To my buddies at the MAAN Clan, I am the resident Fighting Game Guru. In my college days, The Grey Ghost and I shared many an epic battle in one fighter or another. I cut my competitive gaming teeth on fighters like Street Fighter 2, Tekken, and Virtua Fighter. My gaming ‘hobby’ became serious ‘competition’ with Friday afternoons in my Freshman Year in High School History Class, and Street Fighter 2 when Reggie would bring his Super NES to school and the teacher let us have the second half of the period to ourselves. That was over 16 years ago. As part of the community, I have seen Street Fighter 2 go through seven evolutionary stages, from Street Fighter 2 through Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo (Super Turbo) to the final Capcom release of Hyper Street Fighter 2 – Anniversary Edition (AE). Now the new Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix (Street Fighter HD or SFHD), a fan made and Capcom blessed Ultimate Edition of Super Turbo, has hit the PSN and XBL, and introduces and re-introduces players to iconic characters like Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, Guile, and M. Bison.
This weekend I grabbed a copy of Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law for the PSP with the hopes that it would fill the void left behind after the last Ace Attorney game. Harvey Birdman succeeds in this, offering near-identical game mechanics but with an Adult Swim setting.
The game stays faithful to the show, recreating it’s Flash-like animation, oddball humor, and cast of obscure Hanna Barbara characters. The entire voice acting cast was involved, with exception of Stephen Colbert (it’s not like he’s busy working on anything else). However, they did snare Louis Black to voice one of the villains.
If there’s one thing I can say about this game that’s disappointing, it’s that it’s short. I offer no exaggeration when I say that if you started the game on a fully-charged battery, you could finish it before the power light turned red. I understand that there’s a lot of expensive work involved since you’re essentially making interactive episodes of the cartoon and that the UMD disc only has so much room for all those audio files, but if you’re going to list this game in the same price range as any other new release, I’m going to ask for more than just a few hours of gameplay.
The game does try to offer replay value in the form of unlockable content. There are many instances in the game where you’re asked a multiple choice question. You’re free to choose any of the two incorrect ones without penalty for a quick laugh, but only choosing the correct answer will progress the scene. One of these instances will have an incorrect answer that triggers a bit involving a cameo from a Street Fighter character. Find those and you unlock a video clip that you can access from the main screen.
Similarly, you can earn lost points of your health meter if you answer specific questions while holding items that may otherwise appear to be useless. Unfortunately, you won’t really know what those items are until the end of the episode and also have to remember what items you never used.
A bonus feature that I wish they’d included is the ability to watch all of the animated segments tied together as if it were an actual Harvey Birdman episode. That way, we may not be left with much replay value, but at least we’d have something that would be worth watching a few times after solving all the cases.
I bought my copy of the game for $9.99 and I wouldn’t recommend paying any more than that. If they released it on the PlayStation Store for $5.99, I’d call it an even better deal. It was fun and gave me some good laughs, but it was just too short.
The Legend of Black Heaven is the electrifying story of Oji Tanaka, a Japanese salary man facing mid-life crisis. The glory of his early years as a rock star has since fallen into the doldrums of the married 9-to-5 daily grind. Crying into his sake one night, Oji is propelled from office space to outer space when he learns of an intergalactic war…a war where the safety of the Earth can only be won by the power of rock. As it turns out, the spiritual energy released by his music powers a super-weapon that the good aliens use to annihilate the bad aliens.
Oji’s liaison to the alien fleet defending our section of the galaxy is the buxom Layla Yuki, who disguises herself as an office coworker in order to get close to our hero. This disguise tends to backfire, as their secret relationship is often (and humorously so) misinterpreted as an extra-marital affair. None are more suspicious than Oji’s wife, Yoshiko, a former groupie that Oji met in his rocker days and now mother of his son, Gen. In order to maintain cover, Layla enlists her trio of ultra-cute and ultra-ditzy assistants Kotoko, Eriko, and Rinko.
As conflict in the stars escalates, the ultimate weapon soon requires more rock than Oji alone can provide. On his knees, Oji must convince his former band-mates–all of whom have also moved on to become blue collar family men themselves–to reunite and turn the tide of battle while rekindling the stage-lit fires of their prime. By the end of the climactic battle involving a shadowy figure from the band’s past, Oji saves the universe, his marriage, and his dreams with the strum of his guitar pick.
