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Welcome to Another Castle, a video game blog providing news, reviews and previews for both PC and console gaming. Biased as all hell, we are committed to sharing those biases with you in the most interesting ways we can. Check out our mission statement and review policy.
Our Reviews!AC is...Dan - The Black LionAnthony - Reviews Ariel - Reviews Chris - Reviews Daryl - News Josh - Reviews Matthew - News, Reviews, Previews Ryan - News, Reviews Email us! Sites We Like1Up.comEurogamer Metacritic Cheapassgamer In This Very Ring Blogs We LikeEncounterculture!Shaddax! Sean Swift! Muggz! elcyberGoth! Maestroken! The Self Proclaimed Best Blog Ever! Hipster Detritus! Toppsland! Justarius X! Tucker Max! Maddox! Archives10/17/2004 - 10/24/200410/24/2004 - 10/31/2004 10/31/2004 - 11/07/2004 11/07/2004 - 11/14/2004 11/14/2004 - 11/21/2004 11/21/2004 - 11/28/2004 11/28/2004 - 12/05/2004 12/05/2004 - 12/12/2004 12/12/2004 - 12/19/2004 |
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We got your princess right here.
Friday, December 17, 2004
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A New Addition Posted by Shocker :: 1:49 AM We've recently added a new writer to Another Castle, Ryan. Ryan is an ornery SOB, even more mean than me, and I eagerly anticipate his special kind of charm as he runs certain games through, and gives you the word as he sees it. You can check out his first AC review here for Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes (GC). As for new content, below, Ariel and I've finally posted our Splinter Cell review, I've been caught up between two excellent RPGs that are stealing all of my non-Christmas time away (KOTOR 2 and Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines, since you asked!), but we'll have the reviews promised and more up in fairly short order. (Link to this entry) :: 0 comments  
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Thursday, December 09, 2004
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News: Two People Arrested For Xbox Modding. Sign in front of the store shouldn't have said "WAREZ INSIDE" Posted by Chris :: 10:55 AM (c/o Xbox.ign.com) Two people were arrested for selling modded Xbox consoles, according to a Reuter's story posted today. Three Washington, D.C. area Pandora's Cube game store locations were raided by federal authorities. Two store employees were arrested on charges of conspiracy to commit copyright infringement and conspiracy to traffic in a device that circumvents technological protection measures. The arrests in Maryland and Virginia were a joint effort of the U.S. Department of Justice's computer crimes unit, the U.S. Attorney's Office for Maryland and the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The Entertainment Software Association says the Pandora's Cube stores were selling modified "Super Xbox" consoles for $500. The systems had been rebuilt with larger hard drives, software to enable full games to be copied to the drives, some pre-loaded with up 15 or more games. These consoles were on open display, the ESA reported. It is not clear, however, whether the stores were selling the pre-loaded versions of the modified consoles. Seriously, what the hell? Why promanently display something that is righteously illegal? They deserve to get caught for being such flaming dumbasses. (Link to this entry) :: 0 comments
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Tuesday, December 07, 2004
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Sleigh Bells Ring... Posted by Shocker :: 10:32 PM ...I just fragged Brew.... We're winterizin' a bit here at AC in preparation for Christmas and other lesser holidays (I kid, I kid. Or do I? Yes.). In any case, don't expect content to slow down just because we're entering the holiday season; I'm officially out of school tomorrow, and a two-month subscription to Gamefly means that you'll get reviews of action packed sequels Viewtiful Joe 2 (GC/PS2) and Prince of Persia: Warrior Within (XBox/PS2/GC). Additionally, I hear there's a (guest?) review coming for Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes (GC), we'll get some playtime in on Knights of the Old Republic 2 (XBox), while World of Warcraft (PC) is being talked about. JayGo and I will, at some point, team up on a Half-Life 2 (PC) review, while Chris is contractually obligated to share some thoughts about Lord of the Rings: The Third Age (XBox/PS2/GC). Even Josh has been making noise about doing some reviews soon, which is good, because I always like to think long-term. Oh, and how could I forget about retro-reviews? Ariel's got reviews of Spiderman 2: The Movie (XBox/PS2/GC), Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow (XBox) and Ninja Gaiden (XBox) queued up. Not to mention our end-of-the-year Awards Extravaganza*. Let me go ahead and run down the categories: Platform Awards: These awards are pretty self-explanatory. Multiplatform games will not be considered for individual console game of the year awards unless there was a large gulf in between its initial release and its multiplatform release (more like Splinter Cell 1 than Splinter Cell 2). Best Game of 2004 Best Playstation 2 Game Best Gamecube Game Best XBox Game Best PC Game Best Handheld Game Genre Awards: Games for any platform so long as they're released within the consideration dates are eligible. There's some ambiguity among the categories, especially in the Action and Adventure categories, but we'll attempt to justify any discrepancies as best we can if they come up (I think the general concensus was that traditional "platformer" games are considered as Adventure, whereas games like Ninja Gaiden are considered Action. But the truth is that there's a giant gulf where most games fit, thus our attempts to break it up. If it doesn't work, we just won't do it next year, and will pretend it never happened. So there.) Best Sports/Driving Game Best Role Playing/Strategy Game Best Action Game Best Adventure Game Best First Person Shooter Game Best Other Game Open-Ended Categories: Somewhat self-explanatory. Each AC member will give their opinion on what they think the biggest disappointment, innovation and defining moments were of 2004. Not so much an awards as an end-of-the-year sort of thing. Biggest Disappointment of 2004 Biggest Innovation of 2004 Defining Moment of 2004 As for the open-ended categories, we're looking for comments from any and everyone. Use that email link over at the side, and we'll throw up your opinions. We'll cap the eligibility period from 12/16/2003 to 12/15/2004, and announce nominees sometime after the 15th. As soon as we stop arguing about it. Game on, folks! * P.S. -- taking suggestions for a name for said awards period and the awards themselves (use comments). (Link to this entry) :: 0 comments
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Monday, December 06, 2004
