So we're officially in the middle of the next-gen wars, and one of the battlefronts is the realm of graphics. The transition to HD is in full swing, and the A/V lingo is flying like watermelons at a trebuchet conference. HDMI. 1020p. 480i. Composite vs component. Upscaling, downscaling and resampling. Sony fans smugly say that they're the only ones with true HD, and then find out the PS3 does a shitty automatic upscaling job. Wii fans angrily defend the top resolution of 480i, but don't even get that when Nintendo doesn't include component cables.
Why does it matter?
I mean, I don't want this to turn into another "gameplay is all that matters" argument, but I honestly don't understand the total reliance on graphics. I've seen multiple people say that not using component cables "makes everything look like shit," and a recent episode of the 1up show had the statement "Zelda makes me hate the Wii for not being able to have better graphics." I'm playing Zelda with composite cables fed into an RF adapter into a 12 inch Quasar TV, and I think the graphics are fine. So long as the gameplay is great, the graphics don't matter.
Except that the last statement isn't true. Graphics do matter, but I believe it's not exactly a general "older they are, the more the game suffers" way. Go back and play some PS1 games. This was back when 3d models could actually be modelled in real time (even if they did consist of 20 polygons). For the most part, these games look AWFUL now. Look at Vagrant Story, or Tekken 3. Yeesh, even FF7 looks really really bad. According to Gamerankings, these rank in the top 10 PS games ever. They were considered amazing games, but now they're barely playable.
But this doesn't hold true for many games that are even older. 3 in Three was made over 15 years ago, and it still looks great. Super Mario World was an SNES launch game, and you barely notice the sprite graphics. Why the difference?
I think that the answer is the same thing that happened to the movie industry. Special effects are at such a high point right now, that anything that hasn't taken 100 hours on a render farm seems dated and laughable. Monty Python used to use a blue screen for some of their skits, back in the late 60's. I bet at the time it seemed incredible - "wow, it's like they're in Gilliam's drawings!" But now, all you see is the thick blue line surrounding them, and it seems amaturish. I could probably do a better job with a digital camera, a sheet and 2 hours in Premeire. But if you watch the Jungle Book (which came out around the same time) again, it's still a great movie, even if technically it can't compare at all to Cars or Shrek. The medium of production changes its accessibility.
Scott McCloud touches on this in Understanding Comics (I'm referencing movies, games and comics - a geek trifecta!) Art in general can span from iconic (or cartoony) to photorealistic (he also adds another vertex of abstraction to make it a triangle, but I'm only focusing on this axis). As an example, Peanuts is drawn in a very iconic style, while Mary Worth is much more realistic. McCloud postulates that one of the interesting effects of the position on the line is how much the reader gets drawn into the work - more iconic faces (like a simple smiley face) are much easier to identify with, and thus more accessible. But more realistic drawings start triggering the uncanny valley effect, and you notice the differences more than the similarities.
You can see where I'm going with this. Cartoony, 2D games have a much longer lifetime than the "realistic" 3D games that came out for the PS1. I say one of the main reasons for this is the iconicness of the design. Luke Smith on 1Up said he thought that Wind Waker would actually last longer than Twilight Princess since it had cartoony cel shading instead of detailed 3d models. I think he actually might be right.
To tie this back into the beginning, I understand the point that realistic games need to constantly push better and better graphics, otherwise they'll be left behind. But I think that there's another branch of design entirely that can remain timeless, no matter what resolution you view it in.
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Zelda: Twilight Princess - first impressions/review
Gah. I didn't want to write this review until more time had passed, but it's what i've been thinking about, so here we go:
First off, a small disclaimer: I've only played Zelda for about 10 hours, and I literally just finished the second dungeon. Since there are 9 dungeons and by most accounts 60-70 hours worth of gameplay, I'm really not that far along. So take this as a review of the first quarter or so of the game (which by itself is a lot longer than a lot of games out now).
Zelda: Twilight Princess, the latest game in the Zelda saga, returns to the realistic 3-D look first seen in Ocarina of Time. Link, a young man who's grown up in a small village on the outskirts of Hyrule, gets sucked into a mysterious "twilight realm" after attempting to save some village children from goblins. He finds that, unlike most people, he has the ability to move freely about this realm as a wolf. He meets an inscruitable companion Midna, who decides to help him so long as it fits her own purposes. Together they set out to rescue the light spirits and drive the twilight from Hyrule.
If I was to sum up Twilight Princess in a sentence, it would be "(Ocarina of Time)2." This is less due to similarities in play than the general feel: you still have that sublime sense of
exploration and accomplishment as you gradually aquire more and more tools with which to selve puzzles. The first hour or so of the game is rather slow (the game really doesn't give you enough instruction as to what to do in the first village), but after you get your sword it picks up dramatically.
The controls certainly help the immersiveness. Anyone who is holding out for the Gamecube version is doing themselves a grave disservice - within 5 minutes you'll be enveloped in the world, doing spin attacks and pinpoint arrow shots much more naturally than you ever did with a gamepad. Sure, you look a little silly doing it, but it's a small price to pay for the responsive controls.
The design and pacing in this game are absolutely amazing - every puzzle you find can be solved with proper reflection on how to use your items, and the room design is extremely varied - ranging from simple mass enemy attacks to huge rooms with 4-5 different ways across and back. The miniboss/main boss fights are also expertly made - hard until you figure out the trick, and then merely challenging.
The graphics are perfectly fine - I'm playing it through an RF adaptor into a 12 inch Quasar, and it looks good to me. People who proclaim that composite cable input "looks like shit" are really focusing on the wrong thing here - the gameplays' the thing, and Zelda absolutely nails it.
Overall, this game is an instant classic. It's just as good as Ocarina of Time, if not better. If you need a reason to buy a Wii, this will more than fit the bill.
First off, a small disclaimer: I've only played Zelda for about 10 hours, and I literally just finished the second dungeon. Since there are 9 dungeons and by most accounts 60-70 hours worth of gameplay, I'm really not that far along. So take this as a review of the first quarter or so of the game (which by itself is a lot longer than a lot of games out now).
Zelda: Twilight Princess, the latest game in the Zelda saga, returns to the realistic 3-D look first seen in Ocarina of Time. Link, a young man who's grown up in a small village on the outskirts of Hyrule, gets sucked into a mysterious "twilight realm" after attempting to save some village children from goblins. He finds that, unlike most people, he has the ability to move freely about this realm as a wolf. He meets an inscruitable companion Midna, who decides to help him so long as it fits her own purposes. Together they set out to rescue the light spirits and drive the twilight from Hyrule.
If I was to sum up Twilight Princess in a sentence, it would be "(Ocarina of Time)2." This is less due to similarities in play than the general feel: you still have that sublime sense of
exploration and accomplishment as you gradually aquire more and more tools with which to selve puzzles. The first hour or so of the game is rather slow (the game really doesn't give you enough instruction as to what to do in the first village), but after you get your sword it picks up dramatically.
The controls certainly help the immersiveness. Anyone who is holding out for the Gamecube version is doing themselves a grave disservice - within 5 minutes you'll be enveloped in the world, doing spin attacks and pinpoint arrow shots much more naturally than you ever did with a gamepad. Sure, you look a little silly doing it, but it's a small price to pay for the responsive controls.
The design and pacing in this game are absolutely amazing - every puzzle you find can be solved with proper reflection on how to use your items, and the room design is extremely varied - ranging from simple mass enemy attacks to huge rooms with 4-5 different ways across and back. The miniboss/main boss fights are also expertly made - hard until you figure out the trick, and then merely challenging.
The graphics are perfectly fine - I'm playing it through an RF adaptor into a 12 inch Quasar, and it looks good to me. People who proclaim that composite cable input "looks like shit" are really focusing on the wrong thing here - the gameplays' the thing, and Zelda absolutely nails it.
Overall, this game is an instant classic. It's just as good as Ocarina of Time, if not better. If you need a reason to buy a Wii, this will more than fit the bill.
Monday, November 27, 2006
This doesn't count as an actual post
So Acclaim for some reason decided to email me and let me know that they're making a DDR MMO.
Let me repeat that: They're making an MMO that depends on your l33t dance skills.
Wow.
What's even better is they somehow got Dave Perry to be lead designer on it.
I've signed up for the beta test - if i get in I'll let you all know exactly how stupid it is.
Let me repeat that: They're making an MMO that depends on your l33t dance skills.
Wow.
What's even better is they somehow got Dave Perry to be lead designer on it.
I've signed up for the beta test - if i get in I'll let you all know exactly how stupid it is.
Friday, November 24, 2006
On Family and Gaming
Sorry about the delay in posting - I can't really get onto Blogger from my parents computer, so I've been forced to travel from coffee shop to coffee shop in search of free wifi.
