Selective Depth

by Zen

Fans of 2D games put up with a lot of abuse. Often we find ourselves playing a game simply on the basis of its visual and gameplay sensibilities, while the quality of the game could be worse than quick time events. It's sort of like being a Sonic fan, or driving an American-made car. It's sort of like being a battered spouse.

Still, sometimes being 2D doesn't have to be enough; sometimes Vanillaware makes a game. Now I've only played two of their games, but both have offered a distinctive perspective on action RPGs while delivering the most astonishing visuals I've possibly ever seen in a video game. Odin Sphere was a meticulous and harsh brawler, one where each chapter of its intricate story not only provided new perspective on seemingly clear events but also presented the player with completely new play styles. There was variety to the combat, and each playable character focused on a different aspect in a way that really explored the potential of this variety.

In short, it was a masterpiece, although in some ways having a score by Hitoshi Sakimoto could be considered cheating in this regard. When a Wii successor was announced I got pretty excited, since I seem to be the only person who still wants the Wii to work as a platform for more than Gamecube ports, opportunistic shovelware, and kusoge. After playing several hours of Muramasa: the Demon Blade, the 2D gamer in me feels sated without feeling cheapened or insulted.

Like Odin Sphere, Muramasa proves that sprites are still way, way more detailed and beautiful than 3D models. 3D effects are used for complex animations, especially for some of the more enormous sprites, but always as emphasis for actual frame animation. It's a distinctive visual style, somewhat reminiscent of Flash animation, this time given the same kind of Japanese art flavor as Okami. The colors are phenomenal, the backgrounds lively and deep, and the gameplay excellent.

Vanillaware action RPGs have a flow of gameplay that simplifies or removes some of the more traditional obstacles, like platforming challenges or fetch quests, and instead offers the same variety and depth of experience in just combat and map navigation. In Odin Sphere this was accomplished with parallel systems of food and weapon experience which fed into each other, along with a ridiculously complex item crafting system that was tied into every single aspect of combat and character progression. In Muramasa the item crafting is simpler, but there are still parallel systems affecting what weapons you use. This relative simplicity is made up for by a much more flexible combat system. Instead of cautiously performing hit and run tactics on swarms of durable enemies, combat happens in quick skirmishes that coerce you into using all your abilities without ever explicitly requiring it.

Basically, the theme for these games is that nothing is wasted. Every action you perform is working double-duty, and every action you perform provides toward a goal elsewhere. This is how a game that essentially boils down to running around a simple map fighting random battles can stay fresh and interesting for so long.

To explain more about why I love the game's combat so much, especially in the face of accusations that it's too button-mashy, I'm kind of a sucker for any combat engine that emphasizes mobility. There are simple ground and air combos if you just mash the attack button, but it's usually a better idea to take advantage of the dash attacks. You hold down the attack button and just aim the control stick in the direction you want to go. Combat feels more like a flow from one enemy to another, punctuated by stationary combos, than a simple round-up followed by an attack combo. Dodging and attacking become the same, and just like everything else in a Vanillaware game no single action serves a single purpose, but everything works double duty.

Another feature of the combat, and probably the primary reason people think it's too easy, is the blocking. For the most part (things change in the game's hard mode) you block by attacking while being attacked, which makes sense as far as parries are concerned. The reason this all works is that blocking uses up sword integrity, which is necessary for performing special moves. After a sword breaks it will slowly regenerate, and you can carry up to three at a time, but for the most part you will be more worried about keeping your swords intact than actually taking any damage. Once they all break you're basically dead meat. Think of it like the recharging shields in any post-Halo shooter, only because it's Vanillaware they pull double duty and power special moves, too.

The game is brilliant and the game is beautiful, but that's not even why I love it, exactly. It's the same sort of feeling I got when I played No More Heroes and felt like I really got to know Suda 51. We're all used to loading up a game and seeing corporate logos for thirty seconds, but you don't even see Vanillaware's logo until after you press Start. It's a unique touch, and it reminds me every time that the people who made the game are a part of the game experience itself. When the cover falls off of House of Leaves you're left with a book written by characters, and it's the author's hope that you forget about him entirely. If the cover fell off of Muramasa you'd still be spending time with George Kamitani, because he puts so much of himself into what he does. Please join me in loving him for it.

