Lego Marvel Super Heroes Review

With Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes came a much higher bar for the Lego games.  It introduced voice acting (featuring the likes of Troy Baker as Batman and Clancy Brown reprising his role as Lex Luthor) as well as fully scripted cutscenes that replaced the pantomimed movie moments from previous installments.  The game also boasted an explorable Gotham, brim with familiar locations such as Wayne Tower, the Batcave, and Ace Chemicals.  Now Lego Marvel is here to showcase its impressive powerset, and as one guy's opinions of the Lego franchise go, it soars above the rest.

Lego Marvel takes a lot from Lego Batman 2; an open world, voice acting, an original story, and a myriad of beloved characters.  But Lego Marvel doesn't just execute these aspects; it cranks them up to max speed and sets out to fix previous problems that have plagued past games.  Exploring the Marvel version of New York is a smooth sailing experience with plenty of sights to behold.  Placing the mini-map on screen was a much needed addition and helps to easily navigate missions, gold bricks, and side-quests scattered about.  Both the flying and driving have been improved dramatically, though they can still be on the finicky side.  I believe the flying is more intuitive than it was in Lego Batman 2, with Superman handling like a giraffe riding a bottle-rocket, but I can see how some players may still be unsatisfied with the controls.  After a few hours, however, I was effortlessly zipping around New York as Iron Man, Thor, and Dr. Strange like it was forcefully irradiated into my genetic code.  Lego New York is also a lot more interesting to explore than Lego Gotham, not only offering eye candy easter-eggs, but letting you participate in many of these popular locales through the story and side missions.  Its one thing seeing the X Mansion on the map; its another thing entirely to be able to play as the X-Men and save the mansion from burning down while stopping the Juggernaut.

The story is also designed with fun in mind and I had a blast with it.  Don't forget, this is a Lego game we're talking about; if you're expecting Game of the Year performances or script that's going to knock your socks off, you're playing the game wrong.  Traveler's Tales knows that their primary audience is still children, but they also understand that parents will usually be the ones handling the second controller.  They do a great job of making the game accessible, funny, and enjoyable for both demographics, filling the story with cheesy dialogue and slap-stick humor that will put a stupid grin on your face.  Some may find the jokes and character banter groan worthy, but I tend to see it as part of the charm.  The main adventure itself also takes you through many of Marvel's beloved locales, taking on some of the top notch villains like Magento, Dr. Doom, and Loki as they band together to do...well...evil things.  Voice acting makes a return and you'll recognize many of your favorite characters being voiced by their animated series counter-part, which is always fun to hear.  If you're willing to sit back and enjoy the bad jokes, you're in for an enjoyable ride straight out of a Marvel mash-up comic.

One aspect, above all, really makes this game shine, and that's the characters.  And, oh man, are there characters!  I've logged in enough hours to unlock all but one, and I think I counted 132 character slots, plus the 8 DLC characters, plus a ton of different skins and costumes (some which even function entirely differently, like Phoenix v.s. Jean Grey, and Iron Man Mark I v.s. Iron Man Mark VII) and you have over 150 playable characters.  With 150 characters, you can expect to see the majority of your favorites (though there are a few missing that I'd like to see more than Howard the Duck or Gwen Stacy).  While some of the big-figs, such as Hulk, Juggernaut, and The Thing can feel a bit identical, most of the heroes have unique animations and move-sets.  All the characters also have the exact powers you'd expect them to have; Iron Man flies, shoots rockets, can charge up a Uni-beam, and fights with his repulsors.  Thor can zoom around the skies, summon lightning, throw his hammer, and use his powerful strikes to break down walls that only big heroes can bust open.  Everyone brings their own feel and it'll keep you playing for hours as you scour the map for new characters to unlock, curious to test out their might.

Mechanically, the game has a few issues.  Like all Lego titles before it, the AI is useless.  You teammates stand around taking punches, occasionally defending themselves, which only further exemplifies Lego Marvel as a couch coop title.  You might also find yourself getting stuck in some level geometry, wedged into an area you accidentally jumped into.  There are also some infinite death loops where you fall off an edge only to respawn in free fall and die again and again and again.  My game also frozen on me at some random points (usually during loading screens or boss fights), but this was only when I had been playing the game for over 2 hours or so.  But, again, this is a Lego title we're talking about; this is really nothing new, and while it certainly performs better than past games, its still a shame that these problems persist.

Though overall, the experience is a grand one.  The locations, the diverse roster, the free roam, the references, and the Stan Lee cameos all make for one solid title; certainly the biggest and best Marvel themed video game I've ever played.  If you hated the previous Lego games, this one certainly won't change your mind, but Marvel fans would be doing themselves a favor by picking this title up.  If you've ever wanted to hover around a city as Magneto or sling across buildings as Venom, now is your change.  Excelsior!

Review: Grand Theft Auto V

There's been a good hiatus since my last post, and that's mostly due to getting wrapped up in this extravagant world.  Grand Theft Auto V is truly gigantic, and I wish I had the endless amount of time and blog space to match the praise I have for Rockstar's new sandbox success.  Though its not without a few shortcomings, the overall package is an irreplaceable crime-spree experience.

Our story kicks off in the shoes of three very diverse characters.  There's Michael, the retired criminal who's traded his life of heists for an expensive house, a glass of whiskey by the pool, and a garage full of luxury cars.  Though it may sound like a wonderful retirement, Michael is plagued by an ungrateful, privileged family that can't stand him, as well as a nagging ache to get back into the game.  We also take control of Franklin, a kid from the hood who desires the luxury of big-league scores, but is continually dragged down into petty theft by useless friends.  And then, there's Trevor.  There is so much to say about Trevor; a crazed meth-head, a dreamer entrepreneur, a conspiracy theorist, a daytime philosopher, a loyal friend, and a dangerous enemy.  Most of GTA V's memorable moments come from Trevor's interactions and he's sure to go down in gaming history as a fan-favorite.  All three characters cross paths, their common enemies, goals, and colorful pasts intertwining their motives.  Each character gets an equal portion of the story, and seamlessly swapping between them ensures you never get bored.  Whenever you find yourself apathetic about a certain character's missions or want to see a new area of the map without taking a lengthy drive, simply switching to someone else and seeing what they have to offer will keep your television on for hours.

The game's several heists contain the shining points of the mission structure.  There is much more than just executing the big scores; GTA V has you decide your preferred route, choose your crew members, and collect any supplies you'll need to take the plan into action.  Picking a route usually comes down to low-profile and clever v.s. storming the gates, guns blazing, which lets players choose their preferred playstyle method.  Sifting through your crew also poses some tough choices.  Crew members with higher stats will require a higher cut of the payout, but their skills might be necessary as less experienced crew members could screw up by bringing ill-suited weapons and vehicles to losing an entire dufflebag worth of the loot.  Their attributes, however, will increase with each successful mission, while their desired cut stays the same, so there definitely incentive to taking some lowly thugs under your wing.  This also poses one of the games problems; there just aren't that many heists within the game.  Even if you want to take a crew member on missions to level up their stats, you'll probably only get to choose them a handful of times.  I had the most fun devising heist plans and its a shame that they come and go so quickly.

The heist setups keep the player involved and give a gratifying sense of careful preparation, that grounds these scores in a bit of reality.  You feel devoted to the mission as you acquire any getaway vehicles, chemicals, weapons, and machinery that your heist might require from the world around you.  When the mission finally takes off, Rockstar's clever implementation of character switching allows you to take part in every angle of the execution.  Michael might be in charge of leading a distraction crew through the front, while Franklin uses the stolen construction rigs and outfit to break down the back wall.  Trevor comes in with the chopper to airlift the goods, while Franklin brings around the getaway vehicle you picked out earlier.  Snapping in and out of characters is done in a fluid manner that's quick enough to avoid load screens and keeps you involved with every approach.

Outside of story missions the grand island of Los Santos is filled with plenty to occupy your time.  Hair salons, clothing stores, movie theaters, and auto-body shops offer short bursts of entertainment and customization while character specific side missions flesh out Michael, Trevor, and Franklin.  Some of my favorite missions involved racing fitness-nut Mary-Anne around the city and seeing how each character reacts to her psychotic personality (Franklin is truly afraid of her while Trevor thinks he's fallen in love).  The side missions are true to the GTA universe's sense of humor, giving you a break from the intensity of the story to participate in a silliness that further caricatures American pop-culture and the one-percenter lifestyle.

