CC Gamers

Mon, 23 Oct 2006 12:11:04 GMT

I had big expectations for Fallout. It frequents “Best Ever” lists as a highly original and enjoyable rpg that every gamer should play once. I had spent a week downloading it via a torrent (though as soon as I see this in store, it’s mine) which served no greater purpose then to build excitement. It was set in a post-apocalyptic, dystopian society with a solid dash of black humour and laser guns; it had all the components of a great game.

Install, start-up, enjoy the intro movie. At the husky murmur of “war, war never changes” I knew I was in for something special, tingly spine and everything. New-game, modify character, start. A by-the-book brawns character, easy to play in most RPG’s. Fairly standard start-up for my seasoned taste for RPG’s. Another movie, something about getting a water-chip in a number of days or my vault-dwellers die. I get treated to some bland and dated visuals. Once you love this game, it’s pretty in it’s own way but DAMN was it ugly on first go.

It took me a while to figure out how to play. Right-click switches between movement and action. Standard point and click, hold down on action cursor for a number of interaction options. It can literally be played with one hand, which is good for eating noodles, or taking down notes for the game. Then a rat spotted me. The whir I would eventually learn to love went off, a panel slid open and the red-lights went green. I had somehow entered combat.

The rat advanced. Slowly, ever so bloody slowly, and utilising my discovery of the right click I soon learned how to attack. Stuck unarmed I aimed my first blow with a whopping %40 chance of hitting! WTF? Soon all his ratty friends joined in and slowly I died, only managing to take out one of them before I went. Muttering darkly I questioned whether or not I was playing the same fallout as the legends spoke of.

Rolling up a new character, something a bit speedier with a high melee skill, I set forth against the cursed rodents again. With this character I discovered some brilliant things. The Inventory system, allowing me to wield a gun and a knife, the ability to speed the game up, making combat infinitely more bearable, and the ability to switch attack types. Suddenly I understood action-points, after a few goes I managed to dive into the intricacies of character development.

The game started to come together. I was a wanderer, scraping a survival from whatever I could salvage. The choice between leather armour and ammunition for my pistol was a difficult one. So was scraping those last few bottle caps for a stimpack. The graphics, though crude, projected a grim and harsh landscape. Sure everyone was clones of each other but rather then viewing it as a technical limitation, I prefer to see it as a symbol of the faceless broken hearted collective of the surviving population. There are some colourful characters here, from the bright and cheerful Tandi, to the noble and laid back Killian, to Harold the lovable mutant and even the cruel and small-hearted Gizmo set up intriguing and delightful sub-plots that supplement the main quest beautifully. There’s also Dogmeat, a canine companion who joins you early in the game and makes a great hobby of biting people repeatedly in the face. We’ve spent some great time together, and I nearly shed a tear when the super mutants critical hit with the mini-gun tore him to pieces, a shot meant for me.

Which brings me to my next point, this game gives a sense of freedom like no other game I’ve ever played. You can do whatever side-quests you want, the way you want to, or skip them altogether. You can save the lives of everyone, or take the roll of a villain, scorned by all and sealing the doom of the planet. You can play a gunslinger, a heavy guns expert, a nimble thief, a charismatic diplomat and all characters can play through the game differently. This adds replay value like you wouldn’t believe, fiddling with new characters, seeing how differently the story plays out.

The best example is the raider’s camp, when you can choose to rescue Tandi who has been kidnapped from Shady Sands. I’ve done the raiders camp three times. First as a diplomat, I talked the leader into releasing Tandi. Then as a gunslinger I hired a mercenary and shot them all to hell, for a massive profit I might add. I played a thief character, sneaking into the camp to free Tandi. Unfortunately on the way out, Tandi decided it would be a good idea to stab a guard in the face. Returning to the camp a little later I snuck in, stole everyone’s stuff, and threw a molotov cocktail at the leaders face running off into the night. They are soooo going to be pissed when I return with a flamethrower >:D. Other options I haven’t tried include paying the leader for Tandi’s return, or facing him in hand to hand combat.

This has become a favourite game, on par with others such as Perfect Dark, Nolf, Zelda and Grim Fandango. It’s a game that’s THAT good, and I’ve only just scratched the surface of what I am informed is the superior sequel.

As such I’ve come up with a new award, the HOLY FUCK PLAY THIS GAME award, reserved for games that are not only completely faultless, but I will turn to again and again in the future because there is nothing quite like it. It is a game that has changed my perspective on games forever, a game that is just so brilliantly fantastically good. It is a game worthy of the mathematically incorrect 11/10 (yes I know it could be interpreted as a mixed fraction, but people, it’s a review scale, the 10 represents a maximum.Thus rendering the 11 paradoxical as you just cannot have more than the maximum, unless you’re fallout <3)

June Rant Game of the Month

Mon, 10 Jul 2006 11:40:39 GMT

Huh, just realised it's July.

Way to entirely skip June's game of the month, which I have just decided now is going to be...

Baten Kaitos.

Granted I have had this game for a while now but it has sadly been overshadowed a fair bit. Time to let it shine and I guarantee it is a shiny, shiny game. From the very moment it is started it grabs you by the throat and screams "I SHINE". After wrestling the freaky robot tentacles down it starts to get a little better. Time to break it up CC_Gamers style!

The Look
Shiny, pretty take your pick. We have cloud worlds, sunsets, rainbows and lakes. Sugary worlds, airships, villages and sankes. (Admittedly I'm yet to see a snake I just needed to make it rhyme) But here is the best part, everything in this game is drop-dead gorgeous. Colours everywhere, particle effects to drool over. It is perhaps the damn prettyiest game on Gamecube and probably on a lot of other consoles to. To me gameplay means everything (why I am still partial to the odd game of nethack.)

Conclusion: Views to write home about, a pretty, pretty, pretty game.

The Feel
Nice standard familiar RPG romp. Nifty little card system that combines depth and flex into something pretty and fun. Easily one of the better card-based games out there. And then there is running around. In order to make the game more pretty (I speculate...) they use a fixed camera system, to create a fixed (but animated) environment. This means that sometimes doors are a bit hard to identify, and collision has a few glitches in it, but nothing serious. It's like dancing in a painting in which you get to beat the crap out of things every now and again.

