FIGHT!

It was back in 1991 that my whole world changed. Hell, everybody's world changed! Because, it was back in 1991 that Capcom unleashed Street Fighter II : The World Warrior on an unsuspecting population.

It was a sequel to a game that was of little note, except for having huge rubber pads instead of buttons, basing the power of the on-screen moves around the power with which the buttons were hit. This was meant to develop skill, but in effect just meant that the best players were huge guys in puffy jackets. Street Fighter really was nothing of note. So, when Street Fighter II first appeared, I giggled at it.

I still don't know for sure what made me play it. I think it was possibly due to there being an entire bank of the machines in the arcade, instead of just the usual sole cabinet. And all were busy! I remembered seeing the original game left empty after about a week, as everybody realised how useless the "Smack it harder" system really was.

Street Fighter II was different, though. For a start, there were 6 buttons. Sounds like nothing today, but it was a jaw-dropper for me. I imagined how it would work ; A flurry of light punches, leading into a couple of medium, followed by a heavy to finish it all. I put in my coin, picked the character my cursor happened to be on, and was immediately taken out of the mundane everyday world I existed in and instead dropped into a surreal but beautiful nightmare.

My karate dude was up against a man that stretched his arms to hit me from the other side of the screen! Not only that, the bastard could also breathe fire. How unfair! Naturally, I picked stretchy dude when I died. Only, I couldn't spit the fire like the CPU could. So, I lost again, to the original karate dude I had picked who obviously was the worst one. So, I picked the soldier this time.

Once again, I lost. But, I somehow won a round this time! It was clear to me that this 'Guile' character was the way forwards, although if I could just figure out how to make karate guy do that magic attack then things would be different. After some experimentation, I discovered that moving the stick backwards, down, forwards, and pressing 2 of the punch buttons made the fireball appear. (Little did I know how I was overcomplicating things at the time!)

I was hooked. Along with the entire world. A new breed of arcade game now existed, and you were no longer judged on your single player abilities. Now, everything was about how well you could stick it to the other guy. Tournaments sprang up, everyone was fighting evevryone else, and the impact of this one game reshaped the entire face of gaming forever. It would be safe to say that no fighting franchise has had the same effect as Street Fighter did. And whilst subsequent incarnations have upped the technology, the style, and the complexity, they have not SHORYUKEN'ed the public consciousness in quite the same way.

Until now, that is. For now, we have Street Fighter IV. A game that has the potential to do to your home consoles what it did to the arcades of the world 18 years ago.

There are games that create a buzz. There are games that bring something new. And then, there is Street Fighter IV. What it has done is to somehow remind us all of those heady days of the early 90's. Days of tournaments, of battling prowess, of practising your combos for hours on end so that when you next fought in public you would have something to show your opponent, and your audience. Days that had seemingly been lost forever. Oh, sure, there is still a healthy tournament scene, but it is reserved for the specialists.

Street Fighter IV is bringing it all back into the public domain. By welcoming new players into its arms, and removing some of the barriers that have been built by years of tweaking to perfection, suddenly being the best doesn't seem so far away. Only, rather than having to go to an arcade and face the wrath of large guys in puffy jackets, all you need to do now is face the wrath of high-pitched annoying 12 year old Americans over XBox Live or PSN. Just insert the disc, start up, and prepare for the onslaught of an endless supply of Ken players hitting the Fierce Dragon Punch on you. By including the ability to let random players challenge you whilst working through arcade mode, Capcom have captured the feel of arcades at their best.

Feel is where this game particularly shines. Without ignoring the quality of the graphics, which are simply sublime, they are not what fighting is about. Fights need a flow to them, and a way of seperating the good players from those who just aimlessly mash. The new 'Focus' system ensures that there is always an option available to punish the mindless mashers. Hit focus at the exact moment an attack hits, and you absorb the energy of it, replenishing your health. Your opponent is also briefly stunned, which allows you to get your own attack in. And, yes, it is possible to counter a Focus with a Focus of your own, leading to back and forth battles. Charge a Focus long enough, and your opponent crumples to the floor. Nicest of all is that there is no requirement to build up any kind of meter to do this, as there are already two meters to keep your eye on anyway!

First is the standard 'If you hit them it will come' meter that when full allows you to unleash your Super Combo. New to IV is the 'Revenge' meter, which fills as you take damage. Once it hits halfway, you have access to a highly damaging and spectacular looking Ultra Combo, making for a rather nifty catch-up mechanic. Far from being the 'Get Out Of Jail Free' card that it sounds like, this system guarantees fights remain exciting until the end, as hitting someone with your Ultra charges THEIR meter, allowing them to retaliate should they survive.

