Prêt à Porter
Occasionally, I actually have some money to spend, in between the Telephone Bills, Medical Bills, Insurance Bills, Taxes and Transportation costs (I love being an adult), and after finally receiving some payment from my Boss, and with an imminent bonus from my Health Insurance (it's about bloody time they started paying ME for something), I decided I was allowed to spend a little bit of money on luxury items.
Now normally, I tend to say that I'm not much of a Portable gamer, because I don't spend nearly as much time on my Gameboy Advance as I do on my Home Consoles, but lately I've been kinda hooked on portable gaming again, when I found out it's actually a lot more fun than reading on the bus, and time literally FLIES by when you immerse yourself in a good Adventure.
I have to travel to my job by bus for about 40 minutes (one way) every day, and after playing Rockman EXE 1&2 as part of the project, I decided I wanted more.
Now there were 2 options available to me.
Well, actually, there were 3, but buying a PSP, is not REALLY an option, is it?
I mean, come on.
So the first option was to get a DS. I still DEFINITELY want one, and I know I'll be getting one, it's just that I've been postponing it, like, forever. There's definitely a bunch of games I'm dying to play, so I was on the verge of getting one, until the thought of the second option hit me.
Also, the fact that Nintendo recently announced they'll be releasing the DS Lite in Japan soon, and that, on the very same day actually, the new Seiken Densetsu, entitled Children of Mana, will also be released, made me hope for a nice bundle package, which I will be sure to pick up there, as soon as I get there, if any of that will ever happen.
I decided that getting a DS right now would be stupid, what with the new and improved version on the near horizon, so I chose otherwise. I still need to have something to do on the bus, and more importantly, on that goddamn 11 hour flight to Japan, on the inevitable transfer times at the airport and on the first couple of nights there when I will probably not have a TV yet.
So I bought this:
That's right, the Extreme Flash Advance Linker II.
The Wha?
Exactly.
The Extreme Flash Advance Linker II is one of the many available Flash Cards for the GBA, but one of the few ones to hold as much as 1Gb (that's GigaBIT, not BYTE, before you start freaking, so it's "only" 128 Megabyte or so).
And what it does is, it holds a very nice amount of GBA ROMs (the average game is between 8 and 16 MB, so it holds between 8 and 16 games, depending on size), making this a very nice cartridge to carry with you.
No more carring around dozens of games with you, just one small cartridge with all your favorite stuff. Now, of course you're legally obligated to use this cartridge only for back-up purposes of games you actually own, but just IMAGINE how much fun you could have if you just put a shitload of great games on that you simply don't want to buy, because you're a cheapskate. I mean, for argument's sake, just IMAGINE.
That would be cool, if it were legal.
Ahem.
But these trinkets are really cool, and easy as heck to operate.
This particular one came in a small handsome box, complete with two USB cables (a long one, and a short one), and...well...nothing else.
You plug one end of the USB cable into the cartridge (there's a very tiny slot in there), the other end into your PC, and Bob is your Mother's Brother. There's no Software included in the box, for the very simple reason that you don't actually NEED any. I downloaded the necessary Software from the site where I bought the thing itself (very good Dutch site actually), but it's needlessly complicated and filled with Chinglish anyway.
As soon as you link up the cartridge to your computer, your PC recognizes it as an External Drive, and you can simply Drag & Drop (or Cut & Paste, if that's your preference, God knows it's made MY life a whole lot easier) the ROMs to the cartridge directly. Quick, Safe & Simple.
Fortunately, I was aware in advance, that the 1Gb it says on the front, is 1 GigaBIT, not byte, otherwise that would've been a nasty shock (it's only 8 TIMES as much), but there was still one slight disappointment.
Although you can store 128 MB of ROMs on your cartridge, you can actually only USE 32 MB at one time.
See, it's like the cartridge has Active and Passive Memory. The passive Memory holds 128 MB of games, but only 32 of those can be put into the Active memory at one time, and those are the only ones you can play.
Still, Active and Passive Memory can be very easily exchanged, and Save files are stored separately, so you can play anything you want at anytime, from anywhere you last saved. Nice.
Also, if I am to believe the promotional blurb, this cartridge can be used on DS as well (not for DS games of course, but for playing GBA games on your DS), so I'll be able to use it until it EXPLODES, which I'm sure will happen some day.
It should also be able to handly Gameboy and GB Color games, although I haven't been able to get that to work yet.
