5 Well Worth The Effort

What a platinum trophy should look like

After hours of stumbling around for Riddler trophies and manipulating my PS3 clock to get the stupid "Calendar Man" trophy, I earned the platinum for Arkam City, which turns out to be my 40th earned to date. Now while that's not very impressive when compared duck360 or Hakoom or other hardcore trophy hunters out there, I'm proud of the total considering none of them are freebee ones from the Hanna Montana game or similar crap you can finish in a day or two. But do I hold all of those blue glittery mounds of manliness I earned in the same light? Definitely not. Looking back, if I had an actual trophy case to display this trophies (sob), here's the 5, in no particular order, I would make sure to put in the front.

Dude, I just keep dying!

Demon's Souls
Platinum Name: Toughest Soul Trophy (aptly named)

I tackled Demon's Souls (also know as Demon Souls, Demon's Soul, and fuckshitcockballs) many months after its release, hesitant over the famed difficulty it boasted and waiting until the wiki was robust enough that any question I had could be answered. Some might see this as being cheap, but whatever, it's freaking Demon's Souls, chill your balls. While definitely hard, I actually found most of the levels fairly tolerable with some patience. Most of the challenges were more unforgiving than hard, in my opinion, which really prompted me to take my time with each area to insure I limited the amount of times I had to chuck my controller against the wall.

To gain enough boss souls to net the platinum, you need to play through the story about 3.5 times and, unlike 99.9% of games with a new game+ mode, things actually get harder when starting over with your character. I found several strategies I used against bosses suddenly ineffective and trying to get through level 5-1, the Defilement of my ass, became one of the darkest periods of my life. I cannot count the amount of times I got knocked off the cliff towards the end, forcing you start the board again. Never before had I ever gotten so close to rage quitting before in my life.

But after a shit-ton of hours and lots of frustration, I rose above like a nerd rising from the ashes of something nerdy! Now to just muster enough courage to start Dark Souls...

Merry Christmas, bitches! From the 1%!

Killzone 2
Platinum Name: War Hero (ballin!)

I like shooters, but would never consider myself a shooter guy per say because my tolerance for multiplayer is somewhat limited, which is basically the backbone of the FPS genre. Sure, it's fun mowing down kids and hearing everyone call each other gay and fag, but I feel like I would rather play something new rather than the same thing over and over and over again. Nonetheless, Killzone 2 was the first multiplayer mode since the N64 era that I ate up with a spoon. Combined with a very solid campaign, Killzone 2 hinted at the potential the franchise had before Killzone 3 dropped its turd on our face (ok, that was harsh, but it just wasn't as good).

The two biggest hurdles to this platinum are beating the game on the hardest difficulty and getting within the top 1% in the weekly leaderboards. The first was probably one of the most grueling hard runs I ever had to do. You needed to have you shit together because, if you to a second to scratch you face or respond to something happening in reality, prepare to suck some lead. The Helghast attack with poise and relentlessness and each board felt like you were just scrapping by (in a good way). The final knife battle was probably the only real frustrating part,needing more luck than skill to survive, but thanks to the checkpoint system, beating the campaign on the hardest difficulty was hard, but by no means unfair.

When I first saw the 1% trophy, I originally just decided on passing on this platinum. But after getting the hang of the multiplayer and seeing that I wasn't a slouch, I waited until I had a break from work and dedicated a week to playing Killzone and Killzone alone. All day. Like a BOSS! The hardest part wasn't netting alot of points, since I usually placed in the top 3 in kills every round, but playing...so...much...Killzone. Whenever I left the dark cave that was my basement to rejoin society, I would see that people would pass me by the boat load on the leaderboards so on I had to keep playing, even when it became more of a chore than fun. I decided to take a break on the weekend which ofcourse was a 1.5 XP weekend, so that plan went out the window fairly quickly for fear of falling out of the 1% and wasting all the hours committed. It was by far the most I ever played of a single game in such a small time period but, looking back, it was definitely worth it when I heard that chime on Sunday night.

Ohhh, it makes colorful holes.

 Portal 2
Platinum Name: Portal 2 Platinum Trophy (probably least clever thing in the game)

Portal 2's platinum wasn't that hard to get, but makes this list simply because it was one of the funnest plats to earn. I'm starting to just really get into the bulk of Skyrim and still have Uncharted 3 to play, but Portal 2 stands as my game to beat as of now still for game of the year. It was one of the few times I wasn't sick of a game by the time I finished up all the trophies, which definitely speaks to its quality and Valve's understanding that there's no need to be cheap by sucking time out of your life for no reason (ahem Arkam City).

The road to the trophy is fairly straight forward, asking you to beat the story and co-op campaigns for the bulk of the metal. While the story was a blast, I had suuuuuuch a good time playing through the co-op with my cousin, each of use putting our heads together to try and figure out how to proceed. What made it all so great was, while challenging, none of the puzzles felt beyond comprehending. And when we finally did figure out what to do, satisfaction followed the a ha's! and we walked away feeling smarter, which is a reward in itself.

Crotch targeting FTW

 Fallout 3
Platinum Name: Platinum Trophy (laaaame)

It took me some time (and some trophy motivation) to get into Fallout 3, despite the heaps of praise lopped onto it. After an unsuccessful romp with it on the PC, I finally found my stride with the game of the year edition on PS3 and never looked back. The sense of freedom is palpable and, from the moment you shoot out of your mom's vag in the vault, the world immerses you. New Vegas was a solid follow up (after the bugs were patched) but I still think I enjoyed Fallout 3 more simply for the newness factor and more apocalypse/less western feel.

Besides the "getting to level x with y alignment" trophies(which is easy to get around with multiple saves and a little heads-up) none of the trophies were annoying to get, which was refreshing. It's fun sometimes when trophies require you to change the way you play the game, but it's also somewhat relaxing knowing you can just play the freaking game and not have to worry about missing anything. Although I think Skyrim will eventually it's place as my favorite Bethesda game, Fallout 3 will always hold a soft spot in my heart. And ditto for its platinum.

