*Disclaimer: There are minor spoilers for the game Lost Odyssey in this post. I highly recommend that if you plan to play this game you only read this post after having played through to at least the second disc of the game as the spoilers pertain to the first disc of the game*
The power of media to influence and reach people can be seen throughout all of history. Yet certain media forms tend to be viewed through a different lens, where they wind up being seen as nothing more than some useless distraction at best. Most forms of media, from books to movies and everything in between, have borne their fair (unfair rather) share of this type of criticism.
Video games as a media form have been criticized as a waste of people’s time or even blamed for problems with youth and society as a whole. I’m not going to pretend that I can end that argument with anything I say here. There is a good chance that even if video games come to hold a reputation as an art form there will still be a vocal segment of society that argues against them. All I can really do is say how I feel on the subject, namely what games mean to me.
Games not only have the potential to reach people but they can be meaningful in a persons life as well. I don’t just mean as something that brings happiness to someone’s life. I don’t just mean as something that people can use to socialize with others or bond with friends over. Those arguments have already been made by others. What I mean is that a game can so deeply affect a person that it becomes a milestone, something that no matter how their memory may fade over time or their life change, will always be one of the most cherished and important moments in life.
To those who were involved in the making of Lost Odyssey, to Hironobu Sakaguchi the creative director of the game and to the game itself, from the bottom of my heart, thank you. I will always be in your debt for the rest of my life.
That may sound unusual, sad or plain nerdy to some but its how I feel and how I will always feel and I can really care less how people see me for that statement. I will never be able to give an honest assessment of the game because my bias runs too deep. All I know is that I turned this game on with the expectation of just playing a hopefully good game. I came away with one of the most important experiences in my life. I played the game for the first time months after its release, not even having really anticipated it all that much.
I played it months after burying my older brother Manuel Angel Anton.
My life was a wreck by that point. I had slipped into such a deep depression and melancholy that I couldn’t go a day without feeling like my life was over. I wasn’t going to class and barely even cared about anything that was going on around me. His death had shaken me to my very core and all my goals, principles and desires meant nothing to me. I hid most of it from whomever I could but it didn’t change where I was headed and the fact that nothing I tried to do could help me break free of what I was feeling.
In Lost Odyssey there is a key moment in the story where the main character rediscovers his daughter (who was presumed dead from falling off a cliff) years later, on her death bed. It is an extremely emotional scene and a definite tear-jerker.
For someone still struggling with the death of a brother with whom there was an almost unexplainable link, it was almost too much to bear. I didn’t just cry. I absolutely broke down. The pain, the confusion, the anger but most of all the helplessness I felt came rushing in and there was no way for me to hold it all back. I don’t remember how long it took me to finally pick that controller back up again but this game had me hooked in a way that no other game ever had and I had to keep playing to see where things would go.
That is when Lost Odyssey did something that angered or annoyed many gamers. It forced them to put up with a segment involving running around and picking up random items, followed by a rather lengthy segment that just involved simple button presses and moving a flaming torch to light other torches (I would explain the entire segment but it would take too long to go through it in detail). It was part of a funeral process to send off the deceased daughter of the main character. For some gamers it was a great moment in the story; for others it was just an annoying segment of meaningless gameplay. For me it cemented my gratitude and debt.
For me it took away the pain.
At a time in my life where I felt nothing but confusion and hopelessness this one moment changed it all. No movie or book could have done what this single moment did. It allowed me to interact with a scenario I needed. It allowed me to send off my brother and move past what had happened.
It allowed me to do something about it.
That is where the meaning of gaming lies. The interactive nature of games is what sets it apart from any other media form and its what took a scene that I had seen played out in books and movies become something so much more. In time I may have found another way to get past what was going on in my life. That does not change what did happen. I was able to move past the single worst period of my life because of the interactive nature of a video game.
Even today I am already playing games less than I used to as I get back into writing, reading and other social endeavors. Regardless of whether I play a game ever again in my life I will always hold a special place in my heart for Lost Odyssey. So no matter what your stance may be on gaming just remember that a video game can change a person’s life.
