Guitar Hero On Tour...

...is gonna suck horribly. Here's why:


Dear god.

Chris Enjoys The Vidya, 2: Eternal Darkness

I had two games I really wanted to review for this post, but I'm gonna leave the other one (Megaman Battle Network) till a later date, cause I know I'll rant endlessly on it if I do it right now :P So, I'm gonna go with another favorite - Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem.



Loosely based on H. P. Lovecraft's works, Eternal Darkness is a survival horror that follows roughly a dozen character's experiences with the Tome of Eternal Darkness, 'a tome bound with human skin and bone'. There are a lot of little details in the story, but in broad strokes, the main character, Alexandra Roivas, goes to visit her uncle after he's had his head moved several feet from the rest of his body by some unknown force. She spends the night in his giant creepy mansion, and finds a badly hidden room full of strange artifacts - and the Tome, with only the first chapter still in it.

So, like we'd all do when we sense some great evil force in a book of human flesh, she starts reading, and starts re-living the lives of those in contact with the book before. The first character you play as - a Roman from 26BC - inadvertently gains the powers of one of the ancients of your choosing, and turns into Evil Bad Guy Man for the rest of the game. Once this happens, you zoom back to 2000 AD and Alexandra gets to explore the mansion some more. Rinse and repeat for all times in between, and you get an epic horror story. I don't really want to say much about the specifics of each time, partly because each story is well written on it's own, and you need to play it to really enjoy them. Mostly because the game is really long.

The important part of this game is the gameplay itself, which really sets it apart from others in the genre. I'll start with the main thing that was discussed when it was coming out: The Sanity Meter. Health and strength in this is measure in three bars, Health (obvious, something bites you, you get hurt, something big bites you, you die), Magick (magic with a k at the end, I'll go over this more later), and finally Sanity.

This little green meter measures how well your character's mental strength is holding up, and gets drained every time one of the creeps screams at you, or you get hurt, or some other event causes them to question their reality. What's really interesting is the effect this has on the character. Rather than just causing your health to drain when it's low, or your attacks to weaken, it causes them to literally go insane. They'll start shambling about, eyes darting from corner to corner, jumping at every noise, and then your TV will change channel because you sat on the remote. Except you didn't, and now zombies are eating you and you realise the insanity is affecting you too. The lights in your room start to flash, and the rain pounds against your window like something trying to get into the house... okay, this is a bit far, but the TV channel one really is in the game. Again, don't want to say much on the actual effects, but a couple of examples are needed - and these are far from the most effective ones at spooking the player
One, you walk into a room and the walls start dripping blood. Your character starts cowering in the middle of the room as demons break through and hover ominously towards you as you wrestle with the controller to move them on... and then they vanish, and you wonder what happened.
Two, you enter a room and it's literally FILLED with enemies. There's no space to move at all, and they all leap at once.
Three, you explode. Yes, really. Boom.

As you can hopefully tell, these effects are well thought out, and make up the crux of the games mechanisms. The magick system is also very well though out, with each ancient's allignment having dominance over another, and it all being done through a rune like system to make your spells. Runes for heal, damage, dispel and other effects, as well as target runes such as self, item, and creature all keep things interesting when you're trying to frantically fight off the hordes of enemies, really keeping up the nerve-rattling pacing of the game.

To conclude, this game is designed to thrill. It's dark, disturbing at points, and violent. It's also one of the best Survival Horrors out there, and certainly the best on Gamecube. Track it down, play it, and enjoy.

Chris Enjoys The Vidya, 1: Boktai

So, time to start something. I'm hoping to do this every week for at least a few weeks (note to other ccjad members: prod me to do this). Just gonna pick a random game that stands out as great in my mind and talk about it for a bit. Today's episode: Boktai.

Okay, it's a bit of an obscure start, but hey. This was a fun little game with one hell of a gimmick: it came in an XBOX HUEG cart that stuck out the top (or bottom for SP users) of the GBA, which was where the little black panel that made all the magic happen was. This little panel was a Solar Sensor, and this is where it gets a bit different.

