NewNews - Phantasy Star Online 2 Free-to-Play

Source: Youtube Channel VideoGameFrontAgain

You read the heading right: Phantasy Star Online 2 will be released as a Free-to-Play online game!  It seems that the PS Vita version will also be free to download and play to cross-platform play with the PC version.  Since its first announcement of PSO2, I feared that they would follow their old archaic monthly fee model (which failed for Phantasy Star Universe) and so I hoped that they would follow the same model that Guild Wars did by having the player buy the game and play online for free.  So when a friend told me last night about the news that it would be free-to-play, I nearly fainted from the excitement and screaming I did.  Now a new fear has fallen upon all Phantasy Star faithfuls as the community has seen the industry take hold of the free-to-play model by having insane amounts of micro-transactions alter a game's balance or withholding tons of content from the player until they pay for it (but retail games do that too with DLCs).  I have the same fears too as I am very familiar with free-to-play games (played over 50 of them but never spent a cent) and have seen many companies become greedy if they're successful or fail and inevitably shut down their servers which is not fair for those who actually did pay money for the items (which is also why I don't pay for any of them, never know when I will stop playing or when the servers will shut down).  The only other thing we have to fear now (at least in the western market) is that it doesn't get a release for the western audience (like Phantasy Star Portable 2 infinity did).  Still, I am now more excited about Phantasy Star Online 2 than ever before.

For those who have never played played or heard of the Phantasy Star Online series, it is a spin-off series from its original turn-based Phantasy Star games and played as an Action-RPG with other players online.  It is heavily Sci-Fi based and has a futuristic, space-themed feel to the environment.  Players are called "hunters" and are like hired mercenaries to perform various tasks for companies, officials, and individuals.  Rather than a huge open world map, everything is instanced in their own area.  PSO is not to be confused as an MMORPG as players will be grouped up in a party of 4-players and adventure on their own from other players waiting in the lobby.  Some notable aspects that has captured the hearts of many players in the past are: an incredible library of weapons, the addicting nature of feeding a mag (kind of like a robotic pet) and seeing the effects of them in battle, the excitement of looting strong and very rare items, large scale boss battles that tower 10-30x taller than the player, and the unique colorful environment with its atmospheric music.  Phantasy Star Online is a difficult game to find or in some cases very rare for the Sega Dreamcast and Nintendo Gamecube (no one cares about the X-box version and it is unplayable now).  PSO's spin-off "Phantasy Star Universe" was met with mixed reviews from critics and players and deviates a bit from the mechanics of PSO.  The portable versions were met with better reception but did not sell as well in the western market.  That is why a lot of Phantasy Star Online faithfuls are so excited about this upcoming sequel.  Here's hoping that it reaches the western market.

Source:
-MMOhut: New details about Phantasy Star Online 2

GameLight Review - Rhythm Heaven Fever

Official Site: http://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/q1gNQNlKvXRq4LNu9mEdmcXmksSbnduz

Source: Youtube Channel Wii

Developer: Nintendo SPD Group No.1, TNX
Publisher: Nintendo
Platforms: Nintendo Wii
Release Date: February 13, 2012
Genre: Music Rhythm

Pros:
-Simple to learn yet challenging to perfect
-Appropriate for all ages that would interest kids and adults alike
-Charming characters, catchy tunes, and quirky scenarios make for an enjoyable experience
-With 50+ games, Endless mode, and two-player mode, there's tons to do

Cons:
-Might be a bit on the easy side for Rhythm Tengoku veterans
-Not for the Rhythm-impaired
-You might laugh a little too much

I haven't played such an entertaining Wii game such as this in a long time.  I wasn't even sure if I was going to even give the game a try since I played both previous iterations in Japanese and didn't like the English dubbing to the Rhythm Tengoku Gold (Which was simply called Rhythm Heaven in North America).  The team behind Rhythm Heaven Fever (Minna no Rhythm Tengoku in Japan); however, did an incredible job of bringing it to the Western audience with impeccable translations and great dubbing to the songs with lyrics.  I've got to admit that this 3rd iteration of Rhythm Tengoku was far easier than the first two and took me around 6 hours to complete all 50 main games with each one taking me only one try if not three (except for Love Rap 2 (12+ tries) and the very last remix (5th try) where some of the songs from the original took me 20-30 tries.  So those who've played the first one on GBA or the 2nd one on NDS may have a significantly easier time on this one for the Wii, BUT it is still a whole lot of fun.  More genres of music are experimented and lots of hilarious shenanigans is bound to happen as the players tap along with the music and laugh their way through the end.  Anyone who likes music (and who doesn't like music?) should definitely give the game a try; you'd be surprised how fun pressing two buttons can be.

Aesthetics
I remember the first Rhythm Tengoku on GBA having a limited amount of technology to work with on the device and had to keep the art assets simple.  Just within the first two songs of the game I was entranced by the simple yet incredibly clean graphics.  There's so much depth to the art style compared to previous iterations, yet it stays simple enough to keep it from deviating too much from what was going on in the forefront.  There's a lot of charming characters (with the cat in the bi-plane playing badminton in the air with you being one of my favorites) and crazy scenarios that had me laughing all the way to the end.  Some songs get really creative with beats, off-beats, timing, and genres.  There were quite a few songs I really enjoyed playing because their challenging beats (like Working Dough) or liked listening to (like Love Rap).  As good as a lot of translations were, there were certain songs I wish I could change back to its original Japanese such as the remix songs.  Aesthetics: 9/10

Buttons
Controls are important in music rhythm games.  In the first game on the GBA, there was an issue with input lag on some of the songs.  In the 2nd game for DS, some players complained that having the touch screen controls weren't reliable and made it difficult to get a perfect.  It scared quite a few veteran players when it was announced that a Rhythm Tengoku was going to be released for the Wii.  Everyone thought it was going to implement motion control.  Instead, the developers kept it to simply using the A and B buttons.  It may sound boring just to press two buttons throughout the game, but it worked so well and efficiently that I'd say this version had the tightest controls out of the three iterations.  The key presses are dead-on to the beat that you press it on and I believe there is a bit of leeway for ones that require A and B being pressed together.  I'm glad they didn't go with a gimmicky motion control rhythm game as it would have turned out pretty bad (at least until they find a way to make motion control significantly more responsive in real-time).  They kept with the simple concept, clean controls, and creative usage of those two buttons for Rhythm Heaven Fever and I thought it worked out really well.  Buttons: 10/10

