VideoGames

"You can wax on, wax off, all you like. I'm still kicking your ass." - Gene

Description:
God Hand is a beat-'em-up game that draws on such classics as Final Fight, Double Dragon, and River City Ransom. It was developed by Clover Studio, the same team responsible for Okami and Viewtiful Joe. The game is about a young man named Gene as he beats the everliving hell out of every bad guy he can find in an unnamed Wild West town. Along the way, he'll fight a giant Mexican named Elvis, a pair of gay burlesque performers, a luchador gorilla with a mysterious secret, and the "Mad Midget 5", before finally confronting Axel The Devilhand and restoring peace to the world.

Distinguishing Features:
The game features over 100 different regular and super moves from a staggering number of fighting styles, including capoeira, Muay Thai, Drunken Style Kung Fu, and karate. Gene is limited to the use of only a handful, but they may be switched out with any others in between levels, allowing the player to customize his fighting style from the ground up.

The difficulty system isn't necessarily new, but it's definitely not been applied to a fighting game before: rather than setting the difficulty at the beginning of the game, it goes up or down based directly on the player's performance, from Level 1 (the easiest) to Level DIE (the hardest). At Level 1, enemies won't attack unless Gene is in their line of sight and visible on the screen, but in Level DIE, enemies won't hold back and a fully-upgraded Gene can be killed in about six hits.

In addition to the story mode, there are special challenges at the local area, a practice zone where you can try out purchased moves and combos, a casino with slots, video poker, and blackjack, and a special set of chihuahua races, featuring such intrepid contenders as "Burrito Libre", "Sexy Maid", "Salty Dog", and "Dirty Sanchez". All winnings can be used to purchase new regular and super moves as well as upgrades to health and power from the local "Barely Regal" store.

Review:
Hands down, this is one of my favorite games on my PS2. It's got style in spades, a challenging combat system that doesn't resort to cheating or sheer inhumanity, and possibly the single best ending boss and theme to a video game I've ever seen, ever.

This game starts in with the awesome right from the get-go: the US box art is a fist punching through a mohawked punk's head. This is merely the tip of the awesome iceberg, though. The game hearkens to every awesome brawler you played as a kid, right down to the palette-swapped enemies with weird proportions and funny costumes. You can pick up and throw barrels, regain health by picking up fruit left out in the street, and use iron bats and 4x4s against your foes. It'd be easy to argue that all of this is from lazy programming, but the extremely tight combat system says otherwise.

The combat system is pretty simple: Gene starts with a simple 4-hit combo, performed by mashing Square, and can interrupt the combo by pressing X or Triangle, both of which have a single move. Pressing in particular directions while hitting X or Triangle will perform a different move. The twist is that at any time, including during boss fights, Gene can freely swap out any of the attacks in any of his combos for any others he has unlocked, allowing the player to create his own particular combat style.

The camera and controls bear some mentioning, as like the rest of the game, it's a somewhat unique approach. Rather than a side-on view, like every other fighting game uses, the camera is set in a standard third-person view, behind and slightly above Gene. The controls are similar to Resident Evil or Silent Hill: Pressing forward or backward on the left stick moves in that direction, while pressing right or left turns Gene. The right stick allows Gene to roll or dodge, boxer-style, from attacks. A 360° radar in one corner allows you to keep track of enemies outside your field of view. It does take a bit of practice to get used to, but by the third or fourth stage most anyone should have it down pat.

God Roulette moves are performed by simply hitting a button and choosing the move you want from the spinning list, at the expense of a power orb or two. The God Roulette moves are fantastically awesome, and a good portion of them are tongue-in-cheek references to other famous fighters. Bruce Lee's "One Inch Punch" is here, as well as Kenshiro's "100 Fists" attack.

The story is at times nonsensical and hilarious, and really doesn't provide much more than a reason to beat up hundreds of bad guys. Gene is one of the very few God Hands, and with his companion Olivia, they travel from place to place, dispensing Wild West justice by beating up anyone doing bad stuff. It's not meant to be taken seriously by any stretch, and the characters resort to hammerspace, "Kick Me" signs, midget jokes, sentai jokes, gay burlesque performances, and ridiculous puns. The surreality reaches new heights when Gene, after beating up Ravel and Debussy in a carnival, walks up to a bus stop. A bus stops for a moment then rolls away, revealing Gorilla Mask, the monkey luchador, sitting on the bench. Gene walks up, asks, "Wait, you're not a human, are you?!" and when the gorilla shakes his head, they FIGHT! And then it gets weird.

