After playing two demos off the Xbox 360's Marketplace since both games will be available also either PSN or PC. I would feel guilty after enjoying both demos and finding them both somewhat addicting, not to post reviews of both trials/demos.
Warhammer 40k: Kill Team:
After seeing a trailer for this on the playstation blog, the game kind of exceeded my expectations of what I usually found in Warhammer games. The game not being an RTS this time around and instead a straight up top-down shoot-em-up, the game seemed quite tempting. After hearing that the game would come out August and curious to see if I would want to buy it down the road, I decided to hook up my Xbox 360 and download the trial.
Frankly enough, while the graphics style is reminiscent of both warhammer and warcraft(seeing how warcraft is pretty much a direct rip/competitor of warhammer), the modeling and graphics are very good in my opinion and definitely sets a good tone for the game. The control system is extremely intuitive and it didn't take me long to start mowing down orcs and bashing them with my melee gun. Not only that but each soldier class has a special move/weapon, which mine was just kicking the gun into hyper mode. This hyper mode pretty much turned my gun into the ultimate weapon where waves of Orcs only took like miliseconds to get wasted.
Pretty much as long as you were able to dodge bullets, melee the orcs when they got too close, and used the weapon with prowless and prejudice, with picking up any boosters and healing items, the game was pretty much pure orc carnage. The demo ended with "the unlock" trailer, and I have to say (pun intended) that I was more blown away than the orcs who felt my wrath.
In my opinion?
8+ out of 10.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
From Dust:
After hearing that this was not your normal Ubisoft game, and that IGN gave the game a clear 8+ out of 10. I decided to download this demo along side War 40k. Now this game was pretty much competiting with the likes of Spore, a mixture of Strategy and God Simulation that only certain "god game" people would find intrigueing.
The graphics are quite impressive for only being a downloadable, as the detail in even the "mortals" is quite good. The objective of the game was to help the mortals "populate and replenish the earth" while you helped them form land-masses, villages, and even help them fight back tsunamis with god-like powers.
The game unlike other RTS games where you're stuck to one map or village, allows you to either stay at one point and finish challenges, or if you're done populating a map continue to the next one. I found myself going through about 3 maps with the last one being the one with tsunamis, which the pacing never really made the game feel "slow".
The demo ended with another "unlock trailer" and left me with a good impression why IGN found this game fun.
In my Opinion?
8+ out of 10.
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Thanks for reading this double-review and I hope it helps my readers make better buying choices seeing how I enjoyed both demos.
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Shooters and cliches: Why PC is the best market for Shooters
While people on consoles have construed a big divide between FPS and TPS markets, it's because the aiming, graphics techinques, and storylines are quite different between these two genres on consoles.
Now you're probably thinking "PC ELITISTSZZZ!", but there are sometimes reasons why PC gamers think they are elitists. Because unlike FPS or TPS games on consoles having to be mapped or programmed quite different, PC versions of both genres are usually only different by the camera system, aka the only difference is the camera between FP and TP.
All the pc shooters I own, whether they be FPS and TPS, pretty much function exactly the same. WASD to move your character, and using the mouse to aim with extreme-precision not usually found on consoles.
My friend was watching one of my Lost Planet 2 videos, which the PC version was highly underrated due to severe programming or coding problems on the console-side. He pretty much realized with a PC, no matter if I was playing FPS or TPS, that I was able to "snipe" with a rocket launcher and hit targets on the other side of an area, and usually that's just not possible or as easy to do using a controller with that type of camera system.
Pretty much what I am trying to get to, is that usually the gaming PCs of our era can pretty much reduce any "clunkyness" and severe graphics ugliness because of added accuracy and scalable graphics options. Lost Planet 2 on PC was a masterpiece but on console it was rushed and barely tolerable for many gamers.
Usually the only shooters that make it out alive on console are big budget ones like Battlefield and COD, or hyper-exclusive titles like Halo, Uncharted, and Killzone that are optimized to no bounds (well, maybe not exactly Halo).
That's pretty much it for now, keep up with my blog for more editorials and posts.
Now you're probably thinking "PC ELITISTSZZZ!", but there are sometimes reasons why PC gamers think they are elitists. Because unlike FPS or TPS games on consoles having to be mapped or programmed quite different, PC versions of both genres are usually only different by the camera system, aka the only difference is the camera between FP and TP.
All the pc shooters I own, whether they be FPS and TPS, pretty much function exactly the same. WASD to move your character, and using the mouse to aim with extreme-precision not usually found on consoles.
My friend was watching one of my Lost Planet 2 videos, which the PC version was highly underrated due to severe programming or coding problems on the console-side. He pretty much realized with a PC, no matter if I was playing FPS or TPS, that I was able to "snipe" with a rocket launcher and hit targets on the other side of an area, and usually that's just not possible or as easy to do using a controller with that type of camera system.
Pretty much what I am trying to get to, is that usually the gaming PCs of our era can pretty much reduce any "clunkyness" and severe graphics ugliness because of added accuracy and scalable graphics options. Lost Planet 2 on PC was a masterpiece but on console it was rushed and barely tolerable for many gamers.
Usually the only shooters that make it out alive on console are big budget ones like Battlefield and COD, or hyper-exclusive titles like Halo, Uncharted, and Killzone that are optimized to no bounds (well, maybe not exactly Halo).
That's pretty much it for now, keep up with my blog for more editorials and posts.
Shooters and cliches: Tactical Horror
Now, I enjoy me-self some Fatal Frame and Ghost Recon, but I never thought of the two concepts of merging into one bloody and almost glorified hilarious venture. When I first heard that Capcom was going to be one of the "firsts" to delve into such wizardry with co-development made by former SOCOM devs Slant Six, I was skeptical that these two overrated genres could provide a big huge mess gameplay-wise.
That's the thing though, this new title dubbed Operation Raccoon City IS a big huge mess, but seems to be a masterful mess at that. Third person squad-based combat mixed with reveling zombie bloodshed creates a niche that people like me would love to bathe in. That and the "knife" usage is out of this world, being able to fling and slash zombies and stab them through like vegetables.
