Unfinished: Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - First Assault Online 01/13/2016

Hmmm looks.... average.

The lack of GitS knowledge is astounding but hilarious... and... understandable!

Also GitS 2.0 is complete garbage. Stick to the original people!

Also:

Here we go, get ready for anime comments...

Spoilers for every dialogue in GitS: SAC:

But the stand alone complex is a stand alone complex in his stand alone complex and their stand alone complex was totally stand alone.

I think the weirdest thing about this is the fact that they didn't even bother to use weapons from the GitS universe and shoehorn in M4s and the like instead. Where are Shirow's iconic Seburos?

Incidentally, it really seems like Jeff would enjoy Stand Alone Complex far more than the original movie. The movie is a mood piece more than anything (and the sequel goes in some batshit insane directions) - in contrast with the show, which has more in common with a detective serial.

@shtinky said:

This is the calm of the anime storm.

LOSER

Loser

This Quick Look is exactly what I expected, in numerous ways.

I'm just going to rattle some things off. Ghost in the Shell was a manga first. The movie was an adaptation of the manga, though it changed the tone heavily. They basically removed all the fun from the universe and changed Motoko's character design (but nobody else's).

Stand Alone Complex was a series that had no connection to the movie except that it was based on the same manga. It was much more similar to the manga than the movie was, with having intelligent robot tanks (who act like children sometimes) and with Motoko back to looking somewhat like her original design.

Personally, I'm not big on the movie version any more. In the 90s it was a technical marvel and the soundtrack is a hell of a thing, but it is my least-favorite version of the universe by a mile.

Though, well... maybe I can include this game towards the bottom of my list now :P

I remember playing a GitS game on PS1 where you played a spider tank that could walk on walls and ceilings. That was dope.

GitS started off as manga. Apparently the guy who did the original manga now makes all of his money drawing horse porn or something. Considering some of his other works from around then it's not surprising.

Also Jeff is right about the original movie. It's very much the 90's anime that's all flash and no substance. The plot is just sort of stops and nothing is explained. Still for it's time it was pretty amazing. I feel like all the GitS related things are kind of like that though. Very much products of their times and kind of hard to go back too.

I've played a lot of free-to-play shooters from Asia and Russia.

And this is like all of them.

The terrible map design, the poor weapon handling, the ripoff Call of Duty medal pop-ups, the animations, the UI design.

It's incredible how similar all these games are and it's depressing how they turned GitS into one of them.

Just stay away from this game folks, there's nothing for you here that you can't find better in another game.

Also, since Jeff never actually explained it: i believe the "complex" part of the name refers to the episodes that are part of the overarching story of the series and "stand alone" refers to the, well, stand alone episodes that are not part of the overarching story.

Wasn't there already a Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex game for the PS2? Which, while apparently not incredible, was at least single-player and vaguely looked the part...

Naruto is better.

It's not horrible. It's just painfully meh, not in an Early Access way but in a "this was a bad idea from the ground up" way. GitS has a lot to offer and this Call of Duty: Ghosts in the Shell captures none of it. It's just characters from the show tacked on to a mediocre F2P shooter.

It had to be done.

You're all a bunch of GitS. I just thought you should know...

you bloody rippahs.

Aww yeah new conent!! Giant Bomb rules!

I'm starting to get worried about the disgusting amount of anime appearing on this website.

What happened, Jeff? Are you okay?

Stand Alone Complex is to the original movie as SG-1 is to Stargate.

sigh

Actually...

There was a manga before the movie.

Jeff didnt like Ghost in the Shell movie, now I'm absoultely shocked.

I enjoyed this Quick Look of the state of wrestling in 2016.

I was for sure this was going to be an Austin-lead GBE quicklook, and now I'm disappointed.

Time to wrestling?...

All roads lead to anime and wrestling

Just wanted to plug the website http://because.moe/ in these here comments, because (.moe) it lets you search for legally available anime streams.

Looks like the 1st movie and the SAC tv shows are all streaming on hulu.

I try to not say this very much, to each their own, but really...fuck this game.

If only for the excitement I had when I saw there was a new Ghost in the Shell game, only to eventually see that it was for some reason a mediocre first-person shooter.