The main sticking point is probably the learning curve of the game. The unique camera perspective and controls, more often seen in action-adventure and survival horror games, take a bit of adjustment to get used to. There isn't really anything in the way of an in-game tutorial, which is partly made up for by the beginning stages' lower average difficulty and the practice arena in towns. Some of the boss fights can be difficult, though smart combo structure and powerup use can alleviate this. Atsushi Inaba, the main creative force for the game along with Shinji Mikami, is on record stating that the game is aimed at "hardcore gamers"; take that term how you will, but it's a fact that the game does require some extra time investment before you start to really see a payoff. (Though, that payoff is pretty great: for me, it was when I realized I'd been messing dudes up left and right on Level 3 for the last ten minutes without even pausing to slow down.)

Final Verdict:
God Hand is a fantastic game, and one I usually try to show to people when they ask what sorts of games I have in my collection. The boss fight alone is worth the price of admission: yes, you DO fight Azel The Devilhand, and yes, it is every bit as awesome as you think it is. However, the stiffer learning curve means it's not exactly a friendly game for most people to pick up. If you've got the time, or are wondering where all the brawler games of your childhood went, I'd say give it a shot. Chances are, it's in a used game bin in your local game store.

In the most recent generation of video game consoles, backward compatibility has been a major point of competition between the three major hardware manufacturers. The success of the Playstation 2 in the previous generation is seen as being due in part to its full compatibility with the vast pre-existing library of PlayStation games and peripherals. Nintendo, having switched from cartridge to disc media between the Nintendo 64 and GameCube; Microsoft, being a newcomer with their Xbox; and Sega with their non-compatible Dreamcast were thus at a disadvantage, especially given the dominance of the original Playstation.

This time around, the situation is different; all three major consoles have some form of backward compatibility. Though the Xbox 360 has an extremely different architecture to the original Xbox, a system of software compatibility is available that is compatible with roughly half the games on the original Xbox. Sony's stance with the Playstation 3 has evolved with time from full compatibility with Playstation 2 games to complete incompatibility with them, though compatibility with the original Playstation has been maintained throughout. The most complete backward compatibility, however, has been made by Nintendo with their Wii; not only is the system fully compatible with GameCube games and controllers, but compatibility with earlier Nintendo systems is provided through an online service known as the Virtual Console.

When the compatibility of the Wii (then known as Project Revolution) with Nintendo 64, Super Nintendo, and NES games was announced, it was clear that direct compatibility with previously owned cartridges would be a difficult if not impossible endeavour. As such, it was unsurprising that the backward compatibility would be implemented through a download service operated by Nintendo. Some over-optimistic gamers thought that Nintendo would provide full libraries of those earlier systems to any Wii owner for free or by subscription, but most anticipated the paid download system similar to the iTunes Music Store but with classic video games rather than music.

Games and Technology

The Virtual Console was launched alongside the Wii system in November 2006, with a handful of titles available at launch and additional games being released every week (on Mondays in North America). The game selection differs by region with the widest selection available in Japan, and somewhat lesser selections in North America and Europe. A major coup for the Virtual Console is the addition of games from third-party systems, including the Sega Genesis, the Turbografx-16, and the Neo Geo AES. At present (November 2008) there are about 270 games for the North American Virtual Console, 390 in Japan, and 262 in Europe, over a total of ten different systems.

Technically, the entire Virtual Console is accomplished through emulation. The Wii, though the weakest of the current console lineup, is easily powerful enough for full, accurate emulation of any pre-1994 console. The much slower release rate of Nintendo 64 games suggests that a high-level, tailored form of emulation similar to the Xbox 360 backward compatibility is being used due to the higher complexity of the system, but a straightforward system emulator would be sufficient for all other Virtual Console systems. The use of emulation allows one particularly convenient feature of the Virtual Console for non-N64 games. At any time while playing such a game, the player may return to the Wii Menu using the Home button on the Wii Remote. Upon doing so, the system will save the exact state of the game, and return to it whenever the game is next run.

One difficulty with being compatible with a wide range of consoles is their variation in controllers. This difficulty is compounded by the Wii's highly unconventional native control system. The Wii Remote turned on its side is equivalent to an NES controller, which is in turn functionally identical to controllers for the TurboGrafx-16 and Sega Master System, but any further functionality cannot be duplicated with just the Wii Remote. A GameCube controller can be used to control Virtual Console games, though the odd layout of the face buttons may make some SNES and Genesis games more awkward. In addition, Nintendo has released the Classic Controller, which along with its uses in some native Wii games also functions as a full controller for all Virtual Console games.

