Dead Space

Space, the... FINAL frontier, kind-of. Today I'm silent protagonist Isaac Clarke. He and a group of Space Engineers travel to what seems to me a proper space ship. Only to find out everything that could go wrong, went wrong. In essence.... Humans exhausted all the resources of Earth, then when they find a "rock" on a different planet. No one stopped anyone and said, "Dude, maybe you shouldn't disrupt the nature of another planet." Instead , we do the exact opposite, and aliens invade the space ship. Thus stamping a new video game in the survival horror genre of games.

Like a true survival horror flick, Isaac isn't built for killing. We're starting from scrap with everything. Every gun, armor and minor tactic. Which is great for character development, if development is the key term we want to use. Controls are clunky as all get out and a constant learning curve moment to moment. I felt as though every 30 minutes the controller was switching button configuration, kinda like the ineptitude curve of Batman Forever on the SNES. Meanwhile, speaking of character development, like Ronan in Murdered: Soul Suspect we have a wife hanging over us and haunting our character. And again, like Murdered: Soul Suspect, it was really a huge waist of my time. To which I feel it would be really important to give video gamers a huge hint. The only video game with a dead wife worth caring about.... James and Mary from Silent Hill 2. Meanwhile we have to deal with the "team." The group of insignificant supporting characters include the following: two to three easily killable people due to lack of basic instinct to survive at all. A blond woman who'll tell you what to do despite everyone else telling her it's not a good idea. However, this goes against man rule number 5, "The woman is always right." So, far it's helped me in this game. Meanwhile there's Captain-Commander-General Umpty-squat who's constantly being verbally poned by the blond chick. So, off the side we'll get told to do shit for him because he's too caught up to do it himself. While not telling the other one what we're up to. Neither of this makes any sense, nor adds or subtracts characterization to the video game. It's like added voices to a video game because it wants you to know it's still involved with entertaining you with something of a storyline, goal or character. Thus, we're left not having relatable characters we can all love and adore, i.e. Rhoda from the Mary Tyler Moore Show. Instead we're dealing with surviving an alien infested space ship with two bimbos who are having military rank issues. Great...

I'll go on record to say for everything in a horror video game to be built on the trifecta of story, atmosphere, and gameplay. Dead Space nearly misses with the story and gameplay, but atmosphere nails it on the head. The only problem I felt through a majority of the game is how many shades of grey-scale could we traverse in a space ship? Every corridor and room is either grey, off grey, dark grey or sometimes. Wait for it, white and with a few hints of other colours. It's like the colour department was ran by a group of emo kids and one of them found the colour brown once. Thus the beginning of the movement also known as steam-punk. However, Dead Space saw the colour grey and said, "Ya'know, some yellow and red blinking lights once in a while would be different." Environments include the Shuttle Bay, Medical Department, Engineering and other significant areas of the space ship. The simplicity is built on the goal orientation of getting from point A to point B and killing nearly every alien to then turn around and get back to point A killing (again) the same aliens if not more in quantity and or difficulty. Thus continuing the story line. Examples include getting to the Engines, turning them online to then get back to the main room just so the space ship can get out of orbit from the planet we fucked with in the first place. Next, we travel to a gun bay. Shoot a bunch of asteroids, literally asteroids 1980's style and then going back to the same main room we started in. Just to travel to another trivial area. Yet, I'm still not convinced Isaac was the only guy in a group of three people who could have pulled this all off.


The overall package is complete with strengths and weaknesses all of their own. Dead Space delivers a new side to survival horror in terms of theme. Innovation is nothing short in terms of utilizing finally a game where gravity physics in a game is a variable. Or may I say an illusion as a variable. There are splendid moments of being in chambers where gravity no longer holds you down, meaning every part of the room is consequently both ceiling and floor. However, even in times of battling aliens it was a hit and miss of figuring out if the lack of gravity was actually making me feel like a little bitch. As far as weakness is concerned, for a horror game, jump scares are not scary... They're annoying. Especially when it's the above cast of characters communicating to you via Heads Up Display (HUD). Or a message from dead wifey for no reason popping out of nowhere in the middle of a dark hallow corridor. Never the less, timing of these moments couldn't be any more annoying throughout the game.

Murdered: Soul (Un)Suspected

Ghost stories are all and good, and especially when the sales pitch is in the theme of a mock Sherlock Holes in Salem, Massachusetts. Like most sales pitches there's an ever slight creep of Swiss Cheese Syndrome. The thinner the slice, the more holes to find. Out the gate within five minutes of starting Murdered: Soul Suspect, Ronan, our fedora tattooed protagonist, is thrown out a window. But then we get this masked murderer grabbing his gun and shooting Ronan. Insult to injury.

The name of the game is walking around and finding our killer. First thing is first, tutorial mode of how to be a ghost. Low and behold there's other ghost among Salem. And as much of a selling point it is to be a ghost in a video game. The afterlife is really watered down with limitations which aren't even fulfilled through the end of game. Thus, the game becomes scripted hard. Instead of a fluidic video game script. Now on one hand the game has a great who's done it plot. However, the sub-plot of Ronan's wife became irrelevant. The plot twist was seen from a mile away, even after five hours running around aimlessly. Leading me to where our story is placed.

Salem has a rich history for America. However, how waisted is it for this game. Some people have called it a sandbox. However, the problem with calling this game a sandbox is the linearity of running from point A to point B. Unlike, "Prototype" or "Silent Hill." Running around aimless in wannabe New York or some horror town. Point is, not only has the game poorly developed characterization and playability and environment. Lets see what else went wrong.

Now Ronan can walk through walls, he can disappear in respective areas. And he can give wedgies to other ghosts too. However these tricks become insignificant two thirds of the game. Especially when the first plot twist rolls around and though the game really wanted me to be stealthy through a particular area. I found it was even more practical to just run through the area Rambo style. Also known as my Super Mario World play through.

As for the Mystery.... Here's the brake down.... You'll be in a room with a bunch of clues. Name of the game is to find all the hints and deduce what might have happened. The headache comes in when the developer really thinks we're so fucking dense. A question was, "What happened here?" In my head, given the clues I gathered, the least likely blatant answer I thought the game was really look for was, (I'm not shitting you) "A murder happened here." Um, excuse me game for not thinking I seriously needed to tell you a murder happened. It's in the game title! By the way, this isn't the only example. The game does this nearly ever 'level' and it's not only annoying, but irrelevant.

Though the overall concept of Murdered: Soul Suspect is plausible to be entertaining. The real problem is the fact it's a game built as a "pick your path" but seriously only has one true path. It a game which only cares about the who done it plot. While also trying to make other aspects relevant. Meanwhile, after a couple hours playing the main plot... The game seems unfinished. And even if the game wanted me to play a second time through I wouldn't even waist my time again. 

Rare Replay

Question: How do you condense 30 years of video game development into one video game? Answer: Rare Replay. This definitive collection sets an all new bar to compilation video games. The first experience for me being the Silent Hill HD Collection. Which should have had the first 4 Silent Hill games in one collection. However, with all the issues with the later video game collection. I digress... for another time. What I have learned from both of these; Collector Edition Games need to take a step back and take a huge note to what Rare launched.

Rare Replay looks back to 8 bit home console video games I personally didn't know exist up till Digger T. Rock (a 1990 video game on the Nintendo Entertainment System). Rare, through this collection, resonates a consistent theme of an X factor within each game.
My range of friends very from those who know how to play a video game, to those who need a good hour to find the jump button. However, Rare does an amazing job of allowing video games such as Digger T. Rock to allow my 90's friends to play games they grew up with. While I can jump to Banjo and Kazooie, Conker's Bad Fur Day, Viva Pinata, and Perfect Dark Zero. This allows every video gamer a chance to feel at home with this collector edition game.

