Punctual Review: "Shatter"
Reviewing a game within a week of its release? Whodathunkit?!
SHATTER, a downloadable-only title for PlayStation 3, is the newest game from Sidhe, a development house based in New Zealand. The company's library up to this point has been filled with Barbie games, Rugby games, and some racing titles (including GRIPSHIFT, which garnered some attention for them in the last few years). But Shatter is a step in a completely different direction for the team, and I have to say it's a good direction to be going.
You don't just suck and blow your balls. The wind can be used to manipulate blocks and bosses as well!
Now, Shatter's basic gameplay structure is like that of ARKANOID or BREAKOUT: brick-breaking mayhem with nothing but a paddle and a ball. I discussed some of the mechanics that make Shatter unique on Episode 12 of Jurassic Radio, but just to recap: your paddle can "suck" and "blow" to change the ball's direction and speed; you can release as many balls as you like at a given time (so you can go solo-ball or multi-ball as you please); as you collect energy, you can put a shield around your paddle in case free-floating blocks or enemy fire, or you can unleash a massive bullet-based attack with a full energy bar; and finally, there are three different types of levels (horizontal, vertical, and circular).
Making good use of all the sucking and blowing (and, I'm sorry, but this game is just inviting a thick laying-on of innuendo) takes a bit of time. Fortunately, the difficulty of the first few levels in the game's "story mode" are easy enough that you get the chance to play around with the mechanic until you get a feel with it. It wasn't until the fourth level that I realized each ball comes equipped with a handy laser-guide that shines a light at its destination wall. Watching this destination change as you use suck and blow is a great way to figure out how the mechanics work, and how you can use them to your advantage. And you'll need it by the end of the game. Because, even though the game is programmed to shower "1up" bonuses on you as soon as you run low on lives, I still had to use multiple continues for the last two levels of the game.
I'm still not quite sure how this whole "circle" thing works...
Each level is made up of about 8 waves of regular stages. My favorite type of stage is the traditional vertical (paddle on bottom, bricks on top) level. But I was a little frustrated with the circle levels. They don't make a lot of sense to me... I feel like there's some sort of space-time curvature programmed into those levels, because your ball never seems to travel a "straight" path based on your flat viewpoint. At the end of the level, you take on a boss. Each boss is cleverly designed, and there are bosses for each of the three layouts. Twice you fight an evil paddle named "Bad Bat," and you're essentially playing a game of AI-opponent PONG on crack. It's a good time, especially because the opposing paddle also has suck and blow capabilities. In fact, by later levels, certain types of blocks will also generate some wind on timed intervals, so you are definitely not the only game in town if you thought you were the king of suck and blow.
Producer and creative director Andy Satterthwaite, leading a small team of programmers and artists, built this fantastic game using the "Stencil" engine. Visually, everything is smooth and beautiful, making great use of bloom effects. Even better than this, though, is the soundtrack. Each level has its own song (that runs anywhere from 6 to 9 minutes), and there's also a boss theme. You can stream the entire soundtrack for free at Bandcamp, and buy the soundtrack for $10 (which, incidentally, is $2 more than what Shatter will cost you). Composed by Jeramiah Ross, aka "Module," this soundtrack is an incredible mix of retro-game electronica and glam rock; to be perfectly honest, the music reminds me of Daft Punk. I love it.
A shower of bullets, 1ups, and energy fragments flood the screen; and all the while, I'm jamming to some awesome tunes.
My only complaint about this game is that it is tragically short. You can (and I did) do everything this game has to offer in one three-hour sitting. All ten levels, plus a boss rush mode, plus access to the between-level "bonus rounds" as a mini-game. With such a great engine and gameplay design, I think it's safe to say that Sidhe would do well to create some extra downloadable content for the game. Also, a possible multiplayer battle mode would be nice: Pong with wind attacks and blocks in the center of the stage, yes please!
Be sure to give it a try. PS3 owners can download the game for only $8, which I would consider an underpricing if the game hadn't been so short. Of course, replay value is high, and competing with your friends for highest score could become an entertaining distraction. I've been on the fence as to how I should objectively grade this game, but I'm feeling in a good mood so let's give it a 4. But for the careful reader, know that if I could give halfsies, I might have gone 3.5 on it, due to the game's size and scope.
