a:14:{s:10:"source_url";s:31:"http://gamerealmonline.com/feed";s:11:"source_kidx";s:32:"6200b8b959d4512bf35711934d7a20ea";s:8:"encoding";s:5:"UTF-8";s:5:"title";s:10:"Game Realm";s:4:"link";s:30:"http://www.gamerealmonline.com";s:8:"language";s:5:"en-US";s:13:"lastBuildDate";s:29:"Thu, 23 Aug 2012 01:58:20 GMT";s:18:"lastBuildTimeStamp";i:1345687100;s:12:"pubTimeStamp";i:1345687100;s:7:"pubDate";s:29:"Thu, 23 Aug 2012 01:58:20 GMT";s:5:"items";a:5:{s:32:"72d6197a8711c08e22eaccde6db20c91";a:20:{s:5:"title";s:53:"Matt Liparota (TheSTN) – Darksiders II Thoughts";s:4:"link";s:86:"http://www.gamerealmonline.com/2012/08/23/matt-liparota-thestn-darksiders-ii-thoughts/";s:11:"description";s:482:"The original Darksiders was a surprise hit – for me, anyway. What at first appeared to be a shameless Zelda clone turned out to be – well, it was still a pretty shameless Zelda clone, but it was inside a pretty unique shell; the post-apocalyptic setting wasn’t new either, but it was handled in a […] ↓ Read the rest of this entry...";s:8:"category";s:13:"Uncategorized";s:8:"comments";s:95:"http://www.gamerealmonline.com/2012/08/23/matt-liparota-thestn-darksiders-ii-thoughts/#comments";s:4:"guid";s:36:"http://www.gamerealmonline.com/?p=26";s:7:"pubDate";s:31:"Thu, 23 Aug 2012 01:58:20 +0000";s:15:"content:encoded";s:2830:"

The original Darksiders was a surprise hit – for me, anyway. What at first appeared to be a shameless Zelda clone turned out to be – well, it was still a pretty shameless Zelda clone, but it was inside a pretty unique shell; the post-apocalyptic setting wasn’t new either, but it was handled in a refreshing way. That’s probably the franchise’s biggest strength – it’s not that it’s doing anything revelatory, but it does it in a way that both feels new and familiar at the same time.

Darksiders II isn’t necessarily any big leap in quality of the original, but the sequel makes two significant improvements over its prequel – in the combat and the loot system.

The original Darksiders had some great, Zelda-inspired combat, but War wasn’t the most agile creature in the world – instead, he was more a force of nature, a massive brute force wrapped in a dark and broody package.

With Darksiders II, we have a protagonist in Death that is lithe, agile and deadly. Combat in the sequel is much more fluid and varied – Death moves much faster, with the ability to jump in, strike quick and jump away. A wide variety of secondary weapons, and branching skill trees (one focused on necromancy and another focused on unleashing Death’s Reaper form) make combat extensively customizable. In my playthrough, I’ll often begin a battle by summoning undead minions to keep enemies at bay while I rushed in with a powerful Reaper attack, finishing up with a taste of scythe. And that’s just one way to play – there are dozens of combinations available, and it’s entirely possible to change it up as you progress through the game. What was just another part of Darksiders is one of the most engaging aspects of its sequel.

Which brings us to the loot system – for good reason, a lot of reviews pegged the original Darksiders as “Zelda meets Diablo,” and that’s in overdrive in this latest outing. Like Blizzard’s classic action-RPG franchise, collecting loot is a huge aspect of Darksiders II. Chests full of gold and equippable items – new scythes, secondary weapons, body armor, etc. – litter the overworked landscape and are hidden in every nook and cranny of each dungeon, and enemies drop gold and items so often you’d think you were playing World of Warcraft (you’re not, though). An added wrinkle are Possessed items, which are uber-rares that level up as you feed them the...er, souls, I guess?...of other items.

At its core, Darksiders II is a game that pulls a lot of influences from other franchises, but manages to blend them all into a satisfying whole. It doesn’t set the world on fire, but it doesn’t have to.

