On Planets and Portals

Yeaaah, I missed last weeks post since I've been pretty busy with organizing my work.  I finished a major music project and got a little lazy, but at the same time started to work even more since I realized how much more I still have on my to do list.  So 2 weeks ago, I was supposed to beat Genji: Days of the Blade as part of my "1-game a week" mission in hopes of learning more about the design of games and the industry.  Well, I didn't finish and instead got caught up in other things:

[Zanac - Music Mix Project]

So I've planned this project out since I was in Jr. College but never found the time to do it.  And since I've improved on using music programs and have a greater knowledge in music, I decided to start and complete it within a week.  It was a grueling week with technical problems, sound balance, incompatibilities, and difficulty in finding appropriate instruments causing many hours just listening back loops in search of mistakes.  But I finished and it ended up being 8 minutes long.  I plan to make a gameplay footage of the original game and then match it up with the music so I can present it out to the internet.  I'm going to start building a portfolio of my work from here on out and see where it takes me.  I'll post it up here when I'm done.

[Lost Planet Colonies - Capcom - PC]

This was a satisfying game.  It wasn't long, nor did it feel too short.  The story, despite its bad voice acting and awkward 3D animation gestures and expressions, was quite captivating at a certain point and got me really into the game.  The open level battles was an interesting design choice that worked well for easy mode (which is what I played), but I can't imagine how players can survive in harder difficulties when the enemies are capable of constantly attacking the player the second they get up.  The gameplay was a little slow at times mainly because of large areas and the inability to run (faster, since he is running, but very slowly).  I don't want to spend too long on these reviews so here's the quick run down:]

Graphics: 8/10 (Though, not utilizing the greatest render and capabilities of the current generation systems for the environment, the enemies are very detailed and creative in their design and nature.  Those enemies were fun to kill~)

Audio: 7/10 (Sound effects were pretty good and really added to the chaos that occurred during a large fight.  Music was forgettable, except for the menu screen theme.  The voice acting was weird, and was not believable.  The overall experience in terms of sound was satisfactory.)

Gameplay: 8/10 (The game was ultimately fun in the end.  It starts out very easy and was a bit slow for my tastes until it gets to the boss battles.  The boss battles were really fun, especially when it got challenging.  The mix between puzzles, action, and shooting brought the game to life and had something that stood out from other action games.  But the levels themselves didn't get interesting until half-way through.  It makes sense to have the developer ease players into the game rather than throw them into the game, although Demon's Souls does that (dies in the tutorial boss...).  Controls were a little heavy, but bearable.  Running is slow, to me...using a VR (robot mechs) was pretty fun, but there were some reliance on them.  Dying was perfectly okay to me, haha.  It wasn't frustrating, but rather a learning experience.  Battles weren't particularly challenging if strategies are planned out, and it just didn't feel like Golden Axe or Genji when you died in those games.  But yes, the game was satisfying and I enjoyed it.)

Replay Value: 7/10 (Mmmm, not that I wouldn't want to play it again, but it's taking up a lot of Hard drive space, and I don't have much purpose into playing it again except for harder difficulties.)

Overall: 7.5/10 (I think it's worth playing through one time, but there isn't much afterwards other than multiplayer.  With its clunky controls and slow speed, I'm not sure if death match is such a fun multiplayer mode for the game.  Also, I'm sad there wasn't co-op on it.  2nd one does, and I'll probably try it soon.

[Portal - Valve - PC]

(Note: Song does contain spoilers, but it doesn't make sense till you play the game.)

I heard so much about this game and didn't play it since it was a short game that came with a few other games.  Got TF2 sepearately from a friend, then Half-Life 2 from another friend, and then with Valve's compatibility of Steam with Macs, Portal was free for whoever downloaded it.  I beat it and enjoyed it.  Played a bit of the first part again to listen to some of the commentary and found it to be very resourceful and interesting in learning about level design and making tutorials.

Graphics: 10/10 (Graphics were beautiful, clean, beneficial to the gameplay, and well designed).

Audio: 9/10 (All the audio had a purpose in the gameplay of Portal and served as a indicator to what the player had to do, what to look out for, and cues of what to do next.  The music wasn't memorable (except for the incredibly, well written score for "Still Alive") in the game, but it added to the environment and mood of the situation of each event).

Gameplay: 9/10 (It was puzzle heavy and didn't have too much action, but I didn't mind too much.  The game was enticing with the "what's next" method of progression and its underlying storyline was pretty captivating as well adding to the player experience.  The later stages of challenges where it became open-ended made it even more interesting since I started to experiment with many different methods of solution.  It was a gratifying experience).

Replay Value: 7/10 (Honestly, I would only play it again for the commentary so I could learn from it.  I like the puzzles and all, but I think I would prefer to play Mirror's Edge again.  I guess I want more action?)

Overall: 9/10 (A must try game, though I wouldn't necessarily say a "must buy" because of its length in game play.  My sister beat it in one sitting at night at a friend's house, so it's very possible just to borrow the game or play at a friend's house and be done with it.  I enjoyed it).

[New bought games:]

I actually bought quite a few lately and didn't even realize it, haha.

