As long as there's music, I'll keep on dancing.

Bayonetta is quite simply the best action game ever made. I thought that when i first played it, i thought it when i played it a second time, and i still think it today.

God of War? Don't think so. Ninja Gaiden? Don't make me laugh. Devil May Cry? Sorry, there's a new big dog in town. Bayonetta outclasses them all in nearly every catagory. Today i will attempt to explain why.

I am an action game fanatic. From fighting games to action adventure to basic beatdown games and so on, i am obsessed with the genre. Picking them apart and judging them far more than any genre (except RPG, but thats another story.) has led me to some interesting thoughts when it comes to that style of game.

The genre is absolutely loaded with excellent games. Such as the three games mentioned already plus innumerable others, the genre is stocked to the brim with easy to hop into action games that range from the basic, fun style of gameplay that anyone can hop into (God of War) to the severely complex that only the most die hard of fans will ever truly master (Devil May Cry).

Bayonetta has done many things that alot of the genre has tried to do, but significantly better and in a complete package.

1. Serious game, but doesnt take itself seriously.

Don't let the ads fool you, Bayonetta is not just about fan-service with a busty heroine shaking her ass at every opportunity. It is a legit game with a real story and characters with their own goals and pasts associated with them. But the key thing to note here is despite the story and plot elements, the game never gets too serious or tries too hard. The characters have great personalities with plenty of quirks and humor to keep the game from getting stale like many action games who throw in a useless plot just to have one. Bayonetta is witty, charming, and has a great flair that makes you smile as she tongue lashes those who get in her path.

2. Absurd world scale

This isnt unique to just Bayonetta, but Bayonetta definately does it the best. The plot involves fighting titanic angels and gods and massive tanks and such. But forget gimmicks or other cliche ways to interact, it puts you right in the thick of it. Running along their arms and legs is commonplace as you attempt to fell the behemoths in any method you possibly can. Massive towers seemingly miles tall, time and gravity control add in unique twists and plot fun that most games just dont explore, or dont incorporate quite like this game does.

3. Every weapon and item is useful.

My absolute biggest complaint about action games is there is almost always a go-to item or weapon that simply outclasses the others and the thought of using the other items simply isnt pleasing. For example, in God of War the blades of chaos are basically universally used in the series. you get plenty of other options but none are on the same level as the blades. I understand theres plot involved in the weapon, but it begs the question why give other options at all if they dont match up. In Bayonetta you have the interesting addition of having weapons on your feet as well as your hands, which creates interesting combinations and lets you play her how you want. The best part? Every weapon is good, useful, and is never obsolete. The starting pistols are absolutely useful the entire game. All the trinkets and random items you get are good, everything works and is fun to use.

4. Total Character Control

Bayonetta is one of the most well animated easiest to play action games ive ever seen. The animations are fluid, the controls are tight, and you never feel like you have to work to get her to do what you want. If you get hit, its your fault. If your combo whiffs, its your fault. Each weapon is powerful, responsive, and easy to use. However don't let this fool you, the game is incredibly complex and you can do some truly amazing things with the options given to you. Even better, the game punishes button spamming by assigning transformation toggles to pressing the same button twice rapidly, which will immediately interrupt your combo or foil any plans of doing well in a fight. Precision is rewarded and encouraged by giving you a "bullet time" effect for a couple seconds every time you perfectly dodge an attack. But spam the dodge button and you turn into a panther, making you sure to be hit. Its set up perfectly and feels "right".

5. Perfect Difficulty

My absolute biggest gripe with action games and indeed games of all types is the rather absurd level of difficulty they are throwing at us these days. I constantly hear myself using the term "Nintendo Hard" which basically means theres way too much trial and error and very little actual strategy or challenge involved. This applies to nearly every game on the market, especially in this genre. Ninja Gaiden and Demon's Souls really break this one wide open and utilize Nintendo hard to the fullest. Some people love Nintendo hard, others like myself utterly despise it. I much prefer a game that makes it challenging. not too difficult, not too easy. You might die a couple times, it might take you a few attempts to figure out what to do, but its never unfair and you never feel like you cant win. Bayonetta follows that mentality to a T. The solution might not always be obvious, but it never feels like the game wants you to lose.