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Nostalgia can be a powerful thing.

The subject has been on my mind quite a bit recently. Truth be told, this is likely related primarily to some recent goings-on in my personal life, but I’ve given quite a bit of thought to how media we consume can trigger nostalgia just the same as a photo or the smell of your mom’s apple pie -- thanks in no small part to Theatrhythm Final Fantasy.

After RK’s glowing review of Theatrhythm during last week’s show, I ran out and picked it up after my day job. Within 20 minutes of getting the tiny cartridge into my 3DS, I wasn’t sitting on my couch anymore. Instead, I was kneeling on a floor in front of an 18-inch TV a decade ago, an SNES controller firmly in-hand.

This is Theatrhythm’s true value. Don’t get me wrong – it’s a solid (and adorable) rhythm game in its own right, but the game relies on the assumption that you’re at least somewhat familiar with not only Final Fantasy, but its extensive backlog of music dating back 25 years. When the Final Fantasy VI boss theme or the waltz from Final Fantasy VIII play, it’s intended to invoke memories of the first time you heard them, however many years ago that may have been.

That’s what makes it such a great game. Playing through each track, while challenging in its own right as any music game is, was like stepping back into my personal gaming history. Playing through each track for the first time was a legitimate delight.

That’s the power of nostalgia, sometimes. Your memory attaches itself to all kinds of little things and details, waiting to spring out at us again at some unspecified future date.

There’s this old Sega Genesis game, Sword of Vermilion. Most readers probably don’t remember that little gem – it’s an RPG that first hit in the States in 1991. It’s an early RPG that focuses on a silent, nameless prince looking to overthrow the demonic beast that killed his father and ravaged his kingdom years before.

It’s not what you would call a particularly good game. Controls are clunky, the difficulty fluctuates wildly and the game shoves something like four different kinds of gameplay at you, none of which are executed especially well.

It may or may not have been a revelation when it first released in ’91 (I’d doubt it), but it doesn’t hold up very well at all.

I’ve played the game something like a half-dozen times.

See, the Sega Genesis was the first gaming console I ever owned. And while games like Sonic the Hedgehog and Phantasy Star were perennial mainstays in my household, Vermilion is one of the earliest games I can remember playing. It was something I would sit and play for hours at a time with my dad. I would take a crack at my save file and inevitably fail; then, he would boot up his (always much farther along than mine) and I’d watch in awe as he took on whatever insanely difficult boss monster awaited him.

To this day, when I think about that game, I don’t recall anything about the game itself – not the gameplay or the story (except for some plot point about truffles, for some reason). No – I remember sitting with my dad for hours at a time. (Side note: Vermilion was one of those early-Genesis games that came with a “hint book” – AKA a strategy guide. To this day, I’ve got this little booklet stored in a drawer, its pages frayed and its spine coming apart, with notes on where to find items and enemies scribbled in the margins. It’s at once a wholly useless and prized possession.)

This is just one of any number of examples – Final Fantasy VI. Super Mario World. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. Donkey Kong Country. Any number of games are inextricably tied to memories of a time, place or situation I can no longer revisit physically (and it doesn’t hurt that, Vermilion aside, they tend to be pretty decent games in their own right).

It’s why, as annoying as it can be sometimes, gamer culture is so full of references to it being dangerous to go alone or spoony bards or even the cake being a lie. On some level, we’re trying to reconnect with a time past, a moment that’s inexplicably important to us.

It’s why I still have that frayed little book in a drawer, and why hearing Aeris’ theme from Final Fantasy VII can put a smile on my face, no matter the context.

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Ah, Comic-Con.

In recent years, the convention has become as much about movies, games and TV geared to a specific audience than comics – moreso, arguably. That said, even if comic books themselves sometimes take a backseat, the characters rarely do – adaptations of characters still tend to be the biggest draws and get a lot of play (maybe you don’t go out of your way to find Comic-Con info on the latest Batman comic books, but you probably hunt down every tidbit of Dark Knight Rises info from the con).

