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Review: Dante's Inferno

Archive — Fri, 30 Jan 2015 09:36:00 +0000

Ahh, Dante's Inferno. This game was an underappreciated hack 'n' slash action "adventure" (more on that later) that was released for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PSP in early 2010. VERY loosely based on the epic poem of the same name, you play as Dante, a crusader that had been murdered by an assassin in Saladin, after which Death himself condemns Dante to "everlasting damnation for [his] sins" that he had committed during the Third Crusade. However Death fails and is killed by Dante with his own scythe, and Dante begins his quest of redemption by going through the gates of Hell with the help of the poet Virgil and reclaiming his beloved Beatrice from a bet that she lost with Lucifer, the Prince of Darkness that dwells in the deepest, coldest pit of the Inferno.

The gameplay is fairly simple. You fight the demons of the underworld with Death's scythe and Beatrice's crucifix, solve puzzles to help you get closer to Dante's love, punish or absolve shades that give you bonus souls, and collect relics (which boost your stats) and Judas Iscariot's 30 pieces of silver (which give you more bonus souls from shades and fountains). Now, while the game is technically labeled as an adventure, it is almost completely linear as exploration is extremely limited. Most secrets are fairly obvious on where they are hidden, but that is my only gripe with this title as everything else pays off quite well.

The game plays almost exactly the same as the God of War franchise so if you know how to play those games, you'll be able to pick up and play this one without much trouble. However, while the game is virtually the same as God of War in terms of gameplay, the environment and atmosphere is vastly different and where this game really shines. The music is one of the most atmospheric details about this game. It has a very demonic feel to it and it sends chills down my spine when it starts to crescendo at the right time and place. And don't get me started on the environment. The depictions of the various levels of Hell and the eldritch horrors that occupy them is extremely detailed and imaginative, ESPECIALLY with the fight against Cerberus. I have never seen such a unique interpretation of the 3-headed hellhound in my life.

As I played and went deeper into the pit below, everything just got more and more insane. A giant phallic tower enveloped by a cyclone of the sinners of lust, a massive walled city that you destroy on the back of a colossal monster, a bleeding forest made from the bodies of those that committed suicide, it all just gives me a sense of dread and fear.

In conclusion, I had a lot of fun with this title mostly from the atmosphere alone, but if you want to play it for yourself, I highly recommend that you get one of the console versions as the PSP version has quite a bit of content cut from it in exchange for a digital comic which really isn't worth the amount of game that was removed. But until then, I'll be seeing you.

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Contrast Review: Scott Pilgrim vs The World

Archive — Mon, 16 Mar 2015 10:24:00 +0000

Over the years, games based on movies have developed a reputation for being notoriously bad, and the same can also be said when the scenario is reversed. But there are a few good ones that manage to slip though the cracks because they have one key element about them that gives them a stronger chance at being good. These games and movies I'm referring to are the ones based on books or comics. They either have more information to use (in the case of video games), or are much more flexible in terms of creative licensing (in the case of movies), but when it comes to graphic novels, reinterpretation can be tricky because visuals are supplied to the reader and it could cause problems if it isn't translated properly for use on the screen. Scott Pilgrim is the rare gem that breaks this trend as both the game and movie adaptations of the graphic novel they are based on are fantastic in their own right and I am going to cover each one in this comparative review.

Scott Pilgrim Graphic Novel

Released between the years of 2004 and 2010, this six part series tells the story of Scott Pilgrim, a lazy 23-year-old living in Toronto, Canada in a small flat primarily owned by his gay roommate Wallace Wells. In his spare time, Scott plays bass in a band called Sex Bob-omb with his friends Steven Stills (on guitar) and Kim Pine (on drums), or will go on a date with his 17-year-old girlfriend Knives Chau. Everything goes relatively smoothly for him until he sees a mysterious girl from his dreams appear in his life for real which he then seeks her out and attempts to get to know her. Shortly after he finds out that her name is Ramona Flowers, the two begin dating which prompts an unusual circumstance where if he wants to continue dating her, he needs to fight and defeat all seven of her evil exes. Now this kind of story can't really be played out too well without the visuals that were generously provided by the series author and illustrator, Bryan Lee O'Malley. There is action, romance, humor and many video game references. And the internal struggle Scott experiences when dealing with not only Ramona's exes, but also his own arises, it makes you feel a unusual combination of both disgust and pity for him. It's very much a metaphor for how many relationships have emotional baggage that needs to be dealt with before you can truly grow as a person and accept that some things are just out of your control (at least, that's what I got from it). A very good read and it can be knocked out in just a day if you have nothing to do.