Conclusion: Plays just fine. Slow and tactical battle system is interesting enough not to get boring.

The First Half Hour
Voice acting is really really bad. Not resident evil original bad but poorly acted in a bucket type bad. Everyone sounds strangely nasal. Maybe it's something in the atmosphere, they do all live in the clouds. Fortunately it proves to be a most endearing trait, and the soundtrack is also bang-on with a mixture of orchestral, rock and even a few hip-hop tracks (which aren't so bad, go figure). Standard RPG fare = cutscenes longer than your pants. Lots of button mashing YEAH I THINK I CAN GUESS THE PLOT and when you do gain control and walk out of the hut you of course run INTO ANOTHER BLOODY CUTSCENE! Then you get to the meat of playing, smash a few monsters in the face and then it all comes together... Nice

Conclusion: Plot is mildly of interest, but that's fine because the game is good for playing and looking.

And really that's all there is to the game. Plot has no bearing on just how awesome it is.

Score 10/10
Though all rant games have already achieved this based on principal.

That's why it has earned game of the month for june!

Thu, 06 Jul 2006 03:02:32 GMT

So, found myself with a lot of spare time after the AST Writing Task trial so I decided to compose an epic Resident Evil poem in rhyming couplets. I finished it and left it on my desk where I had been informed it would be safe. Coming back to it, it was gone. This is the second version written, squeezed into the time left after the Multi and Short answer questions, not quite as good as the original but I'm informed it is still very good indeed.

This is the story of a hunter named Sid

Who during the outbreak ran off and hid

He wasn't as scary as the others you see

Instead he collected pressed flowers and tea

Where all the hunters were vicious and mean

Sid would polish his scales to a gleam

Wesker was furious, Birkin was vexed

When Sid sat and read Shakespearean text

The others teased and mocked him mercilessly

As they slaughtered zombies totalling 103

When it came Sid's turn he stood and he stared

Until the zombie attacked then he fell over scared

Then came the day of the viral outbreak

Asleep in his cage, Sid was dreaming of mud cake

A big one with sprinkles for Wesker and Birkin

So that they would respect him and give him a jerkin

All of a sudden Sid awoke with a start

His cage had been opened, the lock was apart

Could it be freedom? Was it a cruel joke?

As Sid stepped out he forced back a choke

The lab was in chaos, his home cleaved asunder

Off in the distance were wails and thunder

Flames near by gave off smoke smelling sour

Burning was all of Sid's tea and pressed flowers

Startled and panicked Sid started to run

Around him were signs of the others sick fun

He ran through corridors past many a horror

Two lickers, a tyrant, a zombified florist

He eventually found safety behind a staircase

So others could find him he marked a map with a S

Befriending a typewriter he sat and hid tight

Whispering to Cedric that everything will be right

Birkin would come, and so would Wesker

And they could make everything better

Suddenly a door swang open with a clatter

As footsteps approached Sid's heart did shatter

A girl walked down slowly, she was clutching a map

Sid knew deep down this would end in mishap

Things couldn't get worse and then the bitch spoke

"Is this really a save room or some sort of joke?"

Under her breath something dark she was mumbling

Sid couldn't believe she didn't hear his heart humming

She was clearly after Cedric, his typewriter friend

To be quite clear Sid didn't know how this would end

Something snapped inside him at that moment

He just couldn't take any more of this torment

He sprang into action, jumped out feeling boosted

She turned around screaming as something exploded

Sid fell to the ground, his chest was ablaze

He had been hit neatly with a Acid grenade

The girl walked towards him firing again and…

Claire / 12/ Stairway

Expect a lot more updates now it's the holidays!

Grim_Chook bringing you special feature!

Thu, 15 Jun 2006 09:36:11 GMT

Having been a few debates on the controls of a particular game recently, I've decided to write an article as to what I consider constitutes good and bad controls. Purely for my own self-indulgent interest in getting in black and white what I look for when I'm playing a game.

So what constitutes good and bad control? Control is what you do in a game, it makes all the difference between a win and a loss. Control is the second barrier between you and the game, the first barrier being skill. So by this concept of control the best sort of control is that which isn't there, or 'natural' control so that the game becomes a matter of skill.

In a 2d era of games long ago games tended to be kept simple. The very first Sonic game, the first game I ever bought, indeed one of the first things I saved up my pocket money and bought, is a prime example. The player controlled Sonic with a d-pad (directional pad, the cross thing) and practically one button. The d-pad moved left and right, a, b, and c jumped. The most difficult thing to remember was the spin attack, whilst running press down. These are controls that are simple and make sense and fulfil the first requirement of good control, intuitiveness.

The next characteristic of control is tightness. This refers to the delay between a button press and the occurence of the action. In a game such as Sonic, which mostly consists of running like dickens making split second decisions, for the character to jump when you say so can make the difference between getting past an obstacle or losing a life, ultimately the game. I've played games with delayed controls for many reasons, and it is tough, often when you react, it is already too late. Sonic fortunately had controls tighter then men in tights (and that's tight!), another thumbs up.

Finally there is an issue of control application in game design. For instance, a lot of games (especially earlier ones) are driven by a concept called collision. If Sonic hits badnik and is not spinning = dead sonic. If Sonic is spinning and has collided with badnik = play death animation and score points. More importantly, if Sonic is touching a platform, Sonic may not plummet to death. Some games have really shoddy collision, many a player has almost completed a tricky platform sequence to mysteriously fall through the last platform and die. Even worse is when you travel through a badguy and the badguy turns around and kills you. No joke, and yes these sorts of bugs ruin a game, particularly when platforms are hard to see and in isometric games (argh).

Eventually gaming headed into a fully 3d environment, and suddenly games became more confusing to produce. Collisions became harder to detect yielding funny and frustrating results. Intuitiveness went entirely out the window as games came with a dozen new controls. Controls to move in all directions, and jump and perform certain actions to interact with a much more complicated environment. When you twiddle an analog stick should the character turn, or just start moving in that direction? on what side of the cube is the character on? Design became harder as collision became an even greater issue, and then there was camera.