Criticism and Conclusion

Virtual Console games are much less expensive than full-sized Wii games, but are still somewhat expensive. The standard prices of $5 for 8-bit games, $8 for 16-bit games, and $10 for Nintendo 64 games put them roughly on par with many new games on the Xbox Live Arcade and Playstation Network, even though most of the work for the Virtual Console games has been paid for by their original cartridge releases. However, the display quality of the Wii Virtual Console on modern progressive-scan televisions is superior to all options other than the often dubious option of emulation on a computer. Annoyingly, though, if the Wii is set to a widescreen aspect ratio, Virtual Console games will be stretched to that size requiring the player to manually set the ratio to get undistorted graphics. As a further inconvenience, Virtual Console games must be played from the relatively small internal memory of the Wii system, causing those with large collections to shuffle games on and off the system with SD cards.

Overall, though, the Virtual Console is an important and desirable feature of the Nintendo Wii. It allows access to a large and growing portion of Nintendo's decades-old back catalogue and includes games from virtually all major publishers. The existence of a relatively inexpensive, legal way to purchase and play classic console games is an encouraging development, and one that has been mimicked by Microsoft's Xbox Originals service and Sony's PSOne Classics. In addition, it provided the prototype for Nintendo's WiiWare download service which has proven to be a useful venue for new, smaller games alongside the Xbox Live Arcade and Playstation Store.

One major change to the console world with this generation of consoles is the addition of download services, which publish small, inexpensive games through digital distribution. Xbox Live Arcade, WiiWare, and the Playstation Network provide independent game developers with a new means of distribution, backed by the promotional resources of the large console manufacturers. One developer that has come to prominence through these services is Jonathan Blow, with his popular Xbox Live Arcade game, Braid.

Braid is, on its surface, a lushly animated, beautifully orchestrated 2D platform game. The player guides the protagonist, Tim, though a series of worlds in search of the elusive Princess. However, the overall theme of the gameplay is focussed on the manipulation of time in the game world, and it is in the intricacies of the time manipulation mechanic that we find the meat of the game. At any point, the player may hold down the X button to reverse time. This power is, unlike in such games as Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, completely free and unlimited. You could reverse all the way to the beginning of the level if you wish, and this is occasionally useful. Other time powers appear in parts of the game, each lending their own flavour to the puzzles in the various worlds.

With a basic grasp of the time manipulation abilities the platforming is quite straightforward and a skilled player can quickly traverse the full five worlds that make up the main game. Upon completing these worlds, though, the game does not progress to an ending; there is an additional world that is only unlocked when all the puzzle pieces scattered through the worlds are collected and assembled to reveal a picture for each world. The puzzle pieces are hidden in plain sight through the worlds, with the path to the piece sometimes obvious, but more often requiring an involved sequence of platforming and time manipulation. This puzzle aspect is what elevates and extends Braid's gameplay beyond that of your generic platformer. Of recent games, only Portal combines mind-bending puzzle elements with otherwise standard mechanics as effectively.

Visually, Braid is quite impressive, with detailed, hand-painted graphics and fluid animation. The few enemy types are all animated well and display a whimsical sense of humour which extends to the sound effects. A sweeping musical soundtrack adds to the pastoral atmosphere of the levels; the overall dreamlike atmosphere complements the thoughtful, reflective puzzle gameplay.

The fractured, ambiguous story of Braid is presented through books in the game's hub section. These books are placed as an introduction to each world and obliquely describe each world`s time power. For the interested player, there is much symbolism to be found, especially in the brilliant final level and subsequent ending. That said, the game is still deeply enjoyable without delving deeply into the story.

Overall, Braid is one of the best games available on the Xbox Live Arcade. The clever gameplay and strong atmosphere combine to make a compelling experience equal to the most immersive 3D games on the market. While its relatively high price of 1200 Microsoft Points (approximately $15) may be offputting, its unusual qualities make it stand above the pack. If you enjoy puzzle games and have an Xbox 360, you could do much worse than downloading and playing Braid.

Developer: UbiSoft Montreal
Publisher: UbiSoft
Release: November 2007
Format: XBox 360 (version played), PS3, PC (April 2008)

Genre Keywords: Sandbox, Single Player, Stealth, Swashbuckling

Assassin's Creed takes place (mostly) in 1191 where you, as Altaïr Ibn La-Ahad (الطائر ابن لااحد , Arabic), a member of the order of assassins, are chastised for arrogance and sent to work off penance in what turns out to be a major initiative by the order to bring about peace in the Holy Land. This is to be done by locating and slaying individuals responsible for masterminding and furthering the Crusades. The penance starts with the stripping of Altaïr's rank, weaponry and (somehow) special abilities such as countering or tackling. While this was originally not in the game spec, it was thought that regaining these abilities gave a stronger sense of character progression; unfortunately, it makes the early combat more tedious and frustrating due to lack of special moves. As Altaïr completes the order's objectives, he regains equipment and abilitiies and learns more of the task that has been given to him.

