E3 Thoughts.

Well E3 has come and gone and while there were some great announcements I would argue that most gamers will feel that it wasn't the best of shows this year.

Nintendo's presser was to me a big slap in the face of the core gamers. Nothing they showed proved that they cared about the core gamer. Sure they briefly let out that the teams behind Zelda and Mario are working on new projects but they never told us what they were or when to expect them. A new Animal Crossing game was announced but that's more of a casual game then a Core gamers game. Everything else was casual fair such as Wii Sports Resort and Wii music. Wii Sports Resort is the title that will be used to show of the new Wii Motion Plus attachment that tracks the Wii motes movement far more accurately supposedly a 1:1 ratio. The Nintendo conference was definitely the bore of the Big 3 conferences.

Next we have Sony. Sony's conference was pretty good in that they showed the games and they kept the numbers game to a minimum. However considering they used a very creative Little Big Planet level to show the numbers in a very fun way that showed off what Little Big Planet can really do I guess we could have done with more numbers in this case. It was a great way of getting more people to realize how great Little Big Planet will be once it finally ships. They showed a incredible demo of Resistance 2 that showcased a battle with the MASSIVE levitation. The demo was certainly impressive as the monster is immense. The player was picked up a few times and needed to fire a rocket into the monsters mouth before being thrown down. While the demo was brief it did show that Resistance 2 is certainly stepping up the intensity the second time around. Also of interest was a new game called M.A.G or Massive Action Game. This shooter is said to allow up to 256 players into a single game. They showed a CG trailer show casing the concept of the game but it really will be hard to tell just exactly the game will function with that many players until we see more. They showed a concept of squads of players but that doesn't help explain enough. Oh and lets not forget the God of War III teaser trailer. Yes the game is now official however the teaser trailer was very short and little was revealed about the plot. However there is already rumors spreading that the game is close in terms of graphics to the CG teaser that was shown off.

Now Last but certainly not least we have Microsoft. Plenty of rumors were proven to be true for Microsoft as they announced a complete overhaul of the Xbox Dashboard that will implement Avatars. Avatars seem to be alot like Mii's except far more customizable if the video shown was anything to go by. Also announced was Lips. A very Singstar esque game however the video shown shows being able to use a Zune or a Ipod to import music into the game possibly allowing you to use your own music in the game. However it is still somewhat unclear exactly how that will work. In addition to many proven rumors Microsoft also showed off what we want, The games. We were shown Demo's of Resident Evil 5 which showed for the first time that the game will be Co-op playable. Also shown was a very impressive Gears of War 2 demo. The demo showcased just how far the game has come since the first. There is always alot more going on on screen as well as the fact that the areas seem to be far more expansive then the first. The biggest moment came when Microsoft dropped the biggest Bombshell of the show and that is that Final Fantasy XIII will be coming to Xbox 360 in America. I say America at the end of that because it will only be coming to Xbox 360 in the US and Europe it will stay a PS3 exclusive in Japan. This news was certainly a shock to everyone in attendance. It was a shock to me that news this big didn't leak before the show.

Other games at the Show that impressed me were Mirror's Edge. This First Person Action game is very different then a FPS so you shouldn't call it one. You play a runner named Faith who is out to get revenge on the government for framing her sister for a murder she didn't commit. What is so great about this game is how the immersion really makes you feel for Faith. When Faith runs you she her arms pumping when you roll you see your torso it's as if you are seeing things through Faith's eyes and not just drone as in most First Person games. Think Breakdown except far more fluid and polished. Combat is not the focus of Mirror's Edge in fact it will be the running and platforming that is. There will even be a achievement for getting through the entire game without killing a single person.

Another impressive game was inFAMOUS. This game is by the guys at Sucker Punch which you may remember from the Sly Cooper series. Infamous is a open world game in which you play a guy who gains powers that you must choose to use for good or bad. The short demo shown was quite impressive. However alot more needs to be seen to show off the true potential of this game.

While there are certainly alot more games to talk about these are just the great ones that caught my eye. Also keep an eye out for. Little Big Planet, Mercenaries 2, Fallout 3, Far Cry 2, Halo Wars and the many more incredible games that will be coming soon. This will certainly be a very full holiday season.

But wait. Didn't I say that I didn't feel this show was really all that great? Why yes I did. My reasoning behind this is that in the past E3 always had many HUGE bombshell announcements and new game reveals. While we certainly had alot of incredible games at this years show we really didn't see that much new announced. We basically just got more info on the games we already knew about. While that is great there is just something fun about being shown newer, bigger and better games. I read a interesting interview where a dev said that the mid July timing of the new E3 may be to blame as most of the devs are simply trying to get their games ready for the Holiday Season and they really can't focus on revealing the next big game they have on the way. I tend to agree with this thinking. What we need to see is E3 moved back to the old May timing and maybe things will start to get better but its really hard to say at this point if that will ever really happen.

