Call me sadistic, but if the world was really like timeline seen in video game genres like Third Person Shooters, we would be totally screwed based on some of these horrifying plot-lines seen in this frenetic genre.
2011-2020:
First option: Mexican rebels try to nuke America because of government agreement, high tech special forces neutralize threat.
Second option: Russia blows up San Francisco with a large weapon, special forces take out the Russians (?).
2020-?: America sends special forces with cloaking and high-tech weaponry to settle overseas situations to maintain peace.
2000-2020:
First Option: A few cities are infected with a zombie virus, STARS and BSAA troops take out the infestations.
Second Option: PMCs take over the world, a single dude takes them all out.
Third Option: The american government goes sour and starts trying to kill former spies that used to work for it, single dude takes them all out.
2080: Androids with human-like souls attack a western company, special forces sent into Tokyo to stop their production, attacked by an Army of robots, the force isn't too high-tech.
2080-?: Giant mechs or mecha produced for war, single person or group of people takes out the bad guys.
?-A.T. 12: Colonization of planets like E.D.N. 3, Native aliens are new source of energy, Akrid retaliate and the force of NEVEC tries to steal all the energy and leave with the planet frozen solid. Single person or group of people take them all out.
2183-?: Humans find an advanced technology on Mars as uses it to travel the galaxy, only to find out that a dude awakens an old robot race called The Reapers who want to wipe out the universe.
Fourteen years after Emergence Day: We awake some bug/alien like monsters from the core of a planet called Sera...yay for waking up some deadly things!
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
LOST PLANET 2 SOUNDTRACK REVIEW
After having played both Lost Planet games as well as listening to the original game's soundtrack, I knew the music was going to be good but my expectations were also beaten by how every track is a masterpiece in its own right. Not many games tend to care to make ALL the music epic, but when Capcom hired Jamie back onto the series as well as some music-flexing in-house composers it wasn't hard that everyone wanted what could be one of the best TPS OSTs around.
Going down the line, from the Title Screen, Menus, and all the boss and stage music are well-orchestrated, beautifully-done, and just makes you want to go out and kill some Akrid and NEVEC. The WHOLE soundtrack is epic, and not one of them seems overly-generic and "meh" at the slightest. The only way to get tired of this OST....is you can't.
Probably my personal favorites of the OST is:
Title Screen
Main Menu
Welcome to the Jungle Boys!
Gordiant
Central City 1
Red Eye 1
Team Battle
The Polar Sea 1
Vagabundo
The Overland Battleship
Sub Theme
Over G Akrid 2
Main Theme
And that's about half the OST I just mentioned, and the others are still REALLY GOOD.
With this kind of OST, I am not sure how the game itself can ever get boring when you got booming brass, bashing drums, emotion-ripping strings, and the like.
IN MY OPINION?
9.5/10
Going down the line, from the Title Screen, Menus, and all the boss and stage music are well-orchestrated, beautifully-done, and just makes you want to go out and kill some Akrid and NEVEC. The WHOLE soundtrack is epic, and not one of them seems overly-generic and "meh" at the slightest. The only way to get tired of this OST....is you can't.
Probably my personal favorites of the OST is:
Title Screen
Main Menu
Welcome to the Jungle Boys!
Gordiant
Central City 1
Red Eye 1
Team Battle
The Polar Sea 1
Vagabundo
The Overland Battleship
Sub Theme
Over G Akrid 2
Main Theme
And that's about half the OST I just mentioned, and the others are still REALLY GOOD.
With this kind of OST, I am not sure how the game itself can ever get boring when you got booming brass, bashing drums, emotion-ripping strings, and the like.
IN MY OPINION?
9.5/10
Saturday, November 12, 2011
TOM CLANCY'S: GHOST RECON ADVANCED WARFIGHTER 2 REVIEW
Expectations: After having played the first GRAW and enjoying it's sense of realism while maintaining the "futuristic flexing muscle" of Tom Clancy...I had kept my expectations to at least the level of the original GRAW. That said I was expecting to get killed plenty of times since you're not a bullet-sponge, but like other Tom Clancy games it's either kick butt or get butt kicked.
