Pressing Buttons

Brutal Legend is still fun, you weiners

Despite the best efforts of many a detractor, I'm still enjoying Brutal Legend. What makes this more recent opinion of the game more important than the last is that I'm several hours in and I have fought my way through quite the number of Stage Battles, the pseudo RTS battles that seem to have drawn a line in the sand amongst players. I happily sunbathe in the happier side of the line, the side of the sand with the volleyball net and elaborate sand castles. It's the side where we accept how much fun Brutal Legend's Stage Battles are, and you should pop by for a "brewsky".

My biggest and best retort to the complaints of these events is that I have to wonder if we've been playing the same game. While the shroud keeping these RTS-esque elements was held firm until pretty much launch day, it's hard to say they come as a surprise. I feel the game builds itself up quite nicely to these events, and the mechanics of this Devil May Cry action-game we thought it was blends well into this new type of battle. I had a great time pitting myself off against hordes of enemies, using the mechanics that the game taught me along the way. Tim Schafer, BL's lead designer, wrote a post on his company's blog, informing players just how they should approach the Stage Battles. What struck me was that someone out there was playing the game in opposition of his advice, and then striking out against the game because they were playing it wrong. The instructions Schafer provides are in essence a written form of the game's early lessons. I'm concerned that gaming's populace misinterpreted any of that and fought the Stage Battles in some sort of willy-nilly fashion.

I imagine the problem lies in gamers with real-time strategy game experience. They must have come across these points in the game and acted out on what they've been taught in the Starcrafts and Warcrafts of the world. And it's obvious that yes, this would cause you to think the game is somehow broken. If I played Super Mario Galaxy's racing bits like Gran Turismo, Galaxy would suck too. 

What upsets me most is that these uninformed individuals are sharing their distaste, and somehow the word has gotten out that Brutal Legend is a sort of poor man's Warcraft. In turn, people are avoiding the game, as console RTS's have a tendency to not quite make the move from PC in the prettiest way. If you're out there, don't turn Brutal Legend away. Just think of your favourite game, and then think of someone telling you it was awful, because they couldn't play it with the Super Scope (hopefully you're favourite game isn't Yoshi's Safari, or this analogy will upset you further). Wouldn't that person be best described as a meat head?

Yes. Yes they wold. And meat head's don't deserve Brutal Legend anyways.

Bladehenge or bust

Hopefully you're not sick and tired of Brutal Legend impressions, because the follow may just be that. I promise to mix things up a bit though, and that may be because I'm truly not that far into the game. Hell, I haven't even encountered one of those divisive not-an-RTS-but-kind-of-an-RTS sections. So as of a few hours from now, I could talking up my disapointment on any given gaming forum, crying out for a Psychonauts 2, or if I'm really looking to prove my hardcore credibility, Day of the Tentacle.

 

But, as of this very second, I love the game. And to keep with the Heavy Metal theme of the game, a few scratches on my "Diary of a Madman" vinyl doesn't make it any less beautiful. I unfortunately have no idea who or what a Diary of a Madman is, you can thank Google for that choice.

But its that same ignorance of the Metal genre that makes Brutal Legend so interesting for me. A sticking point for a lot of people is the game's adoration for metal, a fact the it proudly displays on more than just it's sleeve. I was completely caught off guard when the music that blares from Eddie's hot rod actually sounded good. Now, outside the game, I doubt that shuffling around at work with Ozzy yelling into my ears would be all the enjoyable. But there's something about the world that Double Fine created that just makes it all work toegether. I still don't find any of the music in Grand Theft Auto 4 enjoyable, and that presents a huge library of options. In Brutal Legend, it's metal and only metal, and it's better for it. 

The game's style seeps into the combat as well. There's absolutely no arguing that Brutal Legend's combat system does not compete with the likes of Devil May Cry 3 and Ninja Gaiden. But that's only as far as mechanics go, things like combo's and playstyles for example. However, there is something to be said of Brutal Legend's Eddie Riggs and his arsenol. Many other games in the genre tend to have battles that go just as you imagine, you cut dudes up until they dissepate into a vanishing corpse or a mist of blood and entrails. But Eddie's guitar leaves so much room for imagination. I've only scratched the surface, and I already fear for the comment section of this particular post if I spill the beans on just one of these moves. The one most discussed is the one I will divulge, and it's the act of a guitar solo so badass, that they enemies faces melt right off. And while I went into the game knowing this, I didn't know how it would actually look in-game. What a treat it was. It's things like this that makes Brutal Legend's combat as fun to watch as it is to control.

