Monthly Archives: June 2015
The Original Ridge Racer: A PlayStation Launch Classic
It wasn’t long ago that the Ridge Racer series was seen as one of the immutable titans of arcade racing. A brand that would always endure. Ridge Racer was a staple of every Sony platform launch – a Ridge Racer game debuted with the original PlayStation, the PS2, PS3, PSP and PS Vita.
But where is it now? There’s been no Ridge Racer game on PS4 or Xbox One, and the last retail release was Bugbear’s Ridge Racer Unbounded in 2012, which – although a great racer in its own right – was “Ridge Racer in name only,” according to the guy who wrote the IGN review. It was a break with tradition – an experiment to find a new direction for the series, and the same can be said for the disastrous free-to-play PC experiment that followed, Ridge Racer Driftopia, which was shuttered after a year in Early Access in August last year.
Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition Review
Devil May Cry 4 is excessive by design, from the mammoth swords to the boss battles rooted in elegant mayhem. The action can feel like a firework show that spurns a nuanced routine for a non-stop, thirty-minute finale, and there's a certain charm to this bravado. But the excessiveness takes away just as much as it gives. The structure of the extended campaign works against its own momentum, forcing you to retread recently explored locations and battle all-too-familiar enemies over and over again. While this Special Edition provides slight combat tweaks and additional characters to toy with, there's just not enough mechanical or architectural variation to justify the fluff. As a result, the endless combat rooms and recycled scenarios can be exhausting.
The re-progression is thematically justified by a character swap, giving you at least some reason to remain engaged during this slog. You spend the majority of Devil May Cry 4 with Nero, a silver-haired, sardonic punk whose emotions swing from caustic rage to lovesick sweetness at the drop of a sword. He's a suitable protagonist for the series, with enough emotional intrigue to carry the early portions of the story, but the eventual shift to Dante is welcomed. Collecting new weapons and experimenting with his unique combat stances spices up the action, and his comically blasé attitude toward towering demons hurling fire, ice, and everything in between adds an additional layer of absurdity to this ballet of angels and demons. It's just a shame that Dante is left with so little meat to pick off the bone, being relegated to retracing Nero's steps.
The most significant change introduced by the Special Edition is the inclusion of three additional characters: Lady, Trish, and Vergil. The fresh cast is playable from the start, and thankfully, each member provides a much-needed layer of combat variation absent from the original release. Lady’s proclivity for projectiles punches up your offense at range, allowing you to more easily dust airborne foes and wipe out large groups with a single, charged missile. Trish and Vergil aren’t as unorthodox in their play styles, but both benefit from swift hypersonic attacks that help you smoothly transition from demon to demon. Vergil, especially, can quickly jump from place to place and easily build upon a string of combos without having to waste time walking to a new target.
Devil May Cry 4 is deeply flawed, but the new 1080p, 60 frames-per-second wrapping provided by the Special Edition does well to modernize the aesthetic while maintaining the series' blistering speed. The action rarely skips a beat--even when a sea of enemies floods the screen--and while you might not mistake it for a brand-new 2015 release, the characters and environments just look cleaner. The uproariously extravagant cutscenes, where you'll find Dante and Nero elegantly sliding under deadly projectiles or bouncing away from massive demons with aplomb, benefit the most from the improved visual fidelity.
But like a stubborn wine stain, the repetition so deeply rooted in Devil May Cry 4's fabric can't be easily washed out. The additional characters replace Nero and Dante in the same scenarios, so you're still playing through identical missions you're likely already tired of. Starting the game over with a different character only highlights the lack of unique locations, so once the initial wonder of Vergil's lightning-quick technique and Lady's devastating grenade launcher wears off, there's not much left to enjoy. You can avoid replaying the main missions by instead testing out each character’s abilities in the Bloody Palace, which is a series of combat challenges where the deeper you descend, the more difficult the enemies become. However, Devil May Cry 4 can already feel like a combat gauntlet, so stripping out the story, puzzles, and exploration doesn't do it any favors. It’s nice to have more options, but the Special Edition's prevailing new features are hampered by the nature of its main adventure.
The series of events is both interesting and challenging the first time around, at least--even if they're weighed down by too many back-to-back combat sequences. Nero's combo-driven sword-play is bolstered by his pistols and wonderfully versatile Devil Bringer--a demonic arm that acts as both a quick means of transportation and a powerful melee option. Beyond its practical use, the Devil Bringer gives you greater opportunity to increase your style gauge and extend combos to great lengths. By diversifying your attacks, you can earn more points and, most importantly, complete a combat scenario in the most surgical, exciting ways possible.
