Video Game Review - Wild ARMs (1997 - Sony Playstation)

I consider myself open minded about video games and movies. When I look back on some of the games I've played (Final Fantasy Tactics, SaGa Frontier) and the movies that I've seen (Falling Down, Manos: the Hands of Fate), Im proud to say that I've done a great service to the world. That service being the idea of looking at a bad video game or movie and rating it properly. Sometimes I find a gem in the sewage of the bad movies.  Other times I'll find the experience of a game to be far better than the game itself. This is one of those games.

Wild ARMs is an RPG that is considered innovative. It may be considered innovative because of the ability to switch characters and move them independently of each other, but I doubt that would over shadow the main reason why this game is a note in RPG history: it's a western.
Not the first RPG with a western theme (Oregon Trail, anyone?), Wild ARMs takes a lead from the TV show "Wild Wild West" but in the way that only an anime-influenced game could. This leads us to our three heroes.

• Rudy Roughnight - A young blue-haired boy with the amazing ability to use ARMs (read: guns). There's some mystical bullshit about who can and can't use ARMs (plot point). This kid'll be your main guy for a while & he's generally considered the hero.
• Jack - A treasure hunter whose intro owes a lot to Raiders of the Lost Ark and Benny Hill chase scenes. He's also a master swordsman, whose skill is a "Quick Draw" (??). Very suave and very dependable in a fight.
• Cecilia - She's some magic chick. She can heal and stuff, just like every "staff chick". She's also the only one who can use Summon skill. She's a prototype version of Final Fantasy X's Yuna, but not as well known.

Wild ARMs' mild popularity owes a lot to its predecessor, Final Fantasy VII. There are many instances where a story element will draw a parallel to FF7. Summon stones are one; fighting the final boss in a weird dimension is another. The game's main protagonist has a gay first name and a manly last name, per the Squaresoft fashion. You'll even have to fight large machines of elemental origin, akin to the Weapons in FF7. The game does have original points, however.
First is the fact that the Summons can be enhanced. This was before the leveling up of Guardian Forces in Final Fantasy VIII was made necessary (much less, made). The enhancement of the Summon skill used on an equipped Summon stone could not only do double damage but also provide a better summon animation.  Second is the personal vehicle of travel. It's much better than the Highwind, but its drawback is the need to find an engine component in order to completely explore the known world. Strangely enough, Cowboy Bebop's Swordfish airplane may be borrowing from the design of the transport.
Third on the list is an action that shocked me to the core. I never thought that an RPG hero would go that far to save the world, but I was wrong. There was a reason why it happened, and I don't think any RPG can top that. To tell you what it is would destroy the whole shock value of the act, and I believe that everyone should experience it.
Music in this game is superb, and has 1960s influences. Of particular note, the Map Screen music is a reprise of "The Ecstacy of Gold" from Enrico Morricone's soundtrack to The Good, the Bad & the Ugly. While the music is great, the graphics needed work. These two factors canceled each other out, leaving me with the experience to decide the rating.
 
I'll have to give Wild ARMs a 6, because it was only alright then. The "shocking action" is the kicker that put it up to 6 in the first place.  The game has since been remade into Wild ARMs: Alter Code F, with better graphics, for the PlayStation 2.  I have no idea what Alter Code F means, as I haven't played it.

RATING: 6/10

Video Game Review - PaRappa the Rapper (1997 - Sony Playstation)

 *INTRODUCTION*

Once upon a time, there was a thing called hip-hop. Hip-hop was good, because it did not infringe upon the world at large with sappy pop hooks or massive metal guitar riffs. It was also good due to the fact that it appealed to the ethnic inner-city massives who took it as their own thing, not to be mistaken for pop music. And then the world began to incorrectly link hip-hop with not only people of color, but inner city crime as well. With a triad of trouble afoot, the Man sought a way to squash hip-hop. Through the interference of record companies, hip-hop was spliced into the parent and its offspring Rap. 

 

Rap didn't heed the word of the elder Hip-hop and began to talk about that which needed no conscious mouthpiece: the commission of crime. Thus began the rift between what was Hip-hop and what was Rap.

