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Marvel vs Capcom 2
Written by David Adam Ettedgui   
Saturday, 06 March 2010
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It started with a quarter… One morning, like any other day, I was wandering aimlessly to no particular place when I had happened upon what seemed to be a quarter that was sitting there just waiting for me to pick it up. I approached the George Washington metallic portrait and grabbed it in less than the shake of a lambs tail. Holding the quarter in my hand told me that this was unlike any quarter, it was as if it had been waiting for me to pick it up, since it had been resting next to entrance of an establishment with lights and sound exuberating and emanating from its remote location. A young lad, like myself, exited through the double doors in defeat of what had seemed to be an arcade of some sorts. So I thought it would be best to enter. Immediately in front of me, there was a crowd of guys lined up and screaming at the top of their lungs waiting for their turn against the champion. "Next victim!" I stepped forward through the masses at the amazement of how many people there were lined up for what appeared to be, "Marvel Vs. Capcom 2," a game not for the feint of hearts. The enthusiasm from the crowd overwhelmed my senses and gave me just enough ambition to want to give it a shot. A first time player like myself could only hope to survive this. I patiently waited for other competitors to squander their loose change on this leader of sorts who was the reigning champion of this game. At first it seemed like a typical fighting game between two opponents, but the amazement of having three fighters and assisted attacks was too much for me. I watched as each player would combat with a frontal attack and then combining it with an air combo that would be equivalent to a super move. Some would need assistance from their remaining players, others would fight the good fight, "mano e mano." One after another, competitor after competitor, suffered a similar fate that would be irrevocably safe to say to sum up in one word, "defeat." By now, the fallen retreated back to darkness from wence they came to the womb of their mothers waiting to cradle them to sleep while I stood their wondering if I should dare to step forward. There was no one left in sight, the only people left were me and the winner who looked around to see if there were any more opponents. When our eyes met, the first thing that entered my mind was a quote from Oscar Wilde, "She lacks the indefinable charm of weakness." She pulled up a stool beside her and tapped on it twice with her hands. I took a few steps forward. Before sitting down I noticed that she was on the last level facing the boss, apparently someone tried to step in as she was going through her routine of practicing beating this game, I knew I had no chance, but at least she was hot. I sat down ignoring the smell of her perfume, put in the quater, and was directed to the character select screen. I didn't know who to pick from or where to begin. I had three choices, 2 too many. I started looking for Ryu hoping that I would be able to remember my street fighter moves, fortunately there was Akuma and Ken, I chose both. The last character was wolverine. While selecting the characters, I was allowed to choose what type of assists to help my fighter, I didn't even know what the assists did. Her three choice were Cable, Magneto, and a Sentinel, I knew I was in trouble. The screen loaded to the opening round, "Ready, Fight." For the first time in my life, I began to pray.
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 06 March 2010 )
 
Wasted Opportunities in Gaming
Written by Dustin Hall   
Saturday, 06 March 2010
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There are so many franchise games being put out there thesedays. So many.

 

Hollywood and Video Game makers are similar in that regard;they are ever on the lookout for remakes and adaptations they can make becauseits cheaper to run off of an existing fan-base than to advertize a new idea.Sometimes it works (Batman: Arkham Asylum) and sometimes it fails horribly(Street Fighter: The Movie: The Game). And despite those failures, we keepbuying in, time and time again, for the hope that this time we'll see ourheroes done right.

 

After all, there's nothing more fun than being, say,Spider-Man, without having to worry about all of that 'Great Responsibility'bullshit.

 

But, despite the hundreds of sequels and franchise games beingpumped out month after month, there are some real missed opportunities outthere. There are properties with rabid, built-in fan bases that would be theperfect cornerstone of a viral marketing campaign, that are largely untouchedby the game world. Or, even worse, they had a game but something went horriblyawry, and the game was unfinished, or maybe even a complete piece of garbagewhen it DID finally come out.

 

I present to you now, five great game ideas that have beenoverlooked, criminally, for years. Lets hope someone's paying attention outthere...