Scott Pilgrim vs The World (Film)

Now unlike the books, the movie is altered a bit due to the fact that filming started before the books were finished being written. As such, some characters toward the second half of the film have different back stories and some plot elements were removed in favor of a battle of the bands style story. But at most, this only diminished the quality just slightly as the modified story is still very good and the scenes mirror many events in the novels up to the end of book four. Now while most of the movie follows the plot of the novels very well, many scenes were moved around to improve the flow of the story, but the visuals remain extremely faithful as it looks like they were lifted from the books themselves. Even if some of it seems a little out of place after reading the novels, it is still an engaging movie to experience and a lot of fun to watch as Michael Cera plays the role of Scott very well. This is a great film for movie night.

Scott Pilgrim vs The World: The Game

Now this is where things get interesting. The game adaptation of the novels was made to promote the film and was released around the same time the film was released to theaters. The game on the other hand, follows the books much more closely likely due to direct influence of the series author. The game is an arcade style RPG beat-em-up for up to four players, in which you can play as Scott, Kim, Steven or Ramona in a quest to defeat Ramona's seven evil exes. The game is mostly modeled in the same vein as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and The Simpsons Game, but is also influenced by River City Ransom as many of the actions you can perform, such as lifting and throwing downed enemies, and buying healing items and power ups from shops, can also be done. The gameplay can be a bit chaotic with four players on the screen at once, but to me, that just adds to the insanity that this game offers. Like most games with RPG elements, the more you fight, the more experience you get toward leveling up which grants new skills and powers at each level until you max out at sixteen. The game's graphics are outstanding; it is done in a style reminiscent of 16-bit and 32-bit games and was done mostly by Paul Robertson who is known for the animations Pirate Baby's Cabana Battle Street Fight 2006 and Kings of Power 4Billion%. The music is fantastic too; all of the songs in the game are composed by chiptune rock band Anamanaguchi and it fits the style of the game extremely well. Everything about this game just meshes so well with everything else that's in it. My only real gripes about it are that it is a little short, it is a little repetitive and you can't play online until you buy the DLC for it and even then it can only be someone from your fiends list. Still, this is a great game and it is even more fun to play with friends.

Well, that's all I can say about this. If you wish to buy the books or the movie, you can get them from Amazon for pretty reasonable prices and if you wish to buy the game, you can download it to the PS3 and XB360 for about $15USD. But until then, I'll be seeing you.

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Review: PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale

Archive — Mon, 13 Apr 2015 09:07:00 +0000

Ever wonder what Super Smash Bros might be like if it didn't have any Nintendo characters in it? Well, the closest game you could get that would fit that criteria would probably leave you scratching your head wondering why you didn't just get Super Smash Bros instead. If you know what game I'm talking about (or you happened to have read the title of this article), then you know that PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale needs no introduction. So without further ado, let's begin the examination.

Released to most major countries in late November of 2012, PlayStation All-Stars is a 4-player Free-for-All fighting game for the PS3 and PS Vita. In it, you can chose to play as one of twenty different first, second, and third party characters (twenty-four if you include DLC) spanning many games from PlayStation's history. Some of these characters include well known favorites like Jak from the Jak & Daxter series, Kratos from the God of War series, and even Parappa the Rapper, and also some lesser known characters like Sir Daniel from MediEvil and Spike from Ape Escape. However, while the selection of characters is fairly good, the battle system leaves something to be desired.