Blacklight: Tango Down (PC)

Remember me going off on how excited about I was on this game?  50% off on Steam for $7.49 and I immediately bought it.  I do not regret it; however, there are not nearly enough players on.  The gameplay is challenging in both mission mode and competitive modes, the graphics and futuristic and unique, the sounds and animations are pretty impressive for a cheap priced game, and the replay value is quite high.  I like the leveling and customizing as I spend a lot of time changing parts, looks, and stats of my load outs.  But it's very sad that I can't even play a simple death match since no one plays the game.  I got into a few full games twice and it was a wonderful experience, despite the amount of times I died.  I am mainly playing the game solo on Black Ops (mission mode) to level up and get more weapons and parts.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (PC)

I bought it during the 33% off sale with DLC packs for 50% off.  Finally got the game!!!  Amazed of how small the community for the PC has gotten compared to this spring and now.  Do I have to talk about how awesome this game is?  C'mon, you guys know this is an awesome game.  I mainly bought it for its multiplayer.  If you say multiplayer is super BS, I can't argue with you.  But it's part of the game, and BS sometimes happen for you too.  So its broken parts kind of (try) to balance it out for everyone.  I enjoy it, despite getting spawn killed 32 times in a row...

Okami (Wii)

Not sure when I'll ever get around to beating this game since I have a huge list to finish, but I did try it out a bit and was captivated by its artistic feel in the gameplay and visuals.  I'll be sure to finish it one day.

NBA Jam (Wii)

Bought it this past Saturday.  This game is HARD!  The developers did a good job of making smart AI computers, and even a better job of revitalizing this lost treasure amongst the masses of realistic basketball games out in the market.  I don't own any other Basketball game since I don't find a need to buy over 20 iterations of one, but NBA Jam was a golden game back in the SNES days that provided awesome summers I had with my sister playing sports games on our SNES.  This game definitely brought that same charm and over-the-top gameplay into our current generation console (sorta, it's Wii) and still made it fun.  There's so many unlockables and plenty of game modes that I think I'll be playing this game for a while.  I also really needed another multiplayer game on Wii, I have too many one-player games.

Vanquish just recently came out and it looks amazing.  I saw it at E3, but lines were too long so I didn't get to try it out.  Reviews are looking positive so far.  I'll probably buy it in the future, but for now I need to finish some uncompleted games.

Hmm, I don't remember what else I wanted to say.  I'm working mainly on these things this week:

-Beat Genji: Days of the Blade (PS3)

-Beat Half-Life 2 (PC) Maybe?

-Arrange the piano versions for the Zanac Soundtrack

-Pratice Body form in Drawing

-Start up gaming blog

-Learn the rest of a piano piece (Waltz 64 No.2 by Chopin is what I'm aiming for)

-Finish reading one Book (It's very hard to start reading, and just as hard to stop reading...)

-That's already a lot, but finishing up some game projects would be nice.

That's about it, cya later~

Ninjas, Wars, Souls, Others, and Swords

Sooo, in the past 1-2 weeks or so, I bought:

-Plain Sight (PC - Steam): Suicide Ninja Robots

Got this during the $2 sale on Steam and was sad to see barely 15 people total online playing it.  It might be because it was at night, but I feel cheated whenever I get an online intensive game and find that no one is on to play it (just like when I bought Lead & Gold: Gangs of the Wild West).  Like Lead & Gold, it's a good game with interesting concepts.  You're a suicide ninja robot, one-shotting other players with your awesome charge katana strike while absorbing energy which makes you larger and change color.  If you happen to suicide after getting a few kills, you earn points while getting bonus points for getting anyone during the suicide explosion.  It's not very violent and it's very fast-paced.  It's enjoyable and an entertaining distraction.

-Mount & Blade: Warband (PC - Steam): Medieval, open-ended RPG goodness

I bought the original Mount & Blade off Steam for $5 and really enjoyed the open ended gameplay and the feeling of immersion despite the quality of the graphic and sound.  When I heard about Warband, I wasn't sure if I wanted it other than for its multiplayer.  Well, Steam had a $10.20 deal for it and I couldn't resist and got it.  I haven't played multiplayer yet, but about 5 minutes into the campaign and I was glad it wasn't exactly like the original.  The game follows a different story path and has improved its controls and animation.  It's a quirky game with odd moments, but the large army fights is quite exhilarating when you get to slice bodies and stab faces with an assortment of weapons!

-Demon's Souls (PS3): Relentless Action RPG with unforgiving difficulty

Came out last year (2009) in October and have been waiting for a chance to buy it.  It's been expensive for $60 and I've been at school in Irvine.  Well, just this past Friday on a random chance to going to Gamestop I found it for $30.  I really wanted a nice RPG to play that I would enjoy going back to with progression and challenge.  My friends in Irvine all warned me how ridiculous the difficulty was and I was excited for it.  Started it up, went through tutorial and got owned at the end (apparently, I wasn't really supposed to win against the boss in the tutorial).  The game is unforgiving with easy deaths, losing all souls (in-game currency) upon death, getting killed by other players invading your game through the online function, and humongous bosses 100x larger than you.  It can be very frustrating, but after getting used to the controls and game mechanics, it became very involving and interesting for me.  It was like a medieval version of Phantasy Star Online (one of my most favorite games).  Lots of weapons, methods of playing, and replay value.