A video game changed mine.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Friday, November 6, 2009
Spinning Back in the Right Direction
*Disclaimer* Hi everyone this is Kempand, the latest addition to the Gaming Simplicity staff. Just wanted to let everyone know that the following piece is strictly my opinion and not necessarily reflective of the rest of the Gaming Simplicity staff. Hope to be putting up more material for you all soon. *End of Disclaimer*
A few months ago multiple gaming sites covered the anniversary of the Dreamcast. While I was going through a few of these articles I noticed a character who always brought the words Sega into my mind: Sonic the Hedgehog. By extension I began to think about Sonic Adventure 2 for the Dreamcast, one of the last (and to some the very last) solid console outing in the Sonic franchise. Since then the Sonic franchise has seen a shaky run, from hits and misses on handhelds to a seemingly endless spiral into mediocrity (or downright crap) on consoles.
The shaky run on handhelds has had some bright moments as of late, including Sonic Rush Adventure which seems to point the franchise on handhelds in the right direction. Things don’t look as bright on the console market. The only real bright spots lately have been the re-releases of early Sonic games as downloadable content, and even then they are overshadowed by collections of Sega games that include those games already. As pessimistic as all this sounds I do have hope that Sonic can be restored to its former glory on consoles. If the series does reach that point, Sega needs to be sure that people will still be willing to buy Sonic games.
I know it is a big jump to say that the Sonic franchise, because of its drop in quality, will not be able to get people to buy the game just because of the legacy, but there is precedent there. We have seen trusted companies and properties who mistreated consumers for long enough that those consumers and fans abandoned them. The Dreamcast is a shining example (which Sega should never forget) about the limits to the patience of fans. After the manner in which Sega was constantly jerking around their fans with their odd system life cycles and choices, even when Sega releases one of the best systems in gaming history, the fans weren’t willing to give them another chance. Sega needs to keep the Sonic reputation from going that far or they may never be able to get the franchise out of mediocrity.
Which leads me to my point, namely that Sega needs to find a way to pull the Sonic franchise out of this rut it is in. My opinion is that they may need to take a step backward in order to take a few steps forward. “A step backward” to me means a return to the roots of the series in its original side scrolling format of years past. Could they follow the lead of the recent Bionic Commando: Rearmed in updating the older Sonic games? Perhaps, but I would much prefer that they make a brand new game using the format they had the most success with. A great example of this recently is Mega Man 9, which was not only a great game but as Mark Bozon of IGN stated perfectly, “[Mega Man 9] truly does rival the best in the franchise’s 8-bit roots.” If the Mega Man franchise can create a brand new game using a classic format why shouldn’t the Sonic franchise, whose glory days are grounded in that classic format, follow their lead?
Sega may very well go down that path or find more interesting ways to restore Sonic’s tarnished reputation. Then again they may not and we could see one of the classic franchises in gaming history continue to fall further into obscurity. Sega had Sonic spinning in the right direction long ago and that classic gameplay format may be the key to getting him back up there. Here is hoping that they do.
A few months ago multiple gaming sites covered the anniversary of the Dreamcast. While I was going through a few of these articles I noticed a character who always brought the words Sega into my mind: Sonic the Hedgehog. By extension I began to think about Sonic Adventure 2 for the Dreamcast, one of the last (and to some the very last) solid console outing in the Sonic franchise. Since then the Sonic franchise has seen a shaky run, from hits and misses on handhelds to a seemingly endless spiral into mediocrity (or downright crap) on consoles.
The shaky run on handhelds has had some bright moments as of late, including Sonic Rush Adventure which seems to point the franchise on handhelds in the right direction. Things don’t look as bright on the console market. The only real bright spots lately have been the re-releases of early Sonic games as downloadable content, and even then they are overshadowed by collections of Sega games that include those games already. As pessimistic as all this sounds I do have hope that Sonic can be restored to its former glory on consoles. If the series does reach that point, Sega needs to be sure that people will still be willing to buy Sonic games.
I know it is a big jump to say that the Sonic franchise, because of its drop in quality, will not be able to get people to buy the game just because of the legacy, but there is precedent there. We have seen trusted companies and properties who mistreated consumers for long enough that those consumers and fans abandoned them. The Dreamcast is a shining example (which Sega should never forget) about the limits to the patience of fans. After the manner in which Sega was constantly jerking around their fans with their odd system life cycles and choices, even when Sega releases one of the best systems in gaming history, the fans weren’t willing to give them another chance. Sega needs to keep the Sonic reputation from going that far or they may never be able to get the franchise out of mediocrity.
