Review #77: Killer is Dead

 Yet another fantastic production by the man himself, Goich Suda.

 I've never made any effort to conceal the fact that Suda 51 is my favorite video-game director, I've played everything he has released since Killer7, except Killer Pitch, and I've loved every game. All of them exude personality from every single line of code and they are quite unique in their presentation, heck, Killer7 is unique in it's gameplay too. Killer is Dead is no exception, it's a cocktail of a unique visual style, off-the-wall characters and situations, a rich and at times confusing storyline with gameplay very similar to No More Heroes, my favorite Suda 51 game. If I had to sum it, it's a mix of No More Heroes with Killer7.
 In Killer is Dead you take the role of Mondo Zappa, an assassin from Bryan's Execution Agency that wields a Katana named Gekkou with his right arm and possesses a robotic left arm, and you must fulfill the assassination of a certain target. First things first, this is a very episodic game, there's 12 chapters and most of them are unrelated to each other, minus a few ends that get tied up as you go along. This is an action game, and a very straightforward one at that.  Stages are mostly linear, with an occasional puzzle every now and then that's very easy to solve. That's not to say exploration isn't encouraged, as there are plenty of secrets hidden among stages, if you can find them.

 If you've ever played No More Heroes, you'll be right at home here since Killer is Dead's combat works very similarly. Mondo's basic arsenal include an Attack button, a Guard button, a Punch(that breaks guards) and four different sub weapons. A word of forewarning, at the start movement feels a bit floaty and imprecise, and it actually is, but for a game like this with no platforming at all, it's not bothersome at all. Heck, thanks to sidestepping(More on it soon), moving is precise in the midst of battle, so no complains here, but it's worth noting that it takes a couple of minutes to get used to it. Gameplay is deceptively simple, as there's plenty of depth if you are willing to dig. Moving while holding the guard button produces a sidestep, if you sidestep right before getting hit, the screen will darken and Mondo will close in and you are free to mash the attack button for loads of damage, alternatively, you can press guard right before getting hit and Mondo will parry the attack, later upgrades allow for specialized actions after a parry. As Mondo scores hits with his Katana, Gekkou, without getting hit the combo counter will rise, and as it rises Mondo's slashes will become fancier, faster and stronger, killing an enemy when your combo counter is at it's highest allows you to finish the enemy in one of four different ways, each one yielding a different item drop.
 Besides the health meter, there is the Blood meter. This meter increases when you grab certain enemy drops or as you attack enemies, and these allow you to use any of Mondo's four different sub-weapons(Normal Shot, Freeze Shot, Drill and Charge Shot). You also get access to an instant-kill move that works on any normal enemy, although there are a couple of armored enemies that must be dizzied first. When killed, enemies will drop a mixture of 5 different items: Moon Ore, used to buy upgrades, Health refills, Blood Refills, Health Upgrades, which grant permanent Health boosts, or Blood Upgrades, which provide permanent Blood boosts. As stated, you can upgrade a couple of Mondo's moves and even buy a couple of new ones. There's not a whole lot of them, but you'll probably be missing many of them after the game ends.

 Besides the story missions, before tackling each new chapter you can play and replay a few Sidemissions. These are based on parts of previous stages, but they task you with different objectives and enemy placement. Sometimes they'll even be minigame-ish in nature. Why would you want to do them? Besides to upgrade Mondo, that is, well, because they give you money. Money is used to buy Costumes(No DLC costumes, all of them unlockable, besides the limited edition, Kudos Grasshapper Manufacture) and gifts. These gifts are to be used during the infamous Gigolo Missions. Gigolo Missions are pretty much SideMissions, however these don't involve any bloodshed(Except Scarlet's...). During this missions, you are placed in first person and must win the heart of a beauty. How? By looking at their breasts and crotch areas while they are looking away, you can even use X-Ray glasses to see their underwear. Tacky? yes, Awkward? Even more so, Needless? TOTALLY. They are pretty dumb, and while most of them can be ignored, you must do at least three of them to earn all your subweapons. Clearing the same Gigolo Mission up to three times extends the final, very awkward, sex scene. I was actually embarrassed to have these play on my television, I live with other people after all. Hilariously enough, they are not really all that sexist, as the prostitute here is Mondo(they are called GIGOLO missions after all) and the women pay him, so yeah, the object here is Mondo.
 Speaking of Scarlet, her Gigolo Missions are a bit different. During most of the 12 main chapters you can run across her, if you find her as she is hiding, and she will unlock different challenge missions. Challenge missions offer a nice variety, and they get quite challenging by the end. Besides the money you get after completing each challenge, you also get points towards unlocking the scenes with Scarlet, should you want to watch awkward 3D sex. While all of these sound plentiful, the game is a bit on the short the side, particularly if you don't plan on replaying side-missions for the money.