If you have a character moving in many different directions in a fully 3d environment how do you look at it? From the side you only end up playing a 2d game, from behind the character you cannot see what's behind the character. How close is to close that you can't see anything to save your life? Many solutions have been constructed to get around this. Free Camera tends to keep a camera behind the players character unless the player changes the camera with a seperate set of controls. Great! Now I can look at the game how I want, but it's one more thing to think about, one more thing to react with. The game becomes more complicated. So how about a first person view? To see the game through a characters eyes is especially involving for the player, control is intuitive, using a mouse to look where you wat to look. This sadly alienates the character (how much do YOU know about Gordon Freeman beyond the cutscenes?), and plays awfully on a console. The mouse is capable of intricate, sudden and subtle movements. This does not translate well to the analogue stick. Suddenly you need two of them to play, and if they are to sensitive your aim whizzes past, to slow and you're already dead, and when moving about in a firefight it is incredibly difficult to steady aim on one point.

I can play First Persons on a console but will never like it. Ever.

So what else? There is fixed camera. It is fantastic for slower paced games such as rpg's and adventure games, but if you need to act fast, these sorts of games tend to come with the fiddliest controls. When it works it works well. When it doesn't a little girl somewhere cries.

So thats what I look for when I'm talking gameplay. I want controls I don't need to think about, that pits my skill against the computers. They need to make sense beyond the thinking level, you shouldn't have to look down or push several buttons. They need to work well and should be responsive, the mistake should be my own, not because the ^$%& console decided not to respond. Finally the controls need to fit with the game. When this works you get 'natural' control, the best sort of control.

Hope you like it!

Tue, 13 Jun 2006 08:53:24 GMT

Decided to disappear for a while. Might start a blog later down the track, might not, who can tell?

Still going to be around, you'll just have to catch me on the Giantitp boards or at grim.chook@gmail.com

Don't ask why, I don't know myself.

Joshua - June game of the Month

Fri, 09 Jun 2006 12:08:19 GMT

Wow, my first rant game of the month.

PONG

Cause pong is just awesome isn't it? I mean it's just so intense! With the paddles and the ball and the paddles and the bloops and the, yeah man it's all good with pong.

Actually no I've changed my mind.

THIS MONTHS RANT GAME OF THE MONTH IS HELLO KITTY ROLLER RESC*HURK*...

*Joshua has unfortunately been painfully eliminated in a way not fully disclosed but likely involving forks, a fire hydrant and a goat. CC_Gamers wishes Joshua peace in the afterlife and would like to add they were not involved in any way because there are "no hard feelings"* Nice working with you Joshua.

callyfin: Rant Game of the Month

Fri, 02 Jun 2006 12:36:32 GMT

Technically a day late, but school commitments and lack of time has had us here at CC_Gamers a bit tied for time. Of course, there are plenty of spoilers ahead in the review (but none so bad they brutally spoil the whole story, moreso just explain the sequence of events). You've been warned :D

This months rant game of the month is BioHazard Ø for the GameCube.

This year, 2006, marks the 10th Anniversary of the BioHazard series (known as Resident Evil outside of Japan), so it's only fitting that I can fan-girl about one of the most outstanding and different adaptions to the series. Zero was the first game to utilize the zapping system, and the third game to allow a character to leave items. It also had some of the most complex puzzles in the series due to having to use a number of keys or items and having to not only retrieve them, but store them somewhere safe so that when you need them, you can get them without getting mauled by your resident Cerberus.

Plot
Set a day before the events in the original BioHazard (Remake, really). The S.T.A.R.S bravo team helicopter has to take an emergency landing when the engine malfunctions. Upon landing a MP vehicle is uncovered. It was being used for prisoner transportation of a man named Billy Coen. From there on in, the Bravo team is met with hell. Rookie of the group, Rebecca Chambers, separates from the team to search the area and comes across a train, the Ecliptic Express. Little does she know it's Umbrella Inc. owned, and at this stage of the time-line, little does anyone know of Umbrella's sinister secrets.

It's here that everything turns to shit for our very young heroine. The dead bodies in the train start to re-animate and hunt, she looses a team member before her eyes, meets up with Billy Coen (and threatens to arrest him, cuff him, and shoot him multiple times). She meets a crazy leechman and if not for the help of her new-found partner, Billy, would have met with a slimey end. Billy demands that they should stick together, and Rebecca, after witnessing these horrors, agrees.

From the train they move on to an abandoned Umbrella Training Facility. So out of use the carpets spring with the heavy dust with each step. More and more secrets are uncovered, and both have their own near-brushes with death on multiple occasions (Rebecca almost meeting demise in a bottomless cavern). From the facility they escape to an old chapel, with a secret dormitory hidden beneath the surface. More secrets are uncovered, and for a while, Billy and Rebecca are separated by an attack. Rebecca meets Enrico, the head of her team, and despite his insistance to not, she demands to separate again to find Billy. He did, after all, save her life and she felt like she owed it to him.

The Proto Tyrant attacks, and she's stuck with her back against an elevator while facing it. Eventually Billy and Rebecca meet up again, mow through hoards of zombies, and take out the Proto Tyrant once and for all, and uncover a whopper of a secret/just plain creepy event. They have a show down against a giant, bulbous mound of leech flesh (The Queen) and manage to escape just before the facility goes down in traditional self destruct style.

Conclusion: BAM. An amazing start to the series as a whole, giving it a new light and shedding light on the shady past of Umbrella Inc. Zero sets a cement-sturdy base to an already strong series. There are also some very familiure and interesting locations featured in Zero (see a section below for more details).

Gameplay
Very addictive, very pretty, but also amazingly hard. Even on easy mode this game presents a mental challenge worthy of a mention here. The enemies are hard in this game, bar the final fight with the Proto Tyrant and the encounters with zombies. BioHazard just isn't BioHazard without a whole lot of puzzles. Puzzles present a hard challenge in this game because of the items system.

The new items system in Zero makes for tears of frustration until you get used to it. Your characters (Billy and Rebecca) each have only six item slots. Taking that into account, factor in having a weapon and ammo at all time, that leaves you with about 7-8 item slots between the two of them at any one time. The magic-box, the save room key feature of all the previous BioHazard games are non-existant in this game. Instead, items can be dropped in room and, so you don't loose track of where they are, are marked out on the game map. The number of items you can drop in each room is actually limited to room size and room type, but you figure it out by experience. The only issue with this is you have to learn how to do en-mass item shifts if you've moving on (say, from the facility to the chapel). Another interesting note is how realistic the carrying system actually is because of the limitations: If you carry a shotgun or a grenade launcher, it takes up two item slots because of it's massive size, while a handgun and it's rounds take up one item slot each.

