The Legend of Zelda

Man, I seem to be the only one excited to see On Stranger Tides. Stripped free of the Wilizabeth plot that was so neatly wrapped up during At World's End, it's free to be Jack's movie and I admit he's one of the main reasons I love the series. Plus, it has Ian McShane as Blackbeard and has mermaids. French Mermaids. French. Mermaids. 'Nuff said. Also, Deathly Hallows, Part 2 seems like it'll be as great a closer as the book was for me. Still would've liked Harry to get with Luna, though that's a conversation for another time.

Anyway, on to my personal all-time favorite franchise in gaming:

Super Mario Bros.

Because I'm mad, I've decided to run through many franchises and faux-review them, like what I've been doing with Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts thus far, though I realize I'm in terrible need of an editor, so I'm starting over from scratch! For the record, it's because I'm mad and have no social life.

To kick off this project properly, I'm starting with the Mario series, namely the Nintendo Entertainment System classic, Super Mario Bros. along with the sub series that spawned from it, including Kart, Donkey Kong, Yoshi, and other side games. In addition, I'm currently running through the Zelda franchise in preparation for it's quarter-century celebration of Ocarina 3D and Skyward Sword, a clearer view on Kingdom Hearts, the Final Fantasy titles I own (ranking the main series being the main priority), the Pokémon series in general, Metroid, Star Fox and maybe more of my favorite franchises.

Now to begin:

New Year Jollies

2011 is turning out to be a good one thus far, and if it weren't for a nasty bout with a cold/fever/flu-like thingy I just suffered through, I'd be a happy panda. Seriously, I can count on one hand how many times I've caught something since graduating High School, and I forget how horrible it is.

To kick off, I've used the Holiday break to catch up on shows via Hulu, to play/watch video games that I wasn't willing to buy at full-price, and watch movies I've missed out on during 2010, each with varying success.

• Turns out Inception was an excellent film (R.I.P., Pete Postlethwaite) and I can see where all the hype came from. I admit I wasn't blown away as most everyone else, but that's prolly due to my love and preparation from the likes of Metal Gear and Eva.
• Force Unleashed 2 has to be my biggest disappointment of the year, for the critics were right about all it's shortcomings. It's criminally short, the plot wasn't really that great, the boss fights dragged on, the level designs, while good and accurate to the source material, were repetitive, some of the enemies are still cheating and/or illogical Force-cancelling bastards, and the impact and importance compared to the original was severely lacking (Don't put Yoda and Boba Fett in a game for 30 second cameos with no justification other than to pander to the fanbase, dammit.). To be fair though, it was pretty, the music was good, and dicking around with Stormtroopers is still as endlessly entertaining as it'll ever be. Make it up to us in the inevitable FU3, LucasArts.
  
• The Expendables wasn't a great film, but I'm a sucker for some Jet Li ass-kicking, explosions, and an automatic shotgun. To hell with those overly critical people who can't have fun with an action flick, I say!
  
• I absolutely adore Princess Jellyfish. This anime is adorable, from it's art style to its zany characters and parodies. Definitely a nice surprise this season and I hope there's a sequel! *crosses fingers*
• Golden Sun: Dark Dawn was as great as I hoped it would be. Plays just as if the series had never been on hiatus for 7 years. Totally sets up for a sequel, and that means 3DS! Think about it: Psynergy in 3D!
• Super-excited for LMS. Got my copy of Killbook of a Bounty Hunter, and it's so sweet. Happy to support Adonis in his efforts, love his work, and glad he's got something big on his hands. Here's to the franchise!
• I'm head-over-heels for Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt. So. Freaking. Badly. Definitely up there with Gurren Lagen and FLCL in my book. Soundtrack is ace, hilarious in its vulgar and blunt humor, Gainax outdid themselves with this one.

I'll elaborate on some of these later, but the one piece of news that caused many to fangasm:

Star Wars The Complete Saga on Blu-ray.

Bring it on, 2011!

Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep

Happy Hallow's Eve! Weird having it on a Sunday, but we get a Saturday Christmas to balance it out. I miss the national cosplaying aspect, but I don't have the will and/or the drive to dress up for myself (no social live). We still get candy, but I'm not too big a candy guy. Sugar weirds me out after a while. *le sigh*

Lots of busy doing nothing, lately. New games, lotsa movies, cathing up on thousands of deviations, sketching on random pieces of paper... You know, lots of nothin'.

