Weekly Opinion - Double pack - Movie Tie-ins

As Summer approaches, so too comes the glut of Summer movies. And along with Summer movies (and really, any movie that's connected to a comic, book, or something for kids, so it doesn't have to happen during Summer), so too comes the glut of game tie-ins.

I've been told of a few that don't suck, but as a general rule, I avoid them like the plague. There's a reason for that.

If you LOVE [Blank] - The Movie, You'll LOVE [Blank] - The Movie - The Game!

What I titled above is pretty much one of the main reasons why I hate movie tie-ins. The majority are put out to capitalize on all the free publicity that the movie generates. Game companies can generally slap a title like Spider-Man on a game, add a 1, 2, or 3 as it needs to so it fits with the movie, have some general plot points the movie has, and ship it out. Even if the game blows, hordes of people will buy it.

These games tend to be loaded down with bugs and gameplay issues. But the developers and companies behind it all don't truly care. They put it out as quickly as possible to make money, money, money. And if you think about it, most movies are just out for the money nowadays too.
I'm Batman

Interestingly, there was one movie that didn't have a game tie-in that I expected would. Batman: The Dark Knight did not have any such game. As we all know by now, The Dark Knight was pretty much a license to print money. Surely a game, even an astoundingly crappy one, would've been expected.

According to The Escapist, who link to an article from Kotaku Australia, there was an attempt, but it never came to fruition. I suggest reading both, as they talk about it far better than I ever could (and check out their sites, especially The Escapist. Quite good guys there).

Final Thoughts

I'm keeping this brief due to a headache, and that this is mostly opinion instead of fact. Movie tie-ins blow. There are a few diamonds in the rough, but generally there is just the rough. Until such time as developers and the movie industry that demands games decide that they want to put out a game that's good instead of just advertisement for the movie, and until such time as the hordes of Walmart shoppers stop buying this crap, there will always be shelf space for such games.

Weekly Opinion - Sequels

Sequels are a common thing in just about any story-driven media. Books, TV shows, movies, and one could argue that music fits in too (an artist putting out several albums, one could argue that the other albums are sequels to the first, and then there are artists who tell a story that may branch out over several albums....it happens). Games are no exception.

Just like the aforementioned media forms, game sequels can be both good, bad, and mediocre. The reasons for this can vary as wildly as possible, so I won't delve too deep into that (I have neither the time nor the space to possibly cover every reason why a sequel could be any of the three). Instead, I will give some examples of good, bad, and mediocre, along with some games that I feel fit the categories.

I also want to warn, I may touch upon some plot points, so spoiler warning ahead.

The Good...

A good sequel builds upon an already established world in some way. Sometimes a sequel will have a large visual improvement (Warcraft 1-2-3-World of Warcraft; Half Life-Half Life 2). Sometimes they'll expand the world (Warcraft again, Half Life again). And sometimes they'll introduce new ways of playing (Wa-...just read the previous examples).

I've talked quite a bit about WoW so I'll put that aside for now and focus instead on the Half Life series.

Half Life, developed by Valve, is notorious in the gaming world for a number of reasons. It was one of the first First Person Shooter games that allowed for extreme modifications to be made to the game engine. Thanks to this, fans were able to create endless mods. One such mod I mentioned previously, the popular Counter-Strike.

But this is about Half Life, not it is easy to modify. Half Life's story was fairly simply. You're Doctor Gordon Freeman, a rather low leveled scientist in a top secret facility in Black Mesa, Arizona. Due to a mishap (which you learn in HL2 isn't quite a mishap), you tear open multiple portals to a "world" (in the loosest sense of the world) of Xen, unleashing countless creatures upon your scientist buddies. You now have to escape. At the end you suddenly find yourself in a tram car hurtling through space. A bland looking man, the G-Man, as he is known, is before you, offering you two choices. Stay and do nothing, or go through the door, accept his proposal of a job. You really only have one choice to end the game, go through the door. As you do so, the game ends.