Visually, Grand Theft Auto V looks good, not great, though it is certainly a leap above GTA IV.  You'll find better looking console games out there, however if you consider the scope of Los Santos and how the game manages to perform so fluidly with only minor texture pop-ins and no inter-level loading screens, its hard not to leave impressed.  The character models and animations are decent, but its the superb voice acting that helps bring the cast to life and make a lot of GTA V's ridiculous banter quite memorable.  This title is quite dialogue heavy, which makes me thankful all the characters are well voiced and entertaining through the entirety of the story.

The meat of the Grand Theft Auto experience comes from exploration and GTA V delivers on this front.  Picking your preferred mode of transportation is as easy as steeling it and Rockstar offers a large variety in the vehicles available.  My jaw fully unhinged after an experience with a truck towing a boat.  I was able to hijack the truck on the free way, drive it a few miles down to the beach, back the boat into the water, detach the trailer, and use the boat to speed away.  The level of interactivity you're convinced you have within the sandbox is the most gratifying I've witnessed in any other game in the genre.  Giving the player control over manipulating and participating in the world is on a level I was truly blindsided by.

GTA V does have a few more weak points aside from leaving the player yearning for more heist missions.  The economy of the game feels a bit detached.  I was incredibly impressed by the stock market aspect of the game and your players ability to control your investments and aide their outcome via missions, but its not as deep as I once pictured.  Outside of story elements, the stock market isn't as affected by the player's actions as I expected, which was a bit disappointing considering the work that must have gone into creating it.  Obtaining money also feels like a bit of a chore and outside from the stock market and story-based heists, gathering cash tends to come down to investing in properties and waiting for their weekly check to add to your bank account.  And the only real purpose of money is to buy more properties to help you get more money.  I was hoping for a more involved real estate system that helped me really make my mark on Los Santos.

But any negatives I may bring up are completely out-shadowed by the experience and scope that Grand Theft Auto V offers.  While it may not be perfect, the level of work that Rockstar put into crafting this game is noticeable and awe-inspiring.  To develop such a world that is truly the best the series has to offer shows that the creators are devoted to expanding the genre and pushing the envelope on what is possible to achieve on a disk.  GTA V is a solid title, through and through, and hopping into the shoes of whacky characters to explore a surreal world of fantasy crime is an adventure worth taking.

The Evil Within Gameplay Analysis: A Fresh Take on Terror or Something We've Seen Before?

When news first broke out that Shinji Mikami, the grandfather of horror and creator of the Resident Evil series, was working with his new studio to bring us an original survival horror title, I could hardly contain my enthusiasm.  First off, no longer working under the containment of Capcom and the "direction" they have chosen to drive most of their once-beloved franchises is a great start.  Mikami being at the helm of his own studio, Tango Gameworks, will give him the creative freedom he deserves to allow us to really dive into the most sick and twisted experience he can concoct for us.  Also, being published by the well known and respected Bethesda will hopefully allow leniency on any would-be controversial content.  But, none of that means of a damn thing if the game doesn't deliver and now we have footage of two demo locations to draw some speculation from.  So will The Evil Within fulfill its promises to an audience that has felt long abandoned?

The contents of the demo showcase, in my opinion, were a bit of a mixed bag, though mostly good.  I think it might be easier to just layout the contents in a digestible list.  The extended demo I watched was found here and is the most comprehensive gameplay footage (without stage commentary, thank god) I've seen to date.

What I Enjoyed

1. The Varying Locations

I guess this is a bit preemptive as I can only draw from the 10 minutes of footage, but the entirety of the game seems to take place in a recently post-apocalyptic city, as revealed in the last segment of the prologue.  I say recently post-apocalyptic because our main character seems quite surprised to reach the outside only to find the crumbling leftovers of a once populated city before him.  I'm sure there will be some sort of amnesia involved as a plot device.

But in the demo alone, we've seen some sort of butcher's den, a hospital or asylum, and a small cabin in the woods (very reminiscent of Resident Evil 4).  Sometimes, switching up the locations too fast can break the gameplay flow and breach into the immersion.  There is no point in minding your surroundings, if you aren't going to need to backtrack, which I feel is a staple to classic horror.  But, the gameplay seems to showcase some backtracking elements, such as finding keys and items to progress further into the environment.  So the multiple locations could be a great asset to the game by giving us plenty of settings to create different types of tension and shock, or it could go south if we're never allowed enough time to become fully absorbed in an area before being whisked off to the next one.  For now, I'm seeing this in a positive light, because the entire game taking place in an asylum borders on cliche and sometimes you need to change things up so the audience doesn't become familiar and bored with the same jump-scare tactics.

2. The Enemy Design

We really only got a glimpse at three enemy types in the demo.  The hulking butchers, armed with chainsaws and knives, the standard lumbering zombie, and well, one of the most terrifying takes on "creepy girl with black hair and pale skin, crab running around" I have ever seen.  These are all monsters we've seen before in film and games, but the design looks great.  The zombies really are standard, but certain touches like their clumsy movements and being wrapped in barbed wire makes you question their fate.  They almost seem more of a tribute to Ghouls from the Fallout series than a classic zombie, and the hint of mystery surrounding their origins makes you question if there is any humanity left within them.

It also seems like enemies like to pursue you through most of the area, a similar element present in Nemesis from Resident Evil 3 and the Regenerator from the Dead Space series.  Now a lot of gamers hate that mechanic; a somewhat invincible monster that will relentlessly chase you, rarely giving you a moment to rest and compose your thoughts.  I think a lot of the hatred stems from the waste of resources that tends to come with those enemies.  Most bullets and ammunition you use tend to be for a good cause; you're permanently destroying an obstacle hindering your progress.  But with the unkillable baddies, all ammo dispensed is for nothing.  They won't stop and you can't find that moment of peace with them continuing their pursuit.  I personally welcome the chase and find the horror I see in it to drive home the scariness of the game, but I can understand why many gamers see it as an annoyance.

The blackhaired spider lady is what really drove the terror home.  Her appearance was quite unexpected and her quick movements and seemingly lethal presence already has me wondering "How the hell am I supposed to deal with that?"  I don't know anything about her, but its an origin story that I hope stays a mystery.

3. Psychological Thrills

The dumpster full of bodies in the butcher's lair, blood streaks on the ground, abandoned wheel chairs, and tidal waves of blood rushing down a hallway in a shameless tribute to The Shining.  No matter how many times we've seen these things make their way into a horror title, I don't think I'll ever get sick of them.  I'll admit, my initial reaction to waking up on a meat hook in a slaughterhouse was pretty tiresome, but you can't deny that after a few minutes in that environment, the chills start creeping up your spine.  These things are horror stereotypes for a reason; they work.  Being in an asylum, abandoned hospital, or creepy cabin are staples to the genre and I'm in full support of sticking to the classics, since we are fully aware how well those classics can be executed.

Your character also seems to be suffering from some sort of mental trauma as he imagines blood flooding towards him.  Having your character imagining things puts you at the mercy of the game designers, as all breeches of reality are fair-game.  Monsters are scary in their physical form, but at the same time, you know you can run away; you know you can defend yourself and that they are limited to the rules of this world.  But once you start diving into the psychological scares, you need to be prepared for anything.  One moment you can be walking into a room, and the next a giant twisted mouth could be forming from the ceiling, slowly descending upon you.  Is it all in your head?  Who knows; all that's certain is that its there, its coming for you, and it could happen when you least expect it.

What I'm Hesitant About

1. Another Third Person Shooter

I had an intense excitement during the first part of the demo, when you're extremely vulnerable.  You have no weapon, no form of self-defense, and you have to sneak your way through a hazardous environment.  The intensity was doubled when you sustain an injury that has you limping for the rest of the segment.  With limited mobility and no protection, you are truly exposed and nothing could be scarier.