Note to self: don't get caught smuggling

Bioshock
Platinum Name: PLATINUM TROPHY (I LUV CAPS)

Like Portal 2, Bioshock's plat finds its way into my top 5 simply because it's the shit and had no trophies that felt were an unnecessary time suck to get. Besides beating the game on the hardest difficulty, which is not easy but by no means a struggle, you can just enjoy the experience Rapture offers without having so sweat your balls off trying to do something idiotic that you wouldn't normally do that trophies sometimes like to require, like beat the whole thing with just the wrench while standing on one leg. Again, I appreciate when earning some trophies require you to step out of your comfort zone at times and think of new ways to attack challenges, but far too often I feel like developers simply just make things harder for difficulty sake. It would be one thing if I needed the ego boost, but I don't, let me just enjoy the freaking game. And when it's a game like Bioshock, there's alot to enjoy.

So there are my top 5 platinums. But like the Force, there's a light side...and a dark side. Coming soon: 5 platinums that suck and weren't worth it.

Holy Bunch of Side Quests, Batman!

What, you no like the boobs?

So as this stellar Q4 draws to the close, I'm desperately trying to play through all the AAA games sitting on my shelf. The last 4 weeks or so have been dedicated to Batman: Arkam City, the sequel to the pleasantly awesome Batman: Arkam Asylum. It does what every good sequel does, which is take what the first did and make it better. But does that make it the superior title in my mind? That, I'm not so sure.

With some time passing between the two games, Arkam City opens up with billionaire badass Bruce Wayne speaking against the creation of Arkam City, a city sized prison that somehow Hugo Strange got put in charge of. Dozens of leading baddies have taken up residence and using his cunning (random group of armed goons), Strange gets Bruce tossed in as well and the countdown to the mysterious protocol 10 commences. The opening sequence of freeing yourself and putting on your Batgear is a great intro to the game, and once you slip on the mask, you know it's go time.

Here comes the pain!

While a dying Joker acts as your main villain to topple, Rocksteady threw the kitchen sink at this one, with Penguin, the Riddler, Two Face, Mr. Freeze, and a bunch of others all coming into play. This kitchen sink approach both hurt and helped the game in my opinion. What I thought was cool about the first game was how it felt like a big deal when you came across one of these super villains with the asylum gone wild. They all had a purpose for being there and it felt like a big deal going toe to toe with them. With Arkam City, I just didn't get how they all came into play. The Arkam City felt more, well, like a city and all these dudes just happened to be there rather than being in prison. If all of these bad guys are so awesome, how did they end up there anyways? And with so many big names to share the spot light, it kind of diminished the wow factor facing them the first had.

On the flip side, the writing is so strong that all these characters really helped make the experience enjoyable. A lot of the interactions with the villains comes around the side quests in the game (which there are a lot of) and they all felt so unique and engaging that I found myself ignoring the main quest to complete them. It's a prime example of how to extend gameplay without compromising the integrity of the experience...which they then fucked up with those Riddler trophies, but I'll get to that later.

Arkam City is far more open than the asylum was and, despite the big no fly zone in the middle, getting around is super easy, especially once you get the grapple boost from doing all the AR missions (which suck balls). You don't have to find all the gadgets you had from the first one, so right away you feel like Batman, ready to mess noobs up the way Batman does. Through non-lethal methods, woohoo!

I got more punch than a 6th grade dance, brodda!

 The combat and predator aspects of the game have basically remained the same, which is a great thing. Chaining together moves while trying to avoid any sort of slowdown is still easy to learn but hard to master, and things start really get tricky when you're dealing with armored or shielded foes who you just can't pound. The predator segments \still require patience and a bit of strategy, and you can tackle both outside of the main game in the challenge rooms outside of the main quest, pushing you to rack up a certain amount of points or take out guys in a certain way to earn medals. In Arkam Asylum, I thought the combat challenges where the tougher of the two, but things seemed to a flipped in Arkam City. Some of the predator challenges are down right frustrating, and sometimes it takes just as much luck as skill since it feels like, while seemingly scripted, the enemy AI doesn't always react in the same ways to some traps you might set up.

And if these challenges aren't enough for ya, there are now campaigns that tie three of the challenges together and allow you attempt to get through them all with only 3 retries and "modifiers" which make them even harder, like "Hey, there are mines everywhere," and "I'm timing your ass, hurry!" Especially in the later ones, the modifiers really throw a wrench in the strategies you utilized earlier, forcing you to rethink things. These truly are a test of skill and I found these definitely way harder than completing the actual game.

And after tackling all these challanges and the main quest and side quests in the normal and new game plus mode, you're left with the Riddler to take down. Fucking Riddler...

Have some free time? Good, 'cause I'm gonna waste it.

The challenge maps and campaigns are now attributed to the Riddler, so when you die, you're rewarded with him telling you how you suck. Which will happen alot. And if you didn't hate him enough by this point, there's also all those pesky trophies he's left on the map to find. Over 400 to be specific. A lot of them require a certain gadget to get so you might have to simply tag it and go for it later when you have the right tool or in new game plus. Instead of finding maps which reveal their locations like in the first game, certain thugs will glow green indicating they're one of the Riddler's informants and if you knock out everyone around them, you can beat the crap out of them and make them squeal. This makes finding them a lot easier and the number of puzzles that forces you to align those stupid green question marks is far less than the first, which is nice. But I still think there are tooooo many trophies! 400+? C'mon! And even when you have the right gadget to get one, the method isn't always obvious, and it takes a lot of trial and error sometimes to get it right. There's nothing more frustrating than trying to hit a bunch of pressure points while not touching the ground for 10 minutes trying to get 1 trophy only to realize there are 300 more to go after that.

When you get enough, the Riddler will try to wave his metaphorical penis at you with a riddle and, when you solve it, you'll get the location of one of doctor's he's holding hostage, having to solve how to get to him/her through a series of traps the green prick has set up. These are challenging but thankfully fairly entertaining, requiring you to think outside the box sometimes.

