Adam’s Cerebral Spillage

Just a quick update this time. I’ve started playing Bayonetta after waiting a long time for the price to drop to bargain levels, and so far I’m loving it. They’ve got the presentation and humour this style of game deserves down to a tee, and the gameplay is silky-smooth.

The eponymous Bayonetta

I won’t bore you with the story (kick-ass witch wakes up in a coffin in a lake, tris to find out WTF is going on and kills a stupid number of angels in elaborate and gruesome ways), cos this one is all about the action. On first impression you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s just another Devil May Cry clone, and to be honest, after a few hours you might still think the same, but it’s done so well it doesn’t matter. Kicks and punches form the combos, with the addition of four(!) guns, one attached to each limb. Every combo can be cancelled into another, which means the combo count regularly goes into silly numbers, and it all looks gorgeous at the same time, ticking along at an impressive frame-rate.

A couple of angels get a taste of 'Scarborough Fair', the name of this gun-set

What I still can’t get my head around when I’m playing it, is that this is a Sega game. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not speaking ill of Sega (god knows I poured enough time into Outrun 2/C2C), but Bayonetta feels every bit like a Capcom game, right through to its core. I remember thinking ‘Hang on… this is the music from OutRun, how did they get away with that?!’ before realising that it was a Sega game and therefore their music to use in the first place. The whole game feels like a blatant rip-off of Devil May Cry (with the tongue-in-cheek feeling from God Hand), but I think it’d be unfair to call it a rip-off; it’s much more like a homage.

The lighting and atmosphere are subtle and brilliant

I haven’t come across anything I dislike about the game yet; the graphics and sound are great, it’s well-acted, the gameplay is so tight and the presentation is awesome. Whether or not I finish it is up for debate, as I famously tend to fall short of completion in most games, but for the time being I’m loving it. Oh, and most importantly, it’s dirt cheap! £12.98 in Game at the moment, and I had £2.50 on my Game card to spend. Just a shade over a tenner for a game that recently got 10/10 in Edge is an absolute steal.

Technorati Tags Bayonetta, capcom, Sega

Firstly, I should apologise in advance to anyone finding this entry when searching for the words in the title, as you
aren’t really going to learn anything here. This is more about my getting stuck in head-first into a revitalised love affair with my new favourite game.

Capcom released Super Street Fighter IV to a drooling, clamouring fanbase this last Friday, and I was among those desperate to get my grubby mitts on the re-incarnation of the current generation’s darling of the fighting scene. I was one of the people wondering why on Earth they didn’t just release it as DLC over Live/PSN, but after playing it for hours and hours over the Bank Holiday weekend, I can see why. It’ more than just a lick of paint on the old game, it’s a total overhaul and a completely justifiable purchase for anyone who bought the original.

First up, the most noticeable change is the addition of a whole raft of new characters. We’ve got characters like Ibuki, Makoto and Dudley making a reappearance from the SF3 series, Guy, Cody and Adon from the Alpha/Zero series, and a couple of completely original characters; Juri, a Korean (a first for a Capcom fighter) Taekwondo fighter, and Hakan, a hilarious Turkish oil wrestler. Put those in with the roster from vanilla SF4 along with some others and you’ve got a lot (35!) of characters to learn. Or should that be re-learn?

The biggest obvious change for the exisiting fighters is the addition of a second Ultra move, selectable at the character choice screen, just like in the good old days of SF3:3S. Some are great, some are rubbish, c’est la vie. But spend more than a couple of hours with the game and experienced players will notice the re-balancing of the of the game. The characters who were seemingly hard-done by the first time out have been bolstered (Guile), and some who were just too powerful for their own good (Ryu, Sagat) have been nerfed a bit. It means a bit of re-learning for a lot of people, but it’s for the best.

I’ll admit that I didn’t get into the original SF4 as much as I’d have liked to, but I’m completely hooked now with Super. I’ve spent a lot of time in ranked battles on Live and learned a lot – not to mention having my arse handed to me more times than I care to mention. It’s frightening how good some people are, even with less than a week of practise with the new guys. But between bouts of rage and swearing, I’m sticking to it and completely addicted. It’s digital Crack. To get better I’m going to have to invest time in learning the kind of nuances the people at SRK and iplaywinner go nuts for.