-Metroid: Other M (Wii): A Metroid game done by Team Ninja of Ninja Gaiden Renown

Bought it today at Costco for about 5 dollars less~  I've been keeping up with this game for a while since I'm a big Metroid fan (though I haven't played Prime 2) and have been very surprised with its development.  Team Ninja collaborated with Nintendo to create a new experience for the Metroid experience, which was my first surprised.  It made me really excited thinking about using Team Ninja's ideas of fluid gameplay mechanics they've learned through making Ninja Gaiden with Nintendo's long history of successful Metroid games along with the rich background the series had already followed.  The 2nd surprise was that it was going to be 3rd person pseudo 2-D with first-person 3D hybrid gameplay.  It took a short while to get used to, but it can get very exciting once adjusted to.  I think the biggest surprise that didn't hit me until I bought it today was that you only use the Wiimote to play.  That's right, the WIIMOTE!  No nunchuck, no attachments, no gamecube controllers, just the wiimote.  What's surprising about it?  IT WORKS!  Team Ninja utilized the capabilities of the wiimote very well with the balance between horizontal, retro controls with the first-person perspective aiming of the sensor.  The game stays very focused to the simple mechanics while utilizing well planned puzzles and gameplay throughout the game that keeps it compelling but still fresh.  The game is easy to understand, but the fights can get a bit challenging.  The difficulty is just right considering it's from Team Ninja.  I knew it'd be difficult, but they make each battle balanced and fair.  Though, I'm not sure what the casual player or non-fan would think about the game, but fans and hardcore gamers would get a kick out of this latest installment.  The game has more cinematic scenes and story based dialogue that fans of the series would be familiar to which links events and people from Metroid 2, Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion together.  The story is like a hit of nostalgia with a bit of film noire, similar to what Tecmo of the original Ninja Gaiden used to do.  I had loved the character Samus before, but this game gives her more character and feeling than any of the other ones have.  I can say now after just 2.5 hours of playing that I love it already.

Other than that, I beat Heavely Sword (PS3) last Thursday:

[Heavenly Sword - PS3]

One of the launch titles for the Playstation 3, Heavenly Sword presents itself as an impressively developed game with realistic graphics, intelligent AI, fluid animations, and involving story.  It's an Action Hack 'n Slash that requires a lot of timing, prediction, and above all: patience.  The game boasts itself as being high quality with a team of high experience developers, actors, and all to create the most realistic facial expressions, the best scripting, etc.  I beat it within 4 days of light playing each night and beat the final boss in its 2nd and 3rd form on the 2nd try of each.  The first form took me forever for some reason.  The game isn't very difficult, but it can be rather annoying trying to fight enemies who always block and have priority hits on you.  To be honest, Heavenly Sword is a one play through game for me.  I found the game to be very frustrating with little motivation for me to go back to playing it again.  The story developed very well, but it was simplistic, predictable, but at the very least satisfying.  I liked the game, but not enough to play it again.  I did unlock a "Hell Mode" after beating the game, maybe I'll go back to it in the further future.

Graphics: 10/10 - Gotta give them credit for all the work they did.  Impressive for a launch title.

Sound: 10/10 - Same.  Had a lot of work into it and paid off.  Voice acting is top notch, though it can get rather strange in some scenes.

Gameplay: 8/10 - Lots of combinations and excellent use of color to indicate light/heavy and ranged attacks which allows for a more strategic game rather than just button mashing; however, I find myself using the same combo in order to break enemy blocks which defeats the purpose of doing different combo attacks.  They block too much and have too many priority hits.

Replay value: 5/10 - I didn't feel like playing it anymore after beating it.  Boss battles were tedious rather than epic, and minions were all turtles with stupid priority strikes that stun you.  If you have no other games to play, it'd probably be worth playing through "Hell Mode", but I'm done with the game.

Overall: 8/10 - Truly a game of its time, though I can't help but feel as if it was created just to show the capabilities of the Playstation 3's hardware.  I'm pretty sure that's not the case, but the dynamics of the game doesn't change too drastically as you progress.  If you haven't played it yet, rent it or borrow it from a friend.  It takes about 5-10 hours to beat depending how familiar you are to those types of games.  It's worth one playthrough.

Back into Games

Wow, it's near the end of August already!  I still remember being in elementary school and thinking that summer vacation was really long.  Now, it just flies by with so much more in mind of things to do.  I've been a lot busier than I thought with game projects, job hunting, and beta testing.  Beta testing isn't too bad, it's a choice and I help contribute to a developer and publisher when I'm playing and giving feedback.  I haven't been reading as much as I had hoped (real reading and not comics, I still read a lot of comics).  I've finally been playing more games and trying to learn more from them.  What I mean is I play more meaningfully by paying attention to every little detail.  Sure it's tiring, but it makes it rewarding when you're just playing for fun.

I've been playing a lot of League of Legends this summer and have gotten significantly better thanks to a friend who pwns in that game.  I just checked, and realized I have 121 hours recorded of gameplay on League of Legends, which beats my previous most played game of Team Fortress 2 with 113 hours.  I generally don't play games that much since I don't get the time, but I played TF2 a lot during weekends over the school year and I played LoL a lot at night.  I even got my sister to join me, and now she plays more than me.

I'm pretty much done with the music for the game project I'm working on, and I want to move onto new things now.  I have a line-up of independent projects I plan on starting and finishing as I've not made a real game in the longest time.  I'm also finishing up the RPG that our videogame development club started 2 years ago.  Besides that, I've found the time to beta test some games, and beat some current ones.  So hear are some short review/rants.

[Starcraft: Brood War - PC]

Yes, I just finished it recently.  I've stayed away from RTS games for a while since they took a long time to beat (same as RPGs) and been playing more fighting games and shooters.  Too make it short = Good story, hard gameplay, very nostalgic and awesome.  I already bought Starcraft 2: Collector's Edition but haven't really played it yet.  I've already heard the story was kind of disappointing from another friend, but others say they love it.  We'll see, I just hope it doesn't take me another 10 years to beat it.