But then, the latter part of the video shows you defending a small room from waves of zombies as they try to break through the windows, which is about as subtle of a nod to Resident Evil 4 as a brick to the face.  You're armed with a revolver and a scarce amount of bullets.  Okay, that's fine; limiting your character's ammunition is a great way to add to the intensity. But then all of a sudden your character has access to mines.  Mines?  Really?  Talk about breaking the immersion.  What kind of cabin is stocked with some hunting trophies, a few bookshelves, a revolver, a handful of bullets, and time bombs?  Being armed to the teeth is not an element of horror and is one of the primary reasons the Resident Evil series began to suffer.  Give your character an arsenal, and you get rid of the tension.  Hopefully, these are just sections of a much bigger experience to break up the gameplay.  But for now, I'm remaining skeptical.

2. Fetch Quests and Linear Puzzle Solving

As I stated before, I enjoy backtracking in horror games.  I think it gives you a reason to take care in your actions and the enemies you dispose of, since you're going to need to re-enter that area at another point.  I also like puzzles contained to an area that force you to examine your surroundings and recall certain aspects of environments previously explored.  But, puzzle solving was killed off in Resident Evil 4 as the experience was meant to be more linear.  You find a locked door.  You go a different way, fight your way to the end, find a key, loop back around to said locked door, and continue on your way.  There was no search and discovery or necessary backtracking, only a short lived obstacle.

The Evil Within showcase demonstrated this early on.  You find a locked door, look to see the key hanging from a hook, you sneak over to get it, and make your escape.  Now I fully realize this segment of the game seems to be extremely early on, if not the beginning, so I have no problem with that existing as a tutorial.  It does, however, worry me about their further use of such "puzzles" and how they will handle the exploration of your environment aiding to your progress.

3. What The Story Will Bring Us

Now there's a few ways of executing a story in horror games, but typically your character either exists as the hero tasked with saving the world, or just some sad sap who got caught up in the wrong place at the wrong type.  I'm a firm believer that the latter is a much stronger way of a capturing the horror genre than the former.  The Resident Evil remake for the Gamecube, one of my favorite games, keeps the characters human; they are just some people who got wrapped up in some shit they were far too unqualified to handle.  It was about surviving a nightmare they were unprepared for and simply escaping with their lives intact.  The Last of Us is a similar experience and I think driving home the point that your character is vulnerable and just as clueless as you are drives the mystery and strengthens that aspect of the story.  It wasn't until later Resident Evil titles that the characters became the heroes; the ones meant to uncover the secrets, battle giant monsters, and save the planet.  When something of that caliber is already expected of your character, all fear is out the window.  You already know you are capable of incredible feats, and a few zombies or mutated freaks in your way isn't going to stop you.  This form of narration kills the suspense of whether or not you'll succeed or even survive and leaves the story drained of mystery and the overbearing unknown.

It is obviously far too early to tell what direction The Evil Within will go in, but I think its a fair criticism to be worried.  Overall, I think the game will be refreshing, even if we've seen some of it done before.  The context of the setting and the discovery of your character is what makes the first entry to a series a great experience.  There is no expectation; just a blank slate to captivate us with.

Review: Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMix

Its been 11 and a half years since Kingdom Hearts first dropped onto the Playstation 2.  I remember seeing the first footage back in the day and coming away completely confused.  Why exactly were Mickey, Goofy, Captain Hook, and other Disney characters being thrown into this adventure JRPG?  It seemed out of place and caused me to shrug off the experience after that initial glance.  That is, of course, until I found out that Squall, Cloud, and Sephiroth from the Final Fantasy series made an appearance, and I found myself anticipating giving it a thorough try.  I mean, what can sell a game better than Sephiroth?

After the Square-Enix-patented lengthy tutorial segment, it was safe to say I was hooked.  Traveling to different worlds, battling heartless, using melee attacks, magic, and summons; and on top of that there was a delicious coating of Disney charm to lighten the mood whenever necessary.  I have to admit, the Disney aspects were exactly what turned me off to the game at first.  Never in my craziest dreams had the words JRPG and Disney been in the same sentence.  But, it was those memorable characters and them acting exactly how you'd expect them to act that grounded the game in something a little more tangible (while the main plot scrambled my brain with constant reusing of words like "heart", "friendship", and "darkness").  Hearing Donald go bat-shit in his classic voice and Goofy's lovable dullness make for a much brighter adventure in the face of a tragic and convoluted story that can be downright exhausting to follow.

Now, the game is making a second appearance on the market as Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMix, which includes Kingdom Hearts Final Mix (never before released in the U.S.), Re:Chain of Memories, and 3 hours of cutscenes from 358/2 Days, all washed through a clean HD filter on one shiny disc.  Final Mix includes some new difficulty modes to choose from and fixed controls, closer resembling those of Kingdom Hearts 2 (using the Right Thumbstick to control the camera v.s the Shoulder buttons and moving Command prompts to the Triangle button).  Re:Chain of Memories is the PS2 overhaul of Chain of Memories for the Gameboy Advance, featuring a deck building based combat system and an additional campaign as Rikku.  Last, the cutscenes from 358/2 Days (originally for the Nintendo DS) have been revamped on a different engine and give the viewer a look into the life of Roxas and Organization XIII from the time spanning between the end of Kingdom Hearts and the beginning of Kingdom Hearts 2.  When its all said in done, its a pretty neat package for a series newcomer or nostalgic veteran, especially at the discounted price.  But do these franchise tidbits stand up to the test of time?

Well, mostly yes, but some parts, definitely not.  To start, the combat is still as fun as ever.  Its a chaotic button mashing fest filled with vivid, flashy lights and spectacular sound effects.  Rocket punching the X button can get you pretty far, but there are plenty of abilities and spells to give combat an added flair.  Taking on classic Disney villains and the numerous Heartless is riveting, cartoon fun and while some bosses can be done with your eyes closed, there are still a few that will build that rage inside of you.  The characters are also just as splendid as they were when we first met them.  Sora, Rikku, and Kairi are all likable and worth cheering for, while Donald and Goofy make for excellent companions, even if they're bound to their own end goals.  Most cameo appearances are brief, but offer you just enough insight to their motives and general tie-in to the story.  The music is enchanting and surprisingly memorable; even though I never replayed Kingdom Hearts after my first playthrough over a decade ago, I still find myself able to hum along with the various themes easily.

The things that haven't held up so well would be the targeting system and the story presentation. Targeting as Sora can be kind of a mess. First of all, if you aren't actually locked-on to an enemy, Sora will still choose the closest enemy to "follow". He'll keep an eye on them and his attacks will gravitate towards their direction, which is fine. The big problem is its very hard to break that auto-lock; turning the camera away or looking at a different enemy rarely changes who he's soft targeting unless the original enemy flies far enough away. The easiest way to target the monster you actually want to follow is to lock-on with R1, and use L2 to cycle through each baddie until you're set on the one you want, which can be very time consuming in the heat of battle and really disorientate your position as the camera bounces around the arena. This isn't a big issue, and I have definitely gotten used to it, but it still makes me wonder why they chose to give Sora precedence attacking an enemy he hasn't even locked onto yet, instead of just letting the player control his aim freely.

The second aspect that really shows its age is the story. The story's content is great and the universe is absolutely rich with wonder, but even after playing all the Kingdom Hearts games and knowing full well what happens, it can still be a drag to follow along with. The cheesy script rarely varies in its terminology and it always seems like the player is either 10 steps ahead of the characters (and waiting as the characters on screen struggle to slowly figure out what's going on and announce it out loud) or the player is completely left in the dust once they get into some other odd ball story elements that are skimmed over way too fast despite their pivotal relevance.  For instance, what the Kingdom Hearts actually is/does is never explained in full, though accessing it is the sole motivation for the entire cast of villains.  Players returning to the series may already know these things, but newcomers picking up the title for the first time will probably feel a bit lost in a story that really isn't that complicated.

But this game still shines the same way it did in 2002.  Even with all its flaws and tropes of the past barging their way into the current generation, its a trip down memory lane worth taking.  Diving into the many enchanting Disney worlds and spotting beloved Final Fantasy characters along the way is an excellent ride and there's just no questioning the Kingdom Hearts' series level of pure captivation.

Additional Note: For anyone interested, Game Trailers made a fantastic Kingdom Hearts Timeline video that goes through the entire story so far.  Its about an hour long, very detailed, and incredibly well done.  I highly recommend checking it out.

