Awesome graphics

You probably clicked the title thinking that I was going to go on some ignorant rant about bad graphics or something. Graphics have indeed evolved. I look at games like Heavy Rain and I am blown away. This isn't about 3D graphics though. This is about the evolution of 2D graphics. Why haven't they evolved? Don't get me wrong, they have evolved in titles like Odin Sphere, Muramasa: The Demon Blade,Blazblue, and King of Fighters XIII. But it's just a handful. Odin Sphere was released on a dying system in standard definition, Muramasa was pawned off to the lower resolutions of the Wii, BlazBlue will probably not reach a huge market for the fact that it is a poorly marketed new fighting game IP, and King of Fighters XIII will not be too successful because it's a KOF game.

Sadly big companies will look at this game as an example of 2D failing in the market.

Most of us grew up on 2D graphics. When the NES came out we were shocked by the quality it had over the games on the Atari-like systems. When the 16 bit era came in we had the same reaction. When the 32-bit era came in- well... it started to fade. That excitement for colorful sprites was being replaced by pixelated trashy looking 3D games. I am not really bashing those 3D games though. I understand it needed it's infancy just as much as the 2D era did with Atari. By the 64 and beyond though, 2D was dead. With only a few games carrying the torch. These games were unpopular new franchises though (Tomba anyone?). We needed the franchises that got us where we were at to continue carrying the 2D torch. They could have done this while ushering a new era of 3D. Mario has done this to an extent. It's Paper Mario games has stayed 2D and have obviously been successful. So then why don't more companies take this route? Take this route on more than the DS or PSP.


I think it's sad that the few games coming from Vanilla Ware (Odin Sphere, Muramasa) were released on a dying system, or with the Wii, a system with a crappy resolution and too much competition from crappier titles. They could be part of the evolution of 2D gaming. A lot of you will say,"HD doesn't matter, Odin Sphere looks great either way". I say to you: No, it does matter. Super Street Fighter II HD Remix has "HD" in the title for a reason.

Get an HD television.

This, but in HD.

You might say that it is too risky to test the market with such titles. They wont sell to the masses. No, it will. It will sell without a doubt. Here is an example of a game that I believe would sell over a million copies without fail:

Sonic the Hedgehog 4

This game would have nothing but hand drawn artwork and sprites. The game would run at the smoothest framerate possible and it would blow fucking minds. Even the casual "GRAPHICZORGOHOME!" crowd will understand that this game could only be done on today's hardware. You may say that it will fail because the Sonic fan-base has been betrayed time and time again. No, it will not fail. Take Mega Man 9 for example. While it isn't an new hand drawn HD Mega Man. People still forgot all of the shitty games between it and the older ones and bought the shit out of it. SSFIIHDR sold tons of copies as well. Make Sonic 4. It will sell. It will sell without a doubt.

This is what I am talking about. Even better though.

If big names like Sonic would do this, it would bring a new era of 2D gaming that the people would love. Imagine if Strider came out with a hand drawn sequel? Streets of Rage, Metal Slug, Final Fight, Battletoads, Castlevania, Metroid? Come on people. Make these games! I have been waiting since the SNES for graphics to improve! That is unacceptable.

I don't want 3D games to die. I want them to enhance tenfold. But why kill 2D in the process? You want to kill hand drawn art? For it to forever be reduced to the Gamestop pre-order concept art-book? I am not saying that 3-Dimensional graphics should replace 2-dimensional graphics.

I am just saying that the sculptor never replaced the painter.

[This article is packed with spoilers from the end of Watchmen, MGS4, Shadow of the Colossus, Braid, half-Life 2, and Final Fantasy VII. If you want to read this article without spoilers look away when you see the bold titles of these said titles.]



I was thinking last night about how Alan Moore would not have anything to do with the Watchmen movie because the comic did things that could not be reproduced in any other medium. I agree with him. The movie was not able to pull off a lot of the things that the Novel did. *SPOILERS*The abstractness of the Squid and the butchering of Dr. Manhattan's reflection scene on Mars*END SPOILERS* (I know you may disagree with these but save that for another time and arguement). I thought about how every medium of story telling art has its own unique way of portraying a story that no other medium can pull off.

