Because diamonds are far too common, precious gems are way cooler.
I really wanted to play Neir, I am somewhat regretting not getting around to it.
Lost Planet 3! (And other gems in the rough)
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 On 02/24/2014 at 04:07 PM by BrokenH See More From This User » |
"Awww!"
So, Lost Planet 3 caught my eye. This poor bastard arrived at a time where ragging on capcom became the newest hipster trend and comparisons to Dead Space 3 were unavoidable. Yet the 1st Lost Planet did in fact do the whole “ice-planet thing” first and fan-tard rage directed at capcom or spark aside, this game looks fun.
What got to me first was the way the characters are portrayed. They actually seem like realistic and interesting people. Jim actually has conversations with his wife back home while manning his maintenance mech and the set up of blue collar men and blue-collar women risking their lives to colonize a new frontier made me think of Tami’s folk music blog which centered around hardworking Irish miners.
"Just your blue-collar mech driving every-man!"
There’s this kind of down to earth modesty in Lost Planet 3 that is not present in Dead Space 3. Whereas DS 3 is “ballz to the wall epic” due to forcing a final confrontation with the necromorphs, Lost Planet 3 is more about the little guy simply trying to make a living and survive amongst harsh conditions.
"Pew! Pew! Take that space bugs! Er,is this deja vu creeping up on me?"
Of course beyond that it’s more or less a generic third person shooter. When not in your mech you will be blasting Akrid (Cold-dwelling space bugs) and being everyone’s janitor as you roam around the colony fixing stuff. All this within the looming shadow of a nihilistic profit hungry corporation that really does not give two shits about Jim or his friends. (Aliens immediately comes to mind here. Wayland Yutani,anyone?)
But I find it absurd that LS3 dissenters wail on it for being just like other games that get 9’s and 10’s. Sure, it’s a 3rd person shooter where you aim at glowing weak spots on giant insects but at least it had the decency to throw in a mech, a grappling hook, likable characters, and a decent story-line. Usually when that many boxes are checked we rave about how GREAT a game is even if its’ game play is rather generic. (I’m looking at you, Bioshock Infinite!)
It annoys me when reviewers trash a game and EVERYONE in the comments section mindlessly agrees with said review even if they have not played the game themselves. When did it become so cool to be a cynical and jaded drone of negativity? Just goes to show you sometimes you have to decide for yourself if a game is worth buying. We already know “the critics” and the herd-like masses whom follow them are often wrong and too bias to speak for the rest of us. This is why next month I’ll be giving Lost Planet 3 a shot!
Other games Ben liked that got low scores
Knight's contract
Knight’s contract got ripped a new asshole by just about everyone. Admittedly it’s not the prettiest game but it is “beatable” and some of the levels and bosses are rather breath-taking and quite original. The story is surprisingly decent and taking control of both the executioner Heinrich and the witch Gretchen helped mixed things up as far as gameplay was concerned.
I’m not claiming Knight’s Contract has the polish of “God Of War”, but it certainly introduced some novel concepts and pulled them of with a competent level of flourish! The relationship between Gretchen and Heinrich is also equally parts touching and sad.
Onechanbara
If you’re not already a fan of hack n slash games I cannot really advise picking this up. What we have here is a lower budget Lollipop Chainsaw and yet it still has more levels, more characters, and more “sexy-time” insanity!
The enemy AI is “derptastic” and the graphics range from “alright” to kind of awful. Yet it’s fun cutting zombies in half and watching the blood fountains geyser skywards!
This is also probably the only game where you will fight a “zombie killer whale”. No, I’m not even joking!
Nier
Nier is Zelda’s more serious emo brother. What you have here is a really well done action rpg and a cast of characters that challenge conventional tropes while simultaneously managing to make you care about them a whole helluva lot! The game has many twists and many of the revelations are quite tragic.
Believe it or not, Nier helped make me less of an asshole. I used to be freaked out by characters with “questionable gender identities” but Kaine raised my awareness and made me root for her. Seriously, I love Kaine. She’s one of my favorite rpg heroines (?) of all time!
On the surface some of the things in Nier seem to be done just for shock value but the truth is everything is explained well and ties into the greater story-line. There was never a moment I felt like “Oh,they did that just to be edgy!”.
Chances are if you enjoyed Zelda or Dark-siders you would enjoy Nier too. Just don’t go in expecting the usual “happy go lucky fluff” inherent within many other Jrpgs.
