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Poke'fest!

By Juvi008ok September 22, 2009 17 Comments

I may be too old for this. But I just don't give a fuck.

About once or twice a year I have a few childhood friends come over to my house and we have ourselves a Poke-fest. What's a poke-fest? Well, it's when I either put on Pokemon: The first movie, or the first season of the TV series and we all start fresh new files on our handheld games. We play all day, taking occasional breaks to watch the movie or episode that happens to be playing on the TV. It's always great having all your buddies around being just as big of a dork as you are. We trade Pokemon and exchange tips and strategies that we might have picked up on teh internetz.

If we decide to go the extra mile we sometimes dust off our giant collection of Pokemon cards and try to remember how the hell to play the game. It's a ton of fun, and reminds me how awesome it was to be a kid.

With Soul Silver and Heart Gold on the horizon, you bet your ass I'm going to dive right back in. They have always been the best in the series and I can't wait to plow my way through the main storyline just so I can head over to Kanto for a brand new Squirtle, raise it to lvl 99, conquer my enemies, and become a true Pokemon Master! *ahem*

I hope to have a Poke-fest soon. This year's has been long overdue.

-javi

17 Comments

A new episode of The Game Over Podcast is waiting for ya.

By Juvi008ok August 31, 2009 1 Comments

After a few weeks off, we've got the crew back in full force for episode 21.

You can download it: Here
Or stream it: Here

This week's episode is full of game news, and us being retarded.
We tell the grizzly tale of Zack choking (01:45)
Mortal Kombat Annihilation is GLORIOUS!!(06:27)
Soulja Boy tells em about the 360 price drop (07:37)
Nintendo might be screwing themselves (09:46)
Undeniable proof that The Game Over Podcast changes lives (13:51)
World of Warcraft Cataclysm looks tiiiight (16:50)
Javi's love for Mini Ninjas (20:19)
We all take a shot at being Batman (24:37)
Alanna would go gay. Also, Mark's WET impressions (26:07)
One of us didn't like District 9. Lets investigate. *SPOILER WARNING* (27:27)
Batman Batman Batman. We love it. (30:11)
Listener Mail (36:42)
If you use iTunes, make sure to subscribe to us. Just search for Javi Rodriguez.
Also, if you've been enjoying the show, please write in. gameoverpodcast@yahoo.com

Lets see how long this post survives, considering the last time I mentioned my podcast on my blog the post got blocked and I was accused of only being on Giant Bomb to spam my show. Clearly I've written plenty of long and thought-out posts about games and movies which had nothing to do with Game Over, so that accusation has no merit. I'll make it clear right now that I asked if it was okay to write about my podcast before I ever posted anything, and I was told it was.

So...enjoy the show...if it's still up.

-javi

1 Comments

My Batman Arkham Asylum Review

By Juvi008ok August 28, 2009 6 Comments

Let me start this out by letting you all know that I had little to no expectations for Batman AA. How many times has there been a Batman game announced that looked promising but in the end let everyone down? I would not be fooled again. No sir. Not to mention it was being developed in the Unreal engine which seems to require that your main character has the same muscle mass as Marcus Fenix. Sure enough, when Batman was revealed he was huge and his face was greasy and bumpy. Unreal strikes again I suppose. With that and some pretty lukewarm first gameplay impressions, I felt pretty comfortable not following this game anymore.

Fast forward to a few days ago, the internet is exploding with insanely positive reviews for Batman. I have to admit I was very surprised, but still skeptical. I thought to myself, "Okay, it's probably just the first decent Batman game. It can't be that great, especially when compared to any non-licensed titles."

Then my brother came home with a new copy of the game. I decided to check it out for myself and see what all the ha-bub was about. The next 48 hours were filled with non-stop stealth, detective work, exploration, and action. I went to bed the first night, and woke up excited to get right back into the action. Safe to say, I'm sold on Batman Arkham Asylum. Here is why...

I am Batman.
If you've ever wanted to know what it's like being Batman, this is the closest your going to get. Rocksteady Studios knocked it out of the park and have suddenly made a name for themselves with this game. After the first hour or so, learning all the basics of Arkham Asylum you are pretty much let loose. You always know where you're supposed to go, but you are also encouraged to mess about. You'll want to check every nook and cranny of your surroundings thanks to the genius inclusion of The Riddler and his hidden trophies/clues. The world they've created is beautiful and fleshed out. It's so rich with story and purpose. You see the simple holding cells, with clues sprinkled about them, letting you imagine who might have lived there. Later you see special containment cells, one of the doors is covered with ice and frost. We all know who's in there, lol. Things like that are all over the place and you can see the passion the developers had for the source material.

This game is beautiful.
I could go on and on about the detail in all of your surroundings, but what's almost as impressive is the character models.

Yeah, I still think Batman himself is uglier than I'd like. Personally I would've gone with solid-white eyes, a smoother chin/jaw, and an overall slimmer body. (especially his forearms) But these are minor complaints when you see how intricate each model is. There are times, particularly with the Joker where the lighting hits just right and you could almost forget that it's a videogame and really see a human being with make-up smeared on his face giggling at you.

