Friday, July 23

Crazy Train

Even after Peace Walker has been stopped in its tracks, the story of Naked Snake continues. Albeit, at a snails pace. I've listened to over an hour worth of audio logs, which do give a nod to Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, but nothing amounting to the desired introduction to the series' titular hero or other characters of interest like Frank Jaeger (Grey Fox). On top of that, Kojima Productions' latest masterpiece took a turn towards creepy after the conclusion of the main narrative arc. I won't spoil it for you, in case you ever decide to experience this classic yourself (which I strongly recommend that you do), but the multiplayer-minded multi-person Love Box is now, for me, a crime scene. I'll restrict my discussion of Peace Walker from this point onwards, however I will reiterate that this portable powerhouse (as per the High Horse Audit) is a Game of the Year contender. Avoid at your own risk.



Now, let's talk crazy. BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger crazy. As there are only 12 selectable characters I've decided to specialise initially. I have selected Bang Shishigami as my character of choice, and I'm glad I did. Not only is he a self-important ninja, Bang also employs a variety of moves that clearly demonstrate how BlazBlue is different to the competition. Bang can place markers in the area around him which, when jumped into, propel you across the screen in the direction in which you jump. This has both offensive and defensive conotations, meaning you can escape from attacks, or dash towards your opponent. He has a limited amount of shuriken that you can throw at enemies; meaning that projectile attacks are a luxury, not a spammable defense. I'm yet to fully acquaint myself with the fundamentals, but so far the experience has been enjoyable, even if it is slightly convoluted.

Forget about the story with this 2D fighter. It is a mess. It's even presented in a way that is brutally difficult to follow. You can have a screen worth of text with exposition and dialogue, with no indication as to who is speaking. If you don't have the volume, you wouldn't have any idea who is talking. The fights however are a wonder to behold, with a beautiful blend of 3D backgrounds and high-definition sprites. Colours abound, and lights flashing across the screen; BlazBlue is the fighting game equivalent of a fireworks display. The sound however, particularly when playing with Bang, is grating, painful even. His exclamations are tongue-in-cheek ("Opening!"), but repeat add nauseum. I can't wait to play this against human competition though, as the AI seems more than happy to accept my guess work on its chin.



Finally, the sexual inuendo (if it can be called that) present in BlazBlue is blatant to the point of making me uncomfortable. With a character referred to in tutorials and select story sequences as "Boobie Lady", sometimes I felt like asking Taokaka to settle. You can't grab a woman like that, it's assault. A redundant observation given that this is a fighting game, but the context is different to that which I am used to seeing.



Enough about amorous cat people. What are you guys playing this weekend?     

5 comments:

  1. MASS EFFECT!

    I had the misfortune of having my first bad Mass Effect experience yesterday. I finally finished it with my female character only to have it say once I booted ME2 that the save file was invalid.

    Why was it invalid? Well frankly there is no explanation. It just didnt like my save file and thus It was a, I hate to say it, waste of time. I love ME1 but really only wanted to revisit for the 10th time to get some new story follow over elements. I finished it how I wanted and booted ME2 only to be crushed. So I thought stuff it and started a new ME2 save with a female that my lovely wife designed and hoped for the best.

    Luckily the initial choices were what I chose. The paragon ending of letting the council die, which was the major choice I wanted to make.

    All in all, Mass Effect is so good I'll forgive for stealing 15 hours of my life.

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  2. I thought some choices could not be carried over to ME2. Maybe Kaiden was meant to die? How ironic would that be? lol

    All the best for your 512th playthrough of Mass Effect 2!

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  3. I think he was meant to die, hes not in any promo stuff for any of the games lol

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  4. Dude, I can not find Blaz Blue anywhere! It is a disaster! OH NO!

    I went back to the MoH beta on the weekend, and it seems to be running better. It only froze once, and the hit detection appears to be more spot on. (There was a patch to be had, so I think it might have fixed some issues).

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  5. Rubes and I saw two copies of BlazBlue at Big W at Chermside on Saturday. They are in the cabinet up the back and the label still had them at 90 something dollars, but the catalogue corrects all!

    Kaiden deserved to die. He was the definition of vanilla, I switched him out of my party at the first opportunity!

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