In a further attempt to motivate myself towards more blogging on Giant Bomb, I am reviving an old practice of mine: Seven songs each week; one song for every day of the year. I have a bunch of music, so I won’t pick random songs. Instead, I’m going to pick songs that I would like other users to notice for one reason or another. I’m no music aficionado but I’m sure I have something for everybody to enjoy.

I’ll also take these as a weekly opportunity to plug other threads if I desire so. I don’t like bumping threads without adding anything to them so this is a great space for possibly redirecting traffic. This week I’d like to shamelessly plug one of my own threads, APB Video Podcast and Information Thread. Please check it out and comment on the videos or post any information about the game that isn’t widespread yet. Feel free to comment on the songs here too.

Little People – “Moon”
Little People is a cool new artist that can appreciate instrumental music. This song obviously draws influence from “Moonlight Sonata” by Beethoven (just look at the name), and creates a very tranquil mood. No worries if you are not a fan of classical music because Little People have other instrumental songs. Only one song, “Breathe Again,” supports lyrics on their album Mickey Mouse Operation.

Headrillaz – “Good Is Bad”
I first heard this from the movie Formula 51 (US title). This is easily one of my favorite songs of all time. There is something hypnotic about the vocals that mesh so well with the simple yet satisfying background beat. A great song to relax to for me.

Duke Dumont – “Final Level”
This popped up one week on an iTunes spotlight or something of the sort. I’m really glad it did because it is a great throwback to retro game music. I don’t really need to explain why I love the song so much, just listen and enjoy as it becomes more and more awesome through its five and a half minute run time.

subatomicglue – “electrovibe (xenon plasma mix)”
For an artist you’ve most likely never heard of, you’ll be kicking yourself in the ass for not enlightening yourself sooner. This song comes from my favorite album by them, globalenemy, which is a good place to start if you want to hear more of their work. All of their songs are free or you can buy them if you want to show support. The group even allows you to freely use their music as long as you credit them. This is how I first heard their music, in the game Atomic Cannon.

AERIAL2012 – “Heavy Quiet (Heavy Mojo Remix)”
Much more so than their other songs, “Heavy Quiet” delves into R&B beats. I’m not much of a fan of that genre, but then again I haven’t really explored it. Anyways, this song is gentle with its bass beat and frequent saxophone use. A powerful “story” and message within the song also adds to the enjoyment for me. Although different from this song, AERIAL2012 has many other enjoyable songs.

Afrika Bambaataa (featuring Gary Numan & MC Chatterbox) – “Metal”
Gone is the original dark atmosphere this song had when performed by Gary Numan. Afrika Bambaataa takes the song into a more rapid-paced hip-hop and electronic direction. From what I’ve heard, this is the only song that I enjoy with Afrika Bambaataa associated with it.

Cheb Khaled – “Alech Taali”
I may never remember how to spell that artist and song title, but I always remember that I heard it from the movie The Fifth Element. You may recognize it as well if you have seen the movie; it plays during the cab chase sequence. Some people are very close-minded about listening to a song like this outside of the movie, but I find it a refreshing change from generic radio. I don’t mind not knowing what the lyrics are as long as I don’t suspect an awkward message behind what I’m listening to. If nothing else, try using it in a video game situation. Make a Vladivostok-eque station à la GTAIV. 
 
EDIT: I couldn't get all of the songs working so I just took the links out.    

This is a fairly recycled complaint, but it still exists so let the whining commence.

Having the main character experience amnesia is the easiest way to start up a story.   It allows characters the need to explain things to you in the game, such as tutorial missions and introductory conversations, and it is a great way to throw in lame plot twists or sudden memory retrieval moments.   The whole thing makes me sick.   That is not to say I have not had some fun playing games with this crutch, but it definitely is not making better games.
 
A textbook game for this is Chaser.   You may or may not have heard of this one.   It was a decently satisfying shooter with poor level design and mediocre everything else.   Still, I enjoyed the weapons and character designs to an extent.   Anyways, your character has amnesia.   You wake up on a ship and besides the slew of baddies trying to kill you, you are alone.   From there, you are basically just playing cat and mouse with guns while having flashbacks every now and then.   Near the end of the game, a predictable plot twist ensues.
 
A few other amnesia games include Star Wars: Knights of the , Lost Planet: Extreme Condition, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of , and Bioshock.   While these games might not all feature textbook amnesia, they do all share the common point of ‘I do not remember’ for the main character.   For example in Bioshock, *SPOILER* you are under mind control and have been given false memories.   It is handled in an interesting way but I still feel it is a bit of a backup option for storytelling.   Then there is a game like Mass Effect.   Your character does not suffer memory loss, but does not seem to know anything about the universe he/she is in.   You can gain knowledge in the game, but making Commander Shepard ask questions he should already know the answer to takes you out of the experience.   A better approach should be taken.
 
