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I'm Attacking The Darkness!

By Joseph Daniels on March 6, 2010 11:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Fans of tabletop RPGs, specifically Dungeons & Dragons (Maybe Dungeons & Dogs too?) can put away the Mountain Dew, for there is now a soda that is made specifically for pen and paper gamers. Jones Soda has come up with a 6-pack of different flavours inspired by D&D, and by now I'm not surprised. This is a company who released a Turkey & Gravy soda every Thanksgiving for a number of years (and last year released a Tofurkey & Gravy variation). They created sodas for Seattle's sports teams. And as of late summer/early autumn of last year, they've created a limited edition soda for gamers.

This isn't the first gaming-inspired beverage to hit the market. Japan has seen various editions of Potion released to commemorate various Final Fantasy related events, including the release of Final Fantasy XII. But this is, from what I can find out, the first drink for gamers to be released to the North American market. Bawls doesn't count.

The reviews* I've read regarding the Thanksgiving flavours have led me to be incredibly cautious when it comes to whether or not I'd want to try these ones. I'm assuming they're fruit-flavoured, or close to it, but I'm going to stick with their normal, Red Apple flavour for now. Let the true D&D nerds try this one first.

*Blogspot may have decided that Canadians are terrorists, or at least people living in Revelstoke are, and so I seem to not be allowed on their site anymore; it's also possible the problem is on my end. I've been getting 403 Forbidden errors when trying to use their site to research this article. This means I can't even contact them about it if I can't reach their site. Thankfully, the Google cache still works as of this writing, so I'm linking to it for now.

4:08AM ETA: Blogspot's working for me again, don't know what was going on.

Recommended Soundtracks: Soul Blade(Edge): Khan Super Session

By Geoffrey Barnes on March 3, 2010 12:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

When I wrote the entry for Soul Blade's Original Soundtrack last week, I expected better results. By that, I mean that I thought it would be something resembling genuine coherence. It wasn't until after I finished the entry that I realized that Soul Blade's soundtrack isn't as good as I remembered. I halted this before when I planned on writing about Stella Deus' soundtrack, which I realized hadn't aged too well despite having the talents of both Hitoshi Sakimoto and Masaharu Iwata -- both of which were responsible for the superlative soundtrack to the superlative Final Fantasy Tactics.

But I promise that this isn't the case with the Soul Blade's alternate soundtrack: Khan Super Session. I mentioned it last week, but upon listening to it again, I realized that it's aged perfectly fine. It's better than I remember, in fact! Soul Blade, I believe, is the only fighting game to have two disparate soundtracks, and they both mesh (or "meshed") together well within the game's context. It also helps to give the stages a sense of variety and a different ambient feel upon multiple playthroughs (with either the AI or local friends).

And then there are the tracks themselves, which are beautiful compositions. I was pretty bummed when I played Soul Calibur on Dreamcast and discovered that there was no longer a viable alternative to the arcade tracks, because I liked how different they made the game feel. Soul Calibur may have made Soul Blade feel like an amateurish effort in comparison gameplay wise - Blade feels incredibly sluggish these days, despite it being fine for the time - but the lack of that extra musical option made that particular aspect feel like a step back. Not to say the soundtracks to Blade's progeny were lackluster, far from it, in fact. Well, unless you're talking about Soul Calibur III.

The Khan Super Session was composed by five then-current employees at Namco : Masumi Ito, Benten Maru, Yoshiyuki Ito, Aki Hata, and Taku Iwasaki. Namco, fully aware of how good the soundtrack was and how fans of the game liked it, decided to distribute it separately from the Original Soundtrack.

This first song is "The Edge of Soul," a vocal track used for the CG intro specifically made for the console version. It utilizes a nice combination of rock and traditional Asian instruments for its background tune. It's also in English. And it's actually mostly understandable to boot. Imagine the feeling of hearing this in a console video game back in early '97, because for some of us, it was actually pretty mind-blowing. The closing credits theme, "Our Way Home," is also in English, though it veers into Engrish territory pretty often:

This next song is "A Haunting Wind," the theme to Taki's stage. It uses the same combination of instruments "The Edge of Soul" uses, though there aren't any vocals this time around. The rock aspect doesn't fit with the time period Soul Blade exists in (the Renaissance Era), but it's not like the game itself doesn't take numerous liberties with that. And it doesn't matter when the result is so good:

This last song is "A Mediterranean Call," which goes with Sophitia's stage. The ironic aspect of this track is that despite the original arcade track (which is completely different) featured last week for her stage was called "Heavenly Engage," it's this track that sounds much more heavenly:

It was listening to this soundtrack again that made me miss its inclusion in future games in the series, and it made me realize how much it outclasses the arcade soundtrack. I'd like to hope that Namco (or Namco Bandai these days) realizes how much fans of the series like this soundtrack, and liked having the option to choose which soundtrack they wanted to listen to while they played. But I doubt it. Sure, you could play this soundtrack through the current consoles' Custom Soundtrack features, but the effect doesn't come off as similar. A new Soul Calibur game is an inevitability given how SCIV is the second best selling fighter this generation, and they usually have something (or "things") special for each game. Hopefully this will be one of them.