Continuing on blathering on about things nobody but myself cares, I've played the heck outta Birth by Sleep, doing all but completing the Journal to 100% since we all know what that's like. I've finally tried most-if-not everything, however, and (barring my hatred of how Nomura handles the Final Mixes) I have come to the conclusion that it's time to faux-review it, and [spoiler] it ties with Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix + as the top titles in the series.

Without further ado, let's get started.

Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep had a challenge the moment it was announced: it was a prequel. Prequels are always a tricky lot; on one hand, you've got a chance to 'start fresh', so to speak. It's a chance to gather newcomers in without any prior knowledge and hopefully suck them in enough for them to become fans and play/buy the rest of the series. And for the existing fanbase returning that made the franchise popular to begin with, you've got to make it engaging enough to appease the never-quite-pleased fanbase with a relevant and worthwhile installment.

For what it's worth, I believe Nomura succeeded on both accounts. That said, I'm also not a highly-picky person compared to the fanbase. I love those guys, I really do. Fans are what keeps franchises going, for better or for worse. But gosh, a good 85% of them seem to not have all masts flying when they speak. Moving on...

First and foremost is the narrative. I've always been more of a gameplay > story kinda gamer, having grown up almost exclusively on Nintendo platforms. However, I do play a few franchises for their stories, paraticularly Kingdom Hearts and Metal Gear. What can I say, I get attatched to characters rather easily and will stick through thick and thin to see what happens to 'em. This is no exception.

Birth by Sleep takes place a decade before the original title (and eight years real-time). It features mostly-new characters, filling in much-needed backstory on how the KH universe operated before Sora's world-hopping days. For the veterans, there are quite a few familiar faces, wonderful experiences in new Disney worlds, and the series' best localization and writing.

It's a tale told by the three main protagonists, continuing the series' much-loved trios - a likable, spiky-haired youth [Ventus], the older friend with a decision to make [Terra], and a girl [Aqua]. They essentially give the game three types of play: the Speedy, the Powerhouse, and the Magician. Each has their own scenarios, meeting up with each other at times, each with their own experiences and motives. As per series tradition, Terra is looking for someone (this case a mentor and his deciple), while Ven runs away chasing Terra, with Aqua to check up on both.

It's a lot more interesting, obviously. Each character gets to focus on a specific part of the mythos: the duality of Darkness and Light, the existential moments of being, and deciding to belive things can be set right again. Each story is dotted with the usual Disney fair, mostly new in this installment, with the individual Worlds having distinctly more purpose to the overarching plot than previous titles. This leads to a sense of brisk progress and purpose, expanding on Days' focus on overall character interactions. The result is a very satisfying tale that unravels just as much as it dangles, which isn't as bad as it sounds.

I was able to correctly guess the fate of one character, half of the fate of another, and was completely stumped by the other. While incomplete individually, the fantastic ending hints at a much grander future in store for the current story arc. While the fans bemoan the lack of a gorgeous FMV secret ending (or, as most forget, a very pretty concept video), it brought a tear to my sentimental soul that maybe, just maybe, their hurting will be mended when he returns to end it.

Being on the PSP, it was able to be the most impressive-looking title on the handheld. The presentation is comparable to it's PS2 predecessors, which is quite a feat. The soundtrack is the best yet, with gorgeous motiffs and excellent remixes of older mainstays (Neverland wins again for Disney battle theme third time running). The voice acting is top-notch as usual, with Mark Hamill and Leonard Nimoy -depicted to the right as the elderly BAMF, solidifying his status as an awesome villain- as opposing badasses; you really can't go wrong with such a Star Wars/Trek combo.

Though it's a technical marvel of a game, you can tell it's pushing the PSP to its breaking point. I highly recommend to everyone the full 800mb+ Data Install for a stress-free experience. The loading times with over half it's disc content can get lengthy, with the scratchy whirl of the UMD a common occurance, and I can only imagine them without. I've heard it loads mid-battle, which would be discombobulating for anyone. It burns through your battery life, but the game practically demands it.

The game also boasts the most addicting battle system of the series. A streamlined version of Chain of Memories' Card system, the Deck Commands are equipable abilities, items, and magic which can be chosen and executed in a simple button press that require cooldown times between uses. Commands can be mixed together in the title's form of Synthesis and is essential to obtaining the most coveted abilities, as well as the traditional secondary abilities, like extra HP, quicker reloads, and other stat-boosting benefits.

