Psychonauts Session 2

In this level, I go into Milla Vodello's mind and pick up the new levitation power. Instead of floating around as one would expect, the power manifests as a bouncy ball. It improves your running speed slightly and lets you jump much higher than normal. By holding down the aim button, you can also glide across chasms. It's adds a lot of dimension to the solid platforming.

By using slopes and curves, you can build momentum and speed up significantly. The level has a small racing section filled with ramps and collectibles. I barely won by the skin of my teeth.

The glide function allows you be moved by air currents. In here, columns of bubbles denote air columns where you can glide upwards. In a previous area, you use an air current to glide over a large chasm.

After the completion of the level, I gain the merit badge for levitation.

Time to go save Dogen's brain!

Visual Novels

I've had my eye on a potential project for awhile, and it's to make a visual novel.


Visual novel is a niche genre that's slowly gaining popularity in the West, thanks to a couple key releases. It's just as it sounds: a story with images that a player can control, similar to a digital choose-your-own-adventure book. My experience with VN's is limited to 999, a DS game that really opened my eyes up to the possibilities of the format.


I've always wanted to make games, but I didn't possess the necessary programming knowledge and skills necessary to put something together by myself. Since Visual Novels rely on "story" more than actual mechanics, it is completely within my abilities.

Ren'Py, an open-source VN building program, seems like a good start. All I need is some extra help. Although I'm a decent artist, I would like a professional who can trace and color art assets. Although I can pull music from the internet, I would love someone to compose custom tracks for the scenarios I have in mind. Although I have a decent grasp of programming, I would prefer someone else to take care of the heavy lifting while I concentrate on the narrative.

Consider this an announcement of my intentions.

If anyone wants to help, please do.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Deus Ex is amazing.

The core gameplay allows for multiple approaches to a situation. It's possible to go through the entire game without killing a single person (bosses aside). In some ways, it’s my dream game. It’s a perfect blend of free exploration a la Skyrim, the cover-based stealth mechanics of Splinter Cell, and the branching narrative of Mass Effect. It's like somebody took all the best ideas of Western game design and distilled it into one game.

A large part of this has to do with the impeccable map design. The levels are made with pockets of sneaking space, ventilation shafts, flowing cover, and different elevations to take advantage of Adam Jensen's unique traversal abilities. He can super jump, fall from great heights, punch through walls, and see through them. By that same token, locked doors can be blown up, hacked, or bypassed with codes lifted from Pocket Secretaries.

The game is all about stealth and punishes you appropriately for not moving around with finesse. Getting caught isn’t a death sentence, but unless you’re properly equipped, it might as well be. Even if you elect to go Rambo with your arsenal, you’ll still be utilizing cover a lot.

Whether it’s eliminating enemies with takedowns and headshots or bypassing security systems with vent-crawling and hacking, you are rewarded with XP. After gaining enough XP, you level up, granting “Praxis” points, the games upgrade currency. You use these points to upgrade augmentations that allow Jenson to move more effectively, hack more effectively, and kill more effectively. They’re a limited resource and force players into distinct play styles based on what kind of upgrades they acquire.

Now this could’ve been the greatest game of all time if it wasn’t for one little thing: the boss fights. The boss fights force an awkward style of gameplay incongruent with rest of the game’s design. If you’re going for a stealth-only run, encountering a boss fight is the moment you are screwed. They become frustrating roadblocks in an otherwise stellar experience.

Deus Ex fills out the definition of “cyberpunk” nicely, checking off the box for “hackers,” “corporations,” and “civil unrest” over the issue of human augmentation. The plot takes a backseat to the setting. Neo-Detroit and the fictional Chinese city of Hengsha are appropriately dark, seedy, and technologically-infused in its realization. Hacking computers to read emails and picking up ebooks flesh out more of the world’s backstory.

The game does suffer from drawbacks. Certain augments are completely useless and the hacking minigame gets tiresome quickly. Just like in Mass Effect and Bioshock, an interesting time diversion increasingly becomes a distraction to the core gameplay. Developers should realize that at the highest levels of hacking, the final upgrade should simply automate the process. I would certainly max out my hacking skills just to skip the minigame.

Unfortunately, the game ends with a bitter taste. The conclusion pays no heed to your choices throughout and essentially gives you an opportunity to view four slightly different cutscenes.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution is a fantastic experience marred by a couple boneheaded design decisions. If it weren’t for those missteps, I would have no trouble calling Deus Ex: Human Revolution a true masterpiece. As it is, it’s a pretty damn good game and among the best for 2011.

Mass Effect 3

Mass Effect 3 is the final installment of Bioware's epic space opera trilogy.

As you've no doubt heard by now, the ending wasn't quite what most people were expecting. Sloppy finishes aside, does Mass Effect 3 live up to its storied name?

It's interesting to chart the series evolution (or devolution, some would argue) from start to finish. While the games maintain a similar core throughout, each installment contains radical differences. It's clear that with each game, the designers followed a new philosophy to—dare I say it—"dumb" it down for the masses. This jump is obvious between ME1 and ME2 with the omission of Mako side missions entirely. Rather then try to fix it; they simply eradicated it from existence.