My family has never really understood my love of gaming.
I mean sure, they tolerated it, but the whole concept always seemed sort of foreign to them. My mom used to play a game or two of Sim City and my dad played an old Mac flight sim whose name escapes me for a week, but there's never been a game that captivated them, that got them excited in the same way I was to play the new Mario game or to beat my friends online in C&C.
The past two nights I've been getting a bit of a surprise though.
I brought my Wii home for Thanksgiving - I've only had it for a few days, and I thought the vacation would be a great time to work on Zelda. Also, I sort of hoped that Nintendo wasn't just blowing smoke when they were talking about the accessibility of the Wii - that it really would appeal to non-gamers.
Wednesday night I hooked up the system, inserted Wii Sports, and invited my family to gather round. My sister was the one who took to it first - she had a great time creating her Mii avatar and playing around with the various options. This was to be expected - of anyone in the family, she was closest to me in terms of gaming, having been sucked into Ocarina of Time all those years ago. The rest of the family seemed sort of interested, but there was still an air of humoring me with my "weird hobbies." But when I booted up Wii sports, everything started to change. They started cheering when someone got a strike in bowling. They debated over what effect the speed of swinging remote had on hitting a baseball. They were having fun. Playing games. The highlight of the night was my 55 year old father and my 59 year old uncle facing off against each other in baseball, swinging the controllers around like madmen. If you had told me that I would ever see them so into playing a video game, I wouldn't have believed you. But there they were, swinging up a storm. Inconcievable.
But it didn't end there.
I assumed that everyone had enjoyed it, but they considered it passing diversion. The next night, however, my mom said "Matt, why don't you show everyone your games?" *???* My MOTHER was asking me to show off my games? What weird alternate dimension was this? I dutifully booted up the system, and immediately my uncle wanted to make a Mii. Then my sister's friend. Then my other uncle. We spent almost half an hour with everyone commenting, offering direction, and generally having a fun time over the character creation system. Insane. Then we booted up Wii Sports, and the real fun began. Other than my grandfather, everyone played that night. Bowling, golf, tennis - we played them all, and cheered and booed everything that happened. My mom and dad faced off in bowling, and we swiftly took sides, encouraging and trash talking every event on screen.
Nintendo succeeded. That's it. They hit the ball out of the park - over the past two nights, I've witnessed a group of people who never understood video games or the people who played them having a ball in front of the TV. I don't doubt that every single person there last night would love to play again. Nintendo has created a product that has knocked down the conceptual barrier between the controller and the screen, and as a result have created a real system for non-gamers. This obviously doesn't spell success for them long term, but if they can get audiences who ordinarily would never touch a 360 to try this out along with creating enough accessible games to get them hooked, they're going to tap into a market that Microsoft and Sony could only dream of.
As a final note, when I woke up this morning, I could dimly hear noises from the TV downstairs. When I walked into the family room, i witnessed my Dad, the epitome of non-gamer, practicing his bowling.
My family has never really understood my love of gaming.
I mean sure, they tolerated it, but the whole concept always seemed sort of foreign to them. My mom used to play a game or two of Sim City and my dad played an old Mac flight sim whose name escapes me for a week, but there's never been a game that captivated them, that got them excited in the same way I was to play the new Mario game or to beat my friends online in C&C.
The past two nights I've been getting a bit of a surprise though.
I brought my Wii home for Thanksgiving - I've only had it for a few days, and I thought the vacation would be a great time to work on Zelda. Also, I sort of hoped that Nintendo wasn't just blowing smoke when they were talking about the accessibility of the Wii - that it really would appeal to non-gamers.
Wednesday night I hooked up the system, inserted Wii Sports, and invited my family to gather round. My sister was the one who took to it first - she had a great time creating her Mii avatar and playing around with the various options. This was to be expected - of anyone in the family, she was closest to me in terms of gaming, having been sucked into Ocarina of Time all those years ago. The rest of the family seemed sort of interested, but there was still an air of humoring me with my "weird hobbies." But when I booted up Wii sports, everything started to change. They started cheering when someone got a strike in bowling. They debated over what effect the speed of swinging remote had on hitting a baseball. They were having fun. Playing games. The highlight of the night was my 55 year old father and my 59 year old uncle facing off against each other in baseball, swinging the controllers around like madmen. If you had told me that I would ever see them so into playing a video game, I wouldn't have believed you. But there they were, swinging up a storm. Inconcievable.
But it didn't end there.
I assumed that everyone had enjoyed it, but they considered it passing diversion. The next night, however, my mom said "Matt, why don't you show everyone your games?" *???* My MOTHER was asking me to show off my games? What weird alternate dimension was this? I dutifully booted up the system, and immediately my uncle wanted to make a Mii. Then my sister's friend. Then my other uncle. We spent almost half an hour with everyone commenting, offering direction, and generally having a fun time over the character creation system. Insane. Then we booted up Wii Sports, and the real fun began. Other than my grandfather, everyone played that night. Bowling, golf, tennis - we played them all, and cheered and booed everything that happened. My mom and dad faced off in bowling, and we swiftly took sides, encouraging and trash talking every event on screen.
Nintendo succeeded. That's it. They hit the ball out of the park - over the past two nights, I've witnessed a group of people who never understood video games or the people who played them having a ball in front of the TV. I don't doubt that every single person there last night would love to play again. Nintendo has created a product that has knocked down the conceptual barrier between the controller and the screen, and as a result have created a real system for non-gamers. This obviously doesn't spell success for them long term, but if they can get audiences who ordinarily would never touch a 360 to try this out along with creating enough accessible games to get them hooked, they're going to tap into a market that Microsoft and Sony could only dream of.
As a final note, when I woke up this morning, I could dimly hear noises from the TV downstairs. When I walked into the family room, i witnessed my Dad, the epitome of non-gamer, practicing his bowling.
Monday, November 20, 2006
Wii impressions
(this is just about my initial impressions of the hardware. I haven't tried Wii Sports yet and a full Zelda review is going to have to wait for a while)
I wish I had pictures for this, but my camera's at home.
The first thing you notice about the Wii is it's size: it's tiny. The much bandied about figure is "the size of 3 DVD cases" and that's pretty accurate. It's not light - I'd guess around 5 pounds or so - but when laid on its side it looks like a small CD burner.
The Wiimote itself fits very naturally in the hand - your pointer finger curves naturally on the B button, with the rest of your fingers resting underneath. It's a tiny bit heavier than a standard remote, but not much moreso. It was perfectly natural for me to hold it in either hand (which I did quite often). You can create up to 100 avatars, and there's a special feature where you can let your avatars wander over to seperate Wiis and have different avatars wander onto yours. If you see one you like, you can grab it and add it to your library.
The main thing that surprised me about the nunchuck was how light it is - it seriously almost feels hollow. The curved grip works alright, although i found my middle/ring fingers cramping up a bit during Zelda. I don't know if this was due to me gripping it too hard or what.
Once you've assembled all the cables (standard console stuff, other than the placement of the tiny, unobtrusive sensor bar) and turned on the console, you immediately are sucked in. Moving the cursor onscreen with the remote just feels so natural, especially because they've programmed in a slight rumble when your cursor moves over a new option. This force feedback gives a tactile definition to something as normal as navigating menus, and it has a huge effect on your experience. It sounds stupid, but it really does make a difference.
Once you've started up, you get a selection of channels, including Photos, Weather, News, and Shopping. The weather and news channels weren't up on launch day (neither was the Opera browser download) so I can't really talk about them. I didn't try out the Photo Channel either. What I did try out was the Mii channel.
The Mii channel allows you to create little Playskool style avatars for certain games like Wii Sports or WarioWare. There's a large amount of options to customize your charater, although I'm sure everyone will find at least one important thing Nintendo left out (my personal peeve: apparently only women can have a ponytail. There are several handsome, virile men with ponytails, dammit!). I only made 1 or 2 Miis, but I can see spending a lot of time with this in the future.
Getting things set up and online is a snap - there were a few updates to download that took ~10 mins, but the only error I encountered was that at one point I needed to reset the console to get it to recognize the pointer (another cool thing - if you rotate the controller along the long axis, the hand onscreen will rotate as well. That's another example of the cool little touches Nintendo's been putting on here). This gave me access to the shop, where I could buy a few titles from NES, SNES, Genesis and N64. The only ones that stood out were Sonic, Altered Beast and Super Mario 64, but I'm sure everyone will have their favorites (Sim City for SNES was a puzzling one, however). I didn't buy one yet (that would mean less time for Zelda) but when I do I'll be sure to write about it.
Even with these first initial impressions, it's clear that Nintendo has taken a page from Apple's design sense and chosen to create a polished, soft lighted interface that's simple, clear, and really fun to use. I know the system will ultimately live or die on its games, but the initial interface gives me a huge amount of confidence in how Nintendo will treat their customers in the future.