There's so much history to uncover.
After every encounter with new characters you unlock their bio. I highly suggest you read through each one, because some of them are fascinating and tell you a lot about them and their past, which makes your confrontations with them mean a lot more. You feel like you're inside a fully realized universe, and that Batman has a ton of history with these people. Also along the way you will discover audio recordings with certain patients from Arkham's psych ward. Several of them are super dark, like Killer Crock talking about how humans taste and The Riddler joking about dismembering babies. Lots of twisted stuff, it's awesome. On top of finding all these audio recordings, and The Riddler's trophies, you have a bunch of hidden messages left by Amadeus Arkham, the man who created the Asylum in the first place. In each recording you come closer to learning the dark secrets behind his whole operation. Finding and looking at of this stuff is optional of course, but to me it's just icing on the cake.

The fighting system.
On paper Batman's fighting system sounds pretty shallow, but in action it can get pretty suspenseful and addicting. The majority of your fighting consists of tapping Square, and waiting for an enemy to try to hit you so you quickly tap Triangle to counter. Really, most battles consist of only those two buttons. But sometimes you're taking on upwards of 20 enemies at a time, which means you can rack up a massive combo really quickly, but must also pay attention to what the guys in the back are doing, because they will throw stuff at you or go for a gun. Also you have to be a lot more attentive to when you need to counter. To me the fighting system feels almost like an arcade game of sorts, where you're desperately trying to be perfect at it and get the highest score/combo possible. Once you get the hang of it and try the challenge modes I think you'll see what I mean.

My childhood attachment.
I grew up watching Batman: The Animated Series every Saturday morning. It's a huge part of my childhood, and the reason I know as much about the Batman universe as I do. Paul Dini came back to write the story for Arkham Asylum and it certainly shows.

Playing through the game feels like living an episode of the cartoon. Appropriately, everyone who grew up with the show are now adults, and with that we get a much darker story than would've ever been allowed on a children's show. I feel like Batman TAS grew up with me and became the world of Arkham Asylum. Probably the most important part of my nostalgia-boner is the return of Mark Hamill as the Joker and Kevin Conroy as Batman. Heath Ledger blew me away with his portrayal in TDK, but to me "The Joker" is and will always be Mark Hamill. And it's quite a mind-trip hearing their voices again after almost 10 years.

It reminds me of Metal Gear Solid.
This is a comparison that I'm nervous about making considering MGS1 is my favorite game of all time. But check out these similarities.

-One man vs a Rogues Gallery of strange and extremely dangerous villains.

-Much like Psycho Mantis broke the 4th wall with his memory card reading, The Scarecrow does so by messing with not only Batman's head, but with the player's as well. I genuinely thought my PS3 was broken. It scared the crap out of me for second there. That's something that hasn't been done since Eternal Darkness.

-Stealth is always the way to go. In both Metal Gear and Batman, you scope out each room and have to plan every take down, or how to avoid being seen. Batman is a little different considering he can zip line anywhere he pleases, but it can still get pretty intense when if you get spotted you'll be dead in 3 shots or less. Getting through a heavily guarded area without getting spotted is oh so gratifying, and that's MGS101.

-The first Metal Gear Solid took place on Shadow Moses Island, you did a ton of backtracking back and forth but you always knew why you were doing it and it didn't feel forced. Batman takes place on Arkham Island and it's pretty much the same deal, only imagine instead of going all the way back to get a Sniper rifle so you can save Meryl, you have to get back to your Batcave to make a cure before you take on Poison Ivy. Except the environment is often times unrecognizable from all the vines and plants infesting the island. Awesome.

Don't go thinking that this game is perfect.
I know that I've been nothing but positive, but I must warn you I found the ending anticlimactic after all I'd been through. The final boss is weak sauce and felt forced. I also didn't like that every fight with a Titan was almost identical to your fight with Bane. In retrospect it makes Bane seem weak, which sucks.

Bottom line, this game is the Batman fan's dream come true. Production value is through the roof and I cannot recommend it enough if you like Batman at all.

Buy it now. Buy it live.

-javi

6 Comments

My first time seeing the Conan movies.

By Juvi008ok August 27, 2009 1 Comments

I've got to say, after seeing Conan The Barbarian I was super enthusiastic about the franchise. It had the balls to not pull any punches with it's sex and violence, not because it was trying to be gratuitous, but because that was the tone of the film. I enjoyed every bit of the movie. It was made in the early 80's and it certainly shows with more than a few face-palm moments, but I found them charming and humorous rather than annoying and idiotic.

The movie is so great because it isn't afraid to have it's lead be..well...a barbarian. He sleeps with pretty much every woman he comes in contact with, he kills lots of people with no remorse, and he keeps all his feelings to himself (even though you know what he's thinking). After every battle he never leaves unscathed, showing you that he isn't some superhero that can't be harmed. You see Conan get really messed up at one point, which is pretty cool. I also thought that the bond between him and his friends was very well played out. I felt attached to everyone.

