Category Archives: Video Games

June 23, 2012

The 3DS XL: Nintendo’s Imperfect Update

By Joe

Nintendo has an odd relationship when it comes to portable gaming devices.  The company has experienced immense success and great failure at the same time.  And even though the company rarely is ahead of the technological curve when it comes to its hardware, it still manages to dominate in sales.  The portable section of Nintendo’s portfolio is one the company can rely on to almost always turn a profit.  The only true failure was the Virtual Boy, a complete and total misfire.  The 3DS had a failed launch, but since a dramatic price cut and better software releases, the handheld has surged.  It may not have been profitable in 2011, but it almost certainly will be in 2012.

Nintendo’s approach to its main handheld units has been fairly consistent.  The original Game Boy was launched in 1989 and was Nintendo’s first true portable console.  The company had already made a name for itself in portable stand-alone games under the Game & Watch label, but the Game Boy operated like a home console and could switch out the software whenever the user wished.  The unit was fairly powerful for the time, though not on par with home console devices.  It had the same button layout as Nintendo’s home console, which made adapting games easy once accounting for the reduced tech.  Many companies tried to usurp the Game Boy as the market leader in portable gaming devices and all took the approach of releasing more powerful, color based systems.  Nintendo’s strategy of sacrificing power for better battery consumption proved correct as the Game Boy lasted for the entire duration of the 90’s while more powerful handhelds like the Game Gear and Lynx faded away (though the Game Gear was moderately successful in its own right, but sales for it amounted to about 1/10 of Game Boy’s).

In 1996 Nintendo introduced a new Game Boy to market, the Game Boy Pocket.  It was the same hardware, just shrunk down to a more portable style that required fewer batteries to operate.  This was the first major revision for the Game Boy, and the second would come in 1998 with the introduction of the long-awaited Game Boy Color.  The Game Boy Color did have the distinction of being slightly more powerful than the old hardware, but not by leaps and bounds.  Some games designed for it would not work on older Game Boys, making it arguably its own distinct handheld and not an actual revision.

The first revision to the Game Boy, the Game Boy Pocket, made the device more portable and more economical.

The Game Boy’s first true successor was the Game Boy Advance which was released in 2001.  While all previous Game Boys had a vertical format, the GBA had a horizontal one similar to the Game Gear.  It had a 32-bit processor but a lack of any 3D capabilities made it more comparable to a Super Nintendo than say a Playstation.  Aside from the enhanced tech capabilities, the only other major addition was the inclusion of two shoulder buttons.  Many fans were disappointed that Nintendo didn’t add two additional face buttons which would have made SNES to GBA ports near perfect.  Like the original Game Boy, the GBA would receive multiple revisions.  The first was the GBA SP, which made the GBA resemble an old Game Boy Pocket but with a hinge in the middle so it could be folded and stored away to protect the screen (and make it more portable).  The major addition to the SP though was the inclusion of a front-light, something gamers had been demanding for over a decade.  No additional buttons were added though, and the new design was less comfortable than the original but the inclusion of the light, rechargeable battery, and screen protection made it superior.  A third revision would follow in 2005, the GBA Micro.  The Micro removed the backwards compatibility of the SP with original Game Boy cartridges, but shrunk the whole thing into a tiny size that resembled a Famicom/NES controller.  The unit was also back-lit and provided a slightly better picture, though at a reduced size.   At the same time, a new GBA SP was released that had a back-lit screen instead of a front-lit, which was much more effective.  This was more of a running change than a true revision, but worth noting.

The Nintendo DS followed the GBA in 2005 and has been no stranger to revisions.  The original was bulky and unattractive, and a new model was released in 2006.  Dubbed the DS Lite, it was a more streamlined take on the console.  The DSi would follow the Lite and add better networking capabilities, an SD card slot, camera, and slightly larger screen.  The final revision to the DS came in the form of the DSi XL, just an over-sized DSi.

Which brings me to the 3DS.  When the 3DS was launched last year most gamers assumed a revision was inevitable.  I was a day one purchaser of the unit, and while I’ve enjoyed it quite a bit, there’s no denying there are some obvious short-comings that could be addressed with a future update.  The system is designed just like a DS, but Nintendo made some odd choices with the unit that do cause minor problems.  For one, the bottom screen is smaller than the top.  This isn’t necessarily an issue in and of itself, but there’s a raised border around the bottom screen that causes lines to form on the top screen when the unit is closed.  Mine hasn’t caused any permanent damage, but it is annoying to have to clean the top screen every time I use it.  The circle pad causes a similar issue on the top piece, but not on the screen thankfully.  And ever since the unit’s reveal, gamers have yearned for a second circle pad, which was addressed by Nintendo with the Circle Pad Pro attachment.  The attachment not only adds the desired second circle pad, but also adds two additional shoulder buttons to the unit putting it on par with home console controllers.  The attachment works, but is bulky as Hell and using the face buttons with it is some-what cumbersome.  The overall power of the unit, particularly the screen resolution, is not very impressive either.  Especially when compared with the more recently released Playstation Vita.

Most expected Nintendo to unveil a new 3DS at E3 this year.  Early reports out of China before the show seemed to confirm this, but come show-time nothing was seen.  In a questionable move, Nintendo chose to reveal the 3DS XL after E3 in an online developer conference.  The 3DS XL is the expected update to the 3DS, but is it the update gamers had been looking forward to?  In short:  No.

The 3DS XL is exactly what the name implies.  It’s an over-sized 3DS.  This isn’t a bad thing on its own.  While a larger 3DS is less portable, the original is pretty cramped and a larger one would work better for those who tend to play their 3DS in longer play sessions as opposed to quick bursts.  And even though it presumably requires more power to function when compared with the current model, the XL will reportedly have slightly better battery life (5-8 hours for 3DS games).

Congrats Nintendo! It only took you a few short months to render this attachment useless!

If the biggest issue gamers had with the 3DS were its size and battery life (a legitimate complaint), the XL would be well received.  And when it hits stores it very well may be.  For me, this update is fairly pointless.  The screen size has been enhanced, but the resolution remains the same.  The resolution on the current 3DS is underwhelming at best.  Games that look good on the unit do so in spite of the unit’s resolution.  A game like Resident Evil: Revelations is fairly impressive from a visual standpoint, but the low-res picture washes out the image and adds a blurry texture to everything.  Especially in the darker environments, I felt like I needed to wipe off the screen constantly even though there was nothing on it.  I played the game with the Circle Pad Pro, which as I mentioned, is a cumbersome add-on.  It does improve the gameplay though, but for some reason Nintendo did not incorporate it into the design of the XL.  The unit is bigger, one would think this would allow Nintendo to add the additional shoulder buttons, or at the very least, a second circle pad!  Nintendo chose not to, which not only seems foolish, but renders the Circle Pad Pro unusable with the XL.  A game like RE: Revelations will most likely play worse on the XL because of the controller configuration, and look worse because the low-res image is being blown-up beyond its intended size.  And perhaps just to add one last bit of insult to injury, the bottom screen is still smaller than the top and the raised border still exists so it’s likely the same screen line problem of the current 3DS will be prevalent here.

Obviously, I can’t pass judgement on a piece of hardware that isn’t even available yet.  It’s entirely possible that the 3DS XL is superior to the current 3DS based on the increased size and superior battery life enough to justify a purchase, or even an upgrade.  I’ll be surprised if that’s my opinion come August when the unit hits stores alongside New Super Mario Bros. 2 as it fails to address the real problems I personally have with the 3DS.  Plus if I were to upgrade it would render my Circle Pad Pro useless which is not something I am eager to do (but would have been willing to do if the new 3DS made it obsolete by incorporating its features into the design).  This just seems like a completely unnecessary update to the current hardware.

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June 9, 2012

What to Make of E3 2012?

By Joe

If you’re even remotely into video games then you know that every June the Electronic Entertainment Expo (better known as E3) takes place in LA and all of the major players in the video game world unveil to the public what they have in store for the masses.  Often times E3 is the first chance for gamers to get a look at the next big “thing” from the major developers, be that thing a new console or the return of a beloved franchise.  This year’s E3 promised to reveal more about Nintendo’s next machine, the Wii U, and the public figured to get its first look at the latest in long-running franchises like Halo and Super Mario Bros.  As for surprises, well it was entirely possible, though not likely, we’d get some info on the successors to the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 and maybe a new 3DS.  Now that E3 2012 is in the books, what did I think of it?  I’m glad you asked!

Microsoft/Sony

I’m lumping these two together for reasons that will be obvious once I’m done.  Both console publishers weren’t expected to unveil new hardware at E3 and instead would aim to boost their current market share.  Microsoft, predictably, threw a bunch of Kinect stuff at the attendees since that’s presently making them a boatload of money even if the “hardcore” gaming community couldn’t care less about it.  There was Halo 4 though, which was the game most Xbox fans were interested in.  As the first Halo not developed by Bungie, there is some uncertainty surrounding it but it seems like most were satisfied.  Beyond that it was mostly third party games that were spotlighted and some kind of fancy touch-screen junk.  Ho-hum.

Sony was expected to tout the Vita to PS3 connectivity in hopes of boosting the Vita’s severely lacking sales.  Sony’s presentation ended up looking like a business meeting at times and was a total snooze-fest.  They did talk up the connectivity of the Vita and PS3, but really didn’t get behind the Vita like I thought they would.  Like Microsoft, the emphasis was on third-party releases but Sony did flash some new exclusives such as The Last of Us and the latest from Heavy Rain developer, Quantic Dream; a new title similar to Heavy Rain called Beyond:  Two Souls.  I was surprised at how shitty 2012 looks for the Vita as the best titles coming to the handheld are PS3 ports like Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time and Guacamelee, making me feel less secure in my purchase.

Studio Ghibli is being used to help develop a game? You bet I want in on that!

If you can’t tell, I was pretty unimpressed with the offerings Sony and Microsoft made.  The game that excited me most on their machines was probably Ni No Kuni, the Level 5 and Studio Ghibli collaboration for the PS3 that’s already out in Japan.  I already knew enough about that title though, so it wasn’t like E3 was some big unveiling for it.  Plus it’s a JRPG which doesn’t attract much attention these days.  There was really nothing from Square-Enix, which surprised me, other than their produced revival of Tomb Raider which got a lot of people talking (IGN gave it the title of best game of E3), but I just can’t get excited about a Tomb Raider game.  Microsoft and Sony essentially punted on E3, and with next year’s E3 expected to showcase their new machines, I suppose it’s understandable.

