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Posts Tagged ‘sonic

Jul

Scott Pilgrim Vs The World:The Comics, The Movie and The Game

Categories: Game News and Gaming Musings
Tags: Mario, Movies, PlayStation Network, Scott Pilgrim, Scott Pilgrim Vs The World, sonic, Ubisoft, Xbox Live Arcade

I have been a massive fan of comic books ever sence I layed my hands on my very own copy of the collector’s edition of Spawn Creation. Ok so I was a late comic book reader, kind of favouring the graphic novel side of things more than the marvel comic books. But then I got into Manga and that kind of changed. If you walk into my flat you will see half a shelf engulfed with manga books and graphic novels.

Recently I have been reading the Scott Pilgrim series of Comic books, and believe me when I say that these are beyond awesome. In a nut shell the books are about a 23-year-old guy called Scott who finds the girl of his dreams (literally) and then has to fight her 7 evil Ex’s in order to date her. Sounds pretty cool, but if you thrown in a load of video game references you are in for a total geek fest. I am only on volume 4 of 6 and I love it.

Continue reading ‘Scott Pilgrim Vs The World:The Comics, The Movie and The Game’

Mar

Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing

By Leon Leave a Comment

Categories: Review
Tags: all-stars racing, mario kart, ps3, sega, sonic, wii, Xbox 360

As many people will agree, Sonic games have been on a steady decline since they left the 2D roots – although I enjoyed Sonic Adventure, the games have seemingly gotten ever worse with SEGA trying everything they could to make him work on a 3D plane, and with each failed effort moving ever closer to his retirement. The latest installment, Sonic Unleashed, had me cringing at cheesy voices and boring gameplay, with some semi-enjoyable running scenes and a heck of a lot of awful “Were-hog” parts that separated the fun parts with some long, really boring rubbish. I quit the game soon enough, and finally accepted that Sonic was well overdue on his retirement, and had strayed too far.

However, I recently got hold of the demo of Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing. I don’t know why I did – I mean, I’m not a huge fan of racing games or 3D Sonic, so it didn’t have a lot going for it. Perhaps I was bored. Anyway – the single race the demo offered made me want to try a little more, being surprisingly decent and bursting with colour.

Come release day, I decided I’d buy it and give it a real shot – heck, I hadn’t bought a racing game since Mario Kart Wii, and I felt like picking up something casual to play between Heavy Rain and Final Fantasy XIII.

As Garv said in his demo review, S&SASR plays almost exactly like Mario Kart – with fast paced multiplayer kart-style racing set in colourful environments, with weapons, jumps and turbo pads. Almost everything feels like Mario Kart – but is this a bad thing? I don’t think so.

Thing is, I think Mario Kart is a real solid racer, especially good for casual fun with friends and equally good fun solo. However, since I’ve never been a fan of Mario, the cast was never something I really enjoyed – I picked my characters for their attributes since none of the characters appeal to me for who they were. So what have we got? Take the Mario Kart system and change all the levels and characters to that of Sonic and other SEGA titles – and pretty much what S&SASR is on a basic level. And that’s the end of the Mario Kart comparison (mostly) how does the game stand as a title of its own?

The cars in the game aren’t Karts, rather they’re vehicles specific to each character – Sonic drives a personalised blue sports car, Eggman (or Robotnik as he should be known) drives his traditional Egg Mobile kitted out with some monster-truck wheels, and Billy Hatcher drives an egg-styled car. Some characters, such as Ulala and Tails, have vehicles that don’t even have wheels, but they all play evenly and balanced - though they have different stats with some characters with better acceleration, while others are better at manoeuvering or have better turbo boosts. There are 20 characters in total (plus one or two extra depending on console), with racers from wide range of source games both old and new.

The game offers 24 tracks in total, which are separated into 6 Grand Prix’s for the main solo mode. There are eight main level themes including Sonic “grassland/beach” style, Sonic “Casino” style, Billy Hatcher themed courses, House of the Dead and Samba De Amigo themes. Each of these themes has three courses, but they’re all individual in their own right – such as the HotD stages which include an outdoor course, a sewer run and an indoor/rooftop course. There’s a good mix of different arenas, from the snowy Icicle Valley (of the Billy Hatcher set), the psychedelic Samba De Amigo stages, and the urban Shibuya Downtown city course (as one of three Jet-Set Radio courses). The selection is quite vast, and it feels as though it encompasses a wide range of different areas and elements.

