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We hit the summer post-E3 lull and it luckily gave us a good excuse to be late... We'll cover some gaming news along with our Gaming Shout Outs before hitting our Top 5.
0:00 - Intro
2:00 - What's New on Channel 3?
4:27 - Gaming News
26:42 - Game Review: Catherine
42:20 - Game Shout Out!
55:40 - Top 5 Reasons Catherine is Already Game of the Year
56:33 - Outro
As always, you can comment in the forums, comment in this blog post, e-mail us, and even call us. We hope to be able to take your quick questions over any subject via e-mail at podcast@rfgeneration.com. You can also call us and leave a message! We can play your question or comment in the episode and we'll even respond to it! That number is (318) RFG-TIP5 or (318) 734-8475.
Download the podcast at http://rfgeneration.podomatic.com or on iTunes!
I finished two more games from my backlog-Vanquish and Heavenly Sword.
Let me start with Heavenly Sword. Great, great game. I have always like hack and slash games like Onimusha and God of War so this was right up my alley. The graphics were great, even though there were bouts of slowdown from time to time. The gameplay was varied between two characters and the game used Sony's six-axis controller quite well.
The other game that I beat was Vanquish from famed Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami. The game is nothing like Resident Evil however. The game might be the most action packed game I have ever played. It is a third person shooter, with a big emphasis on shooting!
It was a fun, brief(5 hours) diversion with a weak story that I really couldn't explain here as I didn't pay much attention to it. I liked it but I think I prefer games that allow me to breathe once in awhile.
Games left on my current list to finish(I have added a few):
1. Resistance Fall of Man
2. Ocarina of Time-3DS
3. Silent Hill Shattered Memories-PSP
4. Heavenly Sword-PS3
5. Tomb Raider Underworld-360
6. Bayonetta-360
7. Vanquish-PS3
8. LA Noire-PS3
9. Resident Evil 5-PS3
10. Bastion-XBLA-
11. Alice Madness Returns(PS3)-Currently playing
12. Bioshock 2(360)
Game Misprints and Factory mess ups.
Has anyone encountered a misprinted game or a mess up in the artwork if so let me know.
I use to work at a Gamestop and one of the coolest things that I seen was a misprinted game. A customer came in with a used copy of Lord of the Rings the thrid age and claimed the game was Crash Bandicoot Twinsanity for the PS2. The artwork on the disk and on the case was Lord of the rings the third age, But after testing it out it did load up Crash Bandicoot and it was defiantly a cool experience to find something like that as a collector. Both games were made from EA so that most defiantly plays a role in how it got messed up at the factory but it is still interesting knowing that it slipped through the cracks.
I also was at a Local Salavation army today and I found 4 copies of World Tour Soccer 2002 still sealed for PS2. Most people would not care because they are just some old sport games. But what made me get excited was the fact that they were factory sealed and the artwork was missing. All it had was it's PS2 label on the top of the case labeling it as what game it was. It was the original seal and a cool find. That was defiantly another mistake that slipped through the cracks. How does 4 copies (Most likely alot more) go through the assembly line and not get noticed and then get boxed and shipped out and going where ever it went to end up at a Salavation army still sealed black case and all.
Another interesting thing I have seen was 2 copies of Arena Footbal Road to glory factory sealed and then opened up and was missing its disk and manual.
Has anyone else experienced any Game misprints or factory mess ups? I know they are rare but I am sure I am not the only one to come across stuff of this nature.
RC Pro Am on water, Wave Race became the defining title of water based racing games.
  
Wave Race has this frantic arcade-racer feel about it. It successfully feels like racing on water, requiring curve approaches to be different than in standard racers. Some parts of tracks have currents going in a specific direction, along with rocks to bump across and ramps to strategically manipulate. Your jet-ski has a turbo meter that charges up when not in use. This can be used to pull ahead of the pack, speed along straightaways, jump longer distances, curve out of tight turns, and make up for mistakes.
