-Project M

-Game of Thrones Game coming!

-Wii U stuff

-This Google/Youtube BS

-My review of the Live Sound of Music

-Crazy people

And lot more as well as many rants and Issues!

Check out this weeks show Episode 29: Frozen Poo Spills On Youtube

I remember when Pac-Man was the most important video game character in the world. In reality, I was always a bit more of a fan of Ms. Pac-Man, the game, because it had more levels and an actual storyline. No doubt though Pac-Man was the man. He had his own cartoon, pinball games, toys and several titles of video games that used the Pac-Man family. My personal favorite was Super Pac-Man with the magic power pellet that turned you into a giant Super Pac-Man the covered most of the screen and destroyed everything in your path.

As I mentioned there was a TV show that I was a fan of at the time. It was the standard 80’s format television cartoon that pit the villains (the ghosts) versus the good guys (Pac-Man and his family). A similar setup as G.I. Joe, WWF and many others.

Sorry for the sidebar but this is relevant because I guess there is a new animated show about Pac-Man for kids that I have never seen or heard of before. And this game Pac-Man and The Ghostly Adventures is based on the show. This was unknown to me when picking up this title. I imagined this being some standard mini game collection with a lot of Pac-Man oriented party games. What I found was a platforming game thats gameplay is surprisingly deep for a licensed title. There are clever and interesting ways to maneuver your way through Pac-Man’s world. The game at times can feel a little bit easy and maybe a bit rushed but it’s a fun title at a good price point of $40.

Pac-Man and The Ghostly Adventures is a platforming game in a 3-D environment in the same vein as Mario 64. Pac-Man wanders around each level interacting with many of the characters from the television show and jumping from platform to platform eating ghosts and pretty much anything else he can find. By doing this he finds a myriad of power-ups along the way. These power-ups are really fun. One example is an ice ability that allows you to freeze ghosts or other elements like water fountains to kill things within the world and complete the levels. There is also a main hub where you can unlock mini video games that feel very arcade like. While in the hub you can also walk around and talk to a bunch of the characters I assume from the show.

The game is a fun action platform game with one of my favorite video game mascots in history but it does have some problems. Jumping is a huge problem being very unforgiving. It almost feels like a Nintendo 64 game sometimes. This game feels a bit rushed like it needed some more time in testing. Perhaps it was rushed to capitalize on the success of cartoon and needing be on a time schedule. But I think they could’ve had something really special here if they had spent a little bit more time polishing and tweaking to make the “platforming” as fun as eating stuff.

Pac-Man and The Ghostly Adventures is a decent game that for $40 price point and is worth picking up at some point. Especially after the rush of Nintendo Wii U games come out there will most certainly be a price cut. The game can surprise you with how fun it can be at times but the jumping can be very frustrating and the boss fights don’t offer a lot of depth. I don’t see myself ever going back to replay this title but it does have some charm on the first run though. Perhaps I’ll check out the cartoon and if they spend a little bit more time perfecting what they got here they may have a decent grounds for a sequel.

Pac-Man in the ghostly adventures

6 out of 10

It seems that a lot of people are complaining that the Wii U doesn’t have any games. Mention to anybody that you have the system and they make a comment similar to, “How does it feel to not be playing any games?” or “How does it feel to be on this gaming generations equivalent of the Titanic?”

Being a card-carrying member of the Nintendo fan club I can’t even deny that the launch window thing was a silly idea and the game lineup so far has been pretty sad. One of the games that I hoped that came out right at launch was Platinum Games The Wonderful 101. This was the perfect type of title that should of launched with the system. A game built from the ground up to show off what the U-pad can do and to explore the power and capability of the system.

For a point of reference The Wonderful 101 was created by Hideki Kamiya, the same guy who made Okami and Platinum Games is responsible for Bayonetta, MadWorld and Infinite Space to name a few. The Wonderful 101 is a completely different kind of game then anything they have done in the past. The Player controls up to 100 superheroes at the same time using attacks, abilities and changing all of your heroes into many different shapes/weapons. (Using an ability called Morphing) This can cause massive damage or unique effects depending on the enemies you’re facing.