As you progress through the game, you earn “Sega Miles” which act as credits to unlock new characters (since only some are available to start), courses to play in the modes outside of Grand Prix, and alternate music tracks which can be selected to play when you race. Unlocking new characters is always good, and the other items feel worth unlocking rather than just garbage gallery content, too. Each character only has one car each, which at first disappointed me – until I realised that they all have their own unique vehicles, unlike the Mario Kart’s simple Light, Medium or Heavy class Karts – and all of their unique vehicles are actually well modelled and often intricate, which is quite impressive really.

As with a certain Kart game I’m no longer mentioning, the game has a variety of weapons, obtained from pickups around the course. There’s a good selection of weapons such as homing missiles, proximity mines, nitro shoes, and disorienting abilities such as the “Confusing Star” which flips the target’s screen upside down, and the “Pocket Rainbow” which temporarily obscures the vision of whoever is unlucky enough to hit it. There’s a decent selection, and they don’t feel too overpowered, either. There is one super-weapon, though – the All-Star move. Each character has a specific attack that they can access at random, usually when toward the back of the pack, and it gives them a temporary but huge advantage – such as driving at super speed for a while, or being able to fire barrages of missiles at anyone who gets in their way. The moves are really fun, and it’s quite exciting to see what each character does – Sonic turns into Super Sonic and speeds up the road, while Billy Hatcher runs on a giant egg and crushes anyone he rolls over. Although the moves are powerful and can make a big difference, they don’t feel overpowered so in the end skill is the main deciding factor to who wins the race rather than chance - it just gives a bit of extra fun and a helping hand to whoever falls behind.

The game has a decent challenge to it - the Beginner mode is easy enough that a skilled player should be able to win 99% of the time. However, once you progress to the Advanced level, the AI really ups it’s game and it’s a lot more challenging to pull out ahead of the pack. I have yet to attempt Expert, but I can safely say it will definitely need some skill to master – it’s required to learn how to drift and score extra turbo boosts if you want to keep up with the AI on the later levels, since they’ll be making use of it all the time.

The game has a solid base to it with a good cast and a decent selection of tracks, but one thing that does make it shine is the inclusion of optional extras. The time trial mode is included as with most racers, and allows you to race against the leaderboards, yourself, and also a Staff Ghost to give yourself a sort of par to set yourself to. One of the bigger modes is Mission Mode, which gives an assortment of different challenges with set rules, such as winning one-on-one race as Tails against Sonic, collecting rings and chaos emeralds down a course within a time limit as Eggman, or crushing as many birds as you can using Billy Hatcher’s special. This mode really adds some extra enjoyment, feeling like a real full mode rather than simply filler material, giving the game some extra depth.

Obviously with a game like this, Multiplayer is a big factor - and it goes just as well as it should. Offering up to four-player local split-screen, the game allows you to play all the courses against your friends, and also allows you to toggle weapons and AI opponents to tailor the matches to your needs. Sadly there’s no “multiplayer Grand Prix” mode, but the game does keep track of who wins each game so all that’s really missing is an end-of-set award ceremony of sorts.

Of course with today’s standards online modes are included, allowing for 8-player matches. This is great for playing against friends, and is also fun in random matchups, although I must say the lobby system might need some tweaking – I found myself waiting for over 15 minutes to get into a session before, but this may just be early-release kinks that will be fixed when there are more people playing. Still, when it works, its great fun and you can keep playing so long as there are people left in the lobby after each race.

Although the game is available on all three major consoles, I personally went with the Xbox 360 version which is arguably the best, with the most characters. The 360 version includes Banjo-Kazooie as an extra character, alongside the ability to play as your Xbox Live Avatar – which works really well given the game’s graphical style. The Wii version includes Mii capability, and the PS3 has no extras (no idea why it got the short end of the straw).

The game is solid, and although it’s almost impossible not to compare it to Mario Kart it seems to be using the ideas to great potential rather than simply making a sub-par clone. The game is bright and exciting, and is really good fun with lots to do. Personally, I think that the courses, racers and modes elevate the game to a level even more enjoyable than Mario Kart, but then I am a little biased. Let’s just say, I own both – and I know which one I’ll be sticking to in future.

Although the game is fleshed out and definitely doesn’t feel lacking, it’s been said that DLC is also a possibility in the future – if the coming year finds us having access to an even wider selection of racers and courses to expand the game even further, this could easily be one of the best kart-style racers ever made. With Sonic 4 on the way, perhaps Sonic’s got something more to give us yet.

-Leon

Feb

Is Sonic & Sega All Stars Racing Any Threat To The Competition?

By Garvaos 1 Comment

Categories: Preview and Review
Tags: mario kart, racing, sega, Sega & Sonic All Stars Racing, sonic

The first time I even heard the name Sonic & Sega All Stars Racing, I could not help but think Mario Kart clone. With a load characters from Sega’s past, present and future thrown into a wacky races style racing game – with weapons, question mark boxes and brightly coloured crazy race tracks, you can’t help but think Sega have definitely sped down the same route as their long-term rivals, who have made Mario Kart games since their first release back on the Super Nintendo entertainment System in 1992.