While linear game design isn't always bad, for a series known for branching paths, the straightforwardness of ME3 is rather jarring. The difference in the amount of freedom between ME1 and ME3 is staggering. RPG enthusiasts may lament this more streamlined approach, but it isn't without merit. It guarantees a steady pace for the story and allows players to get down to business quickly.

There's really no excuse for getting rid of exploration entirely though. The Citadel remains the only hub world in the entire game, and every other location you visit you only visit once. That sense of world and environment has been replaced with "urgency" and set-pieces that funnel you through action-packed events. It's a style that works for Modern Warfare, but it's slightly out of place in ME3. At least it makes for some memorable moments. The adventures on various homeworlds, including the Krogan home planet of Tuchanka, will stick with you for a long time. Overlapped with these sequences are payoffs from decisions you've made years ago in the previous games, putting closure to dangling plot threads.

Although the RPG elements suffered, the core combat has improved by leaps and bounds. The introduction of roll dodges makes me wonder how we ever got along without it. Movement, aiming, and shooting are tighter, and the biotic powers spice up combat encounters quite nicely.

Character upgrades have essentially boiled down to combat abilities, which offer your usual assortment of buffs and debuffs, and a couple unique physics-driven showcases thrown in for good measure. The weapon upgrade system has been extremely simplified, reduced to merely buying upgrades for entire weapon classes and inserting mods. The options aren't as numerous as before.

Upon reflection, I realize that Bioware "cheats" with the narrative. The first game thrilled us with its fully realized universe, replete with detailed environments to explore and deep customization options. Our freedom has decreased steadily over the course of our journey, but in its place, we've shared experiences with our crew. As Commander Shepard, we’ve cultivated relationships with our shipmates, romanced some of them even, and let others die. Perhaps we were blinded by our devotion to these characters, for they kept us from seeing ME3's squandered potential.

ME3 abandons its RPG roots and aspires to be a shooter. Fortunately, ME3 is a more than competent at the task, and the use of biotic powers is unique enough to shield it from criticisms of imitating more accomplished genre franchises such as Gears of War or Uncharted.

Even though the story makes the game palatable, the ending ruins everything by invalidating all of the choices you've made in the previous 3 games. Whether you played as Renegade or Paragon has no bearing in the end, and it's completely antithetical to the game's philosophy. It introduces three arbitrary, binary, and bizarre choices with a poorly thought-out explanation for the Reaper invasion. When an ending proves so controversial that it forces Bioware to redo it (although they promise it will maintain their "artistic integrity"), that's when you know that that they've screwed up big time.

Mass Effect 3 is a great game, one of the best for this year possibly, but only for your virgin playthrough. Mass Effect has always encouraged replays with different styles, but when faced with such a disappointing end, the motivation to start up a new game is completely gone.

It's an adventure that no Mass Effect fan should miss out on; just make sure you turn the game off before going up the magic space elevator. Trust me, its better that way.

Love Sick Chapter 19 Preview

A dramatic moment.

It's something that, in movies, is usually accompanied by excessive amounts of slow motion, agonizing music, and a lot of suspense.

Unfortunately, life doesn't slow down to give us room to breathe. Blink once and you're already six-inch deep, with one foot out the door and the other trying desperately to stay inbounds. When something bad comes, it hits hard and fast.

Which is why, by the time I see her, it's already too late.

Damn.

What the hell is Xion doing here?

If she finds out that I'm here with Roxas, she'll definitely tell Kairi about it. My first thought is to hide, but that's when my dramatic moment comes. As my mind probes for possible solutions, it dawns on me that I'm here with Roxas.

It's a crippling realization.

Roxas could never read a situation well. His capacity for subtlety is nonexistent. At the slightest prod, he'd fold and spill out his guts. He's the kind of guy that would tell you far more than you ever wanted to know. I just hope he keeps his mouth shut.

I use the moving bodies on Starwalk as cover until I make my way to a wall. I back up against it and peek over the edge to see them talking. Time to just wait it out. I pull myself back, lean against the wall, and slide down until I'm squatting. Staying low should minimize my presence.

Hopefully, Roxas just hit on her and got rejected, and that would be the end of that. Worse case scenario, she recognizes him. With recognition comes curiosity, and with curiosity comes attention, and with attention comes a retch session with a toilet bowl.

What are the odds that she just happened to be here? I'm inclined to believe in coincidences as substitute for fate, but when things are this convenient, I believe in volition. Could she have followed us from school? Why would she? Maybe she's spying on us for Kairi?

I don't know what scares me more: that I'm this paranoid, or that it might actually be justified -- schizophrenia be vindicated.

Hotel Hearts Chapter 10 Preview

The cellphone sprang to life, spitting out the catchy chorus of the latest pop song that lit up the sales charts. Xion's hand poked out from under the covers and doused it immediately. She hated the song now. It probably wasn't a smart move to make her favorite song her alarm ringtone. It seemed like a good idea at first, but every time she heard the song, it brought back horrible memories of trying to wake up. After squelching the phone, she rolled off the bed and hit the ground. She pushed herself up and groggily searched for the bathroom. She stumbled inside and rinsed her mouth. She squeezed the tube and a column of paste topped the bristles of her toothbrush. She started scrubbing her teeth vigorously when she heard noises from downstairs. It was six in the morning, what was Sora doing up? She descended downstairs while brushing and looked into the living room.

