Wow, it’s really been over a month since I joined Gamer Limit, hasn’t it?  This semester seems to be flying by, certainly in part owing to the work I have.  Since I’ve gotten accustomed to GL, I thought it was time to elaborate a little on what I do given how many blog posts I make in a week.

I consider myself a freelance blogger.  I’ve been independently blogging for a while now and yes, I do work with a number of video game publishers.  I don’t get paid, nor do I want to; this is something I do strictly in my spare time.   Video game journalism has always been a hobby for me, not to mention it’s a great way to meet people in the industry.  I joined GL after being an informal video game blogger for my campus for a while; being a senior, I decided it was wise to find a more game-specific venue.  I’m just glad Jamie O. happened to post about Gamer Limit on a message board we both visit, or I never would have heard about it.  As is, I’m extremely impressed with GL to the point where I routinely check the site for updates even if I’m not making an RMG update.

At some point down the line I wouldn’t mind becoming a contributing writer for GL, since I hear PSP reviewers are needed; as is, my senior thesis proposal for literature is due soon, so that’s been hogging up most of my time.  Right now it’s easier to work around my own schedule, which is why I enjoy freelance journalism in the first place.  I obviously play video games in my leisure time anyway, so why not do something with it?

By the way, do you consider it ironic that a relaxing hobby involves writing because you think a Literature major does more than enough writing?  You’re quite right, but I digress.

So before I start to ramble, I do tip my hat to the Gamer Limit staff, since this really is an excellent site.  I’m glad to be here, be it as a visitor, blogger, contributing writer, or whatever.

Gamespot happened to mention the other day that nine years ago this week the PlayStation 2 launched, at the time sporting a mere 24 titles – the console has certainly come a long way when one looks at the vast library it has now.

The PlayStation 2 has continued production long after dwarfing its sixth generation competitors, the GameCube and the original Xbox.  Whether or not the PS2 will step back from the liemlight any time soon as more games are released for its successor is an open question, but for now, let us pause and reflect on how far we’ve come from since 2000.  Happy 9th, PlayStation 2, and thank you for providing us with games like Final Fantasy X, God of Wars I and II, the Ratchet and Clank games,  Shadow of the Colossus, Grand Theft Auto III, Vice City, San Andreas…yeah, it’s a pretty big list.

Developer: Project Soul
Publisher: Namco Bandai
Genre: Fighting
Console(s): PlayStation Portable

The verdict: Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny brings exciting combat, beautiful artistic style, and an awesome guest character to the PSP despite taking some steps backwards in terms of available content.

The Soulcalibur series has an illustrious history, having cemented its identity years ago in the olden days of the Dreamcast.  Since then the next three console Soulcalibur sequels have found their homes on multiple platforms, expanding character rosters and adding new content.  Now Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny takes the franchise into unexplored handheld console territory by debuting on the PSP, guest starring Kratos from God of War.  Although players may wind up aching for more content, Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny is a lot of fun and a superb representation of the series on a handheld.

Round one, fight!

At its core, the gameplay of Broken Destiny is a fairly traditional fighter, the primary end objective usually being to deplete your opponent’s health meter.  The face buttons perform horizontal and vertical attacks as well as kicks, and you can block and move in multiple directions.  It’s an easy system to learn, but different characters all feel unique and varied due to their different fighting styles that complement each other.  While Raphael is balletic with his rapier, Astaroth is brutish and powerful.  Different characters have different balances on strength, speed, and power such as Kilik’s moderate speed and range using his staff.

There are also a lot of trickier aspects of combat to learn, most of which return from previous Soulcalibur games.  Soul Gauges make a returning appearance, which are gauges that can be depleted when your opponent is guarding.  If you break enough armor you’ll get to perform a Critical Finish, which looks dazzling and is undeniably satisfying to pull off.  This system continues to balance fights nicely, since you can’t use the Critical Finish too easily unless your hapless opponent abuses guards.

Beating opponents senseless with style

It’s the overall flair of the series that helps it stand out, and it’s been very nicely brought to the PSP.  Combat is as stylish as ever featuring artistic, acrobatic attacks with an impressive variety of weapons ranging from Ivy’s whip to Nightmare’s infamously massive sword.  Longtime Soulcalibur fans will remember nearly everyone on the 28-fighter roster, including God of War guest character Kratos and flamboyant newcomer Dampierre.  All of them are available when you start the game, so you won’t have to power through a particular gameplay mode to unlock your favorite character.

