Perhaps my only anticipated PSN game, Journey continues to blow my mind on how simply beautiful it looks and how original it can be. Count on Jenova Chen and thatgamecompany (They made Flow & Flower) to deliver an experience unlike no other. The sense of adventure, discovery, and unique cooperative play is present for this game. This is definitely high on my gaming radar when it comes out later this year.
Friday, June 3, 2011
My Beginning of 2012 is Gonna Get Tricky...
The glorious return of SSX is also at E3 next week and I'm already loving it so far. I have always loved the extreme sports game genre as SSX 3 is among my all-time favorites (On Tour was good, but it ain't SSX 3). After the reveal disaster that was Deadly Descents, EA finally listened to critics and let SSX be what it used to be about in the first place rather than try to be something else it can't be. We have waited a long time for this to come out, but even though it is releasing in January, I'm already stoked to play a new SSX again.
Uncharted 3 Going Big at E3 2011...
Naughty Dog is indeed going all out with Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception. Details of what is in the multiplayer beta got revealed earlier this week in terms of modes, maps, and customizable options. Then we got the co-op reveal last night on GameTrailers TV along with another clip above. This co-cop campaign is supposed to be separate from the main campaign, which is good along with some improvements like being more than just going to rooms killing enemies all the time from the last game. I just hope no random soldiers just come out and instantly choke you to death as seen in Uncharted 2's co-op. Plus, vertical shooting (sort of ripped off from Dark Void but better) seems awesome. I also love the fact there's more weapons this time around which shows how Naughty Dog wants the multiplayer to be a serious contender for your playtime against something such as Modern Warfare 3. The trailer below is for Hunters Mode, which to me is a variation of Plunder mode of taking a treasure to its target spot being its now more round-based with teams are assigned to offense and defense. Anyway, you'll likely see a crazy campaign demo at Sony's E3 press conference next week, so we're not done with the Uncharted 3 coverage yet.
Music Video for the Week (5/30-6/3/11)
Rihanna - "Man Down"
There's party album week later this month with the LMFAO & Pitbull albums, so expect a music roundup about those soon plus the Beyonce album too.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
We Have Another Contender for Game Trailer of 2011...
Even though the Tomb Raider reboot is not coming out till next fall, this debut trailer is among one of the better trailers I have seen in a while. It definitely shows a new Lara and a whole new perspective on her character as a whole. That iconic look is gone and now we get a Lara Croft that feels real actually going through struggle and survival as seen when is attempting to escape a sinking ship. Who knows if any gameplay demos will be shown at E3 next week for Tomb Raider, but so far, this reboot has a lot of potential to become something special.
So Let's Talk About That Konami Pre- E3 Thing??
I think NeoGAF overhyped Konami's Pre-E3 presser too much since last year's was hilariously bad, yet so good. This year didn't top that, but damn Konami is on a whole different level with E3 press conferences in terms of trainwrecks. Oh did I mention their thing was PRE-RECORDED? Wow, you gotta love the game industry sometimes.
Other than some not so worthwhile stuff being shown such as a new Pro Evolution Soccer game, Konami does have a slew of games coming in the months ahead. While some games you thought they would be there, but not, the famed Japanese publisher decides to go nuts with HD collections, which is the highlight of this presser in a nutshell to most people. Other than Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater 3D for the 3DS, Kojima Productions announced the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection for Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. This package contains MGS2, MGS3, and Peace Walker with graphical and audio improvements (Yup, no MGS1). The big thing KojiPro is also promoting is what they call "Transfarring." Transfarring basically is Kojima's idea to let players play these MGS games at any time from home and move their saved game to a NGP in order to continue on there, vice versa too (or the Vita - whatever Sony calls it by next week). Kojima also announced their multiplatform engine called The Fox Engine, which is pretty much excited if MGS Rising (a no show at E3) is still coming out. Other than the MGS HD Collection, Kojima Productions also announced the Zone of the Enders HD Collection for Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. As a fan of the second game, I like the fact it exists and hopefully people buy enough of these to perhaps give Konami interest to finally green light Zone of the Enders 3. All these HD collections are nice and all (Silent Hill is also getting a HD collection), but cmon, new games please!!
Besides Konami announcing an original game called Never Dead, which is just another cheesy third-person shooter, but you're playing as some undead dude and Megadeth is doing the soundtrack, this teaser showed up at the end of the pre-recorded presser which shows the infamous C for Contra. Supposedly, this is a Castlevania Lords of Shadow-like reboot for the franchise, so considering how good and underrated Lords of Shadow was, this new Contra game can be pretty good too.
Konami's E3 press conference is pretty much a trainwreck considering how overhyped it was and the fact it was pre-recorded, but it is not as hilariously bad as last year's, so that's something I guess. The main event is coming up in several days, so I'll leave it at that.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
A Retro Review of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
This is a review I wrote long ago for the XBOX Live Arcade version of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, which was released back in March 2007.
In 1997, The Playstation was all about Sony bringing 3D graphics to the console market in a big way, then this little game known as Castlevania: Symphony of the Night stayed 2D and took the console to a different direction being one of the greatest games of all-time. It also took the legendary Castlevania series to a whole new direction as well with its level based gameplay, Super Metroid style exploration, and memorable music. This game was also released for the Saturn at Japan and never seen any other re-releases on compilations since its original release till now. Now that Symphony of the Night is on XBOX Live Arcade, fans of the original and also new players can experience this classic. It is the biggest game in terms of size to hit the service and also the best game out there to download for 10 bucks (800 Microsoft Points).
