2014 has come to a close, which means that Game of the Year is upon us. As usual I have selected my top ten games. For a change of pace I got together with Noukeo and we recorded our talk about what we believe to be the top ten games of 2014. Our lists are both quite different but share many similarities.
The audio is a little weird for some inexplicable reason. At random intervals my mic will echo for a few seconds. It seems to be some kind of feedback from when Nouk and I talk at the same time. *Shrugs* It's not too bad, but it was enough for me to notice it.
I hope that you enjoy our discussion! If you're not a fan of Podcasts I will be posting a text version of my list within the next few days.
Showing posts with label Theatrhythm. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Theatrhythm. Show all posts
Monday, December 29, 2014
Wednesday, October 1, 2014
Game Time - September 2014
I played three very different games this month. The first was a sweet sweet rhythm game, the second was a Dynasty Warriors game, and the third was a loot based first person shooter. These games couldn't be more different than each other and I had a lot of fun playing all of them. Those are just the ones I'm going to talk about here though.
In case you missed it I put up a Game Time ID of the first Danganronpa. I'm currently playing the 2nd game and it's pretty damn good. I also decided to buy Shovel Knight on the Wii-U, because I got a craving for some retro platforming action. I won't be talking about either of those this month, but I figured they were worth mentioning.
I have a lot to say, so it's probably best if I get right into it. It's game time!
Theatrhythm: Curtain Call
The original Theatrhythm, Final Fantasy Theatrhythm came out in 2012 and I was absolutely in love with it. It was only natural that I would purchase the sequel and love it more than the first one. In an unsurprising turn of events Curtain Call is basically the same game as the original. It adds a few new modes and a whole metric shit ton of content. The gameplay remains essentially unchanged though.
Theatrhythm is a Final Fantasy rhythm game in which you slide and tap the stylus in line with the beat of a song. Curtain Call added the ability to use the buttons and the circle pad on the 3DS as an alternative control style. I tried it for a bit, but didn't like it very much. I've seen a ton of people saying that they have an easier time getting good scores using the buttons, but I already don't have a very hard time using the stylus.
Just like the original game you create a party of four Final Fantasy characters. As you play the game they level up and gain stats. The stats don't really matter to the gameplay unless you're challenging a particularly hard song. You lose health each time you miss a prompt, so the higher level you are the longer you can stay alive. There are a ton more characters to choose from this time around. Not only are there characters from the 14 main Final Fantasy games, but there are some from the spin-off games as well. Characters from Crystal Chronicles, Mystic Quest, Type-0, and more now make an appearance.
On top of the new characters there are a ridiculous amount of new songs as well. All of the ones featured in the first game return, as well as every single DLC song from the first game. When you add in all the songs from spin-off games the total quickly jumps past 200 playable songs. If you're a Final Fantasy fan you'll recognize a vast majority of them. What's cool is that there is a such a wide array of songs to choose from, so if you're not a fan of a game there's plenty more songs to choose from.
There are also two brand new modes in the game. The game now has a versus mode where you can challenge other players to your favorite battle songs. You can battle the AI, local players, or players on the internet. I can't seem to get the online battles to work. Every time I try to join someones game I get a 3DS system error. I've seen other people complaining about it, and it seems to be fairly common. Hopefully it's something that gets fixed soon, because the battles are quite fun. You play the songs like normal, but after hitting so many notes you get an EX power-up and something bad happens to your opponent. Most of the effects make it harder for your opponent to hit notes, but some of them are totally worth it. If you just want to test your skills you can play on the hardest difficulty without power-ups as well.
The other new mode is a quest mode. Randomly generated overworld maps are created and each node on the map is a song. You choose which node you want to go to, and some of them will have boss characters. If you reach the end you have to fight a final boss, and if you kill it you'll be victorious. This is similar to the Chaos mode from the previous game, but it has a little bit more depth. It's trying to make you feel like you're on a Final Fantasy-like adventure even though it's just a rhythm game. This mode is how you unlock most of the characters, because it's the most likely to give you the shards necessary to do so.
Theathrhythm Curtain Call is an amazing game. I've played it for far too many hours already and I'll probably continue to do so. This time around each DLC song is only $0.99 as opposed to the $1.99 in the previous game. That means I'll be able to convince myself I need to buy way more songs. If you don't like Final Fantasy this game is absolutely not for you. It's essentially a nostalgia factory for fans of the series. If these games keep selling well hopefully Square will realize they need to make a similar game for all of their classic RPGs.
Hyrule Warriors
I don't know what there is to really say about Hyrule Warriors. It's a Dynasty Warriors game with Zelda characters. As you have heard me say many times in the past I love me some Dynasty Warriors action. Yes, I realize that the gameplay is super repetitive and not very complex. I also don't care. It's fun to slash through hundreds of enemies with little no no resistance while sweet guitar riffs happen all around me. The difference this time is that I get to to it as Zelda characters.
I don't really know why Nintendo let this collaboration happen, but I'm perfectly okay with it. I just don't really know how people who don't like Dynasty Warriors are going to take it. There is a buttload of Zelda references in the game, which are amazing. I just don't know if that's enough to get people to enjoy a Dynasty Warriors game if they don't already. It's the same formula, but now you can be Link.
There are actually some cool new additions to the game that I hope Tecmo Koei takes back to their other Dynasty Warriors games. Hyrule Warriors has a lot of giant monsters in it, as do a lot of other games in this series. The difference here is that all the monsters are weak to specific items. The Gohma Queen shoots her laser eye and then it's weak to an arrow show. Once the monster is knocked down they're left open to attacks, If you hurt them enough you'll do a crazy powerful move on them that takes away a ton of health.
I think that the addition of collectibles on the map is great as well. Zelda games often have you searching for Golden Skulltullas or things of that nature. They appear in this game as well. A web appears on the map and then you have to search the area. They're often obscured by a rock or something. When you attack them they give you some lame concept art, but the idea behind having collectibles in each map is cool.