 Visually, this is Suda's finest by far. It's really hard to describe, but it looks like Killer7. Character Models are cell-shaded, but they have no black borders, everything is also painted in very strong, solid colors giving it a very surrealist look. There are also a lot of solid-black shadows that give it a bit of a comic-book vibe. Stages fare just as well, even if straightforward in design, most of them are very pretty to look at, notably the Japanese one with the cherry blossom trees. As with Suda's finest, the bosses are pretty memorable, both due to how great they look and their off-the-wall dialogue. While the story can, at times, feel slightly confusing, things do make sense and there is a lot of foreshadowing and pretty cool revelations. Voice-Acting is excellent, with a couple of well-known voice actors voicing some of the characters, and the lines they get to deliver are nothing short of awesome. And hilarious. And sometimes both. While the music is not necessarily catchy, the score really fits the game, and the closing credits music is unexpectedly good.
 It's easy to tell thatI loved this game. I have almost no gripes at all. Maybe the insanity of the game might take people not familiar with Suda by surprise, as characters hardly react when coming across aliens or ghosts, they treat it as nothing out of the ordinary. There's also the tacky Gigolo Missions that the game could've been done without. Still, despite everything, I had a blast with it, I had planned on playing a bit yesterday before going to bed, next thing I know it's 9:00 AM. It's really good.
 9.0 out of 10.

Now Playing: Pokemon Y

 So when's Z coming out?

 This game is godammnedly gorgeous, from the opening scenes when the Pokemon professor speaks to the player, to the game itself and the animations.... truly a feast for the eyes. I mean... when you talk to a little kid, your character actually drops to his knees, it's so damnedly kawaii. And you can buy clothes, AND I CAN FINALLY BE A BLONDE POKEMON TRAINER, even if he kinda looks like a girl. And even if you can't take off the hat. I hate hats.
 As for the game itself, it's the same Pokemon game you have been playing for years now. Seriously, it feels the exact same, and y'know what? It's not a bad thing, as the core mechanics are sound. Although to be fair, I haven't gotten any HM or TM yet, so maybe there's new HMs? Although I did come across thorny vines that just want to be cut down, and open seas... guess some things never change. While battles play the same, they now have dynamic camera angles which reminded me of the original Pokemon Stadium(And the only one I played!). The battles look really nice, the animations are quite pretty and the Pokemons look fantastic. Battles are one of the few instances in which you can turn on 3D, and like most games, it produces some slowdown. It's not unplayable, but it's noticeable enough as not to care for the 3D at all.
 Know what my biggest gripe with the game is so far? I can't trade from Heart Gold or Pearl. Eternal hate. Oh no, in order to bring older Pokemon to Y and X you are gonna need Black and White(1 or 2) carts, even worse, it's gonna be a paid service.

Now Playing: Killer is Dead

 Suda 51 strikes back.

 No More Heroes meets Killer 7? The overall aesthetics of the game, both character design and graphic style, look straight out of Killer 7, while the gameplay is very No More Heroesish. Heck, Mondo can use the Darkside step, just like Travis! Getting used to Mondo's movement took a bit of time, since he doesn't come to a stop as soon as you stop pushing on the analog stick, but afterwards it became smooth sailing. Basically, I am enjoying the gameplay quite a bit.... except the Gigolo Missions. They are pretty dumb, and I can see myself growing tired of them, and even if they are optional, the first one gave me the Drill Arm subweapon, so not doing them would probably mean missing out on features. They are also quite tacky and in poor taste, as you are to look at a chick's crotch or breasts while they aren't looking to raise your guts meter. If Suda 51 wanted to pander to the lowest common denominator, he could've made more fanservicey costumes or something.