Things went from bad (meaning bad, not bad meaning good) to worse in the coming years, with the 1992 Los Angeles Riots highlighting the need for a stronger, pointed message than the words of the forefathers. Enter "Gangsta Rap", a form of Rap that's like a cigarette without the filter. It was misogynistic, homophobic, materialistic and ill-planned as a way to discourage violence and crime through overexposure. All the hatred spit out in rhyming prose to a sweet baseline from the days of our grandfathers was aimed in the general direction of their perceived enemy of White America. The sad thing is that Gangsta Rap behaved like the gangsta's attack of choice, the drive-by shooting: it had a habit of hitting unintended targets. The unintended targets: the children of White America.

It's unknown whether the children of White America were being used as pawns against their parents or if it was a mistake in getting through to them instead of the parents. While some members of the Rap community would take steps to have their life imitate their art, White America was listening and was more than happy to make it a part of their daily newscast. And suddenly, Rap became cool for everyone... but for all the wrong reasons. The gates to what makes Rap tick were opened and now there's other offensive strings of Rap (see: Nerdcore, Rap-Rock.) Who could have known that Rap would grow into the abomination we hear and praise so often? Only Hip-hop did, and it tried to come back and claim its moral grounds. Unfortunately Rap had a stranglehold on beats and rhymes in their origin country of the United states, forcing Hip-hop to find greener pastures in foreign lands.

Hip-hop has flourished in other countries like Germany, France, the United Kingdom and has done especially well in places like Canada and even the Arab country of Yemen (where the only acceptable music is drumbeats and the word is king). Of these countries, Japan stands out because it has the wackiness to inject humor into a socially conscious medium without degrading it. Rap and Hip-hop are fighting over control of the Land of the Rising Sun, the details of which can be read in the

game context of the PlayStation game, PaRappa the Rapper.

-----------------------------------------------

In the game PaRappa the Rapper, you play the titular character PaRappa. He's a hip-hop dog who's in love with the local beauty named Sunny. She's a sunflower. In his effort to raise a band and impress the girl, he becomes involved in scenarios to reach his goal. While many of the activities in the scenarios are physically oriented, PaRappa's forte' is rappin' to the beat. Thus, the only way to complete the scenarios presented to the gamer is to rap to the preset beat markers in a timely manner. Failure to do so results in a poor rating, by which a satisfactory rating is rewquired to pass all scenarios. An added bonus to the scenarios is the freestyle option when your rappin' rating goes beyond "U Rappin' GREAT!" So long as you rap to the beat, you can rap what you feel for bonus points.

PaRappa the Rapper is an animated video game tale created by Rodney Alan Greenblatt, an American expatriate living in Japan. He is responsible for the artwork in PaRappa the Rapper, as well as the PaRappa spin-off game, Un-Jammer Lammy (a story about a ewe who dreams of rock-stardom). His ideas of merging music and story into an interactive experience has been duplicated in the more recent incarnation of the PS2 titles Gitaroo Man and Mad Maestro.

The feel of PaRappa the Rapper is a silly one, due to PaRappa's adventures involving an onion-headed Kung-Fu master (called Master Chop Chop), a chicken chef with her own TV show, a moose that works at the DMV and a materialistic Rastafarian frog (my personal favorite). All of these characters have their own flavor to them, making this game a distinctive if not singular experience. The extensive advertising behind PaRappa the Rapper was grand and it was featured on a PlayStation demo disc, as well as in several commercials featuring the characters spouting lines from scenarios: The Rastafarian frog says "In the rain or in the snow/Got the got the funky flow" and PaRappa's exclaim of faith in his rappin' abilities is "I Gotta Believe!" Despite the want from both quotes to be THE line from PaRappa the Rapper remembered, only Master Chop Chop's line of "Kick Punch/It's all in the mind" stands the test of fleeting interest.

The limited graphics and processing power of the PlayStation are the only limits to the original PaRappa the Rapper reaching the maximum score allowable, so this game gets a rating of 9.

RATING: 9/10

Video Game Review - Suikoden II (1999 - Sony Playstation)

Suikoden II is the second entry in the Genso Suikoden series. It's a story that focuses on the exploits of 3 teenagers in a time of war and the ancient Sword Rune and Shield Rune. It also has the most mini-games in an RPG I've played so far, giving this game a major bonus. Despite that, mini-games do not a game make (unless you're Incredible Crisis). There is a story in this game, and it involves the usual running about and collecting the 108 Stars of Destiny.