I have now made it abundantly clear that Sonic & Sega All Stars Racing (Or S&SASR as I am now going to call it to save my fingers) is a lot like Mario Kart, so lets leave this fact aside now and look at this game as a separate title.

Right from the get go the demo gives you a choice of two characters to race as, our good friend sonic and the Xbox Exclusive character Banjo & Kazooie. As this is only a demo you can only play a single race or a 2 player split screen single race; as there was no one to play with at this given time, I went for the single race, and I of course chose Sonic first - I have grown up with the blue needlemouse so I thought it would be rude not to.

As with all racing games you start right at the back of the group as the 3 second count down starts, it is then your job drive round the circuit in a three lap race trying to get over the finish line first. It’s the racing game standard that has not been changed for decades. However, in S&SASR you are have the opportunity to drive into question mark boxes which in turn give you either a power up or a weapon to use to your advantage. So you could get a considerable advantage over your racing opponents if you use these power ups tactically. Now from previous Mario Kart experience i had some knowledge of what the weapons did, as they were quite similar. But as I played through the race countless amounts of times I noticed that this game really bring in a challenge, even on beginner mode I struggled to get first place, which brings a smile to my face. I love a challenge. Mind you the countless amounts of times I did get into 8th place gave me an advantage, if you are lucky enough to hit a question mark box while trailing behind the other racers, who will get your all-star special item. Each of these is a unique power that each racer has to get back into the race. Sonic for example has all the chaos emeralds at his disposal and turns into super sonic, giving him a huge boost in speed which you can increase by repeatedly pressing A. One of my favorites though has to be Amigo’s from Samba De Amigo. He unleashed his special just as he was passing me, he got a boost in speed and then drew all of his opponents into a huge conga line. All the racers were dancing behind him, and as soon as his power ran out, the other racers exploded….Awesome.

While you are racing around your circuit, you will come across jumps, these jumps can again be used to you advantage, as you take to the air start mashing the left trigger to pull off an array of aerial tricks. If you manage to land on all four wheels you will immediately get a boost in speed, the more tricks you pull off, the more boost you will get when you land, meaning if you have a heart of a daredevil you will take some comfort in this small game mechanic.

As you can well imagine with the cast of crazy characters and a whole variety of ludicrous weaponry and power ups, thew circuits themselves aren’t going to be on the plane mundane side, even though the demo only offers you one circuit, there is a chance to take a sneak peek at what will be available track wise, in the full game, you got tracks inspired by the sonic games which will have a lot of loop the loops and helix turns. You also have tracks inspired by house of the dead, samba de amigo and super monkey ball just to name a few. So you can expect a whole variety of whack and wonderful tracks to race around when the game comes out on full release.

From what I have played and seen of S&SASR I will be defiantly keeping my eye on it, it looks to me that a lot of thought has gone into the characters for this game. I mean you would never think a monkey in a marble from super monkey ball being pitted against some hard-core fist fighters from virtua fighter in a race would ever work but it strangely does. A lot of imagination has gone into this game and I think it is a worthy competitor for Mario Karts throne.

Garv

Nov

Is it the end of 2D gaming?

By Leon Leave a Comment

Categories: Article
Tags: 2D, Castlevania, gunstar heroes, megaman, Metroid, project needlemouse, sonic

Like many gamers of the current generation, I grew up playing games on the earlier consoles such as the Sega Mega Drive and the Super Nintendo. Those were the days that really got me hooked on gaming, and the vast majority of them were 2D, often platformers - such as Sonic, Mario, Megaman, Metroid, Castlevania, Strider or Gunstar Heroes. Although many of these games still have incarnations nowadays, things have changed.

Losing their 2D roots, most of these have converted to 3D formats – Sonic and Castlevania opting for third-person perspectives, Metroid’s Prime series turning it into a first-person perspective, and others doing a mix of different styles, with the occasional 3D-graphic platformer such as Megaman X7 or Super Mario Bros Wii. Even Street Fighter has stripped itself of it’s 2D past, opting for a 3D look. However, as I play the GBA version of Megaman & Bass on my DS, I mourn that the day of the 2D game has come to an end.

super-metroid1

As the DSi loses its GBA functionality, and strips the console of the majority of its 2D gaming, the 2D genre consists mainly of nothing but the odd flash game or downloadable arcade title on the major consoles. With the focus turned toward polygons and realism, it seems the platformer genre itself is endangered, the FPS and third-person 3D titles taking the lead roles in gaming today. However, do people really not care about 2D gaming any more? Is the love for Sonic based solely on nostalgia and a few fans of the mediocre 3D titles?

