Mass Effect was one of the first games I ever reviewed, and I loved it.  I’ve been following news about Mass Effect 2 pretty closely (having already posted about Subject Zero’s unveiling), and they’ve managed to hit a new level of crazy with the character of Samara.

Meet Samara.  She’s cool, calculating, and a ruthlessly effective biotic.  She’s the opposite of Liara in just about every way.  She even looks like she could be an asari Matriarch.  Something tells me it’s going to be a lot of fun having her in your squad.

This leaves two open character slots in Mass Effect 2 for the total of ten.  Now that BioWare has covered deadly assassins, psychotic mercenaries, sociopathic biotics, and calloused scientists, one can only wonder who the next two people to join Shepard’s squad are.

Travel has always been a quintessential part of world-spanning RPGs.  Traveling between key points always used to be achieved through an open world map, but lately we’ve been seeing the rise of a standard “choose your destination” map where you simply select your destination.  Some people have lauded the new system, others have spit bile over it.  So which one is more fun?  Let’s break down the system and do a point by point (literally) analysis.

Exploration: One thing you sacrifice with a choose your destination map is the potential for exploration.  In a lot of ways RPGs are the most satisfying when you stumble upon a new location and spend some time figuring out where you are, and maybe even picking up some extra quests.  This is represented especially well in a game like Fallout 3.  Even if some RPGs follow a fairly linear path, there’s usually a point where they open up and let the player have much more free roaming on the map.  This is one thing choose your destination systems will never have on the same level as world maps.

World Maps: 1  Choose your destination: 0

Convenience: As fun as exploration is, world maps have a serious risk of dragging out gameplay artifically.  A lot of games tend to pad the length by putting huge stretches of land in between objectives or relevant locations, either intentionally or otherwise.  Oblivion was notorious for this, and Final Fantasy IX had most players holding the analog stick down while they flipped through several pages of a book.  Choose your destination systems negate a lot of needless travel time, but in fairness a lot of games with world maps will feature fast travel options.  The point still goes to choose your destination since it essentially represents the notion of convenient travel.

World Maps: 1 Choose your destination: 1

Immersion: World maps definitely take this one because a world is only as good as the sum of its parts.  The joy that comes from certain RPGs comes from trekking across the open world and being able to suck up at the atmosphere, while maybe fast traveling if you need to get somewhere quickly.  Imagine if Fallout 3 or Dragon Quest VIII didn’t let you explore the vibrant, dynamic worlds.  It wouldn’t be the same without listening to the ambient orchestral as you meandered past beautiful woodlands of DQVIII or observed Fallout 3’s desolate, lifeless wastes.

World Maps: 2 Choose your destination: 1

Fun Factor: This might sound like a strange category, but the idea behind this is to examine what a world map or a choose your destination system does for the game.  Does either one actually contribute to the game?  Certain choose your destination games integrate elements of explorative cartography like Final Fantasy X, while the benefits of world map games are explorative in nature letting you find new places and quests for yourself.  These are both fine and dandy, but unfortunately choose your destination maps seem to be used as a method of cutting time and money from games.  For every Mass Effect there are two situations like Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World, where the developer actually admitted the world map was cut in order to save money.  World maps just contribute more to the overall fun factor than most choose your destination systems do.

World Maps: 3 Choose your destination: 1

With a final tally of 3-1 and choose your destination maps barely taking one point (since a lot of world maps have fast travel options) there’s a clear winner.  We seem to be moving into an era where games are much more defined by their worlds rather than existing solely to connect one objective to another.  We’ve gone from the days of Final Fantasy IX to vastly more detailed open worlds, such as Dragon Quest VIII.  Better technology certainly factors into this, but I like to think developers have developed an understanding that a more authentic world effectively brings a game to life.  All developers need to remember is to include an efficient fast travel system so we don’t get bored.

Right on the heels of the Fallout 3 review, here’s a rundown of the five downloadable content packs released for Fallout 3.  Which ones are worth your time, which ones are best ignored?  What do they add to the Fallout 3 world?  Let’s take a look.

Overall verdict: Broken Steel is a must have for any Fallout 3 fan, while The Pitt and Point Lookout are superb expansion packs with more of what made Fallout 3 great.  Mothership Zeta feels out of place, but it still retains some of the game’s humor.  Operation Anchorage, unless you’re a hardcore combat fan, feels like the expansion to another game.

Operation Anchorage

The first expansion pack for Fallout 3 has an interesting setting, but the overall premise is contrived and the gameplay feels strangely out of place.  The idea is that the Brotherhood of Steel Outcasts need you to run through a virtual reality simulation in order to obtain a code necessary to unlock a weapons cache.  I understand that we need to work in order to get more valuable weapons, but an entire expansion pack feels excessive.

The simulation itself takes place during the Great War, where the player helps liberate Anchorage, Alaska from invading Communist China.  Alaska might sound like an interesting setting, and it would be if it allowed as much freedom and exploration as post-war D.C.  Unfortunately, despite the beautiful, snowy environments the simulation is extremely linear.  You’ll generally be walled off from any potential exploration because of “virtual simulation walls” and confined to this mission alone.  It wouldn’t be so bad if the expansion pack took advantage of the setting, but all we’ve essentially done is swap out a barren brown landscape for a barren white landscape.

