Game Time - April 2013

April was not nearly as insane as March, but I still played quite a few games. Unsurprisingly I played a bunch more Monster Hunter, but this is no longer the place to talk about that. Hey, I killed a whole bunch of monsters and loved every minute of it!

Last month I played some Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, but ended up completing it this month. It wasn't as good as I wanted it to be, but I still had a good time with it. Maybe next month I'll actually be able to dive into Luigi's Mansion.

As for new April releases I played both Guacamelee and Injustice: Gods Among Us. They were both games. I played them. Let's find out what I thought. It's Game Time!

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon : Gates to Infinity

Nintendo is known for their family friendly games. Most of the time they're very upbeat and filled with sunshine and rainbows. At first glance Pokemon Mystery Dungeon seems just like that, but then when you move on in the story a bit it's true nature shines through. Turns out it's incredibly dark and depressing. Don't believe me? "Trying just makes everything hurt worse," is a literal quote about saving the Pokemon world. There's a Pokemon who refuses to make friends, because she thinks no one can be trusted. Those are the only examples that come to mind right now, but there's a whole lot of stuff like that throughout the game. It surprised me multiple times with just how dark it gets.

I'd say it's not for kids, but that's not necessarily true. While there may be some dark themes the issues are almost always overcome in a positive way. At the beginning the game has you choose from a few Pokemon to determine who you want to play as. You are a human who was turned into a Pokemon so that they could save the human world. Along with a sidekick, which you also must pick, you try to create a Pokemon Paradise while simultaneously trying to save the world. Your partner is super upbeat and wants to believe that there is still kindness in the world. No matter what the situation they will be positive, which can be kind of annoying. However, if that role was not filled this may have been the most depressing game ever. There are a variety of characters that you'll meet over the course of the game and they're all incredibly well developed.

The Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games are well known for their characters.

A few years ago I played the DS entry in this series and liked it quite a bit. The story and characters were incredible, so I was hoping for the same thing from this game. What I got was something much different, but it was still pretty good. The story isn't the only thing that's not quite as good though, which is a shame. The overall gameplay has been taken down a notch in a way that makes it far less fun. Mystery Dungeon games are essentially rogue-likes. You control a group and take them through totally randomized dungeons. The goal is to get through the dungeon or complete specific objectives. You go through narrow corridors fighting enemies and looking for stairs to get to the next floor. In previous games there was a hunger element as well. In this entry hunger was removed, and the enemies were made to be much easier (As far as I could tell). There also seems to be much less to do post-game.

I did enjoy my time with Gates to Infinity, but I couldn't help but compare it to the previous DS entry in the series. This entry is easier and has far less Pokemon in it. The previous game had every single Pokemon available that existed at that time. Gates to Infinity has all of the fifth generation, which is arguably the worst selection with a few others added in for good measure. From what I saw fans of the series were not overly pleased with this, despite the fact that it was still enjoyable. It's worth playing for the story alone, but if you have the opportunity you should go back and play the previous games.

Guacamelee

The term Metroidvania has been thrown around a lot in the past few years, but I think it's safe to say that most people who play video games know what they are now. In case you don't know they're games that are remarkably similar to the early Castlevania and Metroid games. They're sidescrolling adventure games that have you freely exploring a grid based map. Guacamelee is the most recent of these types of games released on the Playstation Network.

Guacamelee takes place in a world inspired by Spanish culture. For starters you play as Juan Aguacate, a farmer who has been brought back to life by a mystical luchador mask. At the very beginning of the game Juan is killed by the evil skeleton man Carolos Calca who is trying to become all powerful. In order for him to do so he must sacrifice the president's daughter in a sacred ritual. Juan must travel the land to master his luchador powers in an attempt to stop Calca's insidious plot. Since Juan is a Luchador he beats his enemies down with savage melee attacks. Surprisingly the melee combo system is very deep, but it doesn't really reward you for doing well, so mashing the attack button can get you through everything just fine.