Expect alot more news in the coming months as we will be hearing from Square Enix at their own private party where they have revealed some major announcement about Final Fantasy VII will be unveiled. We also have Leipzig to look forward to as well as PAX and TGS.

Metal Gear Solid: The Motion Picture?

As many know there has been lots of talk about a Metal Gear Solid movie recently. So many people have been getting caught up in who will write it, direct it, star in it, etc. But no one has stop to think would a Metal Gear Solid movie even work? Think about it this way. There is so much plot in MGS that certain cut scenes in the game near the 90min mark which is close to a feature length film. With that said is it even possible to make a Metal Gear Solid movie fit into the mythology of the series and be cohesive. Or would it simply be a cash in with a random Solid Snake adventure?

Then there is the important stuff like writers, directors, actors and so forth. Recently IMDB has listed Hideo Kojima as the story writer and David Hayter( The man behind Solid Snakes voice) as the screenplay writer. Now if true that is great however last we heard from Hayter himself that he was not involved and struggling to get Sony to allow him to write the script. Hayter is a rare breed indeed as not only does he play Solid Snake in the games, he is also very passionate about the series and knows just as much about it as any fanboy so Hayter doing the screenplay is a very good thing if it turns out to be true. Then there is the problem of casting Solid Snake. Snake is a Icon no doubt. Even if they got someone who looked exactly like Snake does in the games as soon as he spoke most fans would give up as we have heard Hayter's voice in the role for the past 10 or so years. There has been talk that David Hayter himself could play the role and I would tend to agree with this as he does indeed look a little like Solid Snake. I would rather have someone who looks close and sounds exactly like Snake then someone who doesn't look or sound the part. However Hayter has said in the past that he isn't very interested in acting in film. Could a Metal Gear Solid film make him change his mind?

Oh lets not forget the biggest thing and that would be who would direct. Now my vote would go to Hideo Kojima himself. Kojima-san has said it has always been a dream of his to be a director and this could be the perfect project to jump in on that. Now if this were to happen it would not be the first time a Japanese director would be making a film for a American audience as Takashi Shimizu director of Ju-on directed the American remake of the very same film better known as The Grudge. We have all seen what Kojima-san can do with the Metal Gear Solid 4 cut scenes it amazes me to think of the possibility's should he be allowed to direct the film. We could certainly expect great things from him.

All said the Metal Gear Solid Film has alot of hurdles to get over. Not to mention the bad track record of Games to Film adaptations. Could the movie be great? Of course it could. However the odds are very much stacked against it. However it is still a very early project and almost nothing is known about who will be working on it. Until we have more concrete info we cant really get a idea of how the film will shape up. Lets hope we get more news soon.

Being alone isn't that scary.

When the end of the year comes and the best and worst of lists are written Alone in the Dark will not doubt top many "Biggest letdown" lists. It's sad to because Alone in the Dark shows alot of promise. It's easy to see the developers had the best of intentions and where trying to make something revolutionary how ever most of if not all of the aspects implemented into the game aren't realized to there fullest and bring the experience down.

Lets start with the story. You play Edward Carnby who awakens with no memory of who he is, where he is or how he got there. He is then thrust into a situation that is very much beyond his control but it seems it is up to him to get to the bottom of it. The game at first glance seems to have a great plot but it's hard to care much when the voice acting is so bad that you will find yourself wanting to skip the cut scenes. It also doesn't help much that what is supposed to be scary in the game is either not scary because of the voice acting or because of the rigid animation the game has going on. Which leads to the next problem.

Control. The game is so clumsy and slow in everything it does it gets very very frustrating. Some may say the controls are supposed to be like that it helps induce scary situations. To that I say that is no longer acceptable after Resident Evil 4. The game is so hard to control it's a wonder you can even defeat enemies in combat. Which again leads to the next problem.