Initial Impressions: First things first, GRAW 1 was technically an Xbox 360 game (though there was a PC and PS2 version, they were not the "real" GRAW 1), and so the difference in controlling made a difference, even though you could use the Sixaxis to slide, barrel roll, or jump into cover...this seemed more of a gimmick since you could do the same by just pressing the right button combination.
GRAW 1 on Xbox 360 had more vibrant colors, allies had brownish uniforms, the cross-com system seemed like a light blue, environments were mostly clearly lit and stunningly detailed, and enemies were easier to make out with their red and green get-ups. GRAW 2 has changed this whole entire matter into making almost the entire environment shades of brown and gray, and you're clothing pretty much "blends into the bland" reverse-detailing. If you were to compare both games to Future Soldier (the next major title in the series), GRAW 1's coloring were closer to Nigeria where GRAW 2 is as dis-colored as the Soviet map. With all this said, the underlying resolution detail of GRAW 2 is improved (though having only about two different colors...doesn't do you much good).
The Game: With all this said, the game starts off with a bang and starts off where GRAW 1 ends. The point is simple in both games; try to take out the mexican rebels and neutralize their nuke arsenal before they can launch them into the US, and at this point it IS as hard as it sounds. The game has more solo missions than the first game, but also more "support" missions than the first also, which means pretty much in the same amount of time to finish the campaign the game seems multiplied on all fronts mission-wise. Solo missions are of course some of the more frustrating missions, but after awhile (with the right equipment) seem easier if you keep yourself out of enemy fire's way. "Suppport" Missions, as in having not only a squad, but also Strykers, Tanks, and even Choppers at your disposal to kick major butt...You can't help but say "HECK YEAH, THIS ROCKS" when you're little "army" is killing thugs and blowing up almost everything. Probably as previously in the first GRAW, the "Chopper Gunner" parts seem cool at first, but they get boring after awhile. Shooting people with a poorly accurate Fixed Gun on a Black Hawk just seems more like "lets get your blood going" than actual fun, and these tend to be shallow of checkpoints almost intentionally, since if you forget to take out a few tanks, whatever your protecting is doomed and Mission Failed.
Story: The story is nothing special, but how it's coordinated and presented keeps you motivated on your "Call of Duty". Dialog is engaging, you feel connected to the characters, and the relationships built by the previous GRAW into this one gives you a sense of loyalty and immersion within the confines on how epic (and dangerous) the plot is. That and you can't turn down a lead soldier with a whispering, somewhat gravely voice in these kind of games.
Music: Tom Clancy games have some of the best shooter music this side of the pond, and Tom Salta at the front makes this definitely so. From epic orchestrated booming themes, to even other epic "danger" pieces, you won't be disappointed with the music as it helps pushing you on mentally and emotionally. Anyone who has a good taste in music should search up the GRAW(1 and 2) OST.
Graphics: As I said before, the game is a bit of a back and forward step in the right direction from what was previously done in GRAW 1. Lack of vibrant or decent assortment of colors kind of takes away any sense of coloring detail, but the fact that the textures are more detailed with what they got keep the game in a more darker state, which probably plot-wise what Ubisoft was going for.
Fun-Factor: The game is fun if you don't get in a situation where you're undermanned and outgunned (some of this is due to long "hold your position missions" or the fact you let most of your squad get killed, and it's a pain to fight solo in a mission where you're meant to have back-up), but besides that the game is pretty awesome, and the controls feel tight and "right" most of the time...as long as you can shoot the enemies most of the time, you'll progress at a decent rate.
What could have been better: Less "On Chopper Rails Gunner" sessions and the somewhat too-prolonged ending for the story, and in some ways the story doesn't end on the most positive note.
IN MY OPINION?