It's easy to get away with mashing in Guacamelee

Traversing the world isn't exactly how I expected it to be. Like most Metroidvannia games there are colored barriers that you must break through. By breaking statues, which are very similar to the Chozo statues in Metroid Juan will gain new powers. Each power corresponds to a different color barrier. For example if you uppercut you can break red blocks. One way I feel that Guacamelee is different from other games of this type is that it has a very strong emphasis on platforming. The main mechanic in the game allows Juan to switch between the land of the living and the dead with a single button press. Certain platforms are only solid in one world, which can make getting places very tricky. You'll often find yourself jumping to a non-corporeal platform and then switching the world mid-jump so that you can land. At first it's not very tough, but to find all of the secret treasures it takes a ridiculous amount of precision and skill.

The controls are very responsive, which makes the difficult platforming sections seem fair instead of frustrating. The motion is all very fluid in a way that reminds me of Super Meat Boy. The games both get challenging, but I knew that any mistakes were entirely my fault.

The visuals in Guacamelee are very striking.

In terms of visuals the game looks amazing, especially in motion. The colors are extremely vibrant, which fit with the Spanish theme that the game has going on. The way everything is drawn and colored makes me think about the candy skulls or calaveras, which are most often seen around the day of the dead. Furthering the atmosphere is the constant mariachi music playing in the background. It all comes together to make a very specific feel.

It took me about seven hours to finish Guacamelee, and that's with 98% completion. All of the secrets are fairly obvious, or hidden in plain sight. There isn't a whole lot of replay value unless you're shooting for every trophy, which requires the game to be beaten again on hard. It's an interesting experience to go through once, because Drink Box had a specific vision that they brought to life quite well.


Injustice: Gods Among Us

Have you ever wanted to see Batman use two tasers on Superman and then hit him with the Batmobile? Well then, Injustice is the game for you! All of your favorite heroes and villains, possibly your least favorites as well are available to duke it out in this NetherRealm Studios produced DC fighting game. When I first saw gameplay for it I was a bit disappointed by how much it looked like Mortal Kombat. After seeing it a whole lot more and playing it, I can now say that it is actually a whole lot different.

The most noticeable difference in gameplay videos is that it runs at 60 frames per second as opposed to the 30 that most modern games run at. This change makes everything look insanely fast. Youtube videos don't output at 60 fps, so if you want to see true Injustice play I recommend looking elsewhere. Upon playing fans of Mortal Kombat will notice almost immediately that you need to push back to block instead of holding a button. This change sounds minuscule, but it's actually a huge deal. Now cross-ups can actually be a thing, so it changes up the way you need to guard against jumping attacks and things of that sort. Mortal Kombat has always been a 4 button fighting game, while Injustice is technically 3. There are three attack buttons, light medium, and heavy. The 4th button isn't necessarily an attack for each character, it activates their trait. Solomon Grundy's does a chain grab, Superman's gives him an attack buff, and Aqua Man's makes him get wet so he can pop out of combos. It's fairly different for each character and adds a lot of variety to the cast outside of their basic move sets.

Watch as all your favorite DC characters pummel each other!

One of the cool things new to Injustice is that all of the stages can be interacted with. When your character nears an object they can interact with the R1 button appears near their health bar. Different characters interact with things in different ways. For example in the Atlantis stage there are valves on each end. If you interact with someone like Batman, then they will turn the valve and shoot out water at the opponent. If you use someone with super strength like Superman then they will smash open the glass to flood the opponent with water. Aside from these interactions most stages have multiple areas. Performing a strong attack at the correct end of a stage will send the opponent flying to a new area for a ton of damage. These things look cool and help out a lot in battle, but there are a lot of people in the fighting game community who are against them. Some of the stage interactions are unblockable and they do a ton of damage. You can turn all the interactions off from the options menu, which I can see a lot of tournaments doing. It's a shame though, because it's a really cool feature.

Oh yeah, the fighting feels good too, which is pretty important. Everything feels very fluid, which makes it easier for me to find combos on my own. Normally that's something I have a very hard time with in fighting games. That's not to say that I'm very good at the game, but I've only lost a handful of times online. I believe that's because I use Raven and she has a bunch of moves that magically pick up the opponent from half a screen away. People tend not to block when they're not near you, or they're trying to do ranged shots that leave them open. There is a large focus on ranged attacks, because almost everyone has them. However, if you want to rush your opponent down and pummel them into a bloody pulp that's always still an option as well. It's just that in this game it happens a whole lot faster and you're a DC character.

