A Personal Video Game Retrospective (1986-2015) 2008

Welcome back to my blog post where I replay the first 30-60 minutes of a game and then write a few thoughts on it here.What I tend to focus on can be quite random. I usually just go with whatever pops into my head first otherwise I would never finish. After playing over a 700 games again it gets kinda hard to keep thinking of new things to say.

Looking through all my history with video games it becomes apparent that certain franchises will keep coming up for a long time. Once a developer gets their hooks into me with a gameplay style that I tend to enjoy I’ll end up buying most of what they put out. Give me more of what I like seems to be my motto. I’m all for something brand new too but since the PS2 we have been in an era of constant sequels. Never let anything die till it stops selling.

That last fact only applies to big budget games and we haven’t quite gotten to the never ending torrent of indie games yet. With the release of Braid the overwhelming feeling that you had to be apart of a big company to make it big was false. Not quite sure anyone ever figured out the key to success other than making a fun game. At least at this point it didn’t hurt that the scene was super small with very little competition.

You might be wondering why I haven’t been talking about the big 3 console makers. Well that is because they did nothing at of note in 2008. So let's get straight to the games I thought were worth picking up this year.

2008

I wonder what spurned on Capcom to start remaking their classic arcade games in 2008. Unlike Bionic Commando Rearmed which is more of a direct remake this messes with the formula a bit. The levels and some of the weapons are brand new. Honestly a more direct remake wouldn’t have been that great but what we got here is still kind middling although still enjoyable. Each plane now has more at their disposal with extra missiles to launch and different weapons like a laser. It obviously doesn’t have much replay value noted by the fact I haven’t played this since it first launched. Still a top down shooter can still be fun today.

I’m sure Capcom was trying to create a new attorney to start up a new trilogy of games. That didn’t quite pan out in the direction they were planning on. Yet this first case is a great starting point. With Phoenix Wright being the first defendant Apollo has to defend. Of course he has been in that situation before but his new personality may surprise you. Apollo’s new skill is his ability to perceive a nervous tick on someone who is lying to him. Allowing him to find the truth when everything else fails.

Bionic Command Rearmed is a direct remake of the NES game. Spencer must once again save super joe and blow up the imperial armies mystery weapon named Project Albatross. To do this he’ll need to use his bionic arm to traverse many different enemy complexes and take down deadly bosses. Now that we are drowning in pixelated games I’m glad they went in a different direction for this remake. At the same time the remixed soundtrack is fun to listen too.Yet the real reason this remake works so well is that the bionic arm mechanic is still enjoyable to use. Pulling off some of the harder stages feels great even if it takes a couple tries.

Braid appears to just be about a man who is trying to find a princess. Along the way he must use his time powers to put all the puzzle pieces together that are scattered across each level. At first the puzzles are pretty easy but by the end you’ll need to really think about how to compete them. Plus each new level has a new gimmick so it does a good job of giving you something new to figure out. This was the progenitor of why we see so many puzzle platformers so it isn’t surprising that it still holds up well today.

The last Castlevania on the DS was kinda ehhh. At least from my perspective the story wasn’t as effective anymore and this style was run into the ground by this point. Shanoa wasn’t much of a protagonist either since she gets amnesia soon after the start of the game. Her glyphs are just another way to give players the same tools they are used to using. Like swords or a magic attack of some kind. I did like that the magic bar refills at a super fast pace thus making sure you always have a way to deal out damage. I’m not saying this isn’t a great game it just didn’t impress me anymore like the previous games.

Castle Crashers stood out because it added RPG elements to a beat em up. Which is something that doesn’t pop up that often. I still don’t like the art style in any of Behemoth's games. Even though they are good at making the combat feel awesome. Doing near infinite jungles if you get a enemy stuck on a wall is still cool. Picking up loot as the game goes along was nice too. I already know this holds up well because I reviewed the Xbox 1 remaster.

I was real interested in seeing this again. Seeing the backstory to Zach was compelling enough to make me want to pick this up. The game starts off with a mission to snuff out the Wutai resistance that has halted the Shinra’s campaign goal of creating mako reactors everywhere. Not the most heroic mission ever but Zach seems like he just likes messing up stuff at this point. I’m sure he matures as the story goes along. Once again action based combat makes itself known. Augmented with a casino slots system that will give the player boosts like infinite MP for a few seconds randomly. After this session I really want to play through this again.

