Guitar Zero

Activision sucks. There, now that I've gotten the thesis for this blog out of the way I can get down to brass tacks because I don't particularly feel I have to really do a historical run down of all the asinine money grubbing, industry killing decisions they've made over the past year to add validity to my statement. The proof is in the pudding. However, their latest game is clearly yet another in the long line of stupid ideas that only Activision can produce.




Yes, this is yet another musically inclined game in a long list of them stemming from a franchise that has been milked to death so badly over the past few years that has even Megaman green with envy. Due to this fact, Activision has noticed poor sales of the franchise and has addressed the issue by giving this franchise a rest until some new fresh ideas can be made creating yet another tacked on silly gimmick in a sad, pathetic attempt to disguise the fact that this is essentially the same game you bought last year, and the year before that and the year before that and the year before that even, which was at least at a point when you still gave a shit....but I digress.

No, in this game you're pretty much doing the exact same thing as before, except this time there's a Quest Mode. Yes, hosted by Gene Simmons (who I'm sure they shelled out a ton of cash for in lieu of using it for something constructive, like appeasing Infinity Ward), your task is to use the power of music to where the band members are attempting to release the "Demi God of Rock from control from an evil force which culminates in a Rush concert that finally destroys the evil beast or something of that nature. Yes, someone was paid to drum up this nonsense. Basically its the same game you've played before, with lesser known songs, no actual musicians and plot that Tim Schaefer left off the cutting room floor when Activision dropped the idea for Brutal Legend. But you can transform into Final Fantasy summons with bad haircuts, so it's fair trade off really.

This guy is like the Avenged Sevenfold to L.Raptor's Iron Maiden

But let's be real here, this yet another egregious example of Activision's clueless corporate mentality and greed. Instead of looking at the poor sales of past games and deciding that perhaps poor sales are a result of the oversaturation of the product over the past few years, they instead dissolve the development teams that made the franchise what it is in the first place, effectively chopping the nuts off of the series and feeding it to the consumer. It's what essentially happened with Tony Hawk, Call of Duty and now it looks like the same thing will happen to Guitar Hero. Quite frankly, I'm glad. Activision needs to die a horrible death. Their tacky business model stifles creativity, rips off the consumer and is a healthy contributor to everything bad about the gaming industry.

Have ya got what it takes, Pilgrim?

It’s Scott Pilgrim vs.…..The World. Well, maybe not the world exactly, but pretty much the entire town of Toronto is looking to kick your ass for whatever reason including the love of your life Ramona’s seven evil ex boyfriends and you must defeat them all to win her heart. Based on the comic book series of the same name, Scott Pilgrim won’t win any awards for original plotline or story, but it isn’t meant to. It’s a brilliant send up of old arcade style beat ‘em ups and it oozes with style.
The developers did an amazing job with making the game look old school, yet retain a fresh contemporary graphical look. It’s presented in glorious 2D and does a fantastic job of recreating the images from the comic. Character animations are fluid and varied, each has a distinct style and flair and levels are all varied with different locales or introducing new enemies to fight. The game never feels dull or repetitive, constantly providing something new in each area and the music is done in a very fun retro style that is extremely catchy and noticeable. It’s honestly a shame videogames don’t really do these kinds of fun upbeat soundtracks anymore. And of course, part of the fun is noticing all of the humorous references to old videogames from the 80s and early 90s. Some are obvious like the Super Mario Bros. style world map, others are a bit more obscure, such as the guys who wear Tom Guycot masks from The Clash at Demonhead. No doubt anyone who grew up in this era playing these styles of games will no doubt have a fun chuckle or two at some of these references.




While it would be easy to call this game “River City Ransom HD” and leave the gameplay portion of this review at that, it would do the game itself a bit of a disservice. While indeed heavily inspired by beat ‘em up games like RCR, Scott Pilgrim forges an identity all on its own. Play control is tight and responsive and the almost RPG like statistics and level building should keep things from getting too uninteresting as you play. Levels themselves don’t really do much besides giving you new moves to perform in combat; the real way to strengthen characters is to earn money from enemies and spend them on food or items at various shops to increase your statistics. Given the difficulty of the game this is something that is essentially mandatory. Even veterans of the beat ‘em up style of game will find this one to be fairly challenging otherwise. While the game is a bit on the difficult side, the game at least plays pretty fair. At anytime from the city map levels can be replayed over and over as many times as necessary to earn enough money to increase statistics or extra lives to make a run at some of the later stages. This game was designed very much with multiplayer in mind and anyone seeking to complete a solo run of the game will find it somewhat difficult.