The actual gameplay also feels confined.  The mission to reclaim Anchorage will include infiltration, tactical strikes, and engaging the Chinese general.  It’s almost purely combat based, which feels strange relative to how open-ended Fallout 3 itself was.  It’s as if the developers tried to make an FPS game using an action RPG control scheme.  The result, while workable, doesn’t hold the same captivity that Fallout 3 does.  This almost feels like an expansion to another game, although the term “expansion” is used loosely.  I finished Operation Anchorage in less than three hours.  You’re essentially paying for some (admittedly nice) weapons and having to spend three hours to get them.

The Pitt

Now this is more like it!  The Pitt allows you to travel to the remains of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which has become a raider town plagued by radiation poisoning.  A man named Wernher asks you to liberate the slaves in The Pitt, so you’ll enter The Pitt as a slave, be stripped of your inventory, and be forced to do dangerous, grueling labor.  There’s not much else that can be said without giving away spoilers, but it’s a very worthwhile experience.  Even though the expansion only takes around three hours to complete, the quest line is intriguing and surprisingly thought-provoking.  You’ll be forced to make some choices that will really test your morality, and the best part is there’s no karma penalty for what you do.

The Pitt is also a lot smaller than the Capital Wasteland, but the environments are vivid, grisly, and downright chilling at times.  There are hideously deformed creatures known as Troggs that litter the filthy, decrepit landscape, and with all the skyscrapers there’s a lot to explore.  Depending on your level it will take you about three hours to complete the main arc of The Pitt, and you’ll get a superb bounty of rewards for your work.  Chief among these is an excellent Auto Axe, special armor, and two great perks among other rewards.  You’ll be able to return to The Pitt whenever you want, and there are a few side quests to do.

The Pitt feels much more like a Fallout 3 expansion than Operation Anchorage, and the best way to sum it up is that The Pitt is very worth purchasing if you want more of Fallout 3.  Bethesda put very admirable detail into a filthy, post-apocalyptic slave town with an intriguing quest line to boot.

Broken Steel

Broken Steel is easily the best of all five expansion packs because it changes a particular element of the main story itself.  If you’re a benevolent hero, you have to make a heroic, ultimate sacrifice at the end of the game for the sake of Project Purity.  The problem is that doing so warrants an automatic ending, even if you wind up with the highest karma level.  Broken Steel starts off on a high note by fixing this.  If you choose to enter the chamber yourself you simply fall into a coma for a few weeks, or you can also send a radiation-resistant mutant follower into the chamber at no risk to yourself.

The quest proper begins after the main storyline is complete and deals with eradicating remaining Enclave forces in the Capital Wasteland area, with you tagging along as a member of the Brotherhood of Steel.  The quests themselves are a blast to partake in, partly because you get to enjoy some incredible new weaponry, with special kudos going to the Tesla Cannon.  Other perks include the level cap being raised to 30 and some other interesting secrets, though it would spoil the fun to give them away.  In some ways Broken Steel feels like a very satisfying epilogue, and the additions of the new level cap and weapons make Broken Steel an expansion that gives you a lot for your money.  The biggest bonus is being able to see the Wasteland after you’ve beaten the main story if you’re a high karma hero like I am.

Point Lookout

The fourth expansion pack takes place in what used to be Point Lookout State Park, Maryland, but the area has degraded into a highly hazardous swampy wasteland as treacherous as the Capital Wasteland.  It’s a large area with much more explorative opportunities than previous DLC packs, but the real charm behind Point Lookout comes from the environment itself.  The atmosphere is eerie and foggy yet strangely laid back, feeling more relaxed than the Capital Wasteland.  In a way, it almost parodies a rural swampland setting.  This idea is reinforced by one of the chief enemies of Point Lookout.  The Swampfolk are a largely hostile faction of mutated hillbillies who are as dangerous as they are hilarious.

Point Lookout is also home to some very interesting quests, most notably a longstanding feud between two inhabitants, Professor Calvert and Desmond.  There’s also an interesting quest involving a deceased Chinese spy.  Without giving too much away, Point Lookout feels like a genuine expansion to Fallout 3 – more territory to explore, more monsters to kill, and new quests within the new plot of land to discover, rather than one central story thread being the idea behind the downloadable content itself.  All that’s changed is the setting, and it’s nice to have a change of environment after so many hours in the remains of Washington D.C.  Like The Pitt, if you want more of Fallout 3 then Point Lookout is definitely for you.

Mothership Zeta

The fifth expansion represents a strange departure from the realism of Fallout 3, and whether or not that’s a good thing is up to you personally.  You might have noticed the crashed alien mothership at some time during your many treks throughout the D.C. wastelands.  In this expansion pack you’re actually beamed aboard an alien ship as a prisoner, joining numerous other captives who have been abducted from different time periods.  It’s your job to escape, commandeer the ship, and even take control of it and battle with another alien ship for your freedom.

To its credit, Mothership Zeta is extremely attractive both aesthetically and artistically.  The use of alien technology and settings offers a fascinating vacation from the usual grittiness of the real Fallout 3 world, and it’s satisfying to wield the high powered alien technology against its inventors.  Mothership Zeta also includes some hilarious logs from abducted humans from over the years that make the treks through the ship satisfying.

On the other hand, Mothership Zeta falls into the same trap as Operation Anchorage.  It’s far too linear for a Fallout 3 expansion, and for the second time too much focus is placed on combat rather than the myriad of opportunities that give Fallout 3 its appeal in the first place.  Mothership Zeta is a step up from Operation Anchorage but it’s really not as worthwhile as Point Lookout.