Though I'm not counting on it.

Geek Babble: Katsucon 16 - Surviving the 'Snowmageddon' of 2010

By Angela Moseley on February 26, 2010 3:52 PM | Permalink | 2 Comments

My apologies, this Geek Babble column went up much later than I intended it to, but I survived the trip to Katsucon 16 and had a great time. As I expected, the drive from Philadelphia to Maryland via I-95 went smoothly. Getting to the major interstate was another matter as much of time before setting out was spent digging out. There is nothing quite like chopping through hardened snow and ice (with a bent snow shovel and a broken garden hoe no less) before leaving for a major anime con. Fortunately, none of the time spent digging out was a waste because we were actually waiting for the state of Delaware to lift its ban on non-emergency driving. It would have been a nightmare to take an hour detour for a tiny state that literally takes 20 minutes to drive through. The trip took a total of three and a half hours to complete but our destination was quite awesome.

The Gaylord National Resort lived up to the resort part of its name with flowing water fountains, lush plant life, indoor shops and restaurants. The Gaylord also doubled as a convention center although Katsucon wasn't the only event of the weekend. Because of the major blizzard events at Katsucon either started late or were canceled. Pre-registration badge pickup was bumped from Thursday night to Friday morning because FedEx was unable to deliver in the bad weather. When Friday arrived pre-registration began at 8am although the convention didn't officially start until noon. The badges didn't arrive until the mid-afternoon, so paper vouchers were given out instead. The design for the 2010 badge was quite nice, making it worth the wait.

The resort part of the Gaylord was so awesome, for a while I forgot it was February. A full gallery of Katsucon 16 pictures can be found in the Damage Control image gallery.

This year the dealer's room, artist alley, and the gaming room were all combined. Many of the sellers had not yet arrived due to the bad weather or simply canceled their plans for the weekend. By Saturday the dealer's room was shut off from artist alley and the gaming room. Due to the combination of Katsucon 16 taking place at a new venue and the bad weather, attendance by both attendees and sellers seemed lower than last year. And unlike larger anime conventions such as Otakon, the presence of industry players was lacking. In fact, only major industry players scheduled to appear at the con were FUNimation and Otaku USA, one of the last surviving domestic anime magazines. Fortunately, both companies did have a major presence at the convention.

I signed up for a year or six issues of Otaku USA which releases bi-monthly. The subscription to Otaku USA came with a DVD or box set of my choice but I waited too long and the Spice and Wolf set I wanted was gone. Determined to leave with something I settled for a Case Closed double feature film pack. I also didn't bother to purchase anything from the FUNimation table despite the good deals. Instead I was drawn to the cheap anime sellers and picked up the entire Witchblade series new for $40. I also bought part two of the first season of Code Geass, and the last eight volumes of Rurouni Kenshin, finishing up my collection. Surprisingly, none of the import game dealers had BLEACH: Soul Carnival 2 and my favorite game dealer barely had any Japanese PSP games for sale. Either the weather had something to do their lack of merchandise before the convention, or they were saving their best wares for a larger anime convention.

The big open spaces of the Gaylord made it possible to take pictures of cosplayers without worrying about the crowd.

Despite being excited about the convention I spent very little time attending panels and watching the anime that was provided in the four video rooms. I actually wanted to catch the first seven episodes of Sands of Destruction that were playing but slept through them. I didn't feel waking up at 6am on Saturday to catch an anime that may or may not have been worth it. However, Soul Eater was playing at a reasonable time and I watched the first four episodes of it. How such a great show slipped under my radar is beyond me. Otherwise, I either slept through panels I wanted to attend (some journalist I turned out to be), or spent my time in the room watching anime I'd brought with me, playing video games with my friends, and reading all of the last eight volumes of Rurouni Kenshin.

I did visit the gamimg room to snap a few pictures, Tatsunoko VS Capcom wasn't as popular as I thought it would be. Still, it looks like an awesome Wii title.