I wish I had pictures for this, but my camera's at home.
The first thing you notice about the Wii is it's size: it's tiny. The much bandied about figure is "the size of 3 DVD cases" and that's pretty accurate. It's not light - I'd guess around 5 pounds or so - but when laid on its side it looks like a small CD burner.
The Wiimote itself fits very naturally in the hand - your pointer finger curves naturally on the B button, with the rest of your fingers resting underneath. It's a tiny bit heavier than a standard remote, but not much moreso. It was perfectly natural for me to hold it in either hand (which I did quite often). You can create up to 100 avatars, and there's a special feature where you can let your avatars wander over to seperate Wiis and have different avatars wander onto yours. If you see one you like, you can grab it and add it to your library.
The main thing that surprised me about the nunchuck was how light it is - it seriously almost feels hollow. The curved grip works alright, although i found my middle/ring fingers cramping up a bit during Zelda. I don't know if this was due to me gripping it too hard or what.
Once you've assembled all the cables (standard console stuff, other than the placement of the tiny, unobtrusive sensor bar) and turned on the console, you immediately are sucked in. Moving the cursor onscreen with the remote just feels so natural, especially because they've programmed in a slight rumble when your cursor moves over a new option. This force feedback gives a tactile definition to something as normal as navigating menus, and it has a huge effect on your experience. It sounds stupid, but it really does make a difference.
Once you've started up, you get a selection of channels, including Photos, Weather, News, and Shopping. The weather and news channels weren't up on launch day (neither was the Opera browser download) so I can't really talk about them. I didn't try out the Photo Channel either. What I did try out was the Mii channel.
The Mii channel allows you to create little Playskool style avatars for certain games like Wii Sports or WarioWare. There's a large amount of options to customize your charater, although I'm sure everyone will find at least one important thing Nintendo left out (my personal peeve: apparently only women can have a ponytail. There are several handsome, virile men with ponytails, dammit!). I only made 1 or 2 Miis, but I can see spending a lot of time with this in the future.
Getting things set up and online is a snap - there were a few updates to download that took ~10 mins, but the only error I encountered was that at one point I needed to reset the console to get it to recognize the pointer (another cool thing - if you rotate the controller along the long axis, the hand onscreen will rotate as well. That's another example of the cool little touches Nintendo's been putting on here). This gave me access to the shop, where I could buy a few titles from NES, SNES, Genesis and N64. The only ones that stood out were Sonic, Altered Beast and Super Mario 64, but I'm sure everyone will have their favorites (Sim City for SNES was a puzzling one, however). I didn't buy one yet (that would mean less time for Zelda) but when I do I'll be sure to write about it.
Even with these first initial impressions, it's clear that Nintendo has taken a page from Apple's design sense and chosen to create a polished, soft lighted interface that's simple, clear, and really fun to use. I know the system will ultimately live or die on its games, but the initial interface gives me a huge amount of confidence in how Nintendo will treat their customers in the future.
Comic reviews for the week of 11/15
Man, it's a lot harder to keep up a blog than I thought . . . . . Well, in exchange for no posts for a few days, you get 2 today! First up, comics reviews!
100 Bullets 78: I've totally lost the thread in this series. I have no idea who half the characters are, or why they're doing what they're doing. I'm sure this would be excellent if I knew what was going on, but as it is . . . . **
Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter - Guilty Pleasures 02: Man, I'm embarressed to even say I'm reading this. It's actually not that bad, though. Not great, but not bad. The story, while treading into romance-novel territory sometimes, is decent and Ritchie drops enough clues as to how the supernatural works in this world to make it easy for new readers to follow along. Art is Top-Cowish, but it's not horrible. I'm not the audience for this, but I certainly didn't hate it. **1/2
Batman and the Mad Monk 04: While I really enjoy the Matt Wagner artwork, this whole minseries has just felt sort of flat. I think one of the major problems is that these are supposed to be Bruce's first encounters with non-natural cases, but he just doesn't seem that surprised by anything. It lessens the tension, and thus the story just becomes "oh, it's a vampire, blah blah blah let's see how Batman kicks his ass" **
Cable/Deadpool 34: This is one of those "focus on Cable" issues, which aren't my favorite. It's a pretty well told story, but the sheer amount of manipulation that Cable does is rather unbelievable (in addition to the fact that this is roughly the 3rd time he's done something like this). Now that Cable's in X-Men, I wonder if any of this will get mentioned. Probably not, which is sad. **1/2
Civil War 5 Not much really happens here, y'know? A couple people switch/join a side, and Tony is shown to be even more of a jackass (plus there's a weird disconnect between this and Civil War #4 that doesn't make sense unless you've been reading Amazing Spider-Man) I still like the mini, but I'm still not getting the sense that they're interested in presenting both sides at all. (More on that in in the New Avengers review). **
DC's 52 week 28 The Red Tornado stuff seems rather pointless (although I do like the fact that they're focusing on stuff all over the world) and the space stuff seems like a rather large pointless retcon (assuming that emerald eye is the same one as in Legion of Superheroes). The irony of Adam Strange cursing at "one more &^%& twist!" was not lost on me. **1/2
(man, am I just in a bad mood this week? Nothing but 2 and 2.5 stars so far)
Deadman 04: Well, at least this review isn't a good comic with a bad issue, but a bad comic with a good issue. Bruce Jones actually starts to reveal what the hell is actually going on, and as a result the comic is at least somewhat enjoyable. His dialogue still grates on the nerves and the introduction of the costume was really really lame, but at least the book is cohesive. **
Gen13 02: "When you talk like a lunatic it makes me all melty in my various zones and regions." Ah Gail Simone, your dialogue warms my soul. This one breaks the streak with good, bouncy Talent Caldwell art and the aforementioned wonderful dialogue. A good start, and I can't wait to see more. ***
Ghost Rider 05: Huh. I guess i read this, but I don't really remember anything from it. *goes and skims it* Ah, a retelling of his origin. It's ok I guess, but the aforementioned inability to remember what happened is a bit of a problem **1/2
Green lantern Corps 06: It looks like Steve Gibbons is turning this into a cross between exploratory sci-fi and a cop drama, which I really can't find fault with. The sentient city is a neat idea, but I'm still trying to figure out how a lizard can be so racially biased in the Rann-Thanagar war. ***
Invincible 36: Considering Invincible's already fought off menaces a hell of a lot more powerful than this, it doesn't seem likely that this would take him more than a few minutes to clean up. I liked the goofy Martian stuff though. ***
Moon Knight 06: Ugh. Way too much time given to a de-skinned face, plus Taskmaster is NOT the pussy they make him out to be here. Huston's noir/crime novel sensibilities just overwhelm the story with overblown prose, and when half the book is basically Moon Knight getting bitched at by Konshu, it's not a fun read at all. *1/2
Ms. Marvel 09: Why did they put Weiringo on this book again? Um, it's basically an appearance by an alternate universe Ms. Marvel, who basically just sat around and drank after the Warbird thing rather than get off her ass and do anything. As a result, her universe got destroyed. Riiiiiight. **
New Avengers 25: I remember when Marvek kept saying that Civil War was a balanced affair, despite MANY indications to the contrary. "Oh, due to scheduling and such you'll see Tony's side later in Iron man and his issue of New Avengers." So here's that issue, and what do we get? 16 pages of Tony lying trapped in his armor while a disgruntled employee rants to him about how evil he his. UGH. *
OMAC 05: So the OMAC nanomachines are transferred through sex, eh? So how'd Mr. Virgin get them in the first place? God this book is a disaster. I can't even get into the actual plot - just trust me, it's a mess. 1/2*
Squadron Supreme 07 Hyperion fights another superpowered asshole, and it seems like we've seen all this already. I mean, we did see this fight before toward the end of Supreme Power, but it feels like JMS hasn't added anything new. The death (if it sticks) really came out of nowhere as well. It's really depressing how far this title's dropped from the hights of Supreme Power. **
Supergirl 11: Flashy art and not much substance. When you think about it, Supergirl's actually a really interesting character - an alien being with a completely different moral upbringing trying to fit into the standard Earth communities. Pity the stories themselved are just so boring. *1/2
The Omega Men 02 Really interesting art here. I don't really know the Omega Men beyond the Adam Strange mini, but this looks to be an entertaining "Dirty Dozen" style space caper. ***
Thunderbolts 108: Nicieza really likes to do earth-shattering events that won't be mentioned anywhere else, doesn't he? These last 6 issues have been a bit of a mess, reliant on too much continuity for me to understand what's going on, although the team interplay has been enjoyable. Can't wait for Ellis to come on, though. **
Ultimate Fantastic Four 36: Carey's coming into his own - a lot of fun concepts that put some interesting spins on things. The Pasqual Ferry art's nice too - although the colorer could beef up his palette a bit, as it seems way too washed out. ***