If there's one thing that this positive experience has taught me, and it hasn't, it's that, and I reiterate my previous statement, the Megaman Battle Network/Rockman EXE series is totally goddamn cool. They're PERFECT for bus & train travelling.
Easy to pick up, and with a save system that allows you to save at practically ANY given time, easy to put down as well, for when you've reached your destination.
Pure fun, great longevity and just kick-ass gameplay all-round. These games motherf*cking RULE.
That's right.
I actually SAW one of them doing it to their mother.
So, in short, a fairly costly purchase, almost as expensive as a new DS would've been, but you get a great item in return, instead of a soon-to-be-improved portable with no game included.
I'm happy.
Rockman EXE 2
Otherwise known as Megaman Battle Network 2.
Now, if you keep in mind that I've said I'm only going to be reviewing games that stand out somehow (in a positive or a negative sense), AND you know that I'm a huge Megaman Fan, you probably know where this is going.
But honestly, even if I weren't a huge Megaman Fan (what a Universe that would be) it is completely obvious that this is a truely fantastic game. Truth be told, my Megaman Fandom doesn't reach much further than the 2D Platform games, and I've shunned most everything else sporting the Blue Bomber's name.
I have no interest in the Legends/Dash series, since 3D Megaman doesn't seem right (unless it PLAYS like 2D), nor do I feel the desire to play RockBoard:
Or Megaman Soccer or Battle & Chase, or anything else they care to crap out and put our little Blue Hero in.
So it was with heavy doubt that I decided to pick up Rockman EXE 1 one day (actually, I downloaded a ROM, but that doesn't sound as dramatic does it?) thinking that anything outside of the regular 2D Megaman's was NEVER going to turn out very good.
How wrong I was.
The Megaman Battle Network series is easily one of the best Action RPG series in existence and they are as brilliant as they are simple and easy to pick up.
Although I'll be the first one to admit the series has gone up and down in quality a lot the past couple of years (3 was still good but had some unnecessary changes, 5 was half decent, and the less said about 4 the better (I'm not even counting 4.5 as a game). 6 is as good as the old ones though), the first two were really good.
The very first Rockman EXE introduced the characters and the concept.
You play as Hikari Netto, a young boy living in Akihara Town, a quiet little town.
In Netto's world, everyone has a so-called P.E.T., or Personal something Terminal, I forget. Inside this PET is a Navi, a small intelligent program, with the ability to think and act on its own, but with infallible loyalty towards its owner.
Not only that, but the World Wide Web, and basically anything electronic now has visible landscapes, meaning you can actually navigate your Navi's around them and talk to other Navi's and Programs.
But a game like that wouldn't be very interesting if there weren't some enemies to destroy, and they come in the shape of Viruses, or Viri if you insist.
Viruses are also visible entities, which have to be deleted on the spot by using your Navi's weapon and a LARGE variety of Battle Chips.
As soon as you run into a Virus, the battle screen will pop up and your Battle folder will open. Your battle folder holds 30 Battle Chips which can be used for a variety of effects. Most are for attacking, but others are for healing, defense, summons, placing objects and many other things.
At the start of the battle 5 chips are randomly selected and you have to choose which you want to use. In principle you can only select one chip at a time, but you can also select more of the same chip if they appear, or you can select chips with the same code.
Every chip has a letter code (from A to Z), and chips with the same code can be chosen at the same time for one battle turn. Once you've chosen your chips, the battle commences, and you will note that the battle arena is made up of 18 panels.
9 on the left for you, and 9 on the right for the enemy. You get to walk around in your own area as much as you want, and you can use your standard Mega Buster as much as you want to, but it's not very strong.
The key to fighting effectively is combining your chips and chosing the right ones for the right circumstances to finish the battle as quickly as possible.
Sometimes, the same kind of chips have different codes in alphabetical order. When you choose these in the right order (for instance: Cannon A, B & C) you will get a so-called Program Advance, a special combo attack which has a variety of effects.
In this case you get Zeta Canno, which allows you to shoot unlimited cannons for 5 seconds, whilst being invincible. But there are also combinations of different chips with the same code that form very powerful group attacks or singular ones.
In fact, if you've played Baten Kaitos, you should have a decent idea of how this works, only, this system is EVEN better than Baten Kaitos, because:
A) You get to move around freely
B) There are no Battle Turns, it's all active combat
C) The Combo's actually make sense and are easy to find out.
Thus, battles are a tremendous amount of fun, they're active, fast-paced and intuitive, and they actually require some thinking as well.