In the end, I like the ideas behind the Riddler crap. Alot of the puzzles and riddles are clever and, if wasn't for the fact that there's 10000000 of them, I would be more into it. But, after all these hours played and still having 100+ trophies to get, I feel cheated. The Riddler breaks one of the fundamental rules of video games which is DON'T EXTEND A GAME WITH MEANINGLESS TASKS. Moving a steel ball through a maze with the REC gun was fun, but not after 15 times.

FUCASNDF;OWHNDFIOSHD.GKJBHWLGHV!!!!

 Overall, Arkam City is a AAA title to the core that, while having a ton of meaningless BS to get through (which won't be an issue if you're not a completionist) makes a strong case for Game of the Year. Like Dead Space 2, it does what the first did, but better. But, also like Dead Space 2 in my humble opinion, I preferred the original simply for the newness factor. But Arkam City still makes you feel like Batman. Batman, I say! Good enough. Let's go throw some smoke and stare at Catwoman's chest!

Two captions centered around boobs? Must be an off day.

Wingsticks in Your Face

See this? It's pretty much the flee's knees.

 Although I've been a gamer for as long as I can remember, I didn't venture into the PC side of things early enough to get to play Doom or Quake. However, I know enough to understand their impact on gaming so when id debuted Rage at E3 years ago, I was sure to pay attention. I think a lot of people were taken back by how amazing the game looked and how varied the combat felt. But when it finally hit stores, the reviews were good but not great, and the title seems to have been overshadowed by the metric tons of quality gaming being released this holiday season. I just finished my platnium run of it and, in the end, I think my opinion falls around where it's metacritic score landed it. It's not great, but it's good.

The story revolves around you, an unnamed protagonist who wakes up after society places him and a bunch of others in these things called arcs to jump start civilization after an asteroid hits. Things don't go as planned though when you find yourself in a wasteland covered with various bandit groups, mutants, and some group known as the Authority that appears to be bad, although you're never really given a reason why to hate them. After being rescued by a friendly bloke named Dan Hagar, you begin your fight against these antagonistic forces and try to bring some safety to the lands.

In other words, the story is pretty shitty.

Sorry you're not as interesting as me, bro.

 I wrote an article back in the day about the "silent protagonist" design choice and how it can be effective when used properly, Fallout being a good example. It can let you feel in the shoes of the character rather than just controlling some random dude. Alas, Rage doesn't really pull this off, as the lack of choices makes you feel like a dummy running around that fetches things for people and shoots things. It's a shame too because all of the other character you meet all feel unique and interesting, and you just happened to be the worst out of them. The fight against the authority feels flat too because the writing never really helps develop an anger or drive to top them, leading to the feeling that you're completing these quests because that's what the game wants you too rather than it has an impact on the world.  And to top it all off, the ending is probably one of the most anti-climatic ones I've ever gotten. It's safe to say that there isn't an ending, Rage just ends.

Graphically, Rage is a damn fine looking game. Rather than rendering each and ever object individually, using their new engine, id created what they call "megatextures" which are basically like giant blankets draped on the environments which help the game run at a smooth 60 fps regardless of how tense combat gets. While things might not look great super up close, running through the environments looks and feels great, helping to create a sense of immersion that's only shattered when you talk to people and realize you're just a shell. There is a bit of an issue of textures loading, with sharp turns being too quick for the engine to load what's in front of you, but I felt like I noticed it less and less as the game went on. Not really a hinderance.

We are so unpredictable!!

 There is a lot of attention paid to enemy AI, which is refreshing when compared to the other shooters on the market. Enemies will move about, take cover, and try to take you out with precision. No two battles feel alike and even the same battle, if you die and reload, feels fresh with the AI not moving about in set scripts or anything like that. Even the comments they shout to each other as their fighting you help them feel like characters, similar to the vibe Bioshock gave off. It's just a shame that you, once again, feel like the most shallow figure in the land.

The gameplay is a FPS at heart with some light RPG elements that I wish there were more of. Outside of a few armor and weapon enhancements, the main way Rage lets you vary your character is with ammo types, which really have the ability to turn the tide of any battle. With that and a few items like turrets, bots, and wingsticks (by far the most powerful and most useful weapon in the game), there are a few ways to play differently, but it doesn't go really beyond that. There are a handful of side missions and some mini games like kart racing and cards to play in town, but overall it just felt like it could have been more. The game feels like a FPS in an empty sandbox.

On the multiplayer side, you can kart race and battle which is fun at first but didn't really feel like my thing. There is also a spec ops mode of sorts called "Wasteland Legends" that lets you head through maps in the game with a partner while trying to clear out the area. I thought this was a lot more fun, but other than jumping into a quick match, there are no filters or anything to let you define the match you want to play. I had several times where I wanted to play thought a certain legend and had to wait 20+ minutes before someone joined my game. Frustrating to say the least. It's a fun distraction but nothing really more than that, unless you're the type that loves trying to climb leaderboards.

Let's kill these bitches.

Overall, I really liked Rage, but just felt like it could have been so much more. The story was crap but the gameplay and graphics really did enough to make the experience enjoyable. And I know id was trying to be different, but I think the multiplayer would have been so much better had they just done what everyone else is doing. With the different ammo and item types, death matches and capture the flag scenarios could have really been fun. I don't think it's Game of the Year material, especially this year, but I think Rage is definitely worth a try for any shooter fan.

Recappin', Fools!

We were promised HD! Damn you, Capcom!!!

So I've ignored you for awhile, my dear blog. The work for grad school has picked up and the fiancee and I are getting ready to move out next week, so time has been scant. But I haven't forgotten about you. Here's what you've missed over the past few weeks:

Resident Evil 4 fights with Resident Evil 2 usually as my favorite in the series, so I was really eager to get another excuse to run through it again as Capcom released the HD version. Using the HD tag seemed more a formality though because besides the characters appearing upres'ed, there was little HD to be found. The environments looked the same as they did back in the day and Capcom didn't even have the energy to change the aspect ratio on the typewriter save screen, leaving it barely able to fit on a widescreen TV. But these are minor gripes when it comes down to it since it's hard to mess up a classic, HD or not, since everything else remains the same.