She almost spit out her toothbrush.

"Are my eyes fooling me?" she mumbled, froth threatening to spill out from her mouth. "Are you actually studying?"

Sora looked up from his notebook and grimaced. "Spit it out before it gets on your shirt."

She went to the sink and followed his instruction. She turned the faucet to wash the bubbles away. "What's gotten into you?" she asked clearly, the brush no longer stuck in her mouth.

"There's a quiz today. If I don't get a decent grade, heads will roll--mine specifically."

"Oooh," she drawled tantalizingly. "Kairi's got you in a vice-grip?"

"No," he answered. His job was in jeopardy, Kairi had nothing--actually, it was all Kairi's fault!

Xion sat down on the sofa and watched as he examined his notes. "You know, I've been wondering...what do you do all night?"

Sora stopped his review and sat up. He thought she would've ignored his absences but it was kind of weird when he was coming home at four every night. "I got a midnight job," he answered truthfully.

"Really? Hmmm..."

He sighed. She always did that for further prompting. "What is it?"

"I just thought that you were staying out all night with Kairi."

He almost choked on his spit. She was closer with that assessment than she thought. "Nah, just work."

"Why are you working anyways? Do we need money that much?"

He wouldn't say it was for her medical bills. "With mom on vacation, somebody's gotta pick up the slack." Their mom actually found a donor and called to tell him about it yesterday. She told him to keep it quiet to Xion since she was still in the process of "negotiation." He didn't know what there was to negotiate. Most "donors" are actually dead, since people can't live without a heart. It was apparently a complicated situation.

"Well, don't run yourself to the ground. School's important!" She was starting to sound like Kairi.

Learning that there was a potential donor was a load off his chest. Once these days of working stopped, he could focus on school. With the free time, he could start thinking about his future. Kairi repeated the word "future" like it was the be-all end-all of everything. He never gave it much consideration since he lived day to day."Do you have a dream, Xion?"

The dark haired girl flipped her feet on the coffee table. "Of course!"

She surprised him sometimes. Even when she stuck in a hospital bed, she dared to dream. He envied her. "What is it?"

"I want to be a nurse," she replied. There was no hesitation. She knew exactly how to answer the question.

"A nurse..." It made a lot of sense. She spent a lot of time in the hospital. The nurses were probably the only company she had most of the day.

"Nurses are amazing people. They do all the dirty work to make sure the patients are comfortable and smiling. I want to be just like them," she admitted enthusiastically.

Sora was warmed by her words. This girl, despite her difficulties, looked forward to the future with no uncertainty. The question of death didn't even exist. It was as is she knew she'd be alive to see her wish come to fruition. "I'll support you the best way I can."

"What about you?" she asked back.

"I'm not sure," he confessed. "I haven't really thought about it."

Xion got up and gave him a pat on the back. "You'll find it eventually. Just study hard!"

He smiled. "That's the plan."

One-Paragraph Reviews

I told myself that I would review every game I beat.

Too bad that never panned out.

I have a list of games that I've beaten and they demand to be reviewed, but I really don't have the time. So rather than write out multi-page critiques, I'm just going to go with my one-paragraph reviews.

Killzone 3: The visuals are amazing but the gameplay is middling. Aside from a few cool set pieces, it's superficially exciting and fundamentally dull.

Dead Space 2: What made the first game great was the pacing. There were moments of calm and moments of intensity. It was finely tuned to give players necessary breaks between enemy confrontations. The sequel throws this methodical approach out the window and presses its foot on the gas pedal full throttle. The adventure is frenetic, claustrophobic, and never gives you room to breathe, which is Dead Space 2's ultimate failing. Too much action and not enough calm.

Vanquish: A mash between combo-based action gaming and cover-based third-person shooting. A truly unique bullet ballet of explosions, slo-mo, and rocket sliding.

Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time: An incredible adventure with clever puzzles, enjoyable platforming, and solid action.

LA Noire: An interesting piece of narrative that really puts you in the shoes of a detective. Major flaws hold the game back from being great .

Resistance 3: With a varied arsenal of weapons and impeccable enemy encounter design, this is the best in the trilogy.

Shadows of the Damned: A well-crafted and unexpectedly funny journey through the depths of hell. Shades of RE4 and Suda's madness warrant a look from any gamer with a taste for the odd.

Battlefield 3: An average campaign with too many rails, but them graphics! Besides, the only reason you're playing this is for the multiplayer.

Modern Warfare 3: It's an exciting, action-packed, and nonsensical roller coaster ride from start to finish.

Bulletstorm: The most underrated game of the year. A unique blend of combo-based action gaming with first-person shooting (where have I heard this before?).

Gears of War 3: It has everything it needs except for a soul. A solid romp but nothing else, unless you're in it for the multiplayer.

Halo Anniversary: A remake of the best Halo game? Yes, please. The same fantastic core is intact, and with the new graphics, it makes this the best Halo game yet.