June262012
Metal Gear Solid HD Collection (Vita) - So I’ve been neglecting my blog a bit in favor of writing and (hopefully) selling some short stories, but I’ve still found time to check out Metal Gear Solid HD Collection on my Vita. I’ve been waiting quite a while for this one, and so far it’s certainly given me good reason to remain glued to my Vita for the last couple of weeks. Now, I didn’t finish either MGS 2 or MGS 3 during their original runs so I was super excited to have an excuse to go through both of them. The exclusion of the first MGS was a little upsetting, especially considering that the Vita still can’t play PS1 games, but with the original two MSX Metal Gear games still included it remains a very full package. There seems to be some confusion in the gaming world over what exactly an “HD Collection” really is. It is not a remake. It is the original assets displayed in higher resolution. What this means is that the games aren’t going to look much better than in their original forms; they’re going to look sharper, but textures that were originally badly done will still look bad. MGS 2 was quite an experience to say the least. In traditional Metal Gear fashion, the story crumbled into a mess of philosophy, crazy monologues, and lengthy boss battles. It was memorable, but got a little crazy. The controls were insufferable to say the least, and the shoehorned back touch controls made things even more frustrating. Although the game itself is well worth putting up with the control scheme, it made me put it down several times. The inventory management was also revamped to be controlled with the front touch screen. To do this they grouped similar items into a sub-menu which tends to bury items that you don’t use all the time, and caused me to forget about many of them when the time to use them rolled around. Obviously the age old complaint that you play as Raiden for most of the game is still there, and it really wouldn’t be as frustrating if Raiden wasn’t voice acted so badly. If you’ve never played either game be sure to play this one first, because while it’s a fun experience, MGS 3 is the real gem in this package.Now I’m still not quite done with MGS 3, but so far it’s been one hell of a ride. The music, the much improved voice acting, and most of all the controls all make it a shining example in the series. The villains are a little less intriguing than in the previous title, but they do provide some excellent battles. Naked Snake himself (Big Boss if you prefer) feels like a much more relatable version of Solid Snake. The entire game has a much more gung-ho guns blazing feel to it, and I’ve found myself shooting my way through some sections just because it was more fun. I wouldn’t say that you can play either way, but stealth isn’t as necessary as in previous games. That flexibility combined with the survival mechanics really come together to make something special. Overall, even without the addition of Peace Walker, which the PS3 version had, it’s still quite a package. If you’re looking for something to kill a good thirty hours (or many many more if you play all the bonus content) then this is the title to get. The games themselves look damn good on the Vita’s screen, and being able to take what many consider the best entry in the entire Metal Gear series with me wherever I go feels great.

Metal Gear Solid HD Collection (Vita) -

So I’ve been neglecting my blog a bit in favor of writing and (hopefully) selling some short stories, but I’ve still found time to check out Metal Gear Solid HD Collection on my Vita. I’ve been waiting quite a while for this one, and so far it’s certainly given me good reason to remain glued to my Vita for the last couple of weeks.

Now, I didn’t finish either MGS 2 or MGS 3 during their original runs so I was super excited to have an excuse to go through both of them. The exclusion of the first MGS was a little upsetting, especially considering that the Vita still can’t play PS1 games, but with the original two MSX Metal Gear games still included it remains a very full package.

There seems to be some confusion in the gaming world over what exactly an “HD Collection” really is. It is not a remake. It is the original assets displayed in higher resolution. What this means is that the games aren’t going to look much better than in their original forms; they’re going to look sharper, but textures that were originally badly done will still look bad.

MGS 2 was quite an experience to say the least. In traditional Metal Gear fashion, the story crumbled into a mess of philosophy, crazy monologues, and lengthy boss battles. It was memorable, but got a little crazy. The controls were insufferable to say the least, and the shoehorned back touch controls made things even more frustrating. Although the game itself is well worth putting up with the control scheme, it made me put it down several times.

The inventory management was also revamped to be controlled with the front touch screen. To do this they grouped similar items into a sub-menu which tends to bury items that you don’t use all the time, and caused me to forget about many of them when the time to use them rolled around. Obviously the age old complaint that you play as Raiden for most of the game is still there, and it really wouldn’t be as frustrating if Raiden wasn’t voice acted so badly. If you’ve never played either game be sure to play this one first, because while it’s a fun experience, MGS 3 is the real gem in this package.

