So it's taken me a while to actually get fingers to keyboard for this, but here we go. I was intent on getting a post in when i had finished Zelda: Skyward Sword, oh yeah, i've completed it by the way, but i just never found a good amount of motivation to get my thoughts down for it. So here's a short version:
I loved it, it was zelda as i hoped it would be, but with an actual story stuck onto it. Zelda has always been one to have some kind of story, and it always has the same kind of idea, but it's never been fleshed out a lot. This had a lot of time and dedication put into it, you can tell. Link, albeit still the silent hero(and may he continue to stay that way) felt strangely deep in comparison to his previous counterparts(or should i say, later incarnations). There was emotion attached to him, something they somewhat worked into twilight princess, but never put full time into. The fact that it felt a little darker nearing the end as well was nice, and the final boss, albeit a little easy on the regular difficulty, had an epic feel to it. I hope Nintendo keep adding improvements to Zelda like they did with this one. Not taking away from the formula, but adding. Don't go over the top, don't bow to pressure and rebuild from scratch, Keep to what has made it so iconic, and build up from there.
For those wondering, my replacement title for Zelda has been chosen, i'm now set to start working on Xenoblade Chronicles as of Tuesday of this week coming. I made a start and got the prequel out of the way, but now it's time to go into full swing. If i'm not back in a week, i've been lost to the game.
Now, part of the reason i've been so deterred in my updates for here, is due to watching a ton of anime. It's been months since i actually dedicated any form of time to the medium, and after having that spark re-lit by Planetes and Escaflowne, it's in full swing again. I'm enjoying the new season a fair bit at the moment. Sakamichi no Apollon has pacing issues later into the series, but is still a fantastic series to watch. If Jazz by Yoko Kanno doesn't get your juices going, i don't know what will. Space Brothers(Uchuu Kyoudai) is my join favourite. It's fantastic in it's execution(first episode is a tad slow though), and Mutta is such a relateable and loveable character, it's hard not to enjoy it. Just don't compare it to Planetes, it isn't really related bar for the space premise. Hyouka is very enjoyable, but i think it'll appeal to people who love series which you need to focus on(hence why i like it, for example). And of course, you can't forget Lupin III. I've still got 2 episodes to catch up on, but it's so much fun, full of style and feels like a Lupin series through and through, despite not actually focusing on him. If you have to watch anything this season, watch Lupin and Space Brothers.
Oh, my other distraction. Only hit this week. I'm playing Diablo 3, i don't think there needs to be much added here.
Now finally, for E3. I had originally re-opened my blog to get the conferences typed up onto somewhere for people to read and catch all the details if they where unable to stream the events. I'm going to do this again this year, and hopefully add some screencaps of memorable moments, or particular announcements. Any particular announcements you think will hit? what do you want to come our way more to the point? I want a new Metroid more than anything, alongside a confirmation of TWEWY2 from SquEnix. I can hope though. All that is left is to ask but one thing, Is your body ready?
Sunday, 20 May 2012
Saturday, 21 April 2012
Persona 4 finished! And Dead or Alive 5 Alpha thoughts
It's been a long time coming, but i can now safely say that i have finished Persona 4. Yup, i have. Let that sink in for a moment. It's taken me since it's US launch to complete. Why? I honestly don't know, but it has. And i take pride in the fact i finished it as well. I loved the final two dungeons, the feel, the style, everything. The final boss i failed on once, and that was down to that god damned worlds end. If i was smart enough, i'd have caught on to how to avoid any real damage from it sooner, but there we go. IT'S DONE. Now, as for my next title aim. I'm going to a series older than Persona 4, i'm going to .hack. By .Hack, i mean the 4 part game series released in Europe. I'm onto the third title, which i believe is outbreak, so i've got that and game 4 to finish, which i'll zoom ahead with now i have the chance. I can't even remember where i left off with it, which is rare since i normally can vaguely recall what was what. I may even restart all 4, who knows.
