A blog about my interests, mainly the history of fighting games. I also talk about animation, comic books, car culture, and art. Co-host of the Pink Monorail Podcast. Contributor to MiceChat, and Jim Hill Media. Former blogger on the old 1UP community site, and Capcom-Unity as well.
That's right true believers. This is the game that you can enjoy best after beating Shadow of the Colossus. You see, I got my friends to play SotC recently, I was pushing the game quite hard. Why shouldn't I? It was an exceptional game, an award winner, art on the plasma screen... but my friends recently beat it. The ending was melancholy, it didn't settle with some of them.
The ending was the reason I didn't touch the game again for months after beating it. I wasn't sure my heart take that type of punishment again. I don't mean the stress of fighting wave after wave of enemies in Ninja Gaiden. Or the pressure of entering a FPS match for big money. The punishment I mention was the emotional kind.
I'm a big guy as you may know. But I'm also a kid at heart, a big softy, I fall for the stories. The game I could beat without breaking a sweat. Anyone that knows their videogames and has played adventure titles could beat it too. The story got to me. It was the ending that beat me.
It wasn't a bad ending, but very melancholy. I wouldn't say bittersweet because you've just been had. A trick by Fumito Ueda to get you into his world. Subtle with his use of everything that goes into a great design, so subtle you don't even realize he's playing you, not the other way around. You fall for the game hook, line and sinker. At least I did.
Jane Pinckard asked a long time ago when games would be able to disturb us. I never posted a comment on her blog. Shadow of the Colossus disturbed me, in the way she mentions. How could we keep playing a game if it was no longer "fun?" (ask GH about his Resident Evil 4 experiences). Take a step back and look at the themes that SotC conveys.
Wander is hurt for every colossus he defeats. The scars are quite visible by the end of the game. Is the life of Mono, the girl worth it? What about his self-sacrificing horse Agro? Was it his love or something else that kept us pushing forward? Maybe we just wanted to see what happens at the end. It is our own morbid curiosity that takes us there. It was then that I was unsettled by the outcome, when I was disturbed just a little.
Fumito Ueda is no fool. I've already said that he's carrying the Prince of Persia torch for Michael Ancel. There was a reason for his design, his plot and the outcome of the game. Shadow of the Colossus is not the end but rather the beginning of the legacy. It is supposed to be the prequel to Ico.
Although Ico doesn't immediately follow SotC in continuity it could be interpreted as such. Is there a relationship between the protagonists in Ico and SotC? There is one! In fact Ueda has said that both games are open to many possible interpretations. The themes of both games are universal. They cross ethnic, political and religious borders. They are games based on good versus evil, right and wrong. Ico frames that better than any puzzle game to date.
Ico is a child sent to a prison because he was born with horns. In the opening moments of the game you really feel sorry for the kid. He is a sympathetic character with wide eyes and a simple way about him. If and when the opportunity to escape arrives you are ready to lead him out of danger. That is until you realize that the mysterious castle in which you are trapped also has another prisoner, a princess named Yorda. In order to escape you have to take Yorda with you. Not that many a gamer would choose to be selfish and escape by themselves. In pursuit of Yorda are some shadowy monsters, sent to recapture her by Yorda's own mother, the Queen.
Talk about an epic adventure!
Ico is a puzzle game, practically a three dimensional retelling of Prince of Persia. You can see exactly where the SotC team learned their chops. You can see where other games like PoP the Sands of Time and God of War took some inspiration. The control in Ico is simple and intuitive, the puzzles are very clever, the graphics amazing and a straightforward plot that beats all. Ico is nothing short of a perfect game, it becomes epic when played right after SotC and not the other way around. Go on and play it again if you have it, pick it up if you don't.
The environments will absorb you. This is part of the world that was on the other side of the forbidden valley in SotC. A castle built on an island, apart from an unseen kingdom in the woods. A giant stone monolith that was built ages ago, with some of the castle lying in ruin. You can tell that Ueda and his team were thinking of a fully-realized world when they began work on Ico.
As far as the eye can see there are details. Birds in the distance, the sound of crickets and frogs. Flowing water, an ocean, clouds and fog to change the mood of the level. All the while you lead Yorda, taking her hand and helping her through the labyrinth of a castle. Ueda says that holding hands is a very powerful symbol of affection in Japan, more so than in any other culture. Most couples just do not do that in Japan. So when Ico first takes Yorda's hand we see the beginnings of a romance. As gamers we have to do our best to get both characters away from the castle and the Queen. To see if they are given the chance to live their lives together, a fate complicated to Wander and Mono in SotC.