On the last day of Katsucon I set time aside to attend the FUNimation panel. Both the FUNimation previews and the state of FUNimation were combined into one, making the panel about two hours long. The previews were surprisingly entertaining as the staff talked about and showed clips from new domestic releases. Series of interest included Rin: Daughters of Mnemosyne (and the fact that the box set actually feels like human skin), Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Evangelion 1.11, Sands of Destruction, Soul Eater, KenIchi the Mightiest Disciple, Linebarrels of Iron, and Strike Witches. The really interesting part of FUNimation's presentation came when the previews ended and the announcements began. FUNimation exceeded expectations by actually making a few announcements of significance at Katsucon.

In keeping with their earlier announcement of the acquisition of DragonBall Z Kai, FUNimation also issued a release date of May 18th for the first DVD and Bluray sets. Next on the list was the introduction of FUNimation's S.A.V.E. product line. S.A.V.E. stands for "Super Amazing Value Edition," and as the name implies the products are value priced. Price points will start at a respective 9.98 for movies and OVAs, 19.98 for half seasons and 29.98 for full seasons on select series. None of the special features on the DVD will be removed for the S.A.V.E. edition, although the packaging will sport a green logo denoting the value edition. The concept is not unlike Sony's Greatest Hits collection for the PlayStation brand. The S.A.V.E. product line will roll out in early March and a list of titles can be found here.

Trigun back in print, aw yeah! HD buffs may want to pick this title up on Blu-ray.

The biggest announcement of the day was the acquisition and re-release of Trigun on DVD and Blu-ray later this year. As of this writing, FUNimation has only hinted at a fall release. Trigun has been out of print since Geneon folded in September 2007. Occasionally Trigun aired on Adult Swim, and the series was certainly one of the network's early anime staples when anime aired on weeknights Monday through Thursday. If you've not had the chance to watch Trigun the FUNimation release may be the best way to go. I watched the series via Adult Swim years ago and I highly recommend it, especially if you're a fan of western and sci-fi anime.

Given the difficult travel conditions and the lower turnout Katsucon 16 still boasted about 6000 attendees. The convention at the Gaylord National Resort Hotel in National Harbor was very successful. Katsucon's new location at National Harbor was so successful that the convention will be hosted at the Gaylord next year. The larger venue ensured the relatively small convention never felt crowded. The relatively smaller size of the convention is a nice contrast to Otakon which easily boasted 26,000 attendees in 2009. Hopefully Katsucon will remain in National Harbor for a few years, opposed to its normally nomadic habit of moving from venue to venue. Either way, I'm looking forward to the convention, snow or shine.

Recommended Soundtracks: Soul Blade (Edge)

By Geoffrey Barnes on February 21, 2010 2:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Maybe it's just me, but there seems to be a perception that fighting game music isn't usually up to snuff with the music accompanying many other genres. This could be the opinion of a lot of gamers (and people in general) who grew up listening to atmospheric-laden material that accompanies a lot of fighting games they played when they were younger, like Mortal Kombat and anything else that was a blatantly obvious rip-off of it - some of which came from Midway themselves. That's a shame, and I'd like to help change that opinion.

I believe I was almost one step from saying that no one makes fighting games as good as Japan does, and that's unfortunately true. Within the last few years, western developers have been making games in multiple genres that are just as good, if not better, than what Japan has been producing. ("Western" being a word referring to developers throughout America and Europe for simplicity's sake.) The most popular fighting game from a western developer has been Mortal Kombat, whose quality has greatly varied throughout each iteration. This isn't to say that what Japan produces is always good of course, because that sure isn't the case.

But hey! Music! If there's one thing that you could say with certainty about the Soul Calibur franchise, it's that it has always had some great music. But there was a game in the franchise before Soul Calibur came to be, a game so many tend to forget because of its comparative obscurity to the rest of the games: Soul Blade. Called Soul Edge in Japan (likely because of this moron), this was the game to launch the franchise from Namco in Arcades and PSOne back in 1996/1997. Time hasn't been kind to it, but it's still worth acknowledging because of its place on the stage of history.

Soul Blade actually has three options for music tracks in the games. The first is the usual, and definitely superior, remixed versions of the soundtrack found in the arcade game composed by Takayuki Aihara and Takayuki Ootsura, but the second option consists of tracks specifically composed for the console game. These are known as the Khan Super Session tracks, and they're completely different from the original soundtrack. This entry will focus on the original soundtrack, an entry on the Khan Super Session material will be made at a later date.