My initial shock when playing the game was having to relearn the controls again, which felt way more awkward then I remember. But after awhile, I got used to it again and in no time I was shooting out legs and suplexing locals to save ammo with the best of them. The action held up well over the years and I felt that good tense the whole time, always nervous about what was going to come around the next corner. The cheesy dialogue brought a smile to my face and, in the end, I really enjoyed re-living the biggest leap forward the series took once again. The design choices really opened up the combat while maintaining that frighting restrictive feel that the series and Dead Space do so well. I played Shadows of the Damned a few weeks before and thought they would feel the same, but the latter definitely gives you way more freedom with rolling and the ability to shoot while moving that I hadn't realized wasn't in RE4.

Do a barrel roll, Leon!

 I was a little disappointed in the lack of the platnium, thought, and that really demotivated me for going through the campaign again in hard mode and grinding through the mercenary mode again. I also picked up Code Veronica, which was another game in the series I have fond memories of. But from what I've read online, it hasn't help up as well, so I've decided to let it sit on the digial shelf until I get hit a lull, which will probably be never at this rate.

After that, I kept the remakes going and played through both PSP God of War games, Chains of Olympus and Ghost of Sparta. The upres'ing from the PSP originals is pretty well done and, while they pale in comparison to GoW III for obvious reasons, they held up well in terms of combat and the trophy lists were very generous. Both were made by Ready At Dawn studies rather than Santa Monica Studios, and it was interesting seeing how much they improved from the first game to the next, back to back. Chains of Olympus felt solid but lacked enough polish that you could see that this wasn't made by the original studio. The combat is solid and everything you would expect from a God of War game is there, but it just is missing that little umph, feeling more watered down that those on the consoles.

I'm an F18, bra!

 Ghost of Sparta though really took things up a notch and I can see why some say its on par with GoW III in terms of gameplay. There are so many new wrinkles not seen in the others, like the Sparta Arms, the town sequence, and the final battle that really showed Ready At Dawn came into their own with their second crack at it. The badass combat and epic nature of the series shines and, although I'll stick with GoW III as my favorite, Ghost of Sparta definitely stands tall as an example to why the series is what it is.

Rounding out the remakes, I played through Ico, team ICO's first game. I got the collection mainly for Shadows of the Colossus, but the game has the reputation as being a masterpiece in terms of story and atmosphere, so I figured I owed it to myself as a serious game to experience it. My impression after two playthroughs is a bit mixed. It definitely has a memorable atmosphere. That much I'll agree with. Like Shadows of the Colossus, dialogue is sparse and the mood mostly dictates the story. You're able to piece together that Ico is locked in this castle to act as a sacrifice because of his horns when he meets Yorda, a mysterious girl who's being chased by these shadow thingers. You find out later that she's the daughter of the queen of the castle/shadow things and the two of you try and escape.

The controls aren't the most fluid, and there were tons of moments where I'm trying to do X but Ico does Y because he's an ass. Yorda doesn't help either since she's pretty useless and you have to drag her along through most of the game, and even that sometimes gets annoying because she'll stop walking sometimes and then that slows down Ico, so it feels like you're bobbing along more than running. She follows when called, but gets stuck on alot of environmental elements and when completing jumps and stuff like that, has to be in very specific spots and sometimes it takes the AI a few seconds to do.

Ughhh, c'mon woman!

The combat is pretty simple. Ico can use a piece of wood, or later on sword, club, or lightsaber (if your into that sort of thing) to beat the shadows back when they appear. He has a basic 3 hit combo that can ward off the shadows but gets tossed to the ground when hit once. That's when the shadows will try to drag Yorda down their blackhole of shadowiness and you need to scramble to you feet and yank her out in time or you get turned to stone medusa-style. It makes the combat sorta exciting, trying to get to her before it's too late, but it's basic at best, which is understandable since combat isn't the focus of the game.

The main focus of Ico is platform/puzzle solving and, while tricky at times, it's pretty straightforward for the most part. There is some backtracking involved which can get a little tricky since alot of the areas look alike, but the level design is fairly well done and it wasn't often that I was left scratching my head on where to go. However, once you know what you're doing, the game is very very short, capable of being beat in under 3 hours. I didn't love the game but was going for the plat anyways, but came up short with one gold that asks you to beat it under 2. Given the layouts of the save points, it's really tricky and you basically need to never mess up. I tried for the first 15 minutes and then got fed up and played normally, finished around 2 and a half. Freaking speed run!

Overall, I can see how different Ico felt from alot of the games out around then, but it's one of those that are more an experience rather than a fun game. It came out in the same year as Metal Gear Solid 2, Final Fantasy X, and GTA III, so there was alot for it get lost in the shuffle. I'm glad I played it, but really definitely think Shadows of the Colossus dwarfs it in all categories.

On my multiplayer nights, I've been playing Dead Island with my cousin and our friend, Dan, over the past few weeks. Basically playing like Fallout with less guns, more melee, and zombies, we've been trecking along this tropical island beating dead things to a pulp. It was fun at first, doing all the random sidequests and exploring all the nooks and cranies available, but the novelty has started to wear off about 20 hours in. The story is pretty lame which really creates a disconnect and while the fighting is varied with the different weapons and mods, it feels like the same thing over and over again and it's starting to feel like a chore playing it. It's not a bad game by any stretch, but definitely a disappointment when you consider that reveal trailer that blew up all over the internet. I've watched it a few times since and it still has that same sense of desperation and beauty about it that caught enough attention that, from what I've read, the script adaption for Dead Island will follow that template rather than the games. We were promised a tragic story that would bring the grim reality of a zombie apocalypse to a breathtaking setting. What we got...

