Tag: review

Viriax is Classic Shmup Fun

I’ve never considered myself to be very good at shmups. In spite of that I have always enjoyed them. From my first experience with the genre in an arcade on an old Galaga machine to bringing that experience home with Gradius and Lifeforce. After the 8-bit era I stopped focusing on the genre; I think I played Gradius 3 but such staples as R-Type were unknown to me, I had no experience of the 32-bit era of shmups at all…

I was away from the genre for so long that when I got back into it people were talking about Ikaruga, a fiendishly (to me) difficult bullet hell shmup that I enjoy playing but am under no illusions as to my abilities with it. Shmups have changed, as everything does, and the genre has left me behind. I’m okay with that, I’ve got a lot of others things to distract me and when I do want to shoot tiny things flying in patterns I still have the classics…

And, Viriax.

Viriax is a free shmup with retro stylings and unique game play by the same guy who made Hydorah (another great free shmup.) The game is a vertical scrolling shooter in which you control a single virus as it infects a host. The quirk comes from the fact that you can only,in all circumstances but one, attack enemies from behind, requiring you to maneuver past them before destroying them.

The game has only six levels but the difficulty ramps up quickly. I’m still stuck on the third. Since the levels are procedurally generated and it takes highscores to unlock later levels  going back is rewarding.

Finally, I want to mention the chiptune music by Gryzor87. I’m a big fan of chiptune music: it always reminds me of happy childhood times and I’m genuinely impressed by the depth and range of emotion chiptune artists can create with their limited “palette.” The Viriax soundtrack is ominous and oppressive, fitting emotions for the material, while retaining a catchiness that keeps them firmly lodged in my head. I can’t get enough of the music for the Heart level of the game.

Anyway, if you are looking for some classic inspired shmup fun Viriax is a smart choice!

DiMortuiSunt April Book Giveaway! #1

My review for Sacramento Book Review:

I found it troubling and eerie at how much of today I see in the world Jackson Lears relates in his newest book Rebirth of a Nation, which chronicles the history of the United States from the end of Reconstruction to the end of World War I. Lears makes the similarities between then and now a theme throughout the book, pointing them out when they are especially telling. Rebirth of a Nation is not an important book because it paints a vivid picture of early modern American culture; it is a brilliant book because it reminds of how and why we have the federal government we do and the headaches and troubles earlier Americans faced to get us here. Various government institutions and policies (the FDA, for example) which we take for granted today, or worse denigrate, are explained in the context of which they were created, enlightening such issues as modern banking and its regulation, the Federal Reserve, the eight-hour workday, unions, a mixed economy, and more. Lears wraps all of that radical change in an American desire, both individual and societal, for a rebirth into a state akin to grace whether through war, social justice, or labor. Rebirth of a Nation is a must-read for lovers of American history.

If you’re a fan of history or the United States this is a great book that covers a pivotal period in US History as the country shifted from its original rural agrarian base to a urban industrial one.

So, if you’d like a free book. Just make a comment down below and you’ll be entered. One person, chosen at random, will win it next Friday.

I want to see more games like TWEWY

Silly name, good game

I finished The World Ends With You (TWEWY) last Friday. The game was an enjoyable romp. The story didn’t make a lot of sense and the character (and costume) design was atrocious but the gameplay was solid and more important scalable. Why is scalable bolded like that? Because it is the single greatest thing it has going for it and the single greatest thing I wish started showing up in more games!

TWEWY doesn’t punish a player for not learning the minutiae of its various game play mechanics. It doesn’t penalize you for not being able to sink in the hours and hours to master controlling characters on two screens simultaneously, or learning the intricacies of its mini games (like tin pin slammer and fashions.) TWEWY is only as difficult as you want it to be. You can set the difficulty level at any time, you can set how your secondary characters works at any time and you can safely ignore all the mini-games, sub-plots, and interesting game design elements if you want, and still see the ending of the game.

More difficult than it looks.

