Category Archives: Gaming

Trailer: Gears of War 3 World Premiere

Posted on by Arleigh

Well, it’s finally out and that could only mean one thing. The major hype and media blitz that tells every Xbox 360 gamer that the latest Gears of War title is just months from coming out. Well, it would be 4 months still, but with E3 just around the corner sure to release more details on Gears of War 3 the anticipation for the third and final game in this wildly popular Xbox 360 franchise will hit the stratosphere by the time the release date rolls around.

The trailer shows some small detail about the plot of the game. Something about the main character (Marcus Fenix) finding out his father is alive and now must find and save him from the Locust (the bug-looking insect enemy). Other than that it doesn’t show much else other some gloriously cool mayhem on the screen. Some looks to be cutscenes while others look to be gameplay. But knowing Epic Games and the games’ designer Cliff Bleszinski scenes of gameplay and cutscenes always uses the same engine (an upgraded Unreal Engine 3.5) so there’s no weird transition from gameplay to cutscene.

Trailers for the Gears of War titles have always been making great use of licensed songs in the past to give a clue to the tone of the game. This latest trailer doesn’t disappoint as it uses Black Sabbath’s classic “War Pigs” song to highlight the violent and war-footing nature of this final game in the trilogy. Cliffy B. promised that the third game will take the carnage and mayhem in the series to past ridiculous. What better way to say a game has an extreme level of violence, mayhem and carnage than Sabbath’s “War Pigs”.

So, come September 20, 2011 it’s time to lock and load and get that chainblade roaring for some heavy metal Gears of War 3.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Reveal Trailer

Posted on by Arleigh

A little over a week ago Activision released four different teaser trailer for their upcoming Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 first-person shooter title for the holiday season. These four teaser trailers pretty much didn’t show much other than four countries where the game would be set: America, England, France and Germany.

Now, we finally get the first major trailer for this title and it reveals the images only hinted at the previous four trailer. From what could be seen in this reveal trailer it looks like this latest game in Activision’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare series will bring the franchise into World War 3. While most of the trailer looks to be cutscenes the final scenes does show some gameplay elements that looks to bring back on-the-rails vehicle combat. What it doesn’t show is whether it will have full enviromental damage during gameplay (as promised by Activision) and whether players will be able to actually control vehicles during the game (campaign and multiplayer) the way players can in it’s rival game at EA.

Maybe more will details on the gameplay changes will be revealed during E3 this coming June. I hope so, because so far Battlefield 3 has been the one title that’s impressing me, so far. But even if this game only delivers on some of what it promises I probably will still get it since most everyone I will play with online will have it.

What I Played Today: Majesty 2 and MLB 2K11

Posted on by Semtex Skittle

MLB 2K11

I bought MLB 2K11 on the first day of its release… and, having played hours upon hours of it, I’ve been dying to review it ever since. The core problem, however, is that there’s really not that much to say about a sports game. Especially a baseball game. Especially a baseball game that doesn’t really boast any new features over its predecessor from the year before. It’s the tightest baseball simulation with the best graphics that I’ve seen. You know, since last year. It still uses the one-touch control system that basically lets you play the entire game with only single presses (or maneuvers of the thumbsticks. Whatever.) to take any action. I would say the ease with which the game can be played is its best feature by far…

And it’s hard to criticize the game, since they’ve culled the irritating features over the years, until the tight baseball simulation is basically all that remains.

It’s worth noting that unlike other sports offerings (Madden, I’m looking at you!) MLB 2k11 does a fantastic job of keeping up with the big league rosters if you’re playing in an online format, or if you just hop straight in and want to play a game of baseball.

As you would expect, the game has all of the modern game modes. Many of the big achievements revolve around the My Player mode, which is also one of the most fulfilling modes… depending on the position you prefer. I would say, tentatively, that I’ve spent more time in My Player than in Franchise or Play Ball this year. It really is kind of fun to work your way up from AA ball into the big leagues, and then to carve a name out for yourself from there. I like this mode in MLB far better than I ever have in Madden, and I really can’t recommend it any more strongly.