With that and the Future Soldier style camouflage and Tactical style cover system, this game could be one of the greatest spin-offs seen in a wavering franchise, and bring in new fans including myself to help boost morale needed to fund a RE-6.
That and this being a true co-op and multiplayer shooter with roots in Lost Planet 2, it's been said you can bring 3 of your buddies along to help thwart the raccoon city situation and also delve in USS VS Spec Ops action online, hopefully with zombies still mixing up the servers.
Capcom is taking a big risk with fusing both genres into a niche you could call "Tactical Horror", but maybe it's a risk that might help save Capcom from their previous bad decisions.
That's about it for now, stay tuned for more S & C editorials.
That's the thing though, this new title dubbed Operation Raccoon City IS a big huge mess, but seems to be a masterful mess at that. Third person squad-based combat mixed with reveling zombie bloodshed creates a niche that people like me would love to bathe in. That and the "knife" usage is out of this world, being able to fling and slash zombies and stab them through like vegetables.
With that and the Future Soldier style camouflage and Tactical style cover system, this game could be one of the greatest spin-offs seen in a wavering franchise, and bring in new fans including myself to help boost morale needed to fund a RE-6.
That and this being a true co-op and multiplayer shooter with roots in Lost Planet 2, it's been said you can bring 3 of your buddies along to help thwart the raccoon city situation and also delve in USS VS Spec Ops action online, hopefully with zombies still mixing up the servers.
Capcom is taking a big risk with fusing both genres into a niche you could call "Tactical Horror", but maybe it's a risk that might help save Capcom from their previous bad decisions.
That's about it for now, stay tuned for more S & C editorials.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Animation purity: 2D VERSUS 3D, and how do you define 2.5D?
Now, I know this has been a thorny subject for many animation fans for years, but having research it myself I would like to point some facts, even though they could be opinionated facts.
Animation at it's core is pretty much defined as any form of entertainment that has little to no live action bits. Though you could say there's plenty of live action that uses Animation(but preferably/professionally known as CG/CGI), but let's not focus on that really.
2D has always been my prefered style of animation, simply because due to various technologies and the art of anime, this about 100-year phenominon has grown into a overly-massed market that the whole world has enjoyed without much criticism.
That said, 2D has taken a harsh trail for many people when the dawn of FLASH arrived, which made it almost entirely possible for "non-true animators" to slap something together and call it animation. While there are about of handful of decent flash productions done nowadays, some of the stuff on a site known as newgrounds could almost be considered blasphemy when it comes to the form of art.
Flash wouldn't be so popular if it wasn't for the almost anti-beginner status of 3D Animation.
3D Animation didn't get it's real start until the projects known as "Reboot" and "Toy Story", two of the first fully 3D productions that started a new dawn of computer generated animation. While these shows had very few flaws, the trend they started has created some of the most notorious "shovelfilms" that give almost any decent 3D movie a bad name.
Thus, this is why 3D has given many an animation buff the likeness of being overrated, not because the technology is bad, but some of the movies that use it are just plain horrible, and it weren't for the flash industry, 2D would have almost cleared it's name of aweful usage
That said, the japanese have been known to almost excel at both these arts. With the form of both 2D and 3D "Anime", the japanese industry has been almost a godsend to people who have lost faith and/or interest in western interpretations. Movies like the new "Tekken: Blood Vengeance 3D" and productions such as "Ghost in the Shell" showcase that the japanese take their productions far more seriously, and who can forget the almost perfect line of Studio Ghibli titles?
Also since the early 2000s, companies like Disney have incorporated both forms into a single production, which people have debated to use the term "2.5D". Now people have debated what exactly defines 2.5D, but it's obvious that many titles since then to possibly cut down work and time have implemented either 3D backgrounds or 3D models that would be more painstaking to do hand-drawn.
One example would be Robotech, where the original seasons' fighter-scenes probably required hundreds if not thousands of frames to depict the different angles and attack patterns of several attack-craft. While the latest movie version opt-in to just create the ships and fighters as 3D models so they need to only use a computer replica.
The only usual downfall of this method is that the 3D and 2D almost never blend well and the two styles almost give the movie a wierd "ugly" look due to the simplicity of the 3D models. Even Macross Frontier used this method and tried to counteract this effect by using forms of cel-shading to give the 3D models a "2D look", which made the models only slightly more tolerable.
As you can see, the Animation industry has become nothing more than a big huge mess of different styles, and the demand for greater techniques has grown, but the production of said large demand has thinned greatly. It is if almost technology or the people who use it have gone backwards to what people in the mainstream demand.
I'm just glad there is still at least a handful of animation experts who got their heads on correctly.
.
Animation at it's core is pretty much defined as any form of entertainment that has little to no live action bits. Though you could say there's plenty of live action that uses Animation(but preferably/professionally known as CG/CGI), but let's not focus on that really.
2D has always been my prefered style of animation, simply because due to various technologies and the art of anime, this about 100-year phenominon has grown into a overly-massed market that the whole world has enjoyed without much criticism.
That said, 2D has taken a harsh trail for many people when the dawn of FLASH arrived, which made it almost entirely possible for "non-true animators" to slap something together and call it animation. While there are about of handful of decent flash productions done nowadays, some of the stuff on a site known as newgrounds could almost be considered blasphemy when it comes to the form of art.
Flash wouldn't be so popular if it wasn't for the almost anti-beginner status of 3D Animation.
3D Animation didn't get it's real start until the projects known as "Reboot" and "Toy Story", two of the first fully 3D productions that started a new dawn of computer generated animation. While these shows had very few flaws, the trend they started has created some of the most notorious "shovelfilms" that give almost any decent 3D movie a bad name.