That brings us nicely to the title of the post, all of which will be instantly familiar for anyone who’s into it. FADC stands for Focus Attack Dash Cancelling, which without wanting to bore the pants off you is when you charge a Focus Attack (parries most single hit moves and allows a retaliation with crumple hit) and dash out of it. It’s great for letting you chain together combos, or baiting someone into thinking you’re charging and they can nip in for a free throw. Plinking is a new one to me and one I don’t expect to be able to use any time soon. It involves hitting two punch buttons almost simultaneously to change 1-frame chaining opportunities to 2-frames…. yeah, I know, it didn’t make much sense to me either until I watched a ten minute youtube video on it.

As usual with my quasi-reviews on here, I have to insist you buy this game. Anyone with even half an interest in fighting games owes it to themself, there’s nothing out there at the moment that even comes close. For a smidgen over 20 quid online with a free t-shirt, there’s really no reason not to buy it. Utterly awesome.

Technorati Tags capcom, FADC, iplaywinner, SRK, SSFIV, Street FIghter

It’s no secret that I still love games, and still play and buy them regularly, but recently I’m up to my neck in them. First up was Darksiders which I wrote about in a previous entry, and it really is a fantastic game, but I’m stuck at a save point where I have a tricky fight before I can get any further, and after dying umpteen times it’s been relegated to the games shelves until I can be bothered to try again.

I picked up Forza Motorsport 3 on the cheap at the end of an online January sale and got stuck into it, and it’s a great racing game. I’ve always like the Forza series, they seem to find a great balance between realism and fun, and 3 is no different. There are an enormous number of cars to choose from as your career progresses, and as always with Forza, an insane amount of customisation options. As well as being able to change and tweak every part of the internal workings and chassis, there are the famous aesthetics options too. The Forza car editor has no equal when it comes to custom decals and paint jobs, and the inclusion of the storefront (which enables players to buy and sell customised cars and paint jobs) means that everyone has access to them. I’ve still got a long way to go in the career mode, but it’s a gorgeous looking game and I’m so pleased they managed to keep it all running at a silky-smooth 60FPS. If you can pick it up for under thirty quid (easily done online) then do it if you’re at all into racing games.

A friend of mine has been singing the praises of the next game for months, and I finally gave in and decided to have a look at what all the fuss was about. Tatsunoko Vs Capcom is the latest in the ‘Vs’ series from Capcom, which now that I think back has been going for years, and includes some cracking games. Marvel Vs Capcom 1 & 2, SNK Vs Capcom 1, 2 and Chaos, X-Men Vs Streetfighter to name but a few, but new on the scene is Tatsunoko Vs Capcom. Tatsunoko is the Japanese cartoon house which won’t be overly familiar to most people, unless they’re old enough to remember the ‘Battle Of The Planets’ cartoons in the early 80s. In Japan it was known as Kagaku Ninja Tai Gacchaman (Science Ninja Team Gatchaman), and was a far different cartoon (violence and transgenderism being common themes), but it still provides some of the characters for the game, along with other less well-known series. Surprisingly it’s a Wii-only release, but I kinda like that, it’s a reason to use my dust-collecting console at the very least. The gameplay is excellent, proper ‘Vs’ style fighting with over the top super moves, tag play and all manner of intricacies to work out. There’s a decent roster of characters with both sides well-represented, just don’t let the fact that you may not know many of the Tatsunoko cast put you off. Capcom have covered all bases with characters ranging from the stalwarts (Ryu, Chun Li) right through to some you might not to expect to see (Frank West from Dead Rising and a giant mech from Lost Planet spring to mind). It’s well worth a buy for anyone fond of Capcom 2D fighters, but even moreso if you like the ‘Vs’ games. It’s out today, although I luckily got mine yesterday after nattering to the guys working in a local indy games shop and them telling me they were breaking the release date. I was weak, I bought it, and I’m very glad I did. You should do the same.