I don’t really think so. However, seeing as FPS and third person titles do well, I believe that producers see the good sales and decide to continue churning out more of them – however, with no real focus, the platformer seems all but forgotten. Yet, those old Sonic games still sell when they are released for download, since people still enjoy them to this day. Megaman 9, which was a brand new title created with the old NES style released for download last year was accepted with open arms, the fans ever there to accept the 2D game, if only they are still created. True, I would have preferred to see a Megaman game in the vein of the SNES incarnations, but it still shows that people are still interested in the genre.

megaman

The game producers do know this, though – with countless Sonic collections being released on all consoles, Castlevania titles for download on Xbox Live, PSN and Wiiware, among a whole horde of other retro games, the fans have proven that they still love these games, yet they don’t seem to think creating new titles in the same vein is a good idea. Why? The first Sonic games continue to sell well to this day, while 3D titles such as Sonic the Hedgehog 2006 and Sonic Unleashed score pitifully in reviews, receiving marks that average around the 40% mark. However, suggest to people that 2D gaming should return and many are hostile, telling me that it’s not good enough for today’s gaming market. I don’t believe a word.

sonic&knuckles

It really is a shame, since retreating back into my 2D days I realise that there is a large void in my gaming life that has been left unsatisfied for all too long – I mean sure, there’s been the odd DS Castlevania game, and the rare title such as Braid, but it really feels as though there’s not been a single title recently given the pure love and attention of the designers of games such as Metroid and ‘vania.

Even today, going back to such titles I can’t help but admire the quality – aside from the odd blocky part it’s obvious that the creators cared about their titles, the use of colour and imagination flourishing into something artistic – and even today I believe they look and play brilliantly, Sonic still feeling as responsive as ever – looking back at some of my PS1 titles, I hardly feel the same.

castlevania

Fans of Castlevania will know all too well of Symphony of the Night, with its vast castle and numerous enemies, many rooms offering unique artwork – paintings, environments, huge demons, all drawn by skilled artists. As we turn to polygons I can only feel that manufacturers are sticking with the easier, less risky 3D genre – now, thats not to say that I don’t appreciate 3D games, the realism can be immersive, but I believe theres a place for everything. I mean, people didn’t stop painting pictures when the sculpture was invented, did they?

As today’s technology grows and improves all of the time, I can only dare to dream what kind of games could be produced with the right minds and skilled creators – I believe that a game like Castlevania: Symphony of the Night with clean, HD graphics and a castle many times bigger could really impress people – in the past, the limitations were not the skill of the creators, rather the limitations of the console itself. Now, the bar raised ever higher, just imagine what those people could do today, given the chance. No more pixellation, or blocky animations, just pure HD quality shine.

gunstar

As much as I do dream to see the day when they create a new home console 2D platformer, I only feel like an old fool that dreams of days gone by, the new generation making its mark and taking things in its own direction. But I will continue to dream, and maybe, one day, I’ll see what I’m waiting for. Project Needlemouse (the new 2D Sonic game in the making) could be something to please me, but I’m expecting it will be a 3D game with 2D gameplay, rather than going back to pure 2D glory. Nevertheless, I can only hope that it will pave the way for creators to realise that the days of the 2D gamer have not yet come to an end.

-Leon

Sep

Project Needlemouse: The Savior of Sonic the Hedgehog?

By Leon Leave a Comment

Categories: Game News
Tags: needlemouse, project, sega, sonic

needlemouse

As with many people my age (early 20’s), one of the games I grew up with was Sonic the Hedgehog. The favourite game of all in my Sega Megadrive collection, Sonic was always a game that was a joy to play, and everything about it was just done so right – the fluid controls, the beautiful environments and the challenging – yet fun – gameplay. As a child I could at first not even progress further than Chemical Plant Zone in Sonic 2, yet something always brought me back. As I got older, next came Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles which were just as enjoyable and again captured my imagination and love for video games.

However, more recently, Sonic succumbed to what many series’ had done as time progressed; it went 3D. Starting with Sonic 3D on the Sega Megadrive, and then evolving into Sonic Adventure on the Sega Dreamcast, Sonic became a new game altogether. Although the games did introduce a few nice features that I liked, such as Shadow the Hedgehog and some special moves such as the homing attack, Sonic lost something in this transformation, and like a genetic flaw it passed to its children, leaving us now with the newer titles such as Sonic & The Black knight, and Sonic Unleashed.

