jaws13

Make Mine Mario!! The Odd Gaming Gift of “Super Mario Maker”

Posted on September 18, 2015 by jaws13

When I think back on my birth as a gamer, I have clear pictures of Atari games (yes, even “E.T.”), flashing arcade lights, early PC and handheld games where the “man” you were controlling was basically a block with more blocks attached. These were formative experiences, surely. But if you asked me when I first saw where video gaming could go (especially in the home space), when the present seemed wonderful beyond expectation and the future possibilities began to truly stretch beyond my comprehension, I’d be hard-pressed to say anything other than “Nintendo”. And that begins with “Super Mario Bros.”

It’s hard to believe that 30 years have passed since the arrival of our humble princess-saving plumber. Equally hard to believe how well each entry in the series still holds up all of these years later. They are unquestionable gaming masterpieces and Mario’s status as a pop-culture icon is well-deserved. And now, along comes “Super Mario Maker”, an invitation to Mario’s legion of fans to mimic the greatness of Miyamoto and Co….or at least use their toolset to create something fairly cool.

Kotaku’s review of the game said that it “feels like a game that should not exist”, and I think that’s dead on. When I was a kid, Mario was something stunning. Especially coming after Atari, it was next-level Harry Potter wizardry. The graphics, the level design, the music…who doesn’t still know every note of the theme for World 1-1, if not every step of the level? It had character, it had secrets. It had frigging warp zones!! Who had warp zones back then?? And now, with “Super Mario Maker”, I can attempt to recreate that magic with a drag and drop toolset? I can determine where that pipe leads or where the enemies drop in? I can determine what’s in the question blocks or hiding just above the screen? I can determine whether a level is soul-crushingly difficult or a jumping, speed-running breeze? How is this possible?

“Super Mario Maker” as a product exists on two levels – the ability to create and the ability to play. Even the menu screen’s two start buttons clearly delineate between the two options. Whether the game is for you, frankly, depends on what your interest is in both areas as well as what you are willing to tolerate from both.

On the creation side, the game starts off with a fairly limited toolset. New sets can be earned by creating for 5 minutes or more every day with the tools you have. This triggers a delivery for the next day like the “Castle Set” or the “Super Mario 3” set. On the one hand, I understand not overwhelming players with tools at the start and forcing them to work on basic design elements before progressing to the next level. On the other hand, it’s a bit frustrating and constraining to see ideas and items in other people’s levels and not be able to implement them in your own or even have a concrete idea of when you will be able to do so. There’s no question that my first few levels are not very good – partly because I was still stretching my legs creatively but also partly because I didn’t have much to work with.

Having said that, the ease with which you can create and edit levels, the joy of dropping in a Goomba or a rotating fire stick or even Mario’s nemesis Bowser, the triumph of completing and playing your own level…even if it’s not a particularly good one!…is something special and empowering in a way nothing else quite matches. The toolset is far easier to use than something like “Little Big Planet” thanks mostly to the need to only think in two dimensions and the positioning of familiar elements gives makers an immediate frame of reference for their best laid plans. There are also some unexpected and pleasant surprises buried within the familiar – fireworks, crazy sound effects, even the ability to give Mario a new character skin like Donkey Kong or Sonic (my favorite so far was watching my son finish a level as Inkling Boy from “Splatoon” only to hear the “Stage Cleared” music from “Splatoon” play instead of the usual Mario theme. Nice touch.) This is all especially wonderful if you don’t particularly care about anything other than your own satisfaction with your creations. If you do, however, there are a few snags.

“Super Mario Maker” seems to work completely around a star system to rate levels, and the most popular levels are the most visible and the most played. This, of course, leads to a positive feedback loop where the rich usually get richer at the expense of other levels’ visibility. It also seems that certain level types are favored over the more traditional. Currently, there are plenty of “push right to win” automatic levels or fun gimmicky levels that challenge you not to jump or to stay small the entire time and that’s great. I enjoy them too. But with so many levels out there, there doesn’t seem to be much incentive for a player to stick with a more challenging level (leading to low clear rates) or play a level that seems more traditional, no matter how polished it may be (leading to low visibility). As an amateur creator, I don’t see a clear avenue at this point to make something that can be easily found, played, and rated or – most importantly – receive feedback for improvement outside of some fan-made communities online (tip of the cap to everyone in the IGN NVC Mario Maker Level Share Facebook group!). Again, how badly do you want to be known as the next Miyamoto?

The playing side of the equation is another mixed bag. Can you appreciate playing a level, warts and all, and smile at the cleverness, the ambition, the enthusiasm of a fellow Mario fan, or does it have to be a Miyamoto masterpiece? Can you forgive someone for making their level too hard, or too busy, or too long, or will you rage quit every time you die and immediately jump to the next one? It’s true that most of the stages that exist now aren’t particularly polished but I think there’s a certain beauty to that. I’m excited when someone makes a “Captain Toad” themed level or one where a mushroom follows me through the stage on its own parallel path (both real actual levels) and I’m not focusing on whether a jump should be slightly longer or an enemy placement is a bit annoying. Just like everyone else, I’m definitely searching for hidden gems. I’m just expecting to find a lot of flawed ones in the process. The question is one of tolerance: If you walk into an art class, are you upset that it’s not the Louvre or are you inspired by the raw creativity on display, the passion for the form, the fearless stretching for new heights? As time goes on, the issues will either smooth themselves out leading to more variety and better design or become a lasting drag on the game. For now, it’s an understandable quirk of the process.

The bottom line is this: “Super Mario Maker” is something the nine-year old me would never have dreamed possible and it feels like a wonderful celebration of everything that Mario and Nintendo have meant to legions of gamers over the last 30 years. So what if the levels aren’t perfect? If the opportunity to create your own Mario game and explore the countless creations of others is not exciting to you, the game is probably not for you. If you demand polished, tightly focused gaming experiences, the game is probably not for you. If you’re not willing to be part of a gaming community – and all the benefits and problems that come with it – the game is probably not for you. But for all the rest of you?

