New Computer Update

     Once again I get finally get around to making a a new blog, even if this one is more of an update then a blog about a game or something. At least I have a (sorta) excuse for my lack of writing and making videos: my laptop is a piece of crap. Which is why I recently bought a new desktop computer.

     In terms of specs, it's not a high end computer, but it's a HUGE upgrade from my 4 year old laptop. Hell, I can now play modern games on this thing! (Okay, maybe not at the best possible graphics for all new games, but still...) And be able to use Fraps recording without horrible lag!

     Also, I've been installing things with little problems. I can still use my Dazzle thanks to driver updates for it as well as everything else I used before (still need to install Sony Vegas at the time of this writing, but I should have that done soon). Everything also runs a lot better than before, compared to my old laptop anyway, so making videos and things should be easier and faster for me.

      The only downside to all this is that even though this was a cheaper model that was on sale, I'm pretty much broke. But hey, who isn't after Christmas?

Specs: AMD Athlon 2.8 GHZ Dual Core Processor, 6 GB RAM, 750 GB HD ATI Radeon 4200 HD graphics card.

    So yeah, I'm pretty pleased with this computer for what I want to do with it. Victory music go!

Game Thoughts and Arguments: Metroid Other M

     Man, this blog is quite overdue. I guess I procrastinate more than my videos for my blogs. But I still want to write down my thoughts for Metroid Other M even if I haven't played the game in over a month. That, and I want to show my arguments on the game that has gamers across the internet screaming in agony. To the point where they even call the game complete garbage and deem the Metroid series is now ruined.

"Face it! Breakf-I mean, Metroid is ruined!"

     Really? Runied? I know this wasn't the amazing game Nintendo tried to market it as, but it's not the worst butchering of a series in my opinion. That honor belongs to Double Dragon V. Anyway, this blog will be my counterarguments against the aspects nearly EVERYONE complained about, but they are still a few things I'll agree with to a lesser extent.

     Now as a series, I enjoy Metroid quite a bit. I have all the games and like them all, hell, I even got a kick out of Metroid Prime Pinball. So keep in mind that as a Metroid fan, I actually didn't mind most of the things people complained about. On the advise on my friends and knowing it's not very long, I rented it, but also mostly due to my usual lack of money. I may still get the game for Metroid collection sake once the price goes down.

     I also don't mind the fact that this was made in collaboration with Team Ninja. Nintendo tends to have third parties make their games sometimes (see Star Fox after 64) and I thought Team Ninja did a good job in knowing how Metroid works while incorporating new twists on the Metroid formula. It's not punishingly difficult like the Ninja Gaiden games, but still challenging (well, unless you play the hard mode that's unlocked after beating the game) and Samus thankfully doesn't have her breasts ballooned with individual physics for each breast (which would be odd while Samus is wearing her armor, I'll admit).

Team Ninja could've made this MUCH worst, trust me.

    First off, did I enjoy the game? Yes, I did. I thought it was a good game. Not the best Metroid game, but in terms of gameplay (which most people didn't seem to mind but STILL hated the game overall) I liked some of the aspects incorporated. I liked the idea of switching between 3rd person and first person as it combines aspects of classic Metroid and Metroid Prime. Though, the game isn't classic sidescrolling as I originally thought the game was going to be, sort of like how Shadow Complex on XBLA was. Other M has samus move in 3D, but with a fixed camera most of the time, which is a little awkward at first considering the entire game is controlled with only the Wii-mote and you move with the D-pad. But the level design does work okay for the most part with Samus's movement, though analog control probably would have worked a bit better for movement.

     Aiming in first person is done by tilting the Wii point towards the screen and I found it to work pretty well. Aiming is the only way to use missiles as well as "scan" areas, which you find certain spots to find in order to progress the story or see what is required to destroy an obstacle. These "find the spot" segments are a bit annoying at times I'll admit, because sometimes finding things isn't always obvious. You also can't move during these parts and have to use the B button along with aiming to move your viewpoint. A little awkward I'll admit, but I got used to it after a little while.

