Here are two games I’ve been looking forward to for a while. Dissidia: Final Fantasy and LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias are two games that are connected in some way to a game or series of games that I like. LostWinds is a sequel to one of the first WiiWare titles, which still remains as one of my favorites. Dissidia is a game that combines many heroes and villains from a series I love into a completely “original” fighting game. Prepare for…controversy?

First up is LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias, which I’ll come right out and say it, is now my favorite game on WiiWare, replacing the amazing World of Goo. This game takes everything about the original, makes it a bit longer (and more challenging), and adds an element of seasons. The little hero now has to deal with winter, and soon he’ll get plenty of neat items to help him in his quest. What is his quest? The story is all a blur to me, but it had some nice moments.

The gameplay is pretty much the same as the original, with a few new elements. Soon enough you’ll come across powers that allow you to create twisters of sorts to move the character higher up, or to suck up water into a rain cloud. With things like that and (about halfway into the game) the ability to change seasons at key locations, you have plenty of new and original puzzles.

The game looks beautiful, has a very nice score to accompany it, and plenty of amazingly designed puzzles. The final boss “fight” is a bit annoying, but you feel a real sense of satisfaction once you finally defeat it. And then it leaves room for…actually, this could very well be the last game. The first left it wide open for a sequel, but this game ends pretty nicely. Although we might not see a sequel, this still remains quite the amazing adventure spread along two excellent games. If you own a Wii, GET THESE GAMES RIGHT AWAY!

Okay, time to talk Dissidia. Do I like it? Kind of. See, I had fun with it, but I do sense that it’s a bit overrated. The fighting itself seems fine, and pretty fun, but I hate to say I do not like leveling up characters and gaining new skills. Having to grind in a fighting game to beat bosses? Not fun at all. Sure, I get that it tries to mix in RPG elements because it’s based on Final Fantasy after all. But I don’t like it, and it only became truly tedious during Shade Impulse.

So I thought “Hey, if this game has grinding, then if I overlevel, the final boss should be cake, right?” Well, he wasn’t as hard as I thought he would be, but like in any fighting game, he’s INCREDIBLY cheap. See, I’d accept this if the fighting system wasn’t build around characters being specific levels.  Cheap final bosses are a staple of fighting games. But not if the final boss is still cheap despite your level. I just…don’t understand how I could explain this any better, but I felt that no matter what my level was when I fought Chaos, I would get my ass kicked a few times either way.

And that one complaint, for me personally, brings the game down to something I might play every once in a great while just for maybe 30 minutes as opposed to a game I’d probably still be playing now. Honestly? Dissidia made me want to play Ehrgeiz. That’s right, the shitty Squaresoft developed fighting game on the PS1 featuring FFVII characters. At least that didn’t have fucking level grinding.

So anyone who likes Dissidia (which seems to be most people on Backloggery) and actually reads this blog will probably think I’m an idiot. I’m not faulting Dissidia for being the way it is, I don’t really consider it a problem with the game, but it’s a problem for me personally. It sucks a lot of the fun out of it for me.

Maybe I just don’t “get it”? If that’s the case, I don’t think I ever want to.

Welcome to a new blog post segment, random note, in which I make a quick post about something gaming related that has been on my mind as of late. The topic for this time? Something probably ridiculous, but it is about one game: Rez.

Special thanks to Riss for the inspiration to write this one.

Rez is a video game like no other. It comes from the mind of Tetsuya Mizuguchi, the genius behind games like Space Channel 5 and Lumines. As much as I do love those games, I think Rez might be my favorite. I recently spent $10 (800 Microsoft points) after buying my new HDTV on Rez HD. I did this, despite the fact that I already own the game on the PS2, just to experience it all in HD. Is it really a game worth spending $10 on just to play in HD? It is, above any other game.

What makes it so great? The game can be challenging, it also can be frustrating at times too, and there are certain levels that tend to piss me off. But despite all of that, I find it to be one of the most satisfying gaming experiences of all time, just from the visuals and music alone. It’s pretty much the best way to have an acid trip without having an acid trip. And the music is truly amazing, some of the best I’ve heard in any game.