In Symphony of the Night, you play as Alucard, Lord Dracula's son and a non-follower of him siding with the humans. He realizes that someone is trying to resurrect him at his castle and it is up to him to prevent that from happening. Once you enter his castle, Death comes in and jacks all of Alucard's powerful items, which reminds you of the recent Metroid games if you never played this game yet, and Alucard has to explore the castle with nothing other than punches. While exploring the castle, he will eventually face many bosses and find new items and even transformations to help him navigate around it. Also similar to the 2D Metroid games, Symphony just throws you into this place with no purpose and allows you to go crazy without any help unless you the use the map as a guide to go around or even a FAQ especially for new players.
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is a game divided into two halves, the normal castle and an inverted version of it. The four endings goes along with these two halves as the worst two endings will not let you explore the inverted castle and the better two endings requires a run of the inverted castle. This system can easily divide the hardcore Castlevania fans and casual gamers if they are going for the best ending. Speaking of crowd division, the achievements for this game are good and will take some time even for the hardcore fans to accomplish. They range from exploring 200.6% of the whole game, having a bank of 100,000, and beating the game as Richter Belmont.
For new players, Symphony of the Night is basically the old-school gameplay of the Castlevania series fused with a Super Metroid like exploration system. Alucard will use many weapons, magic, and different transformations to defeat his enemies. The magic system is only beneficial to Alucard turning into mist, a wolf, and a bat rather than the spells itself. There is also a sidekick like system called the familiars, where they follow Alucard around helping him in certain situations, which range from a bat, a faerie, demon, a sword, and a ghost. If you beat the game as Alucard, you can play the game as Richter with a Castlevania signature whip and limited abilities.
The graphics for this game are faithful to the original Playstation version and there is nothing that makes the graphics go crazy like in the Saturn version. There are options for updated graphics as well, but it does not do too much to differentiate from the original graphics. The game is also limited to a boxed window with an awesome wallpaper surrounding the screen, but it can be stretched to full screen if that is your preference.
Symphony has also possibly the greatest music in any 2D game with many orchestral scores being played in the many stages. Each stage has its own song which sets the tone for what each room will contain. Some music gets recycled in the inverted castle, but it does not matter. The voice acting in this game is awesome in a sarcastic way with horrible dialogue, but it is more funny than bad. This game does give you perhaps the most important question ever, what is a man?
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night was awesome in 1997 and still awesome today. Being released on XBOX Live Arcade gives fans of the series to experience greatness again while it also gives new players a chance to get into this 20 year old series. Specifically for new players, Symphony is a good start to see what Castlevania is all about other than Belmonts and Dracula. You will notice why the recent Castlevania games on the handhelds are heavily influenced by this entry. For 10 bucks, Symphony of the Night is truly a bargain and something that should not be missed on XBOX Live Arcade.
In Symphony of the Night, you play as Alucard, Lord Dracula's son and a non-follower of him siding with the humans. He realizes that someone is trying to resurrect him at his castle and it is up to him to prevent that from happening. Once you enter his castle, Death comes in and jacks all of Alucard's powerful items, which reminds you of the recent Metroid games if you never played this game yet, and Alucard has to explore the castle with nothing other than punches. While exploring the castle, he will eventually face many bosses and find new items and even transformations to help him navigate around it. Also similar to the 2D Metroid games, Symphony just throws you into this place with no purpose and allows you to go crazy without any help unless you the use the map as a guide to go around or even a FAQ especially for new players.
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is a game divided into two halves, the normal castle and an inverted version of it. The four endings goes along with these two halves as the worst two endings will not let you explore the inverted castle and the better two endings requires a run of the inverted castle. This system can easily divide the hardcore Castlevania fans and casual gamers if they are going for the best ending. Speaking of crowd division, the achievements for this game are good and will take some time even for the hardcore fans to accomplish. They range from exploring 200.6% of the whole game, having a bank of 100,000, and beating the game as Richter Belmont.
For new players, Symphony of the Night is basically the old-school gameplay of the Castlevania series fused with a Super Metroid like exploration system. Alucard will use many weapons, magic, and different transformations to defeat his enemies. The magic system is only beneficial to Alucard turning into mist, a wolf, and a bat rather than the spells itself. There is also a sidekick like system called the familiars, where they follow Alucard around helping him in certain situations, which range from a bat, a faerie, demon, a sword, and a ghost. If you beat the game as Alucard, you can play the game as Richter with a Castlevania signature whip and limited abilities.
The graphics for this game are faithful to the original Playstation version and there is nothing that makes the graphics go crazy like in the Saturn version. There are options for updated graphics as well, but it does not do too much to differentiate from the original graphics. The game is also limited to a boxed window with an awesome wallpaper surrounding the screen, but it can be stretched to full screen if that is your preference.
Symphony has also possibly the greatest music in any 2D game with many orchestral scores being played in the many stages. Each stage has its own song which sets the tone for what each room will contain. Some music gets recycled in the inverted castle, but it does not matter. The voice acting in this game is awesome in a sarcastic way with horrible dialogue, but it is more funny than bad. This game does give you perhaps the most important question ever, what is a man?
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night was awesome in 1997 and still awesome today. Being released on XBOX Live Arcade gives fans of the series to experience greatness again while it also gives new players a chance to get into this 20 year old series. Specifically for new players, Symphony is a good start to see what Castlevania is all about other than Belmonts and Dracula. You will notice why the recent Castlevania games on the handhelds are heavily influenced by this entry. For 10 bucks, Symphony of the Night is truly a bargain and something that should not be missed on XBOX Live Arcade.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)