This first track is called "Heavenly Engage," the theme to the woman who is on a mission from the gods of Olympus, Sophitia. She's since become the requisite buxom blonde of the franchise, but her stages always have some good music. Her stage music also identifies who she is, given all of the bells and the overall tone of the track. It's rather angelic:

This next one is "Recollect Continent," the theme to Rock's stage. Probably not the most fitting theme for a stage that's almost literally out in the middle of nowhere, but it does the job well enough by merely sounding nice:

This last one is "The Gears of Madness," the theme to Voldo's stage. The theme fits the character very well, a man who's driven insane by the mystical dark sword that's present in every game, aptly named Soul Edge:

The thing about Soul Edge's OST is that the themes tend to fit the characters more than the stages they're present in, which is an interesting way to approach that attachment. The themes themselves never feel off within the context of the game during play, though they will when picturing them and what stages, along with what kind of stages, they're going to. The Khan Super Session tracks take a completely different approach, enough to make the entire soundtrack feel diverse. I'll feature them another day soon. No really, soon.

Recommended Soundtracks: Folklore

By Geoffrey Barnes on February 15, 2010 7:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Folklore is a pretty good action/RPG, which is why I felt it was necessary to review. In that review, I also mentioned how good the soundtrack was. So yeah, this was inevitable.

Folklore's soundtrack is pretty good, but it's also very different from the usual material you would hear from a video game. And that's fitting, because this is a game that takes place in an environment that's different from the average game, even for the genre. For its immersive purposes, Folklore relies heavily on atmosphere, and uses the soundtrack to accompany it. This usually means that the soundtrack for the game is best when listened to after you've played the game for nostalgic purposes. And that's true here as well.

But! There are quite a few tracks here that a perfectly listenable to anyone who hasn't played the game, let alone seen it. This speaks volumes for how diverse all of the music actually is, which is something you would expect from a game whose soundtrack has five different composers. Not to say there's something here for everyone, but anyone who likes some sort of good music will find something they like here.

Oh, and one of the contributors is not Danny Elfman. But you can tell the composers were inspired by his work. Again, this is fitting for the game, which feels like a Tim Burton movie in more an a few ways.

This first track, called "The Mysterious Door," is from the title screen when you first boot the game up. It's one of those pleasant themes that you really wish was longer than it is. Some anime fans may recognize the style of music being utilized here; it's composed by Kenji Kawai of Ghost in the Shell, Vampire Princess Miyu, Gundam 00 and various others. He usually sticks to anime, movies, and J-drama, and he rarely ventures into the video game realm. Enjoy it while he's here:

Oh, but if you're looking for a longer Kawai track, here's "The Beginning of a Journey," which is fittingly the name of the opening theme. It's gloomy, melancholy tune sets the perfect mood for the game. The story you're about to hear is far from a happy tale. But that's not to say the track itself is inherently disturbing. It's actually quite pretty:

Since I'm trying to stick to track from the beginning of the game, the last track I'll feature here is called "The Forgotten Village" by Ayako Saso, which is the theme for the place you'll be hanging around. Said place, Doolin, acts like a hub with access points to various sections of the Netherworld, so yeah, you'll be hearing this track quite a bit. But the magic of it lies in the fact that you'll never get sick of hearing it:

Hearing the music again while writing this feature makes me wish Kawai would stick to video games more often. Then again, it's probably good for everyone if he sticks to what he thinks he does best. Folklore is a pretty different kind of game, and it's not like he's the only composer here who provides a different vibe than their usual, expected one, and the result is a very ambient soundtrack that's fantastic to listen to.

Happy Birthday, Super Mario Bros. 3

By Geoffrey Barnes on February 12, 2010 5:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I originally had a different (and far less significant) post planned for today, but I just realized that Super Mario Bros. 3 released 20 years ago as of today in America. Now, I don't plan on doing this for every anniversary, but I'd like to talk about one my favorite games during my childhood.

Anyone who was nerdy enough to pay extreme attention to video games back then was first introduced to SMB3 through The Wizard, a movie about a boy who goes to California to compete in a gaming tournament that just so happened to feature the game. The greatest aspect of its unveil was witnessing a return to the gameplay style that made Super Mario Bros. so popular. This wasn't a sequel that was actually an adaptation of something else like Doki Doki Panic was to Super Mario Bros. 2. No, SMB3 was designed from the ground up to be a standard Mario game And it was glorious.

