25 Days of Christmas - #22: Resident Evil 4

I admit that I am generally not a fan of shooter games (either first-person or third-person). The handful of shooters that I do truly enjoy are almost entirely hybrids with the adventure genre. But one anomaly that I found to be incredibly addictive is Resident Evil 4. While the game is a large stray away from the traditional cinematic-view survival horror of past titles, it still feels like it belongs in the series.

Resident Evil 4 has some of the most stunning graphics to ever hit Nintendo’s Gamecube, and even gives some current generation shooters a run for their money in the visuals department. There is a dark mood about the whole game, but it is more mysterious and melancholy than it is gross-out and scare-your-pants off. One of the game’s largest criticisms was that it isn’t as scary as previous Resident Evil titles. I honestly have to agree with that statement, but I don’t see that as being an entirely bad thing. Resident Evil 4 focuses on moving the story forward more so than past games in the series. And while some of the dialogue may sound like it came out of a cheap English-dubbed anime, the storytelling is superb. While the bulk of it is told through Leon’s experience, there are a few cutscenes that explain the dynamics of the others involved, including Ada, Wesker, and Krauser. Scattered around most levels are notes about the Los Illumiados and Louis’ research, and a story about Ada’s involvement is unlocked upon completing the main story. Interactive cutscenes make things much more tense, and players feel more involved.



The character models are intended to look realistic, but the art style of the game is hauntingly beautiful. For the first few chapters, things will look dirty, and run-down. But once the Los Illuminados become a staple of the story, the environments become far more diverse. The murky lake wherein resides Del Lago is covered in a light mist, and draws the player away from the rest of the world for a brief period, giving a feeling of pure isolation. In contrast, the tapestry and painting-adorned halls of Salazar’s castle and the indusrtial setting of Saddler’s science research facility are large open areas that are an ideal setting to send hordes of ganados at Leon.

The ganados increase in numbers as the game progresses and sport constantly improved offensive measures. Level-specific enemies, such as the Garrador and Regenerator, are scattered well enough that they never feel repetitive, but always provide a greater challenge than the generic ganados. The boss fights range from a decent challenge to incredibly difficult. Certain points in the game intentionally restrict the ammo found about a level to force you to manage your weaponry carefully. Because of this, I found that fighting Salazar was significantly more challenging than fighting Saddler or Mendez, simply because of how much ammo I went through just to reach said boss fight.



In regards to your weaponry, Resident Evil 4 introduces a merchant character who is set at particular points throughout the game. He will sell you more guns as the game progresses, and will also buy any ammo and treasure you find about the levels. The treasures can be combined with different jewels to increase their value. The treasure menu is also where you will store keys to solve many of the games puzzles. Speaking of puzzles, the game does a brilliant job of making the player use their head in solving these. Rotating the lights in the church and playing a puzzle mini-game in the castle take a nice break from the killing, but don’t take so long that it becomes a chore. And should players wish to take a break from things and hone their headshot skills, an arcade style shooting range can be found in select areas. Winning these games will award the player trophies of the game’s characters that play catch-prases or sound effects. Perhaps not the most jaw-dropping inclusion, but it does provide a little comic relief.

As mentioned before, the game offers a separate short story mode that chronicles Ada’s involvement in the Los Illuminados conspiracy. The main game itself is fairly lengthy for a shooter of this nature, but things never get repetitive. In addition to these two stories is mercenaries mode, which gives players a set time limit to kill as many ganados as possible before a rescue chopper arrives. Players will face increasingly difficult enemies as more time passes, and they are able to add more time if they so choose. However, the real challenge lies in your preset weaponry. Each character is granted at least two weapons to defend themselves with, but cannot access any more around the level.

Resident Evil 4 was an important release, as it proved that Nintendo did care about their older audience. While the game was released too late for the purple lunchbox’s redemption, it certainly boosted Wii games like No More Heroes and Silent Hill: Shattered Memories. Offering a huge amount of replay value and spawning off several incarnations on other systems, Resident Evil 4 helped bring the horror genre back to life, as well as showed what untapped potential the shooter genre had.

