Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma

Chime - 2016 - Vita/3DS/PC

At last we finally have the conclusion to the Zero Escape series after it appeared for a couple years that this game wouldn't get funding due to relative poor sales of the previous two games in the series. Although I'd have to admit all games in the series are pretty flawed in one way or another, I'd still recommend giving these a look if you're down for a pretty well written mystery/thriller with an unmistakably Japanese flavor. So before we go any further, know that THIS REVIEW WILL CONTAIN LIGHT SPOILERS FOR 999 AND VIRTUE'S LAST REWARD because I have no idea how to discuss this series' convoluted plot otherwise

Zero Time Dilemma begins in December of 2028 at the Dcom facility in Nevada and takes place after the events of 999, but before the events of Virtue's Last Reward. Sigma and Phi have traveled back in time and joined what is known as "The Dcom experiment" in order to prevent the outbreak of the Radical-6 virus which has killed most of Earth's population in the future. They are joined by Junpei and Akane from 999 who have been tracking the movements of a terrorist organization known as "Free the Soul" whose objectives also include destroying humanity. They are joined by heroic firefighter Carlos, sad sack Eric, seductive Mira, a somehow familiar looking girl named Diana, and a young boy boy has no memory and wears a strange capsule on his head. As part of the Dcom experiment, the group of them are (of course) locked in a facility and forced to play a deadly "decision game". The group is forced to split into 3 teams and told that at any point if 6 people are dead, the remaining survivors will be allowed to escape. Additionally, every 90 minutes a drug from the participants bracelets is injected which puts them to sleep and wipes their short term memories. Pretty crazy stuff

The story of Zero Time Dilemma is told in 90 minute "fragments" where you choose what team you'd like to follow and watch what events play out over the next 90 minutes. Only you initially have no idea where those 90 minutes fit into the grand timeline of the game. Sometimes you'll start a fragment and half of the group will be already dead and you'll have no idea why. I actually found this approach to storytelling a little annoying and hard to follow as I never knew where in the timeline I was and near the end I couldn't keep track of all the reveals of who was dead and who was alive and why.

After 999's static images and fixed camera, Virtue's Last Reward introduced voice acting and full 3d models with moderately successful results. Zero Time Dilemma takes it even farther with a much more distinctly cinematic approach to portraying its story. Zero Time Dilemma uses much more camera panning and animations during cutscenes. This is a slightly less successful transition unfortunately. It was pretty clear that the animation team was either rushed or not very experienced. Animations are jerky and forced and the lip sync is pretty questionable. It personally didn't bother me too much, but it was certainly notable and I know a lot of people will find the stiff animations a distracting drawback

I thought the puzzles in Zero Time Dilemma were some of the best of the series. They were varied, interesting and had me pulling out actual pen and paper to work through problems. Depending on the order of the fragments you play, the pacing of the puzzle rooms can be a little weird though. In my experience, I had tons of puzzle rooms in the beginning and middle of the game, but almost none near the end which made playing through the end of the game more like watching a movie. Speaking of the end... it was kind of a let down. Without discussing any spoilers, the ending was sort of plain and disappointing which was a surprise in of itself since 999 and Virtue's Last Reward had such huge reveals and shocking twists. Ahh well, it was still nice to finally have some sort of closure for this series.

Summary

Regardless of what the marketing of this game wants you to believe, you can't play it without playing the first two games first. Or at least you shouldn't. Start there first or else you'll likely be massively confused. For veterans of the series, this game will offer some closure for the story, albeit a slightly disappointing one. I still must admit I enjoyed this game a lot as it features some of the strongest puzzle rooms in the series. The Zero Time Dilemma journey is much more enjoyable than the destination, and the journey is worth it.

Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc

 Spike Chunsoft - 2010 - iOS/Android/Vita/PSP/PC

Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc is a visual novel style game with elements of the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney games. I was turned on to Danganronpa after it released on Steam and I saw it was developed by Spike Chunsoft who was also responsible for 999 and Virtue's Last Reward, both of which I'm quite fond of despite their respective flaws. Even though Danganronpa and the Zero Escape games do not share the same writing talent, they do all feature Japanese anime styled characters and have similar-ish themes.

In Danganronpa, you play as Makoto Naegi - an average student who was nevertheless accepted to an elite high school academy that only admits students considered to be the best at what they do. During his first day of school, Makoto blacks out and when he comes to he finds that he is one of several students that are trapped in the high school. All the exit doors have been barred and the windows sealed. The high school is deserted with the exception of the students and a creepy remote-controlled teddy bear who calls himself Monokuma. Monokuma tells the students that the only way to escape the high school is by killing another student without getting caught. As the days go by, various murders eventually take place and it's up to you as Makoto to gather the evidence and solve each crime

After investigating a murder scene and gathering evidence, a "class trial" takes place where the facts of the case are deliberated. Here, you'll often need to catch other students either misstating a fact or outright lying and support your cause with pieces of evidence from the case that contradict what a classmate is saying. This is where Danganronpa is most game-y and most separates itself from being just a pure visual novel. It's also where I feel this game is at its worst. The evidence puzzles seem to usually fall into one of two categories. Either the puzzle is so painfully obvious that it feels unsatisfying to solve or the puzzle is so contrived and obscure that you have to trial and error your way into the game's very specific line of thinking. The latter is particularly frustrating when the game tries to railroad you down one particular line of thinking when other possibilities seemed just as plausible to me. There are also weird rhythm game sections during the class trial that feel weak and forced. I appreciate that the game was trying to break the monotony of just reading text forever, but I often found these sections to be more frustrating than exciting

The strength of Danganronpa lies with its storytelling. It's probably unfair to compare this with the Zero Escape games even if it's the same developer, it's a different writer, but I'm going to do so anyway. I felt Danganronpa had a pretty good cast of well written characters - probably a stronger cast than any of the Zero Escape games. If you like wacky high school anime characters, Danganronpa is your game. But I found the mystery of each murder and the overall mystery of the high school much less compelling than anything written in the Zero Escape games. The Zero Escape games had me on the edge of my seat trying to figure out "whodunnit" and how it was possible and the revelation of those mysteries was always mind-blowing. Danganronpa's murders seemed a little too random and contrived. The revelation of its mysteries was always weird and wacky, but in a way that was often too unbelievable.