The styles of game are a wide variety. Side scroller, racing, brawler, adventure, plat former, etc. Some of the video games in brief flash myself back to the old packer-bell computer in the 90's. Others remind me of a makeshift Metroid knock off, the competition to Mario, finally a side-swipe at Luigi's Mansion (before Luigi's Mansion) also known as Grabbed by Ghoulies. With these examples, it's not necessarily drawing a comparison. More so showing others have done their own work and have in someway paved the way for other developers to imitate.

Is Rare Replay any good? My question to answer this is, do you like classic games and retro games? If your answer is no, then no you will not like Rare Replay. I don't believe you have to be a fan-boy to enjoy Rare Replay. The beauty of the package is to be able to play what the developers have crafted over nearly three decades of video games and supplied it to you to dabble in. The 'experience' is weather or not the player appreciates the game of choice. The only down side is playing a game and finding how much I instantly sucked at it. Kinda reminded me of my moment under the sun playing American flag football. Not only was I confused as to what team I was playing for, but I also somehow got tackled too.... Needless to say, it's a collectors item. You wont find any Nintendo games within this collection. Not since the Rare company was bought out by Microsoft. 

Ori and the Blind Forest

Judging a game by its cover it would be vary easy to say Ori and the Blind Forest looks childish. After playing two and a half hours of the game it turns out to completely change my impression.

It's a platform game. Run and jump on ledges. A few puzzle moments are placed in the game and the storyline is easy enough to follow for any age. I'll say this game is a lot like the movie UP. In less than five minutes of game play the characterization of Ori and the Panda guy was enough to feel invested into the game.

The first impressions I made is the fact the whole game is narrated by Jabba the Hut. And I swore I heard the words, "Oobo-Noobie-Nipple-Pinchy." Meanwhile, our main character Ori looks like an alien from Lilo and Stitch. Stitch, specifically, if he was in Super Saiyan form. Finalized to the realization Ori is a soul sucking Ferngully/ Brave whisp. If, all four movies had a love child. Meanwhile, the fairy from The Legend of Zelda makes a cameo. A blue spirt hangs out with Ori and unleashes electric attacks among enemies.

The game is visually pleasing over all. I'd say the main goal of Ori and the Blind Forest is to literally kill time. Meanwhile in some way or another feel like you're accomplishing something. i.e. Saving this tree. Saving that tree. Lifting this mist. Spreading hope and joy via narration by Jabba the Hut.

I feel with indie games have mainly three things going for themselves as far as a check off sheet in concerned.
First a story line. Ori gets this right out the gate and the writers apparently knew emotion is an easy target when the main character has a reliance on a parental figure. Then a minute later the parent is dead. What do we do now? How do we survive? It's a cheap tactic. Much like for horror games a jump scare is basic. For comedic relief a banana slip is hilarious. For emotion there's a basic human connection when a parental figure dies and the child is left in a cold cruel world to learn the ways of life. I'll say the major leap from dealing with panda parent dead to a giant tree telling Ori to save the world. This is a huge leap from worrying about self to worrying about the globe. Because there's only one of those things....
Second block to check off is the visuals. Ori knocks this out with delivering an instant euphoria. There's a lot of light and darkness playing with one another. You know the basics, Light = Good, Darkness = Bad. However, I found it challenging when colours, foreground and background would cause some conflicts within gameplay. But this is minor in consideration. Ori is behind a foreground being killed by a blob while all I see is purple orbs flying one way, and blue lighting in the other. pretty much a visual cluster-fuck.
Third and final point is game play. Remember, it's a fairly simple game from the get go of moving around and jumping. Ori doesn't get bogged down with button combinations too much. At most it's literally hold down right trigger button and press Y. God bless America for simplicity.

Is Ori good? It's good in simplicity. It's good in concept. But it's sadly a game to just kill the time with. The goal is skewed really hard. Unlike Donkey Kong Country, a platform game with the goal of getting back your Banana's and knock out the Kremlings. Ori swings and misses hard to motivate me to do anything except run around, avoid obstacles and solve a few puzzles in between.


Leave your comments and Point of View bellow.

Blue Balls from the X-Bone

Five hours later and not only did I plug in my X-Box One (now known as the X-Bone). But I also accomplished downloading a system update, a controller update and an hour later Gears of War (Ultimate Edition).

Then I stopped and noticed next to my X-Bone is my Super Nintendo from 1997. This is when I realized how ridiculous it is buy a brand new video game console. Expect it to work, which technically it does, however I didn't expect nearly two hours later I would be investing my time and patience to get into playing a video game. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot Microsoft!?

Let me give you a night and day experience between past video game consoles and todays. Early last year I visited my mom's home. Below her television is the Nintendo Entertainment System, the Super Nintendo, N64, and the Game Cube. Heads up, all four of these generation consoles still work. Games still work and there's no system updates. I was able to tap into Mario, The Legend of Zelda and the Wind Waker, Luigi's Mansion, Donkey Kong Country and finally Super Mario 64. However, for a majority of the games the good old technique of 'blowing on the cartridge' is still needed.

Now, I jump onto the X-Bone and nearly two hours later and like I mentioned above the system is updated, the controller is updated. Though the later I'll have to beg to differ. There's clearly no new buttons added to the controller update.

So what games did I manage to download in the mean time?

Gears of War Unlimited Edition

Rare Replay, which includes: Atic Atac, Banjo Kazooie, Nuts and bolts, Tooie, Battletoads, Battletoads Arcade, Blast Corps, Cogra Triangle, Conker's Bad Fur Day, Digger T. Rock, Grabbed by the Ghaoulies, Gunfight, Jet Force Gemini, Jetpack, Jetback Refuled, Kameo: Elements of Power, Killer Instinct Gold, Kights Lore, Lunar Jetman, Perfect Dark, Perfect Dark Zero, R.C. Pro-Am, R.C. Pro-Am 2, Sabre Wulf, Slalom, Snake Rattle N Roll, Solar jetman, Underwurlde, Viva Pinata, Viva Pinata Trouble in Paradise

Sunset Overdrive currently free to Gold Members.

State of Decay

Ori and the Blind Forest

Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag and Unity

The Hills of Silence

I'm going to do what I'm sure a lot of people on the net have tried and attempted to do.... I'm going to try and make sense of a game series which has defined gaming, story telling and concepts proven to work and fail. Here we go... Into the haunted town of Silent Hill.

Silent Hill:

You play as Harry Mason. The story is quite simple here. You and your daughter Cheryl are going to a vacation. A cop on a bike passes you on the highway, then moments later you notice the bike is on the ground and the cop is missing. Moments later you see a shadow of a young girl in the middle of the road. You swerve and find yourself waking up from the car crash. Cheryl is missing and now you are drawn to find her in the haunted town of Silent Hill. First thing is first, the game sucks you into a fogged over explorative game. Simply running around empty abandoned streets only to meet monster dogs, and flying bat things coming after you.

A side from the deliberate haunted city we travel to other areas in the game like the Midwitch Elementary School. Which by the way, helps the player to realize it's not just a fucked up town full of monsters. Maybe they came from somewhere other than just earth? So begins the spiral into the "Other world." This is where Silent Hill takes a turn from the simple clean fogged town into a cold industrial metallic dark town of hell. Which is not only a cool transition mechanic and breaks the rules of liner thinking.

Needless to say the cop you perceived to be dead in the preview helps you out with trying to find your daughter. Then there's three other characters whom are residents to Silent Hill. The first is Dahlia a religious heavy mother who also lost her daughter to the evil. Then there's a nurse named Lisa who works for Dr. Kaufman. 

****SPOILER ALERT****

Dr. Kaufman and Dahlia both tried to bring a God of Paradise into the world by sacrificing Dahlia's daughter Alessa. However, her soul was split and became what we have known to be Cheryl. Now that the two souls are back to one the game takes a turn to saving yourself from the quagmire spiritual drama of Silent Hill.