[Prototype - PC]

I personally enjoyed this game a lot.  It was a really good stress relief.  It's kind of like Grand Theft Auto in that it's an open city and you can go anywhere freely, with hack-n-slash fighting like Dynasty Warriors.  The story is confusing and gets very convoluted near the end, but it has closure.

I had mixed feelings about the ending since it was a bit of a shocker, disappointing yet still satisfying.  Everything made sense in the end, and it kind of made you feel cruddy.  I loved it though, getting to fly around everywhere destroying everything.

[Dead Rising: Chop til' you drop - Wii]

Haha, the ending seemed like it was never going to appear when I got to the last chapter.  I guess I shouldn't be surprised with the way Capcom makes their games.  The game had an awkward control scheme that's reminiscence of the Resident Evil series.  Once I got used to the controls, it was fun going around killing zombies everywhere.  I have to say that there were times where it just wasn't fun killing zombies anymore.

Prototype didn't feel like that though, it was always interesting going around killing and blowing things up.  For Dead Rising, I got more interested in the story and less on saving people since those missions didn't have much variation.  Boss battles were interesting.  There were many creatures and enemies that were more annoying than an obstacle.  I would have hated the game if it had ended on any of the possible scenes it kept presenting.  But it, like Prototype, had closure and was satisfying enough for me.  I'm not quite sure if I'll be returning to that game anytime soon.  I'm looking forward to Dead Rising 2 though, 2-player co-op!

[Alien Swarm - PC]

Free game on Steam created by modders hired by Valve.  It's a top-down action survival game that has its emphasis on teamwork.  I've tried it a few time and play mostly medic as I've been healers in a lot of class based games lately (mainly 'cause I'm tired of people not playing them correctly - go play a tank or dps if you want to kill, not a healer!).

It's fun, challenging, and very creative.  I haven't beat it yet, even though I've been to the last level twice already.  It's also open source, so I'm hoping to see more custom made levels, mods and tweaks by the modding community.

[Resistance 2 - PS3]

I haven't played much of it, but I hated how they took out 2 player campaign mode and only have single-player.  The multiplayer aspect is interesting since it's class-based, team orientated, and starts differently each time; however, the 2-player offline option is incredibly difficult against some of the rushes the enemies execute.

The only way I see the multiplayer completed is if you log online and play the 6-player co-op with it, which I'm not sure if people even play anymore since it's considered old and ignored compared to Modern Warfare 2.  There are some things I like about the sequel (more weapons, amazing art work, beautifully crafted levels) and there are some things I hate (no more 2-player campaign mode, change of voice actor, a mish-mash of other fps games combined together - Halo, Modern Warfare, Left4Dead).  I'm still going through with finishing it though.

[Army of Two: 40th Day - PS3]

I didn't plan on buying this, but I needed more co-op games to play with my sister and friends.  The game is okay as a basis, but with a friend on split-screen, the game is pretty exciting and a good game for bonding.

The controls and camera angle is rather uncomfortable, but I look past that since we're just playing normal.  I've only gotten to the third stage or so with a friend, and I'm still enjoying it.  I like how you get to modify your guns and pick other weapons from enemies to use for yourself without having to drop your own weapons.

[Resident Evil 5 - PS3]

Amazingly, I already beat it with my sister.  Again, had to get more co-op games, and RE5 sounded like a winner.  It can be frustrating communicating with each other and trying to get everything right, but it's still entertaining and enjoyable in the end.  The ending was much like Dead Rising where the end seemed like it was never going to happen.

Capcom loves those Boss-pre boss-final boss-ultimate form-final form type battles in their games (c'mon, you have to fight every boss in the game again at the end of every Megaman game ever made).  We died 22 times before finishing it, but it was well worth it as it felt very epic and worth the struggle.  Story didn't have a very conclusive or satisfying ending though.

[Goldeye Source - Half-Life 2 mod PC]

I remember playing hours upon hours of Goldeneye on the N64 with my friends, and this mod is a hit of nostalgia of it.  I have mixed feeling since I sort of like it and sort of over it.  As much as I'd love to keep so many games on my computers, I just don't have the time to play them all and the hard drive space to keep them there.

I'm still debating whether I should keep it.  I'm mainly keeping it now as game testing experience since I communicate with the moderators on the servers when playing.  I remember seeing a Goldeneye preview at E3 on the Wii, but not sure if that's going to be purchase worthy.

[Land of Chaos Online - PC]

Another free MMO, except there isn't grinding or point-n-clicking.  It's an action RPG that plays like a MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena - DotA style gameplay) in 3rd-person where ranged players have to aim and melee characters have to combo into their attacks rather than just click once.  The game is rather buggy, unbalanced, and its experience has a lot to do with the community.  I love the game a lot, from its core concepts, graphics, gameplay, to it music and leveling system.  I don't really like all the voice acting, but that's not a big problem.  What I really hate about the game so far is how reliant the game's experience is on the community.  Much like Defense of the Ancients, League of Legends, and Heroes of Newerth, the game can change heavily depending on who you play with and who you play against.