In other news, something i've been looking forward to since i saw that amazing trailer for it, and that is Dead or Alive 5. Since i got the Collectors for Ninja Gaiden 3, i got the premium edition of the alpha demo, so i was lucky enough to have 4 characters to latch onto and try out. My first thoughts with it before i started was, what would this charge move do? Would everyone just spam it? Would the camera from the dynamically changing stages cause havoc in the combat? And of course, how much do the characters feel like they should?
Now, i'm a bit of a veteran player with Dead or Alive 4, i played a good 2-3k odd matches in my time, peaked at A+ online, oh so nearly had S rank, so i can safely say i was pretty decent at the game. So i thought i'd approach this with that in mind. I'm not saying i'm going to be giving pro advise here or there, hah, i can honestly say i'm not that spectacular, but i'll give what thoughts i can to you all. Also, this is played on 360, so i will compare to DOA4 controls.
The controls are basically exactly as you are used to if you played DOA4, however the button we used to use for taunting(RB) is now used for your new charge style attack. You'll recognise this as the flashy move you see some of the characters use. Y is punch, B is kick, X is guard/counter, A is grab, you get the idea, nothing new. They also feel pretty tight, nothing feels too uncomfortable to use, this is also considering i use the 360 control, not an arcade stick. I've never used one for the game, and doubt i ever will.
Stages are very well built, ok you only get one to work with, but there is so much to them. bashing into a wall can cause cans/buckets to fall on you disrupting you mid-attack, making you vulnerable. It can happen to both of you as well though. Then you can hit into more destructive elements of the stage and fall victim to everything falling atop of you. Falling of the side two puts you into the attacker/defender situation. If you are the victim of the attack and have to hold onto the ledge, you are given the options of guarding, or dodging. Attackers get attack or grab. Attack beats dodge, Grab beats Guard. Kind of makes sense.Works very well too, and can lengthen a match if the defender successfully guards it. it does no more damage than you would expect from falling in one of the original stages. The camera during all this, needs a little work. I think it works well most of the time, but there is some issues here and there where i think it could do with focusing more on the characters than the destruction around them. Sure, it'll affect both players, but its maybe a little bit unnecessary. I can see what they where going for, however.
Now onto characters. I'll do a more indepth piece on all four available in another post, so i'll just cover them in general for now. Each character feels like they are themselves. By that i mean, they feel familiar. If you used to main Ayane all the time, then you can easily pick this up, start a match with her, and play with very little issue. They do also feel fresh. Some of the attributes for attacks feel a little different. Combos are a little easier to chain up, and can be lengthened if you get a well placed hit into certain sections of the stage.The combat feels like it flows fantastically well, though sometimes the controls feel a tad unresponsive, sluggish you could say. It is Alpha though, so these small things will probably get fine-tuned easily enough.
Finally, that charge move. Fear not, it isn't a game changer. In fact, i think it adds a new element of strategy i'm excited to muck about with. You are able to dodge and guard the move, as well as being able to hit your opponent out of it mid-charge. I should note though, that the chances are, each character will have different attributs allocated to their own unique charge move. Ayane felt to me like she had a grab for hers, so blocking was out of the question, but dodging was still a choice. Everything for this move falls into it being situational. You will probably want to try and get a well timed juggle in to use it, or perhaps get your opponent down on the ground and keep enough distance away so that they can't kick you on getting up. It's got a lot of possibilities attached to it. My only fear though, is how useful it'll be in high ranking matches. I don't see it being used often early days, but later on, i could see it used more. It's way to early to tell, but i'm gonna experiment more with it as i go on.
I hope this has been a little informative, when it comes to Dead or Alive, i can get a bit carried away, hah. But if you have any queries or want me to check something out in regards to DOA5 and the alpha, let me know and i'll check it out for you, and hopefully come up with a good answer for you. All i will say is, look forward to playing it, it's very nice so far.
Until next time.
In other news, something i've been looking forward to since i saw that amazing trailer for it, and that is Dead or Alive 5. Since i got the Collectors for Ninja Gaiden 3, i got the premium edition of the alpha demo, so i was lucky enough to have 4 characters to latch onto and try out. My first thoughts with it before i started was, what would this charge move do? Would everyone just spam it? Would the camera from the dynamically changing stages cause havoc in the combat? And of course, how much do the characters feel like they should?
