Tag: gamer

Retro Rogue – Midnight Club

Since I can remember, I’ve always loved cars. As a child, I had a huge Hot Wheels collection. Anytime I would go to a toy store, I would leave with at least one new car. I was also obsessed with car wash sets, especially the ones that allowed you to actually wash the cars with soap and water (I also had an obsession with watching clothes in the washer… though never the dryer, but I digress…)

I also felt safest in a car. When I was a kid, my mom would take my sisters and me on mini-road trips on the weekends. We’d usually stop at a toy store on the way out of town (on these trips, I’d get an action figure, rather than a new car), get some snacks for the road, and be on our way. I LOVED being in a car, driving somewhere, and listening to music.

My love of cars naturally made its way to my love of video games. For the most part, these games were more traditional racing, like Gran Turismo 3. Somehow I got a code or something that unlocked all the cars and gave me a bunch of money. It was SO much fun (I was a kid and didn’t want to invest the time to unlock everything.) Sometimes I would race around, but sometimes, it was just a place of pretend of me. I’d pick a place on the track and pretend it was a house, and just pretend there were places for me to drive.

After watching The Fast and the Furious, my love of cars shifted to street racing cars… and my video game preference shifted as well… Enter Midnight Club. I don’t remember how I discovered the game, but I remember loving that it was an open world. It made it easier to play pretend. Now I could actually pick a building to be my “home” and I could drive around “running errands” and whatnot. I had an entire imaginary life. Don’t get me wrong, I played the game as intended too… but once I unlocked everything, I needed something to do. I remember unlocking this car that was like a spaceship. It went SO fast. I loved it.

When the 2nd entry in the series came out, it was a no-brainer that I would buy it. I don’t remember much about the second game though. The first one I remember vividly. It’s weird, but there are some songs I associate with games, despite having nothing to do with the game. Example being Hottie by Ashley Ballard. It is from the Spyder Games soundtrack (a story for another time…), and I remember listening to it while playing the game. I can’t think of one without thinking of the other.

Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition came out sometime when I was in high school. The game is BY FAR my favorite racing game. Not only did I get to race around in an even BIGGER environment, but I got to customize the cars like never before. If you wanted your car to look like something out of The Fast and the Furious, you could absolutely do that. I spent so many hours customizing cars and even more hours just driving around. The soundtrack was INCREDIBLE too! My introduction to M.I.A was via this game. I wish there was a remaster of this for the current gen consoles.

Midnight Club 4: Los Angeles was, unfortunately, the last game in the series. I haven’t played it in a while, but I do remember playing it shortly after moving to Los Angeles. It was interesting to see how the city was translated into the game. I love it for its depiction of Los Angeles, and because I was loyal to the series… but 3 was better.

I’m not sure why there hasn’t been another Midnight Club. Rockstar, also the company behind Grand Theft Auto, has made references to Midnight Club via Grand Theft Auto Online. I hope that means it will someday make a return… but I’m not holding my breath. It is interesting to me though that Grand Theft Auto Online now has more street racing elements. There is even an event, or maybe a trophy called Midnight Club.

There have been a few mumbles of a revival of the series. My fingers are crossed.

Retro Rogue – Bust A Groove 2

This idea came to me the other day when I was working out. See, I make a playlist each day I work out. I feel it helps motivate me to actually work out and I like having a theme. The other day, I was inspired by my Bust A Groove 2 playlist, and my workout was all songs from that game. I figured, why not make a series where I talk about retro games? So, here it is.

I don’t know if anyone will know this series, I only know it by chance. See, I had a cousin who was a big gamer (when I say cousin, don’t think someone my age, he was an adult… not that it really matters to the story). It was Christmas time, I was maybe 9 or 10? I was at my Nana’s house and my dad came over with this big trash bag full of games… a literally big, black trash bag. Why in a trash bag, I don’t know. Anyway, my cousin just got a Dreamcast and rather than keep his Playstation and Playstation games, he was getting rid of them… which may explain why they were in a trash bag… I guess my dad happened to be there, so rather than let them get thrown out, he took them and gave them to me.

