Retro Gaming

I have hit this weird time in my life, the transision period between being a high school student and having to make some important decisions as to what I really want to do when I get out of school. I think I already have a basic idea as far as my college plans are concerned, but a lot of other things in my life are pretty nebulous at the moment.

For the past couple of months I have been on a retro gaming kick. I am assuming that I am probably just feeling nostalgic for my younger years where life was a lot simpler than it is now. Instead of playing a bunch of Resistance 2 and Fable 2, I have been putting time into Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix instead. I got a $100 for Christmas and what did I spend it on? An SNES and a ton of games (including Street Fighter 2 Turbo.) I never had an SNES as a kid but I fondly remeber playing them at friends houses.

Going back and playing older games is a weird experience. I always thought that playing them on an emulator was good enough, but it isn't until you are sitting there, with an SNES, hooked up to a CRT TV, with SNES pad in hand that emulation becomes a mere sliver of the experience.

Things are starting to normalize back out for me again as far as interest in newer games again. Street Fighter 4 and Killzone 2 are looking really good and I am really amped about them. I think it just had something to do with the Holidays that was making nostalgic for the past. I think at some point everyone should go and buy a retro system and a bunch of games and just play them, it is an interesting pallet cleansing experience as far a games go.

Also, I need to start writing on my blog more. Being the tech editor of the high school newspaper is great, but because of limitations as far as not being able to use "You" or "I", I feel that my writing quality for the paper is degraded a bit. Either way, if you made it through this whole post then I salute you, it is pretty long but that is what happens when you get the urge to write something at 11PM.

Whoa, haven't posted in a long while.

I have finally remembered to updated this blog. Here are some scans of my articles in out schools newspaper.

Lightning Review: Ninja Gaiden 2

The Path of the Ninja is a Hard One

Before I get into the main review, I would like to give a quick overview of what a lighting review is. Basically, I don't always have the time to write a full review and when I do it is usually when I have beaten the game. Well, a lighting review is either a shorter review, or a review based off as much as the game I feel needs to be played to understand it fully. Now that's out of the way, so let the review begin!

When Ninja Gaiden came out for the Xbox, it was seen as a return to the past. It was super difficult, had little story, and was packed with action all the way through. At the time it was also one of the best looking games on the system and was a huge technical leap in the genre. The problem is that Ninja Gaiden 2 is not only a small leap in innovation, but barely anything changed from the first game at all.

The combat is as good as ever, but it is now the sole reason that Ninja Gaiden 2 is a good game. The graphics, while nice looking, are not even close to other games on the system. While the game runs at 60 FPS most of the time, there are dips that can really screw up your timing in a tough fight. Not only that, but every once in a while the game will actually load while in a fight. 

The camera is terrible especially compared to other games in the genre, such as Devil May Cry 4, that did such a good job of making sure that the camera was just controlled enough that it never really frustrated you. The camera, coupled with annoying enemies that you may sometimes think know of these camera problem and will attack you from off screen, make for a somewhat frustrating game experience.

At its best, NG 2 is a fun game. You get to cut up enemies in a bunch of different ways, there is a large variety of weapons to use, and for the most part the game is technically solid. But once you start looking for something deeper, you find there really is nothing to do but slice and dice. The shallow story, bad camera, and lack of reason to go through the game again (outside of achievements) really destroys any reason to play it again. If you are a fan of action games, I would suggest to rent first, and only buy if you really like it.

Verdict: C+

by Nicolas Perez

Well...

Just bought another 360. Too human and geo wars 2 here I come!

Hello Again

I know I haven't updated in a while, things have been busy for me. Chances are that if anything gets written anytime soon it will be a Soul Calibur 4 review when I get that. But school is starting soon so I really won't have the same sort of time I do now. But be watching the site when PAX rolls around, I have figured out how to do plenty of awesome things to get content to you ASAP from PAX, so expect lots of updates then :)

Test

LTTP: Diablo 2

A new type of article huh?

I have realized that I do a lot of reviews of older games. Doing so is basically useless seeing how no one is going to read a review of a game that has been out for a year or so. This is why I am creating a new series of articles called LTTP (Late to the Party) this way I can write my impressions for when I play older games. These will be shorter than a review, and I may possibly also do follow ups to them. Now on to the actual article!

Since the announcement of Diablo 3, I had been wanting to revisit Diablo since I really never played it when it first came out. The only real experience I had was playing a demo of Diablo 1 and playing a couple of minutes of Diablo 2 at a friends house. I decided to go out and get a copy of Diablo 2 and the Lord of Destruction expansion, and I am really glad I did.

Diablo 2 is very much a dungeon hack, the story stays mostly out of the way and your primary goal is to kill stuff, which in turn gives you items so you can kill more stuff. I am usually not a huge fan of this type of game, but for some reason it really seems like the loot here is cool enough right off the bat that I want to continue playing to see what sort of crazy stuff I can get. It also helps that the gameplay is very easy to get into and is is easy to understand what is going on at any moment.

The game itself isn't the most amazing looking game, but it does hold up surprisinglt well for being a 2D isometric game. The spell effects all look good, and if you play in a window, everything looks crisp and clear as it should. While the graphics aren't a stand out, the audio is. The music, whether you be in a town or a dungeon, adds a lot to the atmosphere. Not only that, but most (if not all) of the characters are fully voice acted and don't sound too cheesy.

Above is a picture of my character and his stats. I haven't played too long but I hope to dig in more soon. I hope you enjoyed this new style of article. Stay tuned for more of the LTTP series in the future.

by Nicolas Perez