While at one point I considered myself a dedicated gamer, a lack of time has pulled me from the medium. For the past five years I average the completion of one game a year. As a dedication to the remnants of my hobby, each game completion will earn its own review.
Wake up to the Wind
SPOILER ALERT – This article includes references to the ending sequences of the game.
Wake up to an adventure that seems unsure of who is actually in control. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker suffers because the user’s interaction with the game is never consistent. There is a frequent conflict between the free-roaming nature of prior Zelda titles, and the controlling, child-proof, scripted adventure presented by the game’s designers.
Long before Grand Theft Auto established open world gaming as a headline grabber, Shigeru Miyamoto, The Legend of Zelda’s creator, released the original The Legend of Zelda as an open world sandbox game, where players could travel the entire landscape, enter any dungeon, and play through its adventures in almost any order the gamer wanted. As the franchise evolved, The Legend of Zelda series rewarded the gamer for creativity. Dungeons increasingly relied on mind-bending puzzles for completion. Players walking off the beaten path were rewarded with additional heart containers that increased the damage they could take in combat. Even computer controlled characters started to beg for Link to travel on his free will to other lands to help deliver goods to other characters.
Sailing in The Wind Waker
Unfortunately, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker forces the gamer into a controlled experience. While older games rewarded exploring players with lush geography, mysterious woods, canyons, reflective lakes, and even bridge underpasses, The Wind Waker rewards gamers with… more water. Travelling The Wind Waker’s landscape is like looking out the window while flying over the Atlantic Ocean. While British Airways planes may not face an occasional shark attack, the experience is largely the same. Gamers who want to travel and explore are kept company with nothing but animated waves and the occasional rain shower. The talking boat that Link pilots is constantly reminding him of his next scripted task, and many of the hidden islands only become useful when a certain item is equipped by Link, or to put it more appropriately, when the game’s designers want you to take advantage of the hidden islands. It’s their story, not yours.
It says something that in the game’s final sequence, Link doesn’t even have a chance to stop the franchise’s lead villain, Gannon, from collecting a magical, game-ending Triforce. Instead, the child-aged Link is slammed to the ground by the taller, older Gannon, and left to lie on concrete while Gannon unites the three magical triforces to complete his plot to punish the world. As the arch enemy chants a spell, an older, white-bearded King of Hyrule appears out of nowhere, grabs the Triforce, and saves the day. He may have a half hour of camera time in human form in the entire thirty-hour game (throughout most of the game he existed as Link’s sail boat), but this old man plays the deus ex machina and ends up being the one who saves the world. After the game permits Link to finally fight Gannon, the old man wishes nothing more than “hope” for the future for the Link and Zelda’s own lives.
Epic Cinematography During Sword Fights
Despite its limitations, The Wind Waker does excel at presenting the trademark aspects of the Zelda experience. The risky artistic design of the game presents cartoonist images that mirror the older, more famous Zelda game, A Link to the Past. The cell-shaded art style represents what the 2-D A Link to the Past would look like if one could pull the camera down to the ground for a 3-D view. Throughout the game are subtle inclusions of previous franchise songs, characters, and gameplay homages. Traditional weapons such as the boomerang, crossbow, and sword are brought to new life with additional control options. New weapons, such as a wind-propelling leaf, spark creativity in the gamer towards exploring new ways to explore the adventure.
For aging gamers lured by other next-generation experiences, The Wind Waker does everything right to make one believe that Link, the game’s hero, is the true Gaming Hero. While playing the game, it becomes evident that few videogame heroes have the history, grace, or creativity of Link’s adventures. Through cleverly leveraging prior titles through the game’s storyline, and adding emotional impact through cell-shaded art, Link’s Wind Waker adventure plays out as a unique and imitation free tale.
Gliding Through the Wind with a Giant Leaf
Yet for all of the franchise celebration, in the game’s concluding moments, Link is knocked to the ground by Gannon, while a computer controlled old man saves the day. In that ending, after the last button is pressed, the harshest reality of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker sets in. The gamer could not control the end of the title. Link may have fought Gannon, but he didn’t save the Triforce.
Perhaps the Wind Waker is a dream you can rarely control.
While at one point I considered myself a dedicated gamer, a lack of time has pulled me from the medium. To celebrate my time with games, I will write a review for each new title completed. My reviews are often years after a game’s official release, but consider this a benefit: the extra time allows a game’s content to be digested and allows the review to be free of any marketing hype.