     Combat is handles a bit different this time around. You shoot with the 2 button with some semblence of auto aiming and you can charge your cannon for a large blast. Firing missile weapons is done by the aforementioned aiming at the screen and pressing A. You can also dodge attacks by pressing a direction on the d-pad just before an attack hits Samus. There are also context sensitive moments where Samus finishes off enemies with a point blank charge shot or even tossing enemies around like they were nothing. There are even certain scenes where Samus has to dodge something and the game won't prompt a button press. This makes it more seemless than other games that use simular context sensitive moments. It can be a little annoying if caught off guard, but these parts not nearly as excessive and obvious in games like God of War or Resident Evil 4.

The stories in the Resident Evil games are pretty stupid too if you think about it, although there are not nearly as many inner monologues...  

     Samus's other abilities are also intact. Morphball works pretty much like in previous games, and other equipment like the speedbooster and grapple beam work similarly with a few modifications to work in this game. The beam upgrades are stacked on top of each other much like the games since Metroid Fusion. One interesting change is that power bombs are actually infinite in this game, but has a large cool down time and you won't be able to use them until you're near the end of the game anyway.

     Speaking of which, acquiring new abilities and upgrades is done slightly different than the traditional methods. You can still look through every nook and cranny to find upgrades for missiles, energy tanks, and the new charger accelerators to decrease arm cannon charging time. However, missiles are only upgraded by one missile and in addition to energy tanks, there are energy "parts" where you collect four to gain a new energy tank (Legend of Zelda Heart pieces much?). There are also recovery tanks that are used to recover health when you are low and go into "focus," another new mechanic introduced.

     Focus is used to replenish missiles and health, the latter of which takes longer to replenish and will only be able to do when Samus's health is critical. You do this by tilting the Wii-mote upwards (not pointing at the screen) and holding A. Then it'll take a while for Samus to replenish ammo and health, leaving her vulnerable during combat. And since there are no replenishing item drops from enemies (I know, a little unorthodox compared to previous Metroid games, but this is how the game is designed) you have to be careful during battles (especially bosses) since you can only fully recover health in save rooms, which thankfully are not too far apart most of the time. And if you do die, you usually continue in the general area you started in.

     Going back to upgrades, it actually turns out Samus already has all of her abilities, but is restricted by the commanding officer Adam Malkovich (which should sound familiar for those that played Fusion) who does this because he doesn't want Samus to accidentally destroy something vital to the mission he's on or get one of his team members accidentally killed, hence why you can't use abilities like power bombs early on.

     Though some abilities are questionable to being restricted until Adam authorizes. I'll admit, it's a bit far-fetched to not authorize the Varia suit in the lava area until later on, but it's following Metroid logic. All the games force you to go through areas with lesser abilities, then gain them and go back to previous areas to progress or find upgrades. It's no different here except the reason is different other than Samus losing her abilities and having to regain them all, which would be pretty silly at this point.

 "Samus, I'm authorizing you to lose all your abilities, then somehow regain them! ...wait, what?"

     Also, taking orders from Adam when she's a supposed bounty hunter turned off a lot of people and that it took away from Samus's character. First of all, Samus has taken orders from the Federation before in previous games, so she isn't exactly a "do whatever she feels like" silent bounty hunter like a lot people seem to think. Second, Samus respects Adam and he is essentially Samus's father figure. Yeah, you heard me, F-A-T-H-E-R F-I-G-U-R-E, not in love! She even blatantly says that at one point! Third, later on in the game (minor spoiler), Samus actually activates abilities to progress on her own when Adam goes missing.

     Now for the one thing that NO ONE. STOPS. COMPLAINING. ABOUT. The story and character of Samus. I'll get this out the way first: It's not well written. I think my friend SCR said it best in his Vlog of Other M. SHOW don't TELL. The dialog is written in such a bad literal sense it's baffling at times. At one time when Samus recollects about Adam, she literally says "I heard Adam's voice in my head." Really? Though the overall plot isn't necessarily bad for Metroid and Samus monologues to herself often on the current situation and her past, which gamers HATED the entire game simply due to the fact she apparently does it too much. You can blame Yoshio Sakamoto for this though, as  he was a co-creator of Metroid and writer for this game, which pretty much makes him the sole reason most fans hated the game.