Summary
Danganronpa was fairly solid - good enough for me to await the release of its sequel on Steam. But I can't recommend this game without a caveat. It's still probably unfair of me to compare Danganronpa to another game not even in the same series or by the same writer, but I feel these games are similar enough to warrant me doing so: If you haven't played 999, do that first. If you have, then know that Danganronpa sacrifices a focus on a compelling and well thought out mystery in favor of more character focused moments full of anime melodrama and silliness.

Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number

Dennaton Games - 2015 - PC/PS3/PS4/Vita

I was waiting until after I finished this game to review it - which I had intended to be a few weeks or so after its release, but that obviously didn't happen. So I've been playing this game on and off trying to get past the part I'm stuck on and you know what? This game is really freaking hard and I don't think I can finish it. At least not right now. So disclaimer: I'm reviewing a game I didn't complete

I could probably be super lazy with this review and just say "It's more Hotline Miami" and in most ways, that's very true. But I'm going to try to be just a bit more insightful and try to highlight some of the differences between this game and its predecessor. First off, the gameplay. It plays largely very similarly to the first game, but you'll notice some differences in level design. Some of Hotline Miami 2's levels are a lot more wide open, which was something that was not really present in the first game. Because of this, I found it much more important to use the camera to look around to see if an enemy is lurking off screen. This becomes kind of annoying, especially when off-screen enemies start shooting you from unseen locations. Nearly every level in Hotline Miami 2 features a different playable character with slightly different abilities, similar to the mask system in the first game. But the player can't change out and experiment with abilities and playstyles when they want to, like in the first game. Levels in Hotline Miami 2 are also generally much longer than the first game. This makes an already hard game that much harder and that much more frustrating when you're killed near the end of the level and forced to start again. It wasn't that big of a deal in the first game, as it was more about the thrill of memorizing relatively short levels and then executing them perfectly. The longer levels in the second game greatly slow it down and make it feel like more of a chore.

(Mild spoilers in this paragraph) The narrative in the first Hotline Miami game was definitely a little open to interpretation. The first half of Hotline Miami saw the player character, "Jacket" slaughtering buildings full of people because a voice on his telephone told him to. The second half of the game (if you follow Jacket's storyline) saw Jacket killing with a purpose instead, tracking down and killing off the people who killed his girlfriend. Many people viewed the story as a commentary on violence in video games, and discussed how killing for no reason vs. the player character killing with a purpose felt the same/different. I admired how Hotline Miami's story could be viewed through many lenses and how the vagueness of the story left it open for the players' imaginations to fill in the gaps. Hotline Miami 2's story has a similar vagueness, but it's compounded by each level being played by a different character and then each level also being told chronologically out of order. I just couldn't even follow what was supposed to be happening. The story seemed like some crazy blur of violence, neon lights, pounding music and confusion. Maybe that's what the developers were going for?

The soundtrack in Hotline Miami 2 is still very much on point. It's still a collaboration of many different artists, even more than the first game, that have somehow banded together to make a unified sound. Most of the first game's musical authors have returned to contribute fresh tracks, but I loved contributions from new artists as well. A few of my favorites are "Divide" by Magna, "Blizzard" by Light Club, and "The Way Home" by Magic Sword. The entire soundtrack is solid from top to bottom and is worth a listen if you like this sort of electronic/techno music.

Summary
I didn't care for the minor changes in gameplay and story but despite all of my above griping, Hotline Miami 2 is still a solid game. Fans of the first game should still enjoy its sequel, but if you haven't played Hotline Miami before, start with the first one. It's the superior game

Rayman Legends

Ubisoft - 2013 - PC/PS3/PS4/Vita/WiiU/X360/XboxOne

If you're looking for excellent platformers, or great couch co-op experiences, the WiiU is the next-gen console you want. To me, what sets the WiiU apart from any of the other next gen consoles are its tablet and its first-party games. The first-party games for WiiIU are the high level of quality you'd expect from Nintendo. Mario Kart 8 and Smash 4 are great and Super Mario 3D world is the best Mario game I've played to date. But I've noticed Nintendo doesn't really know how to implement its own tablet into its own first-party games. Mario Kart 8 simply maps the touch screen to a horn, Smash 4 only uses it to duplicate what's on the TV screen while Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze opts to turn the tablet screen completely off. None of these are inherently bad designs, but it's curios to see Nintendo stumped about what to do with its own hardware. Sure, Mario 3D World does have some light uses of the tablet where occasionally the game will require you to touch some block or something. But nothing like Rayman Legends. I know this game is on a plethora of other platforms, but you NEED to play the WiiU version of this game that utilizes all of the functionality of the WiiU tablet. I'm sure the developers would agree. I also hope Nintendo developers have played this game and are taking notes on how to properly utilize the gamepad.

The beauty of playing this game with the WiiU gamepad comes into play when there's at least more than one player playing the game. One player can play with a Wii Remote or Pro controller and plays through the platforming in a traditional fashion while the other player plays with the tablet screen and is tasked with helping the platforming player progress through levels. This is accomplished by touching to move and slide walls or platforms on the tablet screen or by keeping the platforming player safe by tapping to tickle monsters or by deflecting projectiles away from hitting the platforming player. It seems like each level has a new and inventive use of the tablet's touch screen that made playing each level fun and fresh. Neither the tablet player nor the platforming player are performing the same set of actions either, but both sets of actions are necessary for the level to be completed. This type of asynchronous gameplay experience is especially well implemented in Rayman Legends and requires both the tablet player and the platforming player to work together as a team to solve puzzles and complete the level. This, to me, is also why the definitive version of Rayman Legends can only be played on the WiiU and is probably best played with a partner.