Like a stubborn wine stain, the repetition so deeply rooted in Devil May Cry 4's fabric can't be easily washed out.
You can grab, pull, and pound enemies into the dirt through Nero's glowing grip, but the manner by which this arm translates to platforming and puzzle solving is more frustrating than fun. Devil May Cry 4 provides very limited camera control, and shifting perspectives often obfuscate your view as you use your arm to grapple from point to point. It can be difficult to determine your position, let alone time a jump or push certain objects to unlock doors with such a restrictive, jarring point of view.
If you're a seasoned demon hunter, the Special Edition does provide a new, punishing difficulty called Legendary Dark Knight Mode. Here, a greater number and variety of enemies spawn at any given time--creating more opportunities to string together stylish combos, but a higher probability of becoming overwhelmed. Thankfully, the points and skills accrued over time carry over, so some of the difficulty's edge can be dulled by tackling this hellish challenge on a second playthrough. However, no matter how skilled you become, the boss battles here can be ruthless, so even fully decked-out characters can fall after a few mistimed dodges.
The visual improvements and additional characters layered atop the Devil May Cry 4 Special Edition can't conceal its bloated structure. This is, without a doubt, the best this stylish action romp has looked and felt, but just because you can gussy up an old game, doesn't always mean that you should. If you're dying to see how Vergil fares against the Order of the Sword or feel the need to test the extreme difficulty, take the leap. Just be warned that some aspects of the game would have been better left in the past.
Michael Keaton’s in Another Comic Book Adaptation
After recently starring in a movie about moving beyond comic adaptations (Birdman), Michael Keaton is set to star in another one.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the star of Tim Burton's Batman will produce and star in Imagine Agents, an adaptation of a Boom! comic series of the same name written by Brian Joines and drawn by Bachan.
Composer James Horner Killed in Plane Crash
Prolific Hollywood composer James Horner has been killed in a plane crash in southern California, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The news was reportedly confirmed by Horner’s assistant Sylvia Patrycja via a post on social media.
A short time ago CBS Los Angeles revealed that a plane registered to Horner had crashed 60 miles north of Santa Barbara, killing the pilot. The plane was a two-seater S-312 Tucano MK1 turbo-prop, but no one else has been reported on board. It was not immediately clear whether Horner himself was flying the plane but the 61-year-old was unaccounted for following the crash.
Independence Day 2 Has an Official Title
Independence Day 2 has a non-numerical title: Independence Day Resurgence.
Variety reported the new title and included a couple of shots from the set.
The first shot is of a "Moon Tug spacecraft" and the other is of director Roland Emmerich posing in front of the ship.
How Fast & Furious: Supercharged Takes You to the Streets
Opening June 25th at Universal Studios Hollywood, Fast & Furious: Supercharged brings the incredibly successful movie series into the theme park realm for the first time. The new ride has been incorporated into the classic Universal Studio Tour, and includes several stars from the films, including Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson and Luke Evans.
A few weeks back, I was given an early look at what to expect from Supercharged from Universal Studios Hollywood Executive Show Producer, Chick Russell, whose previous work for Universal theme parks included Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey and Transformers: The Ride. Russell showed me a computer walk-through of the entire ride, including the lead-up portion setting up the scenario and then the main ride itself, which involves huge screens on both sides of the guests, putting them into the middle of a high speed street race, in a manner Universal first used for their King Kong attraction.
Wander Review
Unlike other massively multiplayer games, Wander does not begin with you tuning sliders and picking palettes to create a character or accepting a fetch quest from a non-player character, because neither of those options exist. Nor do you have to kill ten of X, because combat or creatures are nowhere to be found. The only to-do list is the list of achievements, most of which read like chores. Wander focuses on exploration and wants to be a refreshing new contender, yet it’s nothing more than a glitchy, boring mess.
Instead of embracing the aforementioned genre standbys, Wander starts you off playing as a humanoid tree creature known as an Oren. This Tolkien-inspired being moves around the island at a grueling pace trying to find a transformation stone as soon as possible. The forest floor only has a few paths at the beginning, yet you can still find a dead end, requiring you to backtrack at the speed of a turtle. The game, whose sole purpose is exploration, penalizes you for doing just that in the first five minutes.