There were a lot of things that looked great to a kid like me. Mario can fly now! Look at those cool costumes you can wear! You can tell that creator Shigeru Miyamoto and the development team at Nintendo Ltd. had one main intention for this game: Take everything that worked about SMB and enhance it to the best of what it could be. SMB3 now makes it a little easier to explore the intricacies of every level and give you numerous powers to experiment with a plethora of ways for how to complete a level. In addition to that, it also gave you many more hidden areas to discover.

It was discovering those hidden areas and figuring out how to get through some of its tougher levels that made the experience so memorable. This was during a time when we couldn't readily head onto the internet and hit a site like GameFAQs to check out a guide to get through a certain area or find a hidden item. We could only rely on two things: Word of mouth via our friends or Nintendo's help service (the latter I actually did use for help defeating Bowser), or by using a strategy guide -- the latter of which definitely wasn't as viable of an option as you may think. Back then, we could barely get together the pennies to buy new games with them being so expensive. Other money that could be used for strategy guides could easily be used for another game.

The tougher areas were where the game displayed its true potential. These were true tests of skill and wit, sometimes separately, sometimes simultaneously. Some of the later levels were reminiscent of (but not quite as extreme as) a lot of bullet-hell shooters with how many flying and walking objects you had to dodge at one time. Include those with some of the longest and toughest jumps you ever had to make in a Mario game at the time and you had a heck of a platformer. That, along with the amount of character it exuded were what made it a memorable experience back then, and it's aged perfectly well.

But the NES version isn't the only edition available as of right now. The game was also given enhanced graphics for the SNES iteration included with Super Mario All Stars, a collection that included this game along with SMB1 and both the International and Japanese versions of SMB2 (the latter of which was and is known as The Lost Levels). It was also released for the Game Boy Advance in 2003, which is closer to the All Stars version. The original NES version is also available on the Wii Virtual Console in every territory.

It always hits you like a punch in the face whenever you come across an anniversary for a game (or whatever else) you really liked when you were younger, because it's a realization of how much older you've become. But the best thing about these anniversaries is when you think about how much fun you had with the product back then, and how easy it is to revisit some of them to rekindle any good memories you had. Mario Bros. 3 fits this description to a tee for a lot of us, and when it's something that stood the test of time for so long -- which so many NES games didn't -- you know you have something that represents true quality.

P.S. Or maybe you'd prefer something longer?

Belmont of War

By Geoffrey Barnes on February 9, 2010 7:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Let's face it: The majority of your favorite games are always inspired by either other games, works from other forms of media, or situations from real life -- whether they did or didn't happen to the person responsible for creating said game. And really, there's nothing wrong with that. A lot of people like to say that we've probably hit a brick wall in terms of completely new ideas, and new ideas are implemented by taking inspiration from numerous other works and fusing them into something that seems different within the confines of one new game. You could refer to this as an alternate form of creating ideas.

But this doesn't just refer to story and scenario ideas; it also refers to how those are implemented in terms of gameplay. Not that I'm saying that every game should ape all others to create a me-too title, which happens a bit too often. During the later period of last generation, Grand Theft Auto became the popular game for that, where development teams borrowed the entire formula for their own game. That's missing the point. But taking a few ideas and using them in an innovative manner is definitely what companies should be doing.

Case in point: I've been making my way through God of War II via the God of War Collection for the last few days. Yeah, it looks excellent from being upscaled to HD resolutions, and it's a great game that never lets go of its frenetic pace (I played the first game before, but this is my first time playing the second). But there are a lot of things about it that are interesting in terms of its inspiration from other games, namely the Castlevania games. Every time I had to swing from something, I couldn't help but think of swinging in Super Castlevania IV. And don't even get me started on the sections that involved going through a castle.

When Castlevania: Lords of Shadow was announced back at E3 last year, it's first trailer displayed that the development team was definitely taking some inspiration from the God of War titles -- something I noted before, but with a tone of concern. Now that I've gone through God of War again and (I assume) most of God of War II, they're definitely looking in the right place for ideas. Sometime after God of War originally released in March '05, plenty of people remarked that it felt like how a Castlevania game should feel like in 3D. Of course, not too soon after that, Castlevania: Curse of Darkness released. Bummer. Also, plenty of people said the same thing about the original Devil May Cry as well, and the 3D Castlevania's admittedly did take some inspiration from it. But not in the greatest ways.

The last side effect I expected from playing the God of War games was to be looking forward to playing Lords of Shadow even more. Again, there's nothing bad about taking inspiration from other games if the end result is quality (as long as its nothing beyond taking inspiration), and I'm not saying that Castlevania should also ape the "RAGE! REVENGE! ANGER!" tone that God of War has in spades (oh god no). Hopefully MercurySteam and Kojima Productions are willing to take ideas from it and implement them in a way that makes them work. Hideo Kojima himself is a fan of western games, so I have faith that the game will turn out well.