Movies have the advantage of wonderful actors and directors that allow characters to be brought to life in a way that Novels and Graphic Novels cannot. Movies also have music on its side where as books do not.

Graphic novels have the advantage of being able to tell a text driven story without descriptive writing. The characters emotions and settings are told through the artists' drawings. Like in Watchmen, it can also combine other unconventional means of telling it's story like through unspoken parallels like the Smiley Face and The Black Freighter.

Novels have an advantage with the ability to go into great detail about anything and everything. This is because it is the Novels job to explain everything in text. Also, with novels, the settings are always perfect. Everything visual wise is left up to the reader. The voices are always spot on as well thanks to that being left up to the reader.

Then we come to video games.

Video Games are graced with the most amazing resources at it's disposal. Music, visuals, acting, the limit-cap of the imagination being abolished thanks to its technology- It can even use text inserts to enhance the mood of the story. There is one thing that developers are failing in though.

Finding it's own unique way of story telling that no other medium can accomplish.

What is the one thing that video games allow us to do that none of those other entertainment medias can? Interact. Not just interact. Control. We control the avatars that drive the story. I am not saying that every developer has failed in the respect. I am just saying that as a whole I don't believe that developers are paying the much needed attention to the fact that we control the character. To illustrate what kind of interactive story telling I am talking about, here are some examples:

MGS4: The Microwave sequence. While it does have cut-scenes intertwined with it, they are there to serve a purpose. That purpose being why you are in control of a dying Snake. You are actually physically a part of the story. You are having to physically control your character through an extremely emotional part of the game. This was also accomplished in MGS1 with the torture sequence, and in a few other spots throughout the MGS series. Just to a lesser dramatic extent. Oh wait, I'm sorry. The end of MGS3. Pressing the square button had never had a more powerful effect on me. I half expected it to happen again when Snake had the gun in his mouth at the end of 4.

Shadow of the Colossus: At the end of SotC you are faced with a player controlled struggle to try and reach the person you fought so hard for throughout the game. Even with the character in your control you realize that it was in vain in the end.

Braid At the end of this game you are faced with a situation where you are forced to rewind the game and watch your goal of "The Princess" slip away from you. You have to control it. You make it happen.

Half-Life 2 The whole game. Every inch of storytelling is done with you in complete control of your character. At the end of Episode 2 you are forced to watch an important character die in front of you. Let me say that once more. Die in front of you. Usually if someone dies you see them die in a cut scene. At that point it's "Aw, how sad for those characters" You may even cry, and that's fine. But when it happens in front of your own eyes it becomes much more personal. That is player controlled story-telling.

Imagine if Final Fantasy VII was to be remade and Aeris' death scene was much more emotional by making you have to walk Cloud to the pool of water to release her into its depths. It would tug at the heart strings of people who didn't even care before.

I am sure that more developers have accomplished this that I am not thinking of right now. But I still feel like the industry as a whole are not expecting it from its games. I expect it. Just as I expect movies to deliver solid acting and atmosphere. I demand books to be wrote with a sense of purpose. I am not saying kill the "cut-scene". I am merely stating what videogames have over the other guys and that I feel like every game that is trying to tell a supposedly good story should utilize the fact that we could be in control.

Image stolen from Y0j1mb0 because this image says it all

After playing this game one would be tempted to post a fail blog with just the above picture. I wont do that though. I will give a short review on what has quickly become one of my most memorable experiences in gaming. I blame me buying this game on Dtoider thefil. In his short blog he makes comparisons to Braid. Braid was an amazing experience for me that moved me in so many ways. I may only get the most basic concept of Braid's story, thank's to it being perhaps overly complex, but it still moved me in a way that blew my senses away. The extremely creative puzzle mechanics, the visual art, and the amazing music(which led me to a new favorite artist) were simply astounding. With this comparison to Braid, I became even more curious, yet at the same time even more skeptical.