There's only so much I can say about the game. You push the same button over and over to kill hundreds of enemies as Zelda characters. I think it's amazing, but a lot of people don't.
Destiny
Bungie is almost exclusively known for creating the Halo franchise. So when the news that that would no longer be making Halo hit it was a pretty huge deal. That was years ago, when the world found out they were making Destiny. There's been a huge amount of marketing about the game and I feel like people have been talking about it ever, It's Bungie's first non Halo game in a super long time, so it's only natural that people would be excited. In fact this is the first PlayStation 4 game that almost everyone on my friends list has. So the real question is it a good game? Yes and no.
I want to like Destiny, and I do to a certain extent. However, in the games current state I think that it's repetitive and boring. For those who don't know it's a first person shooter with MMO trappings. It also has some elements of Borderlands and Phantasy Star Online as well. It has shooting that feels very good and is easy to control, and you get guns that vary in terms of how they shoot and how much damage they do. One of the problems the game has is that the guns aren't varied enough. Sure they get better in terms of damage, but all the auto rifles are still basically the same exact thing. It's a shame, because the game is all about collecting weapons and armor in order to get better.
Playing Destiny with friends is great. It's super easy to get into a group and do whatever. There are always missions and things to do. That's where Destiny is kind of not doing it for me. The part where I have to grind the same levels and missions over and over is not exactly what I would call fun. The games story is an absolute joke to boot. Every single mission involves you putting out your little robot buddy to scan something. Immediately following that enemies attack and you fend off a few waves. That's literally the central crux of every single mission in the game. To make it even worse all of the lore isn't even accessible in the game itself. You have to go to Bungie's website to read cards you've unlocked by playing the game...
The level cap at the moment is 20, but you can advance to level 30 by grinding for loot that has light on it. When I say grind I mean it. I've done the same story missions dozens of times with friends just to try for a chance to get better armor. These missions aren't really that fun either. The act of shooting enemies is satisfying, but I find all of the bosses to be super tedious. Most of them are nothing more than bullet sponges. Shooting the same enemy for twenty minutes until it dies and maybe drops something that's worth a shit is not appealing to me. What's even less appealing is fighting those same bosses over and over to try and get faction reputation so that I can buy better armor and guns.
Destiny frustrates me, because it has flashes of brilliance in it. It's also extremely flawed, especially the loot system. When your players would rather find exploits to get loot to drop rather than play the actual game then you have a serious problem on your hands. If I didn't have friends playing the game still I think I would have given up on Destiny by now. When playing with people I'm still having quite a bit of fun, but that tends to be because I'm normally not focusing on the game. I think that Bungie can turn my feelings around with the expansion packs they're going to release. More varied missions, and a tweak to the loot system could do a lot for the game. In fact this Tuesday they're changing the drop system quite a bit. The game has so much potential and I hope that eventually it can be fully realized.
SUUUUPER SMASH BROTHERRRRRSSS
This coming Friday Super Smash Bros. for 3DS will finally be released. I tried not to get excited about it, but I ended up getting psyched anyways. Yes, I hate the way the circle-pad feels on the 3DS for playing Smash, but it will still be a fun time anyways. The new characters are all pretty cool and the game itself is pretty fun. I've played the demo a few times to get a feel for it and I definitely like playing it a lot more than Brawl. It's not quite as fast as Melee was, but it still feels pretty good. It's just a damn fun game to play. When the Wii-U version comes out I'll be 1,000,000 times more hype, but until then I'll be content playing as Peach on the 3DS.
Before Friday I'll be receiving Shadow of Mordor, which is also super exciting. It's been getting crazy good reviews, so hopefully that will be awesome as well. There are a bunch of other games I'll be getting in October as well, but for some reason they're all coming out on the 24th or later. So I'll have a huge gap between when Smash comes out and other games I want to play. I'll try to fit something in there, but it's entirely possible Shadows of Mordor will be long enough to fill that void.
These next few months are going to be hot. I need to go prep myself mentally, so I'll see you guys next time.
-Manny
In case you missed it I put up a Game Time ID of the first Danganronpa. I'm currently playing the 2nd game and it's pretty damn good. I also decided to buy Shovel Knight on the Wii-U, because I got a craving for some retro platforming action. I won't be talking about either of those this month, but I figured they were worth mentioning.
I have a lot to say, so it's probably best if I get right into it. It's game time!
Theatrhythm: Curtain Call
The original Theatrhythm, Final Fantasy Theatrhythm came out in 2012 and I was absolutely in love with it. It was only natural that I would purchase the sequel and love it more than the first one. In an unsurprising turn of events Curtain Call is basically the same game as the original. It adds a few new modes and a whole metric shit ton of content. The gameplay remains essentially unchanged though.
Theatrhythm is a Final Fantasy rhythm game in which you slide and tap the stylus in line with the beat of a song. Curtain Call added the ability to use the buttons and the circle pad on the 3DS as an alternative control style. I tried it for a bit, but didn't like it very much. I've seen a ton of people saying that they have an easier time getting good scores using the buttons, but I already don't have a very hard time using the stylus.
 |
| The gameplay remains the same in Curtain Call. |
Just like the original game you create a party of four Final Fantasy characters. As you play the game they level up and gain stats. The stats don't really matter to the gameplay unless you're challenging a particularly hard song. You lose health each time you miss a prompt, so the higher level you are the longer you can stay alive. There are a ton more characters to choose from this time around. Not only are there characters from the 14 main Final Fantasy games, but there are some from the spin-off games as well. Characters from Crystal Chronicles, Mystic Quest, Type-0, and more now make an appearance.
