Well, it's true... you're NOT.

Since work for me has calmed down from the insanity of the June rush, I've finally had time to start gaming again. Sure, I took 5 days off for MGS4, but that was a special case. Having come off the excellence that is Metal Gear Solid 4, I needed something of equal quality. In the corner of my living room, where I have some PS2 games lying about, it almost... barked at me.

"Okami"

So, I finally managed to return to and finish Okami on my PS2, or as I like to call it "The best Zelda game that Nintendo never made." That's not a shot at either Zelda or Okami, as I think it's rather more a compliment to both series. I bought Okami upon release in the fall of 2006 (Like the rest of you should have. Shame on you.) and I was immediately charmed by it's visual mastery, lovely music and interesting characters. I really, really was hooked on it. But then...

I bought my PS3. That, and changing jobs really dented my time into Okami. I chugged along at a brisk pace, but just stopped due to the mentioned above. Now though, I finally have finished it. The real version too, not the port on the Wii. The one with the proper ending credits. No offense to Capcom or Ready At Dawn, but I'm glad I got the Clover-created original. It just makes me sad that there will not be a new Inaba created Okami game, ever. (Unless Capcom lets Platnum games use their rights, but... who knows if they'd even want to do one now, right?)

So yeah, Okami. My only complaint is that it DRAGGED. It was really awesome and had an almost Actraiser quality to it, but how many times must I fight Orochi? Do I REALLY have to fight all the bosses again? Capcom sure likes that tradition that (as far as I know) started in the Mega Man games.

Nitpicking aside, it's one of the best games I've ever played in my life. I was really sad to see it end, even though as I said before, I was tired of the length at that point too. That was probably more to do with the fact that Clover is no more though.

Buy the PS2 version, and if you can't find that, get the Wii port. At least support quality games. Halo or Madden can survive one less purchase.

Having finished Okami and wanting some more Clover-goodness, I moved up to another game that I bought around the same time, and I had basically ignored after 20 minutes of play.

GODHAND.

Yes, the game that my friends call "That ball-punching game." or just make the "Ding" sound that happens whenever Gene would get clocked in the groin, was to be my next project. So, upon the eve before Canada Day (July 1st) I picked up some beer, brought an appetite for BBQ'd burgers and took GODHAND over to a friend of mine's place and the mission was begun again. It just seemed the perfect game for the mood. Like a B movie.

Then I was dead.

Yeah, this is the GODHAND that I remember. The one that beat me senseless before I even knew what hit me. Possibly the reason that people dismissed the game. Nevermind that it looked like a late-gen PS1 game at points. Or that it still had the RE style tank controls-

(GOOD GOD, it's thundering a lot here... guess I'll switch to battery power on the laptop for now. I REALLY should not have been playing that Siren: Blood Curse demo on my PS3 for the past hour...)

Back to GODHAND. Once I managed to wrestle the controls and the dodge moves, it became a game on par with the best that Ninja Gaiden or DMC could ever offer. Kick in the dynamic difficulty and the rocking soundtrack, and you have something that really, anyone who likes beat-em ups ala Double Dragon, River City Ransom and Final Fight, should own. Zappa has often told me of the genius of GODHAND, and I finally was able to understand it firsthand. I guess people who disliked the game just did not "get it". The sense of humour is kind of like Kojima's with MG games. It's aimed at people who are used to the conventions of the genre and what makes games, games. We don't question why we fight a gorilla in a suit, a samurai and his sensei, and a 70's Blacksploitation reject, with some nods to Viewtiful Joe/midget porn thrown in. We just take what is thrown at us and...

Kick butt. (I had another word here, but censor, rules and all that.)

It's a tough game, no doubt, but if you stick with it, you can beat it. Like I did, early yesterday morning. I hated Belze and the accursed Sensei the most. But fighting Leon-err... Azel and then the evil demon guy at the end... wow. I died a lot. The game gave me a sense of zen and immersiveness that I've not felt since the old 8-bit days in, funny enough, Ninja Gaiden (I, II or III, take your pick.) I was actually sweating and my hands hurt from clutching my Dual Shock 3 so hard. My heart was pounding and I was cursing anything and everything I could think of.

But I won. And the end credits were all worth it. I tried a new game just to see the new costumes and whatnot and to my suprise, I was just BEATING the enemies that once mauled me. The game was so EASY now. And that's the beauty of GODHAND. It forces you to learn it's ways, but it also rewards you and teaches you for doing so. It's the best beat-em up that no one ever played. =(

Now... what to play after that...?