Believe it or not, I hadn’t played Fallout 3 too much until this review, and I’d wanted to do a review for a while.  It hits fairly close to home for me since I go to college in Washington D.C. and you can even visit a Metro area very close to my campus.  I also feel like RMG is overdue for a western RPG review, and what better way to revive the genre here than Fallout 3?  Let’s take a look.  Be on the lookout for part two, which will feature a rundown of the expansion packs.

Developer: Bethesda Game Studios
Publisher: Bethesda Softworks and ZeniMax Studios
Genre: Action RPG
Console(s): Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC

The verdict: Even a year later, Fallout 3 is a profoundly engrossing RPG experience that will suck up hours of your time as you shape your destiny in post-apocalyptic Washington D.C.

You blink several times to let your eyes become adjusted to the sunlight you’ve never seen before.  As your vision focuses, a desolate, empty wasteland rolls away in every direction, and an eerie silence dominates the landscape despite the battle cries of raiders and the growls of mutated animals.  This is the world of Fallout 3 – the Capital Wasteland, formerly known as Washington D.C., is a symbol of what’s left of life. While post-apocalyptic settings haven’t received any shortage of attention in video games, few of them are pulled off as compellingly as that in Fallout 3.  Despite carrying some minor technical baggage from Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Fallout 3 is something that every gamer with even a cursory interest in RPGs should check out.

In the not so distant future…

In the year 2277, you are born in Vault 101, one of numerous underground constructs where you and several other vault dwellers live in the wake of an alternate timeline Great War that devastated all civilization.  The dim, metallic, claustrophobic environment gives off an undertone of oppression that will make your eventual journey into the open world that much more amazing.  Several important moments of your childhood are interwoven with your character development and there are hints of the superb choice system to come.  When a few bullies are picking on your childhood friend, will you talk them into leaving, turn them against each other, pick a fight, or even encourage them?  At age 19 your father James, perfectly voiced by Liam Neeson, abruptly disappears and Vault 101 is thrown into chaos initiated by the crazed leader of the vault.  As you leave the vault with the intent of finding your father, you’re only taking the first steps in an epic journey across Washington D.C.

The Capital Wasteland is a somber place, reflecting the aftermath of nuclear war.  Garbage and debris litter the ground, houses are skeletal and barely stand up, and water is fouled with unsafe levels of radiation.  Raiders in makeshift armor scrounge Chevy Chase, Bethesda, and other locales looking for valuables while other folk have managed to gather enough together to form some semblance of organized society in towns such as Megaton, ironically named after the undetonated nuclear bomb at its center.  Even irradiated wildlife roams the wastes, and you’ll encounter rabid dogs and mutated two-headed bison.  You’ll also be able to visit more famous landmarks such as the Capitol Building and the Washington Monument, but with the warring factions you’ll have to keep your head down and your gun loaded.  It’s a profoundly immersive place, right down to simple hikes across the desolate hills while you soak up the atmosphere.

Dystopian quests abound

The various civilians and factions that still exist in the ruined city offer so much content that it’s impossible to do everything in a single playthrough.  The moment you arrive in Megaton (the nearest town to Vault 101) a smorgasbord of questing opportunities opens up.  You can decide what to do with the bomb in the center of town, help a local by collecting data about the Wastelands for a book she’s writing, or collect scrap metal to trade it in for caps (the in-game currency).  There are quests involving exploration, combat, hacking, negotiation, and thievery, and this is only scratching the surface.  I wound up postponing the main quest to talk to a saloon owner for several hours because I was having so much fun doing the various side missions and just exploring the areas.

There are almost always multiple ways to meet an objective, some of which can have an effect on your karma.  In a nutshell, doing good by helping locals or protecting people gets you good karma, while engaging in activities such as picking the lock on a private house or killing a friendly civilian earn you bad karma.  The system offers some moral flexibility – you can still be good if you want to pick someone’s pocket if you need the cash every now and again.  It might sound like a schizophrenic system on paper, but it’s nice not to be irreparably penalized if you need to resort to minor crime in order to make ends meet.

Point management 101

As with many RPGs, character development and growth plays an integral part in your story.  As you level up to the maximum level 20 (30 if you have Broken Steel), you’ll get to pick Skills and Perks to enhance your character.  Skills are talents that you can put skill points into to improve your character’s proficiency with a particular skill.  For instance, a high Speech skill will improve your ability to negotiate with others, or a high Lock Picking skill will let you pick more complicated locks.  Perks are extra bonuses you can choose as you level up, whose effects are permanent and extremely helpful.  It’s a system that offers a lot of variety depending on what you want to focus on, but it also lets you balance out your skills and be jack of all trades as well.

Combat is both real-time and turn based, with turn based elements coming into play using the VATS system, which pauses the game and lets players carefully choose what body parts or even weapons to attack.  This maximizes damage because you can potentially cripple an enemy’s limb or disorient them with a targeted shot to the head, and it’s also a blast to watch VATS shots because they’re done from a dramatic camera angle in slow motion.  Real time combat also works well, featuring a wide variety of weapons categorized into small guns, large guns, energy weapons, and melee weapons.  There are times when real time combat feels clunky because there aren’t ways to take cover or properly defend yourself.  One memorable instance had me running backwards and awkwardly emptying shotgun shells into a Radscorpion’s torso to avoid its deadly stinger.  It still works despite these occasional odd moments.