So in a sense it has a kind of a Voltron meets Pikmin feel to it. The basic story of the game is the heroes you control are protecting the world from an alien invasion and throughout the game you unlock other superheroes to switch in your team and learn how to do different morphing abilities.

The story of 101 is a silly but strangely deep tale and there are some interesting aspects and twists to it along the way. The game is very funny and had me smiling and laughing throughout playing. It’s the type of game I couldn’t wait to unlock more aspects of the story and actually sat through all the cut scenes without trying to skip them. In fact I would actually watch a cartoon based on The Wonderful 101 if it was ever made.

The game looks very beautiful being very colorful and offers a great example of the capability graphically of the Wii U when developers are not lazy and know what they are doing. The player has a great deal of control on how they view their superhero team. Personally, I like to zoom in as much as possible so I can get a really good look on all the characters. When you zoom in you see how much detail goes into each of the superheroes and enemies. Just a great deal of time and love went into the making of this game. Coupled with Pikmin 3 the power of the Wii U is perfectly shown off in these titles. This game has more of a cartoon city feel to Pikmin’s nature look, but both are excellent at balancing all the action that is going on screen with the many moving interactive parts.

The Wonderful 101 moves at an epic pace and never actually slows down. The game just keeps pushing and pushing being extremely intense the whole time. The game may be a bit confusing for a pickup and player type and they may not understand exactly what’s going on. I could see how one could become frustrated with the game. There is a steep learning curve to master 101.

As I mentioned a few times the game does have a little bit of similarity to the way that Pikmin plays but at its core it’s a lot different. It’s more of an action game apposed to Pikmins focusing on more puzzles. The most important part is the games combat feels very satisfying and really good to beat the crap out of anyone/thing that stands in your way.

Using the morphs can be difficult at first but once you get whats going on it’s really easy. You can either draw the particular shape on the pad with a stylus or you can find the proper way of using your right analog stick to create whichever weapon you want. Now don’t worry too much about how well you draw the shapes the game is very forgiving in that aspect. The more heroes you gather the larger the weapon you draw will be. But the player does not have to morph all the team. While some of heroes are used to create a giant shape others can do individual tasks. There is a lot of multitasking in this game and if you can figure it out and get all the gears going at once it can be a thing of beauty. But as I mention this can be overwhelming for people just picking up and playing the game that are not familiar with games like this since well… Lemings. You have to think about this from the standpoint of 100 characters not thinking about it from one.

Is also has a fair share of puzzle solving not just action. The puzzles are implemented by using the different morph abilities or special abilities to get your way through the challenge. Some examples are needing to build a bridge or pile all 100 heroes in a booth to be transported somewhere else.

Every world thats gets unlocked offers some sort of unique challenge. There is one world where the game play shifts and turns into a more of a rail shooter type mini game. There is also another aspect when you go inside a building and you can no longer see on the television and you can only play the game on the pad. This expansion of normal play just shows off what a great gaming company can do with the Wii-U when they try. If Platinum, Ubisoft, Sega and more can make great games then all the smack about difficulty working within the medium just seem like straight laziness. Platinum has made a beautiful game using all aspects of the system and is 2nd (Pikmin 3) of the many games that will come out within the next calendar year to show off all what the pad and system can do. I hope more people get an opportunity to play this game when more Wii U’s sell.

Also it’s worth mentioning that each world has a giant boss and the fights are incredibly fun. This all culminates in one of my favorite final battles with a boss ever!