Why is this so important? Well, I’m not six or sixteen anymore. I have a fucking life now and I no longer have the luxury of six or seven spare hours in a day to immerse myself in my favorite pastime. If I did I’m sure I could master all the nuances of tin pin slammer, or figure out just what types of experience go into making my pins evolve. Seven-year-old-me loved that shit and ate it up. Seven-year-old-me had the free time to memorize enemy stats and talk endlessly about the differences in the magic systems in various JRPG gaming franchises and how that compared with said systems in western game franchises (oh, the misspent hours of my youth…) I do not.

I don’t want to hear anyone down in the comments say something like “Maybe you just suck at gaming,” or “If you can’t commit to a game don’t play it.” The answer to my lack of time isn’t to give up my most cherished pastime. And you should slam your head against a wall for thinking I, or anyone else, should. The average age of a gamer today is 34. In general 34 year-olds have full-time jobs, family commitments, social commitments, community commitments, etc. What they don’t have is a lot of free time to sink into games that demand they ‘master’ them in order to enjoy them.

God, these kids look stupid.

I just wish more designers did things like this. The difficulty in video games has been declining for years, but as implemented in TWEWY it allows the player to decide, on the fly, how difficult they want things to be. So, when the player is looking for something more challenging or has the time to sink into it they are rewarded for it. At the same time I can play and enjoy the game as well.

Here is a case where gamers can have their cake and eat it too. So why aren’t designers catching on?

Thoughts on Scribblenauts…

I’ve gone back to it but each play is for a short period, never more than a puzzle or two, anymore than that and I find myself being burned out on how unimaginative the designers were and how despite all the tools at my disposal I’d only ever need a handful of them to get through the entire game. Scribblenauts is a great concept, a nice toolbox, a good first draft, but it isn’t much of a game, and definitely not a fun one.

scribblenauts

Seeing as this game came out almost a month ago and the 2 minute attention span of the Internet has moved on to the next “big thing” I thought it’d be appropriate to talk about Scribblenauts the game by 5th cell for the Nintendo DS.   The game enjoyed near universal praise while it was being shown at conventions and show… Everyone kept talking about how great the concept was and how much fun they had solving the various puzzles the game presents you using the most ridiculous items possible (a personal friend kept telling me about using Cthulu and a laser sword (lightsaber being copyrighted) to complete one).  On this wave of praise I made sure I had ordered the game and looked forward to playing it especially because it looked like just the type of game D would love as well.

When the game arrived I eagerly slid it into my DS and booted the system up, the game has a short tutorial (that I felt was still too long, this isn’t rocket science and besides the manual is lying right here in front of me!) and then you dive into the meat and potatoes.  A quick description might be in order, in Scribblenauts you solve puzzles by summoning objects that you write into the game.  The first 30 minutes was a blast, as I spent most of the time trying to think up the ridiculous things to summon into the world: black holes, clones, pirates, ninjas, etc., etc.  After playing around I settled down into solving the puzzles and my enjoyment began to wane almost immediately.  It wasn’t the concept of the game that had failed though, rather it was the imagination of the designers who came up with the puzzles.  Very soon the obstacles placed before you become repetitive.  And, despite the vast vocabulary at your disposal there are only so many variants on a flying, diving, and tying things together…  I’m going to surmise that 90% of the words included in Scribblenauts dictionary will never be used.  For one, there is no list and so players do not know their options.  Second, players vocabularies aren’t vast.  Finally, the game doesn’t really give you a reason to think outside the box, the puzzles are all variants on common themes:  fetch this, bring these two things together, avoid this, etc.  I could use a vine, wire, cord, or chain to tie two objects together but in the end I’ll keep using the rope.

An hour in and I had become bored and set it down.

I’ve gone back to it but each play is for a short period, never more than a puzzle or two, anymore than that and I find myself being burned out on how unimaginative the designers were and how despite all the tools at my disposal I’d only ever need a handful of them to get through the entire game.  Scribblenauts is a great concept, a nice toolbox, a good first draft, but it isn’t much of a game, and definitely not a fun one.

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