Taking Risks in the Gaming Industry

A few years back, developer Quantic Dream brought us Heavy Rain, a modified point and click adventure that puts you in the shoes of a handful of characters thrown into a classic murder-mystery case.  This Playstation 3 exclusive crossed the finish line as a success and though the genre isn't for everyone, Quantic Dream is continuing their trend (like Fahrenheit and Indigo Prophecy before it) with a new IP slated for this fall; Beyond Two Souls.  Even though Heavy Rain received its fair share of criticism, those who understand Quantic Dream's mixed style of cinematic gameplay got a memorable experience from the game and heralded its undeniable pushing of the boundaries acceptable in video games.

So why exactly am I bringing this up now?  Because it has recently come to light that Microsoft turned down Heavy Rain because the story was centered around child kidnapping.  Apparently, in fear of how it'd be received by the media, they told Quantic Dream that the content was a problem and that they wanted it changed.  I applaud Quantic Dream for taking their IP and walking instead of bowing to the demands of a publisher whose familiarity is more prominent in business and sales than in artistic integrity.  I'm not trying to focus on Microsoft here; I'm sure Sony and Nintendo have turned down their fair share of risky proposals.  But the pressing fact here is less about Heavy Rain being turned down, and instead the reason it was turned down.

Refusing to take on Heavy Rain because the story contained a child kidnapping was a decision that could have been very harmful to our medium, had Sony not stepped up to support the project.  Instead of trying to understand the presentation of the content, Microsoft was only focused on the content itself, and from the start considered the blow back of ignorant, letter-writing soccer moms to be more pressing than the evolution of gaming as an art form and a unique style of story telling.  Just imagine if Reservoir Dogs was asked to change its script to remove its highly memorable, character defining torture scene.  What if Children of Men was forced to edit out its visceral, dark violence?  What is left is nothing but a shadow of what the art piece was meant to be.

And isn't there at least a hint of hypocrisy contained in the other games Microsoft have brought to us?  Gears of War has no problem letting you saw someone completely down the middle with a chainsaw bayonet.  Blood, gore, and brutal violence are stacked upon each other without a second thought, and all for the sake of gushy entertainment and shock-factor, but the second a story contains a sex scene or a child kidnapping, its gone too far?  Allowing games to explore morally difficulty themes is how we grow as a medium and evolve as an art form, and without pushing the envelope, video games will never escape the image of immature teenage entertainment.

Film critics can watch a movie and appreciate the fact that every bit of violence, every sex scene, and every other sequence of rape, murder, torture, kidnapping, or war is every bit as important to the story as dialogue between characters.  They understand that if rape takes place in a movie, the film isn't saying "We condone rape;" they are expressing a bigger narrative beyond what's on the screen and weaving it into overall picture.  Why can't games be treated the same way?

Well, the primary factor still holding gaming back is the publicity that gets highlighted by the media.  Grand Theft Auto being blamed for poorly parented teenagers with greater underlying medical issues toting around guns or Mass Effect exploding into the view of parents because it contains a four second, fully censored sex scene; these are just the forefront example of how major news outlets view video games.  But the battle isn't won by kneeling before their wishes and promising to remove all adult content from our medium.  You don't get anywhere by playing it safe and even when you do everything you can to stay off their radar, they'll still dig for a reason to propagate a witch hunt.  "Video games are why kids are overweight."  "Gaming is why test scores are so low."  No matter what, if a new issue comes to light concerning kids, video games will be the primary target.

So how do we deal with the problems the media poses for this art form?  Short answer; we don't.  Rockstar has continued doing what they do best and making solid Grand Theft Auto games, quite successfully, in fact, without any hindrance posed from their past tangos with media spotlights.  Games being successful or praised is not affected one bit by how news casters portray them.  In fact, that's something very positive I can say about gamers in general; our opinions are not swayed by the negatives we read in the paper or see on TV, because we already expect games to be criticized and hated.  Truth is, games have been misunderstood since their creation, with parents and teachers whining and screaming about how their kids will be affected.  We already know full well that we are generally looked down upon by media outlets, and its nothing new when Nameless TV Anchor #406 presses a new story on why playing your 3DS will cause blindness or how holding a controller will develop arthritis.

In the past decade, we have come a long way.  Games are beginning to really blur the line between cinematic experience and fun pass time.  Motion capture and real actors are being used to bridge the gap into reality and renown composers are seeing video games as a dynamic, exciting new form with which to deliver music.  Instead of a room of lone programmers, development teams now have writers dedicated to creating the story, and crafting character personalities.  Environments are created, not to just exist as a plane for your avatar to walk on, but as a delivery method for atmosphere and narrative.  We are constantly maturing and are finally being taken seriously as an art form and we didn't achieve this by listening to the demands of ignorant parents and doomsday prophets who would still complain about the game anyways.  We ignore them, we keep creating, and we continue to expand.

What Creates Longevity in a Game?

Yes, hello, my name is Dan, and...uh... I play Animal Crossing.  It feels so good to admit this to all of you and finally get this enormous weight off my chest.  I can't even get out of bed in the morning without digging up fossils, and at night I can't sleep without knowing all of my precious hybrid roses are watered and safe from accidental trampling.  I used to tell myself that I could stop anytime; that I didn't need to play.  But its become more than that.  Playing is my responsibility and obligation.  I am the sole reason that entire town runs and I'm the only thing preventing it from descending into a weed covered anarchy.

If you play Animal Crossing, this probably sounds eerily familiar.  No one can deny Animal Crossing's longevity.  It has enough charm to be a great escape from the stresses of ordinary life; a place you can go where hard work pays off and you're always needed.  Plenty of options await you as well.  Whether you're fishing, catching bugs, hunting for new furniture, or interacting with the village residents, you'll always find a task awaiting completion.

But, Animal Crossing has longevity for another reason, and its a common trait among other games that people can't help but play for years and years: fear.

Now you may laugh; "Animal Crossing?  You mean the child friendly game about befriending cute animals and decorating your house is so addicting because of fear?"  Yes, I realize how daft it sounds at face-value, but with some explanation you'll find it to be just as true.

In Animal Crossing, neglecting your town, for even a few days, means the start of decay.  Your flowers will wilt and die if not watered, weeds begin to spring up all over town, and worst of all, your beloved neighbors might decide to just pack it up and move away forever.  Plus, a slew of new furniture, clothing items, wallpaper, carpet, and shoes come to your town's shops daily, meaning that not picking up your 3DS today could mean missing out on that Roccoco dresser you've been waiting to pop up for months.  Whether its seeing your in-game buddy disappear for good or coming back to find your flower garden in ruin, its this fear that relentlessly grips you and draws you back in every time, ensuring that the cartridge never leaves your system.

Animal Crossing isn't the only offender; this is a very popular mechanic across other life simulators and even MMO's.  With games like World of Warcraft, the fear is more centered around being left behind and not being able to keep up with the competition.  When you have millions upon millions of people playing a multiplayer focused game, playing becomes a race; who can level up fastest, grind for the best gear, and create an unstoppable clan while everyone else is still getting a hold of the basics.  You want to outplay the others, so you're forced to log in as many hours as you can to ensure you stay one step ahead.

Now, this form of longevity is not necessarily a bad thing.  Obviously enjoyment is at the basis or people would not continue buying WoW expansion packs (and I would have quit Animal Crossing after the Gamecube installment).  But, its interesting look at a different, more single-player oriented approach to longevity and an example of it I find so blatantly well-done in Dark Souls.  This longevity stems from mystery.

I realize that Dark Souls has come up a lot recently, but the reason that I really can't stop talking about it is because the game continues to stay relevant despite primarily being a single-player experience and having been released two years ago.  Dark Souls has a story to tell, but it does not read it to the player like an audio book on a road-trip.  Instead, the story is almost hidden from the player, locked away in the details of the environment, meaningful NPC conversations, and in the item descriptions.  If you just pick up the controller to hit bad guys with swords, then you'll find a great, challenging game with a harsh, but fair combat system.  If you, however, go into the game and begin to absorb the little hints of lore the game presents to you ever-so gently, you'll be gifted with one of the most rewarding lore experiences of this generation.