This bag of games would be my introduction to the Darkstalkers series. There was also a Star Wars fighting game that I loved… but everyone else hates… and Bust A Groove 2. I’ll do my best to describe the premise of the game. It is unlike anything I had played before… or since. There are a series of characters, all with their own stories… and unique dance styles. If I remember correctly, they are in a dance battle for a prize of some sort… Anyway, each round, two characters battle and you can actually use attacks on each other. During each battle, there is a part where each dancer gets a solo, so if you time your attack the right way, you get your solo and you get to take your opponent’s solo.

Much like with PaRappa the Rapper, you gain points by entering the command you see on the screen. With Bust A Groove 2, everything is on a 4 count. There is a rectangle where a series of commands will be, and you can enter those at any time during the first 1 – 3 counts. Next to it is a square, and that one button must be pressed on the 4 count. If you enter the command correctly, and on the count, you get points. This was VERY confusing to me when I first started playing, and I hope I explained it correctly here… I’m sure there are YouTube videos of gameplay if you are curious to see how it works, but I got better as time went on. As the battle progresses, the commands become longer and more intricate. I remember thinking the game was cheating when I was first playing… but now I could play it and win every time because I learned how to play (I felt the same way with another Rhythm & Music game, UNiSON… but that’s a story for another time.)

The music still makes me want to dance and I love the characters. My favorite character is called Kitty-N. From what I remember, she is an actress. Her stage is a film stage (oh yeah, each character has their own stage that has its own song.) She has more ballet dance moves and is dressed in a… well, catsuit. Despite her being my favorite character, my favorite stage is that of Shorty’s. If I remember correctly, Shorty is the daughter of dancers or choreographers. She’s called Shorty because she’s just a kid, and she has a pet animal in her backpack while she dances. With her stage, you are on a raft of sorts going down a river… but it is more like a water ride at an amusement park, and it is taking you through a “jungle” and the song is called Happy Hearts in Sunshine.

I forgot to mention a part of the “battle”. Each combo successfully done adds to a meter. There are three, Cool (green), Chillin (pink), and Freeze (blue). The meters start on different levels at the beginning of the battle. As the battle goes on, and you do successful combos, it allows you to do more moves and get Cool to end the combo, doing those well lets you get Chillin when you successfully end the combo and then Freeze. If you line up all three meters, the stage will do something special. For instance, with Shorty’s stage, the tour will stop at and inside a tunnel and you’ll see animals dancing around you. Also, if your score is high enough Shorty’s pet, Columbo, who is also an unlockable character, will jump out of her backpack and dance alongside her.

This game was such a part of my childhood. Listening to the songs takes me back. I’d love to own it again… but I don’t want to pay $90 for a Playstation One game… at least not right now. This game makes me think of when I’d go to Babbage’s with my allowance in hand, and purchase whatever used game I could afford that looked interesting. I know there are still indie games out there, but I feel games don’t take as many risks as they used to. I’d love to see a concept like this revived today.

Final Fantasy VII

I’ve never been one to be on trend and Final Fantasy was no exception. In fact, I wasn’t truly familiar with the franchise until I learned Final Fantasy X was in development. My cousin, who introduced me to the likes of Max Payne, Brave Fencer Musashi, and Grand Theft Auto: III, let me borrow Final Fantasy VII during the Christmas break of 2000. Aside from Pokemon and Brave Fencer Musashi, I didn’t know anything about the RPG genre.

Final Fantasy VII had been over three years. All my friends who played RPGs had already played it. They even gave me advice and tips when I got stuck… yet somehow I still avoided the Aerith spoiler. It was one of the most influential experiences in my gaming life (Silent Hill 2: Restless Dreams was another, but that’s a story for another time). My party typically consisted of Cloud (since I couldn’t remove him), Aerith, and Tifa. Tifa is, was, and always will be my main, as I love a brawler chick, but I appreciate a white mage, so Aerith was always in the mix too. Though this game is 25 years old, I want to avoid spoilers, for some reason, so I’ll just say after the Aerith incident, my party consisted of Cloud, Tifa, and Yuffie.

Fast forward a few years to college. My roommate was a collector and his collecting ways rubbed off on me. Before meeting him, I didn’t care about collector’s editions, be they strategy guides or the games… but I was forever changed. He also got me into reading Kotaku and paying attention to E3. I had long been a reader of GameInformer, so I was aware of what E3 was, but I wasn’t watching the presentation… until I met him.