You play the grandson of the late warrior Genkaku, part of a trainee mission to scout the outer fringes of enemy territory in a land at war. You and your childhood friend Jowy Atreides run from the danger, jump into the river and are swept into the waiting hands of the enemy...our heroes from Suikoden, Viktor and Flik of the Blue Lightning!

Somewhere along the line, you'll meet up with your sister Nanami and then the story kicks into full gear. This game spans several countries and features many characters from Suikoden who still were around; this makes for a great treat for people who played the first Suikoden, like me. The aforementioned Viktor and Flik are there, as well as Pesmerga, Stallion the elf, the cooks Antonio and Lester, Humphrey and his Dragon Knight squire, Futch. Both Kasumi the ninja and the warrior Valeria are around to help the new hero. Kage makes a brief appearance, as does Leknaat and many other other characters such as Mathiu's dad Leon Silverberg, the innkeeper Marie, Cleo and Pahn (if you kept him alive). Clive the bounty hunter is still pursuing his quarry Eliza. Tai Ho returns as a playable character, but his buddy Yam Koo is not. Tengaar and Hix are about and still getting in trouble. Apple, pupil under the strategist Mathiu, returns with some age and experience, yet chooses to play second to Mathiu's star pupil Shu. makes Neclord shows up ("Again? I thought we killed him!" was my reaction) as does the weapon of his destruction: the always-sassy Star Dragon Sword. Even the main hero McDohl and his manservant Gremio (if you got all 108 before storming Gregminster) are available. The one person who I saw hide nor hair of in the game was the creature called Yuber. I wanted another go at him on the battlefield.

Speaking of the battlefield, the fights take place in open grassland instead of on the grounds of the castle you're trying to storm. Paper-rock-scissors still plays a part in the battle movements, but now there's the issue of range and terrain. It doesn't detract from the skirmish scenario experience, because you still get to have your duels. The bad thing about duels is that they are storyline-event driven; they are not guaranteed at the end of every skirmish.

Above: The hero of SUIKODEN II,
soon to have his life changed
by the Shield and Sword Runes.

While I'm on the subject of batle, the item access in Suikoden II seriously hinders survival in battle; you have to equip a healing item before you can use it in battle. This is a great way to get killed in battle when your item runs out and you have to spend another turn equipping something else. Then there's the fact that you can't use items at your leisure. For example: if I got hit by a Flying Squirrel and lost health, I could just use my equipped Healing Potion that heals a small amount of HP. If the immediate turn has me damaged by a Harmonian soldier, I'd have to use the equipped Healing Potion and disregard my healing food called "Chige Nabe" (heals a gang of HP.)

The story keeps you involved, but tends to drag ON and ON and ON and ON! Thought you were done when you killed that guy, right? Wrong! Now you have to go through another castle and fight an even bigger boss than that. Then again, the Suikoden series never lets you off the hook with a lame final boss. Final boss asides, the bosses in Suikoden II are grand and make you work to defeat them. From giant sewer rats to the Star Dragon Sword, your bosses show absolutely no quarter or mercy. Conquering the bosses always guarantees a kick-ass treasure trove, yet some treasures can only be obtained in mini-games.
Minigames can be found inside the castle you have for your army of 108 people; they must be entertained, so there are several ways to do that. There's fishing, rock climbing, investigations of your troops, the traditional game of Chichinronin (now Nerfed to limit your winnings) and the latest addition to the minigame spectrum--the cook-off, led by your army's cook, Hai Yo.

The story gets weepy at times but the minigames and extras more than make up for it. This is a great sequel to the original, particularly when both the new hero and McDohl (still bearing the Soul Eater, but with new animations!) team up for the first time. This game does what most movies can never seem to do: make a decent sequel.