6. Just Plain Fun

The thing Bayonetta does best, is it is simply fun. Playing it is perpetually fun and the action and story is continuously varied and fresh. You never backtrack through the same levels (artificial lengthening is very common in the action genre) the combat is always fun and never repetitive, the enemies continue to be different all the way through the game, and theres enough tricks with time and gravity to make the game just flat out enjoyable. The game is never frustrating, never dull, and continues to be enjoyable through to the very end.

Bayonetta thankfully got the recognition it deserves and had numerous game of the year nominations on all the gaming fronts and it was critically and financially acclaimed. I truly hope other developers use it as an example for future games. It is fun, charming, and is thoroughly polished and well made. It is the best action game ever made.

While it's not about video games.....

When the media finds reasons to blame video games for either physical or social problems, I have to laugh.

Example: Woman plays game for a twenty-four hour period of time straight, baby dies, must be the games fault.

Example: Boy fails school subject, parents confiscate xbox 360, boy kills parents to get xbox back, must be the games fault.

Situations like this seem to crop up all too often, and while it is regrettable that things like this happen, I don't understand why the blame constantly seems to be pushed onto the game. The game doesn't force you to play it. It doesn't force you to do anything. I can understand being addicted to games, trust me. I can give an example of what some may consider neglect in my very own life. I used to be hopelessly addicted to Diablo 2. I used to play it nightly, and I NEEDED to play. I was in charge of my oldest son while my wife worked a night job and that was prime D2 time. I used to make what I called a "doggy bed" by my computer chair so my oldest son would have somewhere to sleep closeby while I D2'd it up. Not exactly model parent of the year award material. I made the choice to do that, in some ways I regret even playing D2 because of the amount of time that game sucked out of my life, but it always comes back to me making the choice to do so, the game never made me type in my password.

What do you people think?

Won't someone please think of the children

This may be old news, but whatever. A recent commercial featuring Call of Duty: Black ops entitled "There's A Soldier In All of Us" Link Here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pblj3JHF-Jo has been making a splash with a few different columnists out there. Seems a few over at ESPN have gotten excited about the fact that Kobe Bryant is in this one minute long plug for the latest COD shooter. LINK HERE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59XgWDTi7mI Their claims are that it's not the image he should be putting out there as a role model for children to look up to.

Games are a media outlet, just like newspapers, magazines, and movies. Political, religious, controversial, and any other faction of life can and will be explored and exploited. There are plenty of video games with a message in them, all of them if you REALLY want to stretch and look. I can see the ESPN folks' point, KB is a role model that I'm sure plenty of kids look up to and idolize, however, I'm struggling to see why he is in the wrong for appearing in this particular commercial. First of all, it is after all, a video game. If you are a parent that is opposed to your child seeing this commercial or playing this game, then it is your responsibility to prevent it. Secondly, as a celebrity, he is going to be presented with paid opportunities for product promotion. It's just the simple fact of fame. Why shouldn't he take them up on the offer if the product is something he feels he could promote? Lastly, and I'm sure there are more reasons, but I'm lazy, perhaps KB actually plays that game and felt personally attached to it. Would the ESPN commentators feel the same way if he appeared in a cat food commercial if he were a giant cat lover? I doubt it.

On a side note:

I don't even know where to begin. I just can't imagine this is what they had in mind when they decided that motion control was a good thing. My brother, out of hatred, anger, or just bastardly behavior, linked this to me via IM this week.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9klfQMM-D9A

This is the reality behind motion control people.

Great Expectations?

So as many of you know, Gran Turismo 5 released recently. This racing sim has been anticipated by many for a number of years. The hypetrain was running full force and of course this game had a critical eye trained on it immediately after it was announced.