Now, i'm a bit of a veteran player with Dead or Alive 4, i played a good 2-3k odd matches in my time, peaked at A+ online, oh so nearly had S rank, so i can safely say i was pretty decent at the game. So i thought i'd approach this with that in mind. I'm not saying i'm going to be giving pro advise here or there, hah, i can honestly say i'm not that spectacular, but i'll give what thoughts i can to you all. Also, this is played on 360, so i will compare to DOA4 controls.
The controls are basically exactly as you are used to if you played DOA4, however the button we used to use for taunting(RB) is now used for your new charge style attack. You'll recognise this as the flashy move you see some of the characters use. Y is punch, B is kick, X is guard/counter, A is grab, you get the idea, nothing new. They also feel pretty tight, nothing feels too uncomfortable to use, this is also considering i use the 360 control, not an arcade stick. I've never used one for the game, and doubt i ever will.
Stages are very well built, ok you only get one to work with, but there is so much to them. bashing into a wall can cause cans/buckets to fall on you disrupting you mid-attack, making you vulnerable. It can happen to both of you as well though. Then you can hit into more destructive elements of the stage and fall victim to everything falling atop of you. Falling of the side two puts you into the attacker/defender situation. If you are the victim of the attack and have to hold onto the ledge, you are given the options of guarding, or dodging. Attackers get attack or grab. Attack beats dodge, Grab beats Guard. Kind of makes sense.Works very well too, and can lengthen a match if the defender successfully guards it. it does no more damage than you would expect from falling in one of the original stages. The camera during all this, needs a little work. I think it works well most of the time, but there is some issues here and there where i think it could do with focusing more on the characters than the destruction around them. Sure, it'll affect both players, but its maybe a little bit unnecessary. I can see what they where going for, however.
Now onto characters. I'll do a more indepth piece on all four available in another post, so i'll just cover them in general for now. Each character feels like they are themselves. By that i mean, they feel familiar. If you used to main Ayane all the time, then you can easily pick this up, start a match with her, and play with very little issue. They do also feel fresh. Some of the attributes for attacks feel a little different. Combos are a little easier to chain up, and can be lengthened if you get a well placed hit into certain sections of the stage.The combat feels like it flows fantastically well, though sometimes the controls feel a tad unresponsive, sluggish you could say. It is Alpha though, so these small things will probably get fine-tuned easily enough.
Finally, that charge move. Fear not, it isn't a game changer. In fact, i think it adds a new element of strategy i'm excited to muck about with. You are able to dodge and guard the move, as well as being able to hit your opponent out of it mid-charge. I should note though, that the chances are, each character will have different attributs allocated to their own unique charge move. Ayane felt to me like she had a grab for hers, so blocking was out of the question, but dodging was still a choice. Everything for this move falls into it being situational. You will probably want to try and get a well timed juggle in to use it, or perhaps get your opponent down on the ground and keep enough distance away so that they can't kick you on getting up. It's got a lot of possibilities attached to it. My only fear though, is how useful it'll be in high ranking matches. I don't see it being used often early days, but later on, i could see it used more. It's way to early to tell, but i'm gonna experiment more with it as i go on.
I hope this has been a little informative, when it comes to Dead or Alive, i can get a bit carried away, hah. But if you have any queries or want me to check something out in regards to DOA5 and the alpha, let me know and i'll check it out for you, and hopefully come up with a good answer for you. All i will say is, look forward to playing it, it's very nice so far.
Until next time.