I remember the Playstation 3 Final Fantasy VII tech demo. I believe it was during an E3 event. I was SOOOO excited! But there was no word of an actual game being made. It faded from my mind until I was watching the Playstation Experience presentation… All I remember is hearing the Final Fantasy VII music, and I was giddy. It turned out to be a trailer for Final Fantasy VII Remake, coming to the Playstation 4. I’ll probably make a separate post for Remake, but the announcement and subsequent release of the PC port of Final Fantasy VII on PS4 brought back so many memories for me.

As a teenager, I would play a Final Fantasy game during my Christmas break. It became a tradition for me. If not Final Fantasy VII, then it would be Final Fantasy X or X-2. I played the PC port around Christmas time of 2019, as Remake was set to come out in Spring 2020. There is something so comforting about playing this game. Maybe because it was the first real RPG I played (and beat). Maybe because it reminds me of childhood (I was 12 when I first played it.) The game will always have a special place in my heart, as it has for millions of others.

Just last week, Final Fantasy Rebirth, the second installment of the Remake trilogy, was announced, and it is set to release next winter. Those feelings of nostalgia came rushing back yet again, and now I want to drop all the games I’ve been playing and replay Remake AND the PC port on PS4. It’s such a beautiful game with a beautiful story, and it has a hold on me.

Marvel’s Avengers

Where shall I start in regards to this game?

Well, I was a HUGE fan of the Marvel Ultimate Alliance series. Beat ’em up brawlers have always been my jam. You give me a Dynasty Warriors game and I can be entertained for hours. Add X-Men to the mix… and I’m sold.

I was one of the unfortunate souls who really only discovered X-Men Heroes as it was coming to consoles… and anyone who played that knows how it went. It spoke to my love of Marvel Ultimate Alliance. Being able to run around (as Elektra, in her Netflix outfits, of course) and level her up while beating up baddies was so much fun.

When Marvel’s Avengers was announced, it too spoke to my love of Marvel Ultimate Alliance, and I’m sure others felt the same. It’s one of the few games, if not the only one, that I love not necessarily for the game itself, but for the potential I see. I am rooting for Marvel’s Avengers like Tyra Banks was rooting for Tiffany on ANTM. I see what it can be and I want it to get there. And I really REALLY want to see some X-Men (and my girl Elektra) make it to the game.

Though it has been a bumpy road (ie 10 months without new content, no new roadmap), I still haven’t given up on this game. I do my daily challenges, I buy skins (when they are on sale). And even though I thought the echo character would be Yelena (who I was so excited for), I’m intrigued to play as Mighty Thor aka Jane Foster, when she comes out. Yesterday, there was also leaked audio of characters talking to She-Hulk, Winter Solider, and Captain Marvel. Of those three Captain Marvel is the one I’m most excited about.

Despite not giving us a traditional roadmap, I do believe content will continue to come to this game and I’m going to keep playing.

I think my current dream list for the game is: Scarlet Witch, Yelena, Jean Grey, Storm and Elektra. (I figure, once they figure out how to put a Scarlet Witch and Doctor Strange in the game, it would be easy to translate those moves to Jean Grey and Storm… hell, even Sue Storm.)

Are you still playing Marvel’s Avengers? Why or why not? Who are the characters you’re looking to see come to the game?

Dead By Daylight’s David King Comes Out

I have been wanting to get back into blogging. I have A LOT of thoughts on A LOT of things… and an IG story and/or tweet doesn’t give me the room to properly express myself. So, here we go…

This morning Behaviour Interactive announced David King, one of the characters of their game Dead By Daylight, is the game’s first gay character. And chaos is ensuing…

Something about me, I’m a lurker. Always have been, probably always will be. It is fascinating for me to go through comments and see how people react to certain topics. If you don’t know, a lurker is someone who rarely interacts in comments/posts/blogs but reads them. Now, I’m going to share my thoughts.

From my years of lurking, there tends to be a typical response when diversity representation comes into play (read that as an originally white character being a different race and/or an originally straight character coming out). It is usually met with “this is diversity for the sake of diversity, why not just make a new character that is (insert race and/or gender and/or sexual orientation)”… The same people would still argue “this is diversity for the sake of diversity” if it were an original character.