Within the game there is an opening cinematic, a few short, voiceless cutscenes before bosses, and two ending sequences.  Other than that, you are left to decipher the words of other characters to discover clues that lead to a much bigger painting than initially imagined.  And with this vague story telling comes plenty of secrets to find and a lot of theory crafting and speculation that has kept fans of the game extremely busy even two years since its debut.  This type of tale swapping with other players via online forums and Youtube channels has given Dark Souls a life that will breathe well into the birth of its sequel.  I just hope that Dark Souls II gives us plenty more to stay occupied with.

Of course, Dark Souls, isn't the only title to use this form of narration.  Games like Bioshock Infinite and the Last of Us give the player plenty of hidden gems to find within the game world that can open up new ideas for story hypotheses.  Places like Columbia or the post-apocalyptic city-turned-jungle become characters themselves, delivering information to the player through observation as opposed to dialogue.  Its this sort of story-telling that makes the second, third, and fourth playthrough more gratifying every time.

There are plenty of other forms of longevity to be found across the many genres of gaming, but I consider the duality between games like Dark Souls and Animal Crossing particularly amusing.  Its a battle between wanting to play a game and needing to play a game, and both methods are equally viable.  In fact a lot of games have become mixtures; wanting to experience a story, but needing to grind out more levels.  Wanting to explore more of the world, but needing to forge better gear.  I think all games contain some form of each and its these elements that keep tied down to a series through the long waits between installments.

Let's Be Tactical About This: Fall 2013 Imposes Danger on Your Wallet

So far, 2013 has been a steady and constant trickle of worthy titles for all platforms.  Before the summer even started, I had already purchased Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon, Fire Emblem Awakening, and Donkey Kong Country Returns for my 3DS, with Animal Crossing being my last grab in June (at this point, I'm of course forcing myself to ignore Etrian Odyssey IV, Rune Factory 4, and Shin Megami Tensei IV while I finish my pile of incomplete titles).

Successful blockbusters such as Bioshock Infinite and The Last of Us have begun to crowd the Game of the Year ballots and other less impacting but highly entertaining mentions go to Dragon's Crown, Injustice: Gods Among Us, God of War: Ascension, and Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm.  The stream of titles has also forced me to shelf some games I have yet to dive into, including Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch, DmC: Devil May Cry, Dead Space 3, Tomb Raider, Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, Civilization V, and Pikmin 3 (though that hinges upon me picking up a Wii U at some point).

And at the cusp of the last quarter of the year, I'm still seeing some heavy decisions to be made.  Diablo III (for consoles) and Rayman Legends finally see their release in the beginning of September, with Kingdom Hearts HD ReMix and the highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto V following as the month closes out.  Without letting up, Pokemon X and Y make their debut on the 3DS and Batman Arkham Origins, Assassin's Creed Black Flag, and Lego Marvel Super Heroes will hit stores by the end of October.

All of this is neglecting consideration of the next gen consoles, too.  The Playstation 4 and Xbox One are slated for November, with a load of heavy hitting launch titles to follow.  Watchdogs, Call of Duty: Ghosts, and Need for Speed Rivals show up as worthy multi-platform launch titles, while Sony and Microsoft boast exclusives such as Killzone and Knack for the PS4 with Titanfall and Dead Rising 3 standing in the ring for Xbox.  No matter which console has your vote, you better be ready to spend some money.

So considering each of these titles is going to come out at $35-$65 each (even more if you're a Collector's Edition junkie) how can gamers be more careful with their spending without missing out on potentially historical game experiences in the process?  Well, the short answer is, you can't.

Okay, that's not entirely true, there are such systems in place such as renting, buying used, and trade-in programs that can help you save some dough, but with Microsoft coming this close to stomping out all three of those businesses with the Xbox One's recently slated DRM policies, I wonder if its only a matter of time before those practices disintegrate altogether.  With the large push for digital sales and the bigger hard drives noted for this coming generation, it won't take long for more people to discover the convenience of buying of online purchases.  Steam has all but snuffed out PC games' retail appearances; how long until stepping into a store to pick up your console games becomes irrelevant?

I don't necessarily see digital distribution as a bad thing, so long as the revenues are going to a good cause.  Without the need for companies to package, ship, and sell physical copies to a retailer, the game makers can net nearly 100% of the sales as income.  However, with publishers likely expecting a greater percentage on returns, do you really think that it'll ensure developers getting a fairer cut of the profits?  Judging by the way they are paid currently for their hard work, I highly doubt a higher margin will change anything.  And as gamers, we aren't likely to see the savings passed onto us either.  We'll be charged the same, because we all damn well know we're willing to pay the same.  As long as we demand enough to meet their supply forecasts, pricing will be largely similar to what it is today.

So what's the best solution to saving money?  Well, as painful as it is: wait.  Preordering and Day One purchases don't have to be a priority.  As fun as it is to feel ahead of the curve and experience the wave of excitement along with your fellow gamers, showing a little patience and waiting for a price cut or sale can really make a difference.  Make your purchase decisions wisely and try not to attribute too much value to a title that hasn't even been released yet.  Though that Limited Edition art book and the rest of the Collector's package might be staring you in the face, if the game not all its cracked up to be, you're left with a $60 disc you hate and $40 worth of junk you no longer want to look at.

Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag: Is This The Change of Pace the Series Needs?

Assassin's Creed seems like an odd science project; a passable game that partly exploded in its creators faces, but also gave birth to a widely successful series.  With flawed systems such as horrendously boring combat and repetitive mission structure, its quite the surprise that the game gained so much momentum.  But that time was a bit of a dry spell for gaming, and Ubisoft was at least being ambitious with its ideas in a desert of sequels and reiterations.  Free climbing, crowd based stealth, and hidden blade brutality set during the Third Crusade were promises everyone looked forward to, but finally seeing the fully rendered (mostly historically accurate) holy cities upon release was a memorable moment to be sure.  Though not short on glitches and rough story segments, Assassin's Creed shepherded waves of new fans and ascended Altaïr as one of this generation's top bad-asses.

Assassin's Creed II and its immediate sequels Assassin's Creed Brotherhood and Assassin's Creed Revelations followed the story of a new assassin, Ezio, during the gorgeous but dangerous Italian Renaissance.  Though these titles fixed a lot of the series' previous problems by varying up the missions and granting more combat options, glitches were still a noticeable blemish and the fighting system was a slow paced waiting game with little challenge outside of "press counter button now."  But, all three games were enormous in scope and packed its characters and setting with life.  The Ezio trilogy deserves a top 20 spot in my best gaming experiences of this generation, with the overarching story concerning Desmond Miles proposing many mind-bending questions players couldn't wait to have answered.

We thought that answer was going to be Assassin's Creed III.  It looked fantastic on paper; a new assassin, the story bringing us to newly founded America, ship combat, frontier exploration, hunting, and a slew of interesting characters derived from the Founding Fathers themselves.  It seemed fresh, and I thought we were going to get a completely changed game out of it.  Well, this title was different to be sure, but all of those changes really weren't as exciting as they could have been.  Free climbing around Boston was dreadful as the city's buildings stood too shallow to make for exciting platforming or a successful escape from armed guards.  Where Venice, Rome, and Florence all gave Ezio a tightly woven playground to go wild with, the colonial locations in Assassin's Creed III had dreary wide open spaces and plain, dull structures to get shot on.  It didn't help that Conner, our new assassin, was also a pretty insufferable character.  Brash, wild, and close-minded, he's about as far as you can get from a stealthy justice dealer.  His only redeeming quality is his bravery and even those moments lacked impact due to the B-grade voice acting.  Frontier exploration was a mediocre distraction, if anything; there was lots to do, but almost no reason to do it, and tree running was exhilarating, yet inaccurate and clumsy that often caused more grief than its worth.  The ship combat was the only exciting and memorable part about the game, to be honest, and even that needed quite a bit of work and was fairly limited to a handful of missions.

So is Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag finally the first step in a new stride?  Taking control of Conner's grandfather, Edward Kenway, we take on the seven-seas during the golden age of piracy where we can plunder and loot while singing a merry song.  What do you do when a series goes stale?  Well, you add pirates of course!  Gamers love pirates!