One of the biggest problems with this transformation was the use of Sonic’s speed – no longer was the game about simple platforming and momentum, now a 3D setting found Sonic difficult to control and no longer fun to play. More recently I found myself playing Sonic Unleashed, and after some terribly-voiced dialogue and a semi-decent running section, I almost cried in horror as I played through some awful 3rd person fighting in a sort of half-baked God of War style – albeit without the fun aspects.

It was at that point that I finally admitted that Sonic had been lost to us, his finesse and awesomeness lost to mediocre gaming carrying the title of something that was once great. However, something I heard recently has caught my attention, and I secretly think that there may be a ray of hope for the blue hedgehog yet.

An all new Sonic title, codenamed Project Needlemouse is currently under development by Sega. But this isn’t just another 3D title, oh no. It’s apparently going to be a fully HD, 2D sidescrolling title. Apparently using an engine built from the ground up, the game will return to its original roots and play in a way more similar to the old series than any of the more recent titles. Currently there is no actual footage, so we can’t say whether the graphical style will or will not be returning to a more 2D design – but the gameplay sounds like Sega could finally be doing Sonic justice.

Project Needlemouse is due in 2010, although a more precise date has yet to be revealed – and which consoles it is being produced for is also a mystery. See the short trailer below for the little info currently available; we’ll let you know as soon as we hear anything more.

Project Needlemouse

Aug

SEGA Mega Drive Ultimate Collection

By plusxp 1 Comment

Categories: Article and Review
Tags: comix zone, sega, sonic, streets of rage

Sega

Whilst waiting for all those games on the horizon I stumbled across the Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection which instantly took me back to my childhood. I grew up in what we call the ‘console wars’ today, the great 16-bit battle between the Sega Mega Drive and the Super Nintendo and playing both I felt I had some input here. The Sega Mega Drive was released in Japan in 1988, North America in 1989 and Europe in 1990. When the console was released in North America Sega couldn’t get legal use of the Mega Drive name and renamed it the Genesis. The Sega Mega Drivewas the most popular console of its generation and even outsold its rival competitor the SNES selling 29 million units worldwide. Later the Mega Drive II was released which was a smarter version of the Sega and the European version had Sega’s very first mascot Alex Kidd built in.

The collection contains the classic essentials as well as a few classic series such as golden axe 1-3, the likes of streets of rage 1-3 and not forgetting Sega’s mascot which lives on today, Sonic the hedgehog. There are seven Sonic titles in total including Sonic and Knuckles but sadly you can’t play the Sonic 2 and 3 combination games like you could by slotting them into the Sonic and Knuckles cartridge. I read in a few places that if this was the case there wouldn’t havebeen so many titles on the ultimate collection.

The game features titles released over the consoles life from the early games such as Altered Beast and Golden Axe to the later games such as Sonic 3 and Shinobi 3. The game consists of 49 games in total with 40 playable from the start and the others unlocked as you progress through the game. Playing these games again made me realise how much harder gaming used to be and how we’ve grown soft in our old age (22), but the game does offer some nice features such as the ability to save progress to the Xbox hard drive, any game and anywhere in the game, so there’s no need to fear those nasty bosses or those skin of the teeth jumps! You can access the menu any point during the game by pressing the back button which is a nice touch so you’re completely in control at any point. The game also features a rendering option to smooth out and slightly updates the graphics although I find this takes away some of the detail, and these games should be played in all their original glory. The ultimate collection features a simple rating system so when scrolling up and down through the games you can simply press left or right and give the game a rating from one to five which I thought was a nice touch.

This title gives gamers of all generations the chance to either re-live their past or experience the forefathers of gaming and appreciate what we have today. Some titles feature a nice co-op mode such as the Streets of Rage series and the Golden Axe series to name a few. The Streets of Rage series has always been a favourite of mine; the only downside is we still have the European versions which means in Streets of Rage 3 we miss out on a extra boss/playable character and we don’t have the characters original colours - but the game itself still stands as a classic fighter. We also have the Golden Axe series which includes the rare Golden Axe 3

The Sega ultimate collection also features unlockables, such as other Sega classics, interviews with some of the Sega team and also earlier arcade and Sega Master System versions of some of the games from the original roster. The interviews are in japanese with english subtitles and give an insight to what its like working for Sega and bit more of an insight to some of the games. There are 9 games in total to unlock - Alien Syndrome, Altered Beast, Shinobi, Phantasy Star 1, Tip Top, Space Harrier, Golden Axe Warrior, Fantasy Zone and Zaxoon. They are simply unlocked by playing through the games and earning various achievements which aren’t too hard to pick up and quite enjoyable.

