Caraig's Journal

Every once in a while, there comes a game that's really and truly unique, not just in theme but in gameplay and tone, as well. I think the last one I played that really fit into this category was Katamari Damacy. I would put Ultima IV into this category, too. Both of these games were such dramatic divergences from just about every other game out there at the time that they're in a class by themselves. Okami is one of those games. ( Click for my review! )

Not much else right now. My DSL is still out but I expect to have some sort of information tomorrow; I doubt they'll actually do anything tomorrow with it, or Sunday. Pax.

Okay, as promised, three games for your consideration!

• Devil Kings -- This is a Capcom title which seems at first glance to be Capcom's entry into Koei's territory. To wit, your character -- typically armed with unusual weapons -- wades into the battlefield and mows down dozens if not hundreds of enemies to attain a specific objective or goal. What differentiates it from Dynasty Warriors is the over-the-top nature of the characters and story. Where DW is based (loosely) on the Three Kingdoms era, Devil Kings seems to have no basis whatsoever on, well, anything. It appears to be set in the 1500's (at least according to one cutscene) but one of the intro videos has the characters in modern Tokyo, and one of the characters uses revolvers. So there's a lot of oddness there. In addition to the very DW-like mechanic of levelling up your character and getting better weapons, you also unlock special moves which you can "equip" so you can have two at a time. I suspect that the game is actually tied into one of Capcom's main franchises, Devil May Cry. Granted my first suspicion of this is the similarity of the visual style of the title graphic to that of DMC. But there are other little hints, things that anyone interested in the DMC games might pick up on readily. Like DW, this is going to appeal to a very niche market, but maybe the link to Devil May Cry will make it more appealing
  
• Godzilla: Save The Earth -- Yeah, lately I've been in a kaiju kick. Well, this game pretty much delivers. Though it's something of a button masher, it's somewhat fun, and brings back all the over-the-top madness of all fifty years of Gojira. The list of kaiju that you can play in this game is long indeed, and includes such favorites as Mothra, Gammora, Mechagojira, King Ghidorah, Destroyah, and at least a dozen to a score more (including two flavors of Godzilla.) I'm not kidding, this game has got to have the most characters of any fighting game I've ever played. (Which explains the limited move sets and animations.) Oddly for Toho, it ties in somewhat into at least three of the Godzilla movies.
  
• Soulcalibur III -- The one that fighting game players have been waiting for. The story seems to have changed a little from the last two games (continuity does not seem to be a strong point with Namco, except maybe in the lush, beautiful Xenosaga.) Oddly, though, I'm less interested in the characters and the fighting game itself as I am in two things which are very unusual for a game like this. The first is that you can make your own fighter -- and not like that dubious 'Fighter Maker' game which came out some time ago. This is well-polished and quite complete. You select your characters overall fighting style and appearance, and can unlock further jobs/styles and weapons. There's also an odd yet rather cool "fKISS" element in that you can unlock and purchase items for your character; but instead of being just decorations, they directly impact your character's armor and speed, and apparently the characters 'alignment' (good or evil) though I'm still researching that. The other very major thing they added is something called 'Chronicles of the Sword.' This expands upon the 'Journey of the Sword' that they had in SC2. It is, basically, 'Soulcalibur Tactics (Lite)' and I can see Namco coming out with a full-fledged Soulcalibur Tactics game after this. (Somehow, though, the idea of an army of Talims is just plain disturbing.) This adds a strategic element to the game that highly appeals to me. This and the character creation aspects were what made me really really (want to) like DW4: Empires. One the flaws that SC3 has is the typical Namco tendency towards making insanely powerful bosses. If you thought Inferno was tough in SoulEdge, Soulcalibur, or Soulcalibur 2, you ain't seen nothing yet. Abyss would give Inferno noogies if Inferno was in this game. (Hint: Don't play the defensive game against Abyss.) The other is not really a flaw so much as something players of Soulcalibur have come to expect, intensified in this game: this is not a button masher. If you just mash buttons, it will make the game so much harder. This is insanely frustrating since each character has a catalog of at least a hundred attacks.
  

Not much else going on for now. Restraining my nervousness somewhat about work, and just... troopin' along. Still trying to get the PC working so that I can get something like a review of FEAR going. Pax.