 Still, this is a Suda 51 game and it shows, what little I've played (A man's gotta study, sadly) I enjoyed, and I'm looking forwards to playing some more. I think I will grow to like Mondo, he seems to be a bit more serious, like the Smiths, rather than off-the-wall insane like Garcia Hotspur or Juliet Starling, and while I love the latter, I don't mind a more serious protagonist every now and then, Garcian and Dan Smith were as serious as Suda 51's characters get, and they were very memorable(Due in part to the game itself, though). Ah well, let's go for more!(Actually, probably not today, but as soon as I have free time on my hands!)

Month Overview: Game of November

 Games completed in November:
 Dungeon Siege III                                        8.0
 Journey Collector's Edition                           9.0
 Dragon Ball Kai: Ultimate Butoden               7.0
 Warriors Orochi 3                                        9.0
 Risen 2: Dark Waters                                   6.0
 Uncharted: Drake's Fortune                          4.0
 Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law                 2.0
 Uncharted 2: Among Thieves                        8.0
 Uncharted 3: Drake's Fortune                       9.0
 Anarchy Reigns                                            9.0
 Breath of Fire IV                                          5.5
 Bulletstorm                                                   6.0


 Geez, this is awkward. Last month of classes? Shouldn't I have studied like... hard? Then how did I get enough time to play so many games? I also made time to read the entire Scarlet Spider up to this month, but that is neither here nor there. Regardless, it was a great month, most of the games I played were nothing short of fantastic. There were only three sour spots: Uncharted 1, which was a mess, Harvey Birdman, easily the worst game I've played this year and Breath of Fire IV. Man, I loved Breath of Fire IV when I first played it, before I run into one of the many gamebreaking glitches on the PC version. Maybe I've grown jaded of so many cliched plot and characters, but it was just so... so... generic. On the other hand, while I did rate Bulletstorm and Risen 2 a bit above average, I had a lot of fun with them, but it takes a while for Risen 2 to become fun and Bulletstorm is a glitch paradise, and was a bit too short.
 Ah well, as a whole? November was, probably, my favorite gaming month this year.

 Game of November:

 I don't wanna sound pompous and  presumptions, but not calling Journey "an experience" is a disservice to this fantastic game. After I finished playing it, I was left with a huge smile on my face. I felt satisfied. I felt awe during the last level. I felt marveled as I soared through rivers of gold sand. I actually felt a wee bit sad during the second-to-last level. I felt things, many things, while I played this game, I would easily compare it to Passage, another really short(Even shorter actually) game that leaves room for thought. Journey is fantastic, one of my favorite games of all time. While I did give 9.0 to the collector's package, due to a couple of dumbfounding decisions, Journey by itself was a 10. This game is a little masterpiece and it's a shame that it's an exclusive, as it should be played by as many people as possible.

 Runner up 1:

 There's actually two runner ups this month, I did mention that I played some fantastic games this month didn't I? Well, I just couldn't pick one over the other. I couldn't.
 My favorite genre is Fighting, I love fighting games, and while Anarchy Reigns is anything but conventional, it won my heart. Gameplay, style, music, dialogue.... everything seemed to have been made for me, really. And I really wanted to give it a 9.5 or 10. I wanted to place this game among my favorites ever. But it has a single, fatal flaw: No local multiplayer. This game was meant for multiplayer, it wants to be played with other people. Right now the online is almost dead and years from now, there won't be any servers left, which means that the game's main draw will be gone. Make no mistake, the single player experience is still excellent and you can play every on-line mode with bots, but it's main attraction is duking it out with other players.

