The idea of a game’s replayability being one of its main selling points is, I think, a really interesting idea because the standards for replayability have evolved with the standards for video games in general. After all, when you say you want replayability in a game, do you mean that in a sense that it’s fun and you’d like to relive the fun? Perhaps you skipped some content in the game that you’d like to go back and find? Maybe you want to take another look at the writing in the game now that you know the conclusion? Or are there multiple endings that you want to discover? Or perhaps you’re playing a game in which you make very important decisions and you want to experience the game from other answers? Perhaps it’s something else entirely? Regardless of reason, there are several reasons one could have for replaying a game. Admittedly, I probably don’t replay as many games as I should. Moreover, most of the games I’ve replayed I’ve only replayed once–maybe twice if it was short. Yet I also think that gives more gravity to the games that I have replayed more than once or twice because it speaks in volume on behalf of their timelessness. The only stipulation that I’m putting on this list is that there’s only 2 games on here that I can recall the exact number of times I’ve beaten them–the others are approximations which will be listed.
5. Harvest Moon: More Friends in Mineral Town
“Beaten” 3-5 Times
via gamefaqs.net
I have the word “beaten” in parenthesis because you don’t necessarily “beat” Harvest Moon–you just get to a point where you’ve done pretty much everything, so you start over and try something new. And that’s exactly what I’ve done with my first and favorite Harvest Moon game, More Friends in Mineral Town. I’d usually get to about a millionaire status before I’d start to get bored of my farm and want to try something new–making new friends, making them at different times, trying new crops, trying to get certain events, although I never did marry anyone else since Cliff was my waifu4laifu. Outside of marrying everyone, I’m pretty sure I’ve otherwise done everything there is to do in this Harvest Moon entry.
4. Kingdom Hearts
Beaten 4-6 Times
via wikipedia
I’ve madeno attemptsto concealthe factthat I’ma JRPG junkie. The first JRPG I ever played was Okage Shadow King, but the first JRPG that I fell in love with and even beat was the first Kingdom Hearts. Regardless of how I feel about the franchise now and what it’s devolved into, it will still always hold a special place in my heart for being the JRPG that got me into JRPGs. I got Kingdom Hearts shortly after it came out in the States, but because I was so young and such an inexperienced gamer, I could never even figure out how to beat the ambush on Destiny Islands. It wasn’t until a few years later, shortly after Kingdom Hearts 2 came out, that I would decide to revisit it to see what all the hype was about. Needless to say, I was hooked. I made it a point to replay it at least once every other year or so, eventually. And when the 1.5 Mix came out in the States, I replayed it yet again. Because I’ve replayed it so much, I know what to expect and exactly what to do anytime I enter the game now, and replaying it now has become very relaxing for me.
3. Devil Survivor 1 and 2
Beaten 6 times each
via eurogamer.net
I didn’t expect to fall as in love with these games as I did, yet here I am: Having played each to 100% completion. These games are oozing with moral ambiguity–who are the good guys? Who are the bad guys? You can just as easily argue one over the other–and I adore not just games, but any kind of story like this. Antagonists who are arguably more justified than the protagonists, protagonists who may or may not be in the right depending on how you look at it–I think stories involving these kinds of factors add a HUGE layer of interest and involvement to the story, especially if it’s a story in which you’re in charge of several important decisions, as you are in these games. Because I got so interested in the story, and more importantly because I thought each side was equally right and I wanted to see what would happen had I sided with one over the other, I ended up getting all the possible endings to both games: 6 in each.
2. Spongebob Squarepants Battle for Bikini Bottom
Beaten countless times, but less than the #1 game
via youtube.com
I can’t tell you how excited I was for Christmas 2003 when all I wanted was a copy of this game–and lo and behold, my amazing parents got me a copy. The ad made it look amazing, despite all the technical problems of Revenge of the Flying Dutchman I still had lots of fun with it, and most importantly, I was 9 years old–I loved Spongebob. There was no reason for me to not be excited about this game. Needless to say, upon playing it, it exceeded my expectations. With a wide variety of levels, collecathons that added a lot of replayability to the game, and just plain being fun, it’s really easy to understand why anyone would replay this game as often as I did. Like many of the other games on this list, I didn’t want to stop until I’d hit 100% completion–which, by the way, was no easy task for me in light of just how much there is to do in this game. It’s aged incredibly as well, on top of that. To this day I’ll re-play it if I want to play something more relaxed even though there’s nothing new for this game to offer me–it’s just that fun.
1. Jak & Daxter
I’m not sure numbers go high enough to reach the amount of times I’ve beaten this
via wikipedia
Ask any passionate gamer about the games that got them into gaming and they’ll usually have one or 2 particular games that turned them from someone who casually enjoyed video games to a full-blown gamer. This, to me, is that game. The first console I ever had was a PS2, and at first, we mostly just had racing games. This was the first non-racing/non-puzzle game we owned and my sister and I fell in love with this highly-praised platformer immediately. I didn’t know games could be this fun–and so, both my sister and I would play it endlessly. We wanted to experience everything this game had to offer. And when we did, we wanted to do it all over again. And again. And again. There’s so much variety in this game that it definitely never felt repetitive–an absolute must for any games hoping to have any replayability to them. I still replay this game every so often, in fact–hell, I can still 100% the game in a few hours, no problem. It’s aged wonderfully. There aren’t many games that have enticed me as much as the colorful world of the first Jak & Daxter game–mixed with the nostalgia I have for it, this is a game I’ll still be replaying in years to come.
As always, feel free to comment with your most replayed games and why you’ve replayed them so much! Do you think replayability is important for a game to have? How much replayability is too much?