The team can be very obnoxious and do everything on their own and get you and themselves killed.  There are a ton of trash talkers who will complain and blame every little thing on other players when the team starts losing.  There are also a lot of moments where it doesn't feel very fair such as the recall spell which brings the player back into their own base.  When executed, the player is invulnerable to all attacks and spells.  This leaves the other player defenseless if they happened to use all their spells and ultimate attack, especially if that person that warped out has a buddy behind them to clean up after weakening you already.  I have a lot to say about the game and I should probably give feedback to the dev team, but I feel there will be a lot of flamers and trolls on their which will make my honest opinions look bad.  I love and hate the game at the same time, not sure if I'll continue to play it after it's officially out.  Ignore the weird singing in the trailer/opening of the game.  The music in the game really is incredibly awesome.  It's like a mix of Granado Espada with Dynasty Warriors.

[Heroes of Three Kingdoms - PC]

Nothing much to say.  Another MMORPG by Perfect World and their same engine.  The game is interesting and immerses a lot of historical excerpts of the Three Kingdom era into the game, but I simply couldn't push myself to play the game any longer after about 5-10 hours.

I'm walking to objective points about 50% of the time, talking to NPCs 30% of the time, and possibly fighting barely 20% of the time if I'm not crafting, organizing my backpack, or reading through text.  I want to like the game since I love the history behind the Three Kingdoms of Ancient China, but the game consists mostly of walking.

[Soul Master - PC]

Very interesting combination of Action RPG and RTS.

I find it challenging and exciting, but felt like it lacked variation after a while.  Each character has about 4 skills and only 3 of the characters are available at the moment.  This is actually one game I'll considering continuing.

[MicroVolts - PC]

This was the game that had controversy of it being a copy of Team Fortress 2 with its trailer of HAVE Online.  They changed the name and revealed that it was a 3rd-person action shooter.  I really wanted to try it and finally got the chance to beta for them.  Unfortunately, there were only servers in Germany, United Kingdom, and Turkey (or was it Hungary?  Something to do with food, lol).

So, I lagged a lot and experience a lot of preposterous moments where I was shot when I was well behind a wall, or getting melee from a distance or headshotting someone four times with a sniper with no results.  Those in Europe in those cities were okay, but for those who weren't suffered the consequence of lag.  Overall, the game is very fun to play and reminds me of the days of Army Men with levels made up of our everyday home like the kitchen or backyard.  I have to admit that some weapons are rather overpowered such as the chainsaw and the sniper that could take out people with one body shot.  It's a fun game that doesn't take up much hard drive space.  If they ever come out with an American server, I'll probably start playing it again.

[S4 League - PC]

Yup, finally started playing it with the American server out and all.

I missed playing Gunz: The Duel and wanted a slick shooter of sorts, so I started playing S4 League and really enjoy it.  Fluid animations, fun gameplay, incredible music, and exciting matches make this a must try.  Doesn't take up much hard drive space either.

[Dynasty Warriors Online - PC]

OH MAN, IT'S ACTUALLY COMING OUT IN AMERICA!!!  I LOVE YOU AERIAGAMES!  I'm very exciting for its release and have already signed up for beta.  I love Dynasty Warriors!

Epic epic trailer~

'Kay, that's it for now.  I'm gonna hit the gym and possibly play some music at a friend's house.

School, Life, and Videogames~

Hey everyone, us UC students just finished our 5th week of Fall Quarter and I, with many others, are exhausted already and wants the quarter to end.  I do feel as if the quarter is going someone quickly, but it's also very stressful as I haven't been able to enjoy a weekend of this quarter other than the one on week 1.  I recieved my mid-terms back this week and ended up with a "B" and a "C-".  Anyone who knows me well enough is aware of how I do not like getting anything lower than a "B".  It's like the danger zone for me and I never feel safe in my academics standings whenever that happens.  Those who say "you could just take the class again next quarter because you'll know everything" make me think "why in the world would I want to take a class over again when I hated it so much the first time around?"  Aside from those 2 mid-terms, I'm not liking one of my other classes because we keep recieving so many assignments.  I do (somewhat) like my Computer Game Development class.  My group is working on a 3rd-person 3d Action-Platformer using the Unreal Tournament 2004 Engine influenced by the game "Mirror's Edge."  I rather not get into detail of why I'm getting frustrated with the class, but I do like the fact that I'm working with something related to my future career.

Speaking of Game Development, I took up 6 game projects and now put myself in a very busy schedule.  I'm on Sound/Music for an RPG, Side-Scroll Shooter, 3D Action-Platformer, and 2D Action Horror Game.  Then I have 2 independent games I'm working on.  One game I'm making is a follow up to something I created for class and the other is for a professor I'm working with in my Game Culture Concentration.  Yup yup, very busy and wish I had more time away from the boring classes I have to go through.

I feel very videogame deprived since I haven't been playing all that much lately and because of all the good games suddenly coming out and tempting me.  2 Games for sure I'm buying is Phantasy Star Zero for DS and Castle of Shikigami 3 for Wii.

I'm super excited for Phantasy Star Zero since I enjoy the Phantasy Star series, the amount of weapons and story they're implementing into this game, and the ability to play over the internet cooperatively with people around the world!!!  Castle of Shikigami 3 is actually getting somewhat old (about a year or 2) but I've been getting back into shooters after playing Touhou and Valkyrie Sky as well as re-watching the video Mushihimesama-Futari.  It's also because CoS3 has 2 player co-op and I wanted something to play with my sister and friend over this winter break.

The graphics are nice, the game is challenging, but I hope I can at the very least change the voices back to Japanese (I played the Japanese demo on PC).

It looks impossible, but I think it'd be fun to try it out.

Free Online game with 4-player co-op and RPG elements.  Check on Right Panel.