On top of the new characters there are a ridiculous amount of new songs as well. All of the ones featured in the first game return, as well as every single DLC song from the first game. When you add in all the songs from spin-off games the total quickly jumps past 200 playable songs. If you're a Final Fantasy fan you'll recognize a vast majority of them. What's cool is that there is a such a wide array of songs to choose from, so if you're not a fan of a game there's plenty more songs to choose from.
 |
| Quest mode is a fun addition |
There are also two brand new modes in the game. The game now has a versus mode where you can challenge other players to your favorite battle songs. You can battle the AI, local players, or players on the internet. I can't seem to get the online battles to work. Every time I try to join someones game I get a 3DS system error. I've seen other people complaining about it, and it seems to be fairly common. Hopefully it's something that gets fixed soon, because the battles are quite fun. You play the songs like normal, but after hitting so many notes you get an EX power-up and something bad happens to your opponent. Most of the effects make it harder for your opponent to hit notes, but some of them are totally worth it. If you just want to test your skills you can play on the hardest difficulty without power-ups as well.
The other new mode is a quest mode. Randomly generated overworld maps are created and each node on the map is a song. You choose which node you want to go to, and some of them will have boss characters. If you reach the end you have to fight a final boss, and if you kill it you'll be victorious. This is similar to the Chaos mode from the previous game, but it has a little bit more depth. It's trying to make you feel like you're on a Final Fantasy-like adventure even though it's just a rhythm game. This mode is how you unlock most of the characters, because it's the most likely to give you the shards necessary to do so.
 |
| You can hang out with fat chocobos now too. |
Theathrhythm Curtain Call is an amazing game. I've played it for far too many hours already and I'll probably continue to do so. This time around each DLC song is only $0.99 as opposed to the $1.99 in the previous game. That means I'll be able to convince myself I need to buy way more songs. If you don't like Final Fantasy this game is absolutely not for you. It's essentially a nostalgia factory for fans of the series. If these games keep selling well hopefully Square will realize they need to make a similar game for all of their classic RPGs.
Hyrule Warriors
I don't know what there is to really say about Hyrule Warriors. It's a Dynasty Warriors game with Zelda characters. As you have heard me say many times in the past I love me some Dynasty Warriors action. Yes, I realize that the gameplay is super repetitive and not very complex. I also don't care. It's fun to slash through hundreds of enemies with little no no resistance while sweet guitar riffs happen all around me. The difference this time is that I get to to it as Zelda characters.
I don't really know why Nintendo let this collaboration happen, but I'm perfectly okay with it. I just don't really know how people who don't like Dynasty Warriors are going to take it. There is a buttload of Zelda references in the game, which are amazing. I just don't know if that's enough to get people to enjoy a Dynasty Warriors game if they don't already. It's the same formula, but now you can be Link.
 |
| Dynasty Warriors: Link Edition |
There are actually some cool new additions to the game that I hope Tecmo Koei takes back to their other Dynasty Warriors games. Hyrule Warriors has a lot of giant monsters in it, as do a lot of other games in this series. The difference here is that all the monsters are weak to specific items. The Gohma Queen shoots her laser eye and then it's weak to an arrow show. Once the monster is knocked down they're left open to attacks, If you hurt them enough you'll do a crazy powerful move on them that takes away a ton of health.
I think that the addition of collectibles on the map is great as well. Zelda games often have you searching for Golden Skulltullas or things of that nature. They appear in this game as well. A web appears on the map and then you have to search the area. They're often obscured by a rock or something. When you attack them they give you some lame concept art, but the idea behind having collectibles in each map is cool.
 |
| Defeating large monsters is actually pretty fun. |
There's only so much I can say about the game. You push the same button over and over to kill hundreds of enemies as Zelda characters. I think it's amazing, but a lot of people don't.
Destiny
Bungie is almost exclusively known for creating the Halo franchise. So when the news that that would no longer be making Halo hit it was a pretty huge deal. That was years ago, when the world found out they were making Destiny. There's been a huge amount of marketing about the game and I feel like people have been talking about it ever, It's Bungie's first non Halo game in a super long time, so it's only natural that people would be excited. In fact this is the first PlayStation 4 game that almost everyone on my friends list has. So the real question is it a good game? Yes and no.
I want to like Destiny, and I do to a certain extent. However, in the games current state I think that it's repetitive and boring. For those who don't know it's a first person shooter with MMO trappings. It also has some elements of Borderlands and Phantasy Star Online as well. It has shooting that feels very good and is easy to control, and you get guns that vary in terms of how they shoot and how much damage they do. One of the problems the game has is that the guns aren't varied enough. Sure they get better in terms of damage, but all the auto rifles are still basically the same exact thing. It's a shame, because the game is all about collecting weapons and armor in order to get better.
 |
| Get ready to shoot lots of aliens! |
Playing Destiny with friends is great. It's super easy to get into a group and do whatever. There are always missions and things to do. That's where Destiny is kind of not doing it for me. The part where I have to grind the same levels and missions over and over is not exactly what I would call fun. The games story is an absolute joke to boot. Every single mission involves you putting out your little robot buddy to scan something. Immediately following that enemies attack and you fend off a few waves. That's literally the central crux of every single mission in the game. To make it even worse all of the lore isn't even accessible in the game itself. You have to go to Bungie's website to read cards you've unlocked by playing the game...
