Gradius Talk and Why I love Shmps

July 29th, 2008

gradius collection artwork

Shmps or shoot ’em ups are a very difficult genre. Not challenging difficult (although in most cases this is also true) but difficult in that from a distance it is hard to see the appeal. Shmps are a genre whose bread is buttered on traditional, two dimensional gameplay, that is; you either shoot or dodge or do them both at the same time. Unfortunately this simple natured foundation has been a anchor restricting shmps from returning to the mainstream. While shmps use to be the best in its league unfortunately as game mechanics have advanced, shmps haven’t, they simply can’t! So in the current gaming environment shmps, particularly for younger players, are difficult to break into compared to the more successful genres.

Like a lot of gamers I never really made shmps a priority. Sure I’d played Space Invaders and some R-Type on the Commodore 64 but it was a genre that I couldn’t really care about. In the past year though I have slowly turned this around and have adopted several top tier shmps into my gaming collection. I have already discussed how incredible Ikaruga is so today I want to talk about another inspiring shmp; Gradius.

I’d been eyeing down Gradius Collection on the PSP for a couple of months now and finally decided to grab it from my favourite games retailer. Gradius Collection consists of several classic Gradius titles being Gradius I-IV and Gradius Gaiden, unfortunately Gradius V from the PS2 is not included. Basically you get the five games, some neat menus and a few extras thrown in for balance. You can also choose to play in super duper stretcho PSP vision or at the native proportions.

So now that the obligatory press release is over lets break into why I love shmps and particularly this shmp so much. There isn’t much to say about what is presented in front of you, shmps are usually very bare bones (Nanostray 2 being a possible exception) and Gradius is the same; you have your ship (plus respective power ups) and a series of incoming enemy units each moving in their preset patterns.

It is in the design of these patterns where shmps either succeed or fail. You see patterns and pattern recognition are some of the basic building blocks of human thought. It is this process which shmp developers bank on and is what I think makes these games so provocative to play. A game like Ikaruga with its symmetrical patterns and diverse range of pattern sets make full use of such a mechanic and has been praised respectively.
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Metal Gear Solid 4 – Complete Impressions

June 15th, 2008

metal gear solid 4 crotch grab

Over the past few days Metal Gear Solid 4 has been a completely immersive and unreal experience for me personally, one that I never would have imagined possible, at least at this stage of life in video games. This title, is a landmark title; significant to the Playstation 3, more so to evolution of the industry. MGS4 concludes the long running franchise in the perfectly problematic way the series is known for yet in the process it represents the first foot into a new wave of interactive entertainment. Make no marks about it, Metal Gear Solid 4 is all of the photo realistic graphics, apt gameplay and mind sprawling story telling that the Playstation 3 was hyped to be. Looks like the console has finally found its feet, welcome home.

There is just so much for me to say about this game so I am going to attempt to condense it down as much as possible. On this final edit I’m at roughly 4500 words, don’t let that scare you away (..no please come back!). Everything is under neat, little headings and is as well written as I can possible write. So please, read on. This is also a spoiler free zone so feel free to read all the way through without any worries.
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Elite Beat Agents Commentaries

June 8th, 2008

So Elite Beat Agents has been out for a good while now. I received this game as a Birthday present from my brother back in July last year and even back then this game had been out for a while. After I got it, I played EBA for a while and then placed it on the shelf to grow dust as I waded through the sea of games at were at my disposal.

A few days ago I decided to revisit my old DS friend, currently I am up to the infamous Jumping Jack Flash song which seemed beatable until I realized that this is a significantly longer (and more difficult) song than the rest of the colourful soundtrack. So while I sit here and allow my adrenaline to die off, I want to share a few ideas about this game, not necessarily critique but just a few lost ideas that I wanted to write down.
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