To try and catagorize the game? Well, I consider this one of the few examples of a game that is almost impossible to put into a single category. Is it a music game? Perhaps, you do create music, but it is not under the traditional category of that genre. How about a shooter? It could be considered one, but it really feels like it’s about more than simple shooting. Rez blends these two genres (and perhaps more) together to make a game that is a genre of its own. Mind fuckery seems like a good term to use, with an example of the XBLA release of Space Giraffe being another perfect example of this “genre.”

Rez is a beautiful game, a game that probably would be terrible without the amazing (and trippy) visuals and brilliant music. The gameplay itself? Not terribly great, but something about it makes you want to keep playing. It’s probably the most fascinating (and successful) gaming experiment of all time.

Play this game on a big HDTV with all of the lights off for an hour or two. That burning sensation in your eyes? It’s good, very good. You’ll thank me later.

Welcome to a new blog post segment, random note, in which I make a quick post about something gaming related that has been on my mind as of late. This week’s topic? Music in video games.

The music in a game can make the experience more enjoyable, or even less enjoyable, depending on the quality of the music. When someone plays a Final Fantasy game, they expect good music. This music can make certain scenes in a game’s story more memorable, or even make gameplay sections more fun to play. When people remember something about a game, things that stick out the most will generally be because of the music. At least that is how it is for me.

A recent example of a game with a fantastic score is Modern Warfare 2. Hans Zimmer, famous Hollywood composer, came on board to the project to help make the game feel less like a game and more like an experience. Specific levels had specific songs, and these could drastically change your mood on what was happening.

Speaking of mood, certain songs could sound completely different depending on how you are feeling. This goes for video game music as well, and especially true while you are playing a game. Listening to a song in the background while doing something in a game, even as simple as walking around a town, talking to people, can completely be either a happy or sad moment depending on the music and how you are feeling while listening to it.

One example of this I remember specifically is from the 1992 Super Nintendo release, Soul Blazer. While the game itself is not terribly memorable, the music definitely is. One character describes a particular song, and music in general: “Music is really strange. The same music sometimes sounds very wonderful when I am happy and sad when I am depressed.” Seeing these lines from a game alone, along with the song accompanying it, made me understand and even appreciate music so much more from that point forward. And not just any music, video game music.

Some music can inspire, some can infuriate, but either way, music in games is something we all cherish in one way or another. It definitely has impacted my outlook on games, and on how the interactivity of them combined with the music can make for some truly memorable experiences.

And now I leave you with selections from Soul Blazer’s soundtrack. Particularly note the song near the end (at around 8:25 in the video), that is one that really stuck with me.

Uncharted 2 is here, and boy does it leave quite the impression. I’ll admit, I wasn’t the biggest fan of the first game. But I did enjoy the story and loved all of the characters. Of course, the sequel was announced, and everyone was incredibly excited. And after E3, it won several best of show awards. But was I excited? Well…kind of. I guess based on my impressions of the first game, I just never expected anything to live up to that amount of hype. But guess what? It does.

If you have played the original game, you’ll feel right at home here. The controls are practically the same (minus the terrible Sixaxis grenade throwing), and the characters, both new and old, make it feel like it was just yesterday when we first adventured with Drake. Nolan North, as he did originally, delivers another fantastic performance. Hell, he is Nathan Drake. He even looks like him!

The story is nothing amazing, but it’s good enough to keep your interest. The characters feel more fleshed out this time around, and every new character introduced feels like an old friend. The set piece sequences are amazing, and they lead into another large part of the game: the beautiful environments. While the opening areas of the game will feel somewhat familiar (after the tutorial levels that is), you’ll thankfully be glad to see a few nice changes of pace. While I’m on the subject, the entire game is drop dead gorgeous, and it is easily the best looking game on the system to date.

Stealth elements are introduced here, and they are implimented rather well

I will admit, the game does start out rather slow. The first level (which has Drake trying to escape a train car hanging off the edge of a cliff) is pretty amazing, but the following level which introduces the stealth elements is poorly placed. You get the feeling that stealth will be an element that will bog the gameplay down, but in most situations when it is used (and it is usually completely optional), it fits right in. So don’t let those first levels fool you.