The level cap at the moment is 20, but you can advance to level 30 by grinding for loot that has light on it. When I say grind I mean it. I've done the same story missions dozens of times with friends just to try for a chance to get better armor. These missions aren't really that fun either. The act of shooting enemies is satisfying, but I find all of the bosses to be super tedious. Most of them are nothing more than bullet sponges. Shooting the same enemy for twenty minutes until it dies and maybe drops something that's worth a shit is not appealing to me. What's even less appealing is fighting those same bosses over and over to try and get faction reputation so that I can buy better armor and guns.
 |
| This is my hot Destiny character. |
Destiny frustrates me, because it has flashes of brilliance in it. It's also extremely flawed, especially the loot system. When your players would rather find exploits to get loot to drop rather than play the actual game then you have a serious problem on your hands. If I didn't have friends playing the game still I think I would have given up on Destiny by now. When playing with people I'm still having quite a bit of fun, but that tends to be because I'm normally not focusing on the game. I think that Bungie can turn my feelings around with the expansion packs they're going to release. More varied missions, and a tweak to the loot system could do a lot for the game. In fact this Tuesday they're changing the drop system quite a bit. The game has so much potential and I hope that eventually it can be fully realized.
SUUUUPER SMASH BROTHERRRRRSSS
This coming Friday Super Smash Bros. for 3DS will finally be released. I tried not to get excited about it, but I ended up getting psyched anyways. Yes, I hate the way the circle-pad feels on the 3DS for playing Smash, but it will still be a fun time anyways. The new characters are all pretty cool and the game itself is pretty fun. I've played the demo a few times to get a feel for it and I definitely like playing it a lot more than Brawl. It's not quite as fast as Melee was, but it still feels pretty good. It's just a damn fun game to play. When the Wii-U version comes out I'll be 1,000,000 times more hype, but until then I'll be content playing as Peach on the 3DS.
Before Friday I'll be receiving Shadow of Mordor, which is also super exciting. It's been getting crazy good reviews, so hopefully that will be awesome as well. There are a bunch of other games I'll be getting in October as well, but for some reason they're all coming out on the 24th or later. So I'll have a huge gap between when Smash comes out and other games I want to play. I'll try to fit something in there, but it's entirely possible Shadows of Mordor will be long enough to fill that void.
These next few months are going to be hot. I need to go prep myself mentally, so I'll see you guys next time.
-Manny
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Top Ten Games of 2012
2012 is ending and that means that another year in gaming has come and gone. Initially I thought that this year had been disappointing for me, but when it came time to make my game of the year list I had quite a bit of trouble deciding on the ten games I thought were the best.
The following is the final list of games that I came up with. Keep in mind that these are my opinions, but I still think you should check these games out if you haven't yet. We'll start from ten and work out way down to number one.
10. Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed
Sonic and All Stars Racing Transformed isn't quite as good as its predecessor, but it's still a competent kart racer. Like the previous installment it feels different enough from Mario Kart to justify its existence. Every race is all about the drifting. Sadly drifting doesn't feel as tight when you're a boat or a plane, but at least those additions add something more than new tracks and characters.
It's a whole lot of fun and at the budget price of $40 it's worth checking out.
9. The Last Story
Much like Resonance of Fate a few years ago The Last Story is one of the few JRPGs that has a unique battle system. It's a third person shooter, but with swords and magic. You're supposed to use strategy to beat your opponents, but the strategy element of the game never quite takes off. Despite that the battles are still fun.
The story and characters are memorable to boot. The game clocks in at around 20 hours to complete, which is good because it doesn't give you enough time to tire of anything.
The visuals push the Wii to its limits, which can sometimes make the frame rate less than desirable. Don't let that discourage you though. If you have a Wii The Last Story is definitely something you should check out.
8. Asura's Wrath
Quick time events are often lame, or at the very least implemented poorly. Asura's Wrath is the exact opposite. The entire game is basically a string of quick time events and it couldn't possibly be any more awesome.
Asura's wrath is balls out anime craziness. It's more or less an interactive movie, but somehow it feels like you're actually doing your fair share to help out in the madness. It's super satisfying to nail every single quick time event and have Asura burst in order to pummel his enemies into the ground. The action is non-stop and it's always complete insanity.
YOU STAB THROUGH THE EARTH WITH A SWORD!
7. Pokemon White/Black 2
Every year a new Pokemon game comes out and every year I play a whole bunch of it. I'm 22 years old and I still love Pokemon games. I almost feel bad for putting it on a game of the year list time and time again, but it needs to be done.
While games that rehash the same thing year in and year out get old that never happens to Pokemon for me. They change enough to keep me coming back every single time. In fact with Pokemon Black and White 2 I think Game Freak outdid themselves. Sure, people who casually play the games might not notice, but as a long time fan I appreciate it. It's cool that I can fight every gym leader in a world tournament, or actually fight Pokemon higher than the mid-50's after I've completed the game.
Game Freak and Nintendo know what they're doing, so get ready to see another one of these next year.
6. Xenoblade Chronicles
It may have taken NOA a while to bring it to the US, but we finally got Xenoblade Chronicles for the Wii. It was certainly worth the wait.
I played Xenoblade so much that I burned out on it and wasn't able to complete it until months after my initial binge. My final save ended up being around 113 hours ,which is a pretty sizable chunk of time. I now know why people worked so hard to bring it over here.
It's not a revolutionary JRPG, but it takes steps forward for the genre. A lot of JRPG mechanics are contrived now and Xenoblade tries to remedy some of those issues. Everything is streamlined and as user friendly as possible. The game works hard to keep you engaged with its fast paced battles and easily navigable menus.
The plot and characters of Xenoblade are memorable, but still a bit cliche. The game will be remembered for its combat and the way it tried to modernize the genre.
It looked and played incredibly for a Wii game, which makes me excited to see what Monolith is going to be able to do on the Wii-U
5. SSX
SSX is back! While it may not be better than ever EA still made a decent attempt reviving a dormant franchise. SSX is just pure fun for me. Racing down a snow covered mountain while jumping off of everything in sight gives off an incredible sense of speed. The controls are tight and feel just right for the fine movements the game requires.
While the new survival tracks aren't the best part of the game they add something new to the SSX formula that can hopefully be improved upon in new releases. Overall I think that this SSX reboot was well done and hope to see EA do some more with it in the future.