Nintendo

Nintendo had the most to gain with E3 2012 so I expected the Big N to pull out the big guns.  After all, E3 marked the best opportunity for the company to sell the public on its latest console the Wii U, while also pumping up the money-printer known as the 3DS.

Before I get to the Wii U, let’s look at the 3DS.  Interestingly, around this time last year the handheld was floundering and Nintendo was already contemplating a price cut which it would eventually implement.  That price reduction, along with some better software, propelled the 3DS to the top of the sales charts.  Nintendo may be losing money on each unit sold right now, but it’s better than having them sit on the store shelves.  It was thought that Nintendo would show off a 3DS Lite, or as media reports before the show appeared to leak, a 3DS XL which would basically combine the existing hardware with the Circle Pad Pro attachment.  These reports proved erroneous, for now anyways, as Nintendo did not have a new 3DS to show off.  This probably has a lot to do with the current model both selling well and at a loss.  Why sink more R&D into it now?  Nintendo will likely wait for sales to slow down before unveiling a new SKU.

Ghost-busting, Luigi style.

As for the games, well the 3DS didn’t show off much new, and instead finally gave the public a glimpse into games it had already announced but had yet to really show off.  These games included both a new entry in the Paper Mario franchise and a sequel to the decade-old Luigi’s Mansion.  Both were on display at E3 this year and both pretty much delivered what I think most gamers were expecting.  Neither one appears to break the mold much, and Paper Mario:  Sticker Star has some weird sticker gimmick that I’m not sure I like, but gameplay-wise both titles appear solid.  Luigi’s Mansion:  Dark Moon is perhaps slightly more interesting just because it’s a franchise Nintendo has yet to exploit.  The first game, released as a Gamecube launch title, was a solid enough title but one that felt like it needed a sequel to fully realize its potential.  It’s surprising a sequel has taken this long and hopefully it’s a more complete game this time out.

I hope you like coins…

The big, new, title for the 3DS announced just before E3 is New Super Mario Bros. 2.  New Super Mario Bros. is one of the DS’s all-time best sellers, while New Super Mario Bros. Wii is one of the all-time best sellers period, so it’s no surprise the game is returning in 2012.  NSMB2 looks to be more of the same.  Nintendo is bringing back the leaf power-up, much as it did with Super Mario 3D Land, though this time it’s function is identical to it’s original powers in Super Mario Bros. 3, complete with P Meter and all.  It’s also incorporating the Wii version’s simultaneous play, as two players can play as Mario and Luigi at the same time, which sounds like more fun than it looks.  This edition also places emphasis on coin collecting (one of the new power-ups, a gold fire flower, lets Mario turn pretty much everything into coins) with the goal being to collect a million over the course of the game.  It’s unclear if that’s some sort of requirement or just a challenge, but it’s not something that has me excited at all.  Coin collecting, and collecting things in general in platformers, is mundane.  I don’t mind a few hidden items, like the star coins, which are usually some-what challenging to get, but just grabbing coins is often an after-thought.  The games are so easy that the player doesn’t really have to go out of their way to get coins and yet will still end up with over 100 lives.  I’ve recently been playing a lot of the Super Nintendo classic Super Mario World and I wish Nintendo would look to that title for inspiration.  The challenge in that game was finding numerous secret exits and extra levels which was far more gratifying than coin collecting.  NSMB2 does at least return the Koopalings, something I wish had been included in Super Mario 3D Land, so that’s a plus.

It also wasn’t enough to have just one new entry in the New Super Mario Bros. franchise as Nintendo also showed off New Super Mario Bros. U, the lead title for the new Wii U console.  It’s basically what you would expect, though Nintendo hopes to high-light the Wii U’s new controller.  By doing so, the Wii U game uses the Wii remotes for general play, but one person can use the new controller to add items to the levels, kind of like a Dungeon Master or something.  The game will have co-op play and will have a different set of levels than the 3DS game plus Yoshi and a new suit; the flying squirrel.

Mario’s new suit: The Flying Squirrel. At least it makes more sense than the raccoon tail.

That little segue brings me to the Wii U and why I really couldn’t care less at this point.  If you weren’t aware, the Wii U’s main selling point is this new controller.  It’s basically like a DS only with one screen and two analog sticks.  The touchscreen on it will be used differently for each game.  In ZombiU, it’s used to display little puzzles like key-code readers for doors and it’s designed to get the player to look away from the screen while hoards of zombies are descending upon the player to enhance the excitement.  In Batman: Arkham City, it just displays Batman’s gadgets and instead of selecting them with a touch of a button you use the touchscreen.  It’s also used to steer his remote bat-a-rang and control his de-encoder device.  A new title called Nintendo Land figures to show off other uses for the controller (the game is basically the Wii U’s version of Wii Sports, though marketed better by using Nintendo characters) but Nintendo hasn’t committed to it as a pack-in title, which would be a huge mistake, in my opinion.

If the uses for the controller do not wet your appetite, then I’m afraid there isn’t much going for the Wii U.  For me, it just doesn’t sound all that interesting.  It’s basically taking the DS experience to the home console.  And it’s being reported a single charge will only get you about 2 and a half hours of gameplay out of the controller which will make owning two a necessity for anyone looking to game for that length of time.  Also hurting it is the fact that some titles, like Arkham City and Mass Effect 3, will have been available for quite some time on other consoles by the time they’re released.  Do the additions to Arkham City make you want to buy it again?  I think for most the answer will be “no.”  And it’s also being reported that the Wii U may not even be as powerful as the 360 and PS3.  All of this tells me that Nintendo needs to get its big franchises onto this thing fast if it expects to move a bunch of units, because I don’t see any system sellers for it right now.

Wreck-It Ralph

I love this concept, hopefully it’s utilized well.

Have you heard about this one?  E3 isn’t known for movie reveals, but there’s also never been a movie like Wreck-It Ralph.  Best described as video game’s Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Wreck-It Ralph is an animated feature from Disney that’s like a love letter to gaming.  The main character (voiced by John C. Reilly), is the antagonist in a Donkey Kong-like game who is sick of being the bad guy.  The trailer features a visually amusing gag of Ralph sitting in a therapy session with some of gaming’s biggest villains including Bowser and M. Bison.  The CG-animated film is directed by Rich Moore who was the lead director on the first several seasons of Futurama which certainly bodes well for the film.  I love the concept, but honestly found the trailer underwhelming.  The jokes just weren’t very funny, but I’ll refrain from passing judgement until I actually see it.  The film is currently set for a November release.

All in all, I think E3 2012 was one of the least interesting E3’s in recent memory.  Perhaps if Nintendo had yet to unveil the Wii U it would have been more exciting, but we already saw this thing in action a year ago and this year it was all about the launch-window software, which really didn’t impress.  Nintendo also didn’t unveil any pricing, which has me concerned, as I’m sure the company doesn’t want to sell this thing at a loss like it currently is doing for the 3DS.  I’m expecting a bare-bones release, as in one controller and no pack-in games, for around $300.  Any higher and Nintendo is crazy.

And if Nintendo failed to seize the moment, Microsoft and Sony weren’t willing to steal the spotlight.  Neither company really unveiled anything new and preferred to rest on its laurels.  Sure this year’s E3 was the public’s first look at Halo 4 and The Last of Us, but I think we all have a reasonable expectation of what they’ll play like.  There were no new games shown that have me excited, and the most interesting for me was Beyond:  Two Souls but that one is still a long way off.  2012 started off with a bang, but the fall looks to be easier on the wallet, I’ll leave you to decide if that’s a good thing or not.

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May 26, 2012

The Hyperkin SupaBoy!

By Joe

The Hyperkin SupaBoy.

My interest in portable gaming has always exceeded the reality of how much time I spend with it.  From the very beginning, I’ve always been enamored with the concept of shrinking down a home console and taking it on the road.  I was positively thrilled the first time I saw a Gameboy cartridge and how it looked pretty much exactly like a miniature NES cart.  The Gameboy also had the same color scheme as the NES and boasted its own versions of Mario, Zelda, and Metroid.  However, while the physical game may have looked like a mini NES cart, the actual games were not on the same technological level.

I touched on this concept when talking about the new Playstation Vita.  The Vita has a cool cross-platform feature that allows gamers to share save files between Vita games and their PS3 counterpart.  It’s an expensive feature, but a cool one.  And while Vita games aren’t quite on the same technological level as PS3 ones, they’re fairly close and some less-demanding titles are nearly identical in looks and features.  This is pretty close to having the home console experience on the go.  Before the closest anyone had got to this was Sega when it released the Nomad in the mid 90’s.  The Nomad was a portable Genesis that could also be used like a home console.  It was pretty cool, but the system’s wretched battery life made it portable in concept only.  The thing basically went thru an entire package of batteries in one session.  Sure you could use an AC adapter as well, but sometimes a power outlet isn’t readily available when you’re on the go.

Apparently I’m not the only intrigued by the idea of being able to carry a console in my pocket as recently clone systems have gained in popularity.  For those unfamiliar, a clone system is a console created by a third party that mimics the original first party offering.  Since these companies that create these systems owe no allegiance to Nintendo or Sega, a clone system can be compatible with multiple systems.  One of the most popular ones is the Retron 3 which has a cartridge slot for NES, SNES, and Genesis games.  The quality of these machines is definitely not up to par with the originals, and often some software gives them issues, but for the most part they get the job done.  Lately, portable clone systems have started to show up in greater frequency which is what brings me to the subject of this post:  Hyperkin’s SupaBoy.

Super Metroid to go? Yes, please!