Putting Phantasy Star Zero ($40) with Castle of Shikigami ($30) would cost me up to $70 plus tax.  I'm not even working in a real job right now, so using money really puts a hole in my wallet.  This makes it hard for me when I look at the other games out there.  Left 4 Dead 2 is coming out very soon:

Then this week, I got to try out DJ Hero (on its launch day no less) and I gotta say it's pretty fun.  I also love the stuff Daft Punk does:

Today, I went back to try out Tekken 6 since I forgot to on tuesday when I was playing DJ Hero:

This guy makes him look like nothing, but I got to the boss today.  It wasn't even fair..... One game in particular that really caught my attention though was Borderlands.  It's an Action sort of FPS RPG that can be played online with 3 other people for a 4 player co-op.

It's $60 for Console and $50 for PC, and I'm having a really hard time deciding whether I should get this game or not.  I'm leaning a lot more towards waiting for it to become cheaper before I actually buy it, but it's an RPG I can play with my FPS friends!!!  Yeaaaaah, lot's of good games out.  For those of you that play DotA, "League of Legends goes free-to-play".  No seriously, check their website.  It's created by those who were involved with making DotA, so the designs of the game is sure to be familiar and entertaining to those who've played DotA before.  Not sure when I'll get around to trying it since I have so much work...Another game to look out for if you're a DotA fan is "Heroes of Newerth."  The game "Demigod", that was also inspired by "DotA", was/is fun, but didn't have as many characters which was something that disappointed me a little.  But the game mechanics were a lot easier to pick up and play with others.

Moving away from Videogames, I got a chance to watch the first episode of the anime "K-On" and loved it.  I like the way Kyoto Animation animates and draws their characters as it's easy on the eyes and enjoyable to follow.  The stories that they transition from the manga (as it is a 4-Koma style Manga) are true to the story with more details that make it its own (like they did with Lucky Star).  And I love music, so a story about 4 girls getting together and playing music really interested me.  There's a Bassist, guitarist, drummer, and keyboard player (and I play all 4, yay!) all have a distinctive personality and charm about them that really relates to the viewers or makes them a bit more attatched.

Yeah, that's Mio (mmm, I wouldn't mind having that figurine, but it's $88...- -;).  She's my favorite character so far which surprised me since I play the Bass the least (I don't have one, I play my friend's).  I liked the part in the first episode where Ritsu kicked Mio in the leg, made me sorry for Mio, but still laughed.  I didn't know it before, but appearently EVERYONE loves Mio as I read stuff on forums and blogs.  I don't blame them after seeing the amazing ending credits theme song "Don't Say Lazy" at the end of the episode.

Mmmm, sexy right? XD  Yeah, this anime is fairly new, but I think they already brought it over with english dubs to the states already.  It's voiced by Christine Vee.  No offense at all to her, but I don't like the english dubs of any of the Kyoto Animation animes, they sound so weird and out of character.  I think what really urked me was the english version of "God Knows..." from Suzumiya Haruhi  no Yuutsu.  If you've watched the original Japanese version, avoid listening to the english version.  On the other hand, I think Christine Vee did a decent job on the english version of "Don't Say Lazy".  Still, I perfer the Japanese version more.

Okay, time to cook dinner and go to Kendo and hopefully play some videogames tonight before I work like crazy tomorrow!!! XD

Game Previews

Just dropping by - school takes up a lot of time - classes are boring - timing is (sorta) tight.  But nonetheless, I find the time to work on independent projects and play some videogames.  I beat Call of Duty: World at War with Danny 2 nights ago.  Very intense battles with us dying a lot, lol.  It's a new year, and so a lot of videogame release announcements have been made.  OH, before I get to the previews and stuff, please take a look at some stuff I made for Digital Multimedia:

-YTMND: Counting Penguin

-YTMND: Origins of our Alphabet System

-YTMND: Phoenix Knows Reppuken

-YTMND: What Scared Kefka?

-YTMND: Ryouhou for you

(Spread these to your friends, I need 500 views for at least one of them for a grade! 0.0)

View Larger Map

This was a google map project.  I just sent it to my professor a few minutes ago.

And now for the Videogame previews.

[PC] Tom Clancy's HAWX - Action Flight

WOOT!  It's co-op action flight simulator game, and the teaser starts out with a glimpse of Tom Clancy's previous release GRAW (Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter).  This gives me a chance to whip out my Joystick and have some flight simulation fun!

[XBOX 360] X-Blades - Fantasy Shooter (really?  Looks like 3rd person Action Adventure)

Why am I previewing a XBOX 360 game?  Because this game is coming out on PC as well!  Why does it seem interesting?  There's swords, guns, and magic.   Hmmm, sounds like things I'm usually into right?  But yeah, I'll be looking out for this one.

[Playstation 3] Street Fighter IV - Fighting

C'mon~~~How can you not be excited about this game?  Street Fighter is what made me love fighting games in the first place.  And with the return of Sakura Kasugano (gah, I love her! XD), this game is going to rock like none other.  I apologize to those Street Fighter: Third Strike fans, but I really missed the classic characters of the original Street Fighter II series.  HADOUKEN!

[Playstation 2] Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 - Role-Playing

Are you guys surprised they're still releasing PS2 games?  Truthfully, there are still tons of good PS2 games that still aren't released in the US and still in Japan (Shining Wind!!!) and so they continue to import them over and sell them at full price or become rare games (like a lot of Atlus' published games....).  But yeah, I'm a sucker for RPGs and I've always wanted to play the Persona series.  It sounds like it gets better each time they release a new one.