     I will agree with everyone that Sakamoto tried too hard to bring back story and characterization for Samus and that it's not executed well. But I did tolerate most of it for whatever reason. Then again, I tend to tolerate a lot of games...with a few exceptions...

I didn't hate Other M, but this gets more riled up then those that did hate Other M, believe me...

     Besides, the story takes place after Super Metroid but before Metroid Fusion, the latter of which introduced aspects and key story arcs that were expanded on in this game. Because of this, the story is a bit excessive I'll admit. But it is kind of bold for Nintendo to try and incorporate more story and characters in a series that, let's face it, barely had any most of the time. Plus, if anything, Nintendo will take note of the backlash and tone down the intensity of the story aspects and not have Sakamoto write ever again, hence why I don't think the series is exactly "ruined."

     As for the characters, I don't mind them, even if most of them are just generic Federation soldiers to get killed throughout the game and Adam is your typical hardened commander. The best character BY FAR is Anthony Higgins, who is the typical, but lovable black character and the main reason why Metroid Other M is recognized by the memetastic internet.

He may be the victim of a meme, but he's still the best character in the game.

      The character of Samus I don't think is THAT bad in this game. Yes, I know of the scene where she locks up and it's supposed to show that she still fears certain things despite being a bounty hunter. It's not executed very well and doesn't make much sense compared to previous continuity, I know, blame Sakamoto. But other than said cutscene (and maybe one other), I don't mind how the characterization was portrayed here too much during the rest of the game. I honestly don't think it's HORRIBLE like a lot of people said, I've seen worse in Japanese games in general, but I'll admit it could have been better.

 If you ignore the "one" cutscene, Samus is still pretty badass.

     In terms of voice acting, it's a mixed bag. Samus's voice is very monotone most of the time, which doesn't help with the bad writing and monologues and when Samus does emote, it's jarring due to the abrupt change of tone. The rest of the voice acting however, is adequate.

      The graphics are very good for the Wii, having great looking CGI cutscenes, (if you can ignore the constant "baby Metroid" spouting during them, stupid Sakamoto writing...) and the in game graphics are nicely detailed and clearly show what the Wii can do even if it's not the most powerful console in this generation. Props to Team Ninja on that. Music is also good with original music along with faithful remixes of classic Metroid music.

     Level design and gameplay, like I said, is good for the most part. But I do think the game is fairly short as I beat the game and found all the items in around ten hours. Plus, while the areas are fairly big, there are only about four areas to explore, which is kind of small compared to previous titles.

      Overall, I thought this was an okay game. Yes, I know the writing is AWFUL sometimes and the cutscenes can be a tad long and over dramatic. But it's still not nearly as bad as some gamers say in my opinion as a game. I'm not saying they are wrong, just that the hate has been overblown and exaggerated to the point where apparently story and characterization is more important then the actual gameplay. I'll admit, I rolled my eyes at a few things regarding the story and character of Samus, but when I play a video game, I usually focus on gaming aspects first, THEN see how much I should analyze and judge a game's story (if there is one worth mentioning) depending on how it's done and how it effects the overall game's entertainment. Unlike certain other gamers...

"I played the game for 2 hours then watched someone else play it! My arguments are valid!"

     This isn't the best Metroid, but still a decent Metroid in my opinion. Team Ninja did an interesting take on Metroid and Sakamoto...well, hire some writers please, you're not a very good writer. Seriously, it's almost as bad as Sonic Teams' story writers. I'd recommend a rental for this as it's clearly not for everyone. If you can tolerate the bad writing and monologue cutscenes, then you might still enjoy the game if you like Metroid, hell, there's even a couple bosses you'll recognize from previous games that will surprise you. If you're more like the snarky guy I just pictured above, well...you probably won't like it.