4. Theatrhythm Final Fantasy
I was expecting absolutely nothing from Theatrhythm, but I had to find out what it was all about. As you might be able to gather from its position on this list I ended up enjoying it a whole lot more than I ever imagined.
Rhythm games tend to have a short lifespan by nature. You play through all the songs a few times and then you're done. Well I somehow ended up playing Theatrhythm for over 26 hours. There were so many things to keep me coming back. Multiple difficulties, an RPG leveling mechanic, character unlocks, song unlocks, and even equipment.
Even more than that the gameplay is fun. Tapping and sliding the stylus along to the many classic Final Fantasy tunes in the game works amazingly well. Theatrhythm was clearly crafted with a love that I didn't think Square Enix had in them anymore.
3. Borderlands 2
I played an obscene amount of the original Borderlands and the amount of time I spent with Borderlands 2 is no different. I don't particularly like First person shooters, but when paired with loot and RPG mechanics of Borderlands I can't seem to get enough.
Gearbox hit it out of the park for me on this one. The gameplay was improved in almost every way from the original. The game as a whole ran a lot smoother and everything just seemed to work better in general. Gearbox heard what fans had to say about the original and took it all to heart.
It's fun to play alone or co-op. Whichever way you like to play don't miss out on this great game.
2. The Walking Dead
I don't like zombies at all. In fact when zombies are involved in anything I almost immediately write it off as being something I'm not interested in. For some reason I decided to give the first episode of The Walking Dead a chance and was completely blown away.
Even if you don't like adventure games The Walking Dead is something that I think everyone has to play. It shows that choice in video games can actually work to great success. Every choice you're given seems like it matters, whether or not it actually does. This is amplified by the fact that the story if actually emotionally affecting. The characters are some of the most memorable I've ever come across. Somehow they actually managed to make a likable child character!
Words are not enough to explain the majesty that is The Walking Dead. If you like video games do yourself a favor and check out what it brings to the table. You won't be disappointed.
1. Mass Efffect 3
I don't care what anyone says about Mass Effect 3. Sure, the ending wasn't as desirable as I would have liked it to be and there were too many half-assed sidequests, but the journey as a whole was still outstanding.
I enjoyed the time I had with Mass Effect 3. The universe still managed to hold every ounce of my attention as I flew to every single planet and talked to every person I possibly could. No matter how much I disliked the ending nothing can take away the love that I have for the Mass Effect Universe and its characters.
Mass Effect 3 ended the story of Commander Shepard. I'll never be able to forget the time I spent with it, so that's why its my favorite game of 2012.
-Manny
The following is the final list of games that I came up with. Keep in mind that these are my opinions, but I still think you should check these games out if you haven't yet. We'll start from ten and work out way down to number one.
Sonic and All Stars Racing Transformed isn't quite as good as its predecessor, but it's still a competent kart racer. Like the previous installment it feels different enough from Mario Kart to justify its existence. Every race is all about the drifting. Sadly drifting doesn't feel as tight when you're a boat or a plane, but at least those additions add something more than new tracks and characters.
It's a whole lot of fun and at the budget price of $40 it's worth checking out.
Much like Resonance of Fate a few years ago The Last Story is one of the few JRPGs that has a unique battle system. It's a third person shooter, but with swords and magic. You're supposed to use strategy to beat your opponents, but the strategy element of the game never quite takes off. Despite that the battles are still fun.
The story and characters are memorable to boot. The game clocks in at around 20 hours to complete, which is good because it doesn't give you enough time to tire of anything.
The visuals push the Wii to its limits, which can sometimes make the frame rate less than desirable. Don't let that discourage you though. If you have a Wii The Last Story is definitely something you should check out.
Quick time events are often lame, or at the very least implemented poorly. Asura's Wrath is the exact opposite. The entire game is basically a string of quick time events and it couldn't possibly be any more awesome.
Asura's wrath is balls out anime craziness. It's more or less an interactive movie, but somehow it feels like you're actually doing your fair share to help out in the madness. It's super satisfying to nail every single quick time event and have Asura burst in order to pummel his enemies into the ground. The action is non-stop and it's always complete insanity.
YOU STAB THROUGH THE EARTH WITH A SWORD!
Every year a new Pokemon game comes out and every year I play a whole bunch of it. I'm 22 years old and I still love Pokemon games. I almost feel bad for putting it on a game of the year list time and time again, but it needs to be done.
While games that rehash the same thing year in and year out get old that never happens to Pokemon for me. They change enough to keep me coming back every single time. In fact with Pokemon Black and White 2 I think Game Freak outdid themselves. Sure, people who casually play the games might not notice, but as a long time fan I appreciate it. It's cool that I can fight every gym leader in a world tournament, or actually fight Pokemon higher than the mid-50's after I've completed the game.
Game Freak and Nintendo know what they're doing, so get ready to see another one of these next year.
It may have taken NOA a while to bring it to the US, but we finally got Xenoblade Chronicles for the Wii. It was certainly worth the wait.
I played Xenoblade so much that I burned out on it and wasn't able to complete it until months after my initial binge. My final save ended up being around 113 hours ,which is a pretty sizable chunk of time. I now know why people worked so hard to bring it over here.
It's not a revolutionary JRPG, but it takes steps forward for the genre. A lot of JRPG mechanics are contrived now and Xenoblade tries to remedy some of those issues. Everything is streamlined and as user friendly as possible. The game works hard to keep you engaged with its fast paced battles and easily navigable menus.
The plot and characters of Xenoblade are memorable, but still a bit cliche. The game will be remembered for its combat and the way it tried to modernize the genre.
It looked and played incredibly for a Wii game, which makes me excited to see what Monolith is going to be able to do on the Wii-U
SSX is back! While it may not be better than ever EA still made a decent attempt reviving a dormant franchise. SSX is just pure fun for me. Racing down a snow covered mountain while jumping off of everything in sight gives off an incredible sense of speed. The controls are tight and feel just right for the fine movements the game requires.
