Time for an archive, since I nearly forgot until it was too late. I need to start writing backlogs of these games, especially since I've been going through quite a few lately.
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Title: Dead Rising (XBox 360)
Released: August - September 2006
One of the earlier titles released for the XBox360, Dead Rising was made by Capcom, I believe, in an attempt to also display the XBox360's processing power. It really does show, when you play the game anyway. The cinematics leave much to desire out of the game, and they try their hardest when it comes to that.
You play as Frank West throughout the entire game. Word on the street was that something was going on in Willamette, Colorado, so Frank hires a private helicopter to take him over the town. Frank's task from there is to collect photos of the chaos that is going down within the city, which was much more than he originally expected. With the military quarantining the entire city off, he smells something suspicious going on, and intends to investigate by dropping into the super mall. A deal he struck with the helicopter pilot gives him three days to investigate the strange events around the city and meet up with his ride to civilization, or he will suffer the same fate as the city's citizens.
Thrown into a large mall for three whole days may sound like an ideal time-spender, but if you were in Frank's shoes, you'd have something else to worry about than money: zombies. That's right... We're talking the brain-eating, slow-moving, flesh-rotting zombies that plague many horror games and movies. For some reason, the entire population of Willamette, CO has turned into zombies and are congregating in the local mall, attempting to feast on the survivors that hide within.
The game really does throw you into a massive feast-frenzy with zombies in the beginning. Basicl controls are: you move around with the control stick, no real way to go faster than by doing this; the X button is your attack command, and many of the items you will come to pick up (using B to interact with doors and items, among anything else) will use the same button as well. You can jump using the A button, but it's not very high, or far if you're moving while pressing it. If you press Y, Frank will attempt to see if there is anyone around he can help. If he has some survivors following him, he'll attempt to catch their attention and make them come towards him.
By holding the right trigger, Frank can bring up a target reticule to be either used for throwing items (Right Trigger + X) or by informing the survivor team he has to head to a specific point he's looking at (Right Trigger + Y). Meanwhile, by holding the left trigger, you can aim with your camera and attempt to take some pictures of the unkempt models that dredge through the mall's interior and exterior. X takes a picture, while A and B zooms the camera in and out. Other than wasting film for sweet action shots, or taking photographs of specific survivors, taking pictures is one of many ways that Frank can level up.
Photo Points (PP) are obtained from taking photos, killing a certain amount of zombies, meeting up with and rescuing survivors, or defeating specific boss-like enemies throughout the mall. You'd think it'd be easy to level up, if all you had to do was kill zombies, but the amount of PP that they give you for doing this really doesn't make it any easier. In fact, the best ways to go about leveling are rescuing the survivors or killing the bosses that you will learn of through the story itself, as well as specific scoops that Otis, the security guard, will phone you up to give you.
It's simple enough to just sit around idly with your game turned on and pass through all of the days, but Capcom thought of such a thing, and made it to where you had to do a storyline throughout the long time. 72-Hour Mode, the one mentioned throughout most of this post, is the only mode that you have access to until you actually beat the game. All of the optional survivor scoops are... well, optional, but there is one specific line of scoops that you HAVE to complete, I believe. It involves the mystery surrounding the mall and all of Willamette's citizens being zombies. Every single scoop is time crucial, meaning you have from a specific time to another time to complete it, or else it's lost, and this does place you in some sticky situations, such as rushing from one part of the mall clear across to another, getting something, and running all the way back to the only safe haven in the entire mall: the security room. With only one entrance into the security room, it makes the entire process of rescuing the survivors also a bit crunch-worthy, as you had better plan your escapades out in the mall beforehand, or you may end up running around with a full squad of survivors, and getting munched at the elevator.
The game's great, and I'm all for mindlessly beating up zombies. However, if your XBox360 hasn't been updated, or come with, the NXE update for the dashboard, chances are your XBox360 will have some trouble with some of the areas. That's why I'd suggest having the NXE and installing the game itself onto a hard drive, that way it doesn't work as hard to load the massive amount of zombies that you'll have in one section of the mall. I've heard that the game itself, although originally made near the launch of the XBox360, was the cause of many "Red Ring of Death" incidents, and I wouldn't want that to happen to others.
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Suffice to say, the game had rough edges to it, and they did their best when releasing the sequel, Dead Rising 2, to take care of many of the problems the first game had. They succeeded, let's just end it with that.
Wednesday, May 27, 2015
Wednesday, May 20, 2015
Press Start: May 20th, 2015
I'll just get down to the nitty gritty of this episode.
Title: Tales of Monkey Island: Episode 4 (The Trial and Execution of Guybrush Threepwood)
Released: October 2009
Spoiler lie ahead, arr. You be warned!