As the show’s tag line suggests, The Legend Of Black Heaven follows in the spirit of Macross 7, weaving action-packed space battles with the power of rock music. What makes this series unique is its take on the theme, framing it around the journey of Oji on his path to resolve the disillusion of adulthood and rediscovering meaning in his life. While there is the fair share of wacky hijinks (Ã la the ditzy trio), the series’s humorous forte is in the exaggerated glorification in all that is awesome. They just don’t make enough anime like this anymore…
I went out to see The Incredible Hulk last night…it was so-so. I liked this movie about as much as the last…and I was pretty “meh” about that one as well. I can’t even say that one could spoil anything about the movie, since the plot is pretty straight forward: The military is after Bruce Banner, Hulk smash, the military makes their own monster, monster gets out of control, Hulk smash. Hints for sequels. The end.
Tony Stark’s appearance isn’t even as impressive as it should be, since they put his scene into recent commercials. The one thing that might be a spoiler (and I don’t think I’m ruining it for anyone, really) is that there is a lot of setup for both upcoming Captain America and The Avengers films. In fact, the vibe of this “Hulk” movie seemed to be, “Okay, let’s get this movie out of the way so we can move toward The Avengers.” Supposedly, there was a scene filmed with Captain America (or perhaps his alter ego, Steve Rogers) for The Incredible Hulk, but they’re saving it for the DVD release. I’m hoping that someone leaks that into the internet soon because I’m genuinely curious to see who they’ve cast for that role.
I also keep reading about the next movie to be produced as an Avengers precursor being Thor. I dunno… Thor hasn’t been a relevant character in 25 years, let’s face it. And since his story is based so heavily in the fantasy realm of Norse mythology, it would be incredibly difficult to fit him in with the rest of the established characters. I would skip Thor and either choose another character to dedicate an entire feature or invest that money into making a truly extraordinary Captain America film.
The thing is, I’d even go as far to say that they’re ready to make an Avengers movie now. What I would do is kick off an Avengers movie where we see the familiar faces of Iron Man and Hulk, give Captain America an explosive introduction in the opening scene, then casually introduce one or two other supporting characters (like Hawkeye, who is great in The Avengers, but also doesn’t deserve his own feature) during the course of the movie to complete the team. Not hard to do and could save a lot of money for the studio so they can afford to make it as awesome as it deserves to be.
I do have to commend Marvel for being ambitious enough to take on the challenge of putting together an Avengers movie. I had my share of reservations back when they were working on the first X-Men flick since it had a complicated ensemble cast, but I was surprisingly satisfied. That’s the one thing that’s rocketed them to success beyond DC Comics… DC Comics has been flirting with the idea of a Justice League movie for decades, but they have enough trouble producing decent solo films for their characters, though I mostly blame their parent company of Warner Bros. for botching up that process. Meanwhile, Marvel’s been able to knock out at least two films a year. Now they’re showing that they’re bold enough to step up to the plate on The Avengers. “A team movie? Yeah, let’s do this! Make it happen.”
Now that I think about it, if they wanted to make a team movie, they’re already totally set up for The New Fantastic Four. Many don’t remember (and those who do, please find a girlfriend), but there was a brief moment in Marvel history where the original Fantastic Four members had been incapacitated, so a “new” team was formed to replace them, consisting of Spider-man, Wolverine, Ghost Rider, and Hulk. All of those characters have had their own films recently; some with sequels by now. I’m just sayin’…
But tangents aside, back to The Incredible Hulk. The scenes of Hulk fighting were fun to watch. The funny thing is that while the character of Bruce Banner’s story is usually interesting, it’s not as entertaining as “Hulk Smash!” Ironically, if the movie were 90 minutes of beginning-to-end “Hulk Smash!”, I would have paid twice the ticket price and pre-ordered the DVD that day.
If you’re looking for fan service, this movie delivers. Stan Lee has his due cameo, with a line. There are quite a few nods to the 1970s TV show. Bill Bixby makes a subtle appearance. Lou Farrigno not only gets a cameo, but also a couple lines, as well as providing the voice of Hulk throughout the film. It took me a second to notice, but some of the soundtrack is clearly derived from some of the TV show’s background music.
This was a long review (of sorts), so here’s the bottom line: Wait for it to hit the dollar theaters. Maybe wait to rent it on DVD in case the rumor of the added Captain America scene holds any truth to it.
Immortality goes against just about every law of nature that we’ve come to understand, yet humans still dream to acheive it. Philosophers often scrutinize the value (or rather the detriment) of living forever, with many a layman in agreement that such an existance would grow boring.
Now there’s a video game that let’s you explore this idea, simply titled “Immortality“. The concept: Your character has two possible goals floating overhead, with a timer counting down until your death. Climbing to one goal will kill you instantly. Climbing to the other will disable the timer, granting you “immortality”. With no timer to threaten your life, there’s no longer anything to stop you. Inside an environment where there’s nothing to do but shuffle around blocks, the game illustrates how living forever would become very boring, very quickly. To which your only escape of this nightmare is to pursue the black square of Death.