The Wonderful 101 story is about 15 hours not the longest game in the world but it does allow you to go back and redo the levels for higher scores, to unlock different characters, different abilities and find secret paths to finish the levels. The game also has a challenge mode which you or up to five players can take on some challenges and kick some butt. I have not tried it yet as I have been occupied in the story mode but this seems like a great addition to add to the replay value of the game

This is a game that I truly wanted as a launch title for the Wii U. Platinum Games has done an excellent job with the hardware and crafted a game that is not only fun but unique to the aspects of the Wii U. In an age where everyone quick to jump off and on bandwagons like The red car in “Who framed Roger Rabbit” it seems that my patience for sticking by the Big N has finally starting to pay off. The Wonderful 101 is the first in line of many games that will be coming out soon that will be bringing a surge to the Wii U. Maybe not to the commercial success that some of their haters claim is the only important thing. But for anyone that stuck around or new adopters get ready for some of the best games that come out this generation. Platinum thank you for The Wonderful 101 and can’t wait for Bayonetta 2!

The Wonderful 101
9.5 out of 10
A MUST play for Wii U Owners!

Introduction
As a child of the 80s/90s and a huge fan of the original 1989 version of the game, I was thrilled to hear that a remastered version of DuckTales would be released for download on the Wii U, Playstation 3 (as well as a retail version for Playstation 3), Steam and Xbox 360 (available 9/11/13).

I myself, being a NES diehard fan and preferring Nintendo products to all other gaming systems out there, downloaded the game to my Wii U console the second the game was released. In fact, I had an alarm programmed to go off at 5 minutes before release, so I could be the first person to download the game… actually, just kidding I didn’t really do that, but it shows how truly excited I was for the release. Though, I will admit I was a tad worried with all the remakes out there that my childhood memories would be tainted by the absolute destruction of the game, but as the title screen played the beloved theme song that has rung over and over again in my head for 20+ years, my fears about the game began to subside. So without further ado, I have put together some thoughts about the game discussing a variety of categories, starting with what was the most striking difference to me at least, the graphics.

Graphics
While the original game was one of the best NES platform games of all time (the best in my opinion, next to Mega Man, which coincidentally was from the same creator: Capcom). The 8-bit graphics were classic and, honestly, while I was playing the game in the early 90s, I thought they were kick-ass! However, when I turned on DuckTales Remastered after the download was complete, I was astounded at what I saw. I was a huge fan of the DuckTales TV show and it was as if I was playing inside of a cartoon, jam packed with dry, sarcastic jokes and crisp and gorgeous imagery. The game features several different graphic techniques, including 2D hand-drawn character sprites and 3D modeled levels. The characters and levels are colorful and extremely detailed; giving you the impression that Disney (artists Mike Peraza and Rick Evans) really made the effort to bring the game to life in ways they never could with 8-bit graphics.

Voice Acting
A new feature to the game that really made you feel as if you were completely immersed in a cartoon, were the voice-overs. Original TV series cast members lent their voices for the characters, including a 93-year old Alan Young, as Scrooge McDuck. This element was a great addition to the remastered version, which also brought about a very detailed storyline to help clarify the levels, such as explaining how Scrooge McDuck can breathe Mars. I don’t know about you, but I always thought it was strange that he didn’t need an oxygen tank!

Storyline
In comparing the original to the remastered versions, an obvious difference between the two games is the storyline. There really was no clear cut story in the original. You needed to use your imagination a bit more. While we knew the point of the game and understood the characters, we really didn’t know why we were going to the Himalayas or heading into space. The new storylines explain some of the motives and reasoning behind each level.

Some other reviewers have complained about the storyline and mostly about the cut-scenes, as being too frequent during gameplay. Though I agree to a certain extent, because there are a TON of cut-scenes and they occur within the gameplay, I believe that the cut-scenes really added to the story and, for the first-time player and nostalgic 80s child gamer gave a greater connection to the characters. By the time you reach to the final boss, you really feel like you’ve been on an adventure; one that again is reminiscent of watching an actual DuckTales episode.