God of War Collection pic courtesy of Bitmob.

Recommended Soundtracks: The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap

By Geoffrey Barnes on February 8, 2010 2:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap might be the most ignored Zelda game in the franchise. Every single part of it.

That's a shame, too, because there's quite a bit to like about it. There are actually quite a few reasons why it feels unknown compared to other games in the series, though. The fact that it's portable doesn't help, for one. For some strange reason, people tend to regard portable entries in any given franchise as a distraction; they'll play them to have something to do when they're away from their consoles. Now, there's nothing inherently wrong with abiding by this practice (it's simply a lifestyle choice), but the unfortunate consequence is missing plenty of good games. Minish Cap just happened to be one of them.

The game also released close to the tail end of the Game Boy Advance's life; it released in America after the DS was already released, despite releasing in Japan and Europe before its launch. But the fact remains that Nintendo was, at that time (between the fall of 2004 and winter of 2005), moving a bunch of their game development assets and marketing to the then-odd double-screen miniature tank. This game just happened to be one of those transition titles.

By the way, it was also the last portable Zelda game developed by Capcom to date. They also developed Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons for Game Boy Color, if you're wondering. And those games were also released at the tail-end of a system's life cycle!

No soundtrack cover to a game that never had an official soundtrack. And that blows.

Minish Cap has a number of qualities, but as you could expect, the one I'd like to focus on here is the music. Minish Cap has one of the best soundtracks I've ever heard in a Zelda game, and some of the best music of any Game Boy Advance title. There's plenty of excellent material here, and I'd like to provide a sample of it.

This is the track used in Hyrule Town, which might be a town you've heard of if you've played a Zelda game before. As you'd expect, it's pretty pleasant and upbeat, but it's the overall melody of it that's so endearing. Variants of the tune are used in multiple Zelda games, but this one's my personal favorite:

Next we have another village theme, this one going to Minish Village. It sounds like a theme that would go with a mysterious place that exists in a certain part of the world no one knew ever existed. However, something about it is still calming. Notice that it moves a little slower than the Hyrule Town theme:

Last we have a track known as Cloud Tops, which...sounds familiar! But only initially, as it then branches out into its own original tune. This tune is the music to a dungeon that, as you could imagine, takes place within the clouds:

There are plenty of reasons why Minish Cap was sadly overlooked, maybe by even you! It's not too surprising, because many of us were fully in Twilight Princess hype mode around that time. If you apply, here's your chance to make amends by at least listening to the some of the soundtrack, which apparently never had an official release. Nothing uncommon when it comes to Nintendo, but it's still a damn shame. Enjoy the soundtrack, and the game if you can get your hands on it.

Cover Art Chronicles: Platinum Sega

By Geoffrey Barnes on February 6, 2010 7:43 PM | Permalink | 2 Comments

I guess I've been on a Sega kick lately. Might as well keep it up for the time being, right? Sure.

Sega has an odd reputation of taking a bunch of already OK Japanese covers for Japanese games and changing them for American and European audiences. That's not entirely an indefensible practice, since some covers understandably have to be changed in order to appeal to specific audiences in the region they're trying to market them in. But with these comes a few cases where they went a little too far with making it something that would appeal to the casual observer. The result of them just looks like an act of laziness.

Like this one! Here we have the cover to Yakuza 3 for Playstation 3, which Sega is releasing in America and Europe right in the same week as Final Fantasy XIII comes out. The just want to make sure it's destined to be overlooked by people who would otherwise pick up the game but will undoubtedly be tied down by a 40-hour long RPG, one of the biggest this generation. Of course, then they'll complain about poor sales and refuse to localize Yakuza 4 because of it. It's a lose-lose situation for absolutely everyone involved.

It's a rather pessimistic look at the situation, sure, but it's not at all outside of the realm of possibility with how the situation will turn out. Oh, and just wait until more people find out that the game is in Japanese. Notice how the last two trailers carefully leave out that fact?

But uh,this is about the cover, isn't it? Yeah, it's pretty bad, though the background is pretty nice. A shame said background won't be were most people's eyes will go; they'll look at the awkwardly-placed face of Kazuma on the side first. I'm sure one of the main reasons for changing the cover was the cigarette in Kazuma's mouth, but I figured Sega had people on staff skilled enough at Photoshop to simply remove the cigarette from the mouth. Guess not! And this is what we get instead. It's OK, Europe's getting the same thing.

