Review! Hotline Miami

System:  PC
How far did you get?  Finished one playthrough, including the resolution and bonus mission.

You're dead, indeed!

Hotline Miami is an indie game concoction of a lot of different kinds of games.  The best way I can think to describe it is to say it has the visuals and gameplay from the first Metal Gear (8-bit and all), the ultraviolence and weird story of something like Killer 7, and that "keep dying until you figure out how to not die" challenge you got from Dark Souls. 

So does all of that somehow work?

It does, indeed!

The gameplay is incredibly fast for what I would call a stealth game.  If an enemy notices you, you might have a second to react before you're dead.  You only get one life, too, but dying isn't too much of a hassle.  Each time you die, you'll only have to start over at the beginning of the floor you're on in the building.  Some enemies have guns, some have melee weapons, and some are, well, dogs.  You get to put on a mask before each level, each giving you a different advantage.  I must say that several of the masks you unlock seemed kind of pointless.  I played with the mask that made dogs not attack you for about 7 levels, and once I unlocked the quiet gun mask, I didn't touch another mask the rest of the game.

The stealth is done quite well.  Your instincts will tell you to go after those guns, but that's not always a good idea, especially early in the level.  If you fire off a gun, you can expect a good portion of the people and dogs on the floor to hear it and come after you.  It's hard enough to take on one 90 mph asshole with a shotgun, so you can imagine what it's like taking on six of them.  Probably my favorite way to take out enemies is to knock them down using a door, then jumping on them and beating the immortal piss out of them.  It's quite satisfying.

I would say the game looks purposely bad, but I don't think it's fair to say it looks bad.  Sure, it looks like an old Nintendo game, but it's colorful and trippy and induces feelings of both excitement and freaking out.  For a game as unusual as this, you'd expect some weird art, and this definitely delivers that.  There is blood everywhere, and the enemies die in enough different ways that you can play through the entire game and not get bored of it.

Another thing worth mentioning is the music.  I always thought 8-bit game music sounded odd and interesting anyway, but this game's music fits that definition like a glove, even if it's not really 8-bit music.  It's a bit meatier, though, with some hard hitting beats and a dance music feel.

I don't want to say too much about the story, but suffice to say it's pretty interesting, and creepy.  The general idea is you wake up to a message on your answering machine that gives you a totally random message, but hides an address in each one.  You go to the address, kill everyone there, then go to a restaurant or video store and talk to some weird guy.  Then you go home.  You do this for most of the levels, but everything gets progressively more unusual, particularly the sections when you talk to the strange guy.

I'm not going to say this is one of the most unique gameplay experiences I've had.  I've played games that play similar to this before, but none of them were anywhere near as well executed as this.  The game has very low system requirements, so if you have a PC of any kind, I'd highly recommend checking out the hidden gem.

9/10

Review! Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward

System:  Playstation Vita (also available on 3DS)
How far did you get?:  Full completion.  Platinum Trophy.

The visual novel genre is not particularly popular these days.  After all, we live in a time where 140 characters or less is not only acceptable, but forced in some places.  Reading is time consuming, and we value our time.

However, we also complain that modern entertainment media is stupid and anti intellectual.  Television is controlled and designed for mass idiot consumption.  Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube are outlets for dumb teenagers to spout off their opinions as though they were facts and insult anyone who disagrees.  Call of Duty is made for twitch gamers who's minds grow smaller every day they play.

Well, as they say, you can't have your cake and eat it too.   Perhaps that scary visual novel with all the words and stuff is exactly what you're looking for, and you just don't know it yet.

Zero Escape:  Virtue's Last Reward is 30-35 hour visual novel style game with occasional mind puzzles to break up the monotony a bit.  See, they're even trying to help keep you from getting bored!

It also isn't designed for children, for multiple reasons.  The general premise shares similarities to the Saw films, but it's far more in depth.  Your character and 8 others are stuck in a building being controlled by what seems like an evil person, and sometimes you have to make some rather difficult choices to get out.  People will die.  Tensions rise, and people get very upset.  It's all rather bleak.  You are forced to play a game, called the Nonery Game.  You have to group up with others in order to complete puzzles, so you can gather cards to use in the second part of the game, the AB Game.  This is where things get a little tense.  You are forced to go into rooms, and vote "ally or betray" in order to increase or decrease a number on a watch you are wearing.  Your goal is to reach 9 points, and if you do, you can leave.  However, the door only opens once, and once the door closes, everyone left behind is stuck there forever.  In order to avoid spoilers, I won't say what happens if it reaches 0, but needless to say it's not good.  An important thing to point out is that this game is a sequel to another game that appeared on the Nintendo DS titled 999: 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors.  The story does connect, and while the game can certainly be played on it's own, it has much more to offer those that played it's prequel. 

In addition to the mature subject matter, the game focuses on a very complicated story involving the 4th dimension, conscious time travel, and a whole lot of math and science.  The puzzles aren't much different, especially regarding the math and science.  If you failed algebra, you may need to give this one a pass. or at least get very familiar with a strategy guide.

