Remember Your Childhood- Final Fantasy 8- Review

  Okay, so the reviews have been pouring out. I've been cleaving through my backlog, and getting to the real up to date games. One of the last games on this list, is a game it took me 15 years to get around to- Final Fantasy 8.

 I have a funny history with this game. For so many years, whenever RPG discussions came up amongst colleagues, I always blindly referred to FF8 as my all-time favorite Final Fantasy game. There was even a point in time when I considered it my favorite RPG. This was lazy on my part. The thing is, that I drew that conclusion off of a very jaded and limited view. Years ago, in high school, my friend Luis hooked me up with a PS One system, with a few games. One of the games he gave me was Final Fantasy 8. He gave it to me with a partially used strategy guide. The game itself came out in 1999, as a continuation of SquareSoft's series. This was in the days before Square Enix. At the time I traded my friend, I was in 10th grade. The Game Boy Advance came out in 2001, and I got the system at lauch, by trading in my playstation, and finding a way to get the extra money. I was underwhelmed with my library, and after several months, the opportunity to get a playstation back, appealed to me.

 Me and my brother used to love to sit in the basement and work on RPG's for long hours of the night. I was always a fan of the genre. When I got the game and took it home, I had the luxury of following the guide, and traversing the many early missions in the game. In fact, I made it to the second of four discs. The strategy guide told you everything you needed to know, and find, in order to maximize your party and summons. I ended up trading the system, with only the memory of what I played, which was only 1 disc and about 30 minutes. I downloaded it off Playstation Network some years ago, and it has been in my backlog until I recently finished Monster Hunter. This time, there was no neat Strategy Guide and cup of tea.

  Final Fantasy 8 uses a very unique casting and summoning system. You have Guardian Forces (GF's) that you defeat and collect, in order to summon in combat to perform a powerful attack. Through these GF's, you can junction magic spells to your stats to increase them, and abilities to your character such as Revive or Devour, as the GF learns them. There is no MP, and leveling up does almost nothing to your stats, even with special bonuses that you unlock later on. There is also no normal money system. YOu get an allowance that is based on your Seed Rank.

 To set the stage, you are a member of SEED. This is an organization that battles villainous sorceresses, and researches advanced technology. Raised on one of the many bases. You rise in rank to take on missions of keeping the peace. According to the level of missions you tackle, you receive upgrades to your rank, which increases your allowance, which is paid periodically. After assisting a resistance force in a city under oppression, you embark on a mission to liberate the people from the control of an evil Sorceress. After defeating her, you find that the truth is much deeper, and the sorceress received her power from a previous one, who is trying to manipulate space and time and destroy humankind. It takes the assistance of a great scientist, to embark on a journey to stop that from happening.

  Visually, I felt at first, that the game was underwhelming for a 1999 game. This is mostly due to the fact that Legends of Dragoon came out slightly before, and had more beautiful textures. However, when considering the magnitude of the content and areas, the game actually does quite well. There are certain transitions and sequences, where cinematic graphics will blend right into real time environments, which I thought was a great touch. The cinematics at the end also make up for it.

   As far as gameplay, that's where I feel the game was broken. And honestly, I almost gave up playing the game completely. As you level up in the game, the enemies get exponentially stronger. Yet, in order to get spells you need to be effective in combat, you have to level up to face stronger enemies. The game, I felt, overly relied on summons in the early goings. Even when junctioning spells, often they didn't do enough damage, and the enemy was so strong, that the only way to survive was to spam summons. Your characters have the ability to draw spells. They do not learn spells. They stock a limited amount, or draw cast spells. There is no definitive way to boost attack power or perform combos. Characters have the usual Final Fantasy Limit Breaker, which is a collection of special moves accessible to a character a percentage of the time when near death. Draw Casting was a savior in the latter parts of the game. Fortunately, a good number of the bosses, possess spells that are effective against them defensively or offensively, that can be drawn. There is a spell called Aura, which boosts a character to be able to perform Limit Breakers successively for a short time. This was one of the many spells that fell flat. Near the end of the game, Squall- the lead character's limit Breaker- Renzokuken, becomes mandatory. Bosses and high level enemies possess HP that is out of the world. Most of them have over 150,000 HP. Normal attacks do 2,000 - 3,000 HP damage, if you have leveled up and junctioned your character for physical damage appropriately.

  Squall's Limit Breaker does about 4,000 damage with each of the 8 or so hits, minus the ultimate strike at the end, which is probability based. I heard about spamming that attack, but even with Auras cast, I was never able to do more than 2 in a row, before the spell just stopped working. I often cast Aura, and got not bonus at all, for no known reason. And all of this happens in the heat of combat with enemies that do almost full health bar damage with each attack. This game has a plethora of status magic, and elemental spells, but it is so hard to implement any of these strategies, due to how over powered the enemies are, and how quickly the battles, and damage move. If you stagnate too long during combat, the enemy will actually attack you at times during fights, as if it were a real time RPG. This felt unfair, as the lists of spells can get long, as you stock up on them in your inventory. If an enemy cast an augmentation spell on themselves, you can cast Dispel to undo it, but with bosses, they still get to attack 1 or 2 more times in that turn, doing massive damage. Then you'll be thinking you should have spent that turn casting damage on them. Each battle feels like a rush to kill the enemy before you get wiped out. It's hard to focus on defense.



  The other thing about this, is that this game is dependent on secrets. I was so disgusted as I read through walkthroughs after starting the game. I read one, and followed it in the outset, but got away from the walkthrough, to enjoy the game naturally. I explore naturally when playing these games, so it's not like bee-lined for the end of each objective. First of all, the first half of the game, sends you from one Seed mission to the next, giving virtually no chance to explore and level up. I had to do my grinding late in the game. The GF's that you need to find to junction essential abilities, are hidden throughout the world. Some of them are in dungeons, some are hidden in cards. Without a guide, it is highly likely that you will bypass a good deal if not most of them. Yet, you can't beat the game, or even compete without them. In the final tower of the game, you have the option of getting them from the bosses you face. But once again, you wouldn't necessarily know that, and could miss some of them there too. The ship that you procure to fly around in, you can get back at the end of the game, but the way I found out was ludicrous. I read a guide, and only by that guide, did I find that I had to go through a certain portal, run up and around a mountain, find a Chocobo forrest, win the Chocobo and ride it out, and walk across the shallows on the shore to the next island, around more mountains, to a random corner with my ship. You tell me how you can guarantee that all players would have found that naturally.

   When facing the last bosses, I found Draw Casting was a savior. However, you run into an ability they have to blow you hard earned spells away. The last battle comes down to attrition, and just taking the bull that comes your way. Don't expect to win the fight, with your toughest fighters still standing. You just have to hold on until you defeat the boss by the skin of your very teeth. I like nail biter boss fights, but this game feels too out of the player's control.

  The music was absolutely amazing. I have not heard a score this breathtaking and memorable in a game in quite some time. Composition wise, and arrangement wise, you can tell this soundtrack was passionately put together. I loved every part of it. The way the recurring motif was  used throughout the game was magical. There was even a scene in the game where the characters perform a concert, and play the ballroom theme song that the hero and heroine met and danced to. You go through the process of teaching the party members each part and solo, and then they perform it to a romantic scene. That theme comes back as such perfect times, all the way to the end, without over saturation. All of the other pieces are just as well written, and worthy of a disc. That added so much life to the game. I don't normally fancy myself a sucker for romance, but this game really does it well.

 Story wise, this was another Final Fantasy in the vein of Crisis Core, where the story was compelling and beautiful. The characters were serious enough to relate to. All of their lives intertwine, from a small orphanage, to a unified battle to save the world. The ending movie sequence was well done, and I think that's where the game transcended to the next level. I was truly blow away by the level of love put into the production quality. The cinematics during the credits, were especially impressive because they were very intricate and high level, which I'm sure was pretty ground breaking at the time. I couldn't overlook the issues, but I was somewhat pleased with the end product. I had labeled this game, the worst one that I had ever played in the last few weeks leading up to my completion of it. I appreciate the story, and the level of open world exploration and detail in the world, but I feel like some of the idiocy which is done for plot reasons, and the combat system itself, takes away from what an RPG is supposed to encompass. I play RPG's to explore, get competent and strong, and get absorbed in the story. You don't get much of a chance to do that in this game, as you are always underpowered. A lot of the cool secrets that exist, you have no way of knowing about without a guide. Then you can't really get that comfortable exploring, because you can never get strong enough to do so confidently. This took away from what I usually like in this game, on top of not being able to have spells and abilities of your own, but rather having to stock them constantly from enemies.