I like using Nightwing, but he has trouble dealing with ranged attacks.

Since the game revolves around comic books it would be woefully incomplete without a totally bonkers story mode. Much like Mortal Kombat 9, Injustice has a fully animated story mode. The cutscenes transition instantly into battles and then back out again, which still continues to be awesome. Hopefully other companies will start to take a cue from NetherRealm and make their fighting game story modes worth playing. Even if you're not huge into fighting games you will still be able to find enjoyment in the story of Injustice. Unless you really don't like DC comic book characters, in which case maybe you shouldn't play Injustice at all. However, I do recommend Injustice. It's fun to play and it's different enough from Mortal Kombat to stand on its own. NetherRealm has shown once again that they know what they're doing and I'm glad they were picked up by Warner Bros.

Release Dates Are Stupid

According to every possible outlet I've ever seen Deadly Premonition: The Director's Cut was supposed to be in stores today, but it isn't. Hopefully it will be there tomorrow so that I can lose myself in it's complete and utter madness.

There are no new releases I'm looking forward to in May, so I'm going to get a chance to save some money for once. I am however going to go to the fighting game tournament ECT (East Coast Throwdown). My brother and my friend are entering a few games. I'm super excited to go and watch. This will be the second major tournament I've attended

Perhaps I'll crack into my backlog, or maybe I'll just get stuck playing only Deadly Premonition. Find out on the next amazing installment of Game Time.

     -Manny

Game Time - March 2013

Get ready for a long one folks, because I played a ton of video games this past month. In fact, I played more games than I can talk about here. I chose three games to talk about here, because I needed to get my feelings about them down before my thoughts dissipated into the ether.

Those three games are Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 3, HarmoKnight, and Bioshock Infinite. Trust me when I say I have a whole lot to say about these games, so prepare yourself for what's to come. If you only care about a certain one just do a fancy search and skip right to where you want.

We'd best get started, because there's a whole lot going on. It's game time!

Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 3

I am a huge fan of the Ultimate Ninja Storm series. While I did not play through the story of the first game myself I saw a lot of it played and participated in my fair share of multiplayer matches. I bought the second game and loved almost everything about it. CyberConnect2 created a beautiful looking game with tons of characters and awesome boss fights. I'd be willing to guess that a lot of the boss fights from this series were what inspired the creation of Asura's Wrath, but I don't know that for sure. I played the second game for the ludicrous amount of time it took to complete everything and nab every single trophy. I'm not even a Naruto super fan. The only way I know the story and characters is through these few games and the PS2 games.

Then they released Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations. They had a slightly larger character roster, but a significantly cut down story mode. I played some multiplayer with my friends, but didn't end up purchasing it. This franchise is known for it's insane spectacle, which Generations was lacking. I was willing to cut CyberConnect2 a break, because it could have been considered an in between game. Obviously Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 would pick up where 2 left off and be just as awesome. Right?

Wrong. I was wrong to think that. Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 is one of the few times that I've been legitimately disappointed with a game in a long time. I don't think the game is bad, I just think that it could have been a lot more. I feel more like a parent that's disappointed in their child for making poor choices.

Much like Sasuke CyberConnect2 made some poor choices...

At the surface Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 is still a fairly shallow fighting game. Each game in the series has played almost exactly the same with minor tweaks. One thing this iteration gets right is that it tries to make the fights a little more balanced. Generations took a step forward in that department by making it so that you can't spam substitutions to get out of every single attack. Storm 3 takes it one step further by nerfing the insanely overpowered awakening modes. Previously when each character would lose so much health they could power up into a ridiculously strong form with borderline invincibility and no penalty at all. Now there are multiple ways to awaken. You can still do it from low enough health, but now you can get hit out of it with ultimate moves. Alternatively you can flick the right stick and awaken immediately  but your chakra bar used for special jutsu moves will be shortened for the duration of the transformation. They're honestly trying in that regard.

