Ready, Aim ..... Misfire.

Despite having both RE Chronicles, i have never experience the game on multi-player mode before. Playing RE5 co-op with a friend is an entirely different experience as you hardly ever notice how good your partner's aim is except at the end of the level when the statistics are revealed. The truck chase when you and your partner are hoisted to the vehicle's guns firing at incoming vehicles does offer a similar experience to the RE Chronicles game on the Wii. You share the same viewpoint from the back of the truck as your partner, and things can get really distracting when you start to notice where your partner is aiming at. I was never really good at this chapter, in fact i downright dread it but beating it with a live partner has got me curious to try the Chronicles games on multi-player too.

Disc is No Good

In the wake of Rockstars' announcement of their previously Microsoft exclusive DLC content coming to the ps3, it seems like everyone is cashing in on DLC these days. A while back i made the decision to purchase the RE5 DLC on Playstation Network instead of the disc version. My reasoning was the timing of the release as the DLC was debuting on the PSN roughly a month before the retail disc version would be available in stores.

What i failed to realised then was this was all referring to the US release dates as the Japanese will be getting their retail disc version, Alternative Edition in stores the same day as the DLC debut in the US Playstation Network. The only problem was the DLC content will be spread out over the course of two weeks, with the second episode debuting two weeks after the first. I initially thought that this would be a great idea as i can devote all my attention on one episode before moving on to the next but this presents a problem when i'm planning to play with my friends who are getting the Asia or Japanese disc version. Being the impatient gamer that i am, waiting for my RE5 Collector's Edition to arrive last year was one painful experience. Story of my life, looks like it's all set to repeat itself with the release of RE5 Alternative Edition this year.

Like A Knife Through Tofu

I was pleasantly surprised to discover i have finally unlock the Tofu survivor mode upon finishing LeonB last night. For as long as i can remember, i have given up on the idea of unlocking this hidden mode because there are far too many different theories on how to do it and most of them required a full empty memory card to accomplish it. While i can't remember exactly how i did it, i do remember having both the completed ClaireB and LeonB on my memory cards along with the 4th survivor mode. Including the save file from this recent run, that's four save slot dedicated to RE2 before unlocking the tofu survivor mode.

I'm pretty excited to play this tofu survivor especially since it's also recreated on Darkside Chronicles as another hidden game. I can't help but to wonder how it's all going to work in an on-rails shooter armed with only a combat knife when most of the strategy involved is knowing where and when to run and when to shoot. Looks like i'll be in for a swinging good time when i unlock this on Darkside later but for now, it's time to experience the original tofu survivor.

The Square Peg

Darkside Chronicles brought back a lot of fond memories, i knew even before i begin that i would be revisting these old games really soon but what i didn't count on was having the urge to play UC and RE4 again. During its height a few weeks back, i was playing as many as six RE games on different system and the process has made my progress on RE2 really slow. After all RE2 could be finished on one sitting and here i am, having started before i finish Darkside Chronicles but have yet to finish both ClaireA/LeonB scenario. Part of that was also because the newer RE games tend to swap the square and circle buttons around for the run and gun commands. So in an effort not to confuse myself, i refrain from playing RE2 whenever i'm close to playing RE5 and that has been quite often as of late. Over time i seems to have developed a dexterity over these controls so swapping around has been less and less of a problem.

Maybe i should attempt to finish RE2 in one sitting like back in those days when i was trying to unlock the gatling gun and unlimited ammo.

Right in The Middle

Being at my age, i have been gaming for a long time you know though i like to think of myself as not quite an old school gamer neither a new age one for that matter. Somewhere in the middle is where i stand that is while i appreciate what the evolution of gaming has brought to this generation, i still firmly believe that gameplay is the purest and most important aspect of a quality game. Now i have friends were grew up around the same time as i did but they certainly don't share the same sentiments as i do. These are what i would termed as new age gamers who sometime think that gaming only began in the 32-bit era with the first Playstation and 'would never play a game without any story'.

I guess you can probably guess i was talking about Quantic Dream's Heavy Rain, a game that is not quite a game neither is it a movie. Let me just made it clear that i liked Fahrenheit a lot though it could probably do without all that supernatural nonsense at the end. Some of my new age gamer friends are really looking forward to Heavy Rain and while i do share some of that enthusiasm, will playing and ultimately liking it betray my old school roots?