The combat. Now if you were following the game like I was and watched the tech demo released on the web and on Xbox Live then you were no doubt impressed by the fire in the game. The fire indeed looks great and acts and works just like a real blaze would which is an integral part of the game. Why you ask? Well the monsters and enemies you come across can only be killed with fire. A great thing to add for story sake we all remember John Carpenters The Thing in which the only way to complete kill the alien was to burn it. That added alot of tension and terror to the film and I would imagine that they were going for the same thing in Alone in the Dark. However in practice it's very annoying and slows down the game quite a bit. Let me explain. The game utilizes a coat inventory system in which Edward will open his coat Ala the merchant in Resident Evil 4 and display everything he has acquired. A nifty way to show the inventory indeed. The catch is that the game isn't paused while viewing this screen so the monsters can still attack you. Why is this a problem you ask? Well at many points in the game there is no fire to utilize and you will have to make your own be it Flaming bullets or a bottle of flammable spray with a lighter to make a mini flame thrower. The problem here is that nifty little inventory screen isn't the best thing to sift through while being attacked and makes getting armed enough to fend off the beasts attacking you a chore. Were you able to simply attack the monsters with a nearby object and finish them off without flame that alone would make the game far more enjoyable.

In addition to all that Alone in the Dark is host to one of the most horrid driving sequences ever put into a game. There are more bugs and glitches in this little section then there are in the entirety of other games. It is so bad in fact that I would argue that if a player is unaware of the chapter skip function(that I wouldn't be surprised was added because of this horrid driving section) that this section of the game would cause them to give up and return the game.

Alone in the Dark is a bit of a mystery to me. Some of the problems with the game could have been fixed had it stayed in development for a while longer. We are talking about bad collision detection, jerky animation, bad camera, along with a few bad design choices some of which could be removed entirely for the benefit of the game. The game was delayed many times so I don't think it was being rushed that caused this to happen. It's sad really because you can see by what there is that the people behind Alone in the Dark really wanted to make something great and through out the game there are hints of that greatness but there are so many things both large and small that bring it down it's just so hard to recommend.

Snake's Final Mission.

Before I even start with this review I'm going to state this clearly. Metal Gear Solid 4 is easily one of if not the best game of all time. Metal Gear Solid 4 is everything Kojima-san promised it would be and proves to be a fantastic ending to one of the most memorable saga's in gaming history.

There is no hiding that Metal Gear Solid 4 is the best looking game of all time. The graphics really must be seen to be believed. There are many times throughout the game in both game play and in cut scenes where the game looks photo realistic. In fact there are many occasions in which the HUD pops up as a cut scene is coming to an end and looks out of place because it looks like you are watching a CGI movie.

MGS4's game play while similar to older MGS games has evolved and allows for alot more freedom in how you do things. In the past you would really need to sneak around or face certain death. However Snakes new arsenal of CQC moves, Octocamo, a new Weapon customization system and far more freedom of movement makes fighting a far more viable option. Another option for FPS fans allows the game to be played almost entirely like a FPS although I found this is not as fun or engaging as playing the game normally.

No longer are you limited to cramped hallways when sneaking as this mission takes place in a many war zones across the world. While previously you may take on 4-5 enemies at once you will now find yourself up against much more enemies and fighting in full scale wars between PMC groups and the Rebels that are trying to stop them. These battles aren't merely superficial either. Helping one of the factions will align you with that faction and they will not attack you and may help in your mission by attacking the enemy and distracting them so you can get where you need to go.

Also no longer will you be limited to finding your weapons on the battle field as early into the game you meet up with Drebin a gun launderer that allows you to purchase guns, ammo and custom parts for your weapons. When finding a gun on the battlefield you won't be able to use it right away in most cases as they are ID locked. Drebin can unlock these ID's for a price and allow you to use them. You get "Drebin Points" by selling weapons that you already have found. For example when you pick up a AK-102 it will go into your inventory but every one you pick up from then on will be sold to Drebin for points allowing you to purchase things to help you on your mission. While this is a great addition to the game and the weapon customization is very fun I found that being able to purchase ammo whenever you need it makes the game a bit to easy. But that is a minor complaint.

Throughout the game there are also many event's that are played very differently then the rest. Such as riding on the back of a motorcycle while being attack in a city at war or trying to escape a ton of gecko with the help of a armored carrier. All of these control very well and are extremely fun and a spectacle to behold visually. There are more game play variations later in the game but I won't spoil them as they are very fun to see as they take place and one of them is kind of a spoiler.

Now I'm not gonna get to deep into the story as I don't want to spoil anything for anyone. Many faces from the past appear in the game such as Naomi, Meryl and Mei Ling among others. There is also alot of fan service in many forms such as jokes and whatnot from the MGS series that only fans of the MGS games will see and find funny. Such as Otacon calling you via Codec and telling you it's time to switch to Disc 2 before realizing that MGS4 is on Blu-ray. You will also see flashbacks as well. Many times during cut scenes there will be a prompt to press the X button doing so will trigger flash back like imagines showing many things from the past, the significance of the events going on or showing something you may not find a link to just by watch what is going on. It's a very cool way to get refreshed on certain events from the MGS universe. I will also say that the cut scenes are 90 minutes long rumor is not true. While some of the cut scenes are quite long especially the mission briefings between acts none are 90 minutes long. The ending however may be close to the 90 minute mark but I didn't care to time it as I was to enthralled with the ending to one of the greatest saga's in all of gaming history to care about something so trivial.