I would like to see more games where your character is already knowledgeable on their own universe and part of the fun for you is to learn it as you go along while realizing your character already knows.   It is kind of like reverse dramatic irony; the character knows something you do not instead of you knowing something that the main character does not.  A good way to reveal knowledge to you, the player, is through in-game conversations (sans cutscenes) in a Gear of War-esque style.   I do not like walking slower during the chit chat though.   Either your character reveals the information to another character or, more interestingly, another character makes references to your character and you have to piece bits of information together.   The more involved you are forced to be, the more into the experience you will become.   There are other alternatives as well.   Intercom/speaker systems can give general information in places you would expect to hear it, such as a lobby, elevator, transportation station, etc.   Other options include the ability to find the information in the world around you as if your character did not know.   An example could be pamphlets, kiosks, books, or computers.   Some games do have book and/or computer inclusions which are good, but should not force you to them either.   Designing under the pretense that bits of information are available to outside or even nonexistent characters and are still accessible to you through your character will make for a better experience.   I am sure there are plenty of other ways to reveal story or information to you without your character suffering memory loss, it just requires some creativity and *gasp* a little innovation to figure out.
 
 
EDIT:   This is an old blog.   It was written in early 2008.   I wanted to start up my GB blog again after a year of hiatus, but have been hurting for time lately.   Feel free to comment your complaints about amnesia in games or list some games that you think have successfully pulled away from this trend by offering an effective alternative. 

First off, I just want to express my excitement for recently earning an achievement that I've been wanting to get for quite some time.  I'm talking about the 5-Day Survivor achievement for Dead Rising!  Although afterward, I had to justify to myself that playing the game for 10+ hours was a worthy way to spend my time just for that damn laser sword.  I also was unable to obtain the 7-Day Survivor achievement even though I had food equipped and I was waiting in a zombie-free zone.  Fighting off sleep, boredom, and general malaise with the lack of a save feature for ∞ mode got the best of me.

I don't think I'll try to get the 7-Day achievement again, or at least not any time soon.  The laser sword is a much better reward than a useless pair of gloves anyways.  Despite the frustrating design decisions of the game, I can't emphasis my love for Dead Rising enough.  It really is zombie slaying fun at its best.

More Zombies?  Maybe Not...

There has been half a shit ton of hype building up for Left 4 Dead in forums (or so it seems to me).  However, I continue to be more skeptical of the game over time.  I love some zombie genocide action and Valve has a shining representation in my eyes, but I think the game will be repetitive and the gameplay will feel like a partial game stretched out longer than it should exist.  I know it promises to deliver an "evolving" experience, but that sounds like it may be PR babble.  I am not prejudging the game though, and I'm easy to please so there is a good chance I'll like it.  I am going to wait for a general consensus after release before determining whether or not I will purchase it.  Worst case scenario: I have to wait a few days after release before jumping into the fun.  I think I can live with that.

Doesn't fit?  What the hell are you talking about?

There's something that has irked me for quite some time now.  Recent complaints about the zombie mode included in CoD: World at War reminded me of this yet again.  I'm referring to people making complaints about specific content included in a game just because they don't think it "fits" the universe, formula, mood, theme, or whatever else of the game.

Let me put a few thing into perspective for anyone that makes complaints like this.  One, it is a video game.  Its purpose is entertainment; fun.  If something is fun, then it deserves to be in a game.  I'm much more concerned about content that is included because it fits the universe of the game but it is NOT fun.  Two, it's not your call.  A game is created by many people trying to produce a shared vision of what they want.  How can you consider a game art if it is not the vision of the artists, but rather your own?  If you want the game your way, then get a job in the industry with some ambition backing you.  Three, you have choice.  I 100% support any content a developer wants to put on their disc if you have the choice to use it or not.  Even if that statement does not apply to a certain game, you still have the choice to buy something else instead.

People should not complain about a game just because it does not fit what they think it should be.


I will not be buying anymore games until after Christmas (Why buy something you might get for free?), so I should have plenty of time to frequent my blog more.  That about does it for my current thoughts...  I hope everyone had a great Halloween.  Happy gaming!

For the past few days, I've been playing some of my older games.  One benefit of playing older games is that you can see how far (and sometimes not so far) games have come.  Anyways, it's nice to keep quality in proper perspective.

Within the past couple of hours, I finished Trespasser, a game that game me nightmares years ago.  The game isn't necessarily scary, although it does seem like that was the intention before the game was rushed out the door, but rather nightmarishly bad to me before (enough so to give one nightmares of it).  After playing through the game now, it isn't as bad as I remember.  Make no mistake it is still bad, but I can see some light in its darkness.

Trespasser was definitely ahead of its time.  There is no HUD at all in the game.  Your character announces the amount of ammo in weapons when you wield them and your health is cleverly disguised as a tattoo on your left breast that becomes colored in with red as you are injured.  You also heal over time, much like recharging health in modern games.  There are several physics-based puzzles in the game as well.  However, these puzzles don't vary much and are more difficult than they should be because of the poor control system.

Seeing all of the good ideas and really bad executions of Trespasser makes me appreciate other games I own.  It allows me to look past their flaws to find what I really enjoy about them.  If this game wasn't so rushed and had a decent control scheme, I believe it would have been much more enjoyable to the masses and the players that are now stuck with the game.  Look for a full review soon.