Now I’m still not quite done with MGS 3, but so far it’s been one hell of a ride. The music, the much improved voice acting, and most of all the controls all make it a shining example in the series. The villains are a little less intriguing than in the previous title, but they do provide some excellent battles. Naked Snake himself (Big Boss if you prefer) feels like a much more relatable version of Solid Snake. The entire game has a much more gung-ho guns blazing feel to it, and I’ve found myself shooting my way through some sections just because it was more fun. I wouldn’t say that you can play either way, but stealth isn’t as necessary as in previous games. That flexibility combined with the survival mechanics really come together to make something special.

Overall, even without the addition of Peace Walker, which the PS3 version had, it’s still quite a package. If you’re looking for something to kill a good thirty hours (or many many more if you play all the bonus content) then this is the title to get. The games themselves look damn good on the Vita’s screen, and being able to take what many consider the best entry in the entire Metal Gear series with me wherever I go feels great.

Big Boss MGS HD Collection Metal Gear Metal Gear HD Metal Gear Solid Raiden Solid Snake Vita games gaming editorial 

May312012
Video games are hard. At least, they used to be. The end screen on a game was a hard fought battle, you against the toughest, most unfair creatures and puzzles the designer could think to throw at you. You had to buy books, read magazines, and scour the playground for tips to beat many of them and even then that wasn’t always enough. In addition to those resources you needed an iron thumb and the reflexes to match.A couple of floppy disks or a gray cartridge were all you needed for an entire weekend, and by the time it was over you either stood triumphant over the final boss or you watched your parents slip the game back into the return slot at your local video store along with your hopes and dreams. Times were hard, but gamers were harder, and they fought on through glitches and esoteric quest dialog. Maps were hand drawn on graph paper and taped on walls over computer monitors. And most of all, if there was an easy mode, you never used it.Easy mode. That’s what you put on when your kid brother wants to play, but not you, you’re a real gamer. Yeah, it might make the game easier, but it takes out all the integrity. Does beating the game on easy mode even count? Well, unfortunately, it often does not. Don’t think for a second that shelling out over fifty dollars for a game means that you’re entitled to beat it, quite the contrary.All facetiousness aside, gaming was a hard earned right in its formative years. Now I’m getting older and easy mode is probably one of the biggest reasons that I’ve been able to continue gaming throughout adulthood. I have a job and school to contend with, so honing my lightning reflexes or memorizing patterns just to beat a game I’m playing aren’t things I generally have a lot of time for. I want to get through the narrative and have a fun time doing it, and grinding levels it not something that I find incredibly fun anymore. The taboo surrounding easy modes still goes on in gaming culture, and it’s something saturated in male bravado and hypermsaculinity. It seems to me that a lot of people are more concerned with how “hardcore” they look when playing a game than they are with having a good time and enjoying the experience. Granted, there isn’t anything wrong with someone who wants to practice the same stage in a game for hundreds of hours and upload perfect speed runs. It’s precisely this kind of dedication that makes gaming great. No, I’m talking about the guy that spends his days playing a single game and trolling the forums looking to belittle anyone who hasn’t spent thousands of hours developing the same mastery of the game that he has. In this day of dynamic difficulties, increasingly impressive AI, and radically diverse play styles, you should be allowed to play easy mode without feeling like you’re doing it wrong. There is a certain amount of accomplishment that comes from completing a challenging task, but at a certain point it just feels like bashing your head against a brick wall. Difficulty is a hard thing to nail down. Developers and testers spend months, even years with some games, so it’s hard for them to tell what level of difficulty would be appropriate for a new player. My girlfriend of four years recently started getting into playing games a bit, and simple things like moving in a 3D space and shoulder buttons still give her trouble. This keeps her from playing the bulk of major games on her Vita that she recently purchased. She seeks out games that are easy enough, and that don’t punish gamers who complete the game on normal. On that same note I always hesitate when purchasing something that is considered difficult. The more recent example is Dark Souls, a game that I adore. Dark Souls is one of those games that comes along once a generation, and despite the fact that it ignores many years of gameplay innovations, it becomes a hit. The atmosphere and esoteric storyline drew then, as expected, spit and me in me back out. The difficulty was part of the appeal, but in the end it prevented me from finishing the game. After about sixty hours I moved on to other titles that were piling up, and I still look back on Dark Souls wishing I had the time and manual dexterity to go back and finish it. My point here is that I loved the game, and if there was an easy mode then I might have been able to finish it instead of just giving up. No, it might not have been as satisfying as defeating the game’s challenge, but I would have felt better having had a more complete experience. So to anyone out there that still hesitates on the difficulty selection screen: take the leap, no one’s watching. Bump it down a notch, sit back, and have a good time. It’s easy to forget that games should be enjoyed, and they aren’t always tweaked perfectly to your particular skill level. It’s time that the easy mode taboo is broken, and we all move on to greener pastures.