Another thing that sets Rayman Legends apart from other platformers is its use of music. I've seen it before in other games where some background elements will move or dance in time with the music, but Rayman Legends takes this to another level. A lot of Rayman Legends levels require you to actually do platforming actions in time with music. If what I'm describing doesn't make sense, check out this video. But if you do, it may detract from the joy of discovering Rayman Legend's musical levels for yourself for the first time. The musical levels were so cool and I'd love to see this concept implemented in other platformers or even other game genres

Rayman Legends Video Review

Summary
Rayman Legends is one of the best platformers I've played in a long time and I'm enjoying seeing this resurgence of platformers and couch co-op experiences on the WiiU. The WiiU version of Rayman Legends also makes great use of the WiiU gamepad to implement a fun asynchronous co-op experience for both players. The music levels are wonderful and the game does have a great soundtrack in its own right too. Oh and it even features some of the best levels taken from Rayman Origins too! This is a great game and a must-play if you like platformers, co-op play, excellent music and art direction, or creative implementation of asynchronous gameplay

Proteus

Ed Key, David Kanaga - 2013 - PC/PS3/Vita

This week, I played through Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow and also the XCOM expansion, Enemy Within. Both are fantastic games, and I'd highly recommend either of them, but Aria of Sorrow is great for the exact same reason Symphony of the Night is great and Enemy within is great for the exact same reason XCOM: Enemy Unknown is great. I considered writing a more fleshed out review for XCOM since I did that one so long ago, but Enemy Within is essentially the same game as Enemy Unknown and I don't want to review the same game twice. Also Aria of Sorrow is pretty much the exact same game as Symphony of the Night, they just changed some of the character names and the castle is laid out differently. Just know that these games are totally fantastic and worth checking out. However this week, I think I'd like to talk about a little indie game I picked up for free on PlayStation Plus called Proteus.

I'm actually not even sure if I should be writing about Proteus on this blog, only because I'm not sure if Proteus qualifies as a game. This really raised the question of "What is a game?" for me even more than Journey did. At least with Journey, there was a definite end to the game. While the goal of the game wasn't directly stated, it was implied that you were progressing towards something by the various scenes and events in Journey. But Proteus has no end, no goals, no progress, no events or story of any kind. Now I'm not sure how you exactly define what a game is, or even if it matters whether or not Proteus is one, but for the sake of not being misleading, you might want to consider Proteus as an "audiovisual experience" rather than a game.

Proteus was created by just two dudes, Ed Key and David Kanaga. Development started in 2008 when David had the vision of making a unconventional and completely non-violent video game. Proteus was finally released last year and David certainly realized his vision. It's a very unusual game and there's certainly no violence. You begin the game standing offshore while staring at a very pixelated island. As you move toward the island, you'll realize that nearly everything on the island makes some sort of unusual synthesized sounds that all sort of meld together to make the game's soundtrack. The game will sound different depending on where you are on the island and what you're standing next to. For instance, in a forest, you'll hear the electronic purrs of all of the pixelated trees. Or on top of a tall mountain, the soundtrack may dim a bit and you'll hear only the quiet sound of the wind blowing. It's another game that you can just watch a YouTube video of and probably get the gist of it. Everything is procedurally generated, so the island is different each time, and everything is very pixelated and musical. It kind of feels like something that would belong at one of those "games of tomorrow" places at Disney World.

I hate to sound like I'm picking on the little guys, but Proteus is totally not my kind of game. The two things I love to look for in games are either a strong gameplay hook or excellent narrative. Most of my favorite games combine both of these elements to make a fun game that also tells an interesting story. Proteus has neither of these elements. There's absolutely no story, and there's really no gameplay either, at least not in the traditional sense of that word. I really did try to give Proteus a chance though, I tried to explore the island with no expectations and just enjoy the whimsical electronic music. But I just couldn't get into it. Sorry, Proteus.

Summary:
Proteus offers a very unusual and non-violent audiovisual experience. If that sentence sounded interesting to you, maybe Proteus will be your game. It certainly wasn't mine, but that's okay. If you're like me and you know that Proteus won't be your thing, Aria of Sorrow and/or XCOM: Enemy Unknown are excellently designed games that are boatloads of fun. Both are worth a look if you like Metroidvania style games or turn based strategy games.

Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy

Naughty Dog - 2001 - PS2/PS3/Vita

Remember when 3D platformers were a thing? Prior to playing Jak and Daxter, I couldn't even think of the last 3D platformer I played. I think the Mario games are kind of singlehandedly keeping that genre alive right now. But back in the late 90s/early 00s, they were all over the place. Mario 64, Banjo Kazooie and Prince of Persia: Sands of Time were some of my favorite platformers from this era, but I somehow never played any of the Jak games. I was a little hesitant to try Jak and Daxter because I didn't have the best experience with the last Naughty Dog game I played. But a friend of mine was insistent that I must play Jak and Daxter, and I'm glad I did. It's absolutely worth a look if you dig 3D platformers.

The first thing that struck me about Jak and Daxter were the quality of the animations in the game. They're cartoony and exaggerated, but they bring the characters to life so well. Now it may be because I was playing the PS3/HD version of the game and it's hard to tell what they retouched and what was original, but Jak and Daxter may have some of the best animation work I've seen in a game. Which is astounding, considering the game was released in 2001. Great voicework too, which was also not the norm for games made in that era. The NPCs are all full of life and personality. It reminded me a lot of characters from Psychonauts, another excellent 3D platformer that everyone should play. It was strange because while the characters and game world had great personality, I felt the overall narrative/story of Jak and Daxter was totally phoned in. I mean the main villain of the game isn't even introduced until more than halfway through the game. Very weird. 