Which leads me to my point, namely that Sega needs to find a way to pull the Sonic franchise out of this rut it is in. My opinion is that they may need to take a step backward in order to take a few steps forward. “A step backward” to me means a return to the roots of the series in its original side scrolling format of years past. Could they follow the lead of the recent Bionic Commando: Rearmed in updating the older Sonic games? Perhaps, but I would much prefer that they make a brand new game using the format they had the most success with. A great example of this recently is Mega Man 9, which was not only a great game but as Mark Bozon of IGN stated perfectly, “[Mega Man 9] truly does rival the best in the franchise’s 8-bit roots.” If the Mega Man franchise can create a brand new game using a classic format why shouldn’t the Sonic franchise, whose glory days are grounded in that classic format, follow their lead?
Sega may very well go down that path or find more interesting ways to restore Sonic’s tarnished reputation. Then again they may not and we could see one of the classic franchises in gaming history continue to fall further into obscurity. Sega had Sonic spinning in the right direction long ago and that classic gameplay format may be the key to getting him back up there. Here is hoping that they do.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Aion, the New Pioneer in the MMORPG Community
In many circles, the term, "MMORPG" brings up a great many jokes. Chances are, this article may not change peoples' views of the massively multiplayer role-playing game genre; however, this might shed some light on a new MMO on the scene that I have heard called the "Blizzard Killer" (courtesy of KingxCloud). The name of the game is Aion.
Aion, published by NCsoft, was developed by a Korean company. Incidentally, the world was given Aion a year after its release there. Like many MMOs, the whole goal is doing quests, crafting items of many different kinds, connecting with others to take on different challenges. But Aion added many things, breaking the mold in the process. It features an insane level of customization, rendering the possibilities virtually endless for both the characters' physical features as well as the gameplay experience. For instance, in addition to the massive amount of armor and clothing in the game, dyes can be added to individual articles of clothing making them your own. Physical features can be fully customized right down to the curvature of the bridge of the nose. You can even change your equipment to look like another piece of equipment in your inventory. But enough about customization, gameplay is what many people want to know about.
Many people know that MMOs are about guilds, quests, raids, crafting, farming, and grinding until you reach the level cap. But in Aion, deception is one of the potential components of gameplay. But first, some background.
Two races, of opposing sides, are fighting in an endless war for control of the middle ground, the world, between their worlds, Abyss. As with many MMOs, PvP is a key feature with Aion, but Aion adds an addition spin on it. When the opposing races meet in Abyss, the regular gameplay is transformed. The PvP we knew before gained a new addition, PvPvE, also known as, "Player versus Player versus Environment". The simple explanation is that the player will be fighting the opposing race as well as environmental hazards or traps that are on the battlefield. This brings me to my next point, flight. Upon ascension at level 10, the player will go through a ceremony and will be endowed with wings. In Abyss, most combat will be aerial. In the PvPvE area, this will prove to be a challenge, because you will be flying and attacking the enemy while be damaged by parts of the environment. To top it all off, Abyss throws you into the fight blind. This is where deception comes into play.
In Abyss, you will have characters from level 25 to level 50 fighting each other. But players of opposing races cannot see their foes' level. So you may be blindly attacking a player 10 levels higher than you, or that player you want to attack who has level 50 equipment may just be a lower level character trying to psych you out. Like in an actual battle, the opponent cannot be sized up at a glance. In Aion, it is possible to take the equipment you are wearing and make it look like another piece of equipment in your inventory. This, is my opinion is a really unique idea for an MMO.
I work at Gamestop, and I stumbled across this game my first night working there. The night of the Halo: ODST release also happened to be the night of the release of Aion. Being the release, they threw out the unused Preorder packs. I took one home with me and looked it up. I saw videos that had incredible graphics and awesome looking classes to choose from, and I was sold. I bought the game the next day. Upon creating my character, and the weekend finally arriving, I logged on, and found that there were so many people who had the game that there were literally lines to log onto the servers. This is a testament to the people at NCsoft. They have continually worked day and night accommodating all those who have started playing Aion. In just two and a half weeks, they have effectively eliminating the logon queues for even the fullest servers.
