side-missions. There was a side-story where I encountered some con men (I didn’t fall victim to their tactics, of course!), and one where I rescued a street musician.

There was an interesting side-story where I met a girl named Mika while going to get a bite to eat at a fast-food restaurant (and recover my health), Smile Burger. It was interesting, as she asked me on a date. I ended going up on 2 dates with her – one to a restaurant and one to a karaoke box. When you do karaoke, you play a rhythm game. I’ll be honest, I was pretty terrible, and I had 2 tries (I did better later, though). I remember two things: “Tone deaf”, and “Are…are you all right?” Enough said. Anyway, after fighting her family bodyguard and finishing her story, we faded out of the sidewalk and faded into the outside of the “Casual Hotel” Urban Castle…  

Then I got an appreciative message from her. Yes! Totally worth it for the message!

Of course, I got into more battles, but by this point, I’m sure you have a good idea of how it went. There was actually one really funny moment where one guy who stops me while I’m running goes and tells me he’s been having a pretty bad day. And so he says, “Do you mind if we take out our aggression on you?” before he and his pals gang up on me. Really? Oh well.

The most notable battle was the boss fight, which was actually pretty hard; the dude kept blocking. And the boss used weapons this time, which made him much more difficult to defeat. I ended up using half/most of the food in my inventory to heal myself, which had to happen quite often as I receive some brutal beat-downs. It was tough, but I made it.

By this chapter, you should have a pretty good idea of what’s going on, and how it ties in with the prologue. Things are getting more and more interesting… Anyway, you’ll hopefully know what to expect in the early parts of Yakuza 3 by this point, and this is a game I definitely recommend playing. A review might be written in the future when I’m finished with the game, so stay tuned!