Up late talking games & writing? You're...

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Games: I'm just wrapping up my review for PSN’s Blue Toad Murder Files, and while I had a pretty good time with it, I could easily imagine the majority of people hating it. It's fair to say that the game is more cutscene than gameplay, and from a critical angle, there’s really not much to praise -- BUT -- I'll be damned if I didn't enjoy going through the first three episodes with my wife. We are fans of quirk, I suppose.

That said, it's actually a pretty expensive offering compared to most of the other titles on Sony's online service, and for a game that offers so little gameplay, the high price is going to be a major sticking point for most. Myself included, really... if the developers not at least five dollars off of the price, I’d have a much easier time recommending it.

Look for the review to go live in a couple of days.


In other games news, I started up Afrika on PS3 just for fun, no review intended.


For those who may not remember (or for those who missed it the first time… the game had ZERO presence) the player takes on the role of a photographer in a relatively unexplored region of Africa. After setting up base camp, requests come in via PC for things like ‘head-on shot of a zebra’ or ‘monkey in a tree’ and so on. At that point, it's up to the player to drive out into the savanna and get the required shots.


It's almost exactly like a terrestrial version of the Wii’s Endless Ocean in that much of the game is simply the experience of being there. Replace whales and angelfish with giraffe and gazelle, and it's basically the same thing. I don't mean that as a negative, though. I had a great time with Endless Ocean, and Afrika had little problem keeping my attention as well. There's no combat and animal attacks only result in the player being sent back to base camp, so everything is very safe and harmless. This will definitely be one I'll share with my older son when he comes to visit for summer.


One last note, I'm expecting more codes for Lost Planet 2 (360/PS3) to give away, and in addition, I'm also going to be running a contest to give out multiple copies of Risen on 360. Keep your eyes peeled here for more information soon, and if you're not already following me on Twitter, I would humbly suggest that you do so... I'll be giving out more information via tweet, and you don't want to miss out, do you?
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Games: Although I wasn't the biggest fan of the original Crackdown, I did see a lot of potential in the title and I've definitely been looking forward to the announced sequel. However, the recently-announced news that there will be no playable female agents was incredibly disappointing to me.

Ruffian developer Billy Thompson was quoted by 1Up.Com as saying:

"In Crackdown, the amount of memory that it was going to take for it to do all the actual animation, the texture sets and the models for the females -- we would've needed to massively reduce other sections of the game," Thomson told 1UP at PAX East this past weekend. "So rather than do two separate models, we cut it back and gave the player as much customization as we could on the male character and that allowed us to use that extra memory to do other things in the game."

Now, I will be the first one to admit that I am not someone well-versed in the technical side of game production, nor have I ever made a game myself. That said, I can't help but find this line more than a little hard to swallow. I mean, let me get this straight-- simply having a female playable character would "massively reduce other sections of the game”? Really? Did they intend millions of polygons to go into breast structure alone?

Let's get serious here. Tons of games give players the option to choose either a male or female avatar, and I'm having a really hard time imagining something so special about the Crackdown 2 experience that a system's resources are depleted to the point of being unable to render the opposite sex. Going further, every picture I've seen of the Crackdown characters so far has them completely covered in armor, so would it really have been a drain on the system to swap a male head for a female one?

Granted, male and female bodies are not identically alike and animation differences do exist, but I'm sure that somewhere in the game Ruffian’s artists have created at least a few female characters for use during the campaign. Could any of those have been repurposed?


Crackdown 2 was on my to-play list. In fact, it was one I had been specifically looking forward to for the purpose of co-op with my wife -- and before anyone assumes that she would be upset by this omission, the truth is that she has no problem playing a male character whatsoever.

If anything, I'm probably more upset than she is that females aren't in the game since I usually pick a female avatar. After all, my Commander Shepard is the galaxy’s toughest lady, and you do not want to mess with my Latina mob boss in Saints Row 2, either. Ferelden’s darkspawn problem? Beaten back by a lady Warden. Fable 2? Fallout 3? Hell, even 3D Dot Game Heroes… All female characters for me. Let's face it, in games which do not feature a single, predefined character as the protagonist, offering either sex isn’t an above-and-beyond use of resources, it’s the norm.

Regardless of my preferences (or my wife's willingness to be flexible when female avatars aren’t offered) I find it unacceptable that in this day and age, a developer thinks it's okay to skip representing half the world’s population. Girl gamers aren’t the rare creature that they used to be, and not every guy has sexual insecurity issues with playing as a woman.