Since the gameplay, which we will discuss shortly, is difficult (even on normal), you will find yourself repeating levels from the beginning quite often, so the cut-scenes do get old, quickly. For the first time through the game, though, I enjoyed every minute of every cut-scene as if I was right there with the characters. You are able to avoid the cut-scenes by hitting the (+) button on your controller and selecting (A) and while it is somewhat disruptive to the game, it does impact playability. It is more of an annoyance and it would have been great if there was an option on the main menu to skip all cut-scenes. Maybe this is something that can be upgraded through a patch, but don’t hold out for it. It is certainly not a game purchasing deal-breaker.

Music
It is hard to not get giddy when talking about the soundtrack. Quite frankly it is one of the best soundtracks ever written for a game, but then again it always was, even with the original. The composer, Jake Kaufman, essentially took the original tracks and morphed them into full orchestral masterpieces. The game allows players to toggle between the new amped up soundtrack and the original 8-bit soundtrack, after clearing the game once. It also includes an option to hear 8-bit renditions of the newly rendered compositions.

Controls
The game controls are essentially the same as the original. The minute I started the game it was like riding a bike. The only difference was it was actually easier to maneuver the cane as a pogo stick. At first, I kept pushing down and (Y) and was annoyed at the fact that the pogo stick was not deploying well. I quickly learned that you simply needed to push (Y) or (A) to make the pogo stick work! Though, there is the option on the pause menu to toggle to the “hard pogo” which means it is down + (Y) or (A), just like the original game controls. The pogo still has its flaws as it still sometimes glitches and doesn’t deploy when you push the button, but this adds to the difficulty of the game. The cane can also be used on the ground to swing and break open certain objects. This feature is especially fun on the Transylvania board when you break the ball and chain holding the mummy ducks down. The mummy duck spins around so his bandages fall off and he is completely naked, TE HEHE!

Gameplay/Difficulty
Just like the original game, there are no checkpoints, so as soon as you run out of your lives it’s back to the main menu! If you grew up with 8-bit games, like Mega Man and DuckTales, you know how frustrating it can be to have to start from scratch every time you run out of lives. It’s a challenge, but I believe that is what makes a game fun and exciting. It also increases the games value, in my opinion, because if I’m going to spend a lot of money I don’t want it to take me a few hours to beat, I want to be frustrated, I want to throw my controller at the screen and yell profanities every 10 seconds because I keep having to start over!

A major upgrade to the game, however, was the difficulty level of the bosses. While the original levels were difficult to navigate and get through at first, once you arrived at the boss it was relatively simple to defeat them as their moves were very one-dimensional. Now, the bosses all have more than one attack element and come at you much harder with more obstacles to avoid. For example, in the African Mines, the King mole not only rolls in a ball in circles around you, but other moles bounce around in a stampede and enormous boulders crash down on you!

Another addition to the game is collecting items that are strewn around the maps before you can proceed to the boss. I like this element as it lengthens the overall time it takes to beat each level. It also provides more opportunity to search all nooks and crannies in the levels to find hidden treasures. The only part I did not think was necessary was the MAP on the pause menu. I want to explore and I don’t feel that the levels layouts are that complicated. It’s not like we’re playing Mario and have to beat Boo Castle where each door leads to another secret place that then leads you to another secret place and you can’t get back to the place you just were without circling the entire board again! So, to me the map seemed rather unnecessary.

Lastly, I just want to say how flippin’ fantastic it is to be able to go into your money vault and dive into the loot and swim around, just like the cartoon! This was always a fantasy of mine every time I watched the show on TV. In the original game this feature was not available, so it is certainly a welcomed addition and added to the replay ability of the game.

Replay ability
Replay ability-wise, once you’ve beaten the game you can go back and challenge yourself through the Hard and Extreme modes. Also, there are extra features where you can unlock character art, sketches, music etc. using the money you earned during the game. While there are only a few levels and bosses to beat, the levels are challenging and it will take some time to get through the game. As an excellent platform game player, it took me a week, sitting down for 2 hours a day of playtime, to beat it. Any novice/intermediate player should get quite a bit of time out of the game. Even if you beat the game in 4 hours you can still go back and replay again and again. It is that much fun! I honestly still sometimes play the original game on my emulator, just for a challenge.