Other factors of realism are the movements of the characters. Rebecca is small and nimble making her a pretty fast runner, but she also takes damage easilly because there is nothing much to her, while Billy can take a couple of good hits because, lets face it, he's built like a tank. Placed together these two are a mean fighting team, but when split up it's easy to be overcome by the un-dead. Speaking of, the zombies are fairly easy to off in this game, mainly because you can shoot them, leave the room, go back in and finish them off (without them being two feet away from you) as they retain damage dealt to them. The only issue with the monsters is later on when you face packs of Elimiators (mutated white baboons), Hunter (reptilian creatures), or Leechmen. It's a good mixture of action and puzzle solving, though. Just really tough if you're not prepared for it.

Conclusion: It's intense gameplay that never gets old (unless you're limping around on danger and there are no herbs in sight). It's also awesome to see old things re-appear in this one. The good ol' typewriter system still being there, a power puzzle from BioHazard 2, a statue puzzle that is the equivilent hell to the crest puzzle from BioHazard (or the mask puzzle in Rebirth) and the return of the traditional piano-opening-wall trick (and laugh at who plays it. Laugh.) The story is amazing, though, and drive the game hard and fast.

Experience
Holy shit is this game beautiful. The BioHazard games have earnt a new title in the gaming industry for being the creators of some of the most beautiful and haunting scenery and models in a game. Everything done in the game uses the in-game engine save for the very first opening scenes, two scenes done in the training facility, and the ending scenes, which are all done as FMVs (which makes them even prettier again). The music is also haunting and really fits the scene. The musical team (Ichiro Kohmoto, Riyou Kinugasa, Ryoue Takagi, Shingo Kataoka, Ayumu Murai, Takashi Honda, and Seiko Kobuchi - what? no Masami Ueda from.. EVERY OTHER TITLE?) did the most amazing job at capturing the horror, and creating an eerie feeling with the heavy use of high-strung violins and cinematic string and orchestral pieces, mixed with some action-driven pieces set to get the blood pumping. The sound effects are to die for. The game has full use of stereo sound, and if the user has it, Dolby Digital... The monsters are all around you.

The control system is also wonderful (though my comrade here at CC would disagree, sadly) once you've learnt the mapping of the buttons. Hold B and you run (down and B hit quickly allow for a quick 180 turn), press A for action and to fire when you hold the right trigger down. Left trigger adjusts the aim. X and Y are used for your item menu and your partner zapping system and Z draws the map. The characters move quite smoothly, and again, with a realistic approach. They don't just run around in every which direction like a nancy, but have controlled, concise movements that relate to their training (play enough and you'll notice Billy and Rebecca walk and run quite differently, aim differently, and do different little things that are induvidual, not pre-mapped for anyone and everything).

Another thing to note here is that the Japanese version of the game (which is actually what I'm reviewing since I've been playing the Japanese version for the past while now) runs at a much higher frame-rate to the US-NTSC/PAL version for some reason. It makes the game much faster, and actually pushes the GameCube more than the PAL disc (I can hear it reading the disc every now and again in cutscenes on the J-NTSC version).

Conclusion: This game also made me scream in the middle of the day multiple times from it's scare factor, and made me cry with emotion from what happens to the characters. It's hard to not get hooked in. The music is also very addictive and sends shivers down your spine. And I've played this game for hours on end with a bandaged up wrist (no movement in my wrist..) which prooves how natural it is to use the controls provided for the game without needing to suddenly jerk a part of one's hand to a specific button.

Charm
There are three major points of charm to be made here:

1. This game draws on getting you hooked into the horror by making the characters pretty damn believeable.
The voice acting in this gets me, though, and has a lot of charm on it's own. Rebecca's voice isn't grating like it is in Remake (or the original BioHazard for that matter) and Billy...

~~Fuck me roman that's a sexy southern drawl hidden in that voice~~.

has a wonderful voice actor, so different to the norm of BioHazard's male VO team. I mean, there are parts of the game where the voice acting gave me chills because of the emotion PUT into it (ala, Rebecca screaming Billy's name in the most frightened tone I've ever heard in a post-dormitory cutscene.)

2. Killing with molotov cocktails.
I mean, you can carry a small army of these. All you need is a gasoline can and a bottle and you've got your first one. They're the best for taking out leechmen who are weak against fire (handy hint, don't waste any projectile bullets or acid rounds) or for groups of zombies. Come on guys, it's a freaking molotov cocktail. That's just awesome.

3. The zapping system.
I've never seen a game with such a well done zapping system before. You can monitor your partners health and status with your own on the one screen, you can heal eachother (technically) and you can swap items and weapons between the characters. Some parts of the game can only be done with certain characters, and other parts (namely a good few puzzles) need to be done as a team. Yes, you do spend most of the game nurturing two characters, but the AI isn't retarded, they at least help you shoot things down! The handy thing is if you're separated and another character runs into strife in another room while you're not watching, you can either run to the aid of the character, or zap to them to flee. You can also leave a character in poor health in a safe room for a while if you have no healing items and go get some without getting your partner killed in the hunt and causing a game-over.

Another point I'd like to make is the one I mentioned before at the start about familiar locations. A large number of locations from BioHazard 2 actually feature in Zero. There is a point at which you ride a cable car to a dead factory (yes, the one any veteran player will go "hey, wait, this is.." at) which means that you've traveled from the Training Facility to the very outskirts of Raccoon City (the cable car ride time is not specified, it could have been thirty minutes to a couple of hours). Yes, the dead factory control room is revisited, and so it the tram transportation turntable, meaning that you do get to step onto the grounds of Birkin's laboratory from BioHazard 2 in it's newly rendered glory. There are also a number of references to BioHazard 3: Last Escape in terms of location design, too.

Conclusion: It's a bundle of love and happiness on a tiny CD.

Summary: All in all, it's a wonderful game with new ideas for a 10 year strong series. The characters are strong, the gameplay is strong, the enemys are strong and therefore will kick your arse a few times, but it's all part of the survival horror.