Who do you Voodoo, bitch?!

Runnn! Zombies EVERYWHERE!!!

Braaaaaains! Or meat! Whatever we get to first!

Last week I had a epiphany. I was sitting in my gaming cave, lights off, fighting off some Las Plagas in Resident Evil 4 HD when my cousin logged on and we started taking down some undead with paddles in Dead Island. And it was sometime during a mission to grab some champagne for this drunk chick in a bungalow that I realized, hey, I just went from playing a game with zombies to playing another game with zombies! And then it it hit me. The game I was playing before RE4? Plants vs. Zombies!

My God.....

We've hit the Zombie Singularity!

All kidding aside, zombies feel like there freaking everywhere. From games, to movies, and even books, I feel like everywhere I look someone is beating in the head of some undead miscreant. Not that it's necessarily a bad thing. Who doesn't love zombies? Back when I was a wee lad, my friends and I used to regularly contemplate the pros and cons between blunt vs. edged weapons in a zombie apocalypse all the time. That's normal, right? Although I really think we're hitting a glutenous point with walking undead, I thought it was time to look back at my own personal zombie timeline and find the most influential forms of media which contributed to my love of zombies.

Oh Michael, look at what you became!

Thriller
Year: 1982

Before he got all creepy, I loved Michael Jackson as a kid, and I think it all started with Thriller. It wasn't a movie or a game, but a music video, that introduced me to the idea of the walking undead slowly lumbering towards you to munch on your brains. With one coming after you, not a problem. But soon they're all around you and you're cornered, left with nothing to do but wait and watch for your coming demise.The non dancing sequences just conveyed the right sense of foreboding and horror which make zombies so great. Hate to admit it, but Thriller was the start of it for me.

This image will be burned into my brain until the day I die.

Resident Evil 1 & 2
Year: 1996 & 1998

I'll never forget the first time I got a glimpse of the first Resident Evil. I was 11 and at my cousin's house when my older cousin, Richie, popped this bad boy in with the lights out. My other cousin Dave and I just watched in awe. The setting and music was uber creepy. The controls and camera angles were tight and constricting. And then we came across the first zombie chomping on Kenneth from Bravo team, turning him into "a shadow of his former self." I would never forget that scene. That experience. What made that game so impressionable and the classic it is today is how well Capcom recreated the things which make the zombie scenario awesome. It's that mix of desperation and survival, scrounging everything you can and doing your best to make it count. Although I hated it, the best thing that game did was requiring an ink ribbon to save, taking away the comfort from even the most basic function you got with gaming by that point. I was definitely hooked.

When Resident Evil 2 came out, I moved my Playstation into the living room to play it because that room got more light. It did everything the first did, but better, and I was on edge the entire time. I would almost say I didn't even enjoy the experience, but I had to play. I had to see things through with the characters till the very end. I ran through both Leon's and Clare's missions, both their second missions, and even went through Hunk's and Tofu's. Never before had a game affected me so much, even if was by scaring the crap out of me. Just speaks to it's quality.

This probably won't be good for business.

28 Days Later
Year: 2002

Wha...wait a minute. They can run?! Just when I thought I understood the genre, 28 Days Later mixed up the known conventions at the time and delivered such a perfect zombie flick that I think it was clear that the genre was evolving. All it took was just a little tweak of a fundamental part of the formula to make it all feel new again. What I especially loved was the depth that that movie had. The psychological transformations and messages that arose when Jim and the others were stuck in the house with the soldiers gone mad. The lines were blurred between good and bad, questions regarding the nature of man were hinted it at, and it was one of the first times I thought that the zombie genre can have more going for it that visceral anxiety. That it could be symbolic of mankind as well.

One should be in every hotel room in the country.

The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks
Year: 2003

I got this while starting my first semester in college and everyone always had to pull it off my shelf when they spotted it. While they were always there, this book really played up the "rules" aspect of the zombie genre, which was and is still endlessly fun to talk about and debate. Blunt vs. Edge? Where are the best places to hold up? What are the best strategies for ensuring long term survival? The guide was the holy grail of zombie scenarios and did a great job putting to print all the funner aspects of the genre, giving seeds to movies like Zombieland and other works in the genre that show, just like everything else, there are the "right" ways to do things.

Auhaaaaaaaaaa!

Dead Space
Year: 2008

Not exactly groundbreaking or revolutionary since it wasn't the first to do space horror, but the original Dead Space has been one of my favorite recent additions to the zombie genre. Yes, I know the Necromorphs are not exactly the same, but the soul of the zombie scenario remains intact and provided me one of the best edge of my seat terrified experiences since the original Resident Evil. The isolation on the Ishimura was palpable and falling into the shoes of Isaac Clarke was both endlessly nerve wracking and satisfying. I had just finished my masters and was stuck at home while I looked for work when I played it. It was a tough period of my life, but Dead Space made just a bit more tolerable. Could be worse, I told myself, I could be stuck in space with clawed monsters trying to dismember me. Dead Space 2, while not having the same flair since it's a sequel, was thoroughly entertaining although I never plat'ed it (stupid hardcore mode!) and I can't wait for the 3rd. I also really love how well the universe has been built up, with the animated movies and spin offs to give everything context. It's a zombie universe done right.

So are zombies getting played out? Probably to some extent, but I'll take if over vampires or some other lame cliche. Zombies are a selling formula because the genre and concept speak to the instinctual fears everyone has: isolation, anxiety, conflict with the form of the threat, etc. And just when you think you know everything about it, things come along like 28 Days Later and Dead Space which give it just enough of a new flavor. Needless to say, I can't wait to see where the genre will go in the future.

Honorable Mentions:
Zombieland
Shaun of the Dead
Dead Snow
Zombies Ate My Neighbors
House of the Dead (arcade game, not movie, you psycho)
They Hunger Half Life Mod
World at War Zombie Mode

Plant-Eating Zombies and Augmentations

Bring iiiiiiit!