It’s Mario. That you can make. On your own. And then play. And share with others.

Your Mario.

And, just like Mario was 30 years ago, it’s is an unexpected and wonderful gift.

What are you waiting for, fellow Maker?

Updating the Blog (aka. “Trying to Find the Time”)

Posted on September 16, 2015 by jaws13

I’ve been unable to update as regularly lately. Life, as usual, intervenes. School started again, football season is here (not as a fan, but as a coach) and, being a father, my kids are still…well…kids. Apologies to anyone who has been doing me the honor of checking in for my random thoughts and opinions. I hope you’ll stick with me and I appreciate your patience.

Because I do have thoughts and opinions. Plenty of them. I’m excited by some of what Sony showed at TGS. I’m building boards in “Super Mario Maker” (more on that later). I’m working my way through “Dark Souls 2” again, only now I’m playing the “Scholar of the First Sin” edition on PS4 instead. I picked up “Far Cry 4” on sale, and it’s different than I expected. And I’m still chugging along with my friend Geralt in “The Witcher”, a game I may be playing for the rest of my life at this rate.

And let’s not even think about the avalanche of games that is about to bury us all in the next few months. Seriously. I’m sort of in denial.

Will I have the chance to write about all of it? Probably not. But I hope you’ll be around to share with me when I do bring something to the table. I hope you’ll give me your feedback and comments. I’m thrilled every time someone reads anything I’ve written and I’m grateful for the opportunity to share in our mutual love of games and all things geeky.

And one more important note that I’ve neglected to mention: I do need to update the blog title slightly because not too long ago something changed.

I’m now a 39 year old kid. Still living the dream. As long as I can.

On the Outside Looking In

Posted on August 28, 2015 by jaws13

Not surprisingly, “Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain” is getting stellar reviews. It seems harder to find a site that hasn’t given the game a perfect score at this point than one that has. And – full confession – I’m a bit grumpy about it.

See, for as many years as I can remember, I’ve always played the major Game of the Year contenders. Not out of obligation, but because I wanted to. They were games that were already up my particular alley. The added acclaim just made them that much more exciting. “Portal 2”, “Skyrim”, “The Last of Us”, “Gears” and “Halo”, “Journey”…no arm twisting required there. I was always in on the conversation. All the pros and cons, the arguments and reviews and spoiler-casts were all mine for the consumption and – most importantly – I felt I had something to add, even if only in my own head. And I could pat myself on the back for having a pretty good eye for greatness (humbly, of course).

And I was doing really well so far this year too. I’ve played “Bloodborne” and “Batman” and “Witcher” and “Ori”. I have “Fallout 4” and “Halo 5” and even “Battlefront” squarely on my radar. I was ready.

Until this week.

If the reviews are any indication, it seems almost preordained that “Metal Gear” will be GoTY for most…and I almost certainly won’t be playing it, at least not for some time. It’s not the game’s fault. It looks amazing. I know the quality Kojima is capable of producing. It seems like the kind of game that will constantly offer something new and surprising for a long, long bit of playtime.

And I just don’t know how much I’d enjoy it.

I recently tried to go back to the “Metal Gear” HD collection on my Vita. Immediately, I was lost and frustrated again. What the hell is going on? Where am I supposed to go? The controls felt antiquated and stiff and for a game that wanted me to be stealthy, it sure went out of its way to make Snake a clumsy buffoon every time he moves. But perhaps the games just haven’t aged as well, I thought. So I tried “Ground Zeroes”. Marveled at the graphics. Stunned by the production. And again asked myself “What the hell is going on?”, “Where am I supposed to go?” and was spotted almost instantly by every guard patrol.

The truth is I just don’t think the “Metal Gear” series is for me. I like the games fine enough and I definitely appreciate their place in the spectrum but they’re not something I can get excited about the way others do. For whatever reason, I can’t seem to fully embrace the things the make the series special to others – the goofiness, the “play anyway you want” nature of the missions, the multi-game lore that Kojima has crafted. In my mind, “Metal Gear” is a stealth game where I suck at being stealthy, a story-driven experience where I don’t understand what’s happening, and a serious game about counter-intelligence that I can’t take seriously because enemies don’t know why the hell a cardboard box just showed up in the middle of the room. Essentially, I’m trying to play a “Metal Gear” game that’s not “Metal Gear”. And that just doesn’t work.

Fans of the series will no doubt tell me to lighten up, give it more time, I’m not playing it right, this one is different, and all of that is good advice. But with soooooo many other games both currently out and upcoming, I can’t justify at $60 purchase where I just don’t know if what I’m getting is what I want, even if it is supposedly one of the best games ever created.

What’s been surprising this week is how surly this makes me. How this has brought out every bad fanboy tendency from someone who has vocally criticized those tendencies in others. “Surely it can’t be THAT good,” I scoff. “Guess everyone forgot about ‘Witcher’ and ‘Bloodborne’ already,” I harrumph. And the most embarrassing: “Well, of course they said that! They’re all ‘Metal Gear’ fans already! Bias!” It’s petty and stupid and it all comes from one singular place: I feel left out.

For the first time in a while, I will not be in the conversation. I will not be trading stories about my Mother Base setup, or how I completed that mission completely differently from my friends, or how Kojima ended his story. I will not be able to intelligently debate Game of the Year with such a notable omission. I’m the guy at the party standing in the corner just nursing his drink while everyone else has a great old time. Actually – worse – I’m the guy listening to everyone talk about the party I wasn’t invited to attend. Woe is me (and also “first world problems”, I know).

So, what to do? My head says to be smart, to understand that there’s only so much time and money to go around, that other things are more exciting for me personally and deserve my attention, that it’s just a game and my life will not be less fulfilling for not having played it. By then I see yet another website rate the game as “essential” and I can feel myself starting to cave.

And so, restraint…for now. Eventually the game will drop in price to a point where I can no longer resist and I must see what the fuss is about, time and money be damned. Until then, I’ll publicly be happy for the fans of the series and ecstatic for the medium of gaming in general…and try to keep all my scowling and growling on the inside.