And what can be said of the game's writing? What's most important is that not only is the game funny as I'm sure you've heard, but it's also well written. You can go and watch any comedy, and very few tell a genuinely engaging story to go along with the jokes. Usually a characters situation is merely a prop behind the humour. But Tim Schafer really has a knack for dialogue and characters, which makes it hard to willingly give the game a rest. While the side-quests don't offer the variety you'd expect in a post-GTA IV world, the idiocy of the favours you commit Eddie to and the cast he meets along the way are what drives you. And if tooting around a fictionalized New York City grew tiresome and samey for you, Brutal Legend's setting will show you what happens when your main concern isn't immitating life, but creating it. I've really only commited myself to a few of the main story missions, alongside a few side-missions. The majority of my time has been spent bumming around the world, finding interesting nods to metal and music dotted along the landscape. As expansive as most open-world games have become, they haven't been able to keep my attention as well as Brutal Legend. They've become too iterative upon one another, thinking that simulating the life of a real life criminal is what makes a game of this genre fun. Double Fine's is like visiting an oxygen bar for the first time, minus the uncomfortable back massage you get through a timid salesperson and her strange plastic rubbing device. It's a breath of fresh air, of something new, of something that needs to be experienced.

The 2D Civil War

It's perfectly normal to lose sleep over the declining health of two-dimensional games. On the home consoles, it seems as if games built have that niche gamer in mind. It's insane to think that a single step in graphics technology (one that was neither better or worse, just different) changed an entire industry's way of thought. Seeing a 2D game in this gaming climate is like stepping into a way-back machine, when really it's just another form of expression. While photographs can be seen as an object that presents a more realistic image, painting hasn't gone by the wayside. And yet, here I stand, holding onto my DS ever so tightly, whispering sweet nothings into its ear concerning its ever so sexy, graphically limited hardware. For, if it were any more powerful, its glut of 2D games would become nothing more than just a squirt.

But what confuses me more than anything is my feelings regarding some of the few 2D games I am receiving. Muramasa: The Demon Sword, the PixelJunk series, A Boy and His Blob are all titles that would have been the norm had three dimensional space never even existed (and perhaps if the Saturn would have become the dominant system during that particular generation). Well, at least as far as games go. I certainly do like existing in this bold, 3D universe I call home. 

But there's this factor about these higher end 2D games that irks me. It's that they're just too crisp. In Muramasa's case, the animation and characters are all drawn by hand and scanned into something that reveals my ignorance of the development cycle and just call "a computer". While I look at these games and say, "Wow, that's some beautiful artwork," there's just something about that chunkiness you encounter in an older game. There's something beautiful about all those little squares that create these on-screen worlds. The difficult steps that went into turning a beautifully illustrated Mario or Mega Man into this crude interpretation are inspiring. One of my favourite moments in a game recently was slipping down this particular green tube in Paper Mario 2, and seeing Mario and his cronies modern designs devolve into their humble, building block beginnings.

As great as it is to know that these artists and programmers aren't hindered anymore by a system's paltry number of displayable colours and objects, what made 2D games truly beautiful to me has been lost in the process. But I'm positive I'm one of the only people to long for less than HD friendly graphics, and that's okay. Above all else, I want good games, and there's is certainly not a lack of those.

I just wish I could see a few more sharp corners surrounding a sprite's silouette.

No patience for patents

To the gentlemen out there that scour patent sites for days on end for the gaming populace's benefit, you're going to think I'm a total turd by the end of this. Hell, you may feel that way already. But what is our absurd fascination with whatever never-to-be inventions Nintendo, Sony, or Microsoft come up with?

For days and days we'll laugh at the expense of the Wii's horsebag, or contemplate a future where the PS3 becomes sentient based off the emotions we've fed it based off the findings that are quickly reported to all major gaming sites and blogs.