Once finding the stone in a nearby cave, the Oren shrinks and becomes a Hira: a nimble figure with fins that act as a wingsuit. Once you transform, there’s no reason to even think about returning to your prior ineffective form. However, shortly after freeing myself from the Oren’s fetters, the game crashed, and I knew this would be an unpleasant walkabout.
As a Hira, you can glide like an ice skater, walk under water, stop time, and burrow through earth. Oh wait--those are movement glitches, bugs, not features. The graphics are another imperfection. Although it was made with CryEngine, Wander looks like an extension of Playstation Home. Textures are flat and dull, if they even load at all. Trees and vegetation flicker in and out of existence as they sway in the coastal breeze. Ponds vanish, and you swim through the air and on dry beds of rock. The plants farther down the road are identical to the ones that came before, and my eyes glazed over scanning the thick brush for something unique or captivating. Each summited outcropping teases a view of a breathtaking landscape, but disappointment sinks in every time. The Hira is a marooned sailor destined to die from monotony on an island prison.
Wander’s narrative is supplied via lore stones, which are similar to the audio logs found in games like Bioshock. These rocks provide meaningless blurbs discussing flora and fauna rather than any actual story or plot. After finding the first lore stone, the map room is unlocked. In this cave, you can also switch between four different forms, such as an aquatic lizard or a flying griffin, at will. However, the relief map itself is useless without a “You Are Here” marker.
In addition to the lore and transformation stones, pillars give the gift of speech. Each found stone lets players speak necessary words, like “hello,” and extremely specific terms that you will never need to utter, like “thermal.” You say sentences by drawing the corresponding glyph on the DualShock’s touchpad and hoping the gods accept your handwriting. Chances are they won’t. Thankfully, there’s an alternative method, but it requires cycling through each individual gleaned word on the D-pad. Then, when the controller is idling on the coffee table, random words will sound without any input--not to mention, the same tutorial for the Rozhda language system plays, even if it’s your tenth time finding a glyph. The touchpad is also used to summon fireflies, but they never heeded my call, so I can only guess at their function. Luckily, I didn’t find any chatty players, so I was never forced to piece together a fragmented phrase from an obtuse mechanic.
The only respite provided in Wander is the lovely soundtrack composed by Benjamin Woodgates. The soothing vocals contrast with the grating gameplay and give life to the vacant land. However, the music rarely plays, and most sounds that graced my ears were the chirping of invisible wildlife. Otherwise, Wander is a sandbox constructed from rotted wood that lacks toys. Without character customization or any semblance of proper communication, the game has nothing to offer in place of its sacrifices. Like Sisyphus on a treadmill, I fruitlessly walked around in hopes of discovering something worthwhile. Unless this game can find its way, discovery will remain a lost cause.
AMC’s Humans is This Week’s TV Highlight
The summer TV season continues to provide relief from the heat this week as AMC debuts Humans, an "alternate present" sci-fi series produced in conjunction with Channel 4 in England. Written by the British team of Sam Vincent and Jonathan Brackley (Spooks, MI-5), and based on the award-winning Swedish science fiction drama Real Humans, the series explores the emotional impact of the blurring of the lines between humans and machines.
William Hurt stars as Dr. George Millican, once a brilliant scientist - a mechanical engineer on the original Synth project - now a widower who forms a fatherly bond with his outdated "synth" (a highly-developed robotic servant).
5 Hot Comics to Buy This Week
We all want the best of the best, so let us point out the hottest comics and collectibles released each week. We spotlight our favorite comics that we know are money-well-spent, new books that look cool, and any toys we can't wait to play with.
Check out our picks, then take to the comments to let us know what looks good to you!
By writers Cameron Stewart, Brendan Fletcher & artist Babs Tarr | DC Comics
Shenmue Creator Wants to Make Shenmue 4
The Shenmue series may be getting more than just one additional entry, according to series creator Yu Suzuki.
In an AMA interview on Reddit, Suzuki has revealed that he'd be interested in completing the entire story, which would go beyond just Shenmue III. "There are a total of 11 chapters that make up the whole story," he said. "Over the past 14 years I originally planned for there to four or five games to the series. If at all possible, I would still like to realize the full story of 11 chapters."
The first chapter in Suzuki's story is told in the original Shenmue, while the second chapter was told in manga form and Shenmue II spanned chapters three through five. As such, Shenmue III will likely knock off a few more chapters, but at the very least, a fourth game would be needed to round out the entire 11-part narrative.