Thus, this is why 3D has given many an animation buff the likeness of being overrated, not because the technology is bad, but some of the movies that use it are just plain horrible, and it weren't for the flash industry, 2D would have almost cleared it's name of aweful usage
That said, the japanese have been known to almost excel at both these arts. With the form of both 2D and 3D "Anime", the japanese industry has been almost a godsend to people who have lost faith and/or interest in western interpretations. Movies like the new "Tekken: Blood Vengeance 3D" and productions such as "Ghost in the Shell" showcase that the japanese take their productions far more seriously, and who can forget the almost perfect line of Studio Ghibli titles?
Also since the early 2000s, companies like Disney have incorporated both forms into a single production, which people have debated to use the term "2.5D". Now people have debated what exactly defines 2.5D, but it's obvious that many titles since then to possibly cut down work and time have implemented either 3D backgrounds or 3D models that would be more painstaking to do hand-drawn.
One example would be Robotech, where the original seasons' fighter-scenes probably required hundreds if not thousands of frames to depict the different angles and attack patterns of several attack-craft. While the latest movie version opt-in to just create the ships and fighters as 3D models so they need to only use a computer replica.
The only usual downfall of this method is that the 3D and 2D almost never blend well and the two styles almost give the movie a wierd "ugly" look due to the simplicity of the 3D models. Even Macross Frontier used this method and tried to counteract this effect by using forms of cel-shading to give the 3D models a "2D look", which made the models only slightly more tolerable.
As you can see, the Animation industry has become nothing more than a big huge mess of different styles, and the demand for greater techniques has grown, but the production of said large demand has thinned greatly. It is if almost technology or the people who use it have gone backwards to what people in the mainstream demand.
I'm just glad there is still at least a handful of animation experts who got their heads on correctly.
.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
RETRO=Modern Relevance?
Okay, so this is my third blog post today, but that's because I am on a utter role this time around. This topic here is about, Retro gaming!
After learned about the Aliens DS port from WayForward, and having played the Scott Pilgrim PSN game, that even today's 3D titles just can't beat most of the well-placed nostalgia of a good side-scroller.
Touche? Some of these more modern takes on side-scrollers who try to combine 3D and 2D on the same plane sometimes end up in utter failures, unless you're talking about masters of both dimensions like Metroid.
There are still many platforms that have, do, and SHOULD support retro-gaming and revel in it. Seeing how there are platforms that while have 3D support are more destined to be ultra-2D (Cough NDS COUGH), and the fact that many titles now have the capability of supporting hand-drawn images, 2D has never shined better until this modern age where there will always be a demand, contrary to the 3D-purists who negate our industry.
Touche? That and some of the best 3D games out there are merely transitions of what made their 2D counterparts great. Games like Mario, Metroid, Zelda, Castlevania, Metal Gear, and the like are almost just three-dimensional copies of their retro counterparts, and the 3D has only made them stronger in appeal and content.
I would almost be disappointed if the industry STARTED OUT in 3D, as to say the N64 and PS1 3D capabilities were almost untolerable, which is why the systems were heavily used as ultra 2D machines, using the 3D-based hardware to make high-resolution 2D assets.
That and with the age of the PS3 and Xbox 360 where you can have a clean 1080p 2D game that is oozing with phenominal detail, as is as clear as a windexed window, 2D will always have advantages over the 3D-styled titles that have to push real hard to get a decent amount of detail and still look "nice".
That's pretty much it for now, stay tuned for new posts.
After learned about the Aliens DS port from WayForward, and having played the Scott Pilgrim PSN game, that even today's 3D titles just can't beat most of the well-placed nostalgia of a good side-scroller.
Touche? Some of these more modern takes on side-scrollers who try to combine 3D and 2D on the same plane sometimes end up in utter failures, unless you're talking about masters of both dimensions like Metroid.
There are still many platforms that have, do, and SHOULD support retro-gaming and revel in it. Seeing how there are platforms that while have 3D support are more destined to be ultra-2D (Cough NDS COUGH), and the fact that many titles now have the capability of supporting hand-drawn images, 2D has never shined better until this modern age where there will always be a demand, contrary to the 3D-purists who negate our industry.
Touche? That and some of the best 3D games out there are merely transitions of what made their 2D counterparts great. Games like Mario, Metroid, Zelda, Castlevania, Metal Gear, and the like are almost just three-dimensional copies of their retro counterparts, and the 3D has only made them stronger in appeal and content.
I would almost be disappointed if the industry STARTED OUT in 3D, as to say the N64 and PS1 3D capabilities were almost untolerable, which is why the systems were heavily used as ultra 2D machines, using the 3D-based hardware to make high-resolution 2D assets.
That and with the age of the PS3 and Xbox 360 where you can have a clean 1080p 2D game that is oozing with phenominal detail, as is as clear as a windexed window, 2D will always have advantages over the 3D-styled titles that have to push real hard to get a decent amount of detail and still look "nice".
That's pretty much it for now, stay tuned for new posts.
Horror=Giggles?
After making a previous thought-provoking post about entertainment or specifically gaming. What actually makes Horror movies and games...Fun?
I have ponders this for many days, and why do many of us humans insist otherwise that unlike other beings who would rue the day if they got even the tiniest-bit scared, that we rivel in freaking ourselves out and make it almost a social-entity of having to get scared to "death"?
Having experienced it in such games a Fatal Frame, it's almost a double-edged sword when it comes to horror-media, one edge being that you're totally or slightly freaked out, but your body and emotions also entail a sense of humor and almost laughing inside when you're panicked.
This double-set of emotions is probably why people support this medium, since the reactions can be quite hysterical to the fearful and outright humored consumers.
Having watched videos of people spectating players of such games, while the player is totally fearing for his gaming life, the people who look on are either scared, or bathing in utter humorous abundance.
This is also one of the genres where people like to use terms that inflict the thought of depositing bodily waste into one's lower garments, to which kind of happens during moments of fear and laughter to someone with no physical self-control.
Also, is it to pursue outside emotions that would relevantly never happen in the time-span of their real life, where they enduce themselves with awkward emotional bathing to ensure that they can consider themselves true humans?
Something to think about I think.
I have ponders this for many days, and why do many of us humans insist otherwise that unlike other beings who would rue the day if they got even the tiniest-bit scared, that we rivel in freaking ourselves out and make it almost a social-entity of having to get scared to "death"?