Although I was skeptical at first, I must say that PSN+ have been making me a happy gamer the past few months. The discounts have steadily been getting better and this month, not only are + subscribers getting 50% off the Resident Evil HD remakes, we get Plants Vs. Zombies for FREE. I've never been big on tower defense games, but the downloadable title had a great word of mouth and you really can't go wrong with a free game, so I checked it out. Verdict: Addicting as hell. Plus for the win.

Given a multitude of different plants with their own unique attributes, Plants Vs. Zombies makes you fight off waves of a multitude of zombies as they try to invade your house and eat all your leftovers and brains. By harnessing sunlight from flowers you grow, you can come up with a line of defense and sweat it out as the odds continue to build against you. It's a lot of fun, but so far a little too easy. During the adventure mode, I found myself always with an ultimate plan and the perfect combination of plants to use but, by the time I saved up enough sunlight to grow them all, the round was over. None the less, it's still been a blast to play and, from what I've heard, the challenge modes are definitely harder, so I might as well ride high on my laurels while I can. And your neighbor, crazy Dave, is hilarious.

Now that's a hat

On the disc side, I finally have gotten around to playing Deus Ex: Human Revolution. I never played the original titles in the series but was impressed by what I saw in trailers. I'm a little more than halfway through it and, I gotta say, it's a really really engrossing title. Portal 2 still gets my nod for Game of the Year thus far, but Deus Ex is definitely making a strong case.

In a cyberpunk future swirling in controversy regarding the ethical nature of humans assimilating with machines,  you play as Adam Jensen, ex-SWAT officer now turned head of security for Serif Industries. After a terrorist attack that leaves your ex-girlfriend dead and you badly injured, Serif rebuilds you like the 6 million dollar man and has you get to the bottom of things. The world is meticulously built and I keep coming across these little touches here and there, like user name log-ons, newspaper headlines, that really make the setting come to life. The developers really took their time to make this world believable and it really makes the playing experience that much better.

So much to see, so little time

 Jensen, while appearing as a cardboard cut protagonist (and the gruff voice work certainly doesn't help) really hints at some depth and I feel attached to his plight. Getting augmented wasn't his decision and, from hints here and there, you really get the sense that he's struggling with his identity and what's happened. It's not Oscar worthy writing, but again, it's attention to detail that makes the story feel like it was a focus more than an after thought, really adding to what is turning into a truly memorable story.

In terms of gameplay, Deus Ex plays a lot like Metal Gear Solid, except it's first person when moving around and chock full of RPG elements. Although you can technically tackle each mission in a number of ways, the smartest and most lucrative (in terms of XP) is to be stealthy, using persuasion and hacking when you can. You can run and gun, but ammo isn't super abundant and the controls lend themselves more to hiding. Shooting just doesn't feel as natural as it would in a Battlefield or a Call of Duty and such. But that's fine, not being Rambo earns you more XP to earn praxis points, which give you the ability improve augmentations like run faster, jump higher, see through walls, and a bunch of other cool abilities.You can tailor Jensen to excel in the ways you play the game. It feels both exciting and extremely rewarding when you buy an augmentation and then use it get past the next area.

Outside of the main story missions, there are side quests, ebooks to find, and other things of that nature that add to the experience. The different cities, although they're not super big, are large and varied enough to keep you exploring, searching for more ways to squeeze every XP you can find to gain praxis points. Hacking proves to be a fail safe option, as there are tons of locked doors and entry ways that contain valuable items that you can get XP just to get to. Hacking works like a little mini game where you have to get to a node, point by point, risking getting found with each one. If you're detected, you'll have precious seconds to get to the desired node before times runs out, using hacking software and fortifying nodes to buy you some precious time. Unless your through and trying to capture every node, hacking only takes a few seconds and it isn't mandatory enough to make it feel repetitive or a chore. Plus it gets you freebee XP and items, so suck it up.

I just returned to Detroit in the story and am really looking forward to how things are going to wrap up. I don't want to milk it too much though because I would like to play some more Plants vs. Zombies and get a crack at the deluge of HD remakes arriving (God of War: Origins, Team ICO collection, RE). Ahhhh there's just too much goodness. And the big guns have yet to arrive...

Prepare for PWNAG3!!

My HD Wishlist

Man, do we look pretty hot with this improved graphics

The coming months have their pants full of some real quality HD remakes. From Resident Evil 4 and Code Veronica, Shadow of the Colossus, Silent Hill, God of War, and the newly announced Final Fantasy X (yesssssssssssss!) the list just goes on and on and then on some more. I can see how some people are a little bothered by the idea since the movement for re-releases not only shows a lack of new ideas, but reeks of cash-ins, asking gamers to pay for games they probably don't own. But, honestly, I'm not bothered by it. These HD remakes are great excuses to go back and play the classics for yesteryear and only feed the imagination of what the next game will be to get a makeover and rerelease. Below are my personal top 5 games I'm dying to to see a HD remake of.

Take that, biatch!

5. Road Rash
From: 1994

Like the Dos Equis guy, I don't play racers often. But when I do, I choose one where I can mess someone up. Road Rash was just one of those titles that was a great mix of racing and bashing a dude with your fist going 120 MPH. The graphics were top notch for the day and the soundtrack really helped add to the experience. I would love to sink my teeth into a similar experience, and even remember that a reboot of the series WAS in the works. There are some screenshots and videos still out there on the interwebz, so that's a decent sign that the franchise hasn't been totally forgotten. We'll keep strong.

Crap, is that what obscurity looks like?