So, uh, I won't be at work Nov. 10
Physics Review: "Trine"
Watch out! The dead have risen and are headed for the kingdom. The good news: A wizard, thief and knight are prepared to stop it. True, they've been fused together by this thing called the Trine, but the wizard, Amadeus, suspects the two things might be linked.
TRINE is a 2-D sidescroller set in a 3-D universe with realistic physics, meaning when a rope is cut, whatever it's holding falls. You switch between characters on the fly, sort of like Trevor Belmont did in CASTLEVANIA III.
Like most sidescrollers, the goal in every level is to make it from the left to the right, and occasionally up. Frozenbyte puts a series of obstacles in your way that can be overcome using the skills your three characters have at their disposal. Walls must be scaled. Lava must be crossed. Skeletons should be dispatched. And experience must be collected.
Amadeus is a conjurer and telekinetic. He makes boxes and platforms appear, then moves them around. His only offensive maneuver is to conjure a box above a skeleton's head and let it fall, which is amusing when it works, but skeletons have a tendency to move.
The thief, Zoya, is the most flexible character. Her grappling hook is the fastest way to solve simple puzzles, and it's more fun than making boxes and platforms. And her arrows can handle most enemies, especially when she starts firing four at a time.
The knight, Pontius, starts off pretty weak but becomes a useful character toward the end, when he picks up a hammer. His preferred method of combat is bludgeoning, which swords aren't great for, but with a hammer he's suddenly bashing through shields and sending out lightning shock-waves. The diving hammer strike is the second most fun you'll have. He also has a shield, which can be pointed in any direction to stop fire or arrows.
The shield keeps Pontius nice and cool.
Trine encourages exploration by tying experience to two things. Half of the experience is earned by destroying skeletons. The other half is earned by finding green potions hidden throughout the levels. For every 50 green potions you earn, each character will level up.
There's a skeletal story structure, but it's extremely basic and serves only to give the characters something to do. But excellent voice acting and elegant narration hold the stages together and make the loading screens painless.
And the 2-D gameplay in a 3-D world works surprisingly well. The backgrounds are finely detailed and littered with objects, but it never becomes hard to differentiate between what's in the background and what's in the character's path.
In co-op, Pontius finds himself at the mercy of Amadeus.
My only frustration with the game is the lack of variety in things to kill. Aside from a few bosses, everything that's trying to kill you is a skeleton. Some of them breathe fire, some have shields and some have bows, but they're all skinless. It didn't make the game any less fun, but a zombie here or there would have livened things up.
It's $30 on the PC, but there will be PSN version soon, and it's probably worth waiting for because it'll probably cost less. To hold you over, Steam or Frozenbyte have the demo.
(Editor's note -- Patrick Klepek at G4 reveals today that Trine will not be out by the end of July, i.e. tomorrow, as Frozenbyte originally promised.
In designer Lauri Hyvärinen's own adorably Engrish breakdown of the situation: "Regarding 6th August release, can't say for sure is that even possible. US and EU releases 'should' be very close to each other. However, I must stress out I don't know for real, as there always can come surprises like yesterday did."
For the full story, click here.)
Movie Review: "Virtuality"
(editor's note: Nathan is wrong about almost everything he says in the next 700 words. Also, this comment is meant in jest! I just aggressively disagree with him.)
*Spoiler Alert*
(Actually, I’m just saving you time.)
I started Virtuality expecting that a thriller with a space-exploration subplot that would have a somewhat resolved ending. But wait!
Virtuality is more about petty drama between characters than solving the dilemma with their virtual world and their mission. While traveling to another star system to save mankind— Alpha Centauri, I believe — the crew can’t think of anything better to do than bicker amongst each other, some doing so just to boost ratings for their reality show.
The reality show about their expedition is backed by FOX, so I guess this adds to the realism of the film. I can imagine easily a future when, facing environmental catastrophe, humanity at large will continue to sit on their couches and let the stupefying glow of reality television wash over their doughy bodies.