Graphics: 8.8/10
Gameplay: 8.5/10
Music: 9.5/10
Story: 8.7/10
Overall: 9.2/10
"Epic When Fun"
Initial Impressions: First things first, GRAW 1 was technically an Xbox 360 game (though there was a PC and PS2 version, they were not the "real" GRAW 1), and so the difference in controlling made a difference, even though you could use the Sixaxis to slide, barrel roll, or jump into cover...this seemed more of a gimmick since you could do the same by just pressing the right button combination.
GRAW 1 on Xbox 360 had more vibrant colors, allies had brownish uniforms, the cross-com system seemed like a light blue, environments were mostly clearly lit and stunningly detailed, and enemies were easier to make out with their red and green get-ups. GRAW 2 has changed this whole entire matter into making almost the entire environment shades of brown and gray, and you're clothing pretty much "blends into the bland" reverse-detailing. If you were to compare both games to Future Soldier (the next major title in the series), GRAW 1's coloring were closer to Nigeria where GRAW 2 is as dis-colored as the Soviet map. With all this said, the underlying resolution detail of GRAW 2 is improved (though having only about two different colors...doesn't do you much good).
The Game: With all this said, the game starts off with a bang and starts off where GRAW 1 ends. The point is simple in both games; try to take out the mexican rebels and neutralize their nuke arsenal before they can launch them into the US, and at this point it IS as hard as it sounds. The game has more solo missions than the first game, but also more "support" missions than the first also, which means pretty much in the same amount of time to finish the campaign the game seems multiplied on all fronts mission-wise. Solo missions are of course some of the more frustrating missions, but after awhile (with the right equipment) seem easier if you keep yourself out of enemy fire's way. "Suppport" Missions, as in having not only a squad, but also Strykers, Tanks, and even Choppers at your disposal to kick major butt...You can't help but say "HECK YEAH, THIS ROCKS" when you're little "army" is killing thugs and blowing up almost everything. Probably as previously in the first GRAW, the "Chopper Gunner" parts seem cool at first, but they get boring after awhile. Shooting people with a poorly accurate Fixed Gun on a Black Hawk just seems more like "lets get your blood going" than actual fun, and these tend to be shallow of checkpoints almost intentionally, since if you forget to take out a few tanks, whatever your protecting is doomed and Mission Failed.
Story: The story is nothing special, but how it's coordinated and presented keeps you motivated on your "Call of Duty". Dialog is engaging, you feel connected to the characters, and the relationships built by the previous GRAW into this one gives you a sense of loyalty and immersion within the confines on how epic (and dangerous) the plot is. That and you can't turn down a lead soldier with a whispering, somewhat gravely voice in these kind of games.
Music: Tom Clancy games have some of the best shooter music this side of the pond, and Tom Salta at the front makes this definitely so. From epic orchestrated booming themes, to even other epic "danger" pieces, you won't be disappointed with the music as it helps pushing you on mentally and emotionally. Anyone who has a good taste in music should search up the GRAW(1 and 2) OST.
Graphics: As I said before, the game is a bit of a back and forward step in the right direction from what was previously done in GRAW 1. Lack of vibrant or decent assortment of colors kind of takes away any sense of coloring detail, but the fact that the textures are more detailed with what they got keep the game in a more darker state, which probably plot-wise what Ubisoft was going for.
Fun-Factor: The game is fun if you don't get in a situation where you're undermanned and outgunned (some of this is due to long "hold your position missions" or the fact you let most of your squad get killed, and it's a pain to fight solo in a mission where you're meant to have back-up), but besides that the game is pretty awesome, and the controls feel tight and "right" most of the time...as long as you can shoot the enemies most of the time, you'll progress at a decent rate.
What could have been better: Less "On Chopper Rails Gunner" sessions and the somewhat too-prolonged ending for the story, and in some ways the story doesn't end on the most positive note.
IN MY OPINION?
Graphics: 8.8/10
Gameplay: 8.5/10
Music: 9.5/10
Story: 8.7/10
Overall: 9.2/10
"Epic When Fun"
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Binaries and Controversies: Why are Japanese Shooters discriminated?