Wednesday, 11 April 2012
Sega x Capcom x Namco Bandai 3DS game - first details
With the official site revealing more later today, famitsu have got the drop on the details for Capcom x Sega x Namco Bandais game for the 3DS: Project X Zone. They never gave us much in the way of details, however we now know that the game is a strategy RPG which has the characters in the game work in teams of two for the combat in the game, though how else the combat works, we are yet to see. The great people over at AndriaSang got the first list of characters shown off on famitsu released for all to see, which in their teams of two, looks like the following;
Capcom Ryu & Ken (Street Fighter 0), X and Zero (Mega Man), Demitri and Dante (Darkstalkers and Devil May Cry), Chris and Jill (Resident Evil) Sega Shinguji Sakura and Ogami Ichiro (Sakura Wars), Pai and Akira (Virtua Fighter), Kurt and Riela (Valkyria Chronicles), Ulala and Touma (Space Channel 5 and Shining Force EXA) Namco Bandai Sanger Somvold (Super Robot Wars), Jin and Ling Xiaoyu (Tekken), Kos-Mos and T-elos (Xenosaga), Yurie and Estel (Tales of Vesperia), Kaito and Black Rose (.hack)
They also got an interview with the teams working on the game over on their site too which maybe worth giving a quick read if you're interested in the title at all, as it details a couple of other small tid-bits in relation to the moves characters will have for example. This, you can of course read over on AndriaSang
Tuesday, 10 April 2012
Capcoms Captivate 2012 - leaks + speculation
Captivate, Capcoms own style of press conferences/showing off of new titles and so on has been taking place recently, and has been set to finish as of today. Needless to say, this is when all the details start flying, but it came as a surprise that Sony leaked a good few pieces onto the web sooner than originally planned. So instead of waiting until we get all the details, i'll throw in what i know of the 3-4 that have been detailed so far. Let's get started
Resident Evil 6
The not-so-surprising surprise announcement back in January of the continuation for Resident Evil hit the ground running with a new trailer, which if you are fast enough, you can still watch over on ShopTo with a ton of story details. As a quick summary, Sherry Birkin and "Wesker Junior" are the third duo of Main characters in the story, as we all called ages ago, Chris looks weird, Ada seems to be one of the people running this new set of events going on, or so it seems. The Virus is now known as the C-Virus, and there is a lot to do with spawning things, clones and i dunno what. A lot takes place in china, leon and his partner fake their deaths at some point, and yeah. And before we forget, it actually changed the release date. We can now expect to see Resident Evil 6 on the 2nd of October this year. Quite a surprise, obviously they are further along in production than they had expected, and hopefully, this'll make up for the absolutely abysmal Operation Raccoon City released last month. I'm going to do a post later on resident evil speculation, since there is a lot you can cover with it, but i'll leave the details there for now.
Lost Planet 3
The biggest surprise, and i don't mean this in a good way, was Lost Planet 3. There is nothing much to see with the trailer, bar the fact that you may actually get a named protagonist this time round, whether it's any relation to the first game at all, who knows, but god, why are they making this? Consider it this way, Lost Planet 2 had absolutely terrible sales, it wasn't well received by anyone either, so why would capcom go and decide that this was a good investment? Surely this will only end with them making a loss? Or is there going to be a big game changer thrown in somewhere? I dunno, i'll wait for the full official embargo of details later on today.
If you want to see the trailer, you can find it here.
DmC - Devil May Cry
DmCs trailer showed very little in terms of combat, though it did at least show some, unlike the other two trailers released today. It more or less showed off the point of the TV show looking for Dante, and some demons. It has style, i won't deny it, but i still can't get used to the look of Dante. I just hope the gameplay makes up for it, and they can make the story at least link into him becoming the proper Dante.
Again, the trailer is found over here
Other than these three, not much else has been fired out. The patch for Street Fighter x Tekken is due out today, and that's about it. As soon as we get hit by the full details, i'll add them into another blog post later.
Tuesday, 3 April 2012
Gaming Updates + Watching anime again feels good.
So after a fairly slow start to my quest to completion, I'm set to finish Persona 4 tonight. For those wondering, i reached the final boss in the true ending route(i won't say anymore, i realise the anime is still to cover the true ending in an DVD/BD only episode releasing in August, so i'll stay silent), and gave it a bash. Needless to say, i now officially hate World's End followed by that Ghastly move, i forget it's name. It's a fantastically styled dungeon though, and the music very much suits the tone of the game now it's at its end. I've loved getting back into this, i really have. I literally blitzed the Magatsu dungeon in a few hours, completed all of december, and moved into the final day as well in about 7 hours total. I nearly forgot how long i'd been on it until i was bested by that evil final boss and soon realised it was hitting 2am. So i left the next attempt until i got home. Finding the time to finally kick back and get stuck into it again has been hard mind you, work throws more hours at me when i want to get stuff done, it's just my luck.