Union Jack 03: Ah, now here's the good stuff. The plot's a nice combination of superheroes and Tom Clancy, using but not relying on continuity. The art's really amazing, especially the coloring. I really want to see more from this team. ****
What If - Spider Man the Other Ugh. As if the original story wasn't bad enough, this is utter crap. Venom takes over Spiderman's comatose body, goes after Mary Jane, but when he's rebuffed decides to resurrect Gwen Stacy and turn her into an equivilent Venom. Do I even need to say why this is bad? Shame on you Peter David. no stars
X-Men First Class 03 Good art and a decently fun story by Jeff Parker. A rolliking trip through Professor X's psyche leads to some fun little moments. Not a very important story, but a fun one. ***
100 Bullets 78: I've totally lost the thread in this series. I have no idea who half the characters are, or why they're doing what they're doing. I'm sure this would be excellent if I knew what was going on, but as it is . . . . **
Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter - Guilty Pleasures 02: Man, I'm embarressed to even say I'm reading this. It's actually not that bad, though. Not great, but not bad. The story, while treading into romance-novel territory sometimes, is decent and Ritchie drops enough clues as to how the supernatural works in this world to make it easy for new readers to follow along. Art is Top-Cowish, but it's not horrible. I'm not the audience for this, but I certainly didn't hate it. **1/2
Batman and the Mad Monk 04: While I really enjoy the Matt Wagner artwork, this whole minseries has just felt sort of flat. I think one of the major problems is that these are supposed to be Bruce's first encounters with non-natural cases, but he just doesn't seem that surprised by anything. It lessens the tension, and thus the story just becomes "oh, it's a vampire, blah blah blah let's see how Batman kicks his ass" **
Cable/Deadpool 34: This is one of those "focus on Cable" issues, which aren't my favorite. It's a pretty well told story, but the sheer amount of manipulation that Cable does is rather unbelievable (in addition to the fact that this is roughly the 3rd time he's done something like this). Now that Cable's in X-Men, I wonder if any of this will get mentioned. Probably not, which is sad. **1/2
Civil War 5 Not much really happens here, y'know? A couple people switch/join a side, and Tony is shown to be even more of a jackass (plus there's a weird disconnect between this and Civil War #4 that doesn't make sense unless you've been reading Amazing Spider-Man) I still like the mini, but I'm still not getting the sense that they're interested in presenting both sides at all. (More on that in in the New Avengers review). **
DC's 52 week 28 The Red Tornado stuff seems rather pointless (although I do like the fact that they're focusing on stuff all over the world) and the space stuff seems like a rather large pointless retcon (assuming that emerald eye is the same one as in Legion of Superheroes). The irony of Adam Strange cursing at "one more &^%& twist!" was not lost on me. **1/2
(man, am I just in a bad mood this week? Nothing but 2 and 2.5 stars so far)
Deadman 04: Well, at least this review isn't a good comic with a bad issue, but a bad comic with a good issue. Bruce Jones actually starts to reveal what the hell is actually going on, and as a result the comic is at least somewhat enjoyable. His dialogue still grates on the nerves and the introduction of the costume was really really lame, but at least the book is cohesive. **
Gen13 02: "When you talk like a lunatic it makes me all melty in my various zones and regions." Ah Gail Simone, your dialogue warms my soul. This one breaks the streak with good, bouncy Talent Caldwell art and the aforementioned wonderful dialogue. A good start, and I can't wait to see more. ***
Ghost Rider 05: Huh. I guess i read this, but I don't really remember anything from it. *goes and skims it* Ah, a retelling of his origin. It's ok I guess, but the aforementioned inability to remember what happened is a bit of a problem **1/2
Green lantern Corps 06: It looks like Steve Gibbons is turning this into a cross between exploratory sci-fi and a cop drama, which I really can't find fault with. The sentient city is a neat idea, but I'm still trying to figure out how a lizard can be so racially biased in the Rann-Thanagar war. ***
Invincible 36: Considering Invincible's already fought off menaces a hell of a lot more powerful than this, it doesn't seem likely that this would take him more than a few minutes to clean up. I liked the goofy Martian stuff though. ***
Moon Knight 06: Ugh. Way too much time given to a de-skinned face, plus Taskmaster is NOT the pussy they make him out to be here. Huston's noir/crime novel sensibilities just overwhelm the story with overblown prose, and when half the book is basically Moon Knight getting bitched at by Konshu, it's not a fun read at all. *1/2
Ms. Marvel 09: Why did they put Weiringo on this book again? Um, it's basically an appearance by an alternate universe Ms. Marvel, who basically just sat around and drank after the Warbird thing rather than get off her ass and do anything. As a result, her universe got destroyed. Riiiiiight. **
New Avengers 25: I remember when Marvek kept saying that Civil War was a balanced affair, despite MANY indications to the contrary. "Oh, due to scheduling and such you'll see Tony's side later in Iron man and his issue of New Avengers." So here's that issue, and what do we get? 16 pages of Tony lying trapped in his armor while a disgruntled employee rants to him about how evil he his. UGH. *
OMAC 05: So the OMAC nanomachines are transferred through sex, eh? So how'd Mr. Virgin get them in the first place? God this book is a disaster. I can't even get into the actual plot - just trust me, it's a mess. 1/2*
Squadron Supreme 07 Hyperion fights another superpowered asshole, and it seems like we've seen all this already. I mean, we did see this fight before toward the end of Supreme Power, but it feels like JMS hasn't added anything new. The death (if it sticks) really came out of nowhere as well. It's really depressing how far this title's dropped from the hights of Supreme Power. **
Supergirl 11: Flashy art and not much substance. When you think about it, Supergirl's actually a really interesting character - an alien being with a completely different moral upbringing trying to fit into the standard Earth communities. Pity the stories themselved are just so boring. *1/2
The Omega Men 02 Really interesting art here. I don't really know the Omega Men beyond the Adam Strange mini, but this looks to be an entertaining "Dirty Dozen" style space caper. ***
Thunderbolts 108: Nicieza really likes to do earth-shattering events that won't be mentioned anywhere else, doesn't he? These last 6 issues have been a bit of a mess, reliant on too much continuity for me to understand what's going on, although the team interplay has been enjoyable. Can't wait for Ellis to come on, though. **
Ultimate Fantastic Four 36: Carey's coming into his own - a lot of fun concepts that put some interesting spins on things. The Pasqual Ferry art's nice too - although the colorer could beef up his palette a bit, as it seems way too washed out. ***
Union Jack 03: Ah, now here's the good stuff. The plot's a nice combination of superheroes and Tom Clancy, using but not relying on continuity. The art's really amazing, especially the coloring. I really want to see more from this team. ****
What If - Spider Man the Other Ugh. As if the original story wasn't bad enough, this is utter crap. Venom takes over Spiderman's comatose body, goes after Mary Jane, but when he's rebuffed decides to resurrect Gwen Stacy and turn her into an equivilent Venom. Do I even need to say why this is bad? Shame on you Peter David. no stars
X-Men First Class 03 Good art and a decently fun story by Jeff Parker. A rolliking trip through Professor X's psyche leads to some fun little moments. Not a very important story, but a fun one. ***
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Reviews: New X-Men 114-150
I've spent the last week or so reading (almost) all of Grant Morrison's run on X-Men (renamed New X-Men during the run) from issues 114 to 150. This run has created a lot of controversy among the online fan community, with responses ranging from "Morrison was the best thing to happen to the book since Claremont and Byrne" to "Morrison ruined the team - I'd rather have read Chuck Austin than Morrison's crap." I myself remember reading it a few years ago (while in the process of reading the first 160 issues of X-Men) and being absolutely amazed. Now . . . . . not so much.Now don't get me wrong - there are many things that Morrison made absolutely work. The outing of Xavier, the idea of mutants as a cultural movement, the push to the forefront of Emma, and even the love triangle breakup of Scott and Jean were useful ideas. The problem, however, is that Morrison is a bit too Morrisonny here for his own good.
Grant Morrison ranks in my top 5 current comic book writers - I consider We3 to be the best miniseries ever, and stuff like the Seven Soldiers or All-Star Superman are just amazing pieces of work. He's the best idea man in comics - every page of his work is filled to the brim with crazy insane ideas and visions that no one else can match.
And I suppose that's the problem here. This doesn't read like an X-Men book. It reads like a Morrison-owned creator work that's getting sandwiched into the X-Men universe. Characters that we've read all our lives sound . . . . off. It's a weird feeling that somewhat prevented me from fully immersing in the work. Plus there's some things that simply don't work. Lilandra trying to shoot Xavier herself with a sniper rifle? Fantomex, the weapon XIII with a sentient symbiotic spaceship and an arrogant french attitude? Doesn't gel. And I still say the final plot twist doesn't work, since Morrison never really gives an explanation as to WHY that character did what they did. He may have been working up to it, but the issue where they first appeared doesn't really match up with what happens at the end.