[PSP] Dynasty Warriors Strikeforce - Beat 'em up/Hack 'n Slash

Oh man, everytime I think Koei has reached a climax point in the Dynasty Warriors series, they just keep making it cooler.  In this version of Dynasty Warriors, it's less realistic and more "fantastic" in an over-the-top action battle system where you can fight in mid-air (like in Dragon Ball Z!) and battle against monsterous bosses that fill up the whole screen!  Only problem for me at the moment is that I don't have a PSP.....*sniff*

[Wii] The Conduit - Sci-Fi First-Person Shooter

This game looks very interesting.  Half-Life-like monsters with Halo themed weapontry and the like.  I'm also hoping the aiming system in this game won't be so wacky on the wii like Red Steel was (though I did like the 1 player story mode on that game).  I have high hopes for this game and for the Wii this year.

[NDS] Phantasy Star 0 - Action Role-Playing

An American release has been announced and I'm very excited.  4-player co-op over wi-fi!  Phantasy Star for handheld! (Been wishing that forever) Lots of custom character creation and as always, lots of weapons!!!  The Nintendo DS is littered with a whole line of amazing games this quarter: Ys, Valkyrie Profile, Blue Dragon +, World Destruction, Shining Force Feather, Fire Emblem, Dragon Quest V, Moon, Steal Princess, Big Bang Mini, Suikoden, Tales of Heart, Kingdom hearts, on and on.

So many good games to play, not enough time (and money) to play them all.

A New Year begins - [No pictures at the moment]

Winter Break is already over, I was very busy throughout the break, had a good time, then I got sick on the way back to campus, and now I'm sick with 4 classes waiting for me tommorrow morning......yeah.......

Anyways, I was happy to see some of my friends over the break (because a lot of other friends were busy or not even in town - you know who yous ppl are!)  I wanted to do 3 things and only got to fulfill one of them: Airsoft (no chance to), Snowboard (not allowed to), LAN night (That was fun, nearly 16 hours of constant gaming!)  We were able to play Left 4 Dead (YESSSS, being a hunter was awesome) World in Conflict, and Counter-Strike (yes, the 1.6 version).  It was good to see friends and relatives during Christmas eve and New Years Eve.  Somethings changed, somethings didn't...at all, which isn't bad or anything.  My room was intact and untouched.  How I left it is how it was when I got back.  My friend on the other hand no longer has a room, dunno where his stuff are and what it even looks like anymore (it's appearently at study room now - with a plant in it!)  For Christmas, I got an awesome sweater (which I really needed for school) that's Super Mario 3 Themed from Vanna and my sister, a wallet in a shape of a NES controller from Danny, and a book about ninjas by Ken.  My Mom and Dad have always surprised me during christmas, and I didn't think they could do that at this point...........man I was soooooo wrong.  I already knew I was getting a Playstation 3 from too many clues given within the 2 months before opening the present, but little did I know that within my sister's present hid 13 PS3 games for us to play ON that Playstation 3.  Never had I seen so many games at once in my hands.  I was definately overwhelmed and couldn't respond.  I did return one of the games (Overlord: Raising Hell) for Castlevania Judgment for the wii, and I really liked it.

Time to do a short critique: Castlevania Judgment - Wii

Pros: Very interesting concept, intuitive motion control in a fighting game, characters from many of the past Castlevania games in the past 2 decades, different from other fighting games, easy to pick up and play, incredible renditions of past soundtracks, decent graphics and cool character design.

Cons: Arm gets tired after swinging around so much, Camera angle causes one player to be unseen at times, character imbalance are somewhat appearent, some stages can be annoying to play on.

First Thoughts (Why?  Because I've only played versus mode so far on the game):  I was fearing that this game really was horrible from a lot of the things I kept hearing from game critics and fans alike, though I already knew there were going to be  lot of fans against the idea of Castlevania being a fighting game.  After playing a few rounds with Danny,  I now embrace the idea and hope that they continue on this path for a sequel (with more characters! =D).  Our first match was kinda silly since we played on the clock tower and fell off twice on our own.  The controls might seem confusing at first, but it's very easy to get used to after one or two matches.  I'm very excited to play the story mode (though that won't be till either March 21 or later since I'm back in school again....).  The relationships between the characters is very interesting because they either know each other, don't know each other, were once allies, or have yet to meet each other from their respective timelines.  So in my experience with the game so far:

Story - N/A (I haven't played story mode yet)

Gameplay/Controls - 4/5 (tiring, but simple)

Graphics - 4/5 (I didn't like the character design for Shanoa, everything else seemed decent)

Sound - 4/5 (would have been a 5/5 if it weren't for some of the cheap SFX)

Replay Value - 4/5 (Well yeah, most fighting games have a good replay value.  This game needs more characters though.  Theres 14 right now, they can do better right?)

So I would say 4/5 Overall.  I can't give it a more direct grading like 4.7/5 or anything since I haven't play enough of the game yet, and I won't be for a while.  But If I'm missing it right now, then I give it some merit for exciting me.  $50 Wii game, go out and buy/try it!

Well, I start class tommorrow.  4 classes on MW and 1 class on TTh.  My day of classes doesn't end tommorrow till 7:20PM.  Wish me luck, and good luck to those of you out there that starts tommorrow!