Which is why it wasn’t such a big surprise when High Moon Studios, developer of Transformers: War for Cybertron and the upcoming Fall of Cyberton, officially announced they have a Deadpool game in development.

For those not in the know, Deadpool is a mutant with powers similar to Wolverine – who happens to know he’s a fictional character. As such, he’s prone to breaking the fourth wall to address the reader – usually with a quip or one-liner.

In a lot of ways, Deadpool seems tailor-made for the world of video games. His world is a little zanier and wackier than heroes who are generally taken more seriously, so there’s less need to give effort to make the material more “mature” or “realistic” – you can get crazy over-the-top because it’s set in a world that’s fully aware of its nonreality.

That said, I’ve never been a big fan of Deadpool. Not that I think he’s a bad character – I’m a firm believer that there’s no such thing as a bad character, just bad stories or bad writers – but no Deadpool story I’ve ever read has really done much for me (at best, I tend to find the character mildly amusing; at worst, he’s a strained attempt to illicit humor by referencing things nerds like).

So, maybe I’m not the best person to judge – as much as you can judge a game based on less than two minutes of footage – and I’m certainly not the target audience (who are, undoubtedly, fans of the character). But as a longtime gamer (and self-proclaimed connoisseur of the finer things in life), I foresee one major pitfall that could destroy the game – video games, traditionally, just aren’t all that great at comedy (they, too, tend to go for the easy joke and reference things they know nerds have expressed an interest for in the past).

Deadpool, like Spider-Man, is the kind of character that’s easy to screw up. Even if the action and gameplay are there, Deadpool is a character that’s popular largely because of his personality, and if you don’t have that, you’ve got nothing.

So High Moon have their work cut out for them – but they did manage to make a really solid Transformers game (with another one of indeterminate quality out later this year), a feat few people would have thought possible before 2010.

I’ve never read a Deadpool comic I’ve liked. But from what little we’ve seen so far, I’m cautiously optimistic that maybe – just maybe – High Moon Studios might make a believer out of me.

What do you think?

";s:10:"dc:creator";s:5:"admin";s:14:"wfw:commentRSS";s:86:"http://www.gamerealmonline.com/2012/07/25/matt-liparota-thestn-deadpool-thoughts/feed/";s:14:"wfw:commentRss";s:86:"http://www.gamerealmonline.com/2012/07/25/matt-liparota-thestn-deadpool-thoughts/feed/";s:14:"slash:comments";s:1:"0";s:12:"pubTimeStamp";i:1343185997;s:4:"kidx";s:32:"efc91ee58971e1b39bcf46f0603d45d6";s:16:"guid_isPermaLink";b:0;s:10:"categories";a:1:{i:0;s:13:"Uncategorized";}s:6:"source";s:10:"Game Realm";s:10:"source_url";s:31:"http://gamerealmonline.com/feed";s:11:"source_link";s:30:"http://www.gamerealmonline.com";s:11:"source_kidx";s:32:"6200b8b959d4512bf35711934d7a20ea";}s:32:"fc469d61f587202f0e992d79d52bd44c";a:20:{s:5:"title";s:76:"Matt Liparota (TheSTN) – Fez: Greatest Of The XBox Live Arcade Titles?";s:4:"link";s:54:"http://www.gamerealmonline.com/2012/04/26/hello-world/";s:11:"description";s:456:"What makes Fez such a great game? Well, a great number of things, actually. It’s without a doubt the best Xbox Live Arcade title in a couple of years (or at least since Bastion). The game’s deceptively simple premise hides an insanely deep puzzler that bends your mind more and more the further you progress. […] ↓ Read the rest of this entry...";s:8:"category";s:13:"Matt Liparota";s:8:"comments";s:63:"http://www.gamerealmonline.com/2012/04/26/hello-world/#comments";s:4:"guid";s:35:"http://www.gamerealmonline.com/?p=1";s:7:"pubDate";s:31:"Thu, 26 Apr 2012 22:32:16 +0000";s:15:"content:encoded";s:1785:"

What makes Fez such a great game?