   There is a card game in this game that is played by people throughout the world. Winning strong cards is key, as you can use a GF ability to modify rare items from them later on. There is a quest that allows you to get access to very rare cards. However, winning these games is far from easy. In fact, it's extremely difficult. To lose a good card means, a restart of the game and a rematch. You get cards from some enemies as well. I beat this game for 2 reasons. 1- I managed to get the very hard GF- Bahamut and his card, which I modded into 100 Megaelixirs, which heal the whole party completely. And 2- I stocked up on a strong spell called Meteor, which hits all targest for good damage if you have your Magic Stat junctioned well. As I mentioned, the last boss can blow spells away, and does so all the way through the last fight at random. I was fortunate he didn't blow that spell away. My hero died, and it was a cycle of casting and healing until we just managed to survive.

  Would I play this game again- possibly. Do I see it fondly- I can't say that I do. The game is endearing, in fact, I would say it is beautifully romantic. I just think it falls short of the freedom that RPG's should possess. All in all, it was a great game in it's own right, that you will loathe many things about. I can't bury a classic 8/10

Mayweather vs. McGregor- More Than Meets The Eye

  I have to speak on the Conor McGregor vs. Floyd Mayweather fight. I have listened to ignorant rhetoric for far too long, and I am disgusted. I will say that it's good to hear that the deal seems to be nearly finalized. Hopefully, Conor has been active and hungry during these quiet months.

  I always hear arguments to the extremes. Some, angrily defend their position as MMA advocates, and think that Floyd should get KO'd because of his personality, and "what" he represents. Then, you have those who fancy themselves connoisseurs, and honest, knowledgeable boxing minds, who take the stance that Floyd, who couldn't put away a fighter for almost a decade, will undoubtedly kill McGregor, walking him down, and stopping him.


  Before I break into my argument, I just want to make it know to those who know less than they think about this, that there are currently, and have been several MMA champions, who regularly spar with world champion boxers, and hold their own in gym wars, where the real fights happen. When I say real fights, I mean the fact that, in case you don't know a fighter by the name of Spadafora, is known for beating the tar out of the undefeated Floyd Mayweather in sparring. The fighters you see under the lights, are often carefully tailored- especially when they are fighters who are marketed as unbeatable.

  Everyone saw Conor box the crap out of Nate Diaz in both of their fights. The knock on Conor as a boxer, comes from the neanderthal-like reasoning, that they don't know of any pro boxing fights that he has had. Nate Diaz regularly spars with Andre Ward, who is not just a world champion, but considered by some to be right on level with Floyd Mayweather. No one seems to do the math, and realize that if Conor, while undersized, dealt with him pugilistically, it stands to reason, he can probably box. I come from boxing roots. I've gone on record many times stating that the technique, as far as boxing goes, amongst MMA fighters, is usually laughable. They don't throw correctly, usually, and they don't set up, or defend appropriately while throwing. That is a blanket statement. Conor does not have all of those same issues, which is why he was able to handle Diaz in a way not seen before.


  I agree that Conor needs to put the rounds in, because boxing is game of repetition and muscle memory at a point. However, talent and technique are indiscriminate. When I watch Conor, I look at his pad work carefully, and his footwork and coordination. All of his striking talent, is transcendent. I've heard that he had an amateur boxing career in Ireland. But regardless of the accuracy of that, his ability, defense and timing are what they are. Not only can he take a punch, but he is able to avoid one. Max Kellerman made a statement, that fighters with good chins, only appear to have them, and are adept at tucking their chins to avoid punches. He is considered and expert, which is laughable, but no longer surprises me. He has never been an expert. He is the millenial's version of an expert- someone who stands around something for an extended period of time. He has no knowledge of the sweet science itself, of judgment about fighter ability. Jim Lampley dances circles around him, as far as understanding goes.

  Max Kellerman, expert that he is, goes back to the same logic that the layman does, when things get technical. That's why, the MayPac fight from a couple of years ago went down, and Floyd was exposed, and just about outboxed, Max saw what every stupid American fan saw- Floyd schooling Manny. I don't judge a person by how they state the obvious, but by how they respond when you can't. That fight was very technical, and only those who understand technique, and the art of fighting itself, sees what happens in those kinds of fights. A person should not be considered any kind of boxing expert, if they can't tread those deep waters.  But that's the millenial age of 2017.

 Conor has been sparring at Freddie Roach's gym and a few others. According to Roach, he punches like a girl, and I agree with that to a degree. Conor slaps his punches at times, not unlike Keith Thurman. When you have power, you don't develop an urgency to straighten punches. That's one MMA trait that has to be refined in Conor. Movement wise, he is excellent in the ring. What people need to understand, is that a fighter who can escape the clinch, and slip and counter kicks and punches, is going to have some, if not a great ability to slip only punches. Everyone is envisioning Floyd walking Conor down, with no way for Conor to stop his onslaught of punches. If Conor understands the mentality aspect of boxing, that absolutely will not happen. Mechanically, I've seen awareness and execution from Conor in pad work, that rivals if not equals Mayweather.

 It doesn't matter how many years anyone has boxed for. The question is how much have you learned. Maidana learned how to cover up, change levels, and jab. He was not stellar in his technique. He developed stamina, and was used to 12 rounds fights. Was he a world class boxer- yes. Did he have far more years of experience than Conor- yes. Was he a better technical boxer than Conor- not necessarily. Experience is key in boxing, but just like martial arts, it's about how much you learn. It's about how you understand the concept of timing and distance. McGregor understands that very well. That's what intrigues me about him. I'm looking forward to the fight, because it's going to be another reminder to people of how little they know about boxing. Don't be shocked if McGregor clips and hurts Floyd. Remember how long these negotiations have been. Floyd doesn't enter a contract that he doesn't have a 100% chance of victory in. His money and legacy are tied to him being undefeated, so that has been sadly fabricated throughout the latter half of his career. That's something, I've always detested about Floyd, because talent-wise, I really feel he could be one of the best.


   If this was truly a walk-through, I don't think the negotiations would have been this tied up. It isn't just money. Everyone is going to get paid. It's also about the threat Conor poses. Floyd won't step into it until it is assured he will win, and in the end, he's seen it, journalists have seen it, and any honest fan has seen it- that McGregor is historically, a wild card.

Running at the World in You- Genji- Days of the Blade- Review

  You know, it really is something to reminisce about where the eras split in the mid 2000's, to what entertainment, and media is today. I was playing 2 games this past month on the Playstation 3, Asura's Wrath, and the game that I'm reviewing today- Genji- Days of the Blade. Holding both boxes in my hands was remarkable, because Genji was released in 2006, at the very beginning of the system's life by Game Republic under the SCEA banner. That was a very different time. I remember just getting my first car at the beginning of the year, and moving into my first apartment not very long after. In those days, there was such attention to detail in every big project by a company, because there were still  envelopes that every developer wanted to shoot to push past. Xbox had release the Knights of the Old Republic Star Wars series around that time, and followed it up with other games that were in the same vein.

   Looking at the manual and box art, it was so refreshing to see a manual that was filled with depth and informative material. The box art had a very well designed inside panel, that came together in a product that just begged to be collected. Now we fast forward to 2012, when Asura's Wrath was released, and just like the New Super Smash Brothers, while an amazing game, there wasn't that much attention to the box, aside from the very good outside cover art. Genji also marked a time period in gaming history that was unique ratings wise. In the mid 2000's, there was a golden age of T rated games that were released for playstation 2, Gamecube, Xbox, and early 360, and PS3. The prequel to this game, Genji- Dawn of the Samurai, was released on the PS2. There are similarities to the Onimusha series which had success on the system. In those days, the best games that the industry had to offer, had fresh ideas, and were aimed at the mid-level of the rating system. This draws a contrast with the era that followed, where the bulk of the gaming projects are aimed at Mature audiences, with over the top gore being the crave.

  Genji stars the son of the previous game's protagonist, who died completing his mission in the last game. Upon starting the game, I was treated to very good visuals, and a few cutscenes. The game doesn't overwhelm you with this, and has a very balanced menu, with straight forward upgrading options, and an action based party system. You use a maximum of 4 characters who fight for the Genji clan. They have a history of doing battle with the Heishi clan, who are always after the powerful Amahagane relic, held by the Genji clan, to bring the underworld forth, and unleash great power. Each character has different abilities, and a different fighting style. The hero, Yoshitsune is supposedly the most balanced, while Benkei, his monk friend, is the powerhouse of the group, though lacking agility. To traverse the game's levels, you will need abilities like, Shizuka's grappling with here chain weapon, to reach other platforms, or Benkei's ability to kick and move large pieces of landscape. Then you have Yoshitsune's ability to run up and across walls. A fourth character, Buson, is a skilled glave weilder joins, who is the resurrected villain from the previous game. He was very unique, in that his fighting style was very useless, until you master it.