Come on, Ruffian... it's not too late to do the right thing.




Super-cool site 8 Bit Horse has some great coverage of an upcoming XBLA game titled Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet. This is the first I've heard of it, but you better believe I'm going to keep an eye on it from here on out.



In other games news, Dan Weissenberger has put together an incredibly detailed takedown of Heavy Rain’s endless potholes, weirdness and WTFery. The best thing is, he's been writing it as he's been going through the game, so his perspective is that of someone who does not know the ending yet. I've been tweeting about it incessantly, and strongly suggest that anyone who played Heavy Rain and felt let down by the story (uh, that’s everybody, right?) do so. Part 1. Part 2. Part 3.



Coming back to Lost Planet 2 for a minute, Capcom has announced a new charity event called ‘Kill Big for Charity’ that ties into the title. Here's an excerpt from their press release:

Capcom will create a charity fund of $20,000 as a donation for the first one- million Lost Planet 2 multiplayer demos downloaded on the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and PlayStation® 3 computer entertainment system from March 31, when the early access program begins, through midnight PST May 5. If the demo surpasses the million mark across both platforms, an additional $5,000 will be donated when an extra 500,000 downloads is achieved. Please visit Lost Planet’s community site, http://www.lostplanetcommunity.com/ for early access codes. They will also be distributed by various blogs, gaming media sites, and Amazon.com.


In addition, here's a contest if you think you're a Lost Planet 2 bad-ass:

Additionally, beginning April 1, community members will compete for a seat in the celebrity tournament and a trip to Los Angeles to attend the launch party by submitting their best tips and tricks for beating the new Lost Planet 2 multiplayer demo to Capcom-Unity. The Capcom Unity team will choose the four lucky winners and shall post them on http://www.capcom-unity.com and www.lostplanet2game.com. For more details on the contest and the official rules, check out http://www.capcom-unity.com/snow_infernus/blog/2010/04/01/lost_planet_2_-_kill_big_for_charity

Finally, for those of you who were curious about my hands-on with the Lost Planet 2 demo, I snapped a few pics of Capcom HQ to share.

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Games: So, Capcom was gracious enough to invite me in to get a sneak peek of Lost Planet 2’s multiplayer the other day. I’d never been to Capcom before and there were a ton of great review/journo people as well, so it was truly a double treat to attend the event.

Before getting into LP2, I need to first disclose the fact that I enjoyed the original Lost Planet a great deal. If you haven't already read my formal opinion, HERE you go. (Go ahead, click it. I'll wait.) Although the game got a fairly rocky reception in review circles, I found it to be a fantastically good time, and absolutely on the right track. Simply put, I'm a fan.

With that disclaimer aside, I left the demo feeling very positive about what I saw. Although we did not get a full and complete look at the whole game, there is very little doubt in my mind that LP2 will surpass its predecessor.

Overall, there were two main themes to the content: Customization and Mecha.


Looking at the customization first, the Capcom reps made the point over and over again that the player’s character is meant to be a unique, personal avatar for use in both the main campaign mode as well as online. We were quoted that (at the moment) there’s at least seventy thousand possible permutations of a player's avatar, and that number is likely to grow prior to the time the game hits the shelves.

In addition to physical appearance and clothing, weapon customization plays a large role. There were several classes of weapons that each player will have access to, and each class has several different styles and levels of power. For example, in the ‘heavy’ class, characters can choose to have a rocket launcher or a pistol-like hand cannon. Each of those weapons has several different styles and variations, and so on.

When asked about acquiring the different options, reps stated that while some items would be preset and specific to certain conditions in the campaign or tied to in-game achievements, players would also collect credits that would be used for a slot machine-type mechanic that would randomize the gear people get. Not sure I'm sold on that particular concept, but I remain hopeful.

Although we weren't allowed to change any of the settings in the demo, it was pretty clear to see that there is huge potential for each person buying the game to have their very own customized character, and that's always a good thing.


Moving on to the mecha, all I can say is ‘WOW’. It's no secret I’m a nut for giant armored things, and Lost Planet 2 is absolutely filthy with them. These “Vital Suits” are definitely a major focus of gameplay, and they've been revamped in every way possible.