Oh, and it’s worth noting… out of all of the 2K Sports offerings for baseball, this one is easily the best. It runs mostly alike to the 2K10 effort, but as you would expect, it’s a little tighter, and a touch better looking… and, really, with not much else to improve on that’s the story of the game. If you like baseball, or you have some hankering to play it, this game is definitely for you. If you’re looking to gain 1000 GS then this game will disappoint you with the amount of time required to earn some of the achievements. If you’re *that sort*, I wouldn’t bother with this title.

Majesty 2

The self-described fantasy sim game, Majesty 2, makes its triumphant return on Steam. I bought the gold collection when it became available partially out of nostalgia, and partially because I desperately wanted a strategy game to play that I hadn’t worn out. I could always return to StarCraft II, but for some reason Majesty 2 caught hold of my imagination, and drew me back in.

The outstanding feature of Majesty 2 as opposed to your generic RTS game is that much of the action is not under your direct control. Your armed forces consist of guards, who will defend your town and your palace in a very automated, very uninspired, way… and heroes, who do their own thing, unless they’re being paid. You can throw out contracts of various types (examples include ‘destroy target’, or ‘explore region’) in the form of flags, for which you announce a bounty you’re willing to pay. In an ideal world, your heroes will help you out, and dash to the rescue. Of course, the interest level of your heroes and their personal gumption depends both on their hero type and their hero level. For example, the Rogues from the Thieves Guild are a bit on the cowardly side and flee at the first sign of real trouble, while the Rangers Guild and its heroes are particularly excited about exploring the wilderness and battling beasts.

You personally control the construction of town structures and fortifications, and choose the path through the single player campaign; a rich experience which takes its decent share of time. This experience can actually get a little repetitive; you’ll want the missions to end a bit quicker, at the very least, no later than halfway through the campaign. No doubt if you’re better at the game than me, this will never become a problem.

L.A. Noire

Strictly as a tease… I’ve been playing a great deal of this game lately. A full review from me is forthcoming.

Quick Review: L.A. Noire

Posted on by Leonard Wilson

It was a dark and stormy night, the scent of blood in the rain, and I found myself huddled in front of my XBox. 

In the gaming world, bringing out a new IP can be tricky. If you have a great design team and a fantastic story, sometimes players will gravitate to it. Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed and Rocksteady/Eidos/WB’s Batman: Arkham Asylum are great examples of a new IP that actually managed to stand on it’s own. EA’s Mirror’s Edge, though one of my favorite games, didn’t garner enough interest to keep EA/Dice from shelving any possible sequels. I believe the problem with Mirror’s Edge was that it was a niche game. If you loved parkour/freerunning and dealing with puzzles, it was a fantastic game. If you were nauseated by first person movement, you never touched it.

And this is the danger that Rockstar’s L.A. Noire faces. It’s a detective story, and it’s going to be hard pressed to pull the Halo and Call of Duty shooter crowd (myself included) into its web. Unlike other Rockstar Games, you don’t spend too much time trying to cause mayhem to the city or roaming around. You can play in the sandbox, sure, but you also have a purpose in trying to stop crime. In a sense, you could compare it to the Spider Man games, sans web shooters and sticky fingers/feet. Know this, if you don’t at least watch someone play this game or try it yourself, you are seriously missing out on something grand.

Let me repeat: “You are seriously missing out on something grand, if you don’t at least try it.”