At a basic level, Jak and Daxter plays similarly to Mario 64. There are several "worlds" and each world has a certain amount of stars to collect, or "power cells" in the case of Jak and Daxter. One major difference though is that the world's layout is totally seamless in Jak and Daxter. For example in Mario 64, the castle sort of served as a hub world and each level was entered by jumping into a painting on the castle's wall. And while there's still "worlds" in Jak and Daxter, it's all seamlessly tied together as one giant island. No loading screens or anything like that, which was probably pretty technically difficult to do. I thought this was pretty cool, until I realized one terrible design problem: it takes FOREVER to get from one area to another. In Mario 64, you could just pause and select "exit world" or whatever. Here you have to walk all the way from one area to another, and the game world is pretty huge. It was super annoying when I wanted to go back and visit the earlier areas to pick up power cells that I had missed. So much walking. This game is in desperate need of a fast travel system. There are a few teleporters scattered across the island, but they're too few and far between to be that useful.

Mechanically, the game is pretty solid. Occasionally I felt like the double jump ability in the game felt unresponsive, but aside from that it's a pretty tight platformer. The levels are all very unique and have their own distinct personality. Some have mini-games or vehicle driving sections that can be completed for additional power cells. I feel that variety and cleverness in level design is really important in a platformer, otherwise your game starts to stale very quickly. Jak and Daxter nails this aspect of good game design. Upon entering a new area, I never knew what to expect, only that it would be different from what I was doing before. 

Summary:

If you miss the 3D platformers of yesteryear and have never played Jak and Daxter, it's worth a look. It's got a high amount of polish and style, but some gaping flaws in certain areas. It does character design well, but forgot to write a story for them. It has variety in level design and a huge open world island, but forgot to include a good fast travel system for it.  I'll be interested to play Jak 2 and 3 soon to see if they corrected some of these flaws and improved on the foundation they laid with The Precursor Legacy. 

Minecraft

Mojang - 2011 - PC/X360/XboxOne/PS3/PS4/Mobile/Vita

(On my Top 10 Favorite Games list)

Wooo 50 reviews! Wooo!! When selecting which games I'll write about each week, I give priority to the more obscure games that people may not have heard of. I think it's important to shine a spotlight on the smaller indie titles that may have slipped through the cracks. Games like To the Moon, The Swapper and The Stanley Parable all offer amazing unique experiences and are deserving of attention and discussion, but tend to run under the radar because they're not behind big publishers. I was thinking for my 50th review maybe I would review one of my all-time favorite video games. A game that I really love, like Ocarina of Time or Final Fantasy VII. But nah, people already know about those games. So I'm here this week to shine a spotlight on a game you may not have heard of. It's a little indie game I discovered called Minecraft.

If you didn't pick up on the heavy sarcasm at the end of that last paragraph and/or are otherwise oblivious to the video game world, Minecraft is hugely popular. Like HUGE. To date, it's sold nearly 50 million copies across all platforms making it one of the best selling video games of all time, according to Wikipedia. That's more than the original Super Mario Bros. A public beta of Minecraft was released in 2009 and it spread like wildfire across the internet, solely through word of mouth. It was officially released in 2011 and has now made it's creator, Markus Persson (a.ka. Notch), like 97 trillion dollars from sales and merchandise. Don't look that last number up, but it's probably true.

So what makes Minecraft so popular? First of all, it's mind blowing. The first time I played Pokemon Red/Blue? Mind blown. First time I played Ocarina of Time? Mind blown. If you've never had your mind blown by a video game, I don't really know how to quantify that for you. The first week I owned Minecraft, I played it obsessively. And when I wasn't playing it, I was thinking about playing it. It's a completely absorbing experience. The other reason I think Minecraft is so popular is that there are just so many ways you can play the game. You can play it like a survival game where you forage for resources and see how long you can stay alive. You can play it like an exploration game, just traversing the vast landscapes and seeing what you'll discover. You can play it like a traditional single player game where you upgrade your weapons and equipment and eventually get strong enough to take down the final boss. You can play it like a creative game because the game engine literally allows you to construct whatever you can dream up, as long as you have the materials. Or you can play with friends and blow each other's stuff up. And the best part is that none of these playstyles are mutually exclusive.

I was a huge fan of LEGOs as a kid. And I guess I still am as an adult. So the creative building block element of Minecraft is really appealing to me. The entire world of Minecraft is randomly and procedurally generated each time you start a new game or explore a new area. The terrain that is generated is essentially just made up of little blocks that the game engine will allow you to remove and replace however you see fit. There's quite a bit possible with just that game mechanic alone. But then you add in the fact that there are rare blocks that are generated like the gold ore block or the diamond ore block that can be used to make more complex objects or tools in the game... this really makes the exploration aspect of the game addicting and satisfying. Then there's the redstone ore. Oh man the redstone. Minecraft's redstone actually allows the player to create complex circuitry with logic gates in the game of Minecraft. People have made calculators and functioning CPUs in the game of Minecraft. That's CRAZY. I hope that helps you understand what a powerful creative tool the engine of Minecraft is. Then there's the people that have recreated famous structures or landmarks in Minecraft. There's the Minecraft Enterprise, the world of Game of Thrones in Minecraft, and Pharrell Williams' "Happy" recreated in game through the engine of Minecraft. That's just awesome.

Summary:
If you want to learn more about Minecraft, its developers, and the impact it's had on the games industry, check out this pretty cool documentary on youtube. If you somehow haven't played this game, you really should give it a try. If you know me personally and want to play on my server, give me a shout. And if you're one of those people who've stayed clear of this game because "eww the graphics are bad", I'm gonna come smack you. You're missing out on one of the most important and unique video game experiences ever created.