Three modes of gameplay are offered, each with three engine classes/difficulties: Circuit Mode, where you race against three other jet-skis around a series of tracks. More tracks and laps are added as you advance engine classes. Slalom Mode, where the objective is to go through more gates than everyone else. This can get really fun once you start planning track specific strategies. Circuit Mode has eight tracks in total, and Slalom Mode has eight courses. (The Slalom Courses almost remind me of battle arenas in Mario Kart.) The last mode is Practice, which can be used to plan routes and memorize tracks without the stress of other racers. It can also be used as a Time Trial mode, since records made in Practice are recorded on the scoreboard.
What I really like is how there's never one single way to approach a track. Most racing games require specific maneuvers at certain parts, but Wave Race allows a sense of freedom in the way you race. You get to do it your own way. The tracks themselves are designed extremely well, featuring more obstacles and complicated turn patterns as you progress. The game engine is likewise excellent, showing off clever water physics that force you to do more thinking than a standard racer. I normally use Practice Mode to memorize tracks, plan a route, and then kick everyone's asses in one player mode afterward.
You'll be spending quite a bit of addicted time with Wave Race. Most of the tracks in both modes will require route planning and memorization in order to completely dominate the final engine class. And if you can find a friend with a copy, play each other for victory and maybe compare track times to see who tops out. Wave Race supports up to 4 simultaneous Game Boy's in multiplayer, as long as everyone has a copy.
Nintendo later made an excellent 3D sequel on the Nintendo 64. Wave Race 64 drove the inspiration for future water racers like Jet Moto, Hydro Thunder, and Aqua GT. If Wave Race was never around to prove the possibility of water racers, these games would probably not have been made.
Wave Race is a great game for pretty much anyone. Even those who don't like racers will get the hang of this pretty quickly, only to find your ass getting kicked by the later engine classes, and then kick their asses back after some Practice Mode. It is very affordable, with copies today selling for one dollar.
So last night I officially completed my 10th and final game from my Summer Gaming Challenge list
1. Sin & Punishment: Star Successor (Wii)
2. Vay (Sega CD)
3. Super Mario Sunshine (GCN)
4. Wario Land (VB)
5. Battletoads/Double Dragon (SNES)
6. Panzer Dragoon (Sat)
7. Kung Fu (NES)
8. Gex (3DO)
9. Chrono Cross (PS)
10. FFXII (PS2)
11. Final Fantasy VIII (PS)*
It was great to get this many games crossed off my backlog, especially so many games that are well known and that I probably should have finished years ago.
My favorites were easily Vay and Sin & Punishment. Its hard to say which one I liked better since they are obviously so different its extremely hard to compare them. Vay was very simple and I just happened to be in the mood for simple while I was playing so that was very nice, but the parts I loved the most was the Working Designs humor spread throughout the game, and the major plot twist part way through. I liked the humor so much that I literally talked to every NPC in the game mulitple times to get every ounce of comedy I could squeeze out of them. Generally I dont spend a lot of time with NPC, but I felt compelled to this time around.
Sin & Punishment was just a non-stop actionfest. It looked fantastic, played flawlessly and was both fun and frantic at the same time. One of the best games I've played on the Wii and probably even on any current gen system.
The only really snoozers on the list for me were Super Mario Sunshine and Final Fantasy VIII.
The use of the jet pack nozzle on Mario took away all the platforming elements from the game almost entirely. The game had a very unique style, but felt borrowed from something else and not very "Mario" to me. The music, setting and characters all seemed very un-Mario.
FFVIII drove me nuts from the beginning. The Draw system seemed pointless, GF were not my cup of tea, levelling was pointless, the main characters was a douche from the get go and never got any better, the supporting characters were all very uninteresting. I didnt actually finish the game, but was saved at the last dungeon about 30 hours in. I feel I gave it more than a fair chance.
Both Chrono Cross and Final Fantasy XII surprised me.
I came in with very low expectations of FFXII. The story and characters kept me interested enough to keep plugging away with a battle and levelling system that I didnt particularily enjoy at the beginning. Luckily both grew on me over time and I'm glad I got to see how the story played out from start to end. Not a fantastic game, but decent.