Glitchy baggage

As beautiful as the Fallout 3 world is, it lends itself to some of the same problems Oblivion had.  It’s actually much easier than it was in Cyradill to get stuck inside or between objects because a town like Megaton features a lot of debris-laden grooves from which you can’t escape without reloading an old save.  There’s some occasional texture-pop in when large buildings are on the horizon and several times I ran past enemies who would get stuck behind a barricade or a piece of debris, then keep running into it.  As with Oblivion, NPCs still feel a little zombielike; when you talk to them, they can look a little too unnaturally stiff.  Thankfully the actual glitches only happened a few times during gameplay, and while they’re certainly present they’re never persistent enough to actually interrupt your fun.

Despite the technical problems, part of what makes Fallout 3 entertaining is how dynamic the world is and how it will really react to you.  The game’s retro futurism seamlessly blends 1950s-era elements with more futuristic technology, and there’s a deliberate sense of irony that makes certain conversations hilarious – just ask your robotic butler at the house in Megaton to tell you a joke.  You make enough of a presence on the Capital Wasteland to feel like you’re making a difference even though you’re just carving out a life in a vast post-war city.  I was even attacked one time by three mercenaries who had a 1,000 cap bounty on my head for being a “goody two shoes”.  Very nice touch.

Conclusion

Fallout 3 is a game you can log dozens of hours into without getting bored or even finishing the main quest.  The Capital Wasteland is wide open to be your playground whether you want to be persuasive charmer, a good hearted pickpocket, a ruthless killer, or anything in between.  Some recurring technical oddities are a small price to pay for an immersive atmosphere and environment and enough quests and exploration opportunities to keep even hardcore RPG fans busy for a long, long time.  Even this much time later, Fallout 3 is a fantastic title and one of the best games of this generation.

If there’s one thing I love, it’s the Katamari series.  It flew over my radar when it first came out, but lately I’ve gotten into the series and now I’m absolutely hooked.  So when I had the opportunity to review Katamari Forever, I leapt.  Let’s take a look at how the series’ first entry onto the PlayStation 3 holds up.

Developer: Namco Bandai
Publisher: Namco Bandai
Genre: Action puzzle
Console(s): PlayStation 3

The verdict: Katamari returns like an old friend, brings its trademark quirkiness and fun to the PlayStation 3.  Gameplay carries with it some troublesome issues that have been in Katamari for a while and there’s an awful lot of recycled content, but it won’t stop players from having a lot of fun.

The Katamari series has always had an irresistible charm to it despite (or possibly because of) the overwhelming eccentricity it showcases.  This quintessential Japanese franchise has become famous for the quirky stories, humorous dialogue and extremely innovative gameplay.  Katamari Forever is the first incarnation of the series to hit Sony’s seventh generation console, bringing with it all the charm and humor fans of the series are well accustomed to.  Anyone who missed the Katamari train on the PlayStation 2 has a chance to hitch a ride as well, as long as they can overlook the same issues fans have been overlooking.

All hail, King of the Destroyed Cosmos!

The story of Katamari Forever deals with a mishap the King of All Cosmos, who decides to outdo the Prince of All Cosmos by performing a massive jump.  Unfortunately, the King hits himself on the head and causes amnesia, resulting in the Prince building a robotic King of All Cosmos (aptly named RoboKing) to handle the King’s work.  This turns out to backfire when RoboKing winds up going crazy and destroying the stars.   Once again, the hapless Prince must set out and restore the galaxy to working condition.

If the plot is any indicator, the story of Katamari Forever isn’t one to take too seriously.  Ironically, it’s the lack of a real story that makes the entire Katamari series so cathartic.  Dialogue is kept minimal but you’ll want to listen for the laughs as RoboKing neurotically ponders the value of a spa retreat to get away from his “stresses” or the King of All Cosmos proclaims a particularly tricky maneuver you pulled to be “blogworthy”.  The game is full of pop culture references, in-jokes, and enough humorous jokes to make every conversation worth listening to even though the story isn’t an integral part of the game.

Getting rolling on gameplay

The Katamari Forever gameplay keeps the staples of the series intact.  You start off in one of many cluttered settings with a katamari, a spherical ball that you then roll around the area.  As you roll your katamari, various objects will stick to it, and gradually it will get better.  You start off fairly small as you roll up objects like plates or ice cream cones, but soon you’ll start rolling over animals, bushes, and larger objects.  Eventually people or large things that once towered over your miniature katamari will only be rolled over as you continue gaining size.  Usually you’ll be scored out of 100 based on how well you do.

It’s a deceptively simple objective made complicated by finding enough small pieces to make your katamari bigger in a setting populated mostly by people.  Certain elements such as moving set pieces can also send your katamari bouncing all over the map, or you might have to navigate a very thin bridge without tumbling off.  The basic objective is to get as big as possible, but some levels have different and surprisingly diverse goals.  One particular level, for example, will have you rolling over fireflies in a nighttime environment in order to raise a brightness level attached to your katamari.  In another setting, you aren’t judged by the pure size of your katamari but by the monetary value of the objects you absorb; so a large umbrella won’t be nearly as worthwhile as a smaller but more valuable ring.  Every level feels fun, too; simply watching your katamari grow bigger is as entertaining as ever, but there’s satisfaction in using your katamari to literally water a desert planet and transform it into a lush garden.  You’ll likely find yourself going back and repeating levels either for the fun value or to try and get a higher score.