In L.A. Noire, you play Cole Phelps, fresh out of WW II with a Silver Star and logically moving to a role of a officer in the L.A.P.D. Quick to make a name for himself, Cole takes the initiative to further his career by solving the crimes he comes across. This moves him through the ranks and brings him to some of the more high profile cases in LA during the 1940’s. You can move through five different styles of investigations, ranging from Homicide to Vice to Arson. The case system in L.A. Noire is very cool, and requires you to walk the perimeter of a crime scene to examine the clues that are around. The music in the game helps to let you know if you’re moving too far away from the crime scene (the music will stop playing), if you’ve stumbled onto a clue (a chime), or if you’ve managed to collect all of the clues in an area (an uplifting melody). What’s important to note is that gathering evidence isn’t as easy as picking up an object and adding it to your inventory. You have to sometimes turn the object around in Cole’s hands to make sure that he sees (he sees, not that you see) something of particular about it. It takes the Detective Mode of Batman: Arkham Asylum up a notch in that even you may find clues and info in both games, L.A. Noire lets you choose how to incorporate it in your interrogations. It would be interesting to see if Arkham City has a similar approach along the line. The Interrogation features of L.A. Noire introduces a new technology to Rockstar’s arsenal called MotionScan. This tech, similar to what was used in The Social Network allowed them to map the actors facial movements. This becomes a key part of the interrogations in that you can effectively ‘read’ a witness and tell if they are lying to you or possibly have some doubts to what they’re telling you. I haven’t seen anything like this since Intrigue! For the Commodore 64, so it’s pretty refreshing to encounter the system here.

The one problem I do have with L.A. Noire so far is that the Interrogation System (at least in one of the first 3 cases I handled) seemed to run in a loop. When I fouled up an Interrogation, I was forced to redo it until I got it right. I believe it was because of the case I was working on (it was literally the introduction to Interrogating), and that other cases may not do this. If all of the interrogations have that style, that could become a problem. The whole “do it until you get it right” is great in a game like Mirror’s Edge, but it would be nice to see a case slip from your fingers because you botched something.

You’ll also find a number of cameos from various actors in L.A. Noire. Keith Szarabajka (The Dark Knight) is the narrator of the story, and you’ll also run into Courtney Gains (Memphis Belle, The Burbs) and many others (including Fringe’s John Noble), which adds to this.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a Rockstar Game without the Sandbox to play in. The Sandbox here is Los Angeles, 1947. I can’t comment on how realistic it looks, as I’ve never been to L.A., but for the purposes of this game, it makes sense. From what I’ve played so far, it’s not as rich and picturesque as Red Dead Redemption, but it does definitely fit the atmosphere of a noir story. Shadowy corners, dark alleys, it’s done quite well. Add to that the music of the story, a mixture of Jazz and action paced tunes, and you’re pretty much in a detective story all your own. Overall, L.A. Noire breaks a lot of new ground in what it achieves. You won’t get the Grand Theft Auto experience in that you’ll go crazy shooting and crashing through the city, and it might not be for every audience out there, but for those who love detective stories or crime dramas, it’s a definite gem.

What I Played Today: Transformers: War For Cybertron

Posted on by Semtex Skittle

In my recent hunger for new games to play (not new to the world, just new to me, mind) I started browsing the Steam store… and playing some of the crap that was coming in off of my Gamefly subscription. In honour of the fact that I haven’t written a column in three weeks, I thought I’d throw out some quick thoughts on a game I’ve played quite a bit recently. Sadly, it’s not a new title anymore… but there it is. Maybe next time, Gamefly… maybe next time.

Transformers: The War for Cybertron – My most recent arrival from Gamefly. It’s a solid game. The game-play is pretty tight, and it does a pretty decent job of integrating the idea of both heavily armed and armored robots… as well as their ability to transform into things. The whole system is pretty simple – and you’ll discover over hours of game-play that it lacks a certain level of depth – but the game is certainly fun enough.

The single player mode has you taking command of a single Transformer in the service of either the Decepticons or the Autobots (both have their own full-length campaign mode, which combine together to tell a single story). We are taken far into Transformers Past and the initial battle for control of the planet Cybertron that began the million-year-long war between the two factions. Ambitious Megatron claims that he will build a galactic empire rightfully dominated by the power of the Cybertronians… while Optimus Prime and his Autobots battle based… well, mostly on principle. Honestly, we’re not given much background. Luckily, the story is simple enough; nobody is going to get lost in this narrative.