Score 10/10
(Though all rant games have already achieved this based on principal.)

We've just hit winter in Australia, so a new banner for CC_gamers should be up in the next few days for the winter season!

- The Queen Ant

grim_chook Coming soon to a blog near you

Thu, 25 May 2006 09:23:01 GMT

WOW! Haven't updated in yonks... stupid schoolwork.

Anyway just a quick heads up as to content coming your way!

A special expose on videogame pairings. WITH EVIDENCE!!! : O (actually this is all written just not typed out yet...)

May's rant game of the month (hint: Zombie flavoured. Any other game has zero chance of snatching this position)

Probably a review for Hecatomb, and a few deck-strategies because that's the sort of thing I like.

LION KING PRON! (or not) (or maybe O_O) [Actually no] (shut up.)

Wii-lii bad jokes! (they aren't getting any better)

In the far future look out for "commentary on a random cheap gamecube game picked at random" (because I love the idea of this :3)

Shigsy, our father, has spoken! http://www.cubed3.com/news/5272

And http://www.cubed3.com/news/5275 could just be telling us a launch price for the Wii.

I HAVE SPOKEN!

E3 Wrap-up

Tue, 16 May 2006 06:24:07 GMT

So, E3 was pretty good this year wasn’t it? Lots of exciting news, games and stuff were to be had so here is all the news you’ve already seen re-delivered with fangirl rants.

Grim_Chooks Highlights and lowlights!

Good: The Wii little details. Speaker in the controller, classic and zapper peripherals, tentative price range estimates, even a handful (27) of playable demos. Nintendo was particularly effective in delivering enough to wow whilst still holding a few details. Mostly price was kept under wraps, but after the reaction to the price of the PS3 Nintendo would be suicidal to charge too much.

Bad: Sony trying to badly emulate a stolen idea and getting some praise from the masses. The announcement of a dual-shock minus the shock plus a motion detector raised eyebrows in the gaming community. However sadly the ignorant masses (i.e. ten news) were somewhat confused, thinking it was a fantastic innovation of Sony and hailing it the must have console.

Better: Going by games Nintendo has more attractive licenses than Sony; sure Sony has a few big ones going for it, but really? Nintendo has more big games under their belts. Going by innovation, Nintendo wins hands down with the Wii’s inspired design over Sony’s inspired by design. Going by price? *Laughs very loudly*. Fortunately people can see that, the Nintendo stand attracted far more interest than the other two.

Good: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. I don’t even need to play this to know it’s going to be the best Zelda ever and by extension (especially taking OOT into consideration) could well be the best game ever.

Bad: So it’s a real shame it’s coming in two flavours, would have been more appropriate to keep it a Cube title.

Better: Navi is reduced to a cursor in the Wii version. XD

Good: Red Steel is shaping up to be quite an impressive action title.

Bad: Looks like it could be awkward to control = could be a really bad game

Better: Could actually be a brilliant must-have title

Good: Launch line-up includes Twilight Princess, Excitetruck, Metroid Prime 3, Project H.A.M.M.E.R., Super Mario Galaxy (The legendary 128 at last?), WarioWare: Smooth Moves and Wii Sports.

Bad: Doesn’t include Super Smash Brothers Brawl.

Better: First party games tipped to be costing around $50 thanks to cheaper development costs, which should also attract plenty of third party support.

Good: Resurrection of old licenses is bringing sequels to Duck Hunt, Excitebike, Pilot wings and possibly Kid Icarus

Bad: I’d only be interested in Kid Icarus, which is only speculated to even exist. Other games hold little interest as they were around when I was a Sega Lass so there is no nostalgia for me, and I hate racing games and flying simulators anyway.

Better: Sega titles that DO hold nostalgic value to be available on virtual console!

Good: Super Smash Brothers Brawl includes Pit, Wario, Samus (suitless), Metaknight and Snake. Snake was a big surprise. Music is pretty, some new and interesting things to be thrown into the mix, ONLINE PLAY!

Bad: Won’t be playing this until next year ;_; Shigsy isn’t a playable character!

Better: I predicted Metaknight and Wario as possible playables and was right! Could still be more secret characters? Looks like the same insane fun as the other two.

Good: Halo 3

Bad: Still haven’t played Halo 2 nor am I likely to play 3

Better: Looks pretty

Good: Starfox, Yoshi’s island 2, Elite Beat Agents and Final Fantasy 3 for the DS are coming out and looking damn fine.

Bad: I don’t own a ds. (yet >:D)

Better: Elite Beat Agents may not be as good as original? Dunno, not much makes this any better.

Good: Shigsy in a tux conducting the legend of Zelda theme on the Wii. Very Cute.

Bad: Not as cool as the one-up shirt and Zelda weapon replicas of (last year? the year before?)

Better: Shigsy playing tennis with all his Nintendo executive friends.

Good: Wii could launch in four colours

Bad: The three known colours are blue, black and white. Green has disappeared!

Better: Fourth colour yet to be decided on, could be green.

Good: The Draenei are the new playable race in World of Warcraft

Bad: I couldn’t care less about World of Warcraft

Better: A lot of people do, so power to them!

callyfin: And so it begins

Sun, 14 May 2006 05:51:26 GMT

Let me rant for a while here. It's my turn on the Soap Box.

I'll soon pre-order a PS3, and probably will put a 360 on layby, because I am a console whore. Seriously, I don't care for console wars much anymore, because they actually lost their flare when Sega stopped creating consoles to compete with Nintendo. From there on in I really couldn't give a shit about who thought what. I like all the consoles. They all have different specs and the likes, and I do sometimes feel like punching someone in the face when I'm like "look, it's rendred in real-time on the ______" and they're like "phft, well _____ is better". Fuck you. Seriously, hack off your penises for a while and look at them all equally. They all have equal good and bad points. The Wii has a fantastic new innovation (the controller) and a good line up of games, but there are people saying that the new controllers will be "hard to use" and "not easy to adapt to" for verteran gamers. The PS3 has a brilliant HD output and a high-end graphics unit, that while making the unit bulky, pushes new limits, but there are people saying that there is too limited a range of games and the removal of the dual shock vibration will take away from the experience. People are still bitching the the 360 released it's self too early, but hey, it just meant that at E3 they could show off all the new games coming out and the new plans for additional hardware/software and show how far they can push their system.