 The game played very smoothly at first, until the heat was turned on. I noticed after a while, that the characters have a somewhat rigid combo execution, and often would be open for counters. There is a lock on button for enemies, but due to the way the character's move, it really didn't assist much. I wasn't really overwhelmed with challenge in the game until after the half-way point. Some of the enemies are very tough, and the thing is that they can take huge amounts of, if not all of your life, if you whiff on a combo chain. Also, there is an animation for getting knocked down. If you don't execute Ukemi, which, if you are a fighting game buff, you know is a technique of rolling to break your fall, you will fall to the ground and be motionless for a good 10 seconds, while the enemy walks up, and stabs you. You can do the same to them, but regardless, this resulted in some very annoying deaths, when the enemy blitzed me.

  What I didn't expect, was the amount of platforming. This game got me there. Like Onimusha, this game is in a diagonal view throughout. Also, the camera moves at it's own will, similar to the Mario 64 nonsense. Sometime the hallway is so tight, you will see very little. And the hallmark of it all, is that you will spend 90 percent of the time, walking towards the camera. This made absolutely no sense. Maybe they wanted to add a fear factor. You can miss a jump and walk into a blow, due to the fact that the world in front of you, that you need to see, is behind the friggin camera.  And there is no way around it. You can't move the camera or zoom it a all. During some later dungeons, I died one time for the funniest reason. There was a room, on an enormous ship, that had traps and moving platforms. You had to navigate to one of the doors in the middle of the room. The way the camera spun, you could easily end up back at the door you came in, and not realize it. Falling brought you to a dungeon at the bottom of the ship, where a room full of random enemies spawned, and blocked the way with a Mashogane gate. Only by defeating them, could you go back upstairs, across the ship, through a room with collapsing floors, through a hallway of agile, and respawning fiends, and back to the room again. There are no item shops. The game gives you a half-way decent amount of healing items, but it's a long way to some bosses. I fell down into that dungeon probably 25 times. I was so proud of myself, because I managed to fight off those hordes without taking much damage, or any on a couple of tries, which I had to. But then I watched my life get lower, and lower, and I continued to miss the jump in the room, due to Yoshitsune's jerky movement. This happened until I couldn't fight the enemy off anymore, and I died before getting to save my progress.

  By the end of the game, I was calling the hero all kinds of retarded in frustration. The camera was annoying, but also the combat styles. The only character who fights like she actually wants to hit her enemy was Shizuka. Using her whips, she spun her attacks in an arc, which helped keep enemies at a distance to get a breather. But she was weak. Even after powering up her stamina and weapons, she didn't have any real power until near the very end. Yoshitsune, had an odd spinning setup to his combinations, that had no range, and left him open for counters often. Benkei was my road dog, and got us out of so many jams, with his charge spin attack. But his slowness and lack of mobility can cost you over time, so I only used him for clean up. Buson became a useful dude, but he had a very meticulous glave style, that required you to keep resetting, and using dash setups, which called for anticipation of you enemies movement. You have to be in the zone using him. However, during the game, when you acquire different weapons for each character, they have different styles for each one, and Yoshitsune developed a fast style with one, that utilized a flowing and fast combo with kicks. While weak at first, after powering it up, it was the life-saver that got me past the last bosses.

  The scenery was beautiful in the game, from forests, to mountains and hills. The game also transistions to a different play style at various points. There are several battles scattered thoughout the game, where you will be battling hordes strategically at a fort, taking out the generals and using the catapult weaponry to tackle ranged enemies. The bosses were very interesting in how they were designed, and towards the end of the game, they became insane. The last few were a true problem. I remember getting frustrated by Genji, but I didn't start controller spiking until towards the end of the giant ship. After you make it through the ship, you fight one of the top generals, and he has several forms. He was very challenging, but with special attacks called Kamui attacks, you can lob off some damage to keep yourself in it. I must say, I appreciated how deep and enormous the levels and world was. This is another mark of the era. You don't normally see hack-n-slash dungeon games like this, pay such attention to environment, if they even have platforming at all. Despite those flaws, it was amazing how much metroid-like back tracking there was. You literally get lost often in this game, and will spend long periods of time looking for items and keys to advance. I appreciate that, because it's a testament to design.

 Where I think I fell in love with the game, is actually around the time you fight your brother, who opposes you suddenly for reasons I won't say. He becomes very powerful, and while he is your older brother, he seems to envy and fear you. It has been a long time since I had such a high octane, and spirited melee bout with a boss like I did with Yoshitsune's brother Yorimoto. There were emotional scenes that surrounded it, and it was very poetic. Controller spikes aside, I really enjoyed how thrilling and fitting that fight was. The last boss, which followed, was nothing to sniff at, and in the end, it used the limitations of your characters' movement, along with an insane health bar, to make it near impossible. At the very end, you are taking damage almost unavoidably, as you strike at the vital spot of the last boss. It comes down to one or two hits, which reminds me of Prinny for the PSP, where you have to go nuts on the last boss to avoid his instant kill kamikaze.

  It was a fulfilling game, that I really enjoyed, and would love to play again. In fact, it inspired some of my subsequent purchases. I went on a shopping spree looking for titles like Genji on the Vita because I enjoyed it so much. I smile at the fact that it received average scores of 6/10 from critics. This is deja vu for me. There have been several titles, like Samurai Warriors for PSP, and New Legends for Xbox, that completely fly over the heads of so called game fans. 2006 was a time of content. If you are a true connoisseur, don't let the scores of the idiotic millenials dissuade you from what is an amazing mark in gaming history. This game deserves its true score- 8.5/10. Now walk into the camera!

The Uppercut is Your Friend- Real Boxing -Review

   It's a weird feeling to appreciate a glitch. But it's a worse feeling to actually be bombarded by glitches that cause that to be the case. I've always been a boxing fan, as many know. And I have followed a few boxing game franchises over the years. Back on the SNES, I played the Foreman Foreal game featuring George Foreman. I played  some of the Knockout Kings series, which was, I believe the precursor to the Fight Night series. I really started playing Fight Night with the 3rd installment. That's the one that had Oscar De La Hoya on the cover. The combat system was tight, and exhibitions were able to be very exciting.

  The last 2 installments of Fight Night- Round 4 and Champion, were where the series arrived. This is where the dual analog stick controls were set. Multiple fighting games began using this to this day. They were responsive, and allowed for very realistic matches. The character creation system was very in depth. This allowed gamers to create any fighters that were not already included in the game. The key aspect of it all, was the character differentiation, and accuracy of statistics. Characters like Marvin Hagler and Lennox Lewis, are exactly as they are in real life, from their power to they quickness, to their chin. This is the reason Fight Nights's main supporters are boxing fans.

 Following up the series is something that just wasn't done. Games like Fight Night don't have support, being that most gamers are put off by boxing for various reasons. Fortunately, a company named Vivid games released Real Boxing for IOS, Android, and Playstation Vita. The game has the look, with great visuals and crisp textures. But the first thing I noticed about the game, was the punching technique. It is sloppily animated. This was off putting, but did not kill the game for me. The game has a tutorial set up to introduce you to the mechanics when you start, after the high quality opening movie. If you are familiar with the Fight Night series, you will yawn through the tutorial.

  After starting the main game, you'll notice there is no story mode, as you may expect. There is a career mode, multiplayer, a gym, and a quick match mode. There aren't a great amount of options, but there is a store to purchase a limited supply of hairstyles, and tatoos. The first thing you will do, is jump into career mode, where you start as a rookie in Rooster Tournament. You have headgear in the outset, as you go through what amounts to the amateur phase of your career. These matches lead to an eventual amateur tournament, each phase of your career is like this, with an intermediate, and Legend phase to your career. Before each fight, you are given a random task, such as winning by uppercut by the second round, to be awarded an upgrade point and an extra 100 dollars. The money is a joke, but the point is very needed. After each match you are also awarded a fight purse. You take this to the gym to purchase points for your character, to upgrade strength, stamina, and speed. At the gym, you can also engage  training sessions, such as jump rope, speed bag, and heavy back drills. These exercises build up Perk points, to unlock perks for your fighter to bring into a fight, such as a stamina bonus for jabs, assist with getting up, recovery between rounds etc. Only 2 perks can be equipped to bring into combat, but they can make a difference. Now onto the gameplay. Oh boy.....