The whole game emphasises this tactical element, rather than relying on intricate joystick movements to release the most damaging attacks. Fast-fingers are still needed, but they are no longer the only entry requirement. It is possible for a novice to inflict decent damage with mostly regular attacks, whilst the inclusion of EX versions of special and regular attacks (activated by pressing an extra punch or kick button), along with the ability to miss throw attempts, opens up fights from the tight manic action of earlier games in the franchise. Matches between veterans will still rely on the same setups, zones, and traps, but players who learn to accomodate the new mechanics into their armouries will soon find themselves borderline unstoppable.

There is no other way to describe it, Street Fighter IV is the complete package. Graphically impressive enough to catch the casual eye, accessible enough to catch the mainstream, and deep enough to keep hold of the core. Sometimes, what you have in front of you is simply a peach. Congratulations, Capcom, you have made me feel younger!

Little Big Planet review-me-do.

PS3 HOME is supposed to be the most amazing thing ever. It isn't. It is just a crass attempt to make you spend money instead of playing games on your games console. (Read : Media centre.) As a gateway to a world of new experience, it makes for an incredibly effective barrier. The whole community aspect is far too limited, and I can think of no logical reason why the bowling alley consists of 6 lanes that can fill. Yes, you read that right. I had to wait for a slot to become available to play a video game in a virtual space!

Sony have made a pretty huge mistake there, because despite HOME and its over-powering restriction, there really is the potential for a great community on the PS3. The proof of this pudding comes in the shape of Little big Planet.

That it is the best 2D platformer since New Super Mario Bros. is enough for me, I would buy the game on the strength of the single-player alone. Platforming, when done right, is still one of the most satisfying genres out there. And Media Molecule have gotten some of it EXTREMELY right! From pixel-perfect jumps, to timed chases, to seemingly unreachable rewards, all the required elements are in place. Things are made so much better, though, because of the style. Sackboy is such a simple idea, and yet is full of charm. The world in which he lives is a direct extension of this, and is all the more enjoyable for the enforced cartoonishness of things.

The real genius, though, is the clever usage of physics. Items can be moved, bounced, burnt, sploded, broken, and interacted with in countless ways. Some things are light enough for Sackboy to grab and drag in order to get access to areas he can't jump to. Sometimes, you need to find other ways past. So, you might grab a sponge on a string in order to swing across a chasm. Or, you might have to drive a rocket-powered car at it fast enough to smash through. Or, you might need to carry explosives toward it from a jetpack, through perilous rocky outcrops. All the kind of stuff you just don't do in more real-world based games.

And then, the piece de resistance. Or, more accurately, the first of two.

You get the opportunity to create your very own levels. In the past, this has amounted to some limited "Place one of these few blocks in one of these few places." Not so, here! Here, you get to create the very blocks that you are placing, as well as what they do, what they react with, along with where they go. You can create locales, traps, enemies, vehicles, even the very backgrounds. You define how they look, how they sound, how they are lighted, and how they react, along with what they react to.

Then, you get to upload it to the community. Which is quite possibly the trump card. I swear, rather than making adverts with generic Australian 'comedy', and stressing that you can play with anything, Sony should be showcasing the idea that ANYBODY can play with anything you made!

I came across a level called 'Vanessa Feltz in the Cheeky Temple', which speaks for itself. Even if the level is awful, somebody took the time to create something like that. Let's examine this for just a couple of seconds here.

Vanessa Feltz is ... there is no nice way to put it. She is a joke. Her short-lived career as a broadcaster is well and truly over, she only gets to appear on TV these days when they remind us annualy of her Celebrity Big Brother meltdown. Any aspect of seriousness she once held has been stripped away in a loop of reality TV and sitcom cash-in appearances. And, most people in Britain know this. She belongs to that special class of celebrity who exist these days because we like to laugh at those less fortunate than ourselves. To her credit, she does somewhat accept her fate, rather than try and act like she still has any kind of relevance.

So, when 'Divalicious' got his or her hands on the tools to make ANYTHING THEY COULD IMAGINE, they imagined a fat has-been for their ideal mascot. I have yet to play the level myself, but I don't need to. I can already imagine the level of hilarious it entails. Divalicious is clearly a person with whom I could have a great laugh. At time of writing I am unable to access the LBP servers, but as soon as I can I will 'heart' them (add them as a favourite creator of levels) without hesitation. Such is the potential of this title.