I had to try it.

So I spent 10 bucks on what would be a fucking incredible experience. It was a short experience but it was a phenomenal experience. I can't wait for my wife to get home so I can tell her about it and then shortly sit her down in front of the television so that she may experience it. Flower is an experience. You forget that it is a video game, and you become the wind.

In flower you control the wind. You do this by manuvering the sixaxis controller in the direction you want to blow. Blowing is done by pressing any button on the controller. That's it. It is one of the most simple, yet elegant games I have played in a while. I suggest using the analog stick as your one button. With the power of the wind you start each level by blowing on the first flower on the screen. A pedal will fly from that flower and float in the wind. You take this pedal and move to the next flower, causing it to bloom and also gaining another pedal to your soon to be myriad of flower pedals.

As you progress through the levels you bring life to the enviroment around you. If I had to name this games theme, I guess I would simply say: Life. This game is full of it. It is a celebration of it. If you played the first level and said "Oh, wow. This is neat." You have no idea what is in store for you. Play the game all the way through. It is extremely short, but gains it's legs by being a product you will show to everybody you know. It will be like that movie you continue to distribute to friends because it is something you feel everyone should experience. The final level is one of the most emotionally powered experiences in gaming. It is gorgeous visually and the music arrives at such an emotional climax. This pacing that leads you to said level is also masterfully accomplished.

Playing the first level made me begin doubting Sony's sixaxis technology once again. After playing it more and more though, I realized it was just me. After some practice it feels much more smoother to control until you become a master at it. There are no time limits so you don't feel rushed. The music is wonderfully integrated into the gameplay as well. For each flower you bloom a note is played along with the soundtrack. As for goals in the game, I am not sure if there are any other than just playing it. The game is so graceful though, you don't care about stats and interfaces. You probably wouldn't even welcome them. As a matter of fact, I never once pressed pause during the game. I honestly have no clue if there is a pause menu.

This game is not big budget AAA title, no. Does that mean I would review it differently because? No. For what this game is, and what it does, it's near perfect. The price is low enough that you get what you pay for. Using the Dtoid review scale I give this game:

Score: 10 -- Flawless Victory (10s are as close to perfect as you will get in a genre or on a platform. Pure, untarnished videogame ecstasy.)

If you own a PS3. BUY THIS!

For some reason am a huge fan of leveling up and achieving everything possible in a contained enviroment in a JRPG. I love killing the surrounding enemies and selling whatever pelts and items I gain for gold and even maxing out the number of items I can buy of every item from the local stores before moving on. I subconsciously role play that I am making ends meat with what I have at my disposal. I like to raise my level as high as the game will sensibly let me. I use the inn as my operating base and the one or two merchants as my buisness partners. Before I set off on the epic journey that is the whole entire game. I sort of play a contained RPG experience that is simple and stripped down to its bare bones. here are some examples of the few times that I have done this in games.

One of my greatest achievements was in FFVIII. While it wasn't a test of skill, it was a test of patience and dedication.

What I did was reach level 100 with both Quistis and Squall before heading into the Fire Cavern for the first time. I also got Shiva and Quetzalcoatl to maxed levels and abilities before heading in there. Enemies level up with you in that game, but bosses do not. Every boss from that point on was incredibly easy.

After finally heading into the Fire Cavern I gained ifrit. Shortly after that I gained some more party members (Zell and Selphie I think). With them I used the magic lamp and defeated Diablos and gained him.

Well...

I took them all (Zell, Selphie, Diablos and Ifrit) to level 100 before even hopping the train in Balamb Town for the first time. I also had all the highest elemental magic at this point. It took around 20 hours if I remember correctly.

Another time involved Xenogears. I leveled Fei to past level 20 before moving on. Lahan was my home town. I killed and poached the surrounding creatures for gold. I also had a ridiculous amount of attacks unlocked(death blows I think they were called?) before ever entering the Forest.



I also did something similar to this in FFVII. I stayed in Midgar forever. Cloud was leveled up quite a bit before I ever exited. This wasn't as enjoyable though because of the fast paced linear nature of that part of the game.