 Runner up 2:

 I wanted to like the Uncharted franchise. Everyone, well mostly everyone, loves it, so I marathoned all three of them this month. Let's just say that after Uncharted 1 I was a bit worried, it was a mess. However, a sliver of hope remained, I found Infamous 1 to be kinda fun, but nothing special, while Infamous 2 is among my favorite PS3 games. Uncharted 2? It was really good. Fixed most of my gripes with Uncharted 1, and that which wasn't fixed at least worked better, and it had so many exciting set pieces, it was fun to play. Uncharted 3 upped the ante with crazier setpieces and moments, and no QTEs. Sure, many of them are scripted, but you always feel in control. It has some of the best and most unique moments in gaming. IN GAMING. And sure, some argue that coming up with setpieces first and then the story harmed the plot with a couple of out of character moments(Talbot!), but I've been gaming since I was a wee lad, story means nothing to me if the gameplay is good. Who the hell plays games for the story anyways? Actually, I know someone who does, but it matters not, I STAND BY MY WORDS GAMEPLAY REIGNS SUPREME. My point is: Uncharted 3 was my favorite of the trilogy, and I dare call it a PS3 must have, alongside Infamous 2 of course.

Review #76: Bulletstorm

 More like Glitchstorm.

 The Playstation 2/Xbox/Gamecube generation began to change what FPSes where all about, and then by the PS3/X360/WiiU generation the change was permanent. In these new FPSes you are confined to two weapons and regenerating health, no longer is strafing around an enemy viable, no, now you must take cover as your heatlh regenerates and you pop out and shoot your enemies. Bulletstorm, made by the incredible retro-styled FPS Painkiller teamed up with Epic Games to try to marry both modern and past shooters, and they succeeded, mostly.
 Bulletstorm has you playing as Grayson Hunt, a generic space marine with jock-mentality, who very early in the game makes a bad call and gets most of his team killed, and he himself stranded on a foreign planet. The story is as predictable as it gets, but you are not playing this game for the story, which is a  good thing as the characters are really lame. Most of your teammates are the very definition of jocks and are as unlikable as they get. Bizarrely enough, the main antagonist is actually quite likable, as soon as you meet him, he spends a great deal of time questioning Grayson's motives, "You killed thousands who had families, but since it was to kill me, it was alright" and the such. Oh, and the dialogue is really bad, characters just can't help but to say "dick" every chance they get, they try to be edgy but it ends up being really dumb. Oh, and the ending is totally unsatisfying, in order to place a sequel hook at the end, for a sequel that never came.

 When it comes down to the gameplay, it's actually pretty fun. The first thing you'll notice, is that movement has a very heavy feel to it, which feels really nice. Despite it, movement is actually really fast, you even get a dash button that makes you move even faster, and if you need more speed, double tapping the dash button makes you slide. The slide is one of the best features ever included in an FPS, running into an enemy while sliding acts as if you had kicked them, popping them up in the air for free shots. It's also really useful when you need to back down in to cover, or just to get away from enemies. Ah, yes, cover, this game has regenerating health, like every other modern shooter, but Grayson can actually take a load of punishment before dying, heck, sometimes you are even encouraged to move up close to the enemies and only retreat when taking heavy damage. Another feature is the leash, by tapping the left trigger you can use an energy beam that will drag enemies towards you, you can use it in front of deathstraps to throw them into them. Still, leashing, slinding into or kicking enemies places enemies in a floaty state where they become harmless.
 Theres a very arcadey feel to it, and it actually encourages you to have fun. Enemies are silly, Grayson has enough resistance to run around for a while without having to retreat, enemies are silly and you are rewarded for scoring skillshots. "Skillshots" are fancy names for kills. For example, shotgunning an enemy up close and ripping their torsos off their legs is called "Topless". There are also plenty of enviroment-related skillshots, like throwing enemies into spikes. These skillshots grant you point bonuses, which are then used to enhance your weapons. Y'see, most of the time you'll be using your standard machine gun, as it is the most common weapons enemies carry, but every time you come across a "Dockpit" you can use your skillshot points to buy new weapons and ammo, although you can only carry three weapons at a time, the ammo you have for each weapons is "stored". There's about 8 weapons, each one with an alternate fire mode, and they are very over the top and fun to use. For example, the Shotgun has 4 barrels, and it's alternate shot fires a wave of fire that carbonizes every enemy in it's way. There's a weapon that shoots a pair of bolas that tie themselves around an enemy or an object, and you can detonate them at will. There's also a weapon that shoots drills!