Half Life 2 took quite a while to come out, but it did, and it, thankfully, picked up where things left off. In a sense. Freeman has been in a sort of stasis for about 20 years in the game, so he comes out to a world that's quite a bit different. There he learns much of what truly happened while he pushed the crystal sample under the laser and unleashed hell on Earth. Though some questions are answered, more are asked, and HL2 (and its sequels too) are weaving a great storyline.

That, I think, is a good, even great, sequel. It uses the previous game(s) as a foundation.

The Bad...

I previously wrote a review about the game Tribes. Tribes is a cult classic, and finally spawned a game, Tribes 2. People, such as myself, were quite happy. The game wasn't that hard to emulate, all we wanted was better graphics, more modes to play, the ability to modify it like the first game.

We didn't get much. Graphics were better, yeah. But the game blew otherwise. It tried to have a story. A story for a game whose predecessor was renowned for its multiplayer. It also clamped down on the speed of players, which was a bad move. Tribes players loved the original because you could go extremely fast at times. That's why you had jetpacks, for Pete's sake!

And while mods in the original Tribes had various vehicles, they weren't the main focus. Tribes 2 changed that. And most of the vehicles sucked.

Some say it got better. But for me, I left it.

And the Meh...

Another game I went into previously was Homeworld. In the case of Homeworld 2, it was an expansion that was ok in some regards, meh in others. Story-wise, it was pretty good, expanding upon the story of the Hiigarans and their homeworld, as well as expanding upon the background of their Mothership, the friendly alien Bentusi, and the origins of the warp cores.

However, in my experience anyway, the game kind of failed in the Real Time Strategy portion. Some RTS games are renowned for their need of micromanagement. Homeworld didn't need it, outside of needing to keep track of your ships' fuel amounts (removed in Cataclysm, thank god). Homeworld 2 required a lot of micromanagement and you had to go through various bars to research things.

It wasn't a bad game, by any means, but it wasn't a good game either. There was potential, but it failed.

Final Thoughts
It can be hard to create a sequel. I think the creators have to truly be a part of the game, to love it to create a good sequel. That's not to say there couldn't be flukes. I'm sure there are some awful games created by lovers of the game itself. I couldn't name one as I don't know of one, but I'm sure there's one or two out there.

Emotions from a Game

A good story will often evoke an emotion in its reader, I think. Whether that emotion is happiness, joy, sadness, or anger, that's up to the story, but if played well, it makes a story memorable.

Some say that games aren't art, they don't belong on the same stage as TV or books. I think otherwise. Just as Law & Order could get me all angry that a murderer gets off scott free, so too can a game get me all emotional. I'm going to recount two such times that I felt emotion in a game. Feel free to add your own experiences if you wish. Also, the following will have spoilers for the games Homeworld and Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War, so be warned.

...Not Even Beacons...

I wrote previously about the game Homeworld and the emotions it brought up. I'm going to expand upon it here.

In one of the first missions in the game, you return from an attempted hyperspace jump to your home planet of Kharak. As your ship returns and deploys the small fleet you've built, you see things are different. The scaffold that held the mothership is destroyed. And Kharak, that dustball of a planet, your "home," is...is burning.

As you view all of this and hear your Fleet Command talk, Samuel Barber's Agnus Dei plays in the background.

It makes for a powerful scene. Though at first it seems like Fleet Command is rather cold and unemotional, if you listen hard you can hear the emotion. The male voice cracks a few times.



Whenever I hear Agnus Dei now, I get goosebumps.

Farewell, Chopper

The other game, Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War, is a flight combat simulator for the Playstation 2. Unlike the previous game, AC5 has your wingmates be "actual" people. They have names, voices, and personality. But the 17th mission, you know them all well. One wingmate, Alvin "Chopper" Davenport, is the "big loudmouth" of your group. He's always got a comeback for anyone, horses around, but is a good guy nevertheless.

In the 17th mission, after a number of hard missions already, you're slated to fly in performance over the capital city in formation for a speech by the vice president. But as you're doing so, enemy fighters suddenly appear. As people are evacuated, you and your three wingmates, horribly outnumbered (and with someone sabotaging help, no less, from coming in), fight off the waves of the enemy.

As you play, it isn't too hard. There aren't a lot of environmental problems, if you stay above the city. But about halfway through, Chopper takes a hit. He's ok, but he needs to land. He tries...and fails. He dies.