The squeaky katamari

Conversely, some problems from previous Katamari games have found their way onto Forever.  The camera control can get very wonky and can be very disruptive considering the time limit.  It has a tendency to zoom behind objects or behind walls, and you’ll need to use an agonizing five seconds you can’t spare to wrestle the camera back into the correct position.  Usually when you go behind a wall the camera makes it see-through to follow you, but sometimes the game just seems to forget this feature.  The game also occasionally has trouble registering objects that are very clearly smaller than your katamari but might not get absorbed on the first go; I rolled directly over an umbrella half my size to no avail, but I rolled over it immediately again a second time and the katamari picked it up.

It’s also very easy to get stuck between two objects that aren’t quite large enough for you to absorb but sizeable enough for you to spend time wrestling your katamari out of them using precious time.  Fortunately, you can use the new Prince-Hop move – a standard jump – to get out of most situations like this, but the jumping mechanics are a little awkward.  You can jump with R2 but you can never be quite sure where you’re going to go or how high you’re going to be.  You can also jump by snapping the controller upwards, but it’s extremely unresponsive and you’re better off using the button. It’s still a nice feature to have, but it could have used some tweaking.

Rolling up gameplay modes

In terms of gameplay modes, you start off with the standard “Forever” mode consisting of 34 levels between the King and the RoboKing.  The King’s missions are designed to help him piece together his memory while the RoboKing’s missions consist of restoring the galaxy after he knocked out all of the stars.  The majority of these are levels from older games, making them great for newcomers but also running the risk of getting repetitive for longtime fans of the franchise.  The levels themselves are still a lot of fun between the creative set pieces and the endearing formula of the series, so all but the truly hardcore Katamari fan will be able to enjoy the stage selection.

One of the great things about Katamari Forever is that it essentially rewards you no matter what you do.  One of my favorite instances of this is actually being able to play a fun little minigame f you actually do particularly poorly, where you see how long you can avoid erupting molten rocks caused by the anger of either the King or the RoboKing.  Conversely, doing extremely well on stages opens up Eternal and Classic modes.  Eternal lets you play without a time limit while Classic gets rid of the few additional gameplay changes made for Katamari Forever, such as the Prince-Jump.  Eternal is a lot of fun for perfectionists, but Classic is really just the same level without the ability to jump.

The replay deal

Forever mode will run most players around five hours, which feels like a good length given the nature of the puzzles themselves.  There’s still a fair amount of content to fiddle around with even when you’ve finished the game proper and experienced the entertaining finale.  Drive mode is unlocked after you beat the game, which speeds up the speed at which your katamari travels but also lowers your time limit.  It’s a great challenge, but this is the point where the stages start to get repetitive.  Playing them the first time (and additional times) is enough – was there no reason to offer us some new environments?

Co-op and versus are also back as the game’s multiplayer components, offering some fun diversions.  Co-op features two players rolling one katamari, while versus features two players rolling separate katamaris for competition.  Between this and leader board rankings there’s a very workable multiplayer component, but it’s nothing to get too excited over.

One thing most players will be happy to see is consistent is the wonderful charm of the graphics and design.  Everything is still as creative as ever and brightly colored to boot.  The graphics run beautifully in high definition, although there’s some slowdown when the screen gets busy.  If you’re familiar with J-pop music, you’ll have some idea of what to expect here: The quirky music fits in well with the overall theme of the game, and most of the tunes are incredibly catchy.

Conclusion

Katamari Forever is definitely a solid entry into the series, although it feels like a missed opportunity on some level.  It would have been nice to finally smooth out some wrinkles that have persisted in the series through previous entries and it would have been more rewarding with some more original set pieces.  Saying the Katamari series needs more originality feels like saying Ninja Gaiden needs more gore, but it does seem like a lot of levels were unnecessarily recycled.  That said, if you’re a fan of the series this is good comfort food and if you’re a newbie to Katamari this is definitely a good place to start.  Just make sure you use R2 for the Prince-Hop rather than the Sixaxis function.

This feels like the perfect post with which to resume updating, since a fairly nasty crunch of essays caused me to put most of my personal life on hold.  Meet the newest addition to my shelf:

I’ve been waiting for the Slim to come out for a while, partly because I like the design much better and also because I’m rapidly running out of shelf space.  Prior to this, I’ve had a standard PS3 on “extended loan” from a friend who lost interest in his, but I’ve handed that off to him since there are some games coming out he’s interested in.  I even took advantage of that Best Buy two for one offer to pick up Uncharted 2: Among Thieves and LittleBigPlanet.

Warning: Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter spoilers in this post.

I’ve pointed out a few times that I hold video game writing to a high priority because it can make great games fantastic.  Chrono Trigger, Mass Effect, Portal, these games just wouldn’t have been the same without the superb writing they were rightfully praised for.  More importantly, they all had spectacular finales and endings that gave us a satisfying sense of closure that made us smile as we turned the final page of a great narrative.