You’ll recognize the names, and the look, and even the transformations of the titular robots in disguise… but one of the game’s most disappointing features is that there isn’t the variety from Transformer to Transformer that you might be hoping for. Although each one has a unique loadout of one or two weapons, their unique transformation, and a pair of special abilities, all of these are drawn from the same pool (with the exception of the transformations… oh, and Megatron and Optimus Prime receive unique weapons… but they’re the only ones). Ultimately, you’ll probably end up fighting with whatever weapon you like best / whatever weapon you happened to find that will work for the given situation. This isn’t a terrible thing; after all, games like Halo are completely based on the concept of two weapon swaps, switching out weapons for new weapons and so on, and the model works.

Still, the game has some fun voice acting, some cool level designs… and it’s pretty fun to roll through. The levels are longer than I expected going in… which is both a plus and a minus. Since the gameplay is, on the whole, fun… it’s not debilitating… but some of the sequences definitely begin to drag before you’ll finish a given level. The sequences can be challenging, depending on your difficulty level, but there’s earnestly nothing in terms of tremendous innovation in any of the game-play sequences. Basically you’re thrust into a third-person shooter with a variety of terrain, weapons, and enemies… and you go to town. There’s nothing wrong with that, but there’s nothing to this game that really makes it feel Transformers-y… aside, again, from the transformations themselves. At times, these will help you out, and do add an element to the game.. but you’re going to want to spend most of your time in combat in your robot form, doing robot things.

Oh well.

The multiplayer component features a few modes  modes. The competitive multiplayer modes (Deathmatch, King of the Hill, etc.) bear some similarities in structure with Activision’s Modern Warfare 2, with perks and levels and so on. The co-operative multi-player is headlined with the by-now-completely-standard horde mode (called Escalation in this particular incarnation), where you face off against wave after wave of enemies. I know that there’s only so many permutations of multiplayer modes; particularly within a given genre. I accept that each game isn’t going to break new ground with its multiplayer modes or concepts. That having been freely admitted? There wasn’t much to get hooked on here.

If for some reason you haven’t been turned off by the movie franchise or the endless bastardization of the classic Transformers, and you enjoyed this game, there’s something to look forward to: A planned sequel in 2012.

Review: Trouble Witches NEO

Posted on by Arleigh

Over this weekend I came across a little game over on Xbox LIVE Arcade listings that I knew I had to buy and play. Of late, I’ve been playing quite a bit of the so-called “shmup” (shoot ’em up) arcade shooters. While I’ve played such games in the past the niche shmup titles of the gothic lolita variety which have become quite popular in Japan was still new to me. My first introduction to this subgenre of the shmup was when I bought a copy of the gothic lolita arcade shooter Deathsmiles for the Xbox 360. Less than a year later I’ve bought a second game which improves on the previous one I bought. Trouble Witches NEO from SNK was seen, downloaded and soon played for countless hours over the weekend.

Trouble Witches NEO (developed by the doujin team from Studio Siesta in conjunction with Bouken and SNK) is quite similar to the many shmup arcade shooters now coming out of Japan and being discovered by Western gamers. Like Cave’s Deathsmiles series (there’s two games released for the series and plans for more), this title is bullet hell taken to the next level. It also uses the popular trend of using “moe” (overly cute) character designs that usually range means all characters will look like gothic lolita in design. While Trouble Witches NEO does have it’s gothrori look it does share lots of similarities with the cult shmup series Touhou Project. That series is pretty much a “mahou shoujo” (magical girl) smorgasbord and Studio Siesta’s own title bear’s similarities.