 

 

 

Dr. Strange- Straight from the pages of yourfavorite comic, presented in the Mighty Marvel Manner!

 

Doc Strange has been in a couple games before, but never hisown title. In fact, out of the Ultimate Alliance series, Strange has beenrelegated to a side character, or a plot device in a cut-scene at best.Marvel's failure to develop an on-going series or a movie for this character issadly matched by the gaming world.

 

But what a game the Doctor could have! As a brilliantneurosurgeon turned sorcerer, the game could have a dash of Trauma Centerfor dramatic effect, and the rest of the game could be new types of mysticalaction that push the boundaries of what your gaming system. Not only could youdo battle with some of Marvel's nastiest, and most frighting villains, but youcould spend time flying through tremendous, alien, 3-D dimensions, battlingmonsters that wish to conquer the 616 Earth.

 

I picked Dr. Strange as a front runner, as magic itself issorely misrepresented in games so far. The energy blasting, flying, futurereading, reality warping possibilities of magic could make for some reallytricky action/puzzle play, and lead to an adventure that is psychedelic andmind-bending. And what do we get? All the magicians we ever see in video gamesare relegated to firing energy beams; they're so generic. Magician Lord wasawesome back on the Neo Geo, guys, but its 20-years later. Lets see what youcan do.

 

The Dungeons and Dragons series is a good start for Wizards,but one read through the early Dr. Strange comics of Steve Ditko and Stan Leewill show you the boundless possibilities of magic done right.

 

Cthulhu Mythos- This property had a game comeout, but sadly it was not well received. But when I think of Mythos games, Idon't tend to think of Dark Corners of the Earth, rather, I think of EternalDarkness.


ED was arguably the best game on the Gamecube, but also under-appreciated. Thisgame was the forerunner M-rated game on an otherwise very juvenile system, andit was a rough transition. those who took the time to find a copy have neverforgotten the terror and mystery, the literal madness, of Eternal Darkness.

 

With Horror games having cinched a major spot in videogaming, with titles like FEAR and Resident Evil, its remarkableno one else has tried to take the reigns of the Mythos monsters, created by H PLovecraft, and make  horrific andentertaining video games from them. Though he wasn't a prolific writer by the standardsof some of today's writers, the concepts Lovecraft came up with are stillpushing the boundaries of the human imagination, and in creative hands, couldbe the most frightening games ever! You see many of his ideas bleed over,inspiring other series, Afraid of the Dark coming to mind first, butstories themselves are untapped and boundless resources.

 

 

Bone-  Boneis a property that has been left sadly untouched since its original creation, acomic book from acclaimed writer Jeff Smith. But recently, Bone was reprintedin a series of hardback, easy to read digests. Bone's kid-friendly contentcaught the eye of Scholastic, who has been putting them in school libraries allover. Now the kids in the libraries are taking time to read them in schools allacross America. Its taken ages for Bone to circulate properly, but now its inthe hands of the youth, building that fanbase. The comic series was a runawayhit when it came out in the '90s, and this new resurgence in the hands of afresh generation are bringing back whispers of an animated film.

 

And why not? Bone is easily one of the best comics everprinted, a real masterwork. It features the 3 Bone cousins, who make, at first,comical characters, lost in the woods, racing cows, and fighting off Rat-men atevery corner. As the story progresses though, it becomes more and more epic,and soon Bone is taking up arms to fight a horde of monsters something likethat of Sauron's army from Lord of the Rings.


Story-telling like this naturally lends itself to video games. This is the kindof tale video game writers try to grasp constantly, and often fail at. Fun,quirky, comical, the early stages of the tale are fun and light and make youfall in love with the characters, so much so that at the end, you can feelevery hit your characters take, and their mission feels important in yourhands. Imagine a game that feels like Mario at the beginning, fun andwhimsical, battling silly monsters and finding treasures and hidden jokes alongthe way, but as you progress, the world grows darker, and the fight more deadlyand serious.