Having experienced it in such games a Fatal Frame, it's almost a double-edged sword when it comes to horror-media, one edge being that you're totally or slightly freaked out, but your body and emotions also entail a sense of humor and almost laughing inside when you're panicked.
This double-set of emotions is probably why people support this medium, since the reactions can be quite hysterical to the fearful and outright humored consumers.
Having watched videos of people spectating players of such games, while the player is totally fearing for his gaming life, the people who look on are either scared, or bathing in utter humorous abundance.
This is also one of the genres where people like to use terms that inflict the thought of depositing bodily waste into one's lower garments, to which kind of happens during moments of fear and laughter to someone with no physical self-control.
Also, is it to pursue outside emotions that would relevantly never happen in the time-span of their real life, where they enduce themselves with awkward emotional bathing to ensure that they can consider themselves true humans?
Something to think about I think.
What is Gaming?
After spending the better part of my life playing video games constantly, if not addictively since my childhood, I have comes to grips with something that sometimes is my darkest fear....what is gaming?
Now before you start badgering about your definitions, its not really to figure out the pure identity of gaming, but why are we so infatuated with things that aren't real that are hooked up to a controller?
Why do we suggest or praise a form of entertainment that is merely a mix of pixels, computer generated images, and quite clearly, is so interesting to stare at a 2D-screen for hours on end?
It's the same way with computers, while we can be out walking, working, doing charity work, signing papers for a higher cause...we just sit on our butts and stare at a screen with stuff moving around it?
Is it true that most of us don't see it that way and our brains suggest that we are watching or playing is actually a form of an internal two-dimensional psuedo-reality, similar to that of the film industry where our eyes and ears are suspended in disbelief even though logically there's nothing really there?
The people who binge-online games like Call of Duty, Battlefield, and Uncharted seek excitement and reward in a world that has no ties to reality, but somehow our brains process these set of images, movements, dialog, and such as a theoritical "hobby"?
Why is it so easy to become enthralled in a game like Pokemon when it's just a bunch of pixel characters or backgrounds moving from one side to the other, colliding with each other, doing battle movements on a flat screen that somehow tricks our mind into thinking something's actually there?
You can say something similar about books, how does several lines of text somhow switch on a button in your brain to where the story becomes alive through your supposed imagination?
Logically it's almost unexplainable but somehow our brains are almost toys, puppets to whatever visual concosion man has devised to sell or market as something sensual as "entertainment".
What do you think is the reason our bodies can find "reality" in a "world" for of "fakeness"?
Now before you start badgering about your definitions, its not really to figure out the pure identity of gaming, but why are we so infatuated with things that aren't real that are hooked up to a controller?
Why do we suggest or praise a form of entertainment that is merely a mix of pixels, computer generated images, and quite clearly, is so interesting to stare at a 2D-screen for hours on end?
It's the same way with computers, while we can be out walking, working, doing charity work, signing papers for a higher cause...we just sit on our butts and stare at a screen with stuff moving around it?
Is it true that most of us don't see it that way and our brains suggest that we are watching or playing is actually a form of an internal two-dimensional psuedo-reality, similar to that of the film industry where our eyes and ears are suspended in disbelief even though logically there's nothing really there?
The people who binge-online games like Call of Duty, Battlefield, and Uncharted seek excitement and reward in a world that has no ties to reality, but somehow our brains process these set of images, movements, dialog, and such as a theoritical "hobby"?
Why is it so easy to become enthralled in a game like Pokemon when it's just a bunch of pixel characters or backgrounds moving from one side to the other, colliding with each other, doing battle movements on a flat screen that somehow tricks our mind into thinking something's actually there?
You can say something similar about books, how does several lines of text somhow switch on a button in your brain to where the story becomes alive through your supposed imagination?
Logically it's almost unexplainable but somehow our brains are almost toys, puppets to whatever visual concosion man has devised to sell or market as something sensual as "entertainment".
What do you think is the reason our bodies can find "reality" in a "world" for of "fakeness"?
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
REAL-G: Real-Time Graphics of the Future
REAL-G:
Real-Time Graphics of the Future
The Real-G pipeline is a future initiative to bring unparalleled real-time or gaming graphics to the quality of movies like Avatar. After AMD spoke out about the next Xbox having Avatar-quality graphics, people couldn’t help but laugh at the claim.
Even though it sounds like a funny bold statement, I was thinking…Such a future could be achievable with the current goals, and Real-G is based on those goals.
First, we need to stop treating consoles as gaming machines, and instead of just up-scaling graphics as our main priority, we need to think parallel on the CGI front. That is, come to a median where we should also take on experts of movie-geared CGI so we are also taking into account “down-scaling” on the other front. We need to think of graphics on a double plane. Real-G would take into account people like Digital Frontier who are experts in CGI, but also take in people like Nvidia and AMD/ATI so that we reach a double plane that can push real-time or gaming graphics further. Add graphics features applicable on both fronts, and created the most advanced graphics engine/pipeline known to the industry.
Second, since this is a joint venture between both fronts, Real-G must have technologies that negate the need for upgrades. One of these technologies would be Infi-Res, similar to the tech used in Gearbox games where the Resolution of the graphics/game will up-scale and update itself to all demands. Another technology would be a more standard function of scaling the quality of the models/textures themselves, to where based on the task at hand you can either up-scale or down-scale particular assets.
The engine would support Stereo-3D, seeing how this is meant as a double front graphics engine that would use CGI-quality features.
Real-G would be an on-going project, to where each “tech demo” would be treated as a mini-movie, each one maxing out a certain goal to the best of the consoles/PCs capabilities, the engine would have to be extremely optimized, but not to the point of sacrificing key CGI-based features. If the console can’t run the rudimentary features, the console/PC would be disqualified.
Real-G’s features as a graphics-pipeline would not take into account game-play, this is to make sure the graphics engine is running primarily on the GPU where it belongs, and being as CPU-less as possible so the CPU can focus more on game-play.