This is slowly becoming as awful as countdown sites to later countdowns, another one of gaming's embarassments.

I just can't get jazzed about this kind of news. For starters, how could I get excited about these types of devices? With nothing in front of me, why concern myself with possibilities when nothing will likely come out of it. These patents are just as acts of forthought, much like registering ps3slim.com and Wiihd.com. It's just to get the jump on anyone else, nothing more.

I'm positive that someone unearthed a dual-screened handheld patent from Nintendo far before the DS came into existence, and those that paid any mind to this type of news were far ahead of the curve. But you know what was even greater? When the DS was actually announced, and the thing was not nearly as ridiculous looking as those artist renderings found in the patents.

Making headlines through the various trademarks filed by publishers and developers is an even worse matter. Look around you to see the shattered lives of those still hoping for the trademarked Chrono Break. Even the development side is taking aim at the ridiculousness of it all.

The easiest solution would be for me to simply relax, and let these types of "leaks" sort themselves out. But maybe I can cobble and army together, and lessen those page hits just a bit, putting focus back on the real news and editorials.

Is this reference outdated?

I promise to wise from my gwave any day now. Apologies.

Almost done is code for 6 months of bologna

Unless there was some sort of translation error, Suda51 has confirmed that No More Heroes: Desperate Struggle is almost done. So its right on track for its early 2010 release date.

Hold on. It's just the middle of 2009 now. So, it's still over 6 months away from completion, and yet is almost done. I totally understand this logic.

' _ '

Is there something that I'm missing? I mean, I know that when my Mom says dinner is almost ready, that I still have another five to ten minutes of sitting at the table banging my fork and knife on the table top. I guess Goichi Suda's Mom had a very distinct take on the passage of time, telling her son that dinner would only be a minute but in reality would be five days away from completion.

I guess I'm just upset over reading a quote that I assumed meant a quicker release. Add to that fact that we still don't know what Suda is working with EA on, and I get even further bummed out.

BirdCats await you

The hardest part about anticipation is that of the unknown. Looking forward to the latest installment in a series comes with its own set of luxuries. Most importantly of all is that you kind of know what to expect. One's mind never wandered over the possibilities of what a sequel to 2007's Call of Duty 4 might bring, because you knew that no matter what extras they throw on, you're going to be iron-sighting baddies in unnamed exotic lands.

But it's the unknown that makes me sweat.

All we've known about Team Ico's next game can easily be listed without any need to search for references:

• there's no way in hell it will actually be called Trico
• if you think it's going to be shown at the next upcoming gaming convention, you're wrong (see E3 2007/2008, TGS 2007/2008, etc.)
• it'll cause further discussion in the "are games art" debate, at which time I'll zone out and say something like "But are games fart?"

And it's based off these few facts that makes these kind of anticipations the hardest to deal with. The "unannounced" are what drives me to insanity. Once I have a firm grip on what I'm in store for, I become a much more sedated individual.

But I don't think the leaked Trico trailer helps me out much. Because of how hard the fact that this is barely even a concept video is bored into my mind, I'm still left wondering just what I should be looking forward to. It's exciting to have a peek at what Team Ico have cooking in the lovin' oven, but it's heartbreaking knowing there's the possibility that the final product won't be anything like what is shown. Hopefully the final product will retain this element of pairing Ico's and Shadow of the Colossus's gameplay. I will try to remain patient for the 21st century's interpretation of My Pet Monster.

Hopefully the disgust I read for CatBird doesn't blossom any further, as it's something that I believe to be both badass and cute.. Not since Catbus have I been so happy to see a cat rammed into something else.

Oh, and if you like the music from the trailer, I found out it's from Miller's Crossing. Which in turn pulled it from something else. But I don't know what that original source is, so Miller's Crossing wins.

Life's a Beat-ch

If you were able to see inside my room, you’d observe that my pants are slumped over in the corner. That is because they have been charmed off by the likes of New Play Control Donkey Kong Jungle Beat, and Klonoa. I say charmed because the truth is far more grotesque. But, if you have an iron stomach, inviso-text will reveal what regular text cannot. There’s actually nothing shady going on here. It’s not as if some manic monkey ripped them off of me while that dastardly rabbit boy held me down, they both just star in really great game.