Tatsunoko wasn’t the only game I was surprised to be playing yesterday. Some time ago I wrote about the beta of MAG and how I enjoyed it, so much so in fact that I pre-ordered the game. Shopto had both the normal and collectors editions of the game, but I didn’t want to pay the extra five pounds for an extra outfit in the game and some themes, so I stuck with the cheaper option. The game’s released today, but Shopto being the efficient little elves they are, they got it to me yesterday (in fact the postman needed a signature, so signed it himself and wrote ’signed for it, hope that’s ok, Postie’ on it – I have a great postman!). I opened it up and found the steelbook collectors edition inside too, ideal! I didn’t want to pay extra for it, but if they’re going to give it to me for free then who am I to argue?! I’ve only had time to play one mission so far, but initial impressions are good, it feels far snappier and more inclined to hit the person I’m aiming at, rather than the lagfest the beta could be at times.

I need to get these games out of my system before April when the clocks go forward and I get my evenings out with the dog back again, and there are still a few more to come before then too.

Technorati Tags 360, capcom, Darksiders, Forza, games, MAG, PS3, shopto, Tatsunoko, Wii

We took the day off on Friday to go and have a look at the kitchen we’ve potentially chosen for the new extension. We’re pretty set on it, but I’m not about to spend three or four thousand pounds on something without having a look at it first. The kitchen in question is from Ikea, nothing special in itself there, but living in this part of the world means a trip to Ikea is a bit of a mission.

The closest store to me is in Bristol, which means if I want to go and have a look around I have to drive a 380 mile round trip, which is exactly what I did on Friday. It was my first trip to the Swedish monolith so I didn’t really know what to expect, I just had the mental image I’d built up from the tales people had told me of oddly-named, cheap furniture and utensils piled high. The reality was a lot better than I’d imagined thankfully, much more spacious and less like a big jumble sale than it could have been. The good news is the kitchen looks great; we’ve definitely made the right decision. The flooring needs a bit of re-jigging, the bamboo we had planned isn’t going to fit in properly, but overall it’s going to be perfect (not to mention a damn sight cheaper than the six thousand quoted from a local supplier). It unfortunately means another trip up there in about a month’s time with a van, which I can’t say I’m particularly looking forward to, but it will be good once it’s all done and bought. If you’re really bored and want to know what it’s going to be, I believe it’s called Solar Beech if you should find your way to the website.

Street Fighter IV is out, and if you aren’t working at this very moment in time, I’d have to ask you why you aren’t playing it instead of reading this….

When I read that it was really going to be taking the franchise back to its roots adhering more to the SFII style, I was a little worried. SFII feels very stale to me now, and I was besotted with SFIII, so the thought of ‘dumbing it down’ and losing parrying frightened me. I needn’t have worried though, Capcom have come good, and while it can feel very basic to start with, there’s still bucketloads of depth to the gameplay mechanics. At first the game looks very clunky, the new 3D graphics look a little out of place and overly chunky, and if like me you weren’t overly enamoured with the Street Fighter EX series, you could be forgiven for thinking ‘oh no, not again’. Give it one fight though and the difference couldn’t be starker. Instead of the horrid, sticky mess that was SFEX, what we’ve been given with SFIV is a smooth, fluid, joy of a game.

The first thing which has to be mentioned is the graphics as above. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, it won’t have escaped your attention that the series has made its first major foray into 3D. It was a bold step and one which initially drew a lot of criticism, but once again, as with Nintendo choosing the name ‘Wii’, the marketing and design departments have been proven right in their decision. Rather than going for a ‘realistic’ look like the Soul Caliburs and Tekkens of the fighting world, Capcom have gone for a much more cartoon-like interpretation.  The characters have muscles on their muscles, exaggerated facial expressions and everything feels like a homage to SFII. The 3D isn’t cel-shaded, but it’s not far off. Newcomers to the series or to fighting games in general won’t feel out of their depth jumping into this one, it’s very accessible and the training modes do a good job of teaching the basics and beginners combos. Those of us who were brought up on the games however will feel totally in their element. All of the returning characters have their classic moves, some with a few from the later games, and the new characters build on existing traditions in terms of special move motions.