All in all, on a scale of 1-10 in terms of wantability, I'll have to give this a definite 9. A 9 because it's a great overall game, but obviously only caters to fans of one particular genre. I'm not one to drop money on a game I've never heard of, especially when it means giving up a game I already own, but I did for Aion, and I don't regret this decision one bit.
Aion, published by NCsoft, was developed by a Korean company. Incidentally, the world was given Aion a year after its release there. Like many MMOs, the whole goal is doing quests, crafting items of many different kinds, connecting with others to take on different challenges. But Aion added many things, breaking the mold in the process. It features an insane level of customization, rendering the possibilities virtually endless for both the characters' physical features as well as the gameplay experience. For instance, in addition to the massive amount of armor and clothing in the game, dyes can be added to individual articles of clothing making them your own. Physical features can be fully customized right down to the curvature of the bridge of the nose. You can even change your equipment to look like another piece of equipment in your inventory. But enough about customization, gameplay is what many people want to know about.
Many people know that MMOs are about guilds, quests, raids, crafting, farming, and grinding until you reach the level cap. But in Aion, deception is one of the potential components of gameplay. But first, some background.
Two races, of opposing sides, are fighting in an endless war for control of the middle ground, the world, between their worlds, Abyss. As with many MMOs, PvP is a key feature with Aion, but Aion adds an addition spin on it. When the opposing races meet in Abyss, the regular gameplay is transformed. The PvP we knew before gained a new addition, PvPvE, also known as, "Player versus Player versus Environment". The simple explanation is that the player will be fighting the opposing race as well as environmental hazards or traps that are on the battlefield. This brings me to my next point, flight. Upon ascension at level 10, the player will go through a ceremony and will be endowed with wings. In Abyss, most combat will be aerial. In the PvPvE area, this will prove to be a challenge, because you will be flying and attacking the enemy while be damaged by parts of the environment. To top it all off, Abyss throws you into the fight blind. This is where deception comes into play.
In Abyss, you will have characters from level 25 to level 50 fighting each other. But players of opposing races cannot see their foes' level. So you may be blindly attacking a player 10 levels higher than you, or that player you want to attack who has level 50 equipment may just be a lower level character trying to psych you out. Like in an actual battle, the opponent cannot be sized up at a glance. In Aion, it is possible to take the equipment you are wearing and make it look like another piece of equipment in your inventory. This, is my opinion is a really unique idea for an MMO.
I work at Gamestop, and I stumbled across this game my first night working there. The night of the Halo: ODST release also happened to be the night of the release of Aion. Being the release, they threw out the unused Preorder packs. I took one home with me and looked it up. I saw videos that had incredible graphics and awesome looking classes to choose from, and I was sold. I bought the game the next day. Upon creating my character, and the weekend finally arriving, I logged on, and found that there were so many people who had the game that there were literally lines to log onto the servers. This is a testament to the people at NCsoft. They have continually worked day and night accommodating all those who have started playing Aion. In just two and a half weeks, they have effectively eliminating the logon queues for even the fullest servers.
All in all, on a scale of 1-10 in terms of wantability, I'll have to give this a definite 9. A 9 because it's a great overall game, but obviously only caters to fans of one particular genre. I'm not one to drop money on a game I've never heard of, especially when it means giving up a game I already own, but I did for Aion, and I don't regret this decision one bit.
An apology for a months worth of missing articles
Due to the colleges in our respective areas starting back up, Melior and myself were forced to put the blog aside until we thought we were physically and mentally ready to add this to our schedule again. We both have had problems with managing our schedules in the past, and we are working our hardest to change that in our respective situations, which include college and jobs. After a month plus of not writing, we both have come to the decision to start to incorporate the blog back into our schedules again and start writing our articles. The same is going on with our ‘ghost writer’ KingxCloud who has also started college this semester. We are hoping to bring in a few additional ‘Ghost Writers’ so that the flow of articles is steady from week to week if Melior and myself are not able to contribute on a solid basis. We are hoping time allows us to post at least one article from each other weekly (not including Ghost Writers). If we are not able to, please refer to this apology. Things are becoming hectic in our ever maturing lives into adults. Please take that into consideration if you see a decrease of articles. Hopefully that will not happen again, then again, if I were to promise you that, I would be severely lying, and one thing about this blog we try to maintain is a respective honesty with the reader and we hope you take this apology to heart; because that is where it comes from.