****NON-SPLOILER****

The endings are variant, but the easter egg hunt begins just after you play through and 99.9% of the time receive the good ending. However, there are bad endings, bad bad endings and good good endings. The final to last easter egg is an alien ending which was placed in the game to be a funny. Not cannon at all to the actual game play. However, has been a staple to the future games none the less.

Now the game is actually fairly simple. You run around and kill monsters or just simply avoid them. There are boss fights which must be defeated one way or another. Gun ammo or not, which I don't suggest. Save those bullets till the cows come home. Needless to say, the game is explorative and mind bending. It's also riddled with puzzles and easily will get you lost without a map to refer to. Hell, I've even had to make my own map because of one particular level which gets me easily in a loop. None the less, Silent Hill makes itself the near to God Father of Survival/Horror video games. 

Silent Hill 2:

I mentioned in a previous post "Flashback to a Super Nintendo" the best way to be a sequel to a video game is to use the previous platform and use it as a basis to jump off into another direction. In it's own right Silent Hill 2 could have been a game totally on its own. However, still holds onto what its core values is. i.e. Donkey Kong Country 2 uses the same game mechanics but adds to with little high lights which also become core mechanics. Silent Hill took the idea maybe its not so much a 'cult' behind the fucked up monster. Maybe it's just the town itself which loves to toy with people's imaginations. 

Meet James Sunderland. He had a wife three years ago who died from some sickness. I claim cancer though it wasn't really discussed. However, a couple of days ago he got a letter from his wife telling him to come to Silent Hill to find her. We start in a parking lot just outside of town and travel through a forest, then a cemetery. There we meet the first of a few Angela is a shy and disturbed girl who's trying to find her mom. I personally suspect she's got daddy issues which we find out later on, but there's no other reason why she's around. Aside from the fact she's a fucking basket case like everyone else who travels to this town.

Well, like usual the game has us walking around killing monsters from the simplest to the most extreme boss fights. The first boss fight which becomes a fan base service for the Silent Hill community. Simply put, a monster named "Pyramid Head" haunts you through the chaos and evil of your travels through the town. While exploring an apartment we meet Eddy. A fat individual whose run away from the police because he 'allegedly' killed a dog. Then we find out he's a little more fucked up in the head than we thought. Next we meet a little child girl by the name of Laura. She's in Silent Hill because of James' wife too. However, some conflict takes place.

First, Laura acts like James' wife died weeks, or even months ago. James, our lead protagonist whom we have only his word to believe, acts like three years ago she died. So, here lyes the dilemma. Who do we trust? Naturally, I want to believe the protagonist. However, something tells me he's not giving me the truth as much as the next character in the game. Thus, the player is at a loss of who to believe. Finally, we meet the last character in this game.

A young woman named Maria whom, through James' observation, looks just like his dead wife.

In the end, there's a couple of "good endings" which I don't know which to personally believe is the ending to the game.  I personally, sadistically, after being torn through this story prefer the bad endings for this game. Is that sad I'd rather the protagonist jump in his car and careen into the lake and drown? 

This game is amazing, it stands the test of time in so many levels. Sure, in today's plasma/HD television graphic it would look a little ridiculous. However, when you really get to peel the onion of Silent Hill 2, you get a sweet story line. Unforgettable characters and monsters. The core mechanics like I said still exist. An inventory screen with items you collect through the game and use for puzzles within the game. I can't stress enough how much anybody who is anybody should and need to play this game to appreciate a good survival/horror game. 

Silent Hill 3:

Like most rock bands. You get the debut album which establishes the main sound of what you're about to strap into and listen for about an hour. Then you get the sophomore album which is amazing and wins the Grammys in a sweep. Shortly after, like Mario 64 on the Nintendo 64, developers try to make lightening strike twice in the same place. The results can be muddy, weird and sometimes acceptable depending on what your true aim was in life. For a "true sequel" look at Silent Hill 3. It simply tells you for the first time ever in the series you will be playing as a female in a panicky survival/horror game. Let's dissect this one. 

Heather Mason is a tween who walks through what we know as the haunted amusement park of Silent Hill. Then it all becomes a dream  and we wake up in a hamburger joint. While calling home we notice some douche nozzle named Douglas is a PI working to find you. Well, we evade him and them meet this lady named Claudia. She informs Heather her life is a lie and she needs to figure her shit out. After running home we find out Heather and Harry Mason (from the first game) are family. 

****Spoiler Alert****

Harry Mason is dead! Claudia hired some monster to kill him.

****NON-SPOILER****

Heather gets pissed off at Claudia and teams up with Douglas to go to Silent Hill. While there, we visit the same hospital we ran through in Silent Hill 2. Only to find out it wasn't just a hospital, but an insane asylum.

We run around town and get to the amusement park where history repeats itself. In the mean time we meet this guy named Vincent who's a preacher for the 'cult' which is still not dead from the first video game. If you haven't caught on, this game bite on to resurrecting God and like a Bulldog, its stubborn to not let go or budge from this premisses. In the end, the bad guy dies. God isn't brought to life. And Heather tells Douglas she's going to go by the name her father gave her. Cheryl.

Now over all, for an actual sequel to Silent Hill. This is the lowest of lows. Simply, we're taking a possible ending to the first game and taking on what would happen if the ending wasn't necessarily the ending. The connection to wanting to like the protagonist goes out the window because Heather isn't relatable. When I was a teen playing this game, there was no way I could understand how Heather didn't want to just ball up in the corner of the room and wish everything disappeared. However, for moving a story forward. This game doesn't go leap and bounds. Simply put this game goes one step at a time to make sure you, the player, know this has Silent Hill connections. In fact, the first half of the game has NOTHING to do with Silent Hill in the first place. Either way, Silent Hill 3 starts the downward spiral to subsequent sequels which the series can't escape from. And only a few of these escape the paradigm. Let's explore the possibilities below.

Silent Hill 4: The Room

I will give you a heads up. This game was not meant to be a Silent Hill game. In fact the working game was simply called Room 302. Till, Konami decided it was time to release a new Silent Hill game. Thus, you take the script and slap the name Silent Hill all over the place. Thus, we get what most guys experience when they don't have a wing man and the chick they think is hot, turns out to be a velociraptor from the Bronx. This game is like going to the game store. On the outside it says Silent Hill 4. Yet, on the inside is this strange and unusual game which 'pretends' to be in the big boys club. 

Henry lives in a simple one bedroom apartment and everything was cool till a couple of days ago he's been experiencing dreams of not being able to leave his apartment. Well, true to freaky form the front door is chained from the inside. In blood a message "don't go out! -Walter" appears. And what does Henry want to do? He wants out of his room. However, Henry has the case of the stupid bug. Simply because we know he cant open the windows. But nothing says he can't take the bar stool and try to smash the window open. What, is he afraid of not getting his deposit back? Believe me, he wont be getting it by the time we finish the game.

Anyway, there's a hole in the bathroom which travels Henry from his "normal" room, into the hellish demented hysteria of what we know and love of Silent Hill. However, we don't go to Silent Hill. We end up in a subway down the street from Henry's apartment. There we meet a slut whom dies. Then we travel to a forest and meet some retard who dies too. Essentally, a lot of people die. Only two areas of the whole game is set in some undisclosed "area" of Silent Hill. The forest and prison area. That's it. Otherwise, we're running around a subway, hospital, outside the apartment complex, and inside the apartment. Otherwise, nothing is really related to Silent Hill aside from the main antagonist.

His goal is relatively simple and doesn't really spoil the whole game at all. Mainly because it's so blatant from the second level of the game. He believes in some way the room 302 is his mother. And he makes a life decision to sacrifice 21 people to bring her back to life. This is where the 'cult' comes back to slap us with its dick. Once again this game has to point at something from either Silent Hill 3 or the original to 'claim to be' apart of the cannon. Silent Hill 2 did that without even hinting a cult. The only reason why I bring Silent Hill 2 into the mix. James runs through an apartment complex and finds a new paper talking about the antagonist kidnapping and killing a few kids. Otherwise, this game is shameless in trying to be apart of the cool guys club.