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Review: Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (PS2) Posted by Shocker :: 7:24 PM "Snake is Dead"? You don't say...I loved Metal Gear Solid (PS). Back in 1998, I bought (okay, back then my parents bought) a Playstation for me, and, hearing MGS was the official Next Big Thing, I went out and rented it immediately. What I played was nothing short of innovative. Tense, solid stealth gameplay that defined the genre. Interactivity with the music, dual-shock controllers (still new at the time) and innovative boss battles (remember Psycho Mantis?). I loved listening to and reading a story that played out over the course of a few hours of superlative gameplay.... What happened? Granted, I didn't play Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (PS2), because after hearing about the story from Ariel, who's cursed with a much better memory than I am, I was instantly put off. As he told me all the twists and turns and inconsistencies, I started thinking he was messing with me. When Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance came out for the XBox, I went ahead and rented it to try it out. What I was met with was a wall of cutscenes, and, by 2002, gameplay that just didn't seem all that innovative anymore, in light of all of its imitators. I'll say it right now, up front: Splinter Cell is a far better game than this. Not just because of the story (which I'll not spoil, Lord knows why, though), but because of the gameplay. While I don't really particularly like SC's stealthy missions, I recognize how effectively they're pulled off, and I'm thankful for all the excellent control they give you to implement Sam Fisher's missions. Moreover, compared to Metal Gear Solid 2, which looked like a slight upgrade from MGS1, Splinter Cell sported nearly photorealistic graphics and lighting effects that set a standard that most games wish they could achieve. So when MGS3 was coming out, with me in my (patented) anti-hype chamber, I waited for its release tentatively. Recalling how much I enjoyed MGS1, and how I'd only played MGS2 for 10 minutes or so, I tried to give this a fair shot. Here's what I found: Metal Gear Solid 3 sucks. I don't mean "It's an average game", I don't mean "It's a good game that I just don't like". I mean anyone not hooked into an IV pumping pure hype into their veins should run away, far and fast while you still have good memories of what this series used to be. I mean anyone will be hard pressed to have me take them seriously for liking this game. Man, where do I begin? ... Let's begin with the most important aspect: Gameplay. Metal Gear Solid 3 plays exactly like you'd expect a 6-year-old game to play. Yes, they added in a "close quarter combat" (CQC) system, that lets Snake pull off a "variety" of moves once you're close enough to your opponent to engage in hand-to-hand combat. But for a game that's supposed to be a stealth game, why am I engaging in so much hand-to-hand combat? Why can I run up to enemies who have guns trained on me, who are shooting me, and casually engage them in a fist-fight? Why, for all the hype, is this so-called CQC system so unintuitive? If I am standing over a downed guard with my hands bare, what would you want to do? Punch the air or snap the prone guard's neck? What do you think the game has you do? Then there's the game's "Stealth" play. Splinter Cell requires you to, in some missions, maintain complete stealth. That is, if you are seen, and the guard who sees you is able to call for help, end of mission. This is done because some crazy radical government is going to destabalize the world if they find out America is sending operatives in to disrupt thier coup (or whatever the story is in Tom Clancy's mind). Splinter Cell has caught a lot of flack for this; not because it's unrealistic, but because it makes for a bad game (lots of restarting), goes the claim. Yet in MGS3, I was told nearly 6 times within the first 40 minutes (and not because of me breaking stealth, but because of all the cutscenes) that this is a "sneaking mission" or a "stealth mission". Why is it a stealth mission? Because MGS3 is set in the middle of the Cold War, with Snake being thrown into the middle of Russia to rescue some regretful scientist/engineer who's building the Uberweapon, which, if Russia finds out about Snake's presence, will trigger a full-on nuclear war. Please tell me which makes more sense to have the mission restart if you get caught? There are no serious consequences for being seen here. The Caution meter lasts for a fair bit longer than it did in MGS1, which keeps the guards on alert, but once it goes out, the guards go "Oh. I guess everything's okay." and move back into regular positions. Another gameplay enhancement in MGS3 is the ability to change camouflage. For the first time in the MGS series, a stealth meter has been added. The meter is pretty straight forward: the more camouflaged you are, the less likely you'll be seen. You can change outfits on the fly; Snake initally starts with 5 or 6 different outfits and 5 or 6 different facepaints. Rather than making the process trial-and-error, though, the game tells you exactly which outfits will work best given whereever you are (this costume decreases your visibility by 20%, this facepaint by -5%). Their choice to do so renders what could have been a cool feature into mandatory exercise: as soon as you move to a new area, you're switching clothes again. This gets old before the first mission ends. Running through the menus is an exercise in frustration by itself. Rather than using X to advance, and either circle or triangle to back up, now circle is advance, and pressing X backs up. This seemingly minor change goes counter to every game ever released on the XBox or PS2, and is another frustrating point in an already frustrating game. If I step away from MGS3 for more than 2 minutes and come back, I'm guaranteed to screw up entering or leaving a menu more than once. Speaking of menus, let's talk about another "realism" aspect added to MGS3: As Snake is basically dropped into the world with no weapons, no supplies, etc, he has to procure all this. For the first time in series history, you actually have to feed Snake. This is done by killing local fauna, then picking up little, floating boxes that represent the fully edible meals that come from them, and going into a menu to eat it. This was added to make the game more realistic. The other beautiful addition is that Snake can get wounded seriously and have to stop, go through a menu, and administer first aid to himself. Not only is the implementation poor (It's the equivalent of pressing three buttons), but simply putting a broken, say, leg, into a splint in the middle of a firefight is not only unrealistic, but is completely unlikely to do anything to help anything for a period of, say, 4 weeks. It raises the question that recurs with this game: Why bother? The story's of course, completely laughable. It's not initially as awful as the Metal Gear Solid 2 storyline, but you still have to climb Mt. Exposition after every three feet you walk in the game. You'll get calls from people telling you how to walk, how to shoot, how to climb trees, how to save the game, how to use your menu to change your clothes, how to interpret the story... Moreover, you'll get lectures from people during inappropriate and unrealistic times (the middle of a fight is not the appropriate time to tell me about the importance of Godzilla), meet up with old friends/enemies, get lectured on the art of being a warrior after being told it is impossible to tell someone how to be a warrior... The codec scenes (Snake talks to people over a radio, during which any action on screen pauses while they talk) can at least be read and skipped through. The cutscenes, which make up a giant bulk of this game, are the ones you can't skip because you'll not be able to understand anything that's going on if you do. Much of the voice acting here is laughable. The dialogue is corny, and contrived, and David Hayter, playing Naked Snake (who is not Solid Snake but has the same voice), sounds like he's forcing 60% of his lines through his "cool" voice. Dialogue seems like it's intended for people who are stupid; an example: Colonel: Our operatives inside Russia have leaked information that says Russia is very close to developing the next stage in nuclear weaponry. Snake: The next stage...? Colonel: Yes, a weapon so powerful it could change the course of history. Snake: Change the course of history...? Colonel: Indeed. You will be going to Russia. You will meet up with a very important scientist. Snake: A very important scientist...? - you get the idea. Stretch this out over 40 minutes and see how eager you are to play. That's really the problem with this game. It relies on the conventions it invented 6 years ago when MGS came out as though other games haven't made innovations in the genre. Can you imagine how terrible Mario Sunshine would have been, even with the same gameplay, if it forced you to control the camera as much as Mario 64 did? These things don't detract from the original experience, both MGS and Mario 64 are both classics. But there's so many smarter, better ways to do what MGS3 is trying to do. For instance, if the people in your head want to talk and advance the story, let them. But don't stop the action in order to do so. Don't tell me everything in the game manual, have a training mode. One of the best points elcyberGoth at elcyberGoth.com made in his hilarious Metal Gear Solid 2 review was that a game should never remind me that it's a game. Especially one that's actively pissing me off, because once it does that, it's going directly off. The sacrifices made, supposedly, in the name of realism here detract mightily from the game. MGS 2 was playable despite its aging gameplay because you at least still had a radar that functioned, and could move around tight environments with it. MGS3's open, random forest environments lack a clear direction or a suitable radar ... In fact, you're given a battery powered one that resolves to uselessness because it lacks any ability to see how far enemies can see. The camera, hung high over Snake, makes it hard to see around obstacles or corners. While MGS2 had clearly defined points for you to execute your stealth moves, MGS3 has trees, sticks and grass to see from. When you are crawling around in grass, the camera forces you into a first person mode that makes it impossible to peer above the grass without exposing yourself. Realistic? I suppose. Fun? God no. MGS3 is inherently inconsistent everywhere. Does the game want to be a movie? Fine, but how many rambly, pseudo-historic, self-important 20 hour long movies have you watched? Does it want to be a game? Then let me walk for more than 10 seconds without having to hear an essay on the Magna Carta and how it's importance shapes modern history. It's a game that desperately wants to be something more than it is, when what it could be wouldbe more than sufficient. For all that I knock the series, Solid Snake is instantly more marketable than Sam Fischer is, yet Kojima and company continually squander what could have been: a standard-bearing, standard-setting game that shapes the course of the genre for years to come. It's happened before with games like Halo 2, and Resident Evil 4 (potentially). This isn't where the stealth genre is going. Even series devotees would likely not want to see a ton of clones of this. Frankly, it's a god damn terrible movie, and somehow, an even worse game.  (Link to this entry) :: 0 comments
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Friday, December 03, 2004
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News: New Sony PS2 Demo Disc Could Erase Memory Card Posted by Chris :: 8:40 PM (c/o CNET News.com) PlayStation 2 owners are seething after discovering that a demo disc distributed by Sony could accidentally erase the memory cards attached to their consoles, wiping out many hours of progress in games such as "Grand Theft Auto." Sony acknowledged the problem last week in a postcard sent to members of its PlayStation Underground fan club, warning members to be careful with holiday demo discs sent out last month. Don't play the trial version of the Capcom adventure game "Viewtiful Joe 2" included on the disc, Sony warned, unless you want to start over from scratch on every PS2 game you own. A representative for Sony Computer Entertainment America said: "We recognize this as a serious issue and are doing everything we can to alert the consumers who received the demo. We have sent out postcards and e-mails alerting the recipients of the glitch, as well as posted the information on various message boards to alert consumers before playing this demo." Copies of the Sony demo disc sent later in November don't include the "Viewtiful Joe 2" demo or the glitch. Capcom representatives have said the glitch is not replicated in the full version of the game. Wow, way to go Sony. There's got to be at least tens of pissed off people who actually subscribe to the Playstation Underground. Seriously though, that's a terrible glitch. (Link to this entry) :: 0 comments
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Wednesday, December 01, 2004
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News: Renewed Furor Over Video Game Violence Posted by Shocker :: 10:30 AM Not the latest of news, but I wanted to back off the story for a bit until people sort of moved on from it. A video game simulation of President John F. Kennedy's 1963 assassination released this week sparked outrage yesterday from a leading entertainment decency watchdog. Does this cross the line? For myself, I think it's, again, a big disconnect from the attitudes that older politicans have about games versus the reality that is there. Last week, I gave some facts about video game players that stated that a good majority of players are adults (18+) and are capable of making these decisions without politicians' help. But the statements in the article are a bit more insidious than that. Lieberman outright threatens developers and publishers with possible legal action for "contemplating violent action against an elected official." Please. Video games are a form of media, and like all media, sometimes acts are simulated that the participator would never do, but wants to experience. When we watch a movie like Rambo, are we actively involved in the killing of commandos in the jungle? Or more relevantly, when we buy books, watch TV shows, attend movies, and read magazines about the assassination of JFK, or any figure, are we any more or less culpable for the promotion of that event? Moreover, where is the outrage over games like Dynasty Warriors, in which you simulate the assassinations of leaders of Chinese dynasties. Oh, wait. That aroma you're catching is the smell of hypocricy. Because it's tragic to you, now it's a problem. If politicians want to make hay, let them. But don't start telling me that I'm culpable for promoting the assassination of a president if I'm interested in a game, when more pure profit has already been made over exploitation of his assassination through books, magazines, movies and television than this game could ever make. This, by the way, brings up our second ever QUESTION OF THE WEEK How do you guys feel about this? Do you agree with the way I stated it, or do you think that I'm full of it? What about the broader implications of games like this? Will its acceptance, tacit as it may be open the gates for mainstream games about assassinating current political figures? Respond in comments! (Link to this entry) :: 1 comments
