Golden Axe…actually not the spawn of hell

Been playing a lot of games lately, a few for assignment, but I’ve had the chance to sample one or two others for sheer curiosity and relaxation. One of these is the franchise reboot of Golden Axe from Secret Level and yes, I’ve read the reviews and have seen the ratings. Some of the complaints are pretty valid…the game is repetitive and boring.

Most arcade-styled titles today have enough variation within them to keep things interesting, but not Golden Axe. Kill warriors, go to gate, kill more warriors, go to gate, kill more warriors but impale a few for good measure…then go to gate…ad nauseum. Tyris’ move-set isn’t that interesting, nor are any of the levels so far, or the clone army that throws itself onto your blade. It wouldn’t be so bad if the story was actually good, but it isn’t. It’s not even Kull the Conqueror good.

Yeah...Kull. At least Kull had Tia Carrere

Despite how creative some of the later challenges are, it still boils down to mostly the same thing and seeing the color brown all the damn time just adds to the blandness. I won’t even go into the invisible walls that conveniently block obvious openings. But I’ve played worse (a lot worse), and Golden Axe doesn’t feel as if it should be categorized with the likes of Hour of Victory, or Total Recall.

This picture has more excitement packed into it than an hour of Hour of Victory

One complaint I had read other critics mention was how clunky the timing-based combat system and really, this is probably the best thing about the game. You can still button-mash your way through it, you really don’t need to use it all the time, but it’s a lot more rewarding if you take advantage of this and there are encounters in the game that seem tailor made to exploit it.

Mashing affairs turn into fencing matches as a result giving your reflexes a pretty good workout. It’s still rough around the edges, and the beasts do make the game more fun than that alone, but there’s enough here for me to think that it doesn’t deserve as bad a reputation. Still, it is only one of the few things I actually like about the game.

At least Golden Axe has some great wallpaper art

Stop the Reds, Fallout Style, and what about the kids?!

Anyone looking at the Data Files option on the loading menu for Fallout 3 and had played Oblivion will notice checkmark boxes for optional add-ons, meaning that it was only a matter of time that Bethesda would actually make something extra for release. Sure enough, they’ve posted an official press release that details what they’re planning to bring out for the Fallout faithful to mutate their latest version into something better.

It looks like Fallout 3 has found a second life in the next-generation thanks to Bethesda’s efforts which is one of the main reasons why I’m happy that it looks like it will be a big hit. The original two still hold a place of special note within my gaming history and I still have Fallout 2 loaded up and ready to go for another round of exploration…as good as Fallout 3 is, I still think that Fallout 2 edges it out in some respects…but Fallout 3’s rebirth of the franchise can only be a good thing to be excited about looking ahead when you have something like Shadowrun for the 360 as the other possible alternative.

Anyway, the DLC sounds great:

• Operation: Anchorage – Only hinted at in Fallout 3 and in the previous Fallouts, this was one of the battles that eventually led to someone pushing the button and launching the nuclear holocaust that resulted in the Fallout world. Before that happened, though, the Chinese had invaded Alaska, threatening the oil reserves of the United States. The Liberation of Anchorage would drive China from Alaska, but accelerate the path to the Great War. This sounds really exciting. The only thing I can think of how they’ll be able to pull this one of is to simply cast the player as a soldier in the war through some crazy time rift/dream sequence, or send them in using a Tranquility Lounger. This one is due as early as January.
• The Pitt – This was mentioned by the BoS (Brotherhood of Steel) in the game as a huge battle they had fought and as one of the worst armpits of the Wasteland. According to the press release, it sounds like a raider hardpoint which means plenty of punk armor and gory violence will be on tap. It says “choose your side”, so I’m guessing that you can either help the raiders maintain the Pitt or clean it out. This one’s got a Feburary release date.
• Broken Steel – Wipe out the last of the Enclave from DC. This one is a little wierd as the press says that it takes place AFTER the main quest which I can see happening with one of the other endings, but there’s one ending that I think has a strong chance of being canon…meaning that this can’t occur without some major retooling of what actually happened. I don’t see how, but I guess we’ll find out when March comes rolling around to see which ending Bethesda considers for this release. Sounds great, though. Adding to my Tesla Armor collection never gets old.