25 Days of Christmas - #23: Rise of Nations

If there is any single gaming genre that I find to be incredibly underrated and unexplored, it is real-time strategy. By the end of the 1990s, the hype of PC gaming was fading. With the Playstation and N64 dominating the industy, it would be a while before PC gaming picked itself back up. And while PC gaming today is not at the height of its former glory, it certainly has risen in popularity over the past few years. Even so, there were quite a few games that were largely ignored during that dormant period of almost a decade. One such real-time strategy title was Rise of Nations.

While licensed material such as Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds played out well enough, it really didn’t bring any new ideas to the table. Starcraft, widely considered one of the greatest RTS games ever, was past its initial hype factor. Medieval Total War was one of the last PC titles to receive much coverage for some time. Both changed RTS gameplay significantly, and became staples of the genre (the first arguably more so than the latter). A year after Medieval Total War was released, Rise of Nations came out. While it certainly didn’t sport the greatest graphics, Rise of Nations offered some solid gameplay and left the entire outcome up to the player’s discretion.

One of the larger criticisms of Rise of Nations is its lack of a core story. The reason for this is the option to play as any one of 18 distinct nations. These range from the more traditional French, German, and Russian, to the less mainstream like the Aztecs and Bantu. Each nation has specific unique soldiers and vehicles. The game breaks the mold of RTS titles before it by allowing players a sort of ‘level-up’ system, in which they can race to research the technology of the next era in order to try and gain a leg-up on their opponents.


Resources are varied and plentiful, but players will have to choose what is more valuable. The easiest to manage are farms, which allow for more citizens to live in a city, and therefore construct more buildings. Constructing a city near a mountain or forest allows for the construction of mines and logging camps. The payoff is distributed to the player in the form of gold for overall spending and metal/wood for constructing buildings and training military units. Trading posts can also be set up around the more valuable resources, such as marble and silk, boats can gather fish, and oil platforms can be constructed. While these earn you money much more quickly, they are generally set between your land and that of the opposing empire, making them highly contested. So while the initial few levels are fairly simple to complete (in part due to the fact that the world map is largely unexplored at the start), the challenge increases greatly as the player advances through each major era. By the time one has reached the modern age, managing your resources is based on what is necessary and what is expendable.

The game has several difficulty settings that will largely affect the time it takes to complete a round. The clock is generally set at 90 minutes per round, which is more than necessary on the ‘easy’ setting. However, some players may find themselves pressed for time when playing on the hardest difficulty.

Rise of Nations included a surprisingly smooth-playing and enjoyable online multiplayer experience outside of the core game. Players were allowed to choose from any one of the 18 nations and go head-to-head in a race to build their defensive and offensive forces, as well as research tech. Also available was a map creation tool that allowed players to choose from a number of environments (desert, jungle, deciduous forest, etc.) and create custom battles.

Rise of Nations was one of those rare gems of a game that managed to slip under the radar due to the release of the new Gamecube, Playstation 2, and Xbox systems. Nonetheless, it is one of the best RTS titles I have ever played. It offers an astounding amount of freedom without sacrificing the challenge of managing your troops and resources.

25 Days of Christmas - #24: Star Fox 64

Peppy Hare’s simple instructions of “Do a barrel roll!” were never meant to offer anything more than the occasional helpful hint to Fox McCloud. Yet somehow this single phrase has endured through the years as something of gaming legend. As goofy as the one-liners may have been, Star Fox 64 still stands strong as one of the most popular N64 titles ever to grace the system.

Star Fox 64 put players in an arcade-style setup, firing from their Arwing starfighter in a third-person perspective. They were granted laser power-ups and greater shielding from small items scattered around each level (sometimes granted from destroying a set number of enemies). Most enemies would count for a single point each when shot down, though boss fights would grant higher numbers depending on the time it took to defeat them and the damage you as a player sustained during said fight.