But therein lies the one huge problem of the game. While there is multiplayer, there’s no online multiplayer. Sadly, this is an old school quirk of the game that could and should have been left in the 90s. The biggest joy to be had from these styles of games is to have 3 other friends to help you kick butt all about town and unless you have some buddies to call up and come over your house that’s simply not going to happen.



That’s not to say Scott Pilgrim isn’t worth a purchase. While the game can be beaten in a relatively short time frame, it’s game that not only should be played more than once, it demands it. Each of four selectable characters has their own stats and levels and each plays slightly different than the other. While it’s true there isn’t much post game stuff to get excited about the game itself provides more than enough fun to warrant at least a second play through. At a mere 10 dollars any old school gamer worth his salt would find more than enough reasons to get the game despite the lack of online.

PS (N)One.

Unlike all of the thoughtful, poignant stuff I usually have been writing about....or trying to write about at least, this time I'm just gonna complain. Yup, its just time for me to gripe. And the direction from which I spew forth my venomous rage comes straight towards Sony. That's right, you guys and your utterly sorry collection of crap games for download off of the Playstation Network. Thank God Virtual Console isn't the embarrassing joke PS One Classics are. But you know, the Japanese PSN store has a bigger selection and much better games. Here's a few of the highlights we have yet to receive...

Alundra

Ape Escape

Arc the Lad

Baroque

Bomberman Land

Brave Fencer Musashi

Brigandine

Bushido Blade 1 and 2

Dead or Alive

Ehrgeiz

Einhander

Final Fantasy Origins

Front Mission 3

Guilty Gear

Intelligent Qube

Jade Cocoon

King of Fighters

Last Blade

Metal Slug X

Real Bout Fatal Fury

Samurai Showdown

Threads of Fate

Vagrant Story

Xenogears

You have no excuse Sony. They have a grudge and a bone to pick with the rest of the world, and it is clear. If the masters at Sony DO happen to toss a scrap or two to us dogs it'll be in some cases two whole years after the Japanese already got it. Like with the Wild Arms games and I think there's a rumor going around that they're going to release Xenogears in America....maybe.

I only listed games that were already released in English, much less the awesome games Japan has on their store that sadly never came to our shores because of Sony's idiotic policy regarding 2D games years ago. But come on guys, these were already in English! Someone really hates us. What’s worse is that when we do get something, for example, Grandia, like I said it literally takes years for it to reach us than it does Japan. If Japan gets something we get first, it most likely takes barely a month. One of the most ridiculous examples of this is how it took the original Metal Gear Solid over a year to reach our shores when Metal Gear is more popular in US than in Japan. This is very frustrating stuff. Now an important thing to bear in mind is to remember is that I only listed games that were Japanese exclusives which also got initial US releases. I have not included all of the Japanese games that never made it to our shores, which I don’t fault Sony for, but in terms of volume and quality they have us beat hands down. Most of the few “exclusives” we get in America was shovelware crap that wasn’t very good even when it first released much less now. In any case, there are still tons of great games that haven’t gotten releases at all, from either side of the Pacific. This then is my call to Sony to get these games on PSN now! This is my top 5 games that aren’t on PSN but should be.

5. Tomba: One of the best and most inventive 2D platformers like, ever. Definitely a rare gem that didn’t get the respect it deserved and a game I would love to play on the go.

4. Chrono Cross: The fantastic sequel to Chrono Trigger with an incredibly unique battle system and one of the best musical scores of all time. Yeah, the ending sucked but the rest of the game was gold.

3. Klonoa: See Tomba.

2. Persona 2: Okay, this is one of the greatest RPGs of its era. Now that the Shin Megami Tensei games have gained a bit of a following it’s time to at least give this a PSN rerelease. Unlike P1, this game actually has aged very well and displays many of the concepts that carried over to other great RPGs like P3 and P4.

And my number one game that isn’t on PSN but should be is….

Suikoden II: Seriously, guys. People are waiting. If you ask people what the greatest Playstation game of all time is, this game almost always shows up somewhere high on that list and for good reason. Sadly, not many gamers know about it as it got a very, very limited release and goes for upwards of 200 dollars on Ebay. So do the gaming world a favor and put this on PSN already! Many gamers got the chance to experience the first Suikoden for the first time now let them carry over their data into the vastly superior sequel. Suikoden II isn’t just one of the greatest PSX RPGs of all time it’s one of the greatest RPGs of all time, period.

You now have work to do Sony. Get busy.