From my own point of view, I have in my hands a tool that will allow me to try out ideas, and test them on the public at large. By refusing to join in with any forum-based "Let's heart each other for the trophy!" shenanigans, and just releasing my own levels to see how they do, I will know that if I get enough people hearting me that I am doing things right. If I don't, then I am not. This is wonderful, publishing without the need to buy a license!

All of this goes without mentioning 1-4 player local play, and up to 8 players online! Replayability is built in due to the quite frankly scary amount of items to collect in each level, some of which are VERY well placed. Some require co-operation to get, and thankfully all players receive the reward when they reach these items.

The real community consists of gamers, not customers. People are what they make, not just what they buy. HOME has been made by marketing executives, whereas Little Big Planet has been made by artists. I will leave it up to you to judge which one is more likely to be a success.

Super Mario Galaxy review-me-do.

Of course I bought it when it was first released. After all, it was getting rave reviews from everyone, save for the usual few monkeys who just want to attack anything Nintendo related. And, I played it, and loved it. And then, for whatever reason, I abandoned it for other games. Just .... for no real reason that I can see, other games were much more appealing to me. Which is not to say that any of them were better, incidentally. Just that they were on the 360, which meant achievments and communication with friends at the same time.

And then, the other night, nearly a year after I last played it, I decided to switch on the Wii again and give Mr. Gay another shot. The reason being that the Wii had finally seen some love over the weekend when we tried Samba de Amigo with friends. Before this, my message board tells me the Wii had been inactive in 6 weeks. Which pretty much explains why I hadn't completed Galaxy.

I still haven't completed Galaxy, but I have beat Bowser. Now, here is where things get interesting. Because I would normally not bother going back to 100% complete a game at this stage. I am more of a "Play them all" than a "Play it all" type of guy. But, I knew there was much more fun to be had in Galaxy, so I gladly went back in to add some more stars to my collection.

The closing credits pleased me, and surprised me. Apparently, 6 people were involved in level design, and 1 person was involved in in-game cinematics. This pleased me because it is the way all games should do it, and surprised me because I felt sure that there were at least 100 level designers! I have never played anything that has so consistently thrown new things at me. There are entire massive levels based around a single play mechanic that could quite easily support a full game, that is then thrown away. There are comets that change the rules completely, and yet are entirely in keeping with the rest of the game. There are of course the familiar old enemies, along with some entirely new creations. And it all sits hand-in-hand, and makes complete sense.

All the reviews you have read can't prepare you. They certainly didn't prepare me. I knew I was in for a good time, what I didn't know was that my entire gameplaying life for the last few years would be revealed to be as empty as it has been.

For example, there is a level where I had to multiple wall-jump from side to side up a tower that was sinking into the sand. Or maybe water. Or maybe just empty space, I don't remember now. What I DO clearly remember is the feeling of pure awesome as I made the jumps.It was almost as if I was all-powerful, with the knowledge that I could go pretty much anywhere at any time as of right now, and have no fear at all. Very few games give you that level of reward, Galaxy starts you off with it.

The level design shines. Every galaxy you open brings you at least one area that you can see, but can't quite work out how to get to. These areas may not contain anything, or they may contain power-ups, coins, it doesn't matter. You never feel as if they are out of reach, they are just slightly out of your reach at that moment. You trust that they are there for a reason.

This reason comes with the advent of the purple comet. Once the game is completed, you get a message telling you that 'Another chapter has been added to the storybook', and another one saying 'The purple comet has now appeared'. The purple comet is the one that scatters 100 purple coins through each galaxy, and gives you a star for collecting them all. It is an entirely optional task that is only available once you have completed the game. And yet, it feels like something you should have been doing all along. That is the genius I am talking about. 60 stars is all you need to fight final Bowser, but you will want to find the rest of the 120. Because every single star is just such fun!

Mario Galaxy has made me question just what I have been playing since Mario 64. Why aren't all games like this? I'm not suggesting that every game should be a cute platformer, but I am suggesting that every game should have this amount of love and thought lavished upon it during its creation. 99% of all other games look soulless in comparison.

I wish Mario Galaxy was on the PS3 and XBox 360, so that everybody could play it. Make no mistake about it, there are peole out there who loathe the Wii and all it stands for. These people are denying themselves one of the greatest, if not THE single most wondrous, gaming experiences ever crafted. Anybody reading this who does not have a Wii on which to play this game is hereby ordered to find a way to play it. If you do not, you will have to find a way to apologise to your own soul.