It is rare when I do this with a game though. The game must provide a good means of getting XP, provide just the right atmosphere (there can't be an immedient crisis), and it should provide a relaxing atmosphere so that it feels like I am playing the equivalent to a laid back puzzle game.

It's not always at the begining of a game though. If somewhere in the game a nice location pops up, I will set up camp and level for a good while before moving on.

Recently I started the first Phantasy Star. It has a handful of towns all in the same are and a ton of enemies right from the start. Some of the enemies are hard as balls and require leveling up right from the start. This is the perfect setup. I will sink 20 hours into the begining of Phantasy Star before I even move forward with the actual story.

Has anyone else ever gamed like this? If so, what are some of your experiences? Or should I just get some help?

Over the holidays me and a buddy of mine played through one of the best beat-em-ups to ever grace a console. That game is called The Warriors. It was our third play through since the game came out in 2005. Rockstar’s The Warriors is not one of the most overrated games of our time, nor is it one of the most underrated games of our time. What The Warriors is ,is one of the most criminally overlooked games of our time.

I am writing this blog because I feel like the gaming community does not talk about this game enough. I loved the Streets of Rages, and the Final Fights. I also loved the Ninja Turtle series, but there is no reason any of these games should be mentioned thirty times for every one time The Warriors is mentioned. Did I just say that? Yes. I did. The Warriors is that fucking good. Does it reinvent the genre into some foreign entity? No, what it does is evolve the beat-em-up series in the direction that beat-em-ups would have taken, had this game been more successful.

If you enjoy this game, awesome. Read this so that you may agree with the points represented here. If you love the genre and have not played this game, read this so that you may go out and by this game asap, so that you may know what these "Bad Mother Dudes" are all about.



The Warriors video game is based upon the 1979 cult classic film of the same name. Yes this is a movie game. Thanks to the fact that the source material is from a 1979 cult film though, the development process was treated with more respect and time than a normal present day film to game adaptation.

Simply put, this game is the best movie game in existence. Period.

Rockstar showed a ridiculous amount of respect to the source material. Most people who have played this game and also seen the movie will tell you that the game goes beyond the film. Rockstar went as far as to gather the majority of the original cast from 25 years ago. The result was better acting than the film, thanks to 25 years of maturing under these actors belts. Most of them weren't even actors anymore.

The game captures the atmosphere of the film and then enhances it tenfold. Where the movie’s setting is basically a two hour chase sequence, the game sets up a complete prequel to the film. With the flashback missions, it even sets up a prequel to the prequel, but we will get into that later. The film chronicles the aftermath of a gang meeting in New York City where, Cyrus, leader of the Riffs, is assassinated. In the chaos that ensues after Cyrus’ death, the Warriors (the gang themselves) are wrongfully pinned as the culprits. The Riffs then send the word to capture or kill the Warriors. The movie follows the ups and downs of this hunt.



Enter the game. Rockstar crafted a complete sequal to the original film. With this new story, we get to see characters that were otherwise minor in the film, come to life as fully fleshed out characters in the story. Complete with personality and official voice actor. Some characters in the film didn’t get but a few lines of dialog. Now with this new delivering of the story, every character has gained equal ground of importance within the story. This allows every player to choose a favorite Warrior. Trust me though. The Warriors are a single fucking badass entity, and you will have respect for each character (even if they are a gang involved in illegal activity, that’s besides the point though, this is fiction).

Included with the prequel are the equally fleshed out flashback levels. These levels chronicle the formation of the gang itself, and how each of the nine core members of the Warriors came to be involved. These levels are just as big and exciting as the normal levels, yet they are completely optional.

With all of this extra room to expand on The Warriors universe, it has allowed for the game to expand on a lot of the gangs that you see in the movie yet, like the characters themselves, are not fleshed out as important story elements. In this game, every gang gets a part in the overall story arch. This gives the game itself a richly detailed world for just being a simple beat-em-up.