The significant difference in Silent Hill 4: The Room is just a few things. First, we get the chance to play in first person for portions of the game. Mainly any time when Henry is in his apartment, we play in first person mode. Which helps with the fear factor. I personally hate first person. Second, the inventory aspect is ditched with only being able to hold an exclusive about of items. Bullets stack only to a limit before becoming a whole other item. So, the panic happens when you have to ditch the security of bullets for puzzle items. Finally, the game goes through five levels, then repeats them over again. I would also add a point the monsters aren't typical. Ghost can't just die, and you have to clear haunting in your apartment to keep it safe. Which is an interesting idea that works well for the game. 

Otherwise, its like I said before a pretender trying to be apart of the big boy club. Sadly, you may think I'm really ripping on this game, but I'll tell you... This was the first Silent Hill game I had ever played. 

Silent Hill Origins:

I got excited about this game when I heard it would be a Silent Hill game on the go. Yes, it's a Play Station Portable game. For the best experience I would tell you, the reader, to play with head phones and under the bed sheets in the dark. Have fun!

You are a tr(f)ucker by the name of Travis. We start with him and his buddy talking on the radio, and like normal Silent Hill, static covers up what underlining issues our protagonist has. Well, it's rainy and Travis has a case of not hitting the white angel. He's getting a little tired and nearly runs over a woman carrying a baby. He stops and gets out to see if she's okay, but the fog rolls in and he sees a spirit of a little school girl in his side mirror. At this point he decides to "run" down the street and find a house on fire. There, he hears a girl scream. His heroic moment brings him to find Alessa burned in an upstairs room. When he saves her, he passes outside and wakes up on a bench in the town of Silent Hill. Well, he then makes the decision to go to the hospital and see if the little girl made it.  Here we meet Dr. Kaufman, and Lisa. Both of these characters are reprised from the original game. In fact, from this point on, just note everyone is reprised from the original game minus Harry and Cheryl. This is the prequel after all.

Well, we meet Dahlia who's outright evil from the get-go. Unlike in the original when we thought she was on the same side as us. Nope, within the first five seconds of meeting her she's telling us to back off from what's going on in Silent Hill. To be honest, Travis should have listened. There's really no reason for him to be here. 

In the original Silent Hill, there were only three areas of Silent Hill we actually explored. Origins simply stays on the business district of Silent Hill and gives us an insane asylum and a theatre to run through. Otherwise, there was no "ORIGIN" going on.

Subject to taking a post-it note and throwing darts at ideas. Something happened in the development of this game and the team decided to "ORIGIN" Pyramid Head. Instead, we're working with other shapes. We meet a monster named the Butcher whose wearing something of a block head. Sure, he's menacing. At a time he use to freak me out. However, after beating the game three times around for multiple endings. Seriously, he's so low on the totem pole of monsters. It's like Batman Arkham Asylum, when they hyped the Alligator man. It was a total let down.

By the way, the underlining issues with Travis is so trivial. I won't even spoil it. Essentially he's got mommy and daddy issues. But for reasons why he's in Silent Hill, he could have easily jumped back in his truck like he does in the ending and cary on with life. But he doesn't. However, watching the spirit of Alessa holding a baby and then hearing Harry and his wife name their daughter Cheryl was simply perfect for wanting players to turn off the PSP and jump onto the original game. 

Otherwise, Origins was lame. Some what immersive if you put yourself in the environment to play. Simply put it's a POS game and prequel shamefully trying to be relevant.

Silent Hill: Homecoming.

Seriously, I've been writing this blog post in the past two hours and I'm not even half way done with the whole thing..... I've broke these games down barney style and yet there's four more games to go through.... Here comes Silent Hill Homecoming, which I personally had so much Silent Hill blue balls for when Origins became a total let down. Homecoming took my balls, put them in a vice and tried to squeeze out whatever essence of care I had in the games. 

You are Alex, a young man who is on his way home from war. I suspect him to be in the Marines because of the jacket he wears. However, I could be wrong. Or, the research and development team didn't do a good job at figuring out what branch he's apart of. Anyway, we have a dream of finding his little brother Josh in a hospital. However, no matter what we do. We can't seem to find him. So, we wake up from a nightmare next to Travis in his truck. He stopps in Shephard's Glenn. If you haven't noticed, the home town. All is not normal here. It's foggy and the local judge of the town tells you to go home. We do, and find the whole house has pictures of your parents and your brother Josh. But not one photo of you. What the fuck, Chuck? Well, mom is home and she tells you your father went to go look for Josh and hasn't been home. 

We decided to then go looking for him. Through the cemetery we find the mayor is digging up graves from his family plot. We pass out and end up in Silent Hill. Here, Josh runs into a hotel and we're on the hunt again to find him. We find at this point of the game Pyramid Head shows up for fan service. Simply put, fan service. In Silent Hill 2, he had a function in life. He was the judge of poor demented souls who fucked up in life. In Homecoming, Pyramid Head has no function other than saying, "Hi! Remember me? It's still Silent Hill... No matter what context of the plot we've got going on here."

Well, the mayor turns out to be a broke soul. We meet a detest who has daughter issues. Then we find out the "order" is abducting people in Shephard's Glenn and taking them to Silent Hill.

This is when we travel to Silent Hill with the potential girl friend and the token fat police guy so deep fried in stereo typical Okla-bama southern drawl it annoys even the fabrication of subtlety to the game. It even comes right down to a moment of trying to save his life at one point, and I couldn't hit no fast enough on my first walk through. Holly hell, I didn't know I could hate a character based on stereo typical dogma.

Anyway, Alex beda-bops in Silent Hill when the boat they took across the lake gets comondeered by people from the "order." So, now we're trying to find Dad, Mom, Josh, the girlfriend and the cop guy.... What is the point to this game!?

****SPOILER ALERT*****
Finally, after hours of running around nearly aimlessly in a Jail, a church and finally some underground secret area. We find out people from Silent Hill ran away when Alessa's darkness took over the town. But once every so often of a generational gap. The four founding family's have to offer a sacrifice to the "GODS OF THIS TOWN." Apparently, Alex's family skipped on their promise and thus the home town became engulfed in what happened to Silent Hill. Which leads me to believe the issues of Silent Hill are not just subject to Silent Hill alone. And that, they can either move or spread like a virus.
****NON-SPOILER****

Either way, this game teaches me a couple of things. Without listing them in any particular manner. First, don't EVER make a game for the fans. Or add in characters from the past games just to keep the old fans happy. If you do that, you're totally undermining the subtlety to the story. Next, this game by and large had yet again nothing to do with Silent Hill. It was like playing Silent Hill 3 all over again without playing as a chick. Also, can we please for the love of God drop the "cult/order" bullshit. Seriously, no one cares.... The only reason why these elements even graced the project was because of the movie with also released around the same time. Needless to say, if Silent Hill could drop the cult/order like it was hot. Then we would all be happy in life. Seriously. Finally, if you haven't noticed I mentioned who you play as in the game. I forgot to mention until this point of the series we played as a protagonist who had no idea how to fight. Thus, controls were sticky and hard to play. Which made the game panicky. You went into fighting a monster not knowing if survival was going to be the outcome. Homecoming took this concept and lit it on fire because Alex is from a war zone. He's military... Allegedly.... So, to keep this aspect he's supposed to know how to use a gun, knife, or any other weapons. His agility is off the charts in comparison to Harry. Which was oddly a let down. The fun part to Survival/Horror is to not be able to rely on game mechanics to give you the edge. They're supposed to either not have them. Or, slowly let you build "experience" to avoid greater horrific moments. Not the other way around.

The game walked into my room with a gold star on it, but then after several play throughs to figure out the full scale of the game. I realized how flimsy and simply dull the gold star really was. P.S. This game doesn't move the story-plot or over all thread of Silent Hill. It goes into the bin of pretender video games this series has conjured over the course of a near to decade.