 There's three different modes: Story Mode, which is a single player affair and plays just as described above. Additionally, you are always accompanied by one or two CPU allies, and they are really stupid most of the time, plenty of time I caught them shooting at the air. There are also plenty of QTEs that you can't fail, but the faster you do them, the more Skillshot points you get. Disappointingly, the last boss is nothing more than a QTE, which is really lame as there are a couple of bosses throughout the game and they are not half bad. Then there's Echoes, an online-leader board enabled mode that has you play through certains shootouts of the Story Mode. The last Mode is "Multiplayer Mode", but for some reason when you select it, it turns into "Anarchy mode", probably they planned to add more modes via DLC? Still, this is a Co-op-only affair in which you must survive waves of enemies and reach certain score thresholds. While it sounds good on paper, you will have to repeat and repeat the same enemy wave until you achieve the needed score, it becomes quite boring eventually if you can't manage it. As a whole, the only mode that's any good is the Story Mode, and it's your average 6-8 hour romp.
 This game is a bit on the ugly side. The planet is very pretty, and there are plenty of different zones, with lots of colors and visual treats, like the the water looks pretty good. Character models on the other hand... while they look good from afar, get close to them and the textures turn into a pixelated mess. The game is also pretty visceral, there is a lot of blood and limb maiming around, it's actually quite satisfying. Music is nothing special, but the sound effects deserve a special mention, the pops when producing headshots and the rest of the audio is just really good. Voice acting is alright, Grayson's voice actor is really good though(He voices Jack from Madworld/Anarchy Reigns!).

 As much fun as I had, the game is a glitchfest. There was a time where I restarted the checkpoint multiple times but the next scene wouldn't trigger and I had to restart the whole chapter, searching about it I learned that many other people came across the same glitch, but on different chapters. Ammo is very scarce in the game, so most of it will be from the store, bought with your hard earned skillshot points, well, there's a glitch that clones one of your weapons on one of your three slots, this weapons had 0 Ammo and the only way to fix it is to reach a Dockpit... and then the game will just default that gun's ammo to 0. Very annoying and very frequent. There was also a time when the game made me buy an Upgrade I had already bought. And there was also a time when I died just as a cut-scene triggered, which made me replay the whole scene twice with no sound. Oh! and once, I had a floating clone of the weapon I was carrying over me. This game needed more quality testing.
 I actually liked the game, it's a pretty functional fusion of both old and new. Thing is, there's not a whole lot to the game, there's no offline multiplayer of any kind, online is as good as dead and not much fun, and the story mode is on the short side. And on the off-chance that you were following it's simple story, like me, you won't get any pay off, heck, you'll feel as if you had accomplished nothing. And the amount of glitches I experienced on a 6-8 hour long game is nothing short of embarrassing. Still, as long as you are into older shooters, this game is worth a look.
 6.5 out of 10.

Now Playing: Pandora's Tower

 So far, so good.

 I just started Pandora's Tower and got up to unchaining the first Master's room. So far, I like it. The story is quite engaging actually, and I loved the way it was told: One cutscene at the start that told you everything and anything you needed to know: Girl gets cursed, Old lady aids them, Main character must get her the cure. The characters are alright, but special mention goes to Mavda who is both creepy and awesome.
 Gameplay seems a bit on the simple side, you bash them with the A button and Guard/Dodge with the Z button. The way Aeron uses his chain is quite cool, he can bind enemies(And limit their moveset), bind them to objects or to other enemies.... and then, when they are dying, Aeron(I really hope that's his name, I'm kinda tired and they only mentioned him twice) uses his chain to rip out their flesh for items or, well, flesh. It's also used for exploration, you may have to activate doors with it or use it to propel yourself up to certain ledges.
 All in all, it's a nice little game, at least so far.

Review #75: Breath of Fire IV

 Unleash the power of the Dragons.