Ico teaches us to be brave in the face of adversity. To take a risk and yet always be mindful of using your brain. Every puzzle has a solution and we have to look and listen for the clues. Sometimes we have to leave Yorda behind to figure out how to escape a room, those few moments apart feel like an eternity. Will she be okay? Will the shadow monsters come for her in Ico's absence? Why should we care? After all she is just a polygon model, a device to get us from point-a to point-b.
If that's the case then we are playing games for all the wrong reasons.
Nintendo fanboys have nothing to get worked up over because Link will always save Zelda, whether they play the game or not. Gears of War is not really a battle to save humanity. The zombies aren't really killing people in Dead Rising. This is not really the Final Fantasy and Grand Theft Auto is not about the GT or the A.
Ueda is no fool. He plays with our emotions in Ico just as easily as he did in SotC and does so masterfully. Ico has an ending, something unique. While open to interpretation it is less melancholy than SotC.
For the scope of both games Ueda delivers a story that is the videogame equivalent to the Star Wars trilogies. What unsettled me in SotC was what could have been in the turn of Anakin Skywalker to Darth Vader. What worked in Ico was the redemption of Luke and his father. Had Lucas done it right the Anakin to Vader story should have disturbed audiences. Fortunately Ueda doesn't fall for the same traps, there are no Jar-Jar's, CGI does not replace plot and Han always shoots first.
The US version of Ico doesn't have the secrets found in the European and Japanese versions. It still delivers one hell of an experience. Ico is a game that everyone should play before they die, especially if they have just finished Shadow of the Colossus.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have a lawn to mow and work to catch up on. Peace. As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!
Hello friends, I hope you are having a good day so far. I just wanted to let you know about an important anniversary happening this year. Sony Pictures Animation is celebrating 10 years in the biz. Last night the missus and I stopped by the studio for the first film in a series that they will be showing over the next few weeks. It was hosted by the producer, writers and animation director.
Sony began producing animated features with Open Season. The idea for the film was originally started by the comic strip In the Bleachers. The writers had a collection of strips and they pitched a story to Sony in where the forest animals turned the tables on the hunters. The studio greenlit the film and gave them about three years to turn it into a reality. That initial film was moderately successful and actually spawned two sequels.
Sony then began looking for new directors and ideas for films. The surfing penguin film Surf's Up followed, as did their first CGI / live action hybrid the Smurfs.
The studio was doing well with licensed characters like the Smurfs as well as adaptations from books like Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. They were eager to try out new things and partnered with the stop motion animation studio Aardman (Wallace and Gromit) to produce The Pirates! Band of Misfits.
It's hard to believe the volume of work the studio has produced over a short timeline. Arthur Christmas and the future Popeye film, directed by Gennedy Tartakovsky being polar opposites (no pun intended) as far as storytelling and animation styles.
It's great to see how the studio uses isn't afraid to take on new ideas and foster the creativity of their animators. Too many other studios will only work on licensed features while others are locked into a spiral of "sequelitis." Sony Animation has a good track record of trying out original ideas as much as existing IP.
I can only imagine what great ideas are being cooked up. At the end of the film series Sony will be showcasing their next feature to the public for free.
Hotel Transylvania will be screened for families and I hope to have mine there for the show. When the location and information for tickets are revealed I'll be sure to let my So Cal friends know. As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!
Hello friends, what are you up to? Things could be better over here. I shouldn't have gloated about the brownies yesterday. It seems that karma does not like gloaters. I got a parking ticket at work because I forgot to display my staff permit. I'll see if the school can do anything about it since I am staff, only I forgot to put up the permit. Then at home one of the light sockets went out. It's another wiring issue in the old house and the money is running out before the family can do something about it. Going to have to squeeze the belt tighter to take care of things.
I'll just focus on videogames and my lawn before things get worse. The other day it was announced than another classic fighting game would return. Given the momentum that SF IV and KOF XII are generating it was only a matter of time before other fighters were resurrected. The weapons-fighting game Battle Arena Toshinden is coming back on the Wii. Kotaku stole the news from Famitsu about this release.
Despite getting four titles over it's lifespan, Toshinden was always a sub-par fighting game. It was proof that even the Japanese were not immune to cashing in on the fighting craze of the 90's. It played ugly and looked worse. It was slow and cumbersome, with music and sound effect that were laughable by early-90's standards. It truly was forgettable compared to the hits of the era.
Toshinden is almost lost to history but is actually more than a footnote in the era of fighters. It was the first 3D fighter to use weapons, it came out in 1994, a full year before Soulcalibur and one year after the debut of Samurai Spirits. Toshinden debuted in the same year as Tekken. It represented the changing tide of technology and in bringing arcade graphics to home consoles. Toshinden, like Tekken, were arcade titles and 1st generation Playstation games. They looked almost indistinguishable between home and arcade. The only problem for Toshinden was how bad it looked and played when compared to Tekken, Virtua Fighter or Samurai Spirits.