The SupaBoy is a portable Super Nintendo.  It is a true console for the commuting gamer.  Sure the technology is nearly 20 years old, but it’s a Super Nintendo, arguably the greatest video game console of all time!  It uses a standard SNES game cart and, as best I can tell, can play pretty much every game released for the SNES.  Now, that statement isn’t without some controversy.  When the SupaBoy was first released, several gamers took to youtube to review it and comment on what games worked and what didn’t.  The big culprits with any SNES clone system are Super Mario RPG, Star Fox, and Earthbound.  SMRPG and Star Fox cause problems because of the graphical technology needed to power the games (Star Fox, if you recall, famously made use of the Super FX chip) while Earthbound has a unique feature to prevent it from working on pirated consoles that causes the game to overload the screen with non-player characters and enemies, making it virtually unplayable.  The first batch of SupaBoys appeared to not work with these games, as well as others, though there was some confusion over Super Mario RPG and if it mattered where the game was manufactured.  Since Hyperkin released the second round, more videos have popped up of users getting these games to work.  I don’t at present have any of the games alleged to not work, so I cannot confirm anything.  Buyer beware.

Hyperkin wisely played to the nostalgic crowd when it designed the SupaBoy as it looks exactly like an oversized US SNES controller.  It has the same color scheme and the buttons and D-pad are in the same style.  Start and Select had to be moved but that hardly takes away from the look of the machine; it’s pretty cool.  Hyperkin also added two controller inputs to the front of the system so this bad boy can be hooked up to a TV with the included AV cable and used as a standard SNES.  The system is big, but feels good in the hands.  It’s made of hard plastic, and though it’s definitely not of a high quality in terms of feel, it’s better than expected.  On mine, the D-pad feels a little funky, it has more play on one side, but it works fine.  The buttons are very “clicky” which makes it kind of a noisy system to play.  There are games I won’t play on the train as they’d just be too noisy and would likely irritate the patron sitting beside me.  Because SNES game cartridges are fairly large, the SupaBoy has to be large to accommodate.  As a result, this isn’t the most portable system around as it’s not likely to fit in your pocket.  In a backpack sure, but it’s got nothing on the DS, for example.  And since the game carts are so large you’re probably not going to carry too many around, but beggars can’t be choosers.

Still the best TMNT game.

Enough of the specs, how does it play?  Quite well.  When plugged into a TV, it looks no different to me than my old SNES.  The picture quality is sharp, the audio is good, and I haven’t noticed any new glitches or slowdown.  On the go, it also looks and plays great.  The color palette on the system’s screen is perhaps slightly darker, but it’s just as clear as it is on a television.  It does take some getting used to, but after 10 minutes or so I found myself fully immersed in the gameplay experience.  So far I’ve only tried three titles on the system:  Super Mario World, Turtles in Time, and Super Metroid.  Of the three, I’ve spent the most time with Super Metroid as I work my way thru that classic title.  I’ve switched between playing with a controller and playing with just the SupaBoy and I don’t notice any change in how well I play the game.  The experience is fully realized when using the SupaBoy, which is exactly what I was looking for.

I suspect a fair majority of the hits I end up getting for this blog post will revolve around the hardware itself.  Specifically, the audio.  Take one look at the SupaBoy on amazon.com and you’ll notice several reviewers complaining about the audio.  On a lot of models there was a defect that caused a high pitch sound to come over the speakers.  There apparently was no fix and owners either returned their system in hopes of getting a better one or learned to deal with it.  When I purchased my SupaBoy I was told this had been fixed and the audio screw-up was isolated to the first batch of systems produced.  So far, this seems to be true as I haven’t had any issues.

Another common complaint with clone systems is that the pin connectors are inferior in some way.  This is a common complaint with another Hyperkin product, the Genesis portable clone the Gen Mobile, which became popular enough to even get Sega’s official branding.  On that system, many gamers have had problems removing cartridges because the pin connector is just too snug and the system ends up breaking.  The SupaBoy does provide a fairly snug fit, but it’s not too bad and I don’t feel like I’m doing any damage to the unit when I insert and remove games.  It would have been nice if Hyperkin could have included an eject button like the original console, but it seems fine.  Another concern some have is aimed at the battery and battery life.  The SupaBoy uses a rechargeable battery that comes with the system.  It’s removable too, so once it can’t hold a charge it can be replaced.  I’ve never gone longer than 2 hours with the SupaBoy and the battery indicator did not yet reach red status, indicating it would need to be re-charged soon.  Hyperkin says expect 2 and a half to 3 hours per charge, which isn’t great but is on par with current handhelds.

Not only is it a portable SNES, the SupaBoy is a fully functioning home console as well.

I purchased my SupaBoy from Game Swap USA, a Florida based retailer that sells on eBay.  My unit came with two clone controllers so I could easily play on my TV or invite a friend to play as well (haven’t tried that, but I assume it would be a bit weird sharing the tiny screen with one player holding the unit and the other playing via controller).  The system can use regular SNES attachments and can also use some other third-party devices like the Game Genie.  It does play Super Famicom games, which is pretty cool if there are any in your collection you would like to enjoy on the go.  Some PAL games work as well, but not all.

Now, it’s not all fun and games with clone systems, and unfortunately the SupaBoy is no different when it comes to that.  I found this out the hard way.  After pro-longed play the unit appears to be prone to over-heating which can cause freezing.  I had a game of Super Metroid freeze on me after I had been playing it for less than two hours.  When I turned the unit back on the next day, I found all of my save data had been erased.  Damn!  It gets worse.  I hadn’t re-charged the unit and started over my game.  After maybe a half hour the screen started to get buggy.  I hadn’t seen it do this before, but I knew I was probably running low on battery.  I immediately plugged the unit into a wall outlet and the screen corrected itself.  I turned the unit off and just for piece of mind inserted Super Mario World to make sure the unit was fine.  It wouldn’t boot up.  I figured it was due to the battery being run down so I tried it again an hour later and Super Mario World booted up fine, but with one problem:  no save data!  So, I lost my save game data that was around 20 years old.  I’ve read online some people have had this issue as well, and were able to avoid having their save data erased by reseting the unit before turning it off when it freezes.  I guess I’m going to have to be really careful and baby the Hell out of this system.

Hyperkin’s SupaBoy is not alone in the portable SNES gaming world.  Other companies have put out their own version of a portable SNES unit.  The SupaBoy appeared to get the most praise from the gaming community so it was the one I went with, but there are supporters for other devices out there such as the FC-16 Go by Yobo and the RetroDuo by Retro-Bit.  If you love classic games and think a portable Super Nintendo is something you would be interested in then I can safely recommend the SupaBoy, but do your homework first and don’t expect Nintendo-level quality.  It has its own strengths and weaknesses, but at the end of the day, it’s a freaking portable Super Nintendo, which says it all!

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April 30, 2012

Greatest Games: Devil May Cry

By Joe

Devil May Cry (2001)

Capcom has gone thru many identities throughout its existence.  Early on Capcom made its mark with the blue bomber, Mega Man, and his blend of run and gun platforming.  Mega Man had six games released on the original Nintendo, plus many more on the Gameboy, Super Nintendo, and so on with entries in both the main series and several spin-offs.  In the 90’s Capcom would establish itself as the leader in the fighting genre.  Championed by Street Fighter, Capcom’s games were the measuring stick for all 2D fighters.  The genre exploded, and like all things popular, it eventually became over-saturated.  Capcom needed a new identity as video games headed into the third dimension.  Mega Man was a 2D experience through and through, and no one knew if Street Fighter could make the jump, so it fell onto Capcom to create a new money-making franchise.  Enter Resident Evil and its focus on what would become survival horror.  Alone in the Dark was the first game to be called survival horror, but Resident Evil defined it.  It was hugely popular and it too would spawn many imitators, but Capcom had a new hit and in a new genre to boot.

A company that has always been linked to Capcom for me is Konami.  The two had a strong presence on the original NES with Konami’s most popular title probably being Contra.  Similar to Mega Man, it too was a run and gun platformer but with a much different focus.  Konami’s other big franchise was the Castlevania series, a side-scrolling action/adventure title that popularised the non-linear format of gameplay.  When systems like the Playstation and Nintendo 64 started showing up with their fancy new 3D graphics, both Konami and Capcom found themselves in the same boat when trying to bring their classics to the new hardware.  Both had some stumbles, but Konami experienced a most spectacular failure when it came to Castlevania.  Konami arguably released the best Castlevania it had ever produced and did so on the Playstation with Castlevania:  Symphony of the Night.  Even though it was on the Playstation, Konami kept the game rooted in the 2D perspective.  It garnered quite a bit of positive press, but it was mostly ignored at retail and Konami blamed that fact on the presentation.  Feeling pressured to bring Castlevania to 3D, Konami released Castlevania 64 in 1999 and it was not met well.  The press at the time seemed to think it was okay, but time has not been kind and the Castlevania diehards were not impressed.  It’s sequel later that year was not met well by critics or fans and many wondered if Castlevania could exist in 3D.

Devil May Cry went with a gothic approach for its style, which helped separate it from Onimusha and Resident Evil, but not Castlevania.

Leave it to Konami’s rival, Capcom, to get it right.  No, Capcom did not develop a Castlevania title for Konami but it might as well have done just that when it released Devil May Cry in 2001.  Devil May Cry (DMC) is one of Capcom’s greatest mistakes and best games they ever released.  It’s a mistake in that originally the game was supposed to be Resident Evil 4, but the development team would eventually realize they had something different on their hands.

When Devil May Cry came out, Resident Evil was still a bankable product.  It had also spawned a pseudo spin-off franchise in the form of Onimusha.  Onimusha had nothing to do with Resident Evil from a narrative perspective, but it was basically survival horror in feudal Japan.  It focused more on combat and was pretty successful in its own right.  Devil May Cry took that formula, and added something very familiar to gamers:  a jump button.

It seems like such a simple device, but jumping completely changed the Resident Evil/Onimusha formula.  DMC’s protagonist, Dante, could jump from ledge to ledge like Mega Man and attack from the air, leap over enemies, and soar to new heights Jill and Chris could never hope to reach.  Dante was also super-powered being a half-demon so it wasn’t like he was jumping two or three feet, he was leaping twelve or fifteen!  He could drop from any height without getting hurt, and all in all pretty much controlled like one would imagine Castlevania’s Alucard would.

Dante's demon blood lets him turn into a demonic creature giving him enhanced powers and special abilities.