With the holiday season upon us, it’s high time for stress, commotion, and of course, a lot of really good food. Sometimes though, it’s important to take a step back and chill. Sometimes it’s with a book, sometimes it’s with some music, and sometimes you need something to take your mind off of things for a bit.
Many of us have to wait what seems like an eternity to finally get that long-awaited sequel or prequel we have always craved. But there are some games that don’t take such a long development cycle. I’m talking about annual entries of games. Some examples would include Call of Duty, Assassins Creed, Madden, Fifa, and Halo to name a few. However, it seems like people are looking at these series with more and more disdain.Why is this? My thought: it’s the problem of too much of a good thing.
The Madden series may not be perfect, but it has definitive reasons to come out every year. Image Source: Walmart.com
Sometime people want a sequel but what they get isn’t what they had hoped for. You also run into the problem of people taking it for granted. “Why should I get excited for this? It comes every year.” For some games however, it’s expected. Mostly sports games have these annual installments. This makes sense as rosters change, new players are added to teams, members are drafted and stats changed. People want to use players in a different way, and introduce new ones on their team. There’s a reason for the sequel there. This it ties into another problem annual releases have: not enough reason.
Let’s take Assassin’s Creed. The series has done such great work trying to bring history to life and making a great saga. However, after the third game, the response to them went down. This was due to the third game finishing the framing narrative of the series. Assassins Creed 4 did well however, as people saw it as less restrictive and less likely to be bogged down by a narrative many thought had run it’s course. But then Unity and Rogue were released. People picked up on the purpose of these. The story and experience wasn’t as important to the developers. What was important to the developers was keeping the game popular.
Probably the lowest point of the series, Assassin’s Creed Unity highlighted the lack of polish and the want to push out a product. Image Source: Moby Games.com
This is counter-productive however. If you want something to remain popular, keep it fresh. Keep what people loved about the old but give them something new. It can be alluring to have an annual upsurge of millions of copies sold for your development company. Even though Infinite Warfare isn’t what people wanted, it’s still selling copies. But it’s projected to sell much lower than hoped. The numbers have been consistent over the years, but they seem to be going slightly down. More than that, they are resonating worse with fans. Hopefully annual releases can become “I can’t wait for that this year” instead of the same thing, but a different year.
Natsume Championship Wrestling is a game for fans of ‘puroresu’
Natsume Championship Wrestling is a port of a game based on legendary Japanese wrestling promotion All Japan Pro Wrestling. The original Japanese title is Zen-Nippon Pro Wrestling Dash: Sekai Saikyo Tag, and had a massive focus on tag team wrestling.
Super Famicom cover art, featuring Shoei “Giant” Baba. Image courtesy of Hardcore Gaming 101.
For hardcore fans of Japanese wrestling, or ‘puroresu,’ Natsume Championship Wrestling contains some winks and nods to legendary wrestlers from the 90s.
Image courtesy of GameFAQs.
It also helps that Natsume Championship Wrestling is a competent pro wrestling game in its own right. Natsume Championship Wrestling contains the timing-based grapping of the ever popular Fire Pro Wrestling series, along with colorful graphics and tight controls.
Image courtesy of GameFAQs.
The game was quietly released in 1994 over in the United States. While it was popular over in Japan, Natsume Championship Wrestling never got a hold (wrestling pun intended) in North America. Perhaps it was the lack of then-WWF or WCW name branding or the overall different gameplay from other pro wrestling games at the time.
The man, the myth the Japanese pro wrestling legend himself, Giant Baba! This man helped define a new generation of professional wrestling in the Land of the Rising Sun. Image courtesy of Puroresu Spirit.
The promotion utilized “King’s Road” style of wrestling. King’s Road contains a big focus on athleticism and storytelling, while maintaining the over-the-top nature of American pro wrestling.
Kenta Kobashi (red trunks) and Mitsuharu MIsawa were the two top wrestlers in the 90s for All Japan Pro Wresting. Their matches are near perfect. Image courtesy of YouTube user ClassicPuro83.
Stan Hansen became one of the most famous “gaijins” in Japanese pro wrestling. Image courtesy of Illegal Foreign Object.
Giant Baba’s tragic death resulted in more than a few massive shake ups within All Japan Pro Wrestling. The 2000s started a rather unpopular period for the promotion, due to just about every popular wrestler either leaving or retiring. However, around the start of the new decade All Japan has slowly regained its foothold in Japan.
Jun Akiyama, who flourised in All Japan and its off-shoot Pro Wrestling NOAH, is now the president of All Japan Pro Wrestling. Image courtesy of Puroresu Spirit.
Natsume Championship Wrestling is unique among other SNES wrestling games Natsume Championship Wrestling is one of the few wrestling games on the SNES to attempt to match the gameplay style of Super Famicom grapplers. Players will not be mashing the attack button and expect to win after a bombardment of kicks and punches. Natsume Championship Wrestling instead urges players to time their grapples and strikes.
Waiting to hit that punch may take some quick thinking in Natsume Championship Wrestling. Image courtesy of GameFAQs.
It’s a system that rewards patience, but it is far more user friendly than Fire Pro Wrestling. For example, Fire Pro matches are generally slower and more deliberate. Natsume Championship Wrestling’s matches are fast paced and allows players to perform moves quicker. Using a combination of the D-pad and grapple button, players can perform a wide array of moves. Timing is everything though and this will take a while to get used to it. It does make for fun gameplay, once a player finds their routine. There is also a health meter to keep track of a wrestler’s stamina.
MISSILE DROPKICK!!! Image courtesy of GameFAQs.