 

If you want a good basis for a game, companies need to lookno further than the adventures of Phone Bone and his battle with the LocustKing.

 

 

Dr. Who- The Doctor, that nameless, immortal,time-traveling hero from the end of existence would make the perfect video gamehero. There was an effort to make a game of him a few years ago, but it cameout as a lame PC card-game program. Travesty. Dr Who is the Superbowl ofSci-fi, being easily the highest rated British TV show ever, and its episodesfrom 1980's 'City of Death' arc remain the highest rated fiction shows in theUK to this day. The Doctor deserves better than he's gotten.

 

The possibilities are literally endless. The Doctor's TARDIS(a time machine disguised as a Police Box) can travel anywhere in space andtime, guiding him where he's needed. If you want to battle the Aztecs over acursed gem, you've got it. Robot Men come to the present from another world todestroy mankind? The Doctor is on it. How about a trip to another world thatlies in the far future on the edge of a dying star, and you need to save theinhabitants. Literally, if you can think it, the Doctor can do it; its theperfect set-up!

 

Dr. Who would be a thinking man's game for sure. The Doctordoesn't use guns, only his sonic screw-driver. At best, he MAYBE punches abitch. That said, the Doctor's games would rely on puzzle solving, creativethinking, and quick-witted reflexes to survive. If anything, that's probablybeen the greatest challenge for game designers in putting together a Who game,they have to set aside their reliance on blowing shit to ribbons with guns asthe answer to any scenario.

 

Having the ability to alter and visit different time-lines,ala Chrono Trigger, would make for great in-game Easter Eggs, too!

 

Captain N: The Game Master- Ah, a losttreasure from my youth. Captain N was on Saturday mornings in the halcyon daysof the old NES entertainment system. This cartoon featured Kevin, a typicalhigh school guy who's sucked into his TV, and to the land of Nintendo, where hefinds that all the games on the NES co-exist peacefully in this same place...except for that bitch Mother Brain, of course, which Kevin has to fight on aweekly basis.

 

The best part of the show was the mix of video gamecharacters at its disposal. Its pretty rare to see companies loaning outlicenses so freely, but then, it was a different time back then. You had MegaMan, Simon Belmont, Kid Icarus, Link, Bayou Billy, Donkey Kong, King Hippo, allof these classic characters crammed into one show! A lot of the plots seemfairly silly now, but there's a good number of 8-bit Nintendo gags thrown inthere, and at the time it was just great to be able to watch a show withfriends and share in your revelry for those early games.

 

Just think about seeing that kind of franchise interactionin one game. Each character, Link, Mega Man, Simon, would need your help inridding their world of Mother Brain's influence; choose who to help and when,and find yourself playing through their world. A player could find themselvesfighting Dr. Wily's robots one moment, and in the middle of Castlevania thenext, maybe top it off with a Zelda-style 3-D dungeon crawl. And in each ofthese levels, you'd find not just your usual bad guys, but a host of deadlyenemies from any and all of the video game worlds. Robots popping up inCastlevania or aliens invading Donkey Kong Country! It would be the greatesttribute to that golden age of Nintendo.

 

Sadly, despite Smash Brothers and its success, it seemsunlikely all these characters will ever be able to get together under one roof.The paperwork and licensing of what have become multi-million dollar charactersis far too complex anymore. But if Capcom and Konami are ever able to agree toit, maybe we can see a few of these classics together again on the screen. Wegot Freddy Vs Jason, didn't we? Anything can happen.

 

 

 

There's still a few great ideas left out there, and I'm surethese five are just the tip of the iceberg. What kind of things do you want tosee? The great thing about video games are the endless possibilities foradventure.