I was worried that my repeat trip into Jungle Beat would reek far too much of a double dip. So at first I bought it on the promise of new content, and also because I do most of my gaming at night, so slapping my palms on fake plastic bongos isn’t the nicest way to show gratitude for a roof over my head. So it became a pretty easy buying decision, one that lacked the usual buyers remorse I encounter each and every time (no matter the game I always regret spending  over $50 on anything). And because of how familiar I am with its Gamecube iteration, I’m really surprised by how different this new fangled Wii version is.

Say what you’d like about the New Play Control line thus far, but it’s pretty clear that aside from a more streamlined control method, you are still playing the same game. Pikmin’s fundamentals of escaping a terrifying planet remained intact in the move to the Wii. And the rules of tennis didn’t receive any tinkering just because you can now swing your arm to smack a ball around in Mario Power Tennis. But Jungle Beat is a significant change. It sounds silly, but the Wii version’s more traditional health system changes the game. I’m a bit hesitant to tack on a “for the better” at the end there, because it’s just different.

Basically, in the old Jungle Beat, your health worked much like Sonic’s rings do. As you go through the level, you collect bananas and attempt to build up multiplier combos as you do so. If you get hurt, you lose some of those bananas. At the end of each kingdom (which itself is made up of two standard platforming stages and a boss fight), your bananas are counted, and you’re rewarded based on your end count. But what the Wii’s Jungle Beat does differently is keep your banana count and health separate, as your health is indicated through a more traditional three heart system. Get hit, lose a half of a heart, but your bananas are untouched.

What I like so much about this new system is that it pays to be a bit more experimental. With that thought of, “Well, if I get hurt my bananas will take a hit,” in the back of your mind, I was always less likely to take chances. But in knowing that my experiment could pay off without affecting my banana horde, I have been exploring every which way. While it’s odd that such an imaginative game has been injected with something so antiquated, it still manages to work really well.

One change I’m surprised wasn’t made was in regards to the controls. Yes, they have been changed, but Nintendo didn’t make the awkward misstep I imagined they would have. Since it was played with the bongos, in the original Jungle Beat you slapped left and right to move in those directions. Naturally, I believed Nintendo would have us waggle with the remote and nunchuk to move everyone’s favourite kidnaper, similar to their previous Gamecube to Wii re-imagining; DK Barrel Blast. But instead, you control Donkey with the analog stick, simple as that. The one thing I find odd is that you now waggle to have Donkey create that sound wave around him. On the Gamecube, this would have him grab onto whatever was around him, which included bananas. On the Wii, he’ll still grab onto bosses, enemies, and whatnot, but he won’t make any effort to grab hold of bananas. Instead, you hit A to do that now. I didn’t figure this out until I noticed my awful banana counts at the end of each kingdom (grabbing bananas with Kong’s hands continues a combo, just touching them does not). It was a really odd choice that complicates things, and I’d love to know the reasoning behind it.

While the New Play Control line-up seems like it lacks a genuine effort to make these titles play like genuine Wii games, don’t lump Jungle Beat in that category. It’s just worthy of your time.

The kiddie conundrum

Like caviar wrapped in Jelly Belly, there’s been a strange trend of putting together games that by all appearances are for children, but quickly reveal themselves to be for an audience of finer tastes.

I’m not talking about that copy of Toy Story you had for your Super Nintendo, either.  That was just poorly made, with controls and mechanics that no gamer of any pedigree could cope with. Instead, I’m referencing recent efforts like Viva Pinata and Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts. The reason behind all this was an admission of what went wrong with Zack and Wiki, a puzzle game with a dose of both pointing and clicking. Now nothing more than a cult hit, it once carried a lot  more weight. As Capcom’s first genuine foray into Wii development, Zack and Wiki was poised to become what every publisher dreams of; a franchise. But despite great reviews and a vocal fan base, it sat on store shelves. Despite it’s critical success, the jury was out on Zack and Wiki very early on; it was something very few people would actually want. 