The art for the most part is quite good. Quitely takes some getting used to (his EXTREMELY long-faced Scott is really disquieting) but it's always great when he works with Grant. Ethan van Scriber does some really good work towards the beginning, and Chris Bachalo and Phil Jimenez turn in nice stuff at the end. Igor Kordrey is a low point, but considering he probably had 2-3 weeks to do each issue, I can readily forgive him.
If I was going the entire run a grade, I'd probably do 2 1/2 to 3 stars. It certainly was the most important thing to happen to the X-Men in a long time (and influenced a LOT of what happened after) but the actual story quality isn't the best.
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
An example of Bad Game Design: Elite Beat Agents.
Yes yes, I know I gave this a glowing review last week. I still stand by it: EBA is an excellent game that's a ton of fun.
BUT.
They've put one mechanic into it that absolutely drives me up the wall: the constantly decreasing life bar.
Let me explain: In EBA you have a life bar that's constanly decreasing at a set rate. If you miss a note, it takes a large hit. If you get a note, you get an increase, the size of which depends on how closely you hit the note. If you keep the life bar above a certain point, your character succeeds in their actions. If it drops down too far, the stage automatically ends.
Now here's where the problem is: If the beats are too far apart, then the life bar will go down no matter how well you hit the notes, which means if you've entered that section with too low a life bar, you're basically screwed no matter how good you play from that point on. This becomes a real problem during verses 2 and 4 of Let's Dance on 3 star difficulty - if you haven't built up enough life during verse 1 & 3 (or even if you get a bit too many 100 point taps instead of 300 point taps) there's no way you can win. I've hit every note and gotten nothing but 100 and 300 point taps and I STILL lost.
I don't see why they instituted the draining life bar - why couldn't they do a ddr type thing where 100 and 300 point hits raise the bar and 50 points/misses lower it? It'd prevent this kind of frustrating situation, where a player has lost already, but doesn't know it until he futilely attempts to finish the stage. I suppose one could argue that they're trying to actively require A rank songs, but I disagree with that philosophy. In rhythm games, I should still be able to pass the stage without being perfect - obviously I need to hit all the notes, but I shouldn't have to S-rank a stage in order to complete it.
BUT.
They've put one mechanic into it that absolutely drives me up the wall: the constantly decreasing life bar.
Let me explain: In EBA you have a life bar that's constanly decreasing at a set rate. If you miss a note, it takes a large hit. If you get a note, you get an increase, the size of which depends on how closely you hit the note. If you keep the life bar above a certain point, your character succeeds in their actions. If it drops down too far, the stage automatically ends.
Now here's where the problem is: If the beats are too far apart, then the life bar will go down no matter how well you hit the notes, which means if you've entered that section with too low a life bar, you're basically screwed no matter how good you play from that point on. This becomes a real problem during verses 2 and 4 of Let's Dance on 3 star difficulty - if you haven't built up enough life during verse 1 & 3 (or even if you get a bit too many 100 point taps instead of 300 point taps) there's no way you can win. I've hit every note and gotten nothing but 100 and 300 point taps and I STILL lost.
I don't see why they instituted the draining life bar - why couldn't they do a ddr type thing where 100 and 300 point hits raise the bar and 50 points/misses lower it? It'd prevent this kind of frustrating situation, where a player has lost already, but doesn't know it until he futilely attempts to finish the stage. I suppose one could argue that they're trying to actively require A rank songs, but I disagree with that philosophy. In rhythm games, I should still be able to pass the stage without being perfect - obviously I need to hit all the notes, but I shouldn't have to S-rank a stage in order to complete it.
Monday, November 13, 2006
Death and Frustration in MMOs
So I've been thinking about MMOs lately.
Not just because I've been playing WoW for a few months now but because we're now starting to see the effects of WoW in future MMO development. Companies have seen that WoW can attract 7 million paying customers, and they want some of the pie. So now we're starting to see the 4th generation MMOs nearing beta: Age of Conan, Warhammer Online, Gods and Heroes, Huxley and (most importantly) Vanguard.
Vanguard has been in development for ~4 years so far, and it's being led by two ex-EQ staffers. They're going the fantasy route (which is probably the best route to take, but that's a subject for another column), and pretty much openly admitting that they're trying to take people from WoW. On the surface their spiel seems pretty interesting, the game seems somewhat pretty, and I'll probably try them out if they have a trial or open beta. But I was listening to an interview with Jeff Butler (one of the lead developers) and he said something that really lead me to question how much market share they're actually going to get.
During the interview, the subject of punishment for player death came up, specifically referring to EQ's policy of losing experience when dying - and with no lower limit, which meant you could actually go down a level if you died too much. Jeff said that Vanguard would have a similar system, except with no possibility of losing a level (he DID mention, however, that you might accrue an xp "debt" - i.e. if it normally takes 1000 xp to level, it'll now take 1143).
This is a huge mistake.
Look: part of the reason that WoW succeeded so well is that it's an MMO that is extremely casual friendly. Most people playing it aren't the 40-hour a week hardcore raider. They pop in for 5-10 hours a week, noodle around doing quests or talking with friends, and generally have a fun time. I'm not saying that a hardcore-only MMO can't succeed (EVE Online is a great example of one that found its niche) but you're not going to pull anywhere near WoW's numbers if casuals don't have fun in your game. And I can tell you the 2nd biggest turnoff to a casual gamer (other than open PVP) is a severe penalty for dying.
In MMOs, people die. All the time. Sometimes it's due to lag, sometimes it's due to recklessness, and sometimes it's just plain bad luck. You go wandering off into an area you've never seen before, when suddenly a mob 10 levels above you suddenly unstealths, stuns you, then proceeds to chop you into adventurer-nuggets. Or you're fighting a mob, another one suddenly notices you and starts attacking, and you can't find the hotkey for a healing potion quick enough. I would assume it actually happens more for casuals than power gamers, since they aren't quite as good at playing the game and escaping these situations. If you penalize them for that, they're going to get frustrated REALLY quickly. They're going to look at the screen, say "I just lost half an hour of progress! Goddammit!" and log off.
WoW gets it right. If you die, you have 2 options: a) run back to your corpse and take a small durability hit to your items, or b) resurrect in a graveyard with a severe durability hit and a 10 minute "time-out". You still keep all your xp, all your items, and all your gold (yes, you might have to spend some gold to repair, but that's beside the point). Death is an inconvenience - enough of one that you don't want to be dying all the time, but not bad enough to make someone quite in frustration.
I'll predict it right now: severe penalties for death are going to dissappear within the next 5 years other than small niche titles. It presents much too high a barrier for casual players - and if you want to really succeed in the MMO world, you need the casuals. I don't think Vanguard will succeed or fail based on this one facet, but I do believe it will hamper them in appealing to this wider audience.
Not just because I've been playing WoW for a few months now but because we're now starting to see the effects of WoW in future MMO development. Companies have seen that WoW can attract 7 million paying customers, and they want some of the pie. So now we're starting to see the 4th generation MMOs nearing beta: Age of Conan, Warhammer Online, Gods and Heroes, Huxley and (most importantly) Vanguard.
Vanguard has been in development for ~4 years so far, and it's being led by two ex-EQ staffers. They're going the fantasy route (which is probably the best route to take, but that's a subject for another column), and pretty much openly admitting that they're trying to take people from WoW. On the surface their spiel seems pretty interesting, the game seems somewhat pretty, and I'll probably try them out if they have a trial or open beta. But I was listening to an interview with Jeff Butler (one of the lead developers) and he said something that really lead me to question how much market share they're actually going to get.
During the interview, the subject of punishment for player death came up, specifically referring to EQ's policy of losing experience when dying - and with no lower limit, which meant you could actually go down a level if you died too much. Jeff said that Vanguard would have a similar system, except with no possibility of losing a level (he DID mention, however, that you might accrue an xp "debt" - i.e. if it normally takes 1000 xp to level, it'll now take 1143).
This is a huge mistake.
Look: part of the reason that WoW succeeded so well is that it's an MMO that is extremely casual friendly. Most people playing it aren't the 40-hour a week hardcore raider. They pop in for 5-10 hours a week, noodle around doing quests or talking with friends, and generally have a fun time. I'm not saying that a hardcore-only MMO can't succeed (EVE Online is a great example of one that found its niche) but you're not going to pull anywhere near WoW's numbers if casuals don't have fun in your game. And I can tell you the 2nd biggest turnoff to a casual gamer (other than open PVP) is a severe penalty for dying.