I have some beef against the western society who tend to call themselves "shooter gamers" as they seem a bit prideful and ignorant about how the gaming industry works. I find it kind of misplaced and crude that while western rpgs are allowed to flourish in our industry, J-Shooters are seen with a discriminate eye.
It first started with games like Lost Planet where they brought Triple-A quality japanese storytelling to the shooter market, but then for some excuse or another our western culture had to find some way of belittling the recent slew of eastern takes on the genre. Even people like IGN criticize this new space as "it's not COD, so it's not a real shooter" or "it's too japanese-ified to be taken seriously", yet on our end we allow awkward games like Skyrim to open arms.
It's just funny that people who call them Pro-J or Pro-East gamers somehow condone the use of "japanese-ness" in RPGs such as final fantasy and such, were such of the anime influence can be downright mind-jarring, but when they find their shooting stuff instead of smacking it with a sword...it is scene as an abomination.
THE LITTLE THINGS:
Due to the fact that one I don't really get, is the fact that some people won't play some non-US shooters just because the fact that they are THIRD-PERSON. What is wrong with being able to see the character for once? You admit that "OH NO, THEY DESTROYED ANY SENSE OF REALISM!", but the fact that the game isn't real in the first place...give me a break people. I don't see what's more attractive to just staring at the "butt" of a rifle or other gun than it is seeing a fully-detailed character AND a gun.
Also the fact that one of the best and maybe only successful TPS to come out of Japan is Metal Gear, and nobody seems to be complaining about staring and Snake's body for forever.
That and the fact that people sometimes play shooters because they DON'T WANT a good story, just seems they just play games just to shoot people....yay shooting?
THE BARRIER:
Seeing how the Japanese are experts in telling stories (albeit convoluted and half-baked at times), at least their characters are developed enough to make dialogue, cinematics, and some of the dramatization seem engaging and interesting. Sure, games like MW2 have "holywood" quality storylines, but by the end of the game you're like..."Who were those people again?". You never become attached to the characters, and in some ways western titles do that intentionally since they want to kill off as many non-mains as possible for the next release.
Sure, people die in J-games, but they also let you get attached to them and you feel more motivated and confident than the characters are actually "real" to you. Games like Metal Gear, Ace Combat, and others are usually good at making you WANT to keep on going.
GRAPHICS and GARBAGE:
Due to the fact that one of the biggest selling points for shooters is quality and immersive graphics...sometimes some of the biggest franchises like COD are behind the times. I just find it strange that some people like IGN show magnificent screens for J-Shooters that are oozing with detail, with PC versions compliant to DX10 and DX11, but after they show the screens their like.."Meh, they could be better". It's one of those times that either think these people are blind, or they are self-rejecting the fact that J-shooters generally look better than normal shooters...Binary, Lost Planet, and the like are almost ahead of their time and it seems these people are just finding some self-justification to shoot down the rivals on the other side of the pond.
I know for a fact that people who are playing shooters for graphics, aren't gonna find it in games like COD, but if they want graphics they're better off with games like Binary, Lost Planet, and of course MGS.
PIECE OF THE PIE/GIVE UP JAPAN:
I'm going a bit back and forth with this one, and this is why some people are J-lovers hate J-shooters. They think the only reason why Japanese are making shooters is they want a piece of the COD-pie, and that's a pie they will never have. They think japan is in over their heads, even though its quite clear on how generic COD is...they already took the pie, just nobody realizes it. People are brainwashed into thinking games like COD are the only shooters, while games like Binary, Lost Planet, and others are clearly higher values in story and immersion. COD is just like "Shoot shoot..do this..shoot shoot do this", technically that's a shooter, but do you really think that's what they only have to offer?
Going along with this...are the people who are like "Give up japan, every time you release a J-shooter, you're just making something that could have been a good RPG...and if it was an RPG...since I like J-RPGS...I would have bought it BECAUSE I only want Japan to make RPGS and Anime". Yeah, you love your sister country so much, but when it comes to the gritty you won't buy a japanese game since its NOT an RPG, good job idiot.