Here is a list of the contents of Segas Ultimate Collection:

Streets of rage 1-3
Golden axe 1-3
Sonic 1-3
Sonic Spinball
Sonic and Knuckles
Dr Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine
Sonic 3D
Comix Zone
Alex Kidd
Alien Storm
Altered Beast
Bonanza Bros
Columns
Decap Attack
Dynamite Headdy
E-swat
Ecco the Dolphin 1-2
Fatal Labyrinth
Flicky
Gain Ground
Kid Chameleon
Phantasy Star 2-4
Ristar
Shining Force 1-2
Shining in the Darkness
Shinobi 3

Streets of Rage 3

The Streets of Rage series is about the evil Mr X who has taken over the city with his evil crime organization. His vicious syndicate has the president and even the police force under their control and it’s up to Axel and co, who are ex police officers to clean up the streets and put an end to Mr X once and for all. Mr X somehow finds ways back through the series but Axel and friends are never far away. There are new characters in each game and they just get better and better. Streets of rage 3 is my fave boasting more moves, characters and better visuals.

Sonic 2

Sonic the Hedgehog is Sega’s biggest hero and involves him and his sidekick Tails saving the day from the evil Dr Robotnik. Sonic 2 and 3 offer co-op play allowing an extra person to play as Tails to aid you in your quest through hills, volcanic mountains, over ice caps and into space to put an end to Robotnik’s madness. My youth came straight back after playing these games and I couldn’t put Sonic down like I couldn’t fifteen years ago. I’m a huge fan of the series and own nearly all the original cartridges as part of my collection, my most prized being the Sonic and Knuckles cartridge.

Comix Zone

Comix Zone is one of Sega’s most impressive titles, playing the role of Sketch Turner, a comic book artist who gets sucked into his comic book as a bolt of lightning strikes New York city - releasing and giving life to the evil villain of Sketch’s comic who now has control of the comic world and wants Sketch out of the picture. Aided by his trusty rat sidekick, Sketch must escape the comic book and stop his evil creation from taking over the world. This game is visually amazing, very clever and well thought out. A little hard but thanks to the save function some of the stress can be taken out.

Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection is a nostalgic treat; enjoy!

-Ray

Jul

Plus XP's Top Ten Gaming Characters

By Leon Leave a Comment

Categories: Article
Tags: dante, duke nukem, ganon, kain, kratos, lara croft, riku, ryu hayabusa, sonic, squall

Today, me and Garvaos have decided to do something a little different than usual – a joint article. Together, we have compiled our own “Top Ten Game Characters” list, and will be taking it in turns to tell you why we have chosen each of the ones that we did. These characters aren’t listed in any real order – whittling down the numbers to ten characters was hard enough! So, I’ll get the ball rolling.

KAIN

I’ve always been a fan of vampire stories for as long as I can remember – so naturally a vampire game would be something I’d enjoy. Over a decade ago, a game called Blood Omen was released in March of 1997 – and on an impluse rental I gave it a whirl – and was instantly captivated. Kain was perhaps my first encounter with a type of character seen much less at that time – the anti-hero. Killed within five minutes of the game’s start, Kain became a vampire with nothing but vengeance on his mind. Years later, I happened to stumble upon a copy of the game of my own – having almost forgotten it’s dark delights. I fell in love with the game once more.

As if by fate, I later stumbled upon a game called Soul Reaver – something that was, as far as I was aware – a completely new game I’d never heard of before. As I played the game, it was one of those moments where I was again enthralled by a dark fantasy, and I cannot remember when I actually discovered that it was connected to the Legacy of Kain that I had played so long ago, but then I found myself at the start of a grand adventure with Kain as its master, the amazing voice acting of Simon Templeman bringing Kain to life as he had done so once before. The Soul Reaver, once a powerful weapon obtained in Blood Omen, became a relic of Kain’s, an ultimate, soul devouring sword that acted as a critical plot point to countless twists and turns as I was immersed in the world of Nosgoth.

Although Kain started as quite a simple creature of bloody murder, he evolved over time into something quite different a ruler, a manipulator of time and fate – casting Raziel into the abyss, creating a character to rival even himself in sheer depth and character. Together, the pair became entangled in one of the cleverest, most complicated plots that I had ever seen, all starting from the first days I heard Kain scream the words “Vae Victus.” -Leon

top 10 sonic

SONIC

Most gamers of our generation can be slpit into two groups when it comes to what console you grew up with – the Sega gamers and the Nintendo gamers. So the war against a blue hedgehog that can run as fast as hell and a weird sounding Italian plumber who can throw fireballs has been going on for quite a while.