  Like I said, the gameplay mimmicks fight night. The controls are similar, but not the same. In Fight Night, you can parry a punch to the body or head, and block to the body or head. You could also load up on any shot you chose to, from a body or head hook,to an uppercut, to a straight. Not so in this game. You can get close to your opponent and slip shots to the head only, or block all shots by holding the right shoulder button. The Left shoulder button slips punches. Even the commentary refers to the right cross as a right jab, which is part of the problem. There is little to no differentiation between the punches. You can't throw harder shots at will. Every punch is weak, unless it's thrown after slipping, during the counter window. According to your stamina, each punch drains you and does less damage, the lower that your stamina is at the time. After sustaining enough damage, your fighter will be in a dazed state when near being knocked down. At this time, your opponent will have unlimited stamina as they pursue you, and you will have a limited opportunity to hold on, which initiates a minigame, with a lever, where you battle to regain some of your health as a prize. If knocked down, you press both shoulder buttons rapidly to rise to your feet. In the early outset, the game makes sense to a degree. Albeit the flawed system, I still began to enjoy it, especially as the matches began to get deep. But onto the issues.

 As the game progresses, you will start to receive very stiff opposition in the latter stages of the intermediate tournament. This is when you will be briefly taken aback. This is when the glitches unveil themselves. To make the game challenging, the CPU becomes exceedingly strong, and completely abandons the limitations of stamina, while your remain in reality. One thing I like about this game, is that the flow of the fight feels very real, perhaps even more than some Fight Nights. In other boxing games, they do a bad job of managing life and stamina for 12 round fights. I often felt like every fight in Fight Night had to end in a KO, and it mostly did. However, if I can say one thing about Real Boxing, it is that fights can be short or long. It is flawed in the fact that you really can't get your opponent out in the very early rounds due to how it is set up. But it does feel like managing a championship level fight. Towards the end of your career, the KO's that you think will keep coming, just stop. First, you'll school a few fighters pretty easily in the Champions Bracket, but be unable to put them away, and then you'll begin surviving for 12 rounds and taking decisions against monsters. It is intimidating. Where the game fails yet again, is the fact that the CPU is incapable of outboxing you. They will box effectively in spurts, only to set up devastating offensive counter punches.  If you can survive these later fights, you will assuredly win by decision, rarely, if ever, dropping a round. I would like to have had some close decisions where I had to worry. But in all honesty, only 1 or 2 of the Fight Night games ever achieved that. Most times, boxing games have an animal of a CPU who tries to keep it from going the distance, while boxing poorly and recklessly.

  But the issue with the system that can really mislead you is the counter system. Many times, in combat, I would be boxing well and slip a punch perfectly, only to have my counter slipped, and then I was blasted for huge damage. Even when I managed to do what I call a "Re-counter," the CPU would just slip it again and blast me anyway. The only safe way to counter, I found was to go to the body, but that has much less effect, which sucks. Rarely, if there is a great stamina disparity between you and the computer, you can attempt a counter with a strong jab or short straight. But this is better used to set up the glitch as I will mention later. Then when the CPU decides to dial in for a KO, they walk you down and begin winging punches with no regard for stamina, which you supposedly calculated coming into the fight. Suddenly, you will be unable to block most of it even while holding the block button, which made no sense to me. Then, when you slip for a counter and go to throw, your fighter will whiff the punches each and every time when it's critical, sometimes even the ones to the body. It got so bad at a point, my character's arm contorted and folded back into his own body to avoid landing a counter punch when I was in danger. All of these glitches disgusted me, because they felt like a last ditch effort by the developers to make the game competitive. Then I found a savior..

 There is a glitch that eluded the fools who developed the game. I call it the Shell Glitch. When engaging in exchanges, there is a technique to cause the CPU to shell up. You slip a head punch, then counter with a combination to the head, which has to be well timed, to avoid being blocked or ReCountered, finishing the combination with an uppercut. The uppercut is the only punch in the game the does some kind of consistent and significant damage. This has a percentage chance of causing the CPU to shell up, and if you jump back at this time, they will stay in the shell for the entire round. Honestly, with some of the monsters you face in the Legends bracket, I needed this glitch. Round after round, in this bracket, I would land an average of 5 punches to my opponents 1, while being economical with my energy and usually throwing less punches than my opponent. And all of this meant nothing. I would pepper my opponent with shots, and then eat one shot and be in serious trouble. That felt wrong, and it was wrong. Even the damage system didn't agree with the game. Usually around the 7th round, I would have hit my opponent so many times, their face would begin to show signs of serious damage, yet their health bar at times didn't move. One of the last opponents in the game actually healed as we fought. It's hilarious. I'll never forget the last boss, a jiggaboo named Jarvis Mayo. I still remember his blonde cornrows. He disgusted me. He had insane speed, and his health was god-like. Already, you are at a deficit going into most of the last fights. Each opponent at the tail end of the Legend circuit, has 97 or above stamina, strength, and speed. Even spending your money wisely and training your behind off, you just won't be in their league. I was at about 93-88-90 in the last stretch of the tournament. Most opponents, I tactically broke down for decisions, but could get their respect with combos. The best way to survive in a fight is to do some kind of damage, but when I faced Jarvis, I had a hard time because I couldn't damage him at all. Even though I never lost to him, in the 3 times we fought, he just bothered me due to how he emasculated me. Even when I rocked him, he would laugh and walk me down. Beating him felt good, because I completed the game, but it annoyed me that I couldn't knock him out.


  After the career mode ends, some sponsors donate 50,000 dollars to you for your performance, and I used it to max out my character with one thing in mind. I met Jarvis again in an exhibition, and the game further proved what I said. Jarvis can not be knocked out in 12 rounds. The game has no 15 round option. When I faced him last, I was 100-100-100, and he is about 99-98-98. Somehow, he still did more damage than me and had me in incredible trouble in the later stages of the fight. In fact, he started doing the cheap counter so much, it kept me from pressing the action for a potential knockdown. I hate Jarvis, and I don't really like how incomplete the game is.

  Soundtrack-wise there really isn't anything special about the game. There is one song that plays in the opening, and that's about it. It's a fun game to play and pass the time in all honesty, especially if you're in the mood to just KO someone. But as a complete boxing game, it is typical of a phone app, and I just wish developers would care to release a full fledged console boxer for the Vita. Here' hoping.      Score 6.5/10

What is Perception

 In the rematch between Anthony Johnson vs. Daniel Comier, the fans booed a victorious and dominant DC, before they even engaged in combat. This was as he won the second fight, by yet another rear naked choke submission. In the long awaited unification bout between middleweight champions Danny Jacobs and Gennady Golovkin, fans jeered at the stellar performance of Jacobs, as a dejected Golovkin, shamefully received his belts. In the saga of fights between Light Heavyweight champions Andre Ward and Sergey Kovalev, Ward has received violent backlash in his gritty victory, and racist insults under the lights of his performance. What does it all mean?

  In Andre Ward's press conference speech, he mentioned the concept of perception. Perception is something that is bought into, but it's also something that is sold. Over the years, I've become increasingly intrigued by perception itself. On Youtube, I watch a host, who is clearly asian in descent. Watching his videos, I never really thought about it, but I was aware. He has a very large fanbase. It just so happened, that he brought his mother onto the show on a certain episode. He himself is possibly at least half, if not fully asian by heritage, but culturally, he is American, if that word even means anything. His mother is likely born in a different country, and appears more foreign. The entire channel was in a state of shock, and disbelief that he was actually asian. He never mentioned it. He merely gathered a large amount of viewers and support. Because to the average person today, he passes the complexion test and seems American enough, they all just viewed him as he seemed. I was in shock at trying to see what they were all seeing, and I just couldn't. I've seen this occur time and again, and for the longest time, it puzzled me.