     Well, that's about all I can think of for this game, thanks for reading and I'll try to post more game related blogs more frequently. (And please note that I only disagree with Spoonyone's opinion on Other M and do not mean any offense. I still enjoy his work. Irate gamer on the other hand...)

Game Thoughts: Silent Hill Shattered Memories (Wii)

     Much like my demo impressions, I feel that my thoughts on whatever games I play can't all be conveyed into video form, so here's my "Game Thoughts" where I write about whatever game that I recently finished and what I thought of them. To start off, here's what I thought of Silent Hill: Shattered Memories for the Wii.

     As a series, I do consider myself a Silent Hill fan and I own all the games sans Homecoming (as of the time of this blog), but haven't gotten around to fully playing all the games (you can blame my procrastination for that). Still, from the games I have finished and what little I played of the others, I enjoyed them. Pretty much every game is a surreal, dark psychological struggle with the character you play as and the dark, desolate areas, grotesque and hideous monsters, and the town shifting into a nightmarish version is quite something to experience. I even go as far to say that as a whole, the Silent Hill series are the most intense survival horror games I played. With only Eternal Darkness etching out ahead for my single favourite survival horror game in terms of gameplay.

     In recent years, Silent Hill games has been somewhat lackluster for some gamers. Since Silent Hill 4: The Annoying Ghosts-I mean, The Room, the series has been made with developers outside of Konami, which puts the hopes of many hardcore Silent Hill fans shattered (get it?). However, Climax, the same developers of Origins, hoped to "reinvent" Silent Hill with a re-imagining of the first game. This isn't like the Resident Evil remake were it's redone graphically with a few new features. It's pretty much a different game sharing only the town, character names, and basic premise of the protagonist Harry Mason trying to find his daughter Cheryl after crashing his car in Silent Hill.

     The game also has no combat whatsoever, with only being able to run away from enemies during chase scenes. This alone turned off many gamers, but I saw nothing wrong with that, especially when you consider how the game is designed and what it's going for. Sure, in previous games, you had a small assortment of melee and firearm weapons, but due to the nature of combat, it was best to run away from enemies to conserve health and ammo and only really fend off monstrosities when you get cornered and fight the occasional boss. Origins and Homecoming did try and improve combat, with Origins being able to carry an absurd amount of weapons that are all apparently made out of clay and break after a few hits. Not to mention the ability to stuff portable TVs into your character's infinite storage then throw them at monsters, adding to the absurdity. But Origins still kept a decent atmosphere and tone, which can't be said with Homecoming which added more to combat like dodging and ultra combos, and it's focus on atmosphere and story suffered and is considered the weakest Silent Hill game.

     The point is, combat does not define Silent Hill, and the fact that a game like Shattered memories is willing to throw away conventional survival horror concepts in favor of something more desperate and story-driven is something you should at least check out. Well, unless you're among the ADD gamers that demand all games need cool weapons and want to kill everything on sight.

No, there is no "Combat Time" in this game, get lost!

      Before I talk about the "nightmare" levels and how enemy encounters work, I should talk about how the psychology aspect works. When you first start the game, we see Dr. Kauffman, who's a therapist in this game, asking you from a first person view to fill out a true/false form regarding your behavior. In fact, the game even has a "psychological" warning saying that the game will get to know you, which is kind of cute. But trust me, the psychology is not THAT involved and the only game to truly mess with my head was Eternal Darkness anyway.

     There are a few of these "sessions" throughout the game, varying to filling a questionnaire, to colouring a family and their home, arranging statues to show which one is the more guilty, to simply nodding/shaking your head at yes/no questions, ect. These not only add a variety of different test methods, but also effect the game in certain ways. The story is still played out the same, but some dialog may be different, Harry may act/look different, characters might look different, certain rooms and puzzles may be different, etc depending on what you answer. These add an interesting aspect and encourage replay value, which is good since the game is fairly short.