What makes one smarter: the age of your brain or your brain’s weight? While scientists can argue over the superior, gamers can test it out themselves, by playing either Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day or Big Brain Academy, two original Nintendo DS titles created by Nintendo to keep the minds of the elderly sharp.
Both games are full of short mini-games, where the player challenges their mind with questions and activities that test one’s knowledge in math, vocabulary, logic and other areas straight out of school. Rather than mimicking the Q&A section of a school textbook, these brain games present the player with fun gaming experiences, such as counting the number of people who run in and out of a house (Brain Age), or identifying the differences in near-identical cartoon animals (Big Brain Academy). The player’s performance in the minigames is later used to judge the player’s brain’s age (Brain Age) or weight (Big Brain Academy).
Brain Age
The difference in execution between the two titles stands out, with Brain Age beginning with a classy discussion with Dr. Ryuta Kawashima (a famous professor in Japan) and Big Brain Acadamy beginning with a crudely animated worm creature I can only call “Fish Bait.” “Fish Bait” wears a poorly drawn hat for credibility, while Dr. Kawashima wears the glasses of a true intellectual.
The two main characters of each game represent the different design decisions of each title. While Dr. Kawashima, rendered in full 3-D with a variety of expressions, offers players a variety of real-world tips for increasing their intelligence, such as reading street signs while on the train, Big Brain Academy’s “Fish Bait” character repeats the same generic phrases everyday. His text is so derivative it often reads like placeholders that the developers ran out of time to replace. The rushed effort is apparent in Big Brain Academy’s visuals, which are composed of pixel-based over-proportioned animals, and its minigames, which while more varied than Brain Age, are also shorter and less stimulating.
Big Brain Academy
If education takes time, Brain Age wins in a landslide. Most of Brain Age’s quizzes are composed of four minute rounds of deep thought and analysis; Big Brain Academy’s tests are composed of quick five second trigger finger tests. With Big Brain Academy so focused on a player’s reflexes, it’s hard to think of it as a breakthrough in education, rather it’s easier to view it as a same-old reflexes game ala videogames ten years ago, where players were rewarded for hitting the “jump” button at the right time, followed by a timely hit of the “shoot” button. Brain Age should be the weapon of choice for those willing to invest in sharpening their brains; those looking for a less stimulating, but more entertaining, time should give Big Brain Academy a try.
Both Brain Age and Big Brain Academy are packaged with bonus material, including Sudoku and a varied multiplayer mode, respectively. A sequel to Brain Age is also available on Nintendo DS. A revised version of Big Brain Academy is available on the Nintendo Wii.
While at one point I considered myself a dedicated gamer, a lack of time has pulled me from the medium. For the past five years I’ve probably completed one game a year, and to dedicate the remnants of my hobby, I’ll throw up a review with each game completion.
Everyone keeps dying on the player, but it’s almost like they expect it.
As argued by key characters of Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes, if you’re born a fighter, you expect to die on a battlefield. It’s in one’s genes. Fate is written in stone, life is nothing more than a waiting line for destiny.
Behind the military espionage and untrustworthy government officials, Metal Gear Solid is a story depicting the struggles with one’s own genes. Some people are naturally stronger, some naturally have better vision, and some have recessive traits compared to others. Metal Gear Solid questions how much those genes should impact one’s character.
Genes in this case can mean many things. Genes can mean DNA, as shared between the game’s main character, Solid Snake, and his nemesis, Liquid Snake. Or the term can apply to one’s upbringing, such as the battled areas of Russia, or growing up with a murderous brother.
Clearly being born into certain traits affects a character, but the villains in Metal Gear Solid have all thrown in the towel to their already decided fates. When Sniper Wolf, a Russian sniper who obsesses over her subjects until their death, is killed by an opposing sniper rifle, she accepts her death as an escape from her destiny. Holding her rifle with her dying breath, she says she can finally stop killing — not because of her own will, but because her own death forces it.
With death near, Psycho Mantis, a psychic known for torture, asks for his breathing mask to be removed, so that he can finally take in the Earth’s fresh air. By removing his mask, he’s also removing his costume as a villain. Underneath is a frail aging man, lying in his own blood. After a few breaths Mantis dies, having waited too late to take off his mask and form his own destiny.