Real-G’s meaning is pretty self-explanatory, a double meaning of “Real-time” and “Real-Graphics”
I think any company or graphics technician who is serious about advancing Real-time graphics on a double front should consider proposals like Real-G.
Saturday, July 16, 2011
BrioCyrain and the Musical Buff that is.
For all those who know me, if I ever mentioned Ace Combat to you...there was probably 99.9% chance that I would comment on it's epic music. And why not? I consider myself a huge musical buff when it comes to music, even though there are some record labels that I wouldn't listen to if you paid me.
Pre-2000s Disney, Hans Zimmer, Koji Kondo, Keiki Kobayashi, Junichi (Keiki's friend), Masashi, Yoko, Utada, Hitoshi, John Williams, Joris De Man, etc land a mark on how you properly do "epic emotional music". Now you might be wondering if I ever tried composing for myself? Numerous, and more numerous times! I might not be an expert composer but every now and then I pull up the good ol' FL Studio and do some tune-bashing if my ears are right and hitting what I think are the right notes.
Well some of you are thinking, "FL Studio", but I have actually taken music courses, albeit I never finished them due to important reasons. I remember actually taking a singing lesson in kindergarten, which I never quite remember what was the result. I also took band in 4th/5th grade doing the trombone, before having to quit the class after having problems with hyperventilation. I also had a recorder that I would play Epona's song on, and sometimes goof around on my brother's keyboard where every now and then I would hit some nice notes.
Now I'm not saying I qualify as self-taught, but every time I listen to a song I try to figure out the motive and signature usage into my songs...and using these kind of inspirations I can actually get something decent going.
I know I will never be a Keiki or Hitoshi, but I won't find myself giving up and never try to make a good piece that will satisfy my current inspirations. That's why I find myself wanting to talk to composers more than other kinds of people, because they should have the consideration to know that their music is special and nobody should deprive them of that.
Good day to you.
Pre-2000s Disney, Hans Zimmer, Koji Kondo, Keiki Kobayashi, Junichi (Keiki's friend), Masashi, Yoko, Utada, Hitoshi, John Williams, Joris De Man, etc land a mark on how you properly do "epic emotional music". Now you might be wondering if I ever tried composing for myself? Numerous, and more numerous times! I might not be an expert composer but every now and then I pull up the good ol' FL Studio and do some tune-bashing if my ears are right and hitting what I think are the right notes.
Well some of you are thinking, "FL Studio", but I have actually taken music courses, albeit I never finished them due to important reasons. I remember actually taking a singing lesson in kindergarten, which I never quite remember what was the result. I also took band in 4th/5th grade doing the trombone, before having to quit the class after having problems with hyperventilation. I also had a recorder that I would play Epona's song on, and sometimes goof around on my brother's keyboard where every now and then I would hit some nice notes.
Now I'm not saying I qualify as self-taught, but every time I listen to a song I try to figure out the motive and signature usage into my songs...and using these kind of inspirations I can actually get something decent going.
I know I will never be a Keiki or Hitoshi, but I won't find myself giving up and never try to make a good piece that will satisfy my current inspirations. That's why I find myself wanting to talk to composers more than other kinds of people, because they should have the consideration to know that their music is special and nobody should deprive them of that.
Good day to you.
ACE COMBAT X: SKIES OF DECEPTION OST REVIEW
After having listened to the "supposed" sequel to this soundtrack, it's obvious Namco knew better what it was doing with Skies of Deception compared to Joint Assault.
Tetsukazu Nakanishi was the supervisor of the OST, and his techno synths give the soundtrack a pretty good old-school arcade feel. It might not be the techno/orchestra you're familiar with in AC4 and parts of AC5, but it's good flight music nonetheless.
Unlike Joint Assault that I think the music team had a feeling the game would fail, Tetsu-san had hope in this game that scored higher on gaming sites and I'm glad at least one of the AC gods was a part of it and not just "pasted" into it.
If you want techno flight sim goodness with not much of an orchestra, don't look further than Skies of Deception.
In my Opinion?
8.6 out of 10
Tetsukazu Nakanishi was the supervisor of the OST, and his techno synths give the soundtrack a pretty good old-school arcade feel. It might not be the techno/orchestra you're familiar with in AC4 and parts of AC5, but it's good flight music nonetheless.
Unlike Joint Assault that I think the music team had a feeling the game would fail, Tetsu-san had hope in this game that scored higher on gaming sites and I'm glad at least one of the AC gods was a part of it and not just "pasted" into it.
If you want techno flight sim goodness with not much of an orchestra, don't look further than Skies of Deception.
In my Opinion?
8.6 out of 10
ACE COMBAT X2: JOINT ASSAULT OST REVIEW
Joint Assault was probably one of the weakest, if not the weakest Ace Combat port to hit any platform. Scoring only a 6.5 on IGN, this game had no hope of making it off the runway, and it seemed like most of the compositions in this OST reflect that.
Now Joint Assault his some good music, keyword some, but they seem mostly out of place for what Ace Combat is meant to be composed for. Most of the good pieces are ground centric, ranging from RPG to Racing music. None of the songs really fit a flight arcade/sim setting, and that's what I'm puzzled about, 'til I saw the credits list for the composers.
The composers are comprised of Persian, Racing, RPG, and an AC oldie who clearly weren't supervised what makes the newer AC games so special in the music department. As if the "good team" was either on a hiatus or busy revving up for Assault Horizon.
That said there are some exceptional tracks, but it seems these ones were just "copy and pasted" over from the more epic OSTs, to which they shouldn't really count as newly original tracks.
I mostly put blame on the Namco management team, for hiring composers from other teams (and Inon Zur) who have no real consistency when it comes to making Flight sim music. That said some of the tracks are pretty decent.
In my Opinion?
7.8 out of 10
Now Joint Assault his some good music, keyword some, but they seem mostly out of place for what Ace Combat is meant to be composed for. Most of the good pieces are ground centric, ranging from RPG to Racing music. None of the songs really fit a flight arcade/sim setting, and that's what I'm puzzled about, 'til I saw the credits list for the composers.