Sure, one would say the game is very cute to the point of sickening (for some but not to me), but is the game any good they would ask. I would happily declare that the game is quite good. It boasts three different difficulty levels that should allow for all sorts of gamers to try from the pathetically newbie to the shmup genre to the hardest of the hardcore who have mastered all the shmup titles Japan has to offer. The game also offers several game modes from the title’s Original version which pretty much ports the Japanese arcade version straight to the console as seen by the 4:3 aspect ratio gaming screen. There’s also the “Arrange 360 Mode” which updates the game’s graphics for the Xbox 360 and gives it widescreen gaming window. It’s in this newer mode that one can play single-player, multiplayer (offline with another controlled and player), Story Mode and an online co-op through Xbox LIVE. There’s also the usual Score and Boss Attack modes which should challenge even the most hardcore shmup gamer.

It’s in the Story Mode where one can unlock two other maid-witches (the term generally used for the playable characters in this game and others of its kind) by playing through the mode with each of the 6 available playables. For 160 MS Points a player can download a 9th playable character. It’s not necessary to buy this playable, but for 160 points it’s not bad and she’s actually much more powerful then the other 8 which should help in trying to rack up a major high score in the Score and Boss Attack Modes. The former just needs a player to score as many points in the time allowed (3 or 5 minutes). The latter mode just has a player fighting the 6 bosses in the game over and over until all their lives are spent. So, as you can see this game doesn’t lack for replayability value. Just trying to go up in the online leaderboard ranks should occupy a gamer days if not weeks to try and accomplish.

The gameplay itself is not to difficult to do. The left analog stick or the D-Pad ( I recommend using the analog stick option) controls the player’s maid-witch while the A-button fires her basic attack. The B-button activates one of three Magic Cards a player can buy in a floating magic shop. Each card gives a player different attack options. Some are as basic as a 7-way fire which fills the screen to a decoy that attracts enemy fire to the ultra-powerful Fire Bomb which literally takes out everything it touches on the screen. The shop itself also sells extra health (lives in this game) and a magic potion which will increase the time a player can use the all-important Magic Barrier.

The Magic Barrier (activated by pressing the X-button) creates a circular barrier around the player which slows down incoming fire by turning them a purplish-pink. To make it even more interesting, if a player destroys the enemy whose fire has been caught in the Magic Barrier those very enemy fire turns into Gold Coins (Star Coins if a Magic Card ability is used to destroy the enemies) which can now be used to buy replacement Cards or buy new health/increase magic level. The Magic Barrier lasts only as long as the player’s total amount of magic which begins at a default 120. One can remove the barrier at any time by pressing the X-button again which will allow it replenish on its own. Gamers will soon learn to use this Magic Barrier strategically. It’s best used when there are a lot of enemies on the screen who give off tons of fire.

Overall, Trouble Witches NEO is another shmup arcade shooter which has made its way into the Xbox 360 and one that is worth the 800 MS points needed to buy it (960 points if one buys the 9th playable). It’s a fun game that’s readily accesible to all levels of gamer, but still very challenging to the veteran shmup gamer (I’d dare say even those would have a hard time mastering this title). While only a couple of these shmup titles have been available to North American Xbox 360 users there’s many more available to Japanese Xbox 360 owners and hopefully those other titles will make the jump to the West just like Trouble Witches NEO.

PS: As a treat to fans of this type of game Trouble Witch NEO comes not just with the localized English-language voice acting (which is hilarious in it’s awfulness when heard during the Story Mode cutscenes), but with the original Japanese-language voice. Just my preference I always switch the setting to Japanese language. The game retains it’s “moe” factor in that setting and definitely loses it when the English-language was picked.

Modern Warefare 3: Teasers (America, England, France, Germany)

Posted on by Arleigh

It looks like Activision has released a tad early the teaser trailers for the third game in their wildly popular Call of Duty: Modern Warfare series of first-person action shooter. Leaks began to appear about Modern Warfare 3 days prior to the release of these simple teaser trailers. With EA and DICE already months ahead of showing the public and game journalists peeks into their much-anticipated Battlefield 3 the ball was now in Activision’s court to respond.

