Thursday, August 7, 2008

ABDC Season 2 Episode 8 Recap



ABDC = Drama and Controversy just the way MTV likes it. The top 3 crews had to perform twice and the voting for next week's showdown is not what I wanted.



So Real Cru apparently got the most votes out of SuperCrew and Fanny Pak meaning they're in the heads up match next week, which caught me by surprise. Looks like Fanny Pak didn't get enough votes after last week's OMG performance with "Get Your Freak On" or MTV is throwing the curveball at us. Back to So Real, this week is the 80s theme of groove steps and dance movies as they delivered consistent performances. Their first one was okay as their second one was a little better. They relied on their style and signature hand illusions as their highlights, but nothing really mind blowing compared to what the other two crews did later. I guess their consistency kept them in the top and that's good for them, but they themselves were surprised they're #1 and deserved to be bottom 2 this week.



SuperCrew definitely lived to their name and heritage this week with their 80s performances. They were always entertaining and their b-boy stunts just amaze me from their towers to butterfly kicks. They deserve to be in the finals as they had more OMG performances than any crew this week. Hopefully the whole West Coast can vote them towards victory.



Unfortunately, Fanny Pak were eliminated this week and it is sad for them to go after their last performances (this week's and last week's) were pretty amazing. Their originality and creativity kept them in the top as well as showing their humorous side from showing photos of their mothers after "Ice Ice Baby" to reacting the Flashdance sequence with some of them being Shane, Lil Mama, and JC. They definitely deserved #1 on votes this week, but I don't know why it didn't happen. After this week if they were still in it, they would have a good shot to win this thing.



Looks like I got my finale as it is going to be a 2-parter with SuperCrew and So Real going heads up on their last performances next week while the live results are a week after. I wished MTV pulled an American Idol-like pattern of letting the two crews do their performances on Thursday and then do live results next Friday live instead of waiting a whole week to find out. Anyway, So Real Cru needs to step it up if they were #1 on votes as I agree with JC for blasting them this week. Otherwise, SuperCrew is going to blow them out in a hurry. (Vote for SuperCrew!!!!)

I Missed Triumph at Comic-Con



I don't know which day he was there, but here's the Triumph the Insult Comic Dog at SD Comic-Con segment on Conan O' Brien.

Classic Triumph as he just goes all out (The Star Wars Episode II one is still the best one).

The Music Game Corner for 08/07/08

Since I post a lot about Guitar Hero and Rock Band, I guess I'll combine the both of them to something called The Music Game Corner.



Looks like Ozzy is confirmed to be in Guitar Hero: World Tour along with the Ozzfest venue and more songs confirmed for the game like "Crazy Train" by Ozzy and "B.Y.O.B." by System of a Down (out on Rock Band now and its pretty hard on Expert Guitar). Here's him on the Motion Capture suit for the new game.



Even though Activision and Neversoft are raking in the celebrity support for World Tour like Ozzy, Hayley from Paramore, Travis Barker, and others, I'm still more stoked for Rock Band 2 than this new Guitar Hero. Good thing Harmonix revealed the whole soundtrack for the RB2 Disc compared to how Activision and slowly revealing it.



For Rock Band this week, I bought the System of a Down songs, "Toxicity" and "B.Y.O.B." At least one of them is tolerable to pass on Expert Guitar. We'll see what will next week's songs will be as DLC as there is a high chance of more Madden 09 songs will come to Rock Band since that is out on Tuesday.

I'm Starting to Hype Up BC Rearmed Again,,,



Next week is finally Bionic Commando Rearmed on XBLA and PSN, so I'm going to hype it up again with Part 3 (Final Part) of their Behind the Scenes Documentary. Microsoft is 2 for 2 with Summer of Arcade as I gave both Geometry Wars 2 and Braid a 9 and 9.5 out of 10 respectively as BC Rearmed will hopefully continue the trend. Hopefully, there would be people playing local multiplayer and co-op with me next week. Its going to be a good week with both this and Madden 09 (should I get that Favre Jets cover??) out.

Off-topic: Expect my Soul Calibur IV Review sometime during the weekend.

