Soul Calibur 4 - Critical Finishers
I was just browsing
Youtube for Soul Calibur 4 videos and
I happened to come across a compilation video of all of the critical finishing moves included in the game. I suspect this was as a result of popular demand, but in a way, it ruins the surprise of seeing the moves 'live'...
I was very impressed with the moves themselves - all of them are visually stunning. There are also some neat camera tricks to behold besides the usual Soul Calibur pyrotechnics. The finishing move for Zasalamel in particular is very cool. He opens up a vortex and sends his opponent through. Zasalamel is actually a man who has the ability to reincarnate, so in a bizarre way, his finisher involves him doing to somebody else, exactly what he wishes would happen to him! ie. Crossing into another world. Or maybe I'm reading into it too much!? Who cares? It looks good and adds another dimension to the gameplay.
Finishing moves have always existed in the fighting game genre, but
Mortal Kombat's fatality moves are probably the most widely recognised examples. They are very brutal and generally involve the non-surgical removal of vital organs. Soul Calibur 4's finishers are not blood thirsty, but vicious nonetheless. Of course, they are tricky to pull off and may only become a telling factor at high level play. It will be interesting to see how they impact the traditional SC mechanic...
What a wonderful world this is...
I love the way the people on this planet of ours are so caring and understanding of each other. I think about the lonely individuals out there who have difficulties with regard to human relations, who would indeed cherish friends or partners over anything else.
Iwao Hazuki once said "treasure your friends" because your friends will be there for you long after your parents have gone. Many sadly don't understand this concept. A wonderful world this really is...
Virtua Tennis 3 - Disappointing
I have always been a huge fan of the Virtua Tennis series - I played the first and second Dreamcast iterations to death and amazingly, even compared to 'next-gen' titles of this day and age, they can still be highly entertaining. Their simplicity was the major attraction to most gamers, although despite this, there was a bizarre depth to the gameplay. I say 'bizarre' purely because it was difficult to pin down exactly why the simplest, arcade-esque of control systems allowed for so much variation.
Knowing this, I was very excited for the 3rd installment on PS3, but once I'd got over the novelty of the fact that I was actually playing a PS3(!), I realised how disappointing the game really turned out to be...
My view will probably contradict many reviews. The game generally received very good but not outstanding reviews. However, I feel that these give the game a little too much credit - It is definitely more of the same, arguably not enough to satisfy next-gen hunger - but the major problem is that the game is unbalanced to hell. I've procured this term from the fighting genre, but I'm referring here to the power of shots. Originally I had thought that the problem was my own, that I just wasn't good at the game, but it isn't me. On the harder (and only challenging) difficulty settings, long rallies against the CPU don't really occur, you can easily 'blow' the ball into the corner out of their reach, but if you don't, you can be sure they will. As a result, the matches become stale, you find yourself simply waiting for the CPU to give you the green light, to hit that unreturnable cross court shot, or else see the ball fly by in a flash.
Losing is more frustrating than it should be. When you are beaten by the CPU at a competitive game (be it fighting or sport), you, the gamer, should feel the urge to give it another go, to rethink your approach. VT3 has an air of hopelessness, as if the CPU has decided whether it will win from the outset.
Another criticism I have is the diving shot, It has always been over exaggerated in this series, but this time the developers have simply got it wrong. You'll often find your player diving to retrieve balls well within your reach. If you're just slightly out of position you'll dive, floating a very weak return to be punished severely. This alone made me put the pad down on occasions. Very disappointing.
I'm reviewing this as a veteran, I can imagine that you'll have more fun with this game if you're new to the series. However, VT3 is an arcade game at heart. I love sports, so the chances are that I'm slightly biased towards simulation style gameplay. Top Spin 3 anyone?
Alone in the Dark - Playing with Fire
This title would be a pyromaniac's wet dream...
The idea of using fire, whether it be extinguishing or starting, to aid progression through action adventure games is 'age old', but the recent Alone in the Dark iteration takes the use of fire to new heights...
From the reviews I've read, the main entity in Alone in the Dark seems to be fire. It is apparently the only method of killing enemies, and is also used to solve the plethora of problems that confront the player during the course of the game (problem solving being an integral
gameplay element to almost every survival horror title). Without even playing the game, you can imagine many of the situations that occur frequently throughout the adventure - combining bottles with flammable liquid to make
molotov cocktails, attaching gasoline cans to structures to destroy them, or just simply using fire extinguishers.
This practical, 'hands-on' approach the game takes to solving problems is interesting; the developers have designed an inventory system that allows for a lot of item manipulation. Although it does depend on the gamer, this system is likely to appeal to many casual gamers - mind-bending puzzles are an acquired taste (I do have a fairly analytical mind) and can destroy certain gamers enjoyment of AAA titles. This extensive use of fire is a great way of keeping the practical element abundant throughout.
Alone in the Dark is an old franchise, but this modern day release has
received mixed reviews and although the fire effects were heavily praised, the game was criticised for having many glitches and abysmal driving sections. Nevertheless, it is a sequel to what was regarded as the first ever survival horror.
Video Game Influence
While I'm thinking about video game influence on our society, I need to mention a video I watched recently on the
internet involving a particular comedian who I'd better not name. I get the impression that he is actually against the (sadly) common belief that video games are responsible for all of the world's ills. On the stand up show, he starts on the whole 'game violence' topic, but jokes about the idea of retro games affecting children. Well, It's kind of difficult to be influenced by two paddles and a square moving between!
What about
Pacman? You see, this is a strange one, because people ARE actually influenced by it! Sitting in a room all day, listening to repetitive music and munching on pills...
Why don't we start blaming it for all the drug problems in the world!!
Combat Depiction in Video Games
I'm writing this post as a follow on from my previous passage on martial arts and video games. I find it very interesting how fighting sequences are glorified in video games. I use the word 'glorified' here, but not in the negative sense. I am not referring to the 'effects of violence in video games on our children' and other similar absurd topics.
Many games include ridiculous pyrotechnics during hand-to-hand combat. Namely, explosions whenever a fist makes contact, or possibly swirls of light and even flashes of lightning accompanying moves and attacks. I personally think these are much needed, and make any game far more aesthetically pleasing. Realistic is boring. That's why it's a game!
Aside from the light and fire, games encompass the opportunity to include many other supernatural elements, such as teleportation or time travel.
Although these are fantastical, they do however occasionally point to true martial arts philosophies. The focus of power and energy is the main thing. This is practised during training for real, whereas in a game you would actually see the energy as a blue flash of light... This has the potential to be a deep topic, far beyond a practical blog entry. It'll be interesting to see how martial arts become depicted in games in the future, will it change? I don't think so, not greatly at least, but it presumably will become more elaborate.
Graduation
Last Tuesday, I graduated from Glasgow University. It's just incredible how fast four years have passed. I often think back to that first day when I moved into halls of residence. How far all of us have come since then...
The actual ceremony was fantastic, a great day. The achievement itself didn't really hit me until after I had received my scroll. It was then that I realised just how high profile Glasgow University is, the top one percent in the world! And there are a lot of Universities out there!
Once the crowds dispersed from the University main buildings, my parents and I headed to the Ubiquitous Chip for a pleasant post graduation dinner, followed by a night out with my
course mates. Needless to say, University has gone out with a bang...