PROMISES and UNDER-MARKETING:
With all this said and done, the people like IGN and gamers are not the only ones to blame. Yes, even the companies making the games are sometimes at fault.
Lost Planet, Binary Domain, and MGS have recently been having good videos and impressive articles......every other century or two. That's it though isn't it? Seeing how okay games like COD get a commercial almost every week to hype or grab people into the franchise...while it's like..."Hey..this lost planet game...its...COMING OUT....SOMETIME"...yeah...
While marketing cost money, nobody is gonna even know the game EXISTS if you don't push it. I know that PC players for LP2 were almost non-existent seeing how the PC version just disappeared for almost a year and about 2 months before release they re-announced it...but it was too late because of that.
Binary Domain suffers some problems of only being shown at conventions, at SEGA has only been sending info "after" people want it...their Multiplayer looks awesome, but the fact people wanted to know that info ahead of time...people might not be searching for that info anymore....boom...failure.
GENERIC INNOVATION:
You heard me, a lot of people hate J-shooters because while the games are awesome...people look at them through a "W-shooter" eye. They think "the japanese are making me shoot bad guys, lame" and kind of not even look at the fact that "This game has an awesome new AI system, and the characters have a consequence system"..."This game is awesomely innovative"......"Oh, I didn't notice that...its J-Mass Effect"....
Yeah, it's always the rippings and generic things to look at a game, its not like games are NEVER generic in some capacity..I might as well start throwing away the games in my apartment now...idiots.
If I had a dime for every game I played that was generic, I wouldn't need to use my parent's allowance to be buying them.
Closing Comments:
Call me opinionated, but it's comments like the ones above that make people seem ignorant and stuck-up about not giving hugely potential titles a chance, and it disgusts me. It's becoming to where people are more "haters" than "gamers", and just the simplest details make a J-shooter "lame". These misplaced assumptions and remarks are why we ourselves are the cause, and it's not because what seems to be the brightest and most creative country in world is wanting their grubby hands on our already half-baked industry.
Thanks for reading, stay tuned for more articles.
It first started with games like Lost Planet where they brought Triple-A quality japanese storytelling to the shooter market, but then for some excuse or another our western culture had to find some way of belittling the recent slew of eastern takes on the genre. Even people like IGN criticize this new space as "it's not COD, so it's not a real shooter" or "it's too japanese-ified to be taken seriously", yet on our end we allow awkward games like Skyrim to open arms.
It's just funny that people who call them Pro-J or Pro-East gamers somehow condone the use of "japanese-ness" in RPGs such as final fantasy and such, were such of the anime influence can be downright mind-jarring, but when they find their shooting stuff instead of smacking it with a sword...it is scene as an abomination.
THE LITTLE THINGS:
Due to the fact that one I don't really get, is the fact that some people won't play some non-US shooters just because the fact that they are THIRD-PERSON. What is wrong with being able to see the character for once? You admit that "OH NO, THEY DESTROYED ANY SENSE OF REALISM!", but the fact that the game isn't real in the first place...give me a break people. I don't see what's more attractive to just staring at the "butt" of a rifle or other gun than it is seeing a fully-detailed character AND a gun.
Also the fact that one of the best and maybe only successful TPS to come out of Japan is Metal Gear, and nobody seems to be complaining about staring and Snake's body for forever.
That and the fact that people sometimes play shooters because they DON'T WANT a good story, just seems they just play games just to shoot people....yay shooting?
THE BARRIER:
Seeing how the Japanese are experts in telling stories (albeit convoluted and half-baked at times), at least their characters are developed enough to make dialogue, cinematics, and some of the dramatization seem engaging and interesting. Sure, games like MW2 have "holywood" quality storylines, but by the end of the game you're like..."Who were those people again?". You never become attached to the characters, and in some ways western titles do that intentionally since they want to kill off as many non-mains as possible for the next release.
