Many stories struggle with showing over telling.While I can think of a few notable exceptions, I’ve noticed that it’s not very easy to make the supposed heroes of a story actually heroic when they’re terrorists. There’s nothing that grinds my gears more when characters are presented to me as self-righteous heroes before doing some pretty unheroic things. Final Fantasy VII struggles with this a bit.
Our playable party consists of people belonging to the terrorist organization AVALANCHE—which is apparently not an acronym, so I don’t know why it’s written like that—and their goal is to save the Planet from the evil corporation Shinra. As mentioned in a previous post, Shinra is an electric company, and it gathers power from something called Mako, which comes from the Lifestream. The Lifestream is essentially the Planet’s blood, so by sucking it out of the ground, Shinra is subjecting the Planet to a slow and painful death.
Once again, I feel the need to repeat that, yes, the world is actually called the Planet.
I know this slot is usually used for upcoming movies and new seasons of popular television shows, but this week I’ve decided to use it for my own devious plans. Well, okay, it’s more like to pimp out the game that I’m super excited for.
After getting completely shafted at last year’s E3—don’t think we’ve forgotten or forgiven, Nintendo—the Animal Crossing fandom was sitting on the edge of their seats, foaming at the mouth for any mention of the long-awaited title. Or at least a goddamned release date. Many months we waited patiently (which is a relative term, I realize) and as the days passed, more and more information finally came to the surface. With the release date finally nearing—June ninth: two more weeks, only two more weeks—I feel that I can take a little time on this blog to gush about this game that I feel like I’ve been waiting for my entire life.
I love Animal Crossing. Seriously, it’s about my favorite game series (right under Dragon Age and Mass Effect) and why not? It combines the decorating/hoarding of The Sims and combines it with cutesy graphics and an easy-to-use interface. Its mechanics are simple to understand, so much so that my eighty-six year old grandmother, who is convinced that all video games everywhere are too high-tech for her, adores this particular game and plays it whenever she gets the chance. For a group of animals that follow the same six-ish base personalities, it’s strangely easy to get attached to them. (Some, instead, may be easy to hate and thus drive you to force them out of your town.)
Even though so much information has already been released, this trailer in particular does a rather good job at giving a brief synopsis of what a newcomer to the series can expect. Fishing, bug catching, swimming (a feature new to this game!), shopping, clubbing: truly you can spend hours, days meandering through your town and still find something entertaining to do.
I have to admit that I really hate the voiceover, though. Could you find someone to sound any more bored? I don’t think so. But, that’s just me being picky.
If this sort of game seems interesting to you, check out some of the sites talking about it! If you already have a 3DS, I’d highly recommend picking it up, even if you wait until the price drops. Or, you can be like me and just give Nintendo all your money for the 3DS bundle pack. Needless to say, when that glorious day arrives I’ll be glad to finally get my hands on the next game in this series I love.
Sonic Dash is a free iPhone game that is very similar to Sonic Adventure 2 Battle (if you’re playing as Sonic or Shadow), but you have a touch screen instead of controller. All you do is run through the course collecting rings and killing bad guys without dying. You can play as Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, or Amy.
There is extremely little I like about this game, but I will put forward that I might have set my expectations too high. I love Sonic the Hedgehog, and Sonic Adventure 2 Battle is one of my favorite games of all time. So when I say I had high expectations for this free game, I really did expect a lot from it.
But this game is a horror scene. Whoever thought that making everything the same bright colors is a moron. You can’t see some of the obstacles, and making some of the objects you go over and some you go under look the exact same makes the game play confusing. Additionally, the game consistently puts obstacles in awkward spots so you don’t actually see some of them before you need to avoid them.
The game does not respond quickly to one’s touch, so if you want to avoid something at the last second it will not work. I also don’t like that tilting the phone doesn’t do anything (unlike Temple Run 2) and that you have to use your finger to do everything; it’s really annoying.
The most irksome thing for me is how much the ‘free’ game relies on money. Unlike Temple Run 2, in order to advance in Sonic Dash you do need to spend real money. I don’t mind if people spend money on a game if they want to, but if you are going to have a free game don’t make buying things once you’re in it necessary.
In case you couldn’t tell I’m not recommending this game to anyone. It’s a wonder I haven’t deleted it from my phone already.
So I’ve already given an overall review on the plot of this game, but for any of you who either didn’t read that or didn’t play the game, here’s what the plot boils down to in its simplest form: some asshole’s mother tells said asshole to summon a meteor to murder the Planet, so he does it without question. Of course, that doesn’t really do the plot justice, because as I said last time, Final Fantasy VII can become really complex, especially when we take into account the setting and character backstories.
Furthermore, VII did something completely unexpected and shocking: It killed off a main character.
This is not something that often happened in games at this point in time. The death of Aerith has to be one of the most memorable moments in video game-dom. Unfortunately, though FFVII did succeed in giving Aerith’s death meaning, her passing is still surrounded by plot holes.
I probably shouldn’tbe starting another series for this game, but I gave X a series, and VII is a much more well-known story. Not only that, it’s much more loved, and between the two, I think it’s the better game. It certainly has less ginormous gaping plot holes, and it didn’t dedicate one-third of its story to something that has entirely nothing to do with the plot. I do, however, still think there are some problems with the way the story is told.
When I first played, I always wondered things like: how does Cloud not lose this battle instantly? He brought a sword to a gun fight! Plot hole?
Other than X, I’ve already reviewed IX, XII, X-2, and XIII-2, but VII is my favorite Final Fantasy game. I’m going to warn all the hardcore fans right now that the downside of this being my favorite in the franchise means that I’m going to be a lot more critical of it. And like X, there’s a lot to talk about. But first, let’s begin with the plot.