Castlevania Judgement

I should either be playing videogames or sleeping right now, because I haven't had a rest time in a long while since I've been working on projects and essays.  Anyways, I was at my Videogame Development Club yesturday with my RPG group planning out our second Island for the game.  I was pretty much done with what I had to do, so I was watching some trailers and looking at IGN when I came across some new videos for Castlevania Judgement while they were discussing the next step.  I saw a lot of interesting gameplay in its development, and then I saw the newest trailer for the US version of Castlevania Judgement.  The Japanese trailer is totally different after the beginning:

I never noticed how GODLY the song for the game was until I saw this trailer.  It was probably because the past trailers had a lot of background noise and they muffled the music.  But WOW, the game really got my attention with this trailer revealing 10 new characters not mentioned before.  Characters from Castlevania 3: Dracula's Curse up to current day Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia all mashed up into one fighting game.  A lot of negative feedback from those who tried the demos at conventions have been spread all over the internet, but I personally am expecting it to be a refreshing and intuitive game.   I remember hearing about it in July when I bought a copy of Nintendo Power to find out about the "new" Castlevania on the Wii.  I was going "nooooo, Koji Igarashi, what are you thinking?"  When I got home from Irvine during my orientation in July, I saw some trailers for the game, and  then I was more relieved when I saw that it was free roaming movement.  I didn't want a Soul Calibur rip off for a Castlevania game, so I had some hope for the game.  Then when I saw this latest trailer, I got so excited for all the characters (except I have to complain about how Takeshi Obata drew Shonoa like an ugly nun.  He blocked off all of Shanoa's beautiful hair!!! ; .;).  The only thing that'll make me love this game even more is more interesting modes, more characters, and good multiplayer concepts.  Came out today November 18, 2008 (well, it's Nov. 19 now since it's past 12) so go buy a copy today!!!

LOL, this just in.  Right before I was going to click Publish Post, I got some reviews from three sources.  Here are the scores:

Nintendo Power: 7/10

IGN: 7.5/10

1UP.com: D-

I'm not sure of Richard Li even played the game extensively or what.  A "D-"???  That's pretty harsh right there.  But yeah, a lot of other gamers on the board are complaining.  Most of them are complaining about Takeshi Obata's art ruining the game (which I find only true to Shanoa, he did a wonderful job for everyone else in my opinion) and of the mechanics of the game being horrible as a fighter.  Oh well, it's everyone's opinion.  As a Castlevania fan, I am most likely going to buy this game when I get back home to Elk Grove.  You guys can come over to try it and decided for yourself what you think during winter break.  ^_^

Excite, happy, nervous, buh?

I got new laptop, ipod touch, yamaha headphones, keyboard sustain pedal, a new phone (same number, don't worry), external hard drive, a wireless mouse, and a really cool mouse pad to start my new life in college....which doesn't really start until next week.

It was very tiring trying to find out how to get applications on my new ipod (which appearently I can't because of my firmware) and getting my laptop to dual boot was a nightware as I spent 2 entire days working on it. I say it was worth it because I learned a lot more about computers through my struggle. School is approaching and I'm kinda nervous about the difference in enviornment is going to be. Doing my own laundry is one of my concerns, and so will living with a room mate. I'm just hoping for the best and maybe become good friends with my room mates. I am a bit excited about the new classes I'm going to be taking as well as dreading the ones I'm gonna hate (Art History, ewwwhwhehwwww, but not this quarter).

But enough of school stuff, I learned some new things in the gaming world that excites me!

Phantasy Star Universe wasn't a big hit to the fans of Phantasy Star Online, but it was sure interesting to me.  I haven't gotten that far on PSU, but I've been hoping for a handheld version of the series for a while.  So to hear that there's one coming out on PSP (a system I do not have....) I got really excite yet sad since I don't have a PSP.  But then I heard there was one coming out for the DS:

It's going to be 4 player co-op, Action RPG, with Wi-Fi online capabilties of playing with other players.  You would use the touch screen to give directions or ask for orders to communicate with other players.

It's....It's so beautiful~~~~~~Unfortunately for me, it doesn't come out till December.....In JAPAN!!!  Which means I might have to wait till next summer or longer before it comes to America.  It should be brought over considering the success of PSO and eventually PSU because of the expansion pack.

I don't have to be too sad, since Castlevania Order of Ecclesia is coming out (supposedly) October 28 or so.  Castlevania being one of my favorite francises in the gaming world, I am definately buying that game when it comes out.

mmm, hot girl that kills tons of demons and vampires...okay, she's not incredibly hot, but I like how they have a female lead character (I guess Charlotte counts from the last installment).  This character looks very serious and dire compared to Charlotte though.  And from what I understand, you don't pick up weapons in the game, but glyphs.  Glyphs have abilities of summons, magic, and effect by conjuring it and using a bit of mp (magic power).  So a sword could emerge out of thin air by using a sword glyph.  This is only a guess, so I'm not sure if that's how it really looks.

Another Castlevania game coming out takes a bold turn and becomes a fighting game:

Castlevania Judgement gave me a real shock when I first heard about it on Nintendo Power magazine (while I was down in Irvine during July too if anyone remembers that post).  But I like fighting games, and I love Castlevania, so I'm hoping this game will be at least decent.  A lot of fans didn't like the 3D castlevania, so it's no surprise to see a whole bunch of whiners complaining about this game (btw, I liked the 3D castlevania games and am trying to beat Curse of Darkness).

Well, I'm going to be leaving soon and going to Irvine, and I'm going to really miss everyone here and the ones going to different colleges.  I wish all of you the best of luck this school year and will continue to blog in the future~