Unlike the WWF games of the time, Natsume Championship Wrestling has distinct moves for each wrestler. Many of them being techniques they used in real life. Stan Hansen has his infamous lariats, Jun Akiyama has his vicious suplexes and Kenta Kobashi has his devastating strike maneuvers.
Image courtesy of Giant Bomb.
The roster is composed of several popular wrestlers from the mid-90s in All Japan Pro Wrestling. However, due to all of them being near-unrecognizable to American audiences at the time, they all of psuedonyms. Kenta Kobashi is dubbed Conan and “Dr Death” Steve Williams is rechristened as Big Ape. Puroresu fans will be able to recognize the grapplers based on their well-detailed character portraits.
The late Jumbo Tsurata is renamed Asteroid. Image coutesy of GameFAQs.
The impressive graphics aren’t just shown on the character select screen. Natsume Championship Wrestling is very colorful. The ring itself is a nice blue, like the All Japan ring during the 90s. Sprites during the matches themselves reflect each wrestler well and are well animated when big moves are performed. Occasionally there is a hiccup, but the graphics are more than serviceable.
For some obscure wrestling trivia: the blonde guy, J.Kraze? That’s Johnny Ace aka John Laurinaitis! Image courtesy of GameFAQs.
Natsume Championship Wrestling has features not seen in other US professional wrestling games
The addition of tag team wrestling is welcome and it’s executed well. Unfortunately, players cannot customize teams, since they are all preset teams. Interestingly enough, many of them were teams during the 90s in All Japan.
Double team! Image courtesy of GameFAQs.
Other modes include championship tournament and round robin tournaments. Round robins are common in Japanese wrestling and they consist of blocks where wrestlers will fight each other a few times. Winner with the most points based on their performance moves forward. It is yet another creative inclusion to Natsume Championship Wrestling that is sure to be a blast with friends.
An example of a round robin tournament. Image courtesy of GameFAQs.
The music is decent too, with several wrestler’s theme songs being highlights. Jun Akiyama/M. Roach’s is a standout. Although, the SNES soundtrack is changed from its original Japanese soundtrack. For example, the title screen are drastically different.
Strangely enough, All Japan’s founder, Giant Baba is not playable in the SNES version. Depending on the translation, neither is Mitsuharu Misawa who is one of puroresu’s biggest stars.
One of Gaming’s Undervalued Treasures
Natsume Championship Wrestling is exceptional and more fulfilling than the WWF games on the console. The tactical aesthetics and gameplay may be daunting to many players, but once they get in the groove, it’s fun. The game could even be a great introduction to Japanese professional wrestling.
Author’s note: I can assure you, puroresu is AWESOME!!! Image courtesy of YouTube user ClassicPuro83.
A few months ago I wrote a short list of games that especially deserve a digital re-release. The key word here is “short” because there’s many more games than I listed that deserve to be re-released on an online gaming distribution network like PSN, Steam, the Nintendo E-Shop, etc. Some, however, deserve to be re-released and therefore made much more available to players more than others. Most notably games that are harder (read: more rare/expensive) to obtain despite being well-loved, therefore making it difficult for both old and new fans to play them. As the gaming market starts to lean more and more toward digital releases, it’s important that these games don’t get left behind–which they currently are. So today, to remedy this, I’d like to draw your attention toward more games that especially deserve a digital re-release.
Super Smash Brothers Melee
via venturebeat.com
Go back to 2001 and Super Smash Brothers Melee was the talk of the town. Everyone had it, everyone loved it, everyone played it religiously. Today? Less people still have it even though everyone loves it and the competitive scene for Melee is still very much alive. This game is 15 years old, yet it’s still played at EVO.
Because it’s on the Gamecube, there’s no way to practice online for it–which really sucks for players wanting to play other players that aren’t in their fucking house–let alone hundreds if not thousands of miles away. Normally I wouldn’t call this such a big deal, but because the competitive scene for Melee is still very much alive it’ll definitely affect you if you can’t practice effectively.
This game is still incredibly beloved and widely played–both competitively and casually. In fact, that’s what’s made it so expensive these days–it’s not that it’s a rare game by any means, it’s the best selling game on the Gamecube, it’s just that nobody wants to give their copies up since it’s the staple of the Gamecube library. Considering that 3 Smash games–2 of them being very well received, no less– have come out since Melee and yet Melee is still arguably the most popular Smash game out there should speak in volumes. Nintendo would make buckets of money if they re-released it and gave it an online feature. No balance patches, just let us play it online. That’s all it needs.
Blood Will Tell
via hardcoregaming101.net
Often called a big hidden gem on the PS2, Blood Will Tell is a highly underrated game that definitely deserves a re-release. Have you ever heard of Osamu Tezuka? If you have, good. If you haven’t, have you ever heard of Astro Boy, Black Jack, or Metropolis (2001)? Then you’ve heard of Osamu Tezuka. Although Tezuka is well-known for being called the “god of manga” or “godfather of anime” what a lot of people tend to forget about him is that he also made a story for a video game, too: Blood Will Tell. The game is based on one of Tezuka’s manga, Dororo. For reasons that aren’t completely clear, it’s considered to be a somewhat rare game and prices tend to run in the $50 vicinity. Between the lack of accessibility interested players have, the fact that it was inspired by a Tezuka manga, and the fact that it’s a Sega game, it genuinely surprises me that this game hasn’t already been re-released in one way or another.