The Modern Warfare fan-base continue to remain loyal to the series, but already there’s been chinks in the series’ armor as the previous entry in the game saw the head of it’s development studio, Infinity Ward, fired from Activision then followed by nearly half of the lead programmers and designers of the Modern Warfare franchise. This showed a weakness in Activision’s biggest franchise outside of World of Warcraft (which I still think more a Blizzard game than Activision). EA and DICE had an ok attempt to knock off Activision from the modern combat FPS genre with Battlefield 2, but it wasn’t enough. It looks like Battlefield 3 may be the one title that could do the job.

Modern Warfare 3 will be set right after the cliffhanger of the previous game and take players through battlefields in 15 cities around the world (the US, France, England and Germany being some of them). Just like Battlefield 3, this game will have fully destructible environments and a much more expansive gameplay map. Players will return to controlling vehicles (though Activision doesn’t specify if they’ll be on-the-rails vehicle controls or fully-controllable vehicles like those for Battlefield 3) like the AC-130 gunship and an M-1A2 main battle tank.

It would be foolish of anyone to say this game will tank. This game could be just a massive rehash of the previous two game with updated graphics like it’s new Black Ops sibling, but with the tens of millions of fans worldwide it will still sell hundreds of millions of dollars worth of units. The question now is whether the strong push from EA and DICE with their retooled Battlefield 3 will be the needed kick in Activision’s collective pants to improve on their signature franchise instead of just sitting pat and hoping brand-name recognition makes them tons of money again.

Modern Warfare 3 is set to have it’s worldwide release on November 8, 2011.

April Power Poll

Posted on by Semtex Skittle

The rack has seen some serious action since I last addressed this topic back in March (not the smallest change has been the introduction of an entirely new physical rack. It’s more of a drawer now, but that has less torture-device correlations). As you may know, one of the most important ways in which I get access to video games over time is through my long-running subscription to Gamefly. I use the two-game package, because inevitably at least one of the two games sits around for ages while I play the other and any new releases… still, it does give me a way to play a bunch of games that I would never consider spending $60 on. In theory, GameFly will send you the games you really want at the top of your list. Of course, the reality is that when you build a queue of 40 games it’s sometimes a surprise to see what shows up in the post. Am I getting some A+ rated game I forgot I wanted to play two months ago, or something terrible that had some flashy reviews and bamboozled me? Well, if it’s the latter, at least I didn’t pay full retail.

Anyway, non-seq introductions aside, here once again is my Video Game Power Poll… in April. These are games that command significant time. If you think I have good taste in games, you may want to check some of these titles out. As always, I’ll try and give long-winded blurbs about each game as we go. And they’re still in reverse order. And no, I wouldn’t turn down sex for any of them. (Well, maybe for #1). Also, I’ve only got seven entries this month. I’m more dedicated than usual.

7. Call of Duty: Black Ops. Still standing strong months, and months, and months later. I’d actually taken a significant break from this title, but then my friend B and I played some the other night, and I was right back in. There’s something about the visceral pleasure of shooting people who think they’re doing a great job camping that never tires. Of course, when I first came back, the rust pretty much locked me up… and some of the game’s flaws have me longing for the next Modern Warfare release. When does that launch again?

6. Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds. This one is really up and down depending on mood. I had whipped myself into a serious fighting game craze for a couple of weeks there… and it made me think harder about Mortal Kombat. I’ve had some predictable issues with the online multiplayer. I still hold strong to the belief that fighting games were meant to be played against people in the same room. You know, to avoid that whole lag issue.

5. League of Legends – It’s been suffering from some server instabilities in the last little while… but they thoughtfully gave out a pittance (and I do mean pittance) of in-game Riot Points to buy things with as compensation. I did buy some stuff from them to support disaster relief in Japan, and I saved a copy of the picture of their CEO holding up a huge cardboard check to my hard drive. This game is never going away, though, because they just keep improving it!