Hell, I'm typing this while Barry, my Sega Genesis/Mega Drive is playing a demo from Sonic 3 and Knuckles. What was the argument back then...? Thats right, it was something along the lines of Sega Mega Drive being cheaper, but the Nintendo SNES being more high end in terms of graphics and sound for the day. Man, and back here, the games weren't "smooth controlled games" either. They were fucking CLUNKY. CLUNKY AS SHIT depending on what you played. Things like Mario and Sonic pretty much used the D-Pad and a button for a jump command, which was fine, but some of the other games were just.. hell. But we all still played them, and all still loved them. There is the reason why I get edgy/fiesty/....sorta.. cold and eye-rolly when people whine about controls or things like turning and aiming being clunky and 'unnatural', or something. (Sorry, grim_chook! It's not directed at you, I've had this kinda argument with HEAPS of people over many years.)

Anyway, all I can say, though, is that Sega is the reason we all have Gamecubes, PS2s, and X-Boxes right now as it was the stepping stone for high-end 3D graphic consoles at the start of the new millenium. Sure, the Dreamcast didn't last long, but it was a start. Remember that, kiddies. Remember where all the roots are for ALL the gaming consoles, and virtual games in general. Most of the pioneers of the console gaming world don't exist anymore, but those who do (like Nintendo, and while they only do games production now, Sega) are still going strong, and the wars are not really between the companies anymore, but the people, the consumers, who make the feuds.

There are days where I really, really hate being a person who is passive enough to just accept and embrace a lot of things as a whole. Like trilogies. I like trilogies. Like the Matrix, but that argument is for another day.

*Breathe in, breathe out*
So, the current standings are in my room

Own:
Barry Burton: Sega MegaDrive
William Birkin: PSX
Billy Coen: PS2
Rebecca Chambers: Gamecube

Hunting for:
Alexia Ashford: Dreamcast (VMU: Alfred)

Pre-Ordered/Layby:
??: Wii (Unsure of what colour, possibly pure white, or green, if still avaliable)
??: PS3 (Probably will be either the white/silver or the black, not sure)
??: X-Box 360 (Mmm, white with glowing green)

Current Fresh News:
The Wii controller takes AA batteries, making the main controller have the weight of about a Nintendo DS, and the nunchaku attatchment about the weight of a mobile phone. Also, the main controller will react to a sensor strip that comes with the console (seen at e3 2006) that can be placed on top of, or below (in front of) the TV. It's not yet known if the actual Wii has to be in allignment with the TV and controller yet. After seeing the Nintendo Press Conference, one can assume you'd only need the sensor strip which is plugged into the back of the console via a port that looks freakishly like a firewire port, as the on stage demonstrations yeilded no actual sight of the main console, but you could see a long, black pyramid shapped strip at the front of the stage (Shigeru Miyamoto's opening performance). There was no sight of the console during the other main demonstrations, either, but the man controlling it seemed to be using a wired version of the controller, possibly the same prototypes from 2005? Or there might be the ability to attatch the controller to the unit (in the sense of there is possibility to play without use of battery/s and/or recharge batteries if there is a pack installed, maybe?)
Source: Various Gamespot Articles

Anyway, my wrist is caining, so I'm going to get off Takahaku and get back to playing S3&K.
*Dones appropriate icon of Leon being mauled by Cerberus'*

Oh, yeah, taking suggestions for names for the new consoles, so long as they're Bio/Resident Evil related to continue the trend.
*Steps off soapbox, dusts off pajyamas, resumes gaming*

GC plays RE0 on her GC Juicy!

Sat, 06 May 2006 13:33:33 GMT

So, got to play Resident Evil 0 for a bit tonight, not enough for a review so I'll share a few first impressions instead:

Atmosphere:
Wow. Gritty and pretty are the first two words to spring to mind. Washed out tones really create a stunning visual experience, adding tons to the visual experience. Rain looks rainy, blood looks bloody, leeches look slimy, everything truly looks the part. Lucky it also sounds the part as well, good sound effects and a very effectively employed soundtrack does no harm. Some of the voice-acting, particularly the voice over at the very start, is a bit cheesy, but that adds to the charm really. I hope this keeps up.

Gameplay:
Okay, while I do have fun playing this game, the controls are something only a blinded fangirl (and I know I'm going to have my head bitten off for that) could love. They are clunky, awkward, and sadly very unnatural. This might have worked with a behind-character camera, but when I walk awkwardly into a carriage and find myself suddenly surrounded by zombies, I don't want to have to figure out how my character is standing in retrospect to the cammera just so I can run away. Good thing zombies are so damn slow, otherwise I might have died a few times. Similarly if I walk into a carriage and I can hear a zombie approaching and I can see that Billy can see the zombie, I want to be able to as well. I am not partial to moving forward straight into said zombies arms because I cannot see to get a lock on. If I'm actually playing as Billy (not a guardian spirit aka Baten Kaitos) I want to see at least what he can see. It could be argued that I just need to adjust to the controls, however I'm talking about controls so ugly I don't want to get to know them. I'll stick to Eternal Darkness and Resident Evil 4 for getting this right.

Other than this considerable gripe, gameplay is very solid. Monsters are satisfying to kill. The restricted Item system, though it can prove frustrating when trying to manage key items, does add some tatical thinking to the gameplay. Player zapping is executed flawlessly, and though I do have my gripes with the controls, the control is tight and responsive. Jolly good show old chaps!

Experience:
So after a very amusing opening cut-scene I find myself on the train. It doesn't seem as dimension jumping as the book made it out to be, but that's okay. I end up walking backwards in a little circle up the carriage thinking to myself wtf? After figuring out the logic behind the controls (who the fuck thought this up...) I manage to start making some progress, I make it in front of a door. After a bit I encounter a type-writer, Billy, Zombies, Dogs, People getting thrown through windows and of course, 0's draw card, I come across leeches. Not nessescarily in that order.

Leeches are gross.