For starters, the number of different models was incredibly impressive. I got to play the demo for around three or four hours, and it seemed as though every time I looked at someone else's screen, I was seeing a new VS I hadn't seen before.

The smallest was almost like a thick suit of armor that encases the player's body and functions like an extra life bar. Moving up in scale, there were several small ‘platform’ types that were sort of like Segways with guns, both terrestrial and airborne. Even bigger were tanks, bipeds designed for melee, lighter units that can transform between walking and hovercycle modes, and so on.


The heaviest Vital Suits on display were extremely impressive. The first was a three-part walker that was piloted by a player in the middle and had two independent gun platforms on either side. Even larger than that was a massive giant spider that had been outfitted with cybernetic armor implants. Towering over the players on foot, it appeared to be able to hold four or five players, each controlling their own set of weaponry.

(Oh, and the best thing? There were several mentions of a two-part Voltron-style combiner that will be available, though it was not running in the demo.)

The most interesting and exciting thing about the expanded focus on Vital Suits was that so many of them were able to fly in some fashion. In a level that strongly resembled an oil rig, I hopped into an assault helicopter and proceeded to pick people off the platforms at will -- definitely a high point of the demo. Another helicopter was designed for transporting ground troops, and many of the lighter (or even medium) Suits were capable of taking to the skies. My mind was blown when a cyborg scorpion piloted by the enemy team leapt straight up and exposed membranous wings before sniping rockets from above. To say it was completely unexpected is a massive understatement.


Differences between the 360 and PS3 were basically nil. Some people at the demo felt that the 360 graphics were sharper, while others were sure that the PS3 had the edge. Although I did spend more than a few minutes trying to suss out which one was superior, I think it's a nod to Capcom that they were basically identical even on a nitpick scale. Honestly, I could not tell the difference.

One final note, reps at the event said that the game has a multiplayer focus in both campaign and competitive modes. When asked to clarify, the answer was that the traditional story mode is meant to be played with at least one other person, if not more. Co-op is absolutely being positioned as the preferred method, and AI bots will be available for people who do not have friends on-hand when playing story mode. It was also noted that players who are intent on going alone will have the option, but that the game does not scale difficulty down for people lacking backup. You've been warned.

Capcom has stated that the Lost Planet 2 multiplayer demo will become available to the public on April 21 (unless you’re a Capcom Unity fan or win a code via contest) and the game itself will launch on May 11.
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Games: Been putting some time into 3D Dot Game Heroes on PS3. After logging a couple of hours on it, I think it's pretty clear to see that this thing will be a nuclear bomb of nostalgia for anyone who's old enough to remember The Legend of Zelda on NES. I mean, it was pretty clear that it was a Zelda homage from previews and early buzz, but putting the game through its paces, I really don't think it's an understatement to say that this is NES Zelda brought into 3D.

I just cleared the third (of six) temples this afternoon, and so far I've collected the boomerang, bow and arrow, bombs, hookshot, and picked up a few empty jars and heart pieces. Er, I mean, ‘apple shards’. The gameplay is pretty much the same as it was back then-- The hero searches the overworld and then enters subterranean dungeons full of monsters and puzzles while slowly building up his resources of equipment and health/magic capacity. The only real difference between Zelda NES and 3DDGH (so far, anyway) is twofold:

1> Instead of shooting a sword beam when the player's life bar is full, the swords in 3DDGH grow to absolutely ludicrous sizes and are capable of skewering enemies from across the entire screen.



2> Players have the option of creating their own avatar thanks to an incredibly cool customization tool available from the main menu. The game offers a wealth of different models to choose from at the beginning (heroes, ninjas, monsters, tanks, and so on) but the possibilities are basically unlimited as long as the creator can think in pixels. Just for fun, I created an exact replica of Mario and tonight I'll probably do Mega Man. For purists, it's totally possible to create an exact likeness of Link to complete the illusion of having an official 3D NES Zelda sequel.

Although I am definitely old enough to remember bringing home the original shiny gold cartridge way back in the day, I have to admit I'm a little curious to see how the game will be received by younger players who may not have any recollection of Zelda’s first incarnation. Personally, I'm having a great time and really enjoying this faux blast from the past -- although I haven’t enjoyed a true Zelda since Wind Waker, it's refreshing to see something like 3D Dot Game Heroes sweep all of the recent crap aside and focus again on the core formula.

P.S. – IT’S A SECRET TO EVERYONE.