Ninja Five-O
via hardcoregaming101.net
If you know even the first thing about collecting rare GBA games then you know about Ninja Five-O. This game is, without a doubt, the most rare and expensive game on the GBA. For reasons that aren’t completely known, Konami didn’t distribute many copies of this game–very unfortunate for them because this game is constantly showered in praise from the lucky few who’ve had the opportunity to play it. To find even a cartridge of this game is an incredible find, but to find a copy complete in box in 2016 is almost unheard of. Especially in the midst of the tough times Konami’s been going through since the start of all the drama that erupted between them and Hideo Kojima, the cancellation of Silent Hills, and the exposure of their horrendous business practices, it makes me wonder why they haven’t bothered trying to get a re-release of this game on the Nintendo E-Shop yet–clearly it’s a well loved game that would sell just fine with lots of curious players who’d line up to play it.
Super Mario Sunshine
via youtube.com
This one kind of speaks for itself, honestly.
Pokemon XD Gale of Darkness
via gamefaqs.net
The year is 2005: The Pokemon 2000 movie is still fresh enough in everyone’s mind, Pokemon Emerald came out not too long ago, and what looks cooler to a young Pokemon fan than Shadow Lugia? I remember watching the commercial for it and desperately wishing I had a GameCube even if this was the only game I could play on it–it looked incredible. 11 years later and there still hasn’t been a Pokemon game quite like Gale of Darkness–by which I mean, an RPG. For that matter, there were no console Pokemon games for the Wii U, so it’s been a while since we’ve seen a Pokemon game on console. Like the other games on this list, it’s expensive (such are the highlights of the GameCube library) and loved by those who have played it–making it only harder for new fans to play it.
Especially in light of the recent surge of new Pokemon fans this year (from all the 20th Anniversary events and/or Pokemon Go) I definitely think there’s a lot of merit in re-releasing this game, both for old fans who want to relive it and new fans who are intrigued by it but don’t have $90 on hand to buy it–and that price is assuming, of course, that they already have a GameCube.
Hopefully when the Nintendo Switch arrives, a GameCube library in the Virtual Console will arrive with it. Especially considering how much more Nintendo-focused this list is compared to the last one, don’t forget to leave comments on games that you think especially deserve to be re-released. Like I said on the last list: The common thread in these games is that they’re hard to obtain physical copies of: They’re all rare, expensive, and at least 10 years old. If you have any other major reasons you’d like to see a certain game or a group of certain games getting re-released for, be sure and let us know.
A growing trend in media is the scavenger hunt. Everyone likes to play Sherlock Holmes, everyone wants to be a detective. Sure, Easter eggs in movies are fine and we all look forward to our Stan Lee cameos in Marvel movies. There’s an ongoing hunt across both seasons of Mr. Robot as viewers scramble to uncover clues about what, exactly, is going on. And over the last month or so, we’ve gotten maybe a glimpse as to who Sombra is.
The full roster. No hidden characters! (via FacePunch)
In case the very plain comparison to Team Fortress 2 was missed, here’s the deal. Initially both games started out the same way. You pay up front and have a chance to earn unlockable things. The way the two differ, however, is in the way they presented their characters. Now, I’m not saying one is better than the other, but at least when Valve released their last ode to the characters of TF2 it didn’t send fans into mania.
First up, we’ll cover Valve. Team Fortress 2 was released in 2007 as a successor to their team-based FPS Team Fortress. The main changes were the style and the emphasis on character personality. TF2 looked more like a cartoon, and Team Fortress looks a bit like a low-res Counter Strike map. Over the next several years, all the way up to 2012, Valve put out videos in the “Meet The…” series. It was a jovial look at the personality of each character; what made them tick, if you will. But Valve had every one of those characters as a playable class from the beginning.
Blizzard, on the other hand, had a set character roster at the outset of Overwatch. Currently, one character has been added: Ana Amari. Her reveal was a bit unceremonious, although not silent. Blizzard released the character on their public test region (PTR), then into the base game as part of a larger update. Simple. We got to know her, and the history she has with other characters.
And then Blizzard started teasing players. One by one, clues for a mysterious hacker started cropping up. Edit an image a certain way, and there’s a clue. Look into the source code of one update’s patch notes, another clue. And so Sombra was hinted at for so long. Over a month, in fact. Fans speculated that once the countdown found on amomentincrime.com, Sombra would be released. It’s over now and all that’s left is another clue. As of October 25th, there’s even more, promising something big next Tuesday.
This article, situation, and past several weeks summed up in one image. (via XOGram on tumblr.)
For the most part, it’s tiring. Just release the character. Please. At this point it’s a conflict of interest between Blizzard and the Overwatch community. From a casual player’s standpoint (hi that’s me) it just seems like a shallow attempt at getting people to play Overwatch. And people do still play it. Blizzard is not ceasing development due to a dwindling player base. Overwatch, like every other Blizzard game, will stay in the niche that it fits into. And it will do well in that niche.
Game devs do not need to go to great lengths to engage their players outside of the game. Guess what? It’s a video game. You’re engaging your audience through it. There’s no need for a scavenger hunt to extend the realm of it. Whether it’s due to the lack of immersion or some other angle, it all seems so extra.
Then again, I did praise Mr. Robot for doing this exact same thing. The show’s crew, namely Kor Adana, saw the potential for it to be hackable. A show about hackers, itself, being hackable. It’s a match, and it works. And it makes sense. Mr. Robot’s entire premise is that viewers do not know what’s happening. Viewers don’t interact with video games the same way they do with TV. There’s no mechanical input over a course of time. There’s no engagement further than what the show makes viewers think about, so capitalizing on that absence isn’t over-the-top.
Is there a niche of players who love ARG puzzles and want the trend to continue? Sure, I bet there is. There’s also a whole band of players who think that over a month of teasing for one cryptic character release is unnecessary. Information about updates from game devs needs to be told in absolutes. Are we getting something? Yes? Cool, when?