Well i guess none of that matters when there are naked flesh and french love scenes on the menu.

Shoot Them in The Head

Let me just go back to when i was close to finishing Darkside Chronicles that day and tell you how it ended. Sure enough the very next day when i played Darkside Chronicles, the chapter happens to be the last chapter of the Operation Javier as well as the end of the game. In short, i love the new storyline of the game and how the writers were able to practise some restrain with these characters especially the ones infected with the virus. I believe having Suga-san come onboard fresh off his scenario work on Degeneration has helped the new storyline tremendously, some of the goals he set out to achieve with Degeneration were realised more effectively with these new characters in Darkside. There are several endings to the game depending on how you play and i look forward to seeing the other endings in my subsequent play.

As for krauser, his story doesn't end here in Darkside Chronicles and it looks like his descend into the darkside is only just beginning so hopefully it will eventually be revealed in future Chronicles

The 50 hours club

For a NBA player, scoring 50 points in a game puts them in the same elite group of player along the likes of jordan and kobe. On a similar note, given my preference of games very rarely do i invested over 50 hours into one game so these games that do take up 50 hours of my time belongs to an elite group of their own. While i don't believe i have spent over 50 hours on any one game on the ps3, there have been several Wii games lately that deserved that honour. There was Okami Wii and most recently Umbrella Chronicles also joined the elite club as i have gone back to playing it after finishing Darkside Chronicles. The big difference here is i only finished Okami once and that alone took more than 50 hours to do while i must have finished UC a number of times to have reached 50 hours. Some games erased your playtime instead of accumulating it on your subsequent play so there is really no way to know how many games there are which i actually spent more than 50 hours on.

So what are some of the games in your 50 hours club?

Stone by Stone

So i finished Bayonetta again on Normal mode, this time i managed to improve all my previous stone ranking to at least bronze, very rarely do i hit the platinum rank so i suspect i'm still a long ways off if i'm to unlock Jeanne for future replays. Often times it's my combo points that bring my ranking down as i tend to stick to my 1-2 preferred combo and once i exhausted them, i just button-mash my way through until the end. A bit disappointed i didn't unlock anything this time around but then again i do have a habit of taking my time with these things. While i would love to play it again to uncover all the secret missions i have decided to give my dualshock3 and disc drive a break as i noticed the disc drive has been emitting strange noise lately. No doubt the burden of having to load everything off the disc in Bayonetta has been straining the lens more than usual but i'm not about to lament here about how inferior the ps3 version is.

Since i still have yakuza 2 to finish before the third installment arrives soon, i guess it's time to get re-acquainted with the dragon of dojima again.

Don't Panic

One of the first things i did when i got the calender for the new year was marked down the dates when the RE5 DLC would be released. Then taking into account how long my last order from Play-asia took to finally reached me, i estimated what's the latest date i have to place an order for the Playstation Network Card should it indeed take another 3 weeks to reach me again. At that point, the PSN card looks readily available at Play-asia so i didn't have to take into account any additional time for PA to stock and ship the item to me. Next thing i know, PA finished their supply of PSN cards and needed 2 to 4 weeks to ship it, causing me to panic and placed my order much sooner than originally expected. After all, if PA does take the maximum 4 weeks to ship it out and local postal service does experience its usual holiday season delay then the PSN card will not get to me in time.

Turns out all that panic was for nothing as PA probably still have some cards in stock and promptly shipped out my order the very next day. So here i am with my PSN card of $20 value in hand and the DLC is still roughly a month's away from release. Do i key-in and activate the code now or should i wait until it's close to the DLC release date? Does these thing have an expiry date or worst, a time limit i have to spent everything after i activate it?

The Golden Question

RE5 is about to receive some upgrades in the form of new levels and additional costume pack for future replays. Naturally i hit a bump when Capcom decided to do the fans (and not to mention their bank account) a favour by releasing these additions as both DLC and a new ' Gold Edition' disc. I initially wanted to get the Gold Edition but quickly realised i was runnng out of space, even the recent Darkside Chronicles required a bit of moving around before it eventually found a home. Factor in the how much i have already spent on RE5 and pretty soon, the DLC looked like a far safer option. My fanboy nature of being picky has paid off this time as my copy of RE5 is indeed region 1 so there should be no issue whether or not i will be able to download these beauties when they arrived on PSN. Best of all, the DLC content will be released first before the Gold Edition arrives in stores about a month later so the golden question remains is how much Capcom will be charging for these DLC?