Sincerely,
PaulyBoy and Melior
Sincerely,
PaulyBoy and Melior
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
First Reactions and Recommendations
This article is not written by the staff of GS. It is written by a writer outside of the GS team and is the opinion of that person and that person alone.
Batman: Arkham Asylum - Demo Review
Article Explanation: Before I downloaded this Demo to provide you all with my first review, I decided to check out the multiple trailers and previews for the game. At first glance I noticed it was a much darker and grittier Batman then any previous Batman game. In my personal Opinion The CG (Computer Generated) for the game is impeccable and can only be described as the dirtiest, grittiest, and darkest Batman I have ever seen (that being a good thing mind you;] ). "I will be using a scale of 1-10 on “Want-a-bility” 1 being I will never buy this, and 10 being I am already on my second play through. This article is the opinion of the writer and the writer alone, if you disagree, please post your comment in the comment section. We are looking for criticism and your feedback to make this place a lot better for the future." (Quoted-PaulyBoy 90803)
Batman: Arkham Asylum (Demo Review)
The Rundown:
When you first start the demo you go through all the logos of the Developers, and so on. One positive aspect to me is you can press start to skip each one of the logos. My point is, you don't have to waste those 30 seconds - 2 minutes going through just logos, like Gears of War 2 does, that game forces you to sit through the developer and publisher logos, while not being able to skip them. Moving on, when you first start the demo it runs you through the game's beginning CG sequence which portrays Batman, bringing in a captured Joker to Arkham Asylum. As the scene progresses, the Joker escapes into the depths of the Asylum to where you find out within seconds, the Joker has sprung a trap for the highly qualified Batman. As you learn of the plan through the opening CG scene, when the scene comes to an end and the game starts where the CG left off, it pops you right into a small tutorial for the fighting mechanics of the game. The fighting in this game is brilliant! Between the Silent take downs, to the pure awesomeness of the fighting mechanics. Another plus is you can go from one enemy to another without stopping to take a breather, it's as if the average goon is powerless against your superior power. As you move through the demo, the Joker mocks you over the Asylums intercom, as you start to move further in, you come to a point where you have to knockout another famous Batman villain; Mr. Zsasz. This of course is also a tutorial on how to use the Glide Kick and the Ground Take down and how the "Detective mode" works.
"The pay off of detective mode, the hidden Glide Kick"
The detective mode is a view you will all too often use in the game. You use it to start to swing from gargoyle to gargoyle to set up behind the enemy in the room. In the view, you see the name the heart rate, the weapon they are holding, if they are holding a weapon, what you can swing to, and things you can interact with. This mode I have a feeling will be used through out the whole game. After you've successfully taken down Mr. Zsasz, Miss Quinn, Jokers lovely associate, locks you in the room.. To move forward remove one of the AC grates and crouch through it to get to the next area.This will take you to a hallway where you see two guards begging for their life as Jokers goons finish them off. My first impression when leaving the AC duct, I thought Batman was going to kick the grate cover across the room.. This of course was not the case, Batman silently removes the grate so you can get out of the duct.. By now you should be able to figure out how to get past the Armed goons..
this part is also the Silent Take down tutorial.. After you take out the goons,and the goons boss(the man talking to Joker), there is yet again another AC vent for you to crawl through, to get to the last area of the Demo. This is where you get to put what you've learned to the test.
The Review:
A demo is a way for developers to show us[The Consumer] what the full game will be like, and as always to entice us to purchase the game. The Devs. for Batman: Arkham Asylum have managed to bring us the the Bman of old, the Batman you have only seen up till now, in the comic books. The way this game has delivered is everything a hardcore or casual Batman fan would love and more!The fighting mechanics for this game are amazing, along with excellent graphics and CG to blown your mind away.The controls are easy to master and the amount of "epic win" in this game is amazing.
I personally only had three problems with the game/demo itself. And two of those problems deal with movement. Both were where I felt like I was spending more time on the Gargoyles and in the Air vents then kicking ass!I started to notice a pattern in the game play, where the only way I could get to the next area or get behind an enemy was an Air duct or a Gargoyle. Though this seemed a repetitive aspect in the game. I don't believe it subtracts from the game play unless your like me and can spot these discrepancies in the game. My third and final problem was the fact that you lost health way too fast if you where actually spotted or shot at.. I understand they did this for you as the player to use stealth tactics, but sometimes I just felt like beating the life out of them instead of swinging from gargoyle to gargoyle and taking them out one by one.