Sarcasm aside, all of the gameplay reveals of the open sea, ship combat, and island exploration look pretty astonishing.  Its certainly giving a well-loved series a fresh coat of paint, even if pirates have already run their pop-culture course.  And I'm more than happy to see the sailing and ship combat becoming a primary feature.  The great number of explorable islands scattered about the open sea gives me the impression of a world I'd be happy to get lost in.  Where the previous Assassin's Creed titles gave the option for exploration, Black Flag seems to place an emphasis on it.  The game's vision appears to be incredibly wide-set, giving your character gigantic ruins and caves to discover while placing the overworld on an even bigger open ocean.  A lack of loading screens is impressive, delivering a true sense of freedom as Edward seamlessly sails from port to port, stopping by harbors and islands without skipping a beat.

But is this enough?  No matter how shiny, a fresh paint job won't make vehicle run any smoother.  Though the visuals have gotten a next-gen console overhaul, the mechanics regarding stealth and combat look largely the same.  Free running along overgrown Mayan architecture looks incredible (and boat loads more exciting than what Assassin's Creed III's locations allowed), but little has changed regarding the tedious swordplay.  The addition of over-the-shoulder aiming for the firearms is actually a long-needed touch, though its hard to tell exactly how precise the shooting will be.  But perhaps its safer to wait until I have my hands on the controller; the combat could have very well been tightened up and feel much different to how it appears.

Overall, I'm hopeful.  Even if the combat and mission structure are still disappointing, I wouldn't mind spending all day just sailing, looting ships, plundering islands, hunting sharks, and swimming around underwater caverns.  Black Flag gives me the impression that I could lose hours upon hours of my day to it without a single notice, getting absorbed into the vast and lush world.  Though the Desmond story will need some immediate CPR (and perhaps I'll cover that as the release date draws closer), I'm ecstatic for what looks to be a sturdy next-gen launch title.

Lazy Sunday Games

Just doing a light jog down memory lane.  I recall my weekends as a kid; a busy week of school, little league games, band concerts, and boy scouts. I had quite the packed schedule for a 12 year old.  Saturdays I'd spend the afternoon outside with friends or getting ready for a baseball game, and my parents really didn't care for me playing video games when I could be outdoors.  But Sunday, even in our busy family, was always universal "Lazy Day."  My dad and I would catch the football game (and fall asleep to it), my sister would be in her room listening to music, my mom would do some reading, and I finally had quality time for gaming.

At this point, my Nintendo 64 ought to have been made of precious gold.  And those graphics!  Oh man, you better believe my prepubescent mind was blown away by the number of polygons they shoved into Link's pointy ears.  I owned most of the essentials; Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, Super Mario 64, Banjo Kazooie, Donkey Kong 64, Jet Force Gemini, and Star Wars Shadows of the Empire (Han Solo, eat your heart out; Dash Rendar did it all!).  I'd relax in the living room, sun beaming through through the curtains (causing the most atrocious glare on our gigantic tube TV) and dive into my quest.  Why would I spend my Sunday being a bored little kid when I could be Dash, flying around the canyons on my jet-pack and having a gentleman's duel with Boba Fett?

Today, I still take Sunday to ease my way out of one week and into the next with some gaming.  Waking up with a flip of my 3DS to check on my town in Animal Crossing New Leaf, I let my mind slowly come to attention with a casual experience.  From there, perhaps I'll do a little grinding in Dragon's Crown or replay a section of The Last of Us.  If I'm feeling particularly ambitious, I'll turn to Dark Souls to give my ass a bit of a kicking (but dammit if I don't get a little turned on by the abuse).  Whether extremely difficult or completely without challenge, I love Sunday gaming.  The callback to my life over a decade ago keeps me in tune with my inner child (and inner adult).  Its a way to unwind and take some time to explore your games without the guilt that plagues a busy week.

So on this Sunday, I say game on, because come Monday our lives start buzzing by.  Why be yourself today when you could step into the shoes of Master Chief, or Nathan Drake for a few hours and save the world?

Capcom Returning Resident Evil 7 to its Survival Horror Roots. But How Much Damage Has Already Been Done?

Fans finally have Capcom by the face.  The key is to not let go

In a recent interview with MCV (found here), Capcom has announced recognition of the negative feedback surrounding 2012's Resident Evil 6 and have stated that the next title on the docket, Resident Evil 7, will be a return to the classic horror gameplay on which the series' predecessors were founded.  That's right, the very core element of the franchise, neglected by its own creators, is finally making a comeback.  It only took Capcom ten years worth of screaming fans to realize it (though I'm sure the poor sales of RE6 rung in their ears louder than any fan's plea ever could).

Its a bit of an odd coincidence that barely three days ago, I posted my thoughts on Dark Souls II and my fear the series is slated to follow in Resident Evil's footsteps.  As a game gains recognition, its very understandable for publishers and developers alike to ask, "What we can do for the next game that will equate to even more recognition?"  And unfortunately, most companies narrow their vision to the most short-sighted answer possible; to integrate current popular features into their titles in order to set their scopes on the mass market. And we see the result time and time again; the sequels disappoint, sales begin to drop, the company tries to recover by implementing even more elements they think the general public craves (cover based shooting, weapon crafting, multiplayer) only for it to backfire with the sound of a million angry nerds.  But low and behold, history is destined to repeat itself, and even more up and coming game companies eagerly line-up for the guillotine titled, "Franchise Suicide," so long as the severed head can rest comfortably on a pillow of dollar bills.

Maybe this is just my naive observation, but it seems a lot of the companies making these mistakes are non-western developers trying to appeal to a western audience.  Just look at how Japanese publisher Square-Enix has transformed the Final Fantasy series over the years; catering more and more to a primarily North American audience (for gods' sake, Final Fantasy XIII features a character named Sazh Katzroy, a black man with an afro housing a baby Chocobo).  Capcom is still trying to scrape the bottom of the ice-cream carton that was Resident Evil 4's explosive success in the west.  And now Namco Bandai is presenting clear signs of similar strategies regarding the upcoming Dark Souls II.  I understand there is good reason to aim your product at a target, especially one as big as the Americas and Europe, but publishers make the constant mistake of thinking only one type of gamer exists in these countries.  I've said it before and I'll say it again; there is an alarming disconnect between publishers and their consumers and its plaguing the game industry.

Nope, I wasn't kidding

But let's switch back to Capcom.  Here we finally witness a company admitting its recent faults and actually announcing planned changes to alleviate these stumbles (if you can call ten years of bulldozing yourself into a hole "stumbling").  That's right fellow Resident Evil fans; we're finally getting the attention we've begged for and its paying off with a whole genre revival.  However, let's not get too excited all at once.  If we're being honest here, there is no way in hell Capcom would be reverting the series back to its roots if Resident Evil 6 had turned the profit they expected.  No matter how many more message boards, forums, and blogs continued to erupt with fan disappointment, Capcom would continue to follow the guaranteed cash flow.  They would drive thirty more stakes into the heart of the games we love until they soaked up every last drop of golden blood from the dead corpse.  And because I'm so sure of that fact, I will remain extremely suspicious regarding Resident Evil 7.  Personally, no amount of good news from the mouths of Capcom could undo the years of outright ignoring the very fans who breathed life into their company and kept it alive.

Shifting gears from all the negativity, I wanted add that I'm very proud of the gamers and reviewers alike who covered Resident Evil 6 justly.  All of the long-time fans who weren't afraid to proclaim that the game was full of flaws and without an identity (as much as it hurts to admit that one of your favorite franchises of all time is no longer what is used to be).  Gamers have always been pushovers, to a silly degree.  We'll get on the boycott bandwagon for a game one day, but the second we see something that suits our fancy, we're off preordering the Ultimate Limited Collector's Edition for $150 of our hard earned cash.  But while 5 million sales is still way too high for such a mediocre game, I'm glad that Capcom got a clear message from its fans regarding Resident Evil 6; "We do not want this."

Remember, in a capitalist economy, your dollar is your vote.  What you do and don't spend your money on could very well guarantee that thing's success, failure, change, or even revival.  I urge not just gamers, but all members playing a role in this society to really take your purchases to heart.  If you don't agree with something and it doesn't meet your standards, the best way to send a message of your distaste is to not buy it.  Show companies that they can't coast by with mediocrity and that we have standards.  Demonstrate that we're not a "one size fits all" audience and that some of us will not pump out money for what is merely a passing grade.  It comes down to us standing by our wants and using our power as consumers to steer the gaming industry to a place of quality, where publishers, developers, media, and players can all benefit equally.