In other gaming stuff i've been doing. Since i don't get the time to focus on it just yet, i've played a fair bit of Torchlight since i got my new laptop. I started it a good while back, but never got really stuck into it since it can be a time sink and the gameplay is fairly repetitive, it is a diablo clone after all, but a very very good one at that. So when i can sneak in an hour or even less than that, i fire it up and complete a floor or two. Good fun overall, but i have one wee problem with it, the randomised loot. Normally, that'd never be a problem, but they have a fair few armor sets, equipment sets and so on throughout the game, and the chances of you actually getting a full set is slim because even that is fully randomised. I have to my name, 3 Midas Chains, 2 Gorgon gloves and 1 gorgon leggings as well as a ton of unique items. I wouldn't mind a full set of armor for my archer(currently dual wielding pistols), but at least the rest of the gear i have keeps me going.
Also, i finally started watching anime again! Quite Shocking in a way considering i hardly ever just sit down and watch something. But the new season has me interested again. I made a start on Uchuu Kyoudai, or Space Brothers as it is on Crunchyroll since it had caught my interest, and i'm fairly impressed. The show at first glance has this look as though it has fallen from the same tree as Planetes, another show i've been watching this week, but it's similarities are fewer and far between than you may expect. Of course, i'm only judging this off of one episode, it could easily start to have more as the series goes on, but at present, they both have some similar vibes, but are each their own shows. Space Brothers has a lot of humour too it, more than i expected. It's fairly light hearted too in many respects, which does compliment the humour aspect.
It's story focuses on two brothers who see what they think could be a UFO when they are kids, and this gives them their dream of going to outer space, the moon, and mars. The younger brother, Hibito gets his dream, but his older brother ends up unemployed and looking for a way to catch up and strive ahead. There is a few football(soccer)/sport references in this episode as well, Japans outting of the world cup, a win in baseball, and Zidane randomly headbutting another player. They are used fairly well too, and it makes me wonder if it'll be a kind of theme they may keep in check as the series goes on, since it certainly works. Again, i do look forward to this continuing, and hopefully, will get me writing a bit more on anime in this blog too.
The only other series i've watched recently is Gundam Age, which has been more of a catch-up than anything else. A lot of people where wondering if this series could live up to being a Gundam series, especially considering it being a little less dark compared to every other series, and it being animated by Level 5, who've always had that kid-like style to their art. It's been up and down, but i would definitely say it's a Gundam series, through and through. It takes a lot, and i do mean a LOT of stuff from both Mobile Suit Gundam(original series) and Gundam SEED, with so many references and influences in both arcs that it can be really hard not to notice them. It does beg the question, will we see that continue in to the third and final arc as well? I'd imagine we would, but what series would they reference? 00, Zeta, ZZ, Turn A, G, there is so many it can take from, it's just a case of what.
So that about wraps up my distractions for the week, if you have any recommendations on what anime for me to take a peak into this season other than Lupin III, Hyouka and Zetman, please let me know on here or on twitter, and i'll take a gander!
Tuesday, 27 March 2012
Quick blog - GAME administration + Ninja Gaiden 3 thoughts
So this is only a quick blog update for you all.
So you all probably know that the GAME Group have announced that they have gone into Administration. As much as i hate to see the loss of 2104 jobs in the UK because of it so far, i can't help but feel they put themselves into that situation themselves. They should have looked to be a bit fairer in their dealings with companies a bit more, at least from what i hear. But asides from that, the main thing that people want to know is, how badly has the administration been so far. They've closed down 277 stores at present, not just GAME, but gamestation as well. For a full list of what has been closed, i recommend you check out MCVs full list so far, which you can find over here. They've been constantly updating that article as new stores have closed and new updates have appeared, so keep an eye on their site for more details as they arise. It's worth noting, there is a pattern to what they are closing. Looking at the shops closed around us, we have the GAME in Stirling in the thistle centre closed down, and Edinburghs Princes Street store close. The Ocean Terminal one in Edinburgh(Leith) has been hit too, but that isn't as close by for me as the other two(i pass through stirling when i go from home to my flat). Why is this interesting? Well, these just so happen to be the biggest stores in each city. What has been left is the small Gamestation in stirling(which i prefer, far better selection) and the St James Centre GAME(far smaller, and worse selection). They are removing the bigger stores in favour of leaving the smaller ones, my guess is because the Rent will be far less, or the rent will be up for the other stores. So if you want to predict what will close, try going with the bigger ones. Means more jobs as well, which i again hate. We need jobs in this time, not less of them.