Game mode rundown

The “main” gameplay mode is The Gauntlet, which represents a significant and welcome change of tone in the series.  The main series has become progressively more convoluted and needlessly complex, with Soulcalibur IV going so far as to feature scrolling text screens.  Broken Destiny features silly, random, and downright hilarious dialogue that includes in-jokes and cultural references.  Among the more illuminating topics covered are Kilik’s search for his master’s beard, Nightmare’s sensitive side, and panty shots to name but a few.  The dialogue is guaranteed to make you laugh, especially when you compare this lighthearted tone to the previous games.  It’s as if Project Soul realized they were trying just a little too hard to make us empathize with fighting game characters, so they relaxed and had some fun with them.

The gameplay of The Gauntlet is also a little unconventional relative to previous Soulcalibur games.  The Gauntlet is comprised of missions, which in turn have several sections that require you to perform a particular action in battle.  They usually last just a few seconds, so this winds up feeling like a more formal tutorial.  It’s a creative way to acclimate characters with the game’s fighting style but the novelty quickly wears thin and it becomes very repetitive.  The humorous dialogue kept me playing but with 34 chapters of tutorial with at least two sub-missions in each, that’s a lot to get through.

Those interested in a more direct combat experience can try out Quick Match, which is a standard match up against a computer controlled opponent.  Versus Mode is similar to Quick Match but allows PSP players to connect wirelessly and fight against each other.  In apparent lieu of Arcade Mode there’s also a Trials mode, which tests the player through Attack Trials (how well you attack), Defend Trials (how well you guard and counter) and Endless Trials (a combination of both).  Quick Match and Versus Mode are a lot of fun if you just have a few minutes to kill, but the Trials mode is a lot of fun and really puts your skills to the test.

The Gauntlet provides a lot of chuckles despite its repetition and Quick Match and Trials are solid components of the game, but Broken Destiny feels somewhat lacking in the content department.  Where did the standard Arcade mode go?  The Gauntlet could have easily been split into a tutorial mode and a standard story mode that would have let us do more direct fighting and enjoy the humorous dialogue.  It’s a shame because the combat is as fun as ever; there just aren’t as many opportunities to use it.  Broken Destiny is fundamentally the same game as Soulcalibur IV but it just has fewer gameplay modes.

One shiny destiny

In bringing Soulcalibur to handheld consoles, Project Soul brought the pristine graphics onto the PSP in an admirable way.  This is easily one of the best looking PSP games ever released on the system; character models and environments are so meticulously detailed that you’ll barely notice the graphical downgrade from Soulcalibur IV.  Elements such as Hilde’s armor and Maxi’s outfit do a lot to make the experience feel authentic and expressive, and arenas are colorful, diverse, and large.  Voice acting is top notch all around with special nods going to a certain guest character (see below), and the soundtrack features the same high pitched, intense music customary for the series.  What’s even more impressive is that despite utilizing the maximum power of the PSP, I didn’t experience any slowdown or lag.

Warning: Challenger approaching!

Soulcalibur also keeps its recurring theme of guest characters from other franchises, and Kratos blows away all previous guests.  The Soulcalibur II guests were okay and the Star Wars guests were more gimmicky than anything but Kratos feels right at home.  His God of War fighting style fits into the mold perfectly using his Blades of Chaos, the wings of Icarus, Rage of Cronos, and even the Blade of Olympus.  When he ferociously says “Drown in the depth of Hades!” upon victory you know you’re fighting with the real Kratos rather than a carbon copy.  His moves are balanced enough to not seem overpowered, but strong enough to make him a fitting Soulcalibur fighter.

Conclusion

Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny delivers all the fun I’ve come to expect from Soulcalibur.  Project Soul has done a splendid job of bringing their series to Sony’s portable system while maintaining its trademark stylish combat and beautiful environments and characters while finally showing a willingness to not take itself too seriously.  If you own Soulcalibur IV you essentially have Broken Destiny with more gameplay variety, but if you’re on the go a lot or just want an extra fighting game in your library, Broken Destiny is definitely worth picking up.

Before anything else I know that “hardcore Wii” sounds like an oxymoron, given Nintendo is being showered with money due to titles like Wii Fit and Mario Kart Wii.  Despite the Wii having an overwhelming casual audience, there is indeed a small sect of mature titles on Nintendo’s seventh generation machine, although unfortunately they tend to receive the least attention of all the games available for the console.  Since it seems fair to assume that most Gamer Limit readers are regular gamers, I’ve decided to shine some light on this group of titles in the hopes of a few people finding something that may interest them.  The makers definitely deserve to be supported and rewarded for their efforts.  Not only are these all well made games, but the publishers took an admirable risk in publishing mature titles for the Wii.