  Then, it began to become clear how people see things. They see in association. I've seen people with origins from many different places, and clearly appearing as such, labeled black and ignorant. And each time I observed this, it was always in the same "heel" role. Then I see people who are clearly not caucasian, conveniently hailed as white symbols. In fact, I saw an article on Tim Tebow today, and I was looking through the thread to see if there was any support towards him, after his great start to the baseball season. I was glad to see people commending him for a change, so I read on. As I did, I saw people stating that the reason he is hated is because he's "white, straight, God fearing, non-muslim and non-radical, which is the exact opposite of  respected liberals." As I read in confusion, another comment clarified further by blatantly stating that if he was aetheistic, terrorist, black, and gay, he would receive respect. At that point, I'm drawing the correlations in mind as to what could possibly make definitive connections between these various, human-imposed classifications. And again, I couldn't do so.


  Black is associated with negativity, while the supposed opposite, "white", is commonly seen as positivity and elevation. Without even realizing it, people will see those they do not inherently respect, as blacker. Not to veer off topic, but this is part of the functionality of people's perception. It's not completely without reference. They will see your actual color to a degree, but the level of respect tints the hue. I'm black, by classification, though classifications as such disgust me for many reasons that very few today will understand, so I don't discuss it much. Yet, I'm not as you would call it, a token or typical black. I don't have commonly found roots. As I've discussed somewhat in the past, my ancestors come from very surprising locations, and in bulk, no scarcity. And though I'm copper toned, I'm not boot black, nor do I have common features or attributes. That isn't a statement of arrogance as the ignorant will take it. It just is what it is. Each nationality has its beauty. But it's funny what people see. Those who I associate with on a more respectable level, see more of my attributes, while those who believe themselves in positions above me, and think they know me well, will see a completely different person, to the point it brings me to laughter at times.  Sometimes, the accent they hear in my voice will wildly vary. And up to some time ago, I chalked it up to cultural perspectives and upbringings. But then you see variances with the same people, or changing variances, and you also see variances at different sides of the room. Also, you see some of the hilarity I mentioned before.

  There are many commentators and enthusiasts who honestly consider themselves to be impartial students of a craft. But more than in the past, you can see polarity creeping into how things are analyzed, to a crippling level. You've always had polarity, and you've always had controversial decisions. But more than ever, you see people develop extreme, and sometimes violent feelings, where within logic, and reason, it just can't possibly be there. DC said that people had Johnson as the favorite in their rematch because they fall in love with the KO. He was being kind. When I heard the odds for the fight, I knew he was going to be booed after he won. I was one of the only people to pick him in the rematch. I simply watch and understand technique. For you to watch a fight, where a KO artist puts on an amazing display with stand up, and get systematically taken down, and beaten soundly before being choked out, your mind has to process things a certain way, for you to feel strongly that they should win the rematch. You can't be looking at matchups or technique at that point. That's been my point. Golovkin was countered, attacked to the body, and made to look sloppy in his fight with Jacobs. That was established fact to you, if you watched with educated, and unbiased eyes. To see Golovkin schooling Jacobs in that same fight, is not a matter of opinion. At that point, you are operating with something else.


  When Ward and Kovalev square off in June for the rematch, I think Ward's gameplan does suit him best. And it suits the platform. People fall in love with the KO and the bully. Anthony Johnson and Daniel Cormier are both great guys, but Rumble Johnson's power is seen as a bully. People prefer the knockout fighter with victories that are easy to process, rather than the style you have to actually observe.  The non-surly guy who comes off as articulate and working class, is boring today, and no one wants to admit it. But admit it to yourself. What do you respect more, the guy who needs to intimidate and line you up to be successful, or the guy who can turn defeat into victory with mathematics. You see, everyone wants to say the latter when under the light, but your emotional outbursts tell the truth. Personally, the more I see, the less I say. And that was pretty much the stance Ward took at the podium. It's getting to that time where the right answer doesn't come out eventually, but it's never found. I used to see the truth in a matter and call it out and hear and amen somewhere in the crowd. Now, all I ever see are blank stares, and that is truly frightening. People wave off whenever I talk about the changes that are apparent. But at the end of the day, before you open your mouth, ask yourself, are you part of the problem, or the solution. If you're in agreement with the detractors, even if it's 9 billion of them, you have no voice that means anything.

Days of Rage: Volgarr The Viking- Game Review

This is a tribute and a throwback to days of old. Recently, I was reminiscing while playing Ninja Gaiden for the NES, about how much difficulty had to be cleaved through in the games of the older generations. There was very little to steer you in the right direction, and often there was much trial and error involved in conquering games of that time.

 Crazy Viking Studios, has put together a game that was first on Steam, titled, "Volgarr the Viking." The game was released years ago, but only recently added to the Playstation Network library. It was a breath of fresh air, as there aren't many platformers like it. When you dive into this action game, know that you are in for a ride. The game brags about difficulty from the start. In the first level, you are given a slight tutorial as you make your way across a jungle stage, facing enemies that respawn at an alarming rate. You are equipped with a sword and spears that can be used as projectiles, with limited range. As you progress, you can collect armor that allow for you to sustain more damage and increase the power of you sword attack, as well as enabling a charged, and more powerful spear throw. At base, without your standard wooden shield, you die in a single hit.

 The game has enemies that are reminiscent of Castlevania, in that they have movement patterns that perfectly disrupt the platforming. It can be very infuriating to die due to a single hit from a mist, or a snake that chases you off of an edge of a platform, or strikes you in a very tight recovery window/animation. It feels very cheap at times, but over the course of playing the game, I realized there were more techniques and latitude available to the character- Volgarr. The ultimate goal of the game is to seige the castle of a viking who has terrorized the land after taking a powerful artifact. You traverse through jungles, snowy levels, underground passages, and volcanic mines, until you arrive at the tower where the final boss is kept. The last level of the game is actually very forgiving, in that you have a checkpoint after each room. In the rest of the game, you have only 1 in each level, right in the very middle.

  Aesthetically, I was pleased by the lush color and vibrant animations of the game. Volgarr has a satisfying double jump and a spike attack that can be utilized to break certain object and floors. The music was solid, but not very memorable. It's the challenge that will stick with you. Ultimately, when I rated it after completion, I'd have to say it was moderately difficult, for that genre. It was harder than Shovel Knight, but easier than Prinny. The levels are long and don't have many rest points, but you do get to enjoy the environment.

 I would strongly recommend this adventure for any old school fan of side-scroller action games in the vein of Ninja Gaiden. However, play in a room with soft carpet. Ciao!

Score: 8/10

The Beast- Season 4- Episode 4- Back in the Gym

New episode up of the series. I'm not liking the arm punches and zero defense. I look like an MMA fighter. But that's what video critique is for right..

Jokatech Podcast Episode 17 - Call It, and New Art Pieces

I've noticed that there has been a complete drop off in blog visits and views for posts. Interesting....Anyway, this is a new podcast link for my analysis of the Pay Per View boxing event between GGG and Danny Jacobs. I was a casual fan of both, and I've noticed in the racially tense environment of today, matches like these and the Kovalev vs. Ward fight, become platforms for hatred, rather than exhibitions of skill.

View if you like. Ignore if that excites you. I'm also including some new art pieces

Fight Podcast link.

Art Pieces-

Playstation TV is the worst console ever

I've hated Sony as a company for a while now, but I've never wanted to physically destroy them like I do now. Months ago I purchased the Playstation TV, since I kept hearing about the perks that it offered, with cross-play and streaming. At first, I played only a couple of titles on it from time to time. Lately, I've been debating a move the the PS4, but decided on passing on the purchase, due to  much of the politics of game purchases today. It seems that updates are now done several times every week for the entire platforms and games across all current gen systems. XBox, PS4, Nintendo, and even my Vita is constantly bombarded with updates. Some of these are fixes, but mainly patches to further tighten the companies grip on your purchases.

  The other day, I got a 1.5 Gig update that was mandatory for HellDivers. This update included 1 new weapon and a bug fix. Now the game is twice the size it was originally, making me have to erase data to fit it on the card. From what I hear, you can't even get complacent with fighting games, because they patch them every month and rearrange rosters and character set ups. I have a huge issue with that. I was getting into fighting games, and was going to get Street Fighter x Tekken going on my PS TV. Of course, it's one of the myriad of games blocked from usage on the system. I went down the line and saw that almost every single fighter I wanted to play on the Vita is blocked, just because.

 I spent an entire day plugging code and configuring my system and account, in what amounted to a prank. Apparently, there are fixes that allow you to hack your PS TV and play all of the blocked games. I tried for weeks to no avail. Eventually, I purchased a brand new unit with old firmware so that I could bypass the patches. All of a sudden, as soon as I make the purchase, I'm magically told that the firmware is too old to used the hack, when I was told the older the better the entire time, by every single site. Now that system is a dud. But then I find a source of info that hacks the latest firmware. At first I'm skeptical, but then it begins to make sense. The programs needed, all seem to work and do their job. It took me hours of backing up my system and entering commands, and generating file keys, when I finally got the resulting file I needed. I put the damn file in the system, and absolutely nothing happened. The entire thing was an elaborate joke.