Gameplay and story are seamlessly integrated into one being. I suppose this is easy by the fact that gangs are all about territory and fighting each other. Two things that translate well into video games. I have never played through this game as a one player experience. I do know that a lot of the moves have quick cinematic camera angles on single player though. I prefer the normal camera in co-op mode though.

This game should be played with a friend anyways. It’s one of the greatest co-op games I have ever played. This game has so much character that you and you’re buddy will embody the personalities of the characters you are playing. You will find yourself repeating some of the lines that the Warriors will say out loud while playing, and you won’t feel embarassed. This may sound odd. Perhaps me and my friend are demented or something but, you will bond over this game while brutally murdering opposing gangs.

Gameplay is amazing fun. Each character has a unique fighting style. Combos are executed in the normal fashion like any other beat-em-up, but equally implemented is a grappling system, and let me tell you:

These are some of the most brutal and most satisfying grab moves you will ever pull off.



All nine characters have their own unique Power Moves. When grappling an opponent you can execute one standing up, or one while you have your opponent on the ground. Cleon will grab an opponent’s face and bash their head into the ground with a sickening bloody thud three times before he bitch slaps them and then crawls off their body (usually they are dead after this). You have a rage meter that fills up and allows you to pull off two more power moves that are twice as brutal as the normal ones. When Cleon is in rage mode, that same move turns into one where he elbows the guy in the face flipping him over on his stomach, then Cleon proceeds to jump onto his back with his full weight and twist his body to break his back.

You have to play the game to feel the sensation. These attacks feel very visceral with the help of well placed vibration in the controller and sickening, meaty, sound effects.

The game pays complete homage to past beat-em-ups as well. It has all the clichés like, baseball bats, knives, beer bottles, crutches, guitars, drums, pool cues, pool sticks, chairs, cash registers, trash bags, trash cans, machetes, Molotov cocktails, spray paint, sledge hammers, crowbars, meat cleaver, plunger, axe, etc. It even has a fully fleshed out sidescrolling oldschool style beat-em-up called The Armies of the Night that you unlock after beating the game.



Most of the main weapons have tons of attacks you can pull off. The detail that went into this game is ridiculous. Take the knife for example:

From behind the enemy in a grapple you stab the knife into the spine and twist it.

From in front of the enemy you stab it into their stomach and lift them off the ground to slam them into the pavement with the knife still in them.

When you grapple them on the ground you stick the knife into the side of their neck and twist.

Regular melee combat with the knife is very knife fight like and damaging.

During the knifes double team attack (yes the game has fucking incredible double team moves) one guy holds the enemy while the other one stabs him in the gut and leans into the knife to add more weight.

You can also throw the knife into an enemy’s chest for an instant kill.

And finally, when you are in the shadows hiding and you do a stealth kill from behind with the knife in hand, you will slit their throats open.

That is 7 ways to use just the knife. While it is the most versatile of the weapons, all the weapons have a certain charm to them.

I could go on and on about the combat system and about how simple, yet detailed it is. It may sound like over the top violence, but it’s not. The combat feels like a fight for survival more than senseless murder. They are out to kill you just as much as you are them. Throughout the game you play as all the Warriors. You also have a home base where you can improve your skills and access all the other gameplay modes.



There is also a competitive mode where you can face off against a friend in a plethora of different game types. You can also do this with every character you come across in the game(well over a hundred). Through optional objectives you can unlock playable characters for the multiplayer modes. These optional objectives involve the mini-games that you can do in the game.

All of the mini games are quick, fun, and never get repetitive, and are enhanced by the fact that you need to carry them out quickly because of your hostile environment. They are executed in simple enjoyable ways, like for example, when stealing a car radio you bash out the window and then press Y (or X if PS2). Then you unscrew four screws to take the radio out by rotating the controller stick in a 360 motion. It’s all done quickly and simple. All of the other mini games are the same way.

The music is a lot of the original music from the film and a lot of ambient synth music that adds to the ambient, raw atmosphere. It truly sets the mood for a dark street in a gang ridden part of town. This game is very immersive thanks to the score. At the same time it adds to its attitude, something this game has much of.