Silent Hill: Shattered Memories

Picking up my shattered heart, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories rolls around and low and behold it's not available to Xbox. Somehow, I woke up in my apartment to find Silent Hill on the Nintendo Wii. Then, after a couple of months I found out they released it on the PSP. Here I go again playing on a portable and having to hide in my bed sheets with ear phones. Now, let's dive into what memories got shattered. I know mine have been since Silent Hill 3.

It's a dark snowy night. You find yourself in a car crash and after waking up you notice Cheryl is missing. Well, time to grab your flash light and cell phone and hunt her down. We run into the cop from the first game whom, depending on life choices you make throughout the game will have a different demeanor to you. Reluctant, we get her to try and help us find her. In the mean time we have to travel to our home and see if she's somehow made it there. Yep, if you haven't gotten the hint. This is a reimagining to the original. Core characters are all over the place and you learn who they are as the story unfolds. However, something to touch on without really taking this game by the ankles and shaking whatever change we can get for lunch.

Harry is trying to find his daughter and throughout his travels through Silent Hill, in a winter storm, we find out maybe she's not so much of a little girl as we thought she was. Also in this installment relationships between core characters are vastly different. However, you have to watch how they react to you, and what they're saying. I've found myself in situations where a huge hint of how Harry knows these people is subjected. However, like the "let's just play through and see if I enjoy this game" mentality I ran right through and totally forgot there's an immersive story line here. How did I get here? I asked myself... Here's where I stopped myself and went right back to the beginning where we all left off.

The game loads and I totally forgot this game is supposed to allegedly "psychologically figure me out." Hold up, Silent Hill 2 did that without even having to blatantly telling me. In a way, Silent Hill had already touched an internal fear without having to psychologically diagnose me. Shattered Memories out right tells you from the get-go, what you do in the game will change the aspect of the game. Examples: If I run around and look at nudity photos, run into the girls restroom, and unzip jackets from an mannequin. Well apparently that means I'm some kind of porno-hound who's really into getting my dick wet. Conversely, if I'm looking at photos of family's and stuff like that. Then apparently I'm the wholesome family type of guy. Alternatively, if I just breeze through and try to not alter the game at all on the in game mechanic. Well the game does this thing from point blank of starting every segment of the game with a quiz or task. The first one is a question sheet of Yes and No's. Then it takes those answers and plays off of them. Some of them are subtle and others are blatant. Which to me was odd.... Odd in a bad way. Like, for some reason my colouring concept of what my home looks like will alter whatever the house is Harry is trying to get to to find Cheryl. Again, subtle and not necessary.

There's only a new character I'll point out from the game which grace this installment was a singer name Michelle. She's a visitor to Silent Hill and is here for the High School Reunion. Needless to say she's got some drama in her life which I've found either way you play the game. Shit's going down and there's no way to help fix other people's issues. Plain and simple, which is a tough pill to swallow sometimes. Speaking of pills! Someone's a pill popper and it's NOT Dr. Kaufman. 

Now for what we've all been looking forward to. The horror of Silent Hill. First and foremost Silent Hill has gone for the subtle approach of scaring the hell out of you. The world is covered in snow right now. So, does everything go polar opposite? Does the world turn into an industrial mayhem of evil and fire? Hell to no. We end up with time stopping, Everything turns into a deeper shade of blue. Doors which can't be opened are totally covered with thick ice and finally. The monsters are deformed human bodies. The only thing we've got going for ourselves is the fact a haunted phone call from Cheryl tells us to run. We can't fight them at all, and we need to just run. Meanwhile, the name of the game for every stage we play through is to not get, don't laugh, hugged to death by the demented monster people. It's a sequence of hide and seek. Because you can hide under beds, in closets and many other areas. But then you have to run around aimlessly to figure out where the safe zone is. Then, to add insult to injury, if you use your GPS to map your route. It makes Harry walk incredibly slow. Like he never heard of multi tasking at all. 

Anyway, the point here is without spoiling the end is satisfying for a Silent Hill installment. It definitely is a different ending. There's simply only one ending which overall closes the game. We realize the reality we've conjured in our head is not what we really lived. Sometimes the mind over writes reality so everything is 'better' in life. The simple search for truth or the realization of truth can break us from the core. Maybe it's good to let go of the built reality we've all made instead of alienating those around us. 

Yes, I may have learned a lesson from Silent Hill: Shattered Memories. However, does not excuse itself from being a crap-tastic Survival/Horror. In fact, I can't recall any horror in the game. Interesting, I went in for a Survival/Horror and all I got was a game which tried to psycho analyze me. Which let me say was like taking a "survey" on Myspace back when social media was a brand new baby of the internet. It's really just subject to interpretation. One second I can be upset taking a survey, the next I could be the happiest dude for miles and honestly it wouldn't matter what out come I got. Essentially Silent Hill: Shattered Memories was an aim and a miss for trying to step out from the mold. However, this is a game from the same people who made Silent Hill Origins. Which again is a game we try to not bring up ever again. Anyway, to close out the absolute ending. Depending on your game play will show one of four different videos Cheryl will watch which will give you some kind of idea to what Harry really was like in life. Again, totally based on how you the player plays the game.

Silent Hill: Downpour

My Grandma use to tell me when it rains the monster come out to play. Who knew she was on to something, because that's exactly what Silent Hill's Downpour is all about. Take way the snow, and we're left with a post apocalyptic town. But let's get right to the main character....

Murphy is an inmate who dreams of bashing a former inmates skull in. He wakes up and a police officer tells him today is his special day. Ready for transfer, your arms are cuffed and you walk the green mile. Not, you walk to a bus which is then under watch by a female police officer. Well, true to form the bus driver isn't paying attention to the road and we nearly miss a fake hole in the road. Thus the bus crashes. When we wake up Murphy seems to be the only survivor. Well, like any other inmate in a predicament like this we wanna run away. Well the police officer finds us and slips on a cliff. So, choice comes back to haunt us.

Basically, whatever we do from this point on will alter the games overall ending. OH BOY! Then we are on the road to get to Silent Hill and what comes back to bite us in the ass? Weapons which break when over used. This was something I totally forgot to mention in the Silent Hill Origins section. And let me just say to cover my ass from before. There's a huge problem when a Katana is used five times on a monster and somehow breaks. Like when did the metal become a Snickers candy bar? Anyway, this came back to bite us in the but again. However, with Downpour an axe actually seemed to last longer than I had originally hoped for. However, when it breaks we're right back to fighting with fist agains mainly two types of monsters. Or until we find another weapon. Which aren't always laying around.

There's a flashlight function which is different for the game. There's essentally two types of flashlights which will help Murphy through the game. The first simply illuminates. The other uses UVA/B lighting to illuminate blood or some kind of bodily fluid. Sometimes even just simple clues to help in finding a path or hint to a puzzle. Either way, its an improvement to a function which has been widely over looked for all the previous installments. Up till now, all the characters had simply ran around with just a flashlight. It makes me wonder if James, Heather or Harry had an UVA/B light what would illuminate other than just helping them see in the dark.

The monsters are simple. We have a male and female who look like they were covered with pitch and oil. The females have claws and have the scream which makes Murphy stop and cover his ears. The males on the other hand just brawl. Needless to say, there's some kind of bat thing which is rather brutish. They're scary at first and having multiples are a pain in the ass. Finally, there's a bigger and stronger version of the male monsters which take time and effort to kill. They're rarely ran into. But they do exist. Finally, finally... If you thought we ran out of boogie men. Well, we actually have a character named The Boogie Man. He simply wears a black trench goat, and a bio mask. And he holds a rather large hammer. Unlike the Butcher this guy only shows up a couple of times and yields nearly the same amount of panic you would have for Pyramid Head if you were first playing this game. I think players would laugh at Pyramid Head. However, for those in 2000, Pyramid Head was (is) a scary mother forker. Go figure.