Going to the “Rapture” With Henry

Posted on August 16, 2015 by jaws13

My son Henry comes down the stairs as I’m playing “Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture”. I have my headphones on but I pull the one side off so I can hear him while finishing up. He’s six-about-to-turn-seven but quite the gamer, so he’s interested any time there’s a controller in someone’s hand.

“What are you playing?”

“It’s called ‘Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture.'”

His brow furrows. “What’s Rapture?”

I briefly contemplate telling him it’s an underwater city run by a megalomaniac who has read too much Ayn Rand, but I figure that can wait until later in his gaming career. I also consider “don’t worry about it”, but I hate that answer. So I go with…

“Some people who believe in heaven think that if the world ends all the good people will just disappear from Earth first.”

He gives me a look that suggests I might have gone crazy. I shrug. Not my idea.

“Can you take one of those cars?”

“Nope.”

“Why are you moving so slow?”

“Because I’m walking.” And also because the developers forgot to tell everyone that there actually is a “run” option in the game. But I digress.

“Where are all the people?”

“Don’t know yet.”

“Did they all die?”

“Or they left.” Or aliens. Or strange anomalies of physics. “That’s the big mystery.”

“I bet if you go to one of the big houses the people will be there.”

He sees one.

“Ooh, go there.”

“Okay, bud.”

I go in what seems to be a school or meeting house. Some of the yellow-light figures show up and begin talking.

“See? Told ya.”

“Yeah, you were right.”

Back outside.

“Are you sure you can’t take those cars?”

“Yeah, bud.”

“It would be cool if you could take that car.”

I can’t disagree.

“Can I play ‘Splatoon” now?”

“Sure, pal.”

Video game logic and kid logic together are a wonderful thing.

Jumping the Gun: The Problem with Video Game Previews

Posted on August 13, 2015 by jaws13

This week, Kotaku posted some reactions to what they saw of “Quantum Break” and called it “rubbish”. My XBox related Facebook group lit up with frustrated fans claiming Sony bias, saying the game looks amazing, etc., etc. Meanwhile, a number of sites have extolled the virtues of XBox’s cloud-based processing in “Crackdown 3” as something that “PS4 can’t do”. To listen to some, the console war had clearly just ended. Hand out the trophies and the champagne. Somewhat lost in all of the noise is the fact that one of those games comes out in April of next year. April. As in eight months away. The other is vaguely slated for “summer” of next year. And don’t even get me started on IGN’s “First” treatment of “Scalebound” this month, a game that is over a year away at absolute best.

There’s something a bit odd about a preview of a game that may not even be the actual game that releases, and often times it seems counterproductive long-term. “Watch Dogs” was, in my opinion, a fun, solid game. It just wasn’t the game that the hype seemed to promise. Ditto “Rage” and “Assassin’s Creed 3” (or “Unity” for that matter), Other games like “The Order: 1886” seemed doomed before they started. Then there’s the charges of graphical downgrades (see: “Watch Dogs”, “Dark Souls 2”, etc.) which are hard to avoid when every single screenshot goes under the fanboy microscope. Even this year’s previews of “Quantum Break” acknowledged that it’s a very different game (including the entire cast!) than what was first shown quite some time ago.

I truly don’t blame the websites and journalists. This is news and they have a job to do. All they can do is cover the games honestly based on what they know at present and create stories that drive traffic. I also don’t blame gamers. We’re an excitable lot. It’s one of our best qualities and the one that motivates us to consume every single shred of information about the games we love. I also suppose I can’t truly blame the developers and publishers. They have shareholders to excite and budgets to pass and other financial concerns that I don’t pretend to understand (not to mention ideally putting out the best product that they can under limited time constraints). But at the convergence between the three, we have a system that seems broken in any way that isn’t geared towards a cynical cash/attention grab.

Take “No Man’s Sky” for instance. Is there any major gaming site that has not drooled obsessively over that game for the better part of the last year? There’s plenty of reason to do so, as the game looks fantastic both visually and conceptually. But when you get down to what the game actually is, there still seem to be more questions than answers. Is the universe actually fun to explore? Is there sufficient diversity planet to planet? Is the combat any fun? Does it feel repetitive or lonely after a while? Does the game’s economy actually reward exploration and collection? What’s the endgame look like? And, of course, when is it coming out? Maybe this year…maybe next. Who knows? So what you are left with is a hype machine running at full speed for a game that could be a galactic version of “Minecraft” or a big polished box with nothing substantial inside. And, like gamers everywhere, I’m lining up to open that box with the full awareness that I could be colossally disappointed. Is that really a good thing?

And how about that “Crackdown 3” and the fully destructible city? Power of the cloud FTW!! The initial cheering was more than sufficient to drown out some very good questions from devs at Naughty Dog and elsewhere about the long-term potential of an “always online” game, the news that internet providers could choke the processing power, the fact that all the destructibility was 100% in multiplayer and the fact that the summer release window might only be for a beta or a limited multiplayer release. Does that mean this is all hand-waving and smoke and mirrors? Not at all, but it does mean that maybe we should wait a bit more before we pronounce this the true next-gen of next-gen experiences.

Think back to E3 and Gamescom and count up the number of games that have concrete release dates (or as “concrete” as such things can be). How many do you have? There are the 2015 games, or course – “Halo”, “Fallout 4”, “Battlefront” and the like – but drift to 2016 and you find nothing but fog. There’s “Uncharted 4” and “Quantum Break” but what else? Some at least gave windows but many were just the catch-all “sometime next year”. So how many months of stories and gameplay videos and interviews and podcast discussions and fanboy debates does that add up to by the time the fog clears? And when it does, what are the chances that what emerges looks anything like the image we’ve all built up in our minds? Or, more to the point, the image that’s been intentionally put there by publishers, developers and news sites? Already “Quantum Break” is being set up by some to be the next “The Order: 1886”. Why? What if it’s the next “Infamous” or “Max Payne”? “Scalebound”‘s protagonist already has many swearing off the game because he seems like an spoiled brat teen, but what if that’s just the beginning of a significant character arc that sees him grow up over the course of 15-20 hours? And let’s not even start on “The Last Guardian”. I’m not even sure if Sony knows what that game will be. The nasty flip side of this particular coin is that the longer the discussion drags on with nothing definitive in sight, the more the pressure builds to actually deliver the game at some now firm but arbitrary date, leading to crunch conditions for the creators, possible cutbacks in features, and an even more desperate scramble to control the mind-share by any means necessary.