DMC is an action heavy experience, and even though Dante is a half-demon, he still needs some weapons to get thru the hordes of vile machinations and weird creatures that stand in his way.  At the onset Dante is armed with a sword and a pair of revolvers, Ebony and Ivory.  The revolvers have unlimited ammo and can be fired in rapid fashion, but do little damage.  They’re used more as a means of linking damage from one enemy to the next until Dante gets close enough to hack ’em up with his blade.  Gamers can just mash the attack button and get by some of the early enemies, but more precise timing and maneuvers are needed to progress further.  Dante has a couple of moves including a rapid stabbing technique and slower hack and slash.  Arguably, the move he is known best for is the air juggle where the player upper cuts an enemy into the air with the sword and then fills them full of bullets as they hang suspended in the air.  Other weapons change things up some, including a lightning blade and a shotgun.  There’s also the ogre gauntlets that let Dante roll with just his fists.

Both the lightning blade and gauntlets can be powered up using soul orbs that are mined from fallen enemies.  The power-ups unlocked all make Dante’s devil form more powerful.  As a half-demon, Dante is able to activate his devil trigger and morph into a demonic form for a short period of time.  In said form, Dante moves faster and does more damage.  He also has special moves that let him fly and rain lightning down on his enemies or hurl massive fireballs.  The mode is activated by filling an onscreen meter, flashy kills and general good play cause the meter to fill faster.  Activating the devil trigger can quickly turn the tide of battle and is one move the player will often keep in reserve until the time is right.

As I said earlier, the game is really action heavy and is not afraid to pit the player against hordes of enemies.  DMC really popularized the recent trend in action games like God of War, Ninja Gaiden and even Arkham Asylum to have the hero fight off a crowd of foes.  The standard difficulty setting is a suitable challenge for most gamers, but the harder difficulty settings will test any gamer’s skill with a controller.  And even though the focus of the game is on action, the game does pause for some exploration elements and even  some platforming scenarios.  The game arguably shines brightest during one of its boss encounters which often present a good test for Dante.

Visually, the game was a stunner when it was released in 2001 and has aged pretty well.  The gothic aesthetic the developers went for suits the game’s mood and the boss characters are large and imaginative (though not as massive as future installments would get).  The story is just filler to give the game purpose, and that’s fine.

The new Dante featured in DmC. Fans have unkindly dubbed this "Emo Dante."

Devil May Cry was so obviously perfect an approach for Castlevania that Konami’s next game in the series was practically a clone.  And as I mentioned, lots of other action titles followed suit and tried to replicate what DMC had done.  The franchise was perhaps never more popular than when it debuted as it was considered a really fresh take on the action genre.  A sequel would follow in 2002 and was not met well.  Devil May Cry 3 mostly served as a make-up title, but by the time Devil May Cry 4 was released it felt like other titles had leapfrogged it.  Now Capcom is trying to rebrand the game as DmC and features a redesigned Dante.  Time will tell if this reboot is worthwhile, but for my money the original Devil May Cry is still the finest action title I’ve ever played.  When I first played it as a demo (bundled with the PS2 version of Resident Evil:  Code Veronica) it was like nothing I had played before.  It captivated me instantly and I have no idea how many times I played thru that 3 mission demo.  A gamer playing it for the first time today would not likely have the same experience, and they would be missing out.

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April 8, 2012

Catching Up With WWF: No Mercy

By Joe

WWF: No Mercy (2000)

It’s been awhile since my last post, 3 weeks to be exact.  It’s been a busy time and for me, and a busy time of year.  There were concerts to attend, personal relationships to pursue, Game of Thrones to catch up on, and WrestleMania!  Yes, even though I do not really consider myself an active wrestling fan I do get caught up once a year for WrestleMania as that’s traditionally when the company is at its best.  It also helps that the NFL season is over and there’s usually a lull in television programming all around (though this year, video games have been kicking my ass).  This year’s WrestleMania, like most of them, failed to live up to expectations.  I think I’m in the minority when I say that, but I really didn’t enjoy it.  I thought CM Punk and Chris Jericho put on a good show, and it’s always a nostalgic trip to see The Rock in action, but the rest of the card under-performed.  It certainly didn’t help things when one of the better matches, featuring perhaps the company’s best worker in Daniel Bryan, lasted a mere 10 seconds or so to kick off the show.  It’s one thing when an unscripted boxing match or shoot fight lasts seconds, but for a booked match like that (featuring one of the company’s major championships) to last only seconds is just cheap.  Especially when several less interesting matches receive more time, or when the show stops for terrible hip hop concerts.  Blah!

This isn’t about WrestleMania though, it’s about a little game called WWF:  No Mercy.  WrestleMania, for me, means a gathering of friends and a wrestling theme gathering pretty much requires a working Nintendo 64 and some wrestling action.  This year’s event featured WCW/nWo:  Revenge, No Mercy, and Virtual Pro-Wrestling 2.  For fans of wrestling games, the connection is obvious.  All three were developed by AKI Corporation who have become synonymous with wrestling games.  American audiences were first introduced to them in 1997 when WCW vs. nWo:  World Tour was released for the Nintendo 64 and was a major success.  The game laid the groundwork for the company’s many future games.

World Tour was fairly straight-forward in its game modes.  It was basically just one on one, two on two, or battle royal which put four wrestlers in the ring at the same time.  There were no over-the-top entrances and the single player mode just put the player up against a series of opponents culminating in a title match.  The roster was huge and included all of the main wrestlers from WCW at the time and even a bunch of wrestlers from Japan.  All of the wrestlers controlled the same, which is good because that’s what won fans over.

Stay away from this game. Far away.

AKI’s approach to gameplay for this title revolved around the grapple button.  The B button made wrestlers throw punches and kicks, but the A button caused them to tie-up by grabbing each other’s shoulders.  From there, the player who initiated the grapple could initiate a move with either the A or B button plus a direction on the D-Pad for a total of 10 possible moves.  Holding the grapple button caused the wrestler to use a strong grapple, opening up another 10 potential moves.  Most wrestlers had several repeat moves but the potential to really flesh out an arsenal was there.  And more over, the gameplay system worked.  Up to this point, most wrestling games tried too hard to emulate the ever popular fighting genre of video games.  This would peak with the WWF game In Your House for the Playstation, which was basically a straight-up fighting game complete with fireballs and everything.  It was absolutely atrocious and not at all what wrestling fans wanted.  Acclaim was the developer with the WWF license and essentially owned the wrestling video game world in America.  World Tour changed that, and for the better.

World Tour was followed by Revenge which was basically more of the same but with a little more of that American wrestling flair.  The graphics were better, the individual wrestlers had a bit more personality, and wrestling fans were genuinely happy.  Acclaim tried to counter with WWF: Warzone and its successor WWF:  Attitude.  Both games were successful for the time and generally well received, but just about any unbiased fan of wrestling knew AKI (with THQ) had the better game.  Acclaim was still going with a pseudo-fighting game approach.  Each move required a series of directional buttons followed by an action button.  They did introduce some good things, particularly running grapple attacks, signature moves, and the create-a-wrestler feature (though that had been available in Japanese games dating back to the Super Nintendo, as did others, but Acclaim popularized them with American audiences and AKI would soon adopt all).  Even so, WWF’s marketing arm must have noticed how well received the WCW games were and when their contract with Acclaim was up, and WCW’s with THQ, WWF was there to pounce.

This resulted in big switch of brands and developers.  Acclaim reached an agreement with ECW and would make a couple of games for them using their Attitude engine.  WCW would sign a lucrative deal with EA which lead to the ambitious, but lousy, WCW:  Mayhem.  THQ and WWF soon became a very profitable alliance and is the only one left today.  For the Playstation, THQ enlisted the support of Yukes which developed the Smackdown games and continues to do so.  AKI was left on the Nintendo 64 and was pretty much tasked with making their WCW games into WWF games.

The ladder match was a big addition for WWF: No Mercy.

Wrestlemania 2000 was the first game under this partnership, and a good one, but the follow-up is the one fans seem to remember the most fondly.  No Mercy arrived in November of 2000 and was an instant success.  The same gameplay that originated with World Tour was left mostly the same but with a few additions.  AKI had now finally adopted the running grapple maneuver, a simple addition but a welcomed one.  AKI also took a stab at new gimmick matches such as the steel cage match and the ladder match.  The announcer’s table was also available to smash opponents thru, and a new story-line mode added some spice to the single player action.  Tons of unlockables gave gamers incentive to keep playing to earn Smackdown Cash to purchase new create-a-wrestler attires, moves, weapons, and even additional superstars including Cactus Jack and Andre the Giant.  And it’s a good thing there was so much to do because No Mercy would be AKI’s last with THQ.

I’ve always felt this fact, plus nostalgia for WWF’s “Attitude Era,” has made fans remember No Mercy more fondly than they perhaps should.  It’s remembered so well that there is still a large section of fans that feel No Mercy is the best grappler ever, and certainly the best to feature the WWF (now WWE) branding.  That’s rather high praise for a game over 10 years old and a testament for how good the basic gameplay system is.

At the time No Mercy came out, it was the fourth game in four years to feature basically the same gameplay.  Other than a few small additions and a fresh coat of paint, this was still World Tour.  It’s a system that works extremely well to make the game playable even if it’s not entirely authentic.  How many wrestling matches take place in a similar manner where every move is initiated by a tie-up?  None I’ve seen.  If the gameplay is fun though, should gamers and wrestling fans care?

I have fired up No Mercy several times over the last couple of weeks.  My first reaction when I did was at the visuals and general presentation.  The presentation for this game was never its strong point and at this point in time it’s fairly ugly.  The graphics engine though is still passable.  It’s no secret this era of video games has aged rather poorly as far as looks go, but each wrestler is easily identifiable, though the height is kind of off.  There’s little or no difference between a monster like Kane and a little guy like Taka Michinoku.  It’s one of those things that took a while for wrestling developers to get right.

The game's story mode was a mixed bag, but it did give gamers incentive to keep playing.

The story mode shows a lot of age.  Developers were trying really hard at this point in time to create games that let players experience the television product for themselves.  Great emphasis was placed on making the story-lines feel random and yet authentic, but in the end it’s still just a series of matches with some distractions in between.  The game, for some reason, loves putting the player in handicap matches.  Handicap matches are no fun no matter what side you’re on.  If you’re part of a team of two going against one it’s just a squash.  If you’re the one taking on two then it becomes a frustrating game of trying to exploit the weaknesses within the game’s artificial intelligence (top rope moves work well here).  Gimmick matches and the Royal Rumble often play a role too, but unfortunately nothing is as fun as the standard one on one or triple threat.