House of the Dead: Overkill – It may be a standard rail shooter, but the presentation of Overkill is what clinches it.  The game features a 70s exploitation film theme teaming up an uptight white cop and a street smart black cop to battle zomb-err, mutants.  You’ll mow down mutant clowns, nurses, football players, and even rednecks.  Fun trivia: Overkill holds the Guinness World Record for most swearing in a videogame, with 189 counts of the word “fuck” alone.

Madworld – Really, where can you go wrong with a city-wide brawl where the objective is to kill people in the most creative ways possible?  The black and white graphic novel feel exaggerates the massive spurts of blood caused from impaling people with signs, hurling them into giant grinders, holding their heads against trains, and just flat out pummeling them into the pavement.  It’s fun, frantic, and bloodthirsty enough to put Kill Bill to shame.

Dead Space Extraction – This was one I recently reviewed, and it probably ranks among my top ten favorite reviewed games.  It’s a rail shooter that feels more appropriate for a console than it would an actual arcade, and the Dead Space world is as enthralling as ever.  The experience even manages to be scary, which is impressive for a rail shooter.  This is also one of the best games I’ve ever seen on the Wii; the graphical downgrade from the Xbox 360/PlayStation 3 is relatively minor.

No More Heroes -Suda51’s Wii debut delighted mature Wii owners everywhere, and with good reason.  A mature, stylish setting, fun combat and entertaining side missions that make great use of the Wii controls make No More Heroes entertaining despite some problems with the open world.   This seems like a particularly important one to mention since No More Heroes 2 is in the works.

The Conduit – Okay, okay, that’s being mean. I admire the ambition behind The Conduit but it serves as an example of trying to do too many things at once.  Speaking as someone who values narrative, the story almost seemed like a byproduct of the desire to create a mature game on the Wii.

The Wii may not have the litany of mature titles that its seventh generation counterparts have, but mature gamers can find fun if they look in the right places.  Dead Space Extraction or Madworld may not have the earth-shattering sales of something like Halo 3, but the developers of the titles on this list should be applauded for putting effort into these games.

It seemed incomprehensible at the time.  I was a huge Ninja Turtles fan growing up, and I’m also a longtime Smash Bros. fan.  So imagine my reaction upon learning that the Smash Bros. development team was creating a fighting game with a Ninja Turtles theme.  Suffice to say I had to try it out for myself.

Developer: Game Arts
Publisher: Ubisoft
Genre: Fighting
Console(s): Wii, PlayStation 2

The verdict: Ultimately, how much enjoyment you get out of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Smash-Up is directly proportional to how big of a Ninja Turtles fan you are.  It’s a decent game that holds its own, but inevitably has to compete with Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

The minute most fighting game enthusiasts boot up their copy of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Smash-Up, a distinct feeling of déjà vu will set in.  The Game Arts development team happens to be behind Smash-Up – that’s right, the same folks who crafted Super Smash Bros. Brawl, except now you’re trying to knock out people in sewers rather than Pokemon stadiums and your heroes are turtles rather than Nintendo mascots.  Smash-Up may not be the most innovative game and there’s little to make it stand out, but if you’re into Smash Bros. type combat it’s still an entertaining romp.

Heroes in a half shell, and some ninjas too

Anyone unfamiliar with the Smash Bros. game engine will discover an unorthodox but satisfying fight style that Game Arts carries over into Smash-Up.  It’s a 2.5D fighting game featuring up to four characters at a time on a variety of battlefields.  You have a basic attack and a strong attack, and using either of these while pushing the analog stick in tandem will result in a smash move.  You have a variety of Ninja Turtles classic characters at your disposal including the four titular turtles, Casey Jones, and April O’Neil among others who are either available at the start or can be unlocked.

It feels petty to call Smash-Up a Super Smash Bros. ripoff since Ubisoft clearly isn’t trying to pretend it’s an original concept, having gone as far as hiring Game Arts to develop it.  While comparison is going to be inevitable, let’s judge the game by its own standards.

Kicking some shell

Combat looks great and keeps the action going throughout the entire fight.  Characters are all surprisingly diverse, albeit in more subtle ways.  The differences are largely based in their fighting styles and the way they attack.  They’re all very well balanced, but as you play with different characters you’ll notice variations and eventually start picking out favorites.  You’ll be able to use environments to your advantage as well; battlefields are all interactive in ways that can either work for or against you.  Some levels just change altogether, like the cruise ship that runs into an iceberg (hey, more déjà vu!).