RATING: 9/10

Video Game Review - Suikoden (1996 - Sony Playstation)

My first experience with a role-playing game (RPG) was by watching my buddy Kodi play a game called Chrono Trigger on the Super Nintendo. I then had my own experience with a little-known game called Shining Force II on the Sega Genesis. When my brother and I got our hands on a PlayStation amidst the buzz of Final Fantasy VII, we just played normal stuff. I didn't even know that this game existed until I noticed it at Blockbuster Video. Reading the back I found out that this game had 108 playable characters, featured dragons and plenty of adventu--
WHAT THE HELL?? ONE HUNDRED EIGHT CHARACTERS?
UNBELIEVABLE!!!

You're damn right that sold me. Let's do the math:

• Chrono Trigger allowed you to control a mix of any 3 recruited/joined characters in battle out of a possible 7 recruitable characters total.(42.8% of all characters in battle at any given combat)
• Shining Force II allowed you to control a mix of any 12 recruited/joined characters in battle out of a possible 30 recruitable characters total.(40%)
• Genso Suikoden allows you to control 6 recruited/joined characters in battle out of a possible 81 available for battle out of 108 recruitable characters total (7.4 percent)

And with that, I rented it and I haven't stopped playing the Suikoden series since.  For those that aren't into Suikoden as much as I am, please take note of the story. From what I understand, this game is loosely based on the story "The Water Margin" about 108 honorable bandits who lived in the 12th Century that fought for the rights of the people and against corrupt officials. It was written in 14th Century China and made popular in the Edo Period of 19th Century Japan. This story was translated into the digital medium to relfect a story that works like this:
You're the hero, a privileged son of a general in the kingdom of Gregminster. In your efforts to be like everyone else, you find out that you're destined to be different--beyond all expectations. Things go awry, friends die and you're stuck with a powerful magic Rune called the Soul-Eater Rune. When you find out what goes on in the real world, you're thrust into battle against your own kingdom with rebel allies from all the provinces. You gain allies, abilities, features and minigames along the way as you build your base of operations. In the end, you do fight your father and you fight your king. Once that's done, the kingdom is free, and it's all thanks to you.

The game's features allow you to get more acquainted with the mythology of the world of Suikoden and its workings. Talk to people and you'll get moree information on how to get things done in the game world. Learning how things are done allows you to access more characters. The more characters you have, the more people you must house, thus your castle grows more and more each time you recruit more of the 108 characters. Once you have enough characters, you can do something spectacular: battle combinations.

Above: The hero of SUIKODEN,
Tir McDohl. Inset: Soul Eater Rune.

Battle Combinations are where you get 2 or more people with a certain relationship or something in common and in battle, you'll have the option to use the combination attack. When the combination attack is used, the characters involved will combine their might to attack one enemy with a powerful set of moves, or multiple enemies with an increased attack. This is one of the reasons why you should recruit all 108 characters. Another reason to do the legwork in recruiting is to get all the magicians and their Runes.
Runes are magical stones that grant magical powers. Some runes are broken into shards and can be placed on weapons to do magic damage, but mostly they are whole runes that are worn by an individual. These runes allow the average fellow to wield awesome power. There are the standard 4 elements (earth, wind, fire & water) and a fifth magical element unique to Japanese culture (lightning), in addition to the other fighting runes that allow its wearer to have special powers beyond the elements. Then there are the special runes worn by magicians that are a step above the normal elemental runes in magic strength. The most amazing thing about the runes in this game is that if you time it right, you can get magicians to combine their magics to create a stronger magic, just like a battle combination. This maneuver ends up having disastrous results for the enemy. For all the magic and battle combinations you may have up your sleeve, it ain't nothing unless you SHARPEN YOUR WEAPON.
Sharpening your weapon is like literally leveling up your weapon. The weapons go up to level 16, increasing from its initial level (whatever it may be) and increasing in damage at an average rate of 4-20 attack points each level. The weapons have names and the names change on the weapon when they reach certain levels. The one thing I had a problem with initially is that your character uses a bo staff. How can you sharpen a bo staff and not call it a spear? I realized after a time I was thinking on it too hard. I then went on playing the game and got into by first skirmish.
Skirmishes are the war portions of Suikoden. In these skirmish battles, you'll fight with everyone--yes, everyone--in a bid to attack a general under King Barbarossa. You'll have limited use of all of their skills, plus skills they can only access in a skirmish. When you boil down the control system of fighting in the skirmishes, it's basically a grand game of jan-ken-pon (rock-paper-scissors). The down side to skirmish scenarios is that if someone dies in a skirmish scenario, they're gone for good. With the battle scheme dependant solely on chance and an understanding or rock-paper-scissors, anyone can complete a skirmish scenario with little or no casualties.