4. Legend of the Dragoon
From: 2000

In the wake of all the success RPGs were having in the lat 90s, Sony jumped into the fray and released their own big budget role playing game. Following Dart as he tries to find the monster that killed his parents and save his childhood friend, Legend of the Dragoon was, like the tagline from Scott Pilgrim, an epic of epic epicness. Spanning 4 discs, I sucked this game up with a spoon over 4 discs and loved every second of it. The graphics were great, the story was thrilling an engaging, and the timed hit combat system was a nice change up. When Lavitz died...don't get me started. It wasn't an Aeris moment, but it was close. On the flip side, there wasn't a lot of side quests and changing into dragoon mode in combat was basically as useful as putting pants on backwards and having to take a leak (ahhh, that's my second pants reference. What is the universe trying to tell me?!) but all that's small potatoes in the long run. The game also got a lot of flack for being "generic," but it still holds a whopping 9.4 from fans on Metacritic, so I know I wasn't the only one to really enjoy it. I would definitely be down to take a trip across Endiness once again. Oh, and Meru was hot.

 

Shhhh, he's coming

3. Metal Gear Solid
From: 1998

Snaaaaaaaaaaake! Because it's apparently extremely difficult to port and make changes to PS1 games, Metal Gear Solid missed the boat on the upcoming HD collection of the series and will probably never get improved again unless it's made from scratch, which is highly unlikely. But why not! I haven't played Peace Walker yet(which everyone says is the shiz) but Solid remains my pick for the best in the series, and definitely in my personal top 5 of all time. The story was extremely engaging and, despite its complexities, I think I actually understood 95% of it (which is pretty damn good for a Metal Gear game,I'd say). It was one of the first stealth games I ever played and my heart was racing every time one of those damn neo whatever soldiers came poking their head around the corner. It was stylish, unique (when Psycho Mantis read my memory card, I crapped I brick) and certainly among the greatest of that generation, if not holding the crown. I probably would do some terrible things to unwilling people for a chance to fight Sniper Wolf in HD snow.

Jumping to lightspeed ain't like dusting crops, noob

2. X Wing Alliance
From: 1999

From the sea of Star Wars games released, X Wing and TIE Fighter were among the ones that...you know, didn't suck. The series though always lacked any real sense of continuity until X Wing Alliance showed up as the big finale. Putting you in the role of one of the most original named characters ever, "Ace," you watch as your family's business is taken down by the Empire and then join the fight, the narrative slowly becoming interwoven with the trilogy, culminating with the attack on the Death Star near Endor. The mission types were pretty varied and you got to jump behind the wheel of tons of different ships, as well as this cool looking Millennium Falcon looking thing that your family owned called the Ortana. Since it's on the PC, the mod community still releases things every now and then, but a new version from scratch with today's graphics capabilities would be sweet. 

You knew I was going to show up eventually, right?

1. Final Fantasy VII
From: 1997

Was there really any doubt? I know people love to call the game overrated, and I'll concede it probably is. The Awesome Series had a nice jab at it that made me chuckle. But any claim that Final Fantasy VII isn't up there in terms of greatest of all time, then I just say "you crazy!" Playing through this game as a young and impressionable teenager was one of the most memorable gaming experiences of my life and I would kill to go back and relive the epic once again. It brought the Final Fantasy series to the masses and really cemented it as a recognizable name. It's just the complete package. Great story, great characters, solid combat, tons of side quests, it's all there. This is the game that everyone wants remade. Just freaking do it, Square!

Watercolors and Big Boners

FYI: The Big Boner is on the left...it's the gun.

So right now I'm going back and forth between a plat run of Shadows of the Damned and my first playthrough of El Shaddai ASCENSION OF THE METATRON (I use caps because that's how my PS3 shows it - who am I to argue. BTW no idea what a metatron is or how/why it ascends). I heard grumblings about El Shaddai for awhile, but never really gave it any serious thought until I saw it. Looking like a mix between a watercolor painting and a crazy LSD trip, you control Enoch as he tries to take down a bunch of angels who have fled to Earth to start their own little parties. "No, no!" says God. "Not on my watch!" I'm only a few chapters in, so things can definitely change, but I'm having some mixed feelings on it so far.

Enoch is a pretty aerobatic protagonist, pulling off some sick weapon steals (more on that later) and tons of nifty moves, but I'm not really digging him for the most part. For one, he is completely devoid of any hint of personality, just mutely following orders from Lucifel (me wonders if he will become Lucifer) who just saves your game and burns through his minutes on his cell talking to da Lord. I wonder what kind of phone God uses? Probably an iPhone. I wish Enoch would voice an opinion here or there because I don't see him as an everyman kind of character, which is the real way to pull off a silent protagonist in my book. Other than that, I'm put off by the wardrobe choice. He's got some nice looking armor which doubles as your health bar, which is a pretty cool design choice, but under that...jeans and sandals? Really? I'm having a hard enough time trying to place the events in a time period, and the Levi's aren't helping. I just think if I was going to be fighting a lot of spirits and needing to do tons of flips, sweatpants and sneakers are the obvious choice. Duh.

Like the pants? They're boot cut.

 The combat is pegged as one of those easy to learn, hard to master types that manifests itself for me in some serious button mashing 90% of the time. There are various moves available, but so far, I've only been able to pull off 4 or so different attacks on a regular basis with the game's 3 (4 if you count bare fistacuffs) weapons, which basically fall into the categories of quick, heavy, and ranged. You can steal your opponents' weapons, which is pretty fun thanks to a cool animation that occurs when you do, and there are guard breaks and stuff like that, but overall, I'm not having the best time with it yet. I won't knock it for this point though since, as I said earlier, I've only clocked in a few hours and I'm sure I'll get a better handle of it in time.

The most striking thing and the reason I picked it up is the art style, which is really unlike anything I've ever played before. Using ever color of the spectrum, El Shaddai depicts some trippy settings that make you feel like you're inside a dream, in a good way. The music does a really good job at adding to the experience, but after the few hours I've played, I'm starting to get a little worn out on how super abstract the landscapes are. It's cool seeing a mountain flow like water, but I just feel like the environments lack physical substance at this point. Like I'm standing on paint rather than a solid floor. It's making it a little harder to follow and take the super hardcore narrative seriously since it seems like its all happening in some alternate reality rather than Earth.