While the new survival tracks aren't the best part of the game they add something new to the SSX formula that can hopefully be improved upon in new releases. Overall I think that this SSX reboot was well done and hope to see EA do some more with it in the future.
I was expecting absolutely nothing from Theatrhythm, but I had to find out what it was all about. As you might be able to gather from its position on this list I ended up enjoying it a whole lot more than I ever imagined.
Rhythm games tend to have a short lifespan by nature. You play through all the songs a few times and then you're done. Well I somehow ended up playing Theatrhythm for over 26 hours. There were so many things to keep me coming back. Multiple difficulties, an RPG leveling mechanic, character unlocks, song unlocks, and even equipment.
Even more than that the gameplay is fun. Tapping and sliding the stylus along to the many classic Final Fantasy tunes in the game works amazingly well. Theatrhythm was clearly crafted with a love that I didn't think Square Enix had in them anymore.
I played an obscene amount of the original Borderlands and the amount of time I spent with Borderlands 2 is no different. I don't particularly like First person shooters, but when paired with loot and RPG mechanics of Borderlands I can't seem to get enough.
Gearbox hit it out of the park for me on this one. The gameplay was improved in almost every way from the original. The game as a whole ran a lot smoother and everything just seemed to work better in general. Gearbox heard what fans had to say about the original and took it all to heart.
It's fun to play alone or co-op. Whichever way you like to play don't miss out on this great game.
I don't like zombies at all. In fact when zombies are involved in anything I almost immediately write it off as being something I'm not interested in. For some reason I decided to give the first episode of The Walking Dead a chance and was completely blown away.
Even if you don't like adventure games The Walking Dead is something that I think everyone has to play. It shows that choice in video games can actually work to great success. Every choice you're given seems like it matters, whether or not it actually does. This is amplified by the fact that the story if actually emotionally affecting. The characters are some of the most memorable I've ever come across. Somehow they actually managed to make a likable child character!
Words are not enough to explain the majesty that is The Walking Dead. If you like video games do yourself a favor and check out what it brings to the table. You won't be disappointed.
I don't care what anyone says about Mass Effect 3. Sure, the ending wasn't as desirable as I would have liked it to be and there were too many half-assed sidequests, but the journey as a whole was still outstanding.
I enjoyed the time I had with Mass Effect 3. The universe still managed to hold every ounce of my attention as I flew to every single planet and talked to every person I possibly could. No matter how much I disliked the ending nothing can take away the love that I have for the Mass Effect Universe and its characters.
Mass Effect 3 ended the story of Commander Shepard. I'll never be able to forget the time I spent with it, so that's why its my favorite game of 2012.
-Manny
Monday, July 9, 2012
Game Time - 7/8/2012
There haven't been a ton of interesting games released on the 3DS so far. I've bought almost all the first party games, but I've been looking for some interesting third party games. When I saw that Square was going to be releasing a Final Fantasy rhythm game I got kind of excited.
Final Fantasy Theatrythm was released this past Tuesday and I wasn't really expecting much from it. It's a rhythm game with Final Fantasy songs. I originally thought it was only going to be good for nostalgia, but it ended up being a whole lot more fun than I expected. I never thought I'd have racked up more than twenty hours on a handheld rhythm game (especially in such a short time span).
I've at least tried to play most of the Final Fantasy games. I even played a two week trial of XI. Somehow I ended up skipping over VIII though. I remember there being a whole lot of hate for it on the internet. Looking around now though I think that the hatred may have misplaced. VII was so loved that I think VIII could only have been a disappointment to fans of the series.
Playing the Final Final Fantasy VIII songs in Theatrhythm made me curious about what it had to offer. My curiosity got the better of me, so I ended up purchasing Final Fantasy VIII on the PlayStation Network. I've only played a few hours of it so far and I don't really know what to think. The battle system diverges greatly from the previous entries in the series while trying to keep the same overall feel. There are a lot of things going on and they're not all apparent at the start.
Somehow I ended up having a very Final Fantasy filled week without even intending to. Unexpected gaming can sometimes be the best kind though.
Final Fantasy Theatrhythm
As I mentioned previously I wasn't expecting much from Theathrhythm. Watching the trailers it looked like a standard rhythm game, and to top it off it looked super easy. If you're judging it from watching gameplay I'd highly recommend you try it out for yourself. The gameplay is a lot more entertaining than it looks and it gets viciously hard on the higher difficulties.
What's interesting about Theatrhythm is that it tries to combine RPG elements with rhythm gameplay. You make a party of four Final Fantasy characters before you start playing any music. As you play the game they will level up and get stronger. Their stats and abilities won't change the gameplay very much, but they do make small differences. On top of that you can equip items for additional bonuses.
At first glance it seems almost as if the RPG elements do absolutely nothing, but that's not exactly true. Sure, on the lower difficulties they don't really matter, but they do when you're trying your hand at harder songs and difficulties. When you mess up in a song you'll lose HP, so the more you have the more time you'll have before completely failing a song. Higher strength will allow you to defeat more enemies in battle, which will net you better and more frequent drops.
Yes, you heard me right. There are battles in this game and that's one of the cool things about it. There are three different game types that vary slightly in order to mix up the gameplay. They all revolve around the same basic concept. There will be one circle, or multiple circles on screen. Colored circles will fly at your circle and you have to tap, hold, or slide the stylus on the screen in time with the music. Red circles are for tapping, green for holding, and yellow for sliding. It's a simple enough concept, but once the notes start flying it can get pretty intense. Hitting notes perfectly will net you criticals, which give you the highest score.