In those matches where the gameplay is the focus, this one still holds up pretty well.  Fans used to current wrestling games will definitely notice the slower pace.  The wrestlers all have a slightly clunky feel to them.  When just striking and grappling, it’s fine, but they don’t run too well and lining up running attacks can be a chore.  It would be fine if the larger wrestlers handled this way and the cruiser-weights speedier, but that’s not the case.  The A.I. is at least competent and won’t let you get away with spamming wake-up attacks, for example, to gain an upper hand.  I’m definitely rusty, and most of my gaming was spent on Sony consoles, but my matches aren’t automatic wins for me which is actually a welcomed thing.

Admittedly, a big part of No Mercy's appeal today is the era from which it came.

There are a couple of other glaring negatives with this title.  One of which is the slowdown that takes place with four wrestlers in the ring.  In normal matches, it’s not too bad but gimmick matches can get clippy.  Collision detection is very spotty, but perhaps the worst is for the early adopters.  The first batch of games have a defect that THQ didn’t offer to correct aside from fixing future releases.  This defect causes the saved data to become corrupt and the game erases itself.  This includes unlocked items and created wrestlers.  Mine seemed fine for several years but last week I turned it on and found my unlocked items were gone.  It’s definitely frustrating, and when buying copies on eBay you’re forced to rely on the word of the seller because there’s no obvious way to tell a good copy from a bad one.

There are a lot of little things that drag this game down, but even so I found myself having a blast with it.  There’s still so much depth to this game and that couldn’t have been more apparent than when two of my buddies hooked up for a one on one match of old veterans.  They spent far more time with this title and other AKI ones when they first came out.  It took a few minutes for them to get their legs back under them, but before long the match was a series of reversals and set-ups that spanned about 15 minutes before a victor was decided.  It was fun to watch and a reminder of how well developed the basic gameplay is.

It may not be perfect, but get a group of friends together and No Mercy is still a damn good time.

AKI did not leave the wrestling world after THQ dropped them.  I don’t know why the two companies ended their relationship.  I assume it was a cost-cutting move on the part of THQ who basically handed over the WWF license to Yukes.  I’m guessing it was sales related as even though most fans preferred No Mercy to Smackdown 2, there were still far more Playstations out there than Nintendo 64s so it wouldn’t surprise me if Smackdown 2 was the better seller.  And Smackdown 2 was a good game in its own right, just entirely different in approach.  AKI would go on to use it’s engine to create the Def Jam wrestling game as well as several in the anime Ultimate Muscle universe.  I never played any of them, but I understand the same basic principles still apply with obvious changes to suit the subject matter.

WWF:  No Mercy is still a great grappler.  It’s really a shame AKI hasn’t been able to take another shot at developing a WWF game for American audiences.  Yukes has put out some excellent Smackdown themed games since, but it’s not surprising that there still exists a strong fan-base for No Mercy.  A fan-base that still considers it king.  While I don’t consider it the best one out there, I really can’t begrudge any who do and it’s still easily in the top 5, and for a genre as bloated as the wrestling one, that’s some pretty high praise.

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March 12, 2012

Getting Cloud Connected with MLB and the Vita

By Joe

MLB 12 The Show (PS3, Vita)

One of my main motivations for acquiring a Playstation Vita was the potential for connectivity between it and the Playstation 3.  It’s been the main focus of Sony’s advertising campaign to get consumers interested in their new handheld and while the launch titles did little to exploit this feature, it didn’t take long for Sony to release a game that did.

Enter MLB 12 The Show.  The game is the latest in Sony’s first-party, and much heralded, baseball title.  Released for both the PS3 and the Vita last week, it makes use of the Vita’s cloud feature in the most logical manner by letting the user take their franchise on the road.  Now when you finish a game on the PS3, you can upload the save file to Sony’s cloud and then download it onto the Vita.  The process is as simple as it sounds and it only takes a moment.  Once it’s been loaded onto the Vita, it’s just like any save file and can be saved down to the Vita’s memory card.  Then you can play it on the Vita while you’re out and about, and once done re-upload it to the cloud to download onto the PS3.  The only limitation is the Vita obviously needs an internet connection to make use of the cloud. I’m not sure if it works over the 3G network for those who opted for that  version of the Vita.

There are some limitations.  For one, there’s only one save available on the cloud per user.  In other words, you can’t upload both a franchise save and a Road to the Show save at the same time.  You can upload either one, but not at the same time.  The other limitation is that in-game saves can’t be uploaded to the cloud, which seems to contradict the ad campaign running on television at the moment.  It’s a little annoying when you’re in your living room but have to finish a game on the Vita before transferring to the PS3, but it’s not the end of the world.

The power of the PS3 in the palms of your hands! Mostly.

It helps that the two versions of The Show are pretty similar.  Visually, the PS3 version is superior.  It’s most noticeable in the textures as everything just has a nice coating to it.  There’s also some minor frame-rate drops on the Vita version during some animations, mostly batter walk-up ones for some reason.  It’s more of a presentation issue than anything.  The Vita is also limited slightly in the control department, though San Diego Studios tried to compensate for this by adding touch controls.  I haven’t used many of them, but also haven’t felt my gameplay experience hindered much by absence of the R2 and L2 buttons.  I do like the touch controls for pitching as riding the train can make precise pitch locations a little challenging.  If you wish, you can simply touch the screen where you want the pitcher to throw the ball, then use the buttons to deliver the pitch.

The game itself is pretty similar to past versions.  There’s some new controller configurations for both hitting and fielding that I personally have no use for.  I stick with meter pitching and zone batting, and it’s plenty hard enough as is.  Hitting is particularly challenging and takes a lot of practice, especially if you’re like me and haven’t played a baseball game in a couple of years.  I’ve only used franchise mode, exhibition, and practice.  I assume Road to the Show is pretty much unchanged.  Franchise mode has actually been simplified to a certain extent when it comes to ballpark upkeep, but roster management has become more complex.  The added complexity makes the game more authentic, but just be careful when using the “Auto” function when it comes to roster moves.  Sometimes it’s tempting to let the CPU auto-fill your Double A or Triple A lineup but sometimes it takes way too many liberties and makes changes to the MLB roster, which can be unwelcome.  I made the mistake of simming Spring Training in one year of my franchise and found my roster turned into a disaster by the AI management.

Uploading to the cloud (or downloading from it) is about as simple as this image makes it look.

I hear online still sucks, but I haven’t tried it myself since I’d just get thrashed.  Online being laggy and unplayable is unfortunately nothing new for this series.  It’s borderline criminal that they haven’t been able to fix it over the years, but I guess it’s on us at this point.  I mentioned in my last post that Sony also chose to knock 20 bucks off the price of the Vita version if bought alongside the PS3 one.  This makes sense since Sony wants people to experience the cross-platform play.  It still means it will set you back 80 bucks for the full MLB experience.

Is the novelty of being able to bring the console experience to the road worth the price?  Depends on how much you like baseball, I suppose.  I really like baseball, though even I have to admit this is probably a one-time thing for me.  It’s a cool thing to have, and the game runs well enough on the Vita to not diminish the experience much, but it’s still 20 bucks just to play your franchise or other single player mode on the go.  Though now that I think about, 20 bucks for a full-fledged portable baseball game isn’t really that bad.  I guess everything depends on your outlook!

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March 4, 2012

Playstation Vita (Helpless in the Face of New Technology II)

By Joe

I didn’t go back and look, but I think I mentioned the Playstation Vita in three posts and in all three I said I wasn’t going to get one at launch.  I had purchased a 3DS at launch last year and it didn’t turn out to be the best purchasing decision of my life.  The software at launch was terrible and the entry price pretty steep.  Roughly six months later Nintendo would slash the price of the unit by a significant margin.  As an early adopter, dubbed a Nintendo Ambassador, I received ten free NES games and ten free GBA games but if given the choice I might have just chosen the cheaper unit.  And the 3DS isn’t a bad system at all.  I’ve enjoyed it now that the software has caught on and even purchased the new add-on.  It seemed unwise to be an early adopter again, especially for a Playstation product.  I’m not sure if any Playstation console has had a good launch lineup and they’re always expensive.

I could have said it until I was blue in the fact, but the simple fact of the matter is, when new technology comes out I can’t help myself.  And when I got a glimpse of what Uncle Sam was sending me as a refund I found it harder and harder to make excuses.  I lasted over a week, so I guess I can be proud of that, but as of March 4th I am an owner of a Playstation Vita.

Vita game cart. Pretty small, as you can see.

Now, I said Sony consoles tend to have expensive and poorly supported system launches and in one way the Vita is no exception.  The Vita is expensive.  There’s no way around it.  I’m a bachelor with a home and a good job.  I have no kids and my living expenses aren’t too cumbersome.  I have disposable income to throw at video games, but even so, it still didn’t entirely sit right to spend $350 on a new handheld system.  What did my $350 get me?  Well, it got me a Wi-Fi enabled Vita ($250), a 16 GB ($60) memory card, and one game ($40).  The price tag of the Vita itself isn’t awful.  It’s the same price the 3DS launched at but the Vita is the far more powerful system which makes it seem reasonable.  However, the 3DS came with a 2 GB SD card and most of the games save directly to the game’s cartridge.  There were also some pre-loaded games, nothing great but it’s something.  The Vita comes with nothing.  There’s a USB chord, an AC adapter, and some documentation.  There are some augmented reality cards that I admittedly haven’t even done anything with, but I’m not expecting much entertainment from them.  There’s no onboard memory though, and that’s the Vita’s biggest hurdle.

The memory cards are a joke.  Sixty dollars for 16 GB of memory?  That’s obscene.  And you need a memory card to play just about every game and there isn’t any onboard memory to download games to.  It looks like most of the games will require between 4,000 KB and 5,000 KB for save files.  This isn’t a scientific observation, merely what I saw on the back of each game case I looked at.  The packaging for the memory card itself says you can expect to hold 4 to 8 complete games on it, so if you’re planning on acquiring most of your games digitally you may want to go even larger.

Even smaller than the the games; the Vita's stupidly expensive memory cards.