Review: Dragon's Crown

Prepare for the revival of a genre long-lost; Dragon's Crown brings the side scrolling hack 'n slash back from the depths of the 2D era.  With plenty of loot to collect and a diverse set of character classes to master, I'd be impressed if you find a more addicting time sink in the next few months.

In the same fashion as the PS2's stunning side scroller Odin's Sphere and the overlooked, but brilliant Muramasa The Demon Blade (recently ported over to the Playstation Vita), Vanillaware brings yet another beat
'em up that boasts both a deep combat system and a gorgeously rendered graphics style.  The hand-drawn host of environments and heroes delivers fantasy themed valor that refuse to settle for mediocrity.  Animations are smooth, yet delivered fast and jerky in a most pleasant way.  Your movements and attacks are flawlessly chained together with a charming callback to the days of 16-bit sprites that will put the senses in awe.  Its a soothing combination of concise motions pasted over a nostalgic template of the arcade days; a stunningly crafted work of art that will keep you wrapped in its beauty.  The soundtrack, at first, doesn't seem like anything special, but after a few hours, you'll find yourself humming along to the simple tunes that never distract you from the gorgeous setting.

This particular fantasy style is likely to offend some with its over-the-top gender depictions.  The Fighter's triangle shaped torso and shoulder boulders are only exceeded in ridiculousness by the Sorcerer's ballooning breasts.  Even some NPC's and story characters are drawn to almost humorous proportions as their builds represent mere caricatures of human anatomy.  But, no matter how distracting and unnecessary it may be, it never once detracted from my enjoyment of the game (though I'm sure that won't be the case for everybody).  The problem with gender representation, for both males and females in video games, however, is a debate left for another time.  For now, let's consider the gameplay.

In Dragon's Crown, you choose from one of six unique characters; the Fighter, the Dwarf, the Wizard, the Sorcerer, the Elf, or the Amazon.  Each class has stats representing your brawler in the exact fashion you'd expect.  The Dwarf is durable and strong, but lacks dexterity.  The Wizard has devastating magical offense, but needs to keep a safe distance due to his glass cannon nature.  Along with their differences in basic numbers, whoever you choose brings their own play style to the table.  The Fighter has incredible aerial combat and can use a shield to block for allies and deliver stuns.  The Elf relies on the range of her bow to create an assault of arrows, but is limited to only so many arrows per dungeon.  The Sorcerer provides group support and even has a handy spell to create food from thin air, giving your party some emergency healing.  No matter whose finesse fits your fancy you'll have the unbreakable urge to go back and master each one for some diversity in your experience.

Customization is at the center of the fun through the engaging loot and skill system.  Leveling up your character or completing one of the many side quests will grant your character a skill point.  These can be used among two different skill pools; one contains abilities every character can learn (an extra dodge roll, more HP, and reduced cooldown between item uses) while the other pool is for skills specific to your character class (the Dwarf can upgrade his powerful Grand Smash ability or obtain explosives to carry, yet the Elf can learn to rapid shoot arrows or increase the damage to her kicking attacks).  Every skill can be upgraded, so long as you meet the level requirement, at the expense of more skill points.  Getting that next point could change your character's damage output completely, so the drive to keep leveling up and continue upgrading will ensure your TV stays on for hours longer than anticipated.

The other addicting feature, the loot system, is sure to keep you and your friends sliding back into your roles again and again.  Unlocking treasure chests and beating bosses within each level will net you a random treasure with a grade (starting with E all the way to S) and come the end of the level, you'll be presented with a cache of items.  These items, however, will have various question marks as placeholders for the stats.  You'll need to spend your valuable gold to appraise each item to learn what kind of attributes it carries.  That A ranked hand axe could have a higher damage rate than your current weapon and reduce damage taken by 12%, or it could deliver extra ice damage and perform better against undead foes.  Either way, if you want to find out, you'll need to sacrifice the gold.  The baskets of loot that come in after each level will keep your character growing, but don't discard those old weapons just yet.  Your character can also carry multiple "Bags" each containing a changeable weapon and armor set for your character to equip.  Since your gear degrades with each usage, these bags serve as loadouts of backup items ready to go when your primary set is need of repair.  And since you get large item, gold, and experience bonuses the more dungeons you conquer in succession without traveling back to town, you'll want to make sure you have plenty of options to get the job done.

Dragon's Crown isn't without its flaws however.  The levels are fairly short and there are really only nine of them.  Yes, levels will seem longer on higher difficulties because of the longer combat segments, and each level actually has two routes to explore, giving a total of 18 routes and 18 bosses.  That being said, its still a bit of a disappointment.  Considering how gorgeous and diverse the existing environments are, I would have loved to see what else Vanillaware could create.  This also becomes an issue with replayability.  Dragon's Crown will keep you busy for a long time with different characters to experiment with and plenty of loot to seek; however, seeing the same nine level themes over and over again can make grinding a bit dull.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed for some DLC in the future perhaps containing some new classes to try and more levels to dive into, but I'm not holding my breath.

But, what could be a boring experience due to the lack of levels only gets more exciting as the game goes on.  The meat of the game actually takes a while to unlock; online multiplayer isn't available until beating the first nine bosses and harder difficulties (which you'll need to play to reach the level cap) as well as the incredibly fun Chaos Dungeon don't make an appearance until you beat the game on Normal.  Multiplayer, either locally or online, is an absolute blast.  This is a party game at its finest; there is always a screen full of explosive effects to be enjoy, and while it takes time to fully master, the combat is extremely simple for almost anyone to pick up.  As stated before, running long chains of dungeons together will start a multiplier that affects your rewards, so nothing is more fun than getting a group of friends together to trudge through as much RPG action as you can. If you don't have anyone around for coop and aren't too keen on going online, AI's characters can be obtained to fill a space and join you on your adventure.  Though be wary, adding another player, human or not, will multiply the enemies' health, and AI's don't always do their part to make up for the extra difficulty.

I could point out other negative aspects of the game; sometimes you can lose your character in all the action, some online moments can be laggy when striking multiple enemies or picking up items, and the story isn't anything special with the narrator even becoming intrusively overbearing after repeating himself constantly.  But why have I cataloged over 30 hours into it already?  Why do I want to get off my computer and fire up my PS3 right now?  Why am I compelled to start a new class from Level 1 or grind out some more loot for my first character?  In the end, this game is an addiction.  Its easy to pick up and hard to put down.  Its simple enough to enjoy casually and deep enough to go bonkers over your stats and build.  Its a great game to play alone for twenty minutes or marathon for hours with your buddies.  No matter what you're seeking out of a gaming experience, mindless beat 'em ups or hero building RPGs are your ballgame, Dragon's Crown is a long-needed jump-start to this long abandoned genre that presents itself in style.

Why I'm Worried About Dark Souls II

Every death is a lesson.  Fans of FromSoftware's Dark Souls know this all too well, as 2011 became the first time gamers embraced masochistic difficulty levels since the days of the NES.  Rightfully marketed through the tagline "Prepare to Die," Dark Souls is heralded as one of the most punishing, yet rewarding experiences of this generation.

Predictably enough, a sequel has been announced for the end of March 2014.  We've seen a few gameplay demos from E3 and a teaser trailer featuring some additional unseen footage, but the majority of Dark Souls II information remains hidden from the public.  So why is it that long-time fans of Dark Souls and its spiritual predecessor Demon's Souls seem so worried about the direction the series may go?  Well, here are a few reasons:

Hidetaka Miyazaki, Director and "Godfather" of Demon's Souls and Dark Souls will not be a part of the Dark Souls II development process

In a preview featured on Edge's Online iPad app, Miyazaki states, "I will not be involved in the actual development of Dark Souls II.  I want to clarify that I will be a supervisor, not the actual director or producer." He goes on to clarify, "There will be two directors for Dark Souls II, which I have secured myself", and later admits, "The decision about the new assignments was not made by me; it was made by FromSoftware and Namco Bandai as a whole."

"It was a company decision," clarifies Namco Bandai producer Takeshi Miyazoe.