Brain Teasing Turned to the Max... The Braid Review


A handful of games of recent memory have challenged the intellects of the brain towards solving puzzles. Braid turns up the puzzle solving to the max with platforming sections along with homages to iconic games like Super Mario Bros. and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. This puzzle platformer for Xbox Live Arcade feels like a hybrid of Mario platforming, the time mechanic from The Sands of Time, and challenging puzzle solving similar to Portal. Along with a simple yet complex story with a mind blowing conclusion, difficult puzzles that will test your mind, and a beautiful graphical style, Braid is truly something special despite its steep price and definitely worth a play through to experience such a rare game in this generation of consoles that I would say it would be this year's Portal in terms of being a short and sweet masterpiece.

The story of Braid seems simple at first as you play as Tim, a young boy dressed in a suit and tie, on pursuit of rescuing the princess. That simple theme alone feels like a homage to Super Mario Bros. as when you reach the end of a level, a random animal will say the iconic quote, "The princess is in another castle." As you read the books in the six worlds collecting puzzle pieces, the story becomes more complex and awkward at the same time as you learn more about Tim and his motives of this whole quest. Braid takes an unique approach towards starting a game by having no menus at all other than the pause menu as you just start right away to the action of traveling to the six worlds of different themes and puzzles. It starts out easy in the first world you step on, but it progressively harder testing your intellect on how to get the 60 puzzle pieces. The later puzzles take advantage of the themes in some worlds like using a doppelganger after slowing down time, using a time bubble, and a whole area where your movements dictate the enemy movements and time.


The simple controls of Braid are also noteworthy for a game like this of only moving, jumping, opening doors and switches, and changing the flow of time. The time mechanic is pretty much the foundation of Braid as the majority of puzzles require some manipulation of time of rewinding or fast forwarding. For a game as challenging for the puzzles, there are no deaths thanks to rewinding time when solving them. There are some obstacles to watch out for with all the puzzle solving and platforming with lava pits, goomba-like enemies, rabbits, and more. The frustration does kick in when trying to solve a certain puzzle for hours, but it is about taking advantage what is there to use and the time mechanic to solve them. On the other hand, the satisfaction of solving some of them feels like an achievement of its own. Some may seem impossible while others will question your mind of why you never thought of that idea. Even though this is a short game of six worlds that can last several hours pending on how fast you solve the most difficult puzzles, Braid is truly something unique and original among other games on Xbox Live Arcade.

The graphical style of Braid is really something special with the characters looking great as Tim animates pretty smoothly. Sure, there isn't as much variety of enemies, but this game is not as filled with action as in a 2D Mario game where this one focuses on the puzzles. The environments themselves also look beautiful as everything has some watercolor effect that makes it look amazing. The framerate also never hitches, which is a good thing for a game like this even though there isn't much going on. The music and sound effects are also remarkable with a surprisingly amazing soundtrack of chill tunes that go according to the themes of the game. The tunes themselves sound peaceful and relaxed especially for a puzzle platformer that never resorts to hard hitting sounds. The visual and artistic presentation of Braid does keep it separate from the rest of the XBLA games out now.



For 1200 Microsoft Points (15 dollars), it might be too steep to play Braid, but it is a completely inspiring and mind blowing experience of pushing puzzle platforming to a whole new level while paying tribute to the games that pioneered it to be what it is now. The nods to those games will make fans of gaming in general go crazy and the conclusion will confuse some players if they didn't read any of the books in the six worlds while being one of the best endings in recent memory of games. Sure, reading the books may seem like a lazy way to tell the story as cutscenes are all the rage for telling stories, but this text-based approach just makes perfect sense for Braid while letting the gameplay do all the talking. There is also minimal replay value with the option of speed running this game, but playing all of it once is enough to witness greatness. If you want to challenge yourself with these difficult puzzles and experience perhaps another reason that games can be art, I would highly recommend Braid as a special puzzle platformer and one of the best downloadable games on the Xbox 360.

Score = 9.5/10

Pros:
  • Amazing visual presentation along with a great soundtrack.
  • Does great homages to games that influenced it like Super Mario Bros.
  • A simple story, but turned complex and a surprising conclusion.
  • Puzzle platforming pushed to a new level with the manipulation of time and challenging but not impossible puzzles.
Cons:
  • Short game (several hours long on the first playthrough).
  • 1200 MS Points price point might be too steep.
  • Frustration will kick in if you can't figure out a puzzle for hours and hours.