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News: Independent Ratings System to Target Video Games Posted by Chris :: 10:16 AM (c/o Planet Gamecube) Research Finds Ambiguities And Inconsistencies In Current Industry-Run Ratings LOS ANGELES, November 30, 2004 – Cutting through the ambiguity of the current industry-run ratings, Current Attractions has begun an objective and quantitative reporting on the Profanity, Sex, and Violence in today’s hottest video game releases. With Current Attractions’ use of the proprietary PSVratings technology, parents will know exactly what to expect before they purchase video games containing potentially objectionable material for their children. Until now, video games have been rated only by the software industry’s own Entertainment Software Rating Board, (ESRB), which rates games using a subjective, age-based rating system. The ESRB attempts to match the content in games to players’ ages, but how many parents know that the Teen-rated best-seller Tony Hawk’s Under Ground 2 shows characters vandalizing buildings and women lifting up their shirts to bare their breasts? The ratings found on Current Attractions are powered by the PSVratings system, the most comprehensive, accurate and objective ratings system currently available. They do not suggest what content is suitable to any particular age group. Instead, they provide parents with the detailed, unbiased information, independent of game manufacturers, necessary to make informed choices based upon each individual family’s own personal standards of suitability. Initially devised to evaluate movies, the PSVratings system utilizes the globally recognizable traffic-light symbol to convey three levels – green (suggestive), yellow (explicit) or red (graphic) of Profanity, Sex and Violence. It provides consumers with in-depth information including the exact number of instances and the context in which profanities, nudity, sexual words and activities, disrespectful behavior, character, racial, religious and sexual slurs, alcohol abuse, illegal drug use, tobacco use, threatening behavior and violent actions will be encountered. Current Attractions’ original research shows that while some of this season’s major releases bear the same game-industry rating, their actual content varies widely. The inconsistencies found among games with the same ESRB rating can be seen clearly in a side-by-side comparison of four games rated M: Game Title Profanity Rating Sex Rating Violence Rating“The fact is, parents don’t know the half of what is going on in these games,” said David G. Kinney, CEO of Veritasiti Corporation, the parent company of both PSVratings and Current Attractions. “We take it for granted when the rating on the box tells us a game is rated for ‘Teens’ or for ‘Everyone,’” continued Kinney. “A lot of parents might be shocked by what some video game developer has decided is appropriate for their child. The PSVratings offered at Current Attractions make no value judgments about age-appropriateness. That is a parent’s job. We take objective, quantitative research and present it in a way parents can easily understand.” In the volatile video game industry, Current Attractions aims to be a comprehensive resource for parents. The new service will include listings of the most popular video games, a traffic-light style PSVrating, pages dedicated to general information about each game, pages featuring in-depth information about each game and an entire section providing a Parental Guide to Video Games, including a glossary of terms for the uninitiated and links to articles on the effects of gaming on children. About PSVratings The PSVratings process is both extensive and objective. The system operates on proprietary, database-driven technology featuring in excess of 3,000 rules and more than ten million rule combinations. A Standards Board of educators, child psychologists and child psychiatrists, all of whom are parents, assign ratings to each of the rules of the system; thus creating the PSVratings Standard. Auditors are trained to record instances of Profanity, Sex and Violence in media. The data then goes through three independent stages of validation. Proprietary technology then analyzes the complete data and generates the PSVrating, which ensures objectivity and makes the system unique from the industry-based systems that generate ratings based upon the opinions of a subjective group of parents, critics or enthusiasts. To learn more about the PSVratings system or for more specific information on these and other video games, please visit www.CurrentAttractions.com and sample the PSVratings and reviews with a complimentary 30-day pass. Now, this sounds like a good idea... in principle. But 1) If it's not on the packaging, I bet you dollars to donuts that the majority of the parents will never know about these ratings. Seriously, who else but insane Christian Fundamentalists log online to check the ratings on video games that you weren't gonna let your kid buy in the first place. Now, slap these colored ratings on a game case and then you might have something. and 2) a "complimentary 30-day pass" generally means that once that's up, you have to pay for a subscription of some kind to view the latest ratings on the newer games. And I bet you some more donuts that even fewer people will do that. Like I said, it's a good idea, in principle. And I really want a donut. (Link to this entry) :: 0 comments
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Tuesday, November 30, 2004
