Tekken: The Motion Picture

  

Since the beginning of history, people have fought in the name of god. Bending to the invented demands of their fickle deity, and screaming for righteousness, they wantonly spilled the blood of their enemies, as well as their own. The purpose behind this bloodshed, however, goes beyond simple explanations of religion, or notions of "justice".  The truth is buried deep within those who rage the wars.

Since the birth of this planet, a memory has been engraved deep in the genes of all living things. A memory of aggression, as a means of survival. A memory of fighting.

Humans seek to defend their actions in the name of truth. The act of fighting is itself a true act. Without this truth, the fighter will perish. To learn the way, ask your own flesh and blood. Because one's flesh is the door to the truth. To master the way, ask your own ken, or fist. Because complete knowledge of one's flesh, blood, and fist, is what creates one's Tekken.


And Tekken... is the key to life.



Go watch this ridiculous movie. Now.

Castlevania: Curse of Darkness

Castlevania: Curse of Darkness is an action-RPG published and developed by Konami. It's dissimilar from its predecessors in nearly every way imaginable, but still manages to maintain a consistently dark atmosphere. New to the series from this entry is rather surrealistic humor and a crazy-weird storyline.

The game stars Hector, a Devil Summoner and former servant to Dracula. He betrayed his master and set out to live a normal life with his love, Rosaly. Unfortunately, even after Dracula's defeat, his dark curse is still held over the entire populace, spreading disease and violence. To make matters worse, Rosaly is indirectly murdered by Hector's former partner: Isaac.

This is where most Castlevania games would drop off and leave the plot to fly straight as an arrow, but a time-bending British gent named Saint Germain and a rather disturbing priest named Zead both vie for Hector's attention every step of the way.

They contrast rather well.

The game's control scheme and basic battle mechanics are a mimic of those found in Dynasty Warriors/Samurai Warriors and the like, but with a bit more flavor. Even with a large variety of characters, attacks in other hack n' slash games tend to feel samey. The folks at Konami, perhaps because this game was more focused on its RPG elements, made every genre of weapon feel entirely different.

At any given time, you can equip Swords, Knuckles, Spears, Axes, or special items. Each of them plays wildly differently, and even then, there are several variations inside each genre of weapon. A claymore is vastly different from say, a rapier.

The move lists for these weapons are also pretty remarkable, with up to fifteen different attacks each, depending on the specific item. Pressing triangle after the fourth punch in a chain with knuckles would send a flurry of quick jabs, while doing the same a button earlier would send a blast of wind from Hector's fist. It's simple, but it keeps hack n' slashing through an assortment of ancient Transylvania architecture interesting.

Better still is that Curse of Darkness features a simplistic crafting system. Being a Devil Summoner, Hector is able to use alchemy to fuse items together. Unlike other Japanese action-RPGs, however, obtaining a new crafting metal doesn't just aid you in creating one genre of weapon, it unlocks an entire tier for all of the weapons.

Obtaining Red Steel, for instance, will allow you options to forge a new sword, axe, armor, and knuckles. As supplies are limited, you end up having to make choices as to what you forge and what you equip. It adds another layer to what could've been pretty simple hack n' slash gameplay. It may sound a little too complex at first, but it's all very easily navigated and performed, keeping things streamlined and action oriented.

Going even deeper into the trench of customization through equipment, accessories in the game offer the standard RPG buffs: resistance to fire, wind, ice, etc. A few creative ones can be found in hidden little corners of the map, and net you more useful abilities. In example, the "Sixth Sense" accessory lets you know when an enemy off-screen is about to strike at Hector. You barely notice it during gameplay, but it does make things easier in the long run.

A lot of little things work to make the stabbing fun.

Last, but certainly not the least of the mechanics, are the Innocent Devils. An honestly innovative feature of the game, the Innocent Devils are creatures that Hector can summon, and are the central pillar of his magical powers. They come in several different classes: Battle, Fairy, Magical, Flying, and just flat out Devil.

Each class has an evolutionary chain. They evolve and gain more special attacks based on what Evo Crystals the enemies drop. Subsequently, what Evo Crystals enemies drop depends on the type of weapon you carry. There are a lot of evolutions for any given class. Far more than it's possible to see in just one playthrough.

