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This has been long overdo. I shall put up way more in a mega post soon.

Brad

Community Blog (school) - Henry Hatsworth Review

Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure (NDS)

a review by school

When I first heard about the concept of the Nintendo DS I was perplexed. I thought, “Why would any game need two screens?” These thoughts were reaffirmed, at first, with games just using the bottom screen for a map, inventory or something that wasn't really necessary. But as the DS matured so did the games released, with each passing year using the hardware better. Now in 2009 comes Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure, which takes the duality of the DS into an interesting direction.

The main concept of Henry Hatsworth is that you play two separate games that run intertwined. The top screen being an action platformer and the bottom being a clone of Planet Puzzle League or Tetris Attack. What makes the game stand out is the combination of the two. Kill an enemy on the top screen and it falls down to the bottom screen as a block. Then, pausing time on the top screen, you can switch to the bottom screen, where the blocks continuously shift upwards. If the enemy block isn't cleared it will reappear in the top screen and attack you.

The top screen follows the typical action platformer tropes with melee, distant and special attacks. The levels continue on the same traditional path with destinations such as jungles, lava, the sky and underwater. Later on the levels become somewhat more original but are overly tedious with disappearing and solitary platforms along with pits to facilitate your demise. The enemies you encounter throughout the levels vary enough to keep things interesting. The regular enemies are more than strong enough to take you down, making for some very intense situations, especially following a mid-boss fight. The difficulty ramps up far too quickly though, taking a giant leap by the end of the third world. The enemy's attack animations get very quick while you move rather sluggishly. Also the distance between checkpoints is far too large making for undue difficulty. The bosses carry over the high difficulty but in a more classic way of memorizing patterns. There are also times when you are given what is literally a kill room of regular enemies as a boss. This works quite well though because of the puzzle element below making for a more strategic experience.

The bottom screen requires strategy to support your battles on the top. This interplay between screens feels incredibly fresh and rewarding. The bottom is where you will heal, do supplemental spell-like damage via Special Blocks and receive any items found all while being time limited. The time limit requires the puzzle to be viewed very strategically in the boss fights by having to decide which blocks to prioritize. The Item Blocks materialize in the bottom screen providing more lives or hearts. In addition, there are Special Blocks, such as lightning bolts that clear out all of the blocks of the same color but it will also inflict a lightning attack on all of the enemies on top. Healing can be done by clearing a heart block or by filling the Super Meter by various methods. The Super Meter is also used for distant attacks, special attacks and tea time. Tea time is where Henry Hatsworth has tea with his fellow Englishmen only to be interrupted by a roaring guitar riff transforming him into an invincible robot all while Union Jack is streaking in the background.

Most, if not all, of the humor comes from the satire of British culture and general absurdities like the previously mentioned robot. It continuously harps on the same thing, which can become slightly tiresome at times, especially with the Banjo-Kazooie-esque gibberish dialogue ending in words like “right-o!” or “govna”. The story revolves around Henry Hatsworth, who holds the number one spot in the Pompous Adventurers Club, and his rival, Weaselby. They both hope to obtain the Golden Suit, albeit for different reasons. Hatsworth wanting it so he can become the classiest of classy and Welselby wanting it to, you guessed it, control the world. All of the main and supporting characters are well designed with great looking artwork. Also there is a good variety of music from a more orchestral backing to the action platforming and a very funky sounding backing to the puzzling. Sadly though, the sound production was done far too hot, resulting in very heavy distortion and clipping.

Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure has a ton of charm. The humor is funny in its ridiculousness and the concept of the two worlds is novel. If they both had to belong as separate games, the results would be disastrous: one game being a derivative action platformer and the other a puzzle game that has been done before. But together the games are very intertwined, interacting with each other in interesting ways: creating a new type of gameplay from something once stale. Difficulty qualms aside, Hatsworth is a game you must, at the very least, give a chance.

From Across the Counter: A Look at Video Game Retail

I write this article at the risk of losing my job. Unfortunately, Corporate entities are a picky bunch, unable to stand for the slightest bit of employee backlash. More and more, video game retail is being considered the ugly duckling of the gaming industry. Everywhere I turn, people complain and straight-up trash game retail stores and employees because they disagree with their practices. Being an employee at one of the biggest gaming-retail chains has given me a bit of an insiders perspective and at the same time, made me feel like a little bit of an outsider in the industry that I love.