A bad narrative is one thing, but a bad ending can instantly kill a game even if it had been good up until that point.  Bad endings leave us with a bad taste that’s exacerbated by the reminder that we spent at least ten hours getting to this point.  I’d like to discuss a perfect example of what I call the “Anti-Plot” ending, one that effectively makes playing the entire game meaningless in the eyes of a player.

I mentioned the bad ending in Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter but even by the standards of what some people might define as a ‘bad ending’, this is really bottom of the bucket.  The game takes place in a fairly typical but workable fantasy world populated by catlike creatures called the raposa, and the story is standard flair but it does the job.  Bad guy wants to cause chaos, up to you to stop bad guy, and so forth.  The game progresses in a straightforward fashion as you work to repair the world that Wilfre, the main villain, damaged.

Then comes the ending, and take my word for it when I say you’ll want to mentally prepare yourself for this.  It turns out that the entire world is the dream of a real-life car accident victim named Mike who has fallen into a coma.  The adventure has essentially been Mike’s quest to awaken from his coma and return to his sister Heather, featured as a raposa in the game.  Yes, this is real.

As you’re probably imagining by now, this comes right out of nowhere, is never even suggested during the course of the game aside from a few very ambiguous references, and feels like a total cop-out.  It’s not like Eternal Sonata, where you know from the onset that Chopin’s world is an imaginary one.  To me, this is the same thing as an entire movie taking place as a dream of a main character who wakes up at the end.  This sort of ending is insulting because it makes players feel like we accomplished nothing; why even bother protecting the world from Wilfre, fixing buildings, and destroying dark enemies if the world doesn’t even exist?  You could technically argue that this is part of Mike’s “journey” to wake up from his coma but it still makes no sense.  The only reason the ending got something of a pass in my review was because the story was so generic.  If I had actually cared, I would have been furious.

Then there are the plot holes this opens up.  Does this mean the world in the first Drawn to Life is part of Mike’s dream world too?  How would that explain your presence (as a god) who supposedly created the raposa and abandoned them?  The game implies that it’s been a relatively short time since the car accident since Heather is shown with bruises on her face.  How does time in the raposa world relate to time in the real world?  How-okay, I’m stopping here.

The point is, the Anti-Plot ending is one of the biggest cheap shots in videogame writing, and I can think of several films and TV shows that are guilty of it too.  We should all band together and make sure we keep our beloved stories from turning into dreams of other fictional characters!

I’ve always had a soft spot for games that involve painting.  I still have my SNES copy of Mario Paint complete with the mouse and pad tucked away in a corner of my shelf.  The first Drawn to Life intrigued me since drawing games are relatively uncharted territory.  It wasn’t anything special, but it was fun.  So how does the sequel do?  Let’s take a look.

Developer: 5^th Cell Studios (DS), Planet Moon Studios (Wii)
Publisher: THQ
Genre: Platforming, adventure, creativity (yes, creativity is considered a genre)
Console(s): Wii and Nintendo DS

The verdict: Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter continues the fun formula of its predecessor but the drawing element isn’t utilized to its best, and the platforming is still fairly standard.  If you plan on getting it, go for the DS version.

Most people familiar with the portfolio of 5^th Cell Studios would agree that the studio has embraced user-created content in several ways.  One of these methods is letting players draw a solid chunk of the game by themselves.  Drawn to Life was a generic but cute and engaging title where players could draw their hero and various game objects using the handy stylus.  Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter continues the saga on both the DS and the Wii, employing the stylus and Wii Remote respectively as instruments with which to flex your creativity. While the innovative formula remains, the generic elements have also returned.  The DS and Wii versions have varying strengths and weaknesses but ultimately the smoother drawing in the DS version tips the scales in favor of it, considering it’s the primary aspect of the game.

Drawing the plot

The DS and Wii versions both have fairly typical plots, but they differ between consoles even though the settings are the same.  You exist as the Creator, an omnipotent being with the power to draw creations to life.  As in the first game, you draw to life a hero who serves as your avatar in the game world, which is populated by the indescribably cute raposa, small catlike creatures.  In the DS version Wilfre, the villain from the first game, returns to seek revenge on the other raposa and to defy your powers as Creator.  Color is quickly drained from the raposa homeland and everyone must find a way to restore it.  In the Wii version, crucial parts of the village are disappearing and it’s up to you to fix everything and restore the status quo.

The universe is creative, cute, and very nicely designed.  In both games the raposa, architecture, and general aesthetics of the game offer a lot of eye candy.  The Wii version features more watercolors, while the DS version offers a very pastel-looking environment but both of them look bright and colorful, speaking true to the game’s artistic nature.  The stories for both games are pretty generic; not bad, but not doing much to stand out.  What is bad is the dialogue gets a little too lengthy and the DS version ending features one of the biggest cop-outs I’ve ever seen in a videogame, to the point where I’ll be bringing this up in a subsequent article.  Ironically, it isn’t as big of an issue because the story is so standard, but it leaves you with the feeling that the story served no purpose and it opens up plot holes regarding the previous game.

Embrace your inner artist

One of the big selling points of the first Drawn to Life was the creative ways that the game let you draw a slew of gameplay and plot oriented components, something that continues to be the main theme for The Next Chapter.  You’re virtually unlimited except for some borders that provide a reasonable limitation, so a platform has to look vaguely like a platform.  You can draw your hero, weapons, and health restorative items among other gameplay pieces.  Plot related elements will see you drawing specific things like a lighthouse or birds to populate an abandoned park.  There are almost always instances where you can use a preset template if you don’t feel like drawing a particular item, or you can use the tools available to you.  The drawing system has been given several upgrades since the last game that provide more in-depth options and makes for a fun experience that will delight most players the moment they see a chance to put their stylus to the touch screen.