You also have the ability to throw your opponents and wall climb, and you can pick up items such as throwing knives and bombs.  The combat is much more subtle than Smash Bros., without the Smart Bombs or supercharged Wind-Up Punches.  It’s a different experience but an entertaining one, with the emphasis more on outwitting your opponent and utilizing your moves to take them down.  The set pieces are creative and the environments are sufficiently dynamic to have an impact on the gameplay.

Rough spots on the shell (last pun, really)

Combat certainly has some awkward moments, namely that the visuals aren’t as crisp as the ones in Smash Bros. This sounds like a minor problem but when the camera zooms out really far, it’s much harder to see the action you’ll frequently lose sight of your character.  This also becomes a problem when you have multiple characters in close combat.  Particle effect attacks can obscure the action quickly and you may forget which of the near-identical turtles is yours long enough for an opponent to send you flying across the arena.

There are also moments that shoehorn in some unnecessary Wii Remote waggling; when your opponent grabs you to throw you, you have a moment to wave the Wii Remote to try and break the hold.  Since the rest of the combat is focused on pushing buttons and the analog stick this will often come at you with no warning and your opponent will have likely thrown you before you can react.

Ways to have fun in the dojo

First among the gameplay modes is Arcade mode, which is a series of solo fights intermixed with cutscenes that illustrate a story arc.  The combat remains enjoyable but the art in the cutscenes is atrocious.  This is a relatively petty complaint since it has nothing to do with the gameplay but it’s honestly shocking how threadbare the art is relative to the slick looking animation in the game itself.  In addition to Arcade mode there’s also a mission mode that requires you to fulfill specific objectives within fights, a tournament mode for up to eight players and a practice mode for you to hone your skills.  The mission mode lets you collect shells that can be used to purchase unlockables.  All of this does a lot to flesh out the game beyond Arcade mode and there’s a lot to do.

The major problem, even though I promised to judge the game by its own merits, is that Smash-Up seems to have trouble figuring out what it wants to be.  In terms of a raw fighter Smash-Up doesn’t compare to the deeper Super Smash Bros. Brawl, so it’s difficult seeing what Smash-Up wanted to accomplish.  There are hints that the game wants to have the same fan service towards Ninja Turtles fans that Brawl did for Nintendo fans, with elements like figurines and alternate costumes.  These were good ideas, but stylistically the game seems limited to the 2007 CGI movie.  Why not explore further back in the history of the franchise, or offer stuff like concept art or a few comics?

Both local and online multiplayer modes are a lot of fun and online sessions ran smoothly throughout all of the matches.  The online system is actually more stable than Brawl’s, but it feels limited in the same way as single player in that there’s not much to differentiate it from its Nintendo mascot counterpart.

Closing thoughts

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Smash-Up is obviously a game that requires you to be a Ninja Turtles fan to enjoy.  Beyond that, it’s a fun game with frantic if slightly unrefined combat and a solid amount of content on the disc.  It’s certainly gratifying to see a developer put real effort into a title rather than make a quick buck on the brand name alone, and Smash-Up at least warrants trying out.

When Gamer Limit had its League of Legends beta key contest, I won one of the keys.  At the time I didn’t know too much about League of Legends, but all a friend had to tell me was that it was similar to Defense of the Ancients, which to date I still occasionally play on Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne.  So I tried it out, and now I’m hooked.

In a curious way, it’s nostalgic.  It almost felt like the old order of PC games.  Back in the early 2000s, online gaming was still largely confined to the PC, and even voice chat was in its infancy, characterized by horrible static if anyone remembers Unreal Tournament 2004.  So online games usually involved waiting in a lobby and using regular text chatting.

The rise of console online gaming has meant a fairly significant change in the way most people play online games.  Now most people use a headset with crystal clear voice chat, and after a tumultuous adaptation period PC gamers accustomed to FPS controllers (namely me) have learned to use console controls on FPS games.

It just seems to be more time and cost efficient for a lot of people.  I’m on the go a lot so it’s easier for me to use a laptop with relatively scaled down gaming specs, and I’d much rather have a $300 Xbox 360 than spend much more money to buy a PC that could play Crysis without the hardware melting.  Aside from reviewing Spore, Warhammer Online, and The Sims 3 I haven’t actually bought a PC game in years.

My intention isn’t to provide a point by point analysis on the decline of PC gaming, but simply to tip my hat to League of Legends, a game that still proves the early 2000-era of much simpler (relatively speaking) PC gaming is still intact.  It’s also nice to have a game that I can run relatively smoothly on my decent laptop.