Making a trip to the game store, especially on the day of a big game release, is always a special day for any gamer, no matter what age they are. There is just something special about shopping at a store that is dedicated to gaming that the game section at Wal-Mart or Best Buy just can’t deliver. Unfortunately, as the gaming industry has boomed, changes to retail practices and the opinions of media journalists have had negative effects on how we shop for games. For whatever reason, gamers are now opposed to reserving games prior to release and are quick to turn a negative experience at one store into an opinion of the entire company. More and more gamers are flocking to the likes of Wal-Mart and buying games from people who, for the most part, have little or no knowledge about the games that they sell.


As I get more serious about delving into the world of game journalism, I find it increasingly ironic that so many of the professionals that I admire, shun the business that I currently work in. I suppose that I can feel some comfort from the fact that so many of these writers and personalities started out as Gamestop employees themselves. However, it is discouraging to hear the likes of Ryan Davis or John Davison refer to Gamestop employees as scam artists or something else along those lines. As I continue to grow in this industry, I’m sure that I will have to come to terms with the way that these journalists think because I will have a similar field of experience. With that said, I would like to take this opportunity to respond to a lot of the negative chatter that has taken the industry by storm.

Like I said earlier, I write this not only as an aspiring writer but also as an employee of a huge game-retail corporation. I have listened to hundreds of podcasts, read a number of different articles, and heard endless complaints with my own two ears about the way that these businesses are run. What I can't understand is how people are so quick to judge a company's business strategy when they don't have a full understanding of their logic behind the decisions that they make.
In an effort to keep this article from becoming a rant, I will avoid obvious discussion topics like: "The legitimacy of pre-ordering" or "the reason small stores sell opened new games." Instead I simply want to say that working in video game retail has done me a lot of good and has really played a big part in fueling my interest in this industry. If it weren't for my job, I would have probably been insanely bored throughout my college experience. To everyone who has gone out of their way to complain about something miniscule or lead an internet army on a pointless march against mega-corporations, I say this: your shopping experience is what you make of it. Period. It is easy to understand that many people may not want to take part in the policies or services that these stores provide but there is absolutely no reason that they can't simply find a new store that fits their expectations. Not wanting to shop at a particular chain is one thing, but taking your misinformed rant to cyberspace is immature and uncalled for. If you had to put up with half of the junk that I did, you might understand why some game store employees appear rude or unfriendly. I will close by saying that the store that I work at and the employees I work with do our best to make shopping at our store a fun experience and for the most part, we have been successful. In the end, it is important to remember to look at these stores as what they are, a business, and many of these trite and illogical complaints could be forgiven. It is too bad that 90% of the people who complain are completely unwilling to try and look at these issues from the perspective of someone who works across the counter.

What?!?!

Can anyone guess what Brad is doing in this picture?

Thanks,

David

Batman Continues to Impress

I know comic fans may bitch but i'm sorry, Batman: Arkham Asylum continues to blow me away with it's presentation. BANE looks amazing. Enjoy:



-Nick

Brad answers Viewer Questions: Part 1

We missed a show a couple of weeks ago, so naturally we ran long on our "impressions" segment during episode 107 the other day. Well, we never got to viewer questions, so I decided to try and answer as many as I could here on the blog. Here we go.

zekana:
has there ever been a bad guy/villian from a game that you kind of wished had won in the end? someone who you really understood and felt bad about having to deliver the final blow or stopping their plans all together? someone whose plans you may of agreed more with then the "good guys" plans.

I can't believe I forgot the obvious choice on the show. Wiegraf from Final Fantasy Tactics is a excellent character and an excellent villain. He was fighting for the what he thought was the right side (and he WAS right), and although his methods were questionable, I realize he was simply the tragic hero. Then we killed his sister. He did some horrible things and accepted evil in the end, but his intentions were just. An excellent character in an amazing game.



Fang(FangTehWolf in chat) from Austin Texas:
If you could somehow meet a videogame character, and hang-out with that character for a day which character would it be?

I'd buy Old Snake a beer. Or go to the movies with Alyx.



Rich from Long Island, New York (Cablevision in chat):
Will DLC hurt the gaming industry in the future? Now it breaks the banks of the gamers who have to pay for features that could have been added before the release, but will the potentially higher price tags deter gamers from buying games?

I fucking hate it.




Matt from Chicago, IL (Twistamafoo in chat):
If you could become a video game character and play in that character's game world, who/what game would you choose?

Mario in Mario Sunshine or Mario Galaxy seems like it would be a ton of fun.



Trey from Lubbock, Texas (Catpeople79 in chat):
If you had control over the next Zelda game, what changes would you make to make the series better?

Core dungeon/world structure can stay similar to how it is in other Zelda games. Just make sure there is plenty to see an discover as Link is exploring. Everything else needs a lot of work. Actually... I will make this a separate post.



Jason from Florida [Sofora in Chat]:
If you had to choose, which is more important the character development in a video game or the story development? Which has more impact on the player the characters or the story in a video game?