However, the story mode is nowhere near as good as it was in the second game. The ultimate adventure mode is the main attraction of this series. Previously in the series you could roam around the ninja world in between story fights and complete side missions. That is no longer the case. There are one or two side missions you can take on before the story is over, but for the most part the exploration seems like a hold over from the previous game, just because it was there. After each story fight you'll be thrown into an open field just so you can run through it to the next battle. Yes, it opens up after you beat the game, but at that point there's no point in completing them. To make it more annoying you can get every trophy and "complete" everything without buying or experiencing any of the extras.

Storytelling as a whole seems to have taken a hit in this iteration as well. Fans of Naruto have already seen these scenes in the anime, so they're reliving them for fun. In that case you'd think that they would spice them up, or cut out the fluff. Instead I got to watch Naruto's dying mom talk to him for a half hour about eating his vegetables and brushing his teeth. Even more upsetting is the fact that the amazing boss fights with beautifully animated quick time events are so few and far between. There are one or two long battles that I thought were awesome, but then all the other battles had one or two quick time events and were over in a minute. It's not like they were lacking for cool battles to animate, because they're in the middle of a ninja world war where literally everyone is fighting all the time!

Awesome animated fights like this one are few and far between.

I don't like to call developers lazy, because I don't know the full extent of everything that goes into developing video games. I do still feel like CyberConnect2 is really phoning it in for this series now. I know that they can use this engine to good effect with good storytelling, because they did it in the first two Ultimate Ninja Storms. I know they'll make another one, because the franchise is basically made of money so I hope that they can pull out the magic for me one last time.

HarmoKnight

I played the demo of Harmoknight and didn't really like it at all. I found it frustrating, because the timing seemed kind of off. Despite my initial reaction I paid $15 dollars to see what was up with the final version of Game Freak's 3DS rhythm game. Sometimes I feel like GameFreak stumbled into Pokemon's success, so now Nintendo locks them in a room and whips them until a new Pokemon game comes out. So I gave $15 of my hard earned dollars to buy a game I don't like very much.

Grab the notes and try not to get super frustrated like me!

So in case you didn't know HarmoKnight is a rhythm game where you play as a doofy looking kid with a musical note staff that he swings like a baseball bat. You push the a button to swing the staff and b to jump. As you run across the stage you hit enemies, and instruments in the background. Every action produces a sound that goes along with the background music. One of the reasons I don't like the game very much is because the music doesn't sound appealing to me. There are a whole bunch of weird beeps and boops that don't sound very good musically. Also, I feel like the timing is off, but it could just be that it's is super strict and I have bad rhythm.

So far I'm on the fourth world out of what seems to be five worlds. I've gotten a few other characters that switch up the gameplay a bit, but it's still nothing special. I was hoping that GameFreak would bring their A game to the first non-pokemon game they've made in a while, but instead I got a super generic rhythm game with a lame story. It says something when I enjoy the Pokemon music bonus stages more than the original tracks written for an entirely music based game.

Bioshock Infinite

I'm going to admit here that I never finished the original Bioshock. I bought it on clearance for the PS3 years after it's initial release. I played through about half of it and lost interest, because I had already been told about the plot twist multiple times. I enjoyed everything that I experienced, but for some reason I couldn't get absorbed by the world of rapture. For that very reason I've been super excited about Bioshock Infinite. These types of games are much better to experience during their initial Zeitgeist, so unlike the initial Bioshock I got to do that this time.

Unlike the previous two games I talked about this month, my excitement in Infinite was not even remotely misplaced. I don't like playing first person shooters at all, but I thought that Bioshock Infinite was incredible. Ken Levine and the writers at Irrational did not disappoint. It takes place in the sky city of Columbia where the citizens worship the founding father's of America like gods. You play as the unsavory character Booker Dewitt. He got himself into a bit of debt, but was given a way out. "Bring us the girl and wipe away the debt." is a quote that you'll be hearing quite a bit throughout the game. Booker was given a picture of Elizabeth and tasked with finding her and then bringing her back to New York. He's told to keep a low profile, but like any good story that doesn't happen and he's forced to mow down countless foes to reach his goal. It is a first person shooter after all!