Mirrors Edge review-me-do.

The trailers were so promising! Full of blue-skies, incredible stunts, gymnastic feats, and WEEEEECOOLSPEEDY bits. Sure, the protagonist is a tad ugly, but who the hell cares about that in a game where pretty much the only thing you never see is your own face?

With good reason, people have been excited about this one. In a world full of REHASHAN and SHOOTAN, something new is something to celebrate. And Mirror's Edge is definitely a contender for "Coolest idea of the year" in gameplay terms. When people call it a 'free running' game they are mistaken, although it certainly seems that way at first. It is not Parkour, though, because you are not really trying to do anything with style. You are mostly getting from A to B as fast as possible, which maturally involves jumping and sliding, so it is obvious why people made the connection.

And, it has to be said, there are parts of Mirror's Edge that genuinely capture a feeling of unbridled motion along the rooftops. Sometimes you see where you need to be, and immediately see several ways to get there. On these instances you simply can't help yourself ; You COULD just climb that wall, but why do that when you could jump up there, slide over there, and then launch from that and roll nicely upon landing? A lack of momentum is rarely punished, and yet you feel a need to maintain it. It is purely because it is so much fun, the game appears to not actively punish you for slowing down.

Which is why it is so frustrating when the game FORCES you to slow down! Honestly, up on those rooftops is Nirvana. You feel at times like you never want to go back indoors again. So, the decision to set half the game indoors is a baffling one. Crawling through air ducts has NEVER been enjoyable, and yet in the first three chapters I have had to do it on at least three occasions. So, let me get this straight ... I am able to run along walls before leaping to catch the slightest overhang, and so naturally I take advantage of this by crawling in confined spaces. Or, waiting in lifts for a minute at a time!

It's crazy. It's almost like in the Sonic games, where the designers seem to want to restrict you too often. The best part is the running. By limiting the running, they are also limiting the fun. Because, GENERIC SHOOTAN GAME #34 does the in-building combat bits so much better than Mirror's Edge does.

I get that it wouldn't be realistic for Faith to be some kind of tank. She is an athlete, not a warrior, and so it makes total sense that she can't just stand there and absorb gunshots. But, it does seem like she is somewhat of a wuss. Pretty much two shots mean curtains. Now, I like this, but then it becomes a problem when there are more than two enemies around. Which is more or less every time there are any enemies around. Throw in the occasional helicopter gunship, and another SERIOUS flaw, and it would be very easy to hate this game.

SERIOUS flaw. Almost a game-breaker. I'm not even kidding, it is more than frustrating, it is absolutely infuriating.

Apparently, there is a thing called 'Runner Vision' wherein things you are meant to jump off/climb up/interact with are red. This is nice, but often there is nothing red on your screen at all. And so you can press B to show you where to go. Yes, the game felt the need to include a "Where the fuck do I go?" button. Something I have frequently wished more games would do, as it happens. It is a great move, except for a quite glaringly obvious contradiction.

A game about MOVEMENT and FLOW should not really ever leave me wondering "Where the fuck do I go?", should it? Am I alone in finding this to be a somewhat major gripe? Plus, it doesn't even work properly. Early in chapter 3 you come to a roof with no obvious way up to it. You can see precisely where you need to be, and a quick press of "Where the fuck do I go?" confirms this, and yet it seems to be completely beyond your reach.

I tried multiple combinations of jumps, wallruns, rolls, turns, and could not reach the next rooftop. It made no sense. I don't even know why I found the button that moved the window cleaning platform so that I could reach the roof, but it would have been nice if "Where the fuck do I go?" pointed me there instead of my ultimate destination! Fifteen whole minutes on that roof, trying every kind of athletic feat I could think of, when the solution was something far more mundane.

Playing Mirror's Edge, then, is akin to visiting a friends house as a child. He has some wonderful toys, so much better than yours, but you are only able to play with them for a couple of minutes before they are taken away. To make things worse, if you ever do get the chance to play with them on your own, you find that they are hidden from you and you have to go and find them first.

I have completed the first three chapters so far, and I have been somewhat disappointed in what I have played. Sure, there are moments where it has been everything that I had hoped for, but they have been too few and far between. Any game that has me shouting "WHERE THE FUCK DO I GO?" at the screen even when it includes a button to answer that question is getting something very basic very wrong. I'm not asking to have my hand-held. I am just asking for clear direction. By all means make getting to my destination as hard as you like, but never hide it from me.