That said, did anyone else get a League of Legends key?  I’m hardcore using the Fiddlesticks hero by now.

I was more than a little curious when I happened to learn that Square-Enix – herald of RPGs, keeper of Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest – was publishing a World War II strategy game.  As it happens, Order of War was developed by Western developer Wargaming.net, which bills itself as specializing in military strategy on its website.  That’s certainly on display here in Order of War – read the review to find out why.

Developer: Wargaming.net
Publisher: Square-Enix
Genre: Real time strategy
Console(s): PC

The verdict: Order of War offers much more than the simple premise suggests.  It’s engaging, fun, and strategic despite some minor bugs; it’s also definitely a niche game for genre fans.

World War II is the beaten path in video games, isn’t it?  The gaming landscape is filled with countless charges up the beaches on D-Day, invasions of Berlin, and even ventures into the Pacific theater.  Despite the steady stream of Nazi shoot ‘em ups, it’s important that we not dismiss games that rise above the atypical WWII standard and actually use it to augment a creative premise or setting.  Order of War is a real time strategy game developed by Wargaming.net that puts an interesting spin on the real time strategy genre similar to what Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War II did.  It may not win game of the year, but Order of War is a surprisingly entertaining game that belies its relatively simple game mechanics.

Embarking on the great crusade

Order of War’s single player takes place in the year 1944, when the Germans are on the defensive and the Americans and Soviets are pushing from the western and eastern fronts respectively, towards Berlin.  One campaign puts you in the shoes of Americans as they march towards the German capital, while the other actually gives you charge of the Germans to try and stop the Red Army’s onslaught.  The story is fairly typical WWII fare, although since Wargaming.net was aiming for historical accuracy they certainly delivered on that.  The voice acting is a little bland, but this feels more out of Wargaming.net going for a more formal strategic scenario.  Indeed, the developers don’t try and shoehorn too much of a story into the setting which makes the historic element feel more authentic and less intrusive towards gameplay.

Company, halt!

One way Order of War breaks archetypes of generic real time strategy games is that you’re given charge of entire companies of units, rather than individual units or small squads.  So an actual “unit” will consist of around 50 infantrymen or five tanks.  Reading about it may make it seem complicated but the interface and control scheme have a very short learning curve and the basics of the game are incredibly easy to master.  Your troops and tanks have no AI issues and can effectively handle themselves in fights and skirmishes, so your role will be formulating attack plans, using terrain to your advantage, and making sure you don’t get caught in a situation where antitank guns are poised to attack your tank squads.  You’re as much of a tactician as a field commander, and the simplicity of the controls only make the entire process more seamless.

Another departure from classic real time strategy elements is the absence of resource gathering or base building.  This seems to be the direction that real time strategy is moving in, and Order of War is an iconic example of the advantages it has.  Eliminating resource harvesting essentially cuts out wait times to have enough money to produce an army, and removing bases adds more emphasis utilizing the troops you have.  You don’t have several barracks that you can queue up units to pump out like machines, and battles are not arms races to see who can produce the most tanks the fastest.  You have to work with the units you’re given with and carefully plan your attacks and maneuvers, and you also have to be wary for events that can change the fight.  The arrival of German tank reinforcements can isolate several of your units and turn the tide of battle in an instant, and you’ll have to adjust your strategy accordingly.

Harnessing the terrain

The resources you do have are tied in with managing your units and fights.  You’ll capture various control points on maps, and for every control point you have, you’ll earn resource points to spend on reinforcement units.  Your resource collecting is thus proportional to how well you do in battles and it’s gratifying to see players rewarded for actual combat.  Resources can be spent on reinforcements units, which are pricey enough to make you carefully consider and time your ‘purchases’, but not enough that they’re overpriced.

One common gameplay element that can be cause for tedium is the size of the maps.  Your battlefields are absolutely huge, featuring massive environments and realistic towns.  As great as this is for promoting varied strategies, the maps can get a little too massive.  There will frequently be very large stretches of land between objectives, and sometimes it feels like padding rather than trying to create an authentic European setting.  It never gets unbearable, but may prompt you to read a few pages of a book while you wait for your troops to dutifully get to where they need to go.

Field commanding in solo and multiplayer

The single player campaign will run you a fair amount of time since both the American and German campaigns are nine missions in length.  Despite the fact that the factions are largely similar, you’ll be placed in very different situations: Your American troops will be eager to march on Berlin to end the war in Europe, while as Germany you’ll merely be delaying the advance of the Soviet juggernaut.  The different difficulty levels run the gauntlet from adequate to merciless.  The strategy and the AI of opponents help make single player a lot of fun but it’s perplexing to see the absence of a Soviet campaign, since the Americans, Germans, and Soviets are all available in multiplayer.