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Review: Dead or Alive Ultimate (XBox) Posted by Shocker :: 11:17 PM Okay, so I rented DOA: Ultimate a few weeks ago, and ever since, I've tried to fob off the review of it to other people (Chris, Ariel). But they all balked, so let me pop this one out for you guys. As a compilation, DOA Ultimate will basically be judged on completeness, but we can look at some gameplay aspects. DOA Ultimate is a massive two-disc compilation of the original Dead or Alive and Dead or Alive 2 Ultimate. As for DOA1, you'll most likely not be playing it much, but it is nice to see that the graphics have been updated a bit (though nowhere near DOA 2/3 levels). DOA1 can be played online, though the day I got it, November 9th, no one seemed particularly interested in playing it. If you've never played Dead or Alive 1, it's an interesting experience, but not so much that you'd be buying the entire package for it. The modes are not as fleshed out as in DOA2U, basically arcade, versus, training and live modes are the only ways to fly here. As far as the gameplay, it plays a whooole lot like "Tecmo sees Virtua Fighter 2 and really wants one of those too". No, if you buy this, you're coming for DOA2 Ultimate, and that's where the majority of the beef to the package lies. DOA vets will be happy with the additions to DOA2. The graphics are on par with DOA3 (in fact, I'm 99% sure the same models are used), stages from DOA3 are here, including some new, very expansive and beautiful models, and Hitomi, Bayman and Tengu are unlockable characters here. In addition, each character sports tons of costumes, from Ayane and Kasumi who have nearly 20 each, to updated costumes for characters like Ryu Hayabusa (Star of the XBox hit Ninja Gaiden), whose NG costume is the default. The game is easily the most beautiful fighter on the market, from massively detailed characters to open-ended stages that have multiple paths to throw your opponent through. The modes here are equally expansive. Story modes are pretty straightforward affairs for each character, but tag battles and survival mix it up a bit. Tag battle is sort of the middle between Tekken's Tag Tournament and SoulCalibur's Team Battles: there is some interaction between characters, who can be switched on-the-fly, but there is not a huge variety of team moves. The modes are rounded out with a solid training mode (where you can go through a test of each character's entire moveset - a nice touch), and a Watch mode, where you can watch two characters fight one another, with control over the camera. If you're unfamiliar with DOA2/3, it's one of the best hand-to-hand 3D fighters (right up there with Tekken and Virtua Fighter). Its button layout is rather simple, punch and kick buttons, and a free button that acts as a counter if the timing is performed right. Combinations of these, and button presses in each direction yield a surprisingly intuitive fighter that is easy to jump into, but has a fair amount of depth once you're ready to sit down and try and learn it all. Series trademarks, beautiful women and environments combine to create likely the best looking games on their respective systems (Dreamcast and XBox especially). Of course, the most anticipated feature here is the online play. The XBox finally gets its first full-3D online fighter (with the somewhat worthless exception of Mortal Kombat: Deception). Having played a few online fighters (Capcom vs. SNK 2 EO for instance), it's honestly a much different experience. The strict one-on-one nature tends to make the process of finding a fight a bit like ships colliding in the night. You can spend a lot of time sitting around and waiting for someone who can match your criteria to come along. DOA Ultimate, in perhaps it's biggest innovation, changes all of that. Now, the game plays like an arcade, with a lobby that up to 8 potential players gather in. While the two active players duke it out, you actually get to watch their fight on your screen, and can talk smack or listen to smack being talked over your XBox Live headset. Just like putting your quarter on the machine, as soon as the challenger or champion loses, you move up a slot, and once you play, you stay until you're defeated. It's an ingenious system that I would expect many other fighters (Especially 3D ones... Dare I hope for Online SoulCalibur 3?) to adopt. So how does it all fit together? The offline modes are as solid as DOA3 ever was. If you don't have XBox Live, I wouldn't recommend a purchase, though. You can get all the features from DOAU from DOA3 (and unless you absolutely must have/play DOA 1, I don't think you do), without having to unlock Hitomi (who is one of my favorite fighters) and Bayman. The online play is solid, but there is generally lag coming through. Mostly it manifests in a bit of slowed down combat, which is less annoying than when it jumps from one point to another (which is quite rare). Rarer still, though, were games where I experienced no lag, and this is over the same connection through which Halo 2 runs flawlessly. On and offline play are helped by a complete lack of load times and solid gameplay that I'd recommend anyone to try. The only annoying bit is that in order to unlock each of the characters' costumes, you've got to beat the story mode for that character. Going through Story Mode 20 times just to unlock Kasumi's costume takes the luster off of the mode, though one could argue that it's intended to up the replay value of the game. In any case, scoring the compilation, I give DOA Ultimate  (Link to this entry) :: 2 comments
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Sunday, November 28, 2004
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Review: Rumble Roses (PS2) Posted by Shocker :: 7:05 PM We're all adults here, right? I mean, when DOA Xtreme Beach Volleyball came out, we all recognized it for the excellent volleyball simulation that it tried to be, right? And we all recognize the serious important contributions to the videogaming society that bobbing and weaving a rogue sperm cell through a minefield, a la Leisure Suit Larry, don't we? Hell, we can even enjoy the simple pleasures of a quiz-show turned mature adventure in The Guy Game, right? Okay, those games sucked (Yes, DOA XBV sucked. It was an awful volleyball simulation. Yes it was), and they sucked because the primary emphasis was on T&A and not on the gameplay that passed for an excuse to see more tits. And while I like tits and I like video games, I really hate it when the former becomes an excuse not to make a decent game. Honestly, that was my initial impression with Rumble Roses, an all-female wrestling game for the Playstation 2, published by Konami. In Rumble Roses, sexual innuendo is all over the place... Skimpy costumes, provocative moves, insultingly sexualized wrestling. Yet beyond all of that, if you can get into it, lies a pretty interesting and fun arcade-wrestling game. As you guys know by now, we take a pretty close look at wrestling games, having originated from In This Very Ring.com, and so I waited with anticipation for Rumble Roses. My initial impressions were mostly negative. Match types were the most basic possible: one-on-one and mud matches. No tag team matches, no special matches (aside from one to be discussed) and no customization on the type of win (submission, pinfall, KO, etc). A staple of most modern wrestling games, the Create-A-Wrestler mode was also missing. Moreover, the focus here did not seem to be on the wrestling. Rather, the mud match style and a focus on "humiliation" moves (which usually involve putting your opponent in compromising positions) looked like they would overshadow any sense of core gameplay here. The story, such as it is, unfolds as you play each character. Rumble Roses sports (off the top of my head) 10 initial characters to play with, with half the roster unlockable. The characters range from the justifiable (Wrestler Reiko and judo fighter Makoto) to the cheesy (Ninja Bloody Shadow) to the why-are-you-here (Schoolgirl Candy Cane, her teacher Miss Spencer, pop star Aisha). While some characters have pretty self-contained storylines (like Candy Cane), others' storylines wrap around the entire conspiracy and mystery surrounding the Rumble Roses tournament. The main villains here, a nurse/mad scientist Anesthesia