Thomas Was Alone

Mike Bithell - 2012 - PC/PS3/Vita

What an unusual game this was. In Thomas Was Alone, you can switch control between several multi-colored rectangles while trying to guide them through each of the game's 100 levels. Throughout each level, a narrator with a British accent tells you what each of the rectangles is thinking or feeling. Each of the levels are very short and are completed by aligning each of your rectangles with its matching outline that is found somewhere in the level.

I found this game to be a bit disappointing and uninteresting. Oh it has interesting ideas, sure, but the execution of these ideas falls flat. For instance, the game's story is about these multicolored rectangles that are given names and personalities and are supposed to represent artificial intelligences in a computer system. But I couldn't remember which name belonged to which color rectangle and the story became very hard to follow. Even if I could remember who was what color, the story was pretty abstract and uneventful. The rectangles just wander around and you hear what they're thinking, but nothing interesting ever really happens to them. There's also several references to other games and pop culture, but they're not at all clever or well done. They're just kind of thrown in without purpose

The other interesting idea this game has - but doesn't execute well on - is the concept that each rectangle has a different ability. There's one that can double jump, one that can float in water, and one that has a bouncy trampoline-like property. But there's nothing really new or novel done with the puzzle solving sections that incorporates using all of your rectangle's abilities in a mechanically interesting way. There's one rectangle who's slow and fat and can't jump high. And nearly all of the puzzles in the game involve simply getting the fat rectangle to the end of the level which is usually time consuming and annoying. The puzzle solutions are almost always obvious and very frequently tedious. I feel Thomas Was Alone misses the fundamental point of why puzzle games are fun. In a good puzzle game, the fun is found in trying to figure out the solution to a difficult problem. You feel an endorphin rush when you have that "Ah ha!" moment and finally figure out a problem you've been stuck on. Carrying out the solution to a puzzle once you know what to do is usually not that fun or interesting. Thomas Was Alone presents you problems with obvious solutions over and over again. It's all execution and no critical thinking.

Summary:
I didn't really care for Thomas Was Alone. It doesn't have the charm or humor of Portal, it doesn't have the exhilarating platforming of Donkey Kong Country 2, and it certainly doesn't have the mind bending puzzles of Braid. But it's unique and it has its own identity. And I'd rather unique games like this be made than copy/paste sequels or games recycling the same ideas and gameplay for the millionth time

Hotline Miami

Dennaton Games - 2012 - PC/Vita/PS3/PS4

(On my Top 10 Game Soundtracks list)

Hotline Miami is a top-down fast paced action game set in Miami in the late 80s. You play as a delusional, mask wearing psychopath who receives cryptic voicemals on his answering machine instructing him to kill various groups of people. You'll use a combination of ranged and melee weapons to make a bloody pixelated mess of every single enemy on the screen before being allowed to proceed to the next stage.

First off, let me just say that this game's soundtrack is completely awesome. It's a collaboration between several different artists who each give their take on what the Miami neon nightlife of the 80s sounded like. Most of the tracks are kind of electronic/dance/techno of some sort, which isn't even my thing, but they all mesh perfectly together to give this game amazingly unique style. Just listen to tracks like Daisuke (El Huervo), Hotline (Jasper Byrne), Knock Knock (Scattle), Miami Disco (Perturbator), or Paris (M.O.O.N). All different artists, all amazing tracks. This is my favorite game soundtrack in recent memory for a few reasons. A: It's awesome. B: It's ****ing awesome C: It breaks the mold of having this fully orchestrated, symphonic sound that most modern games seem to be conforming to, especially the big budget ones. It's proof that modern games don't need or even shouldn't have that symphonic sound if they want to stand out and create a unique and memorable soundtrack. I really hope more developers/creative minds take note of the Hotline Miami soundtrack and we can start exploring new directions in game soundtracks. That's my rant on that. Anyway fun fact, Jasper Byrne, who contributed a few tracks to Hotline Miami's soundtrack, is also the same guy who developed Lone Survivor

So how does the game play? You'll need to switch up melee and ranged weapons to defeat each enemy in the level. Melee weapons are fast and silent, but if an enemy notices you approaching, you're probably toast. Ranged weapons allow you to combat enemies at a safer distance, but they usually makes a lot of noise which can attract other nearby enemies which is often more risky. Nearly every weapon in the game is a one hit kill though, so you have to constantly be on your toes. The game awards you on a point system for killing enemies more quickly or for killing several enemies in a row. Certain amounts of points can give you unlockable weapons and masks. Masks can enhance a certain playstyle or statistic. For example, there's a mask that increases your view distance, and there's also a mash that increases your running speed. Most of the masks I found didn't alter the gameplay too substantially though. The levels get progressively harder throughout the game and I died a ton, especially near the end. But dying evokes what I like to call "the good kind of frustration" in this game. It never feels unfair or like the game isn't playing by its own rules. If you die, it's probably your fault. You weren't careful enough, or you didn't pay attention to a certain enemy or you made a bad strategic decision. It's the kind of frustration that makes you want to replay the level over and over until you get it right.

In addition to the jammin' soundtrack, this game has a pretty unique art style as well. Everything is pixelated, which seems to be the indie game norm right now, but it still feels very unique to this game. During dialogue, all of the characters have ugly pixelated disembodied heads that hover eerily back and forth during conversation. This combined with the crazy psychedelic neon lights that constantly fade in and out in the background make the game feel just like a late 80s/early 90s PC game. But at the same time, it's still uniquely Hotline Miami. Later in the game, your character will start hallucinating and seeing visions of other people wearing animal masks, and also visions of mutilated bodies and dead corpses. It reminded me a bit of the hallucinations experienced by characters in Silent Hill, which I loved. The amount of violence in this game is also pretty high, but it's kind of offset by the game's pixelated art style. At the end of each level, you'll be standing on a mountain of bloody, pixelated corpses which gives a weird sense of awesomeness.