Fallout 2 had a railgun and lots of NPC partners...hint, hint...

The only problem with all of this goodness? It’s exclusive DLC for the Xbox 360 which means that PC players will likely have to wait a few more months before getting any of it. All of the release dates above are for the console version. Bethsoft might say nothing about the deal and everyone will debate whether or not it’s actually going to come out, how it’s unfair, blah, blah, blah.

All you need to do is look at what happened with both the Knights of the Nine release and Shivering Isles for Oblivion and how long PC players had to wait. Knights wasn’t a bad deal, all things considered, as it included all of the houses and additional DLC that console players had gotten first. Despite the smokescreen of uncertainty, I’m pretty confident that stuff will eventually hit PCs…it’s only a matter of time, as usual.

One thing that I’m pretty sure consoles won’t get will be the G.E.C.K.. The aptly named G.E.C.K. editor is also slated for release and will open the modding floodgates, not that players are already hard at work on their own ideas. One enterprising modder had even gone so far as to make children mortal with karmic consequences, something that mod warehouse Fallout 3 Nexus was quick to make adult only.

I know what some players are thinking…why would someone actually want to do this? Well, it’s not like the game is geared to be a Hitler simulator, first off, and it can actually add a degree of uncomfortable consequence for saintly minded characters when a Super Mutant follows them to a place they weren’t expecting. It opens a lot of possibilities especially in light of the G.E.C.K.’s impending release. I mean, kids were made slaves to be bought and sold in the game. Think of the kind of playstyle that would come out of having to actively defend them from the raiders that come after them. I’d think players would feel a lot more invested in the fact that there’s an additional degree of risk in the game now.

On another tack, Fallout 2 was also completely hands off on many things considered taboo in today’s games, leaving it to the player to conduct themselves as they saw fit within the sandbox provided. Oblivion avoided kids…many RPGs today tend to and when they were brought in, there was no reason to really fear for their safety unless the script actually says “giant city must explode now”. To prevent that at any degree is something of an anathema to many gamers, even if it is something that they would never do. It’s not so much commercializing morality in this case as it is in pursuing the kind of freedom that gaming can offer in the same way that film has expressed its own vision.

Merely knowing that the option is in place is satisfying enough, possibly because of the doors that it might open for storytelling. Mad Max fought to save all those kids in Thunderdome, and the kids actually turned out to be damn good survivalists without going completely Lord of the Flies on each other. I don’t see why we can’t have that kind of experience in a game.

To have someone else dictate in-game morality to the masses is something that simply doesn’t settle well with players looking for a true sandbox experience. If they want to run their character as an equal opportunity Grim Reaper, that’s their choice and that’s what they want out of a freeform game, especially one that already has adult overtones such as Fallout 3…the kids can swear like pirates which is more than I can say for some of the other wastelanders. At least that’s how I see the arguments for and against something like this, why the choice was available in Fallout 2, and why a mod like this exists today, to embrace the fact that within the confines of a fictional universe like Fallout 3, anything might be possible for good or ill. It should be more of the player’s choice to be Mad Max, or Thulsa Doom, but PC (politically correct) decisions tend to make that difficult for everyone.

This is what happens when you bleach a city

Mirror’s Edge is a lot of fun, even with some of the problems I had with the design and a terrible checkpoint system. It’s innovative and interesting, but I thought the gameplay needed a lot more polish. When you can’t get a character like Faith to simply reach other to another ledge without leaping at it, that’s something of a problem. Still, DICE has fulfilled their promise to “shake up” the FPS genre and I had a lot of fun with this game.

If you’re interested in a more in-depth look, here’s my review.

This is Faith. The city behind her is her playground.

It’s the end of the world as we know it, but it’s not that great

Playing through Endwar was like an ego trip with the voice command system. Only problem was that it got old quick and once you take that away, there’s really not a lot to the strategy game. It feels really stripped down and simplified with its rock-paper-scissors scheme and doesn’t have a lot of personality after the prelude is over. Not quite the Clancy strategy game that I was expecting and definitely not a lot of mental meat to chew on aside from figuring out how to win each battle.