In the previous blog I talked about how Marvel's Secret Wars was as influential to the development of the Contest of Champions mobile game as any other Marvel story arc. It was not however what I believe to be the most influential crossover event in '80s comic book history. That title would belong to DC comics. Writer Marv Wolfman did not like the different versions of the DC universe characters occupying the same space. Unless you had been following the DC comics for a long time you didn't necessarily know that Superman and Superboy were two different characters occupying two different Earths. You simply assumed that before Clark Kent became Superman he was naturally Superboy. There was actually a long-standing legal battle around who owned the rights to Superboy. To compound things there were different dimensions and different timelines happening where Clark landed on Earth in the '20s or '30s and thus interacted with different historical characters. Superman had been given lots of nonsensical powers through the years, super ventriloquism, super face shifting, super hypnosis, etc. There were also dimensions where there was a super dog (Krypto), a super horse (Comet), and even super cat (Streaky). To try and make sense of it all, de-power Superman and others, and streamline the DC canon Wolfman, artists George Perez, John Byrne, and the editors at DC agreed on an ultimate crossover, the Crisis on Infinite Earths.
What set Crisis apart from every other comic book crossover at the time was the finality of the events. Whatever the outcome it would determine which characters remained in publication, which "Earth" was officially canon and who lived or died. Thus when Barry Allen, the Flash, passed away it was a sacrifice that meant something to an entire generation of readers. His protege' Wally West, the Kid Flash, would have to become the new Flash. Comic books were starting to "grow up" and writers like Wolfman and Alan Moore made sure to write some complex and mature material that forever changed the way comics would be presented. In the Crisis series a villain named the Anti-Monitor was collapsing dimensions in his wake. Each alternate timeline, or dimension was labeled with a number. This is where you might have heard things like Earth-1, Earth-2, Earth-Prime, etc. Imagine that in one Earth it was perpetually World War II, or that in a different Earth the Justice League was made up of criminals. It was a lot for fans to keep track of so DC needed to sort things out. Wolfman was using the gigantic Anti-Monitor as a sledgehammer to shatter each Earth. The fan-favorite characters that survived the onslaught managed to do so by traveling from Earth to Earth and joined all of the heroes for one final stand. If you are relatively new to comic books but have been to a movie theater in the past decade then this might sound like a familiar idea. Marvel had also created their own universe smasher and this one went by the name of Thanos.
The roots of Thanos and how he was worked into the mobile game Marvel Contest of Champions was inspired. In the previous blog I mentioned that the events in Secret Wars and the original Contest of Champions had a hand in shaping the development of the mobile game. But it went much deeper than that. Those comic runs from the early '80s focused mainly on the traditional Marvel heroes and villains, whereas DC had brought forward the idea of a battle royal across different dimensions, or the multiverse. In 2018 Sony Animated Pictures brought audiences the wonderful Spider-Man Into the Spider-verse. It helped introduce the concept of the multiverse to Marvel fans. Long time comic book readers knew that there were different Earths as well. Except they went by a different numbering system than DC. It was something that Alan Moore and Alan Davis made up. They called the traditional Marvel universe Earth-616, the events from other comics took place on other Earths, for example there were many different versions of Spider-Man. In one world we had Peter Parker, in another there was Penny Parker (Earth-14512) or Gwen Stacy (Earth-65).
There was a punk rock Spider-Man, the militant Hobart Brown from Earth-138. He wore sneakers and had spikes on his mask. There was Earth-8311 where all the Marvel heroes were cartoon animals, including the Goose Rider, Captain Americat, the Incredible Hulk Bunny and of course Peter Porker the Spectacular Spider Ham. These characters often appeared in one-shot comics or short run series, never to be seen again. Fans never forgot these characters and neither did the writers and editors at Marvel. They were waiting for just the right story to tell. Many of these alternate realities went into the Spider-Verse comic book run in 2014 and the Spider-Geddon follow up in 2019. The popularity of the original run gave Sony the inspiration to pursue an animated feature. Hopefully you have seen it because it is more than a great comic book film, or a great animated film, but because it is simply was a great film. MMC does feature the Peter Parker, Miles Morales and Gwen Stacy versions of Spider-Man but Marvel went much deeper than that.