On the bad side there really isn't much to say. There are a few animations in the game that look a bit odd or out of place but that's a very minor complaint as for the most part the motion capture is excellent. Some will say the installs between acts is a negative however they are very short only taking about 2-3 minutes to complete and they only occur every few hours of game play so you can use them as an excuse to get up and have a break or make a snack or something. The main install isn't anything to complain about either it takes about 8 minutes to install which is about the same that other games requiring a install take.

All said Metal Gear Solid 4 is easily the best game on the PS3 if not the best game of this generation or all time. If you own a PS3 you owe it to yourself to own Metal Gear Solid 4. It would be a shame to miss the ending to one of the best Saga's in all of gaming history.

Ryu Returns!

Ninja Gaiden II has finally arrived and with all the recent controversy about Tomonobu Itagaki leaving and suing TECMO some have wondered if that may have had a effect on the game. Well the answer is no but that's not to say that Ninja Gaiden II is perfect because there are a few flaws.

Alot of people thought that Ninja Gaiden II didn't look much better then Sigma which is untrue. The game is gorgeous and needs to be seen in motion to be appreciated. The animation is top notch and some of the best you will see anywhere. The environments look great and some of them further in the game look straight up stunning. The enemies look great and they pack quite a few onto the screen at once which is impressive. The much talked about gore effects are incredible, blood and body parts never disappear remaining to show the carnage you have caused in your path. It's a small touch but its really nice.

The game play is great. Although there are almost no puzzles and little platforming. Ninja Gaiden II focus's on only the combat and that's where the game shines. The combat is by far the best in any action game to date. This is not a button masher. Button mashers look elsewhere as you will quickly get your ass handed to you if you don't know what you are doing. Defense is immensely important you will not beat the game without learning how to block, counter attack and evade. Each weapon in the game has a impressive move set and they get new moves as you level them. All of them are very fun to mess around with and decently balanced although there are a few weapons that seem to work far better then others like the Dragon Sword and the Scythe. The variety in combat is impressive if you get bored of using the Dragon Sword you can use something else and it really changes the experience.

Little tweaks make the game alot more different then Ninja Gaiden 1. Such as the new health system. When you fight you health will go done and a portion will become red. However after the fight is over the health with recover up to that red line. This makes Health alot more manageable but it doesn't make the game any easier. The new quick menu system allows you to change your weapon, ranged weapon, use health items and change Ninpo(which is no longer useless). Also Defense has been changed a bit sense Ninja Gaiden 1. In the original you can basically stand by blocking and wait for a opportunity to counter and this would work for the most part. However in Ninja Gaiden II the enemies will grapple you very quickly if you stay still for to long. Counters as well are a little different in that the timing required is a bit more precise then in the original game. While these are minor changes to be sure but they make a game feel very different from the first.

Now on the downside there are a few things to note. First and foremost is the camera. It's the same as the first and that means you are bound to have trouble with it from time to time. Although you can control it finding time to do so during combat is asking a little much. However pulling the R trigger centers the camera behind you so if you make a habit of doing this the camera is not so bad. Also the bosses seem to be a little cheap in the game. The bosses in Ninja Gaiden 1 were hard because they were either huge(Bone Dragon) or extremely fast and smart(Alma) however almost all the bosses in Ninja Gaiden II have cheap shots that you have to avoid and if you do this they aren't very hard. It's like figuring out the pattern to win. While that does add difficultly to the game it just doesn't feel the same as Ninja Gaiden 1 did. Now I know alot of you out there don't care about the story in the Ninja Gaiden games but I as a Dead or Alive fan who loves the universe and the characters in it found Ninja Gaiden II's story to be a bit weak. No where near as good as the first for many reasons that I will not go into so not to spoil it for those who have yet to play it. The soundtrack as well is not up to par of the first game. At best its serviceable. These may sound like stupid things to some but to fans of Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive they are very valid complaints.

All in all Ninja Gaiden II isn't as good as the first one but that's not to say its not good. The game is still incredible and maintains the punishing difficulty the series is known for. One thing I don't seem to understand is why the Gaiden games connect some plot points but not others. For instance Momiji a great new character introduced in Dragon Sword is no where to be found in this game. Nor is Rachael the fiend hunter. You would think that once the world becomes infested with fiends that being a fiend hunter she would be trying just as hard as Ryu to solve the problem. But I digress this is another topic for another day.