Dead Space deserves the title of survival horror. It sets up a bizarre enemy that is weak against dismemberment instead of the classic aim for the head troupe of every other shooter. At the same time the sound design makes each creepy sound make you worry about seeing more necromorphs just around the corner. With a limited inventory it really does test your management skills since without a good mix of ammo and health Isaac won’t survive this horrible night on the Ishimura. That fact that you are fighting for your life every moment of the game worked well then and now.

Dig Dug really loves to dig deep tunnels into the earth. To bad a race of underground monsters that go by the name Pooka wish to stop him. A lizard named Frygar is trying to Fry Dig Dug too. So this is a port of a early arcade game. Not much else to say about it other than this seems like it is a well made version of this game.

Not much has changed since the last Disgaea game. The sprites are even the same as they were on the PS2. Looks like the main new addition was adding in the ability for monsters to transform into a powerful weapon. Like always this has a brand new new story about another overlord's son Mao. Who wants to be a hero to beat his dad. To bad that won’t be a easy task with him being one of the most nefarious students of all. I didn’t play this much when it was released but over time my attitude on it has improved.

Well I didn’t get to see much of anything in the first hour of fallout 3. Although seeing the life of a vault dweller before getting put out into the desolate wasteland is still one of the more unique ways to begin a game. It is a good way to get the player accustomed to using VATS and the many skills you could choose. Yet a lot like other Bethesda games I spent most of my time just running around the world back when this was first released. The narrative has never really been their strong point.

Ready At Dawn is really good at taking an established franchise and making it work on the PSP. This time they dragged Kratos to the past to show off some of his exploits back when he actually cared about helping the Gods of Olympus. Turns out he is still a very angry man that wants to kill everything that stands in his way. The brutal nature is still intact with every combo the player pulls off looks like it hurts a lot. QTE finishes are apart of the game too just so something painful can happen to one of the many giant monsters you’ll face. In general a PSP game can’t look good now yet control wise this is spot on with the rest of the series.

At this point Grand Theft Auto has turned into quite the showstopper. At least that is what they were aiming to do with the criminal tale of Niko Bellic and how he tries to make a life in a new country. They did a fine job from that angle but the general moment to moment gameplay still needed some work. The cars don’t control snappy enough and the lock on shooting feels like I’m playing a PS2 game. In no way were these much of an issue back when this was released but looking at it now these facts could become annoying.

In my mind I remember Guilty Gear looking just as good as King Of Fighters but that isn’t quite true. The fighting is where the flair is at anyway with plenty of action. Something is always going on every second of a fight and that is why I enjoy it so. I’ve also always appreciated the fact that most Arc System Works fighters had alternate story paths for each character. It has a bunch of other modes to check out as well. Kinda odd how it turned out this way but the PSP was quite the machine to own if you wanted to play fighting games for a few years.

By default Little Big Planet does not hold up with the sequel automatically doing everything better than this first game. Although they never really fixed the fact the creation tool was overly complex thus making it hard to make a level. I’ve gotten used to it over time but the floaty nature of the jumps can be annoying if you're used to platformers with accurate jumps. The whimsy and the unique cutout looking world is where the game shines the most. (Well other than the crazy amount of user created levels.) Seeing the next environment Sackboy will need to go through kept me interested enough to finish the story portion of the game back when this was new.

I find it hard to believe Sony sold a tech demo. Although this does tell you that I was willing to buy something just because it had trophies. Because the only gameplay here is using the sixaxis to look around different environments to find a hidden symbol. I wonder if this started the this isn’t a videogame argument that seems to comes up occasionally. Cause I think it might actually be valid in this one special case.

Mercenaries 2 dropped the most interesting part of the first game to give us a utterly average adventure. The fact that this had destructible environments didn’t make up for them not including the deck of 52. Going from one mission to the next occasionally capturing a base just wasn’t that interesting then and now it is unbearable. This was the game that reminded me how long installs could be on the ps3 which didn’t leave much of a good first impression. Overall this is a acceptable open world shooter that does very little with the setting.

Right MGS4 really solidifies what it is really about 1 second into the game. The FMV intro prepares you for the weirdness that is to come while the ingame one tries to say this is extremely serious. Balancing wacky moments with serious moments is why this series is so memorable. This game rides that thin line that doesn’t work for everyone. Which means the story of how Snake finally takes down Liquid might not be for everyone but at least the gameplay has caught up with the times. It plays like a normal third person shooter and with the aid of the octocamo it is easy to sneak past enemies. Overall a well made game that still holds up to this day. I wonder if anyone will ever port this to something other than ps3.