  And Sony has no plans of adding to the white list, so all of these games are just plain unplayable. Beyond wanting to cave in the skulls of the idiots who put the tutorials together, I am sick of the system all together. It was advertised as a Vita killer, when it was released years ago. Over half of the library is inaccessible to the system. I'm completely disgusted with the Playstation TV, and it is without a doubt the worst system ever made. I would never recommend to under any circumstances. I'm pissed I wastes so much time and resources on this endeavor, but I'm glad that the systems themselves only cost about 40 dollars now. A short while ago, they were $100 at minimum, because they were being peddled as a system. It is the furthest thing from a system. Aesthetically, it is an appealing unit due to its small size and ability to use a dual shock controller and HD cables, but when a system has a library like this, it is a joke that it was even released. Originally, I heard that games that used touch screen, and the mic etc, were blacklisted to improve functionality of the system. But then I found out that Sony basically played some kind of drinking game to decide what to omit. Basically, what that means is that it was completely random. Fighting games like Injustice, Street Fighter X Tekken, Playstation AllStars etc are made to transition to a dual shock controller. They are also staple titles for the system. None of those games work. And the funny thing is that the method reveals the motive. Preceeding titles of the same series that were released on PSP or Playstation 1, work just fine on system. They were clearly targeting Vita titles.


 I can't even type much more, because thoughts are crowding my head- violent thoughts towards the execs at Sony. Wow, what a piece of crap.

Works in Motion

I asked myself today, "What did we do before Youtube and Facebook?" It's a rhetorical question, but I felt like it was very deep to contemplate it for a minute or two. With recent technology, I've thought about how it has almost erased the ability to write and communicate on an intelligent or deep level. Right now, I'm nearing the halfway mark of my next novel, which is a very important project to me, because I really had to research and go outside of my comfort zone for this one. But I find it's been a bit of a challenge to think retrospectively. After a while, we've become so indoctrinated with the mundane cycle of work, social media, and gossip new or gossip TV, that it's hard to even visualize the past days for me. I've been trying to detach and go back in time like some writers do when working on pieces. I was reflecting the other day about how interaction, conversation, and going outside to enjoy creation used to be natural. Now, you have to force yourself because staring at a computer screen is natural now. Ask yourself what you spend the rest of your day doing, when you aren't sleeping or hooked to social media and reality television marathons.

  Even myself, as a sports nut, I find if I do binge watch sports news, I will burn hours watching repetitive coverage, when not watching the actual events. Then I blog occasionally about events, but that too gets repetitive. And you can't count outings with family and cliques as stepping away from social media when you are attached to it on the go. Go to any gathering, and you'll notice everyone  glued to their phones during so called conversation. And the scary thing is that it is no longer considered rude. It's become commonplace. Even when you do to outings or events, social media is still funneled back into your face with the same event organizers. Every 60 year old soccer mom, or newscaster has a twitter handle, and spends their time tweeting. It's all about gossip and news.

  Art and music are some of the only things along with sports, that, when I'm immersed in it, depending on what it is, I feel taken a bit back in time. I've been going over Wing Chun instructional videos with a teacher I studied from years ago. He too has now been bitten by the social media bug, and is actively involved, but at least he remains old school in his approach. I really enjoy taking his material in. Even interviews are not what they used to be with athletes or other celebrities. Every statement in an interview is a bland, "It is what it is." I think Keith Thurman is a breath  of fresh air as far as intellects go. It's rare to see any athletes these days that articulate and contemplative. He has a very broad and inquisitive mind, that goes beyond technique in boxing. His interviews have been some of the only ones I haven't skipped through, or turned off.

  Anyway, I rambled enough. Just food for thought. Here are a few new art pieces, a poem I completed, titled, "Your Definition," and the early release of the upcoming album, "Religion."

YOUR Definition

So I'm seeing 3 guys pummel a 4th, and as he goes to scream out in agony,
They cry before he does, indignant at his disapproval, until they can keep going.
And I look on with tears and rage in my eyes, thinking, "There's no way I can be him."
And yet you think I will.
What exactly do you call love?
Is it giving what you feel like to another,
Or fulfilling their needs even to your deficit?
It was a battle of about 20.
I didn't think I'd survive, but I took one vile creature down.
Fallling into unconsciousness, I'm in the back seat of a getaway truck.
Is this real?
Why aren't you controlled?
I'll believe you if we get away.
All I ever wanted was to be loved.
All I want now is to be free.
The edge of the universe with nothing but God's grace is a dream sanctuary.
I have no faith in what is called the people.
This and that tumult of religous apathy is life and love
As YOU define it.
And it is totally wrong.
Your confusion is not validated or amplified with popularity.
For all of your wickedness, I would love to be the vessel
Of your destruction, if not your healing.

Album- "Religion"
https://soundcloud.com/jokatech/sets/religion-soundcloud-early-release

New Art Pieces and Project

I plan on uploading a new podcast regarding my view of the gaming community at this point. But that is beside the main point, which is that I have been working on my next musical project titled, "Religion." Hopefully, it will be completed by the end of the year, or early next year. As the years go by, I am more and more focused on tightening my approach, and getting new sounds. Sometimes, I draw blanks and hit writer's block.

  I've also started painting again. I've been very inactive as far as work goes, because I have been writing music somewhat, and studying more on the horn, as well as piano, and tin whistle, which I just started learning. Also, to be honest, I took a few months of playing games to cleave through the immense back log of games I have yet to beat. I've made a dent in it, and I've been putting up reviews on this site. I also have to get back to work on the novel. As it stands, I may be doing some travel that will actually aid quite a bit in the writing of the novel, which I look forward to. I've also been purchasing and listening to a lot of material from Miles Davis and Bill Evans- particularly, "Getting Sentimental," "Dingo," and "Freedom Jazz Dance." I've been trying to learn the material, as well as some of the pieces from La La Land, which I feel was an amazing movie, that I should review here as well. It was well composed by Justin Hurwitz, and is heavily nominated for Oscars, which it deserves.

 In the mean time, here are a couple of new pieces, as well as a link to a small track from the Religion project.

https://soundcloud.com/jokatech/bounce

Psychodelia Obsession- Gravity Rush- Review

  Okay. This is a fresh review. I just played and beat Gravity Rush for the Playstation Vita. This was one of the very few flagship titles for the system that came out around launch in 2012. It actually began development way back in 2008 as a PS3 title, and it was put together by Sony's development studio in Japan. It uses cel shaded graphics, and utilizes a control scheme that focuses on manipulating gravity while playing.

 When the game came out, I was on the fence, and felt that it was somewhat gimmicky. I however, still purchased it relatively soon after finding it. It was a game with a heroine, which used to be rare, but if you notice, almost all IP games today have heroines as the generation of gender blurring continues. I didn't mind that, and I never do honestly. Metroid has a female lead, as well as Beyond Good and Evil, and I loved both games. I usually only have a gripe when there isn't some male mascot that I can relate to. Aside from Uncharted, which doesn't really count, I always thought it sucked that there was never a Mario-esque, male lead game like Gravity Rush released for the Vita.

 Nonetheless, it starts off with a scene of an apple falling off of a tree and then down a deep chasm. Then a scene opens up which I can't fully recall. When the game starts, the heroine- Kat, as she is called, awakes with amnesia in a town called Hekesville. For some reason, the Japanese get a kick out of doing a Japanese game where the characters appear to speak French, with Japanese writing all over the settings. This makes it a bit difficult to connect with the characters. English voice-overs would have been appreciated. You quickly meet a cat creature that seems to be made out of dark energy, which follows you around, and is responsible for your powers. It is never made clear who the girl is or where she came from, but she is quickly involved in the town's affairs and saves the day often. Hekesville has been under the attack of dark gravity creatures called Nevi, that have split the entire world into fragments and sunk areas off it into the depths. Kat goes on impromtu missions to recover parts of the town, but seems to only draw their ire as a result of their fear of her powers.