There were many other alternate timelines in the Marvel U where heroes were not quite how you remembered them. There was the Fear Itself timeline, a crossover from 2011, where some heroes, and villains were given magical hammers. Similar to Mjolnir, Thor's hammer. Except the hammers possessed the bearer, and caused them to wreak havoc on the Earth. The mastermind behind this was Cul Borson, the evil elder brother of Odin. Then there was the Infinity Wars from 2018. This timeline had all sorts of weird twists. It was the dimension where Steve Rogers became the Soldier Supreme during WWII, and when Tony Stark was actually Tony Odinson. He created the enchanted Iron Hammer armor. These versions did make it into the mobile game Marvel Future Fight by Netmarble Games. Incorporating the idea of multiverse was really where the Contest of Champions shone.
The game from Kabam took cues from the live action films and television shows. Since the game took place during a nebulous period, far outside of whatever was currently happening in any one particular comic book it allowed characters from the past, future, and essentially any dimension to exist at the same time. For a Marvel fan this was the ultimate experience. Fans didn't have to worry about being locked into one canon, one continuity, one version of their beloved heroes and villains. For example fans of the Hulk could actually take on the roles of at least three different versions of the Green Goliath. There was the classic green Hulk, the grey mob enforcer "Mr. Fixit" persona and even the evil future version known as The Maestro. Kabam had opened the floodgates for what it meant to be compete against other champions. The path that the company took and how they pulled the Marvel continuity into uncharted waters was nothing short of genius. We'll explore the adaptation process in the next blog. As always if you enjoyed this blog and would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!
War of the Monsters (WOTM) was more than just about the nostalgia of the classic drive in movies. It actually had tremendous game play. The experience was a free-roaming 3D fighting game akin to Capcom's arcade gem Power Stone. Most fighting games and most brawlers were strictly 2D affairs, even the crown prince of the genre, Rampage, was a 2D experience. In War of the Monsters players could move their monsters in all three dimensions. They could run, leap and even climb buildings. Some creatures could even fly.
Incog Inc. actually did a good job of giving each creature a specific sense of weight and mass. The insect character Preytor was a giant praying mantis. She moved and turned quickly, was light on her feet and could scale buildings with her six legs much faster than Agamo the living stone idol. Agamo was a huge lumbering force whose footsteps echoed with the sound of a rockslide and whose punches could deliver far more damage than Preytor's claws. There was a trade-off for speed versus power on every character. The speed and movement of the characters actually made sense in War of the Monsters. Their physical makeup, whether it was flesh, stone or metal complimented the creatures. Incog developed subtle differences in the way each monster moved and handled based on their structure. They controlled with a sense of momentum especially when running or jumping. Players could not accelerate quickly or stop on a dime with the biggest brutes. When an explosion went off they slammed into buildings and flipped end-over-end in a realistic fashion. They were not at all rag dolls. None of the Godzilla fighting games gave audiences even a remote sense of mass or momentum. The WOTM cast also had their own original sounds, taunts and roars, none were alike.
Speaking of sounds, the music featured in the game was orchestrated by Big Idea Music Productions, out of Colorado. The studio had worked with Incog on titles like Warhawk, God of War and Twisted Metal. This was by far the best soundtrack they had ever produced and one which I would easily rank in the top 10 best game soundtracks ever. Each level actually had two different soundtracks in the queue. There was a main level theme and a battle theme. The two themes complimented each other and could be effected by the players. If a player were far from the opponent then the level theme played, as they got close to the opponent then the game would mix in the battle version. The instrumentation utilizing a full orchestra helped give the score a robust movie quality. Each theme helped heighten the tension as monsters battled inside an active volcano, aboard a space ship or even on the steps of the Capitol Building in Washington DC.
There were eight characters for players to choose from and two additional ones that could be unlocked, each of which moved uniquely and had their own advantages and disadvantages. Incog found a perfect balance between the size of the characters and the scale of the environments. The monsters were about 75 feet tall, about twice the size of the Rampage monsters yet only about a quarter as tall as the King of the Monsters cast. This translated into many different elements. Since the monsters were bigger than the Rampage cast then they could more easily destroy the environment. But they weren't so tall that they were bigger than the tallest skyscrapers, and unable to climb them, like the King of the Monsters crew. Plus the scale that the monster were presented at translated into surprisingly tiny details that could still be made out by audiences. The amount of detail placed on the drive in theater at the start of the game was nothing compared to the details crammed into each level.