In MMOs, people die. All the time. Sometimes it's due to lag, sometimes it's due to recklessness, and sometimes it's just plain bad luck. You go wandering off into an area you've never seen before, when suddenly a mob 10 levels above you suddenly unstealths, stuns you, then proceeds to chop you into adventurer-nuggets. Or you're fighting a mob, another one suddenly notices you and starts attacking, and you can't find the hotkey for a healing potion quick enough. I would assume it actually happens more for casuals than power gamers, since they aren't quite as good at playing the game and escaping these situations. If you penalize them for that, they're going to get frustrated REALLY quickly. They're going to look at the screen, say "I just lost half an hour of progress! Goddammit!" and log off.
WoW gets it right. If you die, you have 2 options: a) run back to your corpse and take a small durability hit to your items, or b) resurrect in a graveyard with a severe durability hit and a 10 minute "time-out". You still keep all your xp, all your items, and all your gold (yes, you might have to spend some gold to repair, but that's beside the point). Death is an inconvenience - enough of one that you don't want to be dying all the time, but not bad enough to make someone quite in frustration.
I'll predict it right now: severe penalties for death are going to dissappear within the next 5 years other than small niche titles. It presents much too high a barrier for casual players - and if you want to really succeed in the MMO world, you need the casuals. I don't think Vanguard will succeed or fail based on this one facet, but I do believe it will hamper them in appealing to this wider audience.
Saturday, November 11, 2006
Comic reviews for the week of 11/8
This is kicking off a recurring feature on this blog: weekly short reviews of the week's comics. I'll try to keep things spoiler free - if I can't avoid it, spoiler warnings will be posted.
(star ratings are out of 4, by the way)
Amazing Spider-Girl 02: This comic seems very retro to me - not surprising considering it's written by Tom DeFalco, but still. Lots of internal monologue, very little decompression, things like that. It's not a bad comic by any means, but it just fails to keep me interested. **1/2
Annihilation 04: I was sort of bored with the series before this, but this issue really focused my attention. Some rather large bombshells get dropped, including a change I was really sort of sad to see (also, the Gaiman reference sort of irritated me). Giffen's definitely aiming for big things, and I'm excited (and slightly apprehensive) to see where this is going. ***1/2
Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes 01: WAY too much exposition. I suppose most people haven't read this era of Avengers history, but this issue wavered back and forth between a)spending too much time explaining Avengers history from 25-75, and b) offhandedly referring to events that I've never heard of. I just wonder why they feel a huge need to take a "between the issues" look at this point in Avengers history - I don't think anyone was clamoring to see how Vision first demonstrated his powers to Jarvis. *1/2
Bullet Points: JMS uses an interesting idea - what if Dr. Erskine (the scientist who gave Captain America his powers) was shot along with Ben Parker a day earlier? It's basically a What If? story, and it commits one of my hated crimes of alternate reality stories - history will realign so heroes get shuffled into different roles. That just pisses me off - instead of actually looking how Marvel history would change if Captain America didn't exist, JMS just stuffs him into an Iron Man suit and proceeds to go off in a totally different direction. Decent story, but the main idea just gets under my skin. **
Civil War - Young Avengers and Runaways 04. Uh, yeah. Interesting character interplay, confusing art (what exactly happened between Vision, Marvel Boy, and Chase?) and an ending that puts the pieces exactly where they were in the beginning with one important exception. I still question why they felt the need to put Marvel Boy in 616 continuity, although I am sort of interested to see where he goes from here. Overall, this mini just felt like a random cash-in to Civil War. **
52 Week 27 - The timing on this one is weird. It took Ralph 5 days to do what he did? More Skeets stuff, which is always nice, and finally the Question bombshell we ALL saw coming gets dropped, although in a really wimpy way. I'll give it ***, mostly for the creepiness of Ralph's idea (although frankly it's really damn cruel - he's effectively punishing the person who wasn't responsible for what happened) and the Skeets interlude.
DMZ 13 - I wonder if Brian Wood is happy or sad about the election. He turns his reference sights on Hallibuton this time, as Matty goes undercover as day labor for a corrupt rebuilding contractor. The only major problem I had was it looked like all his fellow workers were Middle Eastern - was this intentional? If so, that's rather racist (based on what happens in this issue, at least). **
Doctor Strange: the Oath 02 - Even though not much happens this issue, I'm still giving it ***1/2. Brian K. Vaughn is a master at the offhand dialogue, and he just keeps throwing lines out there that just make me smile. There's also a nice look at Dr. Strange when he was an asshole here, which just makes me want Vaughn to turn this into an ongoing.
Firestorm 31 - ugh. Lots of continuity heavy events, relating to a minor event that happened over 20 years ago. The art looks really washed out too. *1/2
Franklin Richards: Happy thanksgiving 01 - While I liked the earlier Franklin Richards stuff, this issue isn't that impressive. It's 4 stories that all have the same structure: Franklin is bored, gets a crazy idea, it messes up, HERBIE has to save him. Rinse and repeat. Art is fun, although I really don't know why Chris Eiliopolis hasn't heard from Bill Watterson's lawyers yet. *1/2
Green Lantern 14: This just reinforces my opinion that Hal is a dick, and should have remained Parallax. Art's good, though. **
Jonah Hex 14: Bernet's art is really the wrong choice for this - it's much more cartoony than I expect Jonah Hex to be. Gray and Palmiotti decide to tell Hex's origin in 3 parts, and the book really suffers now that they've left the "done-in-one" format. *1/2
Martian Manhunter 04: It's official: AJ Leiberman is the new Chuck Austin (although thankfully not as powerful). Besides the fact that the setup is enormously stupid, this just isn't the sort of story you want Martian Manhunter in. *, and that's only because the art is decent.
New Avengers 24: Brian Bendis doesn't get the Inhumans, does he? Sentry broods to himself for an entire issue, and then he seduces Crystal and Iron Man shows up to be an ass again. Meh. *1/2
New X-Men 32: I suspect I'm supposed to know who the villain is here. Confusing storytelling (how DID all those people die?), but some nice moments with the memorial and special guest star X-Factor. Nice to know they're not ignoring everything the previous creative team did. **1/2
Superman 657: Arion is a dick. If he's time traveling for this, then why couldn't he have traveled a bit earlier?! Ah well - it gives an excuse for an awesome alternate future story by Busiek, which he's great at (What happened to wonder woman? Who's the Green Lantern?). My one quibble is it seems like we should know the villain, but I have NO idea who he is. ***
Uncanny X-men 480: Clayton Henry is REALLY channeling Chris Sprouse here. Basically 22 pages of Vulcan being a badass. While the X-Men in space parts are fun, the issues centering on Vulcan are pretty boring. *1/2
Wisdom 01: Heh. When you combine government ops with magic, fun stuff results. This is what Nick Fury's Howling Commandos SHOULD have been. My one quibble is I have no idea what the final 3 pages mean - is that his son? ***
Wolverine Origins 08: More flashbacks, more wolvie being badass, more OH GOD I DON'T CARE ABOUT THIS WHY CAN'T STEVE DILLON DO SOMETHING THAT MATTERS INSTEAD OF THIS CRAPPY - *cough* sorry there, had another one of my spells. *
Wormwood Gentleman corpse 04: Hee! Man I love Ben Templesmith. This ends on a really weird note considering the buildup, but I like it. He's been learning from Ellis, but putting a much more fun-loving surface on things. ***1/2, and I'm looking forward to the drunken leprechauns.