Concept & Content
The first time I played Rhythm Tengoku on GBA, I thought it was strange to have a music rhythm game using only two keys (and sometimes the movement key as a 3rd key) to play the entire game; however, I got so into it and was enjoying so much that I didn't think about it anymore.  This iteration had the same effect on me.  Most of the games require just pressing the A button with a certain rhythm and sometime changing up the beat playing triplets, or playing on an off-beat.  It succeeds very well as a music rhythm game and delivers an enjoyable experience for the one playing and those watching.  Adding in a two-player mode was also a nice addition though it would have been nice if they went all the way and allowed for 4-players to play simultaneously (the Wii lacks "good" multiplayer games nowadays).  There's an endless mode, toy boxes, and extra games for 2-player mode as well if enough medals are earned in 2-player regular mode.  The game only costs $29.99 compared to the usual $39.99-$49.99 for Wii games, so it's a pretty good deal for the amount of content the player receives.  Concept & Content: 10/10

Duration
I blazed through the game and finished the main 50 songs around 6 hours.  Still, there's a lot of medals I need to earn, perfects to achieve, endless games to acquire, and 2-player mode that I need to finish.  I liked the flow of the game a lot and felt each song had a reasonable length to them.  I'd probably still replay a lot of the songs to get medals and perfects, but this is one of those games where I won't play it for a while and then come back to it again for the memories.  In terms of replay value, it really depends on how badly one wants those medals and perfects and whether they'd still want to play it again after getting everything.  I'd say it's a fun game to play with a friend once in a while after getting everything.  Duration: 9/10

Fun
As I've mentioned, Rhythm Heaven Fever is one of the most entertaining games I've played on the Wii for a long time.  It's addicting nature and involving gameplay makes you tap along with the music.  It got me really into the game with the adorable characters, entrancing songs, and challenging beats.  It got me playing the original one again and made me realize how much more difficult some of them were on the GBA and DS versions.  The game made me smile.  It felt good to land all those difficult rhythm patterns and earn a medal.  Despite going back to using buttons instead of changing it up like they did with the DS game, the game still felt very fresh.  Sure, I was able to use a lot of the experience in the first two games in this one, but there were some new twists to some of the songs and patterns that made it unique and challenging.  After completing the game, I just wanted more out of it.  Luckily, there is still much I can get from the game by replaying some of the levels.  It was a great experience from beginning to end.  Fun: 10/10

Overall
Just like the first two games, Rhythm Heaven Fever is a great addition to the series and one that should be continued.  The game is easy to learn but still challenging and engrossing for players of any age or skill level.  The game is very well polished, has plenty of creative concepts with the music patterns, is translated rather well for the Western audience, contains lots of laughs and is just plain fun.  This is a highly recommended game for any Nintendo Wii owner as the system reaches its end with the new system about to be announced and 3rd-party companies dying down on the support for the system.  Overall: 9.6/10

GameLight - Binary Domain

Official Site: http://www.sega.com/binarydomain/
Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/203750/

Source: Youtube Channel IGNentertainment

Binary Domain is Japan's attempt of reaching out to the Western market with a tactical, cover-based, 3rd-Person Shooter.  Shooters are very popular in the Western market with games such as Gears of War, Halo, and especially Call of Duty.  Upon release, it received mixed reviews both positive and skeptical.  The game is about a futuristic Japan where a group of humans fight off hordes of robots who are trying to be more human while the humans question if they're becoming more like machines.  The scenario sounds familiar and done before, but it does create a nice futuristic look to the environment.  Those that enjoyed the game (both critics and players) thought the story was interesting but a lot of players and critics alike seem to agree that there is a lack of polish in some of the controls and the design to multiplayer.  The game is also praised for its Japanese style boss battles where the enemies are large and the fight is a struggle (compared to a lot of quick-time event fights that Western developed games have in their shooters).  The game looks really interesting and I'm excited that it's coming out for PC (I like using mouse and keyboard for shooters if possible).  Binary Domain is already out on Playstation 3 and Xbox 360.  Binary Domain will release on PC/Steam sometime in April.

GameLight - Gettysburg: Armored Warfare

Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/200630/

Source: Youtube Channel gameboyuk

A new game released on the Steam platform today called "Gettysburg Armored Warfare".  It's a mix of third-person shooters with real-time strategy.  Here are some fun facts about the game:
-The game is based back in the 1860's with futuristic technology (supposedly)
-The entire game was developed by one guy (Danny Green, the guy in the video)
-It's out with an initial price of $10
-A server can support up to 64 players (that's nuts when each player controls like 100 soldiers each)
-Each individual unit can be manually controlled by the player for third-person action

There are only 4 maps to play on, but they're rather large.  The game does strike a bit of interest out of me, but I still don't know enough about the game to really say if it's good or not.  Honestly, I see some problems with the game just from looking at some of the gameplay shown in the video.  Quite a few FPS/RTS or TPS/RTS games have been made in the past as online games and have worked since 1-2 players commanded the units from an RTS point of view while everyone else controlled a unit.  With the concept here, it seems that the player will have the major role of an RTS strategist while taking control over a unit seems more like a novelty than a game changing mechanic.  Wouldn't the units do a better job of auto-aiming and firing at enemies than a player trying to take over?  Then there's the realization that there's only 4 maps and 3 modes.  I believe the game is purely custom made skirmishes and online play and will lack any sense of story, campaign, or fulfilling single-player mode.  What I do have hope for in this game is that Steam Workshop customization will be available for the game sometime in spring and players will be able to play with community created mods.  If there's a strong following and creative community behind the mods for this game, I think it will create a lot of fun scenarios as a sandbox-like game for a lot of players.  Perhaps players can get a kick out of their own customized matches in the game's original settings, but that's something I'm not willing to try out just yet.  I will probably get this game when a sale hits as I am still neck deep into my backlog of games.  This game can easily be the next Garry's Mod and I think it'll be more fun than playing it vanilla.