Resident Evil 6
Like Onechanbara, RE 6 is in that “dumb fun” category. Nothing about RE 6 is thoughtful or artistic but it was made on a big budget so at least the visuals and set pieces are nice to look at and totally “bombastic”. (Ah, Michael Bay would be proud!)
But the truth is “Resident Evil” never was designed to be deeply philosophical or psychological. Sure there’s the theme of “Going too far” and “The ends justify the means”. It’s all very “Mary Shelly” due to the fact Umbrella pretty much plays God and creates monsters to secure their world dominating superiority. Yet the characters and dialogue have always been cheesy. Seriously, Jill Valentine, Albert Wesker, and Chris Redfield could have been in the GI JOE cartoon during the 80’s whilst fitting in just fine with the rest of the over-the-top eccentric cast.
The scares we had from the series? It was all based on clever camera work and limited ammo. But even during RE 1, RE 2, and RE Nemesis the actual story was kind of unoriginal. If you ever watched the classic horror film “Reanimator” you know RE is like that only it starts in a mansion instead of a hospital!
Despite all this smack-talk I do love the RE series dearly! Something does not have to be “cutting edge” to be good. There are a lot of artsy fartsy indie games that I cannot stand. Sometimes I really do just want to unload hundreds of clips of ammo into ugly monsters bent on killing me.
RE 6 has problems. Even RE 4 had a foreboding atmosphere and I never felt that same sense of dread and discovery in RE 5 or RE 6. Then again, I’ve grown up. What scared me as a teen and a young 20 something does not have the same effect on me anymore. Still, there’s no denying RE 4 had something “magical” that set it apart both from the older games and even the newer games it shares similarities with. (Alas, lightning rarely strikes the bottle twice!)
There’s no getting around the fact Resident Evil’s evolution did not go in a direction I entirely approved of. But as a “over the top action packed 3rd person shooter” RE 6 is certainly generous with its’ content. We are talking about a campaign that can last at least 25 hours spread amongst a huge ensemble cast of RE celebrities like Ada Wong, Chris Redfield, Leon Kennedy, and Sherry Birkin. Not only that but there are plenty of memorable boss fights and even a few stealthy segments of “hide from the predator”.
Don’t buy RE 6 for the plot and certainly don’t buy it to be scared. Buy it simply for mindless enjoyment and to get your money’s worth from a robust campaign! For a flashy amusement park attraction it certainly delivers! (And if all this is "too much" consider RE: Revelations as a pleasant alternative!)
Deadly Premonition
Deadly Premonition has a nice fan-following these days but when it first arrived on the scene IGN pretty much took a steamy shit on this game’s metaphorical chest. But when have I ever listened to IGN without question? Probably never!
What I played here surprised me. Not all games are “art” but I would argue passionately this game is! You can tell DP was done by a small skeleton crew. It does not really excel in the eye candy department or the gameplay. There are even a couple of bugs and grammatical mistakes. Yet there’s something oddly appealing about a game that is a freakish fusion of Resident Evil 4,Silent Hill, and GTA. (Even if it uses none of those conventions perfectly)
As Francis York Morgan you arrive in Greenvale to solve a murder mystery. York talks to a “head-mate” called Zach about cartoons and 80‘s trivia. We are made aware right away he is not a normal FBI agent. The game deceives you into thinking it’s a farciful spoof on survival horror and murder mysteries but in truth there are some poignant heartfelt moments and truly stellar character development sprinkled throughout.
Deadly Premonition explores themes other games are afraid to. The game gets comparisons to Twin Peaks and that’s accurate enough although in my opinion the overall game if far more interesting than the show.
York can drive around at his leisure while trying to get clues out of the towns-folk. He can even peep into windows to see what is going on. Additionally there are nightmare segments where York faces “hillbilly ghost zombies” as he tries to find evidence of the murder. These segments play out like a clunky third person shooter but when the raincoat killer makes an appearance York has to hide or he will be murdered instantly.
Deadly premonition is best described as a zen sweet spot. It includes “dumb fun” but the eccentric and likable cast of characters ,narrative, and overreaching plot are food for the mind. This is a daring achievement in videogame design and it’s why we do not get many games like this.
But yeah,Nier is great. Only part you might dislike is "The fishing mini-game" but I did not have a problem with it as much as those complaining.
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