The map of the Lylat system gave players the opportunity to forge their own path to Venom. Some areas, such as Aquas, required a set number of points to reach. Others, such as Area 6, required the player to complete objectives like protecting the Great Fox from missiles in Sector X or shooting all the train track switches on Macbeth. This coupled with the fact that some levels were meant to be significantly more challenging than others allowed players to make each play through different.



Though the cast was rather small, the characters are distinct and memorable. Fox, being the most level-headed, tries to keep his team unified. Falco, though he often has a smarmy remark, is an ace pilot and can usually take care of himself. Slippy, despite being possibly the worst pilot ever, is always optimistic and looks up to the rest of team Star Fox. And Peppy, the eldest and most experienced member, acts as a guide now and then, offering short statements like: “Try hovering!” “Follow your father’s example Fox!” and “Use bombs wisely!” Even the rival team of Star Wolf and minor characters like Bill and Katt have such strong personalities that become ingrained in the player’s mind.

While the bulk of the game takes place from the cockpit of an Arwing starfighter, players are granted use of the Landmaster tank and the Blue Marine submarine on multiple occasions. Although the multiplayer felt tacked on at the last minute, it still flowed smoothly and offered four player fights in both the Arwing and the Landmaster. The inclusion of the then-new rumble pack let players feel vibrations from the controller when hit with laser fire, making the overall experience more engaging. Star Fox 64 offered some of the most addictive arcade-style gaming in years, and the replay value shines through greatly because of it.

25 Days of Christmas - #25: Diddy Kong Racing

For the Christmas season, I felt I would offer my own 25 days of Christmas. Each day from now until December 25, I will post my 25 favorite games of all time. These are not necessarily the most successful games in either sales or critical reception; they are simply my favorite games from over the years. Without further ado, the first game on my list:

Largely overshadowed by Mario Kart 64, Rare’s cartoon racer surpassed Nintendo’s in many regards. The number of racetracks available was greater and the weapons less centered around a single character’s franchise. With characters drawn from other Rare games including Conker (before his Mature-rated days) and Banjo (sans Kazooie), Diddy Kong Racing was host to a particularly colorful cast. As was the case with most racing games of the day, each character had his or her own unique attributes that changed the way they handled on the race track. Heavier characters like Krunch could handle sharp turns better, while those more lightweight like Tiptup had much better acceleration.

Diddy Kong Racing allowed players to drive the traditional go-kart, but also provided the option of a prop plane and a hover boat. Each vehicle, though they altered the gameplay significantly, flowed smoothly and felt balanced. The item balloons even altered slightly to fit the vehicles appropriately, such as the oil spill becoming a gas cloud when using the plane.

The sheer number of tracks available in the game was certainly impressive. Each world was home to four main racetracks and one boss race. Initially, there were four major worlds to be found, and requiring a set number of golden balloons to access. But after defeating the main boss Wizpig, the game offered a fifth world to those who had earned gold rankings on all of the trophy races. Another four levels and one final showdown with Wizpig made the finale of the game triumphant.



Diddy Kong Racing offered multiple modes of gameplay to up the replay value. Not to say that the main game was short, but the added modes certainly didn’t hurt the finished product. Within the main single-player story there was both the traditional race which challenged the racer to aim for one of the top three spots as well as another mode that added on a search for silver coins while still aiming for the top three. A time attack mode was offered in both the main story and free play modes, and players could store their times on an N64 memory card to later challenge their times in a ‘ghost race’. Trophy races put racers in the four races of each world and kept an overall placement that would go up or down as the each course was completed. There was even a multiplayer battle mode that was different for each world, varying from a hoard-the-eggs minigame and a more traditional battle mode.

Considering this was the first video game I ever owned, I can’t even begin to imagine the hours I must have poured into this game. I still maintain to this day that beating Wizpig the first time was the single most challenging moment for me in gaming.

00 Gundam: The Movie

New footage from the Gundam 00 movie recently surfaced, showing off the new mobile suits. The video isn’t a trailer, per se, but rather a behind-the-scenes look at the design of the new mobile suits. The four new Gundams are shown in action, flying around in space and showing off their weapons. However, the video does show some concept art for the GN-X and an altered model of the flag, which could be the rumored “Ultra-flag”.