Unlike Super Smash Bros where the goal is to rack up your opponent's damage meter high enough so you can launch them off the stage, your goal in this game is to build up the meter for your super attack and use it to vaporize your opponent. This is very similar to the Smash Bros series' Final Smash moves, but with the additional ability to charge your finisher up to level three and the disappointing fact that this is the ONLY way to score points in the main game modes. Because of this feature, and the fact that the meter charges quite slowly, the best way to play is to set the meter's charge rate to high, otherwise you're not going to have much fun.

A small favorable difference from Smash is the fact that each character has three different sets of attacks mapped to Square, Triangle and Circle by default instead of Smash's standard and special attacks mapped respectively to the A and B buttons. This adds a bit more variety for combos and specials, but they are a bit difficult to pull off as the controls are a bit stiff. Battle mechanics aside, the differences don't just stop at the character's attacks, but the stages also have something unique about them being that they are fusions of games from two entirely different game franchises like Jak & Daxter with Hot Shots Golf and LocoRoco with Metal Gear Rising. This makes battles fairly enjoyable and much more interesting, assuming you can stand the somewhat long load times.

All in all, PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale tries too hard to be something that it's not. The visuals and music are great, but that doesn't forgive the fact that the gameplay gets drawn out for too long due to the fact that the only way to knock out your opponent is with a finishing move. The game isn't great, but this doesn't automatically make it a bad game either. I enjoyed the time I had with it, but the novelty of the game started to wear thin after a while because it felt like it was desperately trying to be Smash Bros instead of trying to be its own thing. Overall, the game is pretty average, but that shouldn't stop you from playing it a few times in your life. But until then, I'll be seeing you.

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Review: Bayonetta (plus Extras)

Archive — Fri, 08 Jan 2016 08:07:00 +0000

With the recent announcement that the Umbra Witch, Bayonetta would be coming to Super Smash Bros 4 via DLC, it got me wanting to play through the first Bayonetta game again. There is so much about her that I just adore, be it her sexual nature, her fun-loving personality, or even her fighting style; it all just screams whimsy. I played through the game again fairly recently, but after I finished it this time I decided to do a bit more research on it and I discovered that some additional products were made to further promote it that I had unintentionally overlooked. In addition to the game (and some figurines that were only in Japan), Platinum Games also released a rather large artwork book (with a behind the scenes DVD) and even an animated film called Bayonetta: Bloody Fate. So, I'm going to review each of these three and see whether or not if it is worth getting each one.

Video Game

Since the video game was the first of these three that I had experienced, I will of course be covering it first here as well. Released on January 5, 2010 for the Xbox 360 and PS3 and again on October 24, 2014 for the Wii U, Bayonetta is an over the top, combo-heavy, action packed brawler with some light platforming and minor puzzle elements. In it, you play as Bayonetta, a rather tall, voluptuous, and long-legged witch with the ability to travel to and from Earth and Purgatorio as she hunts down and slays angels to keep the demons she has contracts with at bay. However, as she fights these angels, she also needs to recover the memory of her past which was lost from being sealed in a deep sleep at the bottom of a lake for 500 years. As well as recovering bits and pieces of her past, she also frequently runs into a bumbling investigative reporter named Luka, who blames her for the death of his father; a lost little girl name Cereza, who mistakenly confuses Bayonetta for her mother and tags along with her for most of the game; and an opposing witch named Jeanne, who wants nothing more than to stop Bayonetta dead in her tracks. To help her fight the more powerful angels, Bayonetta can also temporarily obtain their weapons when they are slain, or as a better option, collect pieces of golden LP's of angelic hymns to bring to a weapons manufacturer named Rodin at a bar called "The Gates of Hell." He will use these records as bait to call forth powerful demons which he will then turn into a permanent weapon for Bayonetta to use for the rest of her quest. Confused yet? Well the plot just gets more outlandish later on and is explained in pieces by the angels that Bayonetta kills.