Summary:
If you can handle a bit of challenge, Hotline Miami is a good time. It's a bit short, a bit weird and a bit violent, but it has a lot of style. I'm looking forward to Hotline Mami 2 which should be out later this year.

Lone Survivor

Jasper Byrne - 2012 - PC/Vita/PS3

This game can be summed up pretty quickly: 2D Silent Hill. Lone Survivor is an indie survival horror game and if you've ever played a Silent Hill game before, this game will feel very familiar. The developer, Jasper Byrne, is a self-proclaimed Silent Hill fan and the influences are very apparent throughout the game. Everything including the gameplay, the narrative themes, and even the audio cues are very Silent Hill-esque. And Byrne, who also composed the game's soundtrack, does a great job channeling Silent Hill's Akira Yamaoka with his musical style. But even if you've never played a Silent Hill game, you may still want to give Lone Survivor a look.

Lone Survivor is short, and I think that's to its credit. It's about 5 hours long, and I think that's a perfect length for a game like this. Turning off all of the lights in your house and subjecting yourself to the twisted imagery and pulse pounding terrors of a good horror game now and again is fun, but it's also kind of nerve wracking and draining. Not something to do every single night. I've played a lot of games that do a good thing effectively, but wear out their welcome by doing it over and over again for too long. I felt Lone Survivor had a very appropriate length, and I'd like to see more shorter experience games like this. I think it can work if the games are appropriately priced, but that's a whole different discussion. 

You play as a nameless survivor of some disease outbreak that has seemingly turned all of the world's population into mindless zombie-like monsters. The main character has holed up in his apartment to survive the disease outbreak, but is now running out of food and is curious if there are any other survivors other than himself. So you'll start to venture outside your apartment and see the horrors of the monster infested world, but you'll still return to the apartment often to rest and save. You can combat the monsters with your handgun if you have enough ammo, or you can lay piles of meat around to attract the monsters to a certain location to try and sneak past. Like any good horror game, ammo management is key. You'll want to sneak past enemies when possible rather than shooting them to conserve your ammo. You'll also want to keep an eye on how many batteries you have left. Without batteries, your flashlight won't operate and you won't be able to see many important clues and objects in your environment.

While Lone Survivor probably isn't quite as complete of a game as some of the games it's influenced by, this game is still my favorite type of horror game. There are very few, if any, jump scares. Less means that the few jump scares that are in the game are more powerful and memorable. Rather than relying on jump scares, games like Silent Hill and Lone Survivor create the feeling of horror by constructing a creepy atmosphere through good music, sound and art design. Games like these understand that the most horrific things your imagination can cook up are more intense than anything the game can actually show you. So they simply focus on creating good atmosphere and let your imagination do the rest. I especially love the strange hallucinations and bizarre scenery present in Lone Survivor. Good stuff. I think the minimalist pixelated art style works to the game's favor here too. When you see a monster, you just kind of get a general impression of what it looks like, and again, your imagination fills in the details. Lone Survivor perfectly follows the prototype for my favorite kind of horror game.

Summary:

I didn't find the story quite as satisfying or the game design as nuanced as Silent Hill 2, but Lone Survivor is still worth a look if you like these kinds of games. Its length is appropriate, and it does a great job creating a dark and creepy atmosphere. I wish it had the narrative depth of SH2, but does do a great job replicating nearly everything else from that game.

Final Fantasy X

Squaresoft - 2001 - PS2/PS3/Vita

See Also My Top 10 Final Fantasy Games List

I picked up the HD remastered versions of Final Fantasy X/X-2 on PS3 when they came out last month, and I replayed FFX for the first time in probably at least 10 years. I remember really enjoying when I first played it and I was worried my memory of the game would be greater than what the game actually was. But I enjoyed it quite a bit a second time around and it held up pretty well aside from the horrendous cutscenes. It's crazy to think about how Square just churned out hit after hit of amazing classic RPGs from this franchise in the 90s and early 00s and then to think about what garbage the FF series has given us since this game. 

A quick sidenote for those who never played a game in this series or are otherwise unaware: The stories and battle mechanics of each game in the Final Fantasy series are completely unrelated. Each game in the series has a completely new cast of characters and settings, and there's nearly always a different battle system with different battle mechanics and rules. The series has some common elements and reoccurring motifs; for instance there's usually magic or summon monsters and for some reason there's almost always a character named Cid that appears somewhere in the game. But you don't have to have played FF9 before FF10 or anything like that.

FF10 (or FFX for you Romans) follows the story of a young man named Tidus who is a star blitzball player from the futuristic city of Zanarkand. Blitzball is some kind of crazy combination of football and soccer, but played underwater. It also serves as FFX's primary minigame. It's kind of broken and clunky, but the football fan in me enjoys it despite its faults. Anyway, in the game's prologue, the Zanarkand blitzball arena is suddenly attacked by a massive whale-looking monster known as "Sin". Sin magically transports Tidus 1000 years into the future to another world called "Spira". While searching for a way to get back home to Zanarkand, Tidus learns about the world of Spira and befriends some of its residents. He learns that Spira has always been under constant torment by the same Sin monster he encountered in Zanarkand. Tidus soon befriends a young girl, Yuna, who is training to become a summoner in hopes to obtain a summon monster powerful enough to destroy Sin. FFX's main storyline deals with Tidus, Yuna and her guardian's journey across Spira and their quest to defeat Sin. 