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How Integrated Action Affects the Story and the Player
Written by Eric Robbins   
Thursday, 18 February 2010
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The last several years have seen the emergence of the blockbuster video game, a game usually influenced strongly by the notion of cinematic presentation of story.  This line between video games and film will continue to blur, especially with the imminent release of Quantic Dream’s Heavy Rain, which, judging by early reviews, is shaping up to be an emotional roller coaster that entangles the player.  Thinking Heavy Rain is meant for anything other than a niche audience is naïve, contrary to whatever hopes both QD and Sony may have for the title.  However, in terms of blockbusters, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves and Modern Warfare 2 instantly spring to mind.  What interests me most is the execution of both games in terms of action set pieces and how they add up to vastly different experiences, at least in terms of satisfaction.  I’ll save the instant gratification people a read: Uncharted 2 stomps all over Modern Warfare 2 in how it handles the action the player experiences, and is the stronger of the two games because of it.

First, allow me to backtrack / cover my ass.  These two games have predecessors that I enjoy far too much.  Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Uncharted both rank near the top of my personal favorites from this console cycle.  I share this to show that I didn’t wander into the successors with unreasonable or inexperienced expectations.  Once the dust settled, I preferred Uncharted 2 to Uncharted, but ended disappointed in Modern Warfare 2 as it fell short of the near perfection for a run-and-gun FPS established in CoD4.   Upon further examination, I found it was the incorporation of the action pieces, those moments where the game excels its normal gameplay formula, that affected my overall opinion of the games.  Specifically, the motivation of these moments.

Both games drop the players in a variety of adrenaline pumping situations, from the scaling of a train car over the side of a cliff to an attempt to reclaim the White House from an enemy army.  However, the moments in Uncharted 2 feel, in my opinion, motivated by the game’s story, while Modern Warfare 2 feels more like a string of “wouldn’t it be cool if…” ideas generated at an Infinity Ward meeting.  Yes, it is easy to imagine that all great gameplay moments spring from those ideas, but actually incorporating them into the story takes skill, and both these developers have that skill.

   Call of Duty 4 worked as a whole because all the events contained within felt like they were working towards a greater story goal; namely, the prevention of a full blown war.  Modern Warfare 2 eschews this build towards a climax by having an unstoppable enemy force invade the U.S. in the comfort of a cutscene.  This moment in the plot is justified by my actions a few levels before, in which I participated in a terrorist act.  These moments, one of which feels like a more intimate (in terms of character / player relations) and personal moment (in case you’re curious, I am talking about the airport shooting) and follows it with an impersonal full blown assault throughout suburbia.  However, the first doesn’t feel sufficiently powerful enough to justify the second, thus leaving the player (in my experience) scratching their head and feeling unstatisfied.  Compare this to the moment in Call of Duty 4 when you are storming the bunkers and see the missiles launch.  It is such a heart pounding moment, since you’ve been working the whole game to prevent this moment, yet you’ve possibly failed.  That affects me more than random engagements set in historical locales.

Uncharted 2, on the other hand, makes you strive for payoff.  The game makes you want to progress, because you’ll be damned if all the events you’ve suffered through were in vain.  While you want to stop Makarov and the “surprise” villain in Modern Warfare 2 on the simple grounds that they’re “bad”, Uncharted 2 makes it personal by compounding hellhole upon hellhole, an almost unyielding build to a climax that you feel that you’re always progressing towards.  I’m actually trying to strive away from examples in order to avoid spoiling any moment of gameplay or story, which I feel is hurting my argument (though, if you haven’t played Uncharted or Uncharted 2 and you own a PS3, there is no excuse).  

In my experience with narrative driven games, the more you make the player feel like they’re interacting and experiencing the world and adventure of the character, the better the game.  Modern Warfare 2 is a fantastic FPS, but one I ultimately found disappointing.  Maybe it was because I played it immediately after Uncharted 2, or maybe it was because the sense of importance in my actions from the first game was so good.  There should never be a moment where the player questions why they’re doing what they’re doing in the story.  This isn’t to say that a game shouldn’t have questions in its plot, but I shouldn’t wonder why I’ve gone from one level to another that the game is telling me are directly related.  This moment never occurs in Uncharted 2, which brings to mind George Mallory’s response to the question of why he climbed Everest: “Because it is there.”  Uncharted 2 forces the player towards many mountains (some actual mountains), and I climbed them because they were there.


 

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