Well the most notable thing about this first Naruto game is that it has a open environment to explore between missions in the form of the ninja village. They never really go to this length again for the rest of the series. Plus the combat kinda remains the same the entire time. With the main addition being some new crazy finisher to see for each of the characters with each new release. I remember shades of Asura’s Wrath are visible in the final battle. Over the top crazy moments is what makes Naruto membible to bad most of the game is just 1v1 fights.

Pata pata pata pon! Keep up with the beat to command your army of little eye troops. As their drum beating god your goal is to take them from the brink of extinction to the dominant force in all the land. To do that you’ll need to chain together button presses in a certain order to give them commands. Between missions any loot you find can be used to summon more troops to better prepare for the next one. The only thing I’ve not liked about Patapon is that it is real easy to lose the beat once fever mode is activated after a 10 hit combo. Losing it quickly seems the exact opposite of what the game should be trying to do.

The Pixeljunk collection of games never really spoke to me until Eden came out. At first all I cared about was the neon art style. But the platforming by using a slik line line to spin circles around each garden became addictive. Some of the early gardens have a zen like feel to them. The game may have a time limit but it never becomes an issue till enemies start showing up. Then it becomes a challenge to succeed which is vital to keep a game interesting. As a side note it is weird to see that trophies had to be installed. It just shows how tacked on they were at this point.

Layton has another puzzling adventure that he must figure out. Somehow future Luke has sent a letter into the past to gain Layton’s help. This is a mystery that was to good to ignore and after going to a clock shop they end up in that future. Many different puzzles await all who decide to play through this game. As I noted quite a few times puzzles tend to keep me in the dark for much longer than normal. Yet I do love the mysteries in all of the Layton games so I just keep coming back for more.

I always thought this game got a bad rap for being for being a bad Silent Hill game. I’m not going to say it is amazing but I consider it to be on par with some of the previous games. They may have just been copying the movie but the transition to the other world has never looked better than this. Even the melee combat is a slight improvement on the formula with the addition of a dodge. The narrative about a soldier coming home from duty is ripe for so much trauma and could make him into a good protagonist. At least that is what I remember and the introductory hospital level makes it look like it could go to some dark places.

SquareEnix decided to remake the first Star Ocean and release it over here for the first time. Instead of starting off as the technologically superior race you actually start off on a medieval era planet. Everything seems fine till people start turning into stone and that is when the space faring race intervenes. Things continue to get out of hand from that point forward. On a gameplay front this is a action RPG with real time combat. Nothing to complicated with it mostly just letting you smash out attacks or cast a skill. The unique setting has always been the standout point for Star Ocean.

I’m sure the PSP version isn’t the one you expected to see here yet in some ways it is superior than it’s higher resolution brother. For one it has extra modes to play other than the story mode. Two of these extra modes are centered around taking out famous jedi in a arcade ladder like structure.While the other is a wave based survival mode. It even has some scenarios based on the movies. Plus the story is still fully intact with levels mainly being smaller in scope that the other version. All the over the top powers are still in effect too. Although force lightning still seems to be the most effective one.

The old AI is still intact for this remake but I managed to make my way through the arcade ladder. I find it odd they gave Chun Li a choice in her ending and no one else. Other than that odd choice this is Street Fighter II rebalanced for a new generation. At one point I didn’t appreciate the new art but it has grown on me over time. Plus the remixed soundtrack is great. The fighting is still crazy fast in the damage department compared to what I’m used to today. Everyone can go down so fast if the right attacks hit. Overall everything getting a new coat of paint means this still holds up today much better than the original game.

Well Valkyria Chronicles holds up extremely well. After playing the first two chapters I just wanted to keep going. Weise’s story of getting dragged into a war he didn’t want to fight is interesting. The mixture of turn based combat with some real time elements makes the combat different enough that I wanted to see more of it too. On the other side I didn’t like the fact they gave me a time limit to finish each mission. Must be why I never put that much time into this game although I really want to play through it one day.

Conclusion

I already reached my conclusion in the opening moments of this blog post. I’m a fan of a franchise/developer for way too long. Whether that is good or bad is up for debate. Seeing the worst part of what I love has some value. Especially if they end up overcoming the flaws to make a even better game later. Sometimes even the games that are considered bad might be better from a different point of view. Seeing all that this hobby has to offer turned out to be one of the reasons I wanted to see all of these games again. For it will forever be the best time to play video games. Tune in next time as we scour the planet of Pandora for treasure and travel into the fog to save the land of Boletaria.