The detail that went into this game is unmatched for it’s genre. Yet at the same time it keeps everything super simple, and super fun. From the ominous title screen showing Coney Island’s Wonder Wheel rotating methodically in the dark background, to the way that everytime you die, at the game over screen the smooth-voiced female DJ mentions who killed you and where you were “bopped”.



Detail, love and care went into this game. In the way that Kojima Productions or Valve treat their games. You will not find another game in the genre like this. Also, if you hated GTAIV now, you will hate it even more after playing this game. GTA could have taken pointers from the combat system in this game. This game will make you realize how dumbed down of a game GTA is for the masses. After playing this game, GTA’s combat system will be laughable.

You should get this game. I can’t stress it enough. It’s fucking incredible. I suggest you get it for the original Xbox though if you can. The reason for this is because you can actually play the game in 720p resolution which makes the game look terrific for its age and allows it to stand the test of time even further. PS2 is fine though if that is all you can manage, it's what I played it on the first time. It isn’t backwards compatible with the 360 (why I don’t know, hopefully they want to put it on Originals). You would have to have component cables to display in HD for the original Xbox. It’s worth it though if you can.

This game will not disappoint. Play it with a friend, bashing a guy’s head into a brick wall together never gets old. If you want to experience one of the most raw, atmospheric, immersive, badass, fun, brutal, bloody, take-no-prisoners games ever, this game is for you.

Only one question remains:

"Can you dig it?"





The Warriors official site. There are two different versions, just reload the page until you get it.

I have seen recently alot of people labeling Left 4 Dead simply a Zombie Shooting Half Life 2 Mod. If that is truely the case, as it is in so many of your opinions, then more than half the games we play are just simple glorified mods of previous games. While we are at it, all FPS and 3rd person shooters using the Unreal Engine are just Unreal Tournament mods and Gears of War mods. What other games are mods because they just happen to use the same game engine?

Vice City and San Andreas? Mods.
Halo 2? Mod.
CoD:WaW? Mod.
God of War 2? Mod.
Gears of War 2? Mod.
Resident Evil 2 and 3? Mods.
Devil May Cry 2 and 3? Mods.
Zelda Majora's Mask? Mod.
Perfect Dark? Mod.
Metroid Prime 2 and 3? Mods.
Portal? Oh you better believe it's a mod. It's from Valve.

This list can go on and on. Just because a developer uses the same engine for its future games does not mean it is simply a mod. Left 4 Dead, like many of the games on this list, used it's own in-house game engine. Yet offers totally new things to the genre. Perhaps even more so than some on this list. Left for dead has a completely new level design from Half Life 2, the physics engine was tweaked to not be so open-ended, the pacing of the game is drastically different, the weapons are different than Half-Life 2, yet at the same time they are like dozens of other titles(shotgun, pistol, etc.) It has a completely new cast of characters that rival anything that I have seen in the "Mod" community, brand new enemy models and concepts, original music, new textures, new voice actors, and most importantly:

The AI Director. An innovation in the way we play co-op games forever.

In almost every review I read or watch, I never see the word "mod" throw around in the comments section. That is, unless its Left 4 Dead or Fallout 3. Is it because they are PC games? Why should they be punished for giving their community awesome tools to mod for their game? By punished I mean, you putting games that the developer makes on the same level as amatuer modders. They are stand alone games, despite using the same engine. They involve teams of over 100 people to make. Far more than any community mod.

Fallout 3 has a new weapons system, combat system, enviroment, etc. Just because it uses the same dialog system (which in itself is changed) does not make it a mod. Valve's Left 4 Dead does everything different from any previous outings. And the fact that they have the AI Director, puts any of those community Zombie mods to shame (and also makes them better).

Mod is short for Modification. They didn't just modify Oblivion into Fallout 3. They didn't just modify Half-Life 2 into Left 4 Dead. They used a set of tools that they both worked extremely hard to create to make games, not games that the ignorant can simply cast aside as mods.