Overall, really not blown away with it like I thought I would be. Making a plat run is definitely in question since it will take 3+ playthroughs and Deus Ex is waiting in the wings. I dunno, we'll see how the rest of the campaign plays out.

On the other side of the spectrum, I've done 2 playthroughs of the super silly Shadows of the Damned and am gearing up for the 3rd and last on easy to finish up the trophies. If you are one of the select few who read this blog on a regular basis (snicker) you'll know this game was on my "want to play but don't have the time" wishlist. Obviously, I caved. I can see how a lot of people were disappointed with its showing since, for being made by some big names in the biz, the game is average in a lot of ways. But, thanks to my curbed expectations going into it, I can honestly say I enjoyed the experience and look forward to snatching up that plat after one more run through.

The narrative follows Garcia Hotspur, a demon hunter who thinks wearing a purple leather jacket is cool (which is a fact that even the game makes fun of), as he takes a plunge into the underworld to find his girlfriend who he found in a dumpster. She's pretty hot though, aside from the different colored eyes, periods of going crazy and trying to kill you (all women do that, to be fair) and being killed over and over and over again (all women do not to that).

I'm so crazy!!!

It plays identical to Resident Evil 4, which is a good thing, but I don't remember Leon's romp in Spain to be this damn easy. The enemies in Shadows of the Damned are damned stupid (see what I did there), and all it takes is some rolling and constant moving about to stay unscratched 95% of the time. After learning the mechanics on normal, I literally must have gotten hit only a handful of times outside of boss battles on my hard run, which takes a lot of the tension out of the experience. The darkness sequences mix things up a bit, but they tend to be more annoying that difficult.

Unlike El Shaddai, Shadows of the Damned is very tongue in cheek and I'll be the first to admit it has a few laugh out loud moments (although I will also be the first to admit that I'm very immature). There are lots of dick jokes which lessen as the game goes on, a few clever quips thrown out there by Johnson, your floating skull/torch/gun sidekick, and you even get to be entertained by listening to Garcia attempt to read. Harharhar. I can see some people being turned off by the humor and feel it's trying too hard, but there's a simple way you can figure out how you'll feel about it.

Fart.

Did you laugh?

If yes, you'll find Shadows of the Damned funny. If not, I can't help ya.

I'll be proud to show off it's platnium when I get it, but I can take an objective step back and say it's a disappointing game when looking at its developers and comparing their resumes to this product. Once again though, with curbed expectations, it's fun while it lasts.

Actual line in game: "Taste my Big Boner!' = Awesome

Swimming In Rapture

Where the hell can I find some parking?!

If I sat down and seriously tried compiling my personal top 10 list for games (and I wouldn't because that would be brutally difficult), I can say Bioshock would definitely be somewhere in the mix. The shooting was solid and the plasmids and tonics added a nice RPGish element to the mix. But the real quality that knocked it out of the park was definitely the atmosphere. Rapture stands as, undeniably, one of the most atmospheric and well done settings in video games EVER that had me engrossed with the story and on the edge of my seat every second I played. While Bioshock 2 didn't have the uniqueness factor (being a sequel) it refined the combat and really cemented my love for the universe Ken Levine and his team at Irrational Games had created.

And like every big video game franchise, it's natural to want to keep developing that universe with other mediums, so ventures of course being more successful than others. It boggles my mind why it's so hard to make a decent video game movie adaptation, but time and time again, directors keep mucking it up (except with Silent Hill, which had an awesome movie!) Books are the other outlet video games have ventured into quite often but, although I'm an avid reader, I've never really had the desire to check any out. Sure God of War is awesome, but reading about Kratos ripping a guy's face off just doesn't have the same effect in text. But when Levine worked with John Shirley on a prequel to Bioshock, titled Bioshock:Rapture, I knew it was time to give reading a video game novel a stab. If there was a story that could translate to a novel, it was this one, and with about 50 pages left, I can say that I am extremely impressed with what they've done and am rethinking my decision to shun similarly game inspired works.

Bioshock:Rapture sets the foundation for the world Jack stumbles upon (or so you think dun-dun-dun) when his plane crashes in the first game. Following a few of the main characters in the series, as well as some random ones, Shirley shows how Rapture became a reality, from its birth conceptually, to its building, and finally to its downfall. Almost all of the characters and events that occur in both games are introduced and developed and I find myself Wikipedia-ing things I forgotten to make sure I have and can savor the whole picture, which is such an interesting and entertaining one.

We're gonna need a bigger gun...

One of the things I love about the story of Rapture (besides clunking dudes in diving suits) is how applicable its messages and themes are today. In our American political climate, where it feels politicians are stuck in  this ideological war where the main goal is screw the other guy rather than do what's best, Bioshock:Rapture discusses the dangers of extremisms of any kind and what can happen when man is robbed of balance. While Rapture is scary and exciting and a great setting, it's a symbol of what we must make sure we don't turn our world into. And the fact that a connection can be made today, or any kind, it a testament to the quality of the work.

It also has made me realize the power  video games have over other mediums in terms of making connections personally. As I read about Dr. Steinmen's twisted experiments and Tenembaum and Suchong's plasmids research and Fontaine's identity thefts, I kept recalling my experiences playing the game and it just made me feel more engrossed with the world. Unlike watching a movie and then reading further about the story, I feel more connected to it because I used the products that created the slicers, setting traps for them when I needed to protect one of the little sisters. I ran around Fort Frolic and saw Sander Cohen's twisted experiments. I unloaded shell after shell into Fontaine after he went plasmid crazy and tried to tear me limb from limb.

In the end, I'm a gamer because the experience interacting with a story rather than just viewing it really makes a difference with how it's internalized and processed. Games have the power to really leave an indelible mark on the player because of their active role in the narrative. Bioshock:Rapture really brought that to light and, going forward, I really don't think I'm going to hesitate reading a novel inspired by a series I love.  There''s just too much to potentially gain in turning a series I appreciate to a series I will never forget.

And holy shiz, Bioshock:Infinite is coming out next year....

So close