Onto my other topic of the day, one a little closer to my heart. Ninja Gaiden 3. Now, i loved Ninja Gaiden Black and the 360 Ninja Gaiden 2. Loved them. So when i heard Ninja Gaiden 3 was due to hit PS360 this year, i was hyped more than i expected. I was looking forward to this rich action-adventure/Hack-n-Slash game much like the two previews. Hard as nails, tonnes to do, lots of wee things to find and a good variety of weapons to work with. But....i never got that.
When i started the game, i got thrown into deciding which difficulty i wanted, Hero(easy) normal, or hard. I went for normal. I got thrown straight into a QTE. First thing you do. Hit X. Then, i get put into this scene where i can't walk left, or right, only forward. I have to jump off the ledge and, hit LB + right to avoid an attack, then hit y to do another attack. This wasn't a good start, Team Ninja, by any means. I thought, ok, this is the start, i'll let them off. Next thing i know, the game starts, and i'm pushed into another one, for jumping off a ledge this time into an enemy. Then combat starts. FANTASTIC. Let's see limbs....fly? Wait a second, why no dismemberment? Why no decapitations? What are these canned animations after every enemy kill? QTE prompts when killing too? What? I immediately questioned what was going on. This was not the Ninja Gaiden i remember, this was far from it. Combat had suddenly turned into this push for seeing canned animations for kills, or getting a QTE prompt. Enemies weren't even that smart either, they where easy to kill off, and i found myself finishing the first level without losing a life, nor losing even half of my health at any point. I was disappointed.
Ok ok, so that's the combat. What about the rest of it you ask? Okay. Everything is in an extremely straight line, so much so that you may as well remove the scenery, put in a straight corridor, and you'll do the same thing as you do in this game. There is NO Collectables. None, i'm not even joking. There is no items, no orbs or anything from felled enemies. You restore health by either using your Ki for a Fire Ninpo(which is a canned animation hitting everything nearby, i might add) or it will restore whatever ki you have left after you finish combat. You can't upgrade weapons, or sorry. Weapon. You don't even upgrade Ki levels or health, it's all fixed. What the hell? Why the hell would you take out everything that makes a game playable? YOU EVEN FORCE ME TO WALK AND DO ONE THING WHEN I WANT THE ABILITY TO DO WHAT I WANT. Scripted campaigns/story modes are things i expect from badly made/last minute campaigns for First person games ala Call of Duty, but this? this is beyond horrible. I should not be forced to do things like that, ever. Especially in a hack n slash game like this. You've made it Bare Bones, uneventful and..i think lackluster maybe being nice.
To this point, i should note i've restarted on Hard, and finished 2 chapters, and moved into the third. I've been at the game for less than 2 hours, i'm 2/7ths of the way through the game, and the only reason i had a problem was because, instead of giving us smart AI enemies, they give us tonnes of dumb AI enemies, and all at once instead of in waves. They try to make the game hard, but in the wrong way.
I'm sorry if i'm being considerably harsh with this game, but Gaiden black and 2(360) are two of my favourite games. Coming into Ninja gaiden 3, i had huge huge HUGE hopes, and so far i've been nothing but disappointed. I so wanted for this game to be a mish-mash between Bayonetta and Gaiden 2, but instead i've been introduced to this backwards title which does little more than annoy me as a fan of a series which has always been hard as nails, adrenaline pumping and gory bloody fun. It's none of those things now. It's just frustrating. I don't want to say this, because i adore Team Ninja and TecmoKoei, i really do, but do not buy this game in it's present state. Maybe a new version will appear if people see sense and it'll have everything added in, since it feels like it's incomplete and forcing to change itself, when it really doesn't need it. I'll maybe change my feelings on it when i finish the game, but we will have to wait and see. I'm just very very saddened by what i've seen so far.