Because of the costly memory, I suspect most will just buy game cartridges.  The cartridges are small, thumb-shaped cards.  Most will set you back $40, but there are some for $50 like Uncharted: Golden Abyss.  I picked up Rayman Origins and that cost me $40.  The cases are small but proportionately similar to a Blu Ray case.  In the case of Rayman, there was nothing inside the case except the actual game.  There is a clip for an instruction booklet, so maybe other games come with one, but this one only comes with an electronic booklet.  It’s kind of strange to have a case even this size for one tiny cartridge but whatever.  For Rayman, the load times are pretty minimal and I’m not sure how they compare with the PS3 version.  I would expect this type of medium would have pretty quick load times and would certainly be faster than the PSP’s UMD format.  I don’t know why they lack their own means of storage for game saves and have never seen it addressed.  It seems to me like they should be able to do that, but maybe I’m underestimating just how much space these games take up.

The Vita itself is an impressive piece of tech.  Which makes sense, because if it wasn’t I wouldn’t have bought it.  I’m going to skimp on the features since they’ve been covered elsewhere, but the screen is an OLED screen with touch capabilities.  There’s a second touch “panel” on the back of the system as well.  There’s cameras on the front and back and all of the buttons from the PSP are returned.  The biggest additions are the analog sticks.  The PSP’s nub is no more as the Vita features twin mini sticks that feel very similar to the PS3’s.  They do not double as buttons like the PS3 ones, which is unfortunate as that’s the only setback for the Vita.  Without the additional triggers and buttons the PS3 has, it will make certain ports trickier than others but the addition of a second analog stick is pretty significant.  And the quality of the hardware is exceptional.  The unit is larger than a PSP, but is surprisingly light.  It’s thin and very portable if you carry a messenger bag (or purse, if you’re a woman) but it’s probably not going to fit in most pockets.  And you probably wouldn’t want to try anyways without a screen protector or some kind of case.  I didn’t spring for one but I might have to eventually.

I mentioned earlier I got the Wi-Fi model.  For another $50 there’s a 3G one with service through AT&T that costs a monthly fee.  I have no interest in a monthly fee for my handheld gaming device so deciding which one to get was a no-brainer.  The device is also equipped with Blue Tooth and I assume it can be connected to certain headsets.  It also can communicate with the PS3 and the two can share a PSN account.  I checked out the remote play feature, as I never tried it with my PSP, and found it worked fine.  It basically turns your Vita into your PS3, but not all games can be accessed (for me, no games could be).  I think all of the PSOne Classics are supposed to work with the Vita, but might not yet.  Some games available across both platforms will be able to communicate with each other and some of the early releases include both a Vita version and a PS3 version.  Most of them will require a double purchase though.  It would be nice if buying the PS3 version of MLB The Show got you a discount for the Vita version, but I don’t expect Sony to go that far to please the consumer (edit: after publishing this I looked on both amazon and Gamestop’s websites and saw that if you buy both versions it will cost you $80, which is a $20 saving which is better than having to spend $100).  I’ll probably buy both versions of that one as I’m eager to test out the cross platform features with that particular title.

I spent multiple hours with Rayman Origins and found the Vita pretty comfortable.  Surprisingly, my left thumb is a bit tender which I would not have expected but it isn’t bad.  The buttons are all easy to reach though the shoulder buttons are slightly awkward, but not too bad.  Visually, the Vita (and Rayman Origins) does not disappoint.  The OLED screen is bright and vibrant offering a better picture than most plasma TVs.  It has to be seen to be truly appreciated.

The Vita, side by side with a Circle Pad Pro equipped 3DS. Neither is very portable.

It helps when the game is gorgeous too.  Rayman Origins is a direct port of the critically acclaimed PS3/360/Wii title from last year.  It’s an old school 2D platformer that will test your jumping abilities with lots of timing based challenges.  The gameplay is tried and true, and though I’m only a short way into it, I’m impressed.  Visually though it’s one of the most appealing games I’ve ever played and it doesn’t appear to have suffered one bit in being ported from consoles to the Vita.  It looks like a living cartoon.  Some cel-shaded games, like Super Paper Mario, came close to achieving such a feat but none have managed to pull it off like Rayman Origins.  The art style reminds me of 90’s era cartoons like Ren & Stimpy and Rocko’s Modern Life.  There’s a “zany-ness” to everything and a lot of the movements of the characters are exaggerated.  There’s more screaming than speaking, and the whole thing just seems crazy.  If you haven’t played it, and like platform games, definitely check it out.  It can be found for about $30 new for home consoles and is the type of game developers should be rewarded for making.

So for $350 I got an excellent game and a new handheld with (hopefully) plenty of memory.  I feel okay about it, but the other risk one takes on when buying a new system at launch is long-term support.  The Vita got off to an okay start in Japan, but shortly after launch sales were ground to a halt.  I haven’t seen sales figures for the US launch yet, but most of the stores I’ve been to over the last week or so are not over-flowing with units.  I’ve even seen a few sell-outs, so it would seem that the Vita is off to a good start.  I’ll be curious to see if it can maintain that momentum as the PSP wasn’t a huge success in the US, certainly not compared with Japan.

Whether it survives or not will depend largely on price and software.  The price is already out there and quite an obstacle, but if it’s moving units then maybe I’m placing too much emphasis on it.  That other problem most Sony systems face at launch is not an issue for the Vita.  There are plenty of good, and even great, games available right now.  Some, like Rayman Origins, are ports of console titles and some, like Uncharted, are all new.  For the system to flourish, developers will have to continue to support the Vita with both new titles and ports.  Some games are perfect to see ported to a handheld, especially sports titles.  If that’s all that’s out there though then gamers might get bored.  If given the choice, more often than not gamers will take a home console game over a portable.  A pick-up and play title like Rayman Origins is a rare exception, as I think that’s a game that works great for a portable.  A more in depth experience like Arkham City though is best on a home machine.

So I guess I’m happy with the Vita, for now.  I have so many games to play now, it’s borderline obscene.  It may actually be a week or more before the Vita even accompanies me on the train as I’m currently splitting my time between Tactics Ogre for the PSP and Resident Evil Revelations for the 3DS.  I will get MLB for the Vita though, and at that point I may not be able to resist playing it during my commute, but after that I have no idea what my next Vita game will be.  I guess I’ll have to start paying attention to all of these games.  I have a problem.

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March 4, 2012

Greatest Games: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

By Joe

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (1997)

There are several core genres of video games, but few games can actually be summed up as one genre.  A game can be called a role-playing game, but there’s a big difference between Chrono Trigger and Baldur’s Gate.  The same can be said for platform games, as few will confuse Super Mario Bros. with Ratchet and Clank.

The Castlevania series has long struggled with genres.  The original game is often described as a hybrid action-adventure title.  Famous for its great, but punishing, gameplay it’s no surprise it spawned several sequels.  The first of which, Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest, was a radical departure.  For that title, Konami decided to take the non-linear gameplay fans seemed to enjoy so much about the first game, and expand upon it by introducing many RPG elements.  Simon’s Quest was an ambitious title, but probably one that had more failures than successes.  As a result, Konami would simplify the many sequels and slowly work its way towards something more complex.

With new hardware and many more attempts are crafting quality Castlevania games, it was time for Konami to get bold once more.  The arrival of the 32 bit era brought about realistic opportunities for 3D gameplay design.  Not 3D as we know it today (the optical illusion), but 3D polygons instead of hand-drawn 2D sprites as a visual and gameplay style.  If Konami was attempted to explore this style with Castlevania, it wisely held off and stuck with what worked.  Symphony of the Night was born on the Playstation and unveiled to the world in 1997 in a very quiet manner.  Because it was not 3D, and was up against the massive hype-machine known as Final Fantasy VII, it was overlooked initially.  Review outlets were generally impressed by the title, though some would probably like a do-over as even many of those old reviews look like they were done as after-thoughts.

In Symphony of the Night, players will take control of Alucard; son of Dracula!

No matter, Symphony of the Night would receive its due eventually.  SotN took Simon’s Quest and married it with Nintendo’s Super Metroid.  This has lead some fans to affectionately refer to the title as “Metroidvania,” which should not be mistaken as an insult.  SotN sees the player dropped into a familiar setting; Dracula’s Castle.  Only this castle is different than before.  The player can explore it at will as the game doesn’t merely force the player to go left to right.  There are many ledges and secret rooms to find and explore and roadblocks, especially early in the game, are quite frequent forcing the player to back-track.  This emphasis on exploration made the game more than just an action title and really put the focus on the adventure aspect.

In the starring role this time was a familiar, and yet unfamiliar, face.  Alucard, son of Dracula, is the primary protagonist.  The first scene of the game teases a starring role for Richter Belmont, but Alucard is the one who will receive the majority of the playing time.  Alucard plays very differently from the other protagonists to appear in a Castlevania game before him.  As a half-vampire, he’s far more powerful than any Belmont.  He can dash, leap to impressive heights, and change his form.  He has spells at his disposal, input like fighting game commands, and can be built up to god-like levels.  As he kills enemies, Alucard gains experience and levels up.  When the game first starts off he’s fairly weak and most of the player deaths experienced in the game will come in the first hour or so.  As the player “level grinds” and explores more weapons and abilities will be found.  Alucard does not use the traditional whip, but can use pretty much every other type of weapon one can think of.  Most will include various swords and spears but tough guys can also roll with just their fists if they wish.

And since Alucard is the son of the game’s main antagonist, many storyline possibilities are opened up.  While this game came before story became a major point of emphasis in video games, it manages to weave an interesting tale.  SotN sets out to finally bring all of the previous games together under one massive narrative.  Old questions are answered, and new ones born, and for longtime fans it’s a very satisfying experience.  The only drawback is with the voice acting.  Voice acting was ever growing in popularity at the time, but few did it well.  SotN is no exception in that regard and the original release features some atrocious acting.  It’s not used a lot, thankfully, but is pretty groan-inducing.  Ports of the game have improved upon it, though I can’t say how much since I’ve never bothered to play them (I still have my PSX copy).

Symphony of the Night takes a traditional visual approach for the series and even returns many familiar foes.