The story branches off into many paths.  The game has 22 endings, and requires many different choices in order to see all of them.  Each play through take about 3 hours, but you'll get but a fraction of what the story has to offer by only playing one path.  Fortunately, the game has a "flow" option, where you can view the story on a graph, and choose parts of the story where decisions were made and directly go there so you don't have to play the whole story again.  Occasionally, you'll see a a scene you've already seen in another timeline, and the game gives you the option to "skip" it, where it will fast forward through everything you've already seen and stop when new dialog pops up.  

As for visuals and sound, it's a competent looking game, but there isn't a lot of animation.  It's works more on a screen by screen basis, but things on each screen do move.  You can also maneuver about the puzzle rooms using the Vita touch screen.  The game doesn't look like anime, but the character models still look very anime inspired, so if that bothers you, it wouldn't hurt to keep that in mind.  The music fits the mood very well, and the voice acting is actually quite good, in both English and Japanese.

If you're the kind of gamer who feels like things are getting a little too easy, or a little too brainless in modern gaming, your prayers have been answered, assuming you're willing to be patient and deal with a book or two worth of voiced text.  It can be relentless and sometimes a bit too wordy, but it's also incredibly engaging and who knows?  You might learn a thing or two, as well.

Rating:  9/10

I will finish every PS2 RPG and review all of them

Yep.  That is the task I'm giving myself. 

I'm using 3 lists as a point of reference: 

1.  http://www.listal.com/list/rpg-world-ps2-edition
2.  http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?73673-RPG-List-for-the-PS2
3.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Bm8ikWu09M (see description)

I'm using that first list as a central base, as the games aren't in alphabetical order and I can play through the list from top to bottom without having to play all the games and their sequels back to back.  I'll be using the other 2 lists to add in any games the first list may have missed. 

So let's handle a quick Q & A:

Q:  Are you really going to do this? 
A:  I'm going to try!

Q:  If you've already finished a game in the past, are you going to review it without playing it again?
A:  Nope.  I'm going to play all of these games from start to finish, even if I have played them before.

Q:  From start to finish?  Even the bad ones? 
A:  Yep. 

Q:  Are you going to play only PS2 games for the duration of this?
A:  Absolutely not.  I have several other games in the near future I want to play, and I may throw up reviews for those as well.  Torchlight 2, Borderlands 2, Mists of Panderia, and Persona 4 Golden may slow my progress a bit.  I'm doing this at my own pace.  Keep in mind, rpgs are long games.  You won't get a review a night.  In many cases, you may have to wait as long as a month for one.  

Q:  When are you starting?
A:  I'm currently trying to watch all the Star Trek: TNG episodes (I'm near the end of season 4) and I'm playing Mortal Kombat on Vita.   When I'm done, I'll start the first game, which I believe is Final Fantasy X.  I've completed it before so it shouldn't take me long.  I'd say to look for the first review by the beginning of October, maybe a little before. 

Q:  Why are you doing this? 
A:  The PS2 era of rpg gaming is gone.  There's no current system that competes with it, handheld or otherwise.  I miss it.  I want to experience it again, and I want to share the experience.  Many will say the SNES was the golden age of the rpg, but I argue that the PS2 era was at least on par, if not better.  If my reviews can convince others to grab some great PS2 rpgs and experience some of the games I have, then I'll be happy. 

Q:  Are you going to skip any games? 
A:  Actually, yes.  The MMOs.  You can't "beat" MMOs and I never played any PS2 MMOs when the system was at it's most popular anyway.  The first list contains no MMOs, so I will play all of those games, even the strategy rpgs. 

Review!: Shadow Complex XBOX LIVE ARCADE

Shadow Complex, when first announced, was met with a lot of hype. Gamers and journalists alike were claiming the game would be graphically equal to a full priced Xbox 360 game. The game was being made by Epic, known for their largely popular Gears of War series, and to a lesser extent, Unreal Tournament.

While I wouldn't go as far as to say that it's a $15 game worth $60, it's definitely a huge bargain.

Visually, it is very impressive for a Xbox Live Arcade game, but it's no Gears of War either. Some of the animations get a little funky in places, but I didn't see anything wrong in the textures department. For $15, this is a very pretty game.

I expected a bit more than I got out of the story. It's pretty cut and dry, but it doesn't detract from the experience. Apparently it's based on a book by Orson Scott Card, but I'm not going to pretend I know what that means, as I haven't read it. You play as Jason Flemming, a regular guy from a military family. Basically, he comes off as a regular guy, but in reality he learned a lot from his father, and is very capable of defending himself. He's out on a date with a girl, supposedly going caving. The girl gets ahead of him, and finds that he's stumbled across a secret base ran by a bunch of evil guys trying to destroy San Francisco. She gets captured, and he goes to rescue her. You can almost figure out what's going to happen from here on your own.

Where this game really shines is it's gameplay. I had an absolute blast playing this game. It has the upgrade system of Super Metroid, the leveling system of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, and the map system of both of these games. To put it another way, the game plays like a combination of two of the best games ever made. It's not without it's own flavor, though. The side scrolling levels are tinged with background enemies that you can turn and shoot at. The weapons and upgrades are all amazingly fun, and the boss battles are challenging and epic.