Chrono Cross was similar. Slow start and akward battle/levelling. The story was kind of unusual, but not that intriguing at first. That changed drastically during the last several hours of the game. Not only did the story make much more sense and get a lot more interesting, but it made the plot from Chrono Trigger seem even more epic that it already was. It was pretty cool at first having so many different characters available for your party, but it became apparent fairly quickly that I'd never use 90% of them. Glad I stuck with this one to the end because the last few hours of plot were wonderful.
The rest of the list were solid entries into their respective genres. The blend of both series in Battletoads/Double Dragon was incredible. The pacing and boss fights in Panzer Dragoon were spot on. Kung Fu, while simple and short, had kind of a Super Mario Bros fun to its simplicity. Warioland was what you'd expect from a Wario platformer, it didnt blow me away, but it delivered what I thought it would. Gex was slightly less interesting than I thought it would be, but was average and worth keeping around for the novelty.
Definitely a fun way to clear a few games off my backlog and already have a few games in mind for next year!!
I really love the first Final Fantasy game for many reasons. First, it was my gateway drug into RPG games (not my first, but the first I liked). Second, it was the only Final Fantasy game for a long time (and this still stands) that doesn't succumb to the annoying number scheme (Final Fantasy III/6) or doesn't have an alternative pronunciation (Final Fantasy X-2/Ex-Two). Finally, while it has seen many upgrades and rewrites over the years, yet most of them managed to add something worthwhile to the mix. Because of these facts, Final Fantasy I is one of the few games (outside of the PS2 GTA games and the first Mario trilogy) that I've bought more than three times over the past twenty-one years. As you can see, I really do love this game.
Naturally, it didn't take long for me to find this game once I got an iTouch. I was extremely pleased to learn that this game was based on the 20th Anniversary Edition on the PSP (the only version of the game I never purchased), so I was stoked to try it out. What didn't please me, however, was the fact that the game was $8.99. This may not seem like a big deal (I did pay $29.99 for both FF Origins and Dawn of Souls), but considering that some of the best RPGs on the system are either free or less than $2.99, it seemed hard to swallow. Plus, I've already bought this game at least five times in the past. Luckily for me the game went on sale shortly after, so I snapped it up for only $3.99.
In short, the game is great, and entirely worth the $3.99 I paid. The visuals are great, the sound is great, and there is even a transparent D-pad with a single button that controls movement, interactions and running, and also manages to not get in the way too much. Menus can be reached by simply stopping movement for a moment and tapping the tiny stat box that pops up. A little strange, but not game breaking (or even altering, really).
However, there are a few niggles here, a few things that have the potential to annoy some of you out there in RFG Land. First, some of the controls. Remember the D-pad and single button I mentioned earlier? Those work great. What doesn't work great, however, is the touch control in the battle screens. That's right, no D-pad. To battle, you have to touch an icon, then touch an enemy. Doesn't sound bad does it? It does slow things down quite a bit, though, but in an old-school RPG like this it could sound a death knell. Fortunately, since this version is the easy-type, there isn't that much extra leveling involved (your Black Belts will hit multiple times right away instead of level 9, for example). This brings about my second complain. While I will never say I had fun buying 99 heals and 99 pures before the Marsh Cave, I would still have liked to have the option to choose either hard or easy. Lastly, I really hate the fact that exiting the game via the iPhone/iTouch's Home button resets the damn game! Luckily, I never lost a save because of it, but considering that many of my gaming sessions take place in the bathroom (at work), the ability to exit the game, listen to a podcast for a bit, then re-enter would have been nice (always assuming you are using a iPhone or iTouch v4).
In conclusion, I'd like to say that the game, despite my gripes, is still excellent, and if you never got to experience the visual glory of the PSP version, is a great way get do just that. While the price will make most iPhone/iTouch users narrow their eyes a little, it's still priced better than Final Fantasy III or Tactics!