As I said above, the gameplay is pretty much the same, but a few specific levels will become the most memorable in any video game. I don’t think I’ve ever played a game where you were moving on top of  (and around) a moving train. You try to avoid outside obstacles while trying to hang on for dear life (and kill any baddies you encounter). It, along with a few other levels, are the pinnacles of action games today and should be experienced by ANY gamer.

I could write more details about the game, but the main point of this post is just how this game is not groundbreaking in any way, but it is the perfect video game blockbuster. Although we may not consider video games blockbusters, it definitely feels like a summer action movie that should play out on the big screen. It’s a game that should be played by everyone, and one that will clearly be looked back on as one of the best this generation had to offer.

If you own a PS3, there is no reason for you not to own this game. It is next to Metal Gear Solid 4, inFamous, and Killzone 2 as the best the system has to offer, and it shows off some of the amazing capabilities of the hardware. This game alone is a good enough reason to buy a PS3. And with more games on the horizon that have the potential to be as good as this one, I guarantee you will get your money’s worth with owning a PS3. Either way, Uncharted 2 is fantastic, and I would hope everyone gets a chance to play it eventually.

While some people may have had a chance to try the Left 4 Dead 2 demo early due to it being a pre-order bonus, today was the release of the demo to the public (well, for Xbox Live Gold subscribers anyway). Many people are still concerned it will be just “more of the same” or even that a sequel isn’t necessary. Based on the short time the demo gives with the game, I can safely say any concerns I had are gone.

There are four new characters, brand new locations, and a lot of it takes place during the daytime. Although I would love to get to focus on what is new in the entire game, I’m going to specifically spend this time talking about the demo itself. Like the demo for the first game, you get to play through two chapters in one of the campaigns. Although the basic gameplay is very familiar, the demo introduces plenty of new things that will make even veteran L4D players feel like they are playing a brand new game.

Jockeys are just some of the new special infected you find in Left 4 Dead 2

There are three new special infected: chargers, spitters, and jockeys. The chargers will, well, charge at you, grab you with their oversized arm, and repeatedly slam you on the ground until you are rescued. Jockeys are fast and will jump on top of you and try to guide you towards a large group of enemies. Spitters are going to become my new worst enemy, as they usually blend in pretty well with the regular zombies, and they spit green acid at you which can damage you quite a bit if you’re not careful.

The controls remain pretty much the same, but there are plenty of new weapons and items to use. Melee weapons are introduced, and they are a nice addition to the game. I found an electric guitar, a frying pan, and even a katana (my personal favorite). I find them to be more useful than guns when in certain situations, especially the katana, which can slice through enemies with ease. There are new handguns as well, specifically the magnum, which has limited ammo but is as powerful as you would expect a magnum to be.

To go along with pipe bombs and Molotovs, there are now vials of boomer bile you can pick up and throw at crowds of zombies, which will make them fight amongst themselves. For healing items, you now have adrenaline, which will temporarily make you move a lot faster, and then a defibrillator, will will revive teammates after they have been killed. And these are just the things I saw in the demo, with plenty of new additions I look forward to trying out in the full game.

Left 4 Dead 2 plays a lot like the first, this is true. But with a game like the first being as amazing as it is, and one of the best co-op games you could ever play, is that really such a bad thing? The new additions to this sequel make it seem like more than just another rehash, and it is clear that Valve is a developer we can trust to make worthy successors to already amazing games.

Infinity Ward, the developer behind Call of Duty 1, 2, and the original Modern Warfare is coming back with the year’s most anticipated game. And there has already been some controversy over their decision to have some (or maybe most?) of the battles taking place on American soil. They showed off a brief glimpse of the White House in ruins as a massive battle took place right on the very grounds we once thought of as safe. Of course, Fallout 3 did the whole “destroyed Washington D.C.” thing a year ago. But if it’s Call of Duty? Damn, then it’s a problem! But the real controversy seems to be stemming from the very first level in the game.

If you have not seen the leaked footage yet, then you probably won’t see the actual level until the game is released since Activision had all of the videos taken down. And yes, for those who have been avoiding any spoilers on what the level actually is, do not continue reading past this point. I warned you!