There’s a small town in Pennsylvania called Centralia. In the 1950’s it had about 2000 residents. Today, it has about 10. The reason being because there’s been a mine fire burning beneath Centralia since 1962. The fire was originally meant to be a garbage incinerator but needless to say, it got out of hand. To this day the fire still burns. There are signs in the city warning people to leave because the fumes could cause injury or death. Centralia became a ghost town: A ghost town that would help inspire one of the finest game series of all time, Silent Hill.
Known for its highly psychological, atmospheric, and symbolic horror, Silent Hill instantly became a paragon of perfection for survival horror games when it was released in 1999. Its first few sequels maintained this status, and for a while Silent Hill was arguably one of the best and most consistent game series on the market. After making 4 highly successful games, Team Silent, the team who had been developing the games, dispersed in 2005. For almost 10 years, the once incredible franchise entered what seemed to fans like an inescapable slump until the release of PT–Silent Hills–in 2014. A collaborative effort between Hideo Kojima and Guillermo del Toro, PT was going to breathe a desperately needed new life back into the Silent Hill franchise, but a few months later the project was cancelled and even removed from the PlayStation Network. Needless to say, the Silent Hill franchise has experienced a number of horrors itself. Today, I’d like to walk you through those horrors and explain the incredible history behind one of the finest and most influential horror series of all time, Silent Hill.
via ask-alessa-gillespie.tumblr.com/
Often called Konami’s response to Resident Evil, the first Silent Hill Game, simply titled Silent Hill, came out for the PlayStation 1 on January 31, 1999. Despite being a Japanese game, it came out in North America 2 months before it did in Japan–highly unusual, even today. Silent Hill tells the story of Harry Mason as he searches for his adopted daughter who has run away to a mysterious town called Silent Hill. Whilst looking for her in the ghost town, he encounters monsters, a fiercely religious cult, and traces of the horrifying history of the town. Silent Hill was met with incredibly positive reception, selling over 2 million copies and was included in TIME’s 2012 list of the 100 Greatest Games of All Time.
Two years later, the highly anticipated sequel, Silent Hill 2, was released on the PlayStation 2 and XBox. The story, completely unrelated to the first game, was about a man named James Sunderland who received a letter from his deceased wife that says that she’s waiting for him in their “special place” in Silent Hill. The town is almost completely abandoned, save a few people: Most notably a woman who has a striking resemblance to his wife, and a little girl who seems to know something that James doesn’t about the whole ordeal. Perhaps the most well-known aspect of Silent Hill 2 is Pyramid Head–one of the bosses of the game–who has since become one of the mascots (alongside the nurses, who appear in every entry) of the Silent Hill franchise.
via technobuffalo.com
Like the first Silent Hill, Silent Hill 2 was endlessly praised upon its release. It sold over one million copies during its first month in North America alone. To this day, it still receives endless praise–IGN included it on their list of the Top 25 PS2 Games.
Acting as a direct sequel to Silent Hill, Silent Hill 3 came out 2 years later also on the PlayStation 2 and PC. It takes place 17 years after Silent Hill: Heather Mason (Harry’s daughter) is being harassed by the same cult that her father had conflict with in Silent Hill–they want her to birth their god and bring destruction and deliverance upon the world. Refusing to help them, Heather returns to Silent Hill to nip this problem in the bud and find out why the cult wants her, specifically. In doing so, Heather unveils more history about the town than any other Silent Hill entry. Like the other Silent Hill games at this point, Silent Hill 3 was barraged with praise upon its release and dominated Japanese sales charts for weeks.
The final entry that Team Silent worked on, Silent Hill 4: The Room, came out a year after that (2004) for PlayStation 2, XBox, and PC. Although it didn’t receive negative reception, it wasn’t overwhelmingly positive as it had been for the previous 3 entries. This is generally blamed on an emphasis in combat in this entry–something very unusual for a Silent Hill game, and as such, it wasn’t very fleshed out. Reception was generally lukewarm, but leaning toward positive. A review on Eurogamer said it “has gone backwards to the extent that it’s no longer our favourite horror series.” Still, the story of this game seemed to save it: You play as Henry Townshend, as he tries to escape the confines of his room. In doing so, he begins to have horrifying visions of everything around him, therefore beginning a conflict with a serial killer. The main thing that set this game apart from other Silent Hill entries (other than the use of combat) is that it doesn’t take place in Silent Hill: Rather, an apartment in a town called South Ashfield. After this game was completed, Team Silent split up to work on other games. Knowing that the Silent Hill franchise had become a cash cow at this point, however, Konami refused to let it end with The Room. Many say this game is where the decline of Silent Hill began.
In 2006, a live action Canadian-French movie about the first Silent Hill game (also titled Silent Hill) was made. Despite replacing Harry Mason with a mother figure and including Pyramid Head (who, at this point, was exclusive to Silent Hill 2), the movie generally was able to well adapt Silent Hill. Highly praised for its stunning graphics but highly critiqued for its complicated and rushed story, it grossed about $100 million worldwide. In doing so, it also introduced several new people to the game franchise–including myself.
A year later, Silent Hill: Origins was released for the PSP. Taking place a year before Silent Hill, Origins tells the story of Travis Grady as he searches for information for a girl that he had once saved from a fire, and his search leads him to Silent Hill. Meant to have gameplay and elements that more closely resembled the first Silent Hill, critics panned it for feeling too similar to it–to the point where it didn’t feel like a new game. Some critics, however, liked that about the game, and for that reason its scores are generally okay. A year later it got a port on the PS2 which was panned for the same reason, in addition to lower quality graphics: A sin for the Silent Hill franchise, which has always prided itself on its visuals. So began the death of Silent Hill.