In other Atlus news, anyone who's having problems with the soundtrack CD from Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey should read this:

"Due to a manufacturing error, the bonus soundtrack CD bundled with Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey does not play properly," stated Tim Pivnicny, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Atlus. "We are moving quickly with our manufacturing partner to replace defective soundtrack discs, launching a fulfillment site into which customers can input their information and receive a new soundtrack CD in 2-4 weeks. We apologize for this issue, we appreciate our fans' understanding and patience, and we thank them for their current (and hopefully continued) support."


To formally submit a replacement request (limit one per customer), please visit: www.atlus.com/strangejourneycd .



Misc: The second installment of Chatroulette Piano Improv is now up, and you can check it out HERE. Both brilliant and hilarious, there's nothing else to say.



Food: The wife came up with a brilliant, more stewlike play off of Split Pea Soup tonight. After softening the peas in boiling water, she added cubed pork loin sautéed with onion, spices and a dash of soy sauce. Cornbread was served on the side.


Neither one of us had ever made anything with split peas before, but it was pretty damned delicious and the entire meal (two big servings) only cost about $3.25 total! Take that, Melissa D’Arabian!
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Games: BioWare released a brand-new add-on for Mass Effect 2 yesterday. Titled ‘Firewalker’, it adds a hovering scout vehicle to the game, and this new ride is capable of some pretty nifty maneuvers. It's free to players who have activated the Cerberus Network within their copy of the game, and my review of the content is HERE.



In other games news, I'm in the middle of writing my review for the Wii’s Fragile Dreams.


It's a difficult piece to write, since on the one hand I find it to be a fairly refreshing effort conceptually, and quite unlike most of the other games available for the Wii. On the other hand, I have to be brutally frank in saying that it's extremely tedious and not much fun at all. Ideas and artistry only go so far... certain decisions must be made with regard to how the experience feels to play through, and in this case, I'm having a hard time believing that the boredom and frustration I'm getting is something that the developers were actually trying to achieve.


I haven't been playing a lot of portable lately, but I have spent some time with Patchwork Heroes on PSP, and I've got to say that it's pretty fantastic. The gist of the game is that giant airships are approaching the city, so the people living there launch preemptive strikes by sending soldiers to land on these airships and chop them to pieces with handheld saws.


It sounds bizarre, but it absolutely works thanks to the quirky, 2D presentation and easy-to-grasp mechanics that only take a minute or two to get the hang of. It has loads of personality, and has a vibe similar to things like Katamari Damacy or LocoRoco -- things are goofy, but they're intended to be goofy, so it all ends up being humorously tongue-in-cheek. It's early days yet, but I've got nothing but good to say about the title so far.



TV: I’m not going to dwell on this very long, but it needs to be said - this season of American Idol flat-out sucks. After watching the show for the last four or five seasons, it's quite clear to see that this year's crop is the weakest, most talent-free group they've ever picked. It's terrible!


This week’s ‘Top 11’ episode had only two performances that I would say were of the caliber of what should be expected at this point in the competition. The rest of the contestants seemed way out of their league, and a few of them have no discernible singing talent whatsoever. The wife and I (and most of America, evidently) have been sorely disappointed with this season, and we're even debating whether or not we care enough to keep watching.

Not only are the contestants terrible, but the judges are out to lunch as well. I'm often mystified by the praise given to lackluster performances, not to mention the personal antics happening. Ryan Seacrest is coming off like a toothy Chihuahua aggressively marking his territory, Kara DioGuardi apparently underwent a personality transplant and now has trouble keeping her hands off of Simon, and Simon Cowell himself seems mostly occupied with moving onto his new show and getting through this one as quickly as possible. Ellen Degeneres? Well, Ellen's worthless. She rarely says anything that isn't parroted from someone else, and it's like she's physically incapable of saying anything even remotely negative.

Several television pundits have been quoted as saying that Idol could be in serious trouble next season after the poor showing here and the fact that Cowell (long said to be the backbone of the show) is leaving. Based on the current level of quality we’re getting now, I'd say that sounds about right.



Food: Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I just made fried rice for the first time and was quite proud of myself that it turned out to be pretty damned edible.