Though this games falls short of perfection, it shines hardest in the most important place: it's a really fun game. Even if this isn't the best looking game you've played this year and the story is nothing special, you'll certainly get tons of pure enjoyment out of this one. In the end, does anything else matter?

Score: 86/100

Review! : Fallout 3 (and 3 DLC's) PC VERSION

Looks a little depressing, right?

It is, and it only gets worse.

Fallout 3 starts, strangely, with your character being born. Enjoy this new life scenario, as it will be one of the very few you see.

You get to find out what you're going to look like when you grow up (you actually get to decide this). Then, you get to be a toddler. More developing yourself. You learn that you are in a vault. You take a test. Some bad things happen, and you have to leave.

The second you step out of the vault, you get feelings of awe. Then you walk around for a minute and begin to understand just what you're seeing. This used to be Washington D.C.

Visually, Fallout 3 is fantastic. It's hard to notice when you're in the vault, as the graphics all look pretty much the same, and if you played The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, they look very familiar too. However, when you get out, you get to see some of the artistic design. You see how the developers have taken real buildings in Washington D.C. and ruined them in a believable way. The textures on the land and monuments look great. The NPC visuals could have used some work, but they're passable by all means.

Fallout 3 also sounds great. You get some ambient tunes occasionally, but most of the soundtrack is old 50s tunes coming from either radios in the game, or from the radio on your Pip-Boy (more on this later). The songs can make you feel a bit unusual, as you may tend to try to place together what the buildings and landscapes looked like before the bombs fell. The sounds effects and voice acting are very well done, as well. Grunts and threats from Super Mutants are amusing, and the sound of a Radscorpion or Deathclaw coming your way can make you jump out of your chair. The voice actors for the NPCs are all shockingly believable.

There's a lot to say about the gameplay, because there is so much of it. The Pip-Boy has all the information your going to need. However, at first glance, it can be a bit intimidating. You can use it to fast travel to places you already been, look through all your items, check your quests or your status, heal yourself, and many other things as well. After a few hours of gameplay, it comes naturally.

The shooting mechanics are very well done considering the game is billed as an RPG. The interesting thing about this game is that you don't have to play it in any particular way, though. For instance, if you want to use melee weapons for the entire game and not shoot anything, that is an option for you. If you would rather nuke and blow everyone up, that's an option too. Or maybe you'd like to sneak up on all your enemies and take them out in stealth mode? That too is an option. In some cases, you can use your intelligence rating to avoid fighting at all.

Exploration is a big part of Fallout 3, as well. You can technically play through the main quest without doing anything extra at all, but there's so much to see and so many interesting people to talk to, that odds are good you won't do this. If you were to play the game straight through, you would never realize that there is an area full of people who think they are vampires, or a seemingly innocent town of cannibals, or a vault full of insane people who all think their names are Gary. There's even a super hero and his nemesis.

Leveling is a big step in the right direction for a game developed by Bethesda. Most Bethesda games work on a leveling system that rewards you for using certain abilities. For instance, if you wanted to be able to jump better, you would jump a lot. However, Fallout 3 uses a leveling system similar to the original 2 Fallout games. You gain experience, then you gain a level. When you gain a level, you get one perk, and then a certain amount of points to add to your skills. The placement of these skill points and the perks are important, because they determine what kind of character your vault dweller will be. Your skills vary from personality traits to battle related, so you have to be careful. If you create a character who is very good at barter and speech, but has no weapon or medicine skills, you may find yourself struggling to stay alive. However, if you ignore things like speech, lockpick, and science, you may find that you are unable to access areas you really want to go.

As for how long it lasts, it really depends on how you play it. If you play through the main quest, you can finish it in 20 hours or so, possibly less. Most people will not do this, though. Adventuring in this game is addictive. If you decide you want to try to visit every area, the game can last as long as 60-80 hours.

Now, the Downloadable Content.

Operation: Anchorage is more or less a battle simulation. If the more social aspects of the game were your favorite parts, I'm not sure I can recommend this. Keep in mind though: the spoils are great.

The Pitt is for Fallout fan who likes to make decisions. There's still combat here (and some of it is actually pretty challenging depending on your decisions), but the focus is on what you say.

Broken Steel is flat out necessary if you're going to play Fallout 3. It boosts the level cap from 20 to 30, and expands the ending (the original ending is universally known for being piss poor). The new quests are fun, and they are all located in the D.C. Wasteland, rather than an entirely new area.

So overall, I highly recommend Fallout 3. Even with the release of some great games in 2008 such as MGS4, Prince of Persia, Persona 3 FES and Gears of War 2, I still believe Fallout 3 was the best game of 2008. The only gamers I can't really recommend it to are those that are bit squeamish or don't enjoy dark humor, as this game has both in great quanities. There's RPG elements, first person shooter elements, and adventure elements, which should be enough to please just about any gamer.

Score: 96/100