Want-a-bility
1 - - - 5 - - | - 10
I place my personal want at around an even 8. I would get this if I had the money to spend. This game, if any indication to the demo will be one of the best games of the year!
Here's My Game Rating on the Demo.
(Ratings are based within a 1-5 system with 1 being the worst and 5 being the best)
Story: 4
Graphics: 5
Controls: 4
Sound: 3
Replay Value: 4.5
Overall: 8.5/10
Written by KingxCloud
Batman: Arkham Asylum - Demo Review
Article Explanation: Before I downloaded this Demo to provide you all with my first review, I decided to check out the multiple trailers and previews for the game. At first glance I noticed it was a much darker and grittier Batman then any previous Batman game. In my personal Opinion The CG (Computer Generated) for the game is impeccable and can only be described as the dirtiest, grittiest, and darkest Batman I have ever seen (that being a good thing mind you;] ). "I will be using a scale of 1-10 on “Want-a-bility” 1 being I will never buy this, and 10 being I am already on my second play through. This article is the opinion of the writer and the writer alone, if you disagree, please post your comment in the comment section. We are looking for criticism and your feedback to make this place a lot better for the future." (Quoted-PaulyBoy 90803)
Batman: Arkham Asylum (Demo Review)
The Rundown:
When you first start the demo you go through all the logos of the Developers, and so on. One positive aspect to me is you can press start to skip each one of the logos. My point is, you don't have to waste those 30 seconds - 2 minutes going through just logos, like Gears of War 2 does, that game forces you to sit through the developer and publisher logos, while not being able to skip them. Moving on, when you first start the demo it runs you through the game's beginning CG sequence which portrays Batman, bringing in a captured Joker to Arkham Asylum. As the scene progresses, the Joker escapes into the depths of the Asylum to where you find out within seconds, the Joker has sprung a trap for the highly qualified Batman. As you learn of the plan through the opening CG scene, when the scene comes to an end and the game starts where the CG left off, it pops you right into a small tutorial for the fighting mechanics of the game. The fighting in this game is brilliant! Between the Silent take downs, to the pure awesomeness of the fighting mechanics. Another plus is you can go from one enemy to another without stopping to take a breather, it's as if the average goon is powerless against your superior power. As you move through the demo, the Joker mocks you over the Asylums intercom, as you start to move further in, you come to a point where you have to knockout another famous Batman villain; Mr. Zsasz. This of course is also a tutorial on how to use the Glide Kick and the Ground Take down and how the "Detective mode" works.
"The pay off of detective mode, the hidden Glide Kick"The detective mode is a view you will all too often use in the game. You use it to start to swing from gargoyle to gargoyle to set up behind the enemy in the room. In the view, you see the name the heart rate, the weapon they are holding, if they are holding a weapon, what you can swing to, and things you can interact with. This mode I have a feeling will be used through out the whole game. After you've successfully taken down Mr. Zsasz, Miss Quinn, Jokers lovely associate, locks you in the room.. To move forward remove one of the AC grates and crouch through it to get to the next area.This will take you to a hallway where you see two guards begging for their life as Jokers goons finish them off. My first impression when leaving the AC duct, I thought Batman was going to kick the grate cover across the room.. This of course was not the case, Batman silently removes the grate so you can get out of the duct.. By now you should be able to figure out how to get past the Armed goons..
this part is also the Silent Take down tutorial.. After you take out the goons,and the goons boss(the man talking to Joker), there is yet again another AC vent for you to crawl through, to get to the last area of the Demo. This is where you get to put what you've learned to the test.
The Review:
A demo is a way for developers to show us[The Consumer] what the full game will be like, and as always to entice us to purchase the game. The Devs. for Batman: Arkham Asylum have managed to bring us the the Bman of old, the Batman you have only seen up till now, in the comic books. The way this game has delivered is everything a hardcore or casual Batman fan would love and more!The fighting mechanics for this game are amazing, along with excellent graphics and CG to blown your mind away.The controls are easy to master and the amount of "epic win" in this game is amazing.