I was a little hesitant to make it because it was a dish my dad had always tried to cook for us growing up, and he never, ever managed to pull it off. I ate far too many scoops of wet, mushy starch embedded with cubed carrots and previously-frozen peas as a child, and because of my dad's numerous failures, I had somehow convinced myself that such a dish was not meant to be cooked by someone not of Chinese descent. However, it was one of those nights when there really wasn't much in the house and after surveying the available ingredients, the wife thought it was the most feasible prospect. She was right, it turned out pretty good, and I would definitely make it again.

In addition to the rice (of course) I ended up tossing in some mustard greens, frozen spinach, ground turkey, onions, carrots, egg, and fresh ginger. It may sound like a crazy hodgepodge, but I'd say it worked. If you've got some recipes or ideas of your own for fried rice, I'd love to hear them.



Comics: late to the party for sure, but here are a few pics I took at the recent Emerald City Comicon here in Seattle. Captions follow.

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Welcome back to Drinking Coffeecola!


Notice anything different?


No, not the hair.

No, I haven't lost weight either, but thanks for saying so.


After having been blogging for the last few years, I felt like it was time for a little change. Time to freshen up the place. Slap a new coat of paint on the walls, so to speak. Although I did switch templates (and it feels really odd to me to have my sidebar on the right and not the left) the biggest thing is the brand-spanking new custom logo created especially for this site by Chris Coughlan, AKA @TotallyEpic on Twitter.

Personally, I think he did an amazing job reading my mind, and was totally patient and professional when listening to all my nitpicks and tweaks. If you've got art needs, I'd totally recommend him. My experience was nothing but awesome.

Drop me a line if you’ve got any feedback on DC’s new look, I'd love to hear it. In the meantime, let's get back to the regularly-scheduled blog where I take a few bits and pieces that have been accumulating in my e-mail over time and I regurgitate them here for your viewing pleasure.


First up, a message from Daniel Lipscombe on a brand-new gamer-oriented charity project:

Points For Life is a charity event that will take place on June 5th 2010. A charity event aimed at videogame players, it’s our chance to give something back. The idea of the event is to ask people to sponsor us to gain Achievement points, PSN trophies and Steam Achievements. Play will start at 9am on June 5th and last for 24 hours, and it’s up to participants to earn as many Achievements/Trophies as they possibly can. Sponsors can pledge per Achievement points or Trophies, or they can just sponsor the event. The raised funds will be donated to Child's Play and Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital.

"We gamers are a massive community and a determined bunch of people," said event organiser Daniel Lipscombe. "Charities such as Great Ormond Street Hospital and Child's Play need money to keep up the great work they do, and if we come together we can give something back and do some good."


Website - http://pointsforlife.wordpress.com/

Twitter - http://twitter.com/Points_for_Life

Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=102074516497476

We have a target to reach for each charity, and we hope to gather as many gamers as possible to reach (and hopefully break) these targets.


Email us about the project at points4life@googlemail.com.


Moving on, anyone who reads this blog will know that I am a huge fan of Twisted Pixel. I loved The Maw and ‘Splosion Man was even better. Their new project, titled Comic Jumper, will be on display at the upcoming PAX East show.


According to my sources, attendees will be able to see the first ten minutes of gameplay along with concept art, screenshots and a Q&A with the developers. If you're going to be at PAX East, stop by the Twisted Pixel booth and tell them that I sent you.

(Also, if you stop by the Mommy’s Best Games booth and tell them that you heard about it from the GameCritics.com podcast, you'll be eligible for a free piece of swag.)

I personally won't be at PAX East (will be at PAX West, though) but I look forward to hearing all about it. If you're going, drop me a line and let me know how it was.
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Comics: I know I've written about it before, but it bears repeating. If you haven't read Robert Kirkman's The Walking Dead, you're missing out on some of the best writing being done in comics today.

The premise of the book is basically what you'd expect: the zombie apocalypse descends on the world, and everything goes to hell.

Kirkman’s story follows a sheriff, his wife and son, and the group of survivors they meet as they struggle for safety and a semblance of their former lives. On the surface, it seems like pretty standard stuff. However, what makes The Walking Dead so powerful is Kirkman’s ability to spin stories that hinge not on the zombies, but on the living characters.

Over the course of the series, I've continually been impressed by how real he writes -- how people react to certain situations, how emotions would play a factor in survival, and how people don't stop being people just because the dead return to life. Plenty of movies and books focus on the practical aspects like scavenging for food and ammo or building an impregnable base for defense, but very few zombie tales really examine what it might be like to continue to be a warm, breathing person with hopes and fears and needs in the face of inevitable horror.

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