At this point, absolute silence comes over. The music stops. No one speaks. There's a lull in the fighting, though it starts up quickly again. You're asked to finish off the remaining fighters. You can hear the chatter from the enemies about the change, and you can hear your wingmate Nagase grunt gasp as she tears the enemy planes apart.

This...there are few times where I have come close to breaking a controller. I was gripping the controller so hard I thought I was about to shatter it.

In the game, you're able to carry an absurd number of missiles (it is a game, after all). My plane at the time could hold up to 90, and I had about 50 left, I guess. I was so angry that I just let loose. By the end of the mission, I had completely emptied my missiles and had even blown apart 6 planes with just the gun my plane had.

But it was a hollow victory. Chopper was dead.

Though I cannot find a video of the crash itself, here is the aftermath.



Silly?

Is it silly to get worked up over a game like that? I say no. It helps immerse you in the game. And that is never, ever a bad thing.

Weekly Opinion - Censorship in Gaming

For the most part, I think that gaming has gotten by with minimal amounts of censorship. I'll expand on my theory as to why shortly, but I think I can count the number of games that have been censored in some way on one hand.

Still, the thought has come up from time to time. Various agencies like to take potshots at video games as they are an emerging medium, so I sometimes sit back and think that such-and-such a game will get people angry and call for censoring. But as I said, I can't actively recall any real occurrence. At least, not here.

Nihao

As I mentioned previously, World of Warcraft boasts a subscription base of around 11.5 million or so. A nice chunk of that base live in China. World of Warcraft has basically three "regions" for the game. There's the American version, which is available to, of course, the United States, Canada, Mexico and other areas south, as well as Australia and New Zealand. There's the European version, which, logically, serves England, France, Germany, Spain, and so on. Then there is the Chinese version. South Korea also plays, but I can't seem to figure out where they go. They may have their own server node as well.

Anyway, while WoW is just fine in most of these regions, it has hit some problems with China. You see, China has some laws or rules that prohibit certain things from appearing in games or movies.

For example, I mentioned in my previous post about WoW that there is a race of Undead (zombies, but sentient) in the game. You look reasonably human, but your skin is pallid and bones show at your joints and your spine is visible. Not so in the Chinese version. To get it passed, they actually redesigned the model to cover the bones. You can see a comparison to the right.

That's not the only change. There are numerous skeletal creatures that all grew flesh in the Chinese version. And another example, when your character dies and you resurrect, a skeleton of your character is left behind for a time. In China, this is replaced by a tombstone.

Reasonable Changes, Unreasonable Future

So far, I suppose you could say it is reasonable. A little anal, perhaps, but reasonable. What the harm could be in not showing the skeletal joints, I don't know, but each country runs itself differently.

However, The9, operator of WoW in China, has had some problems with attempts to bring the latest expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, over. They've tried twice so far and both attempts have been shot down.

See, Wrath of the Lich King involves players bringing the battle to Northrend, the northern lands in WoW's planet of Azeroth, to battle the Lich King. The Lich King commands legions of undead who are, naturally, in various states of undeath. This has caused quite a problem.

WoW Insider reported that the problems seem to stem from "Skeletal characters" and a "city raid." The city raid is a quest where you enter a phased version of one of the capital cities that has been attacked and basically remove the enemies from it. A fun, new quest that came with WotLK.

So far, The9 and Blizzard have jumped through a number of hoops to get WoW up and running in China. Though I think that what they have to change is daunting, they may very well do it, since there are so many fans in China.

Panda's Banned-a

There's one other issue I'd like to touch upon, since I'm talking about WoW and China and censoring problems. In WoW's lore, there's a race called the Pandarens. They are pretty much what they sound like, a race of humanoid Pandas. They started out as a bit of a joke (heard around 05:12) spawned by a piece of art created by WoW-artist Samwise Didier. They've since ballooned into a full blown race. But they've never been seen in the game itself.