The composers are comprised of Persian, Racing, RPG, and an AC oldie who clearly weren't supervised what makes the newer AC games so special in the music department. As if the "good team" was either on a hiatus or busy revving up for Assault Horizon.
That said there are some exceptional tracks, but it seems these ones were just "copy and pasted" over from the more epic OSTs, to which they shouldn't really count as newly original tracks.
I mostly put blame on the Namco management team, for hiring composers from other teams (and Inon Zur) who have no real consistency when it comes to making Flight sim music. That said some of the tracks are pretty decent.
In my Opinion?
7.8 out of 10
Friday, July 15, 2011
ACE COMBAT ZERO: THE BELKAN WAR OST REVIEW
I pride myself as a "War Song" buff, especially the kind of war music that gives epicness to games like Ace Combat. Ace Combat Zero is no exception, but it is at the same time...in a good way.
Ace Combat Zero is not practically the perfect mix of previous ace combat games, IT IS the perfect mix. Ranging from Techno, Industrial, Orchestra, Synth, Latin Choirs, Hispanic Guitars...this entire soundtrack creates a long mix and is mixed perfectly. Keiki Kobayashi with his company of rag-tag epic game composer gods has given his Project Aces and players something to play with, play for, and this soundtrack never gets old. The compositions could rival with the best of movie soundtracks, and in a fair fight, beat them to a pulp.
If you can't picture yourself in the skies as a master ace pilot to this music, there's nothing wrong with music, there's something wrong with YOU.
In my Opinion?
Perfect 10 out of 10.
Ace Combat Zero is not practically the perfect mix of previous ace combat games, IT IS the perfect mix. Ranging from Techno, Industrial, Orchestra, Synth, Latin Choirs, Hispanic Guitars...this entire soundtrack creates a long mix and is mixed perfectly. Keiki Kobayashi with his company of rag-tag epic game composer gods has given his Project Aces and players something to play with, play for, and this soundtrack never gets old. The compositions could rival with the best of movie soundtracks, and in a fair fight, beat them to a pulp.
If you can't picture yourself in the skies as a master ace pilot to this music, there's nothing wrong with music, there's something wrong with YOU.
In my Opinion?
Perfect 10 out of 10.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Shooters and cliches: Repeatance-Fall of Gaming
It's been awhile since I did another rant on my favorite genre, but it's hard to not indulge myself in such chilvary after playing the Resistance: Fall of Man demo.
For those who have read my Fallout, Battle LA, and other anti-FPS rants and know my current opinions on gaming, Resistance is another hole in the gutter that while loved by a certain niche, it poses one of the problems in the de-evolution of the shooter genre.
For those who read my demo review, I have a bit of angst that this series is nothing more than outside ideas meshed into one franchise. While some of my friends know that the shooter genre is rather generic with it's premises and settings, Resistance is one of those franchises that takes the cake and doesnt seem to admit that it is more of a step backwards than a step forwards.
Insomniac has proven they are able to bring quality gameplay and settings such as their shoot-em-up platformer Rachet and Clank, but seeing how Resistance is their first real FPS franchise, I hope it is their last seeing how all three titles have little in common with each other since they have no clue how to perfect their setting or gameplay with Resistance.
That and the alien invasion and terraforming premise reminds me of Robotech Invasion, a great game that was underrated by many and was based on the related 80s anime that had a compelling story for it's time, though there was some Halo cloning to be had. I just want to know why a company is big as Sony delve into copying a third-party PS2/Xbox title that had little to no marketing, and risk tainting their name with the likes of a under-sold game title?
Resistance poses a problem for shooters that while I don't really listen to people that believe shooters are destroying gaming, that Resistance is one of those franchises that developers are willing to sacrifice originality and smooth gameplay just to make cash on the genre, and in this sense it's almost as guilty as Fallout when it comes to rather sticking to de-evolution tactics rather than evolve the genre ala Valve or Battlefield.
I hate to say it but, I am more looking forward to RAGE than Resistance 3.
Meh...
For those who have read my Fallout, Battle LA, and other anti-FPS rants and know my current opinions on gaming, Resistance is another hole in the gutter that while loved by a certain niche, it poses one of the problems in the de-evolution of the shooter genre.
For those who read my demo review, I have a bit of angst that this series is nothing more than outside ideas meshed into one franchise. While some of my friends know that the shooter genre is rather generic with it's premises and settings, Resistance is one of those franchises that takes the cake and doesnt seem to admit that it is more of a step backwards than a step forwards.
Insomniac has proven they are able to bring quality gameplay and settings such as their shoot-em-up platformer Rachet and Clank, but seeing how Resistance is their first real FPS franchise, I hope it is their last seeing how all three titles have little in common with each other since they have no clue how to perfect their setting or gameplay with Resistance.
That and the alien invasion and terraforming premise reminds me of Robotech Invasion, a great game that was underrated by many and was based on the related 80s anime that had a compelling story for it's time, though there was some Halo cloning to be had. I just want to know why a company is big as Sony delve into copying a third-party PS2/Xbox title that had little to no marketing, and risk tainting their name with the likes of a under-sold game title?
Resistance poses a problem for shooters that while I don't really listen to people that believe shooters are destroying gaming, that Resistance is one of those franchises that developers are willing to sacrifice originality and smooth gameplay just to make cash on the genre, and in this sense it's almost as guilty as Fallout when it comes to rather sticking to de-evolution tactics rather than evolve the genre ala Valve or Battlefield.
I hate to say it but, I am more looking forward to RAGE than Resistance 3.
Meh...
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Resistance: Fall of Man Demo REVIEW
I came into this demo knowing that the Resistance franchise was weaker than most of the other Sony titles and that this franchise from the start had a illness of Identity Crisis. Though the demo proved this situation to far worse than it seemed on the outside.