4. Bayonetta – This one is a GameFly rental. It’s actually kind of an old game by now, apparently. I had never even heard of it until it popped up while I was perusing GameFly’s database. It sounded worth a look, so I went for it. It’s visually stunning, but took some real getting used to after years of playing FPS, sports, and RPG games. Maybe I need to branch out more often.

3. Dragon Age II. It still won’t die. There’s a lot of permutations to this one… and I love the fact that the automatic dialogue from Hawke changes based on the responses I frequently pick in-game… I love the characters. Wait, I did a whole review on this.

2. Red Dead Redemption. Another GameFly-er… finally. I actually had wanted to play this title since its launch, and I’m just now getting to it. Definitely going to be the subject of the next ‘what I played today’ style column. This one is definitely worth checking out for anybody who hasn’t gotten around to playing it yet. It’s very much in the style of Grand Theft Auto 4, but with a lot of improvements (in my mind) to the game-play. Of course, if you don’t like westerns, it’s probably a stay-away.

1. MLB 2K11 – I’ve been trying to author a review to this game for months. Seriously. I started writing the day of its launch after I bought it and powered through a few games straight. I love it. It has some weird glitches that are kind of frustrating, but if you want to play baseball, there’s a lot to like in this release… I guess pretty much like every year. Anyway, with all of the excitement over the baseball season itself, I’ve been glued to this title a lot. I suppose it will cool off in time (just as my Madden obsession inevitably does) but then again, the baseball season is a lot longer. I particularly like the ‘My Player’ create-a-player mode in this year’s offering, which is pretty meaty. Baseball is a good sport for it.

Song of the Day: Still Alive from Portal (by Jonathan Coulton and Ellen McClain)

Posted on by Arleigh

The latest “song of the day” comes in just in time to show that my major bout with the cold/flu last week and this weekend hasn’t taken me out. It’s also a proper choice with the release of Portal 2, Valve’s sequel to their very popular puzzle-shooter Portal. What better way to send me off to Anime Boston this weekend but with the very geeky and otaku anthem of “Still Alive”.

“Still Alive” is the end credits song which plays once the player has completed Portal. The voice who sings the song (written by songwriter Jonathan Coulton) is one Ellen McClain and she is suppose to be the AI-computer GLaDOS lamenting the player’s success and escape. The song became as big of a hit with gamers as the game it was part of. Pretty much a whole cottage industry of all things geek-culture sprung up around this song. Shirts were made, youtube videos of varying quality using the song were uploaded and comic book, gaming and anime convention goers worldwide adopted the song as their unofficial anthem.

The song is pretty cute and catchy. The way the lyrics were sung with such sweetness by singer Ellen McClain makes it such a happy ditty. But when stepping back from singing along one really has to look at the lyrics and see how dark and twisted “Still Alive” truly was and still is. And on that note, catch you allafter Anime Boston.

Still Alive

This was a triumph
I’m making a note here
HUGE SUCCESS
It’s hard to overstate my satisfaction
Aperture Science

we do what we must because we can
for the good of all of us except for the ones who are dead
but there’s no sense crying over every mistake
you just keep on trying until you run out of cake
and the science gets done and you make a neat gun
for the people who are still alive

I’m not even angry
I’m being so sincere right now
even though you broke my heart and killed me
and torn into pieces
and threw every piece into a fire
as they burned it hurt because I was so happy for you!
Now these points of data make a wonderful line
and we’re out of beta, we’re releasing on time
so I’m glad I got burned
Think of all the things we learned for the people that are still alive

go ahead and leave me
I think I prefer to stay inside
maybe you’ll find someone else to help you
maybe black mesa
that was a joke, haha, fat chance
anyway this cake is great, it’s so delicious and moist
look at me still talking, when there’s science to do
when I look out there it makes me glad I’m not you
I’ve experiments to run, there is research to be done
on the people who are still alive

and believe me I am still alive
I’m doing science and I’m still alive
I feel FANTASTIC and I’m still alive
While you are dying I’ll be still alive
and when you’re dead I’ll be still alive
STILL ALIVE, still alive…