Visually, the game is a delight!  Alucard’s sprite has smooth animation and nice effects to go with it.  The game makes liberal use of all of the 2D tricks perfected in the 16 bit era and enhances them.  There are some polygons in the game, but they’re mostly used to dress up the background.  Because of this approach, the game holds up quite well to this day.  Some of those old Playstation and Nintendo 64 games that were much heralded in their day cannot say the same thing.  This is still a pretty game, by any standard.  And since it’s a Castlevania title, the soundtrack must be mentioned.  It contains many of the old tracks made famous by the series, but also has a ton of new compositions that all suit the game’s mood.  The synth-metal approach to many of them is a great deal of fun to listen to and there are numerous elements of techno, classical, and other genres blended in.  This is still my all-time favorite video game soundtrack.

The game controls tighter than any previous Castlevania title.  Perhaps it’s because of Alucard’s inhuman nature, but he is much more nimble than any Belmont before him.  This makes controlling him a more enjoyable experience, but also makes the game much easier.  As I mentioned before, the early part of the game can be a challenge as Alucard is de-powered early on, but as you level up and find new weapons and spells the game becomes increasingly easier.  There are a couple of items that practically break the game because of how over-powered they are.  You can, of course, choose not to use them but it’s hard to resist.  There are many boss battles though, and most are fun affairs and offer some of the game’s best challenges.  There are also multiple endings as this is one of those games where just when you think you’ve finished, more is revealed.  Get to 100% completion and the castle gets literally flipped upside down and the game practically starts over again!  There’s also a code to play the entire game as Richter, and later ports include a third character as well; Maria Renard.

Fans looking for a more traditional experience could take control of Richter Belmont in lieu of Alucard via code in the original release.

When I first set out to cover my favorite games I mentioned I was going to mostly stay away from the consensus classics.  Symphony of the Night is probably one of those classics, but to me it has always felt overlooked which is why I chose to include it.  It was largely ignored by audiences when it was first released but as time went on gamers went back to it.  I was one such gamer who first ignored it.  I don’t even remember there being much coverage for it at the time, but I eventually made the time for it and picked up a used copy.  And even though I grabbed that used copy a couple years later, I was still ahead of a lot of people to even be able to find a used copy for cheap money!  Now that black-label game is considered a collector’s item, and while it doesn’t go for huge money in the secondary market, it’s not likely to be found in a bargain bin.

Symphony of the Night, for me, represents Castlevania at its absolute best.  Some long-time fans think it’s too easy to be the best of the best, and since the main gameplay does not feature a whip of any kind it can turn off some traditionalists.  It’s still the most fun I’ve ever had with a Castlevania title and the one I remember most fondly.  Several of the new handheld games have copied the style of SotN but I’m not sure any have truly improved upon it.  Oh, those games are good, but the crown still belongs to the game almost no one played when it was first released nearly 15 years ago.

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February 19, 2012

Twisted Metal (2012)

By Joe
Twisted Metal (2012)

If you frequent this blog you may have noticed that I do not post many negative reviews.  That’s because, for the most part, I’d rather talk about things I like and enjoy and not things that irritate me or make me mad.  There have been some exceptions.  I set out to review all of the Danzig releases which meant reviewing the good and the bad.  I also reviewed the X-Men trilogy which meant having to review the less than stellar third film.  Otherwise, I think most reviews have been fairly positive, especially the video game ones.  I suppose there’s a first time for everything, but it does pain me that my first negative video game review on this blog is going to be about a franchise I adore; Twisted Metal.

Twisted Metal made its return to livingrooms across the globe this past Valentine’s Day.  I recently made an entry in my Greatest Games feature praising the last home entry in this series, Twisted Metal Black, which came out over 10 years ago.  The new game, simply titled Twisted Metal, was announced a couple of years ago at E3 in grand fashion complete with a live-action Sweet Tooth driving his famous ice cream truck onto the stage during Sony’s conference.  Long-time fans of the series had been nearly driven insane wondering when, if, Sony would return to one of its oldest franchises.  The wait was long, but it did have an end, unfortunately it wasn’t really worth the effort.

Twisted Metal is not a bad game in the strictest sense.  Visually it’s quite nice to look at though not breath-taking.  The textures on the scenery are minimalist but that’s because the game was built for speed and there’s little need for gorgeous textures when the player is going to spend the majority of the game zipping around the various levels.  The cars look great, though from an artistic standpoint they do seem to lack in personality when compared with the older games.  Perhaps that’s nostalgia getting the best of me and an over-compensation on my part considering the drivers are no longer unique (more on that to come), but it is the impression that I get.  The soundtrack features a mix of original compositions that mostly trend towards hard rock and some licensed tracks featuring a return of Rob Zombie (which is actually kind of odd, considering he was only featured on the much-maligned third and fourth entries in the series).  It’s been quite a long time since I’ve driven around a war zone with “Dragula” booming through my television speakers.

The game mechanics of Twisted Metal remain largely unchanged as well.  You still drive around blasting opponents with fire, power, homing, and all sorts of other missiles all the while relying on powered-up special attacks.  A lot of the vehicles have a familiar feel as well.  Sweet Tooth (the truck, not the character) still handles like a bath tub on wheels and Dark Side has a punishing ram attack.  Some vehicles return with new special attacks this time out, such as Roadkill’s mini gun and Junkyard Dog’s Taxi.  This one even includes a helicopter for the player to try out, something that was to be included in Black but had to scrapped at the eleventh hour.

Cut scenes are done with live actors. Also, Mr. Grimm isn’t dead.

If a lot of the game is more of the same, why am I threatening a negative review?  Well, a lot of reasons really.  While the gameplay is fairly consistent with prior games, there’s a different feel to the physics this time out.  It’s as if the development team decided the more chaotic the battles, the better.  Now it seems like only the slightest bump or the most insignificant weapon can send your vehicle bouncing around like a tennis ball.  This causes vehicles to get hung-up on walls and proves especially annoying during the games racing levels.  You read that correctly, there are racing levels this time around and they are atrocious.  Twisted Metal was never designed to be a racing game and that is more than evident when it tries to be one.  The levels are still wide open but force you to travel through gates or checkpoints along the course.  The thing is, there is no set course so the whole thing becomes an exercise of trial and error as you try to figure out which way the game wants you to drive.  The final race is particularly annoying as it has you speed over ramps and rooftops where one error spells doom.  And passing through all of the checkpoints first is something only required of you, the player, the AI controlled opponents are free from that restriction.  This is a pretty big deal for the final race because finishing in first is meaningless, it just reveals on your map where the final, mobile, checkpoint is.  Activating this final checkpoint causes all of the other cars to explode, which means if one of the AI cars activates it first, you lose.  And since they don’t have to pass through all of the checkpoints it really becomes a crap shoot.  If there’s one silver lining for the racing levels it’s that there are only three, but you’re likely going to hate all of them.

And that wasn’t the only way the team “spiced” things up with the single player, there’s also electric cage and endurance matches.  Electric cage match sounds pretty cool, but it’s not.  Again, it just turns into another gameplay tweak that’s annoying, not enjoyable.  In these levels a laser cage surrounds an area for a set amount of time.  While inside it, you’re fine but leave it and a timer is activated.  Once that timer reaches zero you begin to take damage.  Every minute or so, the cage vanishes and reappears at another part of the level setting off a mad dash to find it.  One of these levels occurs in an amusement park and the serpentine like roads make it a challenge to find the damn thing once it re-spawns.  It just doesn’t add anything enjoyable to the experience.  The endurance rounds are actually okay.  These require the player to kill a certain amount of enemies while keeping a large number of them on the map throughout.  This creates a more chaotic experience that actually works.  I still prefer the more traditional levels, but this one’s okay.

Since the game only has three characters, each one can drive whatever vehicle he or she chooses.

Then there’s the Juggernaut levels.  The Juggernaut is a semi with a full trailer armed to the teeth.  It also spawns a new enemy every thirty seconds.  In these levels you have to kill the Juggernaut as well as all other combatants.  Later levels introduce a second Juggernaut and a more powerful version at that.  These levels are okay and do prove challenging and serve as a sort-of mid-point boss fight for the three single player scenarios.  The true boss battles comprise their own level, though usually play out in stages.  The first one was pretty cool and pits the player against two over-sized monster trucks. The second, a battle against a mech-like enemy, was annoying.  Part of the reason for its annoyance is the inclusion of the dreaded electric cage for a portion.  The final boss, a Sweet Tooth themed one, is much better.  It’s both over-the-top and inventive and a good way to close out the third and final story.

And yes, that is also correct, there are only three single player stories.  This has been known for awhile and dreaded by me.  My hope was that since only three existed they would be more involved and longer than before.  Instead, they’re shorter than what was in Black and can be completed in less than an hour a piece.  They kind of form one long story and have to be played in succession from Sweet Tooth, to Mr. Grimm, and to Dollface.  Sweet Tooth is pretty much the same Sweet Tooth from Black.  In his scenario we get to see the origins of this Sweet Tooth and what he hopes to get from Calypso when he wins.  The story unfolds in three parts, an intro movie, a middle, and an end.  These are done with live actors instead of CGi.  It’s actually not bad, and Sweet Tooth’s story, while predictable, was entertaining.  Grimm’s was less so, and Dollface’s more like Grimm’s.  There are a couple of ending movies that serve as epilogues that bring the focus back to Sweet Tooth, which proves to be a good thing.  This game’s Calypso is also very different from previous ones.  He kind of looks like Jack Black from The White Stripes and is some sort of entrepreneur and has his own company.  He still bestows wishes on the victors but I found him less entertaining this time around.  The twists were all very predictable and thus less amusing.

The single-player was a tack-on thing and definitely feels that way.  It’s a shame, because I loved playing through each one in Black.  Sure the writing wasn’t anything fantastic in that game but it was entertaining.  This game’s primary focus is on multi-player, something I rarely engage in.  I’ve never touched the online component of most of my games including Red Dead Redemption, Uncharted 2, Mortal Kombat, Smackdown vs Raw, and so on.  Because this one includes such a small amount of content, I’ll pretty much have to give it a shot.  It could be good, but right now the servers are all messed up leading to numerous network connection errors.  This appears to be a wide-spread issue and a patch is set for release next week.  Online is still playable for the truly determined, I’m just not among them.