I picked up my copy day one. Once placed into the drive, there was a patch, then an install (optional), I chose to install the patch as it stated it would make the load times much less if I did. After that I was able to play the game. First impressions, it is beautiful, realistic feel, and fun. I did have a few gripes. First the menu navigation is slow, and having to back out of everything gets old, however, once used to this, it stopped bothering me. Second, the load times, still JUST SO SLOW even after the 8gig install. No idea why this is, but it is. Of course that's just one persons opinion, and I hadn't really been following the reviews of this game as I had planned to purchase it regardless of score. After playing it a few days and enjoying myself, I decided to go online and see what everyone else thought about it.

Holy crap is this game ever getting torn apart by the critics and the eknow-it-alls. Everyone has something to say about this game, and by some of the media outlets, a lot of it is not good. I wonder if they are even playing the same game at times, as it's getting ripped up about things that I thought were actually fairly fun or looked just fine. Banged on for the graphics, sure it has its flaws and sometimes you wonder why they even put the people that stand along the side of the road cheering you on in the game to begin with (they look like shit if you stop and look at them, graphically that is) and some of the cars are obviously not polished, but those aren't cars you will want to drive anyway, they are step-stone cars, used once maybe twice and tossed aside for an upgrade. Maybe I'm being too easy on this game just because I was excited for it and therefore I turn my head the other direction, but I'm having a damn good time with it so.....

I'm getting to the point where I just don't know if I can even trust the reviews and the journalists that follow the gaming industry. They are super critical of some titles, and then other titles the failures are just put aside and forgotten in the review. I suppose a review just boils down to a matter of opinion in the end, and therefore should be taken as such, but I believe many people put a true value to the number assigned by these journalist and they end up passing on some really great titles because of it. Sad really.

Stupid things done in video games, part 1

When I first got my hands on the NES version of Dragon Warrior, I played that game to the full extent. I maxed out the gold that my character could carry, I fully leveled him up, and I did all the quests that were needed to be done.

One quest that you'd encountered towards the beginning of the game was rescuing the princess of Tantegel Castle. She was imprisioned in a cave to the east, guarded by a dragon. Rescuing her meant you got to carry her back to the castle, have her fall in love with you, and receive an item called Gwaelin's Love. When playing Dragon Warrior for the first time, this was an important piece of equipment. It would tell you what your current experience level was and how far away you were from leveling. It would also tell you your distance from the castle in terms of steps north, south, east or west. This was important for finding several items.

I played the shit out of this game, and several years ago, I got a brilliant idea. I knew where most of the items were, and if I got stumped, the internet was only a few clicks away. Why did I need to burden myself with some whiny broad that doesn't put out for me at all within the game and get a relatively useless piece of equipment that I'd no longer need?

The challenge was set. I would finish the game without rescuing the princess, leaving her to rot in her dungeon. Of course, I'd kill the dragon outside her cell; added experience points and gold were always a bonus. But I wouldn't unlock the door, I wouldn't talk to the princess, I wouldn't carry her home, and I definitely wouldn't get some lameass trinket that would remind me that no matter what happened, she loved me because I was the only guy in the country that could kill a fucking dragon and unlock the door.

As of now, the challenge sits uncompleted. I no longer have an NES as my mother demanded that when she filed for divorce. I may end up having to make myself a purchase of the Retro Duo NES/SNES Game System just so I can complete this. Either that, or find my Game Boy Color copy of Dragon Warrior 1&2 and run the challenge on that.

We are Legion

Yeah, I did it. I bought Call of Duty: Black Ops. Joined the legion of players doing the COD thing, it really is the hip thing to do. I really purchased this game for one reason, and that's the zombie survival mode. Had a friend not introduced me to this mode, I would have never purchased this game. It was never really on my radar as the online component is really what most people buy this game for, and the style of play; run in, spray and pray, die, respawn, and do it all over again, style of play has never really been my thing. Don't get me wrong, I love me a good shooter. I dryhumped the crap out of MAG, and before that Killzone 2 and Gears of War were in my drives for months. I have just avoided COD games due to the style of online play. Zombie mode is great for me, as it can either last a long time; if you're working together as a team and are a reasonably good shot, or it can be over in just a few short minutes.