Well, a great number of things, actually. It’s without a doubt the best Xbox Live Arcade title in a couple of years (or at least since Bastion). The game’s deceptively simple premise hides an insanely deep puzzler that bends your mind more and more the further you progress. The graphics are the perfect blend of old- and new-school and the mellow music is the perfect counter-balance to the frustration you’re sure to feel as you work through some of the puzzles. It’s a game that sucks you in – deep.

The thing that really cemented Fez’s greatness for me – the thing that took me aback and made me go “Wow, this game is freakin’ genius” – was this:

That’s exactly what it looks like – a room with a QR code plastered on its wall. It’s not just for show, either. Bust out your smartphone and scan that puppy and bam – you’ve solved a puzzle you didn’t even know was there (and you get a fancy achievement for your trouble).

This is a seemingly innocuous bit of game design, but it struck me as brilliant. The devil’s in the details, and Polytron snuck that little peach in there to make sure players were paying attention. It’s little nuggets like that that surprise and delight you while you play. Wthout this, the game would still be brilliant. Little details like that, however, are what push the game into instant classic territory.

";s:10:"dc:creator";s:5:"admin";s:14:"wfw:commentRSS";s:59:"http://www.gamerealmonline.com/2012/04/26/hello-world/feed/";s:14:"wfw:commentRss";s:59:"http://www.gamerealmonline.com/2012/04/26/hello-world/feed/";s:14:"slash:comments";s:1:"0";s:12:"pubTimeStamp";i:1335479536;s:4:"kidx";s:32:"fc469d61f587202f0e992d79d52bd44c";s:16:"guid_isPermaLink";b:0;s:10:"categories";a:2:{i:0;s:13:"Matt Liparota";i:1;s:3:"FEZ";}s:6:"source";s:10:"Game Realm";s:10:"source_url";s:31:"http://gamerealmonline.com/feed";s:11:"source_link";s:30:"http://www.gamerealmonline.com";s:11:"source_kidx";s:32:"6200b8b959d4512bf35711934d7a20ea";}s:32:"b8368d1ba3c18c2370315f7d0f66297b";a:20:{s:5:"title";s:92:"Matt Liparota (TheSTN) – Mass Effect 3 “From Ashes” DLC Impressions/Review";s:4:"link";s:110:"http://www.gamerealmonline.com/2012/03/26/matt-liparota-thestn-mass-effect-3-from-ashes-dlc-impressionsreview/";s:11:"description";s:527:"BioWare caused quite a kerfluffle among some aspects of Mass Effect fandom when it announced that paid DLC would be available when the game launched Tuesday. Of the detractors, many said they were upset because the nature of the content – that is to say, the new squad member and accompanying recruitment mission were significant […] ↓ Read the rest of this entry...";s:8:"category";s:7:"BioWare";s:8:"comments";s:119:"http://www.gamerealmonline.com/2012/03/26/matt-liparota-thestn-mass-effect-3-from-ashes-dlc-impressionsreview/#comments";s:4:"guid";s:36:"http://www.gamerealmonline.com/?p=14";s:7:"pubDate";s:31:"Mon, 26 Mar 2012 12:54:31 +0000";s:15:"content:encoded";s:6087:"

BioWare caused quite a kerfluffle among some aspects of Mass Effect fandom when it announced that paid DLC would be available when the game launched Tuesday. Of the detractors, many said they were upset because the nature of the content – that is to say, the new squad member and accompanying recruitment mission were significant enough to the series’ overarching mythology that it was tantamount to shipping an unfinished product and charging extra for the privilege of playing the complete game (others claimed that making it available on day one proves it could have been included on the retail disc).