*cough* Anyway I eventually find myself on the roof of the train, by some great feat of magic I managed to walk it's length without falling off. Not without coming dangerously close mind you. And I'm thinking to myself, "wow this is quite well done", the rain looks good, the trees are speeding by. It really creates the impression that this is cold and wet and one wrong move will break your neck, it's really not a nice place. Rebbeca re-connects the power, gets leeched, falls down into train via conveiniently ripped hole in train roof. I spend the next ten minutes coming to the realisation that I'm not getting out of there and I've left Billy on the roof. So I try a Zap and after a stomach-turning blur I find myself male, handcuffed, and cold and wet and miserable on the roof of a hurtling train. Time to head back and find some stuff.

I find a kitchen. Wonderful, I'll be able to find a chopstick or knife and I'll go back to the roof and drop it down to beloved Becca (or dollface *snigger*). Nope, but there is a little service elevator which gives me an item to item link with Rebecca only a floor away *happy sigh*. I send down the key Rebbeca found, she doesn't need it if she isn't going anywhere. I try to send a combat knife up so I can poke the thing blocking the lock, aparently it doesn't fit. How big is this kife then? Because that space could have easily fitted a dinner plate flat, it still should have fit on the diagonal *headsmack*. Eventually I come across a rather large room, which has something big on the roof. Ignoring it I headed across, nothing happened. I find an ice-pick (whoop-de-doo) a shitload of healing items and a shot-gun. I find myself astounded that I hadn't saved up to this point and really wishing I had. Head back into big-room-so-a-boss-battle and I find a giant scorpion. So I blow it to hell and save Rebecca.

Moments later I solved a puzzle that gained me a hookshot. This made me giggle very loudly and I couldn't help but supply a zelda-style sound effect.

Overall I'm really enjoying the game. Only jumped once thanks to that fucker of a zombie that attacks the second time you go through the kitchen. Squirmed plenty of time thanks to those fucking leeches. And managed to kill my first zombies. Only one Wirkin sighting, brief glimpse of Wesker in the opening ;_;

<3

I need to go to bed now -_-

grim_chook Sadness and E3

Fri, 05 May 2006 11:11:43 GMT

So, take a look at this http://www.cubed3.com/news/5043

It's about a game by an Indie Developer called Nibris. They were working on two projects, both for wii(kinda like Crossbeam studios now I think of it), and Nintendo specifically asked them to work on this one. It's a survival horror game called Sadness.

It looks gorgeous.

It looks terrifying.

Instead of trying to scare with monsters and a physical fear, Sadness is going for more a psychological fear. Kind of attempted in Eternal Darkness, but that's still a monster basher. They aim to incororate themes of darkness and schizophrenia, the black and white graphics are a play on the gothic storyline and the time in which it is set. The first two screenshots in the link to Cubed3 show a player holding a Wii remote above their head and the second shows the player bringing it down. The last screenshot (apparently in-game) shows a woman presumably slicing someone down the middle with a shovel. The screenshots were enough to make me shiver. I think I may need someone to hold my hand when I play this (thus emphasising the community idea behind wii! Genius!)

There isn't a whole lot more known about the game. A trailer has been announced for E3, which is where those pictures came from. I must confess it's going to be one of my highlights.

So wii so far know some of the titles that are coming to a Wii near you. A new Super Smash Brothers, Red Steel, Sadness, Segas recent announcement of The Club, and Orb. All look stunning, all are actually quite mature games, so far there hasn't been many of the "kiddy" games Nintendo are reknowned for. Hopefully this will be rectified in I think 5 days time.

Also the DS lite has been announced to launch in the US June 11 for $130 US whic means we'll get it for 200 some time before Christmas.

Now is an awesome time to be a Nintendo fan.

grim_chook Howdy

Mon, 01 May 2006 08:39:07 GMT

Well there hasn't been a post in a couple of days, and I know something special is on the way... *snigger*

But I want to have a few opinions on stuff!

http://www.experimentalgameplay.com/ is awesome. Loving Goo tower unlimited and Swarm. In fact, I'm absolutely adoring swarm, it makes my sadistic inner child happy.

Stick Insects ARE valid pets, ARE cute, ARE interesting. Despite what dickheads on the bus may say.

NOLF is as good as it ever was, even better if that's possible. I never tire of playing through Misfortune in Morroco.

Never poke fun at Rebecca within ear-shot of a cyborg.

I WANT A WII!

Sadly I can only play consoles and computers during the school holidays, as such I will probably be posting more on GBA games, older games which I adore, and opinions on movement in the gaming community! Which is just as well because E3 is around the corner...

My my, isn't this soapbox high?

Fri, 28 Apr 2006 07:35:14 GMT

So for most of today, Curtin has had a power outage whilst Actew did some work about everywhere. I turn my back around for a few hours and what happens? Nintendo officially named the Revolution the Wii.

And the fandom wept whilst others laughed.

< rant >

GET THE FLYING FUCK OVER YOURSELVES!

< /rant >

Seriously, I could end my rant there and then. You do not have to read another word. But I will break the next segment of this rant into nice little pieces so you can find the most relevant one.

< rant >

Nintendo Fandom.
Pull your heads out of your arses. Many giggled at the cute little Gamecube, a console that provided the most consistently quality titles out of the generation. You laughed and scorned cell-shaded Link. When you tried it, you loved it, it was still a Zelda game and enormously fun. When the DS was announced you screamed gimmick and laughed at such a ‘stupid mistake’ the DS was. The DS that became the fastest selling console in Japan, even over the PS2. The DS that created new gaming experiences you have fallen in love with. Who here can hate the thrills of Mario Kart DS, the intense fun of Metroid prime, the addicting play of Meteos or the adorable play of Nintendogs. The DS is also a console for everyone, appealing to a greater audience.

So I’d think there should be a little more faith in Nintendo. What the hell am I talking about faith though? It’s the same, fucking, console. By renaming it to Wii, it’s not like Nintendo are strapping electrodes to your genitals and delivering electric shocks. It’s not even spraying sulphuric acid into your face. Changing the name is not even a cosmetic change so anyone who cannot live with the name Wii can go fuck themselves with a ten foot pole until their rectum bleeds.

Everyone else.
Well, this is entirely a rant for another day. Basically all I have to say is that at least Nintendo are doing something different. Something with broad appeal. Your consoles are just going in one direction, tired re-done same game play that may look prettier. A game can only go so far down this path. A game can only become so pretty, and then what? Games become far too expensive to produce and take to much time. The suits up topside won’t take risks, instead delivering the same vanilla game play because it works. Whoop-de-fucking-doo. If you are to shallow to recognise this, the sort of gamer that plays popularity instead of games, then you will never understand what Nintendo have achieved and what they will achieve.