I found the story and pacing for FFX to be both very good. Now the thing that's an absolute trainwreck and nearly ruins the game are the voice acting and cutscenes. Final Fantasy X was the first game in the series to be voice acted, and it definitely shows. Each cutscene is more awkward and cringe-worthy than the last. You may have seen the infamous laughing scene on YouTube before. Yeah, that's pretty much how all of the cutscenes in this game are. Now the actual story that is behind these cutscenes is pretty good. But oh man, those cutscenes. It might actually be better to watch them on mute. You have to try to focus on what the game is trying to show you, not how the game is showing it. If you can't do that, you'll probably find this game's story pretty laughable. No pun intended. 

Final Fantasy X's battle system is pretty tight and well balanced. Information like damage, status effects, and weaknesses are clearly communicated to the player during battle instead of having to guess which enemies are weak vs. which elements or try to figure out whether the status effect spell you just cast was successful based on what color a sprite is. If you equip your party with the proper "sensor weapons", you will even see strategies on how to defeat specific enemies, their HP, and what their weaknesses are. It's the kind of useful information the FF series always used to hide in the background instead of telling you straight up for some reason. There's a good variety of enemies that all have strengths and weaknesses to different members of your party. For instance flying-type monsters need to be taken down by a ranged fighter, while Tidus' sword is effective on smaller more nimble monsters. Still others may be weak to magic spells and require a Mage to defeat. It's a fun, strategic turn-based battle system that will have you rotating your party members in and out in order to try to exploit enemies' weaknesses.

FFX is notable for not having a world map to explore, which is normally a series staple for Final Fantasy. I was afraid this would be too much like FFXIII, a game which I hated for having linear corridor after linear corridor strung together as level design. But you never really get that feeling in FFX. The level design does a good job with divergent paths and interesting things to do and people to talk to in all of the areas to make you forget there's no world map linking everything together. The level design and pacing is pretty good in this game... except for the puzzle solving sections in stupid cloister of trails areas. People who have played this game before know what I'm talking about. Tedious, time wasting puzzles with random arbitrary logic that you have to solve by trial and error. Terrible game design. Whoever put these in the game needs to be smacked upside the head. 

Final Fantasy X also is notable for being the first game in the series that was not exclusively composed by the legendary Nobuo Uematsu. It was a collaboration between him and some other dudes. It's still a excellent soundtrack, but it sounds different than a lot of the other games in the series, and some of it sounds very un-Final Fantasy to me. Most of the soundtrack has a very electronic and synthesized sound. Still good, just different. Standout tracks include The Main Battle Theme (Nobuo Uematsu),  Rikku's Theme (Nobuo Uematsu), Battle With Seymour (Nobuo Uematsu), Besaid Island (Masashi Hamauzu), and Illusion (Junya Nakano). It's easy to hear each composer's different style and which tracks they contributed to the soundtrack. 

The soundtrack to the HD version was remixed, which I was a little disappointed in. Even though it had been 10 years since I played this game, I have the soundtrack on my phone and listen to it all the time, so some of the remixes were a little jarring to me. The HD remix soundtrack grew on me eventually, some tracks are more subtle and little less "in your face" than the originals and probably more appropriate in certain areas. But at least include the option for me to switch back to the old ones if I want!

Summary:

Overall FFX is a pretty solid game. Solid battle system, excellent soundtrack and good story. Terrible voice acting. I would actually recommend it as a good entry point for newcomers to the series if it weren't for those cutscenes. As it stands though, I'd probably tell Final Fantasy newbies to start with the masterpiece that is FFVII. It's may not be as polished, refined or pretty looking as FFX, but at least it doesn't have this in it.

Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward

Chunsoft - 2012 - Vita/3DS

Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward is the sequel to 999, which I played for the first time last year. If you're not familiar with these games, just imagine the Japanese anime interpretation of the movie Saw made into a graphic novel/videogame. And then sprinkle some puzzles on top. Basically 9 people wake up together locked in a room with no memory of how they got there and are forced to play a game riddled with deathtraps in order to find a way out.

Despite my grievances with 999's game design, the quality of the writing enticed me enough to play its sequel. Thankfully, VLR corrects most of the frustrating game design from predecessor. Like 999, VLR has a non-linear story with branching decision points and multiple different endings are required in order to get the "true" ending. VLR implements a much needed "time travel flowchart" where you can skip to any decision point or puzzle you've already encountered in the game, so you don't have to completely restart the game every time you get an ending. Honestly, if 999 had this feature, I could and would have forgiven a lot of that game's faults.

There are numerous UI enhancements to VLR as well. In 999, if you needed to consult your notes when solving a puzzle, you had to flip back and forth between menu screens. I can remember sarcastically thinking "If only the DS had two screens and I could look at both of these things at the same time...". Thankfully, the developers have now taken advantage of the DS' hardware and corrected this annoyance.  There's also now a built in note taking feature which allows you to doodle or jot down quick things that you think may be important later in the game. All puzzle solving sections are now fully three dimensional rooms with a rotating camera rather than a 2D screen, which allowed me to get a better sense of the rooms I was in. Nearly all of the text in the story sections has been supplemented with voice acting. When I first heard this, I was kind of nervous because I've found that bad voice acting can take me out of a game really easily. But I found that the voicework in VLR to be pretty good quality. It really enhanced the game and added more flavor to the characters. I kind of wish 999 was voice acted after playing this.

Where this game stumbles a bit is with the puzzles. They're not really bad puzzles, but they don't give the profound "Ah Ha!" moments like puzzles in games like Portal or Braid. Some of the logic behind the puzzles isn't communicated that well and you kind of have to trial and error your way into what the game wants you to do. Solutions to some other puzzles seem random or ambiguous or arbitrary. It almost reminded me a bit of To The Moon. I loved the writing in that game, but the puzzles didn't mesh with the narrative. They feel like an afterthought, as though some video game police would come by and arrest this game for not being "gamey" enough. The puzzles' only purpose seem to be to ruin the excellent pace set by the narrative. The game seems to grind to a halt at each puzzle section, and I felt like I couldn't get past the poorly integrated puzzles fast enough and get back to the story.