Conclusion
Overall, this game fulfilled all of my hopes and dreams. As a huge fan of the original I was worried at first that the remastered version would destroy the memories of my youth; however, it was the complete opposite. The game revived my love for DuckTales and by adding new elements and features, and updating graphics and music composition, the game surpassed all of my expectations.

My only gripes are that it would have been cool if you could use different characters or weapons. The extras you can purchase through money made during the game had a lot of potential, but they only offered collectables that do not add any value to the gameplay. I also felt as though this game should have been limited to the Wii U system. This was a Nintendo game and given the lack of success the Wii U has had up to this point, it would have been a great ploy to get more people to buy the system. I assume that Capcom, Disney and Wayforward Games wanted more widespread availability to sell more games and Nintendo had no say in distribution, but it is just my thought that it should have been exclusive to Nintendo console (or DS as well).

The original DuckTales was a commercial success, with the NES and Game Boy versions selling approximately 1.67 million and 1.43 million copies worldwide respectively, each becoming Capcom’s highest-selling titles for their respective platforms. It is safe to say that DuckTales Remastered will be a huge success with old-school fans and new-age gamers alike. I would rate the game 9/10 and not a 10/10 due to some control glitches as well as the inability to play the game without the cut-scenes. It is difficult to find the perfect 10/10 game, but this one is right up there at the top of the list to buy for 2013!

So, I was talking with a good friend and fellow member of my ESH family B3’s King-Baby-Duck about what I should do for my first review as an official member of ESH. He, knowing my taste, said he has the perfect game for my first review that could take that love for the past and mix it with my love for blatant destruction and modern convenience. He suggested Brian Provinciano’s Retro City Rampage recently released for Wii Ware. I had not gotten a chance to play it yet, so it was the perfect game to get my feet wet with reviewing. What a ride it was playing this insanely fun game.

Now this being my first written review I will explain how I am going to do things. I judge on 4 vague categories, I will explain them below.

My overall score will be out of 10, but the game will be judged for what it’s trying to accomplish. To give a few examples: I would give Super Mario 3, Knights of the Old Republic 1, Arkham City, Pac-man, and Tecmo Bowl all 10 out of 10. That rating is regardless of the genre or age it was released. It’s just what I feel they were trying to accomplish with a game, how successful they were, and how much I enjoyed it.

Enough foreplay. Here we go!

Atmosphere (Story/Style/Graphics/Music)

Retro City Rampage at its core is an open world game, in the vein of a Grand Theft Auto. In fact, when first starting to play I would often get a feeling similar to the first time I ever played a GTA game. A feeling of complete freedom to explore a very alive city, full of all types of characters and many things to do as “player” who is a simple criminal set to accomplish tasks in his wacky criminal world.

Very quickly you see that this game is much more than just an open world game. It’s more of a tribute, a love letter to gaming history with constant smart referential humor. Yeah, I wanted to see how many pedestrians I could hit with the wonderful supply of vehicles you can “borrow” at any time. At the same time the game goes out of its way to remind you of some of your favorite franchises from the 8-bit age, and all in a very upbeat entertaining way.

As you might have guessed from the title, Retro City Rampage is designed in world of the 8-bit past. The graphics of the game have the looks similar to an old school NES game and they look great. The music sets the tone, as well being very familiar, but unique to the game and what mission you are on. I would sometimes stop playing for while just to flip stations on the radio, to listen to the rocking 8-bit music tracks.