There are a few other issues with single player gameplay.  The first is that sometimes the campaign takes charge in deciding what particular group of soldiers you’re controlling.  Every so often you’ll be switched to another particular cluster of troops during a pitched battle, which can be intrusive and also feels like unnecessary micromanagement.  The German campaign also crashed a few times during the early stages, but this problem seemed to fix itself a few missions in.

Multiplayer skirmishes are similar to single player but they’re still very entertaining.  The only game type is to capture all the control points on the map, although to diversify gameplay there are six huge maps and matches can be played with two or four people.  As with single player, multiplayer maps are detailed enough to offer a lot of variety in terms of strategy, but another major change from other strategy games is the absence of fog of war.  Especially in multiplayer, different players will either love this or hate it.  Being able to monitor where your opponent is moving has a significant effect on gameplay, and whether this is good or bad is really up to the player.  Personally I didn’t mind it too much, but it would have been nice to be able to sneak up on opponents during matches.

Conclusion

Order of War may not stand out if you read the back of the box at Best Buy, but it’s an entertaining game that defies expectations for both World War II and real time strategy games.  It may not be the most original game on the market, but Order of War’s willingness to take risks and explore relatively uncharted territory is a good sign for the real time strategy genre.  It’s definitely worth a look for any fan of war games, and a reassuring sign that WWII can be used in settings other than D-Day charges.

Mine was a Super Nintendo household growing up, and since I’ve remained steadfastly connected to videogames since then, I’ve seen a lot of changes in gaming.  I’ve also seen some things that should change, but don’t seem to want to.  I’ve come up with a list of six gameplay elements common in the past that the gaming industry hasn’t entirely let go of, largely because they’ve been used before.  Like any other media, it’s time to stop living in the past.  Just as a note, this is an older article from my previous blog, but I decided to make some slight rewrites and put it here.

1.  Excessively recycling monster models, then marketing them as new monsters

This one’s something of a gray area since it’s acceptable up to a point, but some games just take it too far.  This was done back in the 16-bit era to save space, but now it’s largely done out of habit since space clearly isn’t an issue for major consoles anymore.  Great graphics exacerbate recycled monster models, not to mention it’s detrimental to the overall experience.  The Conduit comes to mind as one of the worst offenders of this in recent memory, going as far as recycling bosses.

2.  Cutscenes that can neither be skipped nor paused

Would it really kill developers to let us pause cutscenes? What if the phone rings or we just need to step away for a few seconds? As of 2003, there’s no excuse for this. That was the year of Final Fantasy X-2. X-2 you pause the game during cutscenes, and it let you skip them. Just for comparison, God of War II had an annoying habit of featuring cutscenes before bosses that you couldn’t skip, and this game came out in 2007. Super Mario Galaxy came out that same year, also with unskippable cutscenes.

Unfortunately, X-2 doesn’t get a pass because it actually penalizes you for skipping cutscenes. Being an RPG, X-2 features percentage game completion, and you need 100% completion to get the best ending. You actually need to watch the cutscenes to get completion points. If you skip a single cutscene during the entire game and do everything else, you wind up with approximately 99.99% completion and you don’t get the best ending.  This is essentially punishing people for wanting to play the game.

3.  Save points

I know, everybody’s complained about these, so I’ll keep this one to a minimum.  Save points seem to exist now solely because they’ve been used in the past (again, as a method of saving space).  Let’s just say that if Sonic Chronicles on the DS let us instantly save anywhere we wanted, we shouldn’t be forced to run around in Metroid Prime 3 or Ninja Gaiden II looking for save points so we can go to bed.  I can understand if you want to amp the difficulty up by including limited actual save points, but at the very least give us a quicksave option.  If we have to pause the game for eight hours, it runs our electric bills up and we won’t be able to buy more games!

4.  Making us go through all the game’s levels twice

By far one of the most convenient ways to save space on old consoles, the gaming industry seemed to be growing out of this trend until the release of both Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Devil May Cry 4.  Both are high profile games on systems with plenty of storage, and yet we’re repeating levels.  No matter what plot twist you try to put on level repetition it isn’t fun, and it’s needless padding.

