A Viewtiful Mistake

I admit i was a little slow to warm up to the original Viewtiful Joe despite being a big fan of superheroes and cel-shaded games since Gungrave. In fact, it took the inclusion of a cel-shaded Dante in the Playstation2 version of Viewtiful Joe to get me interested in the title and pretty soon, i was bowled over by how awesome the game was. If it wasn't for the old school difficulty, i would have gladly replayed the first game after having unlock Dante but the truth was, i had to use a cheat disc to even beat the game on easy mode! You can probably guess that all this talk about a cel-shaded Dante is because i was kinda hoping Leon's cameo in Viewtiful Joe 2 would be something similar to that. Oh boy was i ever wrong....

It all turned out to be some big misunderstanding, at least from what i could remember. The Leon cameo never exists, i know this despite getting only halfway through the game. Because i have met Leon and it's not the Leon from Resident Evil but a level boss. Confused? So was i but sometime at the end of level 3, Joe is confronted by a boss in the name of Cameo Leon, and i'm guessing this boss' name is what led me to think that there was a Leon appearance in this game. So don't be a fool like me, there's no Leon in this game kids.....

Same old song

You know the sense of familarity you get when you play sequels to your favourite games? It seems to be a prevalent issue with most Capcom games but with Viewtiful Joe 2, it's almost a crime. Though Viewtiful Joe was a great game, i dislike the cop-out ending (don't worry, no spoilers here) and now when i play the sequel, i could almost get a sense that Capcom/Production Studio 4 intentionally held back during development of the original and some of it's ideas were carried fore to develop this sequel. Perhaps the original game's director Hideki Kamiya, who seems to have developed a reputation for spending too much time developing a game didn't have enough time to finish the first game and thus had to abruptly finish development on the first game. Anyhow, i won't hold it against the first Viewtiful Joe because it was and still is a revolutionary 2.5D action game, and had one of the coolest end game credits and cool bonus unlockables in the Playstation2 version, like a fully playable Dante with his own storyline and sidekick. Having experienced all that, it's kinda hard to stomach the fact that save for a new playable character in the form of Joe's girlfriend Sylvia, the sequel is devoid of any of it's predecessor's innovations. Then again, perhaps i'm been too harsh on the game, after all the decision to make Sylvia return and playable in the sequel almost seems like a F-you to the focus group of the first game which hated the character Slyvia. Hideki made it known that he was displeased with this practicular opinion of his game and character and decided to ignore it and keep the game just the way it was. Perhaps this sequel is a continuing evolution of that idea...

Anyway, without Hideki's involvement i was almost going to skip this forgotten sequel till i heard there was a Leon from Resident Evil 4 cameo in the game. I only hope my interest wouldn't waived till i get to that part...

Wii Need More Games Like These

Some say only Nintendo first-party games will continue to sell well on Nintendo Wii system. Well, we have the likes of Suda 51 to thank for at least trying to prove them wrong. Upon hearing that the game have finally arrived at my local game store, i "camped" outside of the shopping mall this morning in an illegal parking spot no less, waiting patiently for them to open their doors. I couldn't wait to play this game and more importantly i wanted to do my part and support the sales of this title. I can't think of a game i would rather play right now, in fact i was hooked pretty much when i first saw the teaser trailer of the game revealed. Of course, shortly after that the game went into hiding as development ramped up and since i thought i had little hopes of playing it then without a Wii, I just put it under my 'one to watch' list.

The game has been out for a few weeks in the states now having earlier debut in the Japanese market to poor sales about a month back. The sales figures in the US are much better, selling 100,000 units to japan's 40,000 units. Though better, those are hardly chart-topping figures to say and Nintendo non-believers are quick to point out that the game should have been released on Sony/Mircosoft system to ensure it reaches out to the right market rather than Nintendo's supposedly "casual" gamers. I disagree as Suda 51 has always had a track record of developing and releasing cult games to poor sales, if he was given the resources to develop this on a system like PS3 which required a lot more development cost, he would probably be reduced to selling toilet paper for real with sales figures like this. Putting it out on the Wii allows Grasshopper to keep development cost down while reaching out to the widest audiences of this generation's console. Well this game is on track to becoming Suda's best selling game so far and i look forward to playing it and seeing what else is in store for us from his Grasshopper studios.