For me, great character development is the story. The story I want at least.



Richard from England [Yellowfishstick in chat):
What are your opinions on turn based combat systems in RPG's. With the increase in Real time battle systems in Rpg's how would a turn based Rpg game change their battle system to stand out.

Turn based is fine, just people are not doing interesting things with it. There are some that stand out in my mind as being exceptional. Final Fantasy 10-2 has maybe the best turn based battle system around. The Grandia series also has a great system. Final Fantasy 13 also looks like it could be really good. Trick with turn based is to keep things moving fast, and never have battles that take too long.



I'll answer more later.

Brad

New Podcast Up

We're back after an unexpected week long hiatus. It's an impression heavy show this week as we first go over the DSi.

Impressions:

Brad - Bully, Way of the Samurai, Saints Row 2, Y's Book I & II, Red Faction Demo.

David - Ultimate Ghost N Goblins, Grim Grimoire, Star Ocean IV, Broken Sword, 

Nick - Chronicles of Riddick, Tetris on the iPhone

Community Segment
4PlayerMinute

107 - Nick Plays Tetris On The iPhone Show [download]

Available on iTunes

Thanks,

David

Complete Final Fantasy XIII Demo Footage

So thanks to Joystiq for posting this and thanks to whoever put the footage up on youtube as well. Below you can watch the entire FFXIII Japanese Demo footage that was released alongside the blu-ray release of FFVII Advent Children. Thats right folks, the first FFXIII gameplay footage! Enjoy. 2010 can't come soon enough.





-Nick

This Week on the Stream.

Will I check in this week??


I'm not a fan of your typical open world mission based game, but I am really enjoying Bully. I might make some more progress in this game sometime later in the week.


I'm kind of enjoying the Resident Evil knockoff follow-up to Square's classic RPG horror game, Parasite Eve. I will try to finish this game in the next couple of weeks.


Expect to see some more Jade Empire on the feed this week as well. I still need to finish it, and David needs to start it. I know it's not everyone favorite game to watch... but who cares. Die in a fire.


Will I have the patience to play through another one of these game? Well, I've already started, and it looks to be the case.


David will continue his quest to find excellent voice acting.



Brad

Is It About Time?

A game I would like to see make a return is the 1080 Series. While Nintendo's release schedule has never been great, in the past they had a way where they could get by just releasing a different game or genre every so often. You would get an acceptable mix of games in a fun racer like Mario Kart, a futuristic racer in F-Zero, and the snowboard racer in 1080.

While most have preferred the SSX series, I've never been really impressed by it. I picked up SSX3 day one and was done with it after a weekend. Tricks have never been my forte. The character designs have been kinda comic book. And I never got the feeling of snowboarding.

Step in 1080 Avalanche which came out two months later in December of 2003. This was the snowboarding game I was looking for. Maybe it was the style of the characters, they had a cute asian girl instead of a sexy one. But I think it more had to do with the game mechanics.

The game focused more on racing. Sure there were trick stages, but the game and stage design revolved around trying to be the first around the finish line. You couldn't get the air that you could in SSX, but you were able to get something else, a sense of speed. When you held down the crouch button, you'd become more aerodynamic. Going down a hill, your speed would increase and bits of snow began to visibly fly by and stick to your parka. The controller rumbled and shook. You really felt that if you didn't hold everything together that you would end up crashing horribly.

It was the little things that made me keep playing the game. Cushioning your landing was crucial to maintaining your speed, so you were always paying attention to timing the button press with when you made contact with the ground. I played the game for weeks unlocking every board and hidden character, playing all the courses regular and reverse, and getting gold on all the time trial and trick stages. It's not often that I play a game for all the extras but in a game without too much storyline, there's not much else except gameplay and extras.

Which leads me to my final point. This was the first snowboarding game I spent a lot of time with. I want a new one to be made, but if it's more of the same, I could see myself getting tired of it very quickly. That's one of the reason I've seen series like SSX and Tony Hawk fade into the shadows in recent years. Developers always have to come up with something new and fresh to keep the IP interesting. Either that or they need to time the releases after a few years so that the concept can be forgotten a little.

For the 1080 series, it'll be especially hard because in Avalanche, the actual force of nature was the draw of the game. The last course in each set was literally a race against an Avalanche. It was invigorating to have the feeling of being chased down by a white wall of death. Trees would be collapsing around you with white powder splashing around your heels. It was something not done before and one of the reasons I think Nintendo has held off on bringing back the franchise.

Even if they didn't want to take the time, effort, and money to reinvent it, they could at least do a revisit.

Anyone know what I'm talking about?
David