The heroes in the story are the ones who take control of their paths. Hal Emerich Otacon, the doctor who engineered the nuclear tank Metal Gear, spends his life living in numbers, only to abandon them when he discovers his machine will be used in nuclear war. In one of the game’s endings, Hal sacrifices his life for the team, making a personal decision to stay behind and ensure a safe escape for the player. Hal rewrites his story by choosing to become a hero for the hero.
Both Solid and Liquid Snake share the genes of one of the world’s most feared killers, yet Snake fights for the end of nuclear war, and Liquid strives for world domination. Clearly you’re free to write your own path regardless of your genes.
In the game’s final moments, after the credits and soundtrack complete, the vast space of Alaska is shown as Solid Snake looks at his dogs as he bobsleds through the snow. The voice over says “Live life,” and not a gun, bullet, or blood spot is visible anywhere on the screen.
Metal Gear Solid was first released on the original Playstation in 1998. This review is based off the re-released version for the Nintendo GameCube, which features new character and level models, surround sound, and enhanced gameplay. The revised presentation makes this cinematic game shine. However, the enhanced gameplay features make the game a little easier, such as the new first-person aiming mode which lets users shoot cameras, rather than forcing them to hide from them. The controls also didn’t adopt perfectly to the new platform, so expect some frustrating sneaking missions as your character gets caught due to character movement into unexpected locations.
While at one point I considered myself a dedicated gamer, a lack of time has pulled me from the medium. For the past five years I’ve probably completed one game a year, and to dedicate the remnants of my hobby, I’ll throw up a review with each game completion.
Attacked by bullets while inside and by rain while stepping out windows, Max Payne is assaulted no matter what path he chooses. As a delisted detective now dealing with the mob, corrupt officers, and the death of a loved one, Max has nowhere left to go to escape the constant assaults on his life. Without escape as an option, Max digs dangerously into his world, uncovering fear, attachment, nostalgia, and half-truths that were once staples of classic mystery stories. In dream-like journeys throughout a gotham New York City, he digs deep into a mysterious woman associated to a series of murders, his own mind, and possibly his own sanity, as a television show’s alternate reality Noir York becomes his own.
Narrated through in-game audio cues, whether it’s in-game characters sharing thoughts in their apartments, or sitcom metaphors spewing out of the televisions, the story of Max Payne develops without the minimal usage of drawn-out cut scenes. As an interactive medium, Max Payne 2 excels by dictating the drama through interactive means: side-stories can be ignored by walking away from televisions, supporting characters tell you about their lives only if you choose to walk with them, and Max uses drugs to slow down time and fight like he’s in The Matrix only if you choose.
While many story-based games lose players by their lack of actual gameplay, Max Payne 2 excels through the use of expertly paced and designed shoot-outs with enemy combatants (humorously often dressed in cleaning service outfits). The combat engine is simple, Max can slow down time to aim at enemies with his automated weapons, while enemies surround him from all sides with their guns shouting bullets. The simplistic gameplay succeeds though through the level scenario design. Each shoot-out takes place with the perfect level layout, sometimes enemies will run down stairs as Max hides behind crumbled walls, other times Max will have to slow-motion his body through hallways while avoiding the storming assault of enemies hiding in doorways. While most shooters reward a player’s trigger finger, Max Payne 2 rewards a player’s ability to measure one’s environment for nearby cover and high-threat locations.
The game’s weaknesses lie in the technology. Compared to today’s Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 games, which can depict a player’s personality through animation and subtle facial expressions, Max Payne 2′s characters seem rigid and emotionless. The lack of expressiveness in the characters can sometimes take a toll on the story, which focuses on Max’s challenges with facing a largely personal story. The developers should be given credit for including graphic novel images between levels to push the emotional side of the characters, but between levels is only a small part of the experience, the lack of consistent emotional acting shows that this game may not age well.
Through the game’s final scenes, the player is left with wonder, concern, and curiousity as Max Payne narrates the story’s final moments. When the credits roll, and the player’s mind is left to assemble the final pieces of the story, one might feel genuine sadness in having to put the controller down and put the game back in storage. For a title that’s more story than game, that says a lot.
Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne is available on most platforms. I played through the Xbox version.
While at one point I considered myself a dedicated gamer, a lack of time has pulled me from the medium. For the past five years I’ve probably completed one game a year, and to dedicate the remnants of my hobby, I’ll throw up a review with each game completion.