     In terms of basic gameplay, you pretty much play as Harry and wonder around Silent Hill with only a flashlight and a cellphone. The cellphone is actually a key part in both story and gameplay elements as the phone is used to make calls as well as receive calls/voice mail/text messages, take pictures, view a GPS map, and save your game. The cellphone also acts as the series trademark "radio" emitting sounds whenever they are enemies close in the nightmare levels or anomalies that when you approach or take pictures of, you receive ghostly messages of these fragmented (or, shattered if you will) memories of various people. The latter certainly adds to the atmosphere and half the disturbing things found in this game are found in these messages. Looking through the phone is done in real time and Harry can only walk while his phone is out, so using it during the Nightmare levels isn't a general good idea.

     One thing I should mention about the phone is that one time it did glitch on me as I was trying to exit the phone after listening to a message relating to a puzzle. The transition from views got glitched and Harry became a floating disembodied arm and I could not get out of it unless I quit the game from the pause menu and start from the last save. Fortunately, this was the only glitch I encountered in the game and, amusingly enough, it was the same glitch Wellunreal007 got when he rented Shattered Memories:

     Harry can also look at certain things and comment on them, though looking at things like booze or sexual things can affect Harry's behavior along with the therapy sessions later on in the game. There are also collectable "Mementos" you can grab, but other than a small part in the ending, these really are just things to collect throughout the game. And besides going a bit out of your way to collect these interesting trinkets, the game is mostly linear, with Harry going down a set path and any other way is usually blocked off, which is pretty par for the course of the series. But except of going to dead ends to occasionally find items, you'll maybe occasionally find mementos or ghost messages, the latter of which you can find via sound and/or distorted images.

     As Harry wonders throughout a snow laden Silent Hill, he will have to solve puzzles much like every Silent Hill game, though most of them are not nearly as cryptic as previous SH games. Most usually involve moving pieces or activating something to get a key, though there are a few parts where you have to look around and find clues (usually involving something in the room, or using your cell phone) to find the answer. Still, the interactivity is quite nice, especially on the Wii.

      The "Nightmare" levels is a frozen nightmarish version of Silent Hill and is essentially the otherworld of this game. Throughout the game, Harry will slip into this realm, and the transitions from the Nightmare and normal snowy Silent Hill is quite impressive at times. During these parts, Harry simply has run away from these deformed midget-like monsters called Rawshawks. These are the only enemy you'll ever face, but do chance appearance a bit based on the psychological aspects you chose and are still pretty disturbing on their own. Since Harry has no weapons, he has to be constantly moving, going through marked blue outlined doors, climbing over and under things, and running at a desperate pace to find the exit. There are a few things you can do during these chases such as knock over shelves to slow down their pursuit, grabbing a flare and lighting it to keep them at bay for a short time, and hiding. Though the latter generally doesn't work all that well unless you want to check your map, because it is fairly easy to get lost during these parts since there are multiple paths and doorways which can often lead into circles. Fortunately, there usually indications to show where to go and after a few times, you should be able to find your way.

     If a Rawshawk does grab onto you, you literally shake them off with the Wiimote and nun-chuck together. It does work, but not all the time. Though the main problem isn't the responsiveness of the motion controllers, it's that later on, the Rawshawks get aggressive and can take multiple shakes to throw them off, and sometimes the second shake doesn't register. Plus, multiple enemies can latch on to Harry on his North, South, East, and West sides, which makes it even more difficult to throw off. And since there's no health items, Harry's health is only visible by him limping when it gets low. If you do die, you simply restart at the beginning of the level, which while may seem frustrating, can actually help you better plan your path and not run into the enemy.

     Running isn't the only thing you do in the nightmares actually, as you'll occasionally run into rooms (usually near the end) and solve the area puzzle that thankfully doesn't have any of those Rawshawks chasing you.

     Overall, these segments are tense and add to the desperation of the game and enjoyed it quite a bit. That, and the level design and style of the otherworld is good too. Although some would argue that simply because the otherworld is blue instead of the trademark red, rusted otherworld in previous games, it's not scary because the colour red represents fear, while blue represents a more calmer tone. I agree, but the otherworld in this is frozen and still pretty twisted, which invokes desolation and desperation because face it, no one likes the idea of freezing to death. There's more to the psychology of this than simple colours people.