Of course, I wouldn't be posting if I didn't have a slight problem now would I. I finally got pulled into the REAL online play of this game last weekend. You see, I have a few on my friends list who get sick of killing npc zombies over and over again, and wanted to do some of the “real” online. I went along with it, thinking it wasn't what I had always thought it was. It was. I can't even begin to tell you how closely it matched my expectations. Between people quitting to save their K/D ratio or stats, and hosts leaving the game, which by the way, is such an utter pain in the ass that alone would frustrate you since if the host leaves, its a sixty second wait for a new host to be selected. The “real online” is exactly as I expected, twitchfest central. Not my cup of tea,but it seems to be quite popular, and I've heard some really hilarious conversations (read COD fights) while playing. Price of entry was worth it for the zombies, but don't expect anything above and beyond for online play, its just not there. The conversation is fun though.

On a side note, this article popped up http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=277520 and it made me chuckle. There are people starting a petition for a refund of the PS3 version of Call of Duty: Black Ops due to it lacking in many areas. The refund will never happen, of course, and these consumers would be better off petitioning Sony to get one of their first party studios to make an exclusive shooter..... OH WAIT!!!!!!! HAHA

Bottomline is, I hopped on the COD bandwagon, and I don't regret my purchase, it's a fun game that I'll get my money out of, but the online is not without its (many) flaws.....

-BroodFather

The growth of a backlog

How familiar are you with this scenario? It's Christmas morning, and your ten year old self is running over to the Christmas tree to see what wonderful gifts you've gotten. You rip open your gifts to find that you've gotten a number of video games. You shriek in utter joy, run over to your console and pop one in to start playing it. After a bit, you pop in another one, and another, and another. After doing this for part of the morning, you settle on one game, and play that through to completion over the next few days/weeks/months. Then you start the second one and do the same. By the time the third one is started, it's your birthday and you receive more games. You're still working your way through the last two games you got for Christmas, but now you've got several more that you need to conquer, and by the time you get through them, it'll be past Christmas and you'll have even more games to play and finish.

As a kid, I ran into that problem. It didn't happen so much with the Atari 2600 as most of those games really weren't much for story and didn't have a definite end, but once the NES came out, we started seeing games that rewarded the gamers with an ending and made spending all that time playing worthwhile. As it stands, I still have several NES games that I've yet to finish, but none of them have gone unplayed.

This all changed when I reached adulthood. With stores going ahead and selling used games, I was able to go ahead and get some of those games I'd always wanted when I was younger. My SNES collection grew quite a bit, and because of this I'd started finding myself with games that were going with only a few hours spent on them before I'd get a new game that would distract me.

After that came my N64, the PSX, the GCN, the GBA, the PS2, the PSP, the DS, the Wii, and finally the Xbox 360. I noticed I had more and more games that I'd wanted to play, but less and less time as responsibilities grew. What made it even more challenging was with several games, data carried over from the first in the series over to the second, then the third (I'm looking at you, Suikoden series), and you wanted to make sure that you got all the items and characters in the first so you could kick some major ass in the following games. This all took a lot of time, which also meant that your game library went neglected for a bit as you were concentrating on this one game. But did that mean your library didn't grow? Oh no. That new Final Fantasy game came out, and you definitely needed that. And shortly after that? Oh man, you needed to get your hands on Soul Reaver. What's that? A new console? Let's go stand in line at midnight to get our hands on that!

It's a never ending battle, to be perfectly honest. I've got a number of games that I've yet to play just because they're part of some series, and I need to finish the preceding games in order to have the story make sense (the Legacy of Kain/Soul Reaver series, the Golden Sun series, the Suikoden series, Baten Kaitos and it's prequel, the Metroid Prime series, the Mass Effect games, and so on). Or I picked them up as part of a package deal and have yet to dedicate some time to them.

But is this truly a problem? Strangely enough, I really don't think it is. While I do have this ginormous backlog of games, it gives me the variety and change that could be needed to liven up my gaming activities after getting weary of the current game-of-choice.