There’s a lot of fun to be had with the drawing aspect, since it constantly rewards players for their actions.  You’ll be able to come up with a lot of funny scenarios: In the DS version my hero was a robotic ninja wielding a lightsaber who recovered health using Twinkies.  There are different drawbacks and advantages to this on the different versions.  The DS version is a lot smoother with drawing due to greater precision using the stylus, whereas the Wii Remote can be inaccurate relative to what you want it to do.  By contrast the visuals on your drawings are much more synchronized with the surrounding environment for the Wii version, and you might find that your DS drawings look a little muddy relative to the beautiful pastel scenery in the background.  If you have to choose one the DS version is certainly preferable; a visual downgrade is a better alternative to your drawings coming out poorly.

Quick, type in “Platform”-wait, wrong 5^th Cell game

The meat of the game outside of the titular drawing aspect is largely 2D platforming through various locations.  Again, there are minor differences between versions in level progression but the fundamentals boil down to the same thing.  You run through levels to get to your objective, attack enemies, and there are upgrades in both games.  Each game makes use of its drawing element in various ways, such as requiring you to use a limited amount of ink to create a pathway through hazardous terrain.  It’s a fairly ordinary formula in both games: In the Wii version you need to talk to the right person in town for where you need to go next, in the DS version you need to fill color to a particular area in order to get to it.  The platforming does a nice job of integrating the drawing element, but it’s nothing particularly memorable.

The other problem is that the drawing aspect isn’t used too frequently.  I drew platforms as giant UFOs and was looking forward to leaping across them, but they are often eschewed in favor of more traditional platforms premade by the folks at 5^th Cell.  Your own drawings don’t appear too often, which is surprising given that the drawing feature is touted in the series’ title.  The other problem is that certain items have no premade templates if you don’t feel like drawing something.  Why?  Why should I be forced to draw a lighthouse bell but not a platform if I don’t desire to?  As fun as the drawing is, the game doesn’t use it to its fullest potential.

There’s limited multiplayer in both versions, but neither is particularly enticing.  In the DS version you can link DS consoles and trade drawings, while in the Wii version you can participate in some repetitive minigames.  They’re nice diversions, but don’t really contribute much to either game.

Closing remarks

Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter has a lot of interesting ideas and the drawing concept is a significant improvement over the first game, but it isn’t used often enough or in varied ways.  The platforming also never rises above average, but it still works.  If you’ve got an artistic edge and want to flex it Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter works, but don’t expect to be blown away by the story or platforming.

Sometimes you notice it the first time you play the game.  Other times you might realize it on the second playthrough.  One of those special plot holes that transcends the usual perplexion and makes you think “Wow, how the hell is that supposed to work?”

Final Fantasy XII recently gave me one of these special plot holes.  I readily admit that I’m not the biggest fan of FFXII, to put it lightly.  However, without turning this into a review, one particular moment near the beginning of the game set off the alarm bells for me (light spoilers follow).

I used to think that the flashback scene where Vaan visits a comatose Reks in some sort of hospital was a dream, but it actually did happen.  The story behind Reks’ death is that he was stabbed by Noah (pretending to be Basch) in order to confirm that Basch supposedly murdered King Raminas.  The implication is that Noah stabbed Reks in the chest or stomach with precision, given his training as a warrior.  Reks was somehow able to corroborate the story despite obviously losing consciousness, but then he died later.

So let me recap: Noah stabs Reks, who very clearly becomes badly weakened enough to fall to the ground and lose consciousness conveniently after seeing “Basch” take the blame for the murder.  However, Reks somehow gains enough strength to regain consciousness long enough to corroborate the story exactly as Noah planned before immediately falling back into a coma and then dying later?  Wow. I know curative spells and potions exist in Final Fantasy, but this is a lot to buy.

The DS seems to be the new SNES when it comes to RPG releases.  Between Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Blue Dragon, Valkyrie Profile, Kingdom Hearts and some original titles, the DS just keeps on giving for RPG fans.  Nostalgia is one of these original titles, drawing some influence from Skies of Arcadia.  Let’s see how it holds up in the crowd of RPGs on the DS.

Developer: Matrix Software
Publisher: Ignition Entertainment
Genre: RPG
Console(s): Nintendo DS

The verdict: Nostalgia is pure JRPG to the core including turn based combat and random encounters, and your enjoyment of this game depends on how much you enjoy JRPGs in general.  It’s certainly solid, but it could have left some antiquated gameplay elements behind.

Yet another RPG graces the Nintendo DS, but this one may seem oddly familiar to anyone who played the excellent Final Fantasy remakes on the DS.  Nostalgia has been made by the same developer, and they’ve more or less kept the same formula except they’ve added a newer, more innovative theme.  Nostalgia’s premise is creative but it almost purely follows a standard JRPG formula, giving it niche appeal but doing little to endear itself to other gamers.

Take to the skies!