Ah, the blessed silence. Relatively speaking, that is. While I do still have Life to contend with (which includes wife, kids, work, house, etc.), I now have a small lull between semesters. A week to be exact. In the past to celebrate this event I would typically pick a game from my backlog to conquer and not beat it (usually an RPG), I would outline several articles, write them, then stick them in my articles folder, then I would look through my collection (pause to think back to when it was larger), then pick out a few titles to play when I wasn't not playing the RPG I picked out earlier.
However, I've decided to try something different. Seeing that this coming up semester is my last, I am going to break tradition, first by not playing the copy of Final Fantasy IX that I brought up from the basement this morning. Next, I will look over the articles I've written, pick out a few and spruce them up a bit, them drop them in my blogs (not all at once, though). Then, I will start thinking about the speedrun I've been planning (with non-traditional games) and narrow down the list. Finally, I will change my RFG link from the boards to the main page, which will guarantee more comments on the blogs (which I've already started doing).
Don't call it a comeback (as I was never really here to begin with), but rather a slight refocus.
It's Fatal Fury, the moon gravity edition!! Unfortunately, this does not mean Mai's boobs move on their own.
The home console version of Fatal Fury 2 is greatly inferior to the "Mark of the Wolves" installment. Strangely enough, the Game Boy houses the same type of situation. Fans of the series should definitely get Real Bout Fatal Fury Special for Game Boy instead of this. I'll explain why later.
Overall, Fatal Fury 2 is designed well, but two major factors prevent this from being a good game. Players move extremely slow. The controls feel like they work, but the lack of speed makes it feel very poor. This results in unfair COM battles which brings us to the next issue.
Problem number two is bad AI. The way Takara prevented button mashing was by making the AI block almost all the time. Literally, about three fourths of the moves I ever made in this game were blocked. This allows the player to plan out how their specific moves and combos can be utilized and timed correctly, but the restraining slowness makes it all get repetitive real quick.
As with most GB fighters, Fatal Fury 2 features chibi-like character sprites. Moves and combos have been transferred from the original, making combos like the power wave just as accessible as before. Once you get the hang of things (and not button-mash) Fatal Fury 2 can be semi-pleasant to play. Arcade style fighting games are supposed to be easy to get the hang of and hard to master, but this is not easy to get the hang of at all.
Fans of Fatal Fury should forget about this game entirely and find Real Bout Fatal Fury Special instead (I'm gonna review that sometime soonish.) That installment shows dramatic improvement from what this game did wrong. As far as this version is concerned, I see absolutely no reason why anyone would want to play it.
Finally got the second half up and running on youtube. Sorry for the long wait. Definitely have a lot more errors in this half of the run and even had to go for a couple pizzas that I could have easily skipped had I played more smoothly. The total time for the entire run is 20:21 and I'm positive that I could get it under 20:00 by cleaning up several messy spots.
Part 1
<![CDATA[<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/aWoUEJnKfE4&rel=0" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/aWoUEJnKfE4&rel=0</a>]]>
Part 2
<![CDATA[<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/FAQT5tSek60&rel=0" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/FAQT5tSek60&rel=0</a>]]>
... there was Head On by Sega/Gremlin. Released in 1979, this was the first "pick up the dots" game of it's kind. This arcade classic deserves a definitive bow as an inspirational precursor to the most famous maze-chase game ever, Pac-Man.
I've been keeping an ear to the ground lately, in hopes of finding my first arcade cabinet for a nice price. When I began looking, there were to be three stipulations:
1. The game must be something that can be played many times over without the boredom strike of...say, "Video Poker."
2. The game must be completely original and without modification.
3. The game must be a favorite from my past.
And so it is here.
Released when I was only 3, but lasting the years, Head On was one game that held my attention any time we visited certain pizza joints in the 80's (along with Kung Fu & Joust). Sure, it is played on a B&W screen and has a very simple game play concept, but - like Pong before it and Tetris following - simplicity is its magnetism.