Rumors have floated around. There was the rumor that the new race for the Alliance in the first expansion pack would be the Pandaren but China had a problem and so it was changed to the Draenei (I don't buy it). Some claimed that there is a law forbidding the virtual killing of a panda in a game, but that doesn't make sense either (I haven't found a law like that, and Pandarens showed up, at least as one unit, in the game Warcraft 3 which sold in China just fine).

There is only one theory that I heard that I could buy. The Pandarens are a mix of Chinese and Japanese cultures. Many are samurai and the like. Some, myself included, think that the Chinese, who have a bit of history with the Japanese, don't like seeing a cultural icon like the Panda dressed in Japanese garb.

At the last Blizzcon, developers did mention that there was some sort of problem, but did not elaborate. I think it was what I mentioned. We may never know, though.

Theorycrafting

I think the reason why gaming has gone by mostly uncensored is because of the ESRB rating system used. Though some think that the system doesn't work (it does, its just that parents don't seem to care that the game they're buying their 9 year old is clearly rated M for Mature. You just can't idiot-proof everything, sadly), most businesses try and make use of it. I have actually been carded, CARDED(!), once when buying a mature game.

Anyway, the ratings go:

Pretty simple, right? Pretty much like the ratings for a movie or TV (hell, I'd say that TV's ratings are more confusing. TV-MA-SLV. What? TV-Mature...slave?). Makes you wonder how people just don't notice it, but that's a rant for another time.

Anyway, I have seen every one of those ratings in a store. Every one but AO. Adults Only is, from what I have read in a few gaming magazines (I'd link but unfortunately they have since closed shop and I cannot find it), a death sentence for a game. No store will sell it. This forces a developer to pare things down so it will fit.

So in a way, the industry regulates itself with censoring. Anything that may hit an AO rating will edit itself down to M so it could be sold.

Until we see a mass-selling AO game, though, this is just a theory.

3/14/09 - 9:05 pm: Just a small edit. Came across an article on WoW Insider that sent me to this article. Apparently, if The9 can't get Wrath of the Lich King passed and up and running in China, they face bankruptcy. This may cause problems for WoW as a whole in China.

Game Review - Pokemon Pearl/Diamond

By this point in time, if you've spent any time online or with games, you've likely at least heard of Pokemon. But just in case, I'll give you the quick-and-dirty rundown.

The Pokemon games take place in a world similar to ours but different at the same time. It is populated with hundreds of creatures known as Pokemon (name, by the way, is a portmanteau of Pocket Monster, which is what its called in Japan). These critters range from tiny (mouse sized) to gigantic (as big as a blue whale). They each have a "type" or two. Types can be elemental (Fire, Water, Air), paranormal (Psychic, Ghost, "Dark"), or just...random (Steel). Certain types have weaknesses and strengths (Water is weak to Electricity, Fire is weak to Water, etc).

You play a Pokemon trainer, someone who travels the world challenging gyms (dojos, basically) and collecting all the Pokemon you can. Inevitably, you come across some grand scheme by evil-doers and take part in taking them down.

Truth be told, it is kind of kiddy, but I feel it is a rather solid RPG. You have a set party you can swap around, you can set up the abilities your Pokemon have, and you raise stats. Sounds like an RPG to me.

Diamond in the Rough

Now that we have the basics squared away, a tiny bit of history. Pokemon has been around for quite a while (1996), starting on the old GameBoy. It has evolved as time has passed, adding bits of color with the GameBoy Color, adding full color and animation with the Gameboy Advance, and even adding in some 3-D with the Nintendo DS. Each "Generation," of which there are 4 (I'm not even going to factor in the games that exist outside the core ones), have a theme with their names.

The first generation is made up of Red, Blue (Green in Japan), and Yellow (which was released later from Red and Blue). The second generation is Gold and Silver, with Crystal being released later. Third gets expanded a bit, with Ruby and Sapphire. Emerald is, like Crystal and Yellow before it, is released later and is a slightly edited version of the ones of its generation. But the third generation also released FireRed and LeafGreen, Gameboy Advance versions of the originals.

This review is about two of the three games of the fourth generation, Pearl and Diamond (Platinum has been announced as the third of the generation. There are also expectations of a Gold and Silver remake, but there's only rumors for now).

Diamond and Pearl represent the current apex of the games. There's full color, an engaging story, a whopping number of Pokemon to catch (493).