After all Nintendo pull a bigger profit then Sony on a year-to-year basis, so they must be doing something right.
< /rant >
To anyone who accepts or even can find it in their hearts to like the Nintendo Wii

Congratulations, I officially consider you smarter then most other people. Go forth, buy the Wii be proud you are participating in a gaming revolution. One that will bring more people and with them more respect for gamers. One that will produce fun games, not coaster-fodder. I salute you, the true Nintendo fan!

callyfin: Latest News

Fri, 28 Apr 2006 00:51:57 GMT

The newest news from Nintendo about project Revolution has been spawning some interesting and amusing feedback from a lot of people over on my own friends list. For those of you who don't know what this news is, it's the name of their next generation console.

The Nintendo Wii.
(Direct link to Nintendo's revolution site)

Because, let's face it, when you're playing a console and you're having a lot of fun, you really do just want to be a little kid again. "WHEEEEEEEEEE!!!!".

grim_chook: Lets play a game shall we?

Thu, 27 Apr 2006 08:54:38 GMT

Who can beat Grim_Chooks Stepmania score?

callyfin: Sketch Post

Wed, 26 Apr 2006 01:00:04 GMT

Biohazard 0:
[1] Billy & Rebecca

Beccy's in her awesome Leech Hunter outfit, which just owns XD I might do something more with this when I can hold a pen again.

grim_chook Awards Time ^_^

Tue, 25 Apr 2006 11:05:23 GMT

Ha I haven't done one of these in a while! Caution, plot spoilers are in part of the review.

Sooo, I haven't done one of these in a while, it isn't that I haven't found games to rant about, but I haven't found the time or inclination to type one up. Though the March award is more appropriate for this game (that's when I was playing to bits) it get's April Rant Game of the Month award because it is now April.

Without further ado the rant game of the month is Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow for GBA.

I had not played a Castlevania before this, the series probably borderline twenty titles by now, but if this is what I've been missing out on, then this could soon become a favourite. So lets get to the reasons why I rant about this game and why you should to!

Plot
Central dude, Soma somethingorother, goes up to a shrine to meet his girlfriend. Suddenly he gets sucked into a castle where he gets attacked by hordes upon hordes of monsters. He meets various people and eventually figures out that he is inside Dracula's castle. He decides he wants to escape with his girl and live a happy ending. He also gains the 'power to rule' having the ability to collect the souls of those he smites and turns out to be a major part of some big prophecy deal. Grahame is also part of said big prophecy deal, and like you seems to spend most of the game prancing about the castle convinced that he is Dracula. Sure, he is supposed to inherit the power of Dracula. However in a epic showdown (read = easiest boss in the game) it is revealed that SOMA is in fact supposed to inherit Dracula's powers (more suprising then it actually sounds on paper). He beats the crap out of chaos, or doesn't and becomes Dracula, or Graham just dies. It's all how you play out the end game.

Conclusion: Cheesy and fun with a few good plot twists and enough WTF. Multiple endings are cool.

Gameplay
Spot on. It wouldn't have been rant-worthy afterall. Controls are tight and well laid out, pretty much all stuff-ups are based on player skill, not on niggly jumping or poor collision detection. The wide range of weapons are fun to use, and even when you find a favourite (CLAIMH SOLAIS! *cough*) you will sill find yourself playing around with other weapons (like the crack excalibur, still in the stone, or the positron rifle) which means they got it right. Killing monsters is pretty much the entire game. But the monsters are always fun to kill (I never get tired of skeleton blazing zombies) and combat is varied enough. The thing that makes it stand out however, is the spell system. Earlier I mentioned that you can collect souls. Every monster has a unique soul that can be used in combat. From wonderful fireballs and lightning bolts to cat attack and curry, there is a soul for every single fun moment in this game.

Conclusion: It's one big game of the same thing, which is good, because the game is fun enough to not get boring. Game controls as tight as a Zelda title (and zelda controls ROCK!).

Experience
Pretty, for a GBA. Flowing animations, nice monsters, pretty backgrounds, enough contrast so you can actually tell whats going on. Everything you could ask for without being particularly eye-candyish. Music isn't especially good, especially in contrast to previous castlevania titles. A lot of the souls look cool. Sound effects are spot on with some satisfying war and death cries and weapony sounds, it's all good.

Conclusion: Gets the job done convincingly. Sounds great, shame about the musical let down.

Charm
Killing monsters in imaginitive ways is fun, I might never get tired of releasing a seemingly infinite army of cats after my target. Or lightning doll. This game also has the Grim Reaper, who always gets points in my book. Soma is an adorable emo (which is an oxymoron I know) and as a character just works. There are some great conversations in this game.

Grahame: Oh btw I sense in you great power, tell me what it is.
Soma: Aparently the power to rule!
Grahame: Oh noes! You not have that power! I deny it. *spazzy angry* OMGWTFHOR! YOU NO HAVE POWER TO RULE T_T *runs away in tears*
Soma: What a cock-head

And yeah, that might just be some slight paraphrasing on my behalf, but I do love this game to bits, it oozes oodles of charm and I love it very much! The Clock tower is the sort of gamers experience, there's been one in every game so I'm told.

Conclusion: Love it to bits.

Summary: Fun hack and slash em. CLAIMH SOLAIS KICKS YOUR BUTT WITH <3

Score 10/10
Though all rant games have already achieved this based on principal.

callyfin: Sketch Post

Mon, 24 Apr 2006 11:37:16 GMT

Mon, 24 Apr 2006 08:16:43 GMT

Ha ha ha!
Welcome to the games blog of two deranged fangirls:

Grim_Chook! (typing to you right now)

and

Callyfin (not typing but making this pretty)

We decided to create a joint blog so that we may whiffle on pointlessly about things we love. Such as DDR, Resident Evil, Zelda, Golden Sun, Metal Gear, Grim Fandango, Quake three arena, No one lives forever, and most other games under the sun.

Expect reviews and rants, poems and pictures, fireworks and continuous squabbling. Because we like games. A lot.