The title plays as a third-person shooter, but it does so by combining perfect pacing with a constantly pleasing fighting engine that looks and sounds like few other titles.
It’s amazing how few game reviews use the term, “All killer, no filler.†In music, it’s practically a required cut and paste activity for every new trendy band. To please hard-core gamers and their demands of 30-50 hour experiences, most games are filled with tedious item collecting and back tracking. RE4, however, is 10-20 hours of intense, non-stop action, coupled with the scenic views of an area surrounding a small village in Spain. The pacing is like a good rock and roll song – after an intense battle with dozens of zombies, you’ll travel solo through a visually stunning cave, only to arrive outside and have to deal with new and deadlier threats.
The screenshots alone should depict the experience. Every piece of the game is as varied and immersive as the screenshots tell. RE4 is a step up from any title before it and any game designer will have a tough time creating a game so consistently entertaining and so unique for quite some time.
Resident Evil 4 is available on Nintendo GameCube, Playstation 2, and most recently, Wii. I played through the GameCube version but will give the Wii version a try in time.
The Fox Films fanfare played, the searchlights hunted through the crowd, and then the Rocky Getting Stronger theme blared from the sound system.
Waiting in the crowd for the aging Britpop band to make an appearance, I wondered what they would sound like in 2007. Travis began their career with All I Want To Do is Rock, a slow rock stomper that despite its mucky pace can still knock paint off any wall. They followed up with their second album, The Man Who, was Britain’s greatest album that year, bringing the band success and leaving an easy stepping stone for Coldplay the following year. This album was softer, but had more melody and honesty, with songs such as Why Does it Always Rain on Me and Writing to Reach You. Later albums dealt with more adult themes, having kids, losing loved ones, and general insecurities. Would they rock or would they roll on wheel chairs?
When I first saw Travis live, at my first Oasis concert in Radio City, they were unknowns, serving solely as background music for some of the lads waiting in line for beer. Still, they had the songs.
But now, With “Getting Stronger” coming from the sound system, Travis’s intent was clear. They were back after a few years and were ready for New York. The band ran through the crowd in boxing outfits, swinging punches in the air and giving five to fans nearby (myself included with Fran).
The set was strong, and longer than the previous night. Indeed, Fran Healy, the band’s frontman, said he had read online that fans thought the night before was too short, so he through in an extra song or two. The band was also generous with water bottles, throwing anywhere from 40 to 60 bottles into the sweating crowd. The set was full of tracks from The Man Who, all sounding as strong as ever. The new album had some highlights as well, with Selfish Jean being a stand-out track thanks to a live skit by The Daily Show’s Demetri (YouTube video embedded below). Demetri was covered in t-shirts with text related to the song, and managed to take different layers off every few seconds to match the lyrics in the music. Travis’s other albums made guest appearances as well, showing off their best overlooked gems.
The biggest complaint about Travis is their saccharine packed production, but walking out of the show with a smile, I didn’t mind.
Some songs are like packaged goods, containing the same excitement, energy, and youth each time you hear them. On Tuesday night, when the Arctic Monkeys played The View From The Afternoon at Hammerstein Ballroom, the song was as fresh as a newly opened bag of Doritos.
For the first half of the show I was stuck behind a group of nervous teenagers side by side with some balding elders. While the Arctic Monkeys sang about putting on dancing shoes and looking good on a dance floor, the group in front of me stood stagnant, killing the mood like an early last call.
But when The View From The Afternoon erupted, the rest of the crowd went wild, and I hung left around my sleeping neighbours only to be pushed up to the front of the crowd. Suddenly I was in the middle of a bouncing mob, being pushed around and pushing back, as a roar of what can only be described as blokes chanted, “The haze has descended and it don’t make no sense anymore.” When the haze of the song descended and the band played the song’s final notes, the elders were no longer around, and the concert was fresh and exciting again.
While the band was promoting a second album that sounds decent live, the highlight of the night was how fresh the band’s first album still sounded. The Arctic Monkeys entered the music scene with the fastest selling UK debut album of all time. They roared through Europe and became the indie darlings of UK importers here in the States. The young band came fast and what’s incredible is that their songs still pack the same energy years later.
The band drained my energy and I went home for a four hour nap before my trip back into the city. Despite the fatigue, my morning commute was saved by listening to tracks from the debut album on my Zune. I was awake again.
