Gaming off the Beaten Path

So, this week we are going to go on a bit of a detour. I wasn’t planning on covering Mega Man 8 this week, but on Father’s Day I asked my son what he wanted to do and he was like “play video games with daddy!”  I wasn’t going to tell him no.  I even told him he could pick the game.  He went right to “Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem,” but when I informed him that that game was just slightly not appropriate for a 3-year old,  he happily picked Mega Man 8 as a second choice.  How fitting, starting his gaming career off with the same franchise I began mine with 25 years ago. By now just about everyone is familiar with Mega Man.  I have touched on some of its more unique games and some parts of the X series, but this is the first time we will jump into the original series.  Released in January of 1997, 8 is the only mainline series title for the Playstation 1 (it also came out on the Sega Saturn).  It would also be the last one we would see for a ...

Kagero: Deception 2 For the first time, I’m not entirely sure how I would classify the game I’m about to review.  It’s not uncommon to find titles that mix genres, even back to the early days of gaming.  It’s a great way to keep stale formulas fresh and try new things.  But I’m not entirely sure what genre Kagero fits into, or if it even fits into one at all.  It’s part third person adventure, part strategy, part survival horror, part RPG and, dare I say, a little bit of a puzzle game.  A lot of games like this tend to become disjointed and incoherent, but that didn’t happen here.  Kagero is an outstanding game, but it comes with a major caveat. I am just going to get it out of the way, Kagero is a very violent and at times, very disturbing game.  It really, really earned its M rating.  As a PS1 game, the blood and gore aren’t really all that shocking.  In fact, the blocky character models and lacking details make the game much easier to st...

Here’s a fun fact: Ehrgeiz means “ambition” in German. Sorry, I didn’t know what else to start with.  I have been thinking about covering this very, very strange game for a while now and looping it in with Final Fantasy VII seemed like the best idea.  Your first question was probably “what does a random 3D fighting game from the 90s have to do with Final Fantasy VII?” (Actually, your first question was probably, “how the hell do I pronounce the title? But whatever.) It’s simple.  Most of the cast of FFVII are playable characters in this game.  Before I get really going, the more hardcore FFVII fans out there are probably all like “why didn’t you just review Crisis Core?”  Well, it’s been a while since I played it and while I do have access to a copy of the game, I don’t have a functional PSP to play it on.  Crisis Core is awesome, and I’m not sure I could get too in depth with my thoughts on it since its been so long.  So, b...

“There ain’t no gettin off this train we’re on...” Happy Final Fantasy VII month!  In case you weren’t aware, the much anticipated remake of the 1997 classic is slated to release April 10, quarantine or no quarantine.  I was going to cover FFVII with my other 10s anyway, but one post can’t adequately convey how I feel about this game and its universe. So, I am going to dedicate this whole month to FFVII, its spinoffs and finally, the remake (If I can actually get my hands on it, that is).  Now is probably the time to mention that there are going to be some serious spoilers, though I am going to actively try to avoid them. What is there to say about Final Fantasy VII that hasn’t already been said?  It was a killer app for the original PlayStation, which was even more impactful for Sony as it flipped one of Nintendo’s key franchises.  It put the PS1 through its paces, setting a new standard for what games could do in terms of graphics...

After last week’s review, I found myself in the mood for a vehicular combat game.  I thought a lot about playing one of the Twisted Metal titles I own, but decided I would save them for later.  They aren’t that far out of the ordinary anyway. Instead, I turned a game that’s very near and dear to my heart, Vigilante 8.  The genre is almost extinct now, but in the late 90’s/early 00’s, vehicular combat games were everywhere.  The genre, at least in its 3D form, was essentially created by Twisted Metal and most of the games that followed it tried to one up the early PS1 title.  TM was filled with crazy cars, bizarre characters and cartoonish stages, so others tried to compete by trying to get crazier, weirder and more “out there,” usually to mixed results. Vigilante 8, on the other hand, went in the opposite direction.  Set in the Southwestern United States in the 1970’s, V8 ditched the demonic ice cream trucks and guys stuck ...

Mega Man Battle and Chase I wasn’t going to continue with the Mega Man games, but I just had to write about this one.   Who knew there existed a Mega Man kart racer?  I sure as hell didn’t.  After the last two weeks, I decided to fire up Mega Man X legacy collection, as I wanted to play through X3.  Upon finishing it, I accidentally unlocked Battle and Chase without realizing I had done so. Apparently it was released in Japan and Europe for the PS1, but never made it to the U.S. That usually means one  or more of the following: It completely sucked OR was absolutely incredible It’s overflowing with Japanese cultural references that wouldn’t translate It’s rrrreaaaaaaallllllly hard Yet none of those things are true here.  It’s an okay game filled with familiar Mega Man characters that’s a little too easy for its own good.  Battle and Chase is fun, but its very flawed and kind of simplistic.  There are some real...