Buildings in each city had distinct architecture, there were ads, marquees and billboards that did not seem to be repeated on other levels. Cyclone fences on military bases had warning signs that could be read. Searchlights swept the corners of those same dark military compounds. Parking lots were filled with different types of cars. The studio went so far as to paint in the lines in the lots and even have tiny oil / transmission fluid stains in the spots. Parks had winding footpaths and tiny benches. Bigger cities had moving traffic, circling helicopters, rolling tanks, turning construction cranes and functioning missile launchers. Even the cabana, multi colored deck chairs and patio umbrellas at an island resort pool could be seen by sharp-eyed players. Vehicle types were also very distinct. Police cars, delivery trucks, tour buses, fire engines and sedans were on the roads. This attention to detail wasn't limited to just the cars. Yachts, sailboats, cruise ships, fishing boats and catamarans were set afloat, or docked on various stages as well.
Players could make out the waves that came in on the beachfront levels. If the monsters fought in the water they would send up enormous splashes. If the monsters ran through the water they would even kick up "rooster tails" of spray. Consider the amount of detail that SNK placed on the King of the Monsters years earlier. Those isometric details now had to be three-dimensional and look as good from every angle. Incog delivered on that challenge tremendously. Pedestrians could be seen screaming and running for their lives. The animated sprites were barely a few pixels in height but responded realistically to the monsters. They would scream en masse and fan out and away from opponents.
Creatures could actually walk through the crowds and flatten a few people with each footstep. Tiny red splatters were all that remained for those caught in the path of destruction. The sound of pedestrians screaming in terror would increase as the monsters approached. If there was a police car nearby the sirens would get louder or softer depending on which way they were moving on the streets. Traffic actually moved through the tiny streets and tried to maintain the right of way. Cars would even swerve around other vehicles or debris! News helicopters flew above the action while military assault choppers followed opponents around buildings and fired powerful rounds into them. Audiences could climb buildings, jump from rooftop to rooftop and snatch the helicopters out of the sky. Some levels even had UFO ships that shot green plasma blasts. They hovered and zipped from spot to spot, faster than any helicopter.
The environments were completely destructible. Buildings could be toppled, imploded or disintegrated. An entire city could be flattened to the ground. Players could use rubble, air conditioners, generators, dumpsters, cars and radio spires as makeshift weapons. If a player grabbed an energy transformer then they could send an electrical shock to opponents or throw it for a spark-filled explosion. If a player grabbed a rocket-firing tank then they could unload a salvo at opponents as if it were a massive handgun. Players could jump into the air and smash aircraft or UFOs using only their mass. Some of the taller buildings could collapse and crush opponents and players as they fell on them. Savvy players could lure an opponent to the right spot and earn a quick victory with a falling skyscraper. Several levels had hidden features that could be triggered if the right conditions were met.
Baytown, a city modeled after San Francisco, could have an earthquake that completely changed the shape of the environment if one player caused enough damage to the city. If players threw an object at an alien ship off the coast of Tsunopolis then it would shoot a powerful beam at the ocean. A tidal wave would then crash through the Japanese island sweeping all the pedestrians right off the map. The levels themselves were bordered by the same pulse emitters featured in the introduction movie. These emitters put up translucent walls that contained the destruction to a certain area. Apparently the government thought the collateral damage was acceptable. It was actually a good supporting detail. Incog did not simply focus their resources on the playable level and just blur out what was outside the borders. Gamers could see that that the world extended beyond the barrier. A major town, like Metro City did not end where the pulse emitters were. Players could clearly see roads and buildings behind the emitters, there was even a zeppelin floating just above the outskirts. This detail helped maintain the immersion on the arena while reminding audiences that the game universe was indeed fleshed out, waiting to be explored.
The combat system was the most robust aspect of the game. It was meant to be a brawling game after all. All of the attacks could be triggered by pressing two buttons for either weak or strong attacks. Monsters had a diverse set of combos that could used by learning the right sequence of button presses. Players could alternate button presses and create unique combination strings. Players could even break attacks, push opponents back, steal a weapon and even slip out of grapples if they caught the timing of an opponent. This came in handy as many of the monsters were relentless in battle, even on the easy setting. The computer AI was dialed in to be just about as brutal and cheap as it could, especially when it was two or more computer controlled monsters against the player. Those that have played through David Jaffe titles could testify that there was a level in God of War or Twisted Metal that felt particularly difficult, especially when it was one against multiple opponents. In War of the Monsters if an opponent were greatly weakened then they might run away and look for a major health upgrade. It could be maddening when players were trying to fend off two monsters at once. Audiences learned to be just as brutal as the computer if they hoped to survive. Gamers had to use every weapon at their disposal and even resort to some cheap tactics while dealing with multiple creatures.