The main new change to the fighting  system is the addition of ‘Focus Attacks’. By holding MP and MK the player begins to charge a powerful move, flashing white on each of the three stages of being charged. While charging the player develops ‘Hyper Armour’ which adds a boost to the player’s health meter in grey. The bar begins to fill with health until the player is hit again, when it stops. Each of the three stages of charging adds different attributes to the attack, but essentially the attack is powerful and crumples the enemy, allowing a free shot if you’re fast enough. The charge also blocks the first move of an attack and can be unleashed as a counter. Couple this with the return of EX attacks (standard special moves performed with two attack buttons at once, more powerful versions of special moves), a ‘Super’ meter which charges as you attack, and a new ‘Ultra’ gauge which charges as you receive damage, and you’ve got a lot of scope for tactics.

I’d urge anyone and everyone to give it a go, and if you’re a fan of fighters then I flat-out demand you get it. It’s an awesome game, the online works very well (if you can get a non-laggy connection to the other) and it packs a surprising amount of depth. There are plenty of characters to unlock, and if I had to give a negative point, it’d be Capcom introducing another *cheap* final boss in Seth. It’s not enough to degrade the game in any way though, and at less than thirty quid online you can’t go wrong. Thanks Capcom, we’ve been waiting a LONG time for a true Street Fighter sequel, and I think you’ve delivered it.

(now to find a decent stick or an adapter for my PS2 Hori one…..)

Technorati Tags capcom, Ikea, SF4, Street Fighter IV

After a nasty few days of feeling terrible, a trip to the doctor and some very careful eating, I’m just about better again. I’m very pleased about it too, I hate being ill for a start and anything to do with my inner workings is worse again. I’ve missed training for a whole week now but I’ll be back there tonight to see just how feeble I’ve become.

Work on the house continues apace, there’s now absolutely nothing left of the old half of the building. There was a big fire in the back garden last night to get right of all the old wood from the units and floors, a very square pit has been dug in the floor in preparation for the groundworks (although they still need to go down another 3-4 feet apparently!), and a shed for the workmen to store their tools in has sprung up in the front garden. My home is barely recognisable as a home any more, I just treat it as somewhere I sleep, watch a little TV and feed the animals. It’s over a week since work started now and by my reckoning if the total time they estimate it’ll take is represented by a clockface, we’re at about 1 o’clock now. Only 11 hours left to go then, ideal. Next friday we’re taking a trip away to pick out a kitchen after the extortionate quote from a local supplier.

Although I’m being exceedingly careful with my money lately (a fool and his money are soon parted, I’ve learned that much!), next Friday is my own little treat to myself. Street Fighter IV is released, oh yeah! I’ve been dying to get my hands on a decent Capcom fighter since SF3: 3rd Strike (there’s still no better fighter), and for once I’m actually really excited about a new game. Capcom have an incredible track record when it comes to 2D fighters – with a few blemishes, see what happened when Capcom USA were allowed to design characters *ahem* Super Street Fighter II anyone? – and I don’t care what anyone says, 3D rendering or not, SFIV *is* a 2D fighter. My only concern having not played the new game at all, and having avoided as much of the media for the game as possible, is how it’s going to play. I mean, I know the controls are going to be tight, but I want to see which parts of which games it’s borged. I’m hoping it plays closer to 3rd Strike than SSF2T, I prefer the level of depth.

And to finish up with for today, what about this weather?? Granted, that rhetoric only applies to me really as most of the people reading this are nowhere near me, but it’s glorious out today. It really feels like we’re turning a corner into Spring now. I’m dying for a bit of sunshine and warmth, some light evenings and most definitely – a barbecue!

p.s. Wordpress users should upgrade their installations to 2.7.1, it fixes loads of stuff and the backend has changed beyond recogition. Me likey.

Technorati Tags capcom, house renovations, ill, SFIV, wordpress upgrade