The demo starts with a group of WW2 era-ed soldiers fighting the relentless yet totally confusing Chimera. Not knowing where I was I tried to orient myself with the area, but that took some time since I died plenty of times during this map since I had troubles figuring out where the Chimera were at and where they were shooting from, and that was pretty much everywhere. Before I could make any headway the several deaths caused me to be quite frustrated since I wasn't used to the weapons, controls, and the range on the weapons were surprisingly limited. I found myself having to get closer than safe distances with the event of even more deaths, and this frustrated me even more.
Trying to keep my cool and figuring out the "arena" was just one giant circular flanking machine--I was able to make more headway and score a checkpoint. After the checkpoint happened the Chimera dropshipped into our rear taking me fully by surprised, and not knowing the good cover areas of this arena resulted in more deaths, which I was pretty steamed in my head. I found out that the only way to get to them again is to use the flanking circle and attack their sides which they weren't really progammed to use(thank goodness for stupid AI in this game). Having cleared the second wave of Chimera and scoring another Checkpoint, I found myself fighting a mech that was pretty much programmed only to shoot at me, yay(insert sarcasm here). After dying several more times, it just took some "hit and cover" tactics, several reheals, and a large amount of grenade spam to take down this Pain in the Butt. The level ended and I was about to go my way, 'til another map loaded..yay again.
The second map pretty much started with me waiting to die several more times as me and my rag-tag team of co-patriots(which I couldn't tell if they were american WWIIs or german WWIIs) had to fight several more waves of these pesky bugs. Having found that I had a sniper rifle(which was probably the only real useful gun in this map), I just decided to snipe through the cover(which is pretty nifty) and take down the regular Chimera and even a gigantic exploding one(which was a pain but not as much as the mech). Having analyzed the art style at this point, this game wreaked of Medal of Honor Airborne map-wise but the Chimera were somehow uncannily like the Helghast. The only issue with this is this Resistance demo looked worse then either game, and I felt that I was playing an upscaled PS2 game. That and I couldn't help but feel the developers ripped off the concept of an anime-game close to my heart, Robotech: Invasion.
And that was confused me, this Identity Crisis of Airborne X Killzone X Robotech: Invasion gave the impression that like stated in many articles, the developers didn't know really where to go with this game. It seems this series is more an experiment they started developing on the PS2 and just ported to the PS3 in the aims that this convoluted mix-match of ragtag game ideas would hold up to some solid conclusion. While I can see the merits of this idea, the demo showed that it wasn't implemented that well. It didn't help that the game seems to be just a bundle of a McDonald's happy meal, but instead of getting the almost decent burger, you were given the stale over-salted fries.
ANYWAY, (end rant). Having made my way around the map supposing that my current mission was to just snipe Chimera to death, I found I wasn't making any headway and I wasn't scoring any checkpoints. Seeing how the Chimera came out of an "elevator" I decided to see what was the deal with that and finally got my checkpoint, yay(for reals). Going up the shaft I found myself in the face of a few Chimera that I was able to easily shoot down, and finding out where I was supposed to go I took this time to snipe more Chimera(seeing how my job was to go on these little "elevated perches" and wipe out the MGs and snipers). I went on to flush out the perches with only a few deaths(one of them was me throwing a grenade instead of pushing a button, insta-suicide). Having successfully push the button the second time, I went down the second shaft and found myself toe-to-toe with another giant Chimera.
Thank goodness I could just walk around him and pump him full of bullets since his gun was lame and he wasnt very fast(or bright). He ended up exploding with his remains on the ground(eeew) and me leaving the area ended the demo(finally!).
CLOSING COMMENTS:
This demo really gave me an idea that the devs weren't really concerned about the Identity Crisis and just decided to just take chunks from other games in the hopes of making it all fit. While many games do this, most of them do it better than Resistance. That said I found that figuring out the controls by the end gave the demo some enjoyment(the controls were a wierd hash of the Killzone controls, go figure), but I can see why Resistance 2 and Resistance 3 aren't the hottest topics of PS3 gaming.
In my Opinion?
7.2 out of 10
The demo starts with a group of WW2 era-ed soldiers fighting the relentless yet totally confusing Chimera. Not knowing where I was I tried to orient myself with the area, but that took some time since I died plenty of times during this map since I had troubles figuring out where the Chimera were at and where they were shooting from, and that was pretty much everywhere. Before I could make any headway the several deaths caused me to be quite frustrated since I wasn't used to the weapons, controls, and the range on the weapons were surprisingly limited. I found myself having to get closer than safe distances with the event of even more deaths, and this frustrated me even more.
Trying to keep my cool and figuring out the "arena" was just one giant circular flanking machine--I was able to make more headway and score a checkpoint. After the checkpoint happened the Chimera dropshipped into our rear taking me fully by surprised, and not knowing the good cover areas of this arena resulted in more deaths, which I was pretty steamed in my head. I found out that the only way to get to them again is to use the flanking circle and attack their sides which they weren't really progammed to use(thank goodness for stupid AI in this game). Having cleared the second wave of Chimera and scoring another Checkpoint, I found myself fighting a mech that was pretty much programmed only to shoot at me, yay(insert sarcasm here). After dying several more times, it just took some "hit and cover" tactics, several reheals, and a large amount of grenade spam to take down this Pain in the Butt. The level ended and I was about to go my way, 'til another map loaded..yay again.
The second map pretty much started with me waiting to die several more times as me and my rag-tag team of co-patriots(which I couldn't tell if they were american WWIIs or german WWIIs) had to fight several more waves of these pesky bugs. Having found that I had a sniper rifle(which was probably the only real useful gun in this map), I just decided to snipe through the cover(which is pretty nifty) and take down the regular Chimera and even a gigantic exploding one(which was a pain but not as much as the mech). Having analyzed the art style at this point, this game wreaked of Medal of Honor Airborne map-wise but the Chimera were somehow uncannily like the Helghast. The only issue with this is this Resistance demo looked worse then either game, and I felt that I was playing an upscaled PS2 game. That and I couldn't help but feel the developers ripped off the concept of an anime-game close to my heart, Robotech: Invasion.