There are motivating factors in this game that should keep you going when you think you've had enough of the game, and enough features to keep you in your castle when you should be out leveling up your fighters. The music is good; tinny at first, but swelling afterward, particularly in the case of the free-roaming Map Screen. The boss enemies are hard, particularly at the time you meet them. For me, that's always a plus. If you're a treasure-hunter like me, you'll really like all the little goodies they throw into the background for you. This game is a treasure in itself and receives a rating of 9.

RATING: 9/10

Video Game Review - Grandia (1997 - Sony PlayStation)

The game Grandia almost didn't get into my hands. It was a decision of either buying this game or Final Fantasy Chronicles, featuring Final Fantasy IV and Chrono Trigger. I figured that the FF Chronicles would be there for a while, so I picked up Grandia. Little did I know that two things would happen to me as a result of buying this game:

1) I would never again have the opportunity to buy a copy of Final Fantasy Chronicles,
2) I would end up participating in the most enjoyable and engaging RPG in this hemisphere.

Grandia plays all the right cards. Music, voice acting, the map system, backdrops, visual design, the battle system (complete with options), the magic system and the storyline of the game all fall in line as what can only be described as a labor of love from Game Arts and Sony Computer Entertainment.
The game's character lineup is a revolving door; a character leaves and another replaces them. Even with that provision, there are two core characters: Justin, our young hero and an adventurous girl named Feena. The two mains are surrounded by friends like Sue, Rapp, Miluda, Guido, Liete and Gadwin the knight of Dight. Even this game's villains aren't all the way evil on a grand scale, thus leaving room for unintentional comedy.
In terms of character development in the game, there are sequences after a long day of battling where the party makes camp and talks around the fire. You'll learn more about each character as the dialogue progresses and have a laugh. It's these scenes alone that will endear you to all the characters as they enter and leave your party. You'll even end up wanting one of the specific characters when they're gone for certain battles. While all of this is well and good, the place where Grandia really shines is the design element.

As a graphic designer and an avid fan of Japanese animation, I found that a lot of anime (cut-scenes and quest ideas alike) were placed in this game to make it flow. Sometimes there were things I had never seen before in either video games or anime that would prepare me for the images I would see in Grandia. Other times, a familiar face(namely the "mystical girl of the lost civilization" role) or item screams of an influence from anime, a lovely little treat for an anime lover. The ancient design schemed and dreamed up by the game artists also work for the idea of lost cities. Giant mechanical guardians, lost magics and the Great Wall at The Edge of the World (!!) all make for grand adventure.

This game needs some awards because of its innovation at the time. This game was made at the beginning of the 3-D revolution and the game designers decided to make the maps in 3-D, but they kept the animated characters as two-dimensional characters, making for an interesting visual juxtaposition. Plus it was fun to watch.

This game was kinda long for the discs it used to complete the game. It was a 2 disc Playstation RPG game, when the standard for PlayStation RPGs was 3 discs(set by Final Fantasy VII)to illustrate to the gamer what they were getting themselves into. Clocking in at 80 hours of game play, the game is a marvelous achievement on all levels. 

I am compelled to call this the happy version of Final Fantasy VII. It wasn't the first big RPG--one might call it a sales failure--but to experience this gem of an RPG will make you agree that this game is AMAZING.

RATING: 10/10

Video Game Review - Armored Core (1997 - PlayStation)

As I established in my Xenogears review, I love mecha. I love big robots. From Voltron to Veritechs; Dancougar to GaoGaiGar to Gasaraki, that's all that I need to really enjoy myself. If one were to say that my love of mecha is a metaphor for a penile inferiority complex, then by all means say so. Know that by doing so is essentially a waiver that makes it OK to combine the plasma power of my Blazing Sword and Tekno Power-Blasters on your puny fleshbag body.