I on the other hand, am a loyal advocate of immortality. I can see where I may get bored for long periods of time, but the universe is constantly changing. Witnessing human culture grow and evolve would be fascinating for at least a few millennia (I hope). It’s no different from when I’m bored in my mortal lifespan. People also like to argue that it would be so depressing having those you care about grow old and die all around you. Again, we deal with that already, losing friends and relatives to the grim reaper. All the while, however, accumulating new acquaintences to keep us company along our path.
The game is interesting, I’ll grant it that. Alas, its throught-provoking theme cannot hide the fact that it is a simple puzzle game, nor shake loose my ideology. The game is free and certainly worth a try.
Hokuto no Ken (aka Fist of the North Star): Those who know it and hate it still appreciate it for what it is. That being one of the most action-packed classic anime series of all time, still imitated and parodied to this day. When I was first introduced to the franchise in high school via the 1986 animated movie, I honestly didn’t think much of it. It wasn’t until someone recently put the TV series in my hands that I now understand its level of awesome.
For those unfamiliar with the series, it takes place in a post-apocalyptic future, where most of the planet has been transformed into a giant desert. Humanity is struggling to survive and of course there are those who prey upon the weak to amass resources and power. However, there is one man–Kenshiro, the lone successor of the Hokuto Shinken school of martial arts–that is out to bring an end to such tyranny.
What makes Fist of the North Star so great isn’t the animation or even the plot…it’s the ridiculous violence. Mind you, this isn’t gratuitous violence (bloodshed for the sake of bloodshed), but rather there is a kind of imaginative style in how the violent scenes are constructed. You see, Kenshiro doesn’t just beat you to death, he activates certain pressure points in your body that cause it to destroy itself. Often, he’ll simply cause you to explode. However, in special cases, he may cause your spine to twist in half, make you hug another man to death, or walk backward off a cliff. Once Kenshiro has performed the lethal blow, the opponent may still protest, only to heed Ken’s trademark warning, “You are already dead.”
May God help you if ever you strike a woman, child, or puppy in proximity of Kenshiro. Because then it is on. Ken does not take kindly to that nonsense…not on his watch. He does not put up with that. Any act of cruelty will earn you a fate that usually ends with an NBA shot clock counting down the seconds until some part of you goes “boom”.
After watching a few episodes, one may find it difficult to determine whether Hokuto no Ken is either the manliest show ever or the gayest show. It’s visuals and storytelling style are quite reminiscent of something an adolescent male would doodle in his junior high math class, yet there’s an undeniable homoerotic accent to the show. On the one hand, you have beefy, super-powered dudes punching, avenging the women they love, and nunchucks. At the same time, you have these same beefy dudes who are also dressed in tight jeans, leather straps, and express shared deep, spiritual connections with each other.
Most often before a major villain dies, the audience will be given a ten-minute monologue that reveals how despite their evil ways, they posses a heart of gold. The Nanto Star, Souther, was a cruel, maleficent overlord who ordered a pyramid to be built in his honor, constructed entirely by hundreds of enslaved starving children. After Kenshiro beat the hell out of him, Souther uses his dying breaths to explain that the reason why he was such a monster is because when he was a child, he was forced to kill his master as the final test of his martial arts training. He loved his master so much that he’d vowed that he’d never allow himself to experience love again, for fear of the pain that may come from it. It’s not bad to give that little extra depth to the villain to lift some of the demonization, however those moments tend to execute as too warm & fuzzy. Fist of the North Star is ripe with fodder for “slash” fan fiction authors.
My own favorite Fist of the North Star moment was early in the series, when one foe dared pose the question, “Can your Hokuto Shinken stop a tank??” The answer: Yes…yes it can. The villain approaches Kenshiro in his tank, but Ken attacks head-on. He then pummels the front of the tank with a barrage of punches and kicks until the tank finally halts. The villain errs in sticking his head out of the tank’s hatch in frustration, leaving him open to Kenshiro touching his vital pressure points. He then collapses back into the tank where we assume he dies. But, no! Ken walks away from the wreckage, toward the camera, with just enough dramatic pause before the tank itself explodes behind him…for no reason. We can only assume that tanks also have vital pressure points which can cause it to explode, much like a human’s skull.
The series as a whole, I find deliciously campy. While some may quick to simply label the show as stupid, I prefer to deem it under what I affectionately call “the theater of the absurd”. It’s so ridiculous, that alone makes it entertaining.