Tired but True

The game plays almost exactly like the previous ones. You battle wild Pokemon to capture them, you battle trainers and gyms to earn money, you play through the storyline. Anyone who has played the previous games will know what to do, generally.

That, though, may be the problem. Though there are innovations, including the ability to trade Pokemon over the internet via WiFi, its all the same otherwise. New Pokemon aside, there isn't a great deal of change.

At four generations, Pokemon may be starting to get a little tiresome. I enjoy it, don't get me wrong, but I dearly hope the fifth generation, which I have heard some rumblings saying its not off for a long while, has some new component that changes things up. Even something like an "Active Time Battle" mode like one can see in Final Fantasy IV (basically, though turn-based, things continue to move, so if you aren't on your toes, you could get your team killed quickly).

There is one other problem I have. The Nintendo DS has two screens, the bottom of which is a touch screen. Diamond and Pearl make use of this to some degree, but it barely makes a difference in my experience. You don't even have to use it, in truth. In the future I hope they have it play a bigger part.

World Wide Community

I mentioned previously that you can trade over the internet with a WiFi connection. This is a great change from previous games, as previously you could only trade either via a cord or, at best, over a short-range signal.

However, though it is great to be able to trade with people from all over the world (I currently own Pokemon that were owned by people in Brazil, France, Thailand, and Japan), the problem is some people expect some absurdly stupid trades.

Some ask for an extremely rare and powerful Pokemon, and in exchange offer up one of the most common Pokemon. Or they ask for a level 100 version (hard to do unless you cheat, really).

When I trade over it, I generally just ask for a Pokemon of similar value, don't ask for a level requirement, and maybe occasionally ask for a specific gender (you can breed Pokemon in game). That's all.

But there's no accounting for the stupidity of people, so I don't really hold that against the developers.

Last Thoughts

Pokemon Pearl and Diamon are good games. They use a tired-but-true method, and if you're a Pokemon fan, you'll enjoy it. If you're new to the game, it'll be good for you too as everything'll be new. It could be a little daunting at times though, especially if you factor in being able to trade Pokemon from other generations. For stuff like that, I suggest Bulbapedia, the Pokemon Wikipedia.

Game Review - Kirby Super Star Ultra

Kirby Super Star Ultra, released September 22nd, 2008 in the United States, for the Nintendo DS, is a remake of an old Super Nintendo game of the same name (minus "Ultra"). With its remake on the DS, KSSU gets some upgraded graphics, adds a few new mini-games, and the cutscenes are now actually movies.

Living Vacuum

Kirby, for those that don't know, is one of Nintendo's iconic characters. Maybe not as iconic as Mario or Donkey Kong, but he's up there. He's the little ball of pink you see to the left and right. Not that threatening, I'll admit, but he can inhale and eat just about anything. That's how he takes care of whatever's going on in his world. Certain enemies he inhales give him powers. Swords, bombs, magic, the ability to turn to stone, etc.

Mini-games, Get Your Mini-Games

KSSU is essentially a collection of mini-games. Some are extremely short, like Samurai Kirby where you wait for a signal to hit a button and try to defeat Samurai Kirby's enemies in a sword drawing contest. Others are longer, such as The Great Cave Offensive. But most can be finished quickly enough, with my own average for the longest (Meta-Knight's Revenge, which combines all the previous content) being an hour or so.

As a whole, the collection of mini-games works. They are all varied, both in difficulty and in goals. The Great Cave Offensive has Kirby running through several areas collecting treasure. Milky Way Wishes has him hopping from themed planet to themed planet (Water Planet, Fire Planet, Machine Planet, etc) to collect power to make a wish.

Short but Mostly Sweet

As I mentioned above, the game is kind of short. That is probably its biggest problem. I was able to blow through it all in one sitting, though I've returned a few times to complete harder things (i.e. beating the Arena opens up the True Arena, trying to collect all 60 treasures, etc). So there is some replay value.

I suggest this game mostly to those who played the original (I'm one, and I bought it for sure nostalgia value alone), Kirby fans, and those who want a good varied set of mini-games. You won't be disappointed.