*sigh. If only…*

Anyways, I'm talking about a game that had no real impact on me when I initially played the demo version. It only had a sampling of all the components available, so there wasn't much appeal. Plus the controls for aiming the mech's targeting was set up like an airplane. I wasn't in an airplane, so what gives? So Armored Core sat on the shelves until I saw it again at Blockbuster Video. It was during those days that i had a lot of free time: I was making comic books left and right while watching as much Mystery Science Theater 3000 as I could muster. When I couldn't watch it on cable TV, I had my buddy David hook it up with taped MST3K(with Joel, TV's Frank and Dr. Forrester). While he showed me those taped episodes(of which "Eegah!" is still my favorite), I also got to see some import games on his modified PlayStation. The fighting game "Sailor Moon S" wasn't a big draw for me, but Cyberbots: Full Metal Madness was. This is the game I had seen in magazines where there was a mech that looked like Akuma from the Street Fighter series. This game is also the backstory for the Marvel vs CAPCOM character Jin, his BLOODIA mech and the Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo villain Devilot. While I played this game, I remembered Armored Core. I thought to myself, "Wait a minute, Armored Core lets you CUSTOMIZE your mech" and I realized that for all the 2D CAPCOM goodness that Cyberbots brought to the table, it wasn't gonna touch Armored Core. With that, I went out and rented the game. 

Armored Core is a simulation game along the lines of Gran Turismo, but better. Instead of limiting oneself to a internal combustion engine and 4 wheels, Armored Core allows you to pilot huge-ass mechs. You've got the ability to combine pieces of mechs(arms, legs, bodies, head, weapons, etc.) into a fearsome battle unit with limitations on weight and energy consumption. In Armored Core's sequel, Armored Core 2: Another Age, the mech cannot leave the shop if overweight. Luckily for the inexperienced mech-builder, that does not apply in the original.
You're part of a mercenary group called the Raven's Nest. Your people do the jobs that pay very well and are, by necessity, very dangerous. You'll do battle with many types of enemies, yet you'll only have to fight another good mech pilot once. You'll go into battles that require you to have certain components in order to survive the environment let alone the battles on the stage, so the option to do missions over again in order to get more money is a plus. A minus for some people is the touch of realism: when you use weapons that have solid ammunition or you take damage during a mission, you will have to pay for repairs to your mech. If you're trigger happy, the ordinance fee will kill you. Luckily, there's an alternative: energy weapons. They take energy from your generator and heat up your jets, so flying and firing your lazer gun is not the best idea.

Another customization point is the paint job of your mech. you can go with any of the preset paintjobs and modify those, or you can make your own. If you want a brand on your mech, you can choose from the large selection of premade logos, blank logo standards or make your own. The downsides to both of those functions are:

1. You cannot color an individual limb a different color than the rest of the mech.

2. If you don't know how to draw, the logo creator can be the hardest thing in the game.

These functions alone kept me occupied for most of the game, due to my thing about making my mech look sweet as hell. That's not the only thing you should be wary of because it's what's inside the mech that counts.

In addition to being a good pilot, being armed and being armored, you must take advantage of the internal components. While your weapons and mech have base abilities, certain chips and additional items installed into your mech's computer and engine will allow you to excel where you couldn't before.

Case in point: the WM-S60-6(a back-mounted small missile launcher, aka "the Hex Launcher") has up to 6 separate lock-ons at once. The problem is they lock on too slowly to be effective. Luckily, the internal component SP-AXL(a 2 slot component) can greatly speed up your lock-on time. While this is great and all, you have to remember to TURN THE COMPONENT ON. (NOTE: the problem can be eliminated by obtaining the secret weapon WX-S800-GF[a dual missile pod weapon], which shoots 6 missiles with a quick, single target lock.)

I got over the airplane controls, went above and beyond good taste in mech battle protocol and ultimately enjoyed the game Armored Core. This game spawned some expansion games to it called "Armored Core: Project Phantasma"(new parts and missions) and "Armored Core: Master of Arena"(a tournament competition for your mech). Agetec has also produced challenging sequels for the Playstation 2 called "Armored Core 2: Another Age" and "Armored Core 3: Silent LIne." Both PS2 sequel have the Master of Arena feature built in, with some of the hardest-fighting mech pilot AI I've ever seen. All of these games deserve medals in their respective areas, but I'll have to stay with the originator.

RATING: 9/10