VGCulture - Filler - Rhythm Heaven Fever Badminton

I had a busy day today, so here's another filler:

Source: Youtube Channel NintenDaan1

I completed all the main songs today and really enjoyed the game.  I will be doing a review for it sometime soon.

VGCulture - Negativity in the Community

These past 4 months have been a bit odd for videogame releases as all games are getting panned by critics and the gaming community alike.  Even those of strong followings from previous series favorites have succumbed to the relentless flurry of criticism from the online community.

Sample of average rating from this week's releases on MetaCritic

I shall go through a list of releases from the past 4 months and show you what I mean:

Note: [Game name - Publisher - Platform] - Metacritic scores: Critic - User

[NeverDead - Konami - PS3/360] - Metacritic: 50-52/100 - 4.5-5.4/10
Announced back in 2010 at E3, NeverDead created a bit of hype for itself prior to its launch.  But the second it hit the shelves, the criticism whip cracked down on it hard for frustrating controls and repetitive gameplay.  The game was quickly forgotten and all hype about it disappeared.

[Street Fighter X Tekken - Capcom - PS3/360] - Metacritic: 84-84/100 - 5.5-3.9/10
So the complaints for this game aren't from the critics but rather the players.  Competitive Street Fighter fans don't like how easy it is for anyone to perform combos and special attacks that favor a more casual audience.  Tekken fans don't like how their favorite game and characters play like Street Fighter characters.  Some complain how poor the online gameplay feels as lag and connection issues ensue.  Some of the more reasonable aspects that people are angry about is the fact that 10 extra characters haven't been added to the game yet and will be available in the fall even though they're charging players a full $60 right now and the fact that day 1 DLCs was implemented within the disc but is not accessible till paid for.  I suppose the last two are reasonable complaints that warrant poor reception from the customers as Capcom did the same thing twice last year with Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition and Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3.  Capcom said they wouldn't do a "Super" version of this game and release it for $40, but if you think about it having the original game and paying for the DLCs for the characters is a lot more expensive...

[Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City - Capcom - PS3/360] - Metacritic: 51-54/100 - 6.1-5.3/10
This Resident Evil game wasn't directly developed by Capcom and has a much more action-orientated feel to it (although the main series has become just that as well).  It boasted itself being a cooperative multiplayer experience similar to that of Left4Dead's feel; however, it seems most of the complaints is that it takes a ton of original characters from the series (fan service), used the Resident Evil name (power behind an IP), and created an action-game with dumb AI and boring environments.  Guessing that the game's similar to the mission modes of Resident Evil 5, I can imagine what the critics and players are trying to say.  Still, if the game has split-screen co-op mode, I maybe consider picking this game up one day.

[Ninja Gaiden 3 - TecmoKoei - PS3/360] - Metacritic: 56-59/100 - 3.9-4.1/10
It may be that Tomonobu Itagaki isn't directing this one or maybe the game was rushed a bit too much, but Ninja Gaiden 3 was not received well by the community at all.  The most common complaint was that the game felt "unfinished" or "lacking content".  It could be that the developers had fallen into the trend trap and focused a bit too much on the multiplayer aspect and didn't fleshed out the campaign very well, but I guess I don't really care since I have yet to finish the first one and haven't even bought the 2nd one yet.

[Armored Core V - NamcoBandai - PS3/360] - Metacritic: 66-70/100 - 8.2-8.3/10
I just posted about this game not too long ago.  Although the reception wasn't exactly "bad", the very average rating was a lot lower than I expected.  The critics main gripes were the constant loading between each screen, repetitive objective, and a boring single player experience.  It was praised for its multiplayer aspects such as online gameplay and a massive array of customizable parts.  If I didn't have a huge backlog of games and a list of high priority games I'd get first, I would have already picked this game up.  It's been so long since I've played a really nice mech game.

[Yakuza: Dead Souls - Sega - PS3] - Metacritic: 64/100 - 7.1/10
In hopes of reaching out to the western market even more, Sega had decided to put zombies in their Yakuza game.  The Yakuza series had been received with average to semi-above ratings with both players and critics, but I suppose this spin-off is a bit off from its usual audience and doesn't fit well with both sides (zombie fans and fans of the Yakuza series).

[Mass Effect 3 - Electronic Arts - PS3/360/PC] - Metacritic: 92-93-90/100 - 3.7-4.8-3.7/10
Players either loved it or hated it mainly because of the ending.  I don't want to hear it, don't want to know about it yet.  I'm still upset that I lost my save files for Mass Effect 1 and have to start over again a 3rd time now because of the laptop crashing.  The game sold well, but is a hot topic of being panned by the community.

[Blades of Time - Konami - PS3/360] - Metacritic: 56-52/100 - 6.8-7.3/10
The successor of animé-ish X-Blades, Blades of Time is a huge transition from its predecessor to bring a more realistic looking game in the likeness of Uncharted or Tomb Raider.  The game was largely ignored by the community and those that bothered to rate it gave it average to below average rating.  Some players praised it for being a much better game than its predecessor but pointed out that the story was bland and the game being buggy.  I might give this game a try after I play through X-Blades.

[Asura's Wrath - Capcom - PS3/360] - Metacritic: 72-73/100 - 6.2-5.9/10
This game also received a lot of hype ever since its announcement.  When the demo released, waves of comments came crashing down on how monotonous the gameplay was and how it felt like a game of interactive cut-scenes with its excessive use of quick-time events.  I've come to really hate any quick-time events used in games because of how excessively it's used in games now (although it was used quite elegantly in Bayonetta).  It was okay in the beginning especially back in God of War when it was used mainly to show more of the brutality of the enemies being killed, but then every action game started using it and it just stopped being "interesting" and became more of a "nuisance".  I guess that reflected throughout the entire game when Asura's Wrath eventually came out.  I might give the game a chance one day when it hits a strong sale for $20 or less, but I'll pass on it for now.

[BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend - Aksys Games - PS3/360/Vita] - Metacritic: 70-N/A-82/100 - 5.1-7-8.3/10
I can understand why critics and players alike are so upset with this release of BlazBlue as Arc System Works and Aksys Games did a Capcom move and released a revised version of their previous games with additional content.  BlazBlue's previous transition from Calamity Trigger to Continuum Shift was justified as characters had a huge improvement in balance, abilities, an entire continuation of the story, better online gameplay, and extra characters without it being DLCs before.  With the release of "Extend", it included the 3 characters that were sold for $7 each as DLCs with one additional character, the inclusion of Calamity Trigger's story, additional stories to the new characters and a new mode.  It may seem like a lot, but for those who already spent $121 on the previous two games and the DLCs feel cheated when this version is a full package of everything the bought in the past with a few extra content (essentially an expensive $40 DLC).  Sadly, I'll end up buying the game because I loved the game and having that extra mode and 4 extra characters with their story mode included is something I want.  It does feel like I'm being cheated along with those who bought the first two games; however, this game is an absolute must buy for all new comers as it's the complete package for BlazBlue.

There were many more to mention, but I suppose I got my point across that this year's release of game reception has a lot more notoriety than any year I've seen in a while.  This makes me wonder how the other games will fare against the community this year: Dragon's Dogma, Prototype 2, Max Payne 3, Risen 2, Lollipop Chainsaw, Darksiders 2, Anarchy Reigns, Diablo 3, Guild Wars 2, FarCry 3, Borderlands 2, Dead or Alive 5, etc.

NewNews - Footage of Bayonetta in Anarchy Reigns

As a follow up of yesterday's post, here it is:

Source: Youtube Channel rosengalionheart

So it seems the developers were able to translate Bayonetta's fighting style and attacks from the original game into Anarchy Reign just fine.  It does make her seem rather overpowered in the video, doesn't it?  The problem right now is that she's a day-one DLC character for the Japanese version.  Her appearance in versions outside of Japan hasn't been confirmed yet, but why wouldn't they add her?  With the addition of Bayonetta to the roster, I am now a lot more interested in getting the game.

Source:
-Joystiq: Here's Bayonetta in Anarchy Reigns

GameLight - Anarchy Reigns

Official Site: http://www.sega.com/games/anarchy-reigns/

Source: Youtube Channel gamespot

Two months ago, I posted a list of some of the most anticipated games of 2012 and one of them was Anarchy Reigns.  Though I added it to the list, I honestly didn't have much interest in the game and never really looked much into it.  I made some discoveries about the game today that might have changed my mind.  Platinum Games are the developers to the game which is a plus for me as I've come to really enjoy a lot of their creations.  The game is based off the world and characters of "MadWorld" that was exclusively for the Nintendo Wii and was also developed by Platinum Games.  Finally, it is speculated that one of the playable characters within Anarchy Reigns is gun-totting witch Bayonetta!

Anarchy Reigns is an arena-based, multiplayer beat-em-up.  I think that's what worries me the most about this game is that its main gameplay relies on online multiplayer.  There are so many online multiplayer games that are developed but lose their community really quickly after a few months of its release which renders the game pretty pointless thereafter.  If there's a chance that it has 4-player split-screen just like old-school local multiplayer, I might be interested enough to get it myself.  There are tons of characters, all with their own special abilities.  The campaign allows the player to choose between two characters with two different stories to them.  Even so, the core concept of the game seems to be competitive online multiplayer.  The game is set to release on July 3rd this summer for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360.

Source:
-Joystiq: Bayonetta making a cameo in Anarchy Reigns

Retroview – Ninja Gaiden 3 (NES)

Source: Youtube Channel skrizhali

Ninja Gaiden has always been one of my favorite games series from the NES days, despite how incredibly difficult they were and having only beat each one 1-2 times all the way through.  I can’t really say “series” I suppose since I only owned the first and second when I was younger (as all the games I played were the ones my father played) and never played the 3rd one.  I wondered for the longest time why my father never got the 3rd one if he liked the first two in the series.  Fast forward to when I was in college, I came across the series once again during the time and found out that the 3rd iteration in the series had a very diabolical change in its continue system.  In the first two Ninja Gaiden games, a player could restart at the last main checkpoint as many times as they wanted.  In other words, there was an infinite amount of continues.  Games back in the 8-bit days weren’t particularly long and so a lot of them were designed to be very difficult but possible to beat as they all followed a pattern.  So a player would die over and over but would, or at least should, learn from their mistakes and try another method through the section they had trouble with.  This would increase the gameplay time by a significant amount depending on how quickly the player learned all the patterns and tricks.  So what happened in #3?  After continuing about 3 times (I'm not sure anymore), the player faces a true game over and has to start from the very beginning of the game once again.  You know how ludicrous that is?