And that was confused me, this Identity Crisis of Airborne X Killzone X Robotech: Invasion gave the impression that like stated in many articles, the developers didn't know really where to go with this game. It seems this series is more an experiment they started developing on the PS2 and just ported to the PS3 in the aims that this convoluted mix-match of ragtag game ideas would hold up to some solid conclusion. While I can see the merits of this idea, the demo showed that it wasn't implemented that well. It didn't help that the game seems to be just a bundle of a McDonald's happy meal, but instead of getting the almost decent burger, you were given the stale over-salted fries.
ANYWAY, (end rant). Having made my way around the map supposing that my current mission was to just snipe Chimera to death, I found I wasn't making any headway and I wasn't scoring any checkpoints. Seeing how the Chimera came out of an "elevator" I decided to see what was the deal with that and finally got my checkpoint, yay(for reals). Going up the shaft I found myself in the face of a few Chimera that I was able to easily shoot down, and finding out where I was supposed to go I took this time to snipe more Chimera(seeing how my job was to go on these little "elevated perches" and wipe out the MGs and snipers). I went on to flush out the perches with only a few deaths(one of them was me throwing a grenade instead of pushing a button, insta-suicide). Having successfully push the button the second time, I went down the second shaft and found myself toe-to-toe with another giant Chimera.
Thank goodness I could just walk around him and pump him full of bullets since his gun was lame and he wasnt very fast(or bright). He ended up exploding with his remains on the ground(eeew) and me leaving the area ended the demo(finally!).
CLOSING COMMENTS:
This demo really gave me an idea that the devs weren't really concerned about the Identity Crisis and just decided to just take chunks from other games in the hopes of making it all fit. While many games do this, most of them do it better than Resistance. That said I found that figuring out the controls by the end gave the demo some enjoyment(the controls were a wierd hash of the Killzone controls, go figure), but I can see why Resistance 2 and Resistance 3 aren't the hottest topics of PS3 gaming.
In my Opinion?
7.2 out of 10
Friday, July 1, 2011
KILLZONE 2 Demo REVIEW
After having played the Killzone 3 demo and witnessing(well playing) the awesomeness which it was, I decided to also try the Killzone 2 demo.
Like the Killzone 3 demo, you're pretty much already put into a combat situation, and the Helghast are already trying to kill you. Cover is even more key in this demo as the Helghast are coming from 180 degrees so you need to keep your head down at all times.
The story of this demo is that you're pretty much "sieging" the Helghast capital of Pyrrhus. The moment you make your way into the capital you're almost instantly shot down and have to gain ground away from the landingcraft. After taking out a bridge filled with Helghast mounted MGS you make you're way to a floodgate. The floodgate opens to show two Helghast APCs coming out, but the doors closing behind them. I died plenty of times since the rocket launcher you're given doesn't really harm the APCs that much, and usually I could only take out one of them.
The color pallete of Killzone 2 is much more limited to the point I had plenty of trouble distingushing ISA from Helghast. This ended up getting me dominated since the Helghast could get close and start shooting me in the face.
After a few tries and wiping out the APC Helghast me and an NPC made our way to the nearby warehouse that had the controls to the floodgate. Obviously this place was crawling with Helghast, and after flushing out the first wave with grenade spam and blowing up explosive barrels(which seem always apparent in shooters), I had to give the NPC cover so he could hack the gate controls.
Let me tell you something, when the NPC says "Cover me...", that means you're usually always going to have to fight a big wave of baddies by yourself, and that is what exactly happened. This wave of Helghast was a pain since it was hard getting around their cover without exposing myself to their fire. While I survived most of it, it was irrating that the Helghast were blind-firing(the military way of shooting gangsta in cover" and were still able to get some good hits on me.
The controls hacked we left the warehouse, and the demo ended there. While the demo ending wasn't a bad thing, this demo seemed nowhere as long as the KZ3 demo.
CLOSING COMMENTS:
This demo was pretty frustrating compared to the KZ3 demo, and while the graphics were pretty nice, the limited pallete posed a problem for me distinguishing Friendly for Foe.
In my Opinion?
8.5 Out of 10
Like the Killzone 3 demo, you're pretty much already put into a combat situation, and the Helghast are already trying to kill you. Cover is even more key in this demo as the Helghast are coming from 180 degrees so you need to keep your head down at all times.
The story of this demo is that you're pretty much "sieging" the Helghast capital of Pyrrhus. The moment you make your way into the capital you're almost instantly shot down and have to gain ground away from the landingcraft. After taking out a bridge filled with Helghast mounted MGS you make you're way to a floodgate. The floodgate opens to show two Helghast APCs coming out, but the doors closing behind them. I died plenty of times since the rocket launcher you're given doesn't really harm the APCs that much, and usually I could only take out one of them.
The color pallete of Killzone 2 is much more limited to the point I had plenty of trouble distingushing ISA from Helghast. This ended up getting me dominated since the Helghast could get close and start shooting me in the face.
After a few tries and wiping out the APC Helghast me and an NPC made our way to the nearby warehouse that had the controls to the floodgate. Obviously this place was crawling with Helghast, and after flushing out the first wave with grenade spam and blowing up explosive barrels(which seem always apparent in shooters), I had to give the NPC cover so he could hack the gate controls.
Let me tell you something, when the NPC says "Cover me...", that means you're usually always going to have to fight a big wave of baddies by yourself, and that is what exactly happened. This wave of Helghast was a pain since it was hard getting around their cover without exposing myself to their fire. While I survived most of it, it was irrating that the Helghast were blind-firing(the military way of shooting gangsta in cover" and were still able to get some good hits on me.
The controls hacked we left the warehouse, and the demo ended there. While the demo ending wasn't a bad thing, this demo seemed nowhere as long as the KZ3 demo.
CLOSING COMMENTS:
This demo was pretty frustrating compared to the KZ3 demo, and while the graphics were pretty nice, the limited pallete posed a problem for me distinguishing Friendly for Foe.
In my Opinion?
8.5 Out of 10
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