"They should have just called it: BOO! BLUE ICE!"

as some naysayers would probably say.

     The rest of the graphics are quite nice and definitely shows effort put into it to make the game look good on the Wii, especially the ice effects in the otherworld. Although if you favored the PS2/PSP version for easier controls, then the graphics on those ports are inferior, but still good on their own.

     In terms of other controls for the Wii, they work fine. Aiming your flashlight while walking/running around feels natural and the controls during interactivity of puzzles is simple, but works. The only other use for motion I can think of is using the nun-chuck to knock things down and climb/crawl faster during nightmares. The only flawed controls I found were the aforementioned shaking off enemies, and even then it still worked for me most of the time.

     Voice acting is good and the music done by series composer Akira Yamaoka, as always, fits perfectly with the game. It should also be noted that this is Akira's last Silent Hill game he's composing for the time being since his contract with Konami ended. Still, I don't think we can thank him enough for providing such memorable and haunting music for the entire series from the first game to Shattered Memories. It'll be interesting to see what music he'll make in the future since he's freelance now.

     The story is also well written and without spoiling anything, I'll go on a limb and say the ending is perhaps one of my favourite video game endings. Believe me, M. Night. Shamalawn (or however you spell his name) wish he could make twist endings like this. Shame it had to end kind of short, but it was a good ride while it lasted.

     As a whole I liked the game despite the short length (that, and I paid 20 dollars for a new copy). I definitely think this is a very nice take on Silent Hill and Climax did a pretty good job making a survival horror game with virtually no combat engaging and well thought out. I know this game didn't please everyone, but for me, it was a nice, atmospheric, story driven game with some good use of creativity with the therapy sessions being implemented. That, and it still retained the twisted imagination of the otherworld aspect we know Silent Hill games for.

     I recommend it if you want a more engrossing Silent Hill game and don't mind the fact that you can't kill the monsters, but then again, looking at the monsters of SH, would you really stand your ground and smack them with a lead pipe or high tail it out of there?

     Thanks for reading my blog, next time I'll give my thoughts and arguments on one of the most bitched at games recently released by Nintendo: Metroid: Other M.

Demo Impressions: Quantum Theory

Most of you know of my video reviews of games I make and some of those may remember my "Demo Impressions" videos. These were commentating and/or semi-reviewing demos I would download off of Xbox Live or otherwise. I've only made three videos of these: Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), Too Human, and the Dreamcast demo disk vol. 1, with the latter only being slightly tolerable to watch and listen too.

So I decided to finally use this blog I never use to write down my thoughts on demos I play as oppose to making crappy videos. That way I can better summarize and give my general thoughts in a more organized and even *gasp!* professional way. With that said, let's get to the demo.

Oh hai ripoff!

Oh boy...I had to start with THIS game demo didn't I? Well, even if by chance you know of this game, you heard this is just some Gears of War ripoff. You'd be incorrect. It's a stupid, shameless game that actually rips off more than just Gears of War.

The game is made by Tecmo-Koei (which I did not know merged). I've only played Ninja Gaiden and Rygar (both old and newer games of each) from Tecmo and Gitarooman (PSP version) from Koei. Both seem okay game companies even if I haven't played most of their games and it's obviously an attempt to draw in more American gamers since shooters of this nature are about as popular in Japan as dating sims are here in North America. It may seem like a harmless cash-in, but after playing the demo, I may wince at another collaboration of the two companies.

So the demo starts of with our Gears of War character reject Syd going...somewhere in an elaborate tower. I also love how he and everything else looks like it's covered with crusted barnacles. Here we start to fight. I also like to note that I played this on the standard normal difficulty.

Right away the controls aren't as tight as responsive as Gears (yes, I will keep making comparisons to Gears, it's IMPOSSIBLE not to in this game). You can take cover, but you don't have nearly as many options as Gears or even other 3rd person shooters that use a cover mechanic. You can blind fire, sure, but you don't have the option to move to other cover with a button press. If they were going to ripoff Gears of War, they could have at least copied all the mechanics that make Gears FUN, but no, it's implemented half-assed. Even Gears of War 1 is superior to this.