So, if you've been keeping up with what I've been writing, Morgan le Flay double-crosses Guybrush after they elude Coronado with the sponge. She's been working for the Marquise de Singe, after all, and she does her job as she is paid for. So she brings him to Flotsam Island once more, only to be handed off not to the Marquise but the Pox-blighted Pirates of Flotsam, charging him with several crimes that he may or may not have done.
This episode may seem rather lengthy in the course of clearing Guybrush's name and setting things right. Now that he has the sponge, he has to see to using it to clearing Elaine and the rest of the pirates on the Caribbean from LeChuck's voodoo pox. Divided into two larger chunks of the episode, we go from flipping back and forth in the courtroom (closed in the first episode) to exploring the greater part of Flotsam Island once more to seek a way to activate La Esponja Pequeno and make it grow back to its normal size.
We see former characters from the previous episodes such as those of Episode 1 (D'Oro, Crimpdigit, and a few others) to some more recent (Hardtack, for instance). Using his wits, his sass, and whatever isn't nailed to the floor, Guybrush tackles the several accusations one at a time to prove that he is indeed the Mighty Pirate(TM) that he believes he is. But when you throw the pox-stricken Elaine into the picture, he starts to see how grim the situation has become for the Caribbean itself.
I won't give away the twist for this at the end, simply because it is definitely something to play the game for. What I will say is that I did love trying to figure out the second half of the episode, where you were given the tasks to increase La Esponja to its full size with the Feast for the Senses. Puzzles like that are grand and rather far and few between nowadays, and I do wish that they would bring Monkey Island back for a reawakening. But, near the end, when it comes to finally bringing the sponge to fruition, the surprise after that shocked me. After all that?!
To be continued... arr...
Title: Tales of Monkey Island: Episode 4 (The Trial and Execution of Guybrush Threepwood)
Released: October 2009
Spoiler lie ahead, arr. You be warned!
So, if you've been keeping up with what I've been writing, Morgan le Flay double-crosses Guybrush after they elude Coronado with the sponge. She's been working for the Marquise de Singe, after all, and she does her job as she is paid for. So she brings him to Flotsam Island once more, only to be handed off not to the Marquise but the Pox-blighted Pirates of Flotsam, charging him with several crimes that he may or may not have done.
This episode may seem rather lengthy in the course of clearing Guybrush's name and setting things right. Now that he has the sponge, he has to see to using it to clearing Elaine and the rest of the pirates on the Caribbean from LeChuck's voodoo pox. Divided into two larger chunks of the episode, we go from flipping back and forth in the courtroom (closed in the first episode) to exploring the greater part of Flotsam Island once more to seek a way to activate La Esponja Pequeno and make it grow back to its normal size.
We see former characters from the previous episodes such as those of Episode 1 (D'Oro, Crimpdigit, and a few others) to some more recent (Hardtack, for instance). Using his wits, his sass, and whatever isn't nailed to the floor, Guybrush tackles the several accusations one at a time to prove that he is indeed the Mighty Pirate(TM) that he believes he is. But when you throw the pox-stricken Elaine into the picture, he starts to see how grim the situation has become for the Caribbean itself.
I won't give away the twist for this at the end, simply because it is definitely something to play the game for. What I will say is that I did love trying to figure out the second half of the episode, where you were given the tasks to increase La Esponja to its full size with the Feast for the Senses. Puzzles like that are grand and rather far and few between nowadays, and I do wish that they would bring Monkey Island back for a reawakening. But, near the end, when it comes to finally bringing the sponge to fruition, the surprise after that shocked me. After all that?!
To be continued... arr...
Wednesday, May 6, 2015
Press Start: May 6th, 2015
When we last left Guybrush Threepwood at the end of Episode 2, he met back up with Morgan Le Flay and was about to find La Esponja Grande. What he didn't expect was to be swallowed up by a giant manatee!
Title: Tales of Monkey Island: Episode 3 (Lair of the Leviathan)
Released: September 2009
Spoiler lie ahead, arr. You be warned!
I'll say it now: this is already my favorite episode, and I've yet to play the fourth or fifth so far. But when you include Murray the Demonic Talking Skull, things are definitely going to be more lively. So Guybrush, Morgan, and Winslow are left within the gullet of the giant manatee and discover not only their first goal of Coronado de Cava, but that they are partially on their way to their second goal of La Esponja Grande! The problem lies with the manatee itself, and this starts the first half of the episode.
Morgan is placated into being Guybrush's pretend wife, disarmed of her sword and left to idle her time in the digestive tract of their captor. Coronado has lost his mind over the years he has spent in the manatee, and his crew were lost to the depths further in. We continue to see many of the puzzles that make the Monkey Island saga unique to the point-and-click adventure pool (which isn't as deep as I'd prefer). His continued sass gets him in trouble time and again, but it also serves as getting his butt out of the frying pan after it landed him in it in the first place.