 Breath of Fire IV was Capcom's last traditional RPG. While there is a Breath of Fire V, it can hardly be labeled as "traditional". Regardless, the game pits in you in the role of yet another Ryu alongside yet another Nina and a couple of other party members, who is a Dragon posing as a human, on his quest to stop a big bad.
 The game takes place in a land styled after China, but where humans and half breeds(From anything to dog-humans to cat-humans) live together. 90% of the time you will play as Ryu, who after meeting up with Nina, aids her in her quest to save her sister. At least at the start, Nina's sister is quickly forgotten about, though the heroes will find her, eventually, but the game makes finding out Ryu's destiny the main leading thread. The other 10% has you playing as the game's antagonist, Fou Lou. Fou Lou's segments are very short and very easy(He is the big bad after all, he should be incredibly overpowered) but they help you sympathize, somewhat, with him.

 The game is  very oldschool, that means that you will be talking with townsfolk until you find that one NPC that advances the story. It's also very vague, so finding the Dragons, which is the game's major sidequest, relies a lot on you going out of your way and backtracking into towns searching for hints over where they may be. And most of the time they are pretty vague about it, so you might want to get a guide. Battles are pretty straight forward, you run around until you get into a random encounter and these are turn based. The battles are pretty average, although be prepared that near the end of the game the difficulty suddenly ramps up, and if you are caught unprepared you will suffer. Honestly, I never lost to a boss or to a random encounter, but  some of the latter boss fights were long and challenging.
 While every character, except Ryu, learns some skills through leveling up, most skills are learned from monsters. In order to learn them, you must guard and hope that the enemy uses the skill that you want to learn. Oh, and you won't always learn it, so you might have to guard many turns. There are also masters spread around the world that alter your stat gains when you level up and teach you new skills when you fulfill certain conditions. Every character can learn any skill, alhough you can't equip more than one character with a certain skill, you can switch them around. As previously stated, Ryu doesn't learn any skills through level up(Even though you can equip him with skills), but he can turn into a Dragon. There's seven different Dragons, most which must be found, and only a couple being out of your way, and each one bestows a different moveset on Ryu. Lastly, by using magic in certain order(Say character 1 uses a fire spell and the next one a wind spell) you can create combos, which make spells deal more damage and, sometimes, even use more powerfuls spells due to the combination.

 While exploring on foot, every now and then you will come upon puzzles. Most are your usual pull the lever or find the keys affairs, but a couple of them require you to use personal skills. Five out of the six playable characters have a Skill, for example one of them can push barrels and another one can headbut stuff. These are not too frequent, but sometimes it's annoying having to go back to a menu to switch your on-foot party just for the puzzle. Speaking of annoying, the camera is very weird. Depending on the area, you may be able to turn the camera in one out of four different angles, sometimes there are only two angles and sometimes none. Most of the time, no angle will be quite right to explore. Also, on-foot movement is a bit imprecise, you might run into angles you didn't mean to. Lastly, the game is full of "minigames" that you must go through in order to continue, and... I didn't really like the approach, why do I have to go through a minigame if I want to use the Sandflier?(Mind you, the first time, this particular one, is actually kinda fun)
 Breath of Fire IV was released late into the Playstation's life cycle, yet it's particularly good looking. While the world is in 3D, characters and enemies are 2D Sprites(With a couple of 3D enemies). The 3D is pretty simple and basic, but the sprites are actually pretty neat. While not too detailed, animation is fantastic, many of the animations are reminiscent of Darkstalkers, full of exaggerated motions and reactions. Music was alright, it fit and there are many different tunes, however, none of them really struck with me. There are also a couple of voiced lines, but they are in japanese.

 There's nothing too bad about Breath of Fire IV, but the thing is.... The Playstation was a console known for its great RPGs, but Breath of Fire IV is just... very, very average. It does little to separate itself from other RPGs, and while playing as the antagonist is a nice touch, it's not a gamesaver. The story does pull a few really good scenes near the end(Concerning Nina's sister), but they can't pull the game away from mediocrity, specially when the verbal clash against the last boss is as cliched as it gets "Yes, Humanity is [insert a flaw] and [insert another flaw] but they are also good!" and then the last boss goes " Then we have to fight to prove who is right". As I said, this game is very average and very cliched.
 5.5 out of 10.