When equipped, depending on the class of ID and their evolution, they can carry out various attacks. The battle Devils have a variety of moves all based on offense. They do everything from rain swords down to transforming into a flying Mercury Meltdown blob. Other classes, like the magician, can even stop time briefly.

Like most of the RPG elements, Innocent Devils seem complex, but they work themselves directly into the main gameplay. All of the RPG elements rely on Hector slashing through his devilish assortment of enemies. It's brilliant in its design.

It's pretty involved.

As for the environments, Curse of Darkness went the honorable path of making all of their hallways look interesting. Despite any flair on the surface, it's a straight up action-RPG at heart, and the stages are just hallways filled with enemies for you to slash at. Most of the environments are enormous, and when they aren't, they still manage to feel it. This can be both a blessing and a curse.

Most of the game's locations, like the mechanical Eneomaos Tower, look haunting, dark, and moody, while still offering neat visual touches. There are gears beneath the floor under metal casing, and if you pay close enough attention, only the connected ones will spin. Even in that single location, the environment gets changed pretty rapidly, from an outdoor garden to a series of circular rooms to a gloomy balcony to the tippy top of the clock-tower. It shows that Konami was absolutely dedicated to their design.

The excellent atmosphere and art direction are complimented by an appropriate score that takes a page directly from the Book of Ys. It's fast paced and fierce, but it still manages to hold a good mood for each stage's personality. To help matters further, the hammy voice-acting -the robotic actor for Julia aside- hits the mark perfectly, solidifying the overall feel of the game and Hector's place in it. Bottom line is: CoD has created a damn good world.

While we talk art direction, Curse of Darkness has a pretty odd gag or two that acknowledges how ridiculous and surreal the time traveling British fellow in a top-hat is. While he's taken dead serious by the few characters who interact with him in the story, as to them he's just an incredibly outlandish sorcerer, the game tips its hat to us and our understanding of his time-bending tomfoolery.

There's a bizarre building late in the game, where upon entering, you're greeted with a modern desk, complete with a laptop, half a bathroom, containing only slippers and toilet paper, and an odd little collection of chairs from your adventure so far. While the idea of a floating garden island with impossibly advanced future technology would appear to be some sort of magic to Hector, it looks absolutely absurd to the player.

A few other instances of odd little visual gags are a modern park bench with little characters wearing top-hats plastered on it, an office chair sitting in the middle of nowhere, and a little Rube Goldberg puzzle sequence. It's cute, clever, and absolutely did not need to be there, which is all the reason it's so wonderful.

An abundance of environments wouldn't be any fun without the proper pacing, and this is something CoD is thankfully aware of. The game has a very, very slow pace, but because of that, it's always consistent. The treks through individual stages of the game seem like a complete journey by themselves. The game clocks in at the standard 8-10 hour length in the end, assuming you only complete one run, but it winds up feeling much longer than that.

This pacing isn't lost on the gameplay, either.  The bosses gradually grow from a cakewalk to unbelievably tense and challenging, as the game does so itself. By the end of the game, it's almost awesome how far you've come and what you're capable of.

There are so many things I could never praise properly, regardless of how long I talked. The massive variety in enemies, the precision based theft system, the hidden bosses, and the effects of raising different generations of Innocent Devils, to name a few. Curse of Darkness is a brilliant game made by a brilliant dev team. It nearly surpasses greatness. If any speck of thought you've ever had has made you wonder about this game, you need to play it right now. You will not be disappointed.

Not too satisfied with my Dark Void and Fracture posts.

I like picking games apart and seeing how they work. Looking at what makes what click together, or why certain pieces matter how they do. I didn't do that with Dark Void, because I couldn't. I couldn't understand why the jet-pack worked the way it did, or how vertical cover impacted the gameplay as meaningfully as it had, or even why the game managed to be so idiosyncratic in general. I just wound up forcing words out so I could say I had written something.

Same goes for Fracture. There were things I really enjoyed and wanted to share about both, as they left really unique tastes in my mind, but my words couldn't do it. So I apologize for the dip in quality with the last two posts. They're removed now, and hopefully I'll have better writing up in the future.

Driv3r

The most important thing to remember when looking at Driver 3 is that it is absolutely not trying to be Grand Theft Auto, The Getaway, True Crime, or any such game. Driver 3 is about power sliding, traffic swerving, high speed escapes through a Hollywood film sized city. And it can be pretty polarizing.