Then you have the “I’m part of X group, and I agree that it isn’t necessary,” I call those the Tokens. In this instance, “I’m gay, and I agree that David shouldn’t be gay, or they should have made a new character that is gay.”

A few people in the comments made some sense. The gaming world, like all realms of entertainment, and, well… life, was initially developed for and catered to the straight white male. Times are changing, and people are evolving. No longer is straight and/or white the default. While some find it arbitrary to make David gay (to be completely honest, I don’t play as any of the men, other than Chris Redfield, so I didn’t even know who David was, I think Dwight would have made a better choice, but that’s my opinion), I find it arbitrary that people assumed he was straight.

I saw a comment from a Token asking, what does being gay have to do with the game anyway? Does it help him finish generations faster? Does it help him escape? I’ll take a moment to briefly explain the game, if you don’t know it, though I assume you do, since you’re reading this, Dead By Daylight is a game where 4 players must restart 5 generators that will allow them to open an escape door to … well, escape, all while avoiding a killer coming after them.

This Token saddened me. I assume they aren’t aware that a common criticism of the LGBTQIA2+ community is that we “make it our identity”. No, being gay doesn’t relate to the mechanics of the game itself… but neither does being straight, and everyone was A-OK with believing all the characters were straight. People claiming they would prefer Behaviour Interactive create an original gay character would have been just as upset. They still would wonder what sexuality has to do with the game. The answer is nothing, it has nothing to do with the game, but it is good to have one’s assumptions shaken every once and a while. For the most part, we are going to go into an experience assuming people are straight unless told otherwise (there are obvious exceptions to this, such as going to LGBTQIA2+ designated spaces, but you know what I mean.)

And that’s the funny part, we are so indoctrinated, that we don’t even have to think about it, which is sad. I’m a black gay male, when I read a book unless the book specifies, I assume I am reading about straight white people. When I play a video game or watch a TV show or movie, I assume I am playing/watching straight people. Even with the amount of representation as far as gender, race, and sexual orientation, there are STILL times when I’m shocked because it will be so subtly thrown in sometimes. I’m like, wait, that man just said he has a HUSBAND?!? And sometimes, it is never brought up again. Some may ask, what is the point if it isn’t important to the story? To that, I say, because that is life. Sometimes you meet a man who has a husband, and you may never see that man again. It is art imitating life. I’m so used to straight being the default that I actually tried to explain away what I heard or saw. Take, for instance, Tommy from The Last of Us. It took my second playthrough to “accept” that he was gay, and not just talking about his “best friend.” Instances where a brief moment or piece of dialogue lets the player/viewer know a character isn’t straight is so beautiful because sometimes, that’s how it happens in real life.

This is why representation matters. I think it is more powerful to make an existing character gay (again, Dwight would have been a better choice, but, hey,) because it forces you to reexamine your thoughts of the character. I never thought much of the character, one way or the other, but now I see a new depth to David. He is the macho-looking straight dude, and honestly, I feel that is why people are so upset, because he was likely the character the straight white dudes gravitated towards, and they are shook.

I’ll sum this up by paraphrasing a comment I saw and loved, but there will be more to come regarding representation in media, the commenter simply (and beautifully said), “dude, chill, people come out.”  

The Walking Dead: Season Two & A New Frontier (games, not the show)

I first played the first season of The Walking Dead a few years ago. I thought I’d played the second season as well, only to learn (by the time they were available on PS4) that I hadn’t. Being the trophy whore that I am, I decided to play the first season again on PS4 and play seasons two and three (A New Frontier) as well.

I haven’t watched the show, I can’t give a reason why, I just haven’t gotten around to it yet. I love the games though, and if they represent the show in any way, I’m certain I’ll love the show too. Ever since Indigo Prophecy (at least, gaming wise, book wise, it was the Goosebumps: Choose Your Own Adventure), I’ve been a fan of stories that allow you to alter it by the choices you make.

With The Walking Dead those choices were typically life and death, and even the smallest of choices could lead to a life or death decision. I cared about the characters, especially Lee and Clementine. Clementine is my favorite child character from any video game.