The level (which has been confirmed by Infinity Ward to be a completely skip able section of the game) takes place in an airport where you control an undercover CIA agent who has infiltrated a terrorist group. Pretty much as soon as the mission begins, the other terrorists begin to take fire on the crowds of people. You are only meant to shoot at security guards, but you can indulge in the killing as well if you so desire. And that’s pretty much how the game begins. You start with a scene of mass brutality and terrorism unlike anything seen in a game today.

And, as expected, this is beginning to garner some controversy (and will continue to, especially once the game is actually released). It’s hard to say the direction the story will go from here, but this is a bold move on Infinity Ward’s part to include a level that is bound to conjure up some bad reactions from many people. Once again, this section can be skipped entirely, but that option will be pretty much ignored by the mainstream media.

Many games, mainly shooters, involve killing. It’s just how the games work. And the Grand Theft Auto series is notorious for allowing the player to kill innocent bystanders and pedestrians whenever the player wants to. Sure, it is not taken as seriously, and sure you are given a penalty (by way of a wanted level or stars) for doing so. But how can you say there won’t be such a penalty in Modern Warfare 2? People have not seen past this level, and for all they know, there could be dire consequences for participating in this event that could impact the story significantly.

What Modern Warfare 2 does is give the player a sense of helplessness when they actually incorporate this pointless and merciless slaughter of innocent lives into the game’s narrative. Being a CIA agent and having to remain undercover, the player is left to do absolutely nothing but to join in the killing. Although you never actually have to kill anyone, it still is a way to set up the events in the story (which inevitably will lead to a war that is brought to the U.S., as discussed above).

And this is all done in a rather meaningful way. It’s meant to give the player more inspiration for joining this battle, it’s meant to inspire fear and helplessness, and eventually it is meant to lead to the events that take place later on in the story.

I have to applaud Infinity Ward for doing something so incredibly bold. They are continuing to push the boundaries of video game narrative and bring it to a level that is similar to the one seen in television shows or movies. Games are more interactive, yes, but that just means they can inspire more. And, as always, you can not take the killing of someone in a game as a realistic act of violence. It is not the same thing, and the brain does not connect the two. But that is an entirely different issue that I’ve touched upon several times now.

I hope that people understand that this is not meant to offend, but meant to bring about an emotional response that you so rarely get from a game. And although many people may not associate the Call of Duty games as having fantastic stories, Modern Warfare had a truly amazing story to tell. Modern Warfare 2, just from the looks of things, seems to be following up that tradition. Here’s hoping that Infinity Ward can continue to create their stories as best they can in order to get that emotional response from the player, because they are clearly doing it with MW2.

In an attempt to reinvigorate my interest in the blog, I’m going to briefly touch upon what games I’ve been playing most recently, and some games I finished recently as well. With a flood of new games coming in, I find it a lot more manageable this year that is has been in the past few years thanks to the game delays. That’s right, I consider the delays a good thing. Although I might not be saying the same thing in January when I’m faced with 4-5 new or upcoming games in the same month. Either way, a lot has been released, so let’s get cracking!

First up is DJ Hero, a game that I have been pretty excited about for quite some time now. It has a lot going for it, with an impressive soundtrack, plenty of new gameplay features, and an amazing controller. It is hard to say where this ranks among all of the music games I have played, but I could definitely see putting it near the top. Like like Guitar Hero before it, DJ Hero manages to give people a fresh new take on the genre and hopefully expand the audience to grab people who may not be fans of rock music. Although I still consider Rock Band 2 to be the king of music games right now, DJ Hero is an excellent example of how to make a new IP work.

Second, I picked up a copy of Borderlands last week and I’m loving it. My two favorite genres are RPGs and shooters, and a game that manages to blend them together perfectly is nice. I love Fallout 3, but this game is a bit more my style. Although I have not finished it yet (DJ Hero distracted me, among other things), I do have plans to get back to it very soon. Before playing it, I considered Batman: Arkham Asylum to be my favorite game of the year, but Borderlands has quickly taken that top spot.

WET is a fun little action title that doesn’t do many things new, but it is still fun to play. Although it’s not a long game, I’ve been taking my sweet time with it. Why? Well I thought picking hard difficulty right from the start would be a good idea, and it was for the first three levels, but now I regret it. And with no way to change the difficulty without starting a new game, I’ve been trying my best to get through it. The game is far from perfect, but it is a lot of fun if you enjoy these kinds of games.