WE ARE ALL FUCKED

by Zen

2400 N81

by Zen

For some time now I've been puzzling over just what the hell is so fun about the channels on the Wii. Everybody Votes is kind of neat, but only gives me anything to do every other day, and Check Mii Out is a great concept spoiled by the fact that everyone just votes for Harry Potter all the time. So why am I having so much fun with this stuff?

Sometimes, when a board got really fancy and someone was willing to shell out a few bucks or knew someone who had, it would have "door games". These were programs the board would drop you into that were usually pretty simple, but sometimes grew spectacularly complicated. All of this, with one notable exception, was done without much in the way of graphics or sound. Almost every one of these games rendered what visuals they had with the ANSI extended character set, making use of colors and symbols to draw pictures. These usually fell somewhere between ASCII art and MS Paint, but it wasn't uncommon to see fully animated scenes rendered this way. It's really amazing, looking back on it, how much people were able to squeeze out of the medium.

What got me thinking about all this again was the previews for Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King on WiiWare. So far the game sounds exactly like the empire-management sims I used to play on local BBSes. Solar Realms Elite, Barren Realms Elite, and Falcon's Eye were an awesome way to log in and spend ten minutes, making treaties with other players and waging war with your turns. There were trade agreements, different systems of government, and different ways to allocate your resources. My Life as a King similarly has you in the role of a monarch organizing his country to better encourage his subjects to spread his domain. It's all a bit like a cross between Falcon's Eye and Majesty, and it's too bad I can't see Squenix making the decision to give you ten in-game days each real day and letting you duke it out with people on your friends list, just like the BBS door games of the 90s.

As I get around to it, I'll maybe showcase a few of the standout games I used to play back in the day. It's a kind of video game that I simply never see anymore, and it's a shame since it's not one without merit. Some tried surviving the transition to real-time multiplayer, but it rarely worked. My great hope is that these kinds of games will find a place again on the Wii, alongside a program that lets you vote on something stupid every two days and decide whose Darth Vader is the best spaceship captain.

I get disappointed a lot.

Bros. before hoes

by alzabo

I have a copy of smash 3, and it really embarrasses me. Not only do I feel that I’ve betrayed some sacred trust by buying it I can feel it’s horrible nostalgia beam slicing to my core and waking the animalistic consumer beast lying dormant in the recesses of my brain. The lumbering beast speaks in a guttural tone not unlike the mingled mumblings of a thousand neckbeards; urging me to spend absurd amounts of money on hard-to-find games that feature the participants of the incestuous pantheon known as Super Smash Brothers: Brawl.

One side effect of acquiring SMABURA is a renewed use of my Wavebird, which has not seen regular use since the summer of ’05 when Nanohana and I helped Leon S. Kennedy rescue a girl with huge monkey ears.

While looking at my rarely used Gamecube I looked back at my meager collection of games and spent some time ruminating about why this was such a neglected console in my house. The final game I bought for it was Odama, and in all I only purchased seven games. I won’t waste space detailing the short-comings of the ‘cube, instead I’ll simply say some positive things about it.

In hindsight, these are some of the things that stand out to me. The controller design is a welcome departure that I still appreciate today, I love it’s funky look and how it comfortably fits in my hands. The large central green “A” button flanked by a smaller red “B” button and two grey “X” & “Y” buttons makes more sense than most people are willing to admit for several genres of games. Some of the games that I found to be an absolute joy and never stopped being fun were: Resident Evil 4, Viewtiful Joe, Odama, Metroid Prime and Zelda: The Wind Waker.

While using my old Wavebird for the newest Nintendo party game on Wii, I chuckle slightly as I remember all the good times I’ve had with it fucking with my co-players in Super Monkey Ball by switching comm. channels to control my opponents characters. Using the Wavebird also makes me feel slightly hollow inside, almost like I’ve betrayed someone.

Then I remember that Nintendo hates me and will never give me Earthbound. If I ever want to play some weird rare Nintendo game they’re as close as the nearest computer with a internet connection.

The yearly slump

by alzabo

The winter lapse in game releases is here. Both Hollywood and the Games industry launch their AAA products in the fall and winter, giving us a fall and holiday season with so much new media to devour that we can’t possibly enjoy it.