Personally I see Sonic as more to my taste. Not just becuase I was one of the Sega generation, and not becuase I just happen to think he looks cooler. Its because the sheer game play you got out of him. You didn’t just get a platforming game, you got a running and dodging game amonsgst others. Up until the later games, Sonic to me is the one of the best gaming characters out there, becuase he lets nothing get in his way. In the earlier games he really didn’t seem to care if ther was a strange two tailed fox following him around and dying every 5 seconds. And he has attitude. None of this ‘oh mamma miiaaa’ rubbish. Make Sonic wait and he will frown and tap his foot. He takes no crap. -Garvaos

SQUALL

Over my years of gaming, as well as many other gamers I found myself enjoying Final Fantasy as the most enjoyable RPG series of them all – trying a number of other RPG’s I never really found anything that could match it’s brilliance. It was one of the few RPGs that managed to deliver on all aspects – story, gameplay, depth, length – it had balance. The first one I played was actually VII – another rental. I thoroughly enjoyed the gameplay style and it was the first time I’d played a game with such a detailed plot. Now, I’m sure many people would choose Cloud over Squall, but I personally disagree.

After taking my rental of FFVII back (still on Disc 1), I soon purchased my very own copy of Final Fantasy VIII. Instantly I was impressed with the graphical overhaul from VII, opting for a more realistic approach. I was instantly hooked and couldnt put the game down for weeks.

I believe everyone who plays games with a real passion has found at least one character they felt they could really relate to – well Squall was mine. Whether his personality suited my mood at the time, or he was simply well written, I found myself feeling what Squall felt, caring about what Squall cared about and hating who Squall hated. Wielding possibly one of the coolest weapons in gaming, the gunblade, Squall, an apparently strong character, turned out to secretly have a lot more depth to him than on the surface. Along the way, he kicks ass whilst discovering his true self and finally fighting for what he believes in – and for the girl, of course.

When Kingdom Hearts came around, I was incredibly happy to see Squall make a return, with a new longer haircut and going by the alias Leon (where I got my own alias I’m using right now). Voiced brilliantly by David Boreanaz (KH1 only), Squall fought once again as one of the main ‘Final Fantasy’ characters of the game, and was part of one of the coolest scenes in the game alongside Cloud in Kingdom Hearts II.

SLIGHT SPOILER WARNING:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMW6QYcPVBY]
-Leon

top 10 ganon

GANON

The only bad guy to be in this top 10 (well ish, to be honest I don’t know what alignment Kain is anymore) Ganondorf is your typical baddie. His main aim is to destroy the realm with great power and strength, while at the same time steal a beautiful princess and get hunted down by a guy in a green suit. What I really like about Ganondorf is that he laughs at anything, anything trying to get in his way and the first thing he does is just laugh at it. Second, he is one of those typical badguys who likes to just sit down and let everyone else do his bidding until his obstacle is physically in front of him.

He walks with purpose and does nothing half heartedly. Hell he can even turn into huge boar and still be awesome. If anyone of these heroes in this top 10 should have a worthy opponent, Ganondorf is their man. -Garvaos

LARA CROFT

Perhaps one of the more well known characters in the list (aside from Sonic, of course) Lara Croft is the ultimate videogame heroine – articulate yet kick-ass, beautiful yet headstrong, shes the kind of lady that every guy wants and every girl wants to be. And I’m sure that Lara is the main reason the Tomb Raider series did so well. Think of it – with a male lead, would the original Tomb Raider looked interesting or unique at all? Probably not.

Over time, Lara is another character that has evolved. Originally a overly-busty woman (due to a mistake the creators made, then decided to keep), Lara gained respect through the gaming community over the years, and changed into a more realistic female, yet managing to retain all of the beauty and kick-assery as much as ever – with Angelina Jolie taking the role of Lara in the live action movie based on the same character.

The games have seen some amazing landscapes, Lara scaling gigantic cliffs in countries such as India, battling tigers one minute, then fighting guards in London or Nevada the next. Always in the search for the next relic, Lara is always on the move ready to face the next challenge, whilst constantly showing off her wide intellect and occasionally dealing with her own personal demons. So really, whats not to like about Lara?

top 10 duke

DUKE NUKEM

Hopefully all you FPS fans out there already agree with me that Duke Nukem has a rightful place in any top 10. If not, I suggest you turn on Duke Nukem 3D, find an RPG and retrospectfully blow yourself up with it. Doing that will just give you an insight of what attitude this guy has. He blows himself up and the first thing that comes to his mind, (regardless if his mind is in sevral tiny peices splattered across the pavement) is “This sucks” Or “Daamn”.

He has not just been an icon to us FPS fans, he started off in a side scrolling platformer in the 1991 game Duke Nukem. He didn’t say much back then, only kill aliens. Then in 1996 he became the Duke we know and love today, he also had 3rd person action games after Duke 3D, which granted weren’t his best games, but still retained that awesome attitude of saving women, blowing up alien scum and dropping the classic one liners.