Like Days, it relieves the use of an MP meter, and encourages players on all difficulties (rather, forces us Critical players for leveling the playing fields with the two superbosses in our much-wanted difficulty spike) to experiment with various combinations. It even reimagines Summons and even includes a crowd clearer/limit break of sorts with it's seperate gauge, similar to KHII's Drive Meter. It even randomizes timed-button presses for more advanced moves, in a commendable attempt to do away with the "mash attack to win" strategy popularized by KHII's otherwise excellent battle system. It's an addicting and wonderful battle system, and I hope they merge this with KHII's controls and ease of use for my ideal battle system.

It's an excellent game, the second reason I bought a PSP half a decade after it's release, and one I would recommend to players new and old. As a fan, it blew away my expectations in both gameplay and story. It delivered on revealing a significant amount of the past, tied up some loose threads, clarified past mysteries, and set up an intriguing future for the series.

Birth by Sleep holds as much weight as a numbered title, effectively being Kingdom Hearts 0 by Word of God. It's sad, as half the fanbase only wishes for Kingdom Hearts III to be released and refuse to play the three gaiden titles. Joke'll be on them like it was for those who passed on Chain of Memories when the plot picks up after events you chose not to play!

Non-Kingdom Hearts posts coming, I swear! I got them outta my system until January (when the Final Mix of this title releases in Japan and Re:coded gets released internationally), so expect a retroactive franchise review coming up on a certain Rare duo from two generations past.

I'm using a blog to review games... Man, I'm a boring person.

Metroid: Other M

It's been a great three weeks for gaming, huh? Metroid one week, Halo in another, and they both sandwhich a Kingdom Hearts. While I'm not a Halo fan, the friends claim it was very good, as do the glowing reviews.

While they came out a week apart from each other, I received Other M on a Tuesday followed the next day by BBS. Amazon shipped Other M from a couple of States away, while Kingdom Hearts shipped 30 minutes from my house. Funny world, I know. I'll obviously talk about Other M this time, with Kingdom Hearts soon after.

Ah, Other M. As a Metroid fan since Super Metroid, this was quite a shock to see such an action-oriented take on the Metroid series. While the Prime games leaned towards the action slant, specifically Corruption, the exploration element was always present with superb level design that really showed off Retro Studios' talent. Now we've ditched the first-person perspective for the classic run-and-gun platforming the series was known for, now with extra focus on gunning.

While Retro went on to make the soon-to-be-released Donkey Kong Country Returns, a game I have high hopes for, Nintendo brought in Team Ninja of Dead or Alive and Ninja Gaiden fame to help shape this newest installment. The new blood definitely has a presence, as the game's new mechanics are a test in reflex and pattern recognition, with some of that old school Nintendo Hard game play thrown in.

It's a game where the simple enemies will bat you around to next Tuesday if you're not alert and/or quick enough. Almost as if to emphasize the new focus on action, enemies no longer drop ammo or health, forcing you to dodge and shoot, which is very satisfying once you get the hang of it. While the Prime Trilogy was amazing, it's nice to see Samus doing her thing again, flipping around enemies whilst retaliating in a flurry of colorful explosions that fill the screen. It also gives a sense of speed that first-person can't effectively portray - she's quite agile, and the redesigned art style accentuates with a shark, sleek look reminiscent of Metroid Fusion for the GBA.



In fact, in many ways this is the spiritual sequel to 2002's hand held gem. The game takes place on The Bottle Ship, which is a research facility with varying Sectors - the usual lava, ice, jungle levels - to add variety like Fusion's research station. It's a more story-centric title than Fusion and the entire series as a whole, and also shares it's predecessor's linearity. Fusion used a computer to effectively lock you out of areas that didn't pertain to your mission at hand, cutting the exploration a bit. Despite these 'shortcomings' to the Metroid formula, I didn't have a problem with Fusion. It was a different take, yes, but it was still Metroid in it's pick-ups, game flow, and spot-on controls.

This is all played with the Wiimote held sideways like an NES controller for most of the title, with you pointing at the screen to enter a pivoting first-person mode to fire missiles (the only way you can in this iteration) and to scan the occasional pick-up, story-centric element. This simplification felt very retro in practice, though some minor and/or major problems in certain situations.