The antagonist — known as “Virtual Man” — shows his intimidating face about four or five times throughout the movie. He kills crew members in the virtual world, but unlike the Matrix, the characters survive their imagined deaths. An exception to the killing arises when “Virtual Man” decides to rape crew member Billie Kashmiri because of her shitty Japanese rock performance.
Though this is merely virtual rape — a daily and casually observed slight in games like HALO — Billie feels that it is too real. For me, this was where Virtuality hit rock-bottom. It evolves into a Lifetime special as shipmate Parsons comforts Billie by telling her something along the lines of, “All men will hurt you, even virtual ones.”
Finally, the commander is killed by a glitch in the computer system that opens an airlock, allowing him to test his lungs in space. I was left to wonder if the commander was killed by "Virtual Man" or a rogue crew member, but we’ll never know because the movie is a pilot for a show too shitty to be picked up by any network.
Commander Pike unsuccessfully tests the new plush-model space suit.
For all my bitching, the concept was interesting. Had the same plot and setting been fused with better acting and an ending with some closure, it would have seen better ratings, although lack of strong (read: absolutely no) promotion and the fact that the pilot aired in June (on a Friday) didn’t help.
Virtuality also believably showcased some near-future technology. Without light-speed travel, the ship voyaged to the distant galaxy via an orbital slingshot and nuclear pulse propulsion. The spacesuits, although betraying the fact that costume designers were on a meager budget, closely resembled the Biosuit.
Some people may disagree, but I feel that Virtuality didn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell regardless of its air date. If the show is picked up by a network, I will play and review a shitty game. At least CHOCOBO RACING is out of the question since Benji lost the Final Fantasy quiz in podcast 11.
For all my bitching and cynicism, I will point out a few positive aspects of the film. The concept was interesting. Had the same plot and setting been fused with better acting and a conclusion with some closure, it would have gotten better ratings, although lack of strong promotion and the fact that the pilot aired in June didn’t help.
Another strong point of Virtuality was its accuracy in portraying technology of the near future. Without light-speed travel, the ship voyaged to the distant galaxy via an orbital slingshot and nuclear pulse propulsion. The space suits, although betraying the fact that costume designers were on a meager budget, closely resembled the Biosuit ()
Some people may disagree, but I feel that Virtuality didn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell regardless of its air date. If the show is picked up by a network, I will play and review a shitty game. At least Chocobo Racing is out of the question since Benji lost the Final Fantasy quiz in podcast 11 ().
Virtual Console Round-Up: June and July '09 (and some angry commentary)
The releases on Wii Virtual Console have continued to dwindle. June was so depressing that we didn't even report on it at the time. And July...well, let's just say they didn't release anything for the last two weeks. As to why that is, there's a questionable email from an unnamed Nintendo of America representative, and we'll get to that later. But first, the (overpriced) VC titles. This is going to be a lengthy post, so please hit that lovely "more" button to check out the full article.
Jurassic Radio #12: Because Aunt Betty Said So
Audacity's a funny thing. Some weekends, it suffers catastrophic crashes every five minutes. Weekends like this one, it works like a charm. We managed to actually record our top five swords and sorcery games this week, and though that particular segment clocks in at more than 50 minutes, we're happy enough with how it turned out.
But 50 minutes is way too long -- it pushed this episode to nearly two-and-a-half hours -- so we'll be tweaking "top five" based on the number of guests in a given episode. Five people discussing five games each naturally gets unwieldy, so if we continue to record with five people, we'll shrink it to four or three entries.
We also discuss 'SPLOSION MAN, FINAL FANTASY CRYSTAL CHRONICLES: MY LIFE AS A DARKLORD, FINAL FANTASY XI (for waaay too long), VAMPIRE THE MASQUERADE: BLOODLINES and BOOMBLOX.
In Winning Time, we debate the moral ambiguity in PIKMIN 2 and FREEDOM for the Apple ][e.