Each objective is to - as the name of the game might hint - assassinate a powerful figure. However, since Altaïr has been demoted as punishment, he can no longer simply waltz up to the targets with the information the Brotherhood provides. No, he instead must personally investigate and locate all of the info required for a successful infiltration, and only then is he given the assassin's mark. Each investigation is composed of two or three tasks - eavesdropping on vital exchanges, pickpocketing plans, extorting information, or running goal-based errands for other Brothers - unlocked by arriving in a city's district and surveying the surroundings in a edificeering minigame. There are more tasks that can be unlocked, but only a few needed to unlock each final objective. Once completed, Altaïr pays a visit to the local Assassin's Bureau and is able to set out for the assassination. Each successful elimination ends with a pseudo-interactive cutscene and more information divulged by the guildmaster.

There is a twist, of course. In fact, there are a couple. One deals with the Templars and one deals with how things aren't always as they appear. Both would, however, bring in unnecessary spoilers into the review so I'll omit them as they do not greatly impact gameplay. However, Ubisoft is to be applauded for a sly new take on gameplay mechanics such as hit points, death, saving, and a nonlinear approach to storytelling.

The phrase "more than a sum of its parts" is bandied about a bit in gaming reviews. Assassin's Creed, in contrast, is a game that is precisely the sum of its parts, and little else. The parts in question are often novel, occasionally groundbreaking, often implemented very well and overall a lot of fun - but whether due to time or budget constraints or lack of communication between the teams implementing them, the less-developed features jar painfully with the ones that work well.

The parts in question include: massive, sprawling cities that allow nearly endless freerunning; massive (I apologize for the overuse, but this is where the game really shines), lifelike crowds with consistent behaviors; an action-focused combat model intended to make the character feel powerful but not overpowered; consistent stealth model that actually feels effective; intuitive, kinetic avatar representation. While not all of these are novel, they are all competent and mesh together to provide a solid and beautiful, vivid game.

However (and you knew there was going to be a however), there are the parts that blatantly don't work and undermine the otherwise fantastic efforts of the previous parts. While several of these simply stem from how ambitious the project is, some are downright silly and should have never happened, considering the budget of the game. To wit:

• A grand total of ~5 voice actors and perhaps 5 lines in each of the three locales (15 unique lines total) for the various passersby. To make things worse, even when the voice actors are different, the lines spoken by them as quest, or side mission results, are the same, verbatim! This mindboggling design choice destined to make the player go slowly insane over umpteen bazillion repetitions is downright unacceptable. Also see the "Speak quickly Outlander, or go away" syndrome (way back in 2003!).
  
• The two major obstacle elements, beggars (impede your progress) and madmen (shove you around), react only to you, the player. While again this would have been acceptable in a last-gen game where "crowds" consist of 5 people, in a next-gen game that has realistic, utterly packed streets this behavior is ridiculous. On top of that it's a bit game-breaking, since having them be unpredictable would be much more interesting than simply knowing that you must go around them.
• This highly trained assassin can't swim.
• Pseudo-interactive cutscenes as a method of imparting information. I'm sure someone somewhere thought it was a good idea, but ultimately the ability to move two steps across and three down while talking heads do their thing is not particularly immersive. This is made even worse when the cutscene in question occurs after a lot of mayhem had just occurred and all you want to do is run away and hide from the incoming guardsmen.
• Your character is the only one around that not only openly wears weaponry but also fancy weaponry, such as a short blade across the back - despite this, nobody seems to pay any particular attention to it. Again, while fine in older games where the world isn't observant or reactive, this stands out in Assassin's Creed as much as Gordon Freeman's endless silence does in Half Life II.
• Finally, the game consists of 9 assassination missions, all of which proceed from start to finish in an identical manner; only the locations vary. While the missions themselves are entertaining, slapping 9 of them together back to back with no variation whatsoever seems very lazy. I would much rather take 3 or 4 missions that were more thoroughly developed instead.

Looking at those issues is instructive in itself: they are laughable, by merely yesterday's standards. But by making the game so immersive and consistent otherwise though, UbiSoft has raised the bar and promptly impaled itself on it due to these immersion-breakers, and that is perhaps its greatest accomplishment. It will be interesting to see what the inevitable sequel will bring in terms of expanding awareness that yesterday's game convention standards have become today's blunders.