Jumping right into Driv3r, it's easy to get lost as to what you're meant to gleam from the game. There's a “take a ride” mode, which lets you freely drive around the city, a story mode, and several small driving minigames. Anyone who bought into the game on the assumption that it was a GTA-wannabe probably felt disappointed by any of the options, regardless.

Starting with “Take a Ride” is what's recommended, because it lets you get a good feel for the controls and individual handling of the cars. And that's when I learned that something -no matter what anyone else may say about it- that Driv3r can always claim, is that it has damn good driving mechanics. Every emergency brake, slide, swerve, reverse, throttle, and jump feels absolutely beautiful. Adding to the wow factor is an absolutely MASSIVE selection of cars, all with varied handling, and amazingly detailed damage models, at least for the time. There's nothing that feels quite as good as weaving through traffic in a crowded city with cops on your tail.

You'll end up at Take a Ride one way or the other.

Unfortunately, Take a Ride mode is also where the game takes time to introduce you to its flaws. The cities are an absolute obstacle course to navigate. Everything from trees to bushes to light-posts is indestructible, and smashing into them is sure to halt your high-speed chase to a teeth-grinding stop. I understand that one can argue large poles would withstand being rammed, but I doubt too many people could agree that knee high shrubs should be made of adamantium.

The reason these items are solid is to give the player some way to escape from the cops in less than speedy vehicles, and truthfully, when you are able to dodge every pole in your path and leave the cops behind you in a big wreck, it feels pretty good. It's not anywhere near comparable to the oh-so brief feelings of flying through Miami, smashing through fences and jumping across entire roads with tail right behind you, though.

Other than taking a joy-ride and getting a grasp of the mechanics, as its name implies, there's not really too much Take a Ride mode has to offer. There are goons scattered throughout the three cities for shooting, which unlocks extra challenges, but they're only bound to entertain for ten or so minutes.

There's ten of these guys to take down in each stage.

The main game (Undercover mode) is decently long, but it's not until the later half of the first city -Miami- that the game gets into the good stuff, and many people probably gave up by then. Why? On-foot missions. Back from Driver 2, Reflections Interactive decided to give on-foot levels another go, but this time with guns and an embarrassingly difficult control scheme.

No matter how forgiving and open you are to games, the first time you try moving around and shooting with Tanner, you are going to be appalled. There is absolutely no reason for the controls to work the way they do. Tanner's legs move entirely separately from the rest of his body on the left stick, and his torso, controlled with the right stick, moves far too slowly for you to get a good aim on whatever it is you're trying to shoot.

The first mission is an exercise in frustration. You have to confront a group of enemies after a brief drive, and you're more than likely to just stand in front of them and smash the shoot button, which is what they'll be doing too. It looks horrible, and it feels horrible.

Pew pew.

The first shootout in the game gives you the absolute worst possible impression of the main mode. Even after you shoot through a few baddies, the rest of the stage is a very ho-hum chase after a criminal. Most people would probably put the game down for good at this point.

If you have the patience to get to stage five, the game suddenly decides it wants to live up to its namesake, and you'll drive around a lot, smashing through walls, jumping over buildings, and sliding through alleys.

Hello there fun. Where've you been?

If you continue further into the game still, past another hideous on-foot section, you make it to the definitive "this is a Driver game" stage, where you escape through a mall flooding with cops, burst out the exit, and drive all the way back to your base with the police on your tail.

There's even a mission halfway through the second city in which the car will explode if you drop below 50 MPH, Speed style, and there's never a dull moment after that. Even the shooting sections become tolerable when you remind yourself what the reward is. 

From then on, Undercover mode has its faults, but they pale in comparison to the thrills. There really aren't any other driving games out there like the Driver series, and Driv3r makes sure you have its name etched into your brain by the climax.

For all its faults, the game is ultimately a thrill to play, and it boasts some nearly flawless handling and diversity for its roster of cars and missions. Far from perfect, and far from great, it still certainly has enough of that delicious uniqueness only Reflections can offer, given you feel like digging for it.

Happy Belated Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! Hard to believe we're so close to the year's end already. There are literally no Thanksgiving videogames, so here's a picture of a Turkey in South Park 64.

This is really scraping the bottom of the barrel in regards to post content, isn't it?