Rail or Not?

When Capcom first announced Umbrella Chronicles for the Nintendo Wii, fans couldn't be more happier. After all it's still a long wait till Resident Evil 5 and the last three Resident Evil games on the Nintendo Gamecube had been great. When they later revealed that it's going to be a shooter game, fans were less than excited about the prospects, since previous attempts to transcend into the shooter territory using the RE license had been less than successful. When it was finally revealed that it's going to be an on-rails shooter much like the gun-games in the arcades, fans just went nuts....have Capcom finally lost it?

Well after playing Umbrella Chronicles for a good six hours, I can safely say that this is probably the best iteration of the Resident Evil Gun Survivor series. Having the game running on rails really creates a lot of tension or atmosphere because you have absolute no control over where to go or which way to look. The biggest difference between games and movies is that games are a form of interactive entertainment which the player actually have to take part in the game in order for the story to progress. The problem is, sometimes gamers feel that by taking away certain abilities like camera movement or in this case player movement, the sense of immersion is reduced and the gameplay experience is compromised. The quality of a good game should not be judged on such merits as it's not what makes a good game great. As much as fans love the level of detail in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, it's not what made the game so memorable. In fact, it actually adds little to the actual game experience apart from allowing you to stray away from the main objective, having fun goofing around.

The point I'm trying to make is that games are as much of an art form as movies and that game developers should be treated with the same degree of respect and allowed the creative freedom to make decision to take away certain level of interactivity from the gamers such as this case. When was the last time you think to yourself, this movie would have been better if only the director/screenwriter did this instead of that? Would killer7 had be a better game if it wasn't running on rails? Probably not, maybe as games become more 'beautiful' and 'immersive', we gamers are becoming more 'possessive' and scoff when things are taken away from us? It's time to leave the reins to the people in-charge, have faith and ultimately they will deliver the best experience possible.... yes, we are looking at you too, mr. Suda.

The Good Ole' Times

They just don't make them like they used....the same goes with games. Many long time gamers who grew up during the 8/16-bit era will tell you that despite the improvements in visual and audio storytelling of games, the games of today just doesn't match up to the games of yester-years. Playing Dracula X the last two days has certainly rekindled a lot of fond memories of the 8/16-bit era, and while i can't attest to the fact that games back there weren't better than the ones now, I certainly remember them being a lot tougher. Then it got me thinking some more, were games back then intentionally made harder because they weren't half as long as games these days? Sure players moaned nowadays if a game can be completed in less than 10 hours but back in the 8/16 bit era, save for the Zelda games, most of them could be completed in one day if you really sit through it on a Sunday afternoon. Well if that myth is true, it certainly worked because i could remember some of these games better than the games of today which i completed over the last few years. Load up the ole Castlevania and i could still remember some of the more tricker level layouts and where exactly Simon Belmont should stand when the ole' Count is about to strike during the grand boss fight. The levels were much shorter and many times, player had to replay the level if they died at a boss fight...so we would play it again and again and again...

You will die a lot in this game.......

I'm afraid i can't say the same about recent games, I can hardly remember any of the boss fights from the last three Onimusha games and probably not even some of the level layouts too. Kinda sad don't you think? They just don't make them like they used to...or are we gamers getting too soft?

Are games today getting too soft?

Guilty Pleasure

They say with constant technology advancements, games are becoming more like movies...or rather movies are becoming more like games, judging the lack of creativityfrom Hollywood these days. Games and consoles have become popular holiday gifts that parents buy for their children so it's little surprise that many major games are released during this time of the year. Myself, i plan to occupy my time with my much-neglected PSP playing Konami's one-two punch of Dracula X Chronicles and Silent Hill Origins (released back-to-back over the last two months).

Traverse around galaxy with Mario this season?

Then it got me thinking, if games are becoming more like movies and with the holiday seasons around, why don't we see an influx of feel good games like the type of Christmas movies of Hollywood? Could it be because, playing games itself is just a pleasure that whether you are playing the Grand Thefts or Loco-Rocos of the season, you are likely to have a smile on your face. I guess games have this timeless appeal that makes them suitable to play anytime of the year, because let's face it shooting down undeads never gets old. So maybe in light of the festive season, we should all put down our guns and pick up something happy, like the Loco-Roco of this year....Crush. I certainly plan to....

Or take a gamble with a 'small' game like Crush?

Zero Tolerance

I recently received my pre-order of Silent Hill Zero (or Origins as it's known outside Japan) Konamistyle Edition after what seems like an eternal wait. Although it looks nothing like the picture that was released during the pre-order, it's still a classy piece of collectible worthy of a place in any Silent Hill fans' collection. Putting a slight damper on the whole thing would be the rather concerning rumours circulating around that Konami is preparing to port the once PSP-exclusive game over to the PS2 system.

Now ports are nothing new in the games industry but seeing that this was one of the few titles I primarily got my PSP for, i'm a little less than pleased. Konami has been a strong supporter of the PSP right from launch (in fact, i would say they are the best third-party developer for the PSP) so it does comes as a bit of a surprise to me. In this case, Silent Hill Zero would be still remained on the Sony platform but now, appealing to those without PSP who have followed the series from the first installment on the Playstation. If Sony is still serious about priming the PSP as a contender to Nintendo's DS, they better put a stop to all these PSP to PS2 ports already.

Admitedly, most of the time when a title is ported, it is done so in order to reach out to a wider mass audience but i for one, think that a little something is lost during the translation. You see, these game are often developed to the original system's strengths and weaknesses so when it's made to run on another system, certain compromises are made (though it would be less of a problem here when it's ported to a technically-superior system like the PS2). Silent Hill Zero is reportedly only a four-five hour game which is still acceptable for a handheld game but how would the average PS2 react? Unless it's priced accordingly, a lot of people are going to feel a little short changed if they bought the game not anticpating this. So for the love of the game and the people who made the game, try and play the game in the original platform it was made for... it does make a difference.

Almost enough to make you shoot someone in the face