But before I get into the gameplay mechanics, I'll quickly explain the story. You play as Solar Boy Django, a vampire hunter in a world inhabited almost entirely by vampires, and armies of ghouls, bats, golems, and elemental versions of all of these. After your pappy got owned by the big bad vampires, you inherited from him a kickass scarf and the Gun Del Sol, which as the name suggests is powered by the sun. This is where the solar sensor comes in: Whenever the pack comes under sunlight, your sun meter in the game is powered, and if you're outside or under a skylight in game you can charge the Gun Del Sol. When you run out of charge, you can't fight, and have to stealth your way through the levels.

Oh, and speaking of stealth, did I mention this is designed and made by Hideo Kojima of Metal Gear Solid fame? It shows. The stealth, while basic, is fun. You knock on walls, the ghouls get little exclamation marks above their heads, you run away while they wander round to see what's going on. In theory, you can go through the dungeons up to actually fighting the Vampires this way, although towards the end of the game it becomes pretty unfeasible unless you're a stealth game god. All the Vamps need killed with ye olde Gun Del Laserbeams, which throws them in a coffin, and you into the final stage of the levels...

Now comes the hard part. You have to drag that little coffin alllllll the way back through the dungeon, and then smack it with a giant laser - and the giant laser NEEDS sunlight. At all times. So if you get to this part at night, you're screwed. This was the main flaw in the game: while the sunlight was a fun gimmick, an element you can't control (the weather) affecting the outcome of a game is not fun when it doesn't go with you, and living in Scotland, I basically had to play through all this in a day.

But hey, it's fun, the story is good, and the gameplay is entertaining and original. Think Castlevania meets Metal Gear, is the short version. Wow, this is actually a pretty long post. That's it for this week then, more obscure games you've never played next week!

First impressions are the most important

Well, finally got back round to posting something, so I guess I better make it half decent. Since I seem to be just playing/reading/listening to short bursts of things recently, I'm gonna give some of them mini-reviews based on my first impressions (hence the title, cause i r smrt) on them! Fun for all :P

Advance Wars: Days Of Ruin on Nintendo DS

Played a whole... ten minutes of this round at Calum's a few days ago, and instantly realised I need to get it. I liked the old AW games, despite never having managed to actually complete one (always get stuck at sky battles, just can't do them for some reason), but this one is fantastic looking just for the update in graphical style. If you don't already know, the basic premise is the world has been hit by some kind of disaster, meteors or some such thing - I'm guessing it'll turn out to have been a SUPER SECRET PLOT of some kind - and the bad guys are all having a massive looting murder party. The game opens with your character, a recruit with a name I can't remember, crawling out of some wreckage and getting saved from said bad guys by The Good Guys. The first thing that hit me was how realistic things were looking now, with them ditching orange jumpsuits for army fatigues suitably covered in apocalypse dust. The battle system seems more in depth too, and all reviews have been positive. So, all in all, instantly hooked on this one. Thumbs up get!


Lost Odyssey on XBox 360

Well, I'm about an hour into this one, and so far all I can say is 'What the hell?'. Here's some MSN quotes I've came out with whilst playing:

(19:28) [ShadowDragon/Ch: Ohh yeah, I rock. Died in the tutorial battle.
(19:30) Jingleboy: In Bleach?
(19:30) [ShadowDragon/Ch: Nah, Lost Odyssey

(19:42) [ShadowDragon/Ch: Lost Odyssey has save points
(19:42) [ShadowDragon/Ch: Why do people still make games with save points
(19:43) [ShadowDragon/Ch: Just let us use the menu, damnit

(21:49) [ShadowDragon/Ch: I have no idea what I'm meant to be doing in lost odyssey... already
(21:50) Jingleboy: :P
(21:51) [ShadowDragon/Ch: Oh! I was meant to sleep at the inn
(21:51) [ShadowDragon/Ch: That makes sense I guess
(22:09) [ShadowDragon/Ch: So... I've slept at the inn. Now what the hell am I meant to do? And yes, the inn cutscene really was that long.