Later that year (2008) Silent Hill Homecoming was released on the PlayStation 3, XBox 360, and PC. It’s worth noting that this entry never came out in Japan for reasons that, to this day, still aren’t very clear. It was the first time that a Silent Hill game had been produced by a Western development team: Double Helix Games. The story follows a soldier coming home from war, Alex Shepherd. Upon his return, he finds out that his younger brother has gone missing. His search for his brother leads him to where else? Silent Hill. During his search, he uncovers a lot of information about his family’s past, cultist activity, and his town’s past. Development for this game is well known for having been a very messy process: There was a change in development teams, several ideas were scrapped to the point that it was almost a completely different game than what Konami had originally promised, and it had issues with several censorship laws–most notably in Australia and Germany, where it almost wasn’t released. Despite its hardships, it received very lukewarm reception but leaning toward negative for being very unoriginal and predictable. For anyone who was still in denial, this game is what made it abundantly clear that the once great Silent Hill was in the midst of a decline.
In 2009, a re-imagining of the first Silent Hill, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, came out on the Wii, but was eventually given ports to the PlayStation Portable and PlayStation 2. (Yes, you read that correctly: The PS2.) Despite meant to be a re-imagining, many say it feels more like a cover of the first Silent Hill, as many gameplay elements have changed to fit the Wii: Most notably an increase of combat and changing a few elements of the story. Although receiving decent scores from critics, the game didn’t sell particularly well. It wasn’t until it was ported that it was finally able to break even.
The next Silent Hill game wouldn’t come out for another 3 years–Silent Hill Downpour for PlayStation 3 and XBox 360. Having waited an extra year for the usually biannual franchise and having just had a game that was decent in a pool of mediocrity that the franchise had become since the end of Team Silent, many had high hopes or Downpour. What they got was critically lowest scoring Silent Hill game ever at the time. The game is about a prisoner named Murphy Pendleton who enters an alternate dimension of Silent Hill and in doing so, unlocks several repressed memories. The game was highly panned for, blatantly put, painful mediocrity with poor gameplay and even technical problems such as freezing up on more than one occasion. The reason Downpour is only arguably the worst entry in the franchise at its time is a reason that came out only a week after it: Silent Hill HD Collection. Simply being a PS3 port of Silent Hill 2 and 3, it’s hard to imagine what could’ve gone wrong, right? Everything. Everything went wrong.
It had been 9 years since the release of Silent Hill 3 and even Konami knew that the franchise was in the midst of a major decline. Perhaps reminding people how wonderful the franchise used to be might encourage sales of the newer entries? If nothing else, perhaps they could cash in on people simply wanting ports of what are generally called the best entries in the series (alongside the original Silent Hill.) And so, an HD port of Silent Hill 2 and 3 was underway by Hijinx Studios. What Hijinx didn’t anticipate, however, is that when Team Silent left they took a lot of their files and data with them: Hijinx only had unfinished codes to work from making the development process so horrific that it’s almost legendary. There were few textures and sound effects in the files they were given, and perhaps most infamously is that in Silent Hill 3, Heather was completely blue. Upon completion, many agreed that although upscaled, the graphics were actually worse than they were in the original versions of the game. The audio quality dropped substantially, as well. The cherry on top of it all was that it had several glitches and was generally very buggy. Needles to say, the HD Collection was the epitome of a hot mess.
During October of the same year, a second Silent Hill film was made: Silent Hill Revelations. This time, it was meant to be an adaptation of the third Silent Hill game. Despite this, it contained only fragments of the story of Silent Hill 3, and fans and critics alike panned it horrendously for not just being a weak adaptation, but a weak standalone film as well. Additionally, the jaw dropping graphics that were praised in the first film were noticeably absent from Revelations, which only dug its grave even further. It grossed $52.3 million worldwide, essentially half what the first Silent Hill movie had made.
Konami needed a good Silent Hill game for it to bounce back on, so they made Silent Hill: Book of Memories for the PlayStation Vita later that year. All they did was drive Silent Hill further down the pit which they had forced it into. Receiving even lower scores than Downpour, Book of Memories is generally referred to by fans as the worst entry in the series, barring the HD Collection since it’s a port. It’s the first Silent Hill game with a nameless protagonist–that being the player. On “your” birthday, you’re given a book with your entire life in it, and if you change the contents of the book, then your memories will change accordingly. You attempt to make some changes to your life, but needless to say, it doesn’t work out. Perhaps the best quote to describe the game comes from Greg Miller while he was working at IGN who wrote, “If you just want dungeons to crawl through and couldn’t care less about polished menus and engaging stories, great. Everyone else, don’t feel bad if you skip Silent Hill: Book of Memories.”
Silent Hill was in a horrendous decline. Fans knew it. Konami knew it. Everyone knew it. Would it ever return to its former glory? Without Team Silent, was this franchise doomed to fail? Not quite. In August 2014, a free demo was put on the PlayStation network called P.T.–or Playable Teaser. Developed by Kojima Productions (under the alias of 7780 Studios) this short teaser was absolutely brilliant: Critics and fans and even people who hadn’t played a Silent Hill game before adored it: A review by Erik Kaine on Forbes says, “I found myself getting more and more anxious as I descended the increasingly creepy building, looping the same hallways over and over again. Everything from lighting to sound design is pitch perfect, with a few great jump moments, but mostly just a rising sense of dread.”
via businessinsider.com
At the end of the teaser, it was revealed that this was a teaser for a new Silent Hill game called Silent Hills–in addition to that, it was revealed that it would be a collaborative effort by Hideo Kojima (creator of the Metal Gear franchise) and Guillermo del Toro (director of films such as Pan’s Labyrinth and Pacific Rim.) At long last, a Silent Hill game that could restore Silent Hill to its former glory was underway. It had been a long time since Silent Hill fans had been so excited to play a new Silent Hill game. For the first time since the release of Silent Hill 4, there was hope for the franchise.