I mentioned some midgets earlier... so it was only fitting that I come back to a game of similar pedigree.

Viewtiful Joe on the Gamecube. (Via my Wii at this point.) I'll detail more of it as I play more. I only beat the first level and it's taking some getting used to of the controls and mechanics after being so used to GODHAND.

In other news, I downloaded the Siren: Blood Curse demo this evening and I have to say, having never played previous versions, I'm really liking what I'm seeing here. I'm also intruiged by the episodic distribution that Sony seems to be selling this in North America as. I prefer disc versions of games, but for the price and the convenience of just... having the game within minutes... I'll give Sony the benefit of the doubt. The demo intruiged me, and frankly reminded me of what Silent Hill used to be before they lost focus somewhat. I like the atmosphere and the concept, while hardly new, seems to be something that is not being done in any game on the PS3 to some competent level or degree.

Plus, Resident Evil 5 comes out... well, Maybe Capcom will let us know in a few days come E3. yeah?

Ok, so I've had about a week or so to get used to this new layout, and while it has many features that I myself have little use for, I can respect and appreciate what Capcom is trying to do here. This is the only english-based website that I can know of from any major video game publisher that has anything like this now. Granted, I only frequent here or Konami's in a blue moon, with some dashes of Atlus's here and there. But what do I really think? I think since the time when the current Administration (Lost and Sven for example) Capcom has FINALLY created a web presence that is reaching out to their consumers. I cannot speak for the Japanese or European sides, but until then, there was rather little interaction between client and service provider.

Since then, it has changed. For the better. It was little things first, like the previous forum's design being introduced. Then to moderators and admins who were actually AROUND and actually listened on a regular basis other than just saying "Watch your language, please." or issuing the latest press release. The next thing I noticed was that Capcom seemed to be trying to create more of an area for iteself and it's staff. As in get their staff to be known by the public. Be it in interviews, blogs or just more of a friendly PR stance. This seems to be in tandem with their policies for game creation now, something that their Japanese parent company seems to be not picking up on, yet. Capcom USA is one of the forefront devs when it comes to digital games. whether or not this is the future, does not matter right now, because they've been aggressive in going after gamers in this frontier. They also did what Capcom Japan could not. Make Street Fighter IV. I'm sure it's going to be a fine game, and it's actually something that I never thought would really happen. My thoughts of dread back when I heard that C USA picked up the rights to any and all SF were lessened somewhat. I still don't like all the merchandising they are doing, like the controllers, but hey, I don't have to buy them, so it's ok.

Another interesting point to me is that Capcom is using basically the same engine for a lot of their current games, like Dead Rising, DMC4 and Lost Planet. I guess this is to deal with the cost realities of game design these days, and hey, at least (RE games nonwithstanding) they can get their product out within a year or 2 from announcement.

Anyhow... Enough about that aspect.

A little about me now, maybe... Been gaming since Donkey Kong threw his first barrel. I've been a mostly active member on this site since January of 2000 when one did not even have to register to post messages. I posted via my mighty Sega Dreamcast back then with not even a keyboard at the time. I later purchased one and boy, was it ever like night and day. I've had my share of wars on here but so has anybody else who is alive and does not agree with someone else over something. It happens. There's always going to be people you don't like, that how it goes.
Nowadays, I really don't post on the board much anymore since I really have lost a lot of interest in games (in a sense, I still keep up to date with news that is relevant to my interests.) and I think that maybe I might just blog more instead of post on the boards... but, we'll see.

What games do I like? JRPG's, Action/Adventure, Text/Visual Novel, some fighters and some old school shooters. Old games, like NES, SMS and such. Dragon Quest and Metal Gear are two series that I will buy whatever game has any ties to, with no question. Resident Evil I guess... applies to this too, it's just that there really is not too much of RE these days. Or at least it seems that way to me. Of course I love most Capcom games. RE being the main reason I even came to this place to begin with. Megaman is ok, but not really my thing anymore. I'm happy with some X games and the original 3 NES ones. MM Legends is pretty decent too. I spent a good deal of time skipping classes in High School to play more rounds of SFII and was actually the first person in my arcade so long ago to play SFII CE. Everyone around me was so mad that I did not pick a boss. heheh.

I have consoles from the NES, SNES to the PS and DC and then the PS2, GC, Wii and PS3. I don't like FPS or PC games in general as I find them too clunky and not very pick up and play.

And... that's all for now. I'll add more later. I just kind of want to get back into perspective in this blog, as I seem to be wandering right now.