There may be no way to stop it. The hype train will continue to build momentum until it crushes everything in its path. In an ideal world, gamers would temper expectations to realistic levels, developers and publishers would wait until a game is nearly finished before showing it off (once again, see “Fallout 4”), and journalists would have something much more concrete to write and talk about. But that is not the world we live in. So the discussion will continue to rise to hyperbolic levels – one way or the other – and the hype train will all too often drop us off in Disappointment Town with occasional stops in The Land of Pleasant Surprises. And we as gamers will continue to punch our tickets not actually knowing which one is our final destination.

The Mid-Summer Gaming Drought

Posted on August 12, 2015 by jaws13

Let’s call it the “Go outside and play” syndrome.

For whatever reason, the summer months have always been a dry period for video games. Sometimes there’s a big game around E3 (“Arkham Knight” this year), there are the occasional secret gems that come out of nowhere and there are surely a lot of smaller digital titles that become the focus of PSN or XBox Live, but for the most part it’s a barren landscape. There’s almost a stigma to being a “summer game”. “”Until Dawn” is being released in the summer? Hmph, how good could it really be then.”

How did this start and why does it still happen? Part of it is surely the shoehorning of all available AAA blockbusters into whatever Fall week hasn’t already been taken in preparation for the Black Friday/Christmas apocalypse. Part of it may in fact be the notion that gamers are mostly camped in front of their favorite black boxes when it is cold and dark, not bright and sunny (though I think this fundamentally misunderstands our addiction…I mean, “hobby”). I think looking at entertainment in a wider sense, however, sheds some light on the motivations here.

While TV and gaming have always been sparse in summer time, movies seem to be becoming more so as well. “What?” you say. “What about “Avengers”?” Sure, and then what? “Hey, Jurassic World”!!! Absolutely, but let’s be honest – did anyone expect it to be quite THAT big? And other than those two, what were the really BIG films so far this year, the ones that everyone just had to see on the big screen? The most highly regarded movies were probably “Mad Max: Fury Road” which had moderate success and “Inside Out” which did very well…but not as well as the much inferior “Minions” if I recall. After that, it was a hodgepodge of impossible missions and ant-men and rom-coms and so on. Meanwhile, let’s talk Fall/Holiday, shall we?

“Mocking-Jay Part 2”

“Spectre”

“Star Wars”

And, of course, the usual Oscar bait.

What used to be multiple popcorn flicks battling it out for summer supremacy every single week of June and July has more recently thinned with many of the sure-fire winners shifting to the fall and winter. Not just “Best Picture” nominees, but big-boom, eye-searing, pulse-pounding blockbusters – the kind that used to be pigeonholed into Memorial Day and Fourth of July. Instead of a nicely spaced out calendar, we have a month long glut and then nothing until the two month glut that comes later in the year. Unfortunately, whether it’s games, film or television, this always leads to winners and losers, a real version of “The Hunger Games” where otherwise quality work goes to die because it can’t compete with some juggernaut like “Star Wars” or “Fallout 4”.

Is there a common thread or two here?

I suspect that the reasons for this are multiple. First, I think there’s the obvious pull of holiday money. Everyone is already spending, so why not attract some of those dollars your way? Second, I think there’s a perception issue, a certain level of seriousness and confidence that is projected when creative people send their work out to compete with other major releases. Surely, only real gladiators enter the ring to do battle, right? This, interestingly, could have a snowball effect. As more and more make the move, it could tempt others to do the same, but there must be some saturation point. Third, it’s hard to overlook those end of year awards, whether it’s the Oscars or the Game of the Year. It would be great if those decisions were made in a completely unbiased way, but very often the game/movie/show that someone was impacted by most recently looms largest. I know it often does for me, and while critics are more professional and experienced than I am, they’re still human. Will I still think “Bloodborne” is my game of the year when I’ve just finished “Fallout 4” or “Halo 5” or “Battlefront”? We’ll see.

Personally I’m not complaining right now as the drought has given me ample time to attack my backlog – in just the last month or so I’ve finished “Ori and the Blind Forest”, “Sunset Overdrive” and “Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare”‘s campaign, and also had time to return to “The Witcher” and finally try out “Titanfall”. Not too shabby. But that’s my situation for the next few months as well until “Halo 5” releases in October, and other gamers are likely already twiddling their thumbs waiting for something new to drop. The real shame is all the great work that gets missed once the massive pileup finally does begin. The most often cited example right now is “Rise of the Tomb Raider”. However great that game turns out to be, can it survive releasing mere days after “Black Ops 3”, the exact same day as “Fallout 4”, and only one week before “Star Wars: Battlefront”? How about Nintendo’s big holiday release”Starfox”? Or “Just Cause 3”? And even if those games get delayed, do they really want to chance going up against the probable releases of “Uncharted 4” or “Dark Souls 3” or whatever else is lurking in the spring? What’s the answer then?

I think the answer is for some of these games to plant their flags in the weak spots on the calendar, such as summer. It worked for “Dying Light” this year in the spring. It’s probably easier said than done as release dates are all too fluid. Maybe it also creates a perception/awareness issue, but that’s for your marketing department to solve. Maybe the game is not remembered as well at the end of the year. Again, marketing or perhaps word of a “game of the year” edition incoming. It’s a chance, for sure, but isn’t that better than a great game being drowned by a sea of other great games?