So you all probably know that the GAME Group have announced that they have gone into Administration. As much as i hate to see the loss of 2104 jobs in the UK because of it so far, i can't help but feel they put themselves into that situation themselves. They should have looked to be a bit fairer in their dealings with companies a bit more, at least from what i hear. But asides from that, the main thing that people want to know is, how badly has the administration been so far. They've closed down 277 stores at present, not just GAME, but gamestation as well. For a full list of what has been closed, i recommend you check out MCVs full list so far, which you can find over here. They've been constantly updating that article as new stores have closed and new updates have appeared, so keep an eye on their site for more details as they arise. It's worth noting, there is a pattern to what they are closing. Looking at the shops closed around us, we have the GAME in Stirling in the thistle centre closed down, and Edinburghs Princes Street store close. The Ocean Terminal one in Edinburgh(Leith) has been hit too, but that isn't as close by for me as the other two(i pass through stirling when i go from home to my flat). Why is this interesting? Well, these just so happen to be the biggest stores in each city. What has been left is the small Gamestation in stirling(which i prefer, far better selection) and the St James Centre GAME(far smaller, and worse selection). They are removing the bigger stores in favour of leaving the smaller ones, my guess is because the Rent will be far less, or the rent will be up for the other stores. So if you want to predict what will close, try going with the bigger ones. Means more jobs as well, which i again hate. We need jobs in this time, not less of them.
Onto my other topic of the day, one a little closer to my heart. Ninja Gaiden 3. Now, i loved Ninja Gaiden Black and the 360 Ninja Gaiden 2. Loved them. So when i heard Ninja Gaiden 3 was due to hit PS360 this year, i was hyped more than i expected. I was looking forward to this rich action-adventure/Hack-n-Slash game much like the two previews. Hard as nails, tonnes to do, lots of wee things to find and a good variety of weapons to work with. But....i never got that.
When i started the game, i got thrown into deciding which difficulty i wanted, Hero(easy) normal, or hard. I went for normal. I got thrown straight into a QTE. First thing you do. Hit X. Then, i get put into this scene where i can't walk left, or right, only forward. I have to jump off the ledge and, hit LB + right to avoid an attack, then hit y to do another attack. This wasn't a good start, Team Ninja, by any means. I thought, ok, this is the start, i'll let them off. Next thing i know, the game starts, and i'm pushed into another one, for jumping off a ledge this time into an enemy. Then combat starts. FANTASTIC. Let's see limbs....fly? Wait a second, why no dismemberment? Why no decapitations? What are these canned animations after every enemy kill? QTE prompts when killing too? What? I immediately questioned what was going on. This was not the Ninja Gaiden i remember, this was far from it. Combat had suddenly turned into this push for seeing canned animations for kills, or getting a QTE prompt. Enemies weren't even that smart either, they where easy to kill off, and i found myself finishing the first level without losing a life, nor losing even half of my health at any point. I was disappointed.
Ok ok, so that's the combat. What about the rest of it you ask? Okay. Everything is in an extremely straight line, so much so that you may as well remove the scenery, put in a straight corridor, and you'll do the same thing as you do in this game. There is NO Collectables. None, i'm not even joking. There is no items, no orbs or anything from felled enemies. You restore health by either using your Ki for a Fire Ninpo(which is a canned animation hitting everything nearby, i might add) or it will restore whatever ki you have left after you finish combat. You can't upgrade weapons, or sorry. Weapon. You don't even upgrade Ki levels or health, it's all fixed. What the hell? Why the hell would you take out everything that makes a game playable? YOU EVEN FORCE ME TO WALK AND DO ONE THING WHEN I WANT THE ABILITY TO DO WHAT I WANT. Scripted campaigns/story modes are things i expect from badly made/last minute campaigns for First person games ala Call of Duty, but this? this is beyond horrible. I should not be forced to do things like that, ever. Especially in a hack n slash game like this. You've made it Bare Bones, uneventful and..i think lackluster maybe being nice.