Anyways, I finally found it in me to sit down and play the game just 2 weekends ago.  The first few things I noticed different about the 3rd one was there was a voice over when Ryu Hayabusa does any actions, there were new sub-weapons, and the player can jump up over the ledge of the wall they’re on (which is a big deal).  As I played, all the same aspects of the past Ninja Gaiden games came rushing back: fast-paced action and platforming, catchy tunes, beautifully detailed graphics, fluid gameplay, challenging passages, and the classic cut-scenes that adds to the story.  I was really enjoying the game when I wasn’t stunned right into a bottomless pit or getting ravaged by 3-5 flying enemies on the screen.  I have to admit that the boss battles were significantly easier compared to the first two other than the very last boss.  I also found a significant problem in the last level that I couldn’t believe the developers overlooked.  The last chapter is one huge level that spans 3-5 sections (I don’t even remember anymore since it was so difficult) and I didn’t hesitate to keep moving forward (meaning I didn’t wait around).  At one point, I ran out of time.  Either you have to move lightning speed or that has to be one of the biggest shenanigans I’ve run into in the Ninja Gaiden series because there was still a LOT more after where I had died.  The check point I got sent back into was quite far and is actually the last check point you’ll get in the game.  If you die at the final boss, you get sent back to that check point just like in the first game.  The final boss wasn’t exactly difficult, just irritating.  But it was easy when I found out what the pattern was.  Then he reveals his “true” form where he doesn’t move but has a lot of projectiles.  Again it was annoying but the pattern was actually pretty easy and I won after figuring it out.  Then there’s a “final” form which takes up half of the screen.  In the “final” form, the boss has a shield that you have to get through.  Between that last check point and the final boss’s room, there was one health recovery.  Between the 3 forms, the player doesn’t regenerate or recover any health at all.  Getting sent back to that last checkpoint wasn’t fun at all.  Still, I completed the game and got the typical ending that I wasn’t surprised about at all.  I think the 3rd iteration had much simpler boss battles and so they weren’t very memorable.  But with having a limited amount of continues, I’m glad it wasn’t “that” difficult or it would have been impossible beating the game.  The new Ninja Gaiden 3 for Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 released today.  I won’t wait 21 years later to play that one, but I have yet to even finish the new Ninja Gaiden 1 Sigma yet.  Ninja Gaiden 3: The Ancient Ship of Doom was fun and all, but I may or may not revisit the game again.

The game took me approximately 3 hours to finish.

GameLight - Armored Core V

Official Site: http://www.armoredcore.net/acv/

Source: Youtube Channel XboxViewTV

A lot of new games are releasing this week and next and one of them being Armored Core V.  I'm honestly not even sure if I've ever played any of the Armored Core games since I've played so many mecha-games.  Back in the late 90's, early 2000 mecha-games were huge!  And by huge I mean everyone wanted to play mecha-related games and developers kept throwing them out there (kind of how modern military shooters are now).  There were big robot games on Sega Saturn, Playstation 1, Nintendo 64, X-box, PC, Sega Dreamcast, it was everywhere!  Somewhere along the way mecha-games stopped being so popular and the ones that came out where largely ignored or loved by a niche group (as many genres of the past has).  Armored Core V's announcement was a surprise to me.  I didn't realize they still made games like these anymore, at least I didn't think they'd localize it as mecha-games have always been a popular genre in Japan.  There hasn't been a game like Armored Core V in a while as many of the other giant robot games tend to feel more like other genres (Transformers: War for Cybertron felt like a 3rd-Person Shooter and Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 3 played like a hack 'n slash).  It's not bad that those games felt like other genres, but there hasn't been a true mecha-game that satisfies those who still like the traditional heavy guns with jet-packs and major collateral damage in a long time.  I think the last game I played that had a similar feel to it is Exteel, which no longer is available for play (it was a free online game).  One of the things I really hated about some of the mecha-games were how clunky the controls felt to simulate weight or how slow the gameplay went by.  Fast-paced mecha-games like Virtual-On and Zone of the Enders were some of my favorite as large armored robots were equipped with tons of weapons, glided around with incredible speed and flew around shooting dozens of missiles at their enemies.  Armored Core V seems to follow that old-school trend with tons of customizable parts, massive maps to fight on, and crazy battles with tons of enemies.  I'm so behind on a lot of games and am anticipating for even more that I don't even know if I'll ever get around to getting this  game.  Still, it seems to be one of the best looking mecha-games I've seen in a while so I may consider picking it up one day.  Armored Core releases tomorrow with special day-one packages when you pre-order at GameStop and will be available for both Playstation 3 and Xbox 360.

GameLight - War of the Roses

Official Site: http://www.paradoxplaza.com/games/war-of-the-roses

Source: Youtube Channel machinima

Out of the announcements from GDC, I didn't really see any game announcements except for this one.  War of the Roses is based on historical 15th century England where a series of civil wars broke out to claim the throne.  The game looks a lot like Mount & Blade (also published by Paradox Interactive) but is being developed by Fatshark (who developed Lead & Gold: Gangs of the Wild West and Bionic Commando Rearmed 2) rather than TaleWorlds.  The focus on gameplay seems to be dynamic combat mechanics as those who have played Mount & Blade would know that the animations and fighting are very stiff and rigid.  War of the Roses seems to  be a lot smoother and offers brutal finishing moves.  How the rest of the game plays is still uncertain as the developer has yet to reveal much about the game.  Much like Mount & Blade, the game will feature massive multiplayer battles and an extensive persistence system in their single-player campaign.  I'm not even sure if there was an end to any of the Mount & Blade games as one can play hundreds of hours out of it while free roaming the map.  War of the Roses is looking great from the videos so far and I'm prepared to get it if I can get as great a deal as I did out of the Mount & Blade series (I bought all 3).

NewNews - Diablo 3 releases May 15th, 2012

Official Site: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/?-

Need I say more?

VGCulture - Filler - Battlefield 3 with Super Mario Sounds

I saw this posted on Kotaku today!

Source: Youtube Channel DerpShark

It's rather entertaining watching gameplay of Battlefield 3 like this.  It kind of makes me wish I could have those sounds when I play it.  The video was created and compiled by DerpShark who seems to have quite a few funny videos based on Battlefield 3 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.  This is another one of them:

Source: Youtube Channel DerpShark

Sorry that it's a filler today!

Source:
-Kotaku: A Little Mario Music Makes Battlefield 3 Ten Times More Entertaining

VGCulture - Players glitch into new areas of Diablo 3

Source: Youtube Channel FixtionFXReality

I was told by a friend that over the weekend that there was a bug in the Diablo 3 beta that unlocked new content for players.  Voluntarily not participating in the beta, I didn't know about such an event so I looked it up online.  It seems that players were able to access three new areas that were previously not present before.  After the incident was discovered, Blizzard took down the servers to block access to those parts of the game once again as they were not ready for beta testing just yet.  Many players have recorded their venture into the new maps and posted them on Youtube and other video sharing sites.  As excited as I am for the release of Diablo 3, I can wait.  Blizzard has had a great record for incredible gaming experiences due to their efforts in detail and planning and not answering to petty trends and publisher's hastened deadlines (mostly because they're their own publisher and can afford it).  I have no doubt that Diablo 3 will be great, so I'm willing to wait a bit longer if that's what it takes for it to get there.