PODCAST
(right-click to save, use player below, or get the show on iTunes here)
Jurassic Radio #12: Because Aunt Betty Said So
00:00 - 35:56 -- What we've been playing
ACT BREAK -- Milkcan, "Baby Baby"
36:35 - 58:17 -- Winning Time, PIKMIN 2, part 1
58:18 - 1:06:35 -- FREEDOM retro review
ACT BREAK -- NOFX, "Anarchy Camp"
1:07:35 - 2:01:45 -- Top Five Swords & Sorcery-ish games
ACT BREAK -- Big D & the Kids Table, "Noise Complaint"
2:02:39 -- 2:22:11 -- The News with Gamegnathus
OUTRO -- Bad Religion, "Supersonic"
TOP FIVE SWORDS & SORCERY GAMES
Pete R. / Gamegnathus
5. HEROES OF MIGHT AND MAGIC franchise (PC)
4. TRINE (PC, PS3)
3. WARHAMMER: AGE OF RECKONING (PC)
2. CONQUEST OF CAMELOT (PC)
1. BALDUR'S GATE (PC)
Nate S./ Gamertooth Tiger
5. DUNGEON SIEGE (PC)
4. NEVERWINTER NIGHTS (PC)
3. VAGRANT STORY (PS1)
2. THE ELDER SCROLLS: OBLIVION (PC, PS3, XBOX 360)
1. BALDUR'S GATE II (PC)
Pete M. / Gameosaurus Rex
5. CHRONO CROSS (PS2)
4. XENOGEARS (PS1)
3. OTOGI: MYTH OF DEMONS (XBOX)
2. SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS (PS2)
1. FINAL FANTASY VIII (PS1, PC)
Ben P. / Benji
5. FINAL FANTASY I (NES)
4. GOD OF WAR (PS2)
3. WARCRAFT III (PC)
2. BETRAYAL AT KRONDOR (PC)
1. QUEST FOR GLORY 3 (PC)
Pat G. / Gameodactyl
5. WIZARDY (PC)
4. SHANNARA (PC)
3. THE ELDER SCROLLS: ARENA (PC)
2. BALDUR'S GATE: DARK ALLIANCE (PS2, GC, XBOX)
1. RAVENLOFT: STRAHD'S POSSESSION (PC)
SHOW NOTES
FREEDOM for the Apple ][e, Apple ][e emulator
Kotaku - Sierra follows Lucasarts to Steam
Gamasutra - Halo gets big eyes, blue hair
Kotaku - The 1000s of words you can't type on XBL
Business Wire - Sam Raimi to take on Warcraft film with Dark Knight producer
Gamasutra - XBL Indie games start at a dollar
Redux Review: The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition
THE SECRET OF MONKEY ISLAND comes from the golden age of point-and-click adventures a time when men were Men and LucasArts 'SCUMM' engine churned out great adventure games one after the other. Even in a crowded field of great games Monkey Island stood out -- fondly remembered by anyone who loves the genre. But the remake can be cruel mistress. Change too much and rabid fanboys will descend on forums and maul your precious remake; change too little and risk being accused of slapping a new box on an old product then making people pay for it again. THE SECRET OF MONKEY ISLAND: SPECIAL EDITION does a neat trick of failing at both.
Let's address the game breaker up front: the new control layout. In the original Monkey Island your inventory and verb buttons were laid out in full at the bottom of the screen, allowing you to navigate the world and control your inventory with two simple mouse clicks. For reasons beyond comprehension, this simple system has been replaced with a menu-driven monster. You can press buttons to bring up menus for inventory and action controls, which then cover the entire play area, or learn a series of hot keys for commands in the game. Thank god/George Lucas/Stephen Fry I could switch between the remake and classic versions (and their control schemes) on the fly or I'd have given up in before getting off the first island. There's a special kind of shame reserved for programmers who make an interface clunkier then one designed 2 decades ago.