Guess I will go play the PS2 game again and lament to no one in particular about how much I wish there was a new cool GiTS game... Come on 2017, because Cyberpunk looks to be the thing I want...I hope...

The more anime the better. @jeff is obviously a Golgo 13 fan - I wonder if he has watched the 2008 series which was ok-ish or just some of the old stuff. I bet he would like Black Lagoon as well.

mmm GITS flavoured COD.

The original comic series (1989) has been reimagined by three directors, forming three continuities:

• Mamoru Oshii (1995 film, 2004 sequel)
• Kenji Kamiyama (2002 Stand Alone Complex series)
• Kazuchika Kise (2013 Arise series, arguably a prequel to Oshii's films)

I would argue that the first film is the best incarnation of GitS, and possibly the best sci-fi anime movie ever, but one has to have a taste for European-style storytelling (obviously Jeff didn't know what to make of it). SAC & Arise are futuristic cop shows played straight; they're far more accessible, if somewhat bland.

Jeff & Brad in the QL say First Assault Online needs to be fifteen times more anime, but GitS is only about as "anime" as Titanfall or Syndicate (2012) which is to say not very; there's not much potential there for zaniness. I love the old Playstation game with its wall-climbing tank gameplay, though. That one is styled after the original comic.

It's funny that First Assault Online is styled after an older reimagining (SAC) rather than the current one (Arise).

@baka_shinji17: That's not

(RIP Origa)

I actually preferred the anime opening they had prior to the 3D one.

Even though it's free to play I'm really apprehensive to try this game. I like GitS quite a bit but the game just seems to cookie cutter.

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Oh lord this went from anime to wrestling talk.

In which the game is so interesting, they just end up talking about wrestling again.

I think Psycho Pass is better than SAC (even though the main storyline of the second season is pretty damn good).

I was hoping to see more NEWDAN embracing anime...

I could listen to Jeff's opinion on wrestling for hours. Wait, there's powerbombcast for that...

@dunchad: The only Golgo anime (animes?) are the 1984 movie and the 2008 series. Check out the live action movies if you really want some more Togo, and a good cringe.

They should've just reached out to the Neotokyo team and remade that with the GITS license.

Wow. Wasn't expecting the deep dive into wrestling.

Finally, a Power Bombcast for non premium members!

Anime and wrestling? Madness

Ghost in the Shell is probably one of the best anime film I have seen in a while. I just watched this movie yesterday I am conflicted whether this or Perfect Blue is my favourite anime movie of all time.

You guys might think its a slow or boring movie but it's not as slow as even older movies. Watch any Akira Kurosawa movies like the 7 samurai or any old black and white films. There are movies that make those montages seem even longer since there are scenes in 7 samurai that goes slower than the pace of a snail. But the way Ghost in the Shell dealt with those montages are also very artistic.

The song that is playing in those montages are traditional Native American wedding song, and plays with this idea of sexual reproduction one of the major theme in this movie. It also builds the world of GitS and gives you an idea of the state of the city without explaining it to you in exposition. Why sexual reproduction? Well the movie deals with the idea of the "ghost" in the shell, the idea that we are all ghosts in a shell and make you question whether AI can have a ghost. Without going into spoilers, the movie goes into what it means to be human and the movie covers different aspect of human nature to explain this "ghost".

It's one of the most experimental anime films that was ahead of its time. Back when sci-fi was about evil giant robots or aliens, Ghost in the Shell asked a more personal question about ourselves and conciousness. It inspired the movie "Matrix", and transformed the sci-fi genre. One of the best anime movie of all time.

Well, that looks...bad honestly. The thing about anime that it is essentially timeless, same as sprite based games where old cg looks pretty nasty after a couple years.

I've always considered there to be a natural overlap between anime and wrestling, and this Quicklook proves it.

The only thing I know about Ghost In The Shell..............or..............GITS....... is I was controlling a giant endo-skeleton red and white strafing crab in the PS1 demo back in the day.

Why do people boo John Cena?

Closest thing to a good Ghost in the Shell game is still Oni in my mind.

Giant Bomb: come for the anime, stay for the wrestling.

I would be all for an anime adaptation of Predator. It would probably nail the "Dillon you son of a bitch" scene and that's really all you need.