Boy Cried Wolf

Being a metal gear fan who have lost interest in the series after MGS4, i haven't been keeping up to date with the development of Peace Walker the folllow-up to Portable Ops that's set to be release on PSP this May. Now with the release just months away, i'm only beginning to catch up with what's the game all about since i do have a Sony PSP gathering dust at one corner.

The marketing advert are proclaiming this to be the first true Hideo Kojima game on the PSP and while they are pretty accurate with the statement, this actually isn't the first time they have said such a thing. Portable Ops was also hailed as the first Hideo Kojima Game on the PSP when it came out which most fans knew wasn't entirely true as kojima only wrote and produced that game. This was because the earlier two Metal Gear Acid! game were not part of the Metal Gear canon and had little to no involvement from kojima though it isn't to say that they were terrible games. While i understand that Hideo Kojima name is a big sell among Sony gamers, you kinda get the feeling of boy cried wolf here and maybe, just maybe kojima fans has left the dire portable in search of other thrills. Let's hope there is still enough of an audience on the platform to meet the expectations.

Darker Side of the Void

I have this attachment to demos of games i liked even long after i have finished the actual game. It's quite fascinating to go back and view the demos to see if they changed anything over the course of the final stages in the development. Then there is the darker side to demo disc where hackers will crack the disc to uncover all these things that never made in to the final game. Of course i'm referring to beta that shipped on demo disc where storage space is rarely an issue. In this digital age, i don't know if downloadable demo will still contain all these hidden treasure dumped onto the disc.

Not that it make things any easier as i still have my RE5 demo which i just boot up today to see if the online servers for the co-op mode still works. Surprisingly the servers are still active and i could easily find other gamers to co-op on the two demo levels. Looks like i will just have to find something else to delete in order to make room for the Dark Void demo that due to be out this week.

Son of A Gun

Call me gun crazy but i appreciate the attention to detail when it come to guns in video games and the Resident Evil series so far has done a nice job with the firearms featured in their games. So you can imagine my disappointment when i learnt that Darkside Chronicles wasn't faithful to the original Code: Veronica with Claire using the same Browning HP as she did in RE2. If you don't remember Claire was supposed to be using the Beretta M93R as her signature weapon in Code: Veronica. It's only a minor detail but the fact that the Gun Survivor game based on Code: Veronica was able to get that right and not this kind of bothers me a little.

Seed of Destruction

One of the most compelling aspect of a great villain is how they went astray, if the villain doesn't have an interesting origin then he's probably not that great of a villain to begin with. As i inches closer to the end of Darkside Chronicles, i'm intrigued with character development of Krauser from a true blue american soldier to the power-crazy mercenary in Resident Evil 4. From the moment Javier's B.O.W tear into krauser's left arm in the middle of the boss fight, i begin to see the seeds of destruction being sowed to giving him his own hand of doom in RE4. I got really excited at this point [cue geek moment music] so much so that i stop playing because i already had enough of my fix for the day. When I first started, I wasn't paying much attention to krauser probably because i was too caught up with how good Claire looked and also because i knew you won't get to see how krauser ends up being presumed dead in RE4. After all, Leon didn't know that when they meet up again and the fact Krauser knew nothing about B.O.W at the start of the Javier mission didn't help either.

But unlike the Russian Umbrella stronghold chapters in Umbrella Chronicles, the Javier chapters seems to play a greater importance in the RE saga as the box art clearly describes how the timeline of the game begins with Leon and Krauser in 2002 with flashbacks to the events of Resident Evil 2 and Code: Veronica. While the flashbacks ends up taking the bunk of the game's playing time that doesn't necessarily mean the Javier mission won't be of anything significant. Hopefully there are further development to the krauser character and the ultimate payoff would prove to be more satisfying than how Capcom decided to leave the Vergil character in DMC3.