That is, until Kojima left Konami.
Many of us probably remember drama that went down between Kojima and Konami during early 2015, but just in case, suffice to say, there was a lot of conflict between the two, resulting in Kojima’s departure. On April 25, 2015 P.T. was removed from the PlayStation Network–2 days later, Silent Hills was cancelled. So begins the brutal desecration of Silent Hill.
Hope shouldn’t be lost, Konami told the fans of Silent Hill, because they were working on something Silent Hill related. Although it had been a long time since a good Silent Hill game had been released, skeptical fans still were listening attentively. Surely, after the genius of P.T., surely this must be something good, right?
Alas. The new Silent Hill project that Konami said it would make in place of Silent Hills was a Silent Hill themed pachinko (slot machine.) Needless to say, fans were outraged. Fans are still outraged a year since its announcement. A P.T. inspired indie game called Allison Road recently resumed production after about 2 months of being cancelled. Konami hasn’t breathed a word of Silent Hill since the pachinko machine announcement a year ago, so perhaps an indie game inspired by it is what Silent Hill needs right now.
To quote Steven Hopper in his earlier review of Silent Hill Downpour, “Being a Silent Hill fan is a lot like watching Eddie Murphy movies. You keep thinking back and remembering the glory days, while quietly thinking that maybe this next one movie will be the one to restore him to Beverly Hill Cop/48 Hrs. glory (or in Silent Hill’s case, the days of Silent Hill 2 and 3). However, time and time again, we are ultimately disappointed among the Norbits, Klumps, and Homecomings. But we keep with it, remembering the good days, and in the case of Silent Hill, recognizing the key strengths of the franchise, and hoping that some capable developer will put the series on top of the survival horror heap where it belongs.”
Catalyst Labs released Shadowrun: Anarchy this past week, and naturally I picked up a nice PDF copy. I then printed out that copy and stuck it in a binder. And then I read it. And let me tell you, I liked what I saw. Shadowrun is notorious at this point for having an overly complex system of dice pools, character creation, and in fifth edition, matrix and astral plane actions in addition to everything that happens on the physical plane. Trapped in a musty cellar? You can alter players’ dice pools on the conditions. Need to hack into some club’s server for a mission? Get out your dice. It’s no surprise that most GMs, myself included, offload some of these things to their players. You wanna register this sprite? Do your tests. Be honest if you glitched.
The Rundown
Shadowrun: Anarchy (or just Anarchy from here on out) seeks to correct some of these things. Most notably, it emphasizes the fact that it’s a collaborative storytelling effort. The GM is there to guide the story along with the help of the players, not so much create a world that players inhabit. From the get-go I can see Anarchy being great for one-off campaigns where people don’t have a lot of time to sit down and plan a run.
That being said, Anarchy gives players and GMs a lot to work with when it comes to character resources. NPCs and player characters have a dedicated chapter which includes a smattering of 60 fully-realized, fully-playable characters in every species, race, gender, and archetype imaginable. It’s incredible how many are in the book. In addition, Anarchy gives GMs a variety of goons to throw at their players. These range from large rats to small dragons and everything in between.
Playing the Game
Anarchy’s character creation process is pretty straightforward. Characters pick their metatype, helps and hindrances, and character-defining cues. This is what’s new to Shadowrun in this version. As opposed to a dedicated GM running a sandbox that players get to experience, the GM acts as that one guy in an improv play that knows what they’re doing. In fact, most of Anarchy is like an improv play: there’s a lot more responsibility on the players to keep the story moving. Turns of gameplay are broken up into narrations, and players can expend plot points to make the story go where they want it to or keep their characters… you know, alive. Which is something I appreciate.
The cue system, as it’s called, gives players plot points to start out with and at the GM’s discretion, gives them more for exceptional narrations. Players do cool things, players get rewarded. Players have a say in the story. If they don’t like it, they can change it. It’s an engaging, fast-paced change from the typical tabletop model where decisions can come back to haunt players. In long-term campaigns, that still persists, though in shorter one-offs, it’s a lot more hands on.
Playing the game this past week went about as smoothly as I’d hoped. The premade characters helped out a lot. (GM Tip: Put character sheets in page sleeves so that players can use dry-erase markers on them. Pencils can tear paper and it keeps the sheets in pretty good condition.) The three players I had picked out characters with ease and we got down to running. We poked fun at the dad-joke cues that some of the characters had, and I led them on a run.
A sample Anarchy character sheet.
Quirks and Overall Adaptability
I think the hardest thing about running a game of Anarchy was letting go of a lot of the control you have as GM. As a fiction writer primarily, I have set places I want my stories to go and I spend a lot of time building the world they take place in. I’ve been worldbuilding for our upcoming Shadowrun show for weeks, and I still have a fair bit to go. I want things to be as realized and intricate to my players as they are to me. Anarchy takes a bit of that away because players can change things so easily. It’s not something I was really prepared for at first.
Another thing is some places in the book that haven’t exactly been proofread. Some paragraphs reference the alpha test version of Anarchy, which is pretty funny to look at now. Then again, every first-edition has its quirks.
There are other things that just come with the nature of Shadowrun. There are still a lot of rules, and some of them aren’t explained so well. I still have no idea how to orchestrate matrix or astral combat, let alone meatspace combat. Even though skills have been greatly simplified, it’ll take some getting used to.