I personally only had three problems with the game/demo itself. And two of those problems deal with movement. Both were where I felt like I was spending more time on the Gargoyles and in the Air vents then kicking ass!I started to notice a pattern in the game play, where the only way I could get to the next area or get behind an enemy was an Air duct or a Gargoyle. Though this seemed a repetitive aspect in the game. I don't believe it subtracts from the game play unless your like me and can spot these discrepancies in the game. My third and final problem was the fact that you lost health way too fast if you where actually spotted or shot at.. I understand they did this for you as the player to use stealth tactics, but sometimes I just felt like beating the life out of them instead of swinging from gargoyle to gargoyle and taking them out one by one.
Want-a-bility
1 - - - 5 - - | - 10
I place my personal want at around an even 8. I would get this if I had the money to spend. This game, if any indication to the demo will be one of the best games of the year!
Here's My Game Rating on the Demo.
(Ratings are based within a 1-5 system with 1 being the worst and 5 being the best)
Story: 4
Graphics: 5
Controls: 4
Sound: 3
Replay Value: 4.5
Overall: 8.5/10
Written by KingxCloud
Ghost/Shadow Writers Wanted
Being the team of Gaming Simplicity,is busy with life, we are always looking for outside writers. If you think you have what it takes to write an article for our blog, please, by all means do so. There are a few requirements, no slandering of a console, game, and company, unless you can back up your accusations with actual proof. And that the GS team needs to review your article before we post it up on the blog.
E-mail either team member with your article, we will review it, and e-mail you back the revised article for your approval and than post it.
Thank you for reading this blog. We do appreciate the help and support we are getting
Paulyboy
Emails - PaulyBoy_90803@yahoo.com
Melior_Gladius@yahoo.com
E-mail either team member with your article, we will review it, and e-mail you back the revised article for your approval and than post it.
Thank you for reading this blog. We do appreciate the help and support we are getting
Paulyboy
Emails - PaulyBoy_90803@yahoo.com
Melior_Gladius@yahoo.com
Thursday, August 6, 2009
First Reactions & Recommendation
Article Explanation: What happens on Xbox Live, they put out demos for all new games and arcade games if their developer makes one. Arcade games always have trials, so you will end up seeing more articles about arcade games than new full games due to the fact that developers don’t always put out new demos for their full games. The purpose for this article is to give the reader (you) a first reaction and a recommendation for what I or Melior think that the game is like if you haven’t had the time to download the trial if it is an Arcade game or if it is a demo. We will be using a scale of 1-10 on “Want-a-bility” 1 being I will never buy this, and 10 being I am already on my second play through. This article is the opinion of the writer and the writer alone, if you disagree, please post your comment in the comment section. We are looking for criticism and your feedback to make this place a lot better for the future.
Summer of Arcade – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles In Time Re-Shelled
Well, TMNT:TITRS (inb4pun) is a ‘port’ of a game that was made in the 90’s and debuted on the NES console. It was quarter arcade game that has been ported over to the Xbox Live Arcade, among other games, including TMNT’s predecessor the TMNT 1989 arcade game which was a direct port. Re-shelled is not a direct port like 1989. At least graphics and game play wise. The story remains untouched. So you 90’s children out there who played the original are gonna get the same game but with updated graphics. For those who are the average TMNT fan like myself, you are going to be getting a new game with above average semi cel-shaded graphics.
Re-shelled is your average 90’s side scrolling hack and slash with the updated 3-D graphics. The trial of the game includes the first stage of the game, including the first boss fight. You get to choose from all four turtles in the demo, and you even get to play it with Local Multiplayer support, which is the games main features and options. I played this demo through 3 times. I played through with no trouble on the only difficulty available which is normal. At no time during the demo was it overwhelmingly hard for me. Some of the few things that irked me about it was, you tend to get lost in the crowd when fighting people. They have on the control scheme a button (LT) that you can hit and it will pop up a locator icon above your head in the color your turtle is sporting, which is helpful for multiplayer matches, especially the Xbox Live 4 player co-op matches that you can get in the full game. Another thing that kind of irritated me was the fact that everything got repetitive. You would do the same three attacks, over and over and over and ov . . . You could mix it up every now and then with a special attack, but it is nothing special. You would have to go out of your way to do something special to keep from getting bored. Now, the demo level is long enough to get used to the turtle you are using and the moves they have. But being the fighting is not that full of depth, it is very easy to get used to the turtle of use very quickly, which means you are likely to get bored of it rather quickly.