I, for one, didn't have any trouble switching from first to third-person during intense battles, since the game implements a slick slo-mo effect to give you a small chance to aim a missile square at a foe, then a quick covering of the Wiimote's sensor and a quick press of the + Pad will enable you to dodge away before retaliation. It's very much a case-by-case on how adept you will be at the act, to be sure. There are also storyline sections where the game zooms into Samus' visor for you to fixate on a particular point of interest to continue the cutscene. While I didn't have any trouble with these (I managed to run across them due to my own curiosity as well, I suppose), I've seen two friends have a bit of trouble during these instances, making for definite game-breaking moments, though I was lucky enough not to be bogged down by them.

It's also a visual and aural delight. The pre-rendered cutscenes are definitely impressive, surely adding to the game's dual-layered status, and it's nice to see a Nintendo game fully embrace voice-acting (looking at you, Skyward Sword). The score during cutscenes (also very impressive-looking for being in-engine) is an orchestral delight, while there aren't that many 'iconic' ambient music like previous titles, leaning more towards mostly-metallic or energetic in crowded fight-scenes and larger enemies. The presentation is a benchmark for Wii titles, along with Galaxy 2 as the highmarks of the system, definitely. It surprisingly holds up pretty well with some 360 and PS3 titles, making it both an impressive feat as well as proof at how little developers have tried with the Wii's horsepower.

And now I hit the point that divides most gamers: the story.



There's been so much said on Other M's narrative that I can't add anything but my own opinions at this point. A quick search around the Internet will reveal mostly-negative opinions on the depition of the character and the story, while you'll occasionally find those who defend it with arguably-canon and some scientific proof. Which side of the fence you fall on is yours. Is the game being sexist, depicting Samus Aran as such? Or is this how the director always envisioned her, and the sudden injection of story after 25 years of almost-complete silence a shock to everyone's personal depiction of the character?

Speaking for myself, I'm not terribly bothered by her depiction (surprise, surprise). I was somewhat familiar with the Metroid manga, which depicts her antics before the games proper, and the characterization there is very similar to the Other M's, so no surprise there. It also didn't shock me that she had a lot of pent-up frustrations and problems, such as seeing Adam Malkovich as a father-figure, growing up with him as her CO when she served under him in the Galactic Federation Army. Many saw this as daddy-issues and they'd be correct, since she barely had time with one. Guess I'm full of sympathy.

Maybe part of that was the dialogue and/or Japanese way of storytelling the title posesses, which honestly doesn't bother me since I loved Final Fantasy XIII. I definitely see where people find fault, but that was the unique presentation Other M chose. Another point of contention was Samus' voice. Most hate it, naturally. I found it similar to a Sarah Conner vibe, as her disinterested, monotously delivered running narration throughout the game, giving a spelled-out window into her mind. All these seem to pale in comparison to the seemingly-biggest point of discussion.

Slight spoiler-warning.

There's a particular scene in which Samus, freezing up at the sight of her arch-nemesis Ridley (in a fantastic appearance, may I add), thinks back to her frightened 3 year-old self when she first encountered Ridley when he promptly killed her parents, snaps out of her daze after the fall of a comrade and proceeds to fight the again-resurrected Space Pirate Commander.

Why didn't she shoot? Why did she freeze up? I took this one as her thinking his death was absolute, with Zebes being obliterated, leaving no chance of the creature appearing again, and his sudden appearance rocking her to her core. It also backs up the PTSD argument that is brought up by those with knowledge of the manga, which I agree with. When shown to an expert and one suffering from the disorder, they claimed it was a very accurate depiction of PTSD, but lots of peole still call BS on it, thinking she should've "just gotten over it" by this point in her career. She froze up before in the manga, prompting a comment of PTSD, and I believe the game was slyly referencing it, since the manga is almost certainly canon, endorsed by Nintendo itself. However, to the detractor's credit, it wasn't brought up in any previous game and there was absolutely no build-up to it, lending to it's seemingly-out-of-the-blue occurance.

In conclusion, the story elements didn't bother me in the slightest. I enjoyed the gameplay despite it's inherent flaws (feeling like a simpler Fusion), I would definitely recommend the game, especially to Metroid fans to know their opinion, but I wouldn't recommend a buy until they had tried it out do to it's established love it or hate it status. A solid 4/5 were I to rate it numerically.

I now part with a tasty gift:

The obligatory Zero Suit Samus pic.

You knew it was coming.