I played Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 pretty much the entire way through with a friend and, honestly, it’s even worse than the original. Keep in mind, I was not a big fan of the original, but I appreciated what it was trying to do. MUA2 is a lot better in terms of bringing a nice co-op experience to the table, but it does everything else much worse AND it limits the RPG elements, reducing them to pointless statistics that mean nothing. It’s not a good game, it’s just barely a decent game. For those who want more of my input on it, check out my full review.

I also played a game that completely let me down, the same way Resident Evil 5 did earlier in the year. Brutal Legend has so many great things going for it. The story is excellent, the characters are fleshed out and memorable, the script is hilarious, but the gameplay…that’s where it stumbles a bit. The game is an RTS at heart, which is weird for those who only played the demo, which mainly consists of action and driving elements. Those elements work, but at the halfway point, the RTS elements take over and things become…kind of a mess. They just don’t work that well, and I cannot see myself playing the multiplayer at all. I enjoyed the game overall, but I cannot say I loved it nearly as much as I wanted to. Once again, check out my full review for more details.

Finally, I picked up a copy of Burnout Paradise for cheap and have been loving it. Sure, sure, I once called the free roaming elements boring and pointless, and considered the game a disappointment. But for $8, I could not resist getting this, and I’m so glad I did. The game is a lot of fun. And although I still am not a fan of the open city, it has quickly become my favorite racing game of this generation. I am incredibly happy I decided to give it a second chance.

Three games I would love to play but cannot right now: Demon’s Souls, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, and Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in Time. My PS3  decided to continue to give me problems, and without much of a solution, I decided I’m just going to get a PS3 Slim. It’ll be less stressful than trying to get my old system repaired. I own Demon’s Souls and Uncharted 2 and will play them as soon as I pick up my new system. Hopefully R&C will be a game I can pick up shortly after as well.

And that’s it! A bunch of games I’ve been playing or have played within the last month. Expect plenty of new game impressions on the horizon, including those three PS3 exclusives I talked about above, and even some PSP games like Half-Minute Hero, Dissidia, and Persona. But until then, hopefully this will tide those few readers I have over.

To those few who still read, do not fret, I will get back to more updates soon enough. And hopefully to help keep this blog alive, I am introducing admiralsandwich, aka Riss (or hoboriss from Backloggery). Although we are both lazy and do not update our separate blogs too often, we can still hope to bring more updates to this one blog. Expect plenty of great posts from her in the future!

Hopefully there are people out there who still read this, because I have a few nice plans in store for everyone, including the continuation of my “cookie crumbles” series, new game impressions and demo impressions, and other new features that will hopefully bring back some traffic to this blog. Thanks to everyone who has stuck with me so far! Fun times are ahead. Until then, Riss will be re-posting her stuff from her old blog, so it will give you guys a chance to get introduced to her work and hopefully give this place a bit more activity.

You know what? I’m lazy. I’m crazy lazy. I am also convinced I have something akin to ADHD, thus my apparent inability to update. I’m not a writer, I’m really not…and I’m definitely a terrible one at that. So I am trying to find a way to write these posts in a way that is comfortable for me. I’m not a writer, I’m not a professional reviewer, or a journalist. Just someone who is wildly obsessive passionate about video games.

With that said, this basically sums up what I like about Final Fantasy III for the Nintendo DS:

Ingus as the Red Mage Job.

