It's All Good

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Chrono Trigger (Super Nintendo) Review

One of the truly greatest RPG experiences ever created.
When Chrono Trigger first appeared on the Super Nintendo console in 1995, it quickly became regarded as one of the most unique and impressive RPG releases to hit the system. Not only was the game developed by a who's who of some of the greatest RPG designers in the industry, but the finished product showed a level of polish that few RPG fans had seen up to that point. While the game came late in the life cycle of the Super Nintendo console, it's gone on to become one of the most collectible RPGs available for the system and a game that still draws raves from role-playing game fans even still today, almost fifteen years later.

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars (PSP) Review

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars first made its appearance on the Nintendo DS back on March 17, 2009. Rockstar recently decided to bring the title over to the Sony PSP, but revamped a bit.

Analysis of anime: FLCL

To properly analyze FLCL, we must first consider the theme of the series: coming-of-age. This is demonstrated through Naota’s pursuit of maturity, the idiocracy of adults, and Naota’s personal development throughout each episode.

Naota is going through puberty. His life is rapidly changing and he is experiencing all kinds of new and confusing emotions.

There are many different parallels between FLCL and society. The foremost is the innuendo of a young male’s sexual awakening. People are quick to defend the series — “Naota is only 12 though! Why would they make a whole series about sex?” The truth is, many people find FLCL curiously amusing and engulf themselves in the crazy series with out considering the obvious sexual tension and metaphors.

Road Rage in Test Drive Unlimited 2

When I was 17, I loved driving. I couldn't imagine a time when being in a car, by myself, would feel stifling or mundane. But then I got older and realized that cars are cages on wheels, containing barely restrained animals. Our basest emotions emerge behind the wheel. Driving has become a chore, a meaningless and hostile means of conveyance. Nowadays, when I want to experience the pure thrill and freedom of the open road, I play a video game.

So last night, I cracked open my copy of Test Drive Unlimited 2, a driving game released on Tuesday by Atari. The game's breezy title promised a stress-free environment in which to tool around freely. Limits? Who needs them? I was going to drive around the island of Ibiza with the wind in my hair (seriously, there's a button that lets you roll down your car's windows). So I whipped through the silly introduction and learned the basics. I was playing as a valet who is terrible at her job. As a reward for sleeping on the job in a Ferrari California, I was handpicked to be the next contestant in some sort of racing series.

Red Dead Redemption

In the year 1911, John Marston, a retired outlaw formerly of a gang led by Dutch van der Linde, is taken away from his wife Abigail and his son Jack by government agents. The agents tell Marston that he will be reunited with his family if he hunts down the remaining lead members of his former gang. Left with no choice, Marston travels to the territory of New Austin to capture or kill one of his old friends, Bill Williamson, who now runs his own gang of bandits out of Fort Mercer. Marston confronts Williamson, only to be shot and left for dead outside the fort. A rancher, Bonnie MacFarlane, finds him wounded, and brings him to a doctor to be treated.

Dead Space 2

Dead Space 2 is a survival horror third-person shooter. The player controls Isaac Clarke from a third-person point of view, looking over the character's right shoulder. The game features no HUD, relying on holograms projected from the player character and his weapons to show information such as messages and ammunition count, respectively. Player health and stasis are shown by visual indicators on Isaac's back. Isaac must fight an alien organism that infects and takes control of human corpses, turning them into "Necromorphs", mutating their bodies. Necromorphs must be dismembered as the alien organism controls host bodies via tentacles extending into their limbs. Other, larger types of Necromorphs that cannot be dismembered will often have yellow, glowing pustules, indicating weak spots. Occasionally, when an enemy gets close enough to Isaac, they will grab a hold of him, and the player must repeatedly press a key to fend off the enemy, with failure to do so leading to death of the player character. The player acquires two modules; a "stasis" module, allowing the player to slow down enemies or objects, allowing for otherwise insurmountable moving obstacles such as active heavy machinery to be slowed down, allowing Isaac to safely pass, and the "kinesis" module, which allows Isaac to manipulate objects, machinery, and panels obscuring important circuitry, which Isaac can then tamper with in order to open doors and gain access to otherwise restricted areas.