Perhaps I’m being too cynical. Maybe each team and publisher truly thinks that their game is a champion, the one to rise above the noise and stand out as something truly special. Maybe it’s optimism more than anything else that reigns supreme. That’s admirable and I hope it works out for them. But I can’t help thinking that sometimes the best way to win the fight is still to avoid it completely.

Microsoft Gamescom Conference Reactions

Posted on August 5, 2015 by jaws13

So the Microsoft press conference is in the books and I’ve had plenty of time to digest everything they presented. How did I think they did? Overall, very well as expected – some major highs, some minor missed opportunities. Here are my thoughts on the announcements that left the biggest impressions on me.

– Right out of the gate, Phil Spencer puts the focus on first party lineup stretching into 2016 as promised. Very smart. The unfortunate downside of Microsoft reversing many of the unpopular features of the XBox One is that the system is now less easy to distinguish from the Playstation 4. Add to that the ongoing perception that the PS4 is more powerful and you need something compelling to set the XBox One apart. As many have said, it’s all about the games. Spencer clearly knows that.

– I said before the conference that “Quantum Break” needed to blow me away. I’m not sure I’m quite there, but this was nearly everything I was hoping for. The gameplay looks like a mix of “Max Payne” and “Infamous” – a winning combination in my book – though I am surprised that the game is as much of a shooter as this showed. I’m still unclear on how the television show works with the game. Is it in-game cutscenes? Something accessed from the menu? Can we manipulate it at all? Or is it something almost completely separate? Whatever the case may be, both the gameplay and the live-action preview were enough to get both me and my wife (mostly a non-gamer) wanting to see more (having Game of Thrones’s Littlefinger (Aiden Gillen) in it sure didn’t hurt). The one disappointment is the April release date, as I was hoping for something a bit sooner. Still, as long as they hit this date, it’s a must-play game for me. Any more delays, however, and the red flags start to rise again.

– I didn’t play the first two “Crackdown” games and while I like the look of the game and I certainly understand the appeal, I”m reserving judgement on this one. It needs to show me that it’s something more than just another “blow everything up” simulator. It was interesting, however, to get a small glimpse of the original vision for the XBox One when, during the multiplayer reveal, they discussed the “100% destructible environments” thanks to the cloud-processing power of the system. I’m still not sure exactly what this means or if it truly offers something dramatically different, but it was an interesting side-note.

– There’s nothing quite like a Platinum game, is there? “Scalebound” has all the stilted, cheesy dialogue and absurd sense of style that’s been on display in games like “Bayonetta” and “Vanquish”. And just when I think the game might be too “cool” for its own good, the action starts and I want to have a controller in my hands. This is probably the game I am most divided on from the conference. I do not love the main character at this point, but I wasn’t sure about Bayonetta as a character at first either and I found her to be much more charming and interesting once I played the game (though most of her supporting cast is another story entirely). The world itself looks pretty but fairly empty and I wonder if there’s enough to bridge between the action set-pieces. As far as the dragon, is he just a constant companion or is he part of the gameplay that I can control? And the promise of 4-player co-op sounds cool, but all we see here is a trailer with some trash talk from the main character about having to take the entire group on. The game could be amazing or an utter disaster and I wouldn’t be surprised either way. The fact that it won’t be coming until holiday 2016 means we’ll have to wait quite some time (and hear more about it at next year’s conferences too) before we get that answer.

– On the hardware side, I’m intrigued by the DVR functionality. As a new XBox One owner and someone who is looking to cut cable, this is something I need to learn more about. Could be an awesome feature for those who can use it.

– I understand that backwards compatibility is not a major deal for many, but for me it’s been a game-changer. When I traded my 360, I put a lot of trust in Microsoft to deliver on this promise and so far, so good. Between the inclusion of first party titles, all future Games with Gold titles, and the developers shown on-screen as being onboard, it looks like this might actually bring the majority of the 360 library forward to new-gen. Having said that, there were some notable absences (like Activision) and the cash-cow of remastered games still casts a big shadow. We’ll see come November. Fingers tightly crossed.

– Good to see “Bloodstained” and “Yooka-Laylee” getting some love during the ID@XBox portion, as well as a new adventure game from Ron Gilbert. Looks like old-school gaming isn’t dead yet!

– Wow, how much does “We Happy Few” look like “Bioshock” in all the right ways? Creepy and atmospheric. Can’t wait for that one in the Preview program. Ditto “Ark: Survival Evolved”. Nice showing for both games.

– “Dark Souls 3”. Dear god, that trailer! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3B4egZ6UwI) This was possibly the highlight of the conference for me, and that’s coming from someone who only finished one game in the lineage (“Bloodborne”). The trailer showed a game that could fulfill my every wish. Combat that was faster and more fluid. Updated visuals. Crazy, otherworldly creature and world design. I asked for the unholy marriage of “Bloodborne” and “Souls” and it looks like I might just get it.

– “Homefront: The Revolution” looks like a competent shooter – no more, no less. But living outside of Philadelphia my whole life has me wanting to play it just to see how they use the city. Move over, New York, LA, Chicago, etc.! It’s our turn!

– Very, very disappointed in the “Halo 5” segment. I get that multiplayer is a big deal for fans of the series, but if I wanted to watch ten minutes of E-sports, I’d just go do that. Where is the campaign??? Hello? Anyone??

– Just like “Far Cry 4” was an update of “Far Cry 3”, “Just Cause 3” looks like “Just Cause 2”. That’s not a bad thing since so many people loved the game. The game never grabbed me the same way. Looks fun, but probably a pass for me, and I question how well this game stands up in a crowded fall/winter season.

– While I’m not a soccer…excuse me, “football” fan, the benefits of “Fifa” on XBox and EA Access seem like they would be huge for those who are. This is especially important as Microsoft is trying to stage a comeback in Europe and other parts of the world.