I believe Duke will have a welcome comeback eventually. Duke Nukem Forever may have died but something tells me he will come back, kick ass and chew bubble gum! Reguardless if he’s out of bubble gum or not. -Garvaos

RIKU

As I mentioned before, I rather enjoyed the game Kingdom Hearts. Sceptical as I was originally, the melding of Disney and Final Fantasy worked fantastically well, resulting in one of my favourite games of all time. In the end, you’d think a game with an all-star cast of two such huge franchises would struggle to create characters that would shine amongst the rest of them.

But they managed it – three kids, Sora, Riku and Kairi found themselves hurled into a grand adventure, where the worlds had begun to slowly vanish, and Sora became the Keyblade Master that would take the role of the games protagonist – battling with the most fierce creatures Square and Disney had to offer – noone else has ever defeated both Sephiroth *and* Jafar, thats for sure.

But I’m here to talk about Riku. Sora is a great character in himself, but his best friend had a story just as interesting. Being the one who wants more from his life, Riku falls into the wrong crowds and, jealous of Sora’s newfound powers, begins to fall into darkness as he tries to manipulate it to his own wishes. Riku fights a desperate struggle for himself, Kairi and Sora, having to fight his own darkness to eventually shine through and fulfil his own destiny. -Leon

top 10 ryu

RYU HAYABUSA

So we have covered my love for FPS, now its time to cover my love for 3rd person action. Next to Devil May Cry, Ninja Gaiden has to be just short of the best 3rd person hack and slash out there. Having only played NG2 personally, I can say that this game has all the weapons, combos and level detail you need to keep plenty happy.

Now for a minute look past the skin tight lycra body suit and look at Ryu himself. For starters he is a ninja, we all know for a fact ninja’s are awesome. (Pirates may beat them but I personally dont see a pirate in this top 10) He has a grudge that is built on anger, but he is not th kinda guy who will let it out in a rage. He seems calm but at the same time he is ripping his enemies to shreds with an oversized scythe. Now if that isn’t cool im not sure what is, really. He can walk on water, take down enemies 200 times the size of him pretty much bare handed. And he never shows his face. Thats either cool, or maybe he has bad teeth. -Garvaos

KRATOS

God of War was released on the PS2 a few years back, one of the late titles in the console’s life cycle. Going against the trends, God of War II was also released on PS2, when most series’ were developing for the next generation – regardless, Sony managed to create something incredible, maximizing the consoles potential. And if you enjoy God of War, don’t miss out on Chains of Olympus on the PSP – I enjoyed it as much as the other two, albeit a bit shorter.

As much as I enjoy being the good guy, saving the girl and having happy endings, sometimes you can crave something a bit more primal. Kratos is a beast of a man, uncaged and brutal, and noone will stand in his way. Kratos is perhaps the most bloodthirsty character even seen in the gaming world, and its one of those guilty pleasures to just dive in and indulge.

At a first glace, Kratos may seem like a nasty piece of work – a loud, arrogant spartan with nothing but killing on his mind. This may be enough for some people, but Kratos offers more than that. Beneath the outward rage, Kratos has a dark and haunted past, twisted to desperation, almost madness as he is continually manipulated and tortured, constantly seeking redemption but never finding it.

Its hard to explain all of the reasons that Kratos has reached such a high place in my love of gaming characters, without spoiling the plot points and twists of the series. He is perhaps the ultimate anti hero – his methods are bloody and violent, yet he still regains enough humanity so that in the end, you can almost do nothing but feel sorry for him, as he trudges on trying to salvage whatever he can of his cruel existence. -Leon

top 10 dante

DANTE

The regular readers of Plus XP will probably not be blown away by his one. The last character we would like to mension is none other than the white haired, stylish, half demon that is Dante!

With a legendary dark knight for a dad, a twin brother who is in a different realm, enough weapons and swords to possibly cover the Isle of Wight and still have some spare to paddle back with and two lovely ladies (one looking like his mum) Dante is one level headed and witty character. I first came across him in Devil May Cry 3. Just starting out his new business slaying demons, he was summoned by his brother to a large tower which is pretty much the door to hell. Now I say summoned by his brother more provoked. He was a cocky, fearless and just damn right awesome guy and as I played through DMC 1, 4, and a touch of 2, none of that cockyness and attitude seemd to have died down, which is great. He is one of these guys who always wants the last word. He knows he can’t die and knows he is talented at what he does. If any of these characters in this top 10 deserve to some how be put in a machine and actually physically come to life, Dante should be the one. -Garvaos