00 Qan[T] (formerly known as 00 Quanta) is shown to be rather similar in design to both 00 and Exia. It sports the same basic color scheme, and carries a shield/sword on the shoulder (similar to the seven swords version). This shoulder attachment is shown to be able to break into rifle bits. On the opposite arm, 00 Qan[T] carries a sword similar to Exia’s GN sword.

Raphael (Tieria’s new Gundam) carries a design scheme more akin to Virtue than Seravee in my opinion, sporting two large blocks on his back which are attached be cable and act as cannons. Raphael itself seems to be a much thinner mobile suit than either Virtue or Seravee, and looks to be a cream/tan color (though this could merely be an effect of the lighting).

Harute (Allelujah’s Gundam) looks to be a more compact version of Arios. Harute is shown to sport wing-like appendages on either leg and – when in flight mode – has a small open area in the rear (perhaps for docking with the GN Archer or upgrade of said GN Archer?). Harute dual wields two beam rifles, but no other weapons were revealed.

Zabanya (Lockon’s Gundam) rings closer to Dynames that Cheridum in its design. It sports a primarily white color scheme, with green on the chest. Zabyana is shown wielding two pistols, and has a grey weapons case of some sort attached to either leg.

Below is the new video:



And for those who have not yet seen the original teaser:

Shoot 'em full of lead

I’d like to do something a little different for this post and focus on a broader spectrum than the specifics of a single game or series. This particular topic has been bugging me since about the midway point of last generation’s consoles. First-person shooters have been rising in ridiculous numbers over the past five or six years. A large part of this surge was initially due to the big three companies feeling the pressure of online gaming (or in Nintendo’s case, the lack thereof). And while games like Goldeneye 007 and Perfect Dark have stood the test of time, there are plenty of others in the FPS genre that will be forgotten in a sea of mediocre games.

When I take to a game, my overall impressions are based on three major factors: originality, story, and game mechanics. Obviously not every game has to be original to become popular. Perfect Dark was essentially a re-skin of Goldeneye 007 with a new story and weapons. But that didn’t stop it from becoming one of the more popular N64 games. That said, both those games were released in the late 1990s, during the heyday of 3D gaming. During that time, most FPS titles were still popular in arcades with laser-response gun controllers to boot. Getting back on track, both Perfect Dark and Goldeneye 007 had easy control schemes and almost never dropped frame rate. Perfect Dark obviously had the more creative and original story, as Goldeneye 007 was heavily based on the subsequent film, but that didn’t stop gamers from flocking to either N64 title to get their shooter fix.

During the last generation of consoles, the Gamecube was left lagging quite a ways behind in sales and critical reception. And while the Playstation 2 arguably won that generation of console wars, the Xbox gave the PS2 a run for its money with its more successful online gaming. The success of the Xbox was due in no small part to its flagship game Halo and sequel Halo 2. Halo was one of many FPS games that would shape Microsoft’s gaming market to make it more accessible to casual gamers. Is Halo a casual game itself? It’s difficult to classify. On normal difficulty, almost anyone can kick ass as the Master Chief. But turn it up to legendary difficulty and the game is almost definitely hardcore status. It’s unfortunate, however, that the three main Halo games don’t include a longer campaign. Bungie realized that they can basically sell the games on their multiplayer alone, but I feel that they could do a lot more with the story for those who haven’t read the novels.

Halo may have been the single most important game in relaunching the FPS genre. Games like Call of Duty and Medal of Honor were given a new lease on life and sold like hotcakes. Today it seems like there is a new FPS being announced or released almost every week. And while the Halo franchise does deserve kudos for having a strong story and a very unique arsenal, there are few other FPS games from the two most recent console generations that can come close to comparison. Call of Duty certainly has a good variety of weapons, but with the exception of Modern Warfare, the story is always a rehash of the previous game. Multiplayer is mediocre at best, and the controls are clunky (I know they want to be realistic with the weapons, but having the sniper scope fling all about gets annoying pretty damn fast). Certainly some improvements were made with Modern Warfare, particularly with the multiplayer. But the campaign was even shorter than that of Halo 3, and the story not even half as engaging.