(22:53) [ShadowDragon/Ch: Alright, taking a break from Lost Odyssey because the first boss completely destroyed me in two turns

Yeah, that pretty much sums it up. I think I need to restart and play whilst paying attention rather than just running through it though. Despite these complaints, the storyline so far is really good, and has made me want to keep playing it, especially the 'recovering lost memories' aspect of it because they are genuinely interesting. Jury is still out on this one.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure in Manga

Well, this first impression is of the first volume of the manga, which is good for it. Had I been reading it online, I would've stopped after the first couple of chapters. It suffers from trying to give us a lot of the japan-only backstory in a short amount of time, and dumping us into a slow-moving intro right after that. I was bored, and only reading on because I'd paid for it and I'll be damned if I wasn't finishing it no matter how bored I was. After the start, I was glad I did. Things heat up very quickly, and the fights are intelligent enough to keep you looking closely rather than skipping through to the next story part. The story follows Jotaro Kujo, the third or fourth JoJo in the proper story as he believes he is being haunted by a demon. He soon finds out that it is actually a mysterious psychic being called a Stand, which has appeared because of his will to fight after the families age old enemy Dio is brought back to the world. Soon, more Stands appear - both good and evil, and those in between - and the race is on to destroy Dio before he becomes too powerful. I've yet to buy more of this, but it'll certainly keep me interested if it keeps up the pace it sets towards the end of the first volume. Another thumbs up for this one!

I do have a couple of other mini-reviews to make, but this post is getting rather long so I'll keep them for another time. In the meantime, I'm going back to being excited about Auchinawa and working on my games programming.

Bai for now,
Chris

WHY I LOVE ROBOT

Bwahahahaaa! Skins! They're fun! If you're into that kinda thing, I guess. I'm gonna get all this fixed and working again. Tonight, hopefully. We'll lose some of the fun stuff, but most of it didn't work anyway. I'll try and make it so the site doesn't load slower than a 90-year old woman driver too! So all should be well. Once I do all that, I'll even make a proper news post! Magic.

Temporary skin for now though, while I hax0r t3h c0d3z.

EDIT: Well, for now I'm gonna leave it as this. At least that's what I'm saying now, whether it stays as that I have no idea. Spoken to Ally, and we both agree it would be nice to make it a bit lighter, and edit it a little, but the simplicity of the layout is pretty nice. Anyway, I'm about to sit a mock programming exam, so I must go!

Chris

More on our Wii adventure, and other bits.

There's Ally and Calum playing the Wii, taken sneakily on my phone :P You can see the tiny little console behind the screen, and the Laser Hockey game playing. Calum on the right, Wiimote in hand, Ally on the left, and Man That Wouldn't Give Me His Wii Bag in the background.

Wii is awesome fun. Everyone there really enjoyed themselves, and it proved just how easy it is to get into. By all the reviews I've heard of it, it's looking like a hit already. I can't wait :D

EDIT: Chris is listening to :

Unadventures of CCJAD - Halloween Ain't That Special

Apparently we're a suspicious lot here at CCJAD, or at least if your a fifty year old security guard at a superstore. Who is useless at trailing people. And ends up getting followed by the people he's meant to be following :P
We have too much time on our hands, it's true.

So, last period on Monday the school decides to inform us that sixth years are meant to be dressing up to collect money the day after. Panic! In the end, some of us managed, some never tried. The results are scary, you might not want to look :P

Happy Halloween
Chris

Intro Posts, Round 4

Well, I guess it’s my turn now, since David is shirking his duties as usual.
Hey, I’m Chris, and I’m the one that set up the site. I’m the youngest of the group at only 16, and I’m also in my last year of High School. Currently studying Maths, Physics and English at Advanced Higher, and Chemistry at Higher *groan* along with our usual prefect duties, I’m also head of the School Website Team, so it’s gonna be one very busy year.

In my spare time, other than posting here, I watch a lot of anime (currently watching DNAngel and Tsubasa) as well as read manga (currently DNAngel, Tsubasa, Hellsing & Trigun). And it’s my fault that Cass & David are now into them, after supplying them with Cowboy Bebop and .hack//. Also, I read quite a few webcomics (MegaTokyo, Questionable Content, D101 & Ctrl+Alt+Del) and occasionally even attempt to draw! :O

I used to play way too many video games, but not so much now – mostly due to the lack of good things being released at the moment. Bring on the Wii :D

So, yeah, that’s about it that I can think of. I’m still trying to decide whether or not to post my English work up here. I dunno, maybe.