 You have a move set of gravity moves and combos that you can execute. Pressing square will use standard attacks. You have a jump button as well. Pressing circle generates a gravity field, allowing you to pick up objects or people if needed. Pressing the shoulder buttons initiates a gravity shift or disengages it. When this is done you can do moves like a gravity kick, switch the polarity of gravity, and special attacks that do a lot of damage. The enemies are tough and move very quickly. During cutscenes, Kat can fly around, but when playing the game, it isn't like flying at all. The camera is not stabilized, and it feels like a psychodelic trip when moving around, since the screen will tilt uncontrollably as you shift, causing you to have to fly and fight with very awkward to no view at all. This made things so much harder than they had to be.

 During the game you meet another girl named Raven, who opposes Kat at first, since they have noble reasons, but colliding goals, until they realize the purpose of not only the Nevi, but the government, who are harnessing their power. After saving a city of lost children together, Kat and Raven team up, and have to fight against a misguided government that is going about the eradication of the Nevi in a destructive way. The game utilizes interactive comic strips to tell the story, which are well drawn and moveable. Some of the comic frames will contain motion videos, which I thought was very artistic and cool. The music also assisted this, as it had a very serene soundtrack, that used large string sections and a had a very classical sound.

 The bosses were very challenging, but not really impossible feeling. I just wish the camera was done better, as it made navigation very annoying. A game like this should have felt like Spiderman, Bionic Commando, or the Hulk, where your movement makes you feel free to  explore the city. But often, I got hopelessly lost due to how the camera goes so wild while shifting. During the game, there are side missions that challenge you to set records, and repair different functions of the town like elevators, bridges, and street lights. It took me altogether about 20 hours to beat the game, which is pretty solid for an action adventure game. There is still more to explore and do afterward. The towns are very huge, but it doesn't feel like there is a whole lot going on, or for you to do. Also, when you shift, people around you will get sucked into the field and scream for their life as they are launched in the sky. This makes you reluctant to freely shift around the cities, but there's no other way, besides walking slowly which would be ridiculous with how much ground there is to cover.

  During the ending, the story got very deep and convoluted. the government officials are still preparing for a huge and pending Nevi attack, and even Kat and friends are aware of a huge coming danger, but are enjoying the time of peace. It is revealed that the world is a dream of sorts, but whose it is, they don't say. The corrupt mayor is injured by his Nevi destroying weapon, that ends up almost committing genocide on the city. I actually thought he died, when Kat threw it into his face. One of the scientists looks into some crystal ball and shockingly discovers who Kat really is. It shows a silhouette that looks familiar, but it is very unclear. His reaction makes you really wonder about it though. The entire ending seems like a simple interlude into the second game. The sequel was suppose to be on the Vita, which the game was designed for. But guess what? The Sony company that I have grown to hate, saw how good of a game it was and pulled it onto the PS4, barring the sequel from the Vita. One of the many attacks on their own product that I will never understand.

 I would like to get the sequel to see what happens, but honestly, I don't feel that super compelled. It's a very good game, to be clear, but I felt at ease when it ended. Solid effort by SCE, that could benefit from more fleshing out, gameplay wise and setting wise. A solid 8/10

The Underrated Leo Santa Cruz

 This was a spectacular event on Saturday. Leo Santa Cruz ripped the belt at Bantamweight back from the hands of the ever scrappy Carl Framptom. The first fight was a mental lapse for Leo, who didn't have his sick father in his camp. Not to make too many excuses, Carl has a very difficult style to deal with. He fights like another version of Frank Edgar, with the same punch absorbing and busy infighting style. He leans forward into your chest and keeps side to side movement, hooking off 3-4's to the body and head. He doesn't really have any dangerous jab game. And he also would benefit from adding in uppercuts to his attack.


 Leo Santa Cruz made this fight harder than it had to be by fighting inside yet again in the rematch. However, he fought with intensity and determination, making airtight and precise decisions. He said, around the time the rematch was made, that he would retire if he lost this fight, and that he never should have lost. He backed every word of that up in this rematch. I had the fight 8-4 for Leo at worst. I really see it 9-3. A lot of people are saying that they had no idea that Leo could box, and I laugh. When I talk about how retarded the world is getting, I'm waived off, but the proof remains regardless. Look how quickly the Mares fight is forgotten, where he boxed the stuffing out of Abner Mares for 12 rounds. Leo has always had skills and amazing abilities. He adjusts to his opponents.

 Leo is not just a good fighter. He is a rare gem. I can't think of more than a few fighters over the last few generations, that had Leo's physical gifts of power and length with great movement and boxing ability, along with incredible infighting ability. You just don't see it often. Yet the haters mount. When I heard the commentary and saw the fact that Frampton was still undefeated, I was worried that they would steal this fight from Leo. It was not a close fight. Leo won almost every single exchange. And Frampton tried to utilize the front running, arrogance game that everyone has adopted from Mayweather. He thumbed his nose at every combo or shot and plodded forward. He did get stronger as the fight went on, which is why Leo had to manage his stamina. Frampton goes for haymakers in the later rounds, and sits down for knockouts. To aid that, he has a huge head and can eat shots like a little pit bull. He is already short, and fights even lower like a mini Tyson.

 Leo should have kept spinning Carl and letting the straight go at the end of combinations like he did early in the fight. Carl stopped respecting his jab and timing his way in. I did like the body punching that Leo implemented. It slowed Frampton down and did good damage. He visibly stopped him  in his tracks on several occasions. That left hand of Leo's is beautiful. And he's orthodox. That's what I like about him. His uppercuts were well thrown and set up. his 3's and 5's to the body did a lot of the work for him, with the sniper right hand in his back pocket for him.There was a knockdown in the 3rd round or so, that was ruled a slip, and I am still disgusted by that. The entire agenda was to either protect Frampton with a win, or at least fuel a rematch for him. Leo clearly lands a well timed left hook, and Frampton falls back and waives his gloves after clearing his head, and referee Kenny Bayless jumps in as he is going down and rules it a slip. The commentators quickly chime in saying it was a slip. That was one of the most suspect moments I have seen in sports. Even when a knockdown isn't clear, but dicey, there is a pause to assess what happened by looking at the condition of the downed fighter and possibly a replay. Their feet did not look tangled at all. If your feet are positioned poorly and you eat a hook and go down, it's a knock down. You don't get a do over because of an error.

 The fight was excellent. It was tagged as a step down from the last fight which was more of a war, but that doesn't surprise me. Look at the boxing match that continues to get fight of the year. People don't understand chess. If there is punching with purpose, it annoys viewers, who don't get what's going on, and would rather see two fighters swing like crazy for 36 minutes, and not defend themselves at all.

The rematch will be in Ireland, which is fair as Carl came over to defend. I respect that he agrees with the decision, but he knows that it was a blowout. He had this clause in place from the start. He was hoping that he could fight Leo close and get the nod and move on. He got torched, and the media assists him in calling it close, to set up a rematch for monetary purposes. He even accused Leo of stealing rounds in the last 15 seconds. What a laugh. Go back and watch the fight, and you tell me who was hooking off at the end of rounds and bullrushing the entire fight. And what did you see Leo doing. He never had to steal a round, because he controlled every one of them while tatooing Carl's face. That's the reason Leo looked fresh after the fight, and Carl Frampton's face looks beat like Mrs. Doubtfire. He's a clown in that regard.  Great event though, and Leo once again proves himself.

Thank You For Being A Friend- Crusader No Remorse- Review

It was 1999. I'll never forget it. A lot of friends were getting their dreamcast. I was looking on in envy. I was also a freshman in high school. Rather than a Dreamcast, I had just recently bought a Sega Saturn off of my friend Salim, who I had math class with. Salim was a cool and laid back dude. There's actually a funny story surrounding the whole thing. I had biology with a dude who used to go back and forth with me with wise cracks during class. At times, it got heated, but he was a guy who loved to be the life of the class. At a point, it got to where he was pretty upset, but I didn't really realize it was serious at the time. On the day I got my Saturn, I was itching with excitement. I followed Salim home, hoping that the system would work, and that he wasn't going to change his mind. He said he didn't play it, and that he would sell it to me for a price I can't remember.