The climate surrounding video games today is characterized socially by the “Tropes vs Women in Video Games” series, which is digging ever more uncomfortably deep into the unsatisfying state of women in games. This leaves us all increasingly more aware of the universality of the problem. Part one of “Tropes vs Women in Video Games” is devoted to the Damsel in Distress, which is a theme investigated in a unique way by the new game Hope: The other side of adventure, developed by Mr. Roboto Game Studio (english translation.) By giving the player control of the princess locked in the tower, you are effectively locked in the tower with her. Continue reading →
If you are all wondering why I haven’t really written anything about A Song of Ice and Fire recently, it’s because I (finally) got a smartphone. And then Temple Run 2.
Temple Run 2 is a game for your smartphone where you are running from a giant monster thing. You also have to avoid all of the obnoxious obstacles and make sure you turn the right way. Along the way, you earn points, and can collect gems (to bring you back to life) and coins (that you can spend on power-ups). You also have side objectives (ex.: collect 1,000 coins) that you can complete to go up a level. Leveling only allows you to unlock more power ups, so it’s not the most important thing.
The actual gameplay is really simple, so you don’t have to be super-into-gaming in order to give it a try. All you do is drag your finger the way you want to go. It also really doesn’t require much thinking, which is why it’s so easy to play. There aren’t any complicated subplots or puzzles to solve; you literally just go.
This is one of those games where I’m not really sure whether I like playing it or I’m addicted to playing it. I was actually starting to wean myself off of it, and then they introduced daily and weekly challenges, which only drew me back in. I personally love games with checklists. It makes my job easier as a player because I know what I’m supposed to do and it also gives me something to strive for.
The only downside of this game is it can get glitchy. Almost every time I’ve played it gets stop and go (like it’s buffering) at some point. And if you get a text/Facebook notification while you’re playing the problem only gets worse.
Temple Run 2 is free for iPhone, so if you’re looking for a new game to entertain you, you should check it out!
Robot Unicorn Attack is an Internet Flash game by Adult Swim (of all places) and it’s awesome. It’s your basic side-scrolling game; you play a robotic unicorn and you need to not die. Avoid the obstacles by jumping or swooshing through them (I’m not sure swooshing is the correct phrase but I like it better than whatever Adult Swim uses).
First thing’s first: the song that plays in the background is the shit. Lady Saika and I have rocked out/had dance parties with that song because it is amazing. It’s more of a so-bad-it’s-amazing as opposed to an amazing song. Just listen below if you don’t believe me.
I get a lot of enjoyment out of the premise of the game. I mean, who comes up with this stuff? It just makes me laugh while playing that I’m a robotic unicorn with a rainbow mane. It’s just so much fun.
And if you’re wondering whether or not you need to be some video game aficionado to play, the answer is no. It’s super simple so you really don’t have to worry about being overwhelmed. There are only a couple of buttons involved and once you get used to it (which is not very long) you’ll have no trouble playing.
It’s really a great game, especially when you consider it’s on a TV station website. And even more especially when you realize it has nothing to do with anything on said TV station. The game is so widely popular, that it has several spin off games, none of which I’ve played but assume are fun.
So if you’re looking for a fun way to kill time, look no further than Robot Unicorn Attack.
We all have those video games whose soundtrack we can never get out of our heads. Whether it be the captivating wind instruments from the lost woods in Ocarina of Time or the simple 8-bit earworm that never dies from Tetris I think that it can be agreed on that music has the capacity to not only set video games on different levels of greatness, but to make a game truly timeless. Today’s Web Crush explores the true impact of these memorable tunes on this generation’s composers.
I actually stumbled upon this site a very, very long time ago while looking for remixes of the ‘Serenade of Water’ from Ocarina of Time. Although my tastes in music have shifted from that time—I’m all about the Gerudo Valley these days—I’m still continuously impressed by the quantity and quality of tracks that find their way onto Overclocked Remix (shorthand: OC Remix). In fact, the rate that it has expanded in my nearing eight years of knowing of its existence is somewhere between startling and inspiring.
In terms of ‘startling’, I’m scolding myself for even thinking that. Looking at some of the more popular acts within the video game community, there’s a very strong group that utilize these games if not in name, but in samples and riffs within their own tracks. A good example of this is The Protomen, whose name is not only based on a character from the Mega Man series of games, and whose music takes cues from the plot of the games as well. Also, it seems now more than ever we have a large group of gamers that are endlessly yearning for satiation to their hunger for nostalgia. We have shirts in Hot Topic that feature 8-bit characters, at cons there are tournaments for older games like Pokémon Stadium and Goldeneye—although to consider the N64 era as nostalgic as say, the SNES, makes me feel really old—so to think that music wouldn’t also try to cash in on these trends is rather shortsighted of myself.
Luckily, at OC Remix you won’t have to “cash in” on anything as all the music is free for download. All of their music is neatly organized and easy to find. While you may not find a track for every game you’re looking for—I was a touch disappointed to find they didn’t have any Ganbare Goemon remixes—they’ll no doubt have at least one track that catches your eye. Or ear, rather.
It’s been a while since my Act 2 post, for which I apologize—I got too sucked into actually catching up to write about catching up, I guess. Anyway, if you’re here I’m guessing you’ve read all of Act 2, and you’re ready to start Act 3. That means spoilers for Act 2 are fair game after the jump. Shall we?
Many stories struggle with showing over telling. While I can think of a few notable exceptions, I’ve noticed that it’s not very easy to make the supposed heroes of a story actually heroic when they’re terrorists. There’s nothing that grinds my gears more when characters are presented to me as self-righteous heroes before doing some pretty unheroic things. Final Fantasy VII struggles with this a bit.