One of the interesting bits that comes in play is the pirate face-off that he ends up performing against one of Coronado's crew, Bugeye. In order to obtain the cochlea, he must unanimously be voted into the Brotherhood (with a long title having to do with the manatee's stomach), but Bugeye is a fuddy-duddy spoilsport and easily finds fault in the blonde pirate. So they have to make original facial contortions to try and spook one another. The combinations you are able to pull together are rather limited, but amusing to see at the same time.
And I did mention Murray earlier. He was brought into the Monkey Island lifestyle during the much more animated Curse of Monkey Island and has appeared through that and Escape from Monkey Island, the fourth in the series and the first made in 3D. His mannerisms and quirks made him a hit from the third game and, to see him in this, it really brightened my day playing the game. He is so bent on causing chaos and instilling evil into the world around him, but he is only a skull. So Guybrush ends up utilizing him for his own means and manipulates him. Who's the real evil mastermind here, huh?
As I said, the interior of the manatee is only the first half of the game. Once you manage to solve the ultimate puzzle there, you are jettisoned out onto the ocean surface once more, this time with the remainder of what you found inside, and your goal is to dive down and get your prize. But now you have to help court the manatee! What is this world coming to when you have to actually work for your rewards?! But this is where you also end up bringing together items from earlier in the episodes, being the locket from the first episode in fact.
While this episode focuses exclusively on Guybrush, we are still given some light glimpses into what Elaine and LeChuck are doing, and this sets it up splendidly for a "What happens next" with the last two episodes. With the way this episode ends, it leaves you expecting something grim, because after all the time you spent learning some of the characters, it gets twisted and you're like, "What?!" Or that could've just been me.
To be continued... arr...
Title: Tales of Monkey Island: Episode 3 (Lair of the Leviathan)
Released: September 2009
Spoiler lie ahead, arr. You be warned!
I'll say it now: this is already my favorite episode, and I've yet to play the fourth or fifth so far. But when you include Murray the Demonic Talking Skull, things are definitely going to be more lively. So Guybrush, Morgan, and Winslow are left within the gullet of the giant manatee and discover not only their first goal of Coronado de Cava, but that they are partially on their way to their second goal of La Esponja Grande! The problem lies with the manatee itself, and this starts the first half of the episode.
Morgan is placated into being Guybrush's pretend wife, disarmed of her sword and left to idle her time in the digestive tract of their captor. Coronado has lost his mind over the years he has spent in the manatee, and his crew were lost to the depths further in. We continue to see many of the puzzles that make the Monkey Island saga unique to the point-and-click adventure pool (which isn't as deep as I'd prefer). His continued sass gets him in trouble time and again, but it also serves as getting his butt out of the frying pan after it landed him in it in the first place.
One of the interesting bits that comes in play is the pirate face-off that he ends up performing against one of Coronado's crew, Bugeye. In order to obtain the cochlea, he must unanimously be voted into the Brotherhood (with a long title having to do with the manatee's stomach), but Bugeye is a fuddy-duddy spoilsport and easily finds fault in the blonde pirate. So they have to make original facial contortions to try and spook one another. The combinations you are able to pull together are rather limited, but amusing to see at the same time.
And I did mention Murray earlier. He was brought into the Monkey Island lifestyle during the much more animated Curse of Monkey Island and has appeared through that and Escape from Monkey Island, the fourth in the series and the first made in 3D. His mannerisms and quirks made him a hit from the third game and, to see him in this, it really brightened my day playing the game. He is so bent on causing chaos and instilling evil into the world around him, but he is only a skull. So Guybrush ends up utilizing him for his own means and manipulates him. Who's the real evil mastermind here, huh?
As I said, the interior of the manatee is only the first half of the game. Once you manage to solve the ultimate puzzle there, you are jettisoned out onto the ocean surface once more, this time with the remainder of what you found inside, and your goal is to dive down and get your prize. But now you have to help court the manatee! What is this world coming to when you have to actually work for your rewards?! But this is where you also end up bringing together items from earlier in the episodes, being the locket from the first episode in fact.
While this episode focuses exclusively on Guybrush, we are still given some light glimpses into what Elaine and LeChuck are doing, and this sets it up splendidly for a "What happens next" with the last two episodes. With the way this episode ends, it leaves you expecting something grim, because after all the time you spent learning some of the characters, it gets twisted and you're like, "What?!" Or that could've just been me.
To be continued... arr...
Sunday, May 3, 2015
Press Play: May 3rd, 2015
Time to continue on, from one episode to the other.
Title: Tales of Monkey Island: Episode 2 (Siege on Spinner Car)
Released: August 2009
Spoiler lie ahead, arr. You be warned!