Video games are hard. At least, they used to be. The end screen on a game was a hard fought battle, you against the toughest, most unfair creatures and puzzles the designer could think to throw at you. You had to buy books, read magazines, and scour the playground for tips to beat many of them and even then that wasn’t always enough. In addition to those resources you needed an iron thumb and the reflexes to match.

A couple of floppy disks or a gray cartridge were all you needed for an entire weekend, and by the time it was over you either stood triumphant over the final boss or you watched your parents slip the game back into the return slot at your local video store along with your hopes and dreams. Times were hard, but gamers were harder, and they fought on through glitches and esoteric quest dialog. Maps were hand drawn on graph paper and taped on walls over computer monitors. And most of all, if there was an easy mode, you never used it.

Easy mode. That’s what you put on when your kid brother wants to play, but not you, you’re a real gamer. Yeah, it might make the game easier, but it takes out all the integrity. Does beating the game on easy mode even count? Well, unfortunately, it often does not. Don’t think for a second that shelling out over fifty dollars for a game means that you’re entitled to beat it, quite the contrary.

All facetiousness aside, gaming was a hard earned right in its formative years. Now I’m getting older and easy mode is probably one of the biggest reasons that I’ve been able to continue gaming throughout adulthood. I have a job and school to contend with, so honing my lightning reflexes or memorizing patterns just to beat a game I’m playing aren’t things I generally have a lot of time for. I want to get through the narrative and have a fun time doing it, and grinding levels it not something that I find incredibly fun anymore. The taboo surrounding easy modes still goes on in gaming culture, and it’s something saturated in male bravado and hypermsaculinity.

It seems to me that a lot of people are more concerned with how “hardcore” they look when playing a game than they are with having a good time and enjoying the experience. Granted, there isn’t anything wrong with someone who wants to practice the same stage in a game for hundreds of hours and upload perfect speed runs. It’s precisely this kind of dedication that makes gaming great. No, I’m talking about the guy that spends his days playing a single game and trolling the forums looking to belittle anyone who hasn’t spent thousands of hours developing the same mastery of the game that he has.

In this day of dynamic difficulties, increasingly impressive AI, and radically diverse play styles, you should be allowed to play easy mode without feeling like you’re doing it wrong. There is a certain amount of accomplishment that comes from completing a challenging task, but at a certain point it just feels like bashing your head against a brick wall. Difficulty is a hard thing to nail down. Developers and testers spend months, even years with some games, so it’s hard for them to tell what level of difficulty would be appropriate for a new player.

My girlfriend of four years recently started getting into playing games a bit, and simple things like moving in a 3D space and shoulder buttons still give her trouble. This keeps her from playing the bulk of major games on her Vita that she recently purchased. She seeks out games that are easy enough, and that don’t punish gamers who complete the game on normal. On that same note I always hesitate when purchasing something that is considered difficult. The more recent example is Dark Souls, a game that I adore.

Dark Souls is one of those games that comes along once a generation, and despite the fact that it ignores many years of gameplay innovations, it becomes a hit. The atmosphere and esoteric storyline drew then, as expected, spit and me in me back out. The difficulty was part of the appeal, but in the end it prevented me from finishing the game. After about sixty hours I moved on to other titles that were piling up, and I still look back on Dark Souls wishing I had the time and manual dexterity to go back and finish it. My point here is that I loved the game, and if there was an easy mode then I might have been able to finish it instead of just giving up. No, it might not have been as satisfying as defeating the game’s challenge, but I would have felt better having had a more complete experience.

So to anyone out there that still hesitates on the difficulty selection screen: take the leap, no one’s watching. Bump it down a notch, sit back, and have a good time. It’s easy to forget that games should be enjoyed, and they aren’t always tweaked perfectly to your particular skill level. It’s time that the easy mode taboo is broken, and we all move on to greener pastures.