– Does Crystal Dynamics have a direct line to Naughty Dog? The ongoing mimicry between “Uncharted” and “Tomb Raider” continues (first one way and then the other) but now Lara’s creeping around and throwing bottles like Joel from “The Last of Us”! Again, not a bad thing – all games derive from others – but if you’re going to resemble two of the best games in recent years, you’d better nail it. I also question whether Lara’s character development will mesh with the hand to hand brutality on display here. Admittedly, both Lara and Nate have killed more people than the plague, but there’s a distance to the violence when they’re shooting at people from afar. Getting up close with sticks and stones is a different feel entirely. I never questioned that Joel and Ellie were capable of such things – it was a requirement for the world they lived in – but buying into Lara as a stone-cold killer may take some getting used to. I’m replaying the first “Tomb Raider” right now so perhaps I’ll feel differently as my memory is refreshed. Still, if they can make these elements work, everything else on display here looks awesome. And it will have to be if it’s going to stick to the same release date as “Fallout 3”.

– Never played “Halo Wars”. Happy for everyone who did that they’re getting “Halo Wars 2”. Nice announcement.

So my pre-conference wish-list wasn’t quite filled, but it was pretty close. I would have liked to see “Recore” and “Cuphead” back on stage, there wasn’t anything imminent announced (other than the mention that “Beyond Eyes” was available), and some of the release dates are a bit far off for my tastes, but other than that Microsoft delivered as expected. They’re clearly in a much different place with Phil Spencer in charge and they are laser-focused on games and gamers. We’ll see how Sony responds in the weeks and months ahead but I feel that giving Microsoft ownership of the spotlight may have been at least a minor misstep. Sony’s next big conference isn’t until Paris Games Week at the end of October. That’s a long time off and placed right in the thick of “Halo 5”, “Forza 6” and “Rise of the Tomb Raider”. I suspect they’ll have their own announcements to recapture the attention, but hopefully they haven’t waited too long to respond. Either way, there’s no longer a question that “next-gen” is in full swing and gamers everywhere couldn’t be happier.

Gamescom 2015: Microsoft Flying Solo

Posted on August 4, 2015 by jaws13

In a little over an hour, Microsoft will begin their Gamescom conference. It promises to be an intriguing event especially since Sony will be mostly absent from this year’s Gamescom. We already know some things that will be shown – a re-reveal of sorts for “Quantum Break” and “Scalebound”, a release date for “Quantum Break”, more gameplay from “Halo 5” and “Rise of the Tomb Raider” – but I suspect (and am hoping for) something much bigger from Phil Spencer and company. Perhaps I shouldn’t set expectations too high, but given the strides they’ve made to close the gap with Sony this past year, it’s hard to believe that they’ll let an opportunity like this slip by. With all the focus on them and no counterpoint from their competition, I have to think there’s a few rabbits ready to be pulled from the XBox hat. Here’s my personal wishlist:

– More gameplay from “Halo 5” and “Rise of the Tomb Raider” that distinguishes the titles a bit from their predecessors. What we saw at E3 looked solid, but a bit too much “more of the same” to truly excite me. I understand that “you don’t fix it if it ain’t broken”, but in a crowded fall gaming landscape I think both titles need more to stand out.

– I’m really hoping to be blown away by “Quantum Break”. I really enjoyed “Alan Wake” and “Max Payne” so there’s no question for me that Remedy can do something special. But if I’m not planning to preorder by the end of the conference, I’m going to feel a bit disappointed. And, while we’re at it, PLEASE don’t promise a release date and deliver one that’s a year away. This needs to be before March 2016 or it’s just a gigantic tease.

– I’d like to see more from some upcoming indie darlings, especially “Cuphead” and “Below”. This is one area where Sony still routinely trumps Microsoft, despite recent progress on their part. I want to see something on the level of “Ori and the Blind Forest” and I don’t want it to be part of a sizzle reel or a vague trailer. I want concrete gameplay details and preferably a release date.

– And since I’ve mentioned release dates a few times already, let me just make a general appeal to avoid as often as possible revealing games that have almost zero chance of showing up in the next year. I know this is normal for these conferences, I know it’s necessary to excite stockholders and fans, but I’m very tired this practice. I don’t want to see the same games re-revealed at next year’s Gamescom. Give me reason to be excited now.

– I’d like to know what the hell “Recore” actually is. I know it has a girl and an orb that can be used to power up a robot dog. Adorable. And I know that Keijji Inafune is involved in some way. And…that’s about it. Seems odd for a game that is supposedly coming in early 2016.

– I want more specifics on backward compatibility. How many publishers are onboard? How soon will the feature rollout? Has the number of initial games available changed at all? This announcement helped many people, including me, trade our 360s for XBox Ones. Reward us with some good news.

– I’m hoping for the “and it’s available right now” announcement in some way. A big sale, a new game, a new feature on the console, a bonus game being added to EA Access or Games with Gold…something.

– Given that “Dark Souls 3” showed up at Microsoft’s E3 conference, I’m hoping to see more today. After finishing “Bloodborne”, I’d like to revisit From’s universe of punishment. I’ve considered picking “Dark Souls 2” back up, but it feels a bit like a backward step. I would love to see a game that marries the fluidity of “Bloodborne” with the more medieval combat of the “Souls” series, and I’d love to hear that it’s coming in the first few months of 2016.

– And, of course, new IPs are always nice. Given Spencer’s recent statements about his focus on first-party lineup rather than third-party exclusives, I expect that he’s hinting at something new. This is one area where MIcrosoft can go toe to toe with Sony, especially at a time when Sony’s exclusives seem far off. If Microsoft can reinforce what they have “now”, what they have “soon” and what they have in “the future” – especially if it is something we haven’t already heard about – they will put substantial pressure on Sony and go a long way toward winning the holiday in terms of new console sales.

And that’s about it for now. Anything else is gravy. Phil Spencer has been mostly knocking them out of the park so far and I expect that streak to continue today. I think it will be an exciting day to be a gamer and an XBox fan. We’ll see how right I am in just a little over an hour now.

The Finish Line: A Long Day’s Journey Into “Arkham Knight”

Posted on July 31, 2015 by jaws13

SPOILER WARNING: I will be discussing my time with “Batman: Arkham Knight” in this post and cannot do so without getting into some spoilers. PLEASE do not read if you have not finished the game. And now…onward!