The gameplay, as I've said before, is a combo-heavy action brawler. Bayonetta fights with punches, kicks, and with the various weapons that she obtains throughout her adventure. She can also punish her foes with BDSM-styled finishers or by summoning her contracted demons to more easily finish off her larger targets. If you are having trouble hitting faster or airborne enemies, Bayonetta also has four guns she can use that help with her reach, and the ability to dramatically slow down time when she successfully dodges an attack at the last moment. However, as fun and action packed as the battles are, the rewards that you gain from them are dependent entirely on skill. The rewards get better depending on how fast you finish it, how often you got hurt, how many items you used, and how high your combo was for the entire fight. This scoring style determines how many halos (the game's currency) you get after you win and what kind of medal (from Stone to Pure Platinum) you will receive. These medals actually affect your final score at the end of each chapter, and getting the best score is not easy.

This game is fantastically good and a helluva lot of fun, even if the difficulty on the Normal setting is a little unforgiving. The music is fantastic as well and the character and enemy designs are extremely creative and fit the theme of the game superbly. The story can be a little confusing at times, but it all comes together nicely in the end. However, depending on which version of the game you get, it can be either an extraordinary experience, or torture for the eyes. If you decide to get the game, go for the Xbox 360 or Wii U version of the game as the PS3 version is plagued by terrible frame-rate issues making it look awful to watch, let alone play. Plus as a bonus to those that get the Wii U version, Nintendo themed costumes for Bayonetta are also available which alter some minor aspects about the game without affecting the gameplay. All in all though, just avoid the PS3 version.

"The Eyes of Bayonetta" Artwork Book and DVD

Now this is usually outside my area of expertise, but before I decided to play through Bayonetta again, I decided to learn more about the game outside of what Hideki Kamiya's Twitter and Platinum Games' blog can provide. Luckily, I found an artwork book on Amazon called The Eyes of Bayonetta that had a lot of cool concept art and production notes that had been omitted from the blogs and wiki for the game. The book had a ton of really interesting tidbits and information about the game that also went unused as well. Some stuff did manage to find its way into the game's sequel though, but I'll cover that another time.

Now despite how interesting and informative the artwork books was, the "Making of" DVD actually was what I more interested in. The development process was quite a sight to behold. As it turns out, the main character, Bayonetta, was designed by Mari Shimazaki with the only instruction that she should look feminine. Needless to say that this gave her a lot of freedom and she rolled with it. She wasn't the only one that was given a lot of freedom in her work, just about everyone involved in the game's creative process was allowed to let their imaginative juices flow freely. The way everything meshes together really shows that love and care was put into the game's creation. The DVD is definitely well worth the watch; the dev's personalities show in both their commentary and their work.

Animated Film

Now out of all of the things that could've been produced from the success of Bayonetta, I don't think an animated film was expected at all. Released in the US on February 14, 2014, Bayonetta: Bloody Fate is an adaptation of the video game, with some minor changes to the plot in order to fit time constraints. The animation is is really good and music from the game is used at times where it fits really well. Some other extra details that were shown in The Eyes of Bayonetta also managed to find their way into the film as well. A really good example would be Bayonetta's guns which actually aren't Scarborough Fair as they are in the game. Instead, she has a set of guns based on some concept art for a prototype design called The Elfin Knight. Now while the plot is designed to follow the story of the game, there are some changes in order to make it flow more smoothly and to make it easier to understand. Some enemies from the game are noticeably absent from the film and certain scenes have been changed in order to better fit the lines they had in the game. Overall, I liked the changes they made because the plot was indeed a bit easier to understand. Definitely worth the watch if you enjoyed the game.

Closing Statement

No matter what medium you enjoy Bayonetta in, this first entry in the series definitely had a very strong impact. Bayonetta as a character is probably my favorite female protagonists of all time as well. She is strong, independent, knows that she's sexy and casually exploits that fact in her work, which she also enjoys. If you can get any of these things, definitely go for it, just remember to avoid the PS3 version of the game due to a very shoddy porting process. But until then, I'll be seeing you.

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