The game also use some of today’s advances to immerse the gamer in the retro world, such as achievements, customization, auto save, game speed, ROM City Rampage; a prototype NES version of the game and more. The city you inhabit looks similar to the over world in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for the NES, which is sick because I always wanted to explore and kick ass in that world. Many buildings have things to do inside like play arcade games, gamble, run side missions, and customize your character.

The story is basic, but very entertaining. Right from the beginning you will be overwhelmed with the nonstop references from 80’s/90’s pop culture and gaming history. It is especially fun when you get to interact with characters from different franchises and at times and it almost plays out like fan fiction. I like the main story, but was way more impressed with the rapid fire jokes and humor that the game had to offer.

All in all the atmosphere of this game really brought you in and with access to different cars, weapons and things to do in the city Retro City Rampage really makes the 8-bit world alive like it never has before.

Feel (GamePlay/Controls)

Retro city Rampage felt rewarding to play and I have zero complaints about the way the game plays. The controls were very responsive and all the vehicles had a very different style when driving. Some were extremely funny. I wont spoil much in this review, but I will say my favorite of the vehicles that you see around town looks very similar to the Turtle Van for the aforementioned TMNT NES game and when you steal it, someone looking remarkably like Michelangelo comes out looking real pissed off. It’s this level of detail that this game brings to the table. Tons of weapons change up how you can handle enemies and for lovers of Super Mario you can even stomp on your foes heads.

When playing with a classic control style the layout is perfect. You can shoot your weapons (guns) with right stick, which is very accurate. When using the Wii remote (and I used this more because of convenient purposes) it became a bit harder, but was still extremely playable. After a while I had no issues playing this way. In fact, I always like playing any throw back or retro game with this control scheme; it really creates that nostalgic sensation being so close to the feel of the NES control pad.

Addiction Rating (replay)

Retro City Rampage is a game I will always come back to over the years. It’s what I call a “friends over game” as well, because I want to show it to my old school gamer friends when they come over. Even old friends who may not have gamed in years would love it. The arcade challenge mode and free play are perfect for having people jump right in for party play without wasting any time.

After finishing the main story, because of all the rapid fire of jokes and references, I personally wanted to immediately play the game again to experience the fun and see what I missed. This game is crack for me and I couldn’t get enough of it! At least for the reasonable future, this will be in my weekly gaming life to pick up and run through the city causing havoc.

Issues

Not many issues, but nothing is perfect. One of the strengths for me could also be a weakness for some people. The game, as I mentioned, has cultural references thrown at the player in rapid fire from beginning to end. While I do love this, when observing someone else playing through the story mode they said more than a few times, “Wow it all happens so fast I keep missing things. I wish it would slow down”. The game is like watching Robin Williams do stand up back in his coked up days. Non-stop frantic action and I can see how that might not be for everyone.

My only real issue is actually a personal wish. I would love if it was possible to zoom in a bit on the city; same thing in Tecmo Super Bowl, I wish you could zoom in and make the players bigger, like in the original Tecmo Bowl. It’s not really a big deal, but I’m a bit blind. Zooming in would have just been an amazing extra option. But at no point did this detract form my enjoyment of the game it only would of helped me personally immerse myself even more in the action and humor.

In the End

Retro City Rampage is a title that any life long gamer and anyone with some gaming knowledge, love for 80’s-90’s pop culture, or just a fan of the 8-bit age, owes it to themselves to play through. You will smile and laugh more times than you can count and it’s a fun game for local play with friends working on challenges while rampaging through the city. The game has fast paced action which can become overwhelming at times for some, but the games fun factor pushes it to the point of a must play for everyone.

Loves
Cultural references will have me laughing for years and sharing with friends
Game play amazingly fun, easy and rewarding
Incredible amount of extra content for non-stop action and lots of love put in by the game designers
Music is perfect!

Final Issues
May be a bit too rapid fire for some folks
Sensitive people need not apply, as this game glorifies violence in the best cartoon way
Gameplay is so fun I could care less about a story
Wish you could zoom in on the city

9 out of 10
A Must Play!