“Batman: Arkham Knight” is an exceptional game with a handful of unexceptional elements. It will no doubt be on many “Game of the Year” lists by the end of 2015 and it should be. It’s visually stunning and sounds amazing, the story and voice acting are top-notch, and the action continues to put other games in its genre to shame. If you want to be Batman, this is as close as you can get. It may be my favorite game in the series (though all three games are excellent and it’s very close) and it produced some of my favorite gaming moments so far this year. But it also produced some of the most frustrating and head-scratchingly confounding ones too.

Don’t get me wrong: I love this game. It’s probably because I love the game as much as I do that its flaws seem so glaring by comparison. And it’s those elements that place it just shy of a legitimate Game of the Year contender for me.

“Arkham Knight” certainly comes rumbling out of the gate. With the Joker dead, Gotham has been enjoying a rare sliver of tranquility until Scarecrow releases a fear toxin and all hell breaks loose as the populace begins tearing each other to shreds in their panic. Promising that this was only a small taste, Scarecrow plans to weaponize the gas and blanket all of Gotham. The fate of the city has rarely seemed so dire as it does here and soon Gotham is a ghost town left only to the criminals and the skeleton crew of decent people trying to stand against them. And, of course, there’s one man who stands taller than all the others.

As is typical with the series, the early going is a combination of story introduction and game tutorial, and even veterans may find their fingers in need of a refresher to all of Batman’s tools, attacks and counters. Just when I began to feel that the game was meandering and starting to tread on too much familiar ground, Batman tracks Scarecrow down and the story takes two sharp and very, very important turns – one of which is easily one of my favorite plot twists in recent memory.

The first is the introduction of the Arkham Knight. As soon as the Knight is introduced, two things become clear: he has quite the military arsenal at his disposal and he is hellbent on using it to kill Batman for some past transgression. Much of the game is spent trying to uncover the Knight’s identity and insisting that he is a major threat. Unfortunately for me, I never completely bought into either thread. Other than a handful of times, the Knight is never disconnected from his militia or his advanced weaponry and, while this might not make him different from other villains or even Batman himself in some ways, he all too often seems like a petulant boy with lots of very, very big toys rather than a force in his own right. Even when Batman and the Knight are brought into direct confrontation, it’s generally vehicular combat rather than a battle of wits or fighting skill. Also, the fact that he is obviously taking orders from Scarecrow positions him more as a very powerful henchman than a truly menacing villain. As to his mysterious identity, I had a pretty good idea of who he was earlier than I probably should have and, while I’m sure others will be surprised, the grand reveal left me feeling a bit flat. It’s not that the character is bad by any means – I actually found his story generally compelling and the character design is sleek and sci-fi cool – but there’s unrealized potential for what is supposed to be a central figure.

The second twist occurs when Batman inhales a nearly lethal dose of Scarecrow’s fear toxin in his last-second attempt to keep it from releasing into the city. He returns from death’s door to find he has been revived by the Joker. Except the Joker is dead, right? In the first scene of the game, we as the player literally pressed the button to cremate his corpse. Unfortunately, it seems the Joker lives on in one particular place: the shadowy corners of Bruce Wayne’s already tortured psyche.

There are not enough superlatives to throw at the writers and Mark Hamill’s voice acting here. It’s not hyperbole to say that this this particular story and the interactions between Batman and his arch-nemesis here may be some of the best ever crafted for the two. Anyone wondering if “Arkham Knight” would suffer without a living Joker can put those fears to rest. The Joker that exists in Batman’s mind is as dangerous as ever, perhaps more so. I won’t get into the details as to why exactly he is there – honestly, that particular explanation is a bit silly – but it almost doesn’t matter and it’s fitting that the two are still handcuffed to each other even postmortem. Throughout the game, Joker becomes the devil on Batman’s shoulder, the id buried deep in Bruce Wayne that wants to really terrify and punish his adversaries, perhaps permanently. Underneath the madness, there’s an undeniable and persuasive logic to much of the Joker’s commentary. He’s also – dare I say it – pretty funny. I’m not sure what that says about Batman…or me for that matter. Seeing Batman literally haunted in this way and understanding that for once the torture is actually self-inflicted makes this a truly gripping character study. It’s the single biggest reason to experience the game and worth a playthrough just for the stunning caliber of the work by all involved. Bravo to everyone involved.

As for the rest of the game, the core elements of the series are as solid as ever. The free-flow of combat is the same brutal ballet it has always been. I don’t recall as many “Predator” encounters in this game as in previous ones – most situations didn’t seem to punish the player very strongly for choosing combat over stealth. Detective work is still a mixed bag mostly involving a few subplots where clues must be sought out or criminals followed to locations of interest. Side missions are intriguing short stories featuring some of Batman’s old foes or missions to bring down the militia – most are outstanding, some wear out their welcome a bit by the time they are completed. Essentially, everything you loved about the other Arkham games (or didn’t love) is still here, just more refined than ever. Between these mechanics, the production values and the stellar writing and voice acting it’s almost enough to push “Arkham Knight” into my top choices for Game of the Year. Almost.

First, let’s deal with the much debated Batmobile/Bat-tank. For me, there are two versions of this vehicle – the one that exists through most of the game and the one that is forced on me in the end game. I actually enjoyed both the Batmobile and its tank form for probably 80% of the game. Chasing Firefly or militia vehicles around town made for a fun, wild ride. Facing off against the drone tanks was entertaining the first eight or nine times. And, if nothing else, driving can be a nice alternative to gliding sometimes. But, by the end of the game, the tread on these particular tires had worn woefully thin. In particular, there are two or three boss battles that inexplicably force you to use the tank against vehicles that are decidedly overpowered by comparison. Oh, and more tanks too. Always more tanks. It’s aggravating both because it’s not particularly fun and because I felt cheated out of much more interesting and more personal encounters with these foes. I wanted to fight them, not their vehicles.