The characters had a secret ability of sorts. If a player pressed the Select button their character would perform a taunt move. If players had two full bars of attack energy then that meter would flash rapidly. If a player taunted during a flashing meter then their character would get glowing fists and do about 25% more damage per hit. The attack meter drained steadily once players had activated it and would stop once the meter had drained down to a single bar. Players could keep recharging the energy by looking out for power orbs. This unique gameplay mechanic was revisited in the God of War series under the "Rage of the Gods / Titans / Sparta" mode for Kratos. It could certainly help to turn the tide of battle when dealing with multiple opponents.
Each monster had a close and ranged special attack. The close one was good for clearing away groups of monsters that were swarming around players. The ranged attack could drop opponents making a run for a health upgrade. Some characters had hidden uses for their super attacks. Gas tanker trucks were the most destructive thing that players could throw at each other. In addition to the damage caused by the explosion the tanks would coat the monsters in gasoline and slowly burn away their health. The problem was that they were not always accurate over long distances. The Japanese robot Ultra-V had a ranged super attack where its arm would shoot out like a rocket to stun and reel in an opponent. That attack rarely missed even if launched from the opposite side of a level. If Ultra-V were holding a gas tanker when doing the special attack then it would shoot out the arm and punch the opponent with a powerful explosion. The game was filled with all sorts of amazing hidden uses for regular and super attacks. Special attacks and even regular attacks tired out the monsters. They could regenerate their attack stamina slowly if they waited or quickly if they destroyed the environment. Incog turned the destruction element from the films into an important game play feature. Characters could also recover health by searching out green radioactive markers.
Players needed to learn all of the moves at their disposal too because they also had to contend with boss characters. There were three major bosses in the game. Each was designed to make all of the playable characters seem less imposing. The bosses required a particular strategy to defeat and none could really be fought hand to hand. The robot Goliath Prime, from the secretive military Area 51, towered over the other characters and could throw them around like rag dolls. It could also transform into a spinning wrecking ball as well as a two fisted artillery cannon. Then there was Vegon, the three-headed plant monster born from the center of a nuclear power plant. Vegon was actually the largest monster in the game and capable of swallowing the regular characters whole. The final boss was Cerebulon, the destroyer of worlds. That boss had three unique transformations, each one was memorable and all requiring a specific strategy to defeat. The effects, voices and game play built around the bosses was amazing. They really had to be played against to be believed.
As much praise as I've heaped on WotM the game did not really earn high scores from every publication or site. If I could find a major failing with the game it was without a doubt the camera system. The camera was very loose and turned quickly if the player used the analog controls. Trying the move, aim and throw a weapon was all but impossible by how quickly the screen spun. The opposite analog control did not control the camera but instead the elevation of a thrown object. It was difficult to get a sense as to how far opponents were while running around a level. The good thing was that once a player got close to an opponent the game would auto-lock the monsters. This way a player could trade punches and experiment with different combinations. A player could actually lock onto an opponent by holding the shoulder buttons (L1+R1). This made the experience of targeting an opponent for ranged attacks much easier. This was essentially the fix to the camera system and made the experience much greater. The downside was the the camera lock required players to manually hold the buttons while playing. In order to truly get the most out of the experience Incog should have included the ability to target-lock and switch between opponents. This was a minor detail that completely changed the game play. For the most part it was a minor inconvenience on an otherwise great game.
The reward for players that completed the Story Mode was a film that showed the origin of their chosen creature. Players were inspired to begin a new adventure and unlock all the endings and costumes. Those with friends and siblings could battle it out on any level featured in the game as well as a few additional bonus stages. The weakest element in the game were the two-player mini games. They seemed to be added as an afterthought and lacked any sort of polish. Not that it mattered because the actual game itself was rock-solid. Those that got used to the combat system and camera learned to cut loose and enjoy the ride. Incog Inc. had released the greatest giant monster game to date. Although the experience was short, logging in at 11 stages, it had tremendous replay value. The levels themselves were so amazing that players could easily get lost in the details and spend untold hours exploring every street and alley. It was much better to have a handful of unique levels than a hundred cookie-cutter levels, as Rampage had demonstrated.
Mind you, I managed to talk about the game over two blogs and not once did I mention that Mecha Sweet Tooth from the Twisted Metal series was a playable character!
War of the Monsters was the perfect giant monster video game. The individual elements and collective should be studied by all budding game designers. It was exactly the type of experience that players had been missing out on for years. The game was the first to capture the feel of controlling enormous beasts in full 3D without sacrificing design, game play or originality. Players no longer had to use their imagination to fill in the gaps between being a passive participant in a movie theater to being the star of the feature. It was a fully realized vision of what Epyx's Movie Monster had promised way back in 1986. It was also more than what was offered in Giants: Citizen Kabuto, Rampage, Doshin or even King of the Monsters. Players could fight with reckless abandon, plow through buildings, hurtle ocean liners at each other and embrace the primal forces their ancestors once ran from. The cast, stages and even music even were all unique. This game was worthy of joining the established Sony franchises.