Mass Effect 3 dropped this week, and so did the content in question. Are the haters right? Is BioWare doing their best to milk loyal customers for all they’re worth, or is the DLC little more than a footnote? We’ve played “From Ashes” and are here to offer our opinion (for whatever it’s worth to you, our dear readers).

The nature of the content could be considered spoilery by some, so for the sake of avoiding heartbreak, discussion of the content will begin in earnest after the image. Consider yourself warned: If you keep reading, we will tell you everything there is to now about “From Ashes.”

If you played any of Mass Effect 2′s DLC, you have a pretty good idea of how “From Ashes” works – once the content is on your system, you’ll find a message in Shepard’s inbox alerting you to the mission. This particular quest sends Shepard and his (or her) squadmates back to where it all began – Eden Prime – to intercept a discovered Prothean artifact before the pro-human terrorist organization Cerberus can get their hands on it. Shepard and company discover not a Prothean artifact but rather an actual Prothean warrior, frozen in stasis for 50,000 years. As Cerberus bears down on the team, Shepard must find a way to unfreeze the long-slumbering soldier.

For your convenience, we’ve broken down our impressions into bite-sized chunks for easier digestion (so to speak). Here goes:

NOT REALLY ESSENTIAL: As far as content goes, “From Ashes” is far cry from Mass Effect 2′s “Lair of the Shadow Broker.” That pack built on two games’ worth of character development and interaction and did quite a bit to push the story forward (to the point that the story developments happen whether you played the pack or not, as my “Broker”-less playthrough of ME3 made sure I was aware). Other ME2 content, like “Arrival,” worked to bridge the gap between the second and third installments. The content is more comparable to the Zaeed content from ME2 – you get a new character out of the deal, but nothing about it is all that memorable.

STILL A BIT BETTER THAN ZAEED, THOUGH: That said, as a teammate Javik (the Prothean warrior) is much more interesting and useful than Zaeed was. Rather than a one-note, never-want-to-use-him-again-after-you-gain-his-loyalty throwaway character, Javik is useful in battle and adds something to the game. He’s a good shot and a strong biotic character, echoing Samara from ME2. Being able to pick him to bring into battle may make the pack worth it for some.

PRETTY BORING: Gameplay-wise, the bulk of the mission is far from the series’ most creative. Boiled down, it consists of “fight through some guys, find a terminal, fight through some guys, find another terminal, fight your way back to the beginning.” The ends might justify the means as you get an interesting character out of the deal, but it’s kind of a chore to power through the mission (which takes maybe an hour) to achieve that content. It’s tough to pay to play something so generally bland after seeing the game expanded so well with “Shadow Broker” and “Arrival.”

A NICE NUGGET OF LORE: Story-wise, the main draw of the DLC is a post-mission conversation between Javik, Shepard and Liara – in which the player has the opportunity to grill the unthawed Prothean on his culture and its battle against the Reapers (there are a couple of flashbacks to the fall of the Prothean Empire as you work to rescue Javik as well). This mythology-heavy infodump is huge for fans of the series’ world and lore, and paints the long-mysterious Protheans in an entirely new light (while never outright saying it, the series to date has implied that the Protheans were pretty much benevolent, peace-loving hippies. “From Ashes” dispels that notion). This is where the question of the content’s necessity gets foggy – in the overall narrative of Mass Effect 3 (and by extension, the story of Shepard that initially began in the original Mass Effect), Javik’s information on the Protheans is of little importance. However, when viewed in the context of the overall mythology of the Mass Effect universe, it seems a little more important, as the question of “What about the Protheans?” is one that’s lingered in the background since the first game, and this does a lot to answer that question.

So…what’s the verdict? Is BioWare raking you over the coals for content that’s integral to the Mass Effect experience? Well…yes and no. The Prothean lore will be pretty important to those that are really invested in the larger Mass Effect universe, but players more interested in the immediate story of Shepard’s battle to stop the Reapers (or those who are okay with Wikipedia) should have no problem skipping it unless they’re interested in using Javik as a team staple. In the end, it’ll depend on each player’s preferences and style.

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