Saturday night, I went to see the new Indiana Jones movie. I gotta say that I was fairly disappointed. There were plenty of parts where I’m thinking to myself, “Yes! This is so totally an Indiana Jones movie!” But then there are the parts–and those who have seen it know what they are–where it’s so totally not. Without spoiling it, where the previous Indiana Jones movies have been adventure films dealing with magical religious relics, this fourth movie is heavily based around science fiction.
What’s refreshing to see is that the story successfully expresses how Indiana Jones’ character has grown and aged (both physically and mentally). He’s not the same Indiana that we knew 20 years ago; he’s what we’d expect to become of Dr. Jones once he’d reached his mid-60′s…nearly ten years older than his father was when we’d last seen him. He’s still as wise and cocky as ever, but certainly less reckless. We also get little tastes of what Indiana has been up to though history between the 1930s and 1950s, almost as if we’d missed a couple film’s worth of stories in between.
The thing that does hurt the film is what I felt ruins a lot of recent movies based on 1980s franchises–and not just other George Lucas properties, but movies like Superman Returns as well. That being the extra effort to connect the new movie to the previous ones ad nauseum. As much as I loved Marion as a believable female role over that blond bimbo from “Temple of Doom”, her presence was completely unnecessary for this newest movie. Regardless of how much I loved her in it as well. Her only purpose was to serve as a familiar face to help draw in the fans.
Shia LeBeouf’s character wasn’t much better, but I understand what his role was about. Since he’s so much younger, his character can perform all the exciting action that Harrison cannot. It’s also easy to see (without giving too much away) that he may in fact be the keystone toward reviving the franchise. There was a noticeable “passing of the torch” vibe expressed in this movie. Though I don’t believe that anyone could truly replace Harrison Ford’s character.
I’ve been doing my best to avoid the technical differences between the original trilogy and this new film, with it’s 21st Century visuals. Most of the visual effects were convincing and I must say that this film had some of the best camera work that I’ve ever seen. But there is one thing I have to comment on, and that’s lighting. Part of what defines an Indiana Jones movie in my mind is the use of harsh natural sunlight. Indiana Jones is about getting one’s hands dirty in brutal outdoor conditions. You can almost feel yourself sweat, the sand in your nose, and skin begin to burn just by watching one of those movies. In this movie, most exterior scenes were shot in front of a green screen…and you can feel it. Scenes that should feel gritty and natural instead feel sterile and synthetic.
I believe that we certainly need more action/adventure films like Indiana Jones, but Spielberg and Lucas should not be the ones making them anymore. In the past 20 years, they’ve grown into being very different filmmakers. They’re different people now and have different motives in how they operate in Hollywood. Franchises like Star Wars and Indiana Jones may continue, but without all the things that originally made them great and I fear that forthcoming features will pale in comparison, regardless of the advancement in technological capability. I would much more prefer–and I know this goes against the entire current business model of the entertainment industry–that we invest in the fresh talents emerging and create new stories that are able to hold up along side with the classics of the past. I’d like to see more evidence that what’s being released lately really is the best that our culture artistically has to offer.
You can call me the “better late than never” gamer. That meaning that I’m always discovering games about five years after their release date. Long after all my peers have raved over and forgotten them. My latest discovery is Wario Ware, Inc.: Mega MicroGame$ for the Game Boy Advance.
With today’s busy life schedules and short attention spans, casual gaming is on the rise. “Twitch games”–simple games that can be fully played in minutes, even seconds–have grown in popularity. These games have found their place in those few extra minutes you have when you arrive at work early. I can now claim that Wario Ware, Inc. is one of the genre’s masters.
Each of the game’s stages pits you against a series of rapid-paced puzzles or tasks to perform. In the nature of each micro-game, the player must be intuitive, investing the first few fractions of a second to assess the scenario and guess as to what’s expected of them. This accelerates the fun as it keeps the synapses firing!
What also adds to the excitement is the cast of wacky characters and the themes on which their stages are based. Stages range from space bunnies rescuing an alien to an afro-sporting disco master’s cell phone to a mad scientist desperate plea to get into a toilet. My personal favorite being the gamer geek whose micro-games are all references to old Nintendo games, even obscure ones from the Virtual Boy to the Famicom Family Basic keyboard.
Adding to the replay value (as if challenging yourself against the high scores wasn’t enough) you also unlock separate mini-games, which are slightly larger versions of some of the micro-games. Some are these are 2-player, with the use of the L and R buttons as each player’s controls.
Wario Ware, Inc. feels like the type of game that conventionally would never had seen the light of day, had they not added Nintendo’s Wario character. In a generation where the gaming industry relies so much on franchises, most publishers are nervous about releasing anything new and unfamiliar to the market. I’m very pleased to see this risk paid off and I’m looking forward to exploring more of the Wario Ware titles.
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A History of Street Fighter II