and main-bad-girl Evil Rose, actually develop pretty well. You'll come to apprciate why Rose is the way she is, and, through her incessant meddling and smug attitude, you'll come to hate Anesthesia. Graphically, the game looks like a Dreamcast holdover. A lot of anti-aliasing "issues", but some pretty sharp textures. Everything looks as good as it should look, but not necessarily superlative. Many people have drawn (valid) comparisons between a lot of these characters and Dead or Alive vixens. Music is j-pop, dialogue is predictably cheesy. The gameplay here is very good, once you get into it. It took me a while to adjust from the more-sim-like Smackdown vs. Raw to a game like this. Moves are predictably over-the-top, though the game never gets into the realm of the impossible. You'll see stuff like Shining Wizards or Mr. Neibla's autosubmission here. Rumble Roses utilizes the fact that it's not tied to any specific real-life characters to open up what the girls are allowed to do. That said, it does take a lot from SD vs. Raw in its grapple scheme: left or right + grapple results in a standing grapple, up or down + grapple results in your character throwing her opponent to the ground to focus either on the opponent's head or legs, respectively. From there, each character has a pretty decent variety of moves. Submissions play a pretty big part here, too, but it is very straight forward. Once in a submission, the game tells you exactly how many button presses you need to get out of the move. As you do moves, you also do damage to specific parts of the body, helping your submission moves. Collision detection, aside from a few moves, is excellent. Strikes that can have complicated results on successful hits only work if you hit directly at the opponent, although they can do a slight amount of damage should you hit (or miss) at an angle. The major gameplay difference here is a humiliation factor. Simply put, you can gain an advantage over your opponent by exposing her to the audience. Why any of these characters would be embarassed to be put in, say, a small package is beyond me given what they wear to the ring, but once your opponent is in a humiliated state, and if you have a super move, you can pull of a humiliation move, which for each character is a very powerful submission maneuver. Humiliation is the only stipulation that you can set for a match. Joining the Humiliation move are killer and lethal moves, which act like regular special moves. Each wrestler has a killer move that can be pulled off in any position. But if you are in the proper place, it will turn into a lethal move (which are like extra-special moves). Once you win with a character in story mode, you can play her alternate version in the story mode. Each character has an alternate mode; if the character is a heel, her alt will be a face and vice versa. In many cases, the alts are extremely different takes on the characters... Sullen Candy Cane turns cheerleader Becky, f'rinstance. Alternate characters can be unlocked in the Exhibition Mode, as well. This is also very well-carried out. Each character is ranked either 50% face or 50% heel intially. Through what they call the Vows system, basically a lot like the challenges in SD vs. Raw, vowing to do good things before the match, like not using weapons or not attacking your opponent on the ground, increases your face percentage. Vowing to do bad things, like making sure you attack your opponent with a weapon, or not allowing them to damage you for the entire match, increases the heel percentage. Once you get 100% face or 100% heel, you can challenge for the title in the Title Mode. Once you win a title, you can defend it. Winning the title opens the character in the Gallery, defending it opens her beach gallery. Finally, changing the alignment of a particular girl opens her alternate version for the exhibition mode. Overall, Rumble Roses is a very fun arcade game, with portions that can turn off any number of gamers. I get how someone would be unable to get past the humiliation aspect... It's annoying and borderline insulting, but luckily it does not become the major aspect of gameplay. Rumble Roses won't appeal to everyone, but if you're able to get into it, it's a solid example of an average game that is still very fun.  (Link to this entry) :: 0 comments
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Wednesday, November 24, 2004
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News: Lieberman Gets Boobies Shown On C-SPAN. Good Job. Also, Top 10 Games "To Avoid" Posted by Shocker :: 9:40 PM Tits on C-SPAN. Primarily 90-year-old audience stunned. No, you weren't hallucinating if you saw naked boobies on C-SPAN this evening while flipping channels (since it's unlikely you were actually sitting there watching it): uncensored, unpixelated clips from the M-rated "The Guy Game" and "Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude"were shown to a bored looking audience (including Senators Joe Lieberman and Herb Kohl) as part of a National Institure for Media and the Family briefing on its annual MediaWise Video Game Report Card.Not really huge news, but a bit relevant considering the entire flap over titties that we've been going through this entire year. When 2004 goes into the books, it really will be "The year hooters destroyed society." There is a legitimate question of why this industry is so heavily regulated. I think it's because politicians, who are now pretty much the Vietnam era, see video gaming as primarily a children's hobby, something that people give up around age 18, and thus, concern and flap over violent video games like Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is justified. However, a casual google search reveals some startling facts that run contrary to that assessment. Firstly, the average age of gamer is nearly 30 years old ... Secondly, most games (85% of console games) are purchased by people over the age of 18 (Note that the ESRB's Mature rating only requires the purchaser to be over the age of 17, just as in movies). And perhaps most importantly, 92% of parents say that they monitor the content of the games their under-18-year-olds play. (source) This compares to 81% of movie-goers being over the age of 18 (actually, much much better) (source). Are there bad games out there that kids shouldn't be playing? Absolutely. But there are bad movies, sitcoms, dramas, plays and events they probably shouldn't be watching either. That's the job of a parent. Parents don't complain when they take their child to a horrid movie, because they know if they do, the theater management will tell them they clearly knew what the rating was before they went into the movie. I haven't seen a single video game commercial that didn't give the rating of the game. The information is out there, people. Quit running to government to solve the problem of your own piss-poor parenting. Now, if you are a parent who wants recommendations on which games his or her child should avoid, MediaFamily.org's report may be for you. I'm not arguing that there shouldn't be oversight. What I do object to is the belief that video games are somehow more insidious than movies or television. I really do think that, in many cases, these sorts of lists are well-intentioned. Most of the games on that list (maybe not so much the Halo and Half-Life 2) are not age-appropriate for kids. Even though the games don't appear to be in any particular order (I think The Guy Game and the new Leisure Suit Larry game are games no one should play for a large variety of reasons...), they get the general idea right. There's just no way that a simple list of 10 can keep kids "safe". Is Psi-Ops any worse than, say, a Bloodrayne 2 or Chronicles of Riddick, or a Killzone? The only way to be safe is for parents to not rely on lists like this and be vigilant. I will actually have a review of Rumble Roses up sometime later this week (That and MGS 3 and Capcom Fighting Evolution and other stuff). Stay tuned. (Link to this entry) :: 0 comments