The main gripe I have with the game is the lack of new things, like an updated fighting system, or at least an upgrade with moves to add some more to the already lacking list. I know Hack n slashes don’t really need too many moves, but if you have too few moves, the point of hacking and slashing gets rather boring and irritating. I got bored with the game through the third turtle I played through with, I tried to play with the fourth and quit half way through to go play ‘Splosion Man.
I personally wouldn’t recommend this game if you are an average fan like myself. If you grew up with the turtles and are a die hard fan of the series, than this game should give you thrills just for the sheer fact of nostalgia setting in. In my honest opinion, with all that Ubisoft put into this game, graphically and online compatibility wise, I think they could have updated the moves and sounds a bit better than they did. I understand not trying to change a classic, but if the classic by todays standards bores you to death and it is only the demo, that doesn’t leave me high hopes for the rest of the game, nor does it make me want to spend my 800 Microsoft points ($10) to buy the game and find out.
Want-a-bility
1 - - - | 5 - - - - 10
I place my personal want at a 4, that means, I am leaning towards not purchasing this in any near future. I personally do not think this game warrants a 800 MSP purchase. If it were to drop to 600 or 400 I would purchase it, just for the fact that it is above mediocre arcade game, and arcade games standards have risen for me over the past year or two. To me, this game does not reach that standard.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Quality vs. Quantity
This is a response to an article I found as I was browsing the Internet. Alright. I thought I had seen it all. Sure, celebrities get involved with the gaming industry on all levels. From endorsements, to guest appearances, to commercials. But most of the time they either focus on the core demographic of the game with the celebrities or the celebrities chosen have some sort of relevance to the game. DJ Hero, a game that is coming out soon for consoles, is coming out with a special edition, featuring Eminem and Jay-Z. I can understand John Madden and the football games, Ken Griffey Jr. in baseball, and even Mike Tyson in Punch Out!, but the only real thing that Eminem and Jay-Z seem to have ANYTHING to do with "DJ-ing" is the fact that most rap and hip-hop is made from DJ's remixing old songs for rap beats. If they had Tiesto, I might understand it. Sure, famous DJs are in the game, and produced the tracks for the game, but Eminem and Jay-Z being featured makes about as much sense as William Hung being the cover boy for the popular Xbox singing game Lips. To me, it seems like more of a racially "balanced" publicity stunt for Activision. Ever since "Guitar Hero" picked up popularity, Activision, now Activision-Blizzard, seems to be more about making a buck than quality. Neversoft, an Activision development company,responsible for the Tony Hawk series and now the Guitar Hero series, made Guitar Hero 3, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, Guitar Hero: World Tour, and Guitar Hero: Smash Hits,in the time Harmonix (the original Guitar Hero developer) took to make the first three original Guitar Hero games. The original Guitar Hero and Guitar Hero 2 by Harmonix actually sparked more interest in the series and genre, than the previously listed Guitar Hero titles combined.
There was a time when developers and publishers rarely got endorsements and had to make a quality game in order to even reimburse their investment in the game-making process. Now, many companies use celebrity endorsements, like the commercials for World of Warcraft featuring Ozzy Osbourne, to get people to buy them. Some people, like some of my friends, think, "If they play it, it must be good." Electronic Arts (EA), has decided to go back to the roots of game development lately. They have shied away from celebrity endorsements as much, and their change has made a difference. The quality of their games, as well as the average ratings for their games has gone up in recent years. Personally, as a consumer, I'd rather buy one game and it be amazing, than to buy a used copy of an okay game just to trade it with another game a day after I get it. In the end, every company has its own money-maker, EA has Madden, now Activision has Guitar Hero. Sadly, it seems the days of good, quality games, are being replaced by the days of okay, mediocre sequels.
Gaming Simplicity Introduction
Gaming Simplicity
Welcome to the introduction blog post of Gaming Simplicity! We are all about gaming, no console preference, just straight up gaming. We, Melior, and myself (Paulyboy) are here to hopefully give you insight into the gaming world that you may not already know, and also to bring you reviews, rants, and editorials about things that are happening in the gaming world. I hope you enjoy this blog that we are putting our time into making our best. Tell your friends!
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