Nostalgia itself is unique among JRPGs in that takes place in an alternate 19^th century Earth, where airships and steampunk technology rule the day.  16-year old Eddie Brown resides in London and is the wealthy son of famed adventurer Gilbert Brown, who goes missing after a particularly daring adventure.  The naïve Eddie decides to find his father using the Brown airship, the Maverick.  Along the way he’ll recruit the street-smart Pad, the witch Melody, and the mysterious Fiona as the four fight the Ancient Father’s Cabal, a strange organization linked to the disappearance of Gilbert Brown, which has a more sinister motive involving Fiona.

One area where Nostalgia shines is the sense that despite the formulaic gameplay, the writers wanted to break free of certain JRPG stereotypes.  The story is minimal and not intrusive relative to what you get in most JRPGs, and the entire world is open to you from the onset.  Rather than slosh through 60% of the game in a linear path before finally getting an airship, you have the Maverick from the word go, which you can use to explore the fascinating world at your leisure.  There are a lot of real world locations that serve as both towns and dungeons, including London, Cairo, Tokyo, Mount Fuji, and even the Tower of Babel.

Unfortunately, the four lead characters and the overall story fall into the same repetitive motions as a Fighter (Eddie), Thief (Pad), Black Mage (Melody), and White Mage (Fiona) repeating the process of town, world map, and dungeon.  As nice as it is to not have overly long cutscenes, there’s no time to develop the characters realistically.  There are some certain scenes that hint at this, like Pad calling Eddie out on his naivety for wanting to find his father despite having no experience as an adventurer, but moments like this are rarely ever elaborated upon.

Who’s turn is it?

Combat is turn-based featuring commands for a standard attack, defending, using a skill, or using an item.  The combat is fairly basic but the unit models and spell effects are rendered impressively in 3D.  A neat addition to combat is that the order of attackers is displayed on the side of the screen in a manner similar to Final Fantasy X, which helps players plan their strategies accordingly.  You also gain experience and level up in a traditional manner, and you get graded based on how well you do in individual fights and performing well nets you bonus XP and money.

Describing the battles as strategic is using the term generously, because the fights are far too easy.  Early in the game the difficulty is reasonable, but it’s as if the game forgot to curve monster difficulty up in response to the increased strength of your team.  I never died once during the entire game, and I got through most fights using attacks and occasionally a potion.  The game is generous enough with monetary rewards that you’ll be able to mass stockpile potions and restorative items.

Fortunately there’s more variety in airship battles, which occur on the world map in your airship and can get much tougher as you gain the ability to climb higher in the sky.  Each character has a particular position on your airship that serves as an attack turn; for instance, Eddie’s attack turn allows him to ram enemies with a huge blade mounted on the front of the Maverick (and no, doing this never gets old).  It’s certainly more intuitive and challenging than the ground battles but as you get stronger it still amounts to the same attack-heal pattern.

One of the more innovative aspects of Nostalgia is the skill leveling system.  Each character has two skill grids: One for the character’s ground combat, and one for his or her position onboard the airship.  You earn skill points in battle, which can be used to unlock new skills for your characters, progressing through different trees.  It’s an intuitive system that gives you a degree of control over how you build your characters, even if they’re limited to the parameters of their respective “classes”.

However, in trying to be retro, Nostalgia falls into a familiar pitfall: Random encounters.  These are archaic and outdated to the point where it’s difficult to discern why these even exist anymore.  They’re not part of the old school mechanic, especially with new games as opposed to remakes. They’re intrusive and take half the fun out of exploration.  To the game’s credit they’re infrequent enough to not be too bothersome, but there are several predetermined events where visible monsters actually do appear on screen as early as ten minutes into the game.  Why couldn’t the game just have visible monsters all the time so I could avoid them when I wanted or needed to?

The gameplay of Nostalgia isn’t necessarily bad, but archaic design holds it down unless you’ll only settle for a hardcore early 90s JRPG experience.  There are visible signs that Matrix Software tries to modernize Nostalgia: An auto-save feature has been gratifyingly implemented, you can equip purchased weapons immediately from shop screens, and the freedom of exploration using your airship is one you rarely have in a traditional RPG.  At the same time the random encounters and simplicity of combat make the game feel like Matrix Software had a sense of where they wanted to go but couldn’t follow through on it.

Cartography 101

The main story will take a fair chunk of time by itself, but Nostalgia also has some sidequests that take advantage of the game’s unique atmosphere and setting.  The World of Treasures quest requires you to find important landmarks and subsequently uncover some great rewards, which is a lot of fun and does a look to give the impression of an epic world.  There are also adventurers’ guild quests you can accept that reward money and better equipment.  These are great ways get some new gear and experience, but the equipment is all you’ll really need considering you practically trip over money during the main storyline.

Nostalgia looks a lot like Matrix Software’s Final Fantasy titles on the DS – that is to say, beautiful.  Character models are rendered with impressive detail given to hair and clothes, and environments are all greatly varied.  Right from the vibrant and energetic London you travel to sandy Cairo, among many others.  Everything is bright, colorful, and feels like an open world.  The soundtrack is also upbeat and inspiring, with particular kudos going to the world map theme and the cheerful London theme.

Closing thoughts

Nostalgia is essentially a love letter for JRPG fanatics since it copies the old formula shot for shot, for better or worse.  What’s odd is that Nostalgia makes some effort to implement newer features like an auto-save and abolish certain archaic designs like a purely linear story, but these ambitions are never fully realized.  Instead, Nostalgia mostly plays it safe delivering an experience that’s fun, but not too memorable.