The worst part about all this is that Call of Duty and Halo are at the top of the FPS pyramid. Medal of Honor has since been left in the dust, regardless of the fact that its games were almost the exact same as Call of Duty’s. The Conduit had both a decent story and game mechanics, but didn't really stand out as a must-have for Wii owners. And then of course there are games like Haze which promise the greatest shooter experience ever and end up being a giant pile of crap. As creative as the weapons in Resistance: Fall of Man are, the story and characters are forgettable. Killzone has decent mechanics and an okay story, but the characters are rather one-dimensional. It seems that few companies want to put forth the effort of releasing a shooter that combines fluid controls with a good story. Do I think it’s impossible? Certainly not – it happened over a decade ago, multiple times. But considering the current state of the industry, I wouldn’t bank on seeing another truly engaging FPS for some years to come. In fact, you’re better off playing adventure-shooter crossovers like Metroid Prime 3: Corruption or Bioshock for an excellent FPS experience.

"I've been waiting for you, Leon..."

Over the past year, there has been a surge in shooter games on the Wii. This may not come as a surprise to many, as Nintendo really tried to advertise their Zapper gun as incentive for developers to choose their system over that of Microsoft and Sony. And while Call of Duty was one of the first franchises to jump on the bandwagon with this idea of the player actually holding a virtual gun, the shooter genre is being reinvented by motion-controlled horror games.

House of the Dead and Time Crisis used to be the pinnacle of game design at arcades just a little over a decade ago. Even Duck Hunt utilized a similar technology, years ahead of its time. So why would game developers revert to a rail-style shooter based on motion controls for horror games? Simply put, it makes the game scarier – a lot scarier. Resident Evil 5, though it garnered plenty of positive reviews, received a lot of criticism for not being very scary. Left 4 Dead, though it may be filled with an unrivaled amount of zombies at any given time, gives the player a plethora of semi-automatic weapons and a nearly limitless amount of ammo. This makes staying alive seem like a cakewalk, and while protecting yourself with a molotov cocktail may create some cool results, it also makes the zombies seem a lot less menacing.

The first title in the horror genre to really stand out for using the Wii-mote successfully in a horror title was, ironically enough, Resident Evil 4. The title was first released on the Gamecube (later ported to the Playstation 2 and iPhone) and was one of the more successful titles on the system. Many gamers and critics felt that, all though they had played the game before, Resident Evil 4 felt more engaging on the Wii. Not long after, Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles debuted and wowed gamers with a retelling of the original Resident Evil, as well as tying up some loose ends in the series. Zombies would spawn at random locations in varying numbers, and while advancing through a level was predetermined by the game, the player could take alternate routes each time. This combined with the dark moody atmosphere and the nostalgia of the original cast of characters gave gamers a truly terrifying and enjoyable experience.

With the success of Umbrella Chronicles, Capcom quickly started work on a sequel, entitled Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles, which will be released next month. Darkside Chronicles will cover events from Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil: Code Veronica, offers even more enemies, and brings back some familiar boss fights. Judging from their formula so far, I’d say it’s a safe bet to assume that Capcom will continue releasing these retellings of the series for at least a few more years. Also in the works in a retooled version of Resident Evil 0, originally released on the Gamecube, though largely overshadowed by Resident Evil 4. It will follow a similar formula to the Wii version of Resident Evil 4, altering the control scheme but maintaining the same game at its core. Also onboard with the rail-shooter revival is EA with Dead Space: Extraction. And even though it may not utilize the controls in the same way, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories makes excellent use of the Wii-mote to solve puzzles and navigate through the game. While I am looking forward to Bioshock 2 next year, I don’t think it will be as chilling as Darkside Chronicles.