Eternal Wrath

Ever read IGN's review of Eternal Darkness on the Gamecube? Eternal Darkness was one of the most critically-acclaimed Gamecube game upon release and IGN review has to be the most biased review i have ever read. You see, i bought the game based solely on this as i have never seen any demos or previews of the game and upon finishing it yesterday, i must say i ended up feeling a little shortchanged. The game was good no doubt but no where as good as IGN made it out to be. In fact, IGN had my expectations blew out of proportions so much so that there was no way the game could even meet or exceed it.

I decided to make my opinion of this known on Gamefaqs' message board of the game as their message board are usually still active if the game is popular, even if it's an old game. I must say my post attracted the wrath of many Eternal Darkness/Silicon Knights' fanboys fury. The funny thing was most of them mistakenly thought i was bashing the game rather than the biased IGN review! Fanboys will always be fanboys and defend their heroes to the bitter end. Same with me i guess, part of my unhappiness with the review stems from the fact the reviewer kept making unfair comparisons to Resident Evil and even bash the series at every chance he gets. Worse, this very same reviewer later ask everyone to buy the Wii edition of Resident Evil 4 even if you already owned previous version. I will keep my opinions of the reviewer to myself but isn't it plain obvious how biased he can get?

Something old, something new, something doubled

Every year around this time, i will be away in Singapore to visit my relatives during the festive Chinese New Year. I will also find the time to dropby some of my favourite game stores (assuming they are opened for business) to pick up some games. This year is no different, my haul this trip consist of well, games that i have mainly played/owned already but decided nevertheless to upgrade my current existing copy. I got myself a Gamecube version of Suda51's cult classic killer7, having already beaten the game sometime back on my playstation2. This is basically to drum up some excitement for Suda's newest Wii game No More Heroes as well as to own the definitive version of this game as many have commented the Gamecube version is far superior to the playstation2 version. Not much of a surprise seeing that the game was originally announced as a Gamecube exclusive and development on the platform was well underway before Capcom decided to announce the game on the playstation2 platform. If you never played killer7, it's basically a surreal action-adventure with a lot of style and quirky memorable characters, which seems to be a prevalent style of Suda's now. The game received a lot of criticism back then for it's over-simplistic gameplay but kept fans and critics guessing with it's convoluted storyline and characters. In fact from what i seen of No More Heroes so far, a lot of the criticism for killer7 seems to be addressed in NMH as it looks like a gamey version of killer7 with the same blend of quirky off-beat characters. Speaking of No More Heroes, i did do some fair searching about for the game despite hearing rumours that the game was reportedly banned in Singapore for its violence. Heck i even tried asked some retailers just to see what kinda of response or reaction i will get. Amusingly enough, when asked most of the retailers just response in a whisperly voice "oh we don't have the game or no more stock" like it's a taboo to even talk about it in the open.

I also happened to pick up another Gamecube exclusive, Resident Evil Zero which i earlier played a pre-owned copy just before tackling Umbrella Chronicles. Call it rash, call it paranoid i just wasn't sure if i was able tofind a non-Player's Choice version of this game at that time and decided not to take any chances. I guess my opinion of the game was that i like it enough to buy a sealed copy to replace my existing copy, now i just have to figure out what to do with the other one....

One thing that wasn't on my list was UMD movie for my PSP, yes i have a PSP for close to two years now but have never used it to watch any movies before. Blame it on Sony's insistence to have region-lock on the UMD movie format, i just wasn't able to find any decent region3 UMD for my PSP up till now. The Gramophone in City Hall had a couple of UMD videos tucked away next to their Blue-ray selections and i thought it was too good of an oppurtunity to pass up. A bit implusive, but i can't wait to see King Kong on my PSP, especially since i haven't watched the movie before.

Finally i thought i closed my recap of my Singapore trip with a cover of the latest EGM issue Singapore edition. That's right, Singapore has a gaming community big enough to warrant a localization of the famous videogame magazine, though if you actually pay attention and read the contents it's hard to tell the difference. i always make it a point to pick up a copy whenever i'm there as a keepsake/momento of my trip and this month edition feature a 11-page on the upcoming Street Fighter IV, keep the faith everyone Capcom will deliver!