>> Visuals:
Cute models with unique designs. I’m a big fan of the character design in this game. Not just the heroes with their massive amount of jobs and costume designs unique to the character, but all the characters as well. The monsters? Not so much. Some of them are cool, and quite a few of the bosses are pretty cool, but on the whole…a lot of them are just bland. The graphics are great and crisp though, and for such tiny people and dungeons, the textures are pretty nice.
>>Sound:
Good sound and some pretty good music that is faithful to the original source materal. Unfortunately the music suffers from the same problem as the original FFIII on NES does – there’s just not enough of it. Almost every dungeon has the same music, events and scenes use the same or similar music…it got old fast and I was quick to turn the volume off.
>>Gameplay:
This game has good, solid turnbased battles and it’s genuinely pretty fun. The classes mix it up a lot and make you play differently based on jobs…however, I can’t help but dock a bit because the job system could be better and more in depth – FFV proved that. That and the battles seem to go on and on and on…I’m a veteran of turnbased battles, but chalk it up to not much variety in enemies early on or something, but it got boring pretty fast. Take this from the woman who plays turnbased games because she LIKES to fight excessive amounts enemies and “grindan gaems.”
>>Story:
Stop me if you’ve heard this one: four young warriors who are orphans are tasked to save crystals and the world and all that blahblahblah. It gets cred because it’s got some cute character personalities, and actually adds quite a bit to the story. In the end most of the characters are still a little flat…not Final Fantasy II flat, though.
>>Replayability:
There’s plenty else to do in the game other than the main quests. Side quests, rare weapons and armors, optional summons, and then the Mognet sidequest. I hate the Mognet sidequest – it requires sending wifi mail to lots of people, which is a pain finding people after the game has been out for some years. I had to go to gamefaqs boards just to find people. GAMEFAQS, MAN, THE HORROR! But it’s there if you want to do it.
>>Overall:
It’s fun, it’s cute, it’s got great graphics and if anything – it’s MUCH better than Final Fantasy II. It was a sigh of relief getting to play this game after that.

On October 15th, 2008 I created this blog and my first blog post. It was mainly out of boredom, but I created it with a goal in mind: make one new post every day. For the most part, I was able to keep up with this goal, although some days I just completely forgot to update, and others I ended up updating incredibly late. Luckily no one really seemed to mind, and from what I can tell, people have enjoyed reading the various posts from myself and my friends, namely Grey Fox and Miami Man.

Writing for this blog not only re-sparked my interest in writing, it also made me realize that I absolutely love writing and talking about games. Maybe I knew it already, but it was from there that I realized I wanted to be a video game journalist. And so continued my several posts for the blog, either talking about specific games, game demos, or other little original features I created specifically for this blog. And although not all of my posts are exactly…good, I’ve gotten a generally positive response from people about them.

In January of this year, I joined up with several other Backloggery users in an attempt to create another group blog known as Press X to Win. Of course all but one of the original members of the blog have moved on, including myself, the blog has been revived and is now an all girls gaming blog. And already it has shown to be a bit more successful than our previous attempt. But it was a good run, and it gave me more opportunities to communicate with fellow gamers and slightly expand and improve my own writing. Writing with a group of gamers for a single blog can be both satisfying and frustrating, but in the end, I enjoyed my short time with the site (and I even made a little blog post hoping to grab more readers).

After that, I continued to just focus solely on this blog, tried a few experiments (included my failed podcast), and even changed the design of the blog around a little. But then in July, I began writing for a new site, Snackbar Games. And that is pretty much where this blog kind of died. Although I tried to update it on occasion, it definitely was no longer my main focus.

So, where do I go from here? I started this blog as my way of sharing my own thoughts of games and the industry, and as a way to hopefully improve my writing and get some kind of audience from it all. It did work, for the most part, and I’m getting grabbing some attention from it all. But it’s not the same as it used to be. Everything I would normally write for this blog, and there has been a lot, now goes to Snackbar. I’ve messed around with a few experiments here and there just for this site, but none were as enjoyable as I would have hoped.

I’m not going to say the blog is dead now, I’m still going to keep it alive for an eventual post or two in the future, and perhaps other things that may not be fit for Snackbar. But, as you may have come to expect by now, I probably won’t be posting here that much anymore.I have a few ideas of how to continue the quick game reviews, or even some other older series I had going on, but I’m just not enjoying it as much as I used to. This is definitely a place for experiments though, so who knows what other crazy ideas I will come up with.

Now is my opportunity to once again plug Snackbar Games, as pretty much all of my new reviews and game features will go directly there. Not only that, we’ve got many talented writers working hard on some excellent stuff, so I urge everyone to check out the site.

Anyway, if you read through all of that, I appreciate it! Thanks to everyone who gave this blog a chance, and who continued to check back every so often for updates. Don’t give up on it completely though, as I may have a few more surprises in store.