Word of mouth helped War of the Monsters build a following. The more players that tried the game the bigger the legend became. Many wondered why Sony hadn't insisted on a sequel. Unfortunately the game didn't sell quickly when it first came out. This was despite a big ad campaign and positive review scores. Sony didn't bother to follow up and push for a sequel. Instead they were focused on David Jaffe's next title, a game called God of War. Many of the lessons that the studio learned during the development of War of the Monsters (and the mountain bike racing game Downhill Domination) were applied to God of War. The lighting and coloring, powerful thematic elements, strong music, sharp graphics and particle effects were rooted in War of the Monsters. Not to mention the Titan levels and final battle against Ares were heavily influenced by WOTM as well.
Fans never forgot about War of the Monsters. When Sony decided to publish it on the Playstation Network on July 31, 2012, the web forums lit up with the good news. The studio that helped optimize the game and sharpen the graphics was Lightbox Interactive, it was founded by former Incog Inc employees. The re-release was well received by seasoned players and a new generation of gamers. Hopefully Sony might consider giving this title yet a chance for a sequel. After all, you can't keep a good monster down for long! The next blog is actually dedicated to the tabletop games. Find out what the genre did for traditional board games and more advanced tabletop systems as well.
War of the Monsters is the best giant monster video game ever made. Nothing before or after could hold a candle to it, certainly none of the Godzilla or Rampage games. Yet it also held a tremendous debt of gratitude to those titles for paving the way and teaching the developers where the pitfalls of the genre were. War of the Monsters was released in 2003. It had favorable reviews but most audiences slept on the title. Those that got into it enjoyed the experience. They appreciated the layers of substance put into the game by Incog Inc. (later absorbed into Sony Santa Monica). The game began as a love letter to the classic giant monster genre. It was dreamed up by gaming icon David Jaffe and his Twisted Metal colleagues. War of the Monsters evolved from a simple idea into something that gamers could really sink their teeth into. In order to pull off a great giant monster experience the developers went to the roots of the genre, the cinema. The game began in the classic movie broadcast format. The entire set-up of involving an alien invasion and where the monsters came from was explained in the first few moments. Eagle-eyed players noticed a couple of cars from the Twisted Metal series in the opening shot.
After the film played the camera panned back to reveal the title screen was set on a drive-in movie screen. Classic cars, circa the late '50s and early '60s were in the lot waiting for the feature to start. The tiny details on the menu screen rekindled memories of another era. The light coming from the background had the same hues of dusk setting in. Houses, telephone poles and even a water tower could be seen beyond the tall wooden fence. Movie fans in the suburbs would enjoy going out to the local drive-in because it was an altogether different experience. This was a slice of Americana that Incog Inc. wanted to bring bring players into.
No movie palace could ever have the same atmosphere of an open-air arena. On a warm summer night patrons would get mixed sensations. A soft breeze, the sounds of crickets softly chirping in the distance, the smell of popcorn, pretzels and hot dogs wafting in from the concession stand. Even the sound of kids running through the gravel could only be experienced there. Patrons could enjoy the film from the privacy of their own cars. Families would sometimes pack an entire picnic to enjoy during the movie. Tiny steel boxes were hung on the car door to pipe audio directly to them. This was a prosperous time for the USA. We had just gotten out of WWII. Industry was booming, the middle class had grown exponentially and people were enjoying a culture that revolved around the automobile. Drive-in movies and drive-in fast food restaurants were the hottest trends. The greatest memories of a generation were tied to the drive-in. Some of these details were clearly seen on the title screen and in the various game menus.
The main menu and character select menu were split between two different movie screens. The camera would pan between them as the player made a selection. The amount of detail placed on the drive-in was amazing. It was a way to ease audiences into this world. If the gamer went into the settings menu they were taken to the concession stand. The sign was certainly retro, the color of the settings menu was off white-almost plastic, like an old '50s drive in or even diner menu would have appeared.
If a player went to load a saved file then the menu would take them into the projector room. Inside there were multiple projectors for each screen. The players were shown a cardboard box, it would be empty at first but as they saved games it would slowly fill with movie reels. Each reel had a picture of the level being saved and the title of the monster they were playing as. It was a nice touch making the monsters the stars of each picture. The format allowed players to save up to two cardboard boxes or two memory cards worth of reels. Friends could bring over their own saved files and share them on the Playstation 2.