gaming games difficult games editorial dark souls easy mode 

April82012
Find Mii II- Find Mii is one of those games that a lot of people look at, play for a few minutes, then turn off and forget about it. My brother, for instance, hasn’t opened Find Mii once since getting his 3DS. I was the same way until I started getting multiple StreetPass hits a day while on campus, and I figured I would give it a shot. Hell, it’s long enough between good 3DS releases, I might as well find some way to entertain myself with the damn thing.The premise is simple, use the Mii of people you tag on StreetPass to traverse a very simple dungeon and save your own Mii from  a big baddie. You can spend coins that you get from walking on “wandering adventurers” to help out when you’re not hitting out and about enough to get tags. Each time you tag someone they level up, so it leads to a fun game of trying to go the same spots in your daily routine to get the same people. So, I played through it, a few minutes a day, and beat it. I got some useless hats for my Mii and moved on with my life. A few weeks later I picked it up again, and found that it’s the exact same game. Same dungeon, same monsters, but some different hats. Hooray, Nintendo, you really outdid yourselves here. Apathy took over and I would go a couple of days in between clearing out my Spotpass gate, so I slowly whittled my way through the game. Finally, again, I beat it, but this time something different happened. The credits rolled and I unlocked Find Mii II. Suddenly I found myself immersed in what was an RPG that required actual tactics and thought. You can combine adventurers for multiple attacks, buy special potions, and rehire old adventurers that you’ve met. This makes a big difference, because high level adventurers can traverse several rooms before running off, unlike the low-level wandering adventurers that are the grunts of Find Mii. Divergent paths bring make it feel a little more like an adventure, and even the enemies are much more menacing and powerful.Nintendo really hid this gem deep in the system, and I’m sure many people are unaware of it. I’ve heard mention of Find Mii II before, but I always dismissed it as more of the same. It almost feels like it could have been a full eShop release, so the fact that Nintendo just decided to include it in the system for free is fantastic. The cost of everything rises in Find Mii II, giving me something to finally spend all those saved up coins on. The only reason I can find that the Big N decided not to charge for it is that to play it you have to have coins, which you can only accrue in increments of ten a day. This restricts how much you can play the game, and keeps you from playing marathon sessions. Not that I’m complaining that Find Mii II is free, I’m just unaccustomed to this kind of quality software coming from a company at no cost.So, in short, if you have a 3DS and haven’t bothered with Find Mii, then give it a whirl. The biggest barrier to entry is the time it takes to complete Find Mii two times. After that, you’re in for a goofy romp through the kid-friendly countryside.

Find Mii II-

Find Mii is one of those games that a lot of people look at, play for a few minutes, then turn off and forget about it. My brother, for instance, hasn’t opened Find Mii once since getting his 3DS. I was the same way until I started getting multiple StreetPass hits a day while on campus, and I figured I would give it a shot. Hell, it’s long enough between good 3DS releases, I might as well find some way to entertain myself with the damn thing.

The premise is simple, use the Mii of people you tag on StreetPass to traverse a very simple dungeon and save your own Mii from  a big baddie. You can spend coins that you get from walking on “wandering adventurers” to help out when you’re not hitting out and about enough to get tags. Each time you tag someone they level up, so it leads to a fun game of trying to go the same spots in your daily routine to get the same people. So, I played through it, a few minutes a day, and beat it. I got some useless hats for my Mii and moved on with my life.

A few weeks later I picked it up again, and found that it’s the exact same game. Same dungeon, same monsters, but some different hats. Hooray, Nintendo, you really outdid yourselves here. Apathy took over and I would go a couple of days in between clearing out my Spotpass gate, so I slowly whittled my way through the game. Finally, again, I beat it, but this time something different happened. The credits rolled and I unlocked Find Mii II.

Suddenly I found myself immersed in what was an RPG that required actual tactics and thought. You can combine adventurers for multiple attacks, buy special potions, and rehire old adventurers that you’ve met. This makes a big difference, because high level adventurers can traverse several rooms before running off, unlike the low-level wandering adventurers that are the grunts of Find Mii. Divergent paths bring make it feel a little more like an adventure, and even the enemies are much more menacing and powerful.

Nintendo really hid this gem deep in the system, and I’m sure many people are unaware of it. I’ve heard mention of Find Mii II before, but I always dismissed it as more of the same. It almost feels like it could have been a full eShop release, so the fact that Nintendo just decided to include it in the system for free is fantastic. The cost of everything rises in Find Mii II, giving me something to finally spend all those saved up coins on. The only reason I can find that the Big N decided not to charge for it is that to play it you have to have coins, which you can only accrue in increments of ten a day. This restricts how much you can play the game, and keeps you from playing marathon sessions. Not that I’m complaining that Find Mii II is free, I’m just unaccustomed to this kind of quality software coming from a company at no cost.

So, in short, if you have a 3DS and haven’t bothered with Find Mii, then give it a whirl. The biggest barrier to entry is the time it takes to complete Find Mii two times. After that, you’re in for a goofy romp through the kid-friendly countryside.

find mii find mii II nintendo streetpass gaming games editorial video games 3DS 

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