  We got to his apartment, which wasn't too far from the middle of town. The place smelled like I expected. You see, he was a weed smoker extraordinaire. I think he used to light up on the high school courtyard as well. Although, I have no idea how he got away with it. I used to hang with him and other courtyard pot heads on occasion, just to play hackensack.  Anyway, I had to hold my breath while he got the system, because it was so strong of a smell. I also began to wonder if the thing still worked. He told me I could return it if it didn't, but I just didn't want the hassle. So I paid him and sped out of there. As I approached the middle of town, there was the dude from my class, standing there with a couple of friends. If you know me, you know I'm not capable of fearing human beings. In fact, I figured he was just chilling. Then he comes up and starts talking to me about the issue he had from class, and asking if I wanted to square off right there. In my mind, I was laughing, because I really didn't think he was serious. But then he kept insisting. The thing about me, is that I've always been worried about what I would do if my switch flipped. That's one of the things that kept me from enjoying altercations at school. Every fight I got into in high school was off of school grounds, and I tried to squash it as quickly as I could, because I knew deep down what I was capable off, and wanted to avoid that. Frankly, I've been studying martial arts and combat since the age of 9, and it's never been an issue for me to put a dude to sleep. I often gave another impression, because I respected the teaching that you should avoid conflict. I looked down at my huge bag with the Saturn, and down at the large trench coat I was wearing, and I was partly annoyed that he was picking that time to ask for a fight.

  He threatened a couple of times under his breath, that he felt like doing something anyway. If he was sincere about that, I wouldn't have objected, as I've never been built to refuse a fight, but he didn't. One of his buddies tapped the back of my head as I was talking to him, and jumped back as I turned around. It was actually a kid I knew since kindergarten, which was funny. I thought a couple of times, and then he asked if we could squash out beef, which I didn't know existed. I told him that we were cool, and he took his leave. I only tell that story, because it happened to be on the day I got my Saturn. The whole time, I was petrified of the idea of getting into a melee and looking up to see my Saturn gone, because that happened to be before. I don't think he ever knew that I was a kid who could fight, but I didn't really care. There are a lot of kids in school that fortunately never saw that side of me. I did see him years later at the gym, as we had a mutual friend, and all was forgotten, since it was a such a small thing anyway. His friend who was there that day, I saw as well. I was rolling with a crew on the main street one day, and he ducked into a store, scared stiff that I was going to jump him. The fact is that if it was that important to me, I would have fought that very day, but I didn't because I was excited to have my Sega Saturn.

 After we parted ways, I went to the local video store and got NHL 98', and  Crusader No Remorse. I played the crap out of the hockey game, as I was a huge fan back then, and followed the Philadelphia Flyers. When I got into Crusader, I immediately recognized it as the type of espionage action game that was right up the alley of my best friend at the time- Kenton. As soon as I got a chance, I rushed over to his house to show it to him, and he was equally impressed. I think we played most of the game at his house. And I eventually beat it there as well.

  I have to start with the fact that nostalgia really drove me to get this again. I had fond memories, and it was a game I remember being worth a replay. However, the game has a small number of flaws, albeit major in their scope. First I'll give a synopsis. You are a rebel soldier- Silencer, who has defected from the Consortium regimen. Tell me that title isn't cool. The Consortium is a global conglomerate of national leaders that oversee and regulate the world, in a Star Wars Empire type of manner. They even regulate and control water consumption. They treat the citizens of the planet like chattel, and even experiment on them with cloning and nuclear weapon strikes. It's never clearly explained, why you defected, but oddly enough, in the opening movie, you and a few comrades are assaulted by one of the Consortium's drones, and you alone survive. After that, you turn on them and join the rebel force. It's hard not to sound like I'm talking about Star Wars, but I'm not. The story is tied together well, with many different cutscenes with horrible acting, yet effective dialogue. If you remember this era, you remember all of the awkward acting that was done back in the 90's era of espionage games. Soviet Strike was another prime example. When I say horrible, I don't mean off-putting. They do put in some effort, and it is very memorable, just cheesy.

  The political and technical jargon used throughout the game is very accurate, believable and engaging. Partners of the Consortium begin to have doubts as to some of the investments that are going wrong, and corrupt individuals weave their way into the Senate. All of this happens behind the scenes, while you experience the fallout of it all. There is a nice hub world, that I totally forgot about, where you restock on ammo, and check your emails. This adds life to the game, as it is the hub of the Resistance. I actually like the email function, because much like Assassin's Creed, it follows the arc of events and fills in gaps in the story. There is also some very funny emails that add life to the game, like the warnings about bringing guns into the base's bar, and an ongoing joke about an old lady buying meat from a butcher. The email runs for just about the whole game, and it was very funny. The game doesn't do a great job at all of explaining the inventory. There are several items that you can use on missions like EMP devices and stuff. None of these devices have descriptions at all, and cost an arm and a leg. Where you get all of that money is beyond me still. You can't replay missions and forage either. This is a straight ride of a game. I ended up sticking to the same basic weapons and running into many ammo issues, almost nailing me in a corner at the end of the game.


  The game runs in an isometric view. Right there, I will get into the most mind numbing issue. The screen is not controllable. And it does not scroll until you are at the edges of the screen. There are mechs and tanks that can kill you in one shot, that you won't see until you are literally in front of them, due to the shape of the iso view screen. This resulted in innumerable cheap deaths. Save often. Some of the levels are actually quite huge and long. There is some ability to back track. There are also some secret areas which can really help with the scant supply issue sometimes. One secret area played a trick on me. I fount it through a hidden switch, only to get locked into training course for Consortium troops, that was deathly difficult. I had to complete the course to continue the game. But I did get much needed items at the end. There are a lot of key card, and code switch activations in this game. You must go through the dozens of office rooms, looking through computers for the access codes and to take down shields and blockades. Sometimes this web can be so hidden and convoluted, you can spend half an hour looking for a switch that will open keypad that will get you an access card to get through the door. Often, that was okay for a break in combat, as gun fight situations can be annoying at times. The way your character moves is like the Resident Evil engine. You have tank controls- press the sides to turn, and forward and back to advance or retreat. Fortunately, you can roll and duck behind crates. Be warned- this game has an insane amount of explosives. This can help take out rooms of troops, but can also mess you up, and destroy much needed supply boxes. I can literally say, I had a blast.

  The aesthetics of the game are adequate. When in the hub, between missions, you see your captain for instructions before heading out. It's in a movie format, where they sit at a desk and tell you what needs to be done and to consult your data link for further information. Some of the dialogue annoyed me. Near the end of the game, I was told that I was the only one who could carry out an intel job in the factory where they manufactured the clones. Before saying that, they told me that the other agent wasn't up to it and was at the base. Then, they said it would be heavily reinforced, and that they wish they could spare a troop to assist me. This is after just telling me that my counter-part was going to be chilling at the base! You take your orders from Commander Ely in this game, until he is kidnapped by the Consortium. This happens after a scientist you went to retrieve is killed while being transported back. There is a traitor in the base, and it winds up being the person who supposedly found the traitor. There are some interesting plot twists.

  It was about as long as I remember, and a bit more difficult, since I was playing on my PSP with much more uncomfortable controls. I never realized the loose ends that were left until now. You never find out what became of Commander Ely. Wizard, the tech head who gave you information during missions, and provided extraction, was killed, and the base is completely destroyed. In fact, you have to carry out the last couple of missions without being able to stock up with the merchant, which was insane to say the least. It doesn't really feel like a true victory.  You manage to shut down and destroy the Vigilance Platform, a nuclear weapon launching base, used as a leverage tool by Consortium to take controll of the Senate. But the leader is unharmed, and assures you that he has already done damage control for his Senate hearings, and will regroup to find you. The last boss you kill is the traitor from your base, but they are no more than one of the leader's flunkies. There is a lot of loss, for a little gain. I expected an epilogue, and most definitely a sequel, but we got neither, as far as I know.  There was a nominal sequel- Crudader: No Regret released on PC only in 1996, but it doesn't tie up these events, and is only an expansion pack. Rest assured the game is solid and involved enough that after playing through, you will be as invested as I am to see the conclusion to a pretty interesting story.

Worthy of 7.5/10- Thank you for being a friend. Traveled down the road and back again. Your heart is true. You're a pal and a......... okay, I'll stop there

The Beast Season 4: Episode 3- Monster Hunter Let's Play

Hey Guys. This is my first let's play. I'm trying to improve little by little. I will keep working at it. Currently, after completing the campaign for Monster Hunter Freedom Unite, I have been embarking on a quest to complete an armor set that I have wanted for quite a while, called the Narga Armor Set. I have every piece except for the helmet. I need one item to complete the helmet- the Narga Brain Stem. In this video, I will display what is called a tail run, which is a hunting mission of the Nargacuga designed to sever the tail and try to harvest the brain stem from it. It has an 8% drop rate, and some people, including myself, have hunted it for many hours and never gotten it. I am trying to nail the science of the tail run. As every item you use on a mission is gone, I am trying to learn how to complete the tail run with the very basic of items, which is challenging.