Gaming off the Beaten Path

  Sometimes, I just don't get it. Honestly, I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing. I think it kind of makes me more understanding when it comes to different gaming opinions. I try to do my best to see things from other people's perspective and I feel like I usually do a pretty good job. I would never focus entirely on one single game genre, but I understand why people do. I love RPGs, but I totally understand why some people don't. Speed runs don't interest me, but I do see why people find them fascinating and what they bring to the gaming community as a whole. But to this day, I don't understand the effusive, almost hyperbolic level of praise that Treasure games receive. For those that don't know, Treasure is a Japanese developer known for its unique game design philosophy and focus on high quality. They were something of, what we would consider today, an indie developer that initially made games exclusively for Sega before branching out. It'...

  This week's entry is going to have a little bit of everything: a "Was it Really" post, a game review and some general thoughts. It's like all the different stuff I do rolled into one nice, neat package. One of the topics I wanted to cover more since I started GOTBP is the competing narratives surrounding certain games. I touched on this a little bit with my Legend of Dragoon review, as that game was considered somewhat underwhelming when it came out but is now lauded as a classic. I find that such revisionist history is common in gaming, for better or for worse. Of course, it cuts both ways. It's become fashionable to bash classic games, call them dated, say they were never that great, etc., etc. Final Fantasy VII, Goldeneye and Halo are a few that spring to mind as favorite targets for this. Some of the more recent criticism is justified, some of it is ridiculous, but all of it leads to a disparate narrative about those games and their brethren. But for now,...

  It really is amazing how video game series' come and go. On one hand, you have the IPs that cross multiple gaming generations, your Marios , your Final Fantasys , your Sonics , etc. On the other, you have weird, obscure one-off titles like Nano Breaker or Shadow Madness. Sometimes series' seem to drop off the map without warning, like F-Zero or Star Fox. But I'm not sure I've ever seen a series take as strange a path as that of Onimusha. These games were a huge deal in the 6th generation. It gave us four mainline titles, the first of which will be our subject today, as well as a tactics-style game. Onimusha: Warlords, was the first PlayStation 2 game to sell more than a million copies and was eventually ported to the original XBox. It came from a huge studio in Capcom and was designed by Keiji Inafune, a name all too familiar to Mega Man fans. The game actually began development as a 64DD title in the 90's, as the higher ups at Capcom reportedly wanted a Resi...

  Last week, we discussed the plot, characters, etc. of Front Mission 3 , a tactical RPG for the PS1. While there was definitely a lot to like and tons of potential, localization issues and confusing dialogue ultimately prevented FM3 from excelling in those departments. That would have buried a traditional JRPG, but I've always believed those elements were less important to tactical RPGs where gameplay and combat is usually the biggest selling point. Fortunately, FM3 is largely successful in those areas, though it certainly has its flaws. First and foremost, the combat is pretty solid. Anyone who's played Final Fantasy Tactics or any of its ilk will know exactly what to expect. Each battle arena is laid out on a grid, with your unit's stats and Action Points (AP) determining how far your characters can move and what actions they can take. Of course, none of these arenas are flat, so you will have to contend with varied heights and obstructions, which cost more AP to navigat...

I'm not sure if you've heard, but there are a lot of really good RPGs on the PS1. A lot of consoles have become known for specific genres over the years. The NES is filled with 2D platformers, the Genesis is known for its sports games, the modern consoles are known for FPS', on and on, etc. etc. But few systems are as synonymous with a specific genre as the original PlayStation is with RPGs. I kind of understand this and kind of don't. Sure, the PlayStation had tons of RPGs. It also had tons of literally every other kind of game because its library is so large. However, it was certainly more RPG focused than its contemporaries, the Saturn didn't have nearly as many (though a lot of the RPGs that did land on the console are excellent) and you could probably count the Nintendo 64 RPGs on one hand. A lot of it had to do with the fact that most of the "big name" RPG franchises made their home on the PS1, with Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest being the most not...

  After almost two years, it's time to re-visit the World Heroes series. I had previously covered World Heroes 2 Jet, a tournament fighter from the 90's, and I wasn't particularly kind to it. While it was a well made game, it was overly simplistic and did very little to differentiate itself from it's countless contemporaries. Put simply, it was yet another average Street Fighter clone. However, it was far from the best the series had to offer. That would be World Heroes Perfect, which hit arcades in 1995 before winding up on the Neo Geo that same year. I've been doing this for three years and the only feedback I've received about which games I review was that I should have just skipped Jet and gone right to this game, as it is far superior. But was that really the case? I know SNK has a small but very dedicated fanbase, so could it just be bias? Well, World Heroes 2 Jet is a Street Fighter clone that's decidedly mediocre. World Heroes Perfect...is still a ...

 Since I started reviewing games almost three years ago, I've found myself playing a lot of stuff I never thought I would touch. But this is a plunge I didn't think I'd ever take.  I have never, ever had even a passing interest in playing any of the Lego games, which have been around since the 6th generation (I think). These games are what they sound like; standard action games featuring Lego versions of the characters from your favorite cannons or universes. There's tons of these, Lego Batman, Lego Star Wars, Lego Harry Potter, etc. etc., you get the idea. It's not that I have a problem with that, I loved Legos as a kid and I obviously love video games, but it just never interested me. But you know who it did interest? My almost five-year old. He saw the cover of this game, a PS3 title I'm not sure how I acquired, and insisted in playing right away. He has no idea who Indiana Jones is and honestly, I'm not overly familiar with the films myself, but he thoug...