Needless to say, an underlining moment in Silent Hill Downpour is the fact as soon as goal one of running away from the bus is completed you end up in Silent Hill. As soon as Murphy enters Silent Hill, it's like he took a look and tried realized what a dump it was and makes it a goal to escape Silent Hill. Maybe he should stay for a while. I've heard it's a rather charming place. 

Like clock work there's some kind of baggage to our protagonist. I didn't really hit it in Homecoming because it gives away the plot terribly. However, for Murphy we find out he was put in jail because he allegedly left his son outside for a few moments and instead of watching his son like a responsible parent. His kid drowns in the near by lake. Murphy goes to jail, for some reason... Because in a logical judicial system we would have amounted it up to complacency and freak accident. Well, this leads Murphy to a hard core lifestyle. Then somehow through the game he's trying to play it off he's actually a good guy stuck in situations which his moral choice goes out the window like a normal person and he makes the most horrible choice in life. Example, killing another inmate isn't going to make you a better person. Even if it gets you to a 'better' jail than the one you're in. 

Anyway, the inner conflict of Murphy is realized and then we have a boss fight we have to finish. Twist of a twist goes down and finally we're left with an ending which isn't as fulfilling as the predecessors. Example: James gets closure and either just leaves Silent Hill, or kills himself. Heather gets revenge for the death of her father. Henry stops Walter from trying to invade his apartment. Murphy, we figure a little something out about his relationship to the cop chick. Otherwise, everyone lives oddly happily ever after. 

Which leads me to ask.... What the hell were we even here for!? Between a road sign saying, "Silent Hill 5 Miles" and the opposite direction. Sometimes I would like to reach through the screen and tell the main character, spelunking is a fun hobby to take up in consideration to all the monsters you're about to kill. Just giving you a heads up.

Deep down inside, Downpour is a proper sequel for existence in the cannon. It doesn't hold on to anything 'cult' related. There's no God being resurrected. We simply have a poor soul with some baggage being placed in an unfortunate set of events he has to go through. In any case, Downpour hits all the right notes but the melody isn't quite what we're looking for. The game however, does riddle itself with easter eggs and one in particular, incase you ever wondered where Silent Hill 4 took place in. Well, apparently Silent Hill 4 does take place in the town. Just in a separate area from where we've either explored or knew of. We know Silent Hill 4 took place in Ashfield. But where that is in relative to Silent Hill. Now we've figured out it's just a district of Silent Hill. So, here's what raises a few questions. When does Silent Hill 4 take place? I suspect it takes place prior to Origins for a few reasons. First, Origins being the Alessa cannon arks with Silent Hill becoming the haunted town we all have grown to love. So, with the room being in the haunted suburb of Silent Hill in Downpour, we can safely deduce the timing of it is prior to Origins and happening either before or in the meantime of origins happening.

The game mechanics are simple in the game. Use items to break locks. Kill monster with weapons and collect items to unlock puzzles which progress the game. The game is linear and allows you to sandbox in Silent Hill for the most part. However, parts of the game are "unlocked" as you continue the story line. Eventually, three levels in you'll be able to roam around the town killing monsters as the moments arise. The game has a tendency to change its weather forecast from time to time which means, you have to go into a building or under ground to a subway to get dry. The weather stops raining and then you're allowed to explore again. Now for fear factor, the game isn't really scary. There's jump scare moments which are far and few between. Which allow you to use a quick time event (Another game mechanic from Origins which was horrible then, and horrible now). 

But, all of this isn't even scary. I totally forgot till now of a "monster" which is introduced to chaise you down and destroy you like an item entering a black hole. The only problem I have here is the fact it's like trying to reinvent the idea of the monster from Shattered Memories. However, instead of death by hugs. We have a black hole chasing after us. What would have been scarier is the fact we don't need to know what's actually trying to kill us. If we can't fight it, why should I know what it is? Take a hint from every scary movie in history. We know a girl is running through the woods from some psycho killer. Then she falls down and the killer gets her with a knife. We don't need to know anything else. We don't need to know about a ski mask or a sack bag with eye cut outs; JASON! Ya'know what's funny, I feel like I'm pointing out a subject matter I would have thought was already figured out. If you look back at Silent Hill 2 they handled subtlety with an art form. I was scared of the random bodies found on the ground. Because I didn't know who was killing these people. Seems like Silent Hill needs another lecture in subtlety because somewhere between two and now we've lost what was horrific about the game, aside from blood, guts and gore. 

Overall a fun game, a different installment and something to look at and say it's at least standing alone. This game doesn't want to be with the popular crowd. However, the far and few game mechanics which have haunted this series still can't stop trying to make it's way into our homes. From breaking weapons, obscure reasons for protagonist to be in Silent Hill, and monsters which don't really put the fear factor in as much as they used to. 

Silent Hill: Book of Memories

This God awful game hit the shelves faster than a diabetic going into shock from a sugar high. Pretty much you create your character and on your birthday you get a gift from the postman debuted in Downpour. Well, without much thought you read the book and see all your life memories are written in. And who could have written this book? Why would they write a book about you in the first place? Well, the question is then raised. What if we rewrote our past? When falling asleep you enter the world of Silent Hill.

Here we go with rolling through a dungeon crawler. You run into an "angel" of Silent Hill whom then gives you a goal to meet in each level. Most of them are collecting keys to all the rooms. Or defeating a specific monster. And or escorting a dog through the level to the exit without getting hurt. If you're a 'fan.' Then you'll note a lot of old Silent Hill monsters come into this video game. Zombie nurses, the Needle monsters, Pyramid Head is a boss fight. And same with the Butcher.

The game gets really annoying for me because it's not immersive. It's a portable game exclusive. The plot is really thin because of a KARMA mechanic. Basically the monsters in Silent Hill will leave Red (evil) residue or White (good) residue. You collect this to dictate if you're an evil son-of-a-bitch. Or you go for the pure in heart route. Either way, it also changes the outcome of each section to your gaming experience. You do this for three levels per worlds. If I remember correctly there's like five to six of these worlds. 

Meanwhile you collect this gold laying around Silent Hill called Memory residue. Another annoying mechanic is purchasing upgrades. NEVER AGAIN SILENT HILL. Seriously, this is when people should have just walked away. At what point in history had we ever payed the game with in game money for "upgrades?" I'll help you with this... NEVER. Which is why it's so stupid of a concept. Here's what they essentially did. They took Silent Hill and tried to make it into Diablo/World of Warcraft.

I found myself two worlds deep and realizing, I really don't give a shit about this game. I named the character after me. Made "choices" I thought I would make, and here we go... a moment of Silent Hill Blue Balls once again.

So I saw what is known as the preview of Silent Hill's next installment. Simply called, Silent Hills. On the Playstation you can buy the demo "P.T." and see what it's all about. Here's all I've got to say about it. Finally, something scary, haunting and totally Silent Hill. I'm really excited for this next installment and if I am a believer of history repeating again. Then I might as well say hello to Silent Hill Homecoming again. 

Thank you for reading the blog on Silent Hill. I've never really posted a Video Game Review. Nor, do I call myself a video gamer. However, I've done my research and played all these games with an open heart. I hope I didn't detour anyone from not wanting to play any of the Silent Hill games I either bashed or pissed on. I believe it's all subjective and personal through the viewers eyes and perspective. So have fun with any of the installments.

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Banjo Kazooie a Revisit

On a list of video games I personally remember from my childhood is Banjo & Kazooie. This was the last Rare video game I remember from my childhood before the company was bought out by Microsoft via X-bone....

The premises of the game is very simple. Banjo, a bear with yellow shorts is asleep in his home. Kazooie, a red bird stuck in a blue backpack is also asleep. Till one day Tootie, Banjo's sister comes over for a visit. Meanwhile a vain witch notices she's getting old and needs to get younger. So what's the obvious thing to do? Not make a potion... But straight up kidnap little bears from Whinny the Pooh. Holding Tootie hostage. The heroes: Banjo & Kazooie show up and kick the witches ass.