To this point, i should note i've restarted on Hard, and finished 2 chapters, and moved into the third. I've been at the game for less than 2 hours, i'm 2/7ths of the way through the game, and the only reason i had a problem was because, instead of giving us smart AI enemies, they give us tonnes of dumb AI enemies, and all at once instead of in waves. They try to make the game hard, but in the wrong way.
I'm sorry if i'm being considerably harsh with this game, but Gaiden black and 2(360) are two of my favourite games. Coming into Ninja gaiden 3, i had huge huge HUGE hopes, and so far i've been nothing but disappointed. I so wanted for this game to be a mish-mash between Bayonetta and Gaiden 2, but instead i've been introduced to this backwards title which does little more than annoy me as a fan of a series which has always been hard as nails, adrenaline pumping and gory bloody fun. It's none of those things now. It's just frustrating. I don't want to say this, because i adore Team Ninja and TecmoKoei, i really do, but do not buy this game in it's present state. Maybe a new version will appear if people see sense and it'll have everything added in, since it feels like it's incomplete and forcing to change itself, when it really doesn't need it. I'll maybe change my feelings on it when i finish the game, but we will have to wait and see. I'm just very very saddened by what i've seen so far.
Saturday, 17 March 2012
Progress update: Skyward Sword + Mighty Switch force complete
I haven't really got much gaming done in recent weeks, playing a bit here, and a bit more there, so what i have got done, is get more of my Skyward Sword playthrough done, and i picked up, and completed Mighty Switch Force in the past week.
So, Skyward Sword. Where i left off before i started this "challenge", was 4 dungeons down and i was just preparing to enter dungeon 5(Ancient Ship i think it was called). loved the design for that dungeon, as well as the one before it, the Ancient Cistern, which had such a great feel to it. Heck did people know the design of the Ancient Cistern is possibly inspired by a short story known as The Spiders Thread? Check some of the details out, like the bit in which you climb a thread out of the dark depths of the area, it's quite fantastic.
At present, i've been working on getting a few of the side quest stuff done as well as searching for those heart container pieces, but i'm now just about ready to finish the game off. I have all the weapons, sword is complete, etc, etc. So i can't be too far away. Mind you, i said this after finishing the last couple of dungeons, and i'm still saying it now. Obviously it's longer than it looks.
Now, Mighty Switch Force, this was very much an impulse buy after i picked up the Soundtrack to the game through the fantastic Game Music Bundle - much like the Humble Indie Bundle, proceeds go to the composers of all the soundtracks available, as well as charities like childs play. This came with the second bundle alongside ones like Sword and Sworcery, Aquaria and many others. So giving the game a try, i had no idea what i was walking into, and neither did i realise it was actually a 3DS eshop game, for some reason i was led to believe it was DSiware. The games controls are extremely simplistic, B jumps, X shoots and you can use either A or the shoulder buttons to "switch". by switch, you'll find blocks which either appear phased in or out, to switch them from either form, you hit this and they'll be possible to jump on. My first gripe actually, and possibly my only one, is that there is no explanation on the controls or how they work. It throws you straight into the game head first and you need to work it out yourself. A small brief description of controls would have been nice.
In terms of the game itself, the storyline is basically; a group of criminals have just escaped imprisonment and have released some monsters in your way. You have to catch all 5 in each level to move onto the next level. That's it. What gives this an edge, is that you have a par time to hit with each level, and they are fast. Some levels have you finishing within a minute to beat it, so those with a love for time trials, this is your game.
Only 16 levels fill this game, so it will probably only take you an hour or two to complete the game, but chances are you'll be going back to get that star beside each level saying you beat the Par time. I did, and i am proud to say i've finished it 100%, and still go back from time to time to attempt to beat my times where ever possible. It's a worthy purchase for quick blasts of entertainment when you are stuck between work and more work, or travelling, and is only £5.40 on the Nintendo eshop as well, so not too hefty a purchase. I'd say, get it, enjoy it, and tell me what your best times are so i can beat them and laugh at you. Er...yeah.
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