Right after the first season, I went right into the second season. I really enjoyed the updates to the graphics and the gameplay, but most important, I loved the character development of Clementine. In season one, she was a little girl who didn’t understand what was happening and there were many heartbreaking moments where she was forced to understand for her own survive.

The Clementine you see in season two is wiser and more self-sufficient and she continues on that path as the season progresses, and more difficult choices are thrown your way. By the time you encounter Clementine in A New Frontier, she is miles away from that little girl she was in season one. She is a hardened survivor, but every now and again, you’d see bits of that little girl underneath. It was an amazing story, and she is set to come back for the final season next year, I’m so excited. Also, you can have your decisions from one season carry over to the next, which I love.

Though I tend to favor vampires of all the fantasy creatures, I do have an interest in zombie games, stories, movies. Playing through The Walking Dead even inspired a story idea of my own. I’m currently fleshing out the outline (which is always the easiest part for me) and hopefully I’ll write the script some time next year.

If you’re a gamer and like TellTale games, or point and click games in general, I highly recommend giving The Walking Dead a try. If you are more about gameplay than story, these might not be the games for you.

Resident Evil 5

Resident Evil 5 for PS4 arrived on my doorstep on July 12th (thankfully, I have Tuesdays off) and I immediately dove in.

It is easily my favorite game of the series. It’s safe to say it one of my favorite co-op games as well.

Years ago, a buddy and I platinumed the game on PS3. It was so much fun. He had played with a friend of his, who helped him beat the game under five hours and get the unlimited rocket launcher ammo. In turn, he played through with me so I could get it as well. Then we played through on Professional Mode, and unlocked that Platinum trophy.

We planned to platinum the game again, this time on PS4. Most of my PS4 RE5 play experience has been with him. I read an article the other day talking about what made RE5 such a great game was the co-op. After a few hours of struggling to play Professional Mode on my own, I can’t help but agree. The AI is incredibly annoying when you play single player. Co-op allows you to get things done much faster, whereas playing single player felt more like leading Chris (I always play as Sheva) around, which only slowed me down. Not to mention, for whatever reason, he won’t use the rocket launcher at all. He tends to go for guns that have limited ammo, rather than using the ones I give him that have unlimited. My buddy and I beat Veteran Mode together in a little over three hours.

In three hours, I am just entering Chapter 3 of the game, which is about the halfway point, playing solo on Professional.

I’ve yet to play RE6, despite owning it, but, from what I recall, the reviews weren’t favorable. Nonetheless, if it has a co-op experience like RE5, I’m sure I will enjoy it. And all this Resident Evil play just makes me excited for RE7.

E3 2016

E3 has been the new Christmas for me as an adult. Once upon a time, I was subscribed to GameInformer and that was how I heard about all the E3 news. However, all that changed when I moved to Arizona.

By E3 2007, I was friends with Adam. At the time, we lived together and shared a room. He introduced me to so much and one of those things was watching the E3 conferences.Now, almost 10 years later, I look forward to watching them each year, especially Sony’s.

I was pleasantly surprised this year, though it will be pretty hard to top last year’s announcement of the FFVII Remake. My favorite is a game called Bound. I love the art style and the movement of the character. It looks like a game I would almost enjoy more watching someone else play.

Of course, I am in love with Detroit: Becoming Human. I’ll play anything by Quantic Dream because I already know it will have an amazing story. Speaking of, I was happy to hear their first game, Indigo Prophecy, will be making its way to PS4. I also own the HD remakes of Heavy Rain and Beyond Two Souls on PS4.

A lot of people are excited about the new God of War. It looks really great, but I have yet to finish any of the original games, so I couldn’t get too excited about it. Another big one was Resident Evil 7. I’m not sure how I feel about it yet. It felt a bit too much like Silent Hill to me and I like that the two horror series had such distinct styles. I do like that it seems to be going back to its horror roots. Overall, I’m cautiously curious about it.

I’m also very  happy about the Skyrim remaster coming to PS4, because I never got around to playing it when it first came out. I also almost screamed at work when I heard about the Crash Bandicoot remakes. A lot of people have negative feelings about remasters, but I love them. If I can help the developers put funding towards new projects by repurchasing games I want to replay, but don’t want to play on older systems, it feels like a win-win to me.