I file this under 'Missed opportunity', then. I am sure that time trials and speedruns will change things for the better, but having to plod through a story first to get to the good bits is less fun than the designers seem to think. A game that is about getting from A to Z should also show you the way to the other 24 letters, and Mirror's Edge doesn't do that well enough.

Excite Truck review-me-do.

There are often times in my life when I get somewhat jaded, and just don't want to play games. At least, none of the ones I have, at any rate. This leads to me constantly having unfinished games, and me constantly being in the middle of more games than there are hours in the day. For example, right now I am technically still playing Megaman 9. And Okami. CoD 4, GTA IV, Super Paper Mario, Mario Galaxy, Prey, Uncharted, Resistance, and it goes back even further. Shadow of the Colossus, for fucks sake! Why did I never complete that one? (Hint : It got dull.)

At times like this the last thing I should do is try something else. And yet, invariably, I feel the need for a new experience. When my latest title arrived from lovefilm, it was something I wasn't really bothered about ever playing. I had avoided it plenty of times, but I figured "Why not? How bad can it be?"

I shouldn't have doubted the quality. I know full well that the solution to Jaded Gamer Syndrome is to play something old-school. Something with zero story, PROPER VIDEOGAME PHYSICS (ie. no physics at all), and gloriously uncomplicated aims. You know, the kind of thing where you never worry about where to go next, or find the exact bit of scenery to interact with for the next cut-scene. Nope, just a straightforward twitch game.

Excite Truck suffices. It does more than suffice, actually. It lives up to its name. It excites, it truly does.

The speed of the game can only be described as blazing. Sure, these are not exactly Motorstorm quality graphics, but they are still nice enough. Better than anything you played until a couple of years ago, certainly. Backgrounds whizz past, trees come at you so suddenly you can't avoid them, and enemy cars all look like they are racing the same course as you are. It's all fantastic, unless you are one of those fuckheads on the internet who insist that everything needs to be full 1080p and that you CAN ACTUALLY TELL THE DIFFERENCE. (Hint : You can't.)

So, you narrowly avoid the trees, smash the hell out of the truck in front of you, and then you go up a hill. Flick your Wiimote up, hit the d-pad for a turbo, and see a whole new level of JOY. Flying through the air, sometimes at insane heights, tilt your Wiimote just right so you land all 4 wheels at the same time, and get another boost. This can usually take you right to the next jump, wherein you get to boost again. Or maybe it takes you to a ! icon, which allows COOL STUFF to happen. Like the entire terrain might deform to make a new jump for you to OMG WEEEEEEEEE up once more. There are tracks where you just don't get the time to drive any kind of planned route, you are simply reacting to the near-permanent boost. You will smile, you will laugh, and you may well even squeal.

Of course, being a Wii title, there are issues. Tantamount is the steering. See, you control it with the Wiimote on it's side. Not a porblem, except that none of us are as steady as we think we are, and the Wiimote is sometimes too bloody sensitive. So you often find yourself having to correct for movements you didn't even realise you made. Or, worse still, you find yourself unable to steer the way you wanted to because you moved the damn Wiimote, or tilted it differently. Thing is, it is always your own fault, so it's not a valid complaint. But it will make you shout. Waggle is used sparingly, and I was pleasantly surprised to find myself hammering the 2 button when I crashed instead of the usual mid-air Wiimote wank motion.

Blah blah blah, race mode and challenge mode, blah blah blah, 2 player option, blah blah blah, rising difficulty levels, blah blah blah, unlock tracks and trucks, blah blah blah. All the requisite boxes ticked. Custom soundtracks via SD card are a nice addition, something that should relly have become standard in all games since the days of the original XBastard. Being an early Wii game there is no online at all, which is a pity. 4 player would also be nice, but I can imagine 4 players having fun taking turns and watching others. It's just got that old feel to it.

The biggest fault I can find with Excite Truck is that it makes me REALLY want an online F-Zero. Which probably says more for the speed of it than anything else, and also probably marks me out as so big a nerd that I shouldn't be allowed out of doors any more.

So far I have completed Bronze and Silver cups, as well as a couple of the challenges. I prefer the challenges, as they are the exact kind of thing that I do best. OCD gaming, where you do what you did last time but faster, sooner, harder, better, chasing that boner-inducing S rank. But, that's enough to tell me that this is one excellent game. Also enough to tell me it may well be a little short.

'Outdated concept that has no real use' out of ten. My life has been improved having played it, and if I ever see it cheap enough I may well buy it. Definite rental for anyone else, it's just so much fun.