The irony is they've broken the control scheme in an attempt to better display their new artwork - another place where they've come up short. While the hot swapping between classic and remake sounds like a neat idea, it hamstrings any graphic overhaul. Every screen and frame has to sync up with the original, so everything they've 'redone' is basically a palette swap. Characters move in the same jerky fashion that was forgiven 20 years ago, but looks ridiculous in 1080p. The new voice overs aren't synced to characters mouths and background characters seem to suffer from Parkinson's. The backgrounds also seem to be shackled to the original. The original resolutions meant you could render only basic objects at put one or two to a screen. Put more than a few objects on the screen in a 320x200 pixel screen and things start to feel cluttered but put those same objects in 1080p and the screens feels sterile and sparse.
The voice acting isn't embarrassing but they don't bring anything new to the script. Bonus fail: you can't skip the spoken lines, which gets frustrating in a game where dialogue is often part of the puzzle and you're forced to listen to the same lines over and over again.
On the whole the remake is a failure. Clunky controls will frustrate newcomers, and the new visuals aren't stellar enough to forgive that. I promised myself that I would play the remake the whole way through for this review, but I constantly fought the the urge to switch to classic mode for better controls and textual dialogue. If you've never played Monkey Island, the remake is worth 10 bucks. Just switch it to classic and enjoy some old skool goodness. If you're a Monkey Island veteran, keep moving. There's nothing to see here.
If you're jonesing for some more LucasArts point-and-click goodness, I recommend tracking down Full Throttle, The Dig and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. The Indiana Jones in particular is a gem - often forgotten it's one of the most intricate and challenging of the time.
Jurassic Radio #11: And Megan Fox as That Girl
A funny thing happened on the way to the FTP server.
We had a top five for this week -- our favorite swords and sorcery games -- to match our planned discussion of "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince." I explicitly remember recording all 25 minutes of it. I even remember pausing it after my mom, who's visiting my place this week, interrupted us to let her dogs out.
But all of that segment is gone, and encouragingly enough, none of us were too distraught to learn as much. We're just going to do it over next week, with better rationales and less dead air.
In its place this week, you get a Final Fantasy trivia-off, the second half of our SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS Winning Time and, of course, Potter chat.
We also talk about BATTLEFIELD 1943, BLOOD BOWL, HALO 3, BLAZBLUE and HOLY INVASION OF PRIVACY, BADMAN. WHAT DID I DO TO DESERVE THIS?
And for the record, I'll be drafting another Final Fantasy quiz for next week, with more discrete answers and a premeditated prize or punishment. To hear us deliberate about how to award or punish the next winner or loser, stay tuned until the ending of today's episode.
Lastly (and though I've developed absolutely no consensus on this aside from some encouraging words from Gamegnathus and the Gameodactyl), we're going to kick off a rotating series of media discussions next week, starting with our second Winning Time game, PIKMIN 2. The following week, we're going to listen to an album to be determined. The week after that, we'll wrap up our Pikmin 2 talk, and the week after that, we will have read and will discuss Methland: The Death and Life of an American Small Town.
Then, barring any sudden and unwelcome explosions of outrage, we'll jump into our third Winning Time game, GODHAND.
So, you see what we're doing there? Bi-weekly installments of Winning Time, with alternating music and literary chit chat in between. As if we weren't already tackling more popular culture than we have time for.
PODCAST
(click to play, or get the show on iTunes here)
Jurassic Radio #11: And Megan Fox as That Girl
00:00 - 07:23 -- Final Fantasy trivia-off
07:23 - 27:33 -- What we've been playing
ACT BREAK -- Cassius, "Rock Number One"
28:30 - 50:50 -- Winning Time, Shadow of the Colossus, part 2
ACT BREAK -- Dandy Warhols, "I Am a Scientist"
51:30 - 1:05:03 -- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
1:05:03 - 1:17:34 -- News
OUTRO -- Kow Otani, "Opened Path - Fight with Colossus"
SHOW NOTES
Hype-Inducing Review: "BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger"
- Awesome, in-your-face limited edition. If you don't have it already, we feel sorry for you.
On June 30th, Aksys Games published two console versions (PS3, 360) of the arcade 2D fighter BLAZBLUE: CALAMITY TRIGGER. Living more than 50 miles away from a major city, I never had the opportunity to play this particular fighter on an arcade cabinet. But, being a game from GUILTY GEAR series creators Arc System Works, I had a feeling it would be good. And now, three weeks after the game's release, the critical acclaim is overflowing. At least in the North American audience, it would seem that BlazBlue has triumphed as the pinnacle 2D fighter. I haven't seen this sort of well-justified frenzy about a 2D fighter since MARVEL VS CAPCOM 2 (which, oddly enough, will be making a reappearance on the market very soon).