I suppose that makes this verdict incomplete, but in truth, no amount of multi-player action can change my mind at this point.  Online matches may help alleviate the notion that I just wasted sixty bucks but it won’t change the fact that, as a single player game, Twisted Metal isn’t very good.  There’s not much content and the gameplay engine just isn’t up to par with past efforts.  I looked forward to the return of this franchise more than any other and I’m really disappointed it could not meet my expectations.  Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna go fire up Twisted Metal Black and try to recapture those glory days long since passed.

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February 12, 2012

Greatest Games: Twisted Metal Black

By Joe

Twisted Metal Black (2001)

The vehicular combat genre of games has been around for almost as long as video games have.  They either take the form of a more traditional tank battle or a more outlandish game of chicken with machine guns and rocket launchers.  As such, tracing its origins proves quite difficult.  For me, the vehicular combat genre as I know it originated with a surprising title; Super Mario Kart.

Super Mario Kart was primarily a go-kart racing game with characters from Nintendo’s Super Mario series of games.  It was a wacky take on the genre, but it also was more than just a racing game.  Around the time it came out, competitive gaming was becoming more and more popular.  Either at the arcades with fighting games or on the computer with death match modes in first-person shooters.  Nintendo, recognizing this, implemented a battle mode in Super Mario Kart that dropped the racers into an arena with the goal of being the last man standing.  Players used the various power-ups to target their opponents with turtle shells and banana peels in an effort to incapacitate their opponents.  Three strikes and you were out.  This mode proved highly addictive and whenever I got together with friends to play Super Mario Kart we pretty much always played battle mode and hardly ever touched the main game.

Other publishers must have taken note, because it wasn’t long until games started showing up that relied almost entirely on this battle mode concept introduced by Super Mario Kart.  It especially exploded during the Playstation era.  By the time that era came to a close the market was saturated with games of varying quality including licensed games like WWE Crush Hour, which was the breaking point for the genre.  It has been de-emphasized by publishers and developers alike and it remains to be seen if it can ever become a major genre again.

Super Mario Kart may have been the originator, but the title most cite as the launching point for the modern genre of car combat is Twisted Metal.  Twisted Metal was one of Sony’s earliest first-party titles for the Playstation, arriving in stores roughly two months after the system’s launch in North America.  Original launch units of the Playstation included a video demo of the game as part of the pack-in demo disc along with games like Tekken and Warhawk.  Critically, it wasn’t well received for the most part but gamers seemed to enjoy it well enough.  For me, it was the first game I ever bought for my brand new Playstation game console and an early favorite.

The original Twisted Metal, in its original case too. Sony would eventually ditch these cases in favor of standard jewel ones.

Had I seen the initial reviews I may have never purchased it.  My introduction to the Playstation seemed to happen fast and came out of no where.  My grandmother on my mother’s side lived for Christmas when I was younger.  She would get all of those gigantic wish catalogs put out by the major department stores and have me and my sister pick through them to make our Christmas list.  She always wanted to be the one to get us that gift we wanted most.  That year I remember picking through one such catalog with her and pointing out things I wanted.  They must have been all little things like action figures and movies and I remember her almost getting frustrated.  She asked me if there was something big I wanted and I turned the page and saw “Sony Playstation $299.99” on the bottom right-hand corner.  I pointed to that, almost as a joke because to an 11 year old a $300 system seems way too big.  My mom had a similar reaction but then my grandmother started to reason it.  She more or less agreed to get it for me with the caveat that it would be the only thing I’d get.  I knew next to nothing about the Playstation, only that it was new and seemed exotic compared to my Genesis and Super Nintendo and was more than happy to concede other gifts in exchange for a hot new console.  Little did I know, my grandmother had been notified that my nana (dad’s mother) had told my mom she was giving me a television for Christmas which was like declaring war with grandma.  I got caught in the cross-hairs of a grandmother battle and reaped the benefits.

Because I really knew nothing about the Playstation, I had no idea what games to get.  For Christmas that year my parents gave me Doom, a familiar title to me since I had played it on my friend’s PC a few times.  There was no Mario or Sonic though to fall back on, all I had was that demo disc.  Twisted Metal looked pretty cool, so I bought it with some Christmas money.  Not long after I got Street Fighter Alpha, but all I would really play for the next six months (until my birthday) was Twisted Metal.  I would end up beating it with every character, I’d play my friends in death match, and just enjoyed the Hell out of it.  Twisted Metal 2 would arrive the following year and improve upon the original in almost every way.  Then something terrible would happen.

Singletrac, the developer of Twisted Metal, would leave Sony over a contract dispute.  Twisted Metal was owned by Sony though, so they just handed it off to internal studio 989 who was best known for crafting Sony’s licensed sports games.  989 would release the next two Twisted Metal games and both were disasters.  Singletrac put out the acceptable Rogue Trip and other studios were putting out car combat games that now surpassed the Twisted Metal brand.

This was unacceptable.  When Singletrac folded and some of the key members went on to form Incognito, Sony gobbled them up and immediately handed them the Twisted Metal franchise in an effort to bring it back.  And bring it back they did, for that team basically erased everything 989 had done with one game; Twisted Metal Black.

Levels became more expansive in Twisted Metal Black.

Released on the Playstation 2 in the summer of 2001, Twisted Metal Black returned the series to the more gritty atmosphere present in the original game.  The cartoonish antics of the sequel were gone and few righteous characters remained.  All of the drivers of the various cars were now mental patients.  Some were noble, like the driver of the police SUV Outlaw, but even the noble ones were twisted somehow.  The levels throughout the game depicted a bleak and desolate world on the brink of ruin.  Calypso was still the ring-leader and organizer of the Twisted Metal competition, but it was unclear if he still possessed super natural powers in most of the story modes (he did) and he came across as just some sick freak looking to get off on the misfortunes of others.  All of the characters had their own tragic back-story.  Each would narrate it him or herself with an opening video, a mid-point video revealing what led them to a mental institution, and an ending.  Calypso was never given a voice.

The main title menu opened with a still image of exploding cars with the opening notes of The Rolling Stones’ “Paint it Black” playing.  It was creepy and the song suited the game’s mood quite well (the full song played over the ending credits making this one of the few games where I always watch the ending credits).  Graphically, the game was exceptional.  Up until that point, few games had really done a good job of showing off what the Playstation 2 could do.  The best we had at that point was a demo for Metal Gear Solid 2 that came bundled with the game Zone of the Enders.  Twisted Metal Black had smooth visuals with lots of detail.  The levels were huge and expansive.  Each car had lots of little touches sprinkled on them as well be it riveted plates or bullet holes.  Missile launchers would roll out when equipped and any first-time player was wowed when Sweet Tooth’s ice cream truck transformed into a mech-like killer clown.  Gameplay was fast and the controls tight.  A twin analog stick approach made quick turns easy to pull off and arcade physics meant cars weren’t flipping over constantly.  Each car handled differently giving the game a great deal of variety and just about all of the special weapons had their uses.

Sweet Tooth's re-vamped special attack remains as the stand-out visual image from Twisted Metal Black.

The cast included a nice amount of familiar faces and new entrants.  Some old cars, like Outlaw, were completely different from the car that had preceded it.  Some of the returning ones also had new special attacks like Darkside’s ram attack, a great improvement over the old laser weapon.  My favorite was Roadkill, who now sported a charge-up homing missile weapon.  All of the special weapons had two methods of deployment, a standard one and a more technical one.  The technical one was harder to pull off, but dealt more damage and figuring them out was part of the fun.  Every car also had an energy bar for special attacks like freeze balls and shields that could easily change the tide of battle when deployed properly.  A lot of the levels also had hidden areas or visual gags that were fun to exploit.  There were hidden characters too that had to be found throughout the game, some were harder than others.

While the game is head and shoulders above all others in its genre, it did have a couple minor short-comings.  One thing none of the Twisted Metal games ever got right was enemy AI.  Each level is supposed to be a free-for-all but it always felt like the AI was programmed to go after the player and not each other.  While this does enhance the game’s difficulty, it always felt a little cheap.  The game’s final boss also wasn’t the best.  While he was difficult, he didn’t seem to really test the player’s skills.  I have always felt that a good boss battle is like a final exam meant to test how much the player has learned over the course of the game.  This game’s final boss is a helicopter and the approach to beating him is completely different from the approach taken to go after virtually every other enemy.  Vehicles that do not have some kind of missile attack as a special weapon are at an extreme disadvantage too as they have to rely mostly on weak homing missile pick-ups.  And since vehicles can’t really adjust their aim it makes targeting the final boss a pain.  Every encounter just ends up being a case of driving around waiting for either the special weapon to regenerate or for some homing missiles to appear.

Twisted Metal's mascot Sweet Tooth now finds his head permanently aflame.

Aside from that though, I really have few complaints with Twisted Metal Black.  The gameplay is so tight and so fun that I’ve never truly gotten sick of it.  The storylines for each car are also interesting in their own right which lead me to beating it with every single driver.  Death match was just as fun as ever too, though it would have been nice if all of the single player levels were available.  An online edition of Twisted Metal Black was released later on for free for early adopters of Sony’s online network.  I never played it but it always made sense to bring Twisted Metal to the internet.  This Tuesday, the latest game in the series arrives.  Simply titled Twisted Metal, it actually puts more emphasis on the online component.  It was initially conceived as an online only game but Sony was impressed with it so much they decided to make it a full game and had developer Eat, Sleep, Play (made up of ex Incognito/Singletrac members) craft a story mode.  It sounds like the story mode will mostly be an after-thought and only focus on three participants which has me feeling rather disappointed.  I hope to be pleasantly surprised though.  Twisted Metal also appears to be taking the Mario Kart approach of letting the player pick the car’s driver and then choose the vehicle.  This must be how the game can supply all of the old favorites while only having three storylines.

Regardless of how the new Twisted Metal turns out, I can’t imagine it topping Twisted Metal Black.  Sure it will look better, it might even control better, but if the total package exceeds Black’s I’ll be shocked.  This Greatest Games feature I’m doing is not in any particular order, but if it was, Twisted Metal Black would be a strong number two.  I love this game and I’ll never get rid of my copy.  For those who missed out, the new Twisted Metal is being released with a download code to get the original Twisted Metal Black which is one of the best bonus features in gaming history.  You now have no excuse for missing this one.

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