See you
Chris

Cheating already?!?

Okay, this is a bit naughty, but I'm gonna do it anyway. These were mini-reviews I wrote a while back, but I'm gonna put them here now. Have fun :P

Mini-Reviews Time!

Time for me to review some of the entertaining things I've done recently, starting with films:

Pirates Of The Carribean: Dead Man's Chest

For the most part it was a great film, but the cliffhanger ending is severely irritating, and many of the jokes are simply taken from the first one, and seem to be there just for people to go 'Ho! Remember how funny that was the last time?'. Still worth a watch though, and I'm looking forward to the next one to find out the conclusion.
As Cass reminded me, I forgot to mention one thing: for those who haven't already seen this film, wait until the end of the credits. There is another scene afterwards. Enjoy.

Superman Returns

Special effects budget overload! They seem to have had so many ideas for this film that they've tried to cram them all in at once, and it's sorta spoiled it. Definitely the low point of the film is the way they try to add in the 'It's a Bird, it's a Plane' gag, and it just sounds cheesy now. I guess that's just due to it being slotted into an old series though. On it's own, it is a good film for recent standards, with Kevin Spacey being placed into Lex Luther's shoes with a show-stealing performance. The other characters do seem weak at times, but he more than makes up for it.

Right, now onto the games:

Trauma Center: Under the Knife for Nintendo DS

This is one difficult game. The storyline fits beautifully in with the action, and the gameplay of the game is excellent, a real testament to Nintendo's 'New Ways To Play' as it couldn't have been created before this time. The game has a great lifespan, and going back to get S-Ranks on the earlier missions will keep many gamers occupied for hours. But once again, this game gets hard. Probably the most difficult DS game I have played, but in this games it enriches the experience and helps to draw the player into the world of Dr. Stiles.

Megaman Battle Network 6: Cybeast Gregar for Nintendo GBA

Yay, another MMBN game! I love these things, and I doubt if I could really explain why. The way the game builds up a skill level so naturally, and the storylines all being created to fit both into the continuity of this series and alongside all Megaman games really adds up to an enjoyable experience. Unfortunately, this would appear to be the last in the series, a real pity considering how large the fanbase of the games has become through time. Perhaps the series will move onto DS or even Wii, but for now this is the end. However, despite this being the final one, it rises to the occassion beautifully by giving the fans of the series all the best bits of the old games, while adding in many new features. I would advise for people to play the older games before playing this one, as many of the techniques used in-game aren't fully explained, preffering only to highlight the new features such as Beast Out and LinkNavi. This game is the most tactical-based game in the series with weakness and strengths being highlighted and used much more regularly rather than just using the most powerful techniques. During the normal game the difficulty level increases perfectly, with the enemies always matching your skill enough to challenge you without being too easy or hard. However, it's once you complete the game that it really shines. The multitude of extra features, challenges, weapons and tasks given afterwards are both difficult enough and entertaining enough to keep players in the game for many months. A definite must-buy for fans of the series, but those new to the series should try the older ones first, then play this as the crowning moment.
EDIT: Forget what I said about not being too hard. Forte is incredibly hard. Insanely hard. And keeps getting harder. Lots of time for me to spend fighting him then :D


Chris

A new beginning, possibly.

Well, this is the start of something that will (hopefully) last for a long time. We've decided between us to run a blog about, well, anything we can come up with at the time.

By 'We', I mean Chris (that's me, otherwise known as ShadowDragon), Calum (Chaos-Zero), James (Starfire, or Cassidy/Cass), Ally (Jingleboy, or Redant), and David (or whatever he's addicted to at the time. Don't call him Superman, because he's not). So with that lot, we hope to be able to update with some frequency, but not with any timetable (mostly because life doesn't have much of one for any of us).

That'll do for an intro/test post for now. See you soon.

Chris