The three game types are battle, field and event. In battle there are four circles (one for each party member) and the notes fly at each character. Each time you hit a note it will damage an enemy on the opposite side of the screen. As you may have guessed getting criticals does more damage. In field type your party leader is traveling across the world and you just have to tap along with the music. Event type is basically the same, except the notes all appear on a pre-made track while scenes from a Final Fantasy game appear in the background.
Theatrhythm is clearly trying to capitalize off of its immense nostalgia, which it does quite well. Where it truly got to me was that it had more depth than your average rhythm game. Despite the fact that it doesn't have a story and its cutesy art style makes me want to vomit I still keep coming back to it for more. There's just a lot to do. I want to unlock all of the characters and songs. For some reason I find it to be extremely fun. It's just an added bonus that I'm pretty good at it. I don't know how much longevity the game will have once I've played all of the songs a million times, but it's hitting the spot for me right now.
If you've been skeptical of this game I really think it's worth trying out. If you don't like Final Fantasy or it's music then this certainly isn't for you.
Final Fantasy VIII
Man, Squall is a serious douche. Before deciding to try out FFVIII I had only experienced him in Kingdom Hearts and Dissidia. Apparently neither of those games colored his character in a proper manner. He's just an outright asshole and on top of that he's super emo. He wants to be left alone and he doesn't want to hear what anyone has to say so far. He actually told someone to go talk to a wall instead of him. What a douche.
Aside from really disliking Squall (or Leon as every other game has tried to tell us) the game is up in the air for me. The battle system is a great departure from all of the previous games. While it's still turn based and has the same options a lot has changed that makes it feel very foreign. For starters it has a was bigger focus on summons. In previous games summons were just attacks used to do some heavy damage, but in VIII they do a whole lot more. They're called GF's and apart from being summoned in battle they make up most of a characters strength.
Not only do your party members level up, but your GF's do as well. They gain power and grant characters abilities. What's interesting is that by equipping magic to the GF's your character will gain stat increases and elemental damage. The fact that you can equip magic to a GF is another part of why VIII is so different. There is no MP, so you can potentially use spells unlimitedly. The catch is that you have to have them first.
When a character has a GF equipped they can use the ability called draw. At certain points in the overworld, or in battle characters can draw spells. This will give characters access to spells. When using draw you'll gain a set number of spell uses, so they're essentially like consumable items. This adds a whole different dynamic to battle, because you need to go in prepared. Spells are also the primary way characters gain strength. While leveling still increases their stats it's not very significant, or at least it isn't a few hours into the game. Equipping magic to the GF's does grant large stat buffs though.
On top of that there aren't very many weapons available. Each character only has a handful they can get throughout the game. Instead of acquiring them you have to upgrade a single weapon with materials acquired through battle or from shops. This makes the GFs even more important, because they're the main way to develop your party.
It's a whole lot different, but it seems like a cool concept. Square was trying to do something different and I can respect that. Learning to do everything is needlessly complicated, but it seems like there will be a ton of customization once I slog through all of the games lingo.
As far as the story goes I have no idea what to think so far. Not a whole lot has happened. Squall goes to a school for soldiers known as SeeDs. Well, they seem more like mercenaries than soldiers. There is a war going on though and they're sent out on missions. That type of scenario seems ripe for cool characters, but everyone seems iffy so far. Hopefully everything picks up as the game goes on. It seems cool so far, so I'm going to keep on going with it.
EVO 2012
I took a break from watching this year's EVO in order to write this. The Super Street Fighter IV finals are on right now and I'm anxious to get back to watching. There's something awesome about the hype that surrounds fighting games. I almost lost my mind during the Marvel 3 finals. I really wanted Yipes to win, but sadly he was eliminated yesterday.
In fact, everyone I want to win gets eliminated during tournaments. Combofiend was doing fairly well, but he ended up losing to F Champ. I feel okay with F Champ taking the whole thing though, because at least it wasn't Chris G and his super lame Morrigan style.
It just occurred to me right now that most people will have no idea what the hell I'm talking about. For those that don't know EVO is the worlds largest annual fighting game tournament. It's intense, so if you haven't every seen it you should take a look.
My brother is super into fighting games so I've watched my fair share of tournaments with him. That's how I got to know about a lot of the people in the community. It's hard to explain, but it makes all of the matches way more exciting when you know who's playing.
Anyways, this has been another week in gaming. I have no idea what's coming up in the week ahead, but that's part of the fun.
See you next time.
-Manny
Final Fantasy Theatrythm was released this past Tuesday and I wasn't really expecting much from it. It's a rhythm game with Final Fantasy songs. I originally thought it was only going to be good for nostalgia, but it ended up being a whole lot more fun than I expected. I never thought I'd have racked up more than twenty hours on a handheld rhythm game (especially in such a short time span).
I've at least tried to play most of the Final Fantasy games. I even played a two week trial of XI. Somehow I ended up skipping over VIII though. I remember there being a whole lot of hate for it on the internet. Looking around now though I think that the hatred may have misplaced. VII was so loved that I think VIII could only have been a disappointment to fans of the series.
Playing the Final Final Fantasy VIII songs in Theatrhythm made me curious about what it had to offer. My curiosity got the better of me, so I ended up purchasing Final Fantasy VIII on the PlayStation Network. I've only played a few hours of it so far and I don't really know what to think. The battle system diverges greatly from the previous entries in the series while trying to keep the same overall feel. There are a lot of things going on and they're not all apparent at the start.
Somehow I ended up having a very Final Fantasy filled week without even intending to. Unexpected gaming can sometimes be the best kind though.
Final Fantasy Theatrhythm
As I mentioned previously I wasn't expecting much from Theathrhythm. Watching the trailers it looked like a standard rhythm game, and to top it off it looked super easy. If you're judging it from watching gameplay I'd highly recommend you try it out for yourself. The gameplay is a lot more entertaining than it looks and it gets viciously hard on the higher difficulties.