Fortunately, the next two efforts fare a little better. Next we have Infinite Space for Nintendo DS, a new space-opera RPG from Platinum Games (MadWorld, Bayonetta). It definitely looks intriguing, and if you haven't been following, Sega's also been dubbing the anime shorts (albeit with questionable, barely OK voice acting).

The cover they've done for International audiences is definitely a step down from the Japanese one, but it still doesn't look too bad. It would have looked much better if it wasn't for the characters in the way of the background. The game releases in America and Europe in spring 2010; possibly March if Nintendo's earlier schedule was correct.

Last we have the covers for Resonance of Fate, known as End of Eternity in Japan (which couldn't be used outside of that territory for good reason) for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. This is a Japanese RPG developed by tri-Ace (of the Star Ocean and Valkyrie Profile games) and published by Sega instead of Square Enix this time, since the latter felt it was too ambitious to take a gamble on. This is also the first tri-Ace game not published by Enix or Square Enix. It released last week in Japan.

The cover is, again, not quite as good as the Japanese version in terms of atmosphere, but like Infinite Space's, the result isn't too bad. Showing all three characters with guns sure is a good way to sell it to certain people, so I'm sure it will sell fine to the uninitiated. Well, I sure hope so, because after hearing that the game is good, I'd like tri-Ace to be rewarded for their success. The game releases in spring 2010, but some retailers have the game listed as releasing on...March 9th? But no, they wouldn't do that. They can't be that stupid.

Looking at a lineup like this, along with the recently released Bayonetta, makes me glad that Sega is finally out of the dreadful period they were in shortly after the Dreamcast was laid to rest. They're still not on the level they were during the Dreamcast's heyday, but it's still a hell of a lot better than too many Japanese companies are doing these days. They recently posted a profit as well, though it was mostly on the power of Mario & Sonic at the Winter Olympics. I hope they can keep up that streak of quality with Sonic the Hedgehog 4.

Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney - Justice Always Prevails

By Angela Moseley on February 5, 2010 11:58 PM | Permalink | 2 Comments

When Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney was first announced I wasn't certain if I'd enjoy an Ace Attorney game with a new protagonist. Not after playing through three (mostly) fantastic games featuring Phoenix Wright. In the original Ace Attorney we saw Phoenix, a rookie lawyer take the stage. In Justice for All the spiky-haired attorney learned what it meant to really be a lawyer, and in Trials and Tribulations he put his and his mentor's past to rest. What could have possibly been left for the Ace Attorney series after such a plot heavy trilogy? Like a well prepared response to an open-ended question Apollo Justice's answer is the future. Not just the future of Apollo Justice and his predecessor Phoenix Wright, but the series as a whole.

Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney takes place seven years after the end of Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations. Apollo is a young rookie defense attorney who nervously takes on his first case defending Phoenix Wright against charges of murder. At 22-years-old the boyish Apollo is fresh out of college and an understudy to Kristoph Gavin, a famous defense attorney and friend to Phoenix. Despite being friends with a seasoned defense attorney Wright insists that Apollo lead his defense. Phoenix won't defend himself because he's no longer a lawyer. The last seven years have not been kind to him as he was forced to leave law during one disastrous trial shortly after the events of T&T. As a client the former attorney is mellow and even a little devious. After getting the former defense attorney a "not guilty" verdict Apollo's career as a rookie attorney continues. While he spends much of the game coming into his own Apollo also delves into the past to discover why Phoenix no longer practices law.

Phoenix Wright in his current bum attire. He manages to play an import role in this game.

A strong story and compelling characters are the crux of every Ace Attorney game and Apollo Justice upholds the tradition quite well. The first case of the game starts off with a bang and the last case has its share of shocking plot twists. The filler cases in between deliver intriguing, over-the-top stories that fall into the "so crazy it works" category. Sharp writing and clever humor ensure the story stays on track. As for the characters, their personalities really help drive the game's narrative along.

On the surface Apollo seems like a younger version of Phoenix but a closer look reveals a different personality. Despite being young and still inexperienced Apollo is brash and feisty at times. Where Phoenix often kept his sarcastic remarks to himself Apollo isn't afraid to share his cynical opinions. Trucy (I'm withholding her last name to avoid spoilers) takes the role of assistant this time around. Her witty and cheerful nature works well with Apollo's sarcastic personality. On the prosecution side Klavier Gavin, the younger brother of the defense attorney Kristoph Gavin, plays the rival role. As a prosecutor Klavier is cunning but surprisingly fair. Unlike many of the series' prosecutors he seeks the truth rather than a guilty verdict. As an added cool factor by night he's the lead singer and guitarist of a renowned rock band. Phoenix is one of many recurring characters but has changed significantly over the last seven years.