Conan 1 had an ending that left you begging for a sequel, so naturally I couldn't wait to dive into the second.

I should have stopped while I was ahead. I have so many problems with Conan the Destroyer, and I hope to god you guys agree with me. First of all, Conan's right hand man from the first film is nowhere to be found. After fighting together and growing such a friendship how the hell can they replace him with some random white guy who shamelessly lives up to every stereotype of the pathetic side-kick that's only there for comic relief? Second of all, this movie takes everything that was great about the first film and throws it away, for a more "Hollywood friendly" film. Instead of getting a hard "R" rating, Destroyer is rated "PG". Are you fucking kidding me? I assume they made this sequel because the first movie was a smash hit. You'd think they would at least try to keep the formula somewhat in check.

Honestly Conan is almost unrecognizable other than the fact that it's Arnold Schwarzenegger with long hair. He keeps wining about his dead girlfriend and how he wants her back....but in the first film he was so closed off that he wouldn't even shed a tear when she died! The majority of the film has Conan protecting this virgin girl while they travel across the land. In the first movie he would've had her naked in a few minutes. In this one he just gets drunk and mumbles to her about how he misses his girlfriend. All of the fighting is toned down, with mostly off camera slashing, or bonking people on the head with blunt objects. It feels more like that awful Dolph Lundgren He-man movie than anything close to a successor to Conan the Barbarian. After watching the special features for the first film and seeing all the planning and thought that went into it. All of the things they had planned for a series of films every couple of years in the vein of James Bond. I looked at the back of the case for the second movie and noticed that the writers and director were completely different. What a damn shame. I can't help but think about what could have been if only the original film makers stayed in charge.

I hate it. But this made me feel better.

-javi

1 Comments

Mini Ninjas Rant

By Juvi008ok August 25, 2009 21 Comments

Mini Ninjas.

I do not understand why there hasn't been any hype about this game. Seriously I haven't heard one person mention it on any podcast, news article, or what have you.

A month or so ago I saw the first trailer and thought it looked promising. But now that the demo is out, I've seen it on my tv and played through it a few times. I've got to say, Mini Ninjas has definitely got my full attention.

I don't want to get carried away here, but it really feels like a compilation of all the best 3d platformers from the N64 in it's prime. I got flashbacks of Banjo Kazooie mixed with Mystical Ninja. The enemies are adorable little samurai that I can't help but smile at. Also the game looks like an HD version of Wind Waker, which is fantastic. I wish I could show you the sky and grass in certain areas, it's so gorgeous.

Don't go thinking this game is super shallow just because it's kid-friendly either. There are a ton of abilities to unlock and items to check out. You have fireball spells, lightning storm spells, even one that can make you visit the spirit realm and take control of your enemies. I've found that you can go about your encounters in many different ways. Even by Solid Snake-ing your way past the enemies by crawling through the grass. The demo takes place in just one area but I happened to find a bunch of secret areas and items that you would easily miss by just going down the designated path.
Hopefully when the game comes out the reviews are positive. Even if they are, I get the feeling that Mini Ninjas will go unnoticed by the masses. Its cartoony style and kid-friendly theme definitely wont win over any of the "Hardcore" guys that only play FPS on their 360s and PS3s. Ironically those are the things I find most appealing about the game. How sad is it that during this entire generation I can't think of one game that is colorful, cartoony, and for lack of a better word, N64esque. I miss being a kid sometimes. I just wish I could do it on my PS3.

Mini Ninjas might go down in history as a cult classic. Then again, it might just end up sucking balls! lol

-javi

21 Comments

The new episode of The Game Over Podcast is up.

By Juvi008ok August 14, 2009 5 Comments

Took us long enough. But it was worth the wait.

Look at it this way, now you can listen to me and my friends yell about videogames while we are retarded drunk. And my god was there a ton of stuff to talk about...

Mod Edit: No advertising/spam please.

-Javi

5 Comments

I'm trying to get good at.

By Juvi008ok August 12, 2009 4 Comments

Drawing realistically.

Lately I've felt guilty about not being productive. I've been meaning to get back into drawing again and hopefully get really good at the stuff I couldn't do before.
*Drawing realistic people* more specifically, people in motion or interesting poses.

See, I've always been more of a cartoonist. I was never good at anything else, but since I have nothing else to do nowadays, why aren't I teaching myself?

Today I discovered that Nathan Drake from Uncharted is a pretty fun guy to draw. Most of the stills from Uncharted have interesting poses that I've never drawn before.

I know these aren't that great...but I feel pretty good about my first attempt at drawing realistically since high school art class.

-javi

4 Comments

So just lemme introduce myself.

By Juvi008ok August 12, 2009 17 Comments

My name is Javi.

I've been blogging on ign.com for a while now, and I've met some amazing people on the blogs there. But I want to broaden my horizons and get to know all the awesome people that just happen to use other gaming sites.

I'm a pretty cool guy. So...you should probably talk to me.

If you feel so inclined, feel free to show me the ropes on the Giant Bomb blogs.

-javi