Unfortunately, Z&W failed in appealing to two very important markets. To the traditional gamer, it’s interesting gameplay was marred by its childish aesthetics. No matter how often people say gameplay is king, there’s many out there who still need the game to be visually appetizing. Otherwise we wouldn’t have wound up with situations like the initial backlash to Wind Waker. Accordingly, the market segment that would like this type of game became significantly smaller.  They just couldn’t get over pirate boys and robot monkeys.

As for the younger demographic that would have found Z&W visually stimulating, they were put off by a genre they couldn’t understand. At retail, it was difficult to recommend the game to children, as they would likely be put off by the difficulty. Zack and Wiki was far from an easy game. It was difficult, and after the first few introductory stages, would through the most seasoned of gamers for a loop. So now, another large portion of the market has been turned off from a game deserving of their time.

And the pattern just continues to repeat itself. As mentioned earlier, Rare caused itself the same problems with its Viva Pinata titles. Here’s a game that hoped to claim that same market that Pokemon had; children with mountains of disposable income, and young adults that would support the games long past it’s eventual abandonment by the aforementioned children (likely due to the next best thing). Despite an animated television show that would lead one to think that its video game companion would be just as light, the Viva Pinata video games proved to be as hardcore as possible. In the face of its childish visuals stood a game that required one to labour over its many hidden details. Micro-management has never been a child’s strong suit, and the game never took off in that market.

The most difficult aspect of this problem is how do you tackle it? Is there any reason a developer should change the title’s art style just so it fits the confines of the genre better? And should a game have to instantly become an easier experience because it looks like something sandwiched between Spongebob and Bakugon on a Saturday morning?

It doesn’t have to go in either direction. The most important thing is striking that perfect balance. Take The Sims for example, here’s a game that has the same life-management focus that Viva Pinata has, but it manages to take it easy on the 12-year-old girls playing, as well as possess that time-sinking ability that draws in the more hardcore of us. New Super Mario Bros. is an interesting example as well. Here we have a design that’s just as childish as Zack and Wiki, but it provides branching difficulty levels. Kids may not be able to access every hidden nook and cranny, but there’s still a full experience there for them.

The only obstacle still remaining is those thick-headed individuals who can’t play a game without bare midriffs and thick armed steroid addicts. And I wish I could list off some magical solution. A graphic filter that instantly upsizes any female character’s brazier, perhaps? But, and I say this with as much venom as possible, they just need to get over themselves. If they choose to miss out on some of our greatest treasures, they can live with it. Because, when they pass on their game collections to their own children and are asked why Zack and Wiki isn’t part of it, “I was a damned fool,” is all they’ll have to say.

Wishing ill will

Good lord, if you haven’t updated your RSS feeds, do so right this instant. There’s this awe-inspiring article at the TimesOnline that just crumbles Nintendo’s bright future.

But I recommend you only give it a read if you haven’t read the hundreds of previous articles, blogs, rants, and public outbursts that have made the rounds since the Wii’s release.

Is this just the easiest way to generate traffic from the gaming community? It’s amazing just how often this type of story pops up and prompts pages and pages of “discussion.” I guess it’s too time consuming to write about something worthwhile or interesting. I’d even settle for an article that wasn’t a total waste of mine and the author’s time.

It is odd that not everyone faces this same degree of scrutiny. Microsoft and its Xbox 360 sit in a very comfortable place, nestled in the sweater blanket of public opinion if you will. For starters, you got pretty much anyone who matters to the core gaming audience relishing every slight made against the Wii, and then those same people making educated comments such as “The PS3 has no games.”

Maybe console sales are a realm where no one but those financially invested should bother. Should we really be sticking our necks out and play prophet, predicting which consoles and games will rise and fall?

The easiest thing to do is just sit back and play the games. If you can’t hide your arousal for all things anti-Wii, that’s alright, but you don’t have to behave like a modern day David with a degree in journalism, taking down video game Goliaths for page hits.

Let’s just play the games that we want to play, and ignore those that we don’t. Why dwell on negativity? I don’t work for Nintendo, so why bother commenting on their Japanese sales? Do I honestly understand every area of their business? Fluctuating Yen? Worldwide recession? I do, however, know that I want to play Punch-Out!!, and that’s all that should really matter. Discussing how Punch-Out!! fits into the continuity of the Mario universe is far more suitable to our hobby, not that I'd encourage that exact essay.