NewNews - Phantasy Star Online 2 on PS Vita

Source: Youtube Channel playstationjp

So it seems that Sega plans on bringing Phantasy Star Online 2 to the PS Vita platform.  That's fine as a lot of developers seem to make portable versions of console games and such.  This is more than a port though!  It seems that Phantasy Star Online 2 will feature cross-platform compatibility, which means when you're not playing the PC version and are out and about with your PS Vita, you can continue your adventure with the characters from the same account!  Sony has talked about cross-platform play in the past with games like Metal Gear Solid and Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 where players' stats, saves, and progression can be played between the console and the handheld; however, I never felt that any of the games were really necessary or worth using that method (especially with having to buy two games on two platforms).  But when I heard the announcement for PSO2's implementation of the idea, I thought "well it's actually a pretty good idea for RPG!"  I know in the past there has been things like "auction house managers" for MMOs or things like the Poké walker for Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, but I rarely see a mobile "game" that compliments the actual game all that much.  With the cross-platform compatibility, players can feed their mags (if they have them in PSO2), level up, do some quests when not playing on the PC.  And from the sounds of it, Sega wants to mirror the graphics quality and gameplay of the PC entirely so that those playing on the PS Vita on the go will have the same great experience as on the PC.  There still isn't any word on having a North American release as the past 2 Phantasy Star Mobile games on the PSP did not do as well in the Western market (which is a shame because they're really fun).  I'm still hoping and waiting, but I'd settle for a PS Vita release if a PC release doesn't reach North America (which means I'll have to go buy a PS Vita).

GameLight - Angry Birds Space

Official Site: http://space.angrybirds.com/announcement/

Source: Youtube Channel RovioMobile

With the announcement of "The New iPad" (iPad 3), it's no surprise that it would be backed up by killer apps from developers of the market.  Today, Rovio Entertainment uploaded a video of its new game Angry Birds Space.  The game is introduced and talked about by NASA astronaut Don Pettit and how the game's mechanic will work as gravity plays a different part in the game's system.  Sure, this theme and idea has been done many times before by flash game developers for years, but so was the original concept for Angry Birds.  It's sad but true that many popular games on the mobile or social platforms are copies of other existing games, but there's nothing we can really do about it (at the very least know about it).

I'm not entirely against mobile, social, and casual games as some of them actually turn out to be pretty innovative or fun.  Although I'm not a huge fan of the Angry Birds series, I do like the aesthetic and character it gives that has seeped into pop culture.  I also enjoyed the video uploaded and especially enjoyed the demonstration by Mr. Pettit at 1:52.  I'm not sure if other people had the same dreams but as a kid I dreamed of what it would be like in space and do all sorts of crazy zero-gravity activities and so seeing that Angry Bird plush get shot off in zero-gravity made me all giddy inside.  There's no doubt that Rovio Entertainment will find its success once again on Apple products and mobile devices everywhere, especially with "The New iPad's" release on March 14th and its own launch on the market on March 22nd.

VGCulture - iPad 3 announcement at GDC 2012

Official Site: http://www.apple.com/ipad/

Source: Youtube Channel OGBProduction

Today at Game Developers Conference 2012, Apple announced "The New iPad" as they would like to put it rather than the iPad 3.  Here is a run down of specs:

-9.7-inch 2048 x 1536 screen (iPad 2's display was 1024×768)
-A5X quad-core graphics chip
-5-megapixel rear camera
-10 hour battery life (9 hours with 4G LTE turned on)
-More memory and [a] higher screen resolution than an Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3
-Weighing in at 1.4 lbs

Prices for WiFi-only model:
  -16GB for $499
  -32GB for $599
  -64GB for $699
Prices for the WiFi & 4G-enabled editions:
  -16GB for $629.00
  -32GB for $729.00
  -64GB for $829.00

I find it sad that the "tablet" has become stronger than my own laptop (faster processor and higher resolution).  I have avoided the device for a really long time now, but I'm now considering of maybe getting the 3rd of its iteration.  This "tablet" will eventually take over laptops as its use and convenience far surpasses those of notebooks and laptops for its size, speed, and not having to turn on/off (hibernation is still slower than that of an iPad).  However, I don't see it replacing PC gaming anytime soon.  I still much prefer my computer for PC gaming and will most likely use the iPad for playing short time-passing games to wait for load times on my laptop or look up gamefaqs when I'm playing PS3 or Wii so I don't have to keep running back to my room to check.  The New iPad will be available next Wednesday March 14th and is already taking orders now.

Source:
-Gamasutra: New iPad announced with high-resolution screen, quad-core graphics chip

GameLight - Dead or Alive 5

Official Site: http://teamninja-studio.com/doa5/top.html

Source: Youtube Channel machinima

Dead or Alive is that fighting game with beautiful women and beefy men who deliver strikes so hard that they fall off mountains, break walls, and shatter bones but get right back up to continue fighting.  The game continues its legacy with its fifth installment as the fighting game with breathtaking graphics and powerful physics engine (in one way or another) returns with a surprise.

So many fighting game fans of the Dead or Alive series and Virtua Fighter series are getting excited with announcements and videos of VF's iconic character Akira Yuki joining the roster in Dead or Alive 5.  I grew up playing the Virtua Fighter series but never really got too much into it.  Dead or Alive I played even less of just because no one else had it or played it.  So as many fans of both series are overjoyed with the crossover, I found it to be sort of boring for an announcement of a crossover.  I like Virtua Fighter, but Akira was one of the more boring characters for me.  I liked more of the faster combo characters like Sarah Bryant and Aoi Umenokouji or some of the more obscure characters like Kage-Maru.