The amount of different kinds of Battle Chips differs per game, but there's usually somewhere between 200 and 300. You get a Data Library that shows which chips you've found already, making collecting very enjoyable.
But how do you get chips?
Well, of course you can buy them in shops, you can trade with NPC's, there are Chip Trading Machines that give you a random chip in exchange for a bunch of your own, and you can even exchange with human players through the Link-Up cable.
But the first and foremost way of gathering chips is: fighting.
And this is where the true brilliance of the series comes in.
EVERY single virus you meet, from the smallest insignificant little Mettaur to the Largest Kick-Ass Navi (most of them are restyled versions of bosses from the old Megaman Games) has AT LEAST 1 unique Battle Chip, that can only be acquired from that Virus and that Virus alone.
The key to getting these chips is to fight as skilfully as possible.
At the end of each battle, you get a Grade, from 1 to 10, and finally S if you're really good. The higher your score, the bigger the chance of getting that elusive chip.
The decisive factors in getting a grade are as follows:
A) Your movement. The more you move, the lower your score. 1 point is deducted for the first step, 2 if you make 2 or more.
B) Your dodging skills. The more you get hit, the lower your score.
C) Your Speed. The faster you finish the battle, the higher your score.
D) Your SKILLZ. The more virusises you delete with one blow, the higher your score.
In effect, this makes battles EXTREMELY exciting. This is one of the very few games I know that VERY effectively reward skill and accomplishment, instead of the many many games out there that merely punish your mistakes. Rewards is what this game is all about. The better you get, the more you will get out of the game.
If you only bother with the main story, there will not be much trouble.
It's not too hard, save some boss battles and event battles every now and then, but it's perfectly playable until the last boss. Finding secret items and stuff is a lot harder, but it will in effect make the game easier, the further you get.
The more your try, the better the game gets.
There's a wealth of extra bosses and extra events and areas AFTER you finish the game, making this one of the most replayable games EVER. If you are into collecting and getting the most out of a game, this series is almost ENDLESS fun.
Finishing the game is easy and fun enough, getting all chips and defeating extra bosses is a challenge unlike anything else. It's as hard as you want it to be, and you are completely free in your decisions.
There's SO much stuff to do here it'll make your head spin, and there are no words to describe the nice warm and fuzzy feeling you'll experience when obtaining a particularly hard to get chip. You'll know you got it because you did GOOD.
The first game is still rather basic, but the second, and the one up for review here, perfects the formula. The Internet is easier to navigate, you get a Regular Memory to set 1 chip as a regular, meaning it will turn up EVERY time a battle starts, there are subitems to heal, avoid battles, and search for particular enemies, and EVEN MORE chips.
Also there is even more of a strategic factor to battles with the introduction of different panels and different elements. Ice panels are slippery but double Lightning damage, Grass Panels heal Wood-based creatures but double fire damage, Lava Panels are safe for Fire creatures, but damage everything else, Magnetic Panels draw in enemies, Holy Panels halve damage, etc. etc.
There is a HUGE variety of battle environments, which all encourage different fighting styles and different strategies, the possibilities are almost endless.
It's incredible how much fun this game gets and how rewarding it is.
Even regardless of what you think of Megaman, this game is truely fantastic.
It deserves a nice 9.6.
There's no continuity in the series, so you don't have to play them in order.
Try this one, and if you like it, try 1, 3 and 6 as well.
If you don't, well, then you can just die. Seriously.
Secret of Mana
Ted Woolsey for President!
Actually, no, but you gotta love the guy anyway.
And his English can't possibly be any worse than George W. can it?
Uhhh.
Well, anyway, I decided to dust off Secret of Mana again, as part of the project (I'm skipping the sequel because it's too much work and moving on to Legend of Mana), and, if anything, it has shown me that Pink is not a fashionable color for glasses.
This game is known as Seiken Densetsu 2 in Japan, or Legend of the Holy Sword 2.
It's a sequel to Seiken Densetsu 1 (bet you didn't see that one coming), which was released as Mystic Quest on Gameboy, here in the West.
Noone ever played that game apparently so they decided to give it an entirely different name for the sequel, which became one of the most popular SNES games EVER.
Is this justified?
Well, Yes AND No.
Well, okay, YES, but I just wanted to make the point that it has its problems.
Let me start at the beginning.
You play a Nameless Hero who one day finds a mysterious sword stuck in a rock at the bottom of a waterfall. An eery ghost tells him to remove it, and ghosts are never wrong, right? So the Hero pulls out the sword, and basically, that's the beginning of the end.