She'll need some cleaning, minor repair work, and a new coin feed lock; but I can honestly say that the $150 price tag left absolutely no regret.
So I got some video capture equipment and software running my my old PC now. Which means I can finally upload my TMNT video for those of you interested. I wasnt really concerned with the editing (as you can probably tell) so I just chopped the video in half in order to upload to youtube. For some reason the second half failed to upload so I'll try it agian tomorrow. In the mean time here is the first part of the speed run:
<![CDATA[<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/aWoUEJnKfE4&rel=0" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/aWoUEJnKfE4&rel=0</a>]]>
I have some energy and I am trying to remain focused on getting organized, but I will take a few minutes to share my find from yesterday. I woke up very late yesterday and had cancelled my plans to look for yard sales, but ended up finding a single sale on our way home after doing some light shopping.
Originally, we stopped because of the large amount of kids clothes in the yard, but found games instead. We found the clothes were all too small for my son and started to leave when my son bolted across the lawn and sat down in front of an old computer and started to play with an old steering wheel controller that went with it.
The owner approached us and asked if I "Gamed" (On some level, he must have assumed I did, seeing as my son is VERY familiar with how to hold and use controllers) He advised me that he was having some trouble getting rid of some old games and was tired of bringing them all in and out of the house every weekend. There were three boxes of old PC games, I told him that I didn't have use for PC games, but he was desperate to rid himself of them. He said he would take 15 for all three boxes, not being at all interested in PC games, I said I would take them off his hands for 10. He accepted and even started helping me load them into my car before I could even pull out my wallet to pay him. He proved to me that he really was tired of those games.
After loading them, he and I talked about the games, or rather, he kept thanking me for taking them, over and over again. He told me that these were games that haven't been played in many years, games he and his mother played together starting as early as twenty years and only about a third of the PC games he had. This actually worried me because...1. I know VERY, VERY little about PC gaming. and...2. If this is the 33% he didn't want to keep out of PC games he started playing from 20 years ago, I can't be hopeful there is anything rare or even popular in the boxes.
I just went through the boxes...There are 85 unique titles in the box and as I expected, I know very few of the titles. Some that I have heard of include Fallout, Diablo, Warcraft, Starcraft, Quake, MYST, and Baldur's Gate. Those titles put my mind at ease regarding the 10 bucks I spent, but the title that stood out was "The Bard's Tale" from Electronic Arts.
This title didn't stand out because of the name, but rather because of the type of media it uses. It is unopened, and I intend to leave it like that, with a sticker covering most of the information on the back. I can't see a year of production or the original UPC numbers under the plastic packaging, but I can tell you it uses 3.5" floppy disks as the media and needs at least DOS 2.0 and a color monitor to be played. Again, I don't know much about PC gaming, but this game must be older than I am.
One would think that a portable top-down Resident Evil would be easy to make into an awesome game. In many ways, the first few RE's already feel like top-down shooters. RE Gaiden is very close to being awesome, but Capcom tried way too hard.
 
It takes place inside a zombie infested cruise ship, accidentally caused by none other than the Umbrella Pharmaceuticals. At first glance, Gaiden looks like a top-down shooter with zombies. Awesome, right guys? Guys?...
 
To kill a zombie, you hold down B to move the crosshairs over the enemy and engage in battle mode. You are then taken to a first person perspective, shooting the enemy Mario Golf style. The red box in the center line moves back and forth, with its speed depending on what type of weapon you are using. This is partially where Gaiden falls flat on its face for two reasons: You can only run away by killing the enemy, or by forcibly taking damage. If a zombie approaches you, you are then forced into battle mode regardless of the ammo you will keep running out of. It's a fun twist at first, but when your trying to get to the other side of the ship, it gets annoying real quick. Once out of ammo, you are forced to use the weak combat knife.