As you may have guessed Elizabeth is special to say the least. She has the power to open what amount to portals to other dimensions called tears. It's not immediately  evident why she can do this, but it scares everyone who knows about the ability. For that reason she's been locked away in a tower her whole life where she's protected by the very creepy Songbird. Due to Elizabeth's power and the fact that she's never been out of her tower she is a very interesting character. As she witnesses things for the first time and tries to reconcile the things she's doing you'll get to know her very well. This also makes for an interesting dynamic between her and Booker. Just running around they talk quite a bit, so you'll want to search every nook and cranny to watch their relationship develop as much as possible.

Elizabeth is an excellent character who you'll get to know quite well.

One thing that's great about Infinite's plot is that it plays off of your expectations. It assumes that you're trying to figure out it's plot the entire way through, so it tries to mess with your head as much as possible. Every time I thought I knew what what going on the game threw something new at me to blow my mind wide open. When the huge plot reveal finally happened I couldn't even comprehend what was happening. For that very reason Bioshock Infinite is worth playing. I can't tell yet if it's a classic that will be talked about for years to come, but it certainly is something special. At the very least it shows that good storytelling in video games is possible. It also shows that a game's setting is just as important as every other facet of the game.

My trip through Columbia was amazing. Much like Rapture in the original Bioshock, Columbia is very much alive. It's a world that's been lived in. It's unique and it adds to the story in a way that you don't really get very often. It's just an interesting world and it works in conjunction with what's happening in the story. It's filled with beautiful vistas and horrible racism. It always keeps you guessing, while still wanting to see what's waiting around every corner. I feel like a game hasn't done atmosphere quite as well as Bioshock Infinite since Arkham Asylum. If Columbia hadn't been as fully realized and interesting as it was the game would have been nowhere near as engrossing.

Despite everything good I've said about Infinite it's still a first person shooter. While the story is great, the gameplay isn't really anything special. Sure you can fly around on the sky rails at super speeds, but outside of that you just shoot hundreds of people with guns and powers. Like the previous Bioshock titles you gain special powers. In Columbia they're known as vigors. They're all pretty cool, but they're just a way to make killing everyone a little less tedious. The way I played the game was to shock enemies with my crazy lightning hands to stun them and then pump them full of lead until they died. That's my main issue with a lot of shooters is that the combat scenarios just aren't very interesting. In this game you enter a room, or closed off area to fight enemies. Once they're all gone you either move on to another combat scenario, or you go on to the next story sequence. In a game like this where the story is so compelling it's hard to see that type of combat as anything but a chore. It's just something you need to put up with in order to get to the next thing you actually care about. I hope that some game in the future can fix this problem, or just at least reinvigorate first person shooters.

Bioshock Infinite has a lot more dumping on fools that I wanted.

The gameplay itself is actually fine. In fact it's worlds better than the original Bioshock in terms of gameplay mechanics. It's competent, but you'll probably get sick of it midway through the game. Even though I'd say the gameplay is middling at best this is still an incredible game. It's definitely something that video game fans should play. Even if you're like me and don't like FPS's Infinite is still worth checking out. Sometimes video games are called out as being a bad medium for telling stories and Infinite proves that that's not true. Maybe it just takes five years and someone like Ken Levine and the writers at Irrational to make a great video game story. This is a story that everyone is going to be talking about. In fact, everyone already is talking about it. Get out there and play it before you end up seeing spoilers.

But wait...It's not over yet!

I knew that I was going to have a hard time juggling Bioshock Infinite, Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon, and Pokemon Mystery Dungeon. They did all come out within the span of three days after all. What I didn't know was that I was going to become addicted to Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, so I would play very little of my two new 3DS titles.

Due to my new found addiction I'm going to save Luigi's Mansion and Pokemon for next month. I didn't play enough of either to form any solid opinions about them. I did however play over 100 hours of Monster Hunter... I am going to write up something about Monster Hunter, because it really did take me by surprise. I can't promise that it will be any time soon, because I've been pretty busy lately. Which is also the reason that I still don't have the Game Time ID about Fire Emblem Awakening up. Maybe I should just stop saying I'm going to do ID's and just put them up when I actually have the time.

See you next month.

     -Manny