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Tuesday, November 23, 2004
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News: Valve Suspends 20,000 Steam Accounts. Valve, Steam, Oh I see what they did there. Posted by Chris :: 7:03 PM (c/o Gamespot.com) Developer stages mass bust of users attempting to 'illegally obtain' Half-Life 2, shoots down warez-trap rumors. Last week, rumors circulated that Valve had released a fake key to Half-Life 2 to various "warez" sites in order to trap game pirates. Today on the As a result, the offenders have had their Steam accounts suspended indefinitely. Valve also warned that "Accounts also may be closed due to fraudulent activity in an attempt to obtain additional products for your Steam Account. This includes Credit Card fraud, theft of accounts you do not own and using cracked versions of Valve games." Valve's statement was coy about how it caught the pirates. "The method used was extremely easy for Valve to trace and confirm," it read, "and so there is no question that the accounts disabled were used to try and illegally obtain Half-Life 2." However, Valve was extremely clear about one thing--it did not create a special version of Half-Life 2 to bust pirates. "Valve did not put out any kind of fake key or fake warez or hack instructions to trap people," read the statement. "The hack came from the 'community' as do they all."
Well, if they want to start putting a stop to pirating games and "warez" this is a really good way to do it. I'm not opposed to piracy, as everyone knows, but I really like this method. Sure, people will find away around this eventually, other warez sites and what not, but this puts a small dent in the 'Ole Internet Piracy Thing, and that's a nice start. For te record, though, I've never downloaded a video game off the internet. My 56k would explode if I tried. I suck. (Link to this entry) :: 0 comments
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News: As far as the DS is concerned... Posted by Shocker :: 7:30 AM To my knowledge, no one here at AC went out and got a DS at launch. For that matter, I don't know if any of us are actively pursuing one. I can't speak for my colleagues, but I will give you my opinion on it: Before I saw a video Matt showed me, I thought this was a disastrous idea. I personally don't really use handhelds that much, but even beyond that, it seemed like superfluous design that was incapable of having any real support from developers due to its limitations (Yes, two screens can be a limitation, it's a liability to have to have something on the second screen to begin with). Not that this would be a new thing for Nintendo. Does anyone remember the Virtual Boy? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? But the video I saw changed all that. What I saw was, heads and shoulders, above the level of design that I'd seen in many games. Nintendo's got some whacky minds in their R&D, and I have a feeling that as they were pitching the system, they were giving some hints on where to take the DS, because for the year or so between its announcement and its release, most gaming publications, sites and players couldn't figure out what the hell they were going to do with the thing. The video answered a lot of that. I saw games that used the touchscreen to draw independent paths for a character to speed through. I saw incredibly handheld graphical potential and a vast array of new design avenues to wander through. Here is what I think of the DS now: I think that it will ultimately not succeed because most designers are incapable of designing for it. A review of Mario 64 DS I read stated that the second screen was used primarily for a map of the area. The reviewer correctly pointed out that he'd never needed a map in the N64 version of the game. And this is Nintendo's development. I have a sinking feeling that a lot of the crazily-designed games I saw in the video (This is an open call to Matt to please track the video down, by the way) won't make their way stateside for fear that they'll be rejected as being too weird (Sadly, American audiences have a pretty poor track record with supporting fringe titles). More likely, developers will take advantage of the power of the system and scrap use of the second screen, except in the most necessary of cases. In leiu of being able to provide my our own coverage right now (unless you want to buy a DS for me, and a couple of games. If you do, hit the email link over at the side), I'll give you guys a link to an article with more hands-on info than I've got now. I'm also wondering what you guys think of the DS? Destined for greatness, or destined for failure? Are you planning to get one as soon as possible, or are you waiting for Christmas? Inquiring Dans want to know. Here's the link to a Gamespot article detailing a lot of the features and launch titles for the Nintendo DS. - Dan (Link to this entry) :: 1 comments
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Monday, November 22, 2004
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News: NYTimes Article on EA Lawsuits Alleging Unfair Working Practices Posted by Shocker :: 11:10 PM (Link to full article. Requires Registration.) (Subvert the registration - Thanks Shad) Very interesting article. Before I got into college, it was a dream of mine to design games. It sort of fell by the wayside a few years ago, but I'm considering picking it back up. I actually admire EA a great deal. They pump out very good and great games with startling regularity. However, if this is true, and I don't have much reason to disbelieve it, they need to really evaluate what they're doing. It's not uncommon to push young people to work to extremes out of college... Talk to any young lawyer. It's entirely another thing to not compensate them fairly for it. Given the nature of the gaming business, rather than building a solid team of loyal workers, they're much more likely to spawn a hundred small competitors who learned the trade by toiling in their salt mines for a few years. If I were a stockholder in EA, I know I'd rather see some long-term viability to the company in the form of reduced turnover. In any case, this will add some fuel to the stupid "EA is satan" fire. - Dan (Link to this entry) :: 0 comments
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Saturday, November 20, 2004