Aside from this, RE Gaiden plays and feels like a traditional Resident Evil game. To make things more simple, I will break down the rest of the review into two categories:
:::Good for Survival Horror Fans:::
The first part of the game is spent exploring the cruise ship, and hoarding off zombies along the way. As plot develops, most of the ship becomes already explored making you find ways to get into other places, usually with keys. Often times, you will find yourself in a frustrating situation because you either ran out of ammo AGAIN, or cannot find the item you need to access your current destination. This can be solved by exploring areas hinted by cutscene dialogue, or by finding a map on the internet IRL.
There's plenty of gameplay to be had, with the average gamer spending about 20 hours before beating. In many ways, it does feel like the classic RE titles, but too often does it drift off into a zombie filled match of Blues Clues. Example: Plot development says I need to get into this room, but its locked. I have already went inside every current unlocked door on the entire ship, and am out of keys/items used to unlock other doors. So now I need to rummage through the entire ship starting from the general vicinity in order to make progress, all whilst avoiding zombies, and not finding sufficient amounts of ammo. Ammo conservation has always been a factor in Resident Evil, but Gaiden took that a bit too far. Which brings us to the next section:
:::Bad for People Who Want to Shoot Zombies:::
Why you may ask? Because most of the time, you won't have enough ammo to shoot them with. And despite the large amount of zombies, 80% of the game progression lies in exploration and gaining access to certain rooms. You do pick up kickass weapons along the way, like shotguns, grenades, and a rocket launcher, but only so much ammo is available to collect. And once you've used ammo, it does not reappear. But you know what DOES reappear? The zombies!!! This has been the primary roots my frustration with Resident Evil Gaiden.
Final thoughts: I still think RE Gaiden is a good Survival Horror game, but it needs some work in order to be one of the Game Boy's best. Fans of the series and genre will probably like it, if they can get past its flaws (and yes, the dialogue is still hilariously cheesy.) I personally think this game kicks ass a portable gem, but don't expect it to be perfect. Nowadays, you will find more enjoyable Game Boy titles at much cheaper prices, but others might be okay with having to spend at least $20. It's not a common cartridge, but hey, at least its not as rare as Shantae!! ^_^
I collect everything I can find related to TMNT, Trading Card Games, and also have started a pretty extensive collection of freebies and items given to me for my performance and raffle winnings at work. (For those of you who do not know, I work for DISH Network in Technical Operations) I received a large coin for the commemoration of the launch of one of our newest satellites when I started working with DISH, and ever since, I have collected everything I have been lucky enough to acquire during my time with them. Premium network companies also give away a lot of promotional items to us to promote new shows and movies on their networks, which I have also collected.
Do any of you collect anything other than games? If so, do you collect anything you feel might be something nobody else collects?
SPECS:
Game: Frankenstein's Monster
Year: 1983
Publisher: Data Age, Inc.
Developer: Data Age, Inc.
Designer(s)/Programmer(s): unknown
Rarity (according to AtariAge): 5 = Rare
Controls: Joystick
Number of Players: 1 to 2 players (turn based)
Average Cost: approx. $10 - $25 loose depending on condition
Also Available On: exclusive to the Atari 2600
Tagline: "In the cold dark night you make your way through the ghoulish castle of Dr. Frankenstein. There you must prevent him from his completing his creation. Your only chance is to gather stones from the dungeon and bring them to the tower where you must build a barricade around FRANKENSTEIN'S MONSTER before he has accumulated enough energy to come alive. To succeed you will have to move fast, avoiding poisonous spiders, vampire bats, and terrifying ghosts. Complete the job and the village will be safe forever."
Continue reading Frankenstein's Monster
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We are a community of collectors, gamers and the likes, and some of us enjoy to let the world know what is on our mind. For those members, we have the community blogs, a place where they can publish their thoughts and feelings regarding life, universe, and everything. Some of those members might even choose to write about gaming and collecting! Whatever they write about, you can find it on their blog. You can either see the latest community blog entries in the feed you see to the left, or you can browse for your favorite blog using the menu above. Interested in having your own blog hosted on RF Generation? It's rather simple, first be a registered member, and then click the "My Blog" link that you see in the navigation above. Following those two steps will certainly get you on your way to blogging.
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