Where 999 made the terrible mistake of forcing the player to repeat puzzle sections, VLR makes the mistake of blasting the user with the same dialogue they've already heard a bunch of times before. If you're going to make a game with 24 endings or whatever it is, at least make each of them different from another. So many of the "false" endings feel like copies of the same thing and a lot of them repeat dialogue verbatim. I think I may have the dialogue telling how the main character initially gets captured committed to my memory for the rest of my life. It's told to you exactly the same way 8 or 9 times verbatim. Whyyyy??? Would it be that hard to write it slightly differently each time in order to keep the player engaged? Or drop slight little tidbits of knowledge or tell the player interesting details or facts not found in the other sections where the same story is told?

If I were to be able to give the director of this game some feedback/advice, it would be to redesign or eliminate the puzzles, don't repeat dialogue and cut back on some of the false endings. There's just too many. More is not always better. This game is really too long, it's significantly longer than 999 and I was ready for this game to be over long before it actually was. But man, the director, Kotaro Uchikoshi, really has a talent for writing compelling sci-fi murder mysteries. The ending to VLR is even more mind blowing and well executed than 999's ending. It's really top notch suspenseful writing. My only criticism is that the game's attempts at humor often miss the mark. But maybe that's a Japanese to English translation thing. Also why must all of the female characters in this game be hyper-sexualized? It's out of place in a murder mystery and doesn't fit the tone of the rest of the writing. It's just seems juvenile and sophomoric. It's a bit hard to buy that the main character would really be thinking about undressing one of the other girls moments after witnessing someone else die, which happens frequently throughout the game.

Summary:
Despite this game's flaws, I still enjoyed it a lot. I think even more than 999. But if this series or this type of game interests you, I would start with 999 first. It's a bit shorter and there's several very important references to 999 in VLR that you won't get if you don't play it first. I recently read that Uchikoshi said he's having trouble securing funding to make a third game in the series due to poor sales of the first two. I hope somehow, someway another game like these gets made. Uchikoshi is an excellent writer and if the kinks in his game design get worked out, Zero Escape 3 would be an instant buy for me

Spelunky

Derek Yu - 2009 - PC/X360/PS3/Vita

Spelunky is an extremely difficult indie Roguelike platformer. It’s Roguelike in that all of the levels, terrain and enemies in the game are randomly generated, which helps keep the game fresh and interesting. It reminded me quite a bit of Rogue Legacy with its excellent design and brutal difficulty.

The object of each level in Spelunky is to get to the exit, but you’ll have to navigate through lots of traps and other enemies in a randomly generated level. Your character will start with a limited supply of bombs and ropes to help you navigate the level. Bombs can be used to destroy terrain and dig deeper while ropes can be used to help you climb back up. You don’t always want to just race to the exit when you find it either, you’ll want to explore the level and gather as much gold and upgrades as you can find before leaving. But if you spend too long in any given level, a giant ghost that can kill you instantly appears to chase you out of the level. There’s also a maiden hidden in each level. If you bring her to the exit, she will restore one point of your health, so you’ll want to try to find and rescue her in each level. You’ll find shops hidden in each level where you can spend your gold to replenish your bombs/ropes, and buy weapons and upgrades. Spelunky also features local co-op which is pretty fun, but still just as hard.

Summary:
It’s a very difficult game, but if you don’t get frustrated it’s a very addictive game as well. I've actually yet to make it past the third level in this game, but I've gotten close a few times. Check it out if you enjoy difficult platformers

Divekick

One True Game Studios/Iron Galaxy Studios - 2013 - PS3/Vita/PC

Divekick is a two button fighting game. Just two buttons. No joystick, no d-pad, no other buttons, just two. One for jump and one for kick. Each hit in Divekick is a one-hit-Knockout, so games go pretty quick. The game has a roster of 13 characters which all play surprisingly differently. At least I was surprised how much character variety can be had with a two button game.

Because there’s only two buttons, Divekick is also very accessible; there’s no memorizing combos or movesets, so anyone can jump right in and start playing. The game also has a very ridiculous sense of humor. There’s lots of poking fun at other fighting games, pop-culture references and internet humor references. There’s a character in the game who just quotes Will Smith lines from all of his movies. It’s quite silly.

Summary:
Overall though, I’d say there’s probably not a whole lot of depth or replayability with Divekick. It’s a fun novelty to have in your game collection, but it’s probably not going to hold anyone’s attention for very long.

Guacamelee!

Drinkbox Studios - 2013 - PS3/Vita/PC

Guacamelee! is a Mexican-themed beat em’ up platformer with puzzle solving elements and a very silly sense of humor. I don’t usually dig beat em’ up games, but I’m glad checked this game out, it’s pretty awesome. You play as Juan Aguacate, a Mexican farmer who dons a magical luchador mask to become a superpowered wrestler in order to save his kidnapped girlfriend.

The game can be played solo or co-op, a second player can assume the role of the female wrestler “Tostada”. I played through the game both solo and co-op. The co-op makes the platforming sections a bit more frantic, but makes the beat em’ up sections and boss fights quite a bit easier.

The game has some Metroidvania elements as well: as you progress through the game and unlock new wrestling moves, you’ll gain access to areas you previously unable to reach. As mentioned before, Guacamelee! also has a very silly sense of humor. It’s chock full of “nerd jokes”, internet humor and direct references to other video games. It was kind of a fun “can you spot them all?” subgame within Guacamelee!; trying to catch some of the more subtle video game references. There was even a Zelda II reference in there! How many people are really going to get that one?

Summary:
Guacamelee! is a bit on the short side, but it’s quite good. Check it out.