This is a problem.  You may be asking, "Well 'supervisor' still means he'll still have a big role, right?"  But, from the rest of the interview, it doesn't sound likely.  Supervisor, in this case, seems to be more apt to making sure projects are starting on the right foot and backing away to let the teams do their parts.  Again, this is a problem.  Its hard to know exactly where the fault lies or what transpired to lead to this "company decision."  Regardless, Miyazaki, an ambitious genius in crafting Dark Souls' ambiguous and mysterious world, is going to be missed.  I think Edge's staff said it best:

"This is a crushing revelation for any hardcore fan of Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls, akin to a cinephile learning that Pulp Fiction 2 is in production, but that Quentin Tarantino isn't attached to the picture."

Dark Souls story was not easy to follow and is scarcely present if you ask any casual player.  Aside from an opening cinematic and a few vague cutscenes, the narrative at hand essentially takes a backseat to the tight gameplay and obscene challenges.  But ask any hardcore Dark Souls fan, and they'll explain to you why the game has some of the deepest, darkest, and most satisfying lore to uncover that really makes your experience come full circle.  Instead of lengthy cutscenes and blatant statements of objectives, Dark Souls' dramatic story is only present in the little details of the world.  Through item descriptions, load screens, NPC dialogue, artistically crafted environments, and a lot of fan driven speculation, the history of this intertwined adventure starts to slowly make sense, as you see connected spiderweb of events and characters begin to make itself apparent.

Miyazaki intended it this way.  He has said before how he wanted the narrative of Dark Souls to be very Wiki driven and how important it was for the community to use their collective imaginations to fill in the gaps.  And he was right.  There is no doubt in my mind that the Dark Souls wouldn't be what it is today if they weren't forced to come together to exchange information and ideas regarding items, factions, world traversal, secret collectibles, and lore.  Without such a bold story, its safe to say that this dungeon crawler would not still be one of the most talked about games in the last few years.  Hidetaka Miyazaki will be sorely missed and we can only hope that his absence does not hinder the incredible story presentation of this franchise.

Tomohiro Shibuya, co-director of Dark Souls II, goes on to state that the themes, including the story, will be more straightforward

"I personally feel that the covenant system was something that was difficult to fully absorb and experience [in] Dark Souls, and I intend to make it more accessible to players. And that's not just with the covenant system, but with a lot of other aspects that I felt were difficult to adapt to. I will follow the same concepts as Dark Souls, but there were a lot of hidden story elements that some players may not have caught before, and I'm hoping to make some of that a little bit more clear or directly expressed to the player as well - not just in the story, but messaging. A lot of elements were very subtle in Dark Souls, and that was something that was characteristic to Dark Souls. But I personally am the sort of person who likes to be more direct instead of subtle, so I think that part of me will [result in] a difference [for] players when they pick up Dark Souls II. It will be more straightforward and more understandable."

Well, it looks as though my fears have already been confirmed (though, I will admit, a lot of this information could have a different meaning than how it sounds due to errors in translation).  I understand what Shibuya is going for; you spend time creating an expansive, interconnected world with a rich history, and yet half of the players who pick up your game will never understand it.  I agree, that is a shame.  A bigger shame, however, is thinking the solution is to go in the exact opposite direction with story presentation and bash the player over the head with elements and secrets that would have been a hundred times more rewarding to figure out on their own.  It seems like the co-director is misunderstanding exactly what has driven the Dark Souls community for so long and why we are so encompassed and dedicated to its lore.  Its the mystery and the gradual linking of the missing pieces that gives the experience such a gratifying overtone.

One thing story writers need to understand is that if a reader/player/watcher is into what you're presenting, they will dedicate themselves to figuring it out, no matter how vague.  This is exactly the force behind George R. R. Martin's successful A Song of Ice and Fire series.  The storytelling is vague and slow, yet deliberate and interconnected.  Fans have been reading, guessing, speculating, and interweaving the story for decades because that's half the fun of taking part in the adventure.  You can't appeal to everyone; some people are completely okay watching Game of Thrones on HBO to get their fix, but its the dedicated fans and their continuous activity that gave Game of Thrones the opportunity to exist as a show at all.  Without the original fans, without the hardcore readers and lore junkies, the series would not be what it is today.

Shibuya describes vehicles as something they want to implement in Dark Souls II

"We want to constantly think of something new that hasn't been tried before, so that's where that idea [of the chariot] came up."

A chariot?  Vehicles?  Possible horses/mounts?  My first question is "why?"  Looking back on the entirety of Dark Souls at no point do I stop and think, "You know what would make this section better?  A chariot.  Or a horse to ride."  It wouldn't fit with the overworld layout whatsoever (lots of tight corridors, dense forests, dark caverns, and castle halls) and definitely wouldn't make world traversal any easier (or maybe it would make it easier, and that would for sure be a problem considering the difficulty and dreaded danger of getting from one end of the level to the next is a key aspect in the game).

It seems as though they're trying to take a page from other RPG books.  "Is your game in a medieval setting?  Well, then you need horses and horse combat!  Didn't you hear?  That was all the rage in Skyrim!"  But what major publishers are missing is that not every game is supposed to be Skyrim.  I like Skyrim, but I don't want to buy another copy of it every single year, trudging through the same motions with mimicked gameplay elements and story ideas.  Not every RPG needs to be a strict copy of one another, in fact, that is exactly why Dark Souls is so incredibly refreshing!  And speaking of Skyrim...

Namco Bandai, Dark Souls publisher, wants to treat Dark Souls II like a AAA title in order to "widen the net"

"Demon's Souls, it was very focused, small-scale.  We're treating this [Dark Souls II] as a massive, massive triple-A title.  We're going to go guns-blazing with it, and hope to God that it works.  We're going after people who love and adore Dark Souls, while hopefully widening the net a little.  I'm not saying that every Skyrim player's going to be jumping on Dark Souls, but it would be nice if some of them did."

This statement, delivered by Lee Kirton of Namco Bandai's PR, nearly sends me over the edge.  It just goes to further show how completely out of touch video game publishers are with their consumer base.  Dark Souls was built upon a small, but loyal fanbase.  Dark Souls also sold incredibly well thanks to the word-of-mouth delivered by these fans.  But that's never enough is it?  Namco Bandai wants more; they see the RPG world as a large piece of cake, and currently Skyrim is holding the biggest slice.  As if players only want to play one type of game, over and over and over again, and can never buy or play another game so long as they own that first game.  Its incredibly insulting that RPG fans are getting lumped into one synonymous group that can be tricked into purchasing a game because it has the same features as Skyrim, or vehicle sections.

Widening the net is exactly what caused the downfall of games like Dragon Age 2, Assassin's Creed 3, Dead Space 3, Resident Evil 6, and Mass Effect 3; they have been trying to capture a bigger audience by implementing the elements that are popular at the time (3rd person cover shooting, large cinematic set pieces, weapon crafting) meanwhile throwing out all of the aspects that made the original fans fall in love, and support, the series in the first place.

Nothing is more upsetting to me; seeing an incredible IP become franchised and strapped to a milking machine the second it gains sizable attention.  The vultures swoop in to reap every drop of success they can get out of it before the sales figures start to drop.  And the worst part is, the publishers will never learn.  They'll blame the poor sales on "poor marketing strategy" or "distribution issues," never getting to the real heart of the issue; they alienate the fans that held the series on their shoulders for so long while trying to capture new fans who will never care enough to support the longevity of the franchise.

But maybe that is the age we live in; I mean, even indie titles, the rare breath of fresh air that broke the monotony of this generation are being honed in on by Sony and Microsoft (even Nintendo is starting to hop on this bandwagon) because of their growing popularity.  Both companies understand that controlling this emerging market will be key to controlling the large sum of money flow and downloads come the next wave of consoles.  All I know is that it worries me and I hate seeing series that I once loved and dedicated my time and money to get destroyed in the process of waging war over the biggest slice of the consumer pie.

Not every title needs to be AAA (isn't it funny how lately, the term AAA is more of an insult than it is a badge of honor?  To me, AAA means "cranked out as fast as possible for the sake of maintaining market share").  Its okay to capture a niche market and its okay to be satisfied with high praise and good sales instead of hungering for more money while throwing all excellency out the window.  Its incredibly short-sighted and only compounds the evidence that publishers really don't give a shit about the creative properties they manage.  They would see them all burn to the ground if it meant making another dollar.