Monsters start roaming around, evil people start appearing and generally, people are not very happy anymore. The Obligatory Evil Empire is trying to resurrect the Ancient Mana Fortress and then have the Legendary Mana Beast crash into it to cause the destruction of the entire planet or something. It doesn't
really make sense anyway.
In the course of the adventure, two other characters will join the Hero, a small Sprite with a very big Mouth, and a young aristocrat girl, whom I can only describe as "Sassy".
What ensues is an Action RPG full of monster bashing, equipment....uh....equipping, magic spells, weapon forging, Rabites, Moogles, Dwarves, Sprites and a little bit of Romance. Oh, AND Santa Claus and Rudolph. WTF!? I mean, WHY!?
And to put it mildly, this game is very very GOOD. Seriously.
It's one of the best Action RPG's the SNES has on offer, which unfortunately isn't saying very much. It also reminded me of the fact that they don't make games like this anymore. I don't mean games of this quality, because there's been better, but I literally mean games like this. I want a new Seiken Densetsu game in this vein, and hopefully the DS is going to bring it.
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles has been likened to this game, but it's nowhere near as good.
It's fun, action-packed, humorous, exciting, epic and it has one of the best SNES soundtracks EVAHR.
The great thing is that you can play with two friends to control each character separately, which is not only more fun, but it also saves a LOT of frustration.
Because as fantastic as this game may be, it's buggy as HELL.
Really. I haven't played a game this SERIOUSLY messy since, oh, any Sonic game.
And that
includes the Sonic Adventure series. Holy Hell.
I already mentioned Ted Woolsey in the beginning, the Father of All Game Localizing, and also the kind of Father whom you're kinda ashamed of when you think of him. I mean, he means well and everything, but he tends to drool a little bit, he scares your girlfriends, makes stupid jokes and wears sweaty T-shirts. And there are some chips stuck in his beard.
I found an interview with the Good Man at some Geocities site:
TED WOOLSEY!which incidentally happens to deal with the localization of Secret of Mana.
One interesting point he makes is that apparently he had to translate this game within ONE MONTH, and they didn't even give him the entire thing layed out in an easy to read way. And frankly, it shows.
The localization is very messy. Weird dialogues, faulty message-box layouts, and NON SEQUITURS abound, hahaha.
Still, that is not something we should blame on the game, cause logically, the Japanese version does not have this problem, and it's ridiculous to rate the English version lower than the Japanese one. I'm reviewing a GAME here, not a book.
It's a shame therefore that, if this game WERE a book, several pages would be missing, others would be stuck together in a suspicious way and the letters don't stay in their place.
The fact is that a lot of material was apparently left on the cutting room floor (uh. figuratively of course), and even in Japanese the story is a bit convoluted, not to mention the fact that dialogues are too confusing at time, simply because too many people are talking in ONE and the SAME message box WITHOUT any names (this only happens with smaller characters though, but it's still annoying)
But I can still forgive faulty story-telling since gameplay is the most important thing, but the problem is that the entire GAME is messy.
Please, do yourself a favor and play with your friends, because having the computer control the other two characters is an ORDEAL. They are IMMENSELY stupid.
They have no sense of intelligent movement. I know its hard to program Artificial Intelligence to have characters avoid attacks and everything, but it seems this game is worse than usual.
But the absolute Number 1 most frustrating thing is that they GET STUCK BEHIND ANYTHING. You see that small pebble lying on the ground there? THEY'LL GET STUCK BEHIND IT.
If you've ever played any RPG where you control a party of 3 (plenty of those around), you'll see that the 2nd and 3rd character tend to follow the leader in his EXACT footsteps, even if you decide to make a silly little dance (I'm easily entertained), but this is GOOD, cos it means they will follow you EXACTLY whereever you go.
Not so Secret of Mana. Presumably because each character has to be able to move on his own during battles, they are pretty much programmed to go where they please at ANY TIME. Many, MANY was the time where I would just move, well, anywhere and the second character ALWAYS follows like a good Sprite, but the one in the rear (and it's ALWAYS the BLOODY Girl, which just goes to show the reality of the engine I guess) tends to get stuck behind Trees, Walls, Stones, Tables, Chairs, Desks, Bushes, FLOWERS, ANY BLOODY THING. So you have to walk back to slap her in the face and then move on a little bit more slowly.
God, that's annoying.
Also, when you're being surrounded by enemies, FORGET about running, cos the computer is too stupid to follow you at that time. They figure: "Hey, the leader is running off, that must mean he wants US to deal with this horde of baddies! Let's do it!"