People who are really concerned about missing out on something “important” spend January and February playing catch-up with the releases of the Fall. Of course the machines never stop, and games keep coming out after the holiday season, it is during the cold month’s of winter that game releases slow to a trickle of what could be kindly referred to as shit. This year is no different with lots of forgettable titles and a few dark horses that are either flawed (Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law) or so niche that they’ll be glossed over and forgotten by almost everyone (No More Heroes).

It was my hope that into this dark place, a savior would come in the form of Downloadable Games. We’ve been promised Rez and Ikaruga by Microsoft, but Nintendo has been playing their cards so close to their vest I fear that their asshole is going to get a paper cut. So far this year, Nintendo’s Virtual Console releases have been limited to two games per week instead of the usual three. Their offerings have been pretty crummy as well, the best games we’ve received were StarTropics and The King of Fighters ’94.

StarTropics is an ok game, but it’s not enough. I received $40 worth of VC point this year from various people as gifts and there are no interesting games to buy. Where the hell is Earthbound? Where is Metal Storm? Fuck you Nintendo, between this and the quickly evaporating 3rd party support this system is turning out exactly like the Gamecube. Everyone is all pumped up for Smash Bros, but that’s just MvC2 for people in diapers who can’t understand the concepts more complicated than “UP+C."

At least I have the new Phoenix Wright game and Professor Layton to look forward to in February on my DS. I think those’ll be the last Nintendo games I buy for a very long time.

I Like My Sugar With Coffee and Cream

by Zen

I know, I know. Super Mario Luigi Galaxy has been out for like four months already or whatever, but I've been too busy star getting to write anything about it. Also, now that I've got all 120 I feel like I'm more qualified to detail the game's triumphs and its colossal, abject failures.

The controls are almost exactly perfect. I feel strange saying this, since I never hear anybody else say it ever, but I love Super Mario Sunshine with a sort of passion. The "secret" levels were an aggravating mess, but the water pack and smooth jump controls made everything else a joy. My initial feeling when I started playing Galaxy was that it was pretending Sunshine never happened, but if you look closely it's all in there. Sure, the camera controls may have taken a step back to the N64 days (an unfortunately common problem among Wii games), but the hover nozzle is still there in spirit with the massive air control you get with a spin jump, and the rest of the controls aren't back to the stiff garbage that plagued Mario 64 (yeah, I said it). Simply put, it's almost as much fun to just hop around and see what you can climb as it was in Sunshine, and with the added bonus that making (and pulling off) enormously long leaps of faith is a total blast.

A lot of Galaxy's success is that it is exquisitely paced. There's nowhere near as much exploration as there was in Sunshine, but the game has plenty of it for those of us who want it. There are speed challenges, no-hit challenges, puzzles, platforming, races, and bosses, all in perfect quantities. Even the gimmicky Wiimote levels are a blast, with the most polished control I've seen of its kind and tough but reasonable expectations of the player. The levels are even completely optional, tucked away beyond the realm of casual play.

All of this contributes to a sense of momentum, the feeling that the game can't wait for you to see what's next. Most importantly, even after getting all 120 stars I sometimes fire it up just to play around and see what I can skip past, jump on, or fly to. Super Mario Galaxy may be one of the best examples yet of a "sandbox" game: there are many solutions to problems, the levels are fun to explore and push to their limits, and you can play it as deep or as shallow as you like.

Most important of all, though, is how Galaxy evolves beyond all previous 3D platformers. A habit of mine while playing a brand new game is to think about the reactions it would get from someone who had only ever seen an NES. If you took Mario 64 or Sunshine back in time twenty years you'd get lots of oohs and ahhs, a few moments of confusion at playing a game in 3D, and then pure satisfaction. If you think about it, these are the exact reactions we all had when Mario 64 first came out. If you were to take Galaxy back with you, though, people would be simply unprepared for it. The game builds on the last ten years of 3D gaming, Z-jumping forward into brand new territory from the outset. It constitutes the next great leap forward in the platforming genre, and while it's not as eye-popping as the move to 3D was it's still every bit as significant.

Super Mario Galaxy may just be one of the most important games ever made. Play it, or else you may not be prepared for what's coming next.

Why Rock Band Rocks (And Guitar Hero 3 Sucks)

by K1