Overall, this year I haven’t been as excited about games as I have been in the past. Maybe it has to do with the fact that I am constantly researching games, so by the time I watch E3 conferences, I already know what to expect.

Dead Or Alive Xtreme 3

I platinumed the game the other day. It was one of the easier platinums, though rather tedious and repetitive. I love the Dead or Alive Xtreme series. I don’t know if it is because I’m gay or what, but I absolutely love buying the different swimsuits and seeing how they look on different girls.

I started as a fan of Dead Or Alive on PS2 with Dead or Alive 2: Hardcore. I’m a huge fan of fighting games and I loved the graphics. I’m also, more or less, a Sony fanboy. I was devastated to learn DOA 3 would be exclusive to Microsoft’s new Xbox. So, I purchased one.

By the time I bought one, Dead or Alive Extreme Beach Volleyball had been released. I remember my mom was so hesitant to buy it for me (I was maybe 15 or 16 at the time, so I couldn’t buy it myself due to the M rating). I still love the song “How Crazy Are You?” by Meja because of the intro to the first two games. I felt so accomplished when I got ever girl the Venus costume. See, in the first two games, instead of rejecting your gift, as they do in the third, they would just throw it away, and obtaining money took more effort back then.

While playing the third game in the Xtreme series, something hit me like a ton of bricks. I remember there was a lot of controversy about the game. Now, the Dead or Alive series  is known for its controversy due to the way the female characters look and dress. There was a lot of fun made over the physics of the second game where the individual breasts had their own creepy movements. Even when the girls stopped moving, their breasts kept going.

This time, the controversy was over not bringing the game stateside. There was some odd statement about how it was due to the issues of sexism in video games going on stateside. But the real reason, at least in my opinion, is the same reason they bumped up the girls ages from 16 to 18 for the stateside releases of the games… It looks a little too much like child pornography for our Western taste.

I remember playing as Marie Rose and thinking, this just looks and feels wrong. There is no way this girl is 18. She is so much smaller than the other girls. It doesn’t help that in anime, even grown adult women tend to have child like tendencies. It just felt wrong to have her in swimsuits other than her own. For the most part, the ones you could purchase as her (as the girls have different collections) were very sweet and innocent. Most of the other characters… not so much.

So, her outfits look weird on the other girls, who are… fully developed, to say the least, and their outfits looks wrong on her because they are skimpy and sexy and she looks so young and childlike. It would have never gone over well stateside. And for good reason. After playing as her to get the trophies I needed to get playing as her, I haven’t used her since because it makes me feel creepy, especially when there are missions where you have to take voyeuristic photos of the girls.

If there were ever to be a release outside Japan and Asia, which I highly doubt at this point, I don’t see how they would do it without completely removing her from the game. Though, in all honesty, I’m not sure why she’s in the Xtreme series game in the first place rather than Lisa, Lefang, Tina and/or Christie.

Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age

The time has finally come! I found out around 2am (PST) and I literally gasped and repeated “Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god,” until I could confirm it was true.

It all started with a simple trip down memory lane thanks to Facebook’s “On this Day,” feature. On this day, two years ago, I posted a link to an article about a rumor of FF XII HD possibly being announced at 2014’s E3. I’ve been patiently, well, patiently may not be the best word, waiting for this since I heard of the FF X HD remake (which I own for PS3 and PS4 now). I remember reading somewhere that Square Enix said they’d remake FF XII if FF X/X-2 sold well.

So, I saw that post this morning and commented that I’m still waiting. For years, I’ve randomly googled “Final Fantasy XII HD” hoping for an update with no luck. Something told me to check this morning and I gasped when I saw the announced had been made a few minutes before I searched.

Not only are we getting a remake, but we get the international version.

I’ll be honest, I wasn’t the hugest fan of this game’s story, but I loved playing the game. It felt like playing a MMO offline. It was also one of my first purchases when I moved to Arizona.

The last time I played it was years ago. At the time, I had a 60gb PS3, so I could still play PS2 games. I had started a new game and was maybe halfway when my PS3 died. I couldn’t find another 60gb, so I had to buy a new slim model. I’m excited at the chance to finally beat the game.