If a player wanted to try a 2-player mini game then the menu screen would shift. Next to the concessions stand was a bench for families to enjoy their food. There was a pinball machine and a weathered arcade machine. The camera would focus on the arcade cabinet. There players could scroll between three 80's looking titles; Crush-o-Rama, Dodge Ball and BIG SHOT. Incog went to the trouble of discoloring the font and adding scan lines onto the screens as if they were projecting onto a CRT monitor. If players wanted to see what items could be unlocked they went outside the projection room. In front of the coming attraction posters was a list of characters and levels that could be unlocked with enough credits.
No other studio had ever put this amount of detail just for the menu screens in a game. To be fair however The Movie Monster game by Epyx and I was an Atomic Mutant by Canopy Games certainly came close to recreating the feel of the classic cinema. Remember that Epix even included the interior of the theater and previews to enjoy before starting the game. The publisher could have never imagined what technology would have allowed for in the future. The mix of aesthetic elements from the late '50s through the early '80s in War of the Monsters was done for a reason. Incog wanted to bring players into the world they had developed. They wanted players to understand what the US was like during this era. They had to provide enough sounds and visual elements to help them do that. For many players and most working at Incog Inc. this was their childhood they were reliving. The developers wanted to recreate the excitement of being a kid and getting to go to a drive-in to watch a monster movie. At the same time they wanted to make it visually interesting to contemporary audiences. The designers were reproducing the golden era of monster movies, which would have been experienced by the majority of their parents, and the final years of the drive-in which they would have remembered as kids. They certainly managed to do all of that with style.
The details that Jaffe and Co. included did not even start there. The instruction booklet included with the game was written as if it were the journal from the Editor in Chief of the Global Observer. It was the fictional newspaper featured in the opening moments of the game. It described the alien invasion and how the alien menace was defeated with gigantic pulse emitters. Then it explained how the radioactive goo released by the spaceships created giant monsters. A poster page was included with the instruction manual. On one side there was a special edition of the Global Observer, complete with articles on the monsters and some secrets and tips for players. On the other side was a movie poster for players to frame.
The level load screens were absolutely brilliant. They were made to look like movie posters. Each one highlighted the level details and sometimes opponents that players would be facing. The poster art, created by the talented Owen Richardson was stunning and looked genuine for the era. In fact the colors used for all the levels and environments had very solid hues and distinct lighting.
The color palette applied to each level was more than just good planning. The developers actually created color compositions for the stages inspired by the art used on actual classic movie posters. Every detail placed in the game built on top of the previous, these were meant to trigger memories and build emotional responses. Older gamers that remembered the drive in and the classic sci-fi and monster films would get the inspiration on the posters and levels. Younger gamers would be hooked by the art. All of the players would learn that the lighting created specific atmospheres for each level. From the eerie green glow that illuminated Atomic Island to the rose and yellow neon trappings of Gambler's Gulch, no two levels shared a color scheme or layout.
On the character select screen audiences had to choose from one of eight available monsters. An additional two monsters could be earned with battle points. Whichever creature the audience chose became the star of the game. The plot was very straightforward. The star was going to do battle with whatever other monster, or monsters they came across. War of the Monsters set players right in the middle of the action and did not waste too much time with backstory. The levels began with a portion of a "film" playing out before them. It highlight a specific rival and stage setting. In one stage there was a monster chasing police and military vehicles, in another it was giant robots fending off UFOs. In each case the camera would then turn and focus on the player-controlled monster and start the action.
The monsters were fairly diverse and inspired by several generations of icons. The giant lizard Togera and ape Congar were expected as were the giant Japanese mecha Ultra-V and giant praying mantis Preytor. Those four represented the classic archetypes from cinema. The other characters were inspired by various creatures but came off as fairly original. To help diversity the cast players could unlock "costumes" for the creatures. The game rewarded credits for the damage players caused and the number of opponents they defeated. Boss characters were worth tremendous points. Players could turn in these credits at the concession stand to unlock costumes and levels. The new skins were meant to be seen as completely new characters. It was not unlike what Pipeworks had attempted to do with Rampage.
In the first level Congar was being pursued by the military. It was assumed that they recovered the body after the player had defeated him. Congar was returned by military transport choppers a few levels later with an entirely different look. He had been turned into a weapon to fight the other monsters. The newly created cyborg Congar had half a robotic face and eerie glowing eye. Even his limbs were replaced with machinery. This costume was available to be purchased as well as an albino ape, possibly interpreted as an abominable snowman. The fourth costume for each character often turned out to be the most original and the one least likely to be confused as just another re-skinned character. For Congar that was an alien with metallic skin. All four of the costume choices for each monster were well done.
The visuals hooked the players but the game play itself was what kept them coming back. I would like to spend the next blog looking at the game in depth. I hope to see you back for the next entry!