5.  Random encounters

Another space saving fail-safe usually found in the land of RPGs, 16-bit and PSX era RPGs usually featured invisible, deserted terrains, which would involuntarily send you into monster encounters whenever the game damn well felt like it. Why is it unnecessary? At the same time Final Fantasy VI featured invisible terrains, Chrono Trigger and Super Mario RPG featured visible enemies, just waiting for you to challenge them. Yet here comes Lost Odyssey, a game released more than ten years later, which tried to make random encounters part of the indie aspect of the game.  I can understand where random encounters figure into RPGs driven by old school mechanics ala Dragon Quest, but at least give us the opportunity to reduce or even disable random encounters when we’re trying to solve a puzzle, otherwise it’s a nusiance that mercilessly drags out gameplay.

6.  Those stupid, STUPID FPS crates

We had to arrive here.  This one’s been going on as long as the first person shooter was a genre. From Quake to Halo, these crates have literally become a staple of FPS games. They’re a convenient way to fill up space and provide cover for your hero, especially when – once again – games had limited space. It’s okay to a certain extent, but every base and starship needs something other than supply crates, don’t they?

So that’s six fairly dated gaming gimmicks that people are still using.  There’s definitely hope in the future, as long as people learn to stop living in the past.

The decision to release a Dead Space rail shooter on the Wii has raised some eyebrows, but this served to generate a fair amount of hype as well.  So how does it hold up?

Developer: Visceral Games
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Genre: Rail shooter
Platform(s): Wii

The verdict: The enthralling Dead Space world is seamlessly brought over to the Wii in one of the best rail shooters ever released, and easily one of the best Wii games released.

Many gamers may fondly remember Dead Space, which came out in 2008 and pitted gamers against swarms of very hostile alien parasites in a dark, overrun ship.  The game’s creepy atmosphere, genuinely scary enemies, and unexpected surprises probably left gamers discreetly checking under their beds at night to make sure there were no Necromorphs lurking underneath.  Now the folks at Visceral Games have demonstrated their mastery in adapting to new systems and environments with Dead Space Extraction for the Wii.  Defying standards of both rail shooters and mature games on the Wii, Visceral Games has brought us a very original, very intense, and yes, a very scary game.

Visceral Games intended to build Dead Space Extraction from the ground up, and the effort really shows.  A lot of rail shooters seem to be tethered to arcade roots and wind up being unaccommodating to console players: Threadbare story, unfair difficulty to milk players for coins, and a relatively unrefined script.  Extraction escapes all of these tendencies and then some.  Visceral Games shows a much better understanding of a console’s audience and the way a rail shooter should be played a console.  The game feels much more sophisticated, even with a camera guiding you through the entire game.  It’s a different feeling to not be controlling your character, but the chilling world of Dead Space remains the same.

Where it all began

Dead Space Extraction takes place before the events of Dead Space, on the Aegis VII colony when the infamous Marker is removed and brought to the USG Ishimura.  With the Marker’s removal, chaos erupts on Aegis VII as colonists lose their minds, and the Necromorph infection is born, reanimating dead bodies as hideous monsters.  You take control of a small group of survivors whose only goal is to escape the carnage and find safety.

The game’s 10 levels take place on both Aegis VII and the Ishimura, and on the latter you’ll discover video logs and information about what happened after the Marker was brought to the ship that neatly ties Dead Space Extraction to the original game.  You control different characters at various points in the game, never focusing on one protagonist too long.  The narrative is as tense and suspenseful as the first Dead Space game, and in a rare scenario for rail shooters, the characters will endear themselves to you fairly quickly.  They’re not designed for you to develop a profound attachment to, but it’s just easy to like them.  They behave like typical people caught in a situation like this: They want to survive.

Rail shooting in space

The usual “point and shoot” aspect of gameplay in rail shooters is seamless and there’s never any poor coordination between where I wanted my targeting reticule to go and where it went on the screen.  Remote waggling is kept to a minimum and is only used when a particular enemy grabs ahold of you.  There’s a diverse variety of weapons that all have a secondary fire, which is easily accessed by twisting the Wii Remote to the side.  You can also find upgrades for weapons at points throughout the game which boosts their stats, scaling upward fairly with the increased difficulty for later levels.  Several new guns make appearances, most notably the Rivet, taking a role as the standard unlimited ammo pistol.  It may seem like a minor addition, but it’s invaluable towards conserving ammo on your bigger guns, especially since each character can only hold three weapons at a time.

Hold still so I can carefully shoot your limbs!