Oh, the Cups of Wishes I've spent.
But that's not all, I actually managed to get stuck MYSELF as well. Sometimes you're just wandering around, minding your own business, only to suddenly get stuck in a part of the scenery. It HAPPENS.
First time it was the computer actually (YES, THE GIRL) getting stuck, not behind, but IN a wall. I mean. IN A FRIGGIN WALL. Fortunately, there was one of those posts around that you can use your Whip on, which automatically gathers your entire party to one spot when you get close to it, no matter WHAT they're stuck in or behind.
Second time, it was ME getting stuck in between some rocks, I still don't know how I did that, and I had to use the Magic Rope to escape back to the beginning of the Dungeon. VERY nice.
Really, every game is allowed to have some bugs, I've been told it's IMPOSSIBLE to get them all out, but some games are considerably sloppier than others.
Now a SuperNES has cartridges, which are generally less accident-prone than CD's, but I'm not lying or exaggerating when I say this game has crashed or bugged on me considerably more often than most CD games I own.
Yes. It actually CRASHED on me once. It just froze. In the middle of the final dungeon. Great Job Square.
It's all the more frustrating if you consider the fact that, when the game IS functioning properly, it's absolutely awesome. It's SO damn good, that I'm prepared to turn a blind eye to most of the problems at hand here, but there are some minor things about the game itself that should've been improved.
For one thing, buying new equipment is a bit unclear. I mean, generally speaking, the most expensive item is the strongest, but you can't see any status improvements in the shopping window (the Ring Menu System rules all, though), and you have no idea whether it's an actual improvement over what you're already wearing.
Secondly, and this annoys me to no end, there are SO many empty and completely USELESS rooms in this game. Empty houses, okay, people need to go shopping sometimes, right? But empty rooms in dungeons and castles, I mean, WHY!?
Use that excess memory for something USEFUL dammit. Like BUGFIXING for instance.
Shit.
Seriously, without all these stupid things, this game would've scored a 10 probably, but as it is, I'm letting it off with a 9+, for being just really good.
They should still make more games like this though, they should just try testing it first.
Game Reviewing
First of all: Sorry for the lack of updates recently, but it has entirely to do with my not caring. Haha. Seriously though, now that I know the Project cannot be finished I'm a bit less inclined to keep posting new reviews every other day, since the idea is kind of ruined now. Furthermore, it takes up a lot of time writing these posts, which is time that can also be spent on ACTUALLY playing games, so I'm getting kinda lazy here.
Of course, the Project is still on, for as long as I'm here, but I think the amount of posts may decline a little bit. Besides, seeing as how I'll be leaving in 2 months and I'm NOT going to take everything with me, I'm considering skipping the games I don't feel like playing again, to get to those I haven't even played at all. Also, I'm considering not reviewing every single game, but just doing the ones that stand out, in a good way or a bad way. In short, the integrity of the Project has been slightly tainted.
I will strive to keep this as game-related as possible, but I will probably occasionally use this as a diary of sorts, only less wussy. Cuz I iz a MAN!
Anyway, on the topic of Game Reviewing, today I would like to bother you with a slight rant about the state of Video Game Journalism, and more specifically DUTCH Video Game Journalism.
It sucks.
Thank you for reading.
Goodbye!
NO! I'm not letting them get away THAT easily.
You see, yesterday I recieved, as per usual, our trusty Veronica Magazine, not just a TV Guide, but an Entertainment Magazine with an opinion. Too bad their opinion tends to SUCK though. Yes. THEIR OPINION SUCKS. There, I've said it.
With all due respect though, because this Magazine IS one of the best TV Guides our country has to offer, it just needs to make sure it doesn't meddle in affairs it has no knowledge of.
I understand that it's hip and popular to jump on the Video Game Bandwagon nowadays, and that they've decided to incorporate a small 2 page Video Game Corner in their magazine, which in itself is a good thing.
The problem is though, that these people are complete amateures and they have no idea what they are talking about. These are people who apparently, judging by their reviews, got into gaming BECAUSE it was hip and popular, and not because they actually know how to enjoy a good game. They are Mainstream Gamers. *shudder*
It's a real shame, since their Video Game Corner was written in cooperation with Gammo, one of Holland's only Video Game TV programmes, and in all honesty, also one of the best (not because there's so few of them, but because it's actually pretty good).