Ubisoft and Massive Entertainment are working on a version of World in Conflict to come out on consoles next year which is great as that’s still my benchmark for WW3 craziness, but Endwar isn’t entirely bad. It’s a decent enough RTS, just not anything special outside of the voice thing.

Anyway, if you’re interested in my review, here it is.

The Eiffel Tower arrives on the battlefield to crush its enemies and hear the lamentations of their women.

Ebay madness – Valkyria Chronicle fans weep money

Wow, looking at Ebay’s listings today for anything Valkyria Chronicles related, I see that the limited edition art book that was given away as part of the pre-orders at Gamestop are going for anywhere between sixty and eighty bucks. That’s pretty crazy, but I guess if you’re a huge fan of the game, price is no object and being a collector myself, I can understand how wallets can open up to stuff like this.

So what’s so hot about it? Well, the art book is the translated version of the one that came out with the Limited Edition release of the game in Japan which also came with an Alicia figure and a model of the Edelweiss, the title’s heroic tank. Simply getting a piece of that over here is a huge thing.

The book is actually pretty nice, but it’s something more along the lines of a program guide than an actual “book”. Still, it has plenty of nice pics, small bios on the big names, details on the world, and a set of interviews in the back. All in all, it’s a neat companion piece to a fantastic game. I’m fully expecting an official art book to be released later in Japan along with a slew of other merchandising especially considering that there’s an anime production based on the game coming out next year, but this particular book is probably the closest that we’ll have to a translated extra from the official devs…unless your Kanji skills are pretty good, that is.

Part of blame is likely the tiny number of these that went out to stores…I’ve read reports where only three arrived at any one store despite the number of game copies received. Having limited edition copies of titles isn’t a new thing in gaming, but they can usually be counted on to have a decent number to go around at the start except in this uber extreme case. I’ve also read postings from people leery of doing anything with Gamestop, especially in terms of swag that might be “kept” by the employees if they know it’s going to be hot.

I’ll admit that after reading these posts, I got a little paranoid, but found out that some of the stores may have gotten them a week or so early before the game’s official release. I got mine when I went to pick up my copy of Fallout 3, but it was kind of telling that when I actually came in for Valkyria Chronicles, I wasn’t even offered the book.

Valkyria Chronicles is incredible… Thank you, Sega!

I have to say thanks to Sega for having the guts to bring out an original title like Valkyria Chronicles out during a holiday season filled with me-too titles, top name FPS blast ‘em ups, and sequels galore. The sad part is that I think it’s going to get lost somewhere in the shuffle between Gears of War 2, Call of Duty: World at War, Mirror’s Edge, Dead Space, and Fallout 3 which is too bad since it really is an incredible game that PS3 owners can call their own. Awesome stuff. Even if you have that Final Fantasy Tactics itch that you’ve been meaning to scratch, have nostalgic feelings whenever you hear the words “Shining” and “Force”, or love Skies of Arcadia, you owe it to yourself to find this game and play it.

When you see Selvaria on the battlefield...RUN.

So you didn't like my singing, huh?!

Thank you, Sega! Now how about a new Skies of Arcadia? Please? Pretty please?

I wonder how many purples he’s got…

I was puttering around the ‘net and found this gem. The gamespace celebrates the best way that it knows how with fun pics commemorating a historic win for Obama. Yes we can!

Those are pretty good stats, yeah?

Dead space is great stuff

Sorry for the lack of posts, but I’ve been really busy in the last few weeks. Fortunately, I’ve had time to sit down with a few games and one of those was Dead Space from EA. To be honest, I wasn’t expecting a whole lot from the game and the screens looked interesting, but it’s probably one of the best titles that I’ve gone through this year. EA put out a solid winner here, dripping with plenty of action and horror along with incredibly atmospheric production values. This is a surprising new IP from a company notorious for milking franchises…even though they might do the same with this one given how well the press and players alike have taken to it…but if this is the face of the new EA that CEO John Riccitello has promised, bring more of it on!

• My Dead Space review

Your chest had better not burst open, dead man.