Y The Last Man 51: OK, so we finally get the "answer" to the plague, and I call bullshit. If this is what Vaughn expects us to believe, then it really sours things for me. Besides the fact that how the hell could anyone measure that sort of thing (it should take about .05 ms if what he says is true) it ranks in terms of relating to real life about as much as saying "a wizard did it." Grrr. *1/2
(star ratings are out of 4, by the way)
Amazing Spider-Girl 02: This comic seems very retro to me - not surprising considering it's written by Tom DeFalco, but still. Lots of internal monologue, very little decompression, things like that. It's not a bad comic by any means, but it just fails to keep me interested. **1/2
Annihilation 04: I was sort of bored with the series before this, but this issue really focused my attention. Some rather large bombshells get dropped, including a change I was really sort of sad to see (also, the Gaiman reference sort of irritated me). Giffen's definitely aiming for big things, and I'm excited (and slightly apprehensive) to see where this is going. ***1/2
Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes 01: WAY too much exposition. I suppose most people haven't read this era of Avengers history, but this issue wavered back and forth between a)spending too much time explaining Avengers history from 25-75, and b) offhandedly referring to events that I've never heard of. I just wonder why they feel a huge need to take a "between the issues" look at this point in Avengers history - I don't think anyone was clamoring to see how Vision first demonstrated his powers to Jarvis. *1/2
Bullet Points: JMS uses an interesting idea - what if Dr. Erskine (the scientist who gave Captain America his powers) was shot along with Ben Parker a day earlier? It's basically a What If? story, and it commits one of my hated crimes of alternate reality stories - history will realign so heroes get shuffled into different roles. That just pisses me off - instead of actually looking how Marvel history would change if Captain America didn't exist, JMS just stuffs him into an Iron Man suit and proceeds to go off in a totally different direction. Decent story, but the main idea just gets under my skin. **
Civil War - Young Avengers and Runaways 04. Uh, yeah. Interesting character interplay, confusing art (what exactly happened between Vision, Marvel Boy, and Chase?) and an ending that puts the pieces exactly where they were in the beginning with one important exception. I still question why they felt the need to put Marvel Boy in 616 continuity, although I am sort of interested to see where he goes from here. Overall, this mini just felt like a random cash-in to Civil War. **
52 Week 27 - The timing on this one is weird. It took Ralph 5 days to do what he did? More Skeets stuff, which is always nice, and finally the Question bombshell we ALL saw coming gets dropped, although in a really wimpy way. I'll give it ***, mostly for the creepiness of Ralph's idea (although frankly it's really damn cruel - he's effectively punishing the person who wasn't responsible for what happened) and the Skeets interlude.
DMZ 13 - I wonder if Brian Wood is happy or sad about the election. He turns his reference sights on Hallibuton this time, as Matty goes undercover as day labor for a corrupt rebuilding contractor. The only major problem I had was it looked like all his fellow workers were Middle Eastern - was this intentional? If so, that's rather racist (based on what happens in this issue, at least). **
Doctor Strange: the Oath 02 - Even though not much happens this issue, I'm still giving it ***1/2. Brian K. Vaughn is a master at the offhand dialogue, and he just keeps throwing lines out there that just make me smile. There's also a nice look at Dr. Strange when he was an asshole here, which just makes me want Vaughn to turn this into an ongoing.
Firestorm 31 - ugh. Lots of continuity heavy events, relating to a minor event that happened over 20 years ago. The art looks really washed out too. *1/2
Franklin Richards: Happy thanksgiving 01 - While I liked the earlier Franklin Richards stuff, this issue isn't that impressive. It's 4 stories that all have the same structure: Franklin is bored, gets a crazy idea, it messes up, HERBIE has to save him. Rinse and repeat. Art is fun, although I really don't know why Chris Eiliopolis hasn't heard from Bill Watterson's lawyers yet. *1/2
Green Lantern 14: This just reinforces my opinion that Hal is a dick, and should have remained Parallax. Art's good, though. **
Jonah Hex 14: Bernet's art is really the wrong choice for this - it's much more cartoony than I expect Jonah Hex to be. Gray and Palmiotti decide to tell Hex's origin in 3 parts, and the book really suffers now that they've left the "done-in-one" format. *1/2
Martian Manhunter 04: It's official: AJ Leiberman is the new Chuck Austin (although thankfully not as powerful). Besides the fact that the setup is enormously stupid, this just isn't the sort of story you want Martian Manhunter in. *, and that's only because the art is decent.
New Avengers 24: Brian Bendis doesn't get the Inhumans, does he? Sentry broods to himself for an entire issue, and then he seduces Crystal and Iron Man shows up to be an ass again. Meh. *1/2
New X-Men 32: I suspect I'm supposed to know who the villain is here. Confusing storytelling (how DID all those people die?), but some nice moments with the memorial and special guest star X-Factor. Nice to know they're not ignoring everything the previous creative team did. **1/2
Superman 657: Arion is a dick. If he's time traveling for this, then why couldn't he have traveled a bit earlier?! Ah well - it gives an excuse for an awesome alternate future story by Busiek, which he's great at (What happened to wonder woman? Who's the Green Lantern?). My one quibble is it seems like we should know the villain, but I have NO idea who he is. ***
Uncanny X-men 480: Clayton Henry is REALLY channeling Chris Sprouse here. Basically 22 pages of Vulcan being a badass. While the X-Men in space parts are fun, the issues centering on Vulcan are pretty boring. *1/2
Wisdom 01: Heh. When you combine government ops with magic, fun stuff results. This is what Nick Fury's Howling Commandos SHOULD have been. My one quibble is I have no idea what the final 3 pages mean - is that his son? ***
Wolverine Origins 08: More flashbacks, more wolvie being badass, more OH GOD I DON'T CARE ABOUT THIS WHY CAN'T STEVE DILLON DO SOMETHING THAT MATTERS INSTEAD OF THIS CRAPPY - *cough* sorry there, had another one of my spells. *
Wormwood Gentleman corpse 04: Hee! Man I love Ben Templesmith. This ends on a really weird note considering the buildup, but I like it. He's been learning from Ellis, but putting a much more fun-loving surface on things. ***1/2, and I'm looking forward to the drunken leprechauns.
Y The Last Man 51: OK, so we finally get the "answer" to the plague, and I call bullshit. If this is what Vaughn expects us to believe, then it really sours things for me. Besides the fact that how the hell could anyone measure that sort of thing (it should take about .05 ms if what he says is true) it ranks in terms of relating to real life about as much as saying "a wizard did it." Grrr. *1/2
Thursday, November 09, 2006
My earliest gaming memories
A little while back, I was thinking about how much video games have changed since I started playing, and I realized I've been gaming since I was six years old - that's more than 17 years spent obsessed with video games. Over that time I've seen 4 generations of consoles, 3 storage media changes (5 1/4 -> 3 1/2 -> CD-ROM -> DVD) and a 100 fold increase in computing power. Pretty impressive when you think that that's a span of only 3 presidents.
Unlike most ADD youths of the digital generation (I abhor the term "Y Generation", so don't even try) I never owned a video game console as a kid. My parent wouldn't allow me to get an NES or a Genesis or even an old Atari 2600 I found at a garage sale for $20. It wasn't until college that I finally bought myself a gamecube. No, my formative years were restricted to the realm of computer games only.
The first computer my family had was a good old-fashioned Macintosh LC II. I remember driving to Incredible Universe (a rough equivelent to Fry's) soon after we got it and buying Prince of Persia I. Quite frankly, it blew my mind. Here you had incredibly fluid animation (which still holds up well) combined with outrageous gymnastic moves and wonderful music. I spent months trying to move from level to level without getting impaled on various spikes or falling 3 stories to my death. The fact that the game had an hour time limit (you could save between levels, but your total playing time had to be under 60 minutes before getting to the final level) only made it more frustrating. But I was hooked.
My father was enrolled at University of Oregon at the time, and would bring home shareware games for me from time to time. This was where I got exposed to Solarian II, which I still consider one of the best Space-Invader clones ever. Additionally, I would trade games with another fellow Mac user in my neighborhood, which exposed me to puzzle and adventure games for the first time. This is where I found "3 in Three" which quite simply is the best puzzle game ever (and I'll be talking about it in detail soon).
At my school, we had Apple IIes and Mac Classics, so we would play nothing but Kings Quest 1 or Oregon Trail whenever we could.
It wasn't until I was 10 or so before I touched a PC for gaming, and it was only the Lucasarts classic adventure pack that a friend loved to let me play for 5 minutes before shutting off his computer ( . . . bastard). My family didn't get a PC until I was 13 or so.
The point of this post? I guess to show that a) Mac gaming actually didn't suck during the early 90's (offhand I can name 5-10 great Mac-only games from that time) and that my forced choice of PC gaming influenced my tastes a lot - even now, I still enjoy computer gaming much more than consoles, and typical console genres like Street Fighter clones and sports games just don't hold any interest for me. I wonder how many of today's zealots had only their favored console during childhood. Interesting thing to ponder.
Unlike most ADD youths of the digital generation (I abhor the term "Y Generation", so don't even try) I never owned a video game console as a kid. My parent wouldn't allow me to get an NES or a Genesis or even an old Atari 2600 I found at a garage sale for $20. It wasn't until college that I finally bought myself a gamecube. No, my formative years were restricted to the realm of computer games only.
The first computer my family had was a good old-fashioned Macintosh LC II. I remember driving to Incredible Universe (a rough equivelent to Fry's) soon after we got it and buying Prince of Persia I. Quite frankly, it blew my mind. Here you had incredibly fluid animation (which still holds up well) combined with outrageous gymnastic moves and wonderful music. I spent months trying to move from level to level without getting impaled on various spikes or falling 3 stories to my death. The fact that the game had an hour time limit (you could save between levels, but your total playing time had to be under 60 minutes before getting to the final level) only made it more frustrating. But I was hooked.