What I Played Today: Jade Empire

Posted on by Semtex Skittle

Every so often – because I like old games better than I like new ones, or so I’m told – I like to revisit a classic game. I’m sure, if you read my columns often, you’ve noticed that by now. Continuing this month’s theme of BioWare inundation (spurred, of course, by the release of Dragon Age II and the Arrival DLC) today I decided once again to play a little Jade Empire. Longtime WRPG fans will remember the title from its 2005 debut. Newcomers to BioWare’s camp may have missed this jewel. In the interests of saving the integrity of the game for anyone who never played the original release, I’m going to avoid serious game spoilers here, even though the game has been out for six years now.

The first thing I’ll say is that this game holds up better than most other original XBox titles with graphics that are bearable, at least, and smooth play on the XBox 360. I never played the game when it was originally launched on XBox, and only got into it after a friend recommended that I fork over the cash to buy it on the XBox Originals in Marketplace. Smooth emulation aside, I immediately fell in love with the title. Jade Empire offers a highly interactive game-play experience (more on this later) that is settled on the solid foundation of classic BioWare RPG structure. We slowly accumulate a group of loyal followers, whose personal story develops through conversation options between major plot developments in the overall story. Although many of these characters follow what we might call the “BioWare Rules” in terms of their personality archetypes (although Dawn Star is unconventional, she still reeks of Carth Onasi, doesn’t she?) they’re predictably detailed, with a diverse set of backgrounds and motivations. In this respect, I hardly think that Jade Empire is the gold standard for WRPGs. Its relatively simple story progression doesn’t lend toward diverse side missions undertaken in far-off locales.

The game’s outstanding feature, however, is not the party members, the story, the voice acting, the graphics… or even the interesting-in-theory morality system of competing philosophies. Unfortunately, while the idea of two philosophies competing against one another (Open Palm and Closed Fist) sounds compelling, and a refreshing departure from someone merely being good or evil, light or dark side, it amounts to the same thing. The complex motivations that would drive a practitioner of the Closed Fist according to the game’s story ultimately don’t matter; points are accrued by being a jerk, just as always. Sliding scale morality systems are always going to be imperfect in general, of course, while we’re on the subject… but I almost feel as if Jade Empire could have benefitted from a dual system; having both a good vs. evil slider, as well as competing philosophies (in this scenario, we might wish for more than two that are so diametrically opposed). Oh, and why can’t we ever have a philosophy of neutrality in these games? Wouldn’t that be fun? Maybe not.

The reason I keep revisiting Jade Empire, attempting to jump off for the third time, is because of the interactive game-play system. Even Mass Effect with its shooter based game-play doesn’t explore the potential as deeply as Jade Empire, which plays successfully like some kind of action game, only with distinct RPG elements. It lacks the elaborate combos that we might see from Devil May Cry or similar games, but it interweaves level-ups and equipped items just like a more traditional RPG. Unlike latter-day BioWare offering Dragon Age, we are truly rewarded in Jade Empire for dodging, and knowing when (and from where) to use our different martial arts styles and their different unique powers. Now, of course, those who are traditionalists and would rather have the stats decide things (this also includes people who just aren’t that good at action games) I suppose this is probably frustrating. I personally think it’s mild enough that once you get the hang of it almost anyone could have fun with the system and be successful in the game. For me, this outstanding combat system makes the game incredibly easy to just drop in to and play. In fact, every time I load it up and play, I angst over how much fun it is… and how it’s the one game amongst all of BioWare’s RPGs that never got a sequel.

Oh, yeah, and as a side bonus, the game features a 2-D scroller style airplane game where you pilot your airship and fire your weapon straight up toward a variety of aerial enemies and hazards that cross the screen and generally try to ruin your day. All of these sequences but the first one are optional, but they provide a nostalgic element for me…  and completing them provides a bunch of XP within the game, too.

And hey, maybe if enough people realize what a great game Jade Empire was… we’ll get that sequel after all.