As for weapons, you start with three with being able to switch with the D-pad...sound familiar? You have a rifle that shoots fire projectiles at a slow rate, a machine gun with a crappy reticule, and a shotgun with the worst spread I've ever seen in a shooter. Not only that, but each weapon have it's own "unique" aiming reticule. But all it does it make aiming even more awkward. Imagine trying to aim a gun through one of those symmetry rotatory telescope things you had as a kid, or a transparent symmetry art piece:

You're doing reticules wrong Tecmo-Koei!

As for picking up other weapons, it's DOWN on the D-pad. I guess they wanted to avoid a lawsuit and change up the controls a little from Gears. Melee is...stupid. You press X and Syd will stop in place, raise his arms and smack whatever is in front of him in one stiff motion. Seriously, the animation is so robotic that's it's laughable. Although melee is used for something a bit more elaborate, but I'll get to that later.

So after killing more crust-covered enemies, I took the liberty of using other weapons you've come to expect in a shooter like a sniper rifle and a grenade launcher type weapon. Also, throughout the segment, Syd made the most uninspired, boring sounding dialog I've heard a protagonist say. He makes the crew from Gears sound insightful.  At one point when I kept missing he actually said "Damn, I can't hit anything" like he knows he's in a crappy game and points out how aiming isn't that great.

Going back to cover briefly, it doesn't work on everything well. At one point there were pillars I tried to take cover behind but Syd wouldn't stick to that particular pillar, yet enemies could. Nice use of cover mechanic and level design Tecmo-Koei! There's also orange...things that can pop up for makeshift cover.

After fighting off the evil whatevers, we get introduced to the second character, Filena, who's your typical "hot chick that can kick ass" character. Shortly after meeting her, the tutorial informs you that you can throw her at enemies (preferably larger ones) as well as perform intricate combos when you melee enemies.

...

Wait, that sounds familiar...

THOSE HACKS!!!!

Okay, when I went into this I knew it was going to rip off Gears of War. But I honestly did not expect the game to rip off the 2008 Prince of Persia, complete with the camera angels during sequences. I was baffled and apparently the only one to notice this since everyone is apparently focusing on the Gears of War aspects they ripped off since it's more obvious.

Anyway, all I was able to do was hurl Elika-I mean Filena at larger foes, but was able to headshot them with my grenade launcher (as ridiculous as that sounds) and when you do make headshots, you get a brief "whoa! you blewed up teh head!" camera shot). I was never able to get these combos to work though, as throwing her didn't initiate them, nor did my melee hits. But my good friend Wellunreal007 told me there is an indicator that changes colour and when it's purple (I think), or whenever she pretty much feels like it, the combos will start. I'm leaning towards the latter.

After fighting through two opposing factions (which the protagonists are part of opposing forces, how original), we get to the boss and I died a few times due to clunky and slow movement, the sheer size of the monster and the lack of cover. Great design guys! But after shooting and hurling Elika-wannabe a few times, he goes down and the demo ends. I sighed heavily after that.

With that said and done, was there ANYTHING good from this? Well...the graphics are okay I suppose, pretty typical technical wise for current consoles. Art style is a bit weird though, it's like combining the dark and gritty Gears of War with something more fantasy like and then throwing crusted barnacles all over. Everything else is mediocre at best and I can not see myself having fun with this game, especially since after playing the demo, Wellunreal007 read the plot synopsis on wikipedia only to laugh at not only how bad and contrived it was, but how it was apparently written by someone that cared about as much as the rest of us did toward the game.

In conclusion, the demo did not warrant interest and I will most likely never play the demo or the full game. It will no doubt have huge price drops due to it's lack of originality and appeal and even then, I wouldn't want it. And with Wellunreal007 having also played the demo, I can safely post this picture to showcase our verdict:

*Insert fail horn*

Well, that's it for this demo, thank you for taking the time to read this, and I'll post more blogs now and then for demos, games, and other things game related from now on. See you then!