BlazBlue succeeds for many of the same reasons that the Guilty Gear series has had its own cult following for the last decade. The cast of playable characters are all unique and engaging, not only in terms of their playability, but also their characterization and subplot. Combine that with stunning 2D anime visuals (in 720p or 1080i on your home consoles), and a killer soundtrack by Guilty Gear veteran Daisuke Ishiwatari, and it's clear that BlazBlue is a logical progression and extension of Arc System Works' fighting games.
Noel sports some awesome incadescent shadows. That means she's ready to pwn you.
The console version adds a "story mode" that the arcade cabinets did not have; and though it does not allow for outright scene-skipping (you can fast forward, but not skip), each of the ten playable characters have multiple story branches to explore. Being thrust into a strange, semi-sci-fi fantasy world is an overwhelming experience, and you have to "play detective" to figure out for yourself what's going on. If you want to cheat, I recommend BlazBlue's wikipedia page for plot and characters summaries.
But if that doesn't hold your attention, I promise you that learning to master a play style for your favorite character will. Every one of the playable characters has such a strange fighting style, there is not a single "clone" among the playable characters. The learning curve / "barrier of entry" for each character is different, and some characters are very difficult to master. Many players are already sick of people playing as Jin and spamming the "ice bike" move. But, part of what makes the fighting so compelling in this game is that guarding and evasion are valued quite highly, and a quick-thinking strategist can get past virtually any opponent who exploits a particular move.
Kitty umbrella <3
Who's my "main" character, you ask? Being a rather effeminate creature at heart, I tend to choose female players in fighting games. In BlazBlue, my choices were limited to four (five if you include v-13, the final boss of the arcade mode). I quickly latched on to Rachel Alucard, "The Spectator," and a vampire who plays a unique role in the game's story. As a combatant, Rachel relies on tricks and traps to achieve victory, and she is constantly accompanied by her two familiars, the shape-shifting cat Nago and pesky bat Gii. Rachel also provides a compelling reason to leave the game's voice mode on English, as Mela Lee (AR TONELICO, PERSONA 3, and many anime productions) provides a high-British accent that is both stunning and charming.
The online mode is deep and comprehensive, with character rankings helping you determine who is the amateur, and who is the veteran. It's also a great place to get away from the cold, calculating AI of single-player mode and see what other people will do with their character of choice. In two weeks' time, I already have plenty of stories to share about experiences I've had against players who specialize in such hard-to-master characters as Arakune, Taokaka, and yes, even Carl.
If you need further proof that this game is awesome, how about this? Aksys Games intentionally produced a low-print run of the game's Limited Edition (for both consoles). Holding the same retail price as the regular edition, the LE comes with three additional discs: a full, two-disc soundtrack, and a special DVD with tutorial videos and other neat trinkets. This LE sold out in record time. If you can find a copy of the LE in a retail store today, you are a lucky person indeed. Copies of the LE are already going for double their retail value on eBay, because desperate fans that came a little late to the party want it that much.
The game's regular edition will be released on July 28th, so if you haven't picked up this fantastic 2D fighter yet, that's your next chance. Do not miss out on this.
I've written much about BlazBlue at this point, and though I have plenty more to say, I think I'll cut myself off here and just go back to playing. That's usually a good sign that the game is worthy of high accolades. Gameosaurus declares a solid five out of five for BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger.
'That’s why Katie Coo is a favorite'
The multi-talented and omnipresent Pat Gann today posted an interview with the Gregory Brothers, the four-headed New York City monster behind the outstanding Auto-Tune the News videos.
Their work isn't even vaguely gaming-related, but we sample their talents so capriciously that it's only fair to give them (and the Gameodactyl) whatever exposure we can offer.
So check out the solid interview, and kudos to Pat for having enough sense and PR panache to line it up.