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Review: Killzone (PS2) Posted by Shocker :: 8:15 PM Gary's question the other day couldn't be more relevant, as earlier that day I'd actually gone out to rent Killzone for the PS2, which, published by Sony, had a decent buzz about it and was touted as a "Halo Killer". Now, you guys know my attitude on the whole "Killer" thing. I think great games come out for all platforms, and I love gaming enough to be in pursuit of all the consoles. However, after I thought about it, I can understand a bit more how the suffix gets attached. Basically, a lot of people simply don't play games enough to justify running out and buying games regularly, or playing on every console. Daryl and I had been harassing Josh for about 2 years before he finally broke down and got an XBox. I think the killer thing comes from that, because Daryl and I'd been telling Hogie what he'd been missing out on for so long, he finally had to succumb. So with Halo 2 coming out, and half the gaming world completely freaked out about it, it's understandable that PS2 loyalists would want to find a game that could counter some of that momentum, or at least give them comparable gameplay experiences. Well, unfortunately, Killzone doesn't achieve either of those things. While it's a solid game, it's got plenty of flaws that keep it from reaching that upper echelon. Killzone's Helghast, Nazi-inspired supersoldiers, versus the-forces-of-good storyline is actually very well pulled off; in fact, the game is full of immersive aspects that put it heads and shoulders above many, if not most first person shooters. Your character bobs up and down as he runs, looks down when he hops over objects, shifts around when climbing up ladders... In comparison to Halo, its realism makes the floaty Master Chief feel a bit unnatural. Though it's a little unsettling at first, it becomes a bit natural, especially considering how well it's pulled off. Its closest comparison would be Breakdown, a game in which hand-to-hand combat was eventually primarily pulled off in first person. Graphically, Killzone likely sets a standard as well. The game looks absolutely amazing. Vast, noisy battlefields and dug-in trenches litter the opening level. The sky is ominously brown, and a dusty fog blocks your vision. Cities are broken down and half-destroyed; buildings lie in ruin. Through all this, the game's textures are incredibly sharp, the character models very detailed. However, all that glitters isn't gold. Killzone taxes the PS2 a bit beyond its limits. Slowdown is not uncommon, but more common is a stunted framerate that slows the immersive aspects of the game. As well, a lot of objects morph through walls or into and out from floors. Killzone is almost completely linear. Having a linear storyline is not uncommon for a First Person Shooter (or many other games), but having a single path through most areas is. It's even evidence of poor design. Many things play out in a series of triggered attacks from you entering a certain area, killing all the enemies and then moving into the next place you're supposed to go. It's not that this is awful in-and-of itself (again), but the vast battlefields I described earlier are fenced in by invisible walls and linear paths through which there's no variation in the way you run through. The game could practically be on rails (think Pokemon Snap (N64) as the most obvious example). At times it feels more like a puzzle-shooter like Capcom's P.N.03 (GameCube). These aren't bad comparisons, but it doesn't make for a great game, especially one that borrows so many FPS conventions, or wants to belong in the upper echelon of FPS games. In another recent FPS development, Killzone has a weapon-carry limit. Unlike Halo and Brute Force, though, you can carry 3 weapons here. Unfortunately (I sure am using that word a lot tonight, aren't I?), it doesn't work very well either. Having 2 weapons allows you to quickly switch back from one type of weapon to your other weapon. The entire point of having a 2 weapon limit, aside from increased realism, is that you can carry two weapons for different sorts of situations: a shotgun for when enemies close in, or an assault rifle for medium range engagements. Switching between 3 becomes cumbersome and impossible to immediately get where you need to. Making it even more impossible are ridiculous weapon-switching animations you are forced to endure absolutely every time you switch weapons (usually him cocking the weapon, although he could be reloading and then cocking). Versus Halo, or Brute Force, you're unable to switch quickly from a weapon that's empty to a weapon that's ready to go in the heat of battle. This was a poor design decision, and factors into both single and multiplayer. Weapons here run the usual gamut. Rifles, guns, rocket launchers, etc. Helghast weapons generally being less accurate and having more ammo, ISA weapons being the opposite. Considering how awful the reloading sequences are, I preferred going with Helghast weapons. However, when I say "less accurate", I friggin mean it. I've stood at 10 paces and have missed with 30 rounds of submachine gun fire on a stationary enemy as I stood directly in front of him. I've blasted people with shotgun fire multiple times just to get them to die at point blank because they were slightly outside the reticule. The game has on- and off-line multiplayer, but predictable frustrations happen considering the reload animations and framerate problems. Though the campaign mode is interesting, and the cutscenes and voiceacting are well done, I don't know if they're strong enough to carry the game. Idiotic AI, countless iterations of the same enemies (Am I playing Killzone or Time Crisis?), and frustrating level design which intimates more interesting experiences but punishes you for straying off the beaten path. Many times, some random character will shout "Captain, meet us over here, we'll escort you" without you knowing who they are or where they are. Of course, nothing can happen until you do this, and even if you try to look at other soldiers who might, you know, be guarding you and directing you toward your goal point, they are often off looking into space or aiming at (and into) walls. Dumb, dumb, dumb. I usually don't go into games with expectations, because I'm easily disappointed. But I did expect this game to be better than average, especially because I knew with Sony publishing this, it could turn into a marquee title. But Killzone seems like it was rushed out for the holiday season. Another 3 or 4 months in development would have turned what is ultimately a substandard experience into an extremely memorable one. Going into the review, I was thinking of saying the game is average and leaving it at that. But the more I think about its flaws and potential, I have to go lower than that. While I love the storyline and want to see a sequel, this game probably doesn't warrant more than a very brief rental.  (Link to this entry) :: 2 comments
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Another Castle is a blog dedicated to gamers. It is not done for profit or pay. All images are copyright their respective owners. Microsoft XBox, Nintendo GameCube, Sony Playstation 2 and other consoles are trademarks of their respective owners. Games featured on Another Castle are copyright of their respective publishers and developers. Moreover, please don't sue us, while you're at it. | |
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