Your weapons are nicely augmented by Kinesis and Stasis, which are used to great effect in Dead Space Extraction.  Kinesis lets you control objects using gravity; in addition to bringing a helpful way to drag items to you, you can fire them off as projectiles at oncoming enemies.  Stasis freezes both enemies and items, and words can’t convey how satisfying it is to freeze an oncoming necromorph mid-charge, then take your time picking off individual limbs for a precise kill.  What’s nice about these two powers is you’ll be able to find varied and frequent usage of them throughout the whole game, rather than one or two levels where you need them followed by several levels where you don’t need them at all.  They do a lot to add variety to the game, not to mention they’re fun to use.

Combat is generally a blast, and the necromorphs from Dead Space return en masse.  The dismemberment gameplay is still in effect, requiring you to carefully time your shots for the best hits.  The sporadic, crazed lumbering movements that necromorphs and insane colonists make gives the game a distinct sense of the urgency for survival; your team really does consist of some of the few sane people left as all semblance of order collapses.  As scary as each individual encounter can become, you’re often rewarded with liberal amounts of gore, making each kill feel rewarding.  The only recurring issue in combat is one frequently found in rail shooters.  There are times when the camera whips around abruptly to meet a new threat, and there are times when the rapid camera movement gets a little too dizzying.  Thankfully, it calms down after occasional sporadic bursts.

A world immersed in fear

Despite the significant transition from survival horror third person to rail shooter, Dead Space Extraction keeps the world fans of the first game will be familiar with.  The world feels as creepy and haunted as ever.  Elements like guttural noises, screams for help, and shadowy corridors really depict the game as one where three necromorphs could ambush you at any moment.  The ambient music heightens the tension further, but it also stays in the background and never becomes intrusive.  The voice acting is stellar and is augmented by the well written script, which feels more authentic than the one in Dead Space.  The graphics also deserve kudos for being extremely detailed despite the downgrade from Xbox 360/PlayStation 3 to Wii.  In fact, this is easily one of the best looking games on the Wii to date.  The detail on individual necromorphs, guns, and suits of armor is impeccably well done.

While there isn’t much replay value for the story mode itself once you’ve finished it, you can try it on a harder difficulty or on co-op with a friend, since harder difficulties really put your skill to the test.  There are also ten hardcore challenge modes that can also be played either solo or co-op, and the motion comic series can also be unlocked if you want some more background on Dead Space.  The Dead Space Extraction story mode still runs you a good several hours depending on the difficulty, and it stands high above the average rail shooter.

Conclusion

Dead Space Extraction will set the bar for console rail shooters for years to come.  Visceral Games has gone above and beyond traditional rail shooter expectations to create a fun, enthralling game that’s well worth the price tag and then some.  If you own a Wii, take a break from Wii Sports Resort and add Dead Space Extraction to your library.  You won’t regret it for a second, especially if you enjoyed Dead Space.

Villain Name: Name given as Lavos, true name unknown
Race: Unknown extraterrestrial
Occupation: World harvester
Answers to: Itself (maybe?)
Assets: The ability to control and perfect its own evolution

Early on in Chrono Trigger, from the moment Crono, Marle and Lucca witness Lavos’ cataclysm in the year 1999 AD in the Chrono Trigger universe through a history log, you can tell you’re witnessing one of the most masterfully conceived antagonists in video game history.  Some villains may be raging psychopaths, others may be cunning strategists, and still others may be benevolent but misguided.  Lavos, however, is something else altogether.

What’s interesting about Lavos is reflected in the above description about it.  Despite its presence and its ultimate shaping of the future, we know almost nothing about it.  We don’t know where it came from, if there are more (!) of them, or if it has a homeworld or origin point.  Even the name “Lavos” was just given to it by Ayla.  Yet somehow, with only a cursory knowledge of its motivation revealed, Lavos becomes the center of Chrono Trigger.  Indeed, every character seems to have six degrees of separation between him or herself and Lavos, such as Magus’ motivations.

This really is a situation where less is more.  Lavos is fascinating because it’s so grounded in the unknown, as if nobody in the world could really begin to comprehend it.  Even though it works behind the scenes for millions of years, it always seems to feel omnipresent in every epoch you visit during the game.  Lavos resembles an Old God – it isn’t evil, it doens’t feel, and it isn’t doing this out of any kind of personal vendetta or grudge.  It just is.

In a situation vaguely reminiscent of Saren’s dilemma, we also don’t have a definitive idea of how much control Lavos had over the evolution of the world.  The suggestions that Lavos guided the world as it evolved to make itself even stronger will make many gamers pause as they look at different epochs, thinking to themselves: “Is this Lavos?” When a villain has you looking at the world itself in a new way, you know you’ve got an antagonist for the ages.