The other infuriating decision is to lock the so-called “true ending” behind a full 100% completion of the game. I don’t know that I’ve ever done so much work in a game only to watch the actual ending on my laptop later. I appreciate that the AR challenges and Riddler trophies are there for those who simply can’t get enough Batman. For better or worse, open-world games will forever have their maps dotted with numerous activities, challenges and collectables and there will always be compulsive hundred-percenters to gobble them up. But I cannot recall another game that forced a player to complete these things simply to see a rightful conclusion to their game. I know some will feel this is a just reward for full commitment to a game. That’s fine, but then at least make the pursuit of these things more interesting. Am I really supposed to enjoy first finding 250+ Riddler trophies, then traveling all over the map to get to them, then jumping through numerous hoops – races, timing puzzles, logic puzzles, image searches – to solve and collect them? And if I don’t enjoy it, I’m now punished as a player despite the fact that I’ve taken the time to finish every other thing in the game? Add to this the completely implausible idea that the best idea the Riddler could conjure to defeat Batman was a glorified scavenger hunt and you have something that is only there because it’s “supposed” to be, not because it adds something unique to the game. Instead of a game with a fantastic climax, it creates a game that will always feel unfinished for me.

(By way of contrast, I also recently finished “Sunset Overdrive” – more on that in another post – and it is a game that gets collectibles right. They’re easy to find, fun to obtain and, most importantly, non-essential to experiencing the game fully.)

Again, these may be minor quibbles with an otherwise outstanding game, but their inclusion – especially their prominence at the end of the game – slightly tarnished the experience for me. Still, I whole-heartedly recommend “Arkham Knight” to any gamer, Batman fan or not. The strengths far outweigh its weaknesses and, compared with the elongated grinds of “Bloodborne” and “The Witcher”, there’s something to be said for just hopping in and beating up some bad guys for a number of hours. Even with some flaws, “Arkham Knight” is still at or close to the pinnacle of the series and that’s truly saying something. If this is Batman’s video-game swan song, the Dark Knight definitely went out swinging.

Video Game Spring Cleaning (Summer Edition)

Posted on July 16, 2015 by jaws13

Well, that escalated quickly…

After promising myself to manage my backlog – and, by extension, my wallet and time – I find myself again sinking in the great swamp that is “too many games, too little time”. As I’ve spoken about before on the blog, my gaming opportunities can be especially limited not just by children, but by children who also want to play games (not to mention watch the eighteenth episode in a row of Scooby-Doo or My Little Pony). It’s also summer time. As a teacher, this means that in theory I have more gaming time. Unfortunately, so do they. Ah, the best laid plans.

The one upside is that the next big batch of must-play games doesn’t release for some time yet, so the plan over the next few months is to clean up the backlog, eliminate the non-essentials and generally make the most of the time I have without diminishing the most important reason for gaming: having fun.

So, here’s my plan, fellow gamers:

1) My current priorities are clearing out some shorter games. This means putting “The Witcher: Wild Hunt” aside on a very temporary basis. This isn’t about any decreased enthusiasm for the game; on the contrary, it’s because I love the game that I want to eliminate all other distractions so that I can fully invest in it. To that end, I’m finishing the last few missions of “Arkham Knight” and quickly playing through “Ori and the Blind Forest” and “Sunset Overdrive” before diving back in with Geralt of Rivia. Time permitting, I may finally plow through the single player campaign of “Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare” as well (remember what I said about “best laid plans”).

2) I’m going to always have a “the kids are still awake” game ready to go so that I can make progress when they around but not needing me (or the TV) at that moment. Right now, that’s “Ori” and some very careful bursts of “Arkham Knight” (yes, I know it’s M rated, but I know the Batman games well enough to avoid very sensitive content). On the other hand, once the kids are in bed, those games must go away so I can make progress on more adult-oriented titles.

3) I’m going to reserve casual, non-story driven games for when time is limited. This includes games like “Rocket League” or “Splatoon”. When I have more time, I need to make progress in games that can be traditionally “finished”. Not a strict rule – I’m still going to play whatever will bring me the most enjoyment – but if I’m on my tenth match of “Rocket League”, I can’t complain that I didn’t get anywhere in “Arkham” that day.

4) I’m going to ignore the monthly PS Plus/XBox Live games as well as games on sale unless they are something that is an essential experience or a never-to-be-seen-again deal. This is going to take some discipline for me. “Far Cry 4” was a ridiculous $16 at Best Buy last week and I passed because I just don’t have the time. I wanted to get into EA Access to play “Titanfall”, but it will have to wait until I’ve finished some other things. And with respect to games like “Entwined” or “Styx: Master of Shadows” or whatever, they can sit in my library for now. Or forever.

5) I’m not going to feel obliged to unpack every last bit of video game baggage. This is all the extra content besides the core game, the need to 100% a map, the chasing of random trophies/achievements, etc. If it’s fun, great, but if it’s a choice between doing something just because it’s there or moving on to something new and more enjoyable, onward we go. I’m looking at you, “Witcher” question marks. And don’t even get me started on you, Riddler Trophies.

6) I’m also saying goodbye to a number of games that I continue to believe I will play/finish but have demonstrated no evidence of actually doing so. They’ll be sold or traded in, or relegated to the backs of drawers, cardboard boxes or whatever digital graveyard deleted games go to – temporarily if not permanently forgotten. So, goodbye “Murasaki Baby” and “Freedom Wars” on Vita – you were interesting but your control schemes leave me too frustrated to continue. See you later, “Max: The Curse of Brotherhood” and “Super Time Force Ultra” on XBox One – you’re both intriguing enough to play at some point, but right now I like “Ori” better. “The Wonderful 101” and “Pikmin 3”, it’s not you, it’s me. Believe me, my intentions were good but we just don’t work right now. And last gen games? I bid you adieu. There are some like “Far Cry 3” and “Catherine” that I’d very much like to return to at some point, but for now the new, shiny experiences are just more exciting.

I’ll keep everyone posted on how things go. The best laid plans, right?

Old-School Kid Stuff

The random ramblings of a 38-year old kid

Author: jaws13