What I'm more excited about is that Dead or Alive 5 will be available for Playstation 3 as well as the Xbox 360 rather than making it exclusive to one console as they've had for the past two iterations.  One of the other reasons why I played Dead or Alive so little was because it was always on consoles I didn't have.  With the inclusion of being able to play on the Playstation 3, I might consider picking up my very first Dead or Alive game (if not for the 3DS).  Though I have to consider all the other fighting games coming out as well (BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend, The King of Fighters XIII, Soul Calibur V, and Street Fighter X Tekken).  I don't have to worry about it too much at the moment as the game is set to launch in the 4th quarter of this year.  If I do end up getting a 3DS sometime in the summer this year, I'll probably pick up Dead or Alive Dimensions.

GameLight Review - Serious Sam: The Random Encounter

Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/201480

Source: Youtube Channel gamespot

Developer: Vlambeer
Publisher: Devolver Digital and Croteam
Platforms: PC
Release Date: Oct 24, 2011
Genre: Action, RPG

Pros:
-Simple and to the point with a unique gameplay
-Very satisfying wiping out an entire army of enemies
-The retro feel is a nice take for the genre it's attempting

Cons:
-Broken mechanics leads to frustrating gameplay
-All battles rely heavily on chance
-It does not feel like an Action game and does not feel entirely like an RPG

Created by the minds behind Super Crate Box, Serious Sam: The Random Encounter has a unique gameplay mechanic and a charming aesthetic.  The game was really fun at first, but when the actual game started, there were many mechanics that just caused the combat to be more annoying than entertaining.  In combat, the character(s) can move or down to avoid on-coming enemies and projectiles which works when there's only one or two.  But when the player acquires all three characters, they can only move 1-2 inches and it doesn't help very much if the enemies consists of gun toting arachnoids that shoot 50 bullets or 30 swarming Kleer, or even just 1 Gnaar (hits for 80 HP) because moving that little amount of space does little to no effect to dodging any of them.  Certain weapons kill certain enemies better, but sometimes the enemies will have conflicting enemy types which places the player in the predicament of getting killed by one enemy type or the other.  The main campaign lasts for about 1.5-2 hours at most and then ends the game with unlocking Endless mode which is similar to the enemy rushes on the last level = very annoying.  The game was semi-enjoyable, rather short for a so-called "RPG", and it did make me laugh a few times in those 2 hours for the $1.24 I paid for it.  Anyone who's interested in the game, even hardcore Serious Sam fans, should wait for another sale before purchasing it as the game doesn't really justify the $5 charge.

Aesthetics
I liked the retro style pixel sprites and its 8-bit infused music.  I think it was one of the major factors that grabbed my attention of the game.  The sheer amount of ridiculousness with huge mobs of enemies and explosions made it funny and exciting.  The game really did feel and play like that in the beginning.  The simple menu and gameplay mechanics made it easy to learn along the way without too much guidance, so it was pretty easy to get into.  Unfortunately, about an hour later the player would have seen almost everything within the game and find little to no variation later on.  The aesthetics is possibly the best point of the game.  Aesthetics: 7/10

Buttons
Controls were straight-forward: Arrow keys to move around in the map, up and down to move the character in battle and make selections.  The controls were perfectly fine, it's just that the design of the dodge mechanics in a full team is pointless and ridiculous.  When you have 1-2 characters on the field, moving up and down actually had an effect dodging enemies and bullets.  When you have all 3 characters, it has little to no reason to allow the player to move as enemies follow the players path while bullets are so numerous that it's literally impossible to avoid.  There could've been so much more to the mechanics of dodging in the game.  5/10

Concept & Content
The game took me by surprise with its turn-based combat-mechanic.  It was really fun in the beginning: players can dodge enemies and projectiles like a shoot-em-up and switch between weapons.  Maps were small and so I never got lost as it is a common fault for most RPGs.  The problems started when I acquired the third character and all the real enemies started to appear.  Some enemies require certain weapons to take down.  If there's more than 3-5 enemy types, the only possible way to survive is by using items which is highly necessary in the boss fights.  So using them early could ruin the player's chances of winning the boss battle.  So if one enemy type doesn't kill you, the other ones will (thus, the "random encounter" I guess).  Other times, the player will be lucky and have 1-2 enemy types only and be able to take minimal damage and take out the swarm.  The game auto-saves after each completed level.  Luckily, a "game over" doesn't restart the whole game and only restarts the level.  There are only 9 levels in the entire game (if I remember correctly) so the game is really short.  I wouldn't call this game an Action or RPG as much as I would call it a strategy game.  You don't have that control or maneuverability as an Action game and it doesn't have the story, leveling, equipment, statistics, attributes management, or such of an RPG.  Instead, the combat relies a lot of chance and planning attacks and direction ahead of time and knowing when to use items.  The game is short, and Endless mode is essentially walking left and right around the same line and getting into battles with the difficulty essentially the same as the last level of the campaign making it unpleasant most of the time.  I really liked the idea they had for the game, but it wasn't thought out entirely and a LOT more could have been added.  Concept & Content: 5/10

Duration
Honestly, if the game was any longer I'd probably hate it even more.  The flow of the game started out great where it eased the player into the game and gradually got more difficult.  At a certain point, it just suddenly got incredibly hard and sometimes impossible which broke the flow entirely and just became annoying.  I was about to give up on the game entirely but I was stubborn and kept playing until I finished that one level (3-3) which turned out to be the last level in the game.  The game was super short and saying that $5 justifies that duration, then there's something wrong since I've paid $5 (and one even $2.49) that lasted 20-100 hours of gameplay).  I wasn't expecting the game to be super long, but it was categorized as an RPG so I was hoping at least 5 hours of gameplay for an indie game.  2 hours later, I was done with the game.  I tried out Endless mode and then placed the game under my "completed games" as in "I'm not playing it anymore".  Duration: 3/10