Also: players get three plot points to start each game session. I mistakenly gave them none. (Sorry guys.) Other than the fact that getting used to a different version of pen and paper RPGs takes time, I didn’t see a problem with it. Catalyst Labs also included a guide on how to convert Shadowrun 5E to Anarchy and vice-versa. Which is incredible. The cues system really exists as something that can be removed, as well, so adapting it to a different setting wouldn’t be a stretch by any means.
Final Thoughts
While I enjoy the finer details of Shadowrun’s vanilla 5th edition, I find myself wanting to use Anarchy in more and more campaigns. It’s good news for my players, it offloads some of the nitty-gritty things that GMs go through, and it makes for a really nice experience overall. It’s interesting to see a pen-and-paper RPG styled more like a board game than anything else, and I like the direction Catalyst Labs went with Anarchy. To me, it’s a kind of party trick to keep in my back pocket. Anarchy makes it quick and easy to get a few friends together and run a session. It’s an incredible introduction to some of the conventions of tabletop RPGs, and Anarchy presents it in an easy-to-learn format. 10/10, Catalyst Labs. Well done.
Overall, I’m super in love with this release. Can you tell?
Darkstalkers 3 is one fast paced, yet incredibly fun, fighting game
Darkstalkers 3 is one of Capcom’s biggest cult hits in the fighting game genre. Similar to the rest of the Darkstalkers series, Darkstalkers 3 sets itself apart from other fighting games at the time. It’s extensive roster of horror movie monsters, spooky techno/jazz soundtrack and some of the most engaging fighting game mechanics keep Darkstalkers 3 fun. It’s also one of the fastest fighters in Capcom’s library.
Vampire vs Succubus! Only in Darkstalkers. Image courtesy of VG Museum.
Equipped with envelope pushing features, Darkstalkers 3 was quietly released in 1997 in arcades, and was not a major hit. The popularity of the then-new Capcom vs series overshadowed Darkstalkers 3. The game was also marketed as Vampire Savior, which may have confused gamers. Home ports did not fare much better. The Sega Saturn port was Japan-exclusive and the PlayStation 1 was mostly ignored.
Original arcade flyer with the name confusion. Image courtesy of Hardcore Gaming 101.
Darkstalkers 3’s fighting mechanics are top notch The fighting properties in Darkstalkers 3 are the definition of addictive and will have players coming back for more in no time.
J. Talbain v J. Talbain to see who is the most badass, kung fu werewolf! Image courtesy of VG Museum.
Darkstalkers 3, and by extension the rest of the series, is more than just Street Fighter meets Universal Monsters. It’s a very technical series, where air blocking, dashing and timing with super meters is the norm. Darkstalkers 3 continues this trend, but welcomes additions. For instance, players can enhance special attacks by taking a chunk out of their special meter. Instead of utilizing a super, the player can instead chain a standard special with this feature. The game also introduces the Dark Force EX special mode, which is similar to the Super Art mode in the Street Fighter III sub-series.
This new feature to the series allows for quicker, more concise matches. For a game known for being technical, having the ability to blow through a match in a short period of time is great. Make no mistake, Darkstalkers 3 is a blisteringly fast fighting game, but it also requires a good amount of skill play it.
Luckily for new players, the controls are not difficult to learn. Anyone who has played any Capcom fighter will feel right at home with Darkstalkers 3’s control set up. Chaining combos and launching special attacks with come as easy as tying one’s shoes.
A shockingly balanced roster, eye-catching graphics and a solid soundtrack round out Darkstalkers 3 For many gamers, a good roster in a fighting game is what matters most. Darkstalkers 3 has a sublime roster lined with creative characters. The roster contains the series’ trademark originality. The busty succubi Morrigan and Lilith, catgirl Felicia, the vampire Dimitri and fan favorites J. Talbain, the nunchuck wielding werewolf and Eddie the Head’s long lost twin brother Lord Raptor. Newcomers include Q Bee, a human-esque bee and BB Hood, who is what happens when Little Red Riding Hood has Deadpool’s personality.
The whole freakin’ roster! With the two *ahem* MOST popular fighters at the forefront. Image courtesy of Fighters Generation.
Darkstalkers 3 contains one of the most badass villains in any fighting game. Jedah Domah is a stoic and ruthless demon, who has some disturbing special attacks. His ultimate plan is to destroy the universe and build it back up as he sees fit.
Jedah taking on the Frankenstein’s Monster inspired character, Victor. Image courtesy of Fighter’s Generation
Disturbing describes the game’s graphics in many instances. Backgrounds range from a jungle with sadistic plants, a post-apocalyptic city or a satanic fetus. They are all colorful, yet creepy, and fit the vibe. With the game taking place in the demon world, known as Makai, it makes sense to have weird and eerie settings for fights.
There it is folks, the fetus. Pure nightmare fuel. Image courtesy of VG Museum.
However, the rest of the game’s graphics are incredible.Anyone taking a look at Darkstalkers 3 will notice it feels like a mid-90s Marvel Comic book. The is game full of vibrant colors and heavy on action. Sprites well animated and fluid. Darkstalkers 3’s animations even rival the almighty Street Fighter III: Third Strike. Animations will perfectly reflect the fighters personality, especially BB Hood who is full of expressions. Special moves are an absolute delight to look at as well.
BB Hood calling in the cavalry! Image courtesy of Hardcore Gaming 101.
To top it off, the soundtrack a good mix of atmospheric and moody horror with techno-jazz.
Darkstalkers 3 is simply just fun to play and will wow players with its uniqueness. It does not condescend new or returning players and anyone watching will be in awe over how gorgeous the game is. Sticking around for the excellent, fine-tuned gameplay helps enhance playing. Playing this game on All Hallow’s Eve also adds to the experience.