Gammo actually, according to their own website, make a point of not judging the Games they play. They show the video's, they show the gameplay, they talk about what's what, and that's it. They don't say "YOU NEED TO GET THIS", which is a breath of fresh air, but they don't say "THIS GAME IS THE SUXXORZ!" either. Which is good.
They do offer some slight criticism sometimes, where necessary, but they don't tell you whether to get something or not.
But I still haven't spoken about the problem.
Well it is thus: This month is going to see the release of Shadow of the Colossus in our wonderful country, and already it seems the scale of the game is too big for Dutchmen to handle.
Veronica Magazine, in their internal wisdom, called this game "okay". They have several categories (they don't give grades), ranging from "sucks" to "okay" to "must-have" and finally "classic". I'm not really sure what the quality difference is between the last two categories, but there you go.
So let me stress once again that THE Best and most original PS2 game of 2005 (Hell, even if you think God of War was the best game last year, this is still stupid), a wonderful piece of art, a truely unique experience unlike anything you've ever played before, indescribably HUGE, beautiful and epic, showered with officious awards by many Gamesites, was called "okay" by these people.
Why?
Because there's not enough explosions.
I fuck you notOkay, that's not what they said in words, but that's definitely what it boils down to. They acknowledged how extremely cool it was to climb and fell a Colossus, and yet they thought it was not good enough to reap a good score, simply because there are NO FRIGGING EXPLOSIONS.
See, thing is, they main problem for them was that:
A) After every Colossus you are sent back to the same shrine.
That's true, but it is in no possible way a bad feature of the game. It makes sense storywise, since the Shrine is the pivotal location in the game, and also, it is SLAM in the middle of the world map, meaning that every possible spot is easy to reach without spending too much time.
B) The world is too empty.
Granted, the world IS empty, apart from those 16 MOTHERF*CKING ENORMOUS creatures walking around (did I mention there are no loading times in this game? Not even FADE-OUTS!?), but so what? It's astoundingly gorgeous, and a pure pleasure to navigate, and you NEVER have to look very long for a Colossus.
But that's not what pissed me off, oh NO.
It's that little caption they put at the end. You see, only the week before, they gave a preview of Black, some First Person Shooter by EA (for CHRIST'S sake, EA!) which apparently had lots of pretty explosions and brute action.
So they put a caption at the end, saying something like "if you like Black, then this game is not for you". I mean, WHAT THE FUCK, YO!?
"hey you there!"
"Hunh?"
"What's that you're playing?"
"Uh. Shadow of the Colossus, sir. It's pretty good"
"Yeah, sure, but what if I told you that instead of playing that magnificently original game, with its beautifully aesthetic design, presentation and storyline you can also take this thirteen in a dozen FPS, and Blow Shit Up, WITH.....
pretty explosions"
"Hot Dang, where do I sign up!?"
Right.
And to add insult to injury, they said "the older you are, the more likely you are to enjoy this game", and added a small age symbol saying '30'.
The sad thing is that this is probably even true, but you should read this as "The higher your IQ is/The more open-minded a gamer you are/The more sensitive you are to pure quality and originality, the more likely you are to enjoy this game."
I mean, everyone's entitled to their opinion of course, and there's no reason whatsoever to get so upset about a review in a small-time Magazine that has nothing to say in the VG Scene, but it just irked me because it was so examplary of the current attitude towards games in this country, or indeed, the West.
Even though most professional sites have recognized SotC as the magnificent piece of work that it is, it just seems to be wasted on all those Pig-headed Mainstream Gamers out there who won't buy a game that doesn't have A) A licensed soundtrack, B) Some American Sports Celebrity (FUCK YOU, EA), C) Some American Rapper D) Explosions or E) All of the Above.
They are the disgusting grease-stain on the clean tablesheet of gaming, they are what give all good gamers a bad name (thank you, Rockstar!) and worse, they are what's keeping the XBox alive [/low blow]
Damn man, go and play 50 Cent: Bulletproof, and leave REAL gaming to professionals.
And let's face it, American games generally SUCK. There are exceptions, but extremely few, and they're never THAT good. I'm not saying that Japan is the be-all end-all of Video Gaming, although it is, God knows I've played some fantastic games from European (Rare) and even Canadian companies (Ubisoft never ceases to amaze me, nowadays), but American games just SUCK.
I'm looking at my Gamelist right now, and there are hardly any American companies in there, and those that ARE,
are CRAP. The only exception to the rule seems to be Core, who made some very good Tomb Raider games (2), probably by accident.
I rest my case.