Fun
As I've said a few times, I liked it in the beginning.  After my first night of playing, I was excited to play it again the next day.  But then I hit that level somewhere 2/3rds of the way into the game where it was just difficult and sometimes impossible.  I started separating my play time to each level (which there was only 9) and I eventually go stuck on 3-3 which also happened to be the last level.  It was really irritating knowing that I "could" move away from a bullet or rampaging Gnaar, but couldn't because the player was limited to such a small move area.  Having to sacrifice the use of a crowd control weapon to focus on the big threats only to get killed by the wave of smaller ones was also a common problem.  In the end, I finished the last level because every enemy wave contained only 1-2 enemy types that allowed me to use the weapons to take care most of them without having to sacrifice too much health or crowd control.  It was a game that relied too much on chance and felt like it could've been so much more but wasn't.  I enjoyed it, but for a very short time.  Fun: 5/10

Overall
In a game designer's perspective, I'm glad I played the game as I've learned a bit from it.  But as a gamer, I found it sadly disappointing as it started out really fun but turned out really bad at the end which left me bitter towards the game.  I guess it wasn't too bad for $1.24, but I didn't want to play it again after I finished it.  It has some great ideas and a mechanic that semi-worked.  If Vlambeer or any other developer decides to take up a sequel, I'd gladly give it another chance as the game has a lot of potential.  It just needs a lot of additional content and refining before it can really work.  Overall: 5/10

GameLight - Painkiller: Recurring Evil

Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/206760/

Source: Youtube Channel painkillerzone

The original Painkiller was released back in 2004 and was developed by People Can Fly (who most will know for developing Bulletstorm now).  Since then, seven Painkiller games (not including the iOS ones) have been released with #7 released just two days ago on Steam.  Painkiller follows the more retro style of First-Person Shooters where everything is fast-paced, violent, and just plain crazy.  Hordes of enemies will come after the player while they were shot-up, blown to pieces, or mutilated by the spinning blade (which is called the painkiller).  Sometime last year, I picked up the complete pack as I saw it go on sale several times on Steam.  $5 for 4 games wasn't a bad deal; however, I saw that a lot of the later ones were rated poorly.  I bought it anyways and tried it out.  The game was challenging (at the harder difficulty levels) and the action was crazy fast.  It reminds me of Quake, Unreal Tournament, or Serious Sam with a dark atmosphere and a fascination with gore.  For a while, it was fun and entertaining, but I saw how it could get boring after a while as the mechanics don't vary itself too much.  The challenge is always to stay alive and eliminate all enemies, no matter where they're stuck or glitched to.  What was really amazing about the first game was how amazing and atmospheric the environment was.  One of my favorite places from the first game was possibly the Opera House.  It was huge with the details of all the colors, props, and large area of combat to maneuver around.  Well it seems that each iteration that came out after the original have been done by a different developer every time, and each of them got a lower score than the last.  Rather than a real update or sequel, they are all expansions of the original and have few differences in levels and enemies.  Painkiller: Recurring Evil seems to be just that.

As I watched the trailer, I couldn't believe after 7 installments that the game still uses the same exact guns.  The levels look amazing as usual, but the enemies act about the same way as every Painkiller game: running towards you.  They say that the graphics have improved, and I can see a bit of "effects" addition but it's not something to be glorified about.  I didn't think there would still be developers trying to make new Painkiller games as it seems to go on a downward spiral of lower scores each time one comes out.  If they were to create new Painkiller games, you would think they would change some mechanics around and offer some variety.  I know a lot of people complain about Call of Duty rehashing their games, but you can feel the difference in gameplay and design with each one in changes to weapons, items, scenarios, customization systems, and level design (though I do admit that the Modern Warfare series copies off itself in the campaign mode quite a bit).  Seeing how Painkiller is a instantly gratifying game that doesn't sustain long term entertainment, I'm going to pass on Recurring Evil until it's hit $1-$2 before I grab it.  It also depends on how I feel after playing some of the other ones.  Painkiller: Recurring Evil is 20% off for $7.99 until March 7th, 2012 for those who are curious about the game or absolutely love the series.  I would recommend getting the first game out of all of them as it seems that the one "People Can Fly" developed seems to be the most well designed.

VGCulture - New color for Nintendo 3DS

So besides waiting for a new model of the Nintendo 3DS to release and for more "good" games to be available, I've been waiting for other colors to come out as well.  When I was at E3 in 2010, they showed a few possible color designs, and an orange one caught my eye.  Don't believe me?  I took a picture of it:

Taken at E3 2010 Nintendo Booth by Shu (dunno why it's sideways)

So unfortunately, there still isn't any reveals of an orange 3DS yet, and the colors that released so far isn't what I'm hoping to get when I finally purchase one.  Well, Joystiq just reported of a few new bundles with one of them revealing a beautiful Cobalt Blue 3DS bundled with the new Fire Emblem game.

Picture from Joystiq (Source Link at bottom)

Sadly, this has only been announced for Japan and not everything released in Japan are seen overseas in the Western market.  Some other bundles that have been mentioned on Joystiq are the Monster Hunter G bundle (a game I hope they'll bring over), the Super Mario 3D Land Bundle, and the Fire Emblem Bundle.  There hasn't been any game released for the 3DS where I felt like I HAD to have the system yet.  When the Nintendo DS released, Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow was the game I really wanted and I even bought the game before I got my own DS.  Pretty soon, Action games, RPGs, Strategy games, shooters and all just poured in for DS.  With the 3DS, I feel like the amounts of games are just drizzling out with most of the good ones just being ports or remakes of existing games.  The reveal of the new color is a good start to get me and possibly others wanting a 3DS, but I think most potential consumers are waiting for a new model of the 3DS as the dual analog attachment looks clunky and ugly as well as expensive with little to no support with released games.  Other than that, it's mainly the lack of games out in the market.  Make more Action games and RPGs!  Stop releasing so many Arcade games on the eShop!

Source:
-Joystiq: Japan gets Cobalt Blue 3DS, new bundles