Sure, people die in J-games, but they also let you get attached to them and you feel more motivated and confident than the characters are actually "real" to you. Games like Metal Gear, Ace Combat, and others are usually good at making you WANT to keep on going.
GRAPHICS and GARBAGE:
Due to the fact that one of the biggest selling points for shooters is quality and immersive graphics...sometimes some of the biggest franchises like COD are behind the times. I just find it strange that some people like IGN show magnificent screens for J-Shooters that are oozing with detail, with PC versions compliant to DX10 and DX11, but after they show the screens their like.."Meh, they could be better". It's one of those times that either think these people are blind, or they are self-rejecting the fact that J-shooters generally look better than normal shooters...Binary, Lost Planet, and the like are almost ahead of their time and it seems these people are just finding some self-justification to shoot down the rivals on the other side of the pond.
I know for a fact that people who are playing shooters for graphics, aren't gonna find it in games like COD, but if they want graphics they're better off with games like Binary, Lost Planet, and of course MGS.
PIECE OF THE PIE/GIVE UP JAPAN:
I'm going a bit back and forth with this one, and this is why some people are J-lovers hate J-shooters. They think the only reason why Japanese are making shooters is they want a piece of the COD-pie, and that's a pie they will never have. They think japan is in over their heads, even though its quite clear on how generic COD is...they already took the pie, just nobody realizes it. People are brainwashed into thinking games like COD are the only shooters, while games like Binary, Lost Planet, and others are clearly higher values in story and immersion. COD is just like "Shoot shoot..do this..shoot shoot do this", technically that's a shooter, but do you really think that's what they only have to offer?
Going along with this...are the people who are like "Give up japan, every time you release a J-shooter, you're just making something that could have been a good RPG...and if it was an RPG...since I like J-RPGS...I would have bought it BECAUSE I only want Japan to make RPGS and Anime". Yeah, you love your sister country so much, but when it comes to the gritty you won't buy a japanese game since its NOT an RPG, good job idiot.
PROMISES and UNDER-MARKETING:
With all this said and done, the people like IGN and gamers are not the only ones to blame. Yes, even the companies making the games are sometimes at fault.
Lost Planet, Binary Domain, and MGS have recently been having good videos and impressive articles......every other century or two. That's it though isn't it? Seeing how okay games like COD get a commercial almost every week to hype or grab people into the franchise...while it's like..."Hey..this lost planet game...its...COMING OUT....SOMETIME"...yeah...
While marketing cost money, nobody is gonna even know the game EXISTS if you don't push it. I know that PC players for LP2 were almost non-existent seeing how the PC version just disappeared for almost a year and about 2 months before release they re-announced it...but it was too late because of that.
Binary Domain suffers some problems of only being shown at conventions, at SEGA has only been sending info "after" people want it...their Multiplayer looks awesome, but the fact people wanted to know that info ahead of time...people might not be searching for that info anymore....boom...failure.
GENERIC INNOVATION:
You heard me, a lot of people hate J-shooters because while the games are awesome...people look at them through a "W-shooter" eye. They think "the japanese are making me shoot bad guys, lame" and kind of not even look at the fact that "This game has an awesome new AI system, and the characters have a consequence system"..."This game is awesomely innovative"......"Oh, I didn't notice that...its J-Mass Effect"....
Yeah, it's always the rippings and generic things to look at a game, its not like games are NEVER generic in some capacity..I might as well start throwing away the games in my apartment now...idiots.
If I had a dime for every game I played that was generic, I wouldn't need to use my parent's allowance to be buying them.
Closing Comments:
Call me opinionated, but it's comments like the ones above that make people seem ignorant and stuck-up about not giving hugely potential titles a chance, and it disgusts me. It's becoming to where people are more "haters" than "gamers", and just the simplest details make a J-shooter "lame". These misplaced assumptions and remarks are why we ourselves are the cause, and it's not because what seems to be the brightest and most creative country in world is wanting their grubby hands on our already half-baked industry.
Thanks for reading, stay tuned for more articles.
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