The basis of the game mechanics are very, very simple. Collect these three categories: 10 puzzle pieces in each level. Two hollow honey combs in each world. And all the skull tokens possible. It's kind of a make shift Mario 64, if Mario was a bear. Luigi was a bird and about as useful. Stars are puzzle pieces and the witch is Bowser. Very simple characterization, very simple game play. A lot of this game is simple.

Meanwhile in every level is at least one new trick to unlock. Which is great till you realize, not half way through the game you'll unlock every single move the game has to offer. So, we're stuck with knowing what feels like 8 different special movies by the time the game claims it's done teaching you new tricks.

Highlight moves include but not limited to: FLYING, which I would think would be a prerequisite to a bird in a back pack. But apparently the buzzard doesn't have the talent. So, two levels later, evolving a double jump hover into legit souring into the sky is a stretch of a limitation the game conceives. Meanwhile, on the bear side of tricks.... Oh, yeah... that's right.... there isn't any... All of them where literally in the beginning of the damn game. This includes the following (no shit): jumping, swimming, climbing, scratching, rolling, running, double jumping, and not falling to your death. There is literally no "special movies" to the bear. Which begs the question.... What is he really there for?

Mini goals which are pivotal to the game is to collect five little coloured birds. Eventually they are like a side category to the whole collecting 10 puzzle pieces in each level because when you do collect the birds they give one. However, in spite of this being another random task it all adds up in the end where they help out in the last battle against the witch.
Meanwhile, those skull tokens will be handy throughout the game. A witch doctor transforms you into an ant, walrus, washing machine, pumpkin and other things to help Banjo and Kazooie accomplish getting more puzzle pieces. However, this is more for the bear to transform. Kazooie is completely useless in this aspect of the game. And you're also completely rendered useless to fending off bad guys in these states too. Why is it a giant ant can touch me and it knocks me out. I'm an ant and I can't hurt back? Plot twist??? Maybe????

On the flip side of things, the levels are really fun to play in. I especially enjoyed the premises of instant replay from level to level. Again, because if you breeze through the game about 4-5 worlds in and you'll learn all the moves the game has to offer. Then you go back to level one and annihilate the game. This means one thing, developers either knew this tactic was possible. OR if your a cynic like me, they didn't and now they have a broke dick video game. The only reasonable plot whole in the later is the fact the end of the game notes Banjo and Kazooie being in two other adventures in the future and there's more "special moves" to learn for the game I was just currently playing. Meaning, I have to jump online, google the hidden move and then annihilate world one through nine for 100% completion. I'm looking back at a younger me and thinking, "wow, the internet is an interesting place to be. Look at all the porno!!!"

Seven paragraphs in... Is Banjo and Kazooie a fun game? Yes, in the nostalgic N64 style on an X-box360. Does the game stand the test of time? In particular, about as relevant as Mortal Kombat on the arcade. Nothing fancy was really born in this game. It's fun for eating hours of your life away. However, it's not by any means a block-buster. It's one of those game which didn't push an envelope because everyone else was on the same ride. However, now that I had played the game I couldn't win back in the 90's. I'm off to other lands and other worlds.... Ya'know, something more exciting like Mortal Kombat 9: the reboot.

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Mortal Kombat Revisited????

I remember way back when, in the pizza parlor, and for 50 cents was a game called Mortal Kombat. At the time, this was allegedly the most violent game. Today I put into my X-bone the same game title and was met with a whole new game. And it totally destroyed my life investments back on the Super Nintendo with a game running by the same name.

Okay, lets kick start this video game with the premises it's a revamp. With this in mind, we don't get to pick and choose our character. Instead we roll through 'chapters' within the game. i.e. Scorpion is chapter one, Johnny Cage is chapter two, Sonya is chapter three.... So on, so forth.... And we progress through the first video game. Then we move on to the second game and we find the true idiot plot arises.

Characters will meet up with other characters and beat the bloody pulp out of each other for no reason. What got me in these moments is how stupid it is to have to get through these fights to "progress" (a loosely used word) story line.

Finally we get all the way to where Mortal Kombat 3 concludes. Then we realized we just got sucked into a horrible abyss of a dumb ass sequel. The underlined plot is the game opening to every character dead except for Raiden and Shao Khan going at it. Raiden is beaten nearly to death. I'm still trying to break down how he was the soul survivor within the vast amount of characters provided. Anyway, Shao Khan throws him from one place to another and Raiden's amulet is shattered. Then he says a couple of mumbo-jumbo words and sends a message to himself in the past with the words, "He must win." Hold up! Like, really? That's the message!? Well at least we divided the sex down. However, with the plethora of male characters there's not really a 'good' pick. Without being a fan boy, anyone would have guessed the favorite would be Liu Kang. Thus the game goes through the woes of Mortal Kombat history. The highs, the lows, the ups and downs for the cannon. All the way to the very beginning.

Now we're rolling through the game and as we progress, the 'choices' which are not of our own (the player) is pushed through the flimsy story line. Ya'know, if the mechanic of choice base system was integrated into this game. Then I could see where this could be getting good. If Raiden's message was, "YOU MUST WIN." Then the enigma would be there. However, it's not and it wont be. And now I have to continue on with the game we have. SPOILER ALERT, everyone important dies. Yes, all the choices we make end up with the worst case scenario possible.

Needless to say, let us break down the game into what it presents:

First, the "fighting" is a hell of a lot better than it was in Mortal Kombat Deadly Alliance. Graphics are better, however this also depends on the character. Some characters look like plastic, while the more 'alien' characters have the attention needed. Where 'graphics' are let down is in the women's department.
Graphics gripe part one: I forgot halfway into the video game if I was playing a fighting game or watching a swim suit competition.

Graphics gripe part two:, if it's anything my wife has thought me, "eye brows are sisters not twins." This goes for other parts of the body, because everyone seems to be a H-cup. Finally, for the women the detail given to their hair was left with everyone having 'plastic' hair. Ya'know the type I'm talking about. Silent Hill Homecoming is the worst of this. Because they spent a large amount of attention on the main character and then neglected everyone else with 'plastic hair.' The hair is too shiny for the light provided. Strands of hair plastered to the forehead. THAT LOOK. Seriously, 2015 and I thought we got past Playstation 2 graphics at this point. Meanwhile the gentlemen have stalk body builds too. All the Ninja's look like one another minus colour differential. Some wear masks, others do not. However, most of the gentlemen look like a Chia-pet on a fridge with two rolled up rugs for arms. P.S. some men in this game are subject to the 'plastic hair' look. I find it sad when a Ninja's hair style is akin to Fabio.

Second, this game has the audacity of ineptitude (kinda like Midway's Batman Forever on the SNES) to think I know every move known to mankind. Some are innate being I've played the games previous. So simple moves like back, forward, punch usually makes Scorpion do his spear thing. Down, back, punch makes Sub-Zero do his freeze move. However, for everyone else.... I busted out Google so fast, then realized there's a "Move List" on the pause button. However, only accessible after the countdown and first syllable of "FIGHT!" Any case, the game has a time with going easy and then building up to full retard difficulty. Dear Mortal Kombat, my button mashing skills does not equate to 'this guy has skills'. No, I have button mashing skills. Also the equivalent of throwing my controller down a flight of stairs and getting the same entertainment.

Third and final break down is literally watching an X-Ray slow motion of bone breaking. Overall however much you get hit builds up power in your character. Then when you reach your max you can initiate an attack which can (depending on character) deplete a third health from your opponent. This includes a cut scene, and someone's skull being dropped kicked. Someone's shin being snapped and other body parts which result in instantaneous death. However, you'll find the fight keeps on going and life carries on till a victor is named. Which kinda takes the piss out of the whole experience. I can't even do a Fatality. I don't get spot lights and the dum-dum-dum bass line solo to a glorious blood bath. Instead I settle with beating the stupid out of an opponent due to X-Ray vision contusions and compound complex bones breaking. The best bit behind this whole thing is every character at least has their own style of pulling this move off. However, after the 10th time it all becomes stale as pop corn at a movie theatre.