My father was enrolled at University of Oregon at the time, and would bring home shareware games for me from time to time. This was where I got exposed to Solarian II, which I still consider one of the best Space-Invader clones ever. Additionally, I would trade games with another fellow Mac user in my neighborhood, which exposed me to puzzle and adventure games for the first time. This is where I found "3 in Three" which quite simply is the best puzzle game ever (and I'll be talking about it in detail soon).
At my school, we had Apple IIes and Mac Classics, so we would play nothing but Kings Quest 1 or Oregon Trail whenever we could.
It wasn't until I was 10 or so before I touched a PC for gaming, and it was only the Lucasarts classic adventure pack that a friend loved to let me play for 5 minutes before shutting off his computer ( . . . bastard). My family didn't get a PC until I was 13 or so.
The point of this post? I guess to show that a) Mac gaming actually didn't suck during the early 90's (offhand I can name 5-10 great Mac-only games from that time) and that my forced choice of PC gaming influenced my tastes a lot - even now, I still enjoy computer gaming much more than consoles, and typical console genres like Street Fighter clones and sports games just don't hold any interest for me. I wonder how many of today's zealots had only their favored console during childhood. Interesting thing to ponder.
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Elite Beat Agents
Oh, those wacky Japanese.
Now while I'll never claim to be an authority on the utter madness of Japanese culture, I like to think I've seen a pretty large section of their videogame weirdness. Katamari Damacy, Incredible Crisis, Live-a-Live, etc. I thought there wasn't much more they could do that would really surprise me.
I really should have known better.
The setup of Elite Beat Agents is one of those things you can only shake your head at and go "What. The. Hell." You play a team of secret agents sent out to inspire people to perform tough tasks by your sweet cheerleading moves. It's basically a rhythm game for the DS where you have to use the stylus in various ways on the screen in time with the beat. You do well, the Elite Beat Agents don't mess up, and your target succeeds. The success/failure plays out on the top screen in a series of hilarious mangaesque cutscenes - my personal favorite is Leonardo da Vinci (drawn as a shojo prettyboy) romancing the Mona Lisa by building an ornithopter.
The original Japanese game was called Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan and it featured an all J-pop soundtrack. Nintendo wisely decided to not release that in the US (not that I dislike J-pop, but there's no way it would have sold) but instead remade the game with new scenarios and Western songs, ranging from "Highway Star" to "Y.M.C.A" to "Material Girl". The songs themselves sound fine - they're not up to Guitar Hero standards in terms of covers, but that's a really high bar to hit.
Like most rhythm games, it's tricky to get the hang of the timing at first, but after a while it just comes down to getting the rhythm of the song down. The difficulty in the patterns ramps up pretty well, but there's a weird jump rIight after Y.M.C.A that had me repeating the songs a few times before I could pass.
Elite Beat Agents is one of those games that only Japan could produce - a fun, engrossing game with an utterly weird sense of humor. I eagerly look forward to seeing what other works of demented genius they'll produce next.
Monday, November 06, 2006
Likes and Dislikes
I suppose the first order of business here is to outline my tastes - reviews are much more useful if you know the reviewer, after all.
Games:
My two main loves are platformers and RPGs, although I also enjoy FPSs, RTSs, shmups and puzzle games. I have absolutely no interest in sport or driving games, but other than that I'll try pretty much anything once. If I had to toss up a list of my favorite 5 games ever, it'd go something like this:
1) Planescape Torment
2) Maniac Mansion 2: Day of the Tentacle
3) Shadow Hearts: Covenant
4) Serious Sam: The Second Encounter
5) Kingdom of Loathing
Note that this list doesn't represent the "best" games ever, but just the ones that completely captured my attention. Other than #3, I've played through every game on this list multiple times. Rest assured I'll be talking about all of these at one point or another.
Comics:
Unlike most of the elite Blogosphere crowd, I'm not an indie snob. I love superheros, and I'm not afraid to admit it at all. I'll read pretty much any book, from Superman to Daredevil to Invincible, and I'll enjoy them all. That's not to say I don't like non-superhero works -
I've loved most of Vertigo's output, and I've enjoyed more obscure stuff like Blankets or Box Office Poison. But superheros are where the comics bug started with me, and that's where it will remain. In terms of loyalty, I'm probably more of a Marvel Zombie than a DC Disciple, but as I said, I'll read anything. Warren Ellis, Grant Morrison and Garth Ennis probably hold my attention more than anything, although I'll follow Bendis, Millar, Slott and Moore a lot as well.
Movies:
I like the weird ones. Memento, Fight Club and Cube are among my favorites. Not to say I don't appreciate all genres (other than slasher and romantic comedy) but I always will gravitate towards what I call "MindFuck" films. I also love comedies, except for ones that work off of embaressment (such as most early Jim Carrey movies). Those really rub me the wrong way. But something like classic Monty Python or Mel Brooks I'll always appreciate.
Music:
Metal, classic rock, showtunes, and Weird Al. That should be all you need to know.
Games:
My two main loves are platformers and RPGs, although I also enjoy FPSs, RTSs, shmups and puzzle games. I have absolutely no interest in sport or driving games, but other than that I'll try pretty much anything once. If I had to toss up a list of my favorite 5 games ever, it'd go something like this:
1) Planescape Torment
2) Maniac Mansion 2: Day of the Tentacle
3) Shadow Hearts: Covenant
4) Serious Sam: The Second Encounter
5) Kingdom of Loathing
Note that this list doesn't represent the "best" games ever, but just the ones that completely captured my attention. Other than #3, I've played through every game on this list multiple times. Rest assured I'll be talking about all of these at one point or another.
Comics:
Unlike most of the elite Blogosphere crowd, I'm not an indie snob. I love superheros, and I'm not afraid to admit it at all. I'll read pretty much any book, from Superman to Daredevil to Invincible, and I'll enjoy them all. That's not to say I don't like non-superhero works -
I've loved most of Vertigo's output, and I've enjoyed more obscure stuff like Blankets or Box Office Poison. But superheros are where the comics bug started with me, and that's where it will remain. In terms of loyalty, I'm probably more of a Marvel Zombie than a DC Disciple, but as I said, I'll read anything. Warren Ellis, Grant Morrison and Garth Ennis probably hold my attention more than anything, although I'll follow Bendis, Millar, Slott and Moore a lot as well.
Movies:
I like the weird ones. Memento, Fight Club and Cube are among my favorites. Not to say I don't appreciate all genres (other than slasher and romantic comedy) but I always will gravitate towards what I call "MindFuck" films. I also love comedies, except for ones that work off of embaressment (such as most early Jim Carrey movies). Those really rub me the wrong way. But something like classic Monty Python or Mel Brooks I'll always appreciate.
Music:
Metal, classic rock, showtunes, and Weird Al. That should be all you need to know.
And so it begins
Hey there everyone!
If you're reading this, you're probably either a friend, a family member, or someone strolling back into the archives after this blog has become an internet sensation.
My name's Matt Park, and I love geek culture. Everything about it, from Star Wars to Tolkein to comics to video games to science to weird internet memes. I absorb it, I process it, and now it's reached critical mass and I'm spitting it back out into the void of the interweb in the vain vain hope that people will read and appreciate it. I'm doing this mostly because I love to talk about things I'm passionately interested in, and people are starting to get creeped out by my constant mutterings as I pass them on the street. I'm also trying to train myself to write, and as every single author interview I've read has said, the best way to learn how to write is to never stop writing.
The site will probably mostly be about reviews of current or classic video games or comics, although I'll probably look at other random stuff as the mood strikes me. Updates will hopefully be everyday, although I'm am not promising anything.
So tell your friends, enemies, and anyone else who'll listen: Yet Another Blog Has Appeared. Although hopefully this one won't be full of random "What Yu-Gi-Oh Card Are You" quizzes and stream of consciousness griping about my sucky day.
If you're reading this, you're probably either a friend, a family member, or someone strolling back into the archives after this blog has become an internet sensation.
My name's Matt Park, and I love geek culture. Everything about it, from Star Wars to Tolkein to comics to video games to science to weird internet memes. I absorb it, I process it, and now it's reached critical mass and I'm spitting it back out into the void of the interweb in the vain vain hope that people will read and appreciate it. I'm doing this mostly because I love to talk about things I'm passionately interested in, and people are starting to get creeped out by my constant mutterings as I pass them on the street. I'm also trying to train myself to write, and as every single author interview I've read has said, the best way to learn how to write is to never stop writing.
The site will probably mostly be about reviews of current or classic video games or comics, although I'll probably look at other random stuff as the mood strikes me. Updates will hopefully be everyday, although I'm am not promising anything.
So tell your friends, enemies, and anyone else who'll listen: Yet Another Blog Has Appeared. Although hopefully this one won't be full of random "What Yu-Gi-Oh Card Are You" quizzes and stream of consciousness griping about my sucky day.
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