What's interesting about Theatrhythm is that it tries to combine RPG elements with rhythm gameplay. You make a party of four Final Fantasy characters before you start playing any music. As you play the game they will level up and get stronger. Their stats and abilities won't change the gameplay very much, but they do make small differences. On top of that you can equip items for additional bonuses.
 |
| I wasn't expecting the RPG element of Theatrhythm. |
At first glance it seems almost as if the RPG elements do absolutely nothing, but that's not exactly true. Sure, on the lower difficulties they don't really matter, but they do when you're trying your hand at harder songs and difficulties. When you mess up in a song you'll lose HP, so the more you have the more time you'll have before completely failing a song. Higher strength will allow you to defeat more enemies in battle, which will net you better and more frequent drops.
Yes, you heard me right. There are battles in this game and that's one of the cool things about it. There are three different game types that vary slightly in order to mix up the gameplay. They all revolve around the same basic concept. There will be one circle, or multiple circles on screen. Colored circles will fly at your circle and you have to tap, hold, or slide the stylus on the screen in time with the music. Red circles are for tapping, green for holding, and yellow for sliding. It's a simple enough concept, but once the notes start flying it can get pretty intense. Hitting notes perfectly will net you criticals, which give you the highest score.
 |
| Battles get a whole lot more difficult than this. |
The three game types are battle, field and event. In battle there are four circles (one for each party member) and the notes fly at each character. Each time you hit a note it will damage an enemy on the opposite side of the screen. As you may have guessed getting criticals does more damage. In field type your party leader is traveling across the world and you just have to tap along with the music. Event type is basically the same, except the notes all appear on a pre-made track while scenes from a Final Fantasy game appear in the background.
Theatrhythm is clearly trying to capitalize off of its immense nostalgia, which it does quite well. Where it truly got to me was that it had more depth than your average rhythm game. Despite the fact that it doesn't have a story and its cutesy art style makes me want to vomit I still keep coming back to it for more. There's just a lot to do. I want to unlock all of the characters and songs. For some reason I find it to be extremely fun. It's just an added bonus that I'm pretty good at it. I don't know how much longevity the game will have once I've played all of the songs a million times, but it's hitting the spot for me right now.
If you've been skeptical of this game I really think it's worth trying out. If you don't like Final Fantasy or it's music then this certainly isn't for you.
Final Fantasy VIII
Man, Squall is a serious douche. Before deciding to try out FFVIII I had only experienced him in Kingdom Hearts and Dissidia. Apparently neither of those games colored his character in a proper manner. He's just an outright asshole and on top of that he's super emo. He wants to be left alone and he doesn't want to hear what anyone has to say so far. He actually told someone to go talk to a wall instead of him. What a douche.
Aside from really disliking Squall (or Leon as every other game has tried to tell us) the game is up in the air for me. The battle system is a great departure from all of the previous games. While it's still turn based and has the same options a lot has changed that makes it feel very foreign. For starters it has a was bigger focus on summons. In previous games summons were just attacks used to do some heavy damage, but in VIII they do a whole lot more. They're called GF's and apart from being summoned in battle they make up most of a characters strength.
Not only do your party members level up, but your GF's do as well. They gain power and grant characters abilities. What's interesting is that by equipping magic to the GF's your character will gain stat increases and elemental damage. The fact that you can equip magic to a GF is another part of why VIII is so different. There is no MP, so you can potentially use spells unlimitedly. The catch is that you have to have them first.
 |
| There's a whole lot going on here. |
When a character has a GF equipped they can use the ability called draw. At certain points in the overworld, or in battle characters can draw spells. This will give characters access to spells. When using draw you'll gain a set number of spell uses, so they're essentially like consumable items. This adds a whole different dynamic to battle, because you need to go in prepared. Spells are also the primary way characters gain strength. While leveling still increases their stats it's not very significant, or at least it isn't a few hours into the game. Equipping magic to the GF's does grant large stat buffs though.
On top of that there aren't very many weapons available. Each character only has a handful they can get throughout the game. Instead of acquiring them you have to upgrade a single weapon with materials acquired through battle or from shops. This makes the GFs even more important, because they're the main way to develop your party.
It's a whole lot different, but it seems like a cool concept. Square was trying to do something different and I can respect that. Learning to do everything is needlessly complicated, but it seems like there will be a ton of customization once I slog through all of the games lingo.
 |
| Maybe Squall gets better as the game goes on. At least I hope so... |
As far as the story goes I have no idea what to think so far. Not a whole lot has happened. Squall goes to a school for soldiers known as SeeDs. Well, they seem more like mercenaries than soldiers. There is a war going on though and they're sent out on missions. That type of scenario seems ripe for cool characters, but everyone seems iffy so far. Hopefully everything picks up as the game goes on. It seems cool so far, so I'm going to keep on going with it.
EVO 2012
 |
| GET HYPE! |
I took a break from watching this year's EVO in order to write this. The Super Street Fighter IV finals are on right now and I'm anxious to get back to watching. There's something awesome about the hype that surrounds fighting games. I almost lost my mind during the Marvel 3 finals. I really wanted Yipes to win, but sadly he was eliminated yesterday.
In fact, everyone I want to win gets eliminated during tournaments. Combofiend was doing fairly well, but he ended up losing to F Champ. I feel okay with F Champ taking the whole thing though, because at least it wasn't Chris G and his super lame Morrigan style.
It just occurred to me right now that most people will have no idea what the hell I'm talking about. For those that don't know EVO is the worlds largest annual fighting game tournament. It's intense, so if you haven't every seen it you should take a look.
My brother is super into fighting games so I've watched my fair share of tournaments with him. That's how I got to know about a lot of the people in the community. It's hard to explain, but it makes all of the matches way more exciting when you know who's playing.
Anyways, this has been another week in gaming. I have no idea what's coming up in the week ahead, but that's part of the fun.
See you next time.
-Manny
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