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Flash Back to a Super Nintendo

The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is one of those lap dogs every family was glad to have back in the 90's. However, it did have it's moments back then too. We talk today about all the glitchy, clunky, ridiculous video games today which I'm sure we've all wondered how they even made it to the shelf. Let's take a trip back to the 90's.

Super Nintendo was one of those machines which didn't make a big splash when it first launched. Unlike today's gaming, the Wii was launched with Mario Galaxy hand in hand. The 90's is when we all got to learn if you have a product, you need a reason to buy it. To give you a heads up on this one, there were Mario games for the Super Nintendo. However, it was too little too late. The machine was working with video games like "Ken Griffy Jr. Winning Run." Pixelated baseball games with no real reason to play. I'll go on record I'm bias on this because maybe at the time I was playing a season of baseball in elementary school and I figured, "Why am I playing a video game about a sport I'm already doing!?"
Low and behold it was three years into the release of the Super Nintendo and the company still didn't have shit of main staple to the console. Then, when all was lost. DONKEY KONG COUNTRY hit the markets creating a black hole in space which has drawn me back years and years later into playing. In fact, it's this game alone which I fall into a quagmire of nostalgia of great gaming at the age of twenty seven years old.

Donkey Kong Country became the staple to Super Nintendo like Mario & Duck Hunt to Nintendo. The premises was very simple. Donkey Kong's hoard of bananas were stolen by the evil alligator king. Thus, Donkey Kong and his friend Diddy travel through his island beating up bad guys and bosses to claim his bananas. The overall game play is a scroller just like Mario but in 3D. There are barrels to throw, balloons and bananas to collect, and tokens to claim for extra lives. The music is beautiful and ambient. About three levels in the player becomes engulfed into the simple levels and game play. This was just the basis for a string of sequels which allowed Donkey Kong to become the contender to Mario and his string of muddy sequels.
To simply put Donkey Kong Country 2 (Diddy's Quest) is when we find out it's not just about Donkey Kong. Diddy and his girl friend Dixie travel to the evil alligator's floating island in hopes of saving the kidnapped Donkey Kong. This is when the game play, though still the same as the previous, jumps off the dive board and became one of the best sequel games in history (Note: Silent Hill 2 is also in this list of sequel games). Aside from going from the start to the finish, there's bonus levels with coins to collect and cash in for hidden levels. Then there are hidden Level Coins to collect for your over all score in the game.
The last and final Donkey Kong Country game to hit the Super Nintendo before a vow of silence for three years. Provided the subsequent had been released within a year difference. However the shy to difference with Donkey Kong Country 3 (Dixie Kong's Double Trouble) was the added mechanics of using boats to travel from place to place, talking to bears which had items you have to use, and collecting BANANA BIRDS. Because it's all about the BANANAs if you haven't noticed. Anyway, DK3 wasn't the strongest game. The concepts become muddy with repetition. The levels are more intricate. However, not immersive and as explorative. You play as two characters which are far from removed from the original cast as possible. Mainly because the main plot is saving the two heroes we grew to love from the first video game. Which raised the notion, "I can understand if Donkey Kong got kidnapped. Maybe he was asleep one day and shit went down. But for both Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong to be kidnapped. Now you're just getting crazy."

Six paragraphs in, and I still haven't gotten to the dark side of owning the Super Nintendo. So, lets get get into the Star Wars collection. Yes, Lucas Arts released the original Star Wars video games on the Super Nintendo. Well before games like "Star Wars Battlefront," or "The Force Unleashed" became a thing. Anyway, these games.... I own "The Empire Strikes Back," and "Return of the Jedi." Needless to say, I get how the game play is. You have to play a little and figure it out to understand an appreciate the mechanic. Because the notion of "saving a game" goes out the window. It's actually a set of fun games. However, it's very password heavy. There's no save mechanic. Thus, it doesn't matter if you made it to the second level. You're going to die five lives later and have to password yourself back to where you were. However, Star Wars did break boundaries such as flying around in the Millennium Flacon through astroid fields. As in in Jedi you fly along the Death Star killing tie fighters. In the original Super Star Wars, the scene with the tie fight was also a memorable game mechanic. Nearly, first of it's kind. It all meshed well into this over all game where it wasn't just a scrolling game with characters from the movies killing enemy's from point A to point B. Nor was it just a game about flying around in space ships or space cars. The game was extraordinary for the most part.

Now to the shady side. Again, a lot of crap-tastic video games came out in the 90's. Super Nintendo was not ashamed of it either. Recently I watched a documentary of how Atari lost all creditability when Steven Spielberg's E.T. video game hit the shelves. Well, here comes a video game which wins the holly grail of terrible concept, and game play. Lets just start off with the fact the video game set up starts with giving me an option of which character to play as. Do I want Batman or Robin? Personally, I'm always the Robin in the group. Not quite the lead super hero. In real life I feel like Spiderman. Sure, I have my own comic stream. I have my own super powers. Then I hang out with the likes of X-men, Thor, Cpt. America and all of a sudden I'm the sidekick. Well, like normal, I'm playing as Robin. Which by the way, aside from having a stick to beat the stupid out of the bad guys. There's no difference between the characters. However, the bat-gadgets are slightly different depending on character too.

Now for game play..... The amount of issues stagger within the first ten seconds of game play. First and foremost, the game starts in Arkham Asylum. After fighting your first few bad guys, you go through a door to the next level where there's riddles left by the riddler. However, they don't amount to anything but a lock you can kick open. The first one tells you to use your grapple to get to the next level. But hold up, there's no way to know how to even use your grapple. Then after five minutes of button combinations and realizing the select button is the grapple. It only works from an angle. Why even give me the option if I need to go up!? Then I deduced I needed to press up while pressing select. This became a 1 in 10 chance I did the combination right. Finally, after some rooms later I ran into a situation where I was in a room with nothing going on! Literally two minutes later I realized I was on a top floor and needed to get down. Yet again, no directions, or idea other than sitting on the couch and thinking, "What the fuck does this game want me to go." Later I finally made it to the second level. Then I ran into yet again another moment of trying to figure out where the fuck I was supposed to go. I already went to the second floor, killed all the bad guys and cleaned out all the health packs I could find. No riddles to be found and I found myself asking myself again, "What the fuck am I doing!?" Then it hit me, I'm an adult and I don't need to take this abuse. So I turned off this God awful game.
It's  God awful game to a near to God awful movie. This game came out around the same time as the movie to video game thing was supposed to be cool. However, this is a game from Acclaim. Whom bought a Brit developer in the process of development. The out come if you're verse in video games was like playing another game we've all come to know and love. ...
Mortal Kombat is the one video game I swear in my childhood took all my allowance in quarters. Midway and Acclaim took this video game to the arcades. Which is why when looking back at Batman Forever.... You notice the moves are very similar to Mortal Kombat. The "kombat" controls on Batman are sticky. Batman and Robin move like bricks being pushed by thousands of ants. Then the video game, like mentioned before, thinks you should know before you even turned on the power how to do 75% of the moves required to even enjoy the game. Sorry Acclaim; sorry I didn't get my degree in Assumption and Inaptitude. But that's exactly how the game operates. When it comes right down to it. Mortal Kombat doesn't care if you know or not know any special moves. It's a button masher at heart. Batman Forever, is a brawler/railer mock up which pretends to be something you would enjoy. Then unknown to you, it pulls down its pants and slaps you in the face with its dick every time you don't know what the fuck you're supposed to do.

Well.... I hope you enjoyed the travel of reminiscing with me and the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Ya'know, when Nintendo was an Entertainment System. Now, I'm off to draft an impossible review of the Silent Hill series. Brace for shock.