When we last left our dashing pirate Guybrush Threepwood in the end of the first game, he had finally fled from Flotsam Island. However, upon finding his one true love Elaine in the presence of the now-human pirate LeChuck and enjoying herself, Guybrush ends up finding a closer threat to home. The dreaded pirate hunter Morgan le Flay was recruited by the sinister Marquise de Singe to hunt down Guybrush, and she is a woman of her word.
The second episode continues directly from the end of the first, and while it is kind of a disappointment that they are stand-alone in the execution of each game, the story itself at least leads on as if you continued from the same game. Thrown into the fire, you have to think on your feet to solve your current situation and proceed after Elaine, in which you lose something and gain something else. But at least in solving the current situation, you are able to proceed on to the Jerkbait Islands, the scene for the entirety of the second episode.
You have several different goals you have to complete in no specific order during the first half of this episode. Of course, your primary concern is that of Elaine and LeChuck, but you were also tasked from Flotsam Island to find Coronado de Cava and La Esponja Grande. Coming to the Jerkbait Islands, you find that the latter objectives, Coronado and the sponge, are closely related to your ultimate goal here on the islands, while Elaine is acting as a mediator between a pox-ridden pirate and the chief of the Merfolk that live on the islands.
The music doesn't change much between the two episodes, though the scenery does end up giving different musical situations. The relationship between Elaine, LeChuck, and Guybrush is further stressed now that the enemy of the entire series is human and good-natured. Due to the fact that the Pox of LeChuck has spread to more than Flotsam Island, it is definitely going to be a difficult ride for Guybrush and his second-in-command, Winslow (who he previously removed from the head of the Narwhal in the first episode).
What makes this an interesting episode is the concept of the Merfolk, or the Vacaylians as they're known. They were alluded to in the first episode as the creators of the artifacts on Flotsam, and in this, they're the denizens of the deep. At one time, they were Merfolk who decided to shed their tails for legs and crawl upon land. After doing this for some time, they changed their minds and adapted to tails once more. This doesn't help in trying to determine their gender though, and as they hit on Guybrush, he is both uncomfortable in responding as well as greeting these strange individuals.
Solving the problems on the Jerkbait Islands, Guybrush is finally on his way to start locating La Esponja Grande. A problem persists in the form of Morgan once more showing herself to not only correct the mistake she made at the beginning, but to this time make sure it ends in her favor. She would probably succeed if it wasn't for...
To be continued... arr...
Title: Tales of Monkey Island: Episode 2 (Siege on Spinner Car)
Released: August 2009
Spoiler lie ahead, arr. You be warned!
When we last left our dashing pirate Guybrush Threepwood in the end of the first game, he had finally fled from Flotsam Island. However, upon finding his one true love Elaine in the presence of the now-human pirate LeChuck and enjoying herself, Guybrush ends up finding a closer threat to home. The dreaded pirate hunter Morgan le Flay was recruited by the sinister Marquise de Singe to hunt down Guybrush, and she is a woman of her word.
The second episode continues directly from the end of the first, and while it is kind of a disappointment that they are stand-alone in the execution of each game, the story itself at least leads on as if you continued from the same game. Thrown into the fire, you have to think on your feet to solve your current situation and proceed after Elaine, in which you lose something and gain something else. But at least in solving the current situation, you are able to proceed on to the Jerkbait Islands, the scene for the entirety of the second episode.
You have several different goals you have to complete in no specific order during the first half of this episode. Of course, your primary concern is that of Elaine and LeChuck, but you were also tasked from Flotsam Island to find Coronado de Cava and La Esponja Grande. Coming to the Jerkbait Islands, you find that the latter objectives, Coronado and the sponge, are closely related to your ultimate goal here on the islands, while Elaine is acting as a mediator between a pox-ridden pirate and the chief of the Merfolk that live on the islands.
The music doesn't change much between the two episodes, though the scenery does end up giving different musical situations. The relationship between Elaine, LeChuck, and Guybrush is further stressed now that the enemy of the entire series is human and good-natured. Due to the fact that the Pox of LeChuck has spread to more than Flotsam Island, it is definitely going to be a difficult ride for Guybrush and his second-in-command, Winslow (who he previously removed from the head of the Narwhal in the first episode).
What makes this an interesting episode is the concept of the Merfolk, or the Vacaylians as they're known. They were alluded to in the first episode as the creators of the artifacts on Flotsam, and in this, they're the denizens of the deep. At one time, they were Merfolk who decided to shed their tails for legs and crawl upon land. After doing this for some time, they changed their minds and adapted to tails once more. This doesn't help in trying to determine their gender though, and as they hit on Guybrush, he is both uncomfortable in responding as well as greeting these strange individuals.
Solving the problems on the Jerkbait Islands, Guybrush is finally on his way to start locating La Esponja Grande. A problem persists in the form of Morgan once more showing herself to not only correct the mistake she made at the beginning, but to this time make sure it ends in her favor. She would probably succeed if it wasn't for...
To be continued... arr...
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