It should be illegal for the prosecutor to be that well dressed.

At the end of Trials and Tribulations Phoenix's success as a defense attorney seemed all but assured-- until he was forced to leave law. The experience understandably left him jaded but thankfully not unkind. Most of the time he appears to be quite mellow (even a bit stoned), a change from his former high-strung self but under the surface he's surprisingly sly. Ema Syke is another reoccurring character who now takes Gumshoe's place as the detective. When Ema's not dealing with forensic science she's often moody and dismissive. The only other reoccurring characters are the Judge, Prosecutor Winston Payne and a brief cameo by Detective Gumshoe.

Remember her from the original Ace Attorney? She sure did grow up to become a grouch.

Apollo Justice's gameplay is largely unchanged from previous Ace Attorney games. And if you're familiar with the forensics in the DS-only bonus case in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, the forensics aspects of Apollo Justice is more of the same. Fortunately, in the courtroom segments of the game Apollo has a few new tricks his sleeve-- or rather around his wrist.

The perceive system is unique to Apollo. When a witness's testimony is less than truthful the golden bracelet around the young attorney's wrist activates. During cross-examination he has the ability to focus on a witness and the nervous habits they produce while lying. Pointing out a witness's nervous habits and backing it up with solid evidence usually forces a more truthful testimony. The perceive system is somewhat of a replacement to the previous games' psyche locks. Unfortunately, using the perceive system eases the overall difficulty of the game when compared to the psyche locks. I personally found it much more difficult to know when to find and present to evidence to witnesses during investigations using the magatama, rather than already having the correct evidence present in the courtroom.

Dusting for finger prints on a locked safe is all in a day's work for a defense attorney. At least in the Ace Attorney Universe.

Graphically Apollo Justice is an improvement over its predecessors. Unlike the previous games which were mildly enhanced GBA ports the newest Ace Attorney installment was created from scratch for the DS. All of the backgrounds, sprites, and animations are cleaner and more vivid. Furthermore, the game makes use of 3D graphics in terms of animation and the ability to manipulate evidence on the touchscreen. Clearly the design team took graphical cues from the fifth bonus case in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney.

In terms of sound many of the sound effects are recycled from previous Ace Attorney games. Naturally, new voices were recorded for Apollo and Klavier's "Objection!" shouts. Apollo's cry of "Gotcha!" is also new to the series during the game's perceive segments. The game's music and its composer are new. Toshihiko Horiyama is best known for his work on some of the Mega Man games, but contributed his talent to this game. Musically, Apollo Justice is on par with any game in the series. As always the music almost always fits the mood, whether it's light and cheerful or dark and ominous.

Praise aside, I did have a few issues with game. The exploration and investigation segments of the game are still lackluster at times. I know the Ace Attorney series is more or less a visual novel, but I can't help but feel as if Capcom played it a little too conservatively at times. The game also upholds the tradition of having plot holes big enough to fly a space shuttle through. A hearty suspension of disbelief is a pre-requisite to playing these games; leave your logic at the door. Finally, I'm disappointed at the lack of a back story and motivations for many of the main characters. Why did Klavier become a prosecutor instead of following in Kristoph Gavin's footsteps as a defense attorney? Why even bother with law at all when he's such a big rock star? Why did Apollo become a defense attorney, given how passionate he is about the law? At the end of the first Ace Attorney we already knew what motivated Phoenix and Edgeworth. Also, the last case in the game raised as many questions as it answered. Granted there may not have been enough time to delve into everything for this game, but I can only hope that Capcom has a sequel planned.

You can't just threaten the defense team in the middle of a trial! Or can you?

Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney represents something of a fresh start for the Ace Attorney series. It lowers the curtain on Phoenix Wright's career as an attorney while passing on the beacon to Apollo Justice. While the game makes use of the DS in new ways, Capcom ultimately plays it safe and reuses the same formula. Nothing is inherently bad about it, as tight writing and compelling characters are the real draw of the series, but the new game brings little in terms of gameplay innovation. As of this writing, the next game in the Ace Attorney series will focus on Miles Edgeworth, and there is no word on an Apollo Justice sequel. Because Apollo Justice closes on an open note with lots of unanswered questions a sequel isn't a